I don’t know whether it is because the nights are getting lighter or because our weather is at the moment very nice and warm, but I am getting lots of jobs ticked off my very long lists.
However DH and I did have a bit of a slow weekend. I think after, especially DH, we had such a busy February with a swimming meeting every weekend and then being really busy in March too, we need a few weekends where we are not doing a lot. We did get to see our Boys and their other halves which is always great and we did get a few jobs done, but it was also nice to chill.
I have got a few Spring Cleaning Jobs done off the list and did clear out the dresser in our kitchen. One or two things went to Youngest and I did recycle some other things and threw away one thing. I am now moving on to the rest of the kitchen. I am up to date with normal cleaning, washing and ironing which is always a bonus. Over the weekend we did go through our dressing room and sorted out the clothes, shoes and my handbags. Two of my bags I gave to Partner & Fiancé who loved them.
This coming weekend is another long weekend for us in the UK and with DH now having Friday’s off we have four days in which to get some more decorating done. This weekend we will be getting our main Bathroom painted which is actually only now one wall and the ceiling to paint, since we had the rest of the walls tiled when we renovated it. The other room to be painted is Eldest’s which I am camping in for sewing. It is the smallest of our rooms and it will be painted white, it also has a cupboard in it which will need painting too.
We have another long weekend at the end of May, again four days, and we will be decorating our room and dressing room. We have not done our room for a long while so it is going to need two coats and I am keeping my fingers crossed that the nice weather continues as it dries quicker went it is warm. We will be sleeping in our new guest room whilst we decorate our room and to make sure it is all ready for when the Boys and their other halves stay. Coco has already been sleeping in there and I am sure she thinks it is her room really!!
Of course the garden is an ongoing project, now that the nice weather is here and DH did get the lawn mown at the weekend. We have a few things which need pruning, which can be done at any time of the year, and also I have a few beds I need to re-do and put some new plants in. That will be in a few weeks time.
I am still quilting and will show you when I can, but I am actually doing things, I just can’t show you just yet.
Yesterday I had visitors for lunch :
Little Man had a day out with Youngest & Fiancé and they came here for lunch. It was so nice we ate outside which was a real treat. Today was even warmer, so I had my lunch outside and read my book, which is Jayne & I’s Book Club Book for this month.
Tomorrow I am with Eldest at the Garage working and Thursday I am home with my home jobs to do and I have deliveries arriving for the guest bedroom. It is going to be a hectic day I think!
I cannot believe how quickly Thursday rolls round and it is cleaning day! I have always cleaned and done home jobs on a Thursday, occassionally it has been a Friday before they get done but usually Thursday. I love it when I have finished and everything is back in its place and it is all clean and tidy, the washing is all done and I can sit with a mug of tea in peace until DH and The Boys come home and within an hour it is back to how it normally is! I do clean and tidy up during the week also, but the big clean is always done on a Thursday. I also try and get my ironing done too, as I change the beds and towels on a Thursday as well.
I have fallen into a bit of a trap watching people clean their homes on Instagram!!!! However sometimes it helps because they give you tips that you might not know and can use on something you need. I do clean my oven, but not as often as some people do or should do probably. Anyway I did see one lady using the orange cream stuff with a non-scratch scourer (similar to the Scrub Daddy which I love). Well I bought some and tried it on my oven door and it really came clean, so I am going to try it on the inside now. I also need to clean our fridge out and de-frost my freezers but that is definitely a lovely sunny day for those jobs.
Of course Spring Cleaning is needed to be done as well (!) I did do the Laundry when the new washing machine arrived, and I also cleaned out my baking cupboard so that is another one done! I still have the rest of the kitchen to do and all the other rooms too. I did, today declutter the pine dresser which is in the kitchen and now just have to clean it! I will try and fit all this in along with the painting, gardening and decluttering as well! I also find on Instagram a lot of people decluttering their homes and take that as inspiration too. All the boxes are now back from the storage unit and I need to get down to doing a box a day, but I am hoping that the weather will get better because our garage is underneath our home and it is cold in there. Great when it is baking outside but freezing at the moment!
Our Bedroom.
Setting the guest room up will enable us to get things like the spare bedding out of the attic and use it in there and some other things as well, including some pictures we put away, so in a way repurposing things from other rooms for the new guest room. I think the next room I want to do will be Eldest’s room which I am camping in for sewing. It is the smallest of the rooms, but not too small, and we will be painting it brilliant white again as I do have quite a few pictures on the walls. Then we can get down to painting our room and we can sleep in the guest room whilst we do it and our dressing room.
I am really enjoying doing all this tidying and sorting and know that by us doing it, it won’t be left for the Boys to do. My next job will be to go through our bookcases and let go of any books I will not re-read and make room for the books which are currently on my TBR shelves!
There is not too much to do in the dining room but I can always declutter the dresser again, if I do it will only be one or two things to go. I definitely need to do our dressing room again there are at least one pair of shoes that can go and the odd handbag (!).
Our garden is doing okay and still looks quite tidy but I have one or two plans for a re-design of a couple of the beds and one or two trees need a trim as well. We have begun the grass mowing season too. We have a few little painting jobs to do outside but again I am waiting for the good weather before we embark on those.
Well the Easter weekend flew by but we were extremely busy! DH was busy helping the Boys on Good Friday, Saturday we got some jobs done and a little bit of Gardening and then we puppy-sat Gordon as Youngest and Fiancé were busy and we had dinner with them when they got back which was lovely.
This was Little Man in the evening of Easter Sunday, after we all left.
Easter Sunday we were at Eldest & Partner’s with Little Man, Youngest, Fiancé, Gordon, DH and I! I took all the food and just had to re-heat it which was a lot easier for everyone. We had a wonderful afternoon and then The Girls got back and we left early evening. Of course we were so busy we did not take any pictures!! It always happens.
Easter Monday DH and I finally got down to painting what will be the guest room. It is an absolute age since it was last painted so we knew it would probably need two coats of paint. We paint all our ceilings brilliant white and for the walls I chose the colour “Antique Cream” which is a darker cream. I chose this colour because the room only gets very early morning sun and then it is dark for the rest of the day so I thought this colour would make it “warmer”. I love the way it has come out and yes we did need two coats of emulsion paint. We are going to tidy all the paint things away tonight and then mark out with tape where the furniture is going to go before we order it, to make sure it all fits where we want it to. I will show you pictures when it is done.
So having Monday off I am now at sixes and sevens with the other days, Tuesday seemed like Monday(!) and I cannot believe today is Wednesday! I have not been to Eldest’s today which I would normally be doing as there was not a lot to do, so I will go next week, so today is a bonus day for our work! Tomorrow I have home jobs to do.
Friday DH and I are going to a funeral of a business colleague who we have known for a very long while. He was a great age and sadly had not been well for the last few months. It is lunchtime into the afternoon in Stratford-Upon-Avon, so that will be the day.
Saturday will be grocery shopping and then in the evening we are going to some friends for dinner which will be lovely after no doubt a stressful Friday. We will also be getting jobs done over the weekend. We have our room which needs decorating, Eldest’s room needs painting too, as well as the main bathroom. Then there is the hall, stairs, landing to do, our Kitchen, laundry, downstairs bathroom & Den needs going over again, we did it last year but it needs another coat of paint adding.
Which then just leaves the sitting room and dining room. We actually painted the dining room during lockdown but the paint we used when it was dry, if you brushed up against it, it left a white “chalk” mark on it. My dining room is a deep claret red and I love it but the paint, which we have used many times before has been a real pain. So we are now trying to find the right colour in another brand of paint. We bought a tester tin of red paint by Farrow & Ball but the red is not really red it has come out like a muddy red! The hunt is on!
I did have a visitor today as his Auntie & Uncle were babysitting for the day! They came for lunch and then they were all going off for a walk with Gordon. It was lovely to see them all.
I have, in between all this, been doing some quilting and I am getting to the point of the bed quilt top being finished. My next job will be to cut out the baby quilt. As soon as I can I will show you them all. I have also started Our Book Club book and so far am really enjoying it.
I hope you lovely lot had a wonderful Easter weekend and having a good week too.
Happy Good Friday. I am getting through all my jobs slowly. We have a busy day tomorrow as well with Puppy sitting Gordon for the day and then we are having dinner with Youngest and Fiancé in the evening and then Sunday we are all together for Easter Sunday dinner at Eldest and Patner’s, I am cooking but we are eating there due to logistics with Eldest being on call for the Fire Service. We are keeping our fingers crossed they are not called out. Easter Monday we will be finishing the painting or gardening depending upon the weather.
We get a string of three long weekends quite close together in the UK, there is Easter, then May Day Bank Holiday and then Whitsun Bank Holiday and then we get nothing until August when it is the late Summer Bank Holiday. At least we can get lots of jobs done when the weather is nice hopefully.
Jayne and I were Ladies who Lunch on Tuesday and it was really great to catch up with both our news. Her Eldest’s Birthday is on Easter Sunday this year and he and Eldest turn 30 this year and both of us said how can that be? We don’t feel like we have 30 year old children! Jayne and I met when our Eldests’ became best friends at school in Reception Class (aged 5) so we have known each other for twenty five years, OMG! Jayne and I are so similar in that we like the same things and of course our Birthdays are one week apart!
Anyway because we started our two person Book Club last month as well as catching up and chatting we also spoke about our first book. This Month we decided to go to The High Peak Book Store, above, which is near Buxton and it was quite a lovely drive as the weather was sunny but cold. DH took us as he was going to a meeting nearby, but then got cancelled but he still took us. To be honest I was quite disappointed in the Book Store. It used to be an old garage that was turned into the bookshop but I don’t know about you but I have a vision of what Bookshops should look like inside and well this one wasn’t it. There were books but there was also a lot of other stuff, which I would normally class as “tat”! Jayne had the choice of this month’s book, as I chose last month and she did manage to fiind one, it is a crime novel by Harlan Coben. I have a few of his books and really enjoyed them, so am looking forward to it.
We had lunch in their cafe and again it was okay but the menu was leaning towards a lot of vegetarian things. Next month we will be going to one of our regular haunts at a lovely local pub and if it is a nice day it will be great, as the big bit of the dining area is in a huge conservatory. I will also show you the new Book Club Book next week.
Anyway I hope you all have a lovely day and Easter weekend.
Not that we have been to Church today, too many jobs to do! There was no post yesterday either because I went to Partner’s home and spent the day sewing with the Girls. I was saying that it is quite hard explaining something which you do automatically because you have been doing it for so long. Anyway they did very well, we made tote bags, and they sat and listened and did very well with the sewing. I had already cut out the squares 5″ x 5″ squares and once they had completed the top I brought them home and I quilted them and made them up this morning, beginning at 4.00am (I am going through another one of those phases of waking up anywhere between 2.00am and 4.00am!). Here are some pictures of the day.The Girls above sewing and playing with the fabric.
Me making sure Eldest sews in a straight line below.
Here are the bags completed, above is Eldest’s and below is Youngest’s.
It is a Missourri Star Quilt Company pattern from one of their YouTube tutorials. I found it quite a while ago and have made quite a few of these now, including one for myself. I also adapted the pattern for the Christmas presents I made for the market totes for DH’s Cousins and my best friend Jayne, below. I want to make one of these for myself and I think Partner and Fiancé would like one too, I am going to add them to my ever growing list!!!!!
Today I have been at Eldest’s garage working, as well as cleaning there and tomorrow I have all my home jobs to do, as well as washing & ironing to get done and grocery shopping too. Tomorrow I will show you Jayne & My lunch on Tuesday. It was okay but I don’t think we will go again. Happy Thursday everyone.
Well I had a very busy day on Friday. Dad & Mom dropped me off for my very relaxing Spa Day where I was give an extreme de-floofing cut and a nice wash. Mom says I smell and look so much better.
Before!
After!
Daddy is just sorting out my Spring/Summer collar. Everything was washed; all my bedding, my quilt, my towel, my crate, nothing was left to chance! I just love Spring Cleaning.
Here is the latest picture of Gordon who has grown, especially his ears. He has his last injections on Easter Monday and then we can play!
Dad and Mom took Little Man out the other week and were busy and so was he, so much so that by the next day he was still fast asleep after Breakfast.
We have a busy Easter weekend coming up with painting of my new bedroom on the plan! Mom says it is the guest bedroom but I think it will be mine. Mom has bought the paint and it is going to be painted in Antique Cream, whatever that is, but Mom says it looks nice. I am going to help of course.
I hope you are having a wonderful woofy week and have a lovely Easter Long Weekend.
I honestly don’t know where the days go to! We start the week off fairly quiet and normal and by Friday it is chaos and mayhem!! Friday Coco had her Spa Day, I had my hair cut too and we went to see Partner and Little Man. Saturday we saw Youngest & Fiancé and go some jobs done and Sunday we were going to finish those jobs and the day got away from us. This week is supposed to be quiet but Easter long weekend we are going to get the spare room decorated so we can then furnish it and the garden done and I am having the whole family for dinner on Easter Sunday! Just another quiet time!!!!!
Anywho I did not get Book Club Friday done in time, so here it is today :
This is Jayne’s and my first Book Club Book between us. I ended up at Christmas with two copies of it, so thought it would be a good idea to be our first book.
Hazel runs the Cinnamon Bun Bookstore in Dream Harbor and she begins to find books defaced, mainly in the Romance section. The books have various phrases underlined and then the page corner turned down! She cannot understand who is doing it but the phrases start to connect in her brain. Noah, the local trip fisherman, comes in every week and buys a new book and finds Hazel with one of the defaced books in her hand. He decides to help her find out who the culprit is and what it means because he really likes her and wants to spend time with her. Hazel really likes him too but does not think he would want to go out with her, this almost thirty year old spinster book nerd. Can they find love in Dream Harbor?
I did like it, but thought that it could have ended 10 chapters earlier!!! There was a bit of going backwards and forwards with the characters which were a bit uncessary but it was an easy read.
Jayne and I are being Ladies who Lunch tomorrow and we can discuss the book then and also catch up as we haven’t seen each other for quite a few weeks. It is also Jayne’s turn to choose the book. We are going to a large bookstore in Derbyshire, The High Peak Booskstore near Buxton, so we can have some lunch in their cafe and get the new book. The building used to be a garage and when it closed the current owner’s parents bought it and turned it into the Bookstore and she has now taken over since they retired. I will try and get some pictures.
As you know for those that read Book Club posts, I have also been listening to books on my iPod and Phone when I am at Eldest’s or when I am working at home. The above was the latest I listened to and it was good.
A serial killer is stalking the suburbs of London and young women are terrified. Midnight Jones works at a forward thinking tech company who provide profiles for their clients to ensure the right people are employed or on the correct university courses. As much as the company is lauded for their new working methods, actually working there is very hard. Midnight also looks after her disabled twin sister and so needs her job to pay for her sister, Dawn’s, carers. One day Midnight is reviewing a file and it brings up a problem and is classified as a Profile-K, when she looks at it she is horrified at what she sees and reports it to her boss thinking that this person could quite easily be the serial killer. The company sweep it under the rug and Midnight is re-assigned to another department but not before they and the serial killer know what has happened and he is now on her tail.
I did like the story and it did move along at quite a quick pace and finished well. So if you like thrillers then this one is for you.
One thing I have been finding with books and films is that it is good and you are enjoying it and then you get to the end and it is a damp squib! Almost like the author/director does not know how to end the book or film especially with the books, it is almost as if they run out of steam and it fizzles out. That was definitely the case with the previous audio book I listened to, “The Crime Writer” by Diane Jeffrey. The ending really spoilt the rest of the book which was very good.
I have just started this book. I have read several of Karen Rose’s books and always liked them so I will let you know how I get on with this one. I hope you have a wonderful week and will see you here tomorrow.
I don’t know about you but you think the week is going to be just another week and then things all change again! Does that happen to you? So Youngest started his new job in February and it has not been as happy as he had hoped due to the people he was working with. Now I know that it is a case of just get on with it which he has but as there are only three of them working together and the two others have been shall we say not professional, he has been none too happy. Upshot of a long story is that he was speaking to his Mentor where he did his training and they have offered him a job with new training immediately and more money! He has therefore handed his notice in and going there next week. It is also very busy at Eldest & Partners with them helping out a relative for a few weeks, so we will be helping them out over the weekend with Little Man.
Work is busy which is great but tiring of course which we knew would happen after all the elections were finished. Of course we are trying to make sure that all the orders get delivered on time. Eldest is busy and then he was out yesterday on a long fire call so DH had to help out with work there. The weekend is going to be busy as always but with home jobs. The weather is supposed to be nice again so we are hoping to get inside and outside jobs done again! Because of the nice weather the garden is starting to come alive and that will also mean that we will need to mow the lawn too!
Miss Floof has her Spa Day on Friday and I also have a hair appointment too so we will both look better.
Last weekend we did some more decluttering and we are now getting into the swing of it. I spent a few hours shredding the old negatives, do you remember them? Well we had quite a lot and so decided the best way of getting rid of them was to shred them. We have also brought the memory boxes and stored things back from our storage unit and I will be going through them and sorting things out. I know there are some things which can go and other things just need sorting out and tidying. I was speaking to the Boys Godmother today and sadly her Dad has just passed away and they are now in the process of sorting things out at their home and for her Mom. She said it is a huge job as he never threw anything away and in fact when something went wrong he kept things like motors so they will all need to go to the scrap yard now!!! This is why I am on a mission to get our things sorted.
I should learn not to say things and then perhaps it won’t happen!!! I said last week I should be able to post every day and after Tuesday the week got away from me, like an escapee hamster!!!! Wednesday I was at Eldest’s working and that took the whole day and into the evening! Thursday was home jobs day and it took me all day to sort things out and Friday DH and I were Babysitting Little Man, I think we wore him out. You know the adage of “it takes a village…” well we were the village and in the evening Youngest & Fiancé came round and we all had dinner which was lovely.
Have been quilting still with these lovely fabrics above but I cannot show you the final quilt yet as it is not quite finished. Speaking of quilting this popped into my in-box today;
Apparently My Blog “has been selected by our Panelists as one of the Top 30 UK Quilting Blogs on the Web.”! It has made my day, especially as my Blog does not always have quilting on it, just my crazy life! The above is the badge I can use on my Blog as well. Although I am trying to do more quilting this year as well as more reading too!
The first weekend of April, DH has no swimming events this month yeah, we got some jobs done at home but also had a relaxing weekend too as we needed it after a very busy March. Next weekend the weather is supposed to be warm and sunny so I think we will try and get indoor and outdoor jobs done. Friday we are babysitting Little Man again and I have an hair appointment and Coco has her Spa day too so that will be a busy day as well.
Over the Easter break we are hoping to get Youngest’s old room painted and then be able to furnish it as our guest room. We already have “bookings” for it with Fiancé, along with Blaze & Gordon, coming to stay in July when the Boys are all away for the weekend. We also need to paint our room, but I think we will put that off until the next long weekend.
I hope you all had a lovely weekend and a good week to come.
Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
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