I know it is New Year but I cannot resist one final picture of our Christmas Tree. We have taken our decorations down and cleaned our home from top to bottom, all the washing & ironing is up to date and put away and I am even up to date with all my work. I hate taking the decorations down as each room when it is back to normal looks really drab after all the fairy lights and Christmas things are put away. I know we have to do it and we get to put them put later this year but still!!!!!
Youngest & Partner out for a walk and it was snowing!
I did go out at 7.15am to go to work at Eldest’s but overnight we had had really low temperatures, with ice and frost. Long story short I could not get any of my car doors open as they were all frozen shut!!! The only way to get them open is to use warm water but this, of course, instantly freezes on the driveway and road which I was not prepared to do. However a neighbour, who is very awkward and no one likes, did exactly this and left a swathe of ice outside of his house and going down our hill! He did not even put salt on it to get rid of it! Anyway I decided to go back into our home and get warm and I contacted Eldest who said that it was really very icy where they are and then he had to go on a call out with the FIre to a road traffic accident so I am glad I did not go in the end. To be fair there was not a lot to do because of being off for Christmas so I will catch up next week.
A couple of pictures from the Fireworks at New Year in London.
So having a day extra at our work I got some jobs done which I had put off and tomorow it will be home jobs again and Friday I am out with DH visiting one of the companys we work with. At the weekend we have another swimming event on Saturday evening but during the day and Sunday we will be able to get some de-cluttering done. We will begin with the garage and also tidy it up and then move on to our attic and go from there.
This is the fabric for the double bed quilt.
I will also be busy cutting out one of the quilts that I need to get on with and start making the blocks for that. I am also keeping up with my first Aim of the New Year which is to do more reading. I have also sorted out my TBR shelf which has now turned into three shelves as I have spread them out a bit so I am able to see them all and have put them into categories. I don’t know about you but when I finish a book I then decide what sort of book to read next be it a mystery or a history book etc. At the moment I am busy reading all my Christmas mystery books which I love and I don’t mind reading them even at the height of summer!!!!
It has been so cold at night, when our heating is turned down, over the last few days that Coco has been tucked up on our bed between DH and I. The other evening when I got up she was really cold so I put the blanket we have at the bottom of our bed over her and she loved it and was fast asleep.
I hope you lovely lot have had a good first week of January (most of us have been back to work this week). Thursday tomorrow, it will soon be the weekend!
Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
Little Man on Christmas Day amidst all the presents!
Although Friday seems to come round very quickly at the moment and the weeks are flying by of course! We have been having quite a few misty and foggy mornings recently which is typical for November here in the UK. Next week we are due to have a freezing spell with frosts on the ground, which will be great and hopefully get rid of the germs floating around. Eldest and Little Man are both poorly at the moment with colds and I am trying to avoid getting it because after what I have recently had, I don’t want anything else!
Blaze was bought a new bed which hangs on the radiator and we used to have them when we had cats. He has been in it about three times but actually prefers lying on DH’s desk! A typical cat!
Coco loves her basket next to my desk and gets very comfy in it and also uses her big toy as a pillow! She has her Spa day booked in for next Friday just at it turns freezing cold!
DH and I managed to finish the final bits in the garden last weekend and it is now all sorted for winter.
The leaves have now all fallen off the ornamental cherry tree at the top of the garden and they have just about finished coming off the tree at the bottom of the garden too.
We got the patio cleaned a few weeks ago using hot water and bleach and it worked really well, there is only a little bit of green left but the rest of it looks good and I am hoping that it will not grow green over the winter. We also got the side walk past our front door done last week and that looks better too.
The pond was cleaned and we put the fountain down to a small amount so that when it is windy it won’t be blowing the water everywhere.
I haven’t put any winter veg in my raised bed this year but I have planted a load of daffodil bulbs in it so hopefully it will be a lovely burst of yellow in Spring. We had to trim one of the holly bushes at the front but as it had berries on it I put them in the veg planter to keep the squirrel from digging the bulbs up. They look really good.
Little Miss Coco out investigating the garden.
I have started the Christmas baking by putting the Christmas Cake fruit to soak in Brandy before I make the cake. I still have the mince pies, Christmas cookies and Cheesy Stars to make. Over the weekend DH is out both days at another swimming club, their gala, so I am going to spend the day in my sewing room getting some things finished in there. Next week I am out twice for lunch once with another friend, Sue and then out to lunch with Jayne too, so I am going to take the opportunity the rest of the week to get some of these jobs done. Next weekend DH is home so we will be getting the rest of the Christmas preparations done and then on the Saturday evening we are going with Eldest, Partner, The Girls and Little Man to see Santa Claus which I cannot wait for. I will bring pictures to you after that.
Sorry for a distinct lack of posts due to being so busy. I hope you lovely lot will have a lovely weekend.
I don’t know if you have seen anywhere, it has certainly been around on Instagram, that if you have over 1000 books then you have your very own Library. The above is the Library at Chatsworth House, my favourite room on the whole tour, and last year had the good fortune to actually go into the room and get to sit down and learn about some of the books housed there.
Of course this made me wonder how many books we have in our sitting room. Here is a picture of our main bookshelves taken a few years ago and there are a lot more books on the shelves now. Below is a picture of the other bookshelves in the sitting room.
So DH and I decided to count them and we have 1,254! Therefore we are renaming the sitting room our Library now!!
A room without books is like a body without a soul – Cicero
Work has been busy and I am trying to keep on top of all my jobs and then carve out some time for quilting and reading. The other eveing I was reading in bed and fell asleep with my glasses on, the book fell onto the bed and my light still on! I think I woke up about 2.00am and put everything on my bedside and switched the light off! The only down side of reading at night! Although I do find that if I read in the day I can also fall asleep! I have so many books that I want to read on my TBR shelf especially at this time of year when I want to read the books I have which fit the season, like the spooky books and then the Christmas books! I will make some time.
The weekend was busy with DH at the Fireworks on Saturday evening and it only drizzled a bit but it all went off well and then the whole family were here yesterday for DH’s Birthday which was a lovely day, although I was tired this morning. This week is a quiet week so it is going to be a mix of work and getting some jobs done during the day too. Next weekend we have the whole weekend free so DH and I can get some jobs done and we may go out for dinner on Saturday evening.
Have a wonderful week and just to remind you there are 51 days to go to Christmas!!
I know that may sound like a lot but the way the weeks fly by, having only just begun November, it will be the end of November and then Christmas before we know it!!! Of course I have a million and one jobs to get done but I am definitely trying to pace myself this year and not end up rushing around and then being ill like last year when I had shingles!
We had quite a lot of Trick or Treaters last night and Youngest & Girlfriend did a great job answering the door. They were dressed as a policeman and prisoner! Bonus we have some chocolate left!!
Our weather over the weekend is going to be dull but fine with no rain which will be ideal for tomorrow evening when a lot of the official bonfire events are taking place, including DH being Event Control for the Council one in our area. He will be out from 2.00pm setting up for when the fireworks which will begin about 7.00pm.
In the morning we have a bit of time to get a couple of final jobs done in the garden. The leaves have now almost finished dropping so we need to get those up and I need to plant my Spring bulbs. I have only bought Daffodils this year and I think I am going to put them in my Veg bed as I have not put any Winter veg in. DH and I did our patio last week with hot water and bleach which cleaned it really well and I am hoping that it will not go green this Winter when it is wet. The special eco-friendly stuff I bought did not do a thing, so I resorted to Grandma’s recipe of the bleach. We need to do the pathway outside our front door which also leads to our garden gate as that is very green and of course it gets very slippery when wet, which I do not need at the moment!
Sunday everyone is at home for Sunday Lunch to celebrate DH’s Birthday and I am so looking forward to that. I am also babysitting Little Man tomorrow evening as well, so his Mummy & Daddy can have a night out, again can’t wait!
Here is Little Man rocking the woolly hat and cardigan as it is getting cooler now.
This week has been a hectic one again and very busy which is why I think the weeks fly by! I have several “To Do” lists and am getting through the jobs slowly and am managing to keep up with work, Eldest’s work and home jobs including the washing and ironing. One big job which I am still doing is decluttering things and between Christmas & New Year we are going to get the attic tidy and hopefully the garage too. Well that is my aim anyway!
I hope you lovely lot have had a good week, have a wonderful weekend and I will see you back here on Monday. Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
I am here, I haven’t fallen off the edge of the Earth (for all those Flat Earthers!). DH and I have been dealing with family things which I will not disclose here. We are all okay and life is moving on, but as I have said before, even though your children are grown up they come with grown up problems and we are lucky to be here to help them through it. However it has been a very challenging few weeks and I am hoping that between now and Christmas will be a little calmer.
Speaking of Christmas:
Because things have been so up in the air, I have been playing Christmas music in my car when I have been travelling around! It just lifts my spirits, but I do get moaned at by The Boys as they think it is far too soon for all this! I can say that I have almost finished my Christmas shopping, only a few things left to get and my sewing room now looks like half of Santa’s Workshop! I am debating with myself as to whether to get wrapping now or leave it a little bit? I have managed to get all the pets their treats and toys for Christmas and had to put them definitely out of the way of Coco and Blaze!
This weekend is one of my favourties, in that we get an hour back, as the clocks go back one hour on Saturday night.
Yesterday would have been my Mom’s 95th Birthday. Here she is on her wedding day in 1949 aged 19. Sadly she died one week before her 55th Birthday so this time of year is quite poignant.
Our weather is defintely in Autumn mode now, although we have had a couple of frosts it has not been too cold. However that has meant that it has been quite misty in the mornings and on Wednesday the above picture was at 5.00am as the fog rolled in. Usually we don’t get foggy days until November, but it was quite thick on Wednesday and lasted quite a while.
The trees in our garden have almost lost their leaves and DH and I have the job of collecting them this weekend.
Here is the big tree at the top of our garden and the platform where the Den used to be.
So as it is Autumn I got our winter bedding out and I love it as it feels all cosy and warm, especailly as I also got our winter duvet out too. Someone is also loving it:
This is cuddle mode. She hops up on the bed, once DH has got out to shower, for morning snuggles and then in the evening, especially if I am in bed first! The other morning she actually stayed on the bed asleep after I had come downstairs!
Little Man is now sitting up on his own and has in fact begun to crawl, so nothing is safe now! Watch out World he is on the move!
Honey and Star are now finding high places to sleep as he is moving 🙂
This was Blaze the other evening, so I think my Halloween decorations are sorted, pumpkin and black cat! Now if only I can get Blaze to sit still for a few hours on Halloween!!!
I subscribe to Country Life magazine which is every week and I love it. There are so many articles in it regarding country things as well as art and life in general. Anyway this week’s issue came through the door on Wednesday and look who is on the cover! Anyone who has followed me for a while knows I absolutely love Snoppy. This one I will be keeping.
I have still been doing bits of decluttering here and there in my aim (which began on January 1st) to get rid of things we really don’t need or use. A lot of things we give to the Charity shop and obviously some I keep and some get tossed! When we went to the charity shop last weekend they said they are no longer accepting books due to hygiene concerns. I don’t get rid of many of my books as I try very hard to only buy books that I know I will read and re-read and keep, but there is always a few and I did get rid of some. So now we have a problem of what to do with them? We do have a book stall at Carnival each year and there is the Book Exchange in the Village so they will be going to one or other of them. However what on earth are people going to do if we don’t keep our books? Can you imagine if they had had the same attitude hundreds of years ago, we would not have the books we have now which are in museums!
I did spend last Saturday doing some quilting, which I cannot show you because they are Christmas presents! It was great to sit down and get some quilting done again. DH is out all day Sunday this weekend at another swimming event, so I will be in the sewing room again.
Next week the children here are on Half Term Holiday for a week and although our Boys are all grown up I still stick to my routines that I used to do when they were young. One of which is next week I will be making our Christmas Cake and putting it in the tin and will “feed” it until I need to put the marzipan and icing on it just before the Big Day. We are out tonight to some very good friends their home for dinner, which I am looking forward to. I have made a blackberry and apple crumble to take with us, a very Autumn dessert. Last night I managed to get all the ironing done and the washing is up to date and today I am cleaning our home. Tomorrow DH is home and is going to help me with some of the bigs jobs, where I need furniture moving etc. I also need to get two jobs done in the garden and then it will be all ready for Winter. Grocery shopping will also be tomorrow too. I need to sort the downstairs freezer out, I did our upstairs one last week, and then they will be ready for the Christmas build up.
Anyway after this very long catchup post, I hope you lovely lot have been faring well. I am still suffering from things left over from the virus I had in August on holiday and was at the Doctors on Monday and have to go back next Monday having had to take more tablets. I really hope they are going to work and it will all be sorted, if not I will be taking a trip to the Hospital, which I would really like to avoid!
Have an absolutely wonderful weekend, it is almost November and only 61 days to Christmas!!!!
Well September flew by before I knew it! Being ill for some of it did not help and having Doctors appointments, blood tests and things I am quite glad it has left! Hopefully October is going to be a little kinder, but I am not counting my chickens yet.
For everyone who likes to hide their heads in the sand about Christmas, I hate to tell you this but there are 85 days left before the Big Day! It you like to look at it this way, it is twelve weeks to go, so some would say it is three months yet but as we know the weeks really do fly by so before we know it, Christmas will be here. As you, who follow me regularly, know I love Christmas. Especially the build up to it and I have noticed that my Instagram feed has been getting a lot more Christmas posts. As the last few weeks have been not good I have even, much to the horror of our Boys, started playing Christmas music in my car. Eldest moaned the other day when he had to move my car and it was playing “Merry Christmas Everybody”!!!! 🙂
If you remember last Christmas I ended up with Shingles. I was ill over our summer holiday so I am absolutely determined I am not going to be ill this Christmas. Hence my planning, sorting out and generally getting organised this year so that by the time December arrives, everything is sorted and I can actually sit back, relax and enjoy the holidays and not be ill!!! SO I am probably going to annoy a lot of you now, but I have almost finished my Christmas shopping! I have planned the Christmas baking and am in the process of sorting out our freezers so that I can make things and put them in the freezer ready for December. Obviously we don’t know yet who is going where for Christmas Day but I have two plans incorporating different numbers so I can just pick whichever list I need.
There will be a few Christmas visits seeing family and friends and some other fun things to do which I will hopefully have pictures to show you. It would be lovely if it snowed this year, especially when we don’t have to get about but I am not sure that it will co-operate. It has been heavy rain here for the last two days and we are getting some local flooding again so I suspect this will be it for the rest of the year. Our leaves are coming off the trees quite a bit now but are of course very wet so quite hard to pick up. I am hoping at the weekend, which we have off, we will get a day when it is dry to try and get the leaves up.
October I am planning on getting quite a bit done and also some more de-cluttering and tidying as well as a bit of Autumn cleaning (like Spring Cleaning but not everything!) before we decorate for Halloween, Bonfire Night and then Christmas.
Friday DH and I will be going to Goose Fair, always the start of Autumn events for us and then home jobs over the weekend and at the moment the weather is due to be good so we can get some garden jobs done too and also home jobs.
I hope your September went well and October is going to be kind.
Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
Coco in snuggle mode on our bed.
Blaze on his platform where he can look out of the window and be nosey!
It is always sad when anyone passes but some hit more than others. Yesterday Dame Maggie Smith passed away at the age of 89. She was known for many, many roles alot of which were on stage but to the younger generations she will always be known as Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House. This role was one in a liftime and she will live on through it. To the older generation she will be known as The Dowager Countess of Grantham from Downton Abbey and its creator, Julian Fellowes, gave Maggie Smith some absolutely wonderful dialogue and lines. If you have not seen the Harry Potter films or Downton Abbey do, they are wonderful films & programmes.
Having not been well last week, I spent the weekend getting my jobs done as I had got behind with them. I took it very slowly as whatever I have had has managed to knock me a little sideways! I have been working at my desk on Monday and yesterday I was with Eldest at his business.
I think Mother Nature has decided we in the UK have had enough of summer and it has been today like the above picture all day! On Saturday we had thunderstorms which lasted for about two hours. Fortunately Coco and Blaze were not bothered by the storm, Coco just barked at the thunder and Blaze was asleep on a chair all the while it was happening. I had managed to get dinner cooked just in case the power went out, which it does sometimes when we have a storm, but fortunately the power stayed on. DH had two busy days with the swimming event and didn’t get home until 8.30pm last night but it went well as always.
This week is a quiet week with work and home things and Youngest & Girlfriend are away for the week on holiday so it is just DH, the animals and I, which will be nice. I have lots of plans of things I need to get done, but am taking things each day at a time as I am quite tired after being not well. I do have another Doctor’s appointment next week for a check up, so will see what they say then.
The trees are starting to turn quickly now.
Next weekend DH has the last swimming event for Area on Saturday and Sunday we can get some garden jobs done if the weather is okay. You will not believe how many leaves have come down this weekend. We managed to get the outside umbrella put away but need to get the outdoor furniture cleaned and put away and tidy the pots up and I also want to get some Spring bulbs planted too.
Next week is Goose Fair in Nottingham, where DH and I had our first date 38 years ago, now that sounds a long time ago!!! I wrote about the History of Goose Fair in this post in 2023 if you would like to read about it.
Having had the virus in August whilst we were away, DH started with a cold last week and I told him he could keep it as I did not want it! But in keeping with the marriage vows, he gave me the cold anyway! I started on Saturday with it and by Sunday I felt very ill. I spoke to our GP and they said it sounded like I had covid as I had the cold part but other symptoms which DH did not have! I had Monday off but then was back at work the rest of the week. Obviously it is just Coco and I in our office and she seems okay!
Having worked at home for over thirty two years now which I love, I think it could also be a problem as not being with other people everyday in an office, liked I used to do, my immune system is lower so I seem to catch things!!!! I am hoping that tomorrow I will feel better as I have a lot to do over the weekend!
I have a huge basket of ironing to do which I am aiming to get done tomorrow morning and Home jobs to do as well, as I did not feel up to it yesterday or today!! I am still aiming to get some quilting done too and if necessary I will pinch an odd day here and there to get things sorted.
Having been an only child and a girl it did not stop my Dad from doing what was traditionaly known when I was born “boy” things with him and me! including helping when he was fixing our car and all other things engineering wise (his occupation was an aircraft engineer). So I have always liked cars and he used to watch Formula 1 Racing and so did I, so a TV programme in the UK called Top Gear, a motoring news programme was always a must watch. Especially with these three chaps, Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond presented it. During the Series Run they were on they started to do Specials where they were challenged to take cars built for roads and do increadibly crazy journeys with them. Their presenting style, camaraderie and general school boy behaviour made them great fun to watch and also great to see the places they visited.
After a number of years with the BBC Top Gear the trio moved to Amazon to do The Grand Tour and they did some amazing trips, eventually finishing the main motoring part and only doing the specials. Sadly last Friday that came to an end with the last trip through Zimbabwe after twenty two years together and again a great trip. The three presenters have lots of other things going on and these trips as you can imagine take a lot of planning and time but we will miss them.
My favourites of all of them was the trip they did through Myanmar in trucks, the Africa Special where they had estate cars looking for the source of the Nile, The Beach Buggies and finally where they were airlifted parts of a car, had to put it together and get to a point in Mongolia. I am pleased that you can still find them on the streaming services so we are able to watch them again. If you are interested in watching them the Top Gear episodes are on BBC iPlayer and The Grand Tour is on Prime.
The Beach Buggies above and the Home Made Car in Mongolia below.
Speaking of vehicles Youngest over the last two weeks has been doing his HGV training. This is so he is able to drive a bigger recovery vehicle for their business. It has been quite intense but obviously he can drive, just having to upgrade to a very large truck and trailer. Anyway He did it, passed the test this morning.
Congratulations Youngest, very proud of you.
Have a wonderful weekend you lovely lot, whatever you are up to. Keep everything crossed that I will have got rid of whatever it is I have got by next week.
