I don’t know what it is at the moment but I could do with several more hours in each day and at least another two days per week!!!!!
Our work has been really busy over the last few weeks, which is really good but hectic. It is also coming up to our Year End on May 31st and start of the new year on June 1st. It involves quite a lot of organising and paperwork which I have managed to get done this week, including shredding the old year and emptying the filing cabinit of the year and also getting the paperwork ready for our Accountant! Here in the UK we have to keep our business records for seven years so we have a rotating seven years of boxes with the paperwork in. It takes ages to get the oldest year through the shredder and I end up with six bags of shredded paper!
Been busy with the Boys and various things with them and helping out with Little Man at the weekend. Also trying to finish two baby quilts, which I have got the tops done just need to sandwich them and get the quilting done. Still trying to finish the bed quilt I am making as well as a handful of repairs which need doing.
This weekend is another three day weekend for us and DH and I are intending on painting our bedroom and dressing room and if we have time the landing and down the stairs. That will then be the entire top floor done and just then need to do the ground floor! The weather is supposed to be nice over the weekend, although it is forecast some rain, which is much needed.
We need to do some jobs in the garden as well and if we have any left over time at the weekend we could get a bit done. Also have the Spring Cleaning to finish as well so there is plenty to keep us busy!
This is a quick peek at our guest room. We still need to put some pictures on the walls and some other bits in but I thought I would show you a bit of it. As you can see Coco’s bed is next to the radiator and she does sleep on it but also the bed as well. I am convinced she thinks it is her room!
Little Man is growing up fast. Above he is sitting at the table to have his dinner instead of eating on his tray.
This shirt says it all! When Grandad is around none of us get a look in!
This was last Saturday’s dinner I had made them Lasagne for dinner and you just need to use your hands with it!!! Who needs knives and forks?!!!!
Jayne and I had lunch last week and had a lovely meal. It was great to see her and have a few hours out of the day where I was not working. We have also read the second of our Book Club Books and it was really good although both of us said it did not get going until half way through the book! We have a new one for this month which is a historical mystery, something Jayne has never read before, so I am hoping she will like it.
The next few weeks we are free in that DH does not have any swimming events on, so we will be getting jobs done. In three weeks time Eldest’s Partner is having a big Birthday and I am planning a lovely dinner for her at home on the Saturday evening, the day before her Birthday. Jayne and I are going out on the Tuesday before for our Birthdays and are having Afternoon Tea for a change. Then the following week it is my Birthday and again we will be at home but we will be having a take away! In five weeks time it will be the start of Carnival in the Village and this year we are celebrating 100 years! There are some extra events on for this special year but all the usual ones as well. I will be using the days and evenings to carry on with our decluttering. Then the following week DH, Eldest & Youngest will be off for their Christmas Present to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Whilst they are away the Girls & I will be getting together for a lovely day and food! It is going to be a very busy few weeks again. Tomorrow is home jobs day.
I hope you lovely lot are having a good week and enjoying some lovely Spring weather.
Yes we have had another long weekend here in the UK so I don’t know whether it is Tuesday or Wednesday today!!! Of course Friday will be here sooner than I think this week and I am racing to catch up with things. We also had Tuesday off work due to attending a very good friend’s funeral. DH on Thursday (tomorrow?) is out in the afternoon/evening to commentate on the Beacon Lighting for VE Day. It is 80 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe so there have been celebrations happening all over the country over the weekend and this week.
DH’s Father was in The Royal Engineers and mine was in the RAF, although he was in the Pacific Theatre so did not come home until VJ Day! My Grandfather who was 42 in 1939 was actually in a reserved occupation so became an Air Raid Warden and DH’s Grandfather was a farmer so again reserved, but he became a Policeman. So our families were involved.
Little Man is not very well at the moment so is busy sleeping and drinking lots of water but not eating much. We are having a family day on Saturday so hoping he will be better by then, although we are not going anywhere just round at theirs.
Over the long weekend DH and I got Eldest’s room painted, brilliant white, and also our main bathroom, brilliant white (!). We then started making the furniture for Youngest’s room, now the guest room. We were doing quite well and finished most of it at about 12.00am but DH put the bed together the next day. The matress is ariving on Friday and i can then make it and put other things in. We will probably sleep in there at the next long weekend at the end of May, when we are painting our room and dressing room!
That will mean by then that the whole of the upstairs will have been painted and we just then need to do downstairs!!! We have a few painting jobs to do outside and the garden to do of course, along with the continuing decluttering! I must say that I am extremely tired today!
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.
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.
Saturday, yesterday and today it has been quite windy, so March is definitely leaving like a Lion this year. Although we have had some sunny days but it has been quite cold at night still.We put the hour forward on Saturday evening and I am already feeling tired! To be honest I was feeling tired anyway but not having that extra hour, oh boy! Coco is all confused of course as she is expecting breakfast and dinner at certain times and now it is an hour ahead!!!!
We had some very sad news that a very good friend and swimming colleague, Gail, passed away on Thursday last. She and her husband had just come back from a holiday in Scotland and she did not feel very well, she went to hospital and they did all they could but they found she had pneumonia and despite best efforts passed away. The above picture was taken at Youngest’s 18th Birthday party and we have known Gail and her husband, Pat, since Youngest was five years old and Eldest was nine which was when we first joined the swimming club. She taught Youngest to swim and then when he was 14 he started working with Gail on poolside when he was doing his teaching courses.
Gordon is doing really well with his training and here he is with Blaze on the bedding which was on the floor waiting to go in the washer. We can’t decide if Blaze wanted to cuddle with him or he was just holding Gordon down!!!! They are doing really well together and we think that Blaze having been with Coco for as long as he was he is quite happy with Gordon although he does put him in his place when he gets to be a bit of a nuisance! DH and I puppysat him yesterday for a few hours whilst they were out and he was very good.
DH was away on Friday night and at the swmming event all day Saturday and got home about 8.30pm. I had a lovely dinner with Youngest & Fiancé on Friday night and then spent all day Saturday quilting. I have now completed all my blocks and just need to get them put together.
As promised here are the pictures of my Spring flowers in the garden:
Of all the Spring bulbs I love Daffodils the most. I just love the big yellow flowers. My violas from winter have come back strong and I chose the lavender coloured ones last year. I am not sure how long the bulbs will last because our soil is so wet during the winter and quite often the bulbs just rot but I will plant them again this year and hope they come up.
It has been sunny again today but not that warm, Coco doesn’t mind though as she has her thick winter coat still. She is now booked in for a Spa Day on April 11th.
It was so cold this morning I had a hot chocolate in my Christmas Mug!!!!
This week is busy but quiet if that makes sense. I am at home today and tomorrow with our work and out on Wednesday with Eldest and Thursday I have home jobs to do because Friday we are babysitting Little Man for his Mummy who is going back to work. The weekend is completely free, I know don’t faint! There are loads of things to do at home so it will be pick a job and get on with it. The weather is supposed to be nice all week so we could do a bit of gardening and a few jobs inside too! In fact every weekend in April is free so we are going to make use of those free days to get as many jobs done as possible.
Also we have the Easter long weekend in which we are going to paint Youngest’s room to create the guest room. we will probably use it because we also need to paint our bedroom as well. At least we won’t need to use the air mattress in the sitting room like we have in the past. In fact we could have a winter bedroom and a summer bedroom if we really wanted to! I suspect we will be fighting Coco for possession of it!
Have a wonderful week you lovely lot and I am hoping to post every day this week!!!
Goodness it has been a busy few days at the end of January and beginning of February. Wednesday January 29th was the start of the Chinese New Year and 2025 is The Year of the Wood Snake!!! So what can we expect from the Wood Snake?
A time for wisdom, patience and careful decision making.
A time for shedding bad energy, letting fo of the past an releasing unrealistic expectations.
A time for personal growth, deeper thinking and thoughtful decision making.
A time for adaptability, long term planning and personal development.
A time for new opportunities for growth and change.
So this sort of fits in with my year of decluttering and sorting things out! We shall see how things go this year.
Saturday February 2nd was Ground Hog Day and Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow when he emerged from his burrow so we are in for six more weeks of Winter! It has been quite cold over January and this week it is meant to be in the minus digits most days, so I think he is going to be correct!
So in true Year of the Wood Snake style we have a lot happening at home. Youngest & Partner got engaged and today Youngest started his new job which he is looking forward to! Then at the end of February DH and I will become empty nesters as they are moving in to their new home!!!!! I mean how many things can happen in the first two months of the New Year?!!! They are both looking to being in their own home and have been busy buying things for it. I remember when DH and I got our first home and all the fun of buying things to fill it and they are doing this now. Of course DH and I have been roped in to help them move in with some of their friends too.
They asked what would happen to their room here now? We will decorate it and then fill it with a bed, wardrobe, small dressing table and box so that they can come back and stay for the weekend if they would like or Eldest, Partner & Little Man can also stay if they want to as well.
DH suggested that I move my sewing things in there and then have the smaller room as a guest bedroom but it is smaller and we could do it, but I quite like the smaller room to sew in. One benefit is that the guest bedding will be brought out of the attic and also we can use the wardrobe in there for our seasonal clothes so something else out of the attic!! Of course I am sure that Coco will claim the new bed as hers as soon as it is set up! In fact it could be Coco’s bedroom!!!!
It is going to be very different just DH and I again. We have, since the Boys were adults, had the occassional weeks or months where we were on our own at home because they have been away with the various other halves at times so we have experienced it a little bit but then Eldest came home, Youngest was here so we were back to how it was when they were little. We have not been just the two of us since Eldest arrived which will be twenty nine years but I am sure we will get used to it and of course we have little Coco at home.
I did get some quilting done over the weekend but I cannot show you just yet as they are gifts. I have next weekend to do some more quilting and the weekends when DH is out doing the swimming compere I will be quilting. It was a good weekend to be in as the weather was cold, grey and raining!!!
Happy February you lovely lot and have a great week.
So DH and I began the decluttering on Saturday and I will say that probably January in Derbyshire is not the best time to spend several hours in our garage which is, in effect underground! It is actually underneath our home but it is very cold as well as the weather being cold too.
The Big brown door behind my old Jeep is the entrance and as you go in to the right is the storage room off the garage which we had built to put all our things in so Eldest’s car could go in the garage at the time. Our home doesn’t look very big at the front but it goes a long way back. The small window on the left is our dining room, the window on the right is our sitting room. The top windows in the roof, the left is Eldest’s room whch I camp in as my sewing room, the right one is Youngest & Partner’s room and our room is at the back with our dressing room and the bathroom window looks out on to our pathway. The kitchen and our den are also at the back looking out into our garden at the back.
I, of course, did not get any pictures of the decluttering due to being very cold and trying to get everything completed in the room off the garage. We did, however get rid of a lot of things and actually took most of it to the charity shop and then the rest to the tip. We also tidied up the room so it looks very neat and tidy. The main garage needs a tidy up too but that is a DH and The Boys jobs as it is all their “stuff”!!
Next weekend we have one and half days to do things in, so we are going to continue with the attic. We have already done quite a bit of decluttering in there but can still do some more. The aim is to get this all done and then bring the boxes of things I have saved from the Boys childhood and other keepsakes of ours back from our storage unit (which has all the compere equipment in) sort it all out and then store it in the room off the garage and the attic. It is this year’s project and will be done throughout the year.
I also need to go through things in each room as well and get rid of things we do not need, want or use. I go through our book shelves twice a year and get rid of books that I have read and do not want to read again or books that I no longer want to keep. Our den, which is our office is another room which gets a regular decluttering and I did it not long before Christmas so I can tick that off as being done. I need to do the kitchen again but I also did do a declutter in there last year so may just need to have a quick look to make sure nothing has slipped through my net. The understairs cupboard is another job and the dresser in our dining room, but again I think it is mostly sorted.
This was the sun rise the other morning when I went out with DH to visit one of the companies we work with! It was stunning.
The dressing room in our bedroom is another room which needs re-doing again and I have tried to stick to the rule of one thing in, one out which has worked quite well. I am also going to go through the sewing room and have a sort out in there too. The Bathroom does not need much doing to it but always worth a quick look and I did our outside shed at the end of the summer so know that that is all done. Hopefully I will get a few pictures as I do things.
Friends have asked why I am doing this and keep doing it and although it is a big thing all over social media, it is mainly because I had to clear my Parents and Grandparents homes out when they passed away and it was the biggest job in both homes! In fact my Great Grandmother had lived with my Grandparents for quite a few years before she passed away so there were, in fact, two homes in one and they owned a big Victorian home which they had moved to in 1930 and not moved again, so there were 64 years worth of living in there! My mother had always said that she dreaded clearing out Grandma’s house but sadly she died first so it was left to me to do both homes. My parents had moved into our family home in the 1960’s so there was 24 years of living there and again there was a lot of things that had never been sorted.
I am therefore determined to not leave that sort of mess for our Boys and their other halves to deal with. They will still have to do the clearing but at least they will not have to got through millions of things trying to decide if they need to keep them or not and what they actually want of our things. It took DH and I three months to do my Grandparents home and took me a year to do my Parents home, as I was still living in it. I would urge you, if you have not done this, to definitely think about doing it.
Next Saturday evening we are helping at one of the swimming gala’s that our Club are competing in and we are hosting, so DH is compering and my friend Sue and I are doing the results as usual. It is over in Bingham, Nottinghamshire where DH used to go to senior school, so going home for him!!
Have a wonderful week you lovely lot and keep warm.
Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
Coco in the sewing room on the chair I have in there and stool. She loves sitting on it.
January 13th is National Rubber Ducky Day! Who knew? Apparently it is when Rubber Ducky first appeared in Sesame Street in 1970 (below), however they were originally created by a gentleman called Peter Ganine in the 1940’s to help children who where afraid of water and especially the bath! Having had two sons, they were definitely allergic to water and would protest at having a bath every evening but they both had a rubber duck.
Little Man loves his bath and when he is ready to get in his little legs are already paddling before he even gets to the water! Below is one of the toys he got from Santa Claus because both of my Boys loved trains and they had to have the rubber ducks in as passengers, so this was a definite must have for Little Man. He also had a set for Halloween with ghosts and pumpkins in!
I remember having a rubber duck but he was not yellow he was white like the famous Aylesbury Ducks below.
Although I think the yellow ones are better!
We had, as always, a very busy weekend trying to get some jobs done and the swimming event on Saturday night which because of some things was delayed so we didn’t get home until 9.30pm! We got to see Eldest, Partner & Little man too over the weekend, so a good one all in all. This week is busy with work, everyone has seemed to come back from the Christmas Holidays raring to get on with things which is good news. This coming weekend we are free so will be able to get quite a few jobs done then.
I have been keeping up with two of my Aims so far this year, Aim 1 which was to do more reading. I am making time to try and read a little bit every day and am really enjoying that time. Aim 2 is to do more quilting and although I have not got any actual quilting done yet I have sorted out the material for the two quilts that need to be done before May and also tidied my sewing room as well. Aims 3, 4 & 5 which is the de-cluttering of our home, sorting out the garden, garage and attic will begin next weekend and will be an on-going project for the whole year. The rest of my Aims 6 to 10 are again a whole year project so I will keep you up to date how things go.
Our weather over the last week and into last weekend was extremely frosty, like the trees above and cold but this week is supposed to be a little warmer, ie just freezing not -6 like it was here in Derbyshire! It looked very pretty!
Have a wonderful week whatever you lovely lot are up to.
They had been forcasting this “Artic blast” and it was supposed to be very cold but yesterday evening at about 6.00pm it started to snow, but it was not settling and by the time we went to bed at 9.30pm it was like sleet. Well overnight it obviously got a lot colder and we woke up to quite alot of snow!!!! Here are some pictures.
The top of our back garden and the deck where the Boys Den used to be.
As you can see the snow is quite thick.
The snow on top of my pots with the pansies in them and the pumpkin!
The trees in the garden covered.
This is the tree in the middle of our garden with the bright red berries on.
These photographs are of the trees we can see from our front windows full of snow and quite stark.
The pictures below is the view directly across from our home out of our front windows.
Miss Floof went out first thing this morning and had a great time running around in the snow but DH managed to get her to come in as she had not had her breakfast. Later when I let her out she would not come in until I shouted biscuit!!! She then came in with snow in her beard and all of her paws!!! If it stays she is going to have a shock on Friday when she is in for her Spa day! I will be putting a jumper on her!!! This, of course, is quite normal. Whenever I book her in for an Airecut at this time of year it the becomes freezing!
Eldest had to go to the Doctors yesterday as he had had a cold for over ten days and was suffering with his chest and he had, in fact, got a chest infection so he is on tablets! I don’t think I know one person who has not had a cold or something so far this year! I am trying my hardest to avoid everyone who has had something as I do not want anything else especially in the run up to Christmas. last year I had shingles so I am determined this Christmas I am NOT going to be ill!
I have been very lucky this week to be a Lady who Lunches twice, yesterday and today. Yesterday with Sue who I have not seen since June this year so we had a lovely catch up and Jayne today for our monthly lunch. We tried an Italian at one of our local pubs and it is like a tappas where you have small dishes of things be it pasta or meat etc. It was lovely although by the end of it I was very full! The next time I see Jayne it will be for our Christmas meal in December and I am really looking forward to that.
Tomorrow I will be with Eldest at his work doing jobs but I am hoping to get back early so I can get some more jobs done at home. Thursday will be home jobs and then Friday I can get some other Christmas jobs done, I have quilting to finish and baking to do as well. Saturday DH and I are going to get some Christmas jobs done and then in the evening we are going with Eldest, Partner, The Girls and Little Man to see Santa which will be great. Sunday we will be finishing off the Christmas jobs. Next week I am going to pinch a couple of days to get some other jobs completed! It is winding up to Christmas!
Well Wimbledon is over for another year and to be honest I did not watch as much as I normally do. The Women’s draw I had no idea who most of the players were and had never heard of the two finalists. I was actually out when they played their final. I did see the Men’s final yesterday, a repeat of last year, and also the same winner, Alcaraz. It was not the most thrilling of matches to watch. I also got a little fed up this year that the reports of Wimbledon were more interested in who was attending and what they were wearing rather than the tennis! I despair sometimes at the media’s attention of so called celebs! It was great to see The Princess of Wales there though.
We don’t watch or follow Football but England lost in the final of the European Cup to Spain, so Spain had two celebrations yesterday!
DH and The Boys were at Goodwood Festival of Speed over the weekend and the event was on this year, after the high winds last year meant it was cancelled. This is when they arrived first thing in the morning waiting for breakfast!
The Start of the Uphill bit.
In the Paddock looking at them preparing the cars for the Hill Climb
“The King” From Cars
Ferrari – Lewis Hamilton’s Team next year!
A great picture from one of the Grandstands opposite the House
Partner, Girlfriend and I had a lovely evening together on Saturday, with Little Man of course. I decided rather than getting a Takeaway I would have a go at making some Chinese dishes. I made Chicken Chow Mein. spicey beef, sweet & sour chicken with rice. It was good but I have respect for Chinese takeaways every where that produce all these meals in ten minutes when it took me about four hours to make all the dishes!! Next time we will have a Takeaway!
The Boys got back about 1.00pm on Sunday and we got a few jobs done and then had an early dinner and went to bed as we were all shattered!!!
This week is a quiet week work wise. Jayne and I are going for lunch to a new pub tomorrow and then we have friends coming for dinner on Saturday night. This weekend and next DH is not at any swimming events so we can get a few jobs done and also have a couple of days off too. I am hoping that the weather is going to be nice so we can do a bit of gardening and also have some time to sit outside. The weather this summer has been awful, with quite a bit of rain and cloudy cool days and it looks like it is going to be like this for the rest of the summer. We are away soon on vacation and although it is great to have sun and lovely weather, I am not that bothered I just want to be away for two weeks from work! Youngest & Girlfriend unfortunately are not able to come up and see us but they will be home sitting for us and looking after little Coco.
Now I have my sewing set up in Eldest’s Room I won’t be taking that with me but I will be taking lots of books to read. It will be great as I won’t get too many interruptions! I will show you the books I am going to take with me and also do Book Club Friday this coming week, it was a little busy last Friday!
Have a lovely week.
Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
As DH was not here for two nights, Madam made use of his side of the bed!
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