Category Archives: The Boys

Our Two Boys – Eldest & Youngest and what they have been and are up to!

Thursday Here!

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I am still here, and no Op!  There is a lot of good in our NHS healthcare system in the UK and then there is some which is not good!  Mainly the organisation and booking of appointments.  I won’t go into the whole saga of it enough to say that the adminstrative staff who were supposed to book the Op didn’t and I am now trying to sort out a date which is suitable for DH and I!  Looking now like middle of February!

©Netflix

I forgot in all the Christmas posts about Stranger Things ending!  DH and I had been out for New Year’s Eve to friends for dinner and had a great time and did not get home until 2.00am.  Of course that was when the Stranger Things final episode dropped in the UK so by the time we got home and ready for bed, DH of course fell fast asleep but I could not resist putting the final episode on!  It was two hours long so I started it at 3.00am and finished at 5.00am! 

IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN IT YET DO NOT READ ON!

What did I think of the final!  It was good although I thought some parts of it were a little too much in it, especially the soldiers and the “new” character played by Linda Hamilton.  I know why they included it but If I am honest I skipped over a lot of those bits as I did not think it added to the story at all.  I was a bit miffed with Eleven’s ending but was glad that the Duffer Brothers did do a proper ending with the characters especially the afterwards, which quite often does not happen.  I was sad that Nancy and Jonathan split up in the final episode and although I understand why I think they could have left that out. 

Finally is Eleven alive and living on her own in a far away country?  I want to believe it is so, but there are many, many questions of well how did she get there, what about money etc and I am sure they would say well Dr Sam Owens did not die and he found El and helped her get out of the country with new papers and money that was really from Papa’s estate which he left to Eleven as she was his only true success and although he subjected her to horrible tests he really did love her.  Well that’s my bit of storytelling.  

I know the whole series was only five but over ten years in the making and I am sorry it has ended.  I thought it was good and I loved seeing the character development and seeing the children grow into adults in the series and real life.  It was one of those shows where they did get the casting right.  I am now going to have to find a new show to watch which is similar to this!

So not having my Op has given me another weekend free with DH so we are out for dinner on Saturday with some friends and we have a few jobs we can get done at home which I had put off until next month.  We are still waiting for little one to arrive and Fiancée is completely fed up now, however taking after Daddy who was ten days late!!!  I will let you know when the event happens!  

You know how I said Monday was Blue Monday well today has gotten to me.  All this week has been like this, rain and grey skies and I don’t think we have seen the sun for weeks and it is depressing.  I understand how some people can suffer from SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder.  Trying hard not to be though!

Sunday is Burn’s Night, a celebration of Robert Burns birth on January 25th 1759 and as Fiancée is Scottish I am doing a traditional dinner of Haggis, neeps and tatties and a Scottish dessert!  Of ccourse this is planned and so Little One will arrive!!!  Hey ho!

I hope you are all having a good week.  As it is Thursday here is a #TBT picture.

Thomas Day at Great Central Railway2005.  TheBoys were ten and six!

March 2007 in Inverness The Boyes were twelve and eight.  

Need to get on with home jobs now!  Have a terrific Thursday. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

We need it to be like this!

#TBT.

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Thursday again, they do seem to come round very quickly!  I suppose it is because it is home jobs day!  It has been very warm here today again so I have decided I will not do the ironing today and will fit it in when it is cooler.

I have had some new lenses in my glasses and collected them on Monday and am now trying to get used to them.  They are a new type of lens especially made for the work I do, computer work and then when I am reading.  I only use them for reading as my distance sight is fine, but it is  taking a little while to get used to the gradient in them.  

As it is #TBT I thought I would show you these pictures from 2012 when we went to The Harry Potter Studio Tour.  It was the first week that it opened and we thoroughly enjoyed the visit to see where it was filmed and all the props.  The Boys and DH were not very keen on the Butter Beer though!  

Here we are in “The Mirror of Erised” which shows the viewer their deepest desire which, for me, is DH and My Boys.  Eldest was 16 and Youngest was 12.

It was a great day and something we said we would do again, especially as they have added more things onto the tour now, like the train. 

You can walk down Diagon Alley and here I am outside Flourish and Blotts

The Boys getting their Wands at Ollivanders!

I am sure that, if we are all honest, we would all love to get our letter inviting us to attend Hogwarts by owl!

When I was at Primary School I devoured the “Malory Towers” books by Enid Blyton about Darrell Rivers who begins her First Year at Malory Towers Boarding School.  I would have loved to have gone to Boarding School and had all the adventurs that Darrell had with her friends.  My best friend at the time was called Judith and she and I read these books together (I still have my set).  Judith had a sister, Glynnis who was quite a bit older than she was, so Judith was like an only child like me.  Her room was the smallest in the house as her sister had the larger room and Judith’s bed fit between the two walls and above her bed she had bookshelves with her books on them and I loved her room.  Her bed was like a reading nook and you could look out of the window which was at the base of the bed.   I was lucky to have a bigger room but I really liked her room as it was cosy.  We were about eight at the time.  We then moved on to reading The Narnia stories, again I still have the set!

Anyway this is all leading up to tomorrow which is Book Club Day!  I have quite a few to discuss with you.  Happy Thursday. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Winter.

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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. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

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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. 

©The Grand Tour/Amazon

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. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Summer & #TBT.

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Busy Doing Nothing….!

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Here is Coco’s eleven month old pawtrait!! I cannot believe that next month she is one year old.  Where to the months fly to?

DH and Youngest have done the first weekend of County Swimming Championships which went well although it was too hot on the pool deck.  It is the new 50m swimming pool and although only just opened there are already some issues with it!  Whenever they build these things they never seem to ask or take notice of the swimming clubs who are going to use it for events.  On a day to day basis it is fine but when you have hundreds of swimmers and spectators in there, you suddenly realise all the faults with the place!  One more weekend to go!

I, of course, got nothing done that I wanted to do because it was just one of those weekends.  The weather was yuck which meant I did not feel inclined to get lots done, so spent the weekend doing not a lot at all.  However, I did get some reading done so that does count!!!!

We heard today that Youngest has passed his final exams for his Apprenticeship with high marks!  We are so proud of him, especially as there was an eight month delay caused because of the Covid situation.  He just has one more set to do this week and then he has completed it and will be fully qualified!  Yeah!

Our weather has turned cold again with heavy frost on the ground and Coco was not keen to go out this morning! It is going to be like this for a few days before it gets a bit warmer again. 

Have a great week you lovely lot. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Coco knows where best to be warm and cosy in this weather!!!!

 

GroundHog Day!

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It’s Groundhog Day and Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his burrow and saw his shadow so we are going to get another six weeks of Winter, the little darling!!!!!!  The last few days here have been a bit warmer but the next few days it is going to be freezing again, so he must be right!

It has been a busy old week again with work and swimming things and DH is out all weekend as it is the Derbyshire Championships this weekend and next.  Also next week DH is away at a business exhibition as well, everything always happens at once!

I also missed the Chinese New Year on January 22nd.  This year is the year of The Rabbit which is Youngest! Apparently they are talented and affectionate, a seeker of tranquility. The years in The Rabbit are 1903, 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023.

I, on the otherhand, am The Dragon!  I am robust, passionate and my life is filled with complexity!!!!! DH is The Rooster; seeking wisdom and truth, and has a pioneering spirit! Eldest is The Pig; Gallant and noble, his friends will remain at his side!  I don’t know how much stock you put into this or astrology, I do read them but then forget them!!!

I have moved home jobs which I usually get done today to Saturday morning as I have been trying to catch up on work, which I have managed to do today.  Also the washing and ironing will get done then too. 

I hope you are having a Happy Thursday.  As it is normally Throwback Thursday I found this in my Photo files:

This was February half term with the Boys in London eighteen years ago!  OMG!  The Boys were nine and five when this picture was taken. 

Book Club Friday tomorrow. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Congratulations Youngest!

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Many Congratulations to Youngest who has now completed his training and is a fully qualified Jaguar/Land Rover Technician.  He has one more block of Assessments and tests in January and then he will be a fully qualified Technician.  It has taken seven months longer than it should have because of all the chaos of Covid, but he has managed to stay focused and on top of all the work to get it done.  We are so proud of him.

As it is #TBT here is a picture of when he was little!

Here he has fallen asleep under the breakfast bar having got his Thomas The Tank Engine Yogurts out of the fridge!!!!!  He is two in this picture!!!

Happy Thursday everyone. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

The Wednesday Wag.

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It is very cold here today and Mom has put the heating on and it is so lovely.  It has also been raining so I have not been out much either.

This is what I have to do when Youngest gets home to get my dinner; ATTACK!!!!!

Stop lying on the job, it’s dinner time.

Okay if you won’t get up I will lie on you and attack you !!!!

Right I will just lie on you until you admit defeat and get up!

I may as well take 40 winks now I am here lying on this comfy person!!!!!

Dinner will be soon hopefully.  I hope you are having a wonderful Woofy Wednesday.

Treacle xx

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Yesterday was “National Son Day” but I missed it, here I am with our two from 2010 when we were in Orlando.   Youngest was ten and Eldest was fourteen.  I wish we could go back to this time!!!!!!

Happy Wednesday All.

Hugs & Love, Susie & Treacle xx

The Wednesday Wag & #TBT.

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Goodness me it is July 1st, now where did the first six months of this year just go?  I know, I know; lockdowns, work, home and family.  It has been a busy six months!!!

Oh dear I am a day behind again!  Yesterday turned into a mega day after Treacle’s Spa day and I didn’t get home until 7.00pm!!!  Never mind here she is with her summer Airecut!  Picture Heavy Post!

The Wednesday Wag!

This pose is “It is time for a Biscuit – NOW”  Treacle was barking at this point!

“Oh never mind a biscuit there is something outside”!

“No nothing outside – Biscuit NOW”!

“Did you hear me NOW”!!!!!!!!!

“Well if I must sit down and have my blooming photograph taken to get my Biscuit”!

“Okay come on I have sat down for all of oh two seconds, Biscuit NOW”!!!!

“Did I actually have my Biscuit?” YES YOU DID!!!!!

#TBT!

Always an event I looked forward to in July each year was the Boys’ Sports Day when they were at Primary School.  So here are two pictures from 2005, oh my sixteen years ago, now where has that gone? 

Youngest in his first Sports day aged five and he won his first race, as you can see although it is upside down!!!!!

Eldest in the baseball cap not paying attention as usual!!!!  Aged 9

Amazingly the sun was shining as well.  Good old British weather.  We must be the only country that has the school year set out with outdoor events put in and then three other days set aside as alternates in case it rains!!!!

The Garden

Thought you would like to see how the garden is coming along after the nice weather and all the rain we have had!!!!  It is starting to feel like summer now and we do have some sunshine today. 

Tomorrow is home jobs day and grocery shopping, getting ready for the weekend and hopefully, fingers and toes crossed, I am going to get some quilting done on Saturday.  I know don’t be shocked a quilting blog with actually some quilting happening!!!!!  🙂 

To All My Canadian Followers & Readers

Happy Canada Day.

I hope you are all having a good week and it’s Friday tomorrow!!!! 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Treacle xx