Do you know what I hate the most?  When people use a bad situation as an excuse for bad service!!!!! 

I won’t go into all the details but our energy supplier is using the Covid situation as an excuse not to deal with complaints.  When I finally got through to talk to somebody (after 37 minutes on hold!) on Monday the person who answered said she would call me back on Tuesday; I am still waiting!  I called again today and when I finally got through again the woman put me on hold for 15 minutes and said it would be sorted by Monday next – I don’t believe it!  When I asked woman 1 on Monday where she was she said Nottingham.  When I asked woman 2 today she said Leicestershire however both of them had African accents.  When I asked woman 2 about this she said that they do have an African call centre but she wasn’t in it!  When I said that two of them had different answers of where they are in the UK she had no answer!!!!!!!!  I said I wanted to complain and she said she could deal with it; I said no and I wanted to speak to someone in the UK she transferred me to another automated system and after an hour of no answer I hung up, a call which of course I paid for!!!!  GRR,,,,,,,,

It is also like all the articles being written at the moment by journalists who are making the new Lockdown out to be horrendous and ordinary people are giving interviews saying how bad they feel.  I know for some people it can be really hard but at the end of the day we all have to get through this and we need to make the best of the situation.  Continually moaning about it is not helping anyone!

Rant over!!!!!

************

Anyway as it is Thursday I thought I would show you some pictures from various January’s and a couple from December (!) for #TBT.

The Boys have always liked vehicles of any shape or form and both of them could not wait to be able to drive.  We found a scheme where they could have a first, second, third and fourth drives, building up their skills until they could actually have driving lessons.

Above is Eldest having his First Drive.

Above is Youngest having his First Drive four years later!

Of  course trains were their most favourite of transport, especially the steam trains!  When it included The Hogwarts Express well you can imagine! 

At Great Central Railway on a visit and Thomas was there!

For Youngest’s 7th Birthday we were at Great Central Railway and had lunch on the steam train. 

Eldest who is eleven here and I on the train for lunch.

Youngest and DH.

They loved having lunch on the train so we have been quite a few times since.  In fact as last year was so bad for funds for Great Central Railway they have put on Breakfast trains and we were all going to go in February but if the lockdown continues we won’t be going.  Hopefully they will move the events for when we can all go.

It has been snowing here today but not settling really just very wet and Treacle has had the same response, I don’t want to go out!  Needless to say that she does get sent out because she hasn’t been out for ages!!! 

Tomorrow is home jobs day and at the weekend I am hoping to get some more quilting done.  I think DH and the Boys are busy sorting out the garage and car things again!

Happy Thursday everyone.

Hugs & Love, Susie xx

Youngest – 21 Years Old This Week!

Now where did that go?!!!!!!

He Was Always Thoughtful!

Even when taking his Thomas The Tank Engine yogurts out of the fridge, hiding under the kitchen chairs and trying each one but then being so tired falling asleep under there!!!! Age 2

Of course you have to have a partner in crime with you at all times!

6th Birthday, Thomas is still favourite!

Me and my Dog!

He always liked to Act! Aged 10

Including “Victoria” When he was 17 And “Doctors” at 18!

He does clean up pretty well though!

First car aged 17

Girlfriends! They get you to do things that well……..!!!!

They are worth it though!

But you ALWAYS still need that Partner in Crime!!!!!

Lockdown Birthday 2020!!!!!!

Who cares it’s Lockdown we can still celebrate at home!!!! As you can see.

Girlfriend’s and my interpretation of a Land Rover Cake!!!!! It took a while and it might look like a Disney “Cars” version of a Land Rover but Youngest loves it! Happy 21st Birthday Youngest – We love you Lots!

Hugs & Big Love from Mom, Dad, Eldest, Girlfriend & Treacle xxxxx

Goodness me it is Thursday already!  Another week almost done and I am racing to catch up with everything again!  No matter how organised I start out the week, I seem to get bogged down by the end of it! 

Anyway, enough of the moaning!  I saw this picture the other day when I was searching for something else!

This was 2001, our old home, Eldest was six and Youngest was 2!  The Race Car walker was originally Eldest’s and he kindly let Youngest use it. They could ride it and push it along with their feet or hold on to the back where Eldest is and walk with it!  It was a great hit with both of them.   Of course when Youngest was riding and Eldest was pushing you can imagine the chaos!

My good friend Susan said she had not realised, only having girls herself, how much boys injured themselves, especially after Youngest’s troubles this week.  Little does she know of the amount of times we have ended up in A&E with one or both of them as they have managed to hurt themselves somehow!!!!  However she did say she is learning as her Grandson has got into a few scrapes!  DH and I had their schools phone number permanently in our phones, as we were always get called about some injury they had managed to do!!!

It is swimming again tonight, tomorrow night and Saturday morning (!) but then we have three days off.  The weather looks to be okay, even though it is cooler, to finish those jobs in the garden.  I got the outside umbrella put away after the nice warm days, which was a good job as it has been raining since!!!!  It really is getting to feel like Autumn here now!!!

I hope you are all having a Thrilling Thursday, Friday tomorrow, Yeah!!!!

Hugs & Love, Susie xx

Also found this!  This is Youngest when he was 13!  Swimming injury!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thursday all!  Bit of a mixture here today for #TBT.  As the children broke up from school last week I thought I would show you the Boys last days at Primary School before starting Senior School.

Eldest above, so everyone else will have a picture of all of them looking at the camera but Eldest was looking at me!!!!! From 2006.

Youngest when he got back from school with his shirt all signed, a great tradition here in the UK.  They did the same when they left Senior School too! From 2011.

The funny story from these pictures is that they both used Sharpies to sign the names and when they got back there were multi-coloured dots all over their chests and arms!!!!  I had to spend about an hour getting them off with nail polish remover!  They were not amused!!!!!!

The above picture is our holidays to Scotland and particularly Moy Fair.  This was the shoot at the targets, which our good friend Gordon was part of.  Here is Eldest shooting the flintlock they had.  It really made a huge bang!!!!

The Boys and DH used to go cycling at this forest trail which actually lead down to the Beach as well. 

Youngest at the Loch where the cottage is.  I think this is an antler he found!!!

The holiday pictures are all from 2010 when Eldest was 14 and Youngest was 10.

I am busy trying to get things sorted during this week and next before we go away on vacation a week on Saturday.  I am desperately trying not to end up running around like the proverbial headless chicken trying to get everything sorted before we go.  I swear every year I won’t do it and then by a week on Friday I will still have a million things to do and running out of hours and then declare “I don’t know why we are bothering to go away …….”  I am sure if you are a Mom you will definitely know what I am talking about!!!!

We have another swimming meeting tonight (!) as we are running out of days to get that sorted as well!!! 

I hope you are having a good Thursday, Friday tomorrow!!!

Hugs & Love, Susie xx

This little chap is celebrating his 75th Birthday!!!!

His creator, The Rev. Wilbert Awdry, released the Thomas story in his Railway Series but soon became the favourite along with Gordon, Edward and Henry.  He originally created the story for his son, Christopher, as a bed time story when he was at home with measles.

Needless to say both of our Boys adored the books and eventually the DVDs’ and more often than not the bed time stories were one of the Thomas stories.  In fact they both have a huge book full of the stories and the original drawings.

We are very lucky where we live to have a steam railway near and they host Thomas The Tank Engine Days regularly during the year and we always went.  Here are the Boys with Thomas.  Eldest is 10 and Youngest is 6.  In fact Eldest actually spent his third Birthay at a Thomas day at the railway!

Even when they were older and we were visiting the steam railway for another event they could not resist getting into the toy Thomas on the platform!

Above is the model railway they both had in their bedroom when they were young and they played for hours with it.

This was taken at the next station along on the steam railway line and we just love the old fashioned style of it. 

So Happy Birthday Thomas The Tank Engine, you are looking good for 75. 

Stay Safe All.  Hopefully we will be able to go to the Steam Railway again very soon.

Hugs & Love, Susie xx

The weekend flew by but we all had a lovely time.  Eldest and Treacle were tucked up at home for the weekend and Treacle loved every minute of having Eldest to herself.  We had a lovely time in London with visits and shopping and to see the show on Saturday evening.  Here are some pictures of the weekend.

DH and I caught the train early on Friday morning and once we had left our bags at the hotel went for lunch at Fortnum & Masons in The Gallery. 

It wasn’t too busy when we got there but soon filled up.

The Gallery over looks the sales floor.

Dessert, orange panna cotta

Hundreds of years ago Tea was a very expensive commodity and it was almost a thing to be displayed such as this tea house in Fortnums.

Tea was also kept in locked caddies such as these as it was so expensive.

From the first floor looking down to the lower ground floor and this spectacular spiral staircase in the centre of the store.

Youngest and Girlfriend arrived in the evening and we had dinner in our room.

Pictures of our room.

We had evening drinks in the lounge before Youngest and Girlfriend arrived.  It is very cosy with the fire especially as it was very cold and frosty on Friday evening which made a change after all the rain again.

I will show you more pictures tomorrow.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Hugs, Susie xx

Sorry for the radio silence and no I was not busy with Christmas things.  Eldest called me from work yesterday morning “I am on the way to hospital my shoulder has dislocated again”, me “okay I am on my way”!!!!!!!  This is the third time this shoulder has come out!  Anyway I finally found him in A&E already being looked at and fortunately by a shoulder surgeon who put the shoulder back in after some drugs to try and relax Eldest!!!  We have then had to go back to the hospital today for a further update and he now has to have an MRI on it to see if the surgeon can actually do anything to stop this happening again!!!  He is signed off work for four weeks!!! 

We think he is getting used to being at the hospital having had his appendix out at the beginning of October, I mean I will just take him to have a look round if he really wants to, he doesn’t have to injure himself to do it!!!  Oh and the best bit of how his shoulder came out?  He sneezed!!!  Yep that’s right he sneezed!!!  Boys!!!!

I am still doing okay with getting jobs done for Christmas although yesterday and today have sort of thrown a spanner in the works but I am determined not to be stressed about it, honest!!!!!

I also missed Book Club Friday last week but I am hoping to do that tomorrow after Treacle’s Wednesday Wag, she has a tale to tell as well!!!!

Happy Uninjured Tuesday everyone!

Hugs, Susie xx

Made it to Wednesday and Treacle is very busy outside to be bothered to do her Wednesday Wag!!!! 

Today all the children went back to school and, like when they break up in July it heralds summer, today heralds the beginning of Autumn.  Of course our two are now all grown up and in the World of Work but here is a sneaky throw back to when they were at school.

Eldest Aged 10 and Youngest Aged 6,  Primary School.

Eldest Aged 18 and Youngest Aged 14, Senior School.

I love looking back at old pictures!!!!

Work has been busy yesterday and today and I managed to get a huge amount of ironing done so at the moment I am back up to date with everything!!!!!  Yeah!

At the weekend DH is busy the whole weekend with swimming duties so I am going over to Nottingham on Saturday to run some errands and then Sunday I will be getting on with some quilting.  I am a bit behind on those projects!!!

Happy Wednesday Everyone.

Hugs, Susie xx