Summer Staycation Is No More.

Good morning.

Today Jon has gone back to work after his annual Summer break from the saw mill. We both really wish he could always be at home and hopefully it will be that way soon. The recent couple of weeks has been a little bit of a staycation for the two us with the boys being away. Now they are back we've had some lovely family time together. Saturday and yesterday we went to the beach for the boys to swim; it was great to see boats, swimmers and paddle boarders and we might have seen a dolphin but we got there an hour too late. Harumph!

We were able to chill and it gave Jon time to slow the pace of life when he works so hard even though on holiday and we all had ice cream. Yum!

Before we went to the beach on Saturday we came across these two chairs in our favourite house clearance shop. They are PERFECT for the summer house snug project. (We have ditched the chair we previously found) It is coming along very nicely indeed and I can't WAIT to show you the end product but I'll have to wait a little longer. 

The stories I could tell you about the things Jon and I have transported on car roof racks since we have been together would make your hair curl - I know at times they have been responsible for the grey in my hair!!

Jobs around the house have continued, of course. The stable door Jon fixed for the kitchen has now been painted in duck egg blue, chalk-style paint, door furniture added and I love it. 

Just for further contrast we've painted the lovely side table that was green, which I've loved since we viewed the house. It practically sold me the house - you know when you just see something that you think is just your thing well this was that.

I've been harvesting a few things here and there and Jon I had lunch one day made up of two types of courgettes, green beans, onions, herbs and boiled potatoes. 

We have spuds coming out of our ears right now but I also took delivery of these beauties...

Charlotte Christmas spuds which are nearly all planted now, in bags so they can be moved indoors when necessary. 

In the polyhouse the last lot of climbing peas I recently sowed have come up and are now planted out - not sure how they will do but at the stage now of just giving stuff a go.

I've sown a tray of beetroot and spinach beet to grow inside along with some wild rocket in the polyhouse drainpipe and a pot of parsley to keep in there. Plus I've sown spring cabbage in trays to hopefully survive when I plant it out later on; this is my go at overwintering along with some spring onions in one of the green house raised beds.

Elsewhere in the garden I am loving my sunflower against the teal-coloured door of the polyhouse.

My tomatoes have SO many flowers on them and finally getting fruit on more than one plant.

I had a really good sized cucumber the other day...

and they are coming thick and fast....

as are the gherkins. Hope to get some radishes soon so I can make yummy fridge pickles.

I said we have spuds coming out of our ears, well the maincrop ones are looking great, too, and just starting to flower. 

I am still very upset that I have lost my cabbages and I think I'm going to take out the broccoli as nothing is really left of them, look our chooks. My swede are small and some of the leaves have been nibbled at, too, but I'm going with it as I hope it won't really affect the harvest?

Well that is where I am for now. We have Airbnb bookings for in the week and at the weekend so that it great - hope to get more for this month.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx 

Home, Family And Stuff And Nonsense.

Good morning.

You know when you just want to write stuff but you have nothing of interest to say to people. (Example my last post!😊I) like writing, I like words but I don't read that much - to be honest I can usually find something else to do apart from when I am planning stuff for the garden which I suppose is a bit of reading.

Jon and Harry have been away for the night so was just me and Alfie, it was lovely. But when he, or both boys, is in bed and Jon is not home I find it so hard to motivate myself to do anything, I mean anything. I wander around the house thinking "I really should put that pile of clothes away" or "my craft bench really needs sorting out" etc. When Jon is home or at work it is totally different; we have our 'pink and blue'  jobs to do and things we do as a family but I just can't get on with mine very well on my own. 

I did manage to make bread and do some washing yesterday and keep the home fires burning, literally. I even find it hard to settle watching TV, if there is anything decent to watch anyhow.

I suppose the weather is not helping at the moment. I always try to stay positive, about most things actually, including whatever it's doing outside but I have to be honest the rain and wind has been so dismal lately that I just want to hunker down and do zip!

The last lot of windy weather put paid to a lot of my hard work outside where I'd been covering the main veg patch with chicken manure and polythene ready for Spring. I will have to make a real effort on the first day we get a break in the weather - that will NOT be today!

This coming week I have to get things organised for Alfie's birthday - he will be 10!
Presents have been decided on, I feel sorry for him having his birthday so close to Christmas but he never seems to mind until we get to summer when he realises both occasions are some way!

Yay!!! Just spoke to Jon and Harry and they should be home before lunch. NOW I feel motivated. I'll get the burner in the living room lit, the kettle and cups will be ready for a brew when they get home and once logs have been brought into the kitchen and living room we will be ready to settle down for the day. Lunch will probably be soup and a sandwich for quickness before Columbo starts (bit a thing I have on a Sunday) and it is roast chicken with all the trimmings for tea. That all sound like bliss in my book and how my home should be - all of us together and if Alfie has his way we might squeeze in a game or two of Happy Families before baths later.

Aaaah, bye for now.

Lou.xx 

This, That And The Christmas Other!

Well, just 7 sleeps to go to The Big Ho Ho!

Tuesday was my last post so here is what the last couple of days have involved; various things going on in and around the house. (You may want to grab a sherry and a mince pie as this may go on for some time!)

Thursday was the day for baking biscuits for the teachers; I made them and Alfie helped decorate them. I gave three teachers biscuits and the headmistress some of my mince pies and one of the Merry Christmas biscuits. The little bags are the ones I found in Lidl a couple of weeks ago and were just perfect then I made tags for the boys to write on and the job was done. Just had to hope the boys got them to school in one piece!

The boys and Jon finished for Christmas on Friday and the boys came home with cards and bits and pieces they had made in school. This was made by Harry and I decided the perfect place to put it was right on the front door. I LOVE it!

I made a no-bake celebratory chocolate tiffin for the boys and Jon being home for Christmas and it came out really well. It is quite sweet so you wouldn't want to eat a lot of it at once but lovely to have a nibble of with a drink or after a meal.

The boys normally have pizza and corn on the cob for tea on Fridays as they go to Youth Club and it is a quick tea. They like the sausage stuffed crust from Iceland but I decided to make it myself this week and it didn't look too shabby an effort.

Yesterday we went into Aber for lunch and some festive family fun and shopping. The boys were pointed in the direction of a couple of things Jon and I may like for Christmas and took them to the counter and paid for them by themselves! We came home with a few things such as my Kilner jam pan and half a dozen new jars; 

I'd have had to wait until my birthday in September if I hadn't got them now. I have not wrapped them and Jon's new reciprocal (don't ask) saw in the black and blue case is also not packed but very gratefully received as were my goodies.

At our last house I managed to keep the same poinsettia going for five Christmases, yes five! However the one I bought last year does not seem to have the same level of enthusiasm so was very jealous when I saw this big beauty in the Tesco cafe whilst we stopped for a warming latte.

In Lidl later on I saw these darling little poinsettia plants. 

Sadie, a life in the english rain , lovely blog to visit, here is where one of the Oxo box comes into the picture, literally! (Not the best quality photo.)

I haven't shown many photos of the outside recently but here is my garlic coming on really well....

and my onions, too.

I did manage to plant some daff bulbs in one of my small planters a while ago and look here!

I am always tweaking the decorations and the easiest way is to make something quickly. I can't get a good photo of the one of these I've made for the beam in the kitchen but this is basically the same apart form the ribbons I've used to attach the pennants to; really pleased with both - nothing like a bit of Christmas crafting.

I took Alfie to his last piano lesson before Christmas this evening and i am proud as punch. He will be taking his pre-test in March and has his books to start preparing for it in January. He only began his lessons at the start of September but he is coming on beautifully!! The books are not cheap, £17 for the latest three, plus £10 for each lesson but I truly think it is worth every penny for the results we are getting.  If he goes down to the cellar for something he just CAN'T resist playing a few notes which I flippin' love!

In other news, I promise this will come to an end soon, we have a booking for our letting room for Boxing Day for two nights - can you believe it? That will pay for a good chunk of the Christmas food bill for really not a lot of effort.

Right, I'm going now as the final of The Apprentice is on shortly.

I will have pictures of the finished parking space project soon as Jon has been working really hard on it for the last couple of days and it is looking fab.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Only Four- Day Gap?

Wow. I just checked and it is only four days since my last post but it seems so much longer. 

Anyhow, what has been going on at our end?

The people who sold us Bronllan went away last Sunday so we said we would look after their horses every other day or so. Alfie had a bit of a bad experience with them when we first got here but he is better now and loved feeding them their carrots.

The boys have been good at going outside whilst the weather is good and snapped them sitting on the trailer and having a chin wag the other day.

On Friday I baked a Victoria sandwich cake and when we had been shopping on Saturday I filled and decorated it, unfortunately not with our own strawberries. Suffice to say it did not last very long as we had had a big fried breakfast and did not want lunch so this was snack!

On Saturday morning I was chuffed to see the girls were back to 6-a day and I picked our second cucumber and more sugar snap peas.

On Saturday I also made a vegetable lasagne; I had two small aubergines that I bought last week and thought I should use them up. I mixed some red lentils and kidney beans together and I had grated some sweet potatoe ready to make some fritters and had a bit of red pepper, two of our own but small courgettes and half a red onion to use up so fried these whilst I lightly baked slices of the aubergines. (Wish I'd taklen pictures as I went along!) I layered the lentil mix then the pepper and onions followed by the sweet potato and toppped with the aubergines keeping going until it was all used up. Topped off with four slices of cheese and popped in the oven for a little while it turned into this.

Can't wait to have it for my lunch, I am home alone today until tea time tomorow as the boys have gone on a trip to see Jon's parents; two locations and bringing his mum back for a short visit. Going to get today's jobs done after this then I am going to continue with this.

This is my papercrafting C word December Daily project! Check out here for examples of scrapbooking/mini-albums on acid! It is something I have wanted to do for a couple of years but you have to be a bit organised and get the base album finished before the rest of the festive organisation starts or you never get it done. Here's hoping I manage it this year, although most people don't tweak the finishing touches until the new year, final photos etc.

This is some of my Christmas crafting stash which I rummaged for in one of the outbuildings where we are currently keeping the decorations etc. Amongst other things I'm using up pages from an old festive planner I made a couple of years ago, why not...

then Tunnocks tea cake wrappers are one of my very fav things to use for decorations and papercrafting at C.

This is the start of the cover; sorry I'll stop now, but you know how I love C!

This morning I went to do the watering in the Poly House; we have had rain so most things outside have had a good soaking. My broccoli which has been attacked by some nibbler of sorts seems to have perked up a bit so really pleased about that. I collected the eggs and thought I'd take a few photos. Apologies but no time again for Pic Monkey.

Bush variety coming on loads on just one side?...

and the beef tomatoes better in bigger planters.

Nearly had a disaster with the cordon plant the other day as the bunch of toms was so heavy it nearly broke the stem off! Sorted it with more twine and canes!

THIS is the sweetcorn?

Right, well I have to get the chooks cleaned out and then I can do what I want and any other household chores, apart from one load of washing, can DEFINITELY wait until tomorrow.

Yay! Domestic freedom, just for the day, not that I am not the happiest bunny making a family home for me and my men, but it will be fun. I'm NOT be wearing my watch, I'm doing what NEEDS to be done and then the world is my oyster. 

Ooo, the post lady has just brought this union jack bunting I ordered ready for the Olympic celebrations - the boys are so excited, especially Alfie. It has a vintage, faded white look!

Right I'm off but I'll be cheking in to see what everybody else is getting up to, of course!

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Holiday Happenings.

Today is the first day of the school summer holidays so I have made my type face colour a little more summer like, just coz I can!

I have been quite leniant with the boys for the first day but I always do my best to keep them off screens for some parts of the day so we are able to do things as a family. This morning they had a lie in, no doubt watching too much tv, and I got them downstairs at 10am after I had eaten my breakfast, collected the first eggs, weeded some of the veg patch and did the Poly House jobs.

After their breakfast we took Jake for a walk and I photographed a few things in the lovely sunshine.

The weather is glorious again today and Jake always likes to cool off by having a roll in the grass.

Along the cycle path are tonnes of blackberry bushes so cannot wait to get some picked for pies!

We also came across a raspberry bush and had a couple of them to nibble on and we hope there will be more there and one I have spied across the road near a neighbour's building.

We meandered home enjoying the sunshine but knowing we would all enjoy a cold drink a little bit more!

When back at home Alfie asked if he could do some 'school work'. Call me pushy but I have always used the internet to provide things for the boys to do to keep their brains working during hoidays. They like to do their own newspaper articles, I print off word searches and book report pages etc. I hope to find some Welsh quizes they can do, too but I will need to make sure I have the answers in English, too!

Alfie loves keeping a scrapbook so we will be buying a new one at the weekend. He has asked if we can do Art on a Friday like they do at school. As I said I do my best to not have them on a screen and when I encourage them I love that they want to do stuff. Alfie is currently doing his newspaper front page with articles which include the hot weather, and him selling his cheese block door stops at the school faete but he is including the Olympics as he can't WAIT for them to start. 

Harry has 31 day Lego challenge and is already on about day four!

We also plan on going to the river to swim, weather depending of course, cooking, some crafting etc. visit the beach etc. I wouldn't describe myself as a helicopter parent as they need to play on their own so I get some time for myself over this long holiday.

We are planning on joining the Aber library so we can take part in the Summer Reading Challenge summer reading challenge which is based around Roald Dahl, who they both love.

So, Day One seems to be going ok. We have egg mayonnaise made for lunch sandwiches to eat outside, in the shade of course. One down 46 to go!

Bye for now.

Lou.xx