Well, it' s all done and dusted here, as they say (not literally, of course - the dusting won't be done until the Xmas decorations come down on New Year's Day...). I was going to put up a photo, but didn't get any taken on Christmas except one video of Alex playing with his train - just too much going on and too many children trying to capture my attention all at the same time. Maybe some more will get taken in the next few days. We've had a lovely Christmas with Geoff's mum visiting - she goes home tomorrow - Geoff will take her to the train station and then go on in to work - he's been off today and yesterday as they are bank holidays, due to the actual holidays falling on the weekend. It's confusing, frankly. But anyway, he's working Wednesday & Thursday & then has Friday off on leave and next Monday is another bank holiday. Very useful having a couple of extra grownups around to help entertain the kids. Hope everyone else had a lovely holiday.

Happy Christmas! Here's our tree - with our car in the background, which is a really welcome sight to me, as they've been replacing the gas mains in our street over the past few weeks, and the entire side of the road in front of our house has been torn up and there's been nowhere to park. It was a real relief for them to finish! 

Advent calendar update from a few days ago 

Only a week to go until the big day, and it's calmed down here a bit. School is finished, and all the other attendant things - Brownies, Rainbows, swimming, clubs, yoga, toddler group, whatever. Nativty plays done, carol concerts done, school and activity parties done. So now we get a few days' rest before we have to start cooking for Christmas, which is great. Lana and I have sorted out our menu for Christmas (turkey, bread stuffing, cranberry relish, roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts with bacon, red cabbage, baby carrots - pretty traditional this year) - a big meal this year, as we have 7 adults and 6 kids (our family, Geoff's mum, Lana & co (which is 2 adults and 2 kids) and her new neighbours, who are Russian and at loose ends - they don't really celebrate English Christmas normally - they tend to do New Year's instead - anyway, there are 2 of them, and one kid - Dascha, who is 6 - perfect age to fit in with the other girls!), so we can handle it. Tania (the new neighbour) may contribute something traditionally Russian for a starter. For dessert, we are only doing sorbets and Christmas cookies, because we won't want anything heavy after everything else. Should be good fun. Oh, forgot the gravy - gravy of course!

We also sorted the menu for Lana'a annual Christmas Eve do - they always have a drinks party on Christmas Eve - they used to do it anyway, and then when Keir was born conveniently (ha) on 24 December, they carried on with the tradition partly as a birthday celebration for Keir. That's not a full meal, just lots of munchies, but I always help with the preparation. Lots of good stuff there - sausage and chutney pinwheels, mini gruyere croissants, mini turkey sandwiches, cocktail sausages, roast spicy potatoes, artichoke and parma ham wraps, parmesan curls, hummous & bread, smoked salmon and cream cheese pancakes and at least 2-3 other things I've forgotten. Yum. Food is on my mind a lot at the moment, you can tell...

This is the week for watching kids be in things. First there was a ballet show on Sunday, then one Christmas play and a Rainbows enrollment on Monday, and today, the other Christmas play. All very cute, of course. This is Olivia with her friend Isabella after being enrolled at Rainbows. 

This is my advent calendar - each day has a little mini quilt, you add one each day. Exciting! 

Been ages since I posted, I know. I'm feeling guilty as I just (finally) wrote the Christmas letter, and mentioned in it that I try to update my blog regularly (oops). But it's been the week running up to the Christmas fair at school, so extra busy. But at least that's all over now - went ok, not as big a turnout as some years, but a lot of people were away or ill - Olivia's now got this bug that was going around (not a throwing up one, thank goodness), so I think she'll be off school tomorrow - Sarah had it last week. So far, no grownups have got it, but I guess it's early days yet. And soon it will be Christmas - wow, where did the year go?

Got visited today by a whole flock of those green parrots that hang out in London sometimes. This shows two on the feeder - at one point, there were four of them. And at another point, we counted about a dozen distributed in trees, feeders, and so on. Fun!
 

lotsa braids... 

Another year older (more or less) - maybe another year wiser? One can only hope! So, that's birthday season in our house done with, except for poor Alex who is out of sync with the rest of us - just in time for Christmas, of course. One of my birthday presents is the new Harry Potter, which we will probably watch tonight, based on the assumption that there won't be anything worth watching on telly (well, it's Saturday - what are the chances?). Should be fun - Sarah and I saw it in the cinema, but Geoff and Olivia haven't seen it yet (we thought it might be a bit scary for Olivia in the cinema, with the dementors and all) so a treat for them. And the girls and I actually watched the second HP the other evening while Geoff was out - I braided their hair in lots of little braids while we watched - they had a mufti (i.e. no uniforms) day at school on Friday and they wanted fun hair. Photo to come!

Here's Sarah holding her postcard album - she's not finished labelling them yet, but we're getting there... 

Being a slacker again - so what else is new! Not a lot of unusual stuff going on here - I've been helping Sarah with her collector badge for Brownies (many thanks again to all who have sent postcards - she now has 122). We have to do some other things for the badge, too, like visit some places that have collections (museums, galleries, etc) and learn about the history of the object she's collecting. Brownies badges have become a lot more interesting since I was in girl scouts - not sure we ever actually did badges in brownies, but at older ages, I remember them being a bit dry, to say the least.

Spent the morning today helping in Reception class in school - you wouldn't believe how loud 17 & 5 year olds can be - I swear they were louder in school than at Olivia's party! Or maybe it just seems that way because you expect them to be loud at a party. But it was fun and Olivia enjoyed having me there, although she's not really keen on sharing me with the other children. She'll get over it, I'm sure.

This afternoon I'm doing a mass pancake-making exercise (little tiny ones) because they are having a World Food Tasting tomorrow at school and I'm doing pancakes with syrup (and other toppings for those who might not like maple syrup). They'll have to eat them cold, but I can't imagine the kids will care. So I'm going back and forth between the computer and the kitchen (which luckily are near one another) doing a sentence or two, then more pancakes, and so on. My life is just SO exciting.

But on the plus side, Kiki & baby Kenny are going home from hospital, which is great news :)

Grrr.

So, it's the big day today in the US - too scared to even think about it, frankly. My friend Kiki is in hospital, having given birth recently (by Caesarian) to Kenneth Albert (congrats, and welcome!), so she's probably the only American I know not voting (I hope!) but as she lives in Maryland, it won't really matter anyway. Little Kenny had some issues with his blood glucose levels, so has been spending a little time in the NICU, but hopefully will get the all clear today to leave the NICU and hang with Mummy. Mommy, rather. :)

Anyway, not much here except a minor domestic crisis in the form of the gasket/washer thingie coming loose on my washing machine during a wash cycle - not an issue as it's easy to fix, except that it meant water everywhere during the cycle as it has to be fixed from inside the machine and of course you can't open the machine until the cycle is done (we have frontloaders here in the UK in case you Yanks are bemused). Good timing, though, as the new flooring is (finally) being installed Friday, so the old flooring has to come up anyway, so I just ripped up the floor at that end of the kitchen so the floor underneath can dry faster. Satisfying, really. It will sure be nice to get the new floor down!

No doubt I'll be back tomorrow with comments (hopefully positive ones) on The Election. Until then...

I tried to post this yesterday but for some reason, it wasn't going anywhere...

Well, today's the last day of the half term holiday, so it's back to school on Monday, hoorah. Of course, there are two parties to get through before then - there's a birthday party for someone in Olivia's class tomorrow at Horton Park Farm, which is nice as I can take the other kids and we can just hang around at the farm while Olivia goes to the party. Then there's the Marina Avenue Halloween Party (in the Pavilion in our local park) on Sunday, which should be fun - we decided to get together and have a street party, except not in the street. I'm sure the kids will all have fun, which is the idea, after all.

Went to Kew Gardens today to look at "collections" - part of Sarah's collector badge for Brownies. And also because they have a good display of pumpkins and other autumnal fruits and veg there at the moment. It was nice because as it was sort of rainy (though it never actually rained much) it was quite empty despite being half term. The girls had a great day and barely argued at all, which is pretty good compared to how things usually are at the moment. (We're having a big spate of sibling rivalry or something at the moment - another reason to look forward to school being back in session...) And we found tons of autumnal bits and pieces to use in our autumn decoration we are going to make. Should be fun.

Well, half term holiday is nearly over, and we've survived, more or less. Last night was the infamous sleepover (Thalia, here) which we've been promising the girls since the summer - it just never seemed to work in the summer for one reason or another. Anyway, it went fairly well, and I think they were both asleep by about 11pm. Which for Sarah isn't THAT late, but Thalia goes to sleep very early (read "normal 7-yr-old bedtime") so it must have been a bit of a shock for her system. Tommorrow, unless the weather is dire, I think we're off to Kew to have a look at their pumpkin collection/display and whatnot. We were going to go up to a museum up in town but I think the kids are just too tired to cope. Not to mention, Mummy.

This isn't from the party, but just from yesterday when she was being silly - her hair is in lots of small braid under the wig - I kinda like the look in a sort of Cyndi Lauper way... 

Well, survived the birthday party - actually it went very well. There were 20 kids there, of whom several were siblings - the nice things about this place - it's one of those indoor climbing thingies - is that it's fairly small, so when you do a party there, you get the whole thing for an hour, just for your party, so no extra kids. Makes it easier to keep track of them, and also, if you've got little kids who are nervous with older, bigger kids they don't know, it's not a problem. Haven't opened the pressies yet - lots of pink wrapping paper, and I happen to know at least one of them contains makeup, so I'm sure she'll love that! And now, time for a large gin...

There's probably a new techie type word for people like me - people who start a blog and promise to update it faithfully but then lag farther and farther behind as life gets in the way... But frankly, I'm not young and hip enough these days to know what it is...

Tomorrow is Olivia's birthday, so I'm off to party with a milliondy-seven 4 and 5 year olds at Sutton Arena (a Leisure Centre) - there's one of those indoor climbing adventure playground thingies, which they get to run around for an hour, then we get an area to have food & stuff in, and then, hoorah, they all go home. Should be fun, in a noisy, chaotic kind of way. Next year she's not having lots of people (I think there are about 22 of them), but this year is her year to have a "big party", so I'm stuck with it. At least there's no school the next day (half term holiday next week), so she'll have time to recover. Can't believe she's 5 already!

Got my absentee ballot today for the US Presidential election. Not that it's likely to be a real problem in Maryland, but I do want to stand up and be counted this time. I'm not going to be able to sleep the night of the election, I'm sure, waiting for the results to come in. Sigh.

Nearly finished painting the computer room - probably won't be able to do any work this weekend, but maybe Monday or Tuesday afternoon I'll finish and then I'll be able to get some of my life back.

Haven't posted in ages, I know. Mostly this is due to laziness, but also to painting the computer room, so all the furniture was piled in the middle of the room & the computer wasn't even plugged in... More on that later - must dash out to see Sarah enrolled as a Brownie!

So, what's new? Sarah's party went well, thoroughly enjoyed by both girls and me - which was nice. Olivia's party will be more work, but hopefully that will be fun, too.

I finished painting the kitchen ceiling (2nd coat) and hope today to move on to the dining room - which will only need one coat, thank goodness, as it's just over paint, rather than new plaster. I may not be able to get to it, though, as Olivia is home today - she's fine now, but had one of those lovely throwing up viruses in the middle of the night (why is it always 2 in the morning?), so she's home from school.

Geoff had to take the morning off work, because this was Alex's yearly ultrasound to check on his dud kidney (I couldn't take Olivia even if she wasn't ill) - which appears not to be such a dud after all, as apparently it has grown since last year. It's still a lot smaller than the left one, which is normal, but it did grow, and it grew nearly as much as the left, so the proportional sizes are still similar, which is excellent news. We've got an appointment with the consultant paediatrician next week to go over the results, but I'm guessing they may send us for another DMSA scan to check functionality - before it was at 50 per cent of normal function (i.e. 25 per cent of overall function) - and if it has grown, it may still be contributing similar amounts of functionality. It's good news, though, because if it's growing, even if it's small and oddly formed, there's much less chance they'd want to remove it, and what I'd like to avoid (obviously) is surgery. Alex hated the ultrasound though - fussed the whole way through - but you can't really expect a toddler to do well with these things. Poor chap.

Forgot to say it's Sarah's birthday on Monday, so tomorrow we're going out for a little celebration - I'm taking Sarah, Thalia, Amelia (Sarah's friend from nursery) and Billie (from school - apparently Sarah's new "best friend" now that Millie has moved away) to have pizza & go to the cinema - to see A Cinderella Story. Actually, it should be fun (as opposed to Olivia's party, which is end of October, and will involve up to 25 4 & 5 year olds... - not in my house, I hasten to add!)

Ok, FINALLY got the rest of the pictures up on the kitchen page of our website. I know it's been a while, but well, I'm a busy person :)

I also put up some photos from Ireland on the main album page. So, there you go! More later.

This is on the first day of school (for Olivia), which was last Monday - Alex looks a bit worried by the whole thing, poor chap. 

Well, I know I'm a slug about blogging, and about updating the kitchen renovation page, but here's a picture to tide you over until I get it updated - some time this week. It's more or less done (I keep saying that, I know!) I need another coat of paint on the ceiling & to do the edges where the walls meet the ceiling. And we need a new floor - but that was waiting for the painting. Oh, and did I mention we are going to do just a little more work we hadn't decided on originally :) ? One more unit to the right of the dryer - we thought it might be too high there, as there's a low window, but actually, it will be ok, so Andy's going to come back and fit it for us when we have the stuff. But it certainly looks different! 

Sorry to be a slug about blogging - I do have a good excuse this weekend, though, as I was not near a computer for the entire weekend - more on that later. Kitchen is nearly nearly done now, only we've decided to add one more bit we weren't going to do originally - another unit next to where the tumble dryer is. I had originally thought the counter would be too high to carry on there, but we've decided it would look more finished to go a little further & round the counter off. Also, another unit (small drawers) would be useful. It may be a few weeks before that's sorted, though.

Anyway, both kids and Geoff seem to have survived the weekend without me, which is good & Olivia starts Reception tomorrow, which is also good. She's quite excited, and really, she needs to be back in school - it was quite a long summer break anyway, and for the Reception kids, it's been even longer. And for the parents, too! I'll try to catch up with news & kitchen stuff tomorrow or the next day, but there's still a lot to do putting the house in order & cleaning, as well as other things to catch up with. If anyone finds a place where they hand out extra time, do be sure to let me know, as I could certainly use some...

So, we're back from Ireland (which was great, more later on that), and kitchen is nearly done, just a few little bits (and my painting to come) - I have photos, but am too tired tonight to fuss with getting them out of the camera. Maybe tomorrow.

Back to school today, for Sarah, though Olivia doesn't go until Monday. Also, first day of Brownies, which is new - she did Rainbows before, but although they are technically supposed to be 7 for Brownies, the leader let her go up early as Thalia was going up, too. Olivia is looking forward to starting Rainbows after she turns 5 - not until the 2nd half of the term, which is a good thing, as it will give her a chance to settle into school.

Not much else - I have to have a root filling (root canal) next week, as I have an abcess in one of my teeth - developed it while on holiday in Ireland of course - well, I'm sure it was developing for some time, but of course that's when it became really bad - talk about serious pain - I woke up at 3 in the morning & it was so painful I wasn't sure whether to cry or throw up. I didn't do either, in the end, but it was a close call! I've seen the dentist today & he's given me some antibiotics to get rid of the infection & made an appointment to sort it next week, when the infection has cleared & also, when he has a longer appointment available - they are really good about seeing you in an emergency, but they are short appointments, for obvious reasons. And the REALLY good news is that depending on how much of the tooth is left (it's quite a big filling in it already), he might have to put a crown on to finish it off. Maybe I'll get lucky & there will be enough tooth left to hold a regular filling - I've had two crowns in the past 2 years, and frankly, that's plenty. I haven't had a new filling for years, but of course the old ones can break or get a little decay at the edges, which means they need redoing, and eventually, you just run out of tooth - hence crowns.

OK, that's enough, didn't intend to go on about dentistry for ages - sorry!

Off to Ireland tomorrow (early) for a long weekend to see Cathi, Dave, Aine and Aisling, who I've not met before, as she's only 10 weeks old or so. Long drive, but will be fun once we get there. Hopefully the kids will sleep some in the car, as we're getting a very early start. And when we get back, the kitchen will be done. Hurrah. Or rather, the builders will be done - I'll still have to put stuff away, paint, etc. I've probably said that before, but I have rather a one track mind at the moment. Not surprisingly. And it's back to school the day after we get back as well, so it's going to be a busy week...

Well, most of the plastering is done now, except for one bit above some cupboards where he's putting up a panel to hide the stuff at the back (leftover chimney breast, pipes, etc). And he even put some doors on some of the units today, so it's beginning to look finished. Sort of. 

Spent most of today doing decorating type stuff - put lining paper on the one wall I'm bothering to paper - this is the stud wall behind the fridge which is in a location likely to get bumped, so I thought best to paper it. It was a bit of a pain, though, as the end of the wall is only about 4 inches wide, which makes papering it fiddly. Looks ok, though, and I'm painting over it anyway. Did some painting in the dining room and some preliminary painting in the kitchen - as it's all new plaster, I wanted to put a base coat of thinned paint (half and half with water) on before painting - just to keep the plaster from soaking up so much paint. Sarah helped, which she thought was really fun. The main problem with kids is that by the time they are old enough to really be helpful with stuff like that, or housework, they no longer have any interest in doing it!

Anyway, I will eventually paint the kitchen walls all over with a roller (except maybe above the cupboards - I might have to use a brush there!) to make the coverage even & smooth, but not until the builders are done plastering and making a mess and stuff. Eventually I will also repaint the whole dining room and also the computer room (they join together) but I can't do all that until the kitchen is done because all the stuff from the kitchen is piled in those other two rooms, so I can't actually get to most of the walls... And of course, I'll have to do the ceiling as well. Must check and see if I have a roller with a long handle! Anyway, it felt productive, which was good...

So, here's what I found when I came downstairs to my kitchen this morning - he was at least 10cm long (4 inches) - I didn't get the tape measure out and measure him, but that unit he's on the edge of is 60cm deep... Luckily, there are lots of large, deep buckets around at the moment, so I was able to move him outside without too much danger of him jumping out onto me - I don't really like to kill spiders, but neither do I want them crawling on me. I'm funny that way... Anyway, he (or maybe it was a "she" - who knows) is the same kind of spider we sometimes get in the bathtub, so I wonder if he was in the ceiling/bathroom floor & came out when there was no ceiling yesterday. Whatever. Glad he was on the counter, not the floor as I usually come down barefoot & I sure wouldn't have wanted to step on him! 

End of week two in the kitchen, and it's really coming on apace. (I can't believe I just used the word "apace".) Monday is a holiday, so the builder(s) won't be back until Tuesday, but there's not a lot left - a bit of plastering still and some electrical work - at the moment we only have about 3 working outlets in the kitchen, which is slightly inconvenient. They still have to hang all the doors for the units, though most of the shelves are in (I did that myself this afternoon, to get them out of the living room). Of course, even once they finish, it will still need painting (which I am doing myself) and a new floor (no point in doing that until everything else is done, including the painting). But it won't be long until it's at the point where we can use it - I'm looking forward to putting all the stuff back! Of course, I won't be able to find anything once I put it away, but it will still be much better than having it all stacked up in boxes in the computer room. All the stuff like the wall rails with hanging whatsits will also have to wait until the painting is done, but that's the sort of stuff I can do myself - only a few screws involved.

So, here's the state of the kitchen today. The walls look dark because the plaster hasn't dried yet. You can see the new boiler on the wall and the new hob (stove) - also the old cooker is still there because the oven isn't connected yet, so he doesn't want to leave us without an oven, bless him. . The washing machine is pulled out because he's still working on the electrical outlets in that end of the kitchen, but it will go where it is, just pushed all the way back. You can see the drier in place, too, to the right of the sink. Progress... 

Well, someday I'll write about something other than my kitchen. But not just yet. Today they spent most of the day doing plastering, which is good, because it means the walls might be dry enough by the weekend for me to do some painting. My main decision now will be whether to paint straight onto the plaster, or whether to put lining paper up first. I know which is easier! But it might be more sensible to do the paper. I dunno, can't decide. The painting will take at least two coats (the first being thinned paint or PVA mixed with water to help keep the plaster from soaking up too much realy paint). If I papered first, I wouldn't necessarily need as many coats of paint, but I'd need to paper it, which isn't that hard, just a bit of a fiddle. Ho hum, decisions decisions. (And such exciting ones, too!)

They did the boiler today - took the old one out and put them new one in, so there doesn't really look like much difference in the kitchen, but it was a major job, so it's nice to have it done. They still have to take out part of the old chimney breast - tomorrow - but once that's done, the rest of the units can go in, which means not only will the kitchen look really different, but the dining room will too, as there won't be two huge tall units in there blocking the light. I can't wait!

Well, another day, and more progress. Today they mainly worked on the plumbing & the sink and associated countertop & units. And the result is, a working sink. Hoorah. Photos on the website. Nothing much else of interest happening - my life IS my kitchen at the moment...

Just a quickie tonight, as I can't really sit straight at my computer to type without first shifting a large quantity of appliances/appliance boxes. And I can't be bothered. The sideways typing thing is okay for about half an hour, but it's beginning to get on my nerves... Anyway. New pictures posted on the kitchen page for your edification. Or amusement. Or whatever.

Today's main accomplishment, though, was more or less finishing off moving the girls' room to the loft room - formerly the guest room. I didn't get any pictures yet, but I'll do that tomorrow. They are really excited about it, and actually, it looks great. It's really spacious and should hopefully provide lots of places for them to contain their stuff. Of which they have a huge amount. For those of you who have stayed in the room, you might be interested to know that I turned the bed around so that it's under the windows, with the headboard against the space between the cupboards on that side (where the futon was - we got rid of the futon). I was going to put the two new dressers against the space, but they were incredibly heavy once I got them assembled, so I decided they'd go better against the wall, as I'll need to get the Christmas stuff out occasionally (that's what's now in the space between the cupboards). Those of you who haven't stayed in the room are finding this totally confusing - pictures tomorrow, I promise.

Anyway, they are sleeping in their new bed tonight, and are really thrilled. We'll see how it goes, but I have high hopes. And Alex's room looks really empty, except for Alex & his cot full of teddy bears...

I was going to put another kitchen photo up, but decided that was boring & this was much cuter. Kitchen pics later, though, as they spent a lot of time today assembling the units, so it looks kind of fun. And crowded. Anyway, this one is on the beach at Brancater, in Norfolk.  

Well, at the end of day 2 of the kitchen renovation, we had fewer cabinets on the wall, and no window - he hasn't taken the door out yet, as the weather is supposed to be awful, pouring rain and whatnot, so he's hoping for a less wet day before doing that. Perhaps today!

Oh and by the way, I have updated our kitchen page on the website, so there's more fun kitchen stuff there!

Finally got around to updating the website with new photos. I still have to sort the holiday photos, but at least I've done everything before that point. The problem with the holiday ones is I've got one set on regular film (I have a photo disc, but I still have to integrate them) and a bunch from my mom's photos, some of which I'll want to scan in and upload. Not a big deal, but means lots of fiddling around and I'm just too lazy to do any more tonight.

Oh, by the way - notice the new-look blog? Decided it was time for something simpler & fresher - maybe it's the kitchen remodelling spilling over into other sections of my life. And it's so easy to change your whole template on blogger that I couldn't really resist. Makes up for the tons of boxes piled up everywhere in the rest of my life!

Here's the girls inside a large sculpture at Wisley RHS Gardens, yesterday. Anything that can be climbed on, they will... 

Well, only a few more days, and this time it does really look like they'll start on Monday - Andy the Builder actually phoned Wednesday evening to confirm, as he was supposed to do. Hoorah!

Got most of my stuff now, including lights and even paint. Only need a splashback for behind the cooker and a panel for next to one of the units - I'm hoping the builders can get both of those things. And a skip is due to come be parked outside my house Monday morning as well. Progress! (maybe)

This is a picture of the accent tile that we'll be using in the kitchen - most of the tiles will be white (not that there will be a lot of tile, but behind the sink & the cooker), with a few of these accents (the background colour in this tile is actually white - bad photo!), and then a row of border tiles on the top. And we'll pick a paint colour to match the tile - a mid-range teal colour, I think

In an odd instance of synchronicity, as I posted that photo, the phone rang, and it was the builder to say he'd be there Monday morning. Too cool. Must go sort out a skip!

you can't really fully appreciate this unless you are actually here, but these are my new appliances, stacked up next to the computer desk. What the photo doesn't show is the other boxes stacked up against the wall behind me as I'm taking this picture.... Anyway. Soon, perhaps, my builders will come! 

It will, of course, shock everyone who has ever dealt with a builder to hear that they are running behind and won't be able to start until next week. Which isn't entirely expected, but is somewhat annoying, especially as I spent yesterday clearing my kitchen. No way am I unpacking all the kitchen boxes, so cooking this week is going to be minimalist! Oh well, it's too hot to cook, anyway. Perhaps this will be the major problem we encounter & everything else will go smoothly. I shouldn't say that, probably, or I'll jinx myself...

Oh yeah, and of course everything is getting delivered this week, so it's going to be a bit of a tight fit, once the appliances get here! Sigh.

And here's our little temporary kitchen station in the dining room, with the essentials - toaster, microwave, biscuits, gin, etc... 

Here's all the boxes of stuff from my kitchen, piled in the computer room. Except for the stuff we need while they are wrecking the kitchen, of course - that stuff is piled in the dining room...

Well, I spent most of the day today shifting stuff out of the kitchen, which is now virtually empty. I haven't yet moved the kettle & at the moment, there's a chicken in the oven. And I haven't moved the fridge yet. But that's about it. It takes up less space than I thought it might, frankly, which is good, as we still have to put all the stuff that's going in the new kitchen somewhere, when it arrives. Ikea is due to deliver the units tomorrow afternoon, and the appliance place is delivering the 4 appliances (hob, oven, dryer & cooker hood, which I suppose isn't really an appliance, but whatever) on Wednesday morning. I have the sink already. So that's pretty much it. I need to get lights. Maybe I'll do that Tuesday. And at some point, I need to look at tiles, but I think I need to look at the wood on the units before I do that. So, as long as the builder shows up tomorrow morning, we are good to go. :)

Ok, I'm going to get my act together and do a little holiday stuff. Here's the view out of the back of our cottage - there is a big line of poppies at the back fence, which doesn't show up well in this photo. Poppies are big in Norfolk - they seem to be everywhere. The cottage is called "Field End" - you can see why! 

Well, I know I promised holiday stuff, and I'll get to it eventually, there's just too much happening. I knew summer would be worse than usual. And of course, we're getting ready for the kitchen to start. Supposed to be Monday - I do hope it really happens Monday as Ikea is delivering all the units Monday and the appliances are coming Wednesday, so if they have to delay a week we'll be living in the midst of boxes forever.

I do feel slightly better, though, as I just heard about some renovations a friend of mine is doing, which are going to last 16 weeks or something! (Involves having a sub-basement dug deeper and turned into a kitchen.)

So, we're back now. Had a lovely time with really really good weather, and both the grandmas seemed to have a nice time. I'll write some more about things we did when I have a little more time, and of course post some pictures on the website. But for the moment, I'm just trying to catch up.

Off tomorrow for a week in Norfolk - hopefully the weather will hold up. Kitchen now scheduled to begin 9 August as the builder is away the first week in August. Whatever. Maybe someday we'll have a new kitchen!

So, no blogging for at least a week, but will try to catch up after that.

 

A couple of the t-shirts we dyed today - these are a deep purply blue. Indigo, I guess! 

Well, school is finally over, which is good, I guess, although it means that the kids are now free for 7 1/2 weeks and will need to be entertained for that whole time. But at least it means I no longer have to set my alarm most mornings, which is definitely a good thing. Especially as my kids are fairly good at sleeping in, so I might actually get to get up after 8am some mornings!
 
Been busy this weekend doing some dyeing, including a whole lot of t-shirts, which have turned out very well - this is more sophisticated dyeing than normal Dylon dyes, so the colours are much better. Hopefully I'll be able to sell some of the t-shirts, as well - wouldn't it be nice to be able to generate a bit of income without having to do any actual work... 
 
And of course the other main event in  the house is that Grandma Kathy (my mother) arrived on Thursday for her summer visit, so the girls are having a great time having her here - Alex wasn't entirely sure at first who this woman was, and why she was in HIS house, but I think he's warming up to her. By the time she's ready to go home, I'm sure he'll be very attached.

Well, almost done with the school year - and hasn't it flown by! School fair went off quite well, despite a small amount of rain, and we made nearly £4000, which is great. I'm glad we didn't have it today, which was terrible weather - real "four seasons in one day" stuff. Sarah's friend Amelia, from nursery, who goes to Hatfeild school (yes, it's really spelled that way) had hers today - I think they got very wet. We're due to go round to their house for a barbecue tomorrow, though we may end up doing the food under the grill...

Anyway, the kids found out last week who their teachers will be next year - Sarah will actually have the same teacher as this year, which she's thrilled about - they all love her. Olivia is in a different class from most of her "best" friends, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, though she was slightly upset about it originally. But they still do a lot of playing together at play time and stuff, so I don't think it will be a problem.

This coming week should be a busy one - Foundation Stage "Fun Day" (Sports Day) on Monday, with a picnic after. And KS1 on Tuesday, also with picnic. Last day of nursery on Thursday, with a teddy bears' picnic & parents can stay (though I don't know if I will or not, as my mom is arriving from the US that day). And school finishes at 1.30 for the other kids on Friday. And then a million weeks of summer holidays - or actually 7 1/2, which will seem a million, frankly. At least having grandma here will help keep them entertained. Now if only the weather will co-operate!

Don't know how well you can see this - but it's a parakeet on our bird feeder. This isn't just some local person's escaped pet, this is one of the famous UK parakeets (found mainly in the south). Kind of bizarre, I know! Some guy even did his doctoral thesis on them see http://users.ox.ac.uk/~wolf0977/projectparakeet.html 

What is is about babies, anyway? I mean, Alex hates it when I hoover. I know this, so I try to choose to do it when he's otherwise occupied - for instance, playing outside or something like that. So, let's say he's outside. And I start the hoover up. You'd think that a sensible baby who hates hoovers would stay outside, as far away as possible, right? But noooo... the minute he hears it start, he comes inside (screaming at the top of his lungs, of course, because, as we've established, he hates the hoover) and grabs me in Standard Toddler Grip no 1 (around the knees from the back) and screams at me. Now where's the logic in that? :)

Another lovely day today, as those of you trying to watch Wimbledon will know - chucking rain, and rather cold & windy, too. I do feel sorry for the poor commentators who have to sit there and make up stuff to talk about when there are days like this. And it's not even the 2nd week of the tournament, so it's not as though there's much they can show of previous matches. And of course, it's "Walk to School Week" at school. Good timing, as usual. But at least it's put a damper on my hayfever...

It's gone all wintry here today, just in honour of Father's Day. Ok, maybe "wintry" is an exaggeration, but it's very chilly & overcast, and has been raining on and off. I don't really mind the rain so much, actually, because it damps down the pollen & helps reduce hayfever suffering. But it's hard getting used to it being chilly again. Of course, it's nothing to do with it being Father's Day, really, it's actually in honour of Wimbledon Tennis starting (tomorrow) - it almost always rains during the first week!

Not much happening here, but I should keep to my resolution to post more often. Even when there's not a lot to say. At the moment, I have a very grumpy baby on my lap, who says "]pll,g ,f,ln , m n kmkmnhjnvuhchji". Of course, it's quite hard to type with a grumpy baby on my lap, so I think I'll stop! More soon.

Still here, still waiting for kitchen stuff to start. Looks like late July now. But it will get there eventually, I'm sure. Nothing much to say about that, but wanted to at least mention where stuff was (or wasn't). As for the rest of my life, Hayfever sucks. :)

Went hunting for wild orchids on Saturday - found quite a few of these (common spotted), a very few fragrants, which aren't really out yet, some twayblades, and a nice big patch of white hellebores, which I'd not seen before. Of course another friend of ours who collects orchid sightings went somewhere where they had butterfly orchids, monkeys, spiders, and lots of other exotic wild ones. Figures! 

Went to Ikea today (among other things) to order the one piece of countertop that has to be made to order (there's one section that's deeper than the norm). It can take 3-6 weeks for the made to order stuff, so best to get that done in advance. The rest of it it's off the peg stuff, so to speak, so I don't really want to order it now and have it sitting in our living room for 6 weeks. Gosh I love organising all this stuff. Not.

Well, the kitchen is moving ahead slowly but surely. I've got the Corgi (gas registered) plumber coming today with the builder to look at the boiler, etc and tell us how long that will take, and so on. And then I guess I can get some dates from Andy (the builder) and at that point, I can go shopping for my units and whatnot. I know I'll have to store them in the house for a while, but I'd rather not have them around for weeks longer than necessary. Fun!

I've just been trying out this new photoblogging tool from hello and Blogger - very easy way to upload photos to one's blog. So, we'll be seeing more photos, I guess - watch this space :)

Alex has just eaten something chocolate - his favourite. Actually, I think he enjoys being a grubby mess...