Ta-daaah!

It's all done! The bathroom is officially finished and I christened the shower this morning. It's so nice to have a lovely room like this. Very glad that we had it done nicely, by someone who knows what they're doing (as completely opposed to us...), as I will always appreciate the loveliness, even if I've only just nipped in for a couple of minutes!

So thanks to Tom and roll on Monday and the start of the utility and workshop....

A bathroom update

Tom's better and has been working hard to finish everything off in the bathroom over the last couple of days. Should be done tomorrow and I'll post the final picture.

In the meantime, here's tonight's almost there shot.

So excited about it all being done. However, just realised that this is basically a picture of the toilet. Sorry about that, but it's hard to take a picture from a different angle. Will try harder tomorrow when it's all done. Rest assured that there will be no more toilet shots when the work on the utility and workshop starts....

Early years adventure

Number two son reached the milestone this week of going into the last room in nursery. He's now in "Early Years", which is the pre-school room. He's gone up a bit early, not because he's superbly gifted (though, of course, he is - in some way or another, I'm sure!) but simply because he loves it there so much when he's been on settling-in visits. There's more room and he likes the way things are set up in there, I think. The other key factor in this devotion is Miss Berry, who is his absolute favourite teacher. She was with him in the baby room and he's been very excited about joining her since she moved to work with the older children. This is true love on his part.

Anyway - he is remarkably cute in his little uniform and smart hair cut. Couldn't resist a picture....

A happy little man

Just catching up after a manic couple of days. Mike and number one son went to the Black Country Living Museum on Sunday, as they do every so often, to help out the Transport Group with the running and maintenance of the old vehicles there.

Son #1 loves this and has his own set of overalls and high-vis vest so he's all safe. He's very much one of the lads there and is, by all accounts, well looked-after by the whole transport group whenever he's there. I'm grateful, however, that they do remember to tame their language when he's in the mess room!

Mike took some photos this week- a selection below! 2 boys, very much in their element.....

A January serenade

Had a lot of fun tonight in Ladbroke, near Southam, where me and a gang of others did our now traditional "sing from scratch" Gilbert and Sullivan show.
We are a merry band (and the numbers vary, according to the show), who sing and act the principal parts and the paying audience get to sing in the chorus parts. It's always a huge laugh - often more so for us than for the audience! - and tonight was no exception. My sides ache from laughing during rehearsals and offstage and stifling giggles whilst on stage.
Tonight's effort was Trial by Jury and I was the jilted bride, complete with veil! The guy who played the judge is a truly funny, funny man and he knows he can make me and another couple of our regulars laugh just by how he says something. He is merciless and yet so understated that nobody who didn't know would guess it was him causing the hilarity.
This sort of thing always reminds me that being musical offers so much more than just the music. It brings friendships and giggling. It introduces like-minded people who can instantly find each other's wavelength. And, more than anything, it's a chance to air a gift that gives pleasure to you but might also be loved by other people.
I just love it.

Growing up fast (part 2)

I seem to be constantly reminded at the moment that the boys are not little any more.

The little one is just going up to the pre-school room at nursery, which he totally loves. We have to go and find his little uniform over the weekend. I will be posting photos.... That is now where he'll stay until he goes up to primary school next year. That's just too scary to contemplate. Particularly for his prospective teachers.

The trouble is, he still feels like a baby to me. He even likes to cuddle up like one still. I suppose he'll always be my baby but I do feel as though he's starting to really grow up. The only solution is to have another but that is not on the horizon and is unlikely to ever be, given the trouble I had last time! Anyway, we've just given away all our stuff to Mike's cousin and his partner who are expecting a baby in June. Amazing how much room you can create by giving away pushchairs and cots!

So I suppose that I'll have to get used to not having babies or even toddlers around at home any more and enjoy the fun that older children bring. Oh - and get my cuddles where I can with babies of friends and family. Don't say you weren't warned.....

A lesson in patience

We appear to have broken our builder. Poor guy has had less than 3 weeks in our house and has gone off with a viral infection. Hoping that he'll feel better over the weekend and then our bathroom should be done by Tuesday. Get better soon, Tom!

It's starting to take shape though. A small model was keen to pose in the latest update shot....

In the meantime, we appear to have skip thieves. Our neighbour asked if he could dump an old PC in the skip, which was no problem. He did this and now it's gone. So unless he's changed his mind, somebody has nicked it. More fool them, to be honest, as it was totally kaputt, which is why it found it's way to the skip in the first place.

Now we are six

Number one son turned six today. This is staggering on several levels. Not least of which is the fact that we have had him for 6 years and haven't broken him yet!


I can remember the events 6 years ago so vividly. We arrived home with this precious bundle, completely unaware of just how much our life would change. We knew it would a bit but were stupidly ignorant of the upside-downess that our existence would take on.


I remember my husband walking him round the house, introducing him to his new home and then settling down for the first of what would turn out to be many boys' sessions in front of the TV.


The thing I probably remember most vividly was the way his hands and feet just seemed to be too big for the rest of his scrawny frame. His hands just hung in front of him, as if he had no idea what he was supposed to do with them. I suppose we knew then that he would be big, working on the puppy with big paws principle, but I don't think we took as much heed as we could have done. His current size and build follow on from those big paws....



He and number two are, quite simply, the most amazing, lovely, loving, frustrating, astonishing, funny, exasperating, entertaining and not to mention hungry beings that we've ever come across. It sounds like a long time but it's flown by and I can't believe that the baby I held for the first time six years ago is now a young man with likes, dislikes, a witty voice and more than enough idea of the myriad possibilities of being six (and, apparently, accordingly bigger).

Bathroom - after 2 weeks!

My husband is currently despairing of the fact that I'm writing about the bathroom but hey. I've had demands for more photos so who am I to refuse?? Especially as we now have a new camera (our Christmas present to ourselves, bought for silly price in sales!). You need to use it!

So the bathroom looks a bit different now.....

The tiles are up, the ceiling is finished and painted. All the pipes and plumbing are in. Just need a floor, a door and minor things like a shower, loo and basin! Should all be done by the middle of next week and I can't wait....

Home and away

I'm back from London and glad, as ever, that I don't live down there full time. Nice place but too busy and too expensive. Also too far from my boys, all of whom I missed A LOT while I was down there.

Exciting day yesterday, though, as my church inducted (???) our new vicar. It's been two long years coming and he is very, very welcome! Maybe the church wardens will get some sleep now.

Old friends

Two of my oldest friends came for lunch today. When I say oldest, what I mean is they are the same age as me but we have known each other for 21 years. There are four of us normally and we're not constantly in touch with each other daily, or even weekly. However, it struck me while we were chatting that, despite being spread around the middle of England, and having all done very different things and had life take us in very different directions, we're still the same with each other. We still find plenty to talk about, debate, ask and share.
It also struck me that I went through some of the really big stuff with these women, while we were still girls. You know the kind of thing; GCSEs, A Levels, first boyfriends, first proper drink (to our eternal shame, Taboo and Lemonade - couldn't we have picked something nicer, never mind classier?), many sleepovers with little sleep, first holidays as just the girls and lots of other little things.
I have many, many amazing people in my life but I feel very blessed that this bunch are still around me and can still find things to talk, laugh and boss each other about, like we were still sat round the desks at school.

It's Friday!

This is a good thing. It's been a busy week and even though Friday is my day off, today has been a touch manic. I'm off down to London for a few days at the beginning of next week for work and so anything that needs doing for the beginning of next week has to be sorted today or tomorrow.
The bathroom (you see, I couldn't write without putting in a bathroom update - I know you must have been on the edge of your seat, waiting) is making progress. The ceiling was plastered today and is quietly drying now. Next week will be tiling and fitting all the stuff that has been prepared for this week. Doesn't look much different from Day 3, despite all the work, so I'll post a few pictures next week when I'm back and I'm sure it will have started down the home strait then.

We had a nice night yesterday at my in-laws. Exciting times as my sister-in-law is contemplating buying a house and Mike's cousin has got engaged and is expecting a baby. Lots of good change afoot.

I have friends coming over tomorrow, all of whom date from when we were all 11 and starting at the High School. These are people I've seen a lot of miles with, literally and metaphorically, and I can't wait to see them and do a bit of catching up.

So all in all - had a good week but I'm glad that it's Friday and, more to the point, that it's Saturday tomorrow. Get to stay in bed that little bit longer and keep warm. It's been tiring just keeping cosy this week. I've been mostly looking like this throughout the last few days.....

That would be, cheerful but freezing!

Day 3 in the Big Bathroom house....

Not wishing to be a bathroom bore but I'm enjoying coming home each night to something new in our little bathroom. Quite what I'm going to be like when Tom moves on to the Garage to Utility/Workshop conversion once he's finished the bathroom, I don't know - that really will be a miracle transformation!

Anyway, I digress. Here's the progress so far. We have new pipes, a shower tray, and moisture board on the walls (I think that's what it's called, anyway) and it's starting to look like a room again!

We have had to point out to the boys that grown ups are allowed to write on the walls when there are tiles going to be put over the writing. Didn't think of that little cry of indignation when we started making decisions via messages on the wall!!!

What a difference a day makes (to a bathroom)

At 8am this morning, our small and imperfectly formed bathroom looked like this:

At 4.30pm today, it looked like this:

Now you can't say that isn't quick. Wondering what it will look like after another day's work!!!

PS promise that the bucket isn't the replacement toilet. We have another, I'm pleased to say......

The definition of a sugar rush

The Ibbotsons and the Masseys came to our house yesterday for a lovely, yet manic day of playing. In case there wasn't enough excitement, we decided to make up the gingerbread house and then eat it. Sooo good but soooooooo sweet. Not bad, though, for an inept mother (me) and 5 willing sugar artists (Christopher, Owain, Dom, Izzy and Ben), all under the age of 6.

12th night...a bit early....

Well. That's Christmas all done for another year. Don't tell my Grandma, but I'm afraid our Christmas tree and decs didn't make it to 12th night. Didn't even get to 10th. They are all down, in readiness for the work to start in and outside the house this coming week. There was also the small matter of the tree drooping so wildly by last night, that the decorations were sliding off the branches by themselves.
Oh well. I love Christmas (and related paraphernalia) but I always find myself impatient to tidy it all away once the New Year has been ushered in. I think it's something to do, subconsciously, with wanting to start afresh. I also think that I enjoy the run up to Christmas more than the aftermath. All the carols and singing, concerts, school plays and the preparation for the day itself. I'm not one who feels an anti-climax after Christmas but it does all seem to stop quickly.
This year there's also a lot to look forward to. Maybe that's why I'm anxious to get on with 2009. We will have a new bathroom (not before time) in a couple of weeks and our utility and workshop will be fitted out too by the end of the month. Outside our house but within our family and friends, there are babies to be born, engagements and weddings to be celebrated and big birthdays (you know who you are) to be marked. There's also the small matter of our 10th wedding anniversary in April. I know that it's not exactly a diamond anniversary but it feels worth celebrating.
This is all without mentioning the lovely little stuff that comes along - days out and meeting up with friends and family. Concerts to be sung and played (sometimes together, if we get really lucky), holidays and time just to be. I'm planning some of that. A bit more than last year, if possible. I try not to do resolutions as, if I'm going to do something, why only say so at one point in the year? But if I was going to choose one single thing, it would be more "being" time. Lovely.
So - goodbye Christmas - I'll look forward to your reappearance at the end of the year but I shall not mourn your passing now as I've got too much to look forward to.

Happy New Year

A happy 2009 to one and all! Here's hoping that it brings us all what we would wish for.

We saw the New Year in in a frosty light - we went for a very wintry walk on New Year's Eve and took some photos...