Painting doors

It's never ending I tell you, 8 doors, 2 sides per door. Even though I'm using a mini roller it's taking an absolute age. So today I tackled the new bathroom door and doorframe. It took hours, and as the paint is an oil based one it absolutely stinks! Anyway that door and frame are now done, at flippin' last. Only another 6 doors to go, hurrah!

Not much else going on really, except DIY jobs. Once the doors are done then I have 2 sets of bannisters to paint before I can get the carpet fitters in to fit the stair and landing carpet I've ordered.

Tomorrow however, I do have an interesting day ahead, it's Photomarathon #2 of the year, this time based in Newport, so not to far to travel. 10 topics in 10 hours, should be a good day I reckon.

Home from Holibobs!

Well I'm rested and relaxed after 10 days in Cala D'or Majorca. We did....well.... not a lot really! Chilling out, reading, going for walks and generally watching the world go by in a nice pub by the marina where there were a lot of mind numbingly expensive boats! It was teetering on high 30's most of the time and got as high as 40 degrees C, blisteringly hot and humid too, not much of a breeze to cool things down. The hotel was fab, all adults, no children and peace and quiet, bliss!

We landed in Bristol yesterday around lunchtime and scooted off to pick the kitties up from their cattery holiday, they were very pleased to see us and miaowed all the way home. Then it was check the house out, and the new boiler all fitted and working well. We had to put back the washing machine and plumb it in so we could crack on with washing holiday clothes. The fridge was bereft of food so a quick list jotted down and a trip to the supermarket sorted that out. All was good. I toddled off to aqua class at 6pm for a workout and really enjoyed it.

Last night around half past midnight I was woken by John being violently sick in the bathroom, then the stomach pains started and so did the diarrhoea. I've never seen him look so ill. He was green, clammy, sweating cold and hot, itching and generally delirious. He collapsed on the floor and couldn't get up. I couldn't lift him up and he had no energy to get up himself, I was really worried and did consider calling an ambulance at one point. I finally managed to get some water water down him and he kept it down, no longer feeling sick. Once he had spent a considerable time on the loo, I got him to take some tablets to stop things happening and got him to drink lots more water. Eventually I got him back into bed and I managed to get to sleep around 2.30am. This morning he was aching all around his stomach muscles, probably from retching last night. A glass of Dioralyte and two pieces of toast later and he seemd to be ok. No idea what caused it, we had eaten and drunk the same things for more than 24 hours previously and I was ok. Anyway, he is on the mend which is the main thing.

Today was little DIY jobs around the house day. Lots of small things like sanding down filler and painting and touching up to do after 3 weeks of having the bathroom fitted, some of the house was looking worse for wear decor wise We also had lots of things to hang in the bathroom which required drilling etc. We did quite a lot actually and I'm really pleased with progress, still lots to do though!

To end the day I'm currently addicted to a Maroon 5 song, Moves Like Jagger. Lea Desmond, you are to blame for this! I love Maroon 5 to death anyway and seeing them live a couple of years ago was fabulous, she intoduced me to their new song and now I have it on repeat play, I cannot get enough of it.......

I'm happy!

New bathroom, no hot water

Joy! We have a finished bathroom looking v swish and modern, it's just what I was hoping for. I'm so glad that it's finished so I can claim the house back and get things back to normal. There's now lots of small decorating tasks to do as a result of the bathroom refit but they can all wait until we get back from holidays. However the delight was short lived as our boiler decided to die on us. Initially it was thought that the circuit board needed replacing, so we purchased a reconditioned one as we were hoping that the boiler could get us through this winter as we planned to replace it next year. Circuit board fitted, nothing, in fact the water pressue just wasn't going anywhere. Plumber came out and said the fan was working but wasnt getting up to speed enough to get things started, a replace ment would be £300 including fitting. So we decided to just replace the boiler now instead of spending several hundred quid now only to replace it next year. Plumber coming next week while we are away to fit it so we will come home to hot water and be able to use the new bathroom!

Brilliant white and Gin

Bathroom paint, brilliant white bathroom paint to be exact. Three coats of it on the new bathroom ceiling and it looks flippin' fab, really pleased with it. We made a start first thing this morning washing down all the tiles in the bathroom to try and get the grout dust off them. after that it was polishing them up to get rid of the last dusty stuff. They look good now and with the fabulous ceiling it's all coming together nicely. Plumber and electrician are in tomorrow for final fix and snagging, we should have a working bathroom at last!

Gin..... well what can I say? I just fancied one which led to two, then three. Gin, elderflower cordial and lime tonic with ice, delish!

On a more serious and sombre note, I am totally shocked at the stuff that's happening in London and now Birmingham with mindless thugs running riot through communities looting, burning vehicles and even worse setting buildings alight. What makes people do such horrific things to others? Do they not think that innocent people might lose their lives or get hurt? It's terrifying that it's been left to continue for 3 days so far, this is no protest, it's just an excuse to be volient and get away with it. I'm sickened to the core.

Nearly have a bathroom

Nearly, not far to go now until we actually have a functioning bathroom. There's a list of things (everything) to be plumbed in and all the electrical stuff needs a final fix but the bones of it is all done. Tiling, grouting, cabinets and basins are in and the new ceiling is plastered and looking good. Ceiling needs painting and all the tiles need a final wash down to get rid of the grout dust. We will do that tomorrow as we don't have anyone else here tomorrow so we have all day to get it sorted before plumber and electrician come on Tuesday to final fix.

So this is what we have at the moment and I'm really pleased with it.

We also had all the doors changed in the house to something more in keeping with it's age and I'm overjoyed with the result, actually I think I'm a little bit in love with them....

I'm now a Driving Instructor in training!

Yay! The weather was horrific, lashing rain and wind, but I had a great time. I thought ahead and bought a bottle of water and some chewing gum to stop my mouth totally drying out with nerves. It worked a treat. Had a really good lesson, lots of mixed driving, lots of pointers and new stuff to get my head around. We even stopped off in a transport cafe for a cuppa and some theory work. I should get my text books next week and next Friday is lesson #2 plus I'll be sitting in on someone else's lesson afterwards. I'm really quite excited about it all, but need to get my head stuck into the books and practise my driving in John's manual car more as there's only so much I can do in my little automatic.

Here's to training for a new career!

Progress and nerves

I have a bathroom ceiling, and beautifully smooth it is too, it really does look lovely, I'm so pleased with it. The tiler can now finish off the tiling, hurrah! Looking now for it all to be finished on the weekend including all the internal doors being changed. The new doors arrived today, I'm just a little bit in love with them.

Nerves! Nerves, nerves, nerves...... I'm plagued by them thinking about my first lesson tomorrow kick starting my driver instructor training off. I have no idea why I feel so nervous, it's not like I can't drive is it? It's bloody silly really, maybe I'll settle in and all will be ok once I make a start. I really hope so.

Tiling and vomit...

Well lots of tiling happened today, about 95% of its done, just waiting for the ceiling to go up before the top row of tiles can be done and everything grouted. Its all starting to look like the shell of a bathroom now, at last.

The vomit thing?..... well that was the begining of the end of my aqua class this evening. I get to the pool, notice that it's actually looking rather empty, as in it's totally devoid of people in it. So I ask what the problem is, apparantly someone threw up in the pool and they had to close it to clean it. It could take 24 hours, so there's a distinct possibility tomorrow mornings class will be cancelled too. I'll have to phone the pool before hand to ask if they've managed to clean it or not. Bloody marv.

Flitting like a butterfly and cacking my pants

I managed to have a lovely lay in bed this morning for the first time in over a week. I stayed in bed until, wait for it....... 8.30am! Yes, it was rather delicious not having to get up at 7am ready for the chaps to arrive, today it was electrician only and he wasnt arriving until 3pm. I did, however have a few things to do mainly bathroom related.

First thing was a trip to the DIY shop to buy white bathroom paint in readiness to paint the new ceiling once it's up and the plaster has dried. I then flitted into town as I needed to buy my Highway Code to read up on before my lesson on Thursday, I was distracted by the top 50 novels and the offer they had on buy 1 get one for a quid, so I bought two chic lits for holiday reading the week after next. I finally made it to the section that had the Highway Code.... £2.50!......Two pounds bloody fifty! I remember when it was 20p.... ok I'm showing my age but that's one hell of a price hike. Anyway I bought it, because I had to. I started flicking though it and it scared me, I've forgotten so much argh! Cacking my pants is an understatement.

Whilst in town I popped into a shop and thought I'd get myself a cheap pair of sunglasses for holidays, I had a total bargain, they were £5, reduced to £2.50 and when I got to the till they rang up for a quid, kerching! I then treated myself to some pain, eyebrow threading to be exact. It's been ages since I've had them threaded and shaped, so again, all in the holiday cause, I was threaded to within an inch of my life, but I now have fabulous eyebrows. She asked if I wanted my upper lip done as well, I was taken aback, surely I'm not that hairy? I looked in the mirror, no I'm not that hairy, I am a bit hairy but its fine and fair. I politely said no thanks, whilst quietly seething.

After that, back out of town to a builders supplier to exchange the thermostat John bought for the underfloor heating as it was the wrong one, old one taken back, new one purchased, sorted. Homeward bound ready for the electrician to arrive. He was a bit early (bonus!) and managed to get the wiring done in half an hour, he then went on to install a new fuse box (an extra we asked him to do as it needed updating). So all done, electrics sorted YAY!

Tomorrow its tiling and new ceiling, which should prove most interesting. One thing I do know, I need to get more tea bags in, they drink gallons of the stuff!

Ahhhh lovely, lovely floor and an ARGH! moment

Tiler was here by 8.15 and got to it straight away. Fuelled with a cup of tea (natch). He got cracking with the floor tiling and my oh my, it looks lovely. He also managed to do some more wall tiling, making sure the levels were right as the walls are a bit wonky. The whole tiles go up first then the ones needing cuts fill in afterwards. So anyway, this is what I have now...

Electrician arrives tomorrow for wiring, then ceiling should go in Tuesday. Tomorrow I need to exchange the thermostat John bought as it's not the right one for the heating and I have to buy white bathroom paint ready for when the ceiling goes in.

The ARGH! moment came when I had a call from my instructor to arrange my first lesson with him, it's a 2 1/2 hour lesson from 8.30am on Thursday. I'm now bricking it, it is so very real. So the other thing I need to do tomorrow is buy a Highway Code!

Underfloor heating

Tiler arrived to tile, got the underfloor heating out of the box ready to lay it, found out it was way too small, needed one twice the size. John went off to the shop to buy a 5m heating mat and thermostat, came back, all was well until the tiler laid it out, they'd only gone and given him a 10m mat! So back to the shop to exchange it. Finally the tiler got the mat down and the screed on top. While it was drying he got on with the only tiling he could in the shower area. He could only do so much until he had to leave to buy more floor adhesive ready for tiling the floor tomorrow. So this is as far as we have got in the bathroom, a screeded floor and some tiling in the shower.....

I cannot wait until it's finished. More tiling to be done tomorrow which will make a huge difference I think. Onwards and upwards!

All was going well, then it all went wrong

It was going so well, plumbing being done, shower tray and waste sorted out, pipe work for the towel radiator done and the shower valve put in place. All was good. The the electrician arrived to do the wiring for the underfloor heating, spot lights, extractor and lights on the mirrors, the newly plastered ceiling had to be cut into and then 3 hours later he found out that the lights on the whole of the first floor weren't working. One set of old lighting wiring had been tucked away into the roof void and plastered over. He had to cut another few holes in the ceiling to try and find the wiring, then found that there was no neutral and one wire came off in his hand! 4 1/2 hours he was here, and it was decided that the whole ceiling has to be brought down to see what wiring there is and what needs re-wiring.

The tiler is starting tomorrow, and this is going to set everything back, I know it is. I do wonder why nothing seems straight forward whenever we get a project underway. Tomorrow is another day, and hopefully progress will be made.

The art of doing not a lot

I went to aqua class this morning, the chaps doing the bathroom said they'd be with me around 11.30, I was home in time for them to arrive. Nothing, 1pm came and went and still nothing. It dawned on me that John had been contacting the plumber and he didn't have my phone number to call to tell me if he was running late. I'd heard nothing from John until he came home from work. John then tells me he has only been in contact via email and doesn't have his number nor does plumber have Johns. Finally John gets hold of him via email and gives him my phone number and I get a call. He was concerned he couldn't contact me to tell me he couldn't make it today as his other half had been taken into hospital with stitch problems after a ceasarean a few weeks ago. Anyway, all explained, I thought there was something wrong as I didn't think he just wouldn't turn up.

Anyway I had the art of doing not a lot down to a tee today as I couldn't go out in case the chaps turned up as they don't have a key. So the most I managed to do is water the garden and make myself lunch.

Tomorrow, I'm told, the bathroom will get plumbing, stud walls around the shower area and possibly flooring sorted (boarding and underfloor heating laid) ready for the tiler on Friday. So we should be storming ahead I think!

Getting plastered

Well the bathroom ceiling was getting plastered, I wasn't. I took delivery of all the bathroom fixtures and fittings at 8am this morning, 31 items offloaded and delivered in good order, phew! Just as the delivery was underway the chaps arrived and made a start. New doorway put in, in it's new position squaring the room off nicely. Then the plasterer set to and boarded the ceiling and plastered it, he didnt stop all day and it looks lovely and smooth and all one ceiling at last!

I went out and ordered the internal doors I wanted and buy the door furniture for all 8 of them. The doors have to be ordered in and wont be delivered until a week tomorrow so the carpenter will have to come back after the bathroom is finished to fit all the doors. They are lovely 1930's style doors though and will fit the style of the house nicely. So that's the update for today, lots done, lots still to do. But it will look fab once its all finished, my vision will come to fruition....

Bathroom demolition day

So our chaps arrived bang on 8am and got stuck in ripping out the bathroom. Noisy? Hell yeah. Did I think the house was about to fall down? Hell yeah. Do I now have a rather good sized room to work with? Hell yeah! So they worked like good 'uns and the whole bathroom is ripped out and in a skip on the drive. No tiles left on the walls, no radiator, no flooring, no ceiling, no door, no lights! Oh and best of all no wall between the old wc and the bathroom, just one lovely almost square space.

Tomorrow, it's plastering, wood work and sorting out where first fix stuff will be. I need to draw up a plan to show what goes where for them to follow and speak with the tiler as to how I want the tiles done. I cannot believe how much has been accomplished in one day, and it's great to see what the space actually looks like.

A lunch, a birthday and a bathroom

I've missed a couple of days blogging but it's been busy. Friday John had the day off and we went out for lunch together (my third lunch out in a row!) we had a lovely time and it was great to spend a bit of quality time together for a change.

Yesterday it was my 38th birthday, as ever I'm a grumpy old moo and didn't want a fuss made. John went out with his brother to a record fair and I had a delightful time pottering around in the garden. I did some weeding, tidied up the edges of the lawn and lopped some low branches off our weeping silver birch. Then I sat on the lounger in the sunshine, it was bliss! John came home mid afternoon and after a refreshing shower and change of clothes he took me out for a birthday meal to a lovely local Italian restaurant. The food was delicious and 2 1/2 hours later we were full, content and on our way home to chill out. I'd had a lovely fuss free birthday and I went to bed a happy bunny.

Today, we received an email from our plumber who we've employed to re-fit the bathroom and he said that he plans to start tomorrow! Ripping out the old fittings, taking down the wall between the WC and the bathroom and taking all the tiles off the walls. The bathroom fittings are being delivered on Tuesday, we picked the floor tiles and feature wall tiles up and bought tile adhesive and grout today, so now we have everything we need. I plan to take pix of progress as it goes along.

Finally, as the weather was nice today we decided to paint the dining room flat roof with weather proof sealer, we don't plan to knock it down and rebuild until next year so we have to make good to last us through the winter until we decide what we are going to do with it. There's enough stuff going on with the house this year to keep us occupied without sorting out demolishing and rebuilding the dining room. That's for another day!

So tomorrow its all go, here's to a spanky danky new bathroom which I'm so going to enjoy using, instead of the bathroom and WC we currently have that I won't go near!

Laydees wot do shoppin' and lunch

This is becoming a habit., and a nice one too! I met up with my two lovely friends Jude and Donna today for a spot of shopping and some nosh. I popped over to Jude's first, we had a cuppa and then went into Cardiff to start some retail therapy. Jude bought a couple of lovely dresses and a tankini for her holidays and I managed to buy 2 pairs of shorts, a dress and a lovely pair of wedge sandals. We then met up with Donna and mooched around a few more shops before going for lunch. We had such a great time nattering and catching up with everyones news, we always say we should do it more often, but we never manage it. We resolved again to meet up more often, I do hope we can as we leave it way too long in between meet ups.

I had a fantastic day and was sad that it came to an end. Here's to girlie lunches out and about!

Laydees wot lunch

Had a good morning in aqua class, really enjoyed it, rushed home to dry my hair off and get changed before driving to Cardiff to meet some of the girls I used to work with for lunch. It was great to see them and have a catch up. Seems like I made the right choice to leave when I did as things have gone from bad to worse there for one reason or another. The atmosphere has changed so I'm told, and it's not for the better. Anyway talk of work soon faded and we had a lovely time, I even had a birthday card signed by everyone which I wasn't expecting. Julie gave me a fabulous Simon's cat card, some roses and in the card was a lotto scratch card, I won £2 on it! It was a shame that lunch had to come to an end really, but we've promised to meet up again soon.

After lunch I toddled over to Ikea to buy a towel ring for the bathroom then came home to find John already there after his interview at another school for the IT manager post. They said that they'd phone everyone with the decision after 4pm, still no phone call so I expect it will be tomorrow now. I so want him to get this job, it will be a great challenge for him, look fab on his CV and its a payrise, which can't be bad. My fingers are still firmly crossed.

Tomorrow, I'm meeting my mate Jude in the morning for some retail therapy in Cardiff, then we are meeting our other friend Donna for another laydees wot lunch session. I'm quite liking this lifestyle!

Down to business...

Another relatively leisurely day all in all, I cooked myself some pasta for lunch then went to my 2pm appointment at Venture Wales to see one of their advisers and chat over what help they can provide me with whilst setting up my own business. I was there nearly an hour and it's all good stuff. There's almost constant help on tap if I need it and also what looks like some very helpful short training courses for marketing, business planning, book keeping and tax. It was interesting and informative and it's good to know that that help is at hand when I need it.

So the plan is to wait to do the courses until maybe September then actually register as a full blown client before Christmas time as the business has to be set up within 3 months of registering.

Today I've also managed to sort out a lunch with some ex work colleagues for tomorrow and also shopping and lunch on Thursday with my 2 friends, who I also used to work with but they're real life mates too. So I have two days of lunches out. I am officially a laydee wot lunches! Really looking forward to it.

Dead fly

Today I haven't done very much, I washed up, tidied the kitchen, tidied a bit more of the dining room and put stuff away. As I was putting some stuff away in my craft room, I spotted a dead fly with legs akimbo on the windowsill right next to my macro lens. It would have been impolite not to take some macro shots of it really wouldn't it?! So I set my tripod up and loaded on my macro lens. I love macro photography and bugs especially. Bonus I had a captive (dead) subject! So a short but sweet entry from me today, here is the product of my day...

Now buzz off!

Egyptian cotton...

Oh yes, in my quest for the perfect bathroom today I bought some lovely Egyptian cotton towels.

But before that we went to the tile shop to buy our tiles for the floor and feature wall in the bathroom. The original floor tiles we liked came in at nearly £600. Eek! So as much as we liked them we were not prepared to spend that much money on floor tiles even though they matched the bathroom cabinetry. Instead we found some HUGE matt black porcelain tiles which were just the ticket and less than half the price. The original wall tiles we liked for the feature wall I decided I'd gone off the idea of as they were too metallic and not black enough. I also thought that the pattern might date the room so we opted for plain black matt rectagular tiles. The floor and wall tiles came in at £100 less than just the original floor tiles, I was much happier with that, and thought black plain tiles would be great against the white patterned tiles we bought for the other 3 walls. The white tiles look like this.

So I thought that they could look busy enough without a contrasting pattern on the other wall. Anyway the tiles are being ordered and will be ready on Thursday to pick up.

Then, onto the towels! As the bathroom will be black and white with dark wood cabinetry, silver blinds and chrome fixtures, I needed a splash of colour with the towels. I dont really go for the matching towel set look when everything is the same colour, I prefer different colours that compliment each other. We already have two oversized bath sheets in lime and lavender so I thought I needed different colours that would compliment them. I ended up with these.

They are really lovely, I love the colours and they're so fluffy! I also bought a chrome shower tidy to put the shampoos and shower gel bottles in. I'm already living it and in my mind I'm in the new bathroom, soaking up the atmosphere!

Garden and bathroom doings, plus.....

Bad day for back ache, great day for garden and bathroom progress!

I woke up with a really bad aching back and knee, not a good start. It was raining outside and looking pretty grim. John had invited a local plumber around to price up ripping out the old and fitting in a new bathroom for us. He measured up, we told him what we wanted, he said he would email us with his quote. We told him we had the bathroom on order and needed a couple of weeks notice for them to deliver, he was happy with that. All good stuff.

So the rain eventually gave up and some blue sky and sunshine turned up around lunchtime, John was determined to finish off the flower bed we started in the garden. It needed the weed fabric laying and gravel on top. So in blustery wind we put the fabric down and ran out with about a metre to go, I had to go out to buy more. John made a start in bringing the gravel up from the drive to the garden and into the bed. I got back with more fabric and he continued tipping gravel in whilst I raked it out. This was work in progress.

After a load more gravel (a ton in total) and a lot more raking and arranging, we finished. I placed 3 ornamental balls in the gravel to finish it off and we ended up with this.

I'm really pleased with the outcome and its a huge tick off the garden to do list. The lawn is in desperate need of mowing and it really shows against this neat flower bed now!

Part two of the great day was the quote we had from the plumber for the bathroom work, very favourable compared to previous quotes we've had, so we were going to tell him the job was his if he wanted it. We needed to sort out delivery (and payment) first, so headed off to the bathroom shop. We paid up and they said they would deliver on 26th July which was great. Woo hoo! We were on the way to realising an actual new bathroom. John emailed the plumber, telling him of the delivery date and he can work around that and hopes to take a couple of days to rip out and take the wall down, then a week to fit it all out. We shall have a new bathroom before we go away on holidays. Oooh, this has been months in the planning and I seriously cannot wait to take my first shower in there! The only things we needed to sort out was buying the towel radiator and floor and feature wall tiles. I've ordered the towel radiator and valves from a place in North Wales, and tomorrow we shall toddle off to the tile shop to buy the tiles we need.

Now then, as an added extra to the day, my plus is.......... I've registered for another Photomarathon! Yay, I had a fabulous day doing the Cardiff Photomarathon in June and an online friend sent me a link to one that's being set up in Newport on 28th August www.newportphotomarathon.com I'm available, it's for a good cause as the proceeds are going to the Cystic Fibrosis charity and hey, it'll be a great day! I'm really looking forward to it and what a bonus to end my great day on.

Back ache and lethargy

That's how I felt today, I went to my aqua class and just couldn't do very much as my back was aching and my calf muscles were in agony. I was so disappointed as I really get a lot out of those classes. Anyway after class, I popped to the travel agent to book our car parking at the airport for when we go on holibobs.

I managed to send off an email to the training funding bods with my evidence to back up my application and John came home to tell me that the school he applied for a job at want him for an interview next Wednesday! Oh I really do hope he gets the job.

Back ache and lethargy, that was today in a nutshell.

Catch up, lunch and driving

A good day, a very good day. First thing was picking my mate and her hubby up from Bristol airport. They left their car at ours and I picked them up in it so they could drive back home themselves. As a thank you they very kindly paid for lunch for me at the rather lovely Chandlery restaurant in town, which I've been eager to try out for a while. It was delish! Goats cheese bruschetta, pork and black pudding mousse with potato champ on braised cabbage, and finally rice pudding with mango sorbet. Oooh it was lovely, and we had a lovely catch up with all sorts of gossip!

Then the next highlight was my driving assessment, which didn't go as badly as I thought and left me with lots to think about and a few tips as to how things work these days. Times have changed and there are certainly different ways of driving compared to how I was taught 21 years ago! So after that, speaking with my instructor, who said he would offer me a job if I passed and speaking on the phone to another instructor in Cardiff who insisted there was a great market out there for female instructors and even more so for those willing to teach people on Automatics, I will compose my email to the training funding people with my case put forward to justify them stumping up the cash. I feel less despondent now and much more positive about it all. Yay!

Feeling deflated

The day started off quite well, I went to aqua class, bought some salad for lunch, then popped my repeat prescription in to the doctors, posted a letter and went to the Post Office to post Johns job application to a new school. All seemed well. Then the post arrived and in it was a letter from the training funding bods, saying I have to jump through hoops before they will fund my ADI course and if I wanted to change my mind and follow another career path they'd prefer if I did that instead. I have to prove I've done market research to make sure there is a need for driving instructors in my area (my reasoning is the need for female instructors). I have to complete all 3 parts of the course within a year and they seem to think that I won't (my instructor and I want this done and dusted by the end of this year so 6 months tops), and they ask that my instructor is in agreement with being paid after all the training is completed and not before (which he is). So I felt deflated.

I've spoken to one national driving school regarding the need for female instructors, and they state there is a need. My instructor also said there is a need for more females as only 10% of instructors are female. So I phoned two local driving schools today for info. One has to get back to me as I left a message, the other was helpful in saying they have 12 instructors and 2 are female. They said there is a need for more female instructors but like any other business, things are slow due to the recession, but things are picking up. Anyway, I still feel deflated. I wonder if it's worth it at all, trying to qualify and set up a business.

My mind then started to wander, and I had thoughts of buying a little property and renting it out, seeing what being a landlord is like. I had all sorts of ideas going on in my head, I even looked on Rightmove at properties and what rental values are. I'd love a project to get my teeth stuck into. Argh! what to do? I really am wondering what to do for the best, I don't want to work in an office, please don't make me do that again. I'm in turmoil and maybe need to do more research into things. I hate uncertainty and I hate doubting myself.

A lesson in doing sod all

That's what I've done today.....sod all. I spent the majority of the day sat on my backside watching the tv. I did make a few phone calls though. I got my blood texts results back, fasting glucose: normal and cholesterol: normal, yay! Called the window company to see what was happening as I've not heard from them in a while, they said that there are 8 clients before us, and we should get the work done by the time we go on holidays, so that's good news, they will call me nearer the time. I called the fitness referral people regarding the fact they've got their dates wrong before they cancel my 4 months subscription when I'm only 6 weeks in, all sorted and updated. Finally I managed to get hold of the restaurant that my best friend is taking me to as a thank you for leaving her car here and me picking them up from Bristol airport on Thursday. Booked in for lunch at 1pm!

So I've lounged but been busy in a lazy way. I went to my Tuesday Aqua class this evening and as ever, enjoyed it, looking forward to class #2 of the week tomorrow morning. Generally a boring day all in all, hopefully I'll have something exciting to say soon. Oh hang on, I might have won the Eurolotto, as I bought a ticket........

The ball is rolling...

...and gaining momentum! This morning I posted off the forms and paperwork for my training funding, hopefully that should all come through in a couple of weeks. I need to sort out the CRB check next as I can't start training without it. This afternoon I popped over to the local Venture Wales office (based in the park at the end of my street so really local!) to see if I could set up a meeting with one of their business advisers, and check out the business start up courses they provide for free. So I have an appointment for next Tuesday afternoon for a chat with an adviser, I'll probably look to go on the 4 days worth of courses in September as the August ones coincide with our holiday next month. Oooh it's seeming more real by the day.

I haven't really done much else today, except buying a nozzle attachement for the hosepipe, tres exciting mais no?!

Sunday, Sunday...

Hmmm, interesting morning. John toddled off west to visit his parents, so I had time to myself. I wanted some more compost to went off to Homebase as I still had some cash on a gift card. Before I went in I thought I'd check out online how B&Q prices compared and they were cheaper by £1 and the pack was 125 litres as opposed to 120. Anyway I bought one pack in Homebase with what was left on the card, then off I went to B&Q.

Got there, found out that each pack was priced up at a pound dearer. So I asked why at the customer services desk. I was given short shrift and told that it was an online price only, I argued that it did not state that on the website and that I could reserve and collect at that very store for the cheaper price. I was then told that if I did that I would be charged the higher price. I walked away, off to the garden centre and sat down on a garden bench and went online on my phone, registered, logged in and reserved 4 bags for the cheaper price to be picked up tomorrow. I was enraged at how, as a cutomer, I had been treated. Anyway I walked out, and have since found out I don't need the compost now, so I won't be picking it up.

My instructor popped over with the training funding forms all filled in for me to send off, so that was a bonus (and something for me to do tomorrow) and I'm booked in for Thursday for my assessment lesson. I'm quite looking forward to it. Looking at the form he filled in he is aiming for me to have passed all 3 parts and be qualified by the end of the year. Now that is scary!

When John came home he decided to try and get stuck in to getting the new flower bed sorted. So digging over, compost, manure and planting we ended up with this

I've chosen plants that are evergreen and of different colours so that when winter comes, there's still colour and interest in the garden. I now need to sort out the weed fabric ready for the golden gravel what will mulch all around the planting. Then the bed will be finished! So the main chunk of the garden now looks like this

The lawn needs mowing, I might give it a bash tomorrow. The only other things to do is finish the final row of paving in front of the shed, frame up and cover over the old brick wall between the decks and put a garden path in. Still quite a bit to do, but we will get there!

Glamour in abundance!

Oh yes, check me out, the glamour rating was 10/10 easily...... Today, I gave the kitchen a damn good spring clean! Oh my, it was cleaned to within an inch of its life and looks rather sparkley now. Don't let it ever be said that I don't live life to the full!

John smashed the old fireplace up with a sledgehammer to take it to the tip with a load of bags of garden stuff. Then my day got even more rock n roll, I hung a pair of curtains in my craft room, the day just got better and better. We then toddled off to Cardiff to Costco for a mooch around and some nosh.

A fun filled glamourous day if ever there was!

Interesting and positive!

Had a good day, the conference was really rather good with excellent speakers and full of information that was really relevant. It was so much better than I was expecting and I've come away with a lot of ideas and leads to follow up on.

My driving instructor had to cancel on me as he too was in a conference that was going on longer than he expected. So we will re-arange for another day and time. So as I had time on my hands and didn't need to rush back home, I popped into the main office and handed my security pass in (that I forgot to do 3 weeks ago, oops!) and then popped into my old office for a quick catch up with my ex-workmates. Lots of things have happened since I left the place and major changes are afoot. It was lovely seeing them all even though it's only been a few weeks, but although I don't miss the work, I do miss them, a lot.

So I've had a great day, I wish they were all as nice as today was.

A not much happpened today, day.

Short but sweet today, nothing much happened, I got up went to hydrotherapy session, popped to the shops then went over to the Instructors house to drop off the forms he needs to fill in for my training funding. Got home, and John came home just after I got in, we went out to the garden and finished off digging out the turf in the new flowerbed.

The most amazing thing then happened, I found my lost house and car keys that I have been looking for, for 3 days, on the patio table. They were wet and soggy yet ok.

Tomorrow should be interesting though, I have a conference in Cardiff all day, put on by my ex-HR dept for civil servants to transition into the private sector, CV stuff and information on setting up your own business. There's free lunch so hey, it's worth a punt!

Once I get home I'm then off on my driving assessment session with the Instructor, which should be fun.....

Fireplaces and grumpiness.

Have had a day of days really. 8am the two fellas from the fireplace company turned up to knock out the old fireplace and replace it with a new one. John still didn't know, and I wanted it to be a surprise. Anyway this is what the old fireplace looked like with its cracked, chipped loose tiles and boarded up middle to stop the draught.

It had kind of grown on me in a weird way, but it was in too much of a bad state of repair to make it good, and I wanted to be draught free and have a fire. The two blokes took quite a while with bolster chisel and hammer to try and get it out, it was solid concrete behind the tiles reinforced with metal. after it was finally chiselled out it looked like this.

They started by putting the hearth in first then the fireplace, mantle and fire. It has a remote controlled fire which is quite cool, and motion activated downlighters. They did such a lovely job and cleaned up after themselves too. Im so pleased with the final fireplace, it makes such a difference to the room.

So all was good until I had a pang of guilt and confessed said fireplace installation to John via text with photo. He turned into Victor Meldrew, moaned about not telling him, and how much I'd spent, I was spending money like water etc. etc. He was all huffy basically. We had already discussed replacing the fireplace, so what was the problem? After a few hours online with some sensible women and their advice (one in particular, you know who you are LD) it transpires that Mr Grumpy Pants is grumpy not because of the fireplace but because of other stuff like work. When he got home we had a talk (and I appealed to his basic instincts by offering my norks to him too......... it worked!) Seems he needs to feel more wanted, as do I so we agreed on that for a start, and he isn't happy in work as he had had someone elses fulltime job lumbered on him, for no additional money, so he is in talks with the Head, Deputy, his manager and his union rep on Monday to talk about it all. He is actively looking for another job as well. He doesn't mind that I'm not working either. So Mr Grumpy Pants is no longer grumpy, he's now Mr Happy Boxers instead.

He wryly smiled at the new fireplace, said he didn't love it but didn't not like it either. He even played with the motion sensor lights too.....

Odd day.

Bit of an odd one today, I managed to get locked in the house, I have a painful skin tag on my neck, and I've got the Driving Instructor training ball rolling.

I pfaffed around for most of the morning getting nothing done, once I had decided to get my backside in gear I started tidying up the kitchen and was gathering the recycling together to put out in the recycling bins, I got to the front door and it was locked. I couldn't find my keys and spent the rest of the afternoon searching for them. I was stuck in the house until John came home from work. I still haven't found them, yet they must be in the house as I used them to open the front door to let us in last night.  I have managed to find a spare front door key to add to my spare car key so I can get out of the house and drive but I'm damned if I can locate my original keys. I shall keep scouring the house.

Then, I noticed the little skin tag I've had on my neck for the past couple of years was rather red and sore to touch. It also looked bigger than normal too. It really was tender to touch and in such a place it rubs against my clothes and neck chain. By the time I was leaving for aqua class early evening, it had turned black and is very painful indeed. If it's no better by Thursday then I think I'll go to the doctors to get it checked out and chopped off.

So before aqua class and John coming home to let me out, so to speak, I thought I might as well phone the Driving Instructor Instructor to sort out filling in the relevant forms to apply for the training grant. He was out at the time but I left a message for him to call be back later in the evening. He did call me back and I'm dropping the forms off at his house tomorrow, I've also checked out the link he gave me to sort out the CRB check I need to start my training and booked an assessment session with him for 4.30 this Friday, so he can see how I drive and show me how I should be driving. ARGH! I've set the ball rolling now, and it's becoming a little bit more real.

Tomorrow, I might get round to phoning HMRC to sort out claiming my tax back. Tomorrow is also the day I have a new fireplace and fire fitted in the front living room. I haven't told John about this, I just took the executive decision and ordered it and tomorrow morning they're coming to remove the 1950's tiled affair we have at the moment and replace it with a rather fetching limestone fireplace and hearth with built in downlighters and nice chrome electric fire inset. I hope they finish before he comes home!

Now I'm thinking about it, I've yet to hear from the UPVC company we had round a few weeks ago to order a new front bedroom window, bay window sealed unit and new facias, soffits and guttering. Maybe another job for tomorrow, give them a call and chase them up. A busy day could be in store tomorrow, as I have another aqua class in the morning too. I need to write a list I think....

I'm going on Holibobs!

Oh yes I am, and I cannot wait. There's something rather exciting about having a holiday to look forward to, it's also been a long time coming (the decision to actually go on holiday) and it's all booked and paid for! So we shall be having a nice 10 night break in Cala D'or Majorca in a 4* hotel next month. I've been to Cala D'or and Majorca before but John hasn't, so it will be a new experience for him. I'm really looking forward to it, the only blip is the flight is 7am from Bristol so we will need to be there before 5am and leaving the house at stupid-am to get there, but the upside is getting to Majorca at half past 10 in the morning, so a whole proper day there to kick off.

I spent over 2 hours in the travel agents and went from Majorca to Menorca, Tunisia to the Algarve and over to Gozo, and ended up back in Majorca. The best thing is the hotel we are going to is adults only, no children allowed, which is fantastic. Peace and quiet. More hotels should do this!

After the excitement of booking the holiday I've managed to do nothing else all day.....

Sunny, hard work, tiring....but happy!

As it says in the title really. Husband John was worse, far worse than me as he was digging grass up to make way for the new flower bed. We started off by marking out the bed with the mini picket fencing.

So once set out he started digging, and it was hard as the ground was very dry and lo and behold we have clay soil, so it took him a long time to make any kind of progress. In 6 hours he managed to get about 3/4 of the way down. So now the garden looks something like this.

So I've soaked what's been dug up as it needs forking over and manure, compost and sharp sand dug into it to improve the soil before planting. I had a relatively easy day I planted up 2 scented pelargoniums and 2 ladybird poppy plants, popped out to get more weed supressant fabric and made lunch.

My best mate Emma and her husband, uni friend and mum and dad turned up on their way to France on holidays, I'm keeping their car safe and picking them up forom the airport on the 14th, so it was great to see them, they had a mooch around the garden and now Emma's husband Garry is thinking about decking for their garden!

Fast and productive!

What a difference a day makes! I've had a few back twinges but I've been largely ok today. It's been a lovely sunny day so we decided to see if we could finish the lower flower bed off, and we did! I'm so pleased with the outcome, it's so neat and a world away from how it used to look. Husband (John) had to buy some wood for the fence at the top of the bed just to finish it off, so he attached it and I painted it to match the rest. We also put in a large heavy plank at the bottom of the bed to retain the gravel, which I also painted to match everything else.

A bag of compost was sprinkled and forked in and weed supressant fabric placed over the whole area ready to plant in the lavender. Once the plants were in then John started shoveling gravel on top so it looked like this.

Half a ton of gravel later and a good hose down to clean up we ended up with this.

I think it's such an improvement on what was there and it really makes the space look bigger, I can't wait for the lavenders to take root and flower so the bees can visit. Anyway to put it all into context, here are the before and after pix.

So a productive day was had by all and the flower bed is finished, Tahdah! We were both filthy dirty and in desperate need of a shower afterwards, we will probably be the same tomorrow when we make a start on the other flower bed. I'm so pleased though, I could grin for the rest of the day.

Now then, dinner....... Sausage, mash and baked beans, I'm starving!

Slow and unproductive.

That's what I feel today has been. I don't seem to have done very much, my back pain has a lot to do with it but I try to carry on anyway, because I feel if I stop I might never start going again! It. Will. Not. Get. Me. Down.

So my day went something like this:
* Woke up around 8am
* Phoned to see if my aqua class was running today, it wasn't
* Phoned Vets to see if I could book my boy Guinness the cat in for his annual jabs
* Had breakfast
* Pfaffed around for an hour filling in forms for training
* Took Guinness to the Vets, all ok!
* Went to pick up prescription form Pharmacy
* Bought some vest tops and a couple of pairs of pumps from George
* Got home and flaked out
* Cooked dinner and ate it
* Watered the gardens, which totally finished my back off.

Rawk an' Roll eh?! I feel totally deflated and useless really as I've not managed to be productive whatsoever today. Maybe I'm expecting too much of myself.

Anyway, onwards and upwards! Tomorrow is gardening day with husband, we will finish off the lower flower bed which will be great and make a huge difference to the patio area. Will take it slowly though as his back isn't much better than mine. I'll be glad once we have finished this garden makeover, so we can give ourselves a rest and take time out to sit out in the garden and enjoy the fruits of our labours.

Talking about giving ourselves a rest, we have finally talked about and made a decision on actually booking a holiday. I'm toddling off to the travel agents on Monday to see if I can book us a week or 10 days somewhere warm where we can chill out. I quite fancy Portugal or maybe a trip back to Menorca. I'll see what's on offer for Mid August. We have also decided to plan ahead (for once!) and use our timeshare two weeks we have banked for exchange and see if we can organise a week in San Fransisco and a week in Las Vegas for next year. So I finally have something to organise, yipee!

Not the best of days today.

My back pain is terrible today, I think it's because I've been overdoing it a bit (ok, a lot!) in the garden. Even my hydrotherapy session midday wasn't great. My physio could tell without me saying anything, so it must have been bad. My exercises were laboured and a good blast with the water jet on my back didn't really help that much. Boo.

I got home, had a salad for lunch which was very nice then decided to go back out to the garden and make a start painting the mini picket fencing we have to edge the new flower bed. So I planted myself and my paint pot on the patio table and made a start, I managed to get a first coat on everything then my back really had given up the ghost. Maybe tomorrow I'll finish it off.

Today was strike day for lots of public sector workers, and my union was was of those out on strike over pensions. I'm still a paid up union member and for once I actually agree with what they're striking about, but as I'm no longer in employment I couldn't really do anything proactive. Shame really, but I do hope that something gets sorted out as working longer for less pension really is not on.

I did have some good news though, I had a text message from my best mate Emma today, she and her husband are off on holidays and I've said that they can leave their car here while they're away, then I'll pick them up from Bristol airport when they get back. She text me to say they'll be here Sunday afternoon. So a flying visit but something to look forward to!

Here's hoping I have a better day tomorrow....

Getting wet, it's quite addictive.

I am loving my aqua cardio classes, I really am and look forward to them 3 times a week. I try and get there 15-20 minutes early so I can get a bit of a swim in first, bonus! There's a nice group of regulars at the class too so we are all getting to know each other and actually have a giggle whilst working out. It's a nice little social hour 3 times a week, something I miss since leaving employment. I'm a social person you see, I like other peoples company (even though I'm happy in my own company too) and being at home alone all day every day can get boring. Don't get me wrong, I can chat to the 3 cats but they dont really chat back much. So my 3 hours a week in a pool is quite refreshing in more ways than one!

So after my hour in the pool this morning, I toddled off to Aldi on a recommendation from one of my fellow aqua classmates as they have adult water shoes on sale, much better grip with them than bare feet whilst running around a pool. I bought a lovely pair of lilac ones for less than 4 quid, bargain!

Just after that I got a text from my friend I used to work with, well we shared a room and really hit it off, she's just got back from a lovely long 3 weeks holiday in Greece, lucky thing. I can't wait to see her holiday photos. I'm still in limbo about deciding where we should go on holidays, but my husband is still dilly-dallying about when or where. Maybe I should just book something and tell him where and when!

Back home I made the decision that I couldn't do anything else in the back garden, but I could make a start painting the driveway fence. Its 45ft long and I managed to do about 5 ft of it before a huge black raincloud came over so I had to pack up. To be honest, I'm fed up of painting fences, I could do with never seeing a fence again in my life, it has to be done though, but maybe later rather than sooner !

The never ending job....Finished at last!

I had a moment of minor excitement today, the moment I finished my 5th tin of fence paint and my last brushstroke on the last piece of garden fence. The new garden fences have all had their two coats of paint. HURRAH! All 45 square metres of fence. Hurrah indeed. (I still have 40ft of driveway fence to paint yet but thats for another project!). Boredom banished for today at least.

I had a little conversation via email with my friend who is still in work this morning, and we plan to have a laydees wot lunch day together on 21st July, so thats something fab to look forward to! I also had a rather hard aqua cardio class early this evening, a different instructor to Wednesday and Friday classes and totally different exercises to do, I really quite enjoyed it!

So a good positive day all round, lots done and looking forward to aqua cardio class tomorrow morning, then I plan to start preparing the soil in the lower flower bed to plant the lavender in. More garden work, but at least at the end of it I'll have something I can look back at and enjoy.

I shall sleep well tonight.

I can't be bored already...

...surely not?! Due to rain stopping me getting on with garden stuff, I sat down and watched some of the Andy Murray 4th round Wimbledon match today, then I realised I was getting bored, not with the match but generally. I was scrambling my brain for something to do, it scared me a bit I have to be honest. It's only been a flippin' week!

Anyway after pondering what to do, as I felt just sitting down watching the tennis was somehow wasting time, even though in reality I have all the time in the world, then my gravel order arrived from the builders merchants, so that killed about 15 minutes. I finally decided to go and buy more fence paint in readiness for dry weather and of all things, a butter dish. I've always wanted one and now I have a lovely spotty butter dish so my butter won't be rock hard any more. Maybe now my butter will be soft I can crack open my new Kenwood Chef and use it to bake something, I've had it about 6 weeks now and it's still in its box.

I have no idea how people can just sit on their backsides all day doing nothing, its mind numbingly boring and you have nothing to show for it, what a waste of time/a day/your life. Being a laydee of leisure isn't all it's cracked up to be I reckon. There's nothing really needs doing in the house other than big things like the bathroom refit or things I can't do. Maybe I need to go around the house with a notepad and pen and really scrutinise everything, make a list, then make a start on doing teeny tiny jobs. Maybe I need to have a massive clearout and spring clean, although after the massive clearout prior to moving here, there's not much to get rid of. Lists, I love lists and think I need to get something down on paper so I can see what things I can do to fill my time.

There's lots of nice hobby type things I can do like photography or crafting, I do want to make a start on scrapbooking at some point, but if I do things like that I feel I'm wasting my time on frivolity and not making the most of the fact I'm at home. I feel like I should be doing things for the home rather than for me. I know it sounds stupid but it's ingrained in me I think, weekdays was work and weekends was doing stuff for the house. Now the weekdays are free I feel duty bound to do stuff for the house to free up our weekends for nice stuff. Maybe I feel guilty for being home and not in work. I'll think about it some more tomorrow, after all I've got nothing else to do have I?

Started well, didn't really go anywhere.

Hmmm, it's only 11am and I've been stopped in my tracks. I was up at 6.30, trotted off to the doctors at about 7.50 to find myself in a queue stretching up the road, luckily I had a booked appt with the nurse, the majority of people were there for open surgery and I guess would have had quite a wait. Anyway, medical stuff done, I came home for breakfast, a nice bowl of fruit salad whilst sat on the garden swing in the morning sunshine. Perfect for getting my garden planning head on. So after breakfast I decided to pop to B&Q to see what prices their lavenders were, as it happened they were on offer at 3 for £12 which compared to other places at £6 or £7 each was quite a bargain, so I bought 6 to plant in the bottom flower bed that was dug out yesterday.

I also spotted a rather nice hardwood table and chairs for two which would be perfect for the top deck, I was unsure if the box would fit in my Smart car, but I'm going to go back later to buy it. I was on a roll now and decided to pop over to the builders merchants and order a couple of tons of gravel for mulching in the garden. So two 1 ton bags of Solent Gold chippings ordered to be delivered tomorrow, or possibly today if they have time. Whilst in the builders merchants I received a phone call from my husband who told me he had done his back in in work getting out of a chair and was in agony, looks like I'll be the one shovelling chippings from the drive to the garden then. Great timing, but I hope he's ok.

By the time I got back home the sunshine had disappeared under clouds and it looked like rain was on the way :o( I wasn't a happy bunny. I wanted to set to with more fence painting to finish it off, and maybe making a start on digging out the new flower bed in front of the deck. I'm looking out of the window now and it's picking with rain, not good. So after a swift start everything seems to have ground to a halt. Boo.

Hot, sweaty and sunburned.

Phew! It's been a scorcher today, 82 degrees I'll have you know! However, I've spent a day in the garden again and yes, fence painting did happen, but today I got my husband involved doing hard labour digging out the lower flower bed near the patio. It was full of weeds and it spoiled the view of the garden from the kitchen window. This is what it looked like first thing this morning.

Yes full to the brim with stuff and an unloved fence too. This little area of the garden wasn't even in my masterplan, I hadn't got that far in the plan in my head! Husband set to with a pitch fork and dug it all out. It took him quite a while and I couldn't help him really so I went and did girly things like more fence painting in pretty colours! So after all his digging and a trip to the dump with a car full of garden, it looked like this.

I had started to paint the unloved fence by now as you can see, still lots to do though and the sun was getting hotter. The large plank of wood you can see here will eventually be screwed into the bottom of the fence posts to hold back the earth at the top where the lawn ends, I'll probably paint it the same colour as the fence. At the end of what seemed the longest day ever in the sunshine (and I'd lost count how many glasses of water I managed to drink!) we eventually ended up with this.

Transformed! The fence looks half decent now but needs another coat (and I managed to get the feather edge fence painted too, bonus!) So now it's all dug over, it needs some compost dug into it, then I think my plan is to keep it simple and just plant some lavender in there (as the bees love it) and mulch it with gravel. Maybe tomorrow I shall buy some lavender plants...

A good day all in all with lots done and to end our day gardening we had a BBQ and ate al fresco, topped off with some chill out time sat on the garden swing on the top deck, over looking our hard work.

Tomorrow is the start of week 2 of laydee of leisure time and there are things I need to do, doctors appt first thing for a fasting blood test, bp check and check up smear. I have to contact HMRC to sort out claiming a chunk of tax back from my redundancy payment and finally I need to contact the Instructor I've chosen to teach me so we can sort out paperwork and book a driving assessment lesson. It's becoming real!

It's Sunday evening and I'm relaxed and don't have that Sunday night pit of the stomach feeling that can only mean work on Monday morning. It's rather quite nice to feel relaxed for a change, long may this continue I say!

Pondering...

Today has been a day for it, pondering that is. It's been none too good weather wise with on and off drizzle so no real work done in my garden, but lots of thinking and planning and pondering. It's the weekend so my husband has been mulling things over in the garden too, measuring things up and thinking about his next move.

To put things garden-wise into context we started off with this

and after a lot of hard work and a couple of thousand £'s we have so far ended up with this

So far, so good eh? It's my keep me occupied project at the moment and it certainly is keeping me very occupied because if I'm not physically doing something in the garden I'm planning what to do next. Nothing on paper, it's all in my mind, but I'm aiming for a beachy feel with zoned areas.

So far we have had new fencing and two decks erected (the main spend of cash really as there's no way we could have done that ourselves!). After that it was down to me to start painting the fences, and there's a lot of fence, what seems like acres in fact, oh and two coats of paint too, so twice the acreage! So the back fence was to be forget-me-not blue to compliment the sage green of the shed and make it look like an outdoor room. The main tall fence running along the side broke me, it was never ending but the sense of acheivement when I got to the end was immense. Anyway, thats in Heritage stone colour, the garden zone. The small fences in the foreground that are older and weathered will eventually be painted the same green as the shed, as will the new wall topper fence out of sight on the lower right. This will mark out the patio zone where the table and seating is, another outdoor room.

Last week we edged the lower deck with heather screening and laid weed suppressant fabric under the deck. Previously to that we moved the shed sideways by about 6 inches and back by about 18inches to be able to lay paving slabs around it to tidy the area up and provide space for our plastic storage unit. My husband had fitted a new BBQ unit to the brick built BBQ on the top deck and screwed a stainless steel splashback to the fence to prevent us burining it down whilst cooking! He also applied two coats of deck oil to both decks.

So thats the background, here's the pondering.....How to cover up the unsightly brickwork between the two decks and above the steps?! Idea....Frame it up and cover it with more heather screening to make it match the lower deck. So measuring up is in order.

Next is sorting out the flower bed I want to put in, in front of the lower deck. It will be triangular in shape and filled with evergreen plants of different colours so there will be all round colour. Planting will be mulched with gravel and edged with short painted picket fence. Have to mull over what needs doing there really as the soil is clay and will need manure, sand and compost dug in first.

My biggest pondering is the dip that contains the old stepping stone path to the left of the photos, it winds from top centre around to the left and back to bottom centre, it is also in a trench. What the previous owners of the house were thinking of at the time I have no idea, its a total pain to mow due to the incline and serves no purpose. I initially thought it would make a great basis for a rill with lovely trickling water, but then the practicalities sunk in, how would I ever manage to trim the hedge on the left? So that idea went out of the window as soon as it came in. I think, but it's still open to other suggestions, that it will need to be filled in with topsoil and either seeded or the whole lawn comes up and we lay a new one so it all matches. That pondering will go on for a while yet I reckon.

The plan for a new path is already in my mind and it will lead from the bottom right of the lawn along the side of the new flower bed and up to the deck steps. Easy and just where you actually want a path!

So lots of thinking, and even more actual physical work to do. Tomorrow is another day, and I think tomorrow will bring me yet more fence painting!

Blimey! this is new, what am I starting?!

Whilst sat in my garden earlier I thought maybe I'd like to document my 'retirement' and all the fun (read mundane) things I'm going to get up to now I'm jobless. It's been a week since I left the Civil Service for good, taking voluntary exit. So blogging, that's what came into my mind, it's the unknown for me, never tried it before and didn't really know where to start. Anyway after some searching on the intertubes, here I am, all set up and writing my first post. I'm the new girl, the one who has no idea what to do, so please bear with me!

My master plan is to retrain as a driving instructor and set up my own driving school. All well and good you may think, but it's terrifying and totally out of my comfort zone having never been self employed there will be a lot to learn, and not just the instructor training! So thats part one of my laydee of leisure time, doing something that will hopefully turn me from a laydee of leisure to a self employed professional!

Part two is sorting out aspects of my house I want to change, like the garden (ongoing project!) the bathroom, the fireplace in the living room, re-carpetting the stairs and landing, painting the outside of the house, replacing the facias, soffits and guttering..... Yes there's lots to do and I'm going to bore you (and me) silly with it all!

Part 3 is basically everything else, my day to day life, my exercise classes, my physio appts, my thoughts on life in general and hopefully my meeting up with freinds from time to time to share some good social catchup time. Could be boring but could also be devastatingly interesting!

So I've made a start, this is post numero uno, which will be the start of a journey that I have no idea where it will end or take me. Welcome to my life, my thoughts, my ups and downs. Welcome to the life of a laydee of leisure!