Sunday 31 July 2011

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!

Saturday 30 July 2011

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!

Thursday 28 July 2011

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.

Wednesday 27 July 2011

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!

Tuesday 26 July 2011

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....

Monday 25 July 2011

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.

Sunday 24 July 2011

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!

Thursday 21 July 2011

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!

Wednesday 20 July 2011

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!

Tuesday 19 July 2011

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.

Monday 18 July 2011

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!

Sunday 17 July 2011

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!

Saturday 16 July 2011

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.

Friday 15 July 2011

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.

Thursday 14 July 2011

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!

Wednesday 13 July 2011

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.

Tuesday 12 July 2011

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........

Monday 11 July 2011

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 10 July 2011

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!

Saturday 9 July 2011

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!

Friday 8 July 2011

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.

Thursday 7 July 2011

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.....

Wednesday 6 July 2011

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.....

Tuesday 5 July 2011

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....

Monday 4 July 2011

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.....

Sunday 3 July 2011

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!

Saturday 2 July 2011

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!

Friday 1 July 2011

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!