My week round up

It has been a week of worry and joy and lots of tears of relief.

My little boy Tom (5) went in to hospital for another operation as part of his cleft lip repair.  I have been really careful to make sure he knows exactly what is going on so that there are no surprises. I didn't want to hide anything from him.  I used words that he could understand and weren't too medical - so it was magic cream to go on his hand and magic sleeping medicine for the anesthetic (can you tell he is a Harry Potter fan).

I was nervous about this operation as it would be the first one where he is completely aware of what is going on (the other were done when he was much younger), but I needn't have worried  - he was amazing!

There was no fear or complaints from him.  I think he loved the whole experience.  He really enjoys being in hospital and being with doctors and nurses. Even when he woke up after the op, there were no tears, he was just hungry and did so well eating and drinking after, the nurses and surgeon were happy to send us home that night (thank goodness, trying to sleep in hospital on a childrens ward is nearly impossible).

I am so proud of my little boy and am so very thankful to live in a country with free health care.

I think Tom is going to grow up to be either a Doctor or a hypochondriac just so he can get back into hospital!

So we are now home and lots of jelly and ice cream are being consumed and all is pretty much back to normal.


Last night I was also very pleased to grade for my next belt at Aikido and I am now Green Belt - whoop!!!  I am one step closer to being a Black Belt.  I get so much pleasure from Aikido training as it is something I can really see progress on.  I have been going twice a week since last summer and I am amazed at how far I have come.

Now I am just working out my spending for March - I know I have gone over on the food, but not by much.  I have been pretty careful with my personal spending.  The big expenses this month were car and house insurance so I will post about that later when I don't have two munchkins sitting on my lap, one of which is playing a harmonica very badly (I thought getting up early would give me a moment of peace - no chance!).

Lastly, a huge hello to my new followers, I feel so honored to have you here with me.

Hope all have a great weekend.

A Perfect Birthday Weekend

Today I am 36 years old.

So far I have had the perfect birthday weekend.

 

Last night hubby and I went to see Bear Grylls Live.

We had the best seats in the house.  I have always admired Bear, aside from the fact I would happily run off with him (just joking if you are reading this Matt! not really joking) , he is just a really nice guy and has achieved so much in his life.  

This morning I was bought breakfast in bed by my little girl, then I got to have second breakfast with my wonderful family.  

Today was spent at a wonderful and completely inspiring free-machining workshop at Hope and Elvis.  I had a blast and made loads of things.

 

This is part of it.  The plan is to make a big family quilt, showing things from our family life.

 

Our back garden, complete with chicken.

 

The duck-ducks

On returning home, I found that my husband had laid out a lovely birthday tea and his old school friend who is visiting had baked me a cake.  They have now disappeared off to the pub, so I am going to settle down with a blanket, birthday cake, a pot of tea and the new Twilight film (shhh Twilight is one of my guilty pleasures).  

Tomorrow we have a family picnic planned. 

In the words of Rapunzel in Tangled 'This is the BEST DAY EVER!'

The Duck that thinks it's a dog

I am so pleased that the wild ducks are now returning daily.  Each morning when I come into the kitchen, they are waiting at the backdoor.

I can't tell you how much joy I get from these three little ducks, being able to sit and watch them waddle around the garden, or splash in the kids tray of water.

It is rather like having three puppies in the garden though.  Where ever we go in the garden, we seem to have a trail of ducks waddling behind, if we sit at the table outside, they will come and lay down near our feet.  Mrs Duck now spends much of her day asleep on the doormat at the back door in between the debris of discarded kids wellies and shoes.

I really feel so lucky to have my little Duck-Dogs come and visit every day.

Happy St Paddy's Day

My Weekend

A quick post about my favourite things this weekend....


Blue skies and sunny days - warm enough to sit outside in T-shirts.


Meeting my gorgeous new nephew for the first time and that feeling of holding a new born baby.  Ahhhhhh


Fireman Charity Car Wash at the end of my lane - most entertaining ;)


Empty ironing basket


Spending time with my extended family in the garden. 


A quiet Sunday night in listening to husband play the guitar.  




Hope you all had a good weekend.
xx

My March Happy List

My March Happy List 

 

After reading Astra's wonderful Blog and her Happy List, I thought I would write mine too.  It is always wonderful to take a moment to think about what makes me happy or what I am grateful for.  

So here goes are my 10 things that make me happy in March....

1. The return of the wild ducks to the garden.  I could endlessly sit and watch them waddle around the garden and quack when they decide it is lunch.  
2. Seeing my son ride his bike on his own today and then seeing the joy and pride on his face - I could have cried!
3. Spring flowers everywhere.  
4. Being surrounded by very kind and generous neighbours (who also put up with our household of noisy children and even noisier chickens).
5. The days feeling warm enough to sit outside and enjoy the sun on my face.
6. The evenings still cold enough to justify lighting the woodburner, so I can snuggle with my hubby on the sofa. 
7. Reading inspirational blogs and feeling that I am moving towards something too. 
8. The feeling of new possibilities opening up.  
9. My birthday weekend coming up soon - my last birthday was spent at my Grandfathers funeral.  This year I am determined to do something nice, so I have booked tickets to see Bear Grylls Live (maybe not everyones cup of tea, but he is defiantly at the top of my laminated List ;), then the next day spending the day at a sewing workshop with a lovely friend.  
10. My wonderful family (although they can drive me slightly potty at times, I adore them and they certainly do make me happy)

P.S  Hello and a huge welcome to my new followers.  It is good to have you along.

Friday Night Takeaway

Really felt like picking up a Chinese takeway tonight.  The little devil on my shoulder was saying "it's Friday, you haven't had a takeaway in ages,you deserve it, there is enough in the pot, it is only a little takeaway".

Was very, very tempted, especially after looking in the fridge and not seeing much except half an old cabbage and a couple of peppers.

Then I decided I should not be so lazy and just get on and cook something.  So after looking at the internet for inspiration and raiding the cupboards, tonight's veggie/vegan feast was....

Singapore noodles
Salt and Pepper Tofu
Chinese Braised Red Cabbage

Plus there is still plenty leftover for tomorrow.

I also found a couple of Chinese Fortune Cookies tucked at the back of the cupboard.

My Fortune for tonight -

'Speculations will turn out well'.  

Sounds promising!

Mrs Duck and her fellas have returned

Last year we had three very unxepected visitors to our garden - Beyonce the Duck and her two fellas.   We were surprised they stayed as we only have a small garden and no pond, but they seemed to like it.

This is Beyonce relaxing in the garden. 

I was so happy to look out of my window this morning to see that they have returned and are again tapping at the back door looking for some food.  

This morning.  

Last year they got so comfortable around us, that if the back door was open , they would all wander in and settle down until we fed them, which was lovely, but ducks don't half poo a lot! 

Hope they stay all summer! 

Go Confidently in the Direction of your Dreams

'Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined.  

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler'  

Henry David Thoreau 

This is my favourite quote and one which has always meant a lot, it is one which I have taken different meanings from as I have grown older.  The original line appeared in Thoreau's book, Walden and is much longer but over time it has been condensed to the above.  


I had this pinned up over my desk at college and it gave me comfort to think that, yes, I was following my dreams.  


Now it is more about the need to simplify my life.  I have always felt the need to own 'stuff''.  If I saw a book I wanted, well I just went on Amazon.  The same with music, DVD's, well pretty much anything.  


Now more than ever I feel compelled to clear, to get rid of all the stuff I have been boxing up and carting from house to house.  


I am becoming more aware that the more we own, the more effort it takes to look after it, the more complicated it is.  I used to think that I would be 'happy' if I lived in a bigger house - but why?  It would just mean more cleaning, more worries about looking after it.  


Perhaps that is why I love camping so much.  With camping, life suddenly gets reduced to the essentials - a bed, a cup, a plate, a saucepan and a tent (although going with the kids, it is certainly much more than that!).  I feel more relaxed when there is less around me.  


Perhaps one day I will live in a cabin in the woods like Thoreau.  

Where to go?

This year's summer holiday to France has been postponed until next year.  The couple we were going with have discovered she is pregnant and due shortly after our holiday, so we have all decided it will be best to put it off until next summer.  A shame but a very happy reason for postponing.

But the good thing is, we now have £800 in the holiday pot and can now think about somewhere else to go.

I would like to hire a cottage in this country for a few days, but not sure where.  I would love to be either near the sea or next to a nice stream.  And somewhere peaceful which we can explore.

Anybody got any suggestions?

Saturday Night and New Possibilities

First of all, thank you for the encouraging messages in response to my last post, but more of that later.

For now, I am enjoying a quiet Saturday night in.  It has been a busy day, starting off with a Guide Bake Sale to raise money for our unit.  Lots of my girls turned up and all had baked cakes, which were delicious and I bought far too many.  I am so, so proud of all my girls and feel so honoured to spend time with them.

Following that, I dashed off to work, but I am now relaxing at home with my lovely hubby watching Lord of the Rings whilst I do my new favourite thing - reading blogs!

Now, back to my dream job.  I finally realised that I had to at least ask, or forever regret it.  So, I emailed (I am not brave enough to phone!), and they sent a really nice email back, saying that although they don't need anyone at the moment, that may change and that if I want to go down and help out I can - that way I can get experience and it can fit in around my work for the time being,    So, pretty positive.  What I would like to do is start going down to the centre regularly and learn to canoe with a view to train to teach it.  I am a qualified archery instructor, so hoping I might be able to use that too.

But, something else might be on the cards.  This is all very up in the air and it might not happen, but my friend who runs the tea room where I work might be giving it up, and I am seriously thinking about taking it over.  I need to go through the books and see if it would be worth it, but it could be really good.

New exciting possibilities!  

Enjoy your weekend everyone. xx