A busy busy bank holiday break

What a busy weekend.

Our major project for this weekend was to paint all the woodwork in the lounge and the dining room. Friday we primed, Saturday we undercoated and Sunday we did the first coat of gloss. Now it looks so good - like it's almost finished! We need to do another coat of gloss next weekend and I'll post some photos then. Then all we will have left to do is put the paintings and the mirror up and paint the radiators and the lounge will be done. We still need to sort the cupboard door out in the dining room and paint the woodwork up the stairs and on the landing.

I also planted out some more vege seeds and Ollie mowed the lawn on Friday before it spent the rest of the weekend snowing! It didn't lay but it was very cold and wet. The cats had dug up the courgettes that I had planted the previous Sunday so I wasn't very pleased about that!

Other than that we went to Prezzo for dinner on Friday night with Ollie's dad, Anna, Gemma and Marc. It was a very nice meal although it will be sad that we won't get to see Ol's dad as much now as he has moved to Ireland.

Saturday we went to Helen and Alan's for a poker night. I lost, which was a shame, but it was a good night, even if we didn't get home until the early hours.

Sunday we went out to the Bear in Faversham with Nigel, Sara, Paul, Hannah, Ian, Tom, Ashleigh, and their friend Harvey. It was quieter than we had expected in there and we had the whole front bar to ourselves for most of the time. We left when they moved onto the Sun, although we did bump into Peter Ehman and Sam in there!

Yesterday we went out to Grove Ferry with Mum, Dad, Laura, Wayne, Nan and Granddad for lunch. Laura and Wayne are thinking of hiring it for their wedding reception. It was a nice place and will be lovelly on the river front in July (if it's not like last year!!!) but we will have to hire a room I think as it took us ages to get there and home again.

We have 6 over for dinner tonight so I made lasagne last night so I wouldn't have to rush today. I'm hoping to be let home early today as lots of people haven't made it in because of the train problems in Essex.

Ideal Home show

Saturday we went to the Ideal Home Show. We got our tickets in advance as they were offering £3 discount and a free show guide which also entitled you to a free goodie bag. Thinking we would beat the crowds queuing to get tickets we got there just after 10am. There was NO queue to buy tickets and the queue for the pre-paid ticket entry went around the block! Still it didn’t take us too long to get in and we headed straight off to the kitchen department to see if they had any foodie free samples! The first exhibition that caught our eye was a guy with a health grill – endorsed by the British Heart Foundation. Basically the bottom round the edge fills with water and then there is a curved hot plate over the top and you put the whole thing on your hob. The water keeps the food moist and you can put other flavourings in if you wish. Then all the fat runs out and into the water around the edge. The samples were really nice and the first 50 people also got one to put in the oven for roasts free. The bottom of this bit can also be used as a lid to convert the hob one into a steamer. So we took the plunge and bought one. I’ve used it a couple of times already and I think it’s brilliant. My lamb chops have never been so moist and tender. I also did a ‘healthy’ fry up and there was no greasy food smell at all. The water seems to absorb all the smells as well.

The only other thing we got were replacements for our paint rollers. We have the ones that you put paint inside and we think that they are fab – the only problem was that we got another make at the Kent home show last year and the foam outside was more like fleece fabric, which doesn’t wash as easily and has bobbled really badly. As we are planning on doing the outside of the house with them we think this will pretty much finish them off. Plus we got the edge roller as well.

Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday was mine and Ollie's first wedding anniversary. I can't believe that it has been a whole year already! I'm also very very glad that the weather on our special day was nothing like it was yesterday! I got soaked getting to work and my boot leaked! I had just dried out and warmed up when it was time to go home.

We went to The Olive Tree in Rainham on Saturday. It was fantastic. In reminiscence of our honeymoon we had bruschetta to start (Ollie's with mushrooms and mine with tomatoes) and Calzone for main course. It was the best calzone we've had in England, but it still wasn't as good as a true Roman one. It was a bit strange as it was actually served with a tomato sauce by the side and it had bolognaise inside! Still it was very yummy. The service was good on the whole and Ollie's chocolate brownie was lovelly.

Mum and Nan and Grandad also popped in on Saturday to drop off a card, some flowers and my gooseberry bushes. We also went to see the new gym which has opened up down the road. Even though it is very nice and new and does offer a better range of classes that I could actually go to, there's nothing that makes the extra money every month worth it and we figure that seeing as most people they were showing around were talking about transferring from Swallows then it may be a bit quieter to stick where we are!

Gemma popped over on Sunday to drop off a card and some more flowers. She had the exciting news that she is expecting her fourth baby! She had her 12 week scan last week and all is fine. We have arranged to go out with Ollie's dad and Anna at Easter as they will be moving to Ireland permanently on Easter Sunday.

So with all the excitement we didn't actually get any DIY done and I doubt that we will get much done this weekend as we are going to the Ideal Home Show on Saturday and it's Marc's birthday so I expect we will be popping to Whitstable on Sunday.

A potentially bad day turns out ok!

Wednesday I had my third exam in the morning - which I passed! I was very relieved as it was a really boring module that I hadn't really got into. Then in the afternoon I had the dentist. After waiting in the waiting room for 45 minutes, I spent 2 minutes with the dentist for him to say yes all looks fine - floss more!

Sunday I had cooked roast dinner for all the family for mother's day. It was really nice and the pork turned out much better than expected.

Other than that there is not a lot to report. Ollie and I went to Beefeater on Wednesday evening to celebrate my exam pass, and we decided to give our local Beefeater one last chance to impress us as the last few times the food hasn't been great. We waited 10 minutes before we were even seen at the little podium thing. Then the waitress forgot to put our side dish through and we didn't get it until we had nearly finished our mains. Our chips weren't cooked - they were hard in the middle! Plus our side of garlic bread was literally one thin slice of brown bread that had been soaked in garlic for about 24 hours and then had about an inch of cheese on the top which hadn't melted properly where it was so thick. The onion rings and the mushrooms were burnt! So we were so annoyed at this point that I never even got my chocolate brownie sundae that was the sole reason that we went! So I'm now off to the feedback website and we certainly won't be back to that one!

Update

Last week we had Virgin Broadband installed which is fab! It’s super super fast. The only problem being is that our wireless modem isn’t compatible so we have had to buy a new one. At the moment that means we can only get the internet via the laptop plugged into the wall. Don’t you just love advanced technology!

Paul came over on Saturday to give our fruit trees a good pruning. They hadn’t been done in years and really needed some seeing to. The whole area looks so much better now. There’s so much more light down the bottom of the garden – and that’s without any leaves! It took him pretty much all day to do and then he and Ollie did about 4 or 5 trips to the tip to get rid of all the debris.

Laura and Wayne got back from India on Sunday with her shiny engagement ring. There’s a picture on mum’s blog. It looks gorgeous.

We’ve done a fair bit of DIY in the last couple of weeks. The trim round the laminate is finished in the dining room and half done in the lounge. We finally got half of the skirting and decorative moulding round the fireplace last week as well. It’s almost ready for the painting! Not a job I’m looking forward to I must admit as there’s so much of it to do!

Our paintings came. I’m really pleased with them. The 2 for the dining room are in their frames (which also need painting) and after much struggling and some trimming I managed to take the mirror out of the frame to put the last picture in instead (we couldn’t find a regular picture frame the right size!) We’ve also found some more that we like for the bedroom and spare room upstairs.

I’ll try and get some photos uploaded at some point.

Hot water - finally!

The boiler repair man came back on Saturday morning with several more bits to repair what could possibly be broken. Carrying on his theme of we'll replace the cheaper parts first to keep repair costs down he replaced the diaphram on the diverter valve and fitted the new filling loop as we didn't have one and low and behold hot water! So we now have functioning hot water and heating that comes on with the timer. Bliss!

We also managed to get all the trim for the laminate fitted in the dining room and some in the lounge. Our pictures are also out for delivery today (obviously no one is going to be there!) So the DIY is coming along nicely.

Mum and dad came over for dinner last night. It was really nice, but I managed to burn my hand on a hot pan and it's quite sore today.

Ollie collected his new glasses from Maidstone so we decided to go to Sainsbury's in Maidstone. What a complete tip! It was the most awful Sainsbury's we've shopped in. Half of the stuff we wanted we couldn't get.

No hot water!

I wrote this yesterday, but forgot to upload it! Doh!

On Saturday our boiler decided to pack up! It’s not paying attention when you turn on the hot tap so it won’t heat up any water. Luckily the central heating is fine as it has been bitterly cold. So we picked an advert for a boiler repair man out of yellow pages and arranged an appointment for yesterday morning. 9am the appointment was for and as Grandad has a bad bout of man ‘flu it was down to dad to sit in and wait for us. After several phone calls, some he’ll be there very soon and we’re really sorry about the delay, they finally called at 4:30 to say that they won’t be coming.

We were so angry! Poor dad had sat there all day without the heating on in case it messed up what they were going to do.

I’ve called a different company and they are going to come out tonight when we get in from work – she seemed like a very nice lady and I’m hoping that it’s something simple that they can fix without anyone else needing to sit in tomorrow!

It's behind you!

Last night we went to the Playhouse Panto with mum, dad, nan and grandad. I thought it was excellent, although I did agree with Ollie that the story line was a little week. Seeing as it was Sleeping Beauty she was only asleep for 2 minutes.

Dr Lee and the evil henchmen were back this year and although last years performance was excellent they do make the show.

It had everything you could possibly want from a panto; it's behind you, oh no it isn't, DJ Otzi, a Take That song, I would roll a thousand miles, always look on the bright side of life as well as many awful jokes! I must say it was also the first pregnant Sleeping Beauty I have ever seen!

Busy busy weekend

Ollie had Friday off and had the grand job of taking the cats to the vet for their booster jabs. This is not an easy operation as they are now too big (fat) to fit both in the carrier at once so one has to be bribed and into coming out of hiding into the carrier and taken off to the vet, and then when that one comes home it's the other one's turn! Ollie said that they were so noisy in the car and the vets!

We went to Ikea after work. Ollie had already been round lakeside by the time I got there and he had bought me a Jamie Oliver mug that says Foxy Lady on it! So we are now sad and have his and hers mugs now!

We got a new light for the stairs and the dining room as well as picture frames for the prints that I have ordered. Plus we got mirrors for the stairs to brighten them up a bit.

Having looked at the footstall that matches the sofa we decided it was too big. But we then came home and decided that we could put all the DVDs in the cd cases we have and store those with the game controllers in the storage in the footstall and put it where the DVD bookcase is.

So we will be off back to Ikea sometime in the near future I expect!

We insulated the attic on Saturday. We have already noticed the difference, not having needed the heating on all the time now it is mild. My legs really ached though with all the crouching and kneeling on the rafters.

Sunday we got the dining room ready for Ollie to paint it this week. I also cleaned and tidied the whole house. I also went to my local weight watchers meeting! I'm 10 pounds over my goal weight now so thought I'd better do something about it before it got out of hand. Ollie is also on it too to help me out and to loose some of the weight he has put on as well.

So it's going ok so far. I'm trying out the core plan. (No count to me!) Seems to be alright. I'm missing my bread though.

Finally some scrapping!

I've completed the second page of my wedding album!

I thought that while I was off sick but feeling a bit less sorry for myself I would do some scrapping. I'm a bit rusty so this is just a lift from a DC class, but it's good to get back into the swing of things.

The paper is Dream Sweet - Romantique Whimsical by Amy Teets.

I hand cut the title - it's Angelina.

Norovirus

Yes it's struck! I was sent home on Wednesday as I was being sick and I'm still off today.

It's the worse possible week for me to be off work. We are so busy I feel really guilty. And I was supposed to be working tomorrow as well so we could get our reports to the US in time. Still I think my boss has been taken over by a pod person as he is being really sympathetic. Most unusual!

I'm feeling much better today, I just feel hugely drained. Like I've been involved in a 24 hour endurance marathon of Wii boxing! Everything aches.

Of course we didn't get a new sofa until yesterday so I did have to spend a day and a half laying under a duvet on the rug in the front room. Ollie put the sofa together last night when he got home. I've never seen a flat pack sofa before but it's certainly a better way of doing things. You basically get a wooden frame covered in squishy stuff but you have to screw the back to the bottom, then put the arms and the legs on.

It needs breaking in a bit to make it more squishy but it's lovely and soft. We're also getting red velvet cushions which will match the curtains when Sainsbury's decide to get some in stock!

Brian seems to like it anyway!

Nothing to sit on!

I thought the Golden Compass was ok. (I haven't read the book yet) Ollie thought it was rubbish (he has read the book). This seems to be a common theme.

Our new sofa is being delivered on Thursday so we put the old one on ebay in the hope that we would make a few pounds and get rid of it in the process. Well we got £125 for it which was more than I thought. And they came to collect it last night! So we are sofa-less for 3 days!

Oh well it will be worth it when the new one arrives.

Not much else has been happening really. It's Nanna's birthday today so if I get out of this mad house that I call work then we may go down for a visit.

The End of Christmas

The Christmas decorations came down today.

I watched Ethan this morning while Ollie was out with Alan and we put all the Christmas decorations back in the box. He's such a good little boy bless him. I've never seen anyone have so much fun with a string of gold beads!

I didn't have any trouble from him all morning, he put things in the boxes and didn't take too many things out! Plus he helped me hoover up afterwards. We did watch 2 hours of Spongebob while we were doing it which I'm sure is enough to drive anyone mad but it was the only half decent thing I could find on any of the children's TV channels on a Saturday morning. Even winnie the pooh has gone 3d and Christopher Robin is now a girl!!!!!

This afternoon we put the first coat of coloured paint on the stairs with the aim of doing the second coat tomorrow.

We are off to the cinema later to see the Golden Compass so we'll see if it's any good.

Happy New Years!

New Years was spent at Helen’s. Ethan got a drum kit for Christmas, he is so cute. He was much better than he has been (he had really bad ‘flu) but had decided New Years Eve that he wasn’t going to eat again all day. We played a game of Cranium and the girls only narrowly avoided victory because we couldn’t answer the factual questions! Then it was bowling on the Wii and Singstar on the PS2. We left just after midnight as I had yet another headache.

Other than that we have spent the New Year break looking for a new sofa and we finally decided and ordered one from Ikea which is being delivered next Thursday. So we spent the rest of the weekend trying to find some cushions to match without real success. But we did find a new toaster that will match our kettle from Sainsbury’s although it then took 35 minutes to get out of the car park.

We did also manage to get the towel rack up in the bathroom for my towels so they don't have to live in the dining room and the white base coat done up the stairs ready for me to paint it this weekend.

Boxing day

Boxing day we had a bit of a lay in (8 o’clock!) and played Xbox for a bit before heading over to Nan’s, again via Gemma’s to collect our un-drunk wine and Ollie’s Grandma and Grandpa’s to give them a framed wedding photo that we had forgotten the day before. After another huge Christmas dinner we played a stupidly hard game of Trivial Pursuit but Ollie was feeling very sick so I had to take him home abut 4. He didn’t really feel better until he woke up to go to work the next day!

It's Christmas!!!!!

A distinct lack of blog updating has been happening over Christmas – oops!

Christmas was super busy. Ollie worked from the Wednesday through to Christmas Eve so I was stuck at home on my own for 3 days. I did manage to get the cheesecake made for Christmas day after a panic as the batteries in the scales had run out!

Christmas day was an early start at 5 to 6. Ollie and I opened our presents before getting ready and heading over to Laura and Wayne’s. We did have a detour via Gemma’s to drop off the cheesecakes which had almost ended up in my lap on numerous occasions during the journey! We called in to make sure mum and dad were ready but made the mistake of not geeing up Nan and Grandad who arrived at Laura’s almost an hour after we did!

We opened all our presents, I got loads of stuff that I wanted. Then it was off to Ollie’s Grandma and Grandpa’s for another cuppa and to say Merry Christmas before heading back to Gemma’s. More present opening, and peeling about 3 million sprouts.

Dinner was lovely and we all ate far too much. Ollie was feeling tired so I was allowed to drink and he was designated driver. Then at 5 o’clock we headed off to feed mum’s cat and then on to Carole’s (Gemma’s mum-in-law).

There the kids opened about 50 million presents each and Jenny and I spent ages playing with the Fifi garden and putting all the stickers on. It was loads of fun! Then I spent ages with Zoe playing with the fuzzy felt.

We left at about half 8 as I had a headache and Ollie was still very tired. So it was back home to play on the Xbox 360 for a bit and then bed time.

Christmas is here in my new lounge!

We've done most of the skirting and Ollie has built his entertainment unit. We've finally put the new curtains up and the new rug down. Brian refuses to walk on the rug and skirts around the tiny space around the outside. It's really funny to watch. Especially when you pick him up and drop him in the middle of it! He jumps off again real quick!

Thursday was our department Christmas do so Friday I was a bit worse for wear. I had to go home from work at lunch!

Random Photos

I took the photos off my phone this evening and thought I would share.

This is the arty photo of the Wembley arch...
Take That...
Christmas tree and lounge photos to follow tomorrow!

Christmas has finally arrived!

Yesterday started really badly. Our bunny, Fuzz, has been off her food since Saturday and her eyes all gunked up on Monday so we made an appointment for the vet yesterday morning. Unfortunately it was Myxomatosis and the kindest thing was to have her put to sleep. So we are now rabbitless and we don't think we will be replacing her. It's too hard when they get sick. The vet said that she was so unlucky as Myxi season is well over but it has a 2 week incubation period so she must have been bitten by the last infected mossie of the year.

Still after a quick trip to Hempsted Sainsbury's and B & Q we got stuck back into the DIY. We managed to fit the blind to the kitchen window before nan and granddad came to visit. Then we did the run of skirting in the lounge where the Christmas tree was to go. So finally I could put Christmas up! The tree is now in it's corner. I wasn't sure at first about the green in our red and gold colour scheme, but it looks really good. I'll try and get some piccies up at the weekend. I'm off out for my department Christmas party tonight and I'm staying at Bobbie's tonight.

Take That!

I went to see Take That on Monday!!! How very sad. It was absolutely brilliant!

These photos are from Clare as I can't get the ones off my phone at the moment.

We were 7 people away from Take That, we were in the second row on the floor at the O2 and at the end of our row was the mobile stage bit where they did a good few songs. It was the best concert ever! I knew all the words to all the songs apart from one from their first album (I wasn't really that big a fan the first time round)

It was a great girly night out and the 6 of us had all you can eat Chinese and some wine before hand and then sang along to the Take That CD in the car on the way home.

Plus we also saw on the way out we had been sitting a few rows in front of the guy that played Stuart in Neighbours! Real star spotting.

It was gone midnight by the time I got in and so I've been a tad tired the last couple of days - we went to Ikea last night as well and got a few bits for the house. We've also picked out the kitchen worktops that we want.