Skip to main content

Wet, wet, wet!

Ugh - will it ever stop raining? We have had a few (very few) tantalising glimpses of spring which makes it even worse that the rest of the time it doesn't feel like it has stopped raining for weeks.


Despite this we are trying to fill the Easter holidays with enough for the kids to do but not so much that either we are bankrupt or they are over indulged - a fine balance indeed.


Last week was definitely a quiet one at work and I tried to make the most of it. Given I'm normally a million miles an hour, it always feels weird to start and end the day at a more reasonable time. I definitely don't do the hours I used to but I still feel guilty if I've done less than a 12 hour day, something I constantly try and reassure myself is unnecessary.


This weekend thus was a long one and we have managed to squeeze in a huge variety of stuff. Glenn was riding the Paris-Roubaix challenge so he set off on the Friday morning with his merry band of George, Jon and Jez while the girls and I headed in the opposite direction to Robinsons. We have reached (I think) a plce where Abi may settle on having Sam on part loan initially in lieu of her own pony. If this is what happens I said that I will buy her some tack etc so she can feel like he is her own rather than a riding school pony. Excited about this she wanted to go look immediately, despite me saying this isn't where we would go! Amazingly we managed to escape having only spent £3.67 - a minor miracle. We went home, walked the dogs and then Abi and I went to the stables for a hack - making the most of the sudden sunshine.  From here it was home for Abi to cook Toad in the Hole - she did a fab job!


Saturday was wedding shoe shopping and a dress alternation fitting for Izzy, before lunch at Pret (Abi's favourite) and then home for Izzy to take the turn in the kitchen. This was via the garden centre - their suggestion not mine! - mainly so they could eat ice cream (in the drizzle) while I browsed.  Izzy did a brilliant job making spag bol - if every weekend turns out to be like this we will be on to a winner!


At very late notice then Sunday turned into a detour to meet Amanda, Alex, Ben, Laurie and Mum in a damp Sherborne before dropping Abi off at Angie's for the week. It was lovely to see everyone, albeit it was brief. Trying to get a photo of them all together now is almost impossible - so much for the times when they would happily pose for us in as many ways as we might ask them for! We managed to get 3 out 4 of them a few times, but had to settle for a frown from Abi and eye's closed Laurie in order to get 2 of them smiling - 50% hit rate is probably all I can hope for from now on in.


In amongst this Izzy and I have been painting glass to varying degrees of success. Just when I think mi have a technique nailed it seems to shift and get more complex. possibly its because my expectations of myself increase and so I tackle something more difficult but its still frustrating!


Today was more rain - all day in fact - but we had Simon and Audrey coming for lunch which broke up the day beautifully. No pressure but Glenn was at a funeral and so I was left to cook (eek!. This would have been bearable with Simon watching, after all he understands, but then Glenn arrived home just as I started and said "no, you carry on" - double eek - nothing like being the amateur cook with your chef brother and critical husband peering over your shoulder... luckily it was sausages and new potatoes - even I can pull that one off!


This afternoon with Izzy home alone we tackled mucking out the pod which has become nothing short of a complete rubbish dump. We started with good intentions of washing things and taking them to second hand places but in the end got so frustrated that we loaded up the van with old pushchairs, bags of baby clothes and other junk and tipped it all. Lets hope they don't have a change of mind...too late if they do quite frankly. Its looking so tidy and nice that I've threatened that if they don't look after it I shall have it instead. We'll see if that works!



 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas...

I was sure I write the blog last week.... but, it seems another 2 weeks have flown by and now we are staring down the barrel of the Christmas holidays and the end of the year! Currently it's all about Doug and what a star he has proved to be so far. He has now been with us for 3 weeks and he is (so far, I keep thinking at some point it will change) a pretty chilled out puppy. As a second dog he has been thrown in at the deep end and has been to Sunday lunch with Alan & Sarah (which he loved), socialised at home with friends and their dogs, met babies (he loved Elsie) and started to go for walks. The walking has been a bit different to our previous approaches with new dogs. In the past we have ventured out carefully, making sure that our new baby only walks a short distance so they can experience all the new sights and sounds. Doug's first walk was after Sunday lunch last week, just him and 8 other dogs for bout 45 mins - he loved it! In our defence we didn't let him wal...
Post a Comment
Read more

Welcome Albert James!

So this week has been full of new things - Jess and Chris have welcomed Albert James Wilkinson Rayner to the family, a tad early but all doing well apparently (and so cute!!), I started my new job, Abi has her new shed and Dad got sorted on a phone that wasn't invented before the kids were born!! I always knew this week was going to be full on and it certainly has been. The first thing I had to do was try and sort out my diary which had been filled from dawn to dusk by my predecessor with meetings. I decided to set out as I mean to go on and immediately took out those that started before 9am. While I can get into  the office for 8am , it's a pain and requires me to be on the 6:30am train which is just a bit much every day (stating the obvious). I then made it clear that we don't need to be joined at the hip for the next 4 weeks which is a sensitive process - even though he is retiring it's hard to let go and he is understandably keen that the team are looked after. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Diary management!

This part of the summer is definitely typified by me trying to remember who is supposed to be where and when. Abi likes to be off doing something with someone while Izzy is happier to know she's close to home and so for the last week they've gone their separate ways. Abi has been down in Somerset making the most of Ben and Laurie being about. From what I can tell she's having a lovely time. Apart from the covert phone call one evening to tell me she was 'starving'  (Mum was cooking for the hordes and so it had been delayed), I've barely heard from her. The few calls I have had have very quickly ended in "can I go now" like I'm making her speak to me! Today she switches from Mum and Dads to a night or two with Kerrie - not sure who is more excited! Izzy didn't want to be away for that long so she opted not to go. She's very conscious that Abi and Laurie are joined at the hip when together and Ben has his own things he wants to do so she ...
Post a Comment
Read more