Skip to main content

Time off



I think at this rate I'm going to have to accept that if I manage to get to the blog every other week I will be doing well. Ever since we came back to Somerset life has been so full, but in such a good way that I just can't complain. Let's face it - having a horse doesn't help - it is such a time sucker. She makes Abi so happy though that I wouldn't change it. 

Given all this busyness I made the executive decision this week to more some of the holiday around that I'd booked here and there and take a whole week off around half term. The girls have got the Thursday and Friday followed by a full week, and so I have taken the luxury of having the week off before their full week so we will get 2 days together, but I get 3 days to myself!! I already have about 70 things I want to do so fingers crossed I get one or two of them locked in and achieved!

To get me in the mood I had Friday off this week and had booked Mum ages ago to come with me to a garden & gallery in Bruton. We set off after coffee with Dad and cuddles with Tolly and arrived in good time, feeling just a little out of place having not got the dress code memo of floaty skirt and riding boots... The sculpture was industrial and striking while the painting looked like a child could have done similar, but the gardens really were lovely and had lots of ideas that I can consider for our own one day. We had coffee but skipped lunch (2 coffees came to nearly £8), and then headed back to have bread and cheese with Dad - much nicer. After this I went off to the stables to ride Nula, before home and a shower. Friday evening we had been invited by one of the families in the village for drinks and so set off there just before 7pm, having not yet eaten. The plan was to stay only an hour and come home for tea, but of course this was never going to happen and we ended up rolling out of there after 2 bottles of prosecco (my no drinking is a bit shaky right now) at 10pm. Not the best parenting when the kids have Saturday school! Their house is the complete opposite of ours, very old and full of different levels with buckets of character, but I'm not sure I would swap. Its listed and although they paid about the same as we did (3 years ago), they've spent at least that again so far renovating it. Some of the work they knew they would need to do, others they didn't - such as the sitting room floor which collapsed in on itself the moment they lifted the carpet, and the tree they felled outside which turned out also to be holding up half the house! Of course everyone in the village has an opinion of what they should and shouldn't do - I think I'd prefer to be a bit less contentious and on the edge rather than in the middle.

The plan was also to discuss whether Abi might be able to put Nula in with their horses, but despite them being very generous and keen to add another to their brood, I don't think it will work. The set up is a bit unstructured for Abi's taste and they also have 4 geldings and 2 stallions - not the greatest dynamic to throw in a mare! The stallions in question are Shetlands, but even so, it would be chaos. I think we'll stick with what we have and accept we have to keep travelling. 

So while Abi rode today Izzy and I went into town and bought essentials (in her eyes) - hair dye and lip balm. Theoretically she was going back to a more natural brown but we seem to have inadvertently dyed it jet black. I just hope it fades before she goes back to school... tomorrow (!)  With this and the black nail varnish she is borderline goth, or 'independent grunge' as I've coined it. I love that they are  very different personalities 😍

Butter wouldn't melt
(when not dancing on the flower beds!)


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Busy, busy, busy

Full English brunch for these two! Life is VERY busy and I don't feel like we have stopped for weeks (or is that months?) It seems like the 'to-do' list is endless and while I know we don't have to do it all at once, I have taken on the unenviable task of trying to get the Muppet to finish all the work he promised / we have paid for and that has been like pushing a mountain of water up a very steep hill. We've got to the point where I think we have got all of what we are likely to get and the rest we'd rather finish ourselves anyway. The electric gates are clearly a work of his imagination based on the gates / the electric cables he spec'd and the cheapo motor mechanism - there is no way they'll work so we have decided to not bother and source proper gates that do the job and look better as well. Knowing that we are almost at a point where we sever the ties feels very liberating. Looking back this last 6 months has been incredibly stressful and just didn...
Post a Comment
Read more

More frustrations!

An old one to remind myself how cute they were! Sunday evening, back to school after half term and the normal shouting match ensues as we ask where all Abi's kit is and she shrugs and says "it's not my fault..." There are a number of aspects that drive us nuts here - first that her immediate response is denial and abdication of all responsibility, the second that she genuinely doesn't care and the third that it still doesn't help is with where her (mostly new) sports kit is! While this is going on we have Izzy sorting her kit out while weeping quietly because she has decided (18 months after we said goodbye to him) that she misses Scooby! We decided it was just easier to suggest everyone gets an early night and packed them off to their rooms - there really isn't an answer for some of this I think! This week has been a mix of school testing - the kids went of to St Gabriel's for their tests on Wednesday, Abi riding, Izzy doing her gym practice and...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lockdown - month 3

Bertie hoping to be allowed to move into Abi's shed As we pass the mark of 2 months in lockdown it has become all very normal - in fact as I walked Bertie yesterday I was resentful of the cars whizzing past me when it's been so peaceful for so long. We have now moved from 'Stay at Home' to 'Stay Alert' (England anyway, the wee Krankie up North refuses to do anything remotely aligned to the rest of the UK on principal). Apparently the majority of the country finds the new message very confusing - " what does it mean?" they ask themselves. This is what the media would have us believe anyway, because what else is there to do in lockdown but shit stir and create confusion when there is no need. We have definitely now  moved past the point of being in this together and gone back to the normal blame game. So much for solidarity. Friday also marked the end of the first half of term, although half term has never felt so much like school, or more accurate...
Post a Comment
Read more