Being hunted...

Sophie was working again today - from 10.30am until 2.30pm - so we dropped her off before returning home to spend the rest of the morning pottering about the house. I think I am finally starting to get a bit bored of being at home so I'm looking forward to volunteering with the Citizens Advice Bureau next week. I might also have a small job working with Sue as she gardens for a number of people and needs some help. I ironed Mum and Dad's bedding and managed to drop the iron onto the carpet in the process, leaving a nice iron-shaped scorch mark...I was not very popular! Luckily it's not that visible but the surface of the carpet is all crispy when it was burnt a bit...

The other day Keith answered the door to a man who was a rep from a cavity wall insulation company. Apparently they're offering it free to home-owners on our estate so we had a surveyor coming out to us this afternoon. Keith and I did some research and we were a bit worried about the method used so I think we're going to give it a miss. Our house is very warm over the winter and, as they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I went off to get Sophie from work, came back and had a quick shower before we went off to see Mum and Dad and take them back their bedding. They were getting ready for their visit to Maastricht and the Andre Rieu concert on Saturday night. We had a drink with them and walked around their garden to find the best place to put their tree. Dad has mentioned that he would like a Magnolia but we'll have to make sure the soil is the right type.

Back home we played cards before having beefburgers and salad for tea (we are trying to embrace summer meals) and after we'd eaten Sophie and I walked Monty around the estate. It was a gorgeous evening again and the breeze was lovely and cool. Unfortunately we came across the dreaded Bengal cat on our walk and he didn't seem best pleased to see Monty...

He glared at Monty and even though I went right up to him to try and scare him away, he stood his ground. I must say, though, that he's a beautiful cat with lovely markings and piercing blue eyes. A very handsome fellow!

Before going home we met several neighbours so we had a chat, which was very sociable!

Hunting for a present

This week we went food shopping today rather than Thursday, which meant that for the rest of the week I was very confused! We did all we had to do, returned home for some lunch and then it was back out to get Sophie from work. She's just covered the lunchtime rush today and said it was very busy!

I needed to sort out a present for Mum and Dad's Golden Wedding Anniversary which is looming. I've finally decided to buy them an Ornamental tree for their back garden so we went to the Garden Centre at Wootton where I hoped there'd be a big selection.

We had a cup of coffee first as Sophie hadn't had any lunch and then we went out into the large nursery where there was an abundance of plants and trees. Mum and Dad had mentioned they wanted an evergreen tree but I might have difficulty with that as the trees I liked all lost their leaves over winter. We saw one we liked, but it was a bit neglected so we made a note of the name and I decided to shop around.

From the garden centre we went to Homesense and parked outside a very sad looking BHS. There were "Closing Down" signs plastered all over the window and I know that a lot of people will miss shopping there. We had a good mooch about in Homesense and Sophie bought some beautiful notebooks for uni. We also found some "Mike & Ike's" Root beer sweets and we just had to buy them for Mike!

In the evening, before dinner, Sophie, Keith and I went to the pub for a drink. Our seats in the window were taken so we sat on the squishy sofas and enjoyed a couple of drinks before going home for chicken in a barbecue sauce. The weather today has been overcast and muggy and not at all pleasant!

Time to stand and stare!

After a grey and horrible start, today has been beautiful. Keith and I took Sophie to work this morning and came home for a breakfast of poached eggs on toast...far better than pains au chocolat, I've learned!

I caught up with lots of little odd jobs in the morning and made some muffins as Mum and Dad popped over in the afternoon for a cup of tea. Their washing machine has died and Mum had asked if I could wash their bedding for them. As I love doing laundry, it was no problem! The muffins went down very well and after they'd gone I had a quick bath before it was time to go and pick Sophie up from work.

The previously grey skies had given way to a gorgeous blue and little fluffy clouds floated past the window. One of my favourite things to do is gaze out of Sophie's bedroom window over the fields and I stood for a good half hour watching the birds come and go. It was all very relaxing!

Sophie was working until 6.30pm and we stood and chatted to Polly while we waited for her to finish. The drive home was lovely and the countryside looked so beautiful in the evening sun!

Walking the cat...

Keith and Mike went for a walk this morning and I dropped them off at the car park at Pitsford Reservoir. We wanted Mike to go with Keith as it's his first longish walk since his operation. I went home and cleaned the house from top to bottom, which was hard work! Two weeks today we'll be having our new en-suite installed and it can't come soon enough!

I did break in the middle of cleaning to make a late breakfast for Keith and I and then it was back to the chores. Sophie helped a lot by dusting, cleaning the cloakroom and ironing, which made all the difference.

At 4pm the kids and me had an appointment at the dentist and I said goodbye as he will be retiring at the end of August. I've been seeing my dentist since 1980 so quite a long time! He did the usual scale and polish and then that was it. Phew! I really don't like lying prone with my mouth wide open!

On the way home Sophie treated us to a McFlurry and then it was home to prepare for Sue's visit. I'd chosen a very potent Australian wine called "Black Duck Durif" and I was hoping it would go down well. Sue brought a whole tray of nibbles including olives, cheese and biscuits and dips so I was very happy Keith and I hadn't planned on having anything for dinner!

Sue and I had a good gossip and the children wandered in and out nicking some nibbles before having a pizza of their own. The wine was delicious, but at 14.5% it was quite potent! After she went Sophie and I walked Monty around the estate and bumped into some neighbours for a quick chat, which was nice. It was a gorgeous evening and it was lovely to have a couple of strolls around the houses and get a breath of fresh air!

Not-so-slasher Keith strikes again!

After dropping Sophie off at work Keith and I decided to take advantage of the fine weather and do some gardening. I tackled the front verge (without slashing through the cable) while Keith brought out the big guns and tidied up some bushes with his hedge-trimmer. Outside of the front of our house it was really quite hot so I worked up a fair bit of perspiration by pulling up weeds and sweeping away all the dead leaves that like to accumulate along the kerb.

Once that was done I joined Keith in the back garden where he had left a whole load of foliage everywhere. He then suggested that we ask Mike to help us with the Virginia Creeper that has crept up to the eaves of the house again. Mike duly obliged and went up the ladder with a pair of shears to cut it down. He did a good job and managed to avoid cutting through the television and satellite cables!

One things that has worried me is that our little robin seems to have disappeared. Normally he is out in the garden with us in seconds but even though I did a bit of digging and put some fat snax out, he is nowhere to be seen. We have loads of sparrows at the moment (babies and parents) the dratted Starlings are still about and Rooky continues to visit us but no little red-breasted bird at all. It's very sad.

I stayed out in the garden for a while and tidied up after Keith's strimming frenzy. He was actually quite restrained today, though, and the shrubs at the back of the garden now look very tidy and neat. I mowed up all the dead Eucalyptus leaves and when I'd finished I was very happy.

Keith went inside to watch the Grand Prix and when it had finished we went to get my car washed as I just hadn't the energy to do it myself and it was very dirty. We've had so much rain lately that it hasn't been worth washing but I'm hoping we're going to get a few days of dry weather over the next week. We called to see Sophie on the way home and I took her a Snickers bar as a treat. She looked hot, poor thing, but said it had been quiet all day, probably due to the warm and sunny weather.

In the evening Keith and I cooked chicken Kiev rather than the pie we'd planned. I'm hoping that from now on we can embrace summer food, rather than winter stodge!

Big breakfast!

As Sophie had been at work all week I let her have a long lie-in this morning. Keith and I went to get Mike from Brixworth as he'd been at a party there all night. Thankfully, he wasn't as hungover as he was last week!

I'd promised to make a big breakfast this morning, so after Sophie had woken up I prepared sausages, bacon, hash browns, scrambled eggs and toast and we all sat and ate together. I can't remember the last time we did that!

In the afternoon, Sophie and I went to Market Harborough for a mooch. We had a snack in Caffe Nero first before wandering around Waterstones and Accessorize where there was a huge sale going on. Sophie bought her own weight in ear-rings and saved just over £25! She was mightily chuffed and chose some lovely little turtle ear-rings that will be coming with us to Florida next year.

We had arrived quite late in Market Harborough and we were astonished to find some shops already closing for the day even though it was only about 4.30pm! I had a look in a couple of shops for a present for Mum and Dad's Golden Wedding Anniversary later this month but couldn't find anything I liked...I am completely stumped on this one! For their Ruby (40th) I bought a beautiful sculpture of a couple entwined but I am right out of ideas for this anniversary!

Phew! It's Friday!

Weather-wise, it's been a lovely day today with plenty of sunshine. We took Sophie to work as usual - I think she will be very glad when this week is over!

Mike was off to Brixworth this morning as well, so that just left Keith and I in the house. We took advantage of the peace and quiet and did some paperwork which I was pleased about. I also caught up with some other jobs and generally mooched about in the afternoon.

Keith went off to the pub at 6pm and walked there. He desperately wants to get back into his walking so that's a start, at least. I left home at 6.30pm to collect Sophie who'd had a very busy day at work. She is cooking all by herself which I think is a little unfair at the moment and she found it very stressful indeed, poor thing. She looked shattered when I picked her up as she'd been there over nine hours, and on her feet all that time dealing with difficult customers and several parties.

I took her home, poured her a glass of wine and went to pick Keith up from the pub before returning home to finish off our dinner of fish pie. In the evening we had several heavy showers so the rainy season is not over yet!