Sunny Sunday!

It's been a truly gorgeous day today with warm, dry and sunny weather. Poor Sophie had to go to work and I had a feeling they would be very quiet! Keith took Mike to Brixworth while I showered as I'd persuaded him to take me for a drink at the pub at lunchtime!

We sat in the garden initially and listened to the quiet clucking of the chickens, a sound I always find very soothing! They were gathered under the shade of a tree as it was very warm. We had one drink there and then retreated inside to sit at our usual seat at the window and we were surprised to find the pub almost empty. Perhaps it was too hot for a Sunday roast!

Later in the afternoon I took my Mum to Beckworth and she treated me to a scone and a cup of tea. Even Beckworth was quiet...perhaps a lot of people have gone off on holiday? We mooched about having a look at the plants and I treated myself to a pair of gardening gloves and a plant to replace one I threw away. It was very pretty with spiky purple flowers and loves a location in full sun so it should do well on the sunny garage wall.

Back home I just had time to water the garden before it was time to collect Sophie from work. She was in a bit of a bad mood as she was hot and felt as if she'd wasted a day being at work. She wasn't happy that Keith and I had gone to the pub and that I'd been out with Mum...maybe a glass of two of wine will put her in a better mood!

Rude awakening!

I woke up at 2am this morning and started worrying about Mike for some reason. I checked Messenger and saw he'd been on at 1am so I tried to go back to sleep hoping that he was safely at a friend's house.

However, I then saw a light go on in the house and got up to see if it was Sophie. Rather than my daughter responding, it was my son who shouted up from downstairs that he'd got a lift home! He couldn't get the key out of the lock and of course this then woke us all up! He was a bit merry and was carrying a huge McDonald's cup but I was just relieved to see him and know he was home safe! He was very chatty (tipsy) so we had a quick talk and then I packed him off to bed. The cat had sneaked in as well so rather than throw him back out and risk a lot of yowling we let him stay in.

It took me a while to get back to sleep but when I woke up again, the sun was shining. The weekend is forecast to be lovely - I hope it's right! After breakfast Keith and I tidied up the back garden. he hoovered (sorry, mowed) the lawn while I hoed the borders and picked up even more leaves. I'm starting to get obsessive about leaves!

At midday Sophie and I went to Market Harborough and had lunch in Costa Coffee. It's been a really warm (26c) and sunny day today and people were making the most of the sunshine by sitting outside. It was much cooler inside where we decided to sit!

Sophie bought some clothes in New Look and had a mooch in Monsoon but nothing caught her eye. The sales are on everywhere now and Autumn clothes are starting to creep in which is a bit of a depressing thought! I forgot to say in Thursday's post that when we went to Jones's there were Christmas decorations out on display...can you believe it? Some people haven't even been away for their summer holiday yet!

As it was getting warmer by the minute we decided to call it a day and after popping into Aldi to get some wine and lager for Keith we returned home to sit in the garden. Monty was delighted that we were sitting out and lay stretched out on the grass until he decided that was too warm for him so he sat underneath the garden seat!

In the evening we played cards and then barbecued. Keith had chopped up a load of logs in the morning and after we'd eaten he put them on the chimenea to burn.

We'd bought a bag of marshmallows in the shopping and we roasted these as well. Delicious!

Busy, busy!

I had so many things I needed to do today I didn't know where to start first! Keith cleaned the main bathroom and I brought the hoover up to get rid of the millions of tiny brown specks that have been blown in through the window. I have no idea where they come from but they are everywhere! They had even got stuck into the sealant around the tiles which was a pain.

After taking Sophie to work we came home and while Keith cooked breakfast of bacon and tomatoes, I swept the driveway as it was covered in dead leaves. The rubbish from our en-suite renovation is still outside the house and is a real eyesore. Darren called in this morning to "fix" the leak in the en-suite and promised he would be back next week to finish off the jobs that need doing. I have to admit that B&Q's service has been terrible and I certainly won't be using them again for any projects in the house.

Mike then wanted some help with his CV so I did that with him and caught up with my blog which I was really behind on! He wanted to go to Brixworth to see his mates and was planning on going to a party in the evening if he could get someone to put him up for the night!

The rest of the day was spent sweeping the front of the house and strimming the bit of verge I could get to! I had a long chat with Tom which was very pleasant - it's such a shame his wife Emma is not at all sociable and I still haven't seen their baby who is now nearly five months old!

Once I'd tidied up the front of the house I finished hoovering upstairs, replaced Sophie's bedding which had been washed and then gave downstairs a quick clean. Before I knew it it was time to pick up Sophie from work and I was looking forward to a chilled glass of wine and dinner. Mike called to say he was staying out overnight so while Keith went upstairs to watch Newcastle's first game of the season against Fulham (I had to pick him up from the pub early!) Sophie and I watched a very good film called Burnt starring the delicious Bradley Cooper! Mmm!

The braces come off!

Today didn't get off to a very good start as last night Mike drank the rest of the milk so there was none this morning for Keith's tea or my coffee! I was furious! To make it worse when I had a go at Mike about it, he laughed! I don't think he realises just how much I need coffee in the morning!

He had an appointment at 9am to have his braces removed by the Orthodontist and as Sophie was working later in the morning we all went. Keith took Mike while Sophie and I went to Costa so I could feed my addiction! I was still in a foul mood and the woman serving in Costa looked very grumpy as well. I very nearly said to her that a smile wouldn't go amiss, but I thought I'd already upset enough people for one morning!

I ordered a medium Latte which wasn't the best I'd ever had as it tasted very sweet...I also had a lemon muffin and took some painkillers for a headache I had so by the time we re-joined Keith and Mike I was feeling a bit more human!

We gave in to their pleading and took them to McDonald's for breakfast and then it was time for Sophie to start work. Mike wanted to go to Brixworth so we dropped him off and returned home to do the shopping list before trekking off to Tesco and Aldi.

I would rather have stayed at home as I wanted to tackle the messy floors and driveway but Keith wanted me to go with him as we needed some unusual ingredients, so I gave in. We did all the shopping and got home with enough time for lunch and a quick hoover before it was out again to collect Sophie.

She wanted to go to Jones's and I didn't think I needed much until we got there! I bought a new insulated lunch box to keep some food in for when I'm gardening and a flask for some tea! I then treated myself to a weeding tool on a long handle that should make that particular job a bit easier. With fat snax for the birds, an outdoor candle for Saturday night (we're barbecuing and it's supposed to be a lovely day) and a new duvet that I couldn't resist, I spent far more than I'd intended!

Back home I carried on with some cleaning and we went to collect Mike from Brixworth at 6pm. It had started to rain very heavily and he was soaked, poor thing! We spent a very pleasant evening playing cards and eating Toad in the Hole which we hadn't had for ages!

A fishy tale...

I wasn't looking forward to going to the Citizen's Advice Bureau today as I knew that the man I work with, Frank, was off for a funeral and it meant I would be all alone on Reception in the afternoon, something I really didn't feel happy about.

Keith drove me in this morning as I still can't face parking in the Mayorhold car park. He dropped me off outside the Guildhall and there was no sign, as I thought, of Frank. I fetched the keys to the offices and started to unlock and Hilary arrived. It was a bit like the blind leading the blind as one of the laptops wasn't working properly and in the end one of the staff members from the main office had to come over and sort it out.

We had a fairly busy morning with no real problems so that was a relief. I went out at lunchtime and sat in the courtyard with my lunch to phone Sophie who was at home all day. She was a bit bored! We had a chat and then it was back into the office for the afternoon session. hilary stayed until about 1.45pm so I was on my own until 3pm.

By now I was adept at booking appointments with the main office but if anything had cropped up that I didn't know how to deal with, I would have looked a bit silly! I think that there should be at least two people on Reception all the time as the advisors are constantly coming out and needing to book clients in for appointments or they need something printing off. Although I had a man come in at just before 3pm to ask about a problem, we did manage to finish by a quarter past and I rushed out to find my whole family in the car waiting for me!

It had been a gorgeous day all day (typical!) and when I got home I found that with the windows open, all the minute brown leaves had blown in and were all over the conservatory floor, all over our new en-suite floor (more of that later) and the driveway was covered in dead leaves of all kinds. I'd never seen such a mess!

We were due out again at 4.30pm as I'd booked to take the kids to see Finding Dory. For some reason I thought we were going to the cinema in Kettering and it was a good job I'd checked my confirmation email as I realised I'd booked Cineworld at Sixfields because we wanted to see the film in 3D. There was an immediate rush to leave as Sixfields is much further away!

Predictably, the traffic was horrendous but we arrived at the cinema at just after 5pm and after buying popcorn and drinks we made our way into the auditorium. It was almost empty, which surprised me, with only the top two rows taken. I was pleased but just as the film started a couple came in and sat right behind us! They were fine until almost the end when apparently the girl put her feet up on Sophie's and Mike's seats which was very annoying!

I called Keith as we left as he was cooking a curry and it was almost ready when we arrived home I went upstairs to change and noticed a puddle of water on the en-suite bathroom floor...

Back downstairs I told Keith who couldn't wait to finish his dinner and go and look. We both think it's coming from the new towel rail so that's a bit of a worry. We haven't heard from the men about coming back to finish off the room so tomorrow Keith will call B&Q and find out what's happening.

We spent the rest of the evening watching The Imitation Game, about Alan Turing and it was great to see the bits they'd filmed at Bletchley Park!

End of an era

Today has been horrible and it's rained all day. I suppose the gardens do need a good soaking, so I shouldn't complain!

Keith and I took Sophie to work and called to see Mum who was having a couple of issues with her computer. We renewed her anti-virus subscription for her and then it was home to do some studying for both the Citizen's Advice Bureau and my counselling course which I'm really behind with. Mike went off to Brixworth and before we knew it, it was time to collect Sophie from work. She was going out in the evening with some of her uni friends who had moved into their own student house. The pub they were going to was just around the corner from both their house and the university and Sophie was really looking forward to catching up with their news.

Keith left at the same time as we did and went to collect Mike from Brixworth. It was a gloomy, wet evening and the rain had continued all day. I took Sophie into town, came back and then drove Mike to his last ever Army Cadet session. As most of his friends are leaving he wanted to stop going as well, which is a real shame. He took his uniform in a big bag so he didn't even wear it again for one last time! It's the end of an era.

Keith and I had a very quiet evening without the kids! We ate cottage pie, our default meal whenever Sophie is out, and then watched an episode of The Glades. At 9pm we were back out again to collect Sophie and there was something going on over Moulton as the police helicopter was hovering overhead and there were three police cars parked on the road out of the village. Whatever it was, by the time we made the return journey to pick up Mike, they had all gone!

New job!

It's been a very busy day today as I had some ebay items to send off this morning and Keith wanted to go to the bank in Kingsthorpe. We set off at just after 9am, leaving both children in bed. The post office was very busy - probably with other people sending items off!

Back home I had a coffee and relaxed before Sue picked me up at midday. She has asked me to help her with a large garden in a village near Market Harborough and it's far too big for her to tackle on her own. I donned my garden clothes and my walking boots and we set off. Overhead it was cloudy but warm and I hoped it wouldn't rain!

As Sue had warned, the garden was huge! As well as a lawned areas with very weedy borders, there were stables, a vegetable garden, what looked like an orchard in the distance and a chicken run. We started off in one of the borders but then the owners came back and asked us to start weeding in another part of the garden. It was extremely hard work and to make matters worse the garden was on a steep slope! Over the four hours we were there we carted nine wheelbarrow loads of weeds to the bonfire heap and shovelled some compost onto the freshly weeded earth so we wouldn't have to do it all again the next time we visited.

By 3pm we were both gasping for a drink as we'd both forgotten to bring anything with us! Note for next time! The owner of the garden gave us some water and also made us a cup of tea. The heavy clouds passed over us and we managed to escape any rain, which was a bonus. I vowed to be a bit more ready next time and will definitely bring my kneeling mat and some drinks!

It was great to get back in the car and go home for a warm bath to soak my tired muscles. I'm just not used to physical work like that and I wonder how on earth Sue does it every day! After my bath I dressed in lovely clean clothes and awaited Sue's arrival as we'd planned on having wine and nibbles.

Sophie had very kindly cleaned the house for me and everything looked lovely and tidy. Sue arrived and brought some delicious food and a bottle of chilled Prosecco. Perfect! We had a good chat and Keith went off to the pub on his own. He came back an hour and a half later and tucked into the remainder of the nibbles...it was a good job we'd left some as that was his dinner!