An award!

Tonight after work I went to give blood and was surprised to be given my Silver Award for 25 donations! I'm annoyed with myself because it would have been a lot more if I'd continued to give blood when I was in my early 20s, but when I went off to Nepal I had to stop for a year because of the hepatitis risk and I just got out of the habit.

Sophie came with me (for the biscuits, she told me) and it all went very smoothly and quickly, which was great. It meant we were home a lot earlier than I'd planned and as I was cooking dinner tonight, that was good with me!

Tuesday 30 August - back to work!

It was a bit of a shock this morning when I was back at work, but all good things must come to an end! Mum and Dad are having some time off at the moment so I had Keith and the children in with me which helped. I have to admit I was dreading today but by 4pm, when I went home, I had to say that my first day back wasn't too bad at all!

I now I keep harping on about it, but it looks as if Autumn is here with a vengeance. Keith and I went for a short walk when we got home and there was definitely a nip in the air and it was dark at just after 8pm. It's amazing to see how quickly we lose our daylight hours but I honestly don't mind. For me, every season has its own benefits and I do like feeling cooler and being all cosy in the house at night!

Monday 29 August - last day of the holidays...

...Well, for me anyway! The children have one more week and will return to school next Tuesday. I spent my last day catching up with little jobs around the house and garden as the weather was grey and gloomy, not like August at all. It seems that all the seasons are coming early this year and it feels so much like Autumn already. Last night I even suggested putting the heating on but Keith wouldn't hear of it!

So my week's holiday is almost over and it's back to work tomorrow. To say the week has gone quickly is the understatement of the year!

Sunday 28 August - a day in Kent

Mum, Soph and me went off to Kent today to see Nan and take her shopping for some new bras. We called into the M&S at Thurrock services on the way and bought ourselves some lunch (which was delicious, by the way!) and after we'd eaten we drove off to Bexleyheath.

We spent an enjoyable couple of hours shopping so there was no time to do any grave-hunting today. I'll have to leave that for another day! The journey home was pretty good considering it was a Sunday afternoon and we went via the Blackwall Tunnel so mum could see the O2 and the Olympic park which looks like it's almost finished.

Back home we had a delicious supper of cheese and biscuits and a very good Californian red that I bought in M&S!

All finished!

Keith and I were up at 6am this morning and by 8am we had made a start on the second coat of emulsion. We used a colour called White Cotton which was lovely and fresh and clean. Luckily, the second coat covered the patchy first coat and I glossed one door before turning my attention to the contents of the cabinet. I washed all the glasses, plates and cups that we store in the cupboard and wiped the shelves so everything was lovely and clean. When the walls had dried Keith put up some pictures for me, the ones that had originally been in our bedroom, as they no longer matched the new colour scheme in there. By 4pm I'd glossed the other two doors, moved all the books back and tidied everything up so we were all finished and I was delighted with how it looked! There's not a huge change as the colour of the walls was quite pale before but we now know it's very clean and fresh which is all that matters!

Next job is the living room and that's something I'm not looking forward to!

Friday 26 August - yet more decorating!

Yesterday we started on our dining room/study that was probably the most neglected room of the house. I was disgusted with my house cleaning skills when we pulled out the cabinet that stands against the wall - there were papers behind it, old envelopes and a lot of dust! I spent the first half of the day giving the room a really good clean, took down the curtains to wash (and nearly died of shame as to how dirty they were) and then I started to emulsion the walls. I didn't realise that the paint we had was Matt, so when I went to pick Sophie up from work (she'd been called in, poor thing, because of the heavy rain) I called into Homebase to buy some silk emulsion and some more quick drying gloss for the skirting boards and doors.

We moved everything into the conservatory and the downstairs of the house was in uproar with all the mess. The children couldn't believe what a state it was in but I was hoping to get the furniture moved back before the evening as our dinner table was covered with glasses and crockery from inside the cabinet. Unfortunately, when Keith started to apply the emulsion paint it was pretty obvious we were going to need another coat of paint on top as it wasn't covering the pale pink underneath. I moved everything onto the floor so we could eat dinner at the table and just hoped that by Saturday evening everything would be back to normal!

Exam results!

Sophie had to go into school today to pick up some exam results. I wasn't aware of how important they were (probably a good thing!) as the seven she has done so far will count against her final exams next year. She was a bit nervous and I really felt for her as she got back into the car and opened the envelope. She was ecstatic to see that she scored an A* in History, the exam she had to re-sit. Her other marks were also very good, all As and Bs so we were extremely proud of her and what she's acheived so far.

After we picked up the results we drove into town so I could go to the main post office and renew my driving licence photo which expires at the end of September. I had my photo taken, parted with almost £25 for the pleasure (my photo looked awful) and treated the children to a MacDonald's lunch, although we were a bit miffed to find that they weren't doing MacFlurries which is why we'd gone in the first place!

Back home I sorted out our rubbish and put our recycling boxes into the car to take to the tip as we'd left it too late to put them out yesterday and they were overflowing with bottles, paper and cardboard. We drove to the local tip to find them closed so I ended up doing a round trip of 25 miles to the one in Northampton, which sort of beats the idea of saving the earth, but I was desperate to be rid of the rubbish. Taking the stuff to the big containers was a bit hairy as they were open grids and I could see through them to the ground below. I hate to admit I had a bit of a female moment and started shrieking so the staff very kindly took the rest of the stuff from me and emptied it on my behalf!

For dinner tonight we had Chicken Pierrot - a dish inspired by a meal we had in France in 2009 and named after the restaurant that served it. We sliced potatoes, added garlic and some olive oil and placed chicken breasts on top then cooked them in the oven until the potatoes were all crispy and the chicken cooked. Delicious with garden peas, carrots and a glass of very good red!