Nothing. Part 2.

Last day of my 4 day weekend and another day of nothing. By that I mean nothing planned just going with the flow.

Hubs off out on Earlie's again, boys sleeping late, again. Even the dog had a lie in. Me? always awake early.

Got up and decided today was the day to put the new emblem on the car.. drum roll please, I did it all by myself..

Yeah, all sparkly and new. Car is now being parked on the drive with the rear end at the house end.. fingers crossed i get to keep it this time.

Boys still asleep so decided to do some more of my course, loving that, then onto some knitting , had my creative notepad with me so I could start to write idea's, that worked a treat wrote loads and managed to knit loads too! talk about multi tasking..

Loving my striped cardigan, did some more tonight and just putting the sleeves onto holders so I can knit down the body, contemplating what colour to do next

picture from woolwarehouse

this is very addictive knitting.. great pattern too..bluesands, obviously I'm doing coloured strips..

Then it was up and out , managed to get the boys dressed, waited for hubs to get in and off we went, all together. We are really lucky living where we do, so much outdoor space to access. Today was a short 10 minute drive. No beaches this time it was all about trees and old buildings.

Thoroughly enjoyed the walk, off home to freezer surf, we are eating down the freezer to defrost, found some homemade pasta sauce , threw in some pasta and added some Parmesan shavings, yum.

This evening was back to work planning, long drive out of town tomorrow for an assessment, checked the car, all OK, what a nice feeling! 

Then some trash TV before bed, tonight's chosen programme was obsessive compulsive cleaners. makes me realise my house isn't that bad after all. 

Such I shame I have to go back to work tomorrow, hey ho, only another 4 years..

Busy doing nothing.

Busy doing nothing, fabulous!

Hubs on earlies, didn't even hear him get up, had a lazy lie in till 8am, bliss.

I dropped my car off at garage to sort out the headlights,came home and pottered around cleaning and surfing the net  until I went back to pick it up at lunch time, I now have headlights!!! sadly very excited about this. I had to turn them on and off a few times just for fun.

Checked out my FB page this afternoon and spotted a link an open university short course, it caught my eye so I clicked, well 2 hrs later I came up for air.

photo from future learn.

I've signed up and started a short 8 week course entitled, ' start writing fiction' and its FREE!

Really didn't see this happening. I have always loved to read and often thought about writing, dreams of writing a book have crossed my mind many a time. Started a few, wrote a couple of poems along the way, but honestly never thought anything of it. Usually run out of steam after 2 pages of writing.

Its a 3 hr pr week course, can jiggle that in to my schedule, some much needed 'me' time. I have to say when I started I didn't want to stop, loved it. I don't pretend to be good, in fact I'm pretty rubbish, but I am hoping this course will give me some guidance and if I can get a short story out of it I will be more than happy. Its purely for pleasure and to keep the old brain cells ticking.

Hubs came home from work at 2.30pm so we ended up having an early dinner this evening, no 2 son went out and didn't get home til 10.15pm, dirty stop out! No 1 son has been doing his own thing and I have been knitting and watching TV.

Watched Alex Polizzi's Secret Italy programme, wow, I would so love to go to Italy,We had planned to go to Rome for my 50th but it was out of our budget range, I still dream of it though. one day.....

That was followed up by Sarah Beenys ' how to sell your house' got us talking about our planned move, It seems a while off, well 4 years or so to be exact, but we need to really start thinking about it. There are jobs to finish on the house, after the builders did a runner with our money and left us with a half finished extension.We have completed jobs as we have had cash but there are still a few to go, 3 rooms don't have heating for example..and we need to get the extension signed off properly. Interestingly I learned that you can sell your house online now, missing out the traditional estate agents, I am so far behind the times. 

So today has been a day of nothing, good nothing, but nothing, tomorrow will be a day of doing, out and about, fresh air, that's if I can manage to get the boys out of their pyjama's

Sunday funday.

Sunday's, don't you just love them when you don't have to go to work on Monday ! Despite the extra hour I could have had in bed, I was up early, no change there.

So up and awake when everyone else slept, what to do? blogged, read blogs, surfed the net, bored...so decided now was the time to cast on my fireside project, I needed a big project, I know I have loads of projects, but I'm a knitter, we have to have loads, right? A different project to match different moods.

My chosen winter project is.....a cardigan... heck, wonder if I'll get to wear it, normally only wear my hand knits if they are for my feet..This project is a staying in and being warm cardigan, not for wearing out. A cardigan for the fireside. I am aiming to get it done for our trip to Cornwall at New year.

This is going to be a cardigan of many colours, stripes, colourful strips, stylecraft DK, so it can get chucked in the washing machine, something I wont need to be precious about. Learnt to do the provisional cast on, thank you you tube! and I'm off. Its top down knit in the round, so once I have the top shaping done it will be plain sailing.Itching to get back to this tonight.

Once everyone was up and we had Brunch,  hubs and I decided to shoot off down to a 'real' beach, with sand as well as mud. It was just the thing for a Sunday afternoon. I love the beach in winter. I love wild weather and wrapping up. Maxy boy loved it too.

Blew the cobwebs well and truly out. Bliss.

Home to get the roast ready and pick up FIL. Found some stale bread in the bread bin, went to throw it out, waste not want not, what to do? Bread and butter pudding ! haven't had that in years.

Easy peasy, cut off the crusts, butter the bread, cut in to triangles, I like them small, put a layer in the bottom of your dish, a layer of sultanas and keep building up. When your done, mix 2 eggs with a pint of milk, 2 tables spoons of castor sugar and some vanilla and pour over. I sprinkle some sugar on top, pop in oven for 30 minutes. Done. Yummy desert  for later! Be interesting to see if the boys like this.

Now all I have to do is eat, do the dishes then sink into a chair and knit the night away. Bliss.

Sunday claimed.

4 day weekend!

Whoop Whoop, I have a whole 4 days off. A nice long leisurely weekend to be had..

Yesterday was busy, straight out to do weekly food shop, I was tempted to hit Asda but knew I would spend a fortune if I did, no will power and far too much to chose from, so it was back to good old Aldi again. stocked up now for the week, costly as the boys will be home, lets just say the fridge door will be open far more this week!

A quick coffee and straight back out, no 2 son and his friend have taken up a new sport

This week was my turn to take and stay, they have to have an adult present even though they are almost 6 foot! Its a community sport session and is only £2, they are coached by professionals and its great. I did think as I was sat there watching, that I really should do it too, there were adults taking part, mixed group from about 6 yrs up! very well organised this week. Junior loves it.

Back home for a quick coffee then straight out to pick up no 1 son from his volunteering day at the zoo farm, when we got home I didn't give the boys a chance to say no and rounded them both up to come for a dog walk with me,

This is called' I have both balls in my mouth, now chase me' max loves it when he has both boys chasing him, I love it because the boys are active!

Then it was home to wait for hubs to come back from Rugby [ watching not playing] to enjoy a hearty stew which had been in the slow cooker all day, a glass of vino and yet another early night, no wonder I was up at silly o'clock this morning.

Today shall be spent in a leisurely manner, there may be a little knitting taking place!

Its here...

Yeah, the weekends here.... seems like its been a long week......

This weekend is all about...

• stopping......
• breathing.....
• fun........
• family.....

sod the housework/shopping/laundry/etc/etc/etc

Tonight no 1 son and I, [no 2 is still away] went for a lovely river walk, we dodged the rain, mostly, and enjoyed being out and watching the clouds

I love the time I spend walking with No 1, he is such a pleasure, hubs is on lates so its just the 2 of us, quality time.soon he will have flown the nest, I take every opportunity to spend time with him.... we got ourselves some treats, cooked a simple meal and will watch a film together before hubs gets in..I really cant imagine my life when they have flown..

Home.

Back from the last of the sun newspaper breaks, a short weekend to take FIL to see his brother. Due to FIL's health it was a slow relaxing weekend, not our usual rushing about, but he enjoyed it and that's what it was all about.

We arrived Friday night after an easy journey down,[the joy of holidaying when its not a school holiday]We decided to stay on site that night,I treated the boys to pizza whilst FIL and hubs ate in the bar. He certainly hasn't lost his appetite, a packet of sandwiches, a cooked meal and chips to follow! With a couple of half's of Guinness thrown in, he slept well that night.

Saturday we woke to torrential rain, so stayed in the van till it cleared. then decided to walk through the town and take the boys on the small pier

The sky was glorious and the beach deserted, it was blowing a gale!

After a blustery slow walk the boys were hungry again, so a fish and chip stop was in order

too blustery to stay outside!

I was very restrained despite their being numerous shops and charity stores, grabbed a pair of 99p reading glasses and this beauty!

A fabulous chunky statement necklace, this is an A4 piece of paper to give you an idea of size, one of my goals is to wear some big chunky statement pieces, it was £5 on one of the retro/vintage stalls in the indoor market, I love it!

FIL was a little tired after a busy afternoon walking, so the boys bought a video and we had a film night in the caravan..restful and calm.

Today we had a late breakfast and went to visit his brother, it was great to see them together. Then we headed off home, FIL really isn't used to all this activity and company. he looked knackered. We stopped for a roast lunch in a pub on the way back, very scrummy and a rare treat and arrived home in time to do some organising for tomorrow and have a peaceful dog free evening! Max comes home tomorrow.

Another great weekend claimed!

Reconnecting.

Last night I met up with my very oldest friend, I have known her since I was 3 years old. We have remained in contact all those years, sometimes maybe only once or twice a year, but the deep friendship is still there , she is like a sister to me.

Part of getting a simpler life, a life I enjoy, is reconnecting with people that are important to me. So last night we had a friend date. I had the usual 'why am I planning to go out on a work night', 'Its a long way to drive', 'should I splash out when we are going away on Friday?'  but I made the effort, went straight from work so we could have a catch up, then we went to the cinema. Not just any old cinema, its one of the oldest continually running, purpose built cinema's in the world.It opened in 1912 !! Its fabulous.

[photo from clevedon people]

It still has the original organ, and is played at the beginning of each showing

[photo by me]

all the original fixtures and fittings are intact

[photo from view bristol ]

And the film? I have not laughed so much in a very long time, a brilliant poignant film, What did we see? 

[photo from cineworld ]

I totally recommend this film, I will definitely watch it again.It was a great way to spend a night, and so worth going to see, a real heart warming story, loved it.

I am so glad I met up with D, it feels great to have a friend again! someone to share things with, other than immediate family ! some one to moan to, put the world to rights with, and generally have a damn good time !