Life without a kitchen

(Originally written around mid August.)

The building work was fascinating to watch while everything was outside my home but around the beginning of July things got more complicated when they knocked through. It was around this time that I dreaded my phone ringing when I was at work (in case something had gone wrong) and dreaded going home whilst being excited at the same time.

So when I went to work one day leaving my house like this...

And then came home to find this....

Followed one day later by this...

And by the 26th July this is all that remained...

Our kitchen sink!

Things took some getting used to. We did still have a kitchen though, but it was just in the front room instead...obviously! I knew that living without a kitchen would be tricky but it's not until you actually experience something that you really understand the reality.

Adjusting to life without a dishwasher or even a kitchen sink with running hot water was challenging. There was ranting and heated conversations with the nest in relation to washing up and not taking the **** I can assure you! But I am pleased to say that we survived and to be honest, I think we coped better than most would have done. When my eldest uttered 'I think I might go Vegan' one day I did, after counting to 10, manage to stay calm and respond with 'It would be better if you waited until September when we have a kitchen...'. To her credit she accepted this.

More Building

(Originally written on 8th July)

This one is mostly pictures, in short it went up...and up...and up!

Our Building Site

Originally written on 28th May 2016.

Yes, its been a while, don't all my 'recent' posts begin like that? Let's not dwell. 

Obviously lots of changes have happened in a year but I wanted to blog about the extension as I've been photographing it daily. Extension? Long story but I decided, almost on a spur of the moment (well its a bit more complicated than that but I'll explain later), to have the 'Sunroom' knocked down and replaced by extending the kitchen. I think that decision was around February. Since then I have found a recommended builder, who sent me an architect, and we've been through the planning stages, obtained building regs. approval and the work started a couple of weeks ago.

So let's have a reminder of the beautiful 'Sunroom', as named by Oliver the Estate Agent in 2010, which stuck, although I still think he was pushing the boundaries of trading standards with this one. How it remained standing for a further 5 years after we moved in is somewhat a mystery too, I swear that some of the wood is held together only by paint.

Day one: 

Child #1 looking confused, I tried to let her figure out what was different for herself.

Day two:

The view from the back door

 We are trying not to lose the cat in the project...

The visit from the Building Inspector was somewhat amusing. Picture the scene: My eldest was at home revising for AS Level exams (yes, she moved back home for good last August and returned to college, I did say there had been changes), dressed in tracksuit bottoms, ugg boot style slippers, and not even a brush through her hair, the inspector knocks. She answers and he introduces himself while handing her his business card which clearly displays his credentials and membership of RICS. He explains why he's there so she says...

"Well, my mum's not here but if you know what you're doing you can go through" 

(bearing in mind we are just talking about a hole in our back garden here!)

I clarified that that was the exact phrase she used, later when she relayed this incident, and said that in future she might want to go with "I'm sure you know what you need to do so I'll show you through". To which she replied, with a shrug, "same difference". Not really. We did wonder briefly if we would get home to find the builders had been told to dig another couple of feet down! Clearly the man had a sense of humour though as all was good and appeared to continue ok.

Day 3:

No further progress yet but thanks to the weather we do now have a moat, let the battle begin! 

Day four:

A cement moat.

Landscaping at its best.

Lesson from the builders in how to hide a cement mixer with a Christmas tree and wheely bin lid...

can you see it?! ;-)

Day 5:

They got better at the hiding thing...can you see it now? 

Day 6...promising

Beeston Castle

(Originally written around July 2015 but never posted.)

You see now that I am a very grown up and responsible member of English Heritage my poor son will get dragged to all sorts of interesting (or not, in some cases!) places. The nearest decent place (i.e. not some piece of stone or square of grass listed in the book but an actual place you can spend time in), in England, to us would be Beeston Castle, so that's where we started.

It was a nice day, a little windy but nice and warm. We didn't realise the extent of the hilly walk up to the castle until we got there but it was enjoyable on the way.

The above photo was taken just after it dawned on me that I should appreciate my days out with my youngest more as they would shortly come to end no doubt (noting that Child #1 and 2 were not with us). So I mentioned this to Child #3 at the time...

"Who's going to come out with me on days like this when you get big?"

"What? When?!"

"When you get bigger and would rather be doing something else?, who will come with me?"

"I will still come out with you mum, of course I will!"

"Ah, that's good, I was just thinking and getting a little sad, I'm glad you think you will though"

"Wait...do you mean next year or when I'm like 14 or something"

"Well more like 14, I think"

"Oh...right...well I don't know then because I won't be here, you're right! I thought you meant next year!"

Kids!!

A Cave!

And places to hide

Its only a little castle but the surrounding woodland is nice, and the views from the top are pretty cool.

And....

There's a well! 

I think this was his favourite part, and we managed to find some stones to throw down it too. After this we headed off to the local Ice Cream Farm, just around the corner, where we ate huge ice creams. He had Raspberry Pavlova and Sticky Toffee flavours, and I had Lemon Meringue and Rhubarb Crumble!

An update...

Wow...it's been the longest blog break ever. I actually didn't think I would write another post but having read back through the last few posts I feel the need for an update. I forgot how good this thing was at 'off-loading' my thoughts whilst recording a bit of personal history to reflect on in the future. To be honest there are no drastic changes to report, for which I'm grateful for (there is a lot to be said for life just plodding along nicely). Vivod has made some but little progress (life gets in the way). I still work hard, I still run (although I'm not sure I discussed this with you before?!), and I still do Tae Kwon Do. There are no new additions to Vivod and, thankfully, no losses either. Let's go into a little more detail then.

So, when I last blogged, child #1 had flown the nest and moved to bonnie Scotland. I think I, and many others, gave it a few weeks. Well actually, I gave it a bit longer than most simply because she is very like me and I knew she wanted her freedom more than anything. I think the fateful call came around the end of November. I was just about to leave for Saturday run club, at 7:30am. I was confused and ready to voice my annoyance at the 'unknown caller', clearly a sales call (at this time????!!!) calling me. That is until I answered and heard the sobs on the other end of the phone, following by 'Mum...mum...I want to come home'. This isn't easy to deal with when you are a few hundred miles away. So I sat down and talked to her until she was ok. Then assessed if she actually did want to come home or not. She was unsure. So...I did what all good parents would do...I left her to it, told her I would call her in just over an hour, and I went out running. I know that sounds heartless but it wasn't, she was fine with that, but there was little else I could do. To cut a long story short, 90 minutes later, Child #3 and I, armed with downloaded Iplayer content and a bunch of bananas, set off for Wishaw to collect her and all her belongings. She came home, went to college for a week, then got a job in McDonalds. Maybe it wasn't the best job in the world and appropriate for my A grade GCSE girl but it was a start and it did her good to learn what work was like. So where is she now? Well back in Scotland obviously! She went back about a month ago. I'm not going to lie and say that I am happy about it. I'm not, I think she is making a mistake because (and I know that she knows this if she is reading this, and so does he) her boyfriend does not deserve a second chance after the way he treated her so he should consider himself damn lucky! Having said that I completely understand why she went back and if she thinks it will make her happy then that's what she has to do. (Blogging is such good counselling...I've missed it!) 

What else? Well I work in public sector, so following significant funding cuts from the government its been a pretty scary time recently due to potential redundancy for all staff. I'm pleased to say that what I do is quite specialised and very fundamental to the organisation therefore I was ok. Work has, as usual, been very challenging though, for many reasons, but that's why I enjoy it though. 

Child #2 update. Ok, so lots has gone on here but I'm not going to dwell on the bad stuff. It's been hard, almost to the point that I couldn't take any more. However (and I have no way of knowing if this will continue but I have learnt the art of appreciating things as they happen and not taking too much for granted in the future) over the past 3 weeks Child #3 has outdone herself. She has been a delight. She has been great at school, responsible etc. I've not spoken to her teachers, Head of Year or Head Teacher once (yes, I know this is normal for most parents but for Child #2 this is a massive achievement). I'm now accepting of the underlying issues that I was once in denial about and seeking the right support. I should have done this a long time ago but for many reasons I didn't. 

Child #3...he's a typical 9 year old with 2 older sisters (= 3 mums!) He's great though, very clever, very funny and very loving.  What more can I ask?

So aside from all the above I've filled the gaps mainly with running, Tae Kwon Do and wool related stuff. I've finished a couple of blankets, run a 10 mile and 10k race, become a green belt and encouraged about 20 people to run a half marathon in May for charity.

Oh, and we still have Louis...

Well it wouldn't be the same without a photo or 2 would it?! Here's some more....

I was telling the truth! Finished in under 2 hours too!

Christmas Day evening

Christmas day - Child #3 wearing and eating as many presents as possible at once!

Is this cat torture? or just a daft cat??

Child #3 and I just after achieving Green Stripes - so yesterday now!

Our Halloween efforts

I've finally mastered bread - without a bread maker!!

There is not work in Louis' world and that's an order!

I'm making no promises to come back soon, in all likelihood I won't, but it's been nice writing the update. See you again...at some point.

Summer 14

It's been a while, I know. Lots and lots has happened too.

The highlights over the past few weeks have been:

• Child #1 making a bid for freedom and deciding that, at the grand age of 16, she is big enough to move all the way to Scotland, share a flat with her boyfriend, and be independent. Needless to say that she has learnt rather a lot in a very short space of time but she's still in one piece anyway!
• I've had 2 lovely but very very busy weeks off and, to be honest, will be glad to get back to work next week for some normality.
• We have a new addition to our family.

So Child ~1 then. Well, I did see this coming, and it's exactly what I did at her age, and I turned out ok. I could have demanded she stay, refused to let her go, shouted, made her feel guilty, told her she was stupid etc etc. That would have been rubbish, and she would have still gone but wouldn't keep in touch. She would also be far less likely to ever come home if it all went wrong. So I am, therefore, being the very supportive mother no matter how much it hurt at first (I am far more used to idea now, and I know she is ok (ish)) So she's moved to Wishaw near Glasgow. It could be worse, she is only 3.5 hours away and very easy drive. We proved that this week by visiting her on a day trip and it was great. It's hard watching her doing things the hard way. She has no understanding of how much harder things will get either but I'm here if she needs me and always will be. More to follow on that in the future I think.

My busy 2 weeks have been really busy. The state of Vivod was really staring to annoy me a few weeks ago. The front room is still a mess and we are awaiting a plasterer who isn't coming until later September/October. The front bedroom, previously child #1's was empty. The landing was a mess. So I realised that despite owning a perfectly big enough house, if not too big for us now, I was only using about 75% of it. Things had to change! I vowed to do something to our house everyday, or nearly everyday, whilst I was on leave for a fortnight. So in the past 2 weeks we have:

• Sanded, repaired and varnished the front bedroom floor.
• Stripped the wallpaper, sanded the paintwork and began painting it all.
• Sanded and varnished all of the landing (I never realised just how big the landing is)
• Moved into the front bedroom and set up the attic room as a useful space/spare room/bedroom for Child #1 if she returns (I have told her this by the way and she is fine with it)
• We intended to restore the fireplace in the bedroom, clean up the hearth, paint the ceiling, replace the plastic windowsills with wooden ones and wall paper.
• Oh, and I also sent the bedroom doors to be stripped too. (Currently awaiting their return - there are no secrets in our house at present!)

I will take some pictures and show you soon but I feel much happier that there is now only one room out of action again and that the landing is also far nicer.

So finally...the new addition. Time for some pictures I think...

I thing the word is 'tolerating' rather than 'friendship' at this stage.

So this is Louis. I was asked to give him a home as a colleague needed to rehome him and didn't want to sell him (he's a Bengal cat). I bought him home on my last day at work so that I could settle him in. Everything was fine for a week and then he escaped! after 48 hours I resigned to the fact that I would never see him again. Until last night, when a lovely lady from a few streets away reported him to the local vet! So happy he is back although Oscar is less happy about this but he will be ok in time.

As you can see...(even non cat people)...he is adorable! He is also off to the vet later for micro-chipping followed by a collar and tag purchase, although he is currently under house arrest for the foreseeable future!

What the mind can conceive, it can achieve...

Well I think Napoleon Hill was right.

This is a quick post to update you on 2 equally important things.

Number 1. Yesterday Child #3 and I achieved an A pass in our first Tae Kwon Do gradings. We are fully fledged yellow stripes now...and we have those all important belts to prove it. So now we are learning Chon Ji, and it meaning, and we are learning lots of other Korean terms, and we are getting fitter and stronger and we are learning together. Child #3 insists we will become 8th Dan black belts together...I didn't have the heart to point out that, due to timing restrictions on gradings, I may be dead by then or at least very very old!

I won't lie. It was, at points, terrifying! One of the other adults that was also grading from my club, whose son has done Tae Kwon Do for a while commented, while sat on a bench waiting to be called, "I can't believe I put my child through this!". I knew exactly what he meant! Some of the kids were tiny...and there was me...36 (just) and scared! 

We were called for the practical in groups of 10 ish, and whilst some things went well, I couldn't block and reverse punch for toffee. I was rubbish. I wanted to cry. Thankfully the examiner didn't have a direct line of sight to me and I may have got away with it. I won't next time and I need to up my game.

Number 2...I am going to complete my MA. Yes, I mentioned it some time ago but I never really thought I would be motivated enough to do it. I am though. I have got as far as submitting the protocol (the plan of what, how and when I will do things) and I have also written about 750 proper words (so only another 19, 250 to go). I know now that I will get it done though, and surprisingly, I am actually quite enjoying it so far.

So, my motivation? Well I want to do another degree of course! I suddenly feel the need to learn everything! (See kids...this is what happens when you O/D on Omega 3!!) I had been thinking about doing another degree for a while and have always wanted to do a maths degree. When I first applied to university I was offered a place on a Maths, Stats and Computing degree. It would have been great except that at the time I had 2 young children. I assessed the amount of time I had dedicated to my IT vocational course at college compared with the amount of time towards A-Level Maths. I think i spent 4 times as long on the maths to be honest and only got a C, whilst I got an AA in IT. I decided that, being as this was my first degree, I would be better just doing Computer Science and sailing through with minimum effort and maximum output. After all, a degree is a degree no matter what and Computer Science degrees go a long way. It was the right decision and I came out 3 years later with a 2:1 (less than 1% off a first though!!) but it did what was needed and I know, now, that I made the right choice back then. 

It's always bugged me though, the fact that I never did maths. I can't say I regret not because I don't but there is still plenty of time, so why not now? Well, the only thing preventing me enrolling is that unfinished MA. So I have to finish that first and I think the promise of doing Maths, or Maths and Stats is keeping me motivated. The OU has September and February starts and I will make the February one at the lastest but will do my best to make the September start!

So that's it for now. Hopefully in September you can call me Master, and also a Yellow Belt (next grading is September 28th I think!) Will keep you posted!