Goodness, what a week its been.  

Lets see, Monday saw me doing a spot of babysitting for a friend, followed by a lovely delivery from Susie Watson with some goodies for the little house.  

Wednesday was an awful day.  London was hit by a terror attack and, my heart breaks for the families of those taken from us and those people effected.

Simon went back to work after a weeks holiday, but over did it with his leg braces.  Which resulted in him unable to walk, as it was too much to soon and put his hips out of alignment. So a trip to the doctors for some serious pain killers and anti inflammatories, has helped him. 

I also had a coffee meet up with my cousins and some old family friends; a truly fabulous time, with lots of reminiscing about mum and dad and the "old days".  I'm just annoyed that I forgot to take a photo of us all .... oh well, we'll just have to do it all over again. 

Friday was our first proper session with the dog behaviourist; she's a zen master an a miracle worker lol. I have high hopes for her, but I think its more us that needs training, rather than the bears.  

A trip later to Loaf, to look at a new sofa for the little house and then just filling more of the skip for me. 

Sunday saw us clearing out the little house, as the first of the tradesmen are starting this week.  First up are two days of the fireplace people starting; and then the landscapers are due this week too. Its all very exciting, if not a little scary.  I did have a little glimpse of what our life will be like, as we had a few people pop in while passing ... well, 10 to be exact. 

I wish you all a lovely and safe week. 

Weeks 10 & 11

Happy International day of Happiness .... well that is, if you're reading this on Monday 20th March.

I'm playing catch up again, so here are two weeks worth of happenings.  As you can imagine, life is pretty chaotic at the moment.  Trying to get both homes ready; don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying it, but I don't feel I have as much time for blog reading or writing at the moment.  Still, I know we're all busy people, so I just need to get on with it, and stop faffing.  So, here it is

Week 10

I finally got my act together and painted the walls of the utility room.  Now at least the walls are all the same colour throughout downstairs.

I met a few friends this week too, first up was my lovely friend, Jenny, whom I first met at a gardening class we did.  We had a lovely catch up at a garden centre and later that week, I also went out with the "WOW's" (Women of Walsingham lol, which is the name of our road).  Anyway, we had such a lovely evening at a local Thai restaurant.

I also managed to do a little project life catch up, with the help of Bertie. Who shockingly didn't actually grab everything in sight in my craft room.

It was Crufts this week and it was lovely to see a Lakeland in the final. He didn't win, but we were cheering for Alan.

On to week 11

Simon had this week off as we had a lot of appointments.  First up, Simon got his leg braces; its going to take a while for him to get used to them as they're so so different and quite cumbersome.  We spent some time at the little house too, seeing more tradesman and we also got our loft boarded out.  The decorator will be starting soon, so we did a little trip to Farrow & Ball for him.

Now one of the huge huge highlights for me was that Simon surprised me, and ordered me the original artwork from the woman that is making cards out of some of my instagram photos.  I can't tell you, how happy I am with them.

Also this week, we had a new trainer for the bears, well not a trainer of sorts, oh no, they've only now got a dog phycologist lol.  She was here for 2 and half hours, and I was shocked at how well she managed to get them to behave, so I have high hopes.  Staying with the bears, they had a trip to the groomers

I just love that the groomers, takes photos of them. 

Finally, we have a super duper new coffee machine. Oh my, it's amazing. Seriously, the best coffee that I've ever tasted.  

Ok, that's it from me for tonight.  I'm hoping to try and get back to blog reading.  As you know, I'm a big believer in if you blog, you should try your best to get around to blog reading.  Its an amazing community and I love it, but you only get out of it, what effort you put in.  So I apologies that I've been lacking in that department.

Week 9

Lots of plans were made in week 9, from which wood burning stove to have installed, to choosing decorators and landscapers.  Like the tv show used to say .... I love it when a plan comes together. 

Other things this week, included Pancake Tuesday, followed by Lent starting on Wednesday.  I've given up chocolate this year, and already suffering.  We tried a new local restaurant, not one to rush back to though, and finally, I'm back to wearing my Fitbit. 

Wishing you all a lovely week, I've got a nice social week planned this week, and really looking forward to meeting up with some friends.

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Garden Design

I think Simon and I are just those type of people that will always be making changes to our home. The latest, is of course the little house.  As I explained in a previous post, it needs just a few bits to make it more an everyday home, and not a holiday home.  We're also having these changes done before we move in, in other words, easier without the help of bears. 

So, let me share with you the first of our ideas .... The Garden

Simon has drawn these plans up on sketch up for me.  So the idea is to change the patio from the old slabs and gravel, to sandstone blocks.  We're also removing our old decking step, to larger sandstone blocks, and having a little gazebo built.  The borders to are going for a makeover, and are going to be a little more "bear proof" and built up, so less toy digging (hopefully).

A new fence along the waters edge, with a gate put in for when Simon gets his boat, and also a little fence at the side, so that the side gate can be left open for visitors and the bears won't run out. 

Of course, Pinterest has been a great source of inspiration for me, and I've lost many an hour on it; here are a couple of ideas I've pinned regarding the blocks

Image from Peter Bird Designs

This is the style for the patio, and we're extending the old decking step, so that the garden table and chairs can sit on it, nicely. 

Image from London Stone

And then these smaller square blocks for the paths  

I'll leave it there, but be back with more posts on my ideas for the garden, and the rest of the house.  

I apologies now if I've been bad at blogging or reading blogs.  I didn't realise how much I need to get rid of in our home, as it certainly won't all fit in the little house.