Friday Fiasco

Well this morning started off well. Harry's bags packed and double checked to make sure he had everything he needed for camp, (especially his goodie bag containing Jaffa Cakes). Joanne arrived at 8.30am to finish off the pipework in the kitchens. Ben not at school today, due to his blistered feet and he now has a head cold. Took Harry to pick up point at 10.45am, made sure he was safe on board and then came back home. Rang Boot Sale Queen cause they've opened a new Wilkinson's,Wilko in Carmarthen today and knew Tash was going, she said they had loads of buy one get one free's. ( Told you Tash loves a bargain). Rang the insurance company re my condenser tumble dryer not working again said someone will be here Monday. Then got a call to say they had a cancellation and would be out today. Fantastic! Fitter arrived soon after and tumble dryer working again. Everything going great so far.....
Then it happened Joanne was refilling the system and the drainage valve on the radiator in the kitchen was still open and water gushed out all over the floor,and I mean gushed, but to make matters worse all the new kitchen units are stacked in that kitchen. There was so much water that it soaked straight into the boxes, at least 4 doors are water damaged. So we've had to mop up gallon's of water, open every box, wipe down every piece of the new kitchen and re stack it without any protection around it. The sooner these kitchens are finished the better, cause otherwise I can see the new units getting ruined before they've been fixed in.
On a lighter note I had a text from Harry at around 4pm saying that they were still travelling and they had made a sign for the mini bus saying Honk If Your Horny!!....

Broken Fence & Blisters!

I rang Ben last night to see how the expedition was going, he said he was having a good time except that he had massive blisters on the balls of his feet! The teachers had, had a look at them and were going to dress them today before they finished the hike. Apparently his teacher had never seen blisters that big before! So they must be huge. Told him to make sure he does his boots up tight from the bottom, to stop his feet moving around. I really don't envy him as they walked 18km yesterday and have another 8km to walk today. Lets just hope that his feet don't get infected.
Derek the plumber and his apprentice Joanne turned up this morning to run the pipework & put the radiators on in the kitchens. Derek's gone off to finish another job and left Joanne to it. She's getting on OK and being a woman she likes things perfect, which is great. So hopefully by this evening we can put the heating on to dry the walls out.
Sheamus had managed this morning to break down the fence into the top field where we are growing our hay and was merrily munching to his hearts content. So up we went to get him out and to repair the damage. He was very reluctant to leave all that lush hay, but finally managed to get him out and repair the damage he'd done. How long for I don't know cause when there intent on getting in they will. I'm just hoping that he is going to my friend Di's, sooner rather then later. Unfortunately Sheamus is not the horse for me. He is totally wasted here and needs to be working nearly everyday, he's too boisterous for me and needs someone that has plenty of time to spend with him which I just haven't got. I really need a older horse, with who we can plod along together.
Hi Geoff, I know your reading this blog cause the boot sale queen told me. Just wanted to say Good Luck with the course at the weekend, and if you need to try out your new skills you've always got our place to practise on. Looked at the web site and it looks amazing, just think what you could do with your front drive and walls. Would save you laying all that bloke paving. Loved the arches and polished floor. Now that floor would look very nice in my kitchens.(Nudge, Nudge, Wink,Wink say no more) Yet another string added to your bow me old fruit!

Blacksmith

Yesterday the Blacksmith came to trim the ponies and Sheamus's hoofs. What a performance that is. I'd already got head collars on the boys and wormed them all before he got here and managed to catch Yum Yum and put him on a lead rein. Yum Yum is very nervous and it took Mick and I nearly an hour to catch him. I brought Yum Yum off the back of a lorry cause I felt sorry for him. (Bit of a soft touch when it involves animals). Neo behaved himself, but much to our surprise Warrior performed, usually he is the most gentle loving pony, but I think he just wanted to let everyone know that he may be small but very strong. Then we moved on to the girls, Minuette was really good but Tomos (Blacksmith), said that her heel of the hoof looked weak and had started to turn. He managed to get it back into shape, but we will have to keep an eye on it and maybe have it trimmed more often. Then it was Sheamus's turn, let me tell you I stood well back, cause if he starts performing you definately don't want to be in the way. He was fine to start with and then he tried it on but Tomos has such a way with horses that he soon got him under control and he then stood there so nicely to have his feet done. It was really funny watching him walk back to the field, cause he was lifting his feet very high as if he didn't like the feel of the grass.
While all this was going on we had our fencing delivery. So hopefully this weekend we may be able to get the other paddock finished.
Also had to pack Ben's expedition pack last night as he is on a expedition today & tonight with the school, as part of his Duke of Edinburgh award. Had to pop out quick yesterday morning to him a set of water proofs. Made sure he had emergency rations, a big bar of chocolate. I never thought we would get all the stuff he needed packed into this rucksack that the school provided. Without his own stuff he had the cooker and some tent poles to get in there as well. I'm just hoping that the weather improves cause it was quite cold out last night and its raining now.
Derek the plumber also turned up late last night to see what needs doing and hopefully will be here Thursday to complete the central heating and put in a gas cooker point for me. As soon as that goes on we will be able to dry the kitchen plaster out and get cracking putting the new units in. Can't wait to have the kitchen sorted if you could see the mess it is at the moment you'd understand. Its a complete work in progress.
Harry's going way on Friday morning with the Scouts to the Malvern Challenge and won't be back till late on Sunday evening, so have got another kit bag to pack this week!
Mick has popped out to see James who did quite a lot of work on our house and has agreed to have Ben with him for work experience, James needs to have all his details for insurance cover.
Want to catch up with some washing today, have already stripped Ben's bed, thank god for tumble driers..

The Shetland Pony Stud Book Society

On Friday I rang the SPSBS for some forms to register "Athena" and get her a passport and also a form to register a prefix for a stud name. Forms came this morning. Rang them to ask how long a prefix name would take and they advised 2-3 weeks. Wanted the prefix "Ashcourt", but someone has already got it, then asked if we could have Tinytreasures but they won't allow it cause they don't want any words that mean small! So went on www.centralprefixregister.com to see what other names had been used that we liked. Eventually came up with Hericus which is Harry's name in Latin and Beniaminus which is Benjamin in Latin, so these are the two names we are putting forward for approval. So if we get Hericus, Athena will be registered as Hericus Athena of Ashcourt, bit of a mouthful, but as the kids liked the Greek God & Goddess names, I thought it would be appropriate.
Also received forms for a voluntary Veterinary examination as I want to get Neo and Warrior registered as Stallions, this entails the vet coming to us and checking that they correct under the guide lines of the Shetland Pony Stud Book Society, they also take a DNA test and microchip the pony. But for them to be entered in the Stud book I need to make sure that their parents have also had DNA tests, which is another performance altogether. If they haven't I will have to contact the owners arrange for mane hairs to be pulled and sent to me and pay the test fees. Otherwise any offspring can't be registered in the mother stud book.
Also needed forms to re register a colt as a gelding cause we want to get Magic & Yum Yum cut.
Its a serious amount of paperwork to get through.
Off to order some more fencing rails now so we can get the paddocks finished.

Pictures

Managed to get my camera to load onto Ben's PC so will try and attach some pictures. Some were taken when we went to the Welsh game fair and some are of our ponies.

As these pictures load from the bottom up so the bottom picture should be Cameo a Cream Dun pony. The next picture should be of Muffy (Silver Dun) standing over Katie (Grey) and little Chi Chi (Skewbald), who are both in the land of nod. Next picture is of Sheamus my cob cross.

Then 2 pictures of Harry on the Army climbing wall at the Welsh Game fair. The next 2 were of the carvings done with a chain saw and the last one is a real owl in the falconer's tent.

Weekend

Saturday I spent most of the day on Ben's computer doing some research on Shetland Pony Pedigree's. Its a shame that the Shetland Pony Stud Book don't have all the information on line. Did manage to find some other sites which were quite interesting www.allbreedpedigree.com & www.hamletshouse.co.uk , worth having a look if your a horse lover. I did manage to trace one of my ponies pedigree's back to 1857 so was well chuffed.
Mick & Ben managed to finish a small paddock for me in post and rail, as when the new stallions arrive they will have to be kept separately from each other, in case all out war breaks out, especially when the mares come into season. Karen's quite happy to keep them at her place until we are ready. Still some more fencing to complete, but we ran out of posts, will order some more on Monday. We have also got to re-post the far field as I noticed some of the rails are rotted in the ground. Can't have any escaping or my breeding plan will go straight up the shoot.
Spent some time with the Mares on Saturday afternoon. Muffy seems to be back to her old self, just want to keep my eye on her. Debating whether to put her back in foal if we do, I will move her near foaling time to a paddock on her own, can't bear the thought of her losing another one. I really want all the mares to foal indoors, as its much easier to intervene if something goes wrong.
Was going to go to the boot sale in Carmarthen this morning (Sunday), but the boot sale queen Tash texted and said it wasn't on today there is a home & garden show on instead. Wished I'd known before cause I could have stayed in bed.
Took Harry over for his riding lesson, but on our way, the heaven's opened and torrential rain poured down, so Nicky cancelled. Harry won't be going next week as he is away from Friday to Sunday with the Scouts in Gloucester, lets hope the weather improves by then.
The one thing we all look forward to on a Sunday is a roast dinner, I think its the favourite meal of the week for the boys. Only very occasionally we don't have the traditional Sunday meal, if we are going out or the boys are doing something with their friends. Today we are having roast chicken, Stuffing, pea's, carrots, parsnips & loads of roast potatoes with lovely thick gravy and Yorkshire puds. Its making me salivate just thinking about it.

Rainbow Bridge

It is with much sadness that I write this. Muffy our pregnant mare gave birth to a silver dun colt foal early this morning, but sadly he has died. I'm totally devastated. The foal looked perfect, I checked him over and couldn't find any marks on him and there was nothing over his nose or mouth, but obviously all was not well and he died in the field. Muffy was still trying to get the foal up and was quite distressed. I immediately checked Muffy over and she had cleansed, the afterbirth was intact and the membranes looked complete. We removed the foal and Muffy wandered off to eat some grass. She seems OK now, but I was broken hearted for her. I rang Karen who we had brought Muffy from to tell her and she was as upset as I. She's also lost two foals this year, both colts. She also told me that another stud had lost seven colts this year but all the fillies are doing OK. Still doesn't make it any easier. I know I'm going to have to learn to cope with the losses if we continue to bred, which we really want to do. But anyone who knows me, knows how much I love my animals and what a physical blow it is to lose one.
I told the boys as soon as they came in from school and they seem to have taken the news better then me.
Run free over Rainbow Bridge little one.

Laptop Saga

Harry did really well at his riding lesson on Sunday. When we got there Nicky told us that the other children only come every other week, so once a fortnight Harry would be having a lesson on his own and will soon catch up with the others. She really made him work this week and his legs must have been hurting by the time he was finished. Also spoke to my friend Diane yesterday to see if she had a pony at her place suitable for Harry to ride, but she's only got young broken ponies so not suitable for a novice rider. Harry just wanted to get in some practise. If Harry continues to ride we may think about getting him his own pony, but only if it's not a five minute wonder. I said to him "just think we can go out riding together" and his words were " Oh no Mum, I want to go riding with Di". Thanks son Love you too.
Yesterday I rang a recommended computer repair place near to us and explained the problem with my Laptop! They said that they will have a look but are very busy at the moment. If it is the mother board it will be very pricey to fix, if it can be fixed! If I've fried the motherboard then they won't be able to retrieve any information either. So looks like I may have lost loads of information pictures etc,. But if its not too badly damaged they may be able to retrieve some of it. Let's hope its the latter and I can retrieve some stuff. Or better still lets hope its just a simple thing like the on/off switch.
Waiting for a courier to come and pick up the Spreader, the company we brought it from have been excellent so far, (keep your fingers crossed it continues), once its been picked up we've got to ring them and then they will dispatch another. They were not happy that the courier left it unsigned for, they are supposed to be here today to pick up.
Muffy still hasn't had the foal yet, she's well bagged up and foal laying low, its just a waiting game. Managed to clear the rest of the barn yesterday, and refill with fresh straw so at least, she has somewhere warm and dry to have her baby if she wants. But knowing Muffy she'll lay down in the middle of the field to give birth. Little Athena is doing really well, she is a real cutie, when you call her, she whinnies back and comes bounding across the paddock for a cuddle.
We think our television is on its way out, mind you we've had it for about 10 years, its started to get lines in it and the colour is a bit dodgy. Just hoping that it lasts a bit longer cause I can afford another one.
We've decided due to lack of money to just renew our planning permission. We worked out it would cost over £1,000 to get the drawings and building Reg's and then about another thousand to get a jcb in to dig the footings and have the concrete pumped in. Not that the money would be wasted but at the end we still wouldn't have anything to show for it, except a concrete filled hole! I would rather have a piece of land levelled for the static caravan to be moved onto. Its currently down the side of the house outside the lounge window, blocking our view of the drive and ponies in the home paddock. Hopefully, Meirim the jcb man can clear it in a day and then we can arrange for the static to be lifted onto a lorry and re-sited away from the house. I don't want to get rid of the static as its handy if we have a lot of visitors and I can also use it as a workroom, until we build the studio.

Welsh Game Fair

Had a brilliant time at the Welsh Game Fair. We left home at 8.30am Saturday and got to the fair around 9.40am. Harry had a go on the army's climbing wall, which he enjoyed. There was loads to see and do there, we watched loads of different displays including a motorbike stunt team made up of children from 4 - 18 years, they were brilliant. Took loads of pictures, more for the scrapbooks, when I get round to doing them again. Had a good wander round looking at all the stalls and the craft marque. Then we treated ourselves to some sea food which was lush. Although we live by the coast its hard to get hold of sea food, you have to travel miles. Back in the South East if you wanted Sea Food you normally popped to the local pub that had a seafood stall outside. The welsh like Lava bread, which is seaweed, apparently it tastes a bit like spinach, just as in England it's jellied eels. Well each to their own. There is also a guy at the fair who does the most fantastic carvings in tree trunks by chainsaws. Was looking in his picture folder yesterday and the detail is fantastic of birds in flight, bears, eagles, owls etc. He puts on a really good display but you need ear muffs for the noise. Got home about 2.45 as we won't leave the dogs for too long, but have to say the pup's had been good and no accidents.
Ken popped in last night he'd been fishing and knows how much I like my fish and Sea food, he brought me up a big bag of Mackeral already gutted and cleaned so their going in the freezer.
Its Father's day today, so Mick is having a lay in. Harry's got his riding lesson this afternoon at 2pm, which he's looking forward to.

Laptop!

Well Dell delivered the lap top battery and charger yesterday, was so pleased. Put in new battery, attached new charger left for an hour and then tried to turn on my laptop. Bloody thing won't turn on, well turns on and goes straight off, so I've spent loads on new parts and it still doesn't work. Going to have to find somewhere reliable around here to get it looked at, which is an absolute pain as all my pictures are loaded on it, yes I do have back up disc's. But there's nothing like being able to use your own computer.
Popped down the weekly fruit and veg market this morning to stock up for the week. My kid's eat loads of fruit and its so cheap down there you can get loads for a few pounds. Fruit bowl now overflowing and loads in the fridge, but it will all be gone again by next Friday. Picked up our cake from Linda the cake lady who is also there on Friday, she makes beautiful sponges, fruit cakes, pies, preserves and jam's.
Came home and rang our architect Matt who has done the drawings for my Craft studio, now need planning regulations which by the time the working plans have been drawn and fee's paid is going to cost another grand. Rang the planning office to find out when planning permission run's out and its not till March 2008. When we brought the house they already had planning permission for a commercial premises, but since we've been here I've had the planning amended, from commercial to domestic. We can just about afford to get the reg's and drawings done, but not build, it will be a huge extension if it ever gets built, so I needed to know if we could get permission extended or can we just get the footings in the ground and would this be classed as we had started, then not have to worry about continuing permission. The young lady at the council was very helpful, but stated we needed to speak to a building officer because there was restrictions with foul water drainage when the permission was granted. I'm going to get our architect to speak to them as the water drainage will be going direct to our cess pit and is no longer a commercial premises. (The previous owner run an LPG conversion business here). Why is everything so flipping complicated?). Tried ringing Architect but he was out, so will have to chase up on Monday.
Then tried to clear the horse shelter in the barn, in case, Muffy decides to foal in there, want to make sure it lovely and clean for her, but the heaven's opened thunder rumbled and the horses all decided to come in there out of the rain, so only got that half cleared. Came back from the barn and the courier had been to deliver the spreader and left it by the gate,unsigned for, box crushed and soaking wet, Mick has taken it out of the box put it together to make sure all the parts are there and the bloody wheel is buckled. So I've just sent an email to the seller to ask how we go from here. Just our flipping luck.
But on a lighter note we are going to the Welsh Game Fair tomorrow and its a fantastic day out for the whole family, our boys really enjoy it and I don't care whether it rains or not cause there's so much to do there, loads of entertainment, stalls and shows. Will definately be taking the camera.

Pictures

Have absolutely no idea how I've managed to get the pictures to upload, the only thing I did different was to leave off a description. Going to try and load some more now and see what happens.

Waiting For The Post

Can't go out today waiting for a delivery. I managed to successfully bid on a tow able fertilizer/spreader on Ebay the other day. Was really pleased with the price. We had been looking on all the big agriculture sites and they were working out about £150.00 then delivery on top. Got the same thing off Ebay inc delivery for £81.00, quite a saving. Hopefully it should be here today. I'm also awaiting the delivery of a battery & charger for my laptop, from Dell. What a caper that was trying to get the right person on the phone to order the bloody things. If I explained what I wanted once, I explained six times, eventually got to speak to the right person after being transferred around the world I think. Wish these places would have call centre's in the UK. The Charger blow up and started smoking, we think it drained or damaged the battery, I'm just hoping that is all the damage it did and hasn't cocked up my hard drive. I'm using my eldest son's PC at the moment which he's not to happy about. So let's hope when the new bits get here, it works. Still having problems loading pictures to my blog, again hopefully when laptop fixed I will be able to sort it out as I have a picture resizer on it.

Thought Muffy might have foaled last night but nothing this morning. She was laying down in the field last night and I'm sure she was having contractions, maybe they have braxton hicks like humans. The Lady I brought Muffy from advised me to let her foal outside, as she hates being locked in and does become quite distressed, but it worries the life out of me incase anything should go wrong while she's out in the field, its so much easier to check on them in the stables. I've made sure all the torch's have batteries and that the rechargerable torch is left on charge. She's not due for another couple of weeks but you never know the foal may come early.

Athena is doing really well and is so friendly, she comes to call and loves to be stroked and tickled, she's going to be a right little character. Don't quite know how I've done it but I've managed to upload a picture. Yipee!! This was taken about a week ago, Athena is quite taken with Harry and is quite happy to give him kisses.

Busy!

Well its been all go here, been trying to get loads of jobs done the last few days.
Really needed to clear the side garden where our gas tank is, so started that on Saturday. There was a huge pampas grass next to the gas tank and its spread so you couldn't get up the path without nearly having your eye out. I used the loppers on it but didn't seem to be getting very far, so in the end got the chainsaw out and took it right back to the ground. The roots now need digging out, but going to leave it until we get some rain and the earth softens up around it, its like trying to dig concrete at the moment. We then strimmed the lawn which had grown about a foot and then run the lawnmover over it. Looks so much tidier. I eventually want to get rid of the grass and cover the earth with a membrane and then put plants in and cover with slate chippings, it will be much easier to look after.
Saturday morning Tasha, Geoff, the boys and Tash's Mum and Dad (Jackie & Alan) called in on the way back from the boot sale. (Tash is the boot sale queen) she can always find a bargain. Little Brandon looked so cute sitting on the sit on lawn mower which he calls 'Tractor'. Took the boys into the little paddock to see Minuette and Athena, Geoff managed to take some pictures on his phone of the boys. Was really nice to see them all. Jackie really reminds me of my Mum, always beautifully dressed even in her casuals.
Harry had his first riding lesson on Sunday, must say he looks pretty good in the saddle. He said its more difficult then it looks, trying to keep his heels back, back upright and look where your going at the same time, but he did manage a rising trot. He's only ever been lead reined on the back of my horse Sheamus. But he really enjoyed himself and I took loads of pictures for my scrapbook, much to his dismay.
Today we brought the trailer round to the front of the house to load up all the stuff I'd chopped down in the side garden, I don't think the compost bins are going to take it all, so we will have to burn some in the fire bin.
Caught up with my friend Tanya yesterday, she had me in fits of laughter over a row she'd had at the petrol station. She's only tiny but would take on the world and his wife and not care. We were also arranging for her to come up in the summer holidays with the kids for a week, once she's sorted out her holiday at work. It's brilliant when she's here cause the kids all get on and amuse themselves, while we catch up, plus she's not adverse to getting the hoover out!!

Ragwort

I've been out in the fields this morning looking for rosettes of Ragwort. It's a weed that is poisonous to animals and humans. Most animals tend to stay away from it, but should they eat it, it could kill them. We've never had ragwort before but this year its popping up all over the place. I'm sure its coming from a field that is next to ours and is wooded. Ragwort has a tap root a bit like a Dandelion and forms a clump of tightly packed leaves, the sap is an irritant and can cause cancer. You need to get it all out of the ground, before it flowers, because the seeds blow on the wind for miles. I brought a nifty little tool from Lidl of all places and its brilliant, it gets right down the side of the root, you then turn the whole thing and pull, up comes the Ragwort root and all. Got to say its tough on the back, but it has to be done. Managed to clear 2 of the paddocks, although the ponies kept getting in the way, trying to see what I was doing, especially Katie who is not sure whether she is a horse or a dog. We used to let Katie into the garden and she would play with Merlin our Newfie and has picked up some strange habits, like leaning on you, and constantly wanting to play. She's a super pony with a lovely temperament, but I could have done without all the attention today.

Animals

We have animals, well quite a few actually, its like feeding time at the zoo at times. I'll list them with their names so you can get to know them, incase I mention them in my blog and wonder who the hell I'm talking about.
Jasper is a border collie, clever and very gentle. Merlin is a Newfoundland, who weights in about 10 to 11 Stone, he is a big baby who slobbers everyone and when he shakes that drawl can travel at least 15ft, he looks like a big black bear and adores children. Moses and Storm are border collie puppies and are full of energy. We have 6 cats, who the kids named. The first 3 are all from rescues as kittens their names are Angel, Satan and Smudge. The Other 3 we acquired last year from friends are Shadow, Nova and O'Malley. My youngest son has a ferret named Xena, she lives in a huge cage down in the stables. Then we have our miniature Shetland ponies,
Katie, Muffy (who's in foal), Cameo, Chi Chi, Minuette (min for short) she's Chi Chi's &Athena's mum. Athena our new foal, Warrior, Magic, Neo & Yum Yum. Then there's Sheamus who is a 15'3" Cob cross. We also have 2 rabbits peaches and cream. We did also have 40 chickens and ducks, but Mr Fox and his family have made short work of them and we only have one duck left! Really need to restock the chickens and ducks, cause the taste of fresh eggs is amazing, but waiting until later on in summer or foxy will be round again looking for a free meal for the cubs.
Yesterday, Merlin and the pup's Storm & Moses, nicked a hand made(not by me but a lady we buy from at the weekly market), coffee and walnut sponge of the kitchen side and scoffed the lot, we only noticed when we had a cuppa and decided to indulge ourselves, we looked everywhere, only to find the wrapper around the cake in the garden thoroughly licked and chewed. Well I suppose its one way to lose weight! But not very good for the pups who were promptly sick, all that coffee butter cream proved too much. (ah bless them). But it did give everyone a laugh at school pick up.
In one of my earlier posts I mentioned that I had been offered 2 Miniature Shetland Stallions and 2 mares, well just to let you know the offer was accepted and they will be joining us very shortly...

Yesterday!

Sunday was one of those days!! You know the sort I mean, you have every intention of getting loads done but by the end of the day you just haven't. Main jobs done like feeding the horses, mucking out, cooking dinner, a bit of hoovering but the main thing I wanted to do was sort out a pile of paperwork!! As any of my friends and family will tell you, I am one for having piles of paperwork about, what for I don't know but it starts small and then overnight its grown, so I set myself a task to sort it!! Likely I did found two cheques that need paying in and a gift voucher. I also seem to get waylaid with the sorting as it includes magazines on Scrap booking, Dolls house miniatures, Horses and those nice glossy home ones. So instead of it taking me maybe an hour or so, I start flicking through the mags and before you know it hours have passed in a daze! Then of course Sunday afternoons, I do try and catch up with my friends, so I was sorting paperwork, looking at mags and chatting on the phone (yes I know we do like a chat), and before I knew it, it was late, but I had achieved my goal, I managed to fill up a recycling sack with waste paper and all shredded I might add. It's all nice and tidy now well until next week when another pile would have grown.....
While speaking to one of my friends yesterday we spoke about me having trouble putting pictures on my blog. She thinks my pics are too big and advised me to re size them before adding them. So I will try it once I've got my laptop fixed, cause all my pic's are stored on there and my son doesn't want them all loaded onto his PC.

Where am I going wrong

Well I've tried to add pictures from the posting page and it won't let me do it. I'm obviously doing something wrong, but for the life of me I don't know what. The only way I seem to be able to upload pics is from the template page by adding a page element. See big pic at bottom of page). Should I be resizing my pics before I upload? When I look at friends blogs they have all these lovely pics placed within the writing so way can't I. Really fed up with it now. Also can't retrieve draft blog to publish, so think I better give up with it tonight before the air turns blue, and son's computer ends up across the room. (my laptop charger blew up and buggered up the battery).!!!

Friends

I've just had a catch up conversation with a dear friend Mandie who now lives in sunny Spain. We haven't seen each other for 3 years, but she and her lovely family are never far from my thoughts. She has three beautiful daughters Lauren, Lucy and Holly. Mandie & Steve were the first ones in our group of friends to have a baby (Lauren), who as you can imagine was spoilt rotten by us all. Lauren is getting married in June but unfortunately we can't make it to the wedding as our other foal is due at around the same time. I'm gutted as I'd have love to have seen our baby wed. Lauren has promised to send me loads of pictures and I'm sure Mandie will keep me updated. So glad they are all doing well and Mandie if your reading this hope all your wishes and dreams come true x.
Thursday this week popped into the next village to see my friend Diane and take back the egg incubator, took Harry with me to see all her new horses and foals. Diane is always on hand if I need horsey advice and she certainley knows her stuff. She's been naming the foals after the characters in the magic roundabout she currently has Florence, Brian and Zebedee! I've completely lost count of how many horses she has but I think its in the forties! I really admire her hard work and dedication. Diane if you are reading this "congratulations" , lets hope all goes well with the place by the sea, you know what I mean.
Tasha & Geoff are fantastic friends we made here in Wales, they have four handsome boys, Callum, Lewis, Tyler and Brandon. Tasha was pregnant with Brandon when we first met her and has become a very special friend to me, if we don't see each other we talk nearly every day. All tash's boys are lovely, but Brandon is so handsome that you could eat him. Mick and I love the bones of them all. Tash if you read this thank you for being there, we love you loads.
Caught up with my best friend Tanya in the week, we are more like sisters then friends, I miss her and her children Ayden & Kiera all the time. She is the most funniest person who you are likely to meet and has me in stitches with the antic's back in Kent. She is a true friend and has always been there to support me through the good times and bad and boy we've had a few bad times!! Tanya if your reading this know that we love you and the kids very much, but you've always got next door to pop to for a holiday! and thanks for letting me drink out of the crackless mug when I come to stay xxxx.
And if any of my other Friends are reading this, you know how special you all are to us, and we miss you all. As I've always said My friends are my family.