Christmas Decorations..

Sorry no blog for a couple of days, been trying to get the house ready for Christmas.

Just been out to do the Horses, its lovely here today, really bright and the Sun is shining, bit cold, but so much better then the rain we've been having,

Spent all day Monday & Tuesday, moving furniture, cleaning windows and getting decorations up.

Really pleased with how the mantle's have turned out. I love having a display on them, looks so festive and because they are so deep, we can still have the fire on without affecting the decorations. I've put some white battery operated LED lights in the display in the lounge. Ben didn't want the tree up in their room, but Harry does. So the artificial tree is going up in there. Going to do that today..

Got the real tree up in the lounge and Harry helped me decorate it last night and Ben put the Fairy on the top. It's a 6ft but we've all decided next year we are going to have a 7ft- 8ft. Just can't get all our decorations on a 6ft. Plus we have quite high ceilings so the room can take it.. Tabitha was watching us put all the decorations on the tree and I just knew she wouldn't be able to resist the twinkling lights and the baubles, she had great fun trying to swipe them last night. She did manage to get a couple off and chase them round the floor. I'll take some more pictures tonight, when its dark so you can see the full effect.

Ben's been busy studying really hard of an evening to get ready for his mocks. Harry has his Christmas party at Scouts tomorrow, so he's looking forward to that, I've got to supply cubed cheese, which is fine by me, no cooking!....

My Cousin Mandy started her new job this week. Congratulations Mandy hope you enjoy it and its all you hoped it would be...

Wet Wet Weather...

Well I did go out to do food shopping on Friday and called into see Diane on the way home, to pick out our Christmas Tree. Decided on a 6ft this year, as once its in the stand and the fairy is on top it will be nearly 7ft anyway.
Harry enjoyed his trip out on Friday with his Rugby team, they played their match, showered and then had tea in the club house. They then watched the Osprey's beat Ulster and he got back to the school around 11pm.
Saturday Ben helped me move all the bottles of spirit from the kitchen out into the Utility room and sort out a load of bits from the cupboards. Loads of it needed to be washed as the building dust had got into all the old cupbaords.He also helped me with mucking out the stables, doing the wheelbarrow run for me. The ground is so muddy at the moment. We had a leak last night on the dishwasher and it was lucky Ben went out to the kitchen for something and noticed all the bubbles pumping out from under the dishwasher door, so we throw loads of tea towels on the floor to mop up the water. Its sorted now thank goodness.. The dishwasher was leaning forward to much and so the water was coming out the front of the door... Nothing is ever straight forward in this house. Its all level now and hopefully, its cured the problem. Well I hope it has.
Today I've been trying to catch up with washing and putting some more bits away. Caught up with a couple of friends on the phone in between Ben & Katie chatting..
The weather is appaling here at the moment, we've been getting really high winds and torrential rain, but at least we know that there are no leaks in the new roof...

Shopping....

The new taps we ordered arrived yesterday and are now fitted in the sink in the Utility room. New cupboards are up on the wall, finally seem to be making some progress.
Harry's gone back to school today as he was desperate to play in the Rugby match tonight and watch the game afterwards. He's not due back until 11pm tonight. He'll probably have pneumonia next week, playing Rugby with his cold in this awful weather, what with the rain and high winds. He's taken extra clothes with him and a big coat.
Off to do some food shopping today, plenty of miniature food in the house, but none to eat. Also going to get the Christmas tree today. Was trying to decide where we are going to put it, although the lounge is quite big, at the moment we still have the kitchen table in there and some other bits. Which is making the room feel a bit cramped. My have to reorganise the room, to make some space....

Missing Taps...

Didn't get round to going to get the Christmas Tree yesterday, spent all afternoon searching for a box of taps.. The taps are for the sink in the Utility room and were in a white box in the kitchen, but mysteriously they have disappeared. I went through every cupboard and drawer and still couldn't find them. I have a feeling that they've been chucked out with a load of rubbish. We checked the caravan, the workshop, went through a heap of rubbish and still no taps! I got so annoyed that I completely lost the plot, so have now ordered another set. You can bet your life as soon as they arrive we will find the others.
Had a Christmas Card from some friends of my Mum & Dad's yesterday, saying that they were going up to visit the Grave. Also said that the wooden cross was still there and did I want them to get rid of it. Which I don't. I've already discussed this with another friend Val and Micks Dad, and asked that if they go could they get the cross and just remove the brass plaque and send it to me. After the day I had yesterday, it freaked me out thinking that these other people will remove it and just destroy it. So Mick rang his Dad and he is going to the Cemetery today for me to get it. I'm just hoping its not already been removed. I'm going to ring these other friends today and tell them that it is already sorted.

Posting Day...

Well I sold nearly all of my bits on Ebay, just 3 didn't sell, so they've been re listed. Everything that's been paid for is now wrapped and ready to go to the post office.
Harry came home from school with a temperature last night, so I've kept him off school today. He's supposed to be playing Rugby at the Swansea Liberty Stadium on Friday and then watching a professional match, Osprey's V Ulster, so I'm hoping that he'll be able to go. Let's hope he'll be better by then.
Didn't manage to get the Christmas tree yesterday, time was against me, will try and get there today, if I have time. The weather here is horrible, high winds and rain, makes everyone miserable, I'd rather it be cold and dry. I'm sick of the dogs & cats bringing mud in on their paws, there's mud everywhere and the smell of wet dog is disgusting, thank god for Febreeze.. The ponies have poached the earth around the gates so every time I go out there my boots are sinking in mud, its a constant battle at the moment to keep the floor clean.
Worktops are definately being fitted today, sink hole was cut yesterday, but one of the units was out of line, so it had to come out and be adjusted and refitted. Only 20 days till Christmas, can you believe its come round so fast?.

Catch Up...

No blog yesterday, didn't seem to get the time. We had a leak in the Utility room so that had to be sorted out yesterday. All seems OK now. Sink is going in today & worktops being fitted.
My stuff on Ebay seems to be selling only 3 bits haven't had a bid, so I'll re list if they don't sell.
Had a phone call from Woolworths the wii has arrived so will need to go and pick that up either tonight or tomorrow.. Also want to go and get our Christmas tree tomorrow... Not sure whether to have a 7ft or 6ft. Think we had a 7ft one last year.
The boys like to decorate it and its tradition that Ben puts the Fairy on the top of the tree, well he's the only only that can reach, without using a ladder!!! Also want to put up our artificial tree in the boys room, but Ben didn't seem that keen when, we was discussing it yesterday, think he was having a bah humbug moment. They had it in there last year and it looked lovely, so if they don't want the tree up, I'll just decorate the Mantel over the fire and maybe put some lights in the log burner, for a bit of festive cheer... I've done nearly all of my Christmas shopping, just a few little bits to get.

Happy Birthday Kiera...

Yesterday I spent most of the day, doing the dreaded housework and getting tons of washing done. Nothing really exciting. Harry went to stay over his friend Paul's house and will be back later this afternoon. Ben spent yesterday doing coursework and watching films on his PC and chatting to Katie on the dog & bone...

I did manage to catch up with a couple of my friends last night, in between Ben & Katie chatting. One being my friend Tracy who I've been friends with since we were three, blimey just thought we've been best mates for forty years.. Also with another great friend Tanya, wanted to wish her daughter Kiera a Happy Birthday for today. She's playing in a football match at Gillingham this morning, hope you win Lou..(Lou is Kiera's nickname). Kiera is a cheeky little Miss, She most certainly takes after Tanya, but we love her dearly and really miss them all. But they do come up on regular visits, which we really look forward to.

Also forgot to say we managed to get hold of a wii for Harry for Christmas. If you read my earlier posts you know that we left our name and number at Woolworths, thinking that we wouldn't hear anything, but last week they rang to say that they had an order coming in and if we would like to pay in advance we would be guaranteed a wii before Christmas, but they were only being sold in packages, you can't buy the wii console on its own. Unfortunately, Harry picked up the phone, so he now knows that he's got one... Still at least he won't be disappointed Christmas morning.

I've just been looking through some pictures and have added a picture to this post of Bleinham Badger, being shown by Bev. Isn't he magnificent..