To DIY or not to DIY

At the moment we are thinking about having some decking.

We have a patio door out onto the back garden,in fact we have 2 one from the dinning room which we never use and the one from the lounge.

The question is do we do it ourselves? saving a lot of money but probably creating a lot of stress and a lot of blue air.

Or do we get the builders in? We have had 2 round already and are awaiting quote with baited breath.

Do you think watching one video of how to build a deck on you tube qualifies us to do it ourselves?!!

Yet again

This morning we awoke to this

It fell quite heavily most of the day

By lunch time the fog came rolling in

but it didn't stop a small person having fun.

and some big ones.

A test run

3 loads of washing done and pegged out
Windows cleaned and thrown open
bedrooms polished and vac'd
a nice walk and fed the ducks
and more snow forecast for the end of next week
well it was nice to have a taste of spring.

When i was a child

Winters were real winters Although they seem to be making a come back!

Summers lasted forever

Some hotter than most

and as a 6 year old memorable.

We'd never heard of a Snicker




And a star burst was something in the night sky

We only had 3 channels to choose from not 303






It was fish and chips every Friday night.Old habits die hard.

And every September we'd go see the lights.

Why i love where i live

Whenever i need a pick me up.We drive the 15 minute journey and arrive here.Castle hill

the views are amazing
Although the picture quality is poor,you can see why.

on a summer day you can see for miles and miles

i always come away feeling refreshed

And in awe of the people that built it all those years ago

our house is on this photo but its so poor quality.The big white building is the hospital which we are lucky enough to live a 2 minutes walk from.

It was completed in 1899 the celebrate the 60th anniversary of the rein of Queen Victoria.As well as castle hill its also know as Victoria tower. Its 997 feet above sea level.

Come on

5pm Drop girls off at dancing
5.30 pick up eldest and drop at dentist
Then whizz round supermarket
6pm pick girls up from dance
6.15 pick eldest up from dentist
Then make tea
7pm take girls to friends
7.15 clean
8pm and rest.

Here are a few of my favourite things

On a very blustery Sunday afternoon I'm thinking about having a sort out,a spring clean without the spring.No matter how many move rounds,sort outs or giveaways we have there are a few things i could never part with.They aren't sentimental,nor expensive or even that amazing.Most of them were actually free or from charity shops. They are just my favourite things.

My dinning room fireplace.It came off freecycle,it does its job and holds a few special family photos.And on dark winter evenings looks cosy with the candles lit. It would look even better with a real fire roaring in it,but that's a blog you will have to wait until summer for.

This display cabinet an ikea special holds most of my bits its quite empty at the moment after a sort out because i couldn't get anything else in there,but I'm sure it will fill up again soon.

The doll on the top left was my mums,none of my children like it and they say it gives them nightmares (drama queens!) my photos of my babies and my dad in his army uniform,Grans tea service and some special gifts from friends

Sorry about the blurry photo,this is my dressing table,also from Gran.It has a matching wardrobe stood next to it.I'm not sure why i didn't photograph that as well.

My willow trees,i have about 18 all given with love.They all have a meaning wrote on the bottom and each one was given to me with that meaning in mind.These of course are part of the Christmas set.The little box was bought for me by a special friend who has since passed away so it has a special place in my heart.

The pictures are in my bathroom.Both from charity shops.

Another charity shop find for a fiver.

These drawers were my mum and dads,they had a really dark thick brown varnish on them.I had them dip and stripped about 10 years ago and have been wondering what finish to put on them ever since. I will show you a few more favourite things next time.



Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.I hope yours is a little less blustery than it is here.We are surrounded by trees which is always a worry on windy days!

Whatever happened to Green belt

The area in the above photo is 10 minuets walk from my house,The photo doesn't do it justice.When you walk along the road through the middle of the area marked in red to feed the horses you cant see all the houses around and have no knowledge of the motorway that looks so close.
As you can see they want to build on yet another bit of green land,soon we will have no wide open spaces left.
I have lived in the same area all of my life (apart from a short time away to study) I remember my dad telling me all this area was green belt land and no one will be able to put houses there.30 odd years later and there seems to be no mention of green belt and only a promise of creating jobs. There is of course the action group who are fighting the plans,i will be joining them at the next meeting and doing whatever i can to save our bit of green from becoming just another housing estate and business park.