Packing........

Oh my it certainly has felt like a full on fortnight! We've been catching up with friends that we didn't fit in around the festive season, so a couple of lunches out and an evening out as well as our usual evenings out.

I've had a theatre night and we've had the cinema which I've already told you about.

For SERVSC Bloodrunners there was an evening at The Rosie Neonatal Hospital in Cambridge where they showed us around and fed us well with pizzas and cakes to say thank you for the milk runs that supply their premature babies when mum can't.

And a quiz night held in Ipswich which was good fun and also raised over £400 for the SERVSC charity

I'm out again tomorrow, lunching with friends but today we were home, catching up with ourselves, doing some much needed housework and thinking about packing for two weeks in Florida starting 4th February but first I've another short stay in hospital starting this Wednesday to pack for, plus we did have a visit from Daughter, R, O and the dog, a very welcome distraction! 

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June was worth writing about.....

.......but I just didn't. Guess nothing was amazingly, instantly, worthy of sharing. But there was a mix of highs, lows and just the normal plodding along.

M's Creative Computing Club moved into its very own premises and we had helped where we could with the building refurbishment to get it lab ready for classes (hubby far more useful than me). We were invited to the Grand Opening event, lots of people there and all saying lovely things about M and I even saw a couple of people I know. So very proud of M and Daughter too and all they've achieved so far, although I've a feeling there will be bigger dreams M wants to achieve. He was also honored by a BAFTA award for best UK mentor to young games designers! WOW

We've had the usual coffee morning and I've attended my monthly craft day where I've taken this black knitting for quite some time, well I finally finished the knitting (but sewn together in July).

With Daughter E has been doing uni visits. Some have needed sleepovers with friends nearby and that often means sleepover here too for O. R and Tilly like to spend their daytime here but we can't have the dog overnight so we take them home mid-evening.

I needed a third op for bladder cancer, thankfully this closer look found nothing that needed removal but they took biopsies anyway and they gave clear results. 😀

I've been playing with boro/shakio visible mending. This is a very old (and comfy) tshirt I sleep in.

Also in my bid to save throwing stuff into landfill I made some kitchen scrubbies from double thickness old towelling and the netting bag that satsumas come in. They seem to work quite well and regularly get thrown into the dishwasher so no chance of getting smelly.

SERV as a charity mostly using bike riders, have now decided all their riders need to be advanced level, so Hubby is now doing advanced rider lessons. Apparently he has a few minor bad habits that need correcting hahaha

Now summer events for SERV are in full swing I'm often alone at weekends when he's standing in a field/fete/supermarket entrance and some of Fridays when he's out filling the van or setting up mostly with M&S (not the store) hard working local volunteers and friends. Along with others he does talks and attends presentations too.

Daughter had 10 days at Kentwell, so we go into child+dog care mode. Daughter started the first four days with O as E was staying with friends. On the Monday Hubby took E to Kentwell and brought O back to stay with us. Meanwhile the whole time R and Tilly were picked up every morning and taken home every evening, and some days she was working at Red Rose Theatre so Hubby was constant transport and I was constant cook. Love having them here. Discovered our garden isn't totally dog-proof as she got out twice! Tilly likes a lot of attention

I had a lovely catchup lunch with friends made some 23 years ago when we did the art A level course. Two students and the teacher.
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Four-day sleepover......

Daughter and E had their last trip for this year to Kentwell Hall as Tudor players and as always R comes here instead. This time we are having O here as well because there are no other players so Daughter would find it impossible to organise the school groups and keep an eye on O too.
Pinched this photo from Facebook

Friday - So bags packed they came Friday afternoon and O was so excited "my first time ever having a four-day sleepover!"
Quick cup of tea and Daughter and E were off as E has county music wind band rehearsals first.
Usual sort of evening with no screens for O after dinner so a little tv and books reading in bed.
First night of the Rugby World Cup, so R and I stayed on our own screens while Hubby was watching the England v Fiji game.

Saturday - R had drama so after Hubby went off for a whole day fundraising for the Bloodrunners, O and I tried pancakes for breakfast which were a bit of a disaster but don't know why (obviously got the proportions wrong as I never measure) then got R out of bed with just enough time then out. While she is there we wait in the comfy seating area where they also run a tuck shop, keeping my six year old very happy and while buying his sweets I was presented with a specially made cup of tea that Daughter had ordered the night before, bless her :-)
Back home and late lunch and both children spent most of the afternoon on screens. I fed the fish

We'll be out lots tomorrow so I'm not too bothered.

Sunday - using the same pancake mix that I'd kept in the fridge, today's breakfast was much more successful, cooking on a lower heat for longer. O said the first one was good, second was delicious, third was legendary, forth was epic and he even managed two more so six in all (quite a small pan), leaving just enough mix for me to have two.
R had brought leathers and boots with as she planned to spend the day fundraising with Granddad which means travelling there and back on the blood-motorbike, but last night she said she couldn't face getting up in time to leave by 8am, so I said I'd take her whenever she's ready.
She didn't get up till 11:30am and O had been grisly saying he was desperate for MarioMaker that he couldn't bring with, although promising me that wasn't the reason because he really really was a bit homesick, so a quick text to his dad and yes he was home all day so O went home for a few hours. I then took R here to meet Hubby

As I had a free pass to get in and a little while to kill I had a wander round before heading home. The show ground was full of all sorts of stalls and exhibits and demonstrations and the sun was out so the people were out too. I did take a couple of photos of the SERV stand with R wearing her bloodrunners hi-vis jacket but you know what it's like when the sun is on your phone......got home and the photos hadn't actually taken :-(

Home in time to put on a roast dinner and make some rock cakes

Retrieved O and he remembered to bring his own toothpaste as he doesn't like my minty one he likes his fennel flavour!  Hubby and R arrived back soon after so dinner followed by his favourite game at the moment

Then bed with two more Beatrice Potter stories. Hubby had gone bowling so R and I settled down with X Factor Bootcamp.

Monday - so much time is spent like this

Have to admit I'm finding it a struggle to get them to do much else, thankfully the computer O uses does get hot underneath so I'm making him turn off at regular intervals for it to "cool down".

R slept in all morning again. I did a little gardening but couldn't get either of them to help though they did play some crazy game together. 

O enjoyed a really long bubble bath

He is cute isn't he :-)

I had every intension of making trifle for dessert but as Hubby went shopping quite late I thought I should make the jelly separately or it wouldn't have time to set then O and I spent ages in the bathroom. Making dinner and dessert all at once I found that not only had Hubby forgotten to buy the Swissroll but he'd opened the freezer and thrown in a bag of veg RIGHT ON TOP OF THE OPEN DISH OF JELLY! Actually the children thought my not-quite-trifle of peaches covered in spooned jelly under custard and letting them put squirty cream on top themselves was a success! 

Tuesday - followed the same sort of pattern as it poured with rain all day. O played for a while with Hubby on our home gym so he got plenty of exercise and I did get R to learn some more of her lines for drama. And I got two loads of washing done which had to go upstairs on the clothes horse. 

Daughter managed to leave kentwell a lot earlier than expected so came here in time for dinner then she took them home. .....and all was just a bit too quiet! 

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Testing the memory.....

Seems ages since I've written, probably because I still can't get blogger to work on my playbook and the phone is just a tad too small to make it comfortable....so I've given in and now on the pc at a desk rather than curled up on the sofa! Hopefully I can remember back to what's been happening!

Hubby has had a lot of on-call nights for the blood running volunteering he does for SERV Suffolk and Cambridge, he's done a few late night call-outs but mostly it's just on standby. He's also had another full training day with them which I think happens yearly.

Hubby has also continued with the "getting our trees into good order" project. If you look carefully you can see two men up very high into our beech tree (top monkey is hubby). This tree is under preservation order so lopping has to be done discretely (*wink*)! 

On the third Thursday of every month my neighbour holds a crafters gathering. This time I took along the baby ugg-style-boots and ball I'm making for my friend's first grandchild due imminently.

That night was also our art night and I'm attempting to paint some tshirts with products I used to sell but are now about 30 years old....amazed they hadn't dried up completely! The painted designs will hopefully cover up the greasy marks that won't wash out, so if the painting works I've upcycled some tshirts if it doesn't I haven't lost anything as they'd have hit the bin anyway. So if you never see a finished photo on here you'll know why ;o)

FriendsA&K made a flying visit as K had an appointment at my local hospital and live an hour's drive away. So I made them lunch which was nothing compared to what they had brought with as my belated birthday present.....a huge sponge cake and two large foil trays, one with Dauphinoise Potato and the other with Jugged Hare. Hubby and I had half that night for dinner and froze the rest for another night. Neither of us had eaten jugged hare before and it was delicious, probably due to the amount of red wine it was cooked in!

Last weekend we took advantage of the surprisingly warm-for-September weather and joined Daughter and children for a walk by the River Orwell. Unfortunately the walk started badly when O knocked himself on the car and hurt his tummy and then ended abruptly when it started raining, but it was lovely to get out even for a short while and the cars were parked at the Suffolk Food Hall so O got a quick bounce on their outside giant inflatable pillow and then all inside to choose nice things to take home for lunch.

(O holding his waistband away from his sore tummy but he soon forgot about it)

On Monday BFriendM and I enjoyed a spa day, we had bought it months ago when it was on special offer but found it really hard to fit in a day we could both do, so this was finally the day. We spent the whole time there in our swimsuits covered by towelling robes and made good use of the pool, sauna, steam room(too hot for me), jacuzzi, aromatherapy room(neither of us could feel the point of this one) and sun loungers, add to that the luxury of a facial each, teas and coffees and a lunch. Felt really spoilt and both agreed we must look out for future offers. Sadly Hubby didn't have the same sort of day as he had a funeral to attend of someone he had known for a long time at bowling.

Tuesday evening BFriendM and I ate out again, this time at the Mexican Chiquito as I had a £10 voucher. Should have been three of us but FriendH couldn't make it. And Wednesday night I ate out with BFriendM yet again with our usual Wednesday gang at our usual table in our usual pub in Felixstowe.

Wednesday afternoon we had O here while the girls went sailing for the first time, he has a cold and he's too young for the sailing so would have to hang around a lot and he was definitely not in the mood. He spent lots of time making drinks for himself and tea for us, I'm only allowed to pour the boiling water and he has to do the rest himself.

Thursday Daughter popped over so that Hubby could fix E's laptop which was misbehaving which he did by just giving it evil looks I think. So E spent the rest of the time on her laptop! When R arrived she was a few pages into a new book that she needs to read for a book club they are about to join. She snuggled down into her Granddad's side and read, we hardly got a word out of her, she read, and left here with just a few pages left to read less than three hours after she'd started! O wanted to do any science in a jar, so Daughter popped out to buy cream (and cakes for afternoon tea) then showed O how to make butter in a jar (she had to do most of the shaking) and I showed him how to make a tornado in a jar. And last night I went to the theatre as previously blogged.

Phew, think that's about it and a busy few days ahead so must get back here more often!
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