And another family gathering......

With my mum, dad, aunts and uncles all gone now it's not easy keeping up with what is happening to who in the world of cousins......and in my family there are a lot of them! So my CousinS decided to host a get-together (family from my mum's side) at her house, which was yesterday!

We were all asked to bring food for the table and we took some folding garden chairs too and drove to Edgeware (just under two hours from here). The gathering had to be in her garden as she lives in a small flat so we all kept everything crossed for good weather and it worked. Though lots couldn't make it there were in total 36 of us, a few of which (3 children and 2 partners) I'd never met before, so it was great having a good catch up gossip. I calculated down the generations and decided that little A and her big sister F are my 6th cousins (or should I say 'cousins 6 times removed' or does that mean something totally different?).

CousinB kept reminding everyone that I was her bridesmaid and that was 48 years ago! Thanks B.

The adults all kept moving around so I guess we all got to talk to everyone, I know I did. All the children seemed to be enjoying themselves but I was too busy to see if they were mixing with each other. LittleOne certainly got lots of attention from the children he knows and the ones he doesn't know too. Shame our girls couldn't be there as they were with their dad this weekend (went to collect them afterwards) hopefully they will be next time.

Took plenty of photos and today I shared them with everyone. I hope they share theirs soon. Also hope that all the promises of 'must do this again' happen in the not too distant future.

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Did it again....

Had such a lovely time Sunday that I decided to do it again, with the 'Tuesday girls' - BBQ that is. Also because I had bought far too much food for Sunday that it helped to use up the leftovers!

There were actually all five of us, which I think is the first time this year that we have all made it out together! Lots of laughter, lots of news to catch up with, lots of drink (for those not driving) and a warm night right through till the end.

They all said they enjoyed it, and I did too!

A sunny, yummy, chatty, baby cuddling, munching, laughing, hugging day....I'm exhausted!!!

So lovely to see everyone and the sun never stopped shining :o)

Sister S and her lot got here early (as usual) and I hadn't even showered yet, but with family it doesn't matter. Niece V brought her boyfriend that we were meeting for the first time and he seemed really nice. Very tall which is always funny as our family are particularly short and Sister S is the shortest of all so was telling us what a shock it was when she met him for the first time. We are a mad bunch when we get together but he managed to cope with us so he got the thumbs up from me!

My darling daughter and her lot arrived next. They should have been late arrivals but they had been camping for the past 3 days not sleeping much and Olympian had County Squad training this morning so they were all up early for the hour drive to get there but she ended up too exhausted to do the full session so they pulled her out and came home. Darling daughter still managed to arrive with a box full of Gluten/Wheat free cakes she had baked last night, while unpacking all their camping stuff.

Then came nieces and nephews with great nieces and great nephews too many to name plus a dog. Closely followed by Sister P and her husband plus their dog too.

Hubby manned the BBQ and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, but when everyone said they were full to bursting I realised I'd bought far too much food as usual, but will never admit that to hubby who had said so three shopping lists before!

So with tired children, those that have school tomorrow and two that fly to Egypt on holiday in the morning but haven't packed yet, they all gradually left. Hubby went bowling and after a bit more clearing up I'm now on the lounger in the garden with a mug of tea and my laptop.

I'll sleep well tonight :o)

All in the prep...

Got lots of family coming tomorrow for a BBQ - should have been 30 but now down to 26 of us!

So of course I had to do some serious housework today! All shiny now and yes I'm feeling just a little bit smug :o)

I know I gave up being a working woman but should have thought it through more when I gave up my weekly cleaner!!!

Zakynthos 2010

Tuesday 29^th June – Tuesday 6^th July

Our holiday was a great relax. Just four of us, hubby and me and Friends L&K. L and I have been friends since school days and she married a west London boy like I did, so they have always got on really well with each other too. We went back to the Clio Hotel, Alykes where we went two years ago but it was the fifth year in a row for L&K! Run by a lovely family who can't do enough to make everyone feel welcome! We hired a car just one day and drove around the island visiting the beauty spots and went to the beach for just a few hours another day but most of the time we lazed by the pool or wandered around the tacky souvenir shops or mostly finding different places to eat and drink............all at a snail's pace as it was around 36C most of the time!

On the day we arrived we wandered into town for our evening meal and met “Muscles” again. He’s a young guy who works the beach all day and pulls people into the restaurant all evening. When L&K first met him his English wasn’t very good (Albanian I think) so used to talk to them for ages to improve. He’s an uncontrollable flirt which makes him adorable and of course he got his nickname as it looks like he works out all the time! After eating we decided to just relax back at the hotel but they had a quiz night about to start as we got there…..so we joined in and won!

I really love Greek food but didn’t fancy too many hot dinners in such hot weather so had lots of salads, although couldn’t resist the lamb with oregano and garlic one night and sardines one lunchtime. I’ll never starve!!!

Our hotel hosted a Greek night. L&K were amazed as it has always been advertised but every previous year not happened during their holiday. Lots of lovely BBQ’d food followed by traditional Greek dancers, who kept getting us all to join in, followed by disco of some very old 60’s music. A really good night and more than enough exercise to cancel out our lazy week.

All too soon it was time to pack and head home. Only negative things to report was the very poor internet connection I got on my phone from their wifi but so long as I could let our daughter know we were OK I didn’t really care, and the other thing was insect bites which we all suffered with. Apart from that it was great and we told L&K that we’d love to do it again with them another year, perhaps avoiding July and August as they get a bit too hot.

Wanna come with us next time?

SATC2 - our epilogue.....

Following on from a very successful American series "Sex and the City" and the first feature film of the same name, this week has seen the UK premier of "Sex and the City 2". I've never actually watched any of the series or seen the film but my group of girl friends used to laugh at how we could have been characters.

The group of us that used to work together and then stayed in touch by going out together every Tuesday are all very different but round the table at the pub each week we looked forward to hearing about each other's news.

Now, those that used to shop with great extravagance and get excited telling us about each purchase are divorced or job-less so never have a penny spare.

Now, those that had interesting jobs and mixed with a variety of people daily can these days be seen at home with grandchildren. Not a bad thing and great fun for those involved but not so good as stories to share.

Now, those that used to have affairs and giggle and blush through the telling of their secretive antics have settled down with new partners.

And now, even the pub we had used for years is out of favour. Actually most of us have always hated that pub but I guess now our tolerance of each other has worn thin.

So perhaps it is the end of "Sex and the City" for us and possibly coming to the end of our regular Tuesday gatherings as we drift apart. I'm sure we will all remain friends even though we won't see each other regularly, but such a shame we will never be characters in "The Golden Girls".

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Can you smell the difference?....

Two months, new plumbing and adjusted wiring and a lot of new appliances and tiles and carpet and yes THE BATHROOM IS FINISHED. Well worth the wait as it's lovely. Looks so much bigger. We've all used it and even the children gave it the thumbs up.

Well done Hubby, you're amazing!

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DIY update....

..... 4 weeks on and we have all the new bathroom fixtures and fittings - but they are sitting in the spare bedroom. We have all the tiles - but they are sitting in the games room. We have a room now empty of all carpet, tiles, radiator and all appliances which are sitting in the garden!

I wonder how much longer I'll be strip washing in the downstairs loo and washing my hair in the kitchen sink?

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I've got a happy Hubby.......

......cos I gave in and said he can rebuild the bathroom!

Yes I live with a very enthusiastic and totally capable DIY man. Hubby can tackle plumbing, building, decorating, electrics, computing, landscaping, car repairs, in fact almost anything and does here and for all relations and friends who have ever known him. He is efficient, not too slow for a non professional and never leaves a mess - so why did I have to 'give in' on the bathroom? Well he retired nearly three years ago and then announced he wanted to do a makeover on both the bathroom and kitchen, both of which he built himself and I have to admit both looking 'tired', but I hate the shopping and the choosing and we rarely agree on what we want.

I really liked my 'retro' bathroom with it's avocado coloured suit and tiles, it looked homely and not perfect like hotel bathrooms but a little cluttered and comfortable. However, the main problem with 'retro' is the cost of having to repair or replace anything and the shower needed replacing as I was fed up of having to run around to get wet. Trouble was he had built the shower cubicle and tiled it all so to replace it would mean ripping off the tiles anyway. Well over Christmas I had that rotten cold and felt dreadful and the one thing I wanted was a good shower to wake me up a bit and refresh my sorry self - but that couldn't happen, so I called down the stairs dripping and grumpy "OK you get to rip out this bathroom and build me one that works!". Once said of course it couldn't be taken back!

So I'm sitting here listening to tiles crashing. We've chosen all the fixtures we want but still haven't found any tiles we like, so another trip out tomorrow (and the shopping and choosing is the bit I hate). All be worth it in the end, hopefully!

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Has anyone mentioned the snow?

Well it has been the most reported UK weather for the past month that I can remember. The last couple of rainy days has almost washed it all away - but not quite - so I've been able to open my front door and look at snow for over a month!

For me personally I have been stuck in my car on the A14 for two hours because of lorries not being able to get over the bridge in the very sudden and very heavy snow fall. That night ended with me sleeping at friends and heading home the next day. Another night we were out and hubby was driving and the icy slippery road led to us bumping into the car that had bumped into the lorry that had skidded on a roundabout and narrowly missed bumping some oncoming traffic. Thankfully no-one was hurt and no real damage done.

But have to say that daily I thanked circumstances that I didn't have to try to get to work each day and could just curl up on the sofa in the warm with my book.

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