Ta daaaaaa!

Oh my goodness the mess that was created by this project, seemingly all so simple at the start, lets put a logburner in........and then  you have to have something to burn, four builders bags full.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE..

  Then we have the delight, a project finished and fully working, its so so comfy cosy and totally more than we ever expected, well worth all the mess, am now learning how to keep a nice fire burning.......
 

2 days and counting!

 Til our woodburner gets fitted, we have logs, 4 builders bags worth, we have blazer logs, we have kindling, we have stove fan, we have stove thermometer, we have wood damp meter, we have log basket, we have long matches and we nearly have the fireplace finished.  Hubby has worked long and hard on it, the bricks were so hard to chip away at they were really baked but he has done a grand job, mind you the brick dust, why is it it just gets everywhere, even 3 days later it still lands, but will be so worth it.  Daughter was laughing and telling me that they forecast a mild wet Christmas down south, and???? you'll just have to wear a thinner top because that fire is being lit....lol!

Thought would share photo of front garden of bungalow, this was taken from the estate agents details, lots to keep me busy.

Changed my mind....

Ok, I must admit defeat, after starting my other blog I have decided to keep with my current one.  Far too much faffing around, didn't know what I was going to put where and when etc.   So the exploits of updating our bungalow will carry on here along with all else.  So thought would put pics up yeuk fireplace which is in transition, hubby has been working really hard...lots of pics later but for now.

Thought would show you the pretty view from our bedroom window, it is so nice opening the curtains in the morning and seeing this.  We have a lovely conservatory to the side.

 The monstrosity of a fireplace....now you see it....and

ITS OUT YEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

If interested?

Hi have decided to start up a new blog on our ventures etc with our new home, if you would like to have a looksee, here I am......http:// http://relaxafew.blogspot.co.uk/

We're in yeah!!!!!

Oh my goodness, we are at last after 9 months in our new home...yes yes yes. It has been such a ride and one quite honestly that I don't want to repeat for a long long time.  I suppose in the economic climate that we have been fortunate enough to have sold and have found a lovely place to live....more of this in a mo.    Anyway Friday 16th Nov dawned and removal men duly arrived at 8am....everything was packed up by 11am all our wordly goods in 41 boxes it really is such a strange feeling especially as we had been in the "family" home for 18 years.  So by 11.30 am we had heard nothing from Solicitors regarding completion (there weren 8 in the chain) so hubby gave agents a ring "Oh the first time buyers hadn't even completed yet "what the"!!!!!!!!! So there we sat in a empty volumous house, bare of all our possessions the removal men having gone off for lunch with our stuff.....eeeeekkkk.  Then 1pm a very large Pickfords van turns up (the new owners of our house well to be if ever completion was going to take place).  There they sat until 3pm when we had a phone call to say completion had now taken place. Time to say goodbye to our home from home for the last time, yes I did walk around, yes every room held memories, our three girls got married from home.  It was so hard, harder than I had ever imagined, but also tinged with excitement at the next chapter in hubby and my lives, we walked to the front door turned around and say "bye house"....then of course I burst into tears, who'd be a women honestly.  Then of course one of our neighbours came out to say bye bye, strange how life makes people do funny things, this neighbour had always been very aloof however hard I tried, there she was giving me the b iggest hug, bit late now I thought or was it a hug that she was pleased to see the back of me...hehe!
  So we then went and sat in agents waiting for the completion on ojur new home,  I must admit it was the most strangest feeling being albeit "homeless" for the next 35 mins, whilst the monies got transferred.  Then the phone call "yes we can have the keys" woo hoo. 
We duly arrived at new home, key in door....hmmm! first impressions were not as last 3 months previous when we had last visited, the lady was elderly and seems since finding us as her buyers, well really hadn't bothered to erm...shall we say keep it clean.  Dust everywhere, even clinging to the awful anaglypta (ancient) that will soom be coming off.  The windows/sills/ledges were black.
By 11.30pm that evening I was then boohooing yet again...saying to hubby "I want to go home"...bless him he is such a rock and so patient just gave me a hug and assured me all will be find.  So over the last 4 days we are 80% unpacked, light fittings up....windows cleaned, walls/floors vacuumed/kitchen dde-greased and I mean de-greased, took carpet tiles up they smelt...went to Next and bought lots of scent thingys, and thats it so far. ttfn

At last, we have exchanged on our bungalow, we thought exchange was going to take place Friday but people couldn't agree on completion dates.  Then Monday we had a phone call to say "yes", the chain was ready to exchange....so we spent all day waiting for the phone call until 3.30pm and it seemed that although the exchange had reached the top of the chain it needed to come back down again.  Our Solicitor said it would finish tuesday, but half an hour later another phone call and they had managed to exchange in total.  So Friday 16th November it is.  So so excited, less cleaning for moi as moving from 4 bed family home to 2 bed bungalow.  We have booked the log burning stove installers to come and do a survey and they arrive on the 17th. We want to replace the old tiled fireplace and open gas fire.  A trip to Ikea was a welcome break today, as woohoo! need a new kitchen too, so all in all hubby and I have a lot of work in front of us but it will be so enjoyable putting our own mark on it.  I was thinking that I might do another blog about our exploits hmmmm! Anyway all for now, lots of packing and sorting to do. Byeeeeee.

All so stressful this house buying and selling lark.

Oh goodness me, it just seems to go on and on.  Ok let me start at the beginning, I haven't been blogging for ages and ages, so busy with other things in life I suppose and one of them is moving house, well we are getting there.  About 2 or so years ago I started to get itchy feet, still in family home of 19 years. Was getting fed up with the cleaning and upkeep of a 4 bed family home, most of which was and is not really used for purpose now there are only two or us.  Anyways, hubby then retired  3 years early and at that time didn't want to and had no intention of moving, having been at work all those years, he wanted to enjoy the fruits of his labour so to speak.  So after having been retired for a year or so, he then really surprised me by saying one evening "why don't we downsize".... oh! erm! was my initial response as he hadn't been that keen before but by being at home, he then realized the house is too big for us. So on the market it went, we were very very lucky to get a buyer quickly and we had found ourselves a lovely 2 bed bungalow with conservatory, so put all in hand with Solicitors etc, everything going swimmingly for 9 weeks, getting to contract signing stage, dates were being talked about.......then the bombshell our buyers' buyers decided that they didn't want to move after all. What the!!!!!!! As you can imagine we were so upset, the chain then collapsed, we thought we would loose our bungalow but the lovely lady has taken a liking to us and said she would wait, so nice of her. House went back on market, lots of family viewings, one thing or another wasn't right, garden too small, wanted grass instead of decking etc one bedroom not big enough.  But luckily a few weeks later a lovely older couple came for a viewing, and we thought hmm! surely not, but no they fell in love with it and are now in the position of purchasing.  Its so funny as they are downsizing too but from a beautiful 5 bedroom Victorian villa. So here we are again, now six weeks into the legal side of things, I can hardly think or whisper too much for fear or it going wrong.....so this time we are just sitting silently and ticking each box as it comes along.

Lovely new blog

Lovely new blog, go take a look see, its a work in progress and have a feeling that a lot of nice stuff will appear.  Ok must admit I am biased but its my daughters.  She has found a new craft that she has taken to like a duck to water, crochet, she had seen good ol' Mums work and decided to have a go.  She has taught herself, very proud, also gave her my darling Mums (her Nanny) sewing machine, she seems to have a natural talent for sewing too, hmm! chip off the old block eh!  As my Mum is now in heaven am sure she is looking down on her Granddaughter she would be very pleased. 

http://mummy-of-five.blogspot.co.uk/

This and that...

 Hello, I have been absent for a long long time, but I have been dipping in and out reading other peps blogs.  Anyways, wrotten weather, rotten telly, not into sports of any sorts me.  So thought would pay by blog a visit and maybe add a few piccys that you might be interested in.

 OK we were lucky enough to have bluetits nest in our bird box, the first time since by hubby put it up some 12 years ago.  Oh they were a ddelight to watch, but would you believe we missed them leaving the nest as we were away on holiday in the west country.

 Mum kept a good eye on them all the time.

 Then one got too over confident and feel out of its nest, hubby had to go and intervene and gently lifted and put it back.

 We then went on a break to Snaffles Lodge, a brand new bespoke lodge that we rented through Classic Cottages.   






We had a lovely spacious lounge/kitchen/diner,



  

Our gorgeous Jenny enjoyed sitting on the porch!

We enjoyed wine and evenibng meals on the verandah, oh yes it was the week when we had sunshine.

Then decided to make larger granny ros


Have been doing quite a lot of crochet, I will have to upload more when I have photographed them.  Loving this rose cushion.

Norway with Hurtigruten.

Have just been on the most awe-inspiring, thrilling, exhilarating wonderful dream trip in search of the Northern Lights Aurora Borealis in Norway.  To try and describe this far too short a trip 5 nights, ok I will try.

First off we flew to Tromso in Norway, a lovely 3 and three quarter flight, the first night we stayed ad the Radisson Blu Hotel in Tromso, a lovely clean modern warm welcoming hotel with ample buffet breakfast.  We then had most of the day free to explore Tromso before we joined the Hurtigruten ship Kong Harald at 3.30pm.  Hmm! we had been told that Norway was a tad expensive, but after buying two coffees and a danish pastry £15.00, eeeekkkk! But we were on holiday.


So 3.30 quickly came and we boarded the ship, lovely public rooms and dining room etc. For anybody that hasn't heard of etc.  These are ships that go along the coast of Norway South to North and back again, there are 11 in the fleet and they are working ferries.  It was very interesting seeing them call at all the ports and load on and off all the goods that allow people to live in some rather far flung towns of Norway (or so it seemed to us townies).

Our first excursion for us was a trip to Nordkapp (The North Cape).......oh! wowowowowowowowowowow, I just cannot do justice to this experience of 71% north, just some 1300 odd miles from the North Pole. There were four coaches in all that set off and when you get to the entrance of Nordkapp you have to go in a convoy with a snow pllough at the front and then a yellow safety coach.

We arrived no superlatives can adequately justify the feeling of being there, you do feel you are on top of the world, the temperature there was minus 21c with a windchill of -39, the extremes of the cold were so extreme.  Even if you took your mitt off for 10 seconds the tips of your fingers froze so quickly, at times when trying to work the camera and video etc, it felt like my fingers were being pricked with needles.  The wind against your cheeks, well everybody became very red nosed and cheeked very quickly, I had my scarf up around my mouth and face and even my breath froze on the inside of my scarf, but my oh! my what an experience.  If there is one box to tick that anyone that hasn't already done so and is on their wish list, then this is one of them.

We then the next day sailed to Kirkenes which is about 3 miles from the Russian border, here we had booked to go "husky sledging", again even though the sun was out it was still minus 21c, I had thermal tights, thermal leggings, cord trousers, a heavy thermal vest and a thick down and feather full length jacket.....but we were then kitted out with all in ones for the experience and I'm glad we did.  This too was fantastic, we sledged around a frozen lake and then the dogs stopped for a short rest, it was only when I looked around and realized that we were slap bang in the middle of the frozen lake.   The huskies only needed a 30 second rest and then they were barking to go off again.  What a thrill, what an experience.  We then went off to see "The Ice Hotel"....erm minus 4c and you can sleep in there, hmmmm! not for moi but great to see.  Then off to see the reinder, (of which I had had a lovely "reindeer stew" on board the ship the previous evening).....I won't tell the Grandchildren that I,ve had a bit of "Rudolf" hehe!
The food on the ship was of a very good standard, lots of fish ......some of which I'd never heard of. 

The ship is small in comparison to large cruise ships, only carrying some 500/600 passengers.  Must admit we did meet a couple of rough times, especially in the "Barent Seas"....we rocked and rolled back and forth and side to side.  Not pleasant but it doesn't last for long even though seems for ages.  A  couple of times we had a very nasty side wind, that made the ship tilt by about 10%, I know this doesn't seem a lot but believe me it is, I was a tad scared (yes I admit it, but hubby looked after me).  Yes its silly I know but if I could be guaranteed that the ship was 100% safe 100% of the time, then one could look on it as a fair ground ride,but I think the older one gets one always feels aware of their own mortality.

Now the big question "did we see the Northern Lights"?........yeeeeesssssssss woo hoo1 on 3 separate occasions.  Couldn't photograph them, not experienced enough with my new camera to do so, different shutter speeds apertures etc. but we watched lots of professional photographers do so. The lights seemed to show themselves best after 12 midnight for some reason, most people would go  out on deck about 10.30pm ish and we would all stand looking skywards searching for the elusive first glimpse of this phenonomum (hmm is that spelt right?)......very strange at times, these wisps of cloud looking parts would drift across the sky and then all of a sudden seem to grow in size and colour and loo and behold there they were, absolutely enchanting, they just kept your gaze and then they went.  We did have one dancing curtain occasion, yes I must admit I did get choked up and there were lots of ohs! and ahs!....just wonderful.

Then of course, as I am a prolofic serial knitter, I just had to find a yarn shop and not far from the hotel was The Norway Sweater Shop" and downstairs a haven of yarn.  So hubby was so so patient whilst I whiled some time away in my paradise.  I purchased some Lett-Lopi 100% wool Iceland yarn and knitted the Nordic vest top in green thatn you see.

When we arrived at Tromso airport for our flight home it had started to snow very heavily and when we boarded the plane, the pilot then said we had to go and be de-iced, I looked out and saw the wings absolutely caked in it.....very strange seeing the hi-ab then turn its huge hose and drench the plane in de-icer.  So have been home a week now and the holiday now seems such a dream, and I cannot believe hubby and I have "ticked" one of our wish list boxes.  Would I do it again......you betcha! but maybe not the Barent Sea....and I don't think doing Nordkapp again would capture that first feeling. Sio although it seems a contradiction in terms, it was such a holiday that was so far fetched from our usual ones,  it just made us feel so alive..............WONDERFUL! XX

ME AFTER HUSKY SLEDGING ON THE MIDDLE OF THE
LAKE!

NORDKAPP 1300 ODD MILES FROM NORTH POLE

ISN'T THIS JUST THE PRETTIEST HOUSE, SO HANSEL AND GRETAL?

 ME BUY YARN AND MORE YARN WOO HOO!

THE KONG HARALD COVERED IN ICE,  SO SURREAL!

 MY KNITTED LETT-LOPI YARN VEST.

ICE ON PORTHOLES OF SHIP!

THE SEA STEAMING FROM THE AIR BEING SO SO COLD........