Archive for the ‘Family’ Category
Posted by Shirley Anne on May 27, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
Today, late this afternoon, I have another appointment with the dentist. This time it is to replace a filling that popped out on Wednesday evening. I don’t mind visiting the dentist in the least, the only problem is that my dentist is more than twenty miles away in Liverpool so it means driving there and back. I could take public transport if I choose and it wouldn’t cost me a penny if I travelled outside peak times because people of my age are given passes and can travel free of charge. The drawback is journeying by public transport would take far longer. At least with my own transport I can travel door-to-door.
Yesterday it was raining in the morning but it brightened up in the afternoon. I need to do some work in the garage, to be precise move the outside water tap (faucet) to a new position which requires drilling through the house wall into the cellar from the garage. We had large amounts of plywood and other timber stored in the area so all that had to be moved as did a huge pile of bricks (about three hundred of them). This took me until lunchtime after which I had to go out to do an electrical job. When I returned home E had gone shopping and our youngest son had come home for the weekend. After next weekend he will be here permanently or at least until he finds a place of his own. He had to give up his apartment because his boss cut his salary in half! He is now also looking for another job. Whilst he has been coming home for the weekends he has been working for a friend who owns a nightclub. He works Friday and Saturday nights and comes home early in the morning. Hopefully, he says, it is only a stop-gap measure but for now the extra cash will come in handy. We moved some furniture together ready for his return home after next week.
When we had finished that I prepared the evening meal and made myself a rhubarb crumble. I say ‘myself ‘ because nobody else eats it! A woman’s work is never done they say.
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Cooking, Family, House and Home, Work | Tagged: Dentist, Family, Liverpool, Tooth | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on May 23, 2011
Image by wEnDaLicious via Flickr
It used to be considered the norm in the UK to have March winds and April showers, they marked the beginning of Spring. Nowadays, more frequently, we don’t seem to get that combination. Last month was for the most part gloriously warm and sunny with little rain at all. March wasn’t the roaring lion we have been otherwise used to. Now it is two-thirds into May and the weather has gotten progressively worse. May started off promisingly enough but after the first week things began to change for the worse. Of course we need rain and after April’s poor precipitation level we needed it even more. Today (Sunday) it looks more like an Autumn day than a late Spring one. It is very windy indeed and it is raining. Perhaps the weather will improve soon. Let’s hope so. In the meantime it is good to be indoors. Today we have our two sons and our daughter-in-law home for a Sunday roast dinner, chicken, new potatoes, roast potatoes, carrots, turnip, parsnip, for the main meal with a pineapple sponge pudding to follow. We don’t normally have formal dinners with our immediate family unless we are eating out but it is nice to lay on something a little special at home now and then. I will be having a glass or two of wine but I am not sure about the others as two of them will be driving later. So the wind and rain can do their stuff outside whilst we enjoy the warmth and comfort inside both the house and our tummies!
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Drink, Enjoyment, Family, Food, Weather | Tagged: April Showers, Fruit and Vegetable, Home, Parsnip, Rain, Sunday roast, Yorkshire pudding | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on May 12, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
The guys duly turned up yesterday morning and two of them proceeded to build the wall in the front of the house. In the afternoon they returned to the patio area and completed the brickwork there. Late in the afternoon the third guy returned and began to lay the natural stone capping to the walls of the patio. Unfortunately he wasn’t particular as to where each stone was being placed as there were different colours of stone. Those coloured pink or sandy-coloured happened to be thicker than the normal grey coloured stone so he decided to place the greys on one wall and the colours on another! It looked ridiculous and i told him so! I told him that all the stones have to be grey and that the job will have to be continued on the morrow, that is today. He removed the coloured stones and replaced them with the grey until there were no more grey stones left. The rest of the job went well. The owner of the firm will be completing the work today hopefully.
In the evening our eldest son and his wife stopped over for dinner, spaghetti-bolognese, which we thoroughly enjoyed. During the meal we chatted about their proposed move to stay with us for a year or two. They are in the process of selling their house, partly for financial reasons and partly because they wish to get out of the area in which they live now. With the housing market as it is of late they want to start afresh by saving for a decent deposit before proceeding to buy another property. We discussed the possibility of installing a shower in the main bathroom, something we don’t have at the moment. It would be far better to strip out the bathroom as it now stands and start over. More cost, more work, more time. I know it will be worth it in the end but at this particular moment in time all I want is a bit of peace! I can ill-afford to spend anything else on the house for the time being as I have spent quite a lot on the house over the last twelve months, about £30,000 to be exact and still there is more to do! Ah well, I can’t take it with me but I do want to make sure E is financially secure should I ‘pop my clogs’ so to speak. LOL
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Family, Garden, House and Home | Tagged: Bathroom, Construction and Maintenance, Masonry and Stone, Patio | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on April 20, 2011
Tuesday turned out to be quite a busy day which at first I thought I couldn’t handle but as it turned out all was well. I’d had a really good night’s sleep on Monday having been so tired after Sunday’s work and again on Monday. It was like I had aches and pains where I didn’t know I had parts! Anyway my first job yesterday was not until 9.30 so I didn’t rush to get out of bed. The job was relatively easy but a little time-consuming. My second job at 1.30 was extremely easy. I was back home for 2.00. I’d had my lunch at home after the first job was completed. So I had the afternoon and the rest of the day to myself. I made myself busy relaxing, playing guitar in the warm sunshine and generally pottering about. E went out in the afternoon and didn’t get home until after 5.00. I had a visit from our youngest son who told me his job was under threat and he would be losing half his salary at the very least. He works for his friend who pays his salary but it is his friend’s father who is cutting back on expenditure by paying his son less. He is in property management and is a multi-millionaire. Why he wants to do that to his son (and subsequently our son too) is anyone’s guess. Both my son and his friend actually make money for his business! I suspect it is just greed. Even his wife has pleaded with him not to do what he is doing. My son has a lot of debt to control, his apartment, car, telephone and television contracts aside from general living expenses and to top all of that, his university loan. He may have to return to live with us if things get too difficult. It’s such a shame when he’s just beginning to get on top of things. Even his older brother and his wife are considering a move back home with us if they can sell their property. Their present house is too small and is losing them money. I am only happy to help my children and I am fortunate in that I am in a position to accommodate them should they come back home. Well the house is certainly big enough!
Today I have two more jobs to do. It looks as if things are picking up a bit for me after a recent dry spell. I am being careful though, I am not taking on too much work at once so that I can find more time to myself. If I could just work every other day or perhaps mornings only I would be happy with that. Assuming I get the opportunity of course!
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Activity, Family, Life, Money, People, Values | Tagged: Business, Business and Economy, Employment, Family, Property management, Property manager, Youngest son | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on April 5, 2011
Yesterday E and I went to see our eldest son to help him with weeding the garden and painting part of the exterior of his house. We left our house around ten-thirty in the morning but it started raining. Nevertheless we continued and arrived there an hour later after stopping to buy some milk. He had popped out to the shops and we had to wait for his return. Our daughter-in-law was at work. He was annoyed that the rain was stopping the work being done because as a policeman he gets little time off work and his working day varies from week to week. There might not be another chance for some time and he and his wife are keen to get the house up for sale. There was little we could do but wait. About one-thirty the rain eased off so we decided to start the work. My job was simply to foot the ladder and be a general dog’s body. E decided not to weed out the garden because the ground was too wet! It was bitterly cold in the wind and the first job was to clean the gutter and paint the woodwork to the roofline at the side of the house. There was little enough space to erect the ladder and make it safe so we placed two ladders side by side and strung them together making a wide platform from which to work safely. The wind was quite strong between the houses and it made the low temperature of 10C seem even colder. I had to stand on the ladder whilst my son did the work 6 metres above me where I am sure was even colder! We managed successfully to finish that part and then decided to paint the barge-boards at the back of the house which rose to the apex a further 2 metres higher. The house formed a barrier to the wind at the rear but it was still cold and draughty at the base of the ladder. We finally went indoors around five-thirty by which time we were both feeling the cold. Our daughter-in-law arrived home shortly after 5 o’clock. E and I stayed for a take-away dinner before coming home at 9 o’clock. I hope it is warmer today. Part of my work is outdoors!
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Family, House and Home, Maintenance | Tagged: Family, House and home, Ladder, Rain | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on March 26, 2011
Yesterday E and I went to help our eldest son do some repairs on the front of his house. That is I helped with the repairs whilst E sat indoors keeping our daughter-in-law company! They live in one of those ‘mock Tudor‘ type houses which are nothing like the real thing, the only similarities are the timbers they stick on the front of the house to give it the ‘look’. It was three of those timbers that needed replacing. We found that they were only nailed on to the rendered surface but those nails had held them fast! It was the wood that was the problem, parts of it had rotted away because of water ingress. What was it I said about there not being any heavy work to do? Well to be honest it wasn’t that bad. A trip to the local supplier provided us with replacement timber, paint and other things we needed to do the job. The hardest part was in removing the old timber. It had been a warm and sunny day and as the house front points approximately toward the south we enjoyed the warmth. The new timbers were fitted and coated with the first layer of paint ready for when we can get to re-paint the whole frontage perhaps next week but at least the main part is done. Now today being as it is a Saturday I will be taking the time to rest but perhaps I will do one small job which is simply to apply sealant to the concrete floor of the new greenhouse, a ten minute job at most! Have a nice weekend!
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Family, General Chat, Work | Tagged: Construction and Maintenance, Family, Materials and Supplies, Paint, Work | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on March 25, 2011
Yesterday E and I spent a few hours filtering out weeds, roots, bulbs, grass sods and other extraneous material from one of the borders in the rear garden. This area had been planted with two trees but we removed them a few weeks ago. However, since then more soil and rubble had found its way to the spot whilst building the retaining wall for the patio concrete when it gets poured. That won’t be for a few week yet, we need more hardcore. Anyhow it was hard work clearing the debris and it will take some time yet before it is all filtered, then we can replant the area. My arms haven’t ached so much for a long time! It all comes with the territory though doesn’t it?
Today E and I are going to our eldest son’s house to help him with repairs to the house frontage so that he and his wife can put the house up for sale. I am not planning to do much heavy work there, well for one thing there isn’t any to do! I’ll be grateful for that!
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Family, Garden, Work | Tagged: Family, Garden, Retaining wall, Soil, Work | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on March 12, 2011
We call it the weekend but if we want to be pedantic it is really both the end of the week and the beginning of the next one. It all depends on the customs of your country. Sunday is now the traditional day of rest for Christians but the real sabbath day of rest for Christians is the same as that of Israel ( part of which are the Jews of today and in fact much of the western world: see http://www.ucg.org/booklets/US/josephsbirthright.asp and other literature) and that day is Saturday or rather Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. This means that Saturday would be regarded as the last day of the week, the rest day from the six working days. God didn’t actually rest in the sense that we mean a cessation from tiring work because of tiredness, it means He abstained from carrying out further work or simply ceased doing it because it was all done. I digress. However things were changed by the Emperor Constantine and Sunday became the rest day. No matter. The simple fact is that in many nations of the world there are work days and rest days. The working week in the western world is usually meant to be Monday through Friday with two days off, the weekend. My personal choice is Saturday as my sabbath rest and Sunday for doing sundry things. This Sunday E and I have invited family (such as are available) and friends for an afternoon of relaxation together with refreshments of food and drink. I hope this will mark the first of many more during the year, hopefully some of them outside in the sunshine!
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Drink, Enjoyment, Entertainment, Family, Food, Friendship, Rest and relaxation | Tagged: Biblical Sabbath, Christian, Drink, Entertainment, Family, Food, Friendship, God, Israel, Jesus, Jews, Sabbath, Ten Commandments | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on March 6, 2011
On friday E and I decided to have a go at erecting the new greenhouse. I always knew it wouldn’t be as easy as it sounded but I was willing to try. The alternative would be to employ someone else to do it. The supplier would have done it for an extra £400! However, even after reading the instructions and trying to sort out the parts (there are many parts) we were still having difficulty getting over the first hurdle. Last year we erected a smaller greenhouse which presented its own problems at the time but we managed to do it. This is why we were willing to give this one a go but the new one is a bit more involved than the old one and we decided to muster some help. We telephoned the supplier who gave us the number of a (more) local man whom they employ to carry out work for them. We gave him the details and he quoted £230 plus £20 or £30 extra if there was internal staging to erect, which there is. He will be coming on 23rd of this month. I breathed a sigh of relief, not just because I don’t have to erect the greenhouse myself but it now allows me to get on with a host of other jobs I want to get on with like installing a new power board in the new garage (there are four more boards to change on the main electricity panel in the cellar too) and wiring to a couple of power outlets and lights in the new patio area. I also need to change five floodlights overlooking the rear garden, finish filtering the soil in the proposed vegetable patch and help E with general gardening duties. My eldest son wants me to help him carry out a repair to the front of his house so he and his wife can sell it. They have asked us if they can live with us until they can afford another house. At the moment they are just about making ends meet and this is preventing them moving on. They propose to cut their losses and start afresh when they have saved enough money. They can only do that if they are not burdened with a mortgage and other household running costs. E and I of course do not object, our house has seven bedrooms after all! Having our son and daughter-in-law at home will help us too in keeping up with all that’s involved in maintaining such a big property.
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Family, Garden, House and Home | Tagged: AC power plugs and sockets, Family, Garden, Greenhouse, Home, Landscaping, Outdoor Structures | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on December 7, 2010
Today I take my little van in for a routine service, a 12,000 mile service. The handbook tells me that the interval is every 12,000 miles! I did have it serviced after 6,000 miles and presumably the next service would be at 18,000 miles but there is no harm in having a shorter service interval. Yesterday I had one small job to do and was back home after an hour or so, meanwhile my youngest son was having a lie in bed. His vehicle couldn’t be started using the starter motor on Saturday but a breakdown crew got him mobile so he could come home and visit with us. He arranged to have his car repaired yesterday and a local garage did the work. He had been quoted £240 to have a replacement starter motor fitted by one company and £210 by another but I told him to ask at our local garage. They repaired the problem for £80. It pays to shop around doesn’t it? I gave my son the £80 to have the job done because I know he is having problems trying to save and pay off his university fees as well. It is a tremendous burden for young people going to university when they are landed with a huge financial debt afterward so I help both my sons whenever I am able. It is important to ‘service’ relationships too! To that end I might treat E to another nice lunch later.
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Family, Motoring, Relationships | Tagged: Family, Motoring, Relationship, Starter motor | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on November 10, 2010
Yesterday afternoon E and I drove the twelve miles north to a favourite restaurant and had our late lunch. Our favourite waitress was there and we thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. She passed a comment about the expense of having children, she herself has three girls one of whom came to the restaurant with her own young son to collect ‘grandma’. I replied that we are walking bank accounts for our children and that they are always asking for something from us even when they’ve flown the nest! During our meal our youngest phoned and asked if we had a spare router for his Internet connection and he also wanted a couple of large scatter cushions that he knows we have. Doesn’t he earn money? LOL. I told him I had a new and unused spare router which he collected later when we were back home. He managed to take at least one cushion and then went downstairs to the cellar where we store some food in the old kitchen units we put there some years ago. Cellars, clean ones, come in very handy for cool storage! Anyhow he was seeing what he could take with him! He is cheeky but we don’t mind him taking the odd few things. It seems one is forever supporting one’s children but I guess that’s what love is all about.
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Family, Love | Tagged: Expense, Family, Love | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on November 1, 2010
Last Monday we were expecting some scaffolding to be erected so that access to our leaking roof could be made. E and I had to travel down to Hereford to board a flight on a hot-air balloon. That meant we needed to leave home before noon. The scaffolding firm made that an excuse not to come but they could easily have erected the amount we need to get the roof fixed. So today, this morning I hope, they will do it. I shall be working so I will leave the arrangements to E. She will love having to get up early! I don’t think so. Our youngest son came and stopped over for the weekend. We can always tell that he has visited us, the place is a mess….LOL. He had a party to go to on Saturday evening and he visits friends whenever he is down here. He has a two-hour session indulging in his new hobby, jiu-jitsu and he went to the gym/dojo while he was here. He hasn’t been doing it long but he has just earned his first ‘belt’, a white one. I jokingly told him that he’ll need that to hold his pants up! He seems serious about his training so I think he will progress toward the coveted black belt given time. This Wednesday evening E and I hope to visit a theatre in Liverpool to see the production of the John Lennon story. It promises to be a good show. I have a birthday coming up this month but I’ve no plans regarding that yet, if I bother. Who knows? Well it’s Monday morning and I have work to do………..
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Enjoyment, Entertainment, Family, House and Home, Rest and relaxation | Tagged: Entertainment, Family, Hereford, Hobbies, John Lennon, Liverpool | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on October 15, 2010
Yesterday afternoon, I had been out working during the morning, I had some spare time on my hands. Oh there was and still are lots of things to do but they are not urgent. I spent an hour on my guitar and returned to the front lounge with nothing in particular in mind to do. E had gone out on her usual Thursday shopping trip with her mom and I was alone. I lit the gas fire for the first time since April, mainly to blow away the dust and cobwebs (we have plenty of those…LOL) but also to see how long the room would take to cool down to a noticeable level before the fire was needed again. If you remember, we have had new double-glazed windows installed throughout the house, so this was really to test their efficiency. I sat down and did some reading but after ten minutes I had to switch the fire off, it was warm enough. I switched from reading to going on-line and during the next half hour I found myself pleasantly drifting in and out of little cat-naps. Wonderful! If there is one thing in life I really like doing it is having little cat-naps. I like sleeping anyway, I always have done, it’s the getting out of bed that annoys me! I am disciplined though, so if I need to arise, I do not procrastinate and hesitate to do so. Today I did another small job and that makes the whole of this week busy for me but not too busy. When I am asked if I work full-time, part-time or am self-employed I always state the latter because it is true but it doesn’t convey the actual hours I work each week. That of course is almost impossible to predict when one is self-employed, the hours vary from week to week but in my case you could say that I am a variable part-time worker! I like it that way, I no longer really need long hours to make ends meet so to speak. The time I get to myself is much more than it used to be and the beauty of it is, I control when and if I want to work.
Tonight is a family night out for E, myself and our two sons. Our daughter-in-law cannot come because of work! We are dining out by way of a birthday treat for E whose birthday was on Monday. Tomorrow will be another day free from work for me as it is my sabbath day of rest.
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Family, Lifestyle, Work | Tagged: Family, Time, Work | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on September 1, 2010
…..that our eldest son was born. This morning I had no jobs to do at work so I spent a couple of hours continuing ‘the big dig’ in the rear garden. Several wheelbarrow loads later I had cleared out a large area of soil and roots adjacent to where I left off yesterday and then moved the soil again to level out the ground where it had been dumped. Hard work. Really hard work. I then lay the first layer of hardcore before I decided I’d had enough. I had plans to go out to lunch with E. By now it was noon anyway so I went inside, got washed and changed and off we went to a place about twenty miles away in the direction of where our son and his wife live. He was in bed until 4.30 because he is working the night shift at the moment. He is a policeman so he gets to work all sorts of weird hours! Anyhow E and I had a lovely lunch and drove on to give him his birthday presents just as he was getting out of bed. We spent some time with the two of them before coming home early in the evening.
It only seems like yesterday when I saw him come into the world. My how time flies!
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Family | Tagged: Family | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on April 21, 2010
Today we expected a visit from our window installers who duly turned up at 9.30 to accurately measure the windows and doors. They left around 12.30 and we had lunch. I then started to cut more logs and make more wood chippings! E came to the garage and asked if we could visit our eldest son and his wife today rather than tomorrow as planned. He wanted to use our extension ladders to do some high level work on his house. We were also to take his new garden furniture, six chairs, table, canopy and barbecue unit which they had bought and left at our house yesterday. The could not transport it home all at once because their vehicle isn’t large enough. I agreed, emptied my van and loaded his stuff together with the ladders and we set off an hour later. The plan was to have a barbecue when we got there but the weather was a bit windy and cool. Once there we assembled his new furniture and loaded the van with the garden furniture belonging to us that they had been using since last year. We were also to take our barbecue unit but it was stored behind too many things and we hadn’t enough room in the van because of the furniture. We will collect it later. They live about 25 miles from where we live. I decided to take E and them out for an evening meal and we drove back home later. Of course I had to unload the furniture and reload my work stuff. Now I am writing this and having the drink I couldn’t have earlier because I was driving! My son wants us to return tomorrow so we can foot the ladder! A ploy if ever I heard one…LOL. I will be working away from home on Friday so I am wondering when and if I’ll get back to chipping wood. Saturday is my rest day and anything could happen Sunday!
The ball is rolling on the work around the house. Scaffolding is going up on 10th May and we have the windows being replaced starting 17th hopefully. We have agreed the price to rebuild the front wall and hopefully that will go ahead soon. We are now planning to have a new greenhouse, lay out a vegetable garden and patio if we can decide where the patio will go!
Shirley Anne
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Family, House and Home | Tagged: Activity, Family, Work | Leave a Comment »
