Hi all, a day of food shopping for the family arriving, then a really lazy afternoon to charge my batteries!  A bitterly cold day, hubby in his element because its the golf open, so keeping him quiet.  So if I go incognito fir a few days you know why!!  Love to you all.  Xx

Dear Carol,
Always a big shop before visitors arrive.  They have probably already arrived so you may not see this for a while.  How long are they staying.  Enjoy, have a wonderful time while they are there.

Our weather has warmed up for a couple of days, so nice after the butter cold we had last week.  Finally got round to doing some cooking.  Made a big pot of Pean and Ham soup. and a big pot of Spaghetti Bolognaise Sauce.  Have just put them in the fridge, will have to buy more containers so I can freeze them.  They keep breaking, and have just realised I don't have enough .

I will have Eli tomorrow afternoon, it could be fairly quiet, he will probably have a nap while I have him.  Deana has a photographer coming in the morning to take pictures of Eli (right when he would normally be having his nap).  We have a huge Appeal on Good Friday to raise money for the hospital in Melbourne, that Eli was in when he got burnt.  So the paper wants to raise more awareness locally by doing a story on a local child that has needed to use the hospital.
Also have Rotary tomorrow night.

Take care and Love to all.  Sue xx

Keep trying to catch up with the posts I have missed whilst away - but it has got to the point where I am not getting in touch so I will leave the catching up for now.  I am still in chaos with things happening at home work-wise but have decided to let things be to some extent as I am fed up with it all!  No joy with the house hunting.  There is not a lot on the various estate agents books at the moment.  We saw a few houses but - again - they came to nothing.  I thought I was learning to understand the estate agents blurb but I am still finding myself disappointed.  One lovely-looking bungalow in Wincanton turned out to be very close to the A303 and is consequently constantly bombarded by noise.  Another property in Crewkerne looked good even if it was a bit over my budget but it turned out that there were two roads with the same name in the outskirts of the time.  The one that turned out to be the one for sale looked good; detached, nice garden but the photos cunningly did not show the damp patches on the walls.  I cannot pay extra over budget and also find myself having to pay large sums for repairs.  Also the estate was pretty soulless.  I live on a housing estate now - I guess many people do live on some kind of estate - but our properties all have individual bits like different porches and we paint (or pebble-dash) the outside of our houses as we please and they all look a bit different.  The bungalow in question was on a massive estate which was all grey concrete and was a long way from shops - apart from one small corner shop.  I know supermarkets deliver these days but I do like to do my shopping in person sometimes.    I will try to be optimistic - the only good news is that London house prices are - allegedly - about to rise a bit again.  It will happen for me - the right home is out there somewhere.    Okay, I will read the last week's posts now.  xxx

PS  I have just put my washing around the house to dry as I did not want to disturb the birds feeding at the garden feeder by hanging it in the garden on the washing line!

Hi,

Just a quick post.  Happy Easter to you all.

Take care and love to all.  Sue xx

Hi Sue and all the girls. Happy Easter to all. Hope the sunshine stays on. Lots of hugs . Gloria xxx

Hi all my girls one exhausted Grandma back on track!  Crikey my legs ache and all the cooking has done my head in and the children at tea time have been a nightmare.  For example, everything under control, Thai curry and rice, table set we all sit down, Alfie decides he has an ulcer on his tongue that has not been mentioned all day, Ella decides she needs a poo and the curry is too hot and is making her lips swell and hubby is instructing Faye on where the igloo for ulcers is, this happens to be upstairs so hence a lot of yelling past my head, I give up and just drink more wine, can we go out for tea tomorrow night Grandma asks a sad little girl, having spent over a hundred pounds on food I say it's a no, no.  Anyway we decided to have lunch at the golf club. Alfie gets car sick so we go the motorway, ten minutes in were stuck in a traffic jam, oh my God we were starving when we arrived at 2pm.  Apart from this we had a good time!  Today its red hot so hubby and I meander to Leyburn have lunch at our favourite pub and then come home, he's nodded off, the family tire him out a lot now.  So hopefully you've all had a decent Easter, Annie it's so difficult finding a suitable home when you don't know the area, you'll get there in the end.  Gloria and Chris thank you for stopping by, it's so nice to hear from you, Sue I hope this first Easter hasn't been too hard for you, its feet up now as I'm not cooking tea, ham left from Wednesdays tea and beetroot as he's had a massive roast beef baguette chips and gravy, Faye left me half her egg, that's gone, Lisa hasn't been in touch with us but I think she's child sitting for a friend who has to work, she's an Inspector in the Police.  I'll post more tomorrow.  Love to you all,  xx

Dear Carol.
Mealtimes can be a bit of a nightmare with children.  I know only too well what it is like with Bree's children.  Thay frequently don't want what everyone else is having, and will not eat a curry at all regardless of how mild/hot it is.  Last time they were all here I did a Massaman curry for the adults, and the kids ate chicken nuggets and chips,  Odd how they had no objections when it came to desert.  Poor Ella you saying no to her wanting to go out for tea.  Traffic can get backed up here during holiday periods too, I try to avoid going anywhere too far over Easter,  We are the last town before you branch off for two coastal areas that are popular for holidays especially over Easter as it's the last changce to go away before the weather turns nasty.  Shops have been especially busy with tourists stocking up for their trips.  
I've been busy.  Eli has hand, foot and mouth virus so isn't allowed at childcare till the end of next week, so I had him on Thursday, and will have him both Tuesday and Wednesday next week.  Thursday is a public holiday so both Deana and Nick will be home.  Deana rang me last night to see if I would go with her to the market to get flowers, so we left at 4.00am this morning.  Got back at 9.15am, then I went shopping to get Eli a book for Easter and colouring books to go with eggs for Bree's 3 children..  Not sure when I will see them now, originally they were all coming to visit tomorrow but with Eli sick, she has decided they'll give it a miss, can't say I blame her at all. The last thing she needs is 3 sick children.
So it will be early to bed for me tonight as I didn't end up sleeping last night.. dozed this afternoon but  but still very tired.  So a quiet day tomorrow won't be so bad afterall.
Neil wasn't usually home over Easter, he would work the Saturday morning then when he got home he'd pack up and go fishing didn't usually come home till the Monday afternoon, so the holidays haven't really been hard at all.

Take care and Love to all.  Sue xx
 

Dear Sue, poor Eli, I've never heard of that virus it sounds painful, poor mite.  No wonder you were tired that's an awful early start, I've been sleeping like a log since they left and my legs don't ache today.  It's boiling and I've had to cone into the house as it's too hot!!  Collected my new sunglasses but they keep slippi down my nose so I can't see properly as they are prescription ones, I then bought some new flat loafers as mine are falling apart, Norman said they are lovely and he likes crocodile skin, it's snakeskin I point out, oh you knew what I meant he laughs.  Norman always played golf at Easter so I know what you mean, I didn't come into the equation and was so annoyed one year when he was in a doubles competition with a lady I drove all the way to the Metro Centre only to find it closed as it had been built on Church land so didn't open Easter Sunday, he came home to a very upset wife that night!  Harry rang me to check I was OK and Lisa loved her gin Easter egg, Faye is home safe so that's good.  Wine chilling in the fridge and a light tea, I've eaten far too much!!  Take care Sue, love Carol x 

Dear Carol,
Poor Eli, it's not serious just highly contagious and very common for under 4's.  They get a rash which progresses to small, oval, white blisters on the palms, soles of the feet, as well as in the mouth.  They can get a temp and have a poor appetite, but at least Eli hasn't had the temp or poor appetite, so has still been happy.  Hence no childcare till next Friday.  Adults usually don't get it, so hoping I don't.
he missed his first Easter Egg Hunt.  Our local fire brigade have on at the park by the lake, but he'll have to wait for next year's Easter Egg Hunt.
I've had a quiet day, still tired after my all-nighter Friday night.   Was dozing earlier when my brother rang to say they were thinking of visiting tomorrow if I was home.  I didn't even hear the phone.  He them sent a text which I replied too, so they are coming tomorrow.  Will be lovely to see them. We still have tomorrow as a public holiday (Easter Monday) and then Thursday have another for Anzac Day.
Lisa's gin Easter egg sounds interesting, never heard or them, not sure we have anything like that here.  We decided years ago to only buy for the kids at Easter, the rest of us can do without the chocolate as nice as it is. Eli loves the book I bought him.  Bree's kids have to wait for their eggs and colouring books till I see them next, probably next weekend as we are all going fishing/having a picnic for Neil's birthday at his favourite fishing spot.  A bit of food preparation for that next Saturday with 9 maybe 10 if his sister comes as well.  It will be interesting with all the kids, Deana and Nick aren't sure anyone will catch anything except maybe colds if it is a cold day.
Glad you have recovered after your visitors.

Take care and love to all.  Sue xx