Washing.

My washing machine is dying. When on a spin cycle it sounds like an aircraft that is about to take off. So, expecting the worst some day soon, we bought replacement bearings. Unfortunately there is no way to replace the bearings because our washing machine has a sealed drum. We are not happy.

Presents

Birthday gifts for twins

My eldest attended a birthday party on Saturday. But along with the party is the unspoken rule of having to purchase gifts for the child. I don't mind this, especially as I know that this is the only party that they have ever had. But how am I meant to know what to get 11 year old boys that I barely know?

Feeling bleurgh.

It's been a few days of coughs and sniffles here. Both boys have been hit hard with colds, I'm not so bad or at least I wouldn't be if only they'd let me get enough sleep. So far they have felt the need to wake me each morning at 6 just so that I know that they don't feel good. Why??? I've been cuddling them late at night, at least let me sleep through to the alarm!

The result is that I've not got much done. And you know how it is, once you stop doing stuff it can be hard to get going again. But I have to. Despite still feeling lethargic (still lacking a few hours sleep here) I'm not ill and the boys are no longer so bad either. Tomorrow is a new day and we've got a lot to do. Fingers crossed that we get through it all with no tantrums from any of us.  

Growing up a little at a time.

Organised pastries

My youngest son seems to be growing up in leaps and bounds. But every now and then he does something to remind me that he's still my baby. Look at the image above, it makes me smile. He was asked by his grandmother to arrange the pastries on the plate. He looked at the plate and very quickly established that there simply was not enough room (he can be quite analytical). So he stacked them in a tower.

Still my little boy.

More flooding

River Stour

It is still raining and according to the forecast there is yet more to come. I am slightly concerned for J who will be returning to work this week. Fingers crossed that the floods don't get any higher.

I must confess to finding the floods fascinating. I realise that they have cause a lot of damage and some people are in a bad way thanks to the high water levels. My thoughts are with those who are having to deal with the double whammy of the tidal bore yesterday. But despite that there is still a bit of me that enjoys the sight of nature reminding us, yet again, that we cannot control her.

Each day I have walked to view our local river that has spilled out over the fields for the last few weeks. Despite the calm look of it all there is a strong current rapidly moving great volumes of water down stream. This is not a massive still puddle but a active, dangerous force.

Drying out wellies with newspaper

A strange couple of days.

We were all looking forward to our little hamlet's annual carol get-together. Unfortunately it had to be cancelled at the last minute which has left us all feeling a bit flat. Added to the fact that my car has broken down it's not been a great couple of days.

However, things are on the up again. J has a bonus coming to him that will almost cover the cost of a new (to me) vehicle. (The money was earmarked for the house but never mind. There's always next year.) We are going to pick it up tomorrow morning and life should be able to move on again at a better pace.

When my car passed it's MOT a month ago we knew that we would have to look for a replacement at some point in the next year. It had a long list of advisory's that would need sorting and, to be honest, the car just isn't worth putting that much time and money in. Which is a shame as I love it. Luckily we have managed to track down a much newer model in a private sale that, fingers crossed, will be completed tomorrow. Perhaps the sun will shine again too.

Power cut

Scrabble by candlelight

A late posting from me today after all the excitement of yesterday. We were dealing with the aftermath of the 'big storm'; I really don't think that we felt the full force of it here, I slept through it! Thankfully we're all okay, the tiles are still on the roof (thanks to J spending several hours up there on Saturday) and even our split oak managed to survive the winds (it will be coming down this winter but preferably after the leaves have fallen). There are numerous trees that have fallen locally and the council and fire brigade were dealing with these on the roads throughout the early hours.