NaBloPoMo 7 boats

I've had an excellent day today.

We had a lazy fry up before the mother in law headed home. I love a sociable breakfast. All the chatting and tea and relaxing.

Next we were off to the Mary Rose museum in Portsmouth. I'd been before with work, but Tom and Sandy hadn't. We enjoyed Boathouse 4 and its exhibit on small naval boats. A ship can carry boats but a boat can't carry ships!

The Mary Rose museum laid out brilliantly. The galleries at either end of each floor explain the smaller finds through the life of the characters thought to have owned the items, like the cook, or the master carpenter. Then you walk through long galleries the length of the ship, with the drying ship visible on one side, and the larger finds for each deck displayed as they might have been on the other.



I cannot fathom a conservation project going on longer than my lifetime, and it's all so excellently done. The little things got to me. The design of shoes, bellows, wood planes and baskets hasn't changed in 500 years. That bodies can deform based on our employment, with archer's shoulder blades and the compressed spines of gunners lifting heavy weights coming to mind.

We had a very late lunch at Azzuros at Gunwharf Quays, and once we got back, I trundled off to church to arrange this year's remembrance flowers. I hope the string holds!

The evening saw beer with Ben and Jon in the Butcher's Hook, games and knitting. And late night ice cream. Wonderful.

NaBloPoMo 6

I had another day off today. And today I Christmas shopped, and pressure washed my life threateningly slippery decking.

I love the pressure washer. It comes with lots of attachments. I started with the spray bottle that let me cover the decking with foam.

Then I blasted it with the normal attachments. Finally came a go over with the patio brush. This has two nozzles on a rotating arm inside a single circular row of brush bristles. And it changed the colour of the decking completely. Much quicker than the usual nozzles.

The rest of the afternoon was housework before dinner with Sandy and the mother in law who were both staying with us. Lovely.

NaBloPoMo 5 - Life lessons

We learn a lot of lessons as children. Good and bad.

I learnt that people don't like it if you're different. That charm oils the wheels of the world and gets you far. No one likes a smart alec.

But I also learnt that kindness and love are the most important things. That it often costs nothing to be kind. To give people the benefit of the doubt. 

I remember my mum making an amazingly fun game of running round the garden to pick flowers to fill a pretty tea cup to give my teacher at the end of term. 

I remember the waking up early on Mother's Day and all of us mucking in making posies of flowers to give out at church.

Making cakes for people's birthdays. Helping people make fancy dress costumes.

And the joy it brought. The help, the thank yous, the fun.

That's probably the one lesson that's sunk in the deepest. If you can help someone, help them. It will bring joy.

I hope I manage it.

NaBloPoMo 4

Today I attended a team meeting at work, then tried to catch up with my email after my day off.

Tom is on call again tonight, so I had to make my own dinner, the horror. My stroganoff came out ok though.

This evening I started hemming the curtains but the size was getting me down and I gave up.  I also tried adjusting the dress I bought for my friend's party, but the bodice is just too small round my rib cage. Once I've fixed the shoulders again, I will take it to the charity shop. So annoying.

NaBloPoMo 3 jobs

Today I had a much needed day off. I spent nearly the whole day scraping old paint off old wood work from the middle bedroom. In between I reinstalled Ubuntu on the computer that lives behind the telly so it would pick up the wireless dongle again.

Tom and I went on a long walk around the local area before dinner. I love looking at domestic architecture and worrying about the lives people love in these little houses.

This evening I've had a long chat on the phone with my mum, and made masses of apple crumble for the freezer using apples from my friend Nicky.

Today's prompt is about jobs you thought looked cool when you were a kid. I never had one job I dreamed of. I wanted to be a ballet dancer, to work with indian street children, to be a painter, a nun, and much much more. Normally influenced by what I'd been reading or watching that week. The homstead lifestyle from Little House in the Big Woods has stuck with me, a little Barbara Good, building a self sufficient life.

NaBloPoMo 2 Toys

Today I drove to Saunderton to help run some training. Driving through the thick fog was hard. It's so tiring, and I was so tired, it was a struggle to stop nodding off. Made it there and back safely thank goodness.

Tom had made swordfish and roasted veg in a butter and lemon sauce. Absolutely delicious. I am so spoiled.

1 curtain hemmed tonight. Working up the nerve to take down the big curtains AGAIN to hem them. Such hard work. Might change the sheets instead.

The prompt for today is about the coveted toys of friends from childhood. I can't think of anything obvious. I wanted one of those Girls World heads you could do the hair and makeup on. Love doing other people's hair. Need to decide on a style for the big party I'm going to in a few weeks. I quite liked this one from James Bond night.

NaBloPoMo 1 - Here we are again

Hello team,

Back to a month of posting everyday. Let's see how I do this year.

Today I slept in and missed church - that's the problem with a 9am service when you have a sleep debt. Tom and I had a leisurely breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausages and then cracked on with housework and DIY.

First it was off into town to get more curtain interlining and plumbing supplies.The living room curtains are now done bar hemming, and the first of the new radiators are in.

Tom also worked on moving some pipes in the middle bedroom.

Here's how we're doing with the rest of the house. The hall has had the wallpaper stripped, and a skim of new plaster, and the bathroom is all done bar a window sill. The middle bedroom has been taken back to the brick and had new plasterboard and skim, and is now part way through the decorating. We've got a couple of days off this week where I'll try and finish the wood work and reinstall it.

Newly skimmed hall.

Finished bathroom

Choosing the colours for the hall - we're going for Dulux Rope Swing 

Look no wallpaper!

Our carpet choice for the landing and stairs.

Partially decorated middle bedroom

When the middle bedroom had no plaster at all!

Books glorious books...

Help there's a spare room in my bedroom

James Bond evening

When you've done something twice it's tradition right? 3 years later we're dressed up again and this time enjoying Jamaican food with our martinis and poker. Always fun going to the cinema in your evening best

Different class of meringue at work today.

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Different class of pudding at P's house.

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Birthday day 6 - love my team! Got prosecco and the biggest ball of yarn too.

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