Keeping up!

Well I have surprised myself, three posts this week I think.. it's all down to my new laptop. It's so good to be able to link to my work too, tidy up those lose ends in the quiet of the evening. 

I finally got the Christmas stuff away on Tuesday!



I am working up to having ten days away with Zac and Jordan, our baker girl. It's hard to spend quality time together with a busy manufacturing business happening in our back yard so away we go.. sun, sea, snorkeling and plenty of chat and relax time..not before time for poor Col who is suffering with a lost voice!



I have been trying to get sorted in my office and we also had a birthday this week.. our baby Annabelle is two years old. 




She is gorgeous little thing, the proper baby of the family and loved by all!  Jordan made her a bourbon and custard cream biscuit tower which was lovely, a good chance to try out some new ideas.




Lyla has caught Lilly's chicken pox but luckily they haven't been too poorly.. not like when I had them aged 9 and mum lost count trying to count the number on my feet!

.. or when Colin caught them just a month before I had Zac and ended up in Treliske Hospital as the docs thought he had got Malaria from his trip to Singapore where he had to go diving!






I had a change this weekend so I chose Nicoise Salad this time at Pizza Express. It was really very nice.. but I am guessing the dough balls to start will not have helped with calories. I really need to get more exercise, I eat better but do so little exercise (walk to the office and back again.. good job we have stairs in the house!) that it's quite hard to budge anything below the 10-10 I seem to have settled at in my hormone riddled 50s!

my boys

 

Hello, good evening and welcome!

So this is it.. the rebirth of my blog habit.. perhaps? maybe? quite likely!
My dear blog friend Karen has been encouraging me the last week or so.. (for encourage read nag) but for the best of reasons! New year, new intentions.. and for me.. a new computer! Yay!

I think I lost some of my blog momentum a year or more ago when we changed our computer station in our kitchen, and then we changed the kitchen too, for goodness sake! We got a new swish house laptop but we didn't like it, all Windows 8 and swiping and losing pages left right and centre. Add to this that I no longer kept my pictures on the computer and took most of them on my phone and it was always easier to Facebook them instead of trying to Blog.. yes, Blogger is for sure not compatible with mobile upload.. well not for me.. maybe that's just a bad workman always blaming her tools!

so.. a new computer.. a new laptop for my work.. to free me up and access my 'stuff' when not in the office. Our clever pals at IT West have set me up so I can 'Teamview' my work station and do all the jobs, just not from there...Perfect for the control freak that I am who wants to still have days away but keep on top of things.. I may even be able to go away with Colin more .. watch this space..x


I have a good feeling about this..there is Bluetooth for pictures.. and ..and.. and..let me try it..since I last wrote properly here are a couple of pictures of our life and times..

August 2014.. Colin's Dad (Pops) turned 80 years old and we had a 'Travel' theme fancy dress, Uncle Bill and Deborah came from the USA and the sun shone.. boy we were busy!

The week after we went with the STS crew and Ross and Jordan to the MotoGP in Silverstone.  Zac had to leave before this, we dropped him at Heathrow and took the Pod to Terminal 5.

A really great guy at the Drivers Centre took us round the F1 centre and we go to stand on the F1 podium, all of it would have been impossible but for the fact we were at the motorbike racing and not the Formula 1.

STS do the F1 Podium!

In September Kate passed her driving test and three weeks later took herself off to live near Oxford with her boyfriend. She found it very hard to start with, and even now when she leaves, but she has got a job and plans for a future up there for a good few years yet!  We are proud of her, she is so young some days but brave and determined despite the difficult days.. like learning that your house doesn't clean itself..;-)

We managed amongst the busy-ness to get a few trips out on the boat, some great fishing (though the spoils are still in the freezer)

And we had a building ..or two.. built in the field..

Oh yes and we took this Selfie in Lanzarote!

and we stayed in a Oxford Prison hotel!

Putting a few things to bed?

Well it was Night 3 this week that I found myself laying awake in my bed. I know I am awake because both my eyes are open.. and focussing!  For two nights it was a case of waking after a few hours, but tonight I did not even settle down for the initial flourish of sleep.  

So I lay there, telling myself I am not worried about anything, that I am not stressed, (just hot and restless) and go through ridiculous relaxation techniques, counting things and trying to list things backwards in the hope I will bore myself asleep or just dive in whilst trying to think who came before who in my list of teachers / school friends or whatever!

So I have come downstairs and had my cup of tea and this time two slices of Jordan's lovely bread and Kernow Inferno's chilli marmalade (ahh, you should not be eating / drinking tea etc I hear you cry, but last time I tried not eating and that didn't work either!)
As the ironing was already done I browsed some friends blogs and Facebook and ordered some bits from Debenhams sale online and here I am.

One of the lists I had in my head... when I wasn't stressed / worried / relaxing (did I mention that!) ...was what I had done since I last blogged and why I wasn't in the habit of writing lately. ... and for sure I should be as Zac has been away about 5 weeks now and will be expecting something here pretty soon.

I decided that the problem is when I lose blog momentum (is that a thing?) I want to write it chronologically and if a lot has happened I don't want to write out of order.
We did some personality testing in our office and it came out that one of my main traits is a 'complete finisher' as I like to see a job done and the box ticked so to speak (sometimes just for the tick as much as for the completion I must confess.)  And in the context of blogging it seems I am a bit like a New Year diary writer; if I lose a week I find it hard to drop back in without infilling the weeks I missed..so I don't!.

(Colin, on the other hand was denoted mainly an innovator and apparently loses interest after the first flourish of creating something, they call it a butterfly syndrome .. but it is good because he has a complete finisher alongside to tick those empty boxes (though currently I am feeling like a complete nagger .. but if nagging the flitting butterfly is how you completely finish then I guess it's okay!)

So, as I lay there eyes wide open I decided I would put the wakefulness to good use and come downstairs to ramble away in cyberspace and try and resurrect my blogging habit.  I have also been feeling a bit neglectful of my Lucky 7's challenge which I have been setting but falling short of entering.. can you see a theme coming here?
In my defence I think I am doing okay at work though, we are busier than we have ever been and in anticipation of a ten day sojourn to the sun I am trying to be extra reactive and not leaving many stones to turn up forgotten promises while we are away. (That's the trouble really, when you and your husband are 'the sales team' and you quite like to holiday together.. no-one to cover up when the things you forgot to do come knocking!)

Okay, if you have hung in here this long I am going to (for posterity and the desire to be chronological) mention what's been happening here since I last wrote.. (refers to phone as it has my diary and pictures)..

Pops in 1997..

August 23rd.. Bank Holiday weekend.. mega 80th birthday for Col's Dad. Uncle Bill & Deborah came from Washington for the week and we had wonderful family times. Zac was here and also lots of other wisitors.. we were bushed by the end of it.. over 5 days we fed 10-20-50-26 and 12 people. It had been a big Tesco shop (and at 11pm and through self serve.. ouchie.. I thought I had forgotten THAT moment!)

August 30th ..we went with a bunch of our people from STS to the Moto GP at Silverstone. dropping Zac off at Heathrow for his next 4 months at sea  on the way was not fun, but we had a great time with him over the summer.

September .. back to school still features here, even though all of ours are finished now. Lilly and Lyla come by on Mondays or Tuesdays and seeing everyone has to fit into school timetables.. also as Ross works at school and April started her teacher training this term.. yay!
I had a Spa Day with April and my 3 girls.. partly for my birthday and also as Kate was about to go off to seek her fortune in Oxfordshire the week after!  She has had itchy feet as mum would call it, for a good while and as her friends are all still at college she wanted to go stretch herself job and life-wise so she also has something to show for the year...she passed her driving test and within 3 weeks she drove 250 miles.. with a friend, but hey, I still balk at the idea of driving past Plymouth!
Jordan has been busy planning her big fairs for Christmas season and doing small markets. I go to Pendeen and run the Saturday stall some weeks and enjoy the trip out west!
Lisa has found a house she is hoping to buy but I am keeping quiet on that as it is surely a spell I don't want to break!

Not much boating this year, although the weather has been so lovely.. tides and work have not been as kind. We did have a couple of cod-heavy trips out to the east.. yes, east! It has not been known before for us to turn left out of the Mount, but the cod must have known that.. but we have them under surveillance now and know where they are lurking!

And we are building a building! Two buildings in fact.. in our field..after much planning and pacing to and fro for Colin and the guys, we are under way!

Anyhow.. it is late and maybe now I have put this list down I will rest easy and sleep. I promise (myself) to write more often.  I think it is because I Facebook pictures that the chat I had here gets missed out.. that and the fact that it is just so easy to keep all the pictures on my phone.. and not quite sure how to get them onto this darned Windows 8 laptop without emailing in bulk.. see, still finding some excuse!

Night all.. xx

Breezy!

The sky was busy this afternoon with clouds rushing past the sun and giving us cardigans on and off all the time!  Hoping it will settle a bit over next weekend so we can enjoy some outdoor time with everyone who is coming for Pop's 80th birthday party next Saturday.

It's been a busy weekend (again) .. Zac has gone back to Almere near Amsterdam for another course ..but he will be home in time for the party! He was toying with bringing Mr Bobby out again but has another good idea.. (our theme is going to be Travel so we hope it will inspire everyone!)..He did try Bobby out again last evening..somehow he just makes the person inside very Blobby- behavioured!

We had a little gathering for the actual day of Pop's birthday ..The family and his friend Peter.

I realised I had all my children in the same room..my phone is slow taking pictures..hence the moving arms and Kate's mock pained expression.

 Pops had to pose for his official pictures.. the cake was a spontaneous job when Lilly hung out with Jordan, the 'real' cake is for the party! 









The girls slept over with us on Saturday.. they were late to bed but slept through which makes life a lot easier!  The two young ones love my kitchen windows and the view across to Pops place!

Couldn't leave out this great pic of Lisa and Tom... (he still looks so proud of having her as his wife!)

....or this one of Lilly and Lyla's super duper sparkly Sketcher shoes!

The toe gems flash when you are walking!

Summer views!

Well it's been one of those weeks .. again! All week I have been counting down to one thing or another, and it isn't any better next week!

Thursday Zac took his final oral exam and passed! He is now an Officer of the Watch and can navigate a ship of unlimited tonnage.. it was actually not so bad as the time approached as he realised he had prepped quite well, lots of group learning and sessions with a port pilot, not quite the repeat learning we used to do for maths and geography in our day!

On Friday Pops travelled down from Col's brothers where he was staying a few days and Zac gave him a look round Southampton port.  They travelled home.. a long hot journey amidst all the holiday makers on the south coast road.

Summer Foods: salady stuff .. outside!

We are having the loveliest of weather, although in the office we see it more than feel it, but it is lovely to have evenings to sit out and eat.. so that's what we did with all the family on Friday evening.. quite satisfying too as Kate passed her driving theory test the same day.

Add to that April passing her Teaching skills exams and we have 4 out of 4 so far!

I have failed on some summer views (feet..and sky today) but have covered these other weeks!

Big Sisters.. Lilly not happy as her burger was cold! Age 3y 4m and 6 years

Baby Annabelle..being like the big girls..age 18 months and just about walking.

Marazion

From my window

Frequently visited.. the building works down the field.. 

Footings!

Zac's home.. cue the family barbecue 

7 plus 1 plus 99...maybe!

My weekend:

7 kinds of bread at the Pendeen Market (Saturday)

So we took advantage of some fab weather and a favourable tide and got a few hours 'out West' yesterday.. only ONE place to head when you are in the boat and the weather is fine!

Zoomed in : Penberth (Rowe family?!

I am kind of trying to think of a tenuous link to why this should be a picture for 99!    Maybe there are a number of captions available:

'What do you mean a taxi to Hayle will be 99 pounds?'

'Do you know how many spots are on my dress?'

'How many different ways are there to wear hair extensions?'

'What is an ice cream with a chocolate flake in it usually called.. and why!?'