Thursday 21 June 2007 Daily thread.

dlb

Morning everyone.
Been up ages was going to start thread at around 5.30am but went and cleaned the kitchen instead!!:o

Plans for today
1-Iron
2-Prepare tea
3-Clean bathroom
4-Clean downstairs windows
5-More listings on Ebay

Have football training later so need to sort tuck shop items out as dd has eat most of it this week!!!
Had my dad here last night my mum had locked him out the house, long story but shes on one again, i tried to calm her down but she was having none of it, he left at about 10pm and i havent heard anything since, sounds awful but im trying to stay slightly disattached as iv been here before, its one of the reasons me and mum didnt speak for 6 years because of the trouble she can cause.
Anyway trying not to let it bother me too much,
Catch you all later
Donna
x

mioliere

Hi all. I’m back!!:hello: :hello:
First of all, GINGHAM RIBBON, sounds like you have had a horrendous time – I do hope things get better for you and I’m sure your mum will be a great help.

Well, I’ll try and keep my post short! Our first drama happened before we even got on the boat at Portsmouth! Our newly serviced car decided to overheat! So DH fiddled about with it at the ferry terminal in the dark with a torch and we ended up with about ten minutes to decide whether to go or get the car sorted and go the following day. In the end we decided to get on the boat and think about it in the morning! When we arrived at Caen it was pouring with rain and we had to drive through the rush hour (and if anyone has been on the Caen peripherique during a raining rush hour they will know what I mean!) looking for a BMW dealer; we asked three different people for directions and have a lovely collection of hand-drawn maps which led us to three different destinations! Of course, it took us a while to realise we should have used the French alphabet to ask for BMW! Anyway, we found it just in time having coasted over the main Caen motorway bridge with the hazards flashing! The workshop had the part in stock and had it fixed in an hour while we sat drinking coffee in their lovely showroom and the final bill, which I was dreading, was 138 euros (less than £100) – DH reckons it would have been double that in the UK. The service was excellent and, all in all, we were just delayed for about three hours. Since then the car has been brilliant and we then went on to do another 2,500 miles in it!

The first few days were spent doing a bit of work on the house (ever slow and sure and we now realise that it needs about three months solid work before it will be a proper house which will take forever because we can only go over for a couple of weeks at a time and spend limited money on it!) If it delays the final move there, that suits me fine!

On the Sunday we left for Italy and the wedding. We stayed one night in an excellent automatic hotel in St Etienne and the rest of the drive was really enjoyable (well, it was for me because DH did all of it!) apart from the manic motorway between Torino and Milano which was teeming with trucks and the maddest drivers in the world! We arrived at Lake Garda late on the Monday afternoon and my family was all there waiting for us which was wonderful. We had been booked into a lovely hotel just walking distance from the lake. We all went out for a fantastic meal in the evening and Lake Garda is a beautiful, beautiful place - somewhere we definitely want to go back to.

The wedding itself, well – what can I say?! It was held in the castle on the edge of the lake in Malcesine, my DIL looked so beautiful it took my breath away and we were all in tears (especially all the mums!); she wore a long ivory dress with red flowers in her long impossibly natural dark curls; DS1 looked like her Prince Charming he was so handsome! My DGS had his first grown-up tie on and my DGD looked like a little princess in a dress that matched the bride’s with her hair (also curly) done to match! Luckily, I had worn waterproof mascara! The service was beautiful, all done in Italian and translated by the fantastic wedding co-ordinator into English. We walked out into brilliant sunshine and took loads of photos all in the castle grounds then we walked through the village with all the locals cheering and clapping down to the waterside, where we boarded a boat for a ride on the lake. The champagne flowed like water and the heavens opened so we all had to rush from the upper deck to sit inside. We then sailed through a thunderstorm which was very exciting – the champagne helped a lot! The weather cleared up as soon as we got off the boat. We then found ourselves in this magical restaurant on the edge of the lake where a seven-course wedding banquet was waiting for us! So much wonderful Italian food, loads of wine and a lovely fruity wedding cake! It was a wonderful evening and the bride’s parents thanked me for my wonderful son and it all became very emotional! It’s making me cry again just thinking about it! We then walked back up to the hotel – by then, we were all a bit merry and my mum had to be half-carried up the hill to get there and my DS2’s GF and I had to put her to bed! All in all, it was a day full of wonderful memories and one that none of us will ever forget. It was quite sad the next day when my mum, DS2 and his GF, left to fly back home. We stayed another night in the hotel then had to leave the wedding couple who were staying a few days longer.

We then drove to the top end of the lake, collected a parking ticket!!, and then set off to go back to France the very longest way round which meant driving right through the Alps into Austria, then Germany – where we stayed the night in Oberammagau (the strangest place I’ve ever been – made me think of the all the old fairy tales!), then down to Leitchenstein – luckily it’s a very small country because we argued all the way from one end to the other due to my non-existent navigational skills! – then into Switzerland where we got lost in Zurich (my fault again!). We then drove back into France on the Friday and spent another night in another very good automatic hotel and had a meal in a bowling alley on stilts in Besancon, driving back to Parthenay the following day. Many miles were covered and it was a trip of a lifetime – we’re so pleased we did it now. All in all, we have the most fantastic memories of a wonderful wedding and an exciting journey.

The rest of our time away was spent working on the house putting in a staircase and mowing the waist-high grass – fortunately, the farmer opposite us helped us with that using his tractor and a huge grass-cutter and he was delighted with the bottle of Scotch we gave him because he wouldn’t take any money. We were invited to get quite tiddly with the neighbours whose dog then decided to adopt us for the whole of the following day! We spent a day with relatives in St Nazaire (another three hours drive but I did some of it because DH needed a break! We didn’t get lost either but that was because he was navigating! We spent another day with friends just up the road, another couple of days in the house with DH working on it and me reading – bliss! The weather wasn’t very good for most of the trip but, in the end, we just got used to it – apparently, it’s been bad everywhere in Europe – and it helped us find out where all the leaks are in the house!

Anyway, here we are back at home, with a huge supply of wonderful cheap wine and loads of photos to get printed and memories of a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

I missed you all such a lot! We weren’t able to get online which was a real shame – hopefully, we can get it sorted for the next trip out to the house.

I bet I’ve missed loads on the thread and don’t know if I’ll ever be able to read all the daily threads. I hope everyone is well and that nothing bad has happened to anyone. I’ve really missed you all – in fact, I wish you had all been able to come with us! That would have been exciting!

It’s great to be back! I’m looking forward to catching up with all the news.

Lots of love to you all – I’m off to have a shower and another coffee and will drop back in later!

Love to you all


KathyXX

Hardup_Hester

Morning all,
A flung post from me as I am running late today, there was work being done on the railway line near me throughout the night, so very little sleep here.
Ogden & Thumper have been fed, wattered & let out to play, fish have been fed.
Sausage Mash & onion gravy for tea tonight as I gor some sausages reduced yesterday.
Thanks for all the good wishes re new GB,.
Hugs to all, especially GR,
Hester

tinkerbelluk

Morning all

Gingham Ribbon - Glad to hear the baby is doing well

mioliere - Glad to have you back

As for me nothing much today. DH has started his new tablets and was brought home from work yesterday as apparently he was acting like he was drunk :eek: so last night was taken up with generally fussing to check he was OK.

Tonight is the night I sware that the papermountain and I finally do battle. I can't keep putting it off so that is the only plan I have for this evening!

Hope you all have a great day and take or leave the :grouphug: as needed.

fizzel81

Good morning

another long night have not slept for more than a few hours at a time since tuesday night, Back for a follow up at the hospital this morning, Bradley was going to be discharged today but they felt he might eat more here than there (he has ate nothing since they discharged him yesterday) but he is drinking cup after cup of milk.

will try and start the backlog of housework later today, spent all of the saturday night before he went in doing my ironing its still sat waiting to go away, washing up to date and in now drying in dryer

Joel and Owen home form the in laws lots of jelously all round i think

not sure yet whats for dinner today weeks meal plan has gone out the window

hugs to all

thriftlady_2

Morning all,
OH's birthday today so we're off to the pub for lunch must remember to choose something appropriate to wartime -faggots probably-yum

Must go and get the salmon out of the freezer for tea tonight.

Have a good day everyone:wave:

Miss_Cinnabon

Hi all:j

Lo has got the fracure clinic today, hope his arm is ok, he had another mishap today, he was in his bedroom early this morning, ds1 shouting that lo had pulled down a chest of drawers on himself, he was stuck in one of the drawers, how he managed that i dont know! he is ok though, he has also fallen off a chair too.

He is falling down a lot today, off balance a lot.

Did the national trust membership last night, just to do historic scotland now, kids love going to fort george, i cant stand the place:rotfl:

havent read thread properly yet but welcome back mioliere sounds like u had a great time.

Hugs
Susie

Night-Owl_5

Morning everyone

Quick post from me today, off to w**k later. House has been cleaned from top to bottom ready for holiday on Saturday can't wait.. OH's brother has been staying with us for a couple of weeks and is staying on to house sit while he sorts things out with his girlfriend so at least I have someone to look after all my veggies lol.

Just have to wash and dry bedsheets which I didn't get round to at the beginning of the week

Mioliere the wedding sounds fantastic

(((hugs to those that need it)))

Bye

Kazonline

Morning everyone!

First and foremost

Happy birthday to the little princess in the Moggins Household!!!!
Hope you have a lovely day my angel xxxx


Only just finished reading yesterdays thread and now don't have time to read all of todays yet!!!
There are so many thread on here that I'd like to read as I've been away, but I know I must crack on with my work. I will be searching later to find the posts on cooking a pea and ham soup as I finally managed to find a ham hock yesterday. Last year my attempts were very time consuming and disastrous!
Gingham, sorry to hear that your babe has been so unwell and that you aren't well too. Sending lots of love your way, hoping you can both be well soon.
Erm, I know there were a few other things I wanted to say but you'll all be glad to know they've slipped my mind!

catznine

:hello: Morning!

First Happy Birthday to Moggins dd and Mr Thriftlady!:bdaycake:

Kathy - Welcome back! What a wonderful 2 weeks you have had, the wedding sounds wonderful, the stuff dreams are made of and some wonderful memories for you both.

((((Hugs)))) to Gingham Ribbon and babe and also to fizzel81 and Bradley.
(((Hugs))) also to Kyles little lo, he sounds quite a character getting himself into all these scrapes, bit like my ds when he was younger.

Brgn Rzl - Glad you got your laptop sorted!

Today we are at the dentist this time for oh - my turn next week!

Other than that I am going to have another go at the carrot cookies from Thriftladys thread, made them yesterday but the mix made only a very small amount so need to up the quantites and see where I went wrong. They were very nice though.

Have a great day!

Catz x