Forever Starts Now

starnac

Hey EH! Probably because I don't update it very often  

DD loved her DofE expedition. She said she was almost at the end of the second hike and was struggling with her bag (she has back issues) and her teacher asked her if she was okay. DD apparently told her that she needed to take her bag off, sit down, have an ice cream and have a cry! Bless her. I asked if she was okay and she just said "yes, I now understand why you cry at the end of your races!" All your emotions have to come out somehow! 

Busy week last week. DD actually loved the top I made her so that was a win! DH has been in the garden every evening this week. He started cutting down some overgrown bits in the corner of the garden and found about 6ft of garden hiding behind it. We had no idea how far back it went! This garden continues to surprise us! 

We also (finally) had confirmation from our electricity provider that we are on the right tariff to earn from our solar panels. We've worked out that it should cover our gas costs over the summer to put us in credit ready for the winter. If we are careful with the heating over winter then energy costs shouldn't be too much of an issue for us. Fingers crossed for a good summer! 

starnac

I have a week off work this week as it's half term. We plan to split the week and spend time doing things in the house, things in the garden and fun things. So I'm going to make a list of things to get done this week

List of stuff for A/L week

* Sort out boxes downstairs - 3 done
* Move treadmill
* Move white units to where treadmill was
* Clean out chicken coop
* List some items on FB Mark3tpl4ce
* Change one S/O to lower amount
* Tidy front room
* Haircuts tomorrow
* Soil in last planter
* Payday tomorrow - check banks
* Washing
* Line dry with the nice weather
* DD's curtains up

starnac

Hope you are all having a good bank holiday?

It's been a strange but productive one here. DH has been down in the garage/his workshop making some kind of storage thing for the downstairs conservatory to keep it tidier. I've been in the other room downstairs sorting through some craft/bits and pieces boxes that have been sitting there since we moved in. I have a pile of stuff to get rid of now. I will list a lot of it on Mark3tpl4ce I think. I've also got 3 bags of clothes that I might see if it's worth taking to one of those weighing places.

I've managed to empty 3 big boxes so I'm pretty pleased. 

The kids have been upstairs in their bedrooms. DD is tidying her room so that her dad can get to her windows to put up the new curtain rails and curtains, and DS has been in his room making games with his coding stuff. 

Karmacat

Sounding good, starnac.  Except ... where are the fun things in the list?  You *know* they're important  

EssexHebridean

That does sound really productive - DH finding an extra 6' of garden back there made me chuckle though! 

Great plan to list out all the necessary stuff for the week - then once those are done you know that the rest of the time is your own don't you - well, you do so long as your list doesn't keep growing as you thinking of "just one thing..." anyway! 

starnac

Karmacat said:

Sounding good, starnac.  Except ... where are the fun things in the list?  You *know* they're important  

Ah yes. They are very important. The fun things include SUPing for DD and her friends with DH while DS and I sit in a café in the dry! Also an evening visit to the beach (so that we can take the dog) and also some crafting. 

Karmacat

You're right, they sound lovely!  Have fun 🌈

starnac

Morning all. We had a lovely day yesterday. The hairdresser came and gave us all long overdue haircuts. DS looks like a completely different boy now! That only cost us £25 for the 3 of us (bargain) then we all pottered about til DH came home. Once he was home we got in the car and headed for the beach. Even though it was pushing 6pm there were still a lot of people there as it was still nice and warm. We walked over the cliffs above the beach and saw some rabbits playing not far from us. 

Afterwards we headed back to the car and I told the kids if they were willing to do a bit of hard work I would promise it would be worth it. They grumbled a bit but agreed. So I drove us over to a different beach a bit further up. This beach is surrounded by sand dunes, including the biggest one in Wales (apparently), I have run this route a few times and I know some local-ish sports teams use it as training. The kids were not keen on walking up it, especially DD who absolutely refused as she "hates sand" but she eventually started to follow us up. I originally said that one of us would wait at the bottom with the dog and we would take it in turns but I somehow took the wrong path out of the car park so we came at it from a different angle and ended up at the top anyway. 

As we stood at the top looking down DS couldn't believe I expected him to run all the way down it. I told him he couldn't hurt himself as it is just sand, just if he fell on the way down, make sure he closed his mouth! DS and I set off together and he loved it, then DH came down with the dog, (he dropped her lead and she just ran to me and DS) which just left DD at the top. Well she ran down it and loved it! She videoed herself running down and she smiled the whole time. 

It is just so freeing to be able to run so fast with no fear of falling over. They all absolutely loved it and I'm so proud of them for doing it. 

We didn't get home til gone 10pm and almost went straight to bed. It's currently 9am and DS is still in bed which is unheard of!

Karmacat

What a wonderful, memorable day!  Beautiful.

EssexHebridean

Ahh what a brilliant thing with the dune! So great for their confidence too - knowing that they've done a thing that initially scared them!  Glad you had a wonderful day!