Another finish.

I have finished this baby ripple blanket, there are just a few ends to sew in, most were weaved in as I did my crochet stitches. Now to cast on the blue one, these are so relaxing to make, I not sure if I have enough yarn, might have to make a trip to a local-ish shop. Which ever one is not needed I will ask daughter if she knows anyone who would love it. 

I was given this book to read, and told it's funny, he does swear a bit but his writing style is really amusing, I did enjoy it, book 27 this year.

Last Saturday I was given some cut flowers, the lady knows I do love Peonies, these  are beginning to open, they are just so pretty. I do grow them in the garden, but would never cut the blooms for inside. It's a rare treat for me to have real cut flowers inside.

This Orchid has the title of being the most amazing Orchid I have ever had, purchased back at the end of January, these blooms still look brilliant, not 1 has dropped yet. 

I have had this Orchid in the corner of our sitting room for years, a couple of years ago, I got the silk flower stem, and it does look real, so I am truly pleased to see 2 new flower stems on it. Once the buds are bigger I will remove the silk ones and allow it to have it's moment of bloom. 

 I've not been far since the weekend, we got our exterior paint at B&Q, the grey is a bit lighter than I wanted, but I wasn't going to pay loads extra for a different brand, just for a different shade, we had to get a huge tub of white as well. Hubby has been cleaning the paint off the drain pipes, each one was the horrible brown colour and filling a few spots. I'm not allowed to help, so I did all the ironing, not my favourite task. 

Tuesday morning our group of ladies met for coffee at my neighbours house, so no driving, after hubby and I walked to the village to have a nice lunch out. The rest of the day was busy at home and a lazy evening. Whilst watching Bake off the professionals, an ad came on for The new season of Handmaid's Tale, which starts on this Sunday, I'm not really sure if this story is being drawn out too much, I will watch it and see what I think. 

Normally we would have George this morning whilst Will has his swimming lesson, but sadly George has picked up the sickness bug going around nursery, Will is coming to us instead, it's a risk I am willing to take so mummy can get some rest without a healthy 4 year old running around. Mummy has just a couple of weeks before we meet our grandchild. 

Tidy house

 Under the smaller window the work is done, under the big window it's ready to render, he worked hard to ensure all the loose stuff was removed and the wall was sealed, the green stuff will help the render stay on the wall whilst wet. 

The front is now finished, it just needs to dry, ready for painting, the finish is excellent, not a mark or ridge anywhere. We will now purchase the paint, we are going light grey on the new render, the rest will stay white. We can now move the pots back and 🤞🤞watch hubby's rose regrow.

 Hubby decided to dig out the small corner garden and replant, the box hedge had blight, it's a nice size, and as he gardens very differently than me, I can't wait to see what he plants, this area has not been changed for years. 

Side of the house outside our gates is almost dry, we keep our dustbins here along with the bottle recycling box and some plants, I have new pots for our plants. Once swept and everything back in place it should look good, I already have new growth on the clematis we cut back. 

These are my neighbours bricks, aren't they lovely, can you now understand how much I wanted to see them on our house, sadly she has decided to have her bricks covered the same as ours, at least I won't be jealous each time I see her house once these are covered.  

We are in no hurry to get all the outside painting done, hubby is redoing the downstairs bathroom, refreshing all paintwork and then in July we are having a new floor laid, the slate tiles have cracked and needs replacing. Hubby does like to keep busy, he is worse than me for being bored, I am hoping I can help, he is such a perfectionist, I think he will want to do it himself. 

We have new plant pots for the side of the house, the 2 eucalyptus plant pots have holes in the bottom and when we moved them the roots were poking out, so we got plastic pots (much lighter), no holes so the vigorous growth can't excape, hubby got a matching pot for his Heather's. Again not my choice, but it's his area, and as I have said before it's nice to have something different. 

Family time

Saturday was family time, Mummy, Daddy, Will and George, plus Grandma and Grandpa who we have not seen for over 12 months. We filled the paddling pool as we know Will loves water. Come closer daddy! 

This bigger scoot along bike is already Will's best toy outside, he was showing everyone how cool he looks. 

The smaller bike is now for George, he's not quite big enough, but that won't stop him. We got his shuttlebug bike out and he amazed us all but going forward on his own, clever little boy. 

Sat in the shade with George, just inside the house is our cat Purdy, who George loves. 

I managed to get a couple M&S toogoodtogo bags, we were both very happy with the contents, had tea one evening, 2 lunches each and some things for our BBQ, these bags are such good value. We did not eat the tuna snack packs, neither felt comfortable eating out of date raw fish. 

Friday we had friends in the garden for coffee, spent a lazy couple of hours chatting, it's the best feeling to have so much spare time. Mummy popped in with Will and George, who had their hair cut in our village barber, both boys look smart, mummy and daddy loves them to have short hair. 

Saturday was our BBQ, the weather was amazing, sunny and hot all day, plenty of shade on our decking under the pergola, Will went into the paddling pool 3 times, he loved it, later we used the water for our 3 trees in the garden. The evening was very quiet, just the 2 of us, the patio doors were open until late, another perfect day. It was lovely to see our SIL's parents, we have always gotten on well, just another perfect family time together. 

Today all we have planned is a trip to B&Q for exterior paint, the outside of our house is almost done, hubby will paint everywhere, not the huge task it sounds as we are in a bungalow. I am doing a quick tidy and clean, it's not too bad here, garden is just perfect, I am happy with everything outside, we have loads of leftovers for lunch and a simple tea planned later, so a lazy day. 

If nothing else, this pandemic and the lockdowns have shown us the value of family time, quiet hobbies, reading / sewing and knitting, watching birds on the garden feeders, life does feel good, we have no desire to travel. The life in the slow lane, which I dreaded whilst working is just fantastic. 

What are you doing?

I have made a blanket for the car/pushchair for both Will and George, so with baby number 3 due, it's time to start another, but I will be making 2 as yet we do not know if the baby is a boy or a girl.

I have always used Patons, Baby Smiles 4 ply, its 100% Acrylic, so very easy to keep clean and very lightweight, these are the leftovers I have in my stash. Sadly nowhere have I noted how much yarn I used, when I next see daughter I will weigh a blanket to give myself some idea, as yet I have not ordered any colours, I will start the pink based one 1st, I will also at the same time make the blue/green one, I will need more yarn. 

I am pleased with the start of this blanket, I will make it as much as I can before shopping for more yarn, I am trying not to have too much left over this time. I know my daughter would not just want pink and white, so I've added a few pale colours, I do like these colours together. 

2 more books read, these were from The Works, 3 for £5, both I enjoyed, both I did not find the ending any surprise, I have a Peter James book left to read. Books 25 and 26 read this year. 

More sweet peas from the garden, with a couple of daisies, 

I am very hopeful I have cracked growing sweet peas. 

My Christmas cactus has just 1 bud, I re-potted it earlier this year, it's still on the bathroom windowsill.

I took cutting from my cactus and now have more plants, the herbs in these pots did not do as well as I wanted, so hopefully these will have a pretty role in displaying these. 

Always at this time of year I have loads of different things on the go, the garden is my 1st place to be, but as I have said before I can't sit and do nothing, so crafting and reading helps fill my time. We both now enjoy our coffee breaks sat outside, in sun or shade, our new pergola works perfectly, we linger longer chatting together, after all the hard work in the garden over the past 11 years, we can now enjoy our outside space. 

It's another stay at home week, we have walked to local shops a couple of time, I was really pleased I popped corn flower seeds in last month and nothing came up, I love these blue flowers, so I was so pleased to get 3 plants in our local shop, I already have white daisies, and 1 small poppy plant, all in my raised bed, I love these 3 flowers together, I use them in my profile photo. I also have my sweet peas in the same raised bed, so maybe this summer I will get a corner full of colour. 

Youngest daughter is in her last 4 weeks of pregnancy, she is not feeling so good, been to local maternity unit a couple of times, we are all on standby, when the time comes, I will move into her house, much easier having the boys in their own environment, so exciting times are coming, so no idea if it's a boy or girl, either is great, but can you imagine how we will be if we finally get a girl after 8 grand sons, she might get spoilt a bit.