The Big Five Oh..... extended!!!

I had such a wonderful day yesterday, that I have decided to extend it! I don't know what all the fuss is about I mean 'five Oh' is just a number! Had I been having my party this would have been easy but instead I shall enjoy the party atmosphere in my house



with glittery things on the carpet



cards and gifts by the window




flowers




and beautiful balloons!!!



but best of all it means I can have birthday cake for breakfast

The Big Five Oh!

It is turning out to be a rather special day!



I have tickets to Chelsea Flower Show, I have always wanted to go! 2 nights B & B so we can get there early and fall into bed when we get back! £50 in garden vouchers which will go a long way towards creating my bee garden!!!

Plus 6 beautiful cards some full of glittery things

and the postman hasn't even been yet!

Stuff!

I am missing the snow. I loved it!



And, a nice man came and cleaned my oven today in preparation for my now cancelled party on Saturday!!!



now all I need to do is wash the floor!!!

Out of Sorts!

My dear adopted sister J (my neighbour from my childhood home) sent me the sadest of emails yesterday, Her youngest son (16) died on Thursday after a short illness. I have no comprehension of what she is going through but I know it has affected me, as I never seem to stop thinking about it.
Being a parent I think it hits you hard, but 16 for goodness sake!

Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you wake in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die!



Mary Frye (1932)

Snow Day, Number 2

Yesterday was the first day in the 20 years of living here that hubby and T had a 'Snow Day'! T's college along with most of the schools in Wiltshire where closed. The roads where really rather dangerous for driving and as we already have one car off the road and still waiting for an insurance claim to be dealt with (the accident occurred 31st October last year) we couldn't afford to go down by another car!



So we played Snowman and Snowcat building with my good friend Annie and her husband Richard



This is Annie making a Snow Angel



and here is one T made earlier!


Snowball fights



Today we woke up and there was even more snow! You can see in the earlier pic around the snowcat and snow man how we had kicked up the snow well you can see how much more has fallen here!



The road has been used mainly by tractors, but is treacherous as it had frozen underneath.




Tonight they forecast -5 to -10 shock!!!



I have become very sleepy, I'm not sure if its a hibernation thing, but I could sleep for England at the mo!!

UK Snow

Everyone moans about snow in the UK! How the country grinds to a halt! The airports can't run fully, the roads aren't gritted, the schools are shut etc etc.



It really really annoys me. When I was a youngster, we used to regularly, well more often than we do now, get snow in winter. People just got on with it. Schools where never shut, playgrounds had icy slides the children had made. Health and Safety was not heard of. Mums where at home in case of any accidents and life was brill!



Now the counties run out of salt for gritting the roads, and that's after a couple of days of snow. I came home from Swindon on a sheet of glass, last night, as no one had gritted. I passed a young girl of about T's age who had pulled in and probably had no idea how to drive in such treacherous conditions. Well we don't need to teach them how too as these conditions so rarely happen!



Buses don't run because its too dangerous, but what they really worry about is someone suing them for Health & Safety reasons because something is wet, icy or just to darn slippy!



Sadly a young girl was killed sledging yesterday, no doubt some silly law will come in to stop children sledging! We have to take some risks otherwise where is the fun in life.



Other countries cope! Yes they do but then they have snow falls most winters and so have all the equipment. I would go out and buy chains for tyres, special boots for walking, I would pay for my girls to learn to skid too, if I knew this was going to be a regular occurrence.



So stop moaning UK, take your time, walk slowly, drive slowly and enjoy this very rare occurrence!

Rant over!!!

The whole, yes the WHOLE of my house is going to be cleaned! All my carpets cleaned, curtains, duvets, pillows, walls, ceilings, suites, lamps, you name it, it will be cleaned, because of smoke damage! If the carpet in the lounge and in fact the walls and ceiling don't clean up well enough I will get a new carpet and be redecorated!!

Now I didn't think it was quite that bad but it is! Excellent says I, thinking I won't need to clean the house before my party........ WRONG

This is the culprit



my chimney needs to be reboarded



and it can't be done in time, hrmph. So instead I will get it all spring cleaned afterwards!!

Fire!

The weather is turning colder here in the UK. Apparently we will be getting the biggest snowfall for 18 years!!! In our 180year old cottage it is difficult to eliminate all the drafts (giraffes)so to prepare for this I lit the front fire yesterday! For some unknown reason it took off like I have never seen it, before



It was soooooooo cold, even Jake took to bed!





During the day, we had an awful smell of smoldering wood, which got worse and worse! My neighbours have a wood burner and only burn wood and I wondered if somehow the smoke was coming through as we share chimneys. Sadly no.

By the afternoon it was so bad, we decided to shovel out the fire. Which involves basically using a shovel to scoop out the fire into the ashcan and carrying a red hot ashcan outside, praying to goodness the bottom doesn't drop out! Then raking out the rest so it goes out!

This appeared to make things better, and whilst it cooled we went through to the kitchen to eat our dinner!

After dinner I came back through and the lounge was full of smoke, the stove was cool to touch but the chimney board which blocks the chimney was red hot!



we called the fire brigade! They came as you can see, and pulled out the board and in one corner was a small pile of soot which was smouldering! They checked the whole of the chimney, up through the house with there 'thermal imaging camera' and found that to be fine. They then proceeded to sweep the chimney.

I am fanatical about 'fire safety' as I have two solid fuel appliances in the centre of my house and get the chimneys swept every year without fail.

Anyway they said it was very obvious that I have had the chimney swept. Tidied up and left.

They did a brilliant job and I thank them from the bottom of my heart as there was no way we could have dealt with it.

But..........



my lounge is covered in soot and cinders and stinks and to be honest I'm not sure where to begin! So I shall call my sweep and see if he can recommend someone to come and refit the flue and board. I will then phone the insurance company and see whether they can help with the costs of this and cleaning the carpet, curtains and suite. I will keep you posted!

I have been away visiting my mum, hence the lack of blog posts, but I put all the names in a hat



of everyone who entered my giveaway and the winner was......



Lottie!
These will be winging there way to you, once I can get to the post office!