summer

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments – Ash in a Box

July 19, 2020 by Anne Sweet 8 Comments

It’s been a while since we had a photo of Ash. Here he is curled up in my old wool box. It’s Ash in a box!

I bought the box to store my wool down my the side of my chair. It’s made of a leatherette type material and comes with a lid so can double as a pouffe, or extra seat. Ash loved it right from the start and used it as a scratching post. I kept turning it around to hide the scratches but in the end he’d made such a mess of it that I decided to replace it.

No sooner had I emptied out my wool stash Ash was in the box like a shot. Perhaps that’s what he’d wanted all along. To him, this was his box and he was ready to claim it. So much for me getting rid of it, it’s now Ash’s new bed.

He’s a cutie though, you have to admit.

In Other News

School is out for Summer! I guess that means I don’t have to worry about struggling to get the kids to complete their work each day. They are already looking forward to going back to school in September. Fingers crossed this virus stays low so it can happen.

Boo celebrated by going to spend an hour with her friend. We were going to invite her around for Boo’s birthday but when she begged to see her sooner we couldn’t say no.

Star left the house after 116 days. She went with her Dad to Mc Donald’s drive through, so she didn’t even have to get out of the car. It was a change of scenery though.

We have decided that we will start to leave home regularly each week now. We need the fresh air and exercise. You won’t be finding us anywhere crowded though.

Happy Holidays!

More Ash

Word of the Week #30 2019

July 26, 2019 by Anne Sweet 6 Comments

Hello and welcome to the home of Word of the Week, a nice and simple weekly linky, with everyone welcome to pop by and share. The idea of the linky is to reflect back on your past week and share it with us. It’s great if you can sum it up in a word or phrase, hence giving us your Word of the Week. My word this week is Sleep and you can read more about that below.

I’m not totally strict on using just a word or phrase but please try to stick to the theme of summing up your week.

There are not too many rules with this linky, just remember to read at least another couple of posts in the link up after adding your link. I will read and comment on all posts and tweet them out for you. I also have a Pinterest board devoted to Word of the Week and I will add posts to Mix Please add the badge below to your post so that others may find us and join in. If you comment or tweet then please use the hashtag #WotW

Word of the Week is open from 6am on Friday Morning to 12 noon on Monday. Plenty of time to join in!

If you are unfamiliar with the Word of the Week linky then please feel free to ask any questions. New linkers are always welcome, we love to hear what you have been up to in the past week.

MY WORD OF THE WEEK.

Sleep

I’m probably not on my own when I say it’s been too hot to sleep lately. But I think I can go a little further than that.

First up, on Sunday night I managed to get an upset stomach. All night long! It meant I barely got any sleep at all. I was due in the hospital for my treatment on Monday but I had to postpone until Thursday. I can’t risk passing bugs on to other sick patients.

Monday night was a little better healthwise, but the kids rooms are East facing so they get the early morning sun an it’s waking them up at silly o’clock every day. Also, I did get woken up a couple of times during the night with complaints of being too hot. I can’t put a fan in the girl’s room so I’m thinking of getting them cooling pads for their beds.

Tuesday was the night of Storms. Now, because I’d been having such poor sleep I took a little extra medication to knock me out. I love a good storm so I wasn’t worried about being woken up by them. I didn’t account for it being so bad it woke the kids up, well, two of them anyway. So I had both Boo and the Little Man in bed with me because they were scared and I was barely concious. I saw a couple of flashes and heard a rumble or two, but that was it. Thankfully, the kids were quite happy just to be next to me and didn’t need any more. As soon as the storm was over they went back to their own beds. I don’t even remember.

Where was their Dad you may be thinking? (or not.) Well, he was part of the time outside with the neighbours enjoying the view, or stuck inside his shed making cool lightening videos.

lightening at night — *Photo by Duncan Maloney on Unsplash*

Early Mornings

Wednesday night was better, well, it began better. I remember waking up at 5am and feeling excited that I’d managed to sleep through until then, I’d not been woken by storms, kids, pain or even toilet needs! So, I curled up and tried to go back to sleep. This involved having to shove the husband on to his other side so his snoring was not right in my ear.

Then I was trying to block out the sound of the bird song, or my trick of trying to make it sound like a gentle melody to soothe me back to sleep. It didn’t work.

Then at 5.30am Star came into the room ranting that her room was way too hot to sleep any longer. I told her just try for 1/2 hour more. Then at 5.45am The Little Man came into bed with me. I did actually manage to go back to sleep…until 6.15am when Boo came in and told me that she and Star were getting up without me. At 6.30am the Little Man got up and I decided to give up and get up with them. So yes, I did manage 5 1/2 hours un-interrupted sleep which was good. But, I’m longing for those long dark winter nights and mornings already.

Now it’s your turn to tell us what you’ve been up to this week.

First the badge;

Raisie Bay

Instructions: Select all code above, copy it and paste it inside your blog post as HTML

My previous word of the week was Change

Summer Time, and the Livin’ is Easy

July 22, 2019 by Anne Sweet 10 Comments

One of these Mornings, You’re Gonna Rise up Singing

Not this morning though! The first official day of the school summer holidays and I was going to be spending it in hospital having my treatment. The kid’s were going to visit Grandma who lives near the hospital. And I was going to get the ‘juice’ that would keep me going for the next four weeks. But….

I woke up with a tummy bug instead and had to cancel my appointment.

No worries though, I’ll be there on Thursday instead. And then we can begin our Summer holidays properly.

And You’ll Spread Your Wings and Rise Up to the Sky

Hey, for someone who can’t walk, flying would be a great option. But as I’ve admitted before, I’m no SuperWoman.

But we will be spreading our wings this summer and we have some lovely activities planned.

On Saturday, Boo celebrates her 12th birthday with a party tea and some friends around. We will be making her a cake, which she’ll probably design herself.

last year's birthday cake — *Boo’s Birthday Cake from last year which she made herself*

Next week we have trips planned to the Wildlife Conservation Centre and then an afternoon meeting some exotic animals. This is all thanks to a local SEND Social group, so we’ll be meeting some new friends too.

Can I ask you a favour, it’ll only take a minute? Our SEND social group does such a lot for Special Educational Needs and Disability kids in our area and they are up for some funding from Love Brum. If you could please give them a vote on this page we would be so grateful.

Fish are Jumping, and the Cotton is High

Okay, maybe I’m pushing it a bit with the lyrics now. But we will be going on holiday just after The Little Man’s birthday. (we’ve not quite decided what to do on his birthday just yet.)

We are off to Cornwall, right down to the very tip were the sea will be blue and hopefully the sky will be too. We are also meeting up with some friends for a day on the beach, and I’m hiring a beach wheelchair so I can go right up to the sea.

I am hoping for a nice peaceful holiday. There will be plenty for the kids to do as we are staying on a holiday camp with lots of entertainment. But really, I just hope we can relax for most of the time. The kids are great at keeping themselves entertained and it can be hard work getting them to leave the caravan. But this year I don’t care, so long as I can relax with a sea view then I’ll be happy.

Hush Little Baby, Don’t You Cry

So, although we have a few activities planned. And a total of three birthday’s to get through. (It’ll be Star’s 14th Birthday when we get back from Cornwall…I mananged to squeeze the holiday in between the birthday’s this year.) I am hoping that the main theme this summer will be peace and quiet.

On the inbetween days we have a schedule of less screen time and more time reading books and playing board games. We have a new Switch as a shared birthday present so I guess the laptops will be ditched in favour of this. Also, The Little Man is getting some great garden gifts for his birthday (I can’t really say what here just in case he gets nosey.) And Star has requested a very interesting board game for her birthday. (Again, hush!) Plus, I’ve been asked to review a board game! I don’t think the screen will get much of a look in!

Oh, and we are also having a go at trying some new tastes throughout the holiday. We haven’t started yet, but I plan to as soon as I feel better. And I’ve challenged the kids to learn something new. Boo has already started by learning how to crochet. (Note how she’s still listening to her tablet. I can’t complain, I’ve normally got Audible playing while I crochet.

My Sunday Photo – 26th August 2018

August 26, 2018 by Anne Sweet 16 Comments

Oh Deer!

We have just got back from our holiday in South Devon where we had a fabulous week. I’m seriously playing catch up now, but seeing as I missed my Sunday photo last week, I didn’t want to miss again.

I have hundreds of photos to sift through and I had very little time to choose my favourite. So, for now I’m going to share some photos of the deer we got up close and personal with.

We were visiting The World of Country Life in Exmouth and there is a a deer train which takes you right into the middle of a field of deer that you can feed.

I’ve already posted about our trip there. It was one of the highlights of our week. We also had loads of fun on the beach, in parks, arcades and lots of swimming. It was a fun packed week in which we even got to see an Abba tribute. I’m sure I’ll be featuring more of our holiday in the coming weeks.

Everywhere You Go, You Always Take the Weather With You.

We were very lucky weather wise. After the heatwave earlier in the year I was annoyed that I’d booked our break so late this year. We usually go away in early June, and would have been on holiday in the heatwave. However, I decided I’d like to go in the main school holidays this year, just for a change.

We did have a lovely week. It was warm enough not to wear our woollies or coats even in the evening. It was hot enough to spend two lovely days on the beach, paddling and making sandcastles. And it rained only twice. The first time was late evening and it was only a little shower, the second was midday on Tuesday, it was a downpour but didn’t last very long and the sun came out again afterwards. Just a rogue rain cloud.

Now we are home and the weather has been pretty dismal. I think we got away just in time. The girls have just one full week off school, but they don’t go back until the Thursday the week after. I think that’s enough time, I’ve yet to get their uniforms!

My Sunday Photo – 27th May 2018

May 27, 2018 by Anne Sweet 7 Comments

The Big Bounce!

I don’t have a fancy camera, I took this on my phone by keeping my finger on the button and taking a burst of 24 photos. This meant I could get some fabulous action shots like this one of my girl bouncing in the air.

Can you believe, we’ve had this trampoline since December but have only managed to put it up in our garden. Thanks to all the snow and miserable weather our garden has been like a swamp. Now it’s all dried out and the grass has been cut (and partially destroyed) so it was a good time to get it out.

The kids have always wanted a trampoline and we got this one from Big Game Hunters it’s an 8ft Orbisphere with enclosure and it’s currently on offer for just £100. My kids are going have loads of fun on this all summer.

There are lots of times when we can’t get away from home because either mine or Star’s illnesses, so it’s great to bee able to provide the kids with lots of entertainment in our own back garden. Yes, I would like a pretty garden full of flowers and ornaments, but for now I’ll be happy with the swings, slide and trampoline which make my garden look more like a park. Sometimes I miss my old garden, it was so much bigger and I had room for both.

Is your garden full of flowers or toys?

Subscribe to blog via Email