Me Myself and I

 As our daughters are now all grown up and have their own families, we decided to be different this year and go away for Christmas. This was planned before covid overtook all our lives but we were fortunate enough to be going from a tier 2 area to another tier 2 area. The Lake District was our choice and it was fabulous, a cosy old cottage with all mod cons, in the middle of nowhere. We had a brilliant time.

 The builders are making mud pies. Big ones. Actually they are digging footings and building a wall. The house is dusty, the dogs are dusty, I am dusty. The robo vac is earning its keep, with much bleeping to be emptied. Our drive looks like a branch of Wickes and the compost bin has a healthy layer of builders tea bags.

....and with it the confused ramblings of an idiot. AKA our dear Pm, the man is a joke. How letting us have some family time at Crimble was ever considered a good idea is beyond me. I would rather have a non-event than more dead people. Enough. In daily life things are quiet and calm, well as calm as they can ever be with two daft dogs and a messy husband. The mud levels in the bungalow are quite amazing, the husband always seems to forget at least one dog paw when he's drying them, so the kitchen looks quite odd with single pawprints decorating the floors and walls. I need a house that I can jetwash inside. I am knitting a lot, mainly to decrease my stash as we have building work starting soon and we need space to store stuff. The manky old conservatory will finally come crashing to the ground (shouldn't need much of a push) and a new bedroom and en-suite will replace it....hopefully! Watch this space.

Octember is almost but not quite November. A bit like life at the mo- nearly normal but not quite- but for how long? I don't have any faith in the Blonde Fool and his creepy friends, but I obey whatever the latest rules are. We had a short break in Richmond, Yorkshire. The weather was foul but the scenery was magnificent and the dogs enjoyed swimming in the River Swale We have the granddaughter today, she is huge fun and very talkative just like her mummy! She is a proper Pappys girl, Nanny is only useful for providing food! But that's fine hehe. Here she is looking for rain. We may venture out to the park later, complete with two dogs and a pushchair, we must be mad. I have a cold but not covid so that's good, no doubt husband will catch the cold and turn into a shivering wreck. Well that's something to look forward to.....

Malcolm and Keith waiting for their mini pork pies to celebrate Malc's first birthday. Our apple tree blew over, so many apples need using up. First attempt at apple chutney. It took hours and cost a bloody fortune- all for FOUR bloody jars of chutney. They had better taste fabulous!  Our darling grandaughter braving the big slide! Much persuading by Nanny and Pappy. I now look after her on Fridays and boy, she keeps me busy! She has just turned two and is in the "Curious" phase.  She peers at everything and points a lot. Thanks to her mummy and daddy, she is also well behaved and a really good eater. I did however notice a little pout when she was told off, It was like looking at her mummy all over again. Me and husband chops sleep like the dead on Friday nights😀😀😀

That's the only problem with holidays- the amount of washing they create, still it's finally all ironed and put away. Life in the shire is good, people seem quite sensible about masks and distancing which is as it should be.  I have been working up a sweat in the garden, weeding, pruning, planting, and most importantly planning! As we reach the two year anniversary of the start of our insurance claim, things are slowly happening. Which means at some point I will be able to redesign the middle third of our garden, which is where the collapsing conservatory is sited. I won't be holding my breath though.   We have also had a major clear out of the bungalow and have sold about £800 of crap, sorry, quality items on various websites. The temptation to buy more crap has to be resisted, a clear space to live in is good. The clear out also prompted some painting. Our internal french doors were a dirty white, which is not a good idea with two dogs, so I decided to do a proper job- sa...

A fab holiday in North Yorkshire. Six adults, three dogs and a toddler. It was brilliant👍👍

As well as our two mutts, we are joined today by the youngest daughter's dog. Much fur everywhere!

Brandy seems a good choice in these strange times, cake too.

....Lockdown. A word I used to associate with t.v. prison drama. Now it's our life.  I'm doing my best to comply with our great leaders' rules, even though I think he's a posh twat. I hope to come out of the other end of this alive, unlike the poor sods who have already died.  In the meantime, I am making things, gardening, and trying to eat healthily. Gin does seem a good idea for breakfast though...           A photo of a dolls house I am renovating.

It was fabulous.

The longest January is finally over and now we have Feb-with sunshine yay! I have finished another dolls house, Hubster made a light out of the eldest daughter's clarinet. I sorted out a yarn barf and hubster made some cupboard doors. The dogs just slept!

....or at least it feels like it has. Cold and dull or wet and dull, what a choice. Hibernation seems like a good idea. Christmas was crap, I had a bug for about six weeks and felt grim for the whole festive period. I'm drawing a line under the whole snotty mess.    Nothing doing in the garden as it's too wet to dig, plus we are waiting for more men to peer at the councils' trees and say " Oh yes that's what has destroyed your conservatory". This saga is now in its 17th month!!!    Dogs are getting on fine, Malcolm dipped his toes in the lake yesterday and then ran away in terror. Keith just bounces in with no regard for his own safety. I just dry wet paws and get covered in mud. A lot of mud.    Well, this is bloody tedious even for me, I shall go and make coffee.