One word? When seven would do…

So is Willow our first or second home? Osborne Drive – where does that come? I was about to claim FabBabs as Our Second Home and them remembered that actually Mich and Marcus have made us very welcome in their home and I feel just as able to bimble around their kitchen to make a cup of tea or shove a load of washing in the machine there too. And then all those places we lived at last year … we’re off to Neil and Sue’s on Saturday and Sue has already told me I’ll be baking daily bread while we’re at home at their house.

I’d not realised the post below had been saved in draft from Sunday night so I’ve released that, which explains why Babs and Kirsty didn’t know all about the Earthship already, because I’d not actually blogged it yet, not because they don’t read my blog 😉 😉

Anyway, a bit of a catch up post before I likely go AWOL again.

Monday we were up early, packed the car up and manage to leave within half an hour of the time I’d planned to be away by. We did manage to forget the kids wellies though – they have always just lived in the back of the car so are not something we are good at remembering to put in, but thanks to all the tip runs over the last week they were – and still are – in the garage. We were far enough from home upon realising that the price of new wellies was less than the cost of petrol and time for returning home to collect them. We reasoned with our kids form on getting the insides of their wellies wet a reserve pair each would be a fairly good investment given how regularly worn wellies are in our family.

We had a really good run to Stockwood, where we’d arranged a snatched hour with Chloe and Michelle. Cuddles, super quick catch up, handover of a couple of parcels we’d had sent there during our period of homelessness and uncertainty over new year, and a walk in the pretty snowy gardens. I’ve missed Mich lots – 6 weeks is a long time not to see someone when you’ve lived with them 😉

Back in the car and ever northwards to FabBabs’, arriving at theirs within a very short space of time of them getting home :). Tea and cake, play and chats ensued. Babs had done the much raved about slow cooker curry – we all decided it was nice but not really ‘curry’ as we’d define it (it would never have cut it on Spicey Saturday).

People drifted off to bed with Babs and I the last at around 3am, having had very high brow conversations about alcohol, parenting, money and more. We can do serious and grown up 😉

Tuesday – a nice late start 🙂 Much needed after a weeks worth of alarm wake ups for various things including Gitting Fencing and Troublesome Gates. Unfortunately the latenessset us back all day. Chris had found a pair of wellies to lend Davies but Scarlett, who can be quite selective about the wellies she wears (they may not be pink, purple, flowery, contain characters or have heels or cute little handles. They must be green, perhaps dark blue or black. They have to come up to just below her knee and Dunlop is her brand of choice. They are workwear dammit, not fashion items!) There is much about her refusal to compromise and insistance on getting her needs properly met that I admire, am proud of and congratulate her (and I) on. On this particular occassion maybe a little flexibility would have been good 😉 She was not in an easy going mood really – the leaving Humphrey behind is a real wrench for her and she has suffered most with the cold we’ve all had. Ady is just about over the cough but Scarlett had relapsed rather and was coughing, snotty and all the late nights and outside time in snow (with no socks and undone coat worn over thin T shirts) had caught up with her I think.

Fortunately Alex was up for a loan of some compromisably suitable wellies (not really high enough but at least green) so that was solved when Ady and Chris took Scarlett off for welly shopping and to collect Kirsty, Alex and Marcus.

Babs was cooking Many Pancakes while I mostly distracted her so when they all arrived back we tucked in to those. Well most of us did. In the ever changing numbers of people, particularly children, one who was in the shower got overlooked and came down, wet haired and fragrant to claim her share of pancakes only to find they were already contained within the rest of us 🙁 Sorry Beth 🙁

We’d just about cleared up breakfast and sat down with a cup of tea when Jo, Tamsin and Isabelle arrived. So lovely to see them all – it was fab to have a proper, not too big a group chat with Jo 🙂 All too soon they had to head off (lunch was more afternoon tea really) so Babs got the mulled wine on and we settled in for the evening.

Large all sorts of food but not enough pizza (thanks to someone snaffling two slices before it even hit the table :oops:) dinner and some Goodbye To Humphrey-ness before Kirsty, James, Marcus and Alex headed off taking Humphrey with them. Scarlett immediately went rapidly downhill with tears, much snot and coughing and ended up having a dreadful night. I sat with her til she slept at about 11pm but she woke again and after half an hour sitting with her I woke Ady to swap with me and he sat up with her for a couple of hours in the end. 🙁

Today was The Long Drive to Scotland. We hit the white on blue cross at pretty much the midway point in our 7.5 hour journey but we came as far as Fort William today, the closest we could get to Mallaig for tomorrow morning without spending a fortune on guest house prices at half term.

We only stopped twice, briefly, thanks to Babs providing us with food for the journey. Once at services for a loo break for Tarly and I where I gleefully discovered vending machines selling tea and coffee at sensible prices (as in £1 each) and once at Loch Lomond, only an hour from our destination for both kids to use the loo.

Ady and Davies went off to Morrisons (literally across the road) to pick up some food while Tarly had a bath and I unpacked and repacked all our stuff ready for the two weeks away, then I brushed her hair which was in an almighty tangle thanks to tossing and turning with being poorly. She looks almost respectable now for tomorrow 😉

We ate, the rest of us had baths and now the kids are asleep – both before 10pm! and Ady and I are roasting in the tropical temperature of the room – the thermostat says it’s 24 in here but I can’t get it to turn down and no heating appears to be on so presumably it’s just the heat of us, having had baths and a well insulated building. I’ve opened the window a smidge so fingers crossed it cools down through the night.

In the car today we talked a bit about how we’re feeling. Ady is nervous but the rest of us are all excited. It feels like this has been a long time coming. We have plenty of energy and enthusiasm for getting on with the next bit really so it’s a big relief to actually feel as though something is happening towards that now.