Yesterday we had planned to clear out the garage but it was grey and drizzly and just didn’t feel like the sort of day to be out of the house really. The kids worked through the piles of stuff up in the loft space in Davies’ old room while Ady and I ticked another thing off our ever shortening job lists and went through our list of tools we think we’ll need to get started on Rum and put them into an amazon wishlist. It helped to jog our memories of other stuff we hadn’t thought of but will need and gives us an initial list to work from to check prices elsewhere.
After much tea drinking we went upstairs to do an hours sorting with the kids. First on the agenda was seeing how many cuddly toys we could fit into one of the massive-est vacuum bags The Range sell. £6 for one big enough to fit at least two of us in (depending which two, probably not Ady and I!). We fitted a huge pile in and sucked it down to almost flat, very impressed with that even though the effort overheated our cheap and very substandard basics Argos hoover that we bought for about £20 when we got the house back. It did recover once it cooled down 🙂 We’ll get another couple for the soft toys which can then go back in the loft here while the house is rented, and several more to take to Rum for clothes, bedding etc. as they will keep stuff sealed from damp and squish it up small to save space.
We had lunch, tidied up in the bedroom and loaded some stuff into the car ready for the tip /charity shop on Monday. The kids went round the shop together to buy milk – they’ve been desperate to do that ever since we got back here, definitely wanting to explore independance.
Ady and I both had baths, the kids packed up overnight stuff and then Bruce arrived with the horse box. He’d been cleaning it up, testing lights and brakes and wheels and took it for a run so thought he’d bring it over here. Fab to see it and actually get inside. It’s huge and will be perfect for the moving and storage afterwards – really pleased 🙂 🙂 We told Bruce we want to give him the Sharan to say thank you and he was really pleased with that so another unwanted thing of ours passed on to someone who will use it. Hurrah 🙂
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We chatted to Bruce and then he left and we headed over to Mum & Dad’s, via Sainsburys for wine and Guinness supplies for the evening, Baileys for my Mum’s mothers day gift and for Ady and the kids to veer off and select a couple of top secret purchases for me :). Only Dad was home so we waved the kids off for their first ever sleepover at Granny & Grandad’s and left. Scarlett has only ever been away from us for one night before, several years ago at Ali’s. Davies did Badger camp of course but sleepovers are really not a big feature of their lives without us although they are of course very used to sleeping in all sorts of places with us. They rang me at 11pm to say goodnight and had a really nice evening with my parents :).
We had a great evening too. The food was Irish themed – leek and potato soup, steak and kidney pie and colcannon mash, chocolate and Irish whiskey mousse with Irish coffees and Baileys afterwards, Guinness and white wine with the meal. Mike and Rose had invited another couple as they often do and when the first half an hour was a conversation about their daughter not getting into their first choice secondary school and their appeal process and general middle class educational angst I thought we were in for a rather tedious evening but it all livened up when they learnt more about us and our adventures and Home Ed. They were lovely actually – he was a film editor back in pre computer days and left when it all got more IT and less creativity to work in homeless shelters and similar places with socially disadvantaged people. He currently works with learning difficulty young adults in residential care on life skills and a level of independant living. Really interesting bloke. She was also lovely, child of very bohemian and hippy parents who loves the idea of our lives but couldn’t live without her hair straighteners! We had a fab evening with them, they left around 1130pm, Rose got broken and had to go to bed and we stayed chatting to Mike until around 2am as he has just been accepted on a teacher training course starting in September so is very excited about that.
We walked home and I remember looking at the clock at about 430am so when I woke again and it was 830am I didn’t feel fantastic!
Today we had a slowish start, taking advantage of a child free house to drink lots of tea and not get up. We finally headed over to Mum & Dad;s about 1030am and Scarlett was still not awake! The kids had both made me cards for Mothers Day which were fab.
Mum & I went to collect some more plastic boxes from her shop and pick up Granny who was coming up for the day, then we all had lunch. Ady cooked dinner, pheasant casserole which was delicious and after a restorative and medicinal slug of brandy in my tea at about 1pm I started to feel more like myself again!
Caz, Bid and the boys popped over to collect a van full of stuff – they took the kids old beds, the sofas, the table and chairs, boxes of kitchen stuff, our breadmaker and toaster and loads of unwanted crockery and cutlery. So good to give it to someone who needs it, wants it and will actually use it 🙂 I had a lovely text from Caz to say it all makes their new house feel like a home 🙂 🙂 There is a little bit more (TV, TV unit, freezers and chiller) which they will take next weekend.
We had dinner and left, dropping Granny home again to get home here for about 10pm. I had a bath while the others watched Robin Hood (animated Disney version). Our rythyms of our days are all messed up and I’m looking forward to getting into a home with bedrooms and some semblance of order.
It’s been a good weekend – friends, good deeds, nice food and interesting company, family and now, blissfully I’m intending to sleeeeeeeep!