Roger and I had a short break away from it all at the weekend…

We did not travel too far afield, just incase there was a problem with the in-laws, but it was far enough away to be different…

We ate, slept, walked and talked…. spent some time on our own without a thought for all the stresses and strains of home and family.

The good news is that now, after four and a half months in hospital, Father in Law is now in a Nursing home fairly close to their home town. He was deemed too ill to be able to return home and it has been quite a stressful time for all really. But now he is being looked after in a lovely, brand new purpose built facility that, we hope, will also be suitable for Mother in Law to be able to join him as soon as we can get their house sold and all the red tape sorted…. don’t get me talking about the unfair funding system for the Elderly… it makes me so cross that someone with Alzheimers has to totally fund their care…. grrr… now calm down… breathe…in..out..in.. out.

Anyway, I thought I would share with you some photos from our minibreak…

Lucky us!!!!!

This is a bit spooky - far too accurate for comfort…….

Still, I have always LOVED Doris Day!!! What a compliment!

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz…

You Are a Doris!

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

It has been a beautiful Autumn day here today.

I took the doggie for a walk in our local park…

We are so lucky.. beach on one side, a country park on another, and a beautiful leafy municipal Park and garden just down the road.

Anyway.. this was where I spent an enjoyable “amble” with Tim the Greyhound this morning…

What a lovely way to spend some of my day off!!!

Housework now….

Here are the rules: I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others! The questions are as follows:

1. Where is your cell phone? table
2. Where is your significant other? here
3. Your hair colour? faded
4. Your mother? kind
5. Your father? improving
6. Your favorite thing? bed
7. Your dream last night? forgotten
8. Your dream/goal? happiness
9. The room you’re in? office
10. Your hobby? reading
11. Your fear? spiders
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? content
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you’re not? tidy
15. One of your wish-list items?
16. Where you grew up? Wales
17. The last thing you did? Ate
18. What are you wearing? Clothes
19. Your TV? Downstairs
20. Your pet? Dog
21. Your computer? buzzing
22. Your mood? upbeat
23. Missing someone? no
24. Your car? functioning
25. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
26. Favorite store? IKEA
27. Your summer? blessed
28. Love someone? yes
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? earlier
31. Last time you cried? wednesday

I am supposed to tag 7 people to do this….

Well, I leave it to you..If you want to do it - let me know..

Blessings

Bxx

Deb over at UKOK put a dare up on her blog..

Have a read here

The idea is that you take a snap of yourself - just as you are - at that moment.

Here are the rules:
1. Take a pic of yourself right now
2. Don’t change your clothes, don’t fix your hair…. just take a pic
3. Post the pic with no editing
4. Post these instructions with your picture.

As you will see, I have just got out of the shower..

Please put your dark glasses on NOW..

Oh Lord - look at those eyebags!!

I must be mad……

Well, I suppose that is a funny way to start a post but for us, it is the start of a new School Year today and for this family, anyway, is far more significant than the official start of the year on 1st January.

For Owen, it is his second year at College.

For Siân, it is her first year of A levels, her 12th year of education.

She could have officially left school in June after having completed her GCSE’s (General Certificate of Secondary Education) but has chosen to stay on for another two years and therefore hopefully, do well enough to qualify to carry on to University.

She was quite nervous this morning. It is a whole different set up now. They are given more freedom and there is far more emphasis on personal study and personal responsibility for study. I had to laugh. She put on her new uniform and said that she felt really old wearing it… “Goodness! I said..”Sixteen is so very old Siân” I laughed… “No, what I mean is that in the whole time I was in School, I looked up to anyone wearing this uniform and thought of them as being ‘really old’ - now I am wearing it - so I MUST be getting old”! Poor OLD thing…I asked her how did she think I felt now that her “baby” is sixteen - “Ancient” was the response. Well, thanks Siân…. 48 is definitely ANCIENT!!!!

Anyway, she now studies four chosen subjects, as well as the Welsh Baccalaureate so she is going to have to get used to a whole new structure. She was also concerned that she would not be with her friends and this is a big concern for her. But I am sure that she will be ok and will soon make new friends and that everyone else will be as nervous and as unsure as she is..

Let’s hope so anyway!

Roger’s mouth is healing well. The swelling is more pronounced on the left side.. he looks a bit weird and is having trouble opening his mouth. His throat is still sore where the tube went down but all in all he is doing really well.

Thanks to everyone who has asked about him. Your thoughts, prayers and best wishes are much appreciated.

Well, at long last, the day of Roger’s hospital appointment is almost with us (tomorrow!), so those two teeth that have given him so much trouble for so long will finally be gone. Hooray!

Wisdom teeth being removed at 48 years old….. what a palaver!! Still I was 30 when I had mine out so it is not only a “young adult” thing. I expect it is going to be a rather unpleasant means to an end but at least it will be the end of it… We have been asked to ensure that he has an adult with him for 72 hours after the surgery, so I have the week off from work, Owen and Sian are around too, so between us all, he should have enough “nurses” to look after him.

Siân is now officially registered at Sixth Form for her As/A levels. We took the forms in today and she has had clearance from the Head of Sixth Form to study the subjects she wanted and, even though there was an initial drama when two subjects clashed, we have sorted this out now and so we are all set for September 2nd… Well, I say all set. We have to get her uniform sorted now…… Still, I am so thankful that there is a uniform and it is a fairly strict uniform policy too so at least I don’t have to go out and buy here a complete new wardrobe of clothes!!

Owen came back from the RAF base where he had been at Summer Camp. All his clothes were soaking wet… he had a great time though but it has been a hard few weeks for him and I think he slept for most of the weekend. The first week of August he was “on team” at the New Wine Christian Conference we attended, working with 11-14 year olds. Then, when we were on holiday at the Coast, he was running a Holiday Club at a local Church and then last week, off on exercises with the RAF.

Those of you who have been around long enough may remember that over a year and a half ago his heart was broken by a young lady but I can now say that this is well and truly mended now…. and he has started seeing a young lady that he has been friends with for the last three years or so. We are all attending her Babtism in September which is exciting. She will be studying at Swansea University (40 miles away) but will be “living in” but they are making plans to keep seeing each other at weekends. I hope and trust it will work out for them.

OK, so I am off to bed now.

I will let you know how things go with Roger and his surgery.

Love to all

Blessings

Bx

Thank you to all of you who have asked how Siân got on with her exams.

She passed them all, doing really well.

She got 2 x A*, 4 x A, 2 x B, 2 x C and Credits in the I.T. and PSE exams that they have brought in here in Wales to replace GCSE’s. She has struggled with French as a GCSE subject, and has agonised and pulled her hair out over course work and even at one time getting most distressed and in tears about it, and also the compulsary Welsh that she was forced to start learning when we moved to Wales and, having been entered for Lower Tier Papers in Welsh and French, she got the highest mark she could have obtained which was a C. I had told her not to worry about the languages and just concentrate on the others but she would not do that and worked really hard to pass. This says much for her mind set as she could have just not bothered. But she did.

She will now go onto A levels with the Welsh Baccalauriate and both Roger and I are immensely proud of her achievements.

Well done Siân…. you are amazing!!!

Not that I am posting much at the moment but I am just letting you know that as the summer is here and life is for living and not blogging, there will not be much going on here over the next few weeks.

One more week and the teens and I will be spending our annual week at a Christian Conference down in Somerset…. This will be our 10th year at New Wine.

We will then go somewhere on the coast in our touring caravan for a week of family relaxation. We will be staying in South Wales as Roger’s Dad is still in the hospital and we will need to be within an hour or so away in case! Roger’s sister is going to come down and stay with their Mum while we are away. It looks like he is there for the long hall and there are some touch decisions about their longterm care that will now have to be made.

It will be the first time that Owen will not be joining us on our holiday. He is going to stay at home and help at a local Church Holiday Club. He will be 19 in September so I am sure he will be ok… his girlfreind’s family are going to feed him.. and that makes him very happy!

Sian is trying not to get nervous or uptight about her exam results which will be out in mid August. I am sure that she will be fine. She will know that she has tried her best.

We have had some financial challenges over the last few weeks with several large and unexpected bills to pay, some unplanned maintenance needed on the cars and the dog has needed a growth removed.- another large bill to pay..now we have an intermittent leak in the dining room ceiling which appears to be coming from the first floor bathroom but we cannot locate it’s actual source at the moment. It is one thing after another… but I think we are all feeling the financial pinch at the moment aren’t we!

However, we still have so much to be grateful for and we are healthy and happy and loved.

So, on that note, I wish you all a happy summer and hope to get back to some sort of “regular” posting in a month or two..

Blessings

Barbara