Aston Martin Landy

Oh I had fun today.. Hubby was taking MIL back home so used my car. I had to use the LR. I was slightly nervous as I have only driven short distances, it was blowing a gale and pouring with rain but I did it. I must admit my teeth were clenched the entire way but I drove into work with a sense of satisfaction. I had managed to get there in a reasonable time and had even managed to cope with the clunky 2nd gear. On the way home slightly more relaxed although I did plan my route so as to limit the number of times I would have to use 2nd!! I came down the lane praying that nobody would be coming the other way... God was looking down on me!

Family Cynicism

Well had a visit from family from the city, not just any familly but BIL who likes the better things in life. Now I have to say in my dim and distant past I would admit that I had some things in common with BIL, but life moves on. During visit not sure BIL could quite understand this downsizing lark - after all the natural progression is to move up and up that corporate ladder. So with a little smirk they said "What are you going to do when you need things?" Well having only recently felt guilt pangs due to large amount of boxes containing the "things I needed" I was able to answer "What exactly do we need? Food, Drink, we have enough money for the essentials in life" Yes they answered, but "When that double income stops and you pick up that £12 bottle of wine in Tesco and have to put it down then you will realise what you have done" I replied that I never buy a bottle of £12 wine unless it is fizz (not that often) or in a restaurant. It was at this point that I realised that this change may not be so bad, I must have always had a little bit of cheese in me after all!

A fine day out!

Well the boys dropped me off at work and went to the Pembrokeshire County Show today - I thought they would last an hour or so but they left at 8.30 and picked me up at 5!!! they saw the pig show, horses, gun dogs, and tractors....they even gave me a gift or two - a cheesy gift of bulbs for the garden and a handbag gift of a new pair of red Croc wellies which I can put on very easily and quickly to feed the chooks!! I have a pair of green Hunters (you are not a true country person without a pair of these!) but you can't just get in and out of those. So I found myself walking down the garden with red Crocs on, my trug and my pink spotty gloves on (what a picture of domestic bliss )to clean the chicken poo out of the chook house...nice eh. I must admit I sat in the garden for a while thinking that even I find it hard to believe that I am quite content cleaning the poo out. To top the day off we finally managed to get a pie at the local pub pie night, last week we were too late and the pies had all gone, tonight we were early but the grumpy landlord told us we could have one if we were gone within the hour - was it the smell of chicken poo that made him say this?! Left Hubby his cleaning instructions for tomorrow as we have guests - will he come up to my standards....

Gone off cheese!

Update on the roof - seems OK well the official consultant aka my Dad jumped up and down a lot on the roof and said those boards are not holding that up it looks ok, Well convinced me to divert funds into nice curtains and the like!
Cheese life is beginning to frustrate the hell out of me at the moment - the walls are so bloody thick on the house that my so called WiFi anywhere system will not work unless I have the hub at full extension around the corner, and then my dingle dongle or whatever you call it stretched at full capacity, then whilst standing on one leg with my arm in the air (ok a bit of exaggeration here) I can just about get it to work. Then bloody digital - we have switched over here or switched off in our case. ITV, C4 and all the other decent channels are like a nun;s knickers, on and off depending on what the weather is like!! So that buggers up my series link..... oh for those handbag tv days.
Anyway getting really excited as going off on a shopping expedition soon, without Owen to a big shopping centre with a JOHN LEWIS!!! 10 sleeps to go..

Rose Tinted Specs

Well these are beginning to fall off for me at the moment - came home to find that Hubby has started to pull down the roof of the outbuildings which are supporting our terrace well I am no expert but my god it does not look safe to me and it looks like lots of money to me, money that I would rather spend on fluffy cushions and the like!! We will wait to see what the official opinion is but I am nervous.........

Most expensive eggs

Well a late night last night at the village get together - we seem to know more of our neighbours than we did in the city! Egg total is now up to 7 which is good, can't quite see which hen is doing the business. So far each egg is probably costing us about £7 with the start up costs, never mind i love my chooks they are so funny. Logan is letting me stroke his back, the others are not playing. Even Meg the deviant one is coming closer and tried to eat my engagement ring today now that would have made an interesting egg..

A new type of handcream!

Well we have had another egg although the chooks stood on it so no breakfast for us! Since then no more eggs. The chooks are beginning to get used to me and all stand in the run looking at me and making cute little noises when I go down with food. Hubby is not so popular as I think they only see him as the nasty man who pounced on them when they arrived. He needs to start feeding them I think. We are letting them out on Wednesday and hope that they will come home easily. I have to say when I have gone down the last few nights they are all tucked up in bed. Quite sweet really. What isn't so sweet is the huge amount of poo that they produce. Thank God we have a big garden as their poo has burnt the grass, you can almost see the smoke! I have even had it on my hands can you believe it.... in order to change their water I have to pick up their water bottles and trays and wash them out. Hands that in Handbag days were smothered in Molton Brown hand cream, now find themselves in cheese days smothered in chicken poo. I am secretly hoping that it is an undiscovered miracle cure for wrinkles .......

Reality kicks in!

Well the company car has gone! 17 years of free petrol etc etc and it has gone...... Hubby drove it off into the sunset while I stayed behind to feed the chickens! Oh and yes I had to take the smug lok off my face I hadn't fixed the Landy door... have to wait until Dad comes around to stay - will add it to the list.

Self Sufficiency at last

The chickens are doing well, everyone told us with a knowing smile that we should have left the chooks in the hen house for a few days before letting them out. Anyway they have personalities for sure, Logan is the bravest, Meg a little mad, Chamy seems to be a bit fiesty and Orla well she is greedy! Son went down to see them this afternoon and we have our FIRST EGG! The fight is on.....a/ who is going to have it b/ how we are going to cook it. We came to the conclusion that it should be boiled and that we will share it equally. Is this the future of self sufficiency one egg between three of us - god we would save money and certainley loose weight what a bonus!

Broken LandRover

The company car goes back on Monday and then the consequences of our new life will hit home..no more free petrol, services, car. So I thought I would take the Land Rover out to practice using it. I drove it around the lanes, it went quite well. Storming up the hill in 4th. Put the radio on it made lots of noise but I didn't have time to sort that out as I could not shut the door properly and I ad to make emergency repairs. I got out tried for ages and could not shut it so I had to drive up the hill with my arm casually resting out the window - in reality I was pressing my arm down with all my strength so the door would not fly open around the corners. Came back and Son dobbed me in straight away to Hubby who cursed a few times and pretented he knew what he was doing but nothing. Oh I thought lets consult that lovely clean and shiny "How to rebuild your Land Rover " book we bought off Amazon. I found the door latch page and it could have been written in Welsh - it made absolutely no sense to me at all. So determined not to let this first obstacle trip me up I went out and examined the good door and went back and fore for several minutes. I got my hands oily and well I hate to boast but I FIXED IT! So with a smug little look on my oil stained face I went off to tell Hubby!

E-bay Purchase

Well yet another purchase for our new life - a poly tunnel! Oh there was a time when I bought Boden clothes or handbags off e-bay, now I am using e-bay to buy a polytunnel - can't wear it, can't carry my lippy in it, but Hubby assures me it is good for growing things in........ we will wait to see what it is like when it arrives. To me it looks like something the Teletubbies live in.

Chickens came out of the house today and were still speaking to us after the trauma of yesterday. A friend texted me and told me I could have called them after Take That so a bit gutted that I did not think about that at the time! They certainly have personalities Orla and Logan appear to be the conformers, Chamy seems to do as she pleases but Meg she is trouble! Wish we had bought them years ago as we would have saved so much money in electricity and Wi games, son just sat and watched them for most of the morning.

Chicken Run

A cheese day. Our new chickens arrived today! The next step in the life in the country. We opened the box and waited for them to come out - first we called Logan aka Wolverine as he(she) was the bravest! Then came Orla (Orla Kierly handbag theme here), then Chamy after the Chamoix Express in La Plagne and last Meg. We all lay there ex townies with Country Life smiles watching as they came out and pecked around the garden. Of course when we called them they would all trot into their new home for the night, happy little hens in their new home. Then reality dawned as we chased the buggers around the garden. God did you know chickens were so fast and could jump so high! We got the first two, the third Meg was a little bit challenging, but Chamy.....she hid in the hedge. So I had my rubber gloves on, and a thick fleece to stop the stinging nettles - and with the help of the boys we got her in... not a very handbag moment at all but very good fun!

Wobbly Cheese

Having a wobble at the moment. One more week for Hubby to be officially in work and then he is off the books and unemployed! Well there will be more than enough for him to do! Also came home to see what I thought were damp marks in our bedroom - they seem to have appeared over night! Panic panic, worry worry. God should have stuck with the handbags would have had the money to sort everything out, it is going to cost millions, that is why they painted everything etc etc. So my paranoia ran away again. Then Hubby brought me back to reality with a bump and reminded me that his redundancy was rather large, our savings were not insignificant and it is an old house and more importantly that I always had to worry about something. That my dear is so very true.....

Handbag Weekend

Just returned from a lovely handbag weekend! Our friends were married at the weekend in a very stylish wedding on the Thames, so meal out on Friday, Hotel du Vin on saturday along with fizz, lovely food, river cruise, fantastic wedding and posh frocks and bling! Fantastic. Drove back home to Pembrokeshire wondering when the next chance for handbags would be!