Down On The Farm

 

After taking Teen One to work, taking a trip to the dump, it was time to take Teen Two to one of his favourite places...an Activity Farm in the New Forest.

 

The tractor ride is fun, and I had to smile at the notice they have up!

But most of all, Teen Two loves to do this....

 

Admire the piglets...

 

Bottle feed the calves...

 

 

then the kids...

 

have a baby guinea pig snuggle up in his hand...

 

smooth the rabbits...

 

probably best of all, hold teeny fluffy chicks...

 

 

...till they fall asleep in his hand.

 

 

 

 

He loved it so much, we joined the queue for a second go!

 

Grooming the goats can be fun too...but watch out they don't eat your clothes!

 

 

 

 

 

The ones in pens are much safer to stroke!

 

 

The older goats are always as hungry as their kids!

 

 

 

 

Even the ducks couldn't get to the food quick enough!

 

 

All this feeding made us kind of hungry, so we treated ourselves to a cream tea...very nice, but the factory made scones were no where near as good as the home made ones in Clovelly.

 

Being an activity farm there is more to do than animals, and although Teen Two is sadly too big for the indoor soft play area, they have other things we can have fun with. He thrashed me at table tennis!

 

The Go Karts were great fun...

 

 

as was the trampoline.

 

For Teen Two, no trip to the farm is complete without buying a soft toy animal to remind him of his visit...today he chose a piglet to remind him of one that was all alone in a corner, shivering...he stroked it and talked to it for some time and was reluctant to leave it.

 

 

 

It was a great day out, and now we are home, I am in the middle of baking an Oreo topped cake for Teen One to take into work tomorrow.

 

Always Double Check!

 

Today has been rather humid and a bit drizzly. I had thought  the forecast said it would cheer up this afternoon, so hung the washing on the line....bad move!

Whilst hanging it all out, I noticed I could see the tops of the carrots I had planted...which I was told meant they were ready to pull!

As you can see...I don't think I will make a farmer! The carrots were supposed to be purple, but only one or two are.

I suspect they haven't grown very well because they didn't have enough space, you live and learn!

 

 

 

 

Being Monday, it was my usual Recycled Teenager visits and trip to the supermarket.

Teen Two had wondered what sushi was like the other week, seeing as he is only recently becoming adventurous with "foreign food" I thought I would strike while the iron was hot and buy him a little packet at the supermarket.

I knew it was no good trying him on the veg one as he doesn't like salad, but as he is ok with most fish I chose that one. I was a little disappointed that two of the four were pepper and cucumber.

However, he enjoyed the tuna and I think the other was prawn. He wasn't all that keen on the soy sauce that comes in the incy wincy bottle. I have high hopes that one day we will be able to visit the Yo Sushi Bar we have locally. It looks such a  unique place to eat!

 

 

Now how's about this for a cheap and unique craft! Just when you think you have heard of everything, something new comes along! Teen One saw  this sandpaper printing being done at work last week and being the super girl that she is came straight home and shared it with me!

I haven't tried it yet  (but it's at the top of the "to do" list) so here are some tips from a mum who has.

I think it looks fab!

 

 

The rest of today was spent pottering around the house, doing little jobs I have been meaning to do for a while...which of course means the usual chores have got a bit left behind! Part way through the afternoon hubby sent a text asking where precisely where we were booked to go for a little holiday shortly.

I got out the paperwork and sent him the address, and something about the date caught my eye, it didn't look right.

When I put my glasses on and took the paperwork to the calendar, I realised the phone booking I made in January and the written confirmation were in fact four days apart! Yikes! Was that going to work for us now? We had planned so many other things around this date!  Looking at it all, it is manageable, it does mean cancelling an appointment, which frustratingly we have been waiting for for months, but other than that, and leaving Teen One with no time to recover from her week at camp, we can go with the dates they have us in for.

 

 

So the next time I get a letter of confirmation and it says in BOLD print "Please check that the arrival and departure dates are correct" I will always double check!

 

A Sleepy Sunday Afternoon

 

I don't know if it was the heat, the busyness of the past few days, or just sheer laziness...but after church and then cooking lunch today, I sat in the recliner chair...pulled out the leg extension...and fell asleep! Afternoon naps are not usually part of my day so it was a surprise to open my eyes and see the clock had moved forward a couple of hours!

 

 

 

Teen One has another challenge for work this week, to go in dressed up, with the theme being "Around the World."

Having looked through our dressing up box for the kids club and discovering a floral leis,  she thought she might like to dress up as a Hawaiian girl.

 

 

In our box of scraps we found strips of this gold chiffony fabric, and some ribbon, so set to cutting the fabric into thinner strips...

 

 

 

 

...to make a simple grass skirt.

It will of course be teamed up with a pair of leggings for decency sake!

We also found a smaller leis which can go on her head.

 

 

 

 

Whilst in a local shop last week, I saw some cards advertising a "Time Bank"

I hadn't heard of it before, but it sounds like a really good idea!

For every hour I volunteer in the community, I can redeem an hour of someone else's time. So for example, if I do some knitting, form filling, shopping, ironing etc for someone I am credited with how ever much time I spend doing it.

If we then need someone to do something ( it will no doubt involve a ladder as hubby can't do ladders!) we can then have someone do that for us...and all for free! No doubt if materials are required then they are bought by the person wanting the work done. But the time given is free.

I think its a fab idea and have registered our interest and can't wait to see what jobs I get to do! Also what we can then get someone else to do for us.

I have my list started already...touch up the paint work for the top half of the house for starters!

Do you have a group locally?

 

 

Just How Much Can Three People Eat?

 

Well today of course was all about getting the painting done for the back hall at Church. This hall is used for a lot of our work with children and Mother and Toddlers, so we really wanted to make it look nice...and also get rid of the mouldy smell that was lingering after the roof leaking.

It was a daunting task though, with just the four of us initially, however we were delighted when  the cavalry arrived, in the shape of "K" who bless him had been up since 4am for his job.

 

He didn't come alone either, he came with his brother in law "M" who was one of our Sunday School lads for many years and still comes to our Family Services.

 

A little later, "K's" wife  "B" came...she had been at work all day, so must have been shattered, but she cracked on with the gloss work. She too has come through our Sunday School and its great to see her now as a part of the church.

 

 

 

 

Teen Two  found a way to pass the time when the painting got a little boring!

 

 

It was a very hot day, so it was hard going....but we were so thankful to this dream team for giving up their time to come and help us. We also had "J" ( on the right) come along, who is the sister to the other two, she too has come through our Sunday school classes, we are thrilled she still comes from time to time and was willing to give up her time, also after work, to come and help us. Here they all are, waving goodbye to the work!

 

If you look back to yesterday's blog, I am sure you will see a big difference!

We did have a bit of a panic part way through the day. Having chosen Dulux Bathroom anti mould Magnolia, we thought it would be easy to get more of. We realised we were going to run out after a few hours, so hubby went back to Homebase...panic...no more magnolia!! Thankfully B&Q came up trumps.

 

 

We decided to take down the old wooden pelmets, they would have taken a lot of time to paint, and we thought they  were just a tad old fashioned!! We have stored them away just incase someone notices them missing and feels they should remain a part of the fixtures and fittings!

The floor took a lot of cleaning, the flaky paint scraped off yesterday stuck in between the wooden block flooring and no matter how much Teen One and I got on our knees and scrubbed,  we didn't seem to make much headway.  We eventually went over the floor with a brush and plenty of detergent and are hoping when its dried it will look better. We did put dust sheets down,  clearly not enough!

 

Having been at church for many hours, by 7.30pm we were just leaving, and I was not in the mood for cooking, we were all starving so as a treat and thank you for all the hard work I suggested we get a Chinese Takeaway ( we had already given the Dream Team money to get a takeaway on their home) The Teens were thrilled at the thought...it's such a rarity in our household to indulge in such things...this may be their third one in their life!

As we were all so hungry we opted for a set menu for three....but just how much can three people eat?!

The four of us have had enough and more to eat and there is still one dish completely untouched, a bag of prawn crackers and a lot of everything else! We definitely will have the two person menu next time!

Looks like some tasty cold sides to go with tomorrow's lunch!

 

We've Started...So We Have to Finish!

 

This is how Teen One went to work this morning. From the items we picked up in town yesterday, she chose a t-shirt mapping the constellations....

 

 

 

a pair of lounge pants with stars on...

 

 

 

she made a star hair slide...

 

 

 

... and a pair of star hair bobbles!

 

 

 

After dropping her off at work, and a  quick trip to Lidl's, I asked Teen Two if he fancied going swimming.

So the morning was spent in the local fun pool, him having fun with the wave machine and slides, and me doing a spot of crochet.

 

 

Our church back hall has had rather a lot of rain damage for the past couple of years, this is just a small corner showing the mould and flaking paint work.

It is an old building, built by my late father in law and other men from the church, many years ago. The problem was found to be the flat roof needed relaying and also new guttering.

With that work now done, by professionals, we , the unprofessionals are able to try and freshen up everywhere, whilst we are closed for the holidays.

 

 

Hubby scraped off the worst of the damaged paint work, whilst I took down six pairs of curtains.  Pair one is now in the washing machine...only another five to go.... I have put them on a low spin in the hopes it means I don't have to iron them!

 

 

I cleared up as much of the scrappings as I could...it was a very dirty job so was in need of a shower when I got home...ahh....clean again!

Tomorrow we will go back and empty the room as much as possible ready for painting.

It looks a rather daunting job...and we are hoping to do it in ONE DAY!!

We have started it now...so we HAVE to finish it!

Seeing Stars!

 

 

Today Teen One set us a bit of a challenge...to find something to do with space/stars for a fancy dress day tomorrow at work.

So Teen Two and I trawled the town centre, looking earnestly for stars! We managed to find a few things, some of which are actually PJ's but may be suitable. I wonder what Teen One will make of them? By the end of it we were seeing stars!

 

 

 

 

In our wanderings I spied this t shirt! Anyone who knows me will think it is very apt!

 

 

After our visit to town, Teen Two and I went in to see an elderly lady from our church. I say elderly, but she has the energy and enthusiasm of someone half her age..although she would dispute that!

She is one of these people who is always doing something for someone else, always generous in her time and giving, and yet is very hard to return the favour to! I thought our impromptu visit would mean for once she was on the receiving end of some pleasure, however as usual we came away with our hands full!

She had been having a clear out and found a very old money box full of old coins. Knowing hubby has a passion for coins, and quite an extensive collection, she wondered if they were any good to him. I am sure he will have fun looking through them all.

Teen Two thought one looked Roman! I am not holding my breath on that one!

 

 

She also gave us these delightful mini shortbreads...but not just any shortbread, M&S  of course!

 

 

 

She also gave me, as she regularly does, an envelope with a wadge of money in! As she is no longer able to get out to our Sunday morning services, she puts by her "offering" money and gives it to me to put in. In recent times she has given me two envelopes, one for the general fund and one for me to decide where the most need is in the Lord's Work. It is a humbling position to be in, having the trust and also the responsibility of someone else's money.

I had only just "spent" the last lot, giving it to my missionary friend, and now I have another lot to distribute! I was able to tell the dear lady where her last lot had gone. Having known the missionary herself too, and prayed regularly for her, she was delighted to hear of her unexpected visit and the gift I was able to give on her behalf.

She is such a faithful servant of the Lord, even in her aged years, thinking of so many others, and quietly giving as she has done all her life. What an example to us all.

 

 

I treated Teen Two to KFC for lunch. He had been so patient trawling round all those ladies clothes shops! He had also sat patiently whilst the dear lady and I chatted away.

He had an unexpected surprise inside as well....for the kids meal, he likes to have beans as a side instead of fries ( how healthy!) We had used the drive thru to order and it wasn't until we were on the road that he saw he had been given beans AND fries!! There was no point going back as they would have had to bin the fries for health and safety reasons. We then realised he hadn't been given his yogurt, so thought, well at least they haven't lost out financially! Teen Two was more than happy with the mistake!

 

 

Whilst I went next door to do my Recycled Teenager's housework, Teen Two did one or two chores for me, then settled down to do what most teens like to do!