Dialling A Flight!

 

Today has been a really hectic day and my feet don't seem to have touched the ground!

It  started off dropping Teen One off for a day out at the Mary Rose Museum, as part of her history assignment ( parking is ridiculously expensive!) then visiting the bank, who had invited me in to "save me some money!"

Well save me some money they did, it might not be much, but it seems our monthly current account fee could be reduced from £5 to £1 if we switched accounts....well I am all for saving wherever I can so that was great.

They also showed me a new savings account that gives 5% interest for the first year, so that too was a no brainer, look after the pennies and the pounds take care of themselves I always say!

 

After the usual grocery shop it was back home for the most exciting part of the day...to book our flight to the US next Easter!

We have always booked direct with the airlines, and spent ages researching the best prices, but Hubby's cousin had recommended Dial a Flight, so having made ourselves intelligent on the average cost of a ticket we then gave them a ring earlier this week.

I have been very impressed with their service and also the prices they found for us.

 

The friends we usually stay with are in Florida for the winter ( have I already blogged this??) and suggested we fly there initially then up to Connecticut to catch up with our other friends.

Dial A Flight have sourced tickets to Florida, then back out of Boston at the end of the holiday and with free car hire thrown in, for the same price we paid last year!

We do have a slightly longer journey as we will be stopping off once each way, but it will be a small price to pay for the £1000 it saves on the prices we had found elsewhere.

 

Our friends have also suggested we extend the adventure by driving back up to Connecticut instead of flying!

I really really like the idea of that!

I would love to see more of the US and would find driving more interesting than flying.

It would mean two long days of driving  but it would be so interesting!

We haven't finalised those plans yet as the travel agent couldn't find a car hire that didn't charge $500 for dropping the car off in a different state.

I am hoping our friends will have some inside knowledge.

 

With that exciting trip booked, and only a £100 deposit required ( direct bookings charge the full amount) so I can save some pennies instead of taking it directly out of savings, it was on to the more boring part of the day, washing, cooking etc.

 

One of our students rang and asked if he could stay over tonight, there is an inter church footy match tonight which they are all going to and as it will be a late night he didn't fancy driving back home after, so that meant a quick change of the sheets....something I usually do straight after the last visitors, but as the last person only slept one night and was intending to stay over next week, it didn't warrant changing them then....(is that cheeky?)

Soon after another of our students rang....she had locked herself out and her housemates weren't out of lectures for a couple of hours....so could I pick her up and she stay with us till Friday Club....

.....that worked out well as Hubby was in her area having just got new tyres on the car.

I had also made a cottage pie which I was able to eek out to another portion.

 

 

Friday Club was extra hectic!

Not only was it the "shop" which entails a lot of work to organise, but we had  more new children yet again and all were hyper to say the least!

We have had at least two new children every week since term started!

Thank goodness its half term next week....we need a break!

 

 

Our story tonight was the Lord making breakfast on the shore, for his disciples, after His resurrection.

The kids decorated their fish and then we used extra long straws for fishing rods...I am so thankful to have the help of our student and Teen One these days!

 

With the boys all gone to footy, us three girls did a drive thru McDonalds and then chilled out watching a Percy Jackson DVD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Telematics Box Tips

 

Teen One is almost through her first quarter for her telematics  box insurance with "More Than"

Having watched an episode of Rip Off Britain recently, where  the telematics box was given a rather negative review, I thought it might be useful to pass on some tips we have learned through the past few months.

 

Firstly, if you don't know what a telematics box is, its a little black box which is fitted professionally into your car, and monitors certain aspects of your driving, the areas which are considered to be high risk for accidents.

This information is fed back to your insurers who "reward" or "penalise" you.

Rewards are both money in hand and a discount on the following years premium.

It makes perfect sense to me to only pay for your own mistakes, and gain from your good driving, rather than be judged on the merits ( or otherwise) of the other new and young drivers out there.

 

When the box was first fitted it was still the summer holidays and Teen One wasn't going too far in the car....she scored the 10/10 for all areas, which are

Usage

Speed

Smoothness

 

Once the rush hour commute commenced her Usage and Smoothness went down dramatically, a few times it was minus something!

This ultimately affected her scores, meaning her discount went down from 33% for next years premium to 25% and her money back reward for this quarter went from £29 to £19.

We rang More Than who enlightened us on some of the areas that are mark downs.

Usage

 

They don't want drivers doing lots of little journeys, the more times you go out, the more your chances of being in an accident go up.

Timing....don't drive between the hours of 11pm and 5am

Journey's length...don't drive over an hour without a break.

 

We were mystified as to why Teen One had been marked down for usage as she only went to Uni and back, never drove further than 25 miles in one go and didn't go out at night.

What we have learned is, whenever the car engine is turned on, that counts as a journey.

So one morning she happened to stall, stop to collect a friend, forgot to shut the window after shutting off the engine so had to turn it on again, so all those things added up to her having made, apparently, 5 journeys ( including going and coming back from Uni)

So, whilst stalling the car is something we all do by accident from time to time, ensure you have shut all windows, not left something in the house and shut off the engine etc.

The next time she was marked down for usage was driving for over an hour....but she only drove the usual 25miles, the roads had been extra busy so she was just stuck in queues for a while, not actually driving, a shame the box doesn't feed back how much of the hour was spent actually moving!

She scored 3 for that journey.

Yesterday there was an accident on the motorway and she sent a text to say she would be late as the traffic wasn't moving...I suggested she shut off the engine until the traffic starting moving again...when she got home and checked her score, she got 10! Even though it had been almost two hours commute.

So, if you are stuck in a jam, turn off the engine, or if the traffic is heavier and you are approaching the hour, turn off the engine briefly when you have the opportunity...but only once or you will be penalised for "too many journeys!"

 

Speed

 

This speaks for itself....always keep to the speed limit!

Know your roads and speeds.

Teen One was marked down for speeding and had no idea why...then realised she was doing 25 in a road she thought was 30mph but was actually 20mph

 

Smoothness

 

Teen One lost her perfect score, again when the rush hour commute started.

Part of the reason was excessive braking, all that stop starting in a queue being the culprit, so, go a bit slower so you aren't approaching the car ahead so soon, this dramatically reduces the number of times the brakes are applied.

Something Rip Off Britain did which was helpful, was to put raw eggs on the bonnet (held in glued on egg cups.)

When the driver applied brakes smoothly, turned corners carefully etc, the eggs gently moved in whatever direction the car moved.

When the driver braked hard or went round corners sharply....well you can imagine the mess the eggs made as they shot out of the cups!

So, imagine you have raw eggs on the bonnet and you will be surprised how much more carefully you drive!

However....if you need to do an emergency brake, forget those eggs!

 

So overall we feel the telematics box does make careful safe drivers, and whilst it doesn't cover every aspect of driving, it covers some essentials.

I hope its of help to someone, I know we wish we had known some of these things beforehand!

However, Teen One remains one of their best drivers, according to the advisor, so that's good news!

 

 

On to today, Flora really has been accepted by Benjy....this is his favourite day time hideaway, he loves this bush and if he cant be seen foraging around the garden he can always be found here...but today Flora was there,  whilst he sat opposite!

It must be love if he has given up his comfy seat!

 

The morning was spent at Parent and Toddlers as usual.

Back home I had a call to say my Monday Recycled Teenager had been rushed to theatre after collapsing and bleeding excessively on her way to endoscopy.

She has been told for some time her medical history means they wont give her a general anaesthetic so it sounds like this was a matter of life or death.

We are eagerly awaiting further news.

 

 

 

Appreciating The Bunny Loving!

 

Well thankfully, last night we all had a good nights sleep!

 

 

This morning a good friend from Leicester was coming for the morning and lunch and also another friend who also knows her was coming for morning coffee, so I made soup for lunch and apricot and pumpkin seed flapjack for our coffee.

I covered half with chocolate....purely because I only had one bar of chocolate!

Everyone said it was yummy...especially the chocolate ones!

 

 

After a  lovely few hours of catching up on family news and my friends gone, I cracked on with a few chores.

Firstly was sewing up the hole in this cute little knitted coat....

 

....before...

 

 

...after...

 

 

 

...hopefully my friend will be happy with the fix.

I found some embroidery silk that was fairly close in colour, so threaded through all the loose stitches, then did little running stitches around the hole (from the inside) pulled it all up to close the hole, then a little bit of over sewing to ensure it all stayed in place.

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up on ironing and then putting it all away ( on the same day...wow!) then getting dinner ready.

In a bid to liven up meal times I have been going through my recipe books looking for ideas to use what I already have in the house....today's offering was Coca Cola and Ketchup chicken!

Sounds weird I know, but it was actually ok!

You basically cook the chicken using a can of cola and three tablespoons of ketchup.

I added some lentils to make a sauce consistency, otherwise it was just runny.

It had a sweet and sour flavour so I added some pineapple.

It was ok, maybe not the tastiest dish ever...but maybe I should have added more ketchup or seasoning, but if nothing else it made a change!

 

 

This time last week we were in the middle of our bunny bonding and longing for some bunny loving to be going on.

Teen Two was really looking forward to having both bunnies on his lap...

...well this week we are really appreciating the loving that is going on....

not only happy to be together...

 

 

 

...but nuzzling up to each other too...

...and Teen Two is enjoying it  too as you can see!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Family Of Insomniacs!

 

We are not sure if Hurricane Ophelia is to blame, due to atmospheric changes, but for some reason the entire family was still awake at 2am!

Neither Teens had managed to drop off at all, Hubby and I had nodded off, but then woke and that was that it seems.

By 3am I think I was the only one awake, which was ok as unlike everyone else, I don't need to be up by 6 or 7am!

It will be early nights for us all tonight I think!

 

I had a slow start to the day, although did get up as usual around 7am

I took the car for a wash, it was well overdue...and then it promptly rained!

Oh well, at least the thick dirt is off along with a few bird shots after having to park under a tree for a few days.

 

 

A friend was popping round after lunch, with her little granddaughter, so it was a fairly relaxed afternoon...

 

 

..for us anyway, but not Teen One who was led around the house by Little Miss, up and down the stairs several times, and then finally settling for some colouring.

 

 

Another rescue job was brought round, this little knitted coat, with matching dress sadly was damaged on its first wear...

 

 

...I hope I can find some yarn or embroidery silk that will be a good match, it just needs the two loops catching together to stop the hole getting bigger.

 

After my friend went home I went up to the hospital to see my Monday Recycled Teenager.

She was looking good, but is a little confused.

Her youngest daughter was there from up country and said her mum had been seeing me all morning!

Hopefully me really being there in the afternoon won't confirm her belief I was walking round the ward all morning!

They are awaiting the results of various tests and for the time being we all feel she is in the best place.

 

My back is a teeny bit better today,  I hope helped by the fact I took an hour or so out this morning to lie flat on the sofa ( not easy to lie flat and knit!)

As I wake feeling quite pain free I thought maybe that's all I need, to rest up a bit...easier said than done!

However it seems to be paying off, I just need to be careful how I move/bend/twist etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seeing The Effects Of Hurricane Ophelia

 

Yesterday was the usual student filled Sunday and I never cease to be amazed at how much they can eat!

I clearly have Teens with small appetites....who'd have thought!!!

The Yorkshire's were rather a triumph yesterday, including the gluten free ones!

After two miserable attempts in recent weeks, I went online and found this one on the BBC Good Food website, which has 50g of cornflour added to the gluten free flour.

It seems to have made a significant improvement, they look more like Yorkshires than the recent hockey puck offerings!

They still taste a little different, and a bit too eggy for my liking, next time I may try one egg instead of two.

Teen Two had a cold one for supper and thought it was like eating an omelette!

However the recipient sang their praises and said I was too hard on myself, so that's the main thing.

 

 

The regular Yorkshires, whilst not traditional in their shape, were gi-normous and very well received!

 

 

A friend at church was a little upset that the last thing her late mother knitted for her granddaughter was starting to unravel.

I offered to see what I could do, hoping the pattern wasn't too complicated, and was relieved to see it was just the sewing up that had started to come undone!
Easy peasy to sort!

 

 

This morning I should have gone to see my Monday Recycled Teenager of course, but sadly I had a call around 7.30am from her daughter to say she was in A&E with her.

It appears she got up in the middle of the night feeling peckish ( a good sign, she hadn't eaten properly all week) but on returning to bed, thought the stairlift was at the top of the stairs, and unfortunately it wasn't so she ended up falling half way down.

Thankfully she always wears her alarm button, so her daughter was able to dash round and help.

She has no broken bones but her blood pressure is low and she has anaemia ( no surprise given her current health issues) so we are awaiting further news.

She is unlikely to be home for a few days at least.

My usual trip to Morrisons was delayed, whilst I took "delivery" of my latest Market Research package.....tissues!!

I have a week to trial them then report back.

 

 

I had planned to take Teen Two to wash the car for me, but when the sky started to turn a strange colour, and learning it was dust from the Sahara due to Hurricane Ophelia, I decided to abandon that idea  and get a small corner of the garden sorted.

This picture was taken soon after midday, and we needed to have most of the house lights on...

 

 

 

...particularly for Teen One who was trying to get some work done.

 

 

 

After his hard work clearing away garden soil, Teen Two enjoyed some chill out time with Flora, who looked chilled out herself too!

Both her and Benjy are getting along like a house on fire, which is a real treat to see, it was this time last week we had the ugly fight, we have come a long way that's for sure.

 

My back is taking a long time to settle, in the morning I feel little pain, but after general pottering it starts to get so painful, by the end of the day its as much as I can do to crawl up the stairs to bed!

I am hoping those pesky muscles will settle down soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Paradise!

 

I can't remember how many years we have been going to the annual Pumpkin Festival near Southampton, but its well over a decade that's for sure.

We never tire of this family friendly festival and its something we all look forward to.

Many of the stall holders are now very familiar to us, and one is even an ex teacher of Teen Two, she is always delighted to see him, having known him since he was six years old.

 

 

There are certain stalls that I never tire of visiting, such as this quilting stall...

 

 

...and the local Christian Fellowship always have a lovely Bible text displayed.

 

 

 

All things pumpkiny are celebrated...

 

 

 

...and worn by all...including tiny babies in pumpkin beanies and adults wearing paper maiche heads!

 

 

And just how adorable is this little one in her pumpkin babygrow!

 

Scarecrow Avenue is always fun to wander through, and Teen Two is feeling inspired to enter one next year!

 

 

The Fidget Spinner craze is not showing much sign of abating...in this family anyway, and Teen Two was delighted to see  a Poke Ball one for sale..."what's a Poke Ball?" I hear you all say!!

Well you have to have a Teenager to know that one!

 

 

He also bought himself a knitted trinket ( shock horror, doesn't he know I could knit it for free!)

We bought a knitted jar of Marmite from the same stall holder last year, I must admit  she has a beautiful neat tension and for the small price she charges it really isn't worth doing it myself....not often I say that now!

 

 

Probably Teen Two's favourite section is the circus skills tent...

...he was a tad disappointed the man felt the need to hold his hand on the tight rope still though!

'Elf and Safety no doubt played a part in his decision!

 

 

Along with these gourds/squash to adorn our fireplace, a couple of Christmas presents were bought, and we sampled enough chutneys, jams, honey and fudge to ensure our sweet tooths (sweet teeth didn't quite seem right!) were satisfied.

 

 

The fireplace display is starting to fill up nicely, but still needs some nice shiny conkers...I think we may  have missed the boat on that one this year sadly.

 

 

Back home I made Eve's pudding for tomorrow's dessert, the small one being gluten/dairy free.

I am off to google tips on making good gluten free Yorkshire's as I really have not cracked that one at all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"...and they lived happily ever after!"

 

Last night after posting the blog, Teen Two brought the bunnies into the living room for a snuggle with him on the sofa.

We weren't sure how they would react, as this could be considered both their territory...but as you can see, they were happy to flop together!

 

 

So this morning, after an initial time in the downstairs loo, I extended the area slightly...

 

 

..and after flopping close to each other...

 

...they then snuggled up close to each other!

The moment we had worked so hard to see had finally happened!

 

 

I was fairly sure we had it finally cracked and the bond was made, but after the ugly incident on Monday, thought we ought to introduce the garden space gradually.

So we started off with a little used area where the dustbin is kept.

We transported them in the blue tub...swinging it gently, a suggestion made on one of the bunny bonding blogs I have been reading.

It certainly does the trick of unsettling them slightly, so they stay close to each other for comfort.

They both came out gingerly, and pretty soon felt comfortable with the area...

 

 

 

 so we extended it slightly so they had access to the grass...  and again they were both comfortable  with the space, so comfy that Benjy jumped clean over the fencing twice.

So in order to avoid him causing himself an injury, we decided to go for it and give them full access to the garden...

 

 

...well they were two happy bunnies...back in the garden, able to forage, hop skip and jump....together!

We observed them for quite a while, to ensure there were no nasty incidents, but it was an afternoon of two bunnies wanting to be together, where ever one went, there was the other!

Tonight will be their first night alone and we have decided not to shut them in the hutch, "just in case" and are letting them choose where they go after dark.

If there are any issues...which I honestly feel will be unlikely, then Flora ( who I think is the submissive one) will have somewhere to hide should the need arise. She can fit in under the hutch whereas Benjy is now too big to squeeze underneath.

I am hoping they will choose to snuggle up in the safety of the hutch.

We have foxes up and down our alley and neighbourhood cats who prowl around overnight, so I would rather our bunnies were safe and sound, but just for tonight we will hope our high walls keep the foxes out and having seen how angry Benjy can be, I wouldn't fancy the cats chances if they over step the mark!!

So all in all Teen Two and I are also two happy bunnies and its lovely to see the hard work of the past week pay off.

I am very thankful to the bloggers who took time to explain how to bunny bond, and glad to be the other side of it!