HAPPY NEW YEAR

Just a last entry for the year to Wish you ALL a really happy and healthy new year, I know we have a lot of aspirations and goals for the coming year and a lot of changes to work towards, I hope you all achieve your goals and ambitions too. Thankyou to everyone who has helped us this year, Laura - (who still has to work full time when back from uni, even though we don't clean the cottages anymore, she thought she might have a rest...no such luck!), Pete - (Well we took it on so gotta get on with whatever it throws at us, we might get out one day), Steve - (for all that car cleaning and helping me when not at golf!), Mum - (Who wont miss making 400 scones next year!), Dad - (Sorry no change on this one!! grass still grows, you should have chosen scones, ha ha), Auntie Lou - ( For her entertaining words of wisdom??? and nutty time saving ideas oh and my cup of tea partner in crime), Geoff (You'll never finish, you think you do but its never ending you'll be here till your 100 and then some!!), Ant and Andy (the dream team, back on 4th Jan do the next phase!), Aaron - (you shouldn't offer help! then you wont get roped in!), Tom for our imminent roof! Scott & Tina and cleaning team who I can't do without! And obviously Julianne and her team. And a special mention and thanks to a dear friend Sylvia who is still here in spirit at Woodmill, but lost her battle in August. So I raise our glasses in appreciation to you all and Cheers, Thankyou. May all your dreams become reality, but don't forget Life is what you make it and its not a dress rehearsal. Live for today tomorrow is a gift XXX

CALM AFTER THE STORM

After a really busy xmas we have a bit of calm, after changing around bedrooms so that new toys and things could be housed, we had 4 hours of out time, never get that!! So went down to St.Ives only had just under two hours there as we had to get back for the animals but we had a brain wave whilst there, We are going to turn our summer house into an art studio and then if we ever get a few hours here and there we can be creative without having to drag it all out and put it away, it can stay out...all we have to do is get some water up there and try to insulate it a bit....its probably best that we dont go out, I have too many ideas if I stay in let alone being giving more inspiration out!! We are now getting to grips with redoing Little Toms ready to rent again for the season after it being an office for a while, so that will take a few weeks to fill and paint and sort. So I guess we dont stop do we????

STEVE LUCKY IT XMAS!!!!!

VERY VERY LUCKY its Christmas, do you know what that cheeky little toe rag Steve gave me as I have been really poory this year and lots of things have had to change.....a bow up zimmer frame!!! I could have killed him!! He thought it was highly amusing!!! I can still give him a REAL run for his money so he better watch out!

CATS EATEN TOO MUCH

I think even the cats know its Christmas and have a special treat and the dogs....I think Smurf has eaten too many after eights the evidence is on his hands, no need for forensics eh! and Squiggly is totally in love with pengu!

XMAS MORNING

Well luckily Santa arrived safe and sound for Laura and Steve who didn't waste a moment on the competitive games, and the challenge was set, neither of them like loosing especially to each other, you can see by the look of concentration on their faces, we got up at around 5am so probably not the best time to take pictures, in fact I seem to have come off the worst here!!! but laura and steve took their clothes straight on from the packets they came in, new clothes straight on! Me and Pete do the £30 quid challenge, this year was get 6 interesting pressies for £30 which is always a bit of fun, reckon I won this year!, cant really afford to spend anymore, rather spend it on the kids, so we had a really good day and a wonderful lunch even if I do say so myself!!! cooked for 11 and everyone loved it....genuinely!!!! It is a lot of planning and preparation but worth it, glad its only once a year though! we make table decorations and individual pressies for the table etc so it all looks really special so at least you feel its a big event!

WAITING FOR SANTA

After a few drinks and nibbles on xmas eve...well alot of nibbles! to thank everyone who has helped us here over the past year, its sort of a thankyou work do thingy me bob, we used to hold a open house but we just cant fit that in aswell, so we now have our work do on that day... We then cleared the decks got the kids to church sorted the table out for the next day and started to peel the veg, its really busy xmas eve, no time for sitting around, then late off to bed and early up to see if Santa has been. I dont sleep I just drive everyone nuts getting excited, I am shattered by xmas night!! Laura and Steve are now 19 and 14 so its not like they are little, but I love it. and we of course dressed up as Mr & Mrs Xmas and went about our normal jobs in costume, god knows what everyone thinks that stay here or drive by, seeing santa feeding the ducks!!!

ALL HAPPY

Talk about taking over the house, we now have 7 cats, Sassy, Smudge, Smartie, Scrappy, Smurf, Squiggly and Squeaker! And they all want a piece of the action in front the fire, no one else can get a look in they are always there as soon as we light it they appear from no where!

GEM GEM GEM

Gem is a real soppy dog, she loves attention ...but obviously strickly on her terms she can be a cantankerous ol' mare, Pete said cant they all??? Dont know what he was talking about eh! Laura was rubbing Gems belly and her feet were going around like in a washing machine! I did mention to Laura to try it with Shadow but as she weighs in at 62 kgs I think it might be a bit difficult!!

SANTA?

Found these on my line, I think Santa might be staying with us????

CHRISTMAS ON THE WAY

Haven't had a minute of time to sort Xmas, so I am hoping the Internet will provide and deliver to Santa!! and food...well Laura is back from uni so she is full time on duty, so we will be busy every minute until Xmas day now, just hope we can get all the food and clean the house and muck out and prepare everything for Xmas eve and Xmas day, going to be a good one if i can pull this year off, i will be impressed with myself!!!!! The kittens reckon they are helping?????

TILLEY POORLY

Tilley hasn't really been what I call well for quite some time and is on painkillers, her feet are very sore, the vet thinks it might be a low level laminitus a bit like a diabetic sort of thing. She is on medication and we will have to see how she responds and see how it goes really, we cant have her in not manageable pain, that's cruel, but as long as we can make her live as pain free as possible we will.

NOW THE BIG FREEZE!

From Floods to freeze, the duck pond was 6 inches thick ice that was barely breakable with a sledge, the animal feeds and water had to be distributed by hand every few hours as it kept re freezing, its been a hard few weeks really, its not like that's the only thing we have to do, there is so much, the animals are the smallest job!...The pipes were frozen for weeks and the ice was getting to us, I would rather have snow than ice, actually I would rather have sun but i realise its December!....

FLOODS

St.Blazey hit the news a few weeks ago, and Prince Charles duly visited,...the football club of all places, I heard he had a cuppa there, poor guy! only kidding its a great place really!!! Not quite Buckingham Palace though eh! We had a real flood, woke up to a helicopter shining its search light through our window at 5am! I thought we were under attack!, then I had a text from my brother to say I had better leave in plenty of time for school as the roads are closed and they are searching for someone in the river, I didn't realise how bad it was out there until Pete feed the animals and the road down by the duck pond was no longer a road but a 2 ft raging river and homes were already under water, Fowey, Mevagissey, Lostwithiel, St.Austell, the Eden Project were all flooded, crazy situation eh. We had to get to Millfield interview/viewing for Steve by 1.50 and somehow had to get out of Cornwall on what ever roads were open or somehow passable. The leat that we have been fighting for someone to dredge for 3 and a half years was a lot to blame but we are weeks after now and it still hasn't been done, they just don't listen or learn.....The big clean up has begun in the towns and villages, we were lucky we only had flooded land and not homes, I think it will be a while before some peoples homes are habitable, but the businesses are mostly up and running again. Walking around you wouldn't know any different but open the doors to some houses and they are empty. Our local chippy got flooded but hes up and chippying again now...phew! Oh and the people in the river, they were found and luckily no bad casualties which is a blessing. So St.Blazey is well and truly on the map!!

ITS BEEN A WHILE

Needless to say it has been hectic here.... we stupidly jested that we would like to build another bedroom off the first floor, and then mentioned it to a client, who suggested we swap some labour for drawings and what was a sort of idea was starting on Monday morning, so after drawing up the construction over the weekend i was all hands on deck....we worked every night and every hour at weekends to get it done for xmas, hence the lack of signing in here.....You will b glad to hear we have finished it a month and a day start to finish and with 2 foot thick walls to hack out it was no mean feat!!...Looks great, just a small bedroom, but enough to fit in a double futon thing....what has the world come to, i have given in to the lure of a futon, cant believe i bought an item, careful i might go the whole hog and get a jacuzzi, now that would be a worry!!!

TRYING TO KEEP UP

We are currently adding a forth bedroom at the back of the house and some Muppet who did our felt and batten for us, decided to do it like wrapping a present instead of correctly, so in all this torrential rain we have had leak after leak, sometimes more like rivers int he house, we have buckets everywhere...But lucky for us Tom a friend of ours is able to come Monday to redo it and slate it to make us water tight. We also have another nightmare the whole roof has to come off to be re slated so looks like that will be happening between Xmas and new year or something! yippee dooo! Can it get any better!.... So we have been working flat out on the extension.....Purl Design is also really busy so we are really trying to hold it all together in the hope of having Christmas day off! I was told to cut my stress and hours by the doc....I am hoping this will happen after xmas a bit! On and off poorly at the mo, depends on which day and whether my body wants to do what my brain is telling it!...I think I do quite well though I keep on going, bit like a Duracell battery advert eh! I try to get some photos of extension when I have a minute and the rain stops, but currently I am catching water in buckets or wading through mud in the field....Oh my glamorous life!

4 STAR GOLD

We had our inspection last week or was it the week before? Well we had it anyway, we were busy doing all the outside gardening and maintenance, whilst Perfect Example were taking care of the insides of the cottages, it usually takes me at least a month to go through all the inventories and make sure everything is right, and then I panic and do it all over again, when really its fine in the first place, so to have Scott and his team I am really pleased, it takes a bit of pressure off.....

Anyway we achieved four star gold, we cant get to five star because we cannot fit washing machines in each unit, we have a very nice laundry though! So congrats to everyone involved.

THE STUDIO IS FINISHED

We have finally, I say finally and Pete laughs, we do everything at a ridiculous fast speed and I say finally!... I just want it all done yesterday...what wrong with that eh! We built a timber studio where the chickens used to live, for Purl Design to work from, it frees up Little Toms Cottage to rent out, its really lovely working in the new studio, all i need to do now is fill and repaint where we moved out from to rent it out, it really needs sorting after being an office!...Next job!!

TROUSER CLIMBERS

Thought I had better share this photo of Squeeker with you, as I sit here typing she is clawing up my jeans at a pace and then sits on the keyboard and purrrrsss! I must have a multitude of tiny injuries up my legs under these jeans, I have a permanent teeth clench going on as i try to type ...hope the wind doesn't change eh... here's a picture of the culprit!

PLAY TIME

The kittens are well and truly driving me nuts, they can scale a curtain at sonic speed and still make it between your cup of tea and hand in order to sill it everywhere! And it seems to be every time I sit down the litter tray comes into action, like they save the delights up for me!! Oh the joys of kittens!

LITTLE MEETS LARGE?

Smurf who is only 5 months looks massive in comparison to Squiggly, they are best of friends and love each other. I have managed to keep two of the kittens, I snuck one past Pete, I think he is certainly mellowing with age ha ha....We have Squiggly and squeaker! Smartie/Scrappy/Smurf all got dealt with at the vets and so we shouldn't have any more kitten issues!

BUZZ MOVES HOME

We have spent the last two years breeding Kune Kunes and after a lengthy discussion we decided it was time to stop due to health reasons and time. We spent a long time considering our options and keeping Buzz, but when it came down to it, although I am really close to Buzz and he lived inside for a while on my lap! (although apparently you are not meant to have boars so friendly as they don't produce, well Buzz was and he certainly produced so that's that rubbish out the window!)(, he needed to continue to breed and make his ladies happy. SO we found a wonderful home for him and his wife Dixie and they will be happy continuing to produce more little beautiful babies. We still are keeping Pixie and Woody as pets to clear the woods for us and just to have around but no more litters, maybe one day we will go back to it, but for now its time for a rest!

RAYBURN OR TREACLE FACTORY

I really must get the photos off mum......You know the Rayburn usually goes off in the summer and then Pete finally agrees after constant nagging to put it back on as we are cold in the winter!!!....Well he put the Rayburn on alright, it still had our summer sugar in the oven for storage to make the wine......and Pete being Pete didn't check any of those things on the front..."doors" didn't open one of them, I guess its a bit like his wardrobe, he takes one look at the outside and shouts " I cant find my whatever...where have I put it???" See I can see the men reading this grinning, you know what I am talking about!... Well anyway he didn't check inside the Rayburn, he lit it. And was really pleased with himself, but after 2 or 3 days of getting up to temp for us to cook on it, there was a strange smell. I tried to open the door and it was stuck.... It suddenly dawned on me ...I wonder if Pete took the 8 lb or so of sugar out of the oven first???....so I forced it a little to see a sea of treacle from top to toe in the Rayburn, I shut it and held my head...yeah like that was going to help.... OMG...I shut it all down and waited until it cooled. To cut a really long story short, Dad offered to try to sort it so we didn't have to get a new one, so for a day he angle ground the treacle from the inside of the oven, It looked really good. We still have an issue opening it as it is seeping from somewhere still, but it is usable and saved. So Pete will never live this one down

KITTENS GROWING AWAY!

I have homes for 4 of the kittens just need 2 more really, well Pete does, I am happy to keep all of the last three, but he reckons I am only allowed to keep one....mmmmm They are all over the place now, I think 3 of them go to their new homes next Saturday, but they are lovely, they all sleep together and snuggle up. Be nice to have my office back but a shame to see them go....I guess it will be a while before I have the office back I still have to spay smartie, smurf and scrappy and they will be in for 10 days and then the new kittens will be in for another 6 weeks yet until they have their injections, oh well, Ill have the office back sometime eh!

LAURA OFF TO UNI!

Its been a long summer planning and saving for Laura to go to uni, new flute, hundreds of books, utensils, you name it she had it on her list, even a tennis ball!!!But the day arrived we had the car packed and off we went. It was quite stressful as we were the last to sign in as you had allocated times, which meant we had to unpack and get her sorted really quickly so we could get to the parents meeting and she could get to the freshers meeting. Chichester is a lovely university and her room is or rather was clean and tidy! They share a kitchen one between 4. I hope Laura will be happy there and achieve a good degree to enable her to progress on to the world she wishes. Good Luck Laura XX

STEVE HAS BEEN SELECTED

Steve with all his dedication and practice has secured England training, his first one was in September, first time away from home and he had a lot to think about and organise. But seemed to do really well. He had a few articles in the paper, you only get England training if they think you have the potential to play for England within 2 years. So watch this space see how he progresses but well done Steve. XX

HECTIC

Well so much has happened and I cant seem to remember anything, I think its a bit like this every day...... appointment after appointment and time scales to meet. I have literally minutes in between whilst trying to appear like I am in control, throwing tea on table and turning up to birthdays, whilst having a cockerel for the vets and cat to the vets at separate times or various others, trying to fit in the feed run whilst trying to get Steve from school and take him to golf practice, feeding him, making sure he gets his gym work in, not to mention our Architecture business, I am not sure how long things can carry on this manic and I still catch all the balls (and theres loads of them) in the right hands at the right time. I am not sure unless you work here for a week on all sides of our business that you would ever know the pressure involved. I think it has evolved and the more you do the more you can do, although if you gave me our schedule a few years back, I would have told you it cant be done!...I spoke to someone the other day they mentioned "me" time, they don't get enough of, must be a new phrase, cant fit that one in! Apparently they only get Sundays off.... If only!!

KITTENS ARE HERE

ON one of our busiest Saturday mornings, Smartie thought she would give birth to 7 kittens, it always happens like that. I am sure she crossed her legs until it was the most difficult time!.... The are all fluffy and black with white patches. Really cute, no idea who the father is and this time Smartie will not be setting foot outside the door until she goes to the vets to be spayed, she just cant be trusted!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETE!

Its like a bus, dont see one for hours then they all come at once, birthdays all over the place. Pete was slightly older than 18 this birthday.....cough cough choke! But we made him a farm yard scene, you just got to have a theme eh! Me and Laura made a farmer that most people thought was a Celtic snowman...oh well we tried, it did look and taste great , although a very large cake! We organised a boat hire and went up the river and had a champagne picnic and then walked miles and miles eventually eating in a lovely restaurant for the evening....

HAPPY 18th KAIT!

Kait was 18 on the 29th August, Kait helps here on Saturdays and is a good friend of Laura, we were afraid she wouldnt get a cake and spent the afternoon making this one! We thought it only right to have a grown up kinda cake! Sesame Street muffins were born!. It looked really good, I think it might be the first birthday cake someone has made Kait!
Happy Birthday!!!!!

WELL DONE STEVE!

Thanks to Phillips Frith Accountants, Steven has secured a sponsor of a new golf driver. Jane and Ian kindly offered the sponsorship as a result of winning the Under 14 Cornwall championships.

HAIRCUT!

Drastic haircut......I was fed up with the dogs escaping every day and going to play in the peat bogs, getting matted fur and I was unable to wash it out...So I talked Laura into helping me haircut the dogs, by the end of it Laura looks like she had more fur on here clothes than the dogs did. After chasing Lucky and Gem around the kitchen and working like a mechanic under them and like a contortionist around them, they finally came out with their new haircuts. We must have gone miles around the floor on our knees trying to keep them still. Shadow heard the shears and scissors and hid under a tree, we had no chance of getting her out, she will have to be the vets problem, we did try but she ran around and took us both out and it was at that comic moment that we thought...you know what...have matted hair look like a tramp, who cares...start a new trend eh!

WHAT YOU LOOKING AT!

I was trying to take some pictures and all I got was Scrappy the kitten in my lens, shes a real poser and very inquisitive. There was no way she was going to let me photograph what I wanted anyhow!

NIGHTMARE!

Had to wait for Smartie the cat to finish feeding the kittens and to let her milk dry up to get spayed, ....took her up to the vets and they sent her and her baggage home!....She is only ruddy half way through a pregnancy and will have another load of kittens, she was only out for a few moments at a time and I never saw a Tom about, so its either the immaculate conception or she has gone down in my estimations!!!! I told the vet to have another look, it couldn't be Smartie she is still feeding....but yeap we have kittens on the way....ruddy brilliant, no new carpet for Xmas now eh and have to live with the ripped curtains from the litter before, I cant believe it, I would like to have a word with that Tom, God help him if he comes up here!

FORGOT THIS.....

I just remembered I had a photo of this. Ant and Andy are helping us to build a very large shed!..mmmm...we needed to lay the base and as the position it is in is virtually in accessible, we thought Ants tractor would do the job.... We the slope was very steep and Ant isn't one to give up lightly, he took the hill on....the tractor reared up and slid uncontrollably down the hill and through our fence...Luckily Ant wasn't hurt but very lucky!