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!!