A lovely walk

You know I love to walk with the girls in the beautiful countryside. So here is the latest 'photo safari' as I remember Melissa once called such posts. You may note there are a lot of 'bend in the road' pictures. I was trying to find a nice shot for a new blog header.

Paws n' claws

Please pray

Lol I'm havin' a stress.

We have a viewer for our house on Saturday! Hurrah! However, I am out on a course for church that I can't really get out of because it's all arranged. Sasanfasanrasan! It's in Southport which is 50+ miles away so I can't really nip back during the lunch break or anything.

Hubs is visiting his father (biological father - it's complicated) who he hasn't seen since before Christmas - so it's pretty important that hubs visits with the girls. I can't get hold of hubs today because he's on a course and has switched his phone off and I'm havin' a stress.

Oh, and I'm ill with a horrid cold and have pulled a muscle in my stomach. How am I going to get the house ready?? Oh and the garden too, which needs the grass mowing and a general tidy-up!

So would you just pray. a) that we'd find a suitable time to please the buyers; b) that I'll manage to get the house and garden presentable; and most of all c) that I'll stop this silly stressing when God is in control! Oh and d) that the house will sell :)

Thank you so much, I realise this is a very tiny problem as problems go - I know I need to rest in God over it!

Update: My Granddad is feeling a lot better, however, he still needs a hospital appointment about the cancerous growth on his hand. Thank you so much for your prayers for him.

Spring Cleaning is dangerous

Flickr

Finally started my Spring cleaning today by pulling out our large wooden TV unit (with the WORLD'S BIGGEST big fat TV on top). Managed to pull some muscle in my side that I had hurt recently from a horrid coughing fit (I've been endlessly ill recently). It was getting better, but I just made it worse. *SIGH*

At least it's clean behind the TV unit, and that makes me feel all warm inside!

xx

Random Dozen

1. How do you feel about "Gladiator" sandals, also called "Roman" or "Jesus" sandals? A fashion yea or nay?

I'd have to say 'nay', because the hubster has a serious aversion to them. I'm more of a flip-flops girl in the summer anyway, too many buckles on gladiator sandals.

2. What is your favourite pizza?

Ham and mushroom - Domino's Pizza

3. There are plans in the works to sell roughly 1,000 items from Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas. This means you could buy Picard's chair for your family room. If not a Star Trek item, what prop, background, set, etc. from what TV or movie would you buy if you could?

I really don't know. Perhaps the pink dress that Marilyn Monroe wore for the Diamond's Are a Girl's Best Friend set piece in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It's the best shade of pink ever!


4. Name a local food or restaurant that your area is famous for.

Lancashire Hotpot

and Blackpool Rock (it has to say 'Blackpool' all the way through)

Flickr

Blackpool Gift shop

5. What is your current favourite snack?
Hmmm. Green olives, chocolate and Doritos (not necessarily all at the same time)

6. Hypothetical: You are required to be a reality show contestant. Which show would you choose based on your probability of success? (You cannot choose "none.")

A. Dancing with the Stars
B. Biggest Loser
C. Survivor

I've never watched any; I don't want to be a loser, I'm not a survivor (more a roof over my head kinda gal) so I'll go for Dancing with Stars - despite the fact I can't dance - I've been watching the girls learning ballroom dancing so perhaps some of it's rubbed off on me.

7. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being uninhabitable and 10 being cleanliness that meets the standards of OCD, how clean is your vehicle's interior?

I'd say about a 6 - I have children!

8. It doesn't feel like Spring until _________.

I see Daffodils and I'm wearing my flip-flops and complaining about the rain.

9. Something that made you laugh really hard recently is ____.

Considering that I hadn't had a really good laugh in a while I have had a good opportunity for some good ol' belly laughs in the past few days - eeee it does yer good!

A friend saying she wanted to ring the council to tell them they should put chipboard flooring down at the children's park, when really she meant decorative bark. I had to laugh at that - just think about the splinters.

My Mum made me laugh recently too, we were on a walk and there was quite a bit of doggy-doo on the ground. But instead of saying to the girls, "Mind the doggy-doo", she said "Mind the [my Dad's name]". Lol! She didn't even realise she'd said it, which made it more funny when she's saying, "What? What?". I'm sure Freud would have made something of that!

10. Tell me about a goal you're working toward.

Goals? Me? Mmmmm. :P

Ok, on a Spiritual level I would say:

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

On an earthly level I would say:

A lovely home in a lovely neighbourhood - just need to sell our house!

11. Share a thought-provoking or inspiring quote this week.

Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children and no theories.

~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester.

I know, not very inspiring. But it tickled me.

12. Name one thing that you do as a parent that you absolutely know will make your kids happy.

I tell them every day how much I love them and I pray with them every night. They need to know that God loves them and the best way I can do that is by loving them and praying for them.

Crisps a go-go

In the 'Recent Visitor' activity on my Statcounter there are loads of people visiting my blog every day after searching for images of crisps on Google. People from not only the UK, but Germany, India, Bahrain, Chile, Denmark, Belgium, the Ukraine and Crewe :) - in fact there is quite an outbreak of people from Germany who want to look at images of crisps! Intrigued, I checked it out on Google and it's true, my blog was the fifth picture of crisps. Lol.

Glad I can help out the international crisp-picture requirements.

Oh and someone landed on my blog after searching for: 'Davy Jones' Locker, lancashire, england' - Of course, Lancashire, the haunt of all dead sailors.

Happy Homemaker Monday

The weather in my neck of the woods:
It's been a lovely day, warm (for the time of year) and sunny.

12°C

Current: Cloudy
Wind: N at 4 mph
Humidity: 67%

Mon

15°C | 2°C

Tue

11°C | 4°C

Wed

12°C | 2°C

Thu

15°C | 2°C

Things that make me happy:
A sunny day.


Book I'm reading:
Power of a Praying...Wife, Parent, Woman


What I'm enjoying on TV:
Animal Cops Houston
Animal Precinct
Doctor Who


On the menu for dinner:
D'you know, I was just wondering that myself! Need to make a plan!


On my To Do List:
Finish ironing
Put away laundry


Looking forward to this week:
Meeting up with other Mums/Grandmas from church on Thursday whilst the children play.


Tips and Tricks:
On your computer, type our a list of groceries that you regularly buy. Organise the list into departments/aisles at your favourite supermarket. Each week print off the list. As you work through the list it will remind you to check whether you are out of certain items. Highlight the items you need to buy. It helps me to remember what I need to check and to buy it!

My favourite blog post this week:
I enjoyed the Random Dozen link-up at 2nd Cup of Coffee


Blog Hopping (a new discovered blog you would like to share with the readers):
2nd Cup of Coffee (see Random Dozen link-up above)


No words needed (favourite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):




Lesson learned the past few days:
That, even though the Christian life is a serious business, God wants us to enjoy life and to give us life in abundance.

On my mind:
A job I have recently applied for, working at the local school. Just 10 hours a week.

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

Sunday loveliness

Chatterbox and Hubs went for a bike ride this afternoon, so Squidge and I went for a walk together (so much for a lazy day!). The spring flowers were out in force.

Squidge calls this sculpture 'Jesus' hands'

As we walked we passed a fire engine parked up but no firemen in sight.

We played Pooh sticks - Squidge won

Ah, the hill is on fire. If you click on the picture (above) to enlarge you might just see a fireman beating out the smouldering field.

And here's his mate, absolutely stressed out (lol) lounging by the stream - he was pumping water.

Squidge loves those daffodils!

A lovely walk.

Yesterday

Yesterday we visited Oxenhope Railway Station. It's part of the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. We didn't ride the steam train because we got there too late, but we did wander around the museum. The trains are amazing, so beautiful compared to ugly modern trains.

In May there is a special 40th anniversary celebration of The Railway Children at the station. It sounds great. Cream teas and a recreation of the original trains etc, and cream teas, and cream teas...mmmmmmm, [dribble] - ;)




Afterwards, we went to a local pub/restaurant with a children's play area. I had chicken tikka masala, yummy and hubs had the largest burger sandwich I ever saw. The weather was beautiful and it was lovely to not have to cook or clean up! :) Whilst we were there we met up with our neighbour's son. He's going back to Afghanistan today, he's been on four tours of Afghanistan (and skiing in Norway with the marines - a slight change of temperature!) and has chosen to return to Afghanistan! It must be so hard on his mother, I'd be terrified - but at least we can pray for him, for his safety.

That reminds me hubs' brother and his wife are expecting their second child! So cute, it'll make me broody no doubt, :). We go down to visit them at the end of May. They were in Northern Ireland until recently (hubs' bro is in the RAF) but they've moved to a base down south. I expect they'll need to move house again though, they've only got a two bedroomed house. Moving house with a baby is hard - I remember it only too well when we moved house when Chatterbox was a few months old! Hubs couldn't get time off work, nightmare!!

Anyway, today is (children willing!) a lazy day. Church this morning, dinner is cooking and lots of resting. I'm really enjoying reading Stormie OMartian's book set - The Power of a Praying Wife, The Power of a Praying Parent and The Power of a Praying Woman. I've had the book for ages but never wanted to read it until now, it's great.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend.

And there were lambs

Today's lamb spotting was a success. We saw a number of newly born lambs tottering about on their little spindly legs. We went for a walk with my mum and dad today up to the lake and across the fields to a local farm.

On the way we met hubs' dad on a walk with two of their foster children, which was a nice surprise. It has been a lovely day today, my only gripe was that my washing machine refused to open up and was flashing a fault number so I couldn't get my washing put outside [sasanfasanrasan!]. It eventually (after switching it off and on a few times - yes I'm a technician) allowed me to drain the water and open the door. I am praying that this is just a glitch and that we don't need a new one! So the washing is in my dryer - so much for saving on the electric.

As we approached a farm there was a young lad walking a large doberman dog grumbling something about farmers. Now I thought he said, "Gonna kill that farmer", but my dad reckons he said, "Grumpy old farmer" (let's hope so eh?!!). As he passed he let the dog off the leash. I reckon the farmer had told him off for having the dog off the leash - too right too with all those little lambs running around. I'm sure the farmer doesn't want them to be some dog's dinner.

We met the farmer further up, and we asked him about the lambs. The lambs were all between 48 hours and a week old. Most of his sheep had twins and one had quads but two had died over night because they were so small. Chatterbox would like a farm so she could keep sheep, but went off the idea when I told her what the lambs were reared for - to go with mint sauce! :)

Anyway, here are the pics from our walk:

Mum n' Dad and the kidlets

Baby lambs.

This lamb was looking for its mother, it was making quite a racket. Chatterbox got quite upset and worried. But sheep number 15 (its mother) wasn't far away.

A lovely day. I hope you've all had a great day too.