The Mother, The New Baby and Awards

I reckon you've all spotted I'm a little late posting my last update. I wanted to be able to post it along with pics of my new baby (the car) but the planned pick up didn't happen....... a certain chap, who shall remain nameless, forgot to sort out the insurance for it, didn't he? I was not a happy bunny. As I told him: he shouldn't rely on me to remind him to do things at the moment.......... remembering things and a menopausal brain just do not go together. LOL Anyways, the delay hasn't made a great deal of difference to the way things have fallen here, so I stopped giving him earache about it by the weekend. ;0)

Of course in the excitement I forgot to get around to posting at all last week, so it's going to be quite a catch up. LOL

So, first up is the Mother, as She stood last Sunday:

Not as much as I would have liked to have achieved but a reasonable amount of progress nonetheless, as those trees are gradually being filled in. I didn't stitch on anything else during that week.... for some reason the mojo has been a little intermittent and when it is here this is the only piece I feel like stitching on, so I'll keep going with it for now. The fact that there has been a four-night run of Most Haunted Live programmes on during the latter part of this week has meant that my behind has been firmly lodged in my armchair each night, so Mother Earth has grown some more since then:

Much better progress. The final MHL programme is on tonight, so guess where I'll be from 8pm onwards? ;0)

So now onto the new baby. LOL We finally picked her up on Wednesday (24th). She's been valeted and is all clean and sparkly and smells gorgeous inside. I have to say it was a collywobbly moment when I'd paid and received the documents. I turned to DH and said, with a hint of trepidation in my voice: Oooo, I own a car now, love. The salesman laughed and asked if I'd be going out in her soon - yes, because now I've got her I am not going to leave her on the front to rot..... especially as DH has threatened to take her onto the steelworks if I don't start driving her. No way, I ain't having that! So here she is:

And if you look in the bottom left pic you can just see a bit of DS's new baby sneaking into the shot. I reckon the neighbours are wondering if we've won the Lottery. ROFL Nope - DS is in hock for the next few years.... I used the money my Dad left me (plus a contribution from DH). I reckon my Dad would be well pleased with how I've spent my inheritance. :0) So this weekend DH took me and my new baby out to an empty car park on one of the trading estates, and let me loose. I wanted to get the feel of driving again before having some refresher lessons. Some of the basics came back to me straightaway but, due to the size of the car park, I didn't manage to get out of first gear... though I did get to use reverse.... and there were no other cars about....... so I need to have those refresher lessons and want the added confidence of having them in a dual control car - just until I feel like I'm in total charge of the car around traffic, rather than feeling that it's in charge of me. LOL Though DH did say that by the end of our session he could tell my confidence was growing....... I got faster. Eheheh.

DS has had a couple of offers for his old Mini but hasn't taken any of them up: one wanted to pay peanuts and the other wants to buy it to scrap... and DS isn't happy about that at all. He's now got an ad in the AutoTrader, so fingers crossed an enthusiast spots it and comes along with the cash very soon. Meantime DH is sorting out a price for The Tank (the Isuzu Trooper 4x4) and will be putting a For Sale sign in that this weekend.... again, fingers crossed for a quick sale there too. Then we'll be able to get at the caravan to give it a good clean and put that up for sale too..... all so we can get the front cleared so the Honda, Kia and BMW Mini can all park there. Currently DH is having to park his Honda around the corner and that isn't ideal.

DH should have gone to the local office furniture place on Friday dinnertime to order the items for the Craft Room that we spotted last weekend: a wood effect bookcase with adjustable shelving, plus two extra shelves for it, and a 4-drawer silver coloured filing cabinet..... but didn't manage it. We went Saturday morning instead and, as DH has decided he wants the chair I currently use, I got to order a new one, with rubber rollers rather than castors, for my room..... it goes perfectly with the colour scheme. LOL They should be delivered some time on either Monday or Tuesday and the chaps there will not only deliver but also take everything up to the room, set them all up and place them where I want them too. I'll post some pics next time. :0)

Apart from ordering the furniture and having a tootle in my car we also went to the Pink Pig for dinner on Saturday, followed by a little shopping. Once home DS arrived back with his haul from the local Farmer's Market - the fridge and freezer are now very well stocked. DH and DS went out to a Social Reading at the LTC Guild Room that night - a gathering where the members take it in turns to read parts from a script (last nights was The Life of Brian). It helps them get some practice and they can improvise in whatever way they want.... and it usually ends up with lots of laughs. Today (Sunday) DH is currently watching the Australian Grand Prix Highlights but once it's finished we'll be out in the garden: DS brought back some strawberry plants for us yesterday and we need to plant them out. The plan is to have them growing in a large pot this year.... next year we should have sorted more of the garden so we can grow more in a spot under where the fruit trees will be planted.

I've very kindly been awarded the Sunshine Award by Clare and Vinniey and Vinniey also very kindly gave my blog a second award too. Thank you so much to both of you. :0)

For the second award I have to tell you 10 things about myself, so here goes:

1) When I was a toddler I tripped and fell, hands first, into an open coal fire - I still have some minor scars on my hands from this.

2) As a result of said fall: I have no memory of it but up until I was about 9 years old I was terrified of big bonfires and sparklers. It wasn't until my Mum told me what had happened when I was a tot that I lost the fear.

3) I have a couple of basic awards for trampolining that I took at High School.

4) I not only sense and hear Spirit - I've seen a ghost. Now you know why I'm a Most Haunted fan. LOL

5) I believe in Angels.

6) My Grandad took me to see the Blue Peter steam train naming ceremony when I was a child. Didn't get to see the presenters very well though - we were right the way at the back of the crowd.

7) I absolutely hate travelling down a hill fast so, as a result, I avoid all kinds of scarey them park/fairground rides, as well as skiing and sledding, and prefer to be in a car driven by someone who knows this and adapts their driving to suit. (Won't be a problem once I'm driving again! LOL).

8) As a child I was bullied, at some point, in every school I went to.... it's made me highly intolerant of bullying, whether it's directed at me or someone else.

9) Whilst I love my garden and all kinds of plants.... I'm not much of a gardener. I work on the theory that if it looks pretty and I like it it gets in.

10) I'm a Trekkie and am ambidexterous when it comes to doing a Vulcan salute. Unfortunatly there aren't a lot of opportunities to show off this skill. ROFL

I am supposed to pass these awards on to a set amount of people but, as always, I can't just limit it to that set amount because I enjoy reading every single blog on my blogroll and this makes it difficult to choose just a few. I also don't like to disappoint or upset anyone by missing them out, so...... these awards are given to all of those bloggers whose blogs I read and comment on. Thank you for allowing me the privelege to share in all your news and see all your lovely handworks. :0)

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Thank you for taking the time to visit and for leaving such lovely comments. :0)