Maddies first visit 26Jan2007

Well - she came, she stayed, and she made me fall in love all over again - - and I broke my heart crying when they left ---- just take a look at my angel................. or should I say fairy?

She is such a cutie pie, and a very good little girl as well - can you believe she is only 8 weeks old? This outfit is sooo cute - its got fairy wings on the back and little sewn on ballet type shoes on each foot. Maddie did the grand tour round my office, and was such a hit with everyone - I was so proud.....

This is Flissy - getting in on the act - she rather took a shine to the car seat!! Zoe and Andy came down on the train, and Zoe really enjoyed the trip - said it was a super way to travel - they avoided London, coming via Watford Gap and East Croyden, she had arranged for assistance at each station to help with all the luggage!!! Andy ended up coming as well in the end, so it was lovely having all of them together.

Amy is moving stable yards next week, which is always stressful - she has a few days off to cope with it all - Babe is not the easiest horse to deal with when travelling- so fingers crossed fora a safe move.

Will catch you soon....

Caro xx

look what I got!!!!! ~ 24Jan2007

When I woke up this morning -look what happened overnight.......

This is one way up the garden.....

And this is the other way towards my car.......

I love it when it snows - however it appears the local authorities do not seem to listen to the weather reports, some of the main roads are treacherous, Jay is still trying to get to work and he left at 7.15 and it is now 8.01 and he is only about an normal 5 minutes away from home.

Hope you are all ok

will try and get more photos later

Caro xxxxx

So - I have swept the path and go t a few more shots for you.....

Here is Roxy - she was having a great time til she posed for the camera - you have no idea what a good game you can have when you pat the snow thru the slats of chairs!!!!

These are a couple of views from the garden, top left - from the river to the house, on the right is the view upstream and bottom left is across the river to the pub. In the summer you can see kingfishers on the river and also we have a family of swans that paddle up and down this stretch. Still I think it looks lovely with the snow!!

Take care xxxx

A visitor......... 18Jan2007

Well how exiting.... I dont normally have exiting things happen on a Thursday ... or many days to be honest - and on the day you least expect it - you have a visitor in your garden - that even your big sister hasn't had....................................

I know you will never guess so I have photographic evidence.......

Ok so I didn't take the photo - but I nearly crashed the car when I saw it - I got my camera phone to take a shot - but it got shy and flew away, so I borrowed an image from google. But how lovely is that bird? A Greater Spotted Woodpecker....... We can hear it in the Summer, but this is the first time I have actually seen it.

The wind is ferocious today - I hope you all keep safe and dont have any major damage.

I love my birdy............

Caro

xx

An apology...........14Jan2007

Well - here goes ..... I had a bit of a telling off last week - and rightly so I think!! Amy - my middle daughter, peeped at the Blog via her mobile phone (isn't technology wonderful - I can only use my phone to call and text and take photo's - I haven't got a clue how the rest of it works!!) and gave me a telling off as she hasn't been mentioned much. So brace yoursef luvvey - here we go........
Amy Elizabeth - named after Libby of course will turn 21 in August this year. She is a total horsey person thru and thru - and as I have mentioned previously - owns a 16hh dark bay mare called Babe - who takes up most of Amys hard earned salary and time!!

Here she is with Maddie - sorry Amy - I haven't found a photo of you and Babe - I can't access the shared photos for some reason (so much for shared huh?)

Any hoo.... Amy has a boyfriend called Mark - which can get very confusing during conversations with Libby - but that is another story. They have been together ..actually its well over two years I think, I am sure she will let me know!!!!! They tear round the Wirral together as Amy moved back up North just over a year ago now - and yes I still miss her like mad - we used to do lots of horsey stuff together, and she never minds if I dance and sing in a shop if a good track comes on - Danielle wont let me!!!!!!!!

Amy now works at MBNA taking calls from customers who have received letters of arrears - so you can imagine how her day goes, bless her - we chat most days, but it never makes up for not being with her. I miss both my girls so much, I wish someone would invent an affordable time machine so we could catch up face to face instead of snatched weekends every couple of months.

Will have to stop that line I'm afraid - I get to upset....

Some nice news - I have been offered the job to train as a medical underwriter, which I start in March - have I already told you that? Lots of time to panic...............

Anyway, will catch up soon.....

Caro

xx

Wonder if it will work? 3rd January 2007

Well... It actually loaded the picture first time today!!!!!!!

Look at my lovely granddaughter, this was just before Christmas, and I don't care if people thought it was wind - I think she is definitely having a go at smiling!!!!!!

Zoe is off to have her weighed today - so I will let you know how she is doing when I find out. Zoe said she thinks Maddie is going to have a wicked sense of humour as she is full of smiles and likes to chat already.... just like her mum!!!!

Zoe is looking into a baby massage course which sounds like a lovely thing, don't times change though? My girls had only three years between them - and in those three years some bright spark invented the steam sterilizer amongst other things, which are fabulous, but all the other things you do now differ so much from 21 years ago. OK - I know I sound like an old fart - but its a Nannys privilege!!!!!

~I still havent had a date to start my new Underwriting job, the general opinion is that I won't be released until the beginning of February - which is pretty much what I expected, but gives me more time to panic about it!!!! I can't help being one of lifes natural worriers, but I am sure it will be a good move in the long run. I heard yesterday that one of my old managers fiancee applied as an external applicant, and was also offered a position - this is good news, as I get on with her really well - and at least it will be a friendly face.

Anyway - will get off now - I just wanted to post another Maddie piccy for you ~ I will find some others to post eventually - but for the moment I just can't help myself!!

Take care

Caro xxx

~Happy New Year~ Jan 1st 2007

Happy New Year to you all..........
We have had a very quiet New Year - we dont tend to go out to celebrate it anyway, but poor Jay had "man flu" - and to be honest he is very rarely ill and the poor bunny was really suffering - we were all in bed before midnight and being in a very quiet spot in East Sussex the silence was shattered at midnight by some neighbours setting off some fireworks - when I say neighbours they were from across the railway and over a field - but it may as well have been outside the window as it is normally so quiet!! could i get back to sleep? - no... so I ended up coming back downstairs and watching an Arnold Swarz -im ijig film until about 2AM!!
Sadly when I got up in the morning I found our beautiful red Oranda fish - Miranda had turned up her fins overnight - I was very sad as she was the first pet Jay and I bought together - and yes, all our fish do have names..........
Danielle stayed in with us last night - I think she was quite relieved to have decided to stay in - the weather was absolutely foul - high winds and rain - it was so bad at one point we had more smoke coming down the chimney into the lounge than was going up it!! Needless to say we let the fire die down.
I had some nice news last week - I applied for two things in work before Christmas - a position on the management training programme, and also to train as a Medical Underwriter - I wasnt succesful with the management programme but have been offered the underwriters position - so I am just waiting for a release date from my current team - I am really scared!!!!!! I love my team to bits and we have such good fun - but the actual work side of the job was really getting me down, so I think it will be a positive move.
Zoe and Madison are doing well - Madison spent her first new year with Zoe and some of Andy's family - Andy went to the pub - understandably Zoe didnt want to leave her gorgeous girlie. Amy and Mark went to there local, poor Amy has one of her sore throats, so she didnt feel like celebrating much.

This is Danielle and Maddie just before Christmas - both flat out - seem to enjoy sleeping!!! I am sure in future they will shop and drop together!!!!