Home improvements

I have finally finished my bedroom;

I love it! It's much calmer and peaceful. I need to find this for the rest of the house now or I might just spend my days  in bed! LOL

I do want to get new accessories, I would like a lampshade as I don't have one. Also a bedside lamp as I knocked mine over whilst decorating and have broken it. It's glass so is now quite dangerous. I have spotted a lampshade I like and it is currently on sale for £7.99 so I shall be going back in the week once I have been paid I just need to find a lamp ion the colour I want (purple). I also would like to finish my new purple crochet blanket and eventually I would like a different duvet set with purple tones in it. The duvet is not essential though as there is nothing wrong with the couple of sets I have so will wait until I find a bargain somewhere.

This project has cost in total

£20 for the grey paint

£10 for white paint

£13 for gloss

£17 for floor paint

So a total of £60. However I still have half a tin of white gloss which will be used elsewhere in the house and there is a little white emulsion in the tin and 1/3 of  the floor paint left. All will be used up in future projects. 

Thank you Mr Tesco

As usual I have saved my clubcard points all year. I traded most of them in for 3 tickets to Chessington. We like theme park rides, and Stephanie is just starting to enjoy small coasters. So we were very excited.

When we got to the park there was a notice board saying that four of the rides were closed, to be fair they were some of the bigger coasters so we wouldn't have gone on anyway. Dylan didn't want to go alone and Stephanie is not yet big enough for them so we weren't overly disappointed. However, when we got to the gate a staff member politely asked if we knew they were closed and gave us a voucher which entitles us to another day at the park for free. We just have to use the tickets before November 2nd. I have to say I am very impressed, after the awful accident at a different theme park a while ago I am aware this is likely to be in part to raise the profile of the group again.

We had a fabulous day. We started with the ride Stephanie dragged us to- The vampire. She has nerve wanted to go on this before, but she was very excited and desperate to try. I should have trusted my instincts- she hated it! The longest 3 minutes sat next to her screaming in terror! From there we headed to the Bubbleworks- much calmer.

 
These pictures are the part where you go around and look at scenery such as ducks taking a bath etc. Their faces make me laugh.

I put my phone away for the more interesting part of the ride- the water fountains. We always have a bit of a play in that part and I knew we would all come out wet. So no pictures to show. The ride did the job- my princess was smiling again. We headed off for lunch and then onto some calmer rides.
We were a little disappointed as we were unable to go on the one ride we were all looking forward to Dragon Falls. Its a water slide ride. Sadly, it was broken by the time we reached it and the park staff were busy fixing it but not finished in time for us to have a go. Nevermind, we will enjoy it on our return visit.

 

As well as enjoying the rides we also went in the sea life centre. There is also the zoo animals at the park but the children didn't want to visit those this time.

We had a great day and staff were polite wherever we encountered them. We will be returning at some point before the 2nd November. Probably in the next half term.

One thing to say to you...

This is a show off post but I really feel the need. Today my gorgeous boy Dylan got his GCSE results. He got
1 a*
4 a
3 b
2 c

I am so immensely proud of him. All this work is his own he deserves this. We went to collect his results this morning. I then took him out for lunch. He came home chatted to his friends on the computer, had a nap. He then went to his dad's for dinner and to celebrate with him too.

He has well and truly earned his place in the 6th form to complete his a levels.

One proud momma here.

Battle of Britain memorial flight

I was going to blog today to keep you updated with the bedroom redecoration. However, whilst I was painting around the window I looked out and spotted a formation of planes flying towards us. I remembered it was the Spitfires as part of the Battle of Britain memorial flight today. I called the children and ran to the garden with my phone. Stephanie was completely bemused by my insistence that she waves at the planes but did then asked why they were special.

I explained loosley the battle of britain to her and why I feel it is important. That if all of those brave people hadn't thought we would not have the lives and opportunities that we have. We then had a google and I showed her some more information. She sort of understands now why I felt it important to point out the planes to her and the importance of today's flight. It was quite sweet a little while later as her cousin has come up to play and have dinner here and Stephanie excitedly asked her is she had seen the 'War planes' was trying ot explain it all to her. 

I think it is so important that we share the significance of these to our children so that they never forget.

Are any of you lucky enough to be on one of the flight path's today?

home improvements

I have been slowly getting organised to improve the decor in our home. both children's bedrooms have been transformed now it is the turn of my bedroom. When we moved in I said that I could  live with the downstairs decor but upstairs needed changing first. Obviously over time I will change all of the rooms to make them our own. I have bought a tub of paint a month over the last couple of months so that I can decorate my room without it being a large expense at once. Yesterday I bought the final tin- the gloss and came straight home to get started. I have now completed 2 coats of gloss on all the woodwork  in my room, except the door which I want to lay flat to decorate preferably in the garden. I need to sand it down before I can paint it but the sander has just had an emergency repair. The velcro part that the pads cling to came off with the sand paper. I have used my trusty glue gun in hope that I can make the 14 year old sander last a while longer. Once the glue has had time to dry then game on- I will be getting this room finished.
A sneak preview of what it was like before (and partly is now!)

A wonderful wallpaper totally not to my taste! Accompanied by 

Bright red walls. Not quite the tranquil and calm place I envisage my bedroom to be. With the help of my ancient steamer the wall paper was down in a jiffy. Once the woodwork is dry I will fix the walls.

First with several coats of this boring white paint to hopefully hide the red. Then a splash of this;

The colours I am hoping to instil from accessories which I will buy as money allows I am wanting nice purple items, I shall be on the lookout in charity shops and budget shops to find these.

I am in the process of trying to decide whether or not to lay the old blue carpet (new carpet is out of my current budget) or to keep the floor boards bare. They are in very good condition and look good. Just a little sanding needed as there are small paint splashes from previous decoration. I haven't quite decided yet. What are your views on this? 

How do you decorate and add your own personality to a home  on a budget?

We do love...

a beach day!

Whilst we were staying with my sister we went to the beach where I spent a lot of time with the children when I lived there. I love this beach for its simplicity. It is sandy so you can build and dig, when the tide is going out/coming there are plenty of shallow areas for playing in, there are walks if you wish, there are toilets and an ice cream stand oh and a morrisons if you wish! That is it no rides, no arcades- BLISS.

We went fir a family picnic there last week. The tide was out when we got there, way out! So we ate our lunch and went for a walk. We planned on going to the dinosaur island (really called Little eye) but once we got there the children wanted to keep going so we went to the next island (Middle eye). We walked to the end of that island, we had so much fun getting there that we needed to set back before we got to the main island, Hilbre Island as the ticket was about to expire on the parking.

 Sorry for some reason the computer won't allow me to turn this pictures around!

 None of us girls had shoes on, it was interesting to feel the different surfaces under foot, this grass was springy and squishy.

 we walked on sand

Through water wehere there were tiny little fish darting about and tickling our toes!

We used stones as stepping stones across rock pools where we could see crabs darting about

we found and shared treasure along the way

and we made sand angels.

The time went so fast, next time we will get there earlier/ put more money on the parking machine. What a fantastic day. So much to do on a little trip to the beach.

Eastbourne air show

Today was the first of the two coach trips I have booked for Stephanie and me to go on this year. We went to Eastbourne for the air show. It was a fantastic day. Very dreary and overcast when we left, I was dubious. Then when we got there beautiful sunshine and scorching temperature!

We sat on the beach and enjoyed our picnic and then had a wander to the town for a bucket and spade and a swimming costume (I had forgotten those what with the weather being do dismal when we left. Result, they were half price in the shops. saved a bit!)

I love watching the aeroplanes performing their tricks- one day I will fly as a passenger in one of the stunts. It looks amazing :-)

Gone visiting...

Sorry about the radio silence- we have been off visiting. We went on our delayed trip oop norf to stay at my sister's.

I have had hundreds of squishy baby hugs. I have met my newest nephew and newest great nephew. As well as spending time with 3 of my nieces and 4 nephews. Whilst we were away we went to a fairy festival, bowling and to 2 different beaches.

We have had a great time. Before we left I blitzed the house. I am so pleased I did it was great  to get home late last night and look and marvel in the order and tidiness. Before I went to bed I unpacked the suitcases put them back in the attic, put all the things from the car away and started the washing machine. All I have to organise is a couple of loads of washing. I can live with that. the children are awake but still in bed. I'm thinking we might have a pyjama day as it's a bit wet and wild outside.

A day out solo!

Stephanie went to her dad's early this morning as they are going to Legoland for the day. I fancied going to a castle/ gardens and Dylan declared that that is not something he would like to do. So I went by myself. It was lovely wandering around at my own pace, stopping to look closely when something caught my attention. I went to Walmer castle



I have been there before with the children but I saw lots of different things today being on my own. You are not allowed to take photo's in the castle, but I was very snap happy in the garden. There were lots of flowers I really liked the look of, the lady working there today was a volunteer and didn't know the names unfortunately. If you know any of these please pop it in the comments- I want to get some for my garden.


After I had finished in the castle and gardens I went across the road to sit on the beach and eat my lunch

I then decided to wander along the sea front. Lok at some of the things I found;

I ended up walking over a cliff top, through several national trust properties. It was such a  beautiful day I walked just over 7 miles on total. I had no intention of going for a walk, hence the footwear you can see in the beach photo, I must say my feet are a little sore now though! LOL

And the best thing- it didn't cost me a penny as I have my English Heritage card to get in the castle for free and walking doesn't cost. I took all the food and drink I needed with me from home.