Evening all. Well, the working week has passed and as you may remember, I have had the week off work and had mum over to stay. Well I don't think our feet have touched the ground all week! Monday saw us going to Tiptree to the famous Wilkins jam factory (http://www.tiptree.com/) to do some shopping and enjoy a cream tea. Then onto a local nursery which is quite legendary in the area as it has such a large range of plants and 'accessories'. Ashamed to say, I didn't buy anything but mum filled her basket with Christmas tree decs for my tree! YAY!! (http://www.perrywoodnurseries.co.uk/)In the evening I met up with 2 of my old work colleagues and we went out for a Chinese meal - home by midnight. Tuesday saw us jumping on the Park and Ride bus and going into Chelmsford to do some Christmas shopping. Bought masses and came home just after lunch time spent out and aching terribly, and the weather was dreadful so we were damp and cold by the time we got home. Mind you, had a lovely cup of coffee and a danish pastry in Debenhams. YUM! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelmsford) Wednesday saw me dropping mum off at the little local beauty parlour for a few treatments whilst I nipped into the next village to do some banking and post my Chrissy cards. Then I shot back and picked mum up and we headed to a large superstore on the outskirts of town. I have never been there before and couldn't believe what they sold - just about everything!! Spent a small fortune and bought a lovely throw for my sofa, then picked up another as I wanted some new cushions for the sofa, and they were £12 each, but the throw was also £12 and mum reakons she could make 8 cushion covers from one throw, so that is her job over the rest of her week with us. That evening we walked down to the village green where the community gathered to sing carols around our christmas tree that is planted in the green and is HUGE and to watch the lights being turned on. A lovely community evening. Thursday saw mum having her hair cut first thing, then from there we whizzed to a couple of little supermarkets - Lidl and Aldi to get a few bits for Christmas and for me to get my groceries in. The we headed out into the countryside, into the middle of nowhere to an abbatoir which has an onsite butchers and we bought our lovely hunk of ham for Christmas, some sausages, lamb chop cutlets and gorgeous local cure back bacon for Breakfast over the weekend. (http://www.terling.org.uk/humphreys.htm) Then we collected the children from school and dashed to their last swimming lesson this year - both have come on immensly - James has gone from being terrified of the water to being a very competent swimmer who is learning to dive in just 6 monthes! Then, as though the day hadn't been busy enough, we had the school Christmas Bazaar from 5.30 until 7pm. As usual I bought a stack of raffle tickets expecting not to win - my failure at raffles is legendary - but guess what....I WON FIRST PRIZE!! A 5kg bronze turkey from the local turkey farm!! (http://www.kelly-turkeys.com/kellybronz ... ?m=1&mi=41) It is worth £77, a lot of money for a Chrissy dinner in my opinion, and the irony was, mum had bought a goose earlier that day in Lidls for our chrissy dinner. Oh well, the goose can stay in the freezer to have at Easter. Friday now, exhausted as you can imagine, but could we slow down, no chance! Today we dropped the children off at school then headed into the next village as James needs a long sleeved white shirt for the school play. Whilst there, mum bought me a gorgeous soft cashmere top to weart on Christmas day. Then home to sort out our airmail letters and parcels, and a journey to the post office was called for. From here mum and I were now on relax mode so we went to another village to an amazing Chinese restaurant and we had the lunch time buffet which is sublime. (http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews149147.html) Finally home for a rest for an hour before collecting the brood. No resting for long as we had to then go to the vets with Travis our tortoise for his last check up of the year. We have only had him for 3 monthes and he had been a tad neglected before we took over owning him so the vet wanted to keep an eye on things as he was rather dehydrated and not a good weight. Glad to report he is now as fit as a fiddle and has gained plenty of weight, is lively, and is a bugger, full of personality. We took the children for a pizza for tea, travis sneakly in his box under the table in the restaurant...well, he couldn't stay in the car, is was -1 you know, then finally home. Could I rest, could I never. Housework time. Mum got on with the cushions and I cleaned out the guinea pigs and hamster, then prepped the conservatory for the Christmas tree that goes up tomorrow. To be honest, it is 23.44 and the washing machine has just finished and the dishwasher is coming to the end of it's cycle...shall I go do them now or leave them to the morning?? I think I will leave them and go to bed. Mum jokes that she is going home, back to work, for a rest....but you know, I think she is serious!
Holy smokes EJ, I didn't think it was possible to fit so much into just 5 days! I think you BOTH need a rest!
Good grief Emma...you're going to be all worn out BEFORE christmas really begins in earnest. I'm just amazed at the pace you and your mum kept up. Well, you'd better take it easy with your mum, lest she really DOES go back home. hahahaha. Thanks for this narrative. It was just amazing to read.
WOW is all I can say EJ...wish I had that much energy! Very interesting to read about your week. Thanks for sharing with us.
And here I was, thinking and hoping you'd take it easy. Have you got a special deal with the Duracell battery factory, or is it something in your water? I'm glad you got so much done, and I guess everything will look wonderful for Christmas. Especially your tree, with all the new decorations. And that turkey... Congratulations on winning it! I hope it tastes lovely.
WOW! What a whirlwind of a week. Sounds to me like you had a great time, though exhausting. Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed reading about it.
Well I had a feeling you wouldn't be sitting around relaxing and chatting but boy did you pack a lot into just a few days. I must remember never to spend a holiday around you 'cause you'd have me exhausted after the first day!!! James is a marvel for overcoming his fear of water and now learning to dive. What an achievement for someone so young. So pleased to hear that little Travis is doing well - you must be doing something right with him EJ. Imagine winning a turkey in a raffle!! I've only ever won a 6 foot rag doll which didn't go down well as I only had the boys at the time. I think £12 for the throw was a fantastic price and what a lot of cushions your mum is going to get from it - £1.50 each now that's definately a bargain. So glad you and your mum had a lovely week together but I still don't know how you managed to pack so much into such a short space of time.
I see you haven't slowed down any EJ. I just don't know how you manage to do it all and it seems you take after your Mother. What a great week you had and spending lots of pennies, great for the economy as well. Maw Broon will be pleased with you!!! I am lucky with raffle prizes and usually win something. My best win was the main prize of a Hamper full of groceries including booze. I split that hamper a few ways. Mum got some, friends got the stuff I didn't use at home.
