There is a bird in the dining room!

"There is a black bird in my dining room! 

I have just ran from my dining room, screaming ITSABIRDITSABIRDITSABIRD!!!!!"

This was OD's (older daughter's)facebook status an hour ago. I was halfway across town having not finished work till after 6pm. 

This is not the first time we have had a bird down the chimney, however this was the first time I was not here. OD and LSP dealt with it on their own. 

This is the story as played out on facebook: 

OD: There is a black bird in my dining room! 

     I have just ran from my dining room, screaming ITSABIRDITSABIRDITSABIRD!!!!!

LSP:Given that you had just left the room with the gerbil, I was somewhat confused!

OD:poor tiff.. (Tiffany is the gerbil)  

LSP: Well you did abandon her to the swooping jackdaw!

ME:  Is it out of the room or waiting for me to get home? (I love facebook on my mobile)

LSP: it  has left the building via window, after swooping down on the gerbil who is now in hyper alert attack mode and has not been pacified    by treats, we can't find the adele cd and the dogs are seeking attention, think I will go back to work lol xxx, when you home?

ME:  Lol, is the wine ok?

LSP: all good though might need a dust! x

Me: Lol, I only dusted it last night! When OD was screaming its a bird, did you think she had learned magic and transformed tiff?

LSP:no I just though she had lost it to be honest  lol

Friend: lol - I miss family life!

This is mating season for Jackdaw's. However I am not sure what part of the mating ritual involves throwing themselves down our chimney's. They like to alternate between the sitting room and dining room. We have attempted to get someone to put a cage over but they keep letting us down. 

the first time a jackdaw came down it was while we were on holiday. We returned home late and put the children to bed (they were you young then. We had loaded up the washing machine and were getting ready for bed ourselves when we heard scrabbling in the chimney. this was in the sitting room where we have a woodburning stove. 

(this was Christmas)

All we could do was open the hatch next to the stove and hope the bird would see the light and come down. We went up to bed with finger's crossed. Very early the next morning there was a knock at the bedroom door. YD (youngest Daughter) popped her head round the door and said "there is a bird in the sitting room" We said, oh ok just go back to bed and we will sort it out. We went downstairs and managed to get it to fly out the window. YD was very confused, not just about the bird but also about our not excited response! 

from the earlier facebook conversation, you may have been confused when I asked LSP about the wine! Well our other fireplace does not contain a fire any more it contains our wine rack. 

 Which I did only dust last night..... oh well, happy Monday everyone!!!

How to break into a bike lock!

My main mission today was to undertake a 25km training cycle. I mentioned this in a blog earlier on this week.

I did not. I have managed to free the bikes from the shed. This was some achievement. We bought a combination lock so we would not loose the key, this was all good until the combination did not work! It was the right combination (yes really) but still it would not open. We tried to borrow and buy some bolt cutters to no avail! So armed with my garden tools I attempted to get through the twisted metal rope. luckily it was not a chain chain rather a plastic covered twists of metal.

I started with my long handled lopper's and slowly managed to get through the outer shield and slowly start to get through the wires. Once this was no longer working I switched to my trusty secateurs and slowly piece by piece. I managed to get through the wires. By the time I had got through I had wasted an hour and my hands were sore and I was so fed up of looking at my bike I had lost my desire to go cycling!

If you are a wannabe bike robber. I would suggest bolt cutters and wire cutters not garden tools!

So what did I do instead?

Shopping and Cooking!

The shopping was, food shopping! Well mine was!

This was LSP's trolley!

The flowers were for me!
After Tesco Our eldest daughter wanted to go to TK maxx!

I was so good. I did not buy anything, yes I was tempted, but still managed come out empty handed and keep to my not shopping for lent! Even though there were some tempting display's.

This afternoon I cooked a full roast, I used to do one every week but now the children are older and busy most weekends they are a rare treat.

It tasted great! proper roast. chicken, stuffing, roasties, yorkies, carrots and a green veg medley! Followed by a bought black forest gateaux!

Despite not cycling it has been a wonderful, weekend, lots of sun, lots of outdoor time. bliss made it worth working for the week! Hope you all have a happy week!

sunny spring day!

Wow, what a great day! Sheets on the line and out in the garden!

We had wonderful blue sky........

which the dogs and I enjoyed....

Most of the gardening was sheer manual labour, cutting back bushes and tree's and wrecking my shears by trimming metal!

This evening I tried to get a good picture of the megamoon.......However I could not manage it. lots of pictures of the moon but none of them blogworthy!

Hope you all had a good Saturday!

I am blushing!

Wow, I am Blushing. My very good friend over at Flora and Purl awarded me the versatile blogger award.  

She is a wonderful friend who inspired me to start a blogging by writing such wonderful blogs with lovely photographs chronicling her life. She has great crafting talent, loves vintage and gardening and being a good mummy (which she is).


Ok so I now have to tell you 7 random facts about me......


1) I have 2 tattoo's.


2) The greatest thing I have made was a prom dress for my youngest daughter.


3) I had a racehorse named after me when I was a child,


4) I have a collection of vintage hats from the 1950's.


5) I miss my mum everyday  ( she died 4 years ago next Friday) I also miss my Dad who died 8 years ago.


6) I once streaked naked across a hillside. (I was 18) I am immensely proud of this as I would never be as uninhibited again. 


7) I am lucky, I have the most wonderful, beautiful and amazing partner who puts up with my fads, hobbies and fancy's. Whom I love more everyday.  Thank you LSP.

I would like to pass this award onto the following blog's. 


Bee Happy , wonderful, happy cheery blog with wonderful finds!


days of nais, shopping, sewing, baking, gardening. lovely!


the further adventures of a thrifty mrs, brilliant blog! 


sew special bears, amazing handmade teddy bears and a fab blogger


tea and crumpets vintage, great style, lovely vintage pieces.


Thank you all for stopping by, if you want to know more about my cycle ride click here. start of an amazing journey

spreadsheets and comic relief!

My day off of work has been spent attached to my laptop with a telephone at my ear.

I have one fund-raiser booked for April and a provisional for June. there will be lots of little things in-between and a lot of hard work. However it will all be worth it!

In April we will be having a quiz and a raffle. I am meeting a nice man from  Tesco at the weekend who will be donating some eggs for our raffle!

I have spread sheets and documents open all over the place and have 8 tabs open for the Internet.
Fund raising is hard! Luckily there are 3 of us doing it.

its all %%%%%%! ok so if this is the cost price per head, what % can we raise per person? how much can I expect to raise from the raffle? This would be fine if I was any good at figures! Hence the mass  of spreadsheets.

It will all be worth it! I am looking forward to our cycle at the weekend.

As well as sorting out fundraising and pottering round the house, I have had Chris Moyles on all day. I had to forgo my women's hour day off treat. Chris Moyles is like a sausage and egg McMuffin, a guilty pleasure!

He is like Marmite, you either love him or hate him. He and Dave have just raised over 1,000,000 for comic relief as they have been going for 37 hours and will be keeping going till they reach 52 hours of broadcasting.

Well done Chris and Dave 

Day off tomorrow!

Day off tomorrow!!!!

I love having day's off, I usually like to have lunch with friend's or to go shopping.

Not this time though. I am meeting with my friends after work on Friday as there is a leaving do!
Tomorrow will be organising fund-raising and doing some work from home!

As you are aware we are doing this charity bike ride in November, the charity part of this includes raising a lot of money!!! Tomorrow, I will be arranging some events! contacting people for Donation's and prizes. etc. 

I am going to start off slow with an Easter Egg raffle!!!

I will be contacting chocolate selling shops asking them to donate some egg's.

Then go round all of my friends and start selling the tickets!

Well I will post my progress tomorrow!!

Tired Tuesday

Today is a tired Tuesday. I am sat at home in my house dress, with my laptop on my knee waiting for my dinner.  I love my house dress, its a vintage style ankle length patterned cotton dress, its so comfy, but not a nightie which means I can answer the door without embarrassment.

I have managed my 10000 steps today and had a lovely walk to the park.

This is only a 15 minute walk from my office....

I sat down and ate my sandwiches whilst watching toddler's and squirrels.... note to self, take nuts next time (for the squirrel's not the toddler's). Unfortunately the light today was not as good as yesterday so the pictures are quite bland. No point in posting the plant pics as they are uninspiring!

This was quite fab though,

I have managed to pour over the map's and arrange a ride for the weekend. LSP and I are going for a 25 Km   gentle bike ride. Its going to be 12.5 km there, stop and have a drink and then cycle back. It should be fairly gentle as there are only a few small hill's. We hope to be cycling most weekends as well as some in the week once the night's get lighter. We still need to keep hitting the gym, to help build core stability!

We have had some offers of help for fund raising which is great. I need to crack on with writing this cook book, so if anyone has any great cake recipes  to share I would appreciate it.

Hope you all had a good Tuesday, I will be off to bed soon night all.....