2022
Managed to spend an hour or so fitting the door tonight having done most of the work over the weekend I marked out where the hinges were on the shed and drilled the holes for the hinges, thankfully everything lined up and heypresto I have a door…
Lots of work left to do but I have an opening and closing door and the first time there is a complete building with floor, roof, sides and door!
We went to the Rookery Wood for lunch and discussed econo.ics specifically saving for things and how bills and out goings affect the ability to save. We explained that you can always earn more money by doing chores to supplement pocket money which means your savings grow quicker but you have to remember that spending money when you’re out with your mates depletes your savings very quickly. If you can take a drink out with you or sweets from the cupboard and not spend your savings they will grow quicker too!
We talked about Mommy and Daddy’s bills mean we can’t buy stuff we want or buy them stuff they want, because without bills or “outgoings” we could buy them everything the want so you need to remember spending money really saps your savings.
We also discussed careers and Lincoln mentioned watching films and saying if they are good or not as a job would be great. Reagan said its a film critic and both would love to do that, so we explained that a critic probably graduated university and got a job as a journalist and worked hard from the bottom up before getting enough respect to have their opinion valued so its not an easy route but a good one if you work hard.
We asked them what they want to be and Reagan wants to be an equine vet when she’s older and thinks focusing sciences at school will help her become what she wants be, and that is pretty astute for a 12 year old? Lincoln wants to be an astronomer they are both really great careers and Mommy and me looked at each other as proud as punch that both have ambitions and agreed that they can be anything they want to be as they both got up and went out to play outside on the park, switching to the carefree children they still are.
The whole time just made us think we are raising two well rounded individuals with aspirations and dreams but also happy to be young and enjoy being a child too
I know I know I call it my shed but let’s be truthful I would love to think that when it’s habitable with a door (coming very soon) and windows it will be a place I can use as a shed or workshop to make stuff in especially out of wood (which I get so much from see blog soon) but I also see me working from home in there too, it would be a shame not to make it an office space also when I spend four days a week in our bedroom which is OK but if I could free that space up maybe Jamie could have her lady stuff there or the chest of drawers the possibilities are endless and done right my office could rival Jamie’s too?
Today I was out there making my door when Lincoln surprised me with a gift…
…my very own DARTBOARD ? I have a mancave, which I know was in my thoughts but its been the first two up until now through necessity but a man cave my mancave now that’s a whole different end product!
SONOS…A TV, that doubles as a monitor but stows in the roof when not in use…SONOS did I mention that? A dartboard [check] a comfy chair to work from and recline. A fridge and bar area with outdoor heater and SONOS obvs….
My goal this weekend is to get my door to the point where I can think about hanging it. Today I glued and screwed the tongue and groove skin to the frame ready for the flange frame to be fitted tomorrow possibly but I can see that the 15mm thick wood I bought needs to be 20mm to take the hinges I have chosen so I am going to get that upgraded tomorrow before I start.
Possibly over spec’d the hinges so need more meat
Reagan was referred a few weeks ago by the orthodontice to have 4 teeth extracted 3 bad ones and a good one to keep things even and to make room for braces to straiten the rest of them but over the last couple of days she has complained about pain from the top left one.
We had to get an emergency appointment today because she can’t take painkillers forever and after an examination she was diagnosed with an abbsess and prescribed antibiotics which will clear it but not cure the problem, that will only happen when the referral happens and that might not be for 12 months?
I hope the medicine works because there is nothing worse!
Yesterday I think we all were still feeling a bit tired from the weekend but this morning Mommy was up and at ’em at the gym before the sun came up. I wasn’t so alert as I made my way to the bathroom, before 6am as usual for a wee still half asleep without putting a light on and knocked something off the shelf above the toilet and it dropped straight into the unflushed bowl, which woke me right up!
Now I had to switch the light on and find out what had fallen and how unflushed the toilet was, the answer to the second question was dark orange coloured water and to the first question was a new toothbrush and the packaging. The packaging was easily recovered but the new brush head had sunk into the orange abyss and required the toilet brush and toilet paper to get it from there to the bin.
After thoroughly washing my hands twice I had the wee I’d gone in there for 5 minutes earlier washed my hands again and returned to bed wide awake so looked at me phone for a bit before getting up myself
Reagan got up to her alarm and as usual sorted herself out, and was eating her breakfast by the time I arrived in the kitchen where usually at 7:15 Lincoln would also be but he wasn’t today. I went back upstairs to find him still fast asleep and gently woke him his alarm had not gone off and would have gladly stayed there for a couple more hours if he could and it hurts me to wake anyone up but unfortunately it was a school day.
I had a pool match tonight and picked up Mike and Foz as normal for an away match in Crewe which we drew 4 a piece. We had time to chat on the way home because a car crash had blocked our way home so had to detour back the way we’d come and that got us hoping it wasn’t serious and talking about our mortality. It was Mike’s 60th birthday and we got talking about why he was still working when his health is not great and he admitted he and Annette plan to retire next year which made me happy I like him a lot and encouraged and reinforced his decision, life’s too short to work all of it!
I dropped the lads off and made my way home hoping Jamie was awake so I could give her a hug after that conversation and just tell her I love her and thank her for being so great but when I arrived she’d locked me out so that moment had gone. I know I said earlier that I hate to wake anyone but, I just rang her from the doorstep and told her to let me in ffs!
We went to bed, the end!
It was only when I cropped the photo below as my lock screen on my phone that it changed from a nice touristy snap….
….into one of my all time favourite photos of Reagan and Lincoln!
They not only look happy in this photo, they actually were having the best time and I loved spending time with them this weekend. I have looked at this photo many times today as I opened my phone and I love the fact that I will see it from now on many times a day.
I LOVE those two with all my heart!
Today we were given the day off as a Bank Holiday to pay our respects to HRH Queen Elizabeth II and watch the state which was blanket coverage on every station. I chose the BBC and they did their usual superb job and I basically watched it all day and it made me proud to be British watching our military show the rest of the world how its done.
Rest in Peace Ma’am
A boat ride was the main event today but Reagan and Lincoln were desperate to visit The Clink museum by the hotel first which was met with mixed reactions while there from interesting to terrified and most in between too…but we’ll worth a visit if you’re ever in the area. The boat took us slowly up the river towards Westminster taking in.many sights the children may forget but the lions heads signifying if reached a very high tide and the rhythms associated with them they’ll never forget especially Lincoln “If the lions are drinking London is sinking” or his favourite “If the lions are ducked, London is ffffflooding!’ which I am sure could get him into trouble at school on Tuesday if he’s not careful!
Although we weren’t prepared to queue it was right that we visited Westminster and in our own way paid our respects by being there. There was a strange mood as we got off the boat and made our way up to, as the children now know, Elizabeth Tower re-named after the late Queen and it is actually the Bell inside is called Big Ben. We got the obligatory selfies with the famous back drop before turning our attentions to Middlewich.
Homeward bound we got on a tour bus and made our way up back to St Paul’s through the places we were now finding familiar like the West End Trafalgar Square Picadilly and got off to walk across Millennium Bridge and through Borough Market to London Bridge Tube station behind Mommy who navigates all this like a native meaning three of us just have to follow and get to where we’re heading without breaking sweat.
In no rush we called for Sushi a request from Reagan and a Subway from next door for Lincoln before going underground arriving at Euston just as the 14:43 was leaving so didn’t bother running knowing there was another train in one hour, so sat down outside to eat food and chill, until Mommy noticed a fast train leaving at 15:05 so we decamped and ran for it.
Reagan forms scenarios in her head whenever we do anything and once she sees the perfect one for her that is how it must play out or her whole world comes crashing down and she finds it hard to cope with the changes and becomes very moody either attacking or withdrawing, so ‘missing’ a train did not sit well until in her head she could see getting to the next train before anyone else and sitting wherever she wanted. What she wanted was a family table with her facing forward by the window a charing port and Sushi to eat with chopsticks, but even that was now not going to plan as we ran for the earlier train. Once on it we realised it was full and although it was a fast train we may have to stand or sit by the doors where the carriages join seeing all seats together taken as we walked to front of the train and made our way back to the three premium carriages at the back. After a quick discussion Mommy and me decided to just go and sit down in four unreserved seats and see what happens because an announcement informed us that the 14:43 had been cancelled meaning this train was packed. It proved to be the perfect scenario for all especially Reagan who once she realised we were ot going to get thrown off the train or arrested settled into the more luxurious surroundings without crowds and a reclining seat facing forwards. Now this scenario had never crossed her mind but feeling special and luxury computes very quickly with Reagan and any boyfriend or suitor knowing this in the future could be a very dangerous animal? She was now in her element and happy and the journey to Crewe became very uneventful because of it.
Ww arrived home in double quick time to a very happy to see us Billy who had been looked after very well by Mel & Martin from across the road who went to thank with flowers and £50 for their troubles and watched as Billy strolled straight into their home like he’d been there before. They said he’d been for 12miles in total and been a joy to look after but noted that he didn’t eat much, but that changed on walking back to the house because he emptied a whole bowl of food while I stood next to him, probably just a touch of separation anxiety was all it was but he was happy again now.
I asked both children if they enjoyed the weekend and both genuinely said yes it was brilliant.
Thanks Mommy for this weekend from all of us!
Lincolns birthday breakfast was a little bit different this morning because we woke up in a Premier Inn in London so both children were up and excited to find out what an all you can eat breakfast was like. We forget sometimes that these types of experiences we take for granted are new and exciting still for the children who have never do them before. Both of them saw “all you can eat” as a challenge but soon realised trying everything wasn’t possible but a cooked breakfast set us all up for a day sight seeing.
The Globe Theatre was our first port of call because the birthday boy had specifically requested it having been really engaged with the Shakespeare themed lessons at school in which they’d learned about it and he was excited th o visit it and show his friends too. Unfortunately about 15 minutes before the end of the tour Mommy had to leave us because she was speaking at her London Bridge clinic, but was only going to be an hour or so and would join us again later.
After the Globe me and the kids took a leisurely walk along the river up to Tower Bridge following “the queue” which was still growing and reputed to be 24 hours long whichis just awe inspiring to think about…? It was a fun walk and they both played and were interested in what they were seeing as well as being children too! We walked across the bridge to the Tower of London and milled about in that area for a while being especially interested in the gates with EiiR and also GviR on them and wondering whether CiiR will get a gate? Mommy rang and asked where we were and although we shared our location and stood waving we didn’t see each other until she was on our side of the river and practically next to us. Reagan went down some steps and walked on the Thames river bed because the tide was out, Lincoln joined her and that kept them amused for 10 minutes before the remembered it was dinner time and a quick visit to Pret was in order, we had reservations at 5 so a snack and a drink was the order before getting on the top deck of an open air City Tour Bus another exciting experience for both while Mommy and me got more pleasure watching their faces than the sights they were looking at. I always look at Mommy with pride at moments like that thinking we did this we achieved those smiles and that happiness is a result of a lot of hard work, and I know she looks back probably thinking the same. Did you ever think…?
Another new experience for us all at dinner was it was phoneless, we all had no battery left so if we wanted them in the evening we all needed to leave them on charge while we ate at Zizzi Italian restaurant and go without. The pizzas were massive the garlic bread starter was too much for Reagan and my risotto was exquisite Mommy could have a had Presseco but declined I think out of respect for me but I was OK with appletizer and it would not have been a problem at all!
The Lyceum in the West End next (after picking up our phones from the hotel first) to see the Lion King and Lincoln was sat in seat number 11 I believe that was especially for the birthday boy. It was my first West End show and I have to say I was sooo impressed at the whole thing from start to finish. The production was superb from the acting to the stage the lights music everything was just impressive and I can’t rate it highly enough. Lincoln had wanted to see it and came out as excited and impressed as we all were but we looked at him during the show and his face was a picture I will never forget even though we didn’t capture it because phones were banned during the play.
All in all a great day only made better by a greatful Lincoln unprompted thanking his Mom for the best birthday ever which when all said and done makes the whole thing worth it.
Happy Birthday Lincoln 11 years old today, you are the best son anyone could have ever wish for I feel so lucky to be your Dad!
