2022
The MADPL winter league 22/23 season started tonight and we were away at 8 Farmers in Crewe who we have had some good tussles with over the last couple of seasons but tonight it was a bit one sided scoreline wise although most of the frames were close our lack of practice showed when it mattered.
Onwards and upwards its only a game etc etc etc
The obligatory back to school photo’s were requested this year by Reagan and Lincoln before we had chance to ask for them ourselves, the morning was the easiest first morning back to school ever with both of them up and ready before 8am. Pancakes are the law before school starts back, just a tradition Mommy has kept going for the last few years and proably will until they finish education. I can see them going off to University with a belly full of pancakes [rolls eyes]
Reagan went off first meeting Alfie from down the road to walk to scholl with another tradition started last year and seems to be carrying on, she didn’t even look back, no tears or even worry in her she just went to school. Just another sign that she is beginning to mature?
Mommy was desperate to walk Lincoln to school but respectfully asked his permission not wanting to cramp the big guys style but she need not have worried as he beamed a smile and said he wanted her to walk him to school so Billy and me joined them for the walk too. Ver uneventful as it was it was nice to be involved in possibly the last time we will walk either of our “babies” to school unless Lincoln needs the support on his first day at High School next year?
Working from home without children is so much more productive even though they are pretty self sufficiant most of the time they do need our attentioin at times through out the day when thet are here so it was very quiet all day but being pretty busy time went very quickly because I heard the gate bang and the house was filled with children before I knew it!
Reagan’s first words were “I’m never going back, it’s boring” before proceeding to lay ao the bed and tell me about her day and which classes she took and who her teachers are ad which friends were in those classes and who she had dinner withon “their” table the one they always have dinner on appparently?
Lincoln appeared just after Reagan and apart from telling me when he breathed in and when he breathed out he lay on the bed and told me about his day, enthusing about being the biggest \ oldest in the school and sitting on the benches in assembly not the floor with the youngsters, he also enthused about talking to the reception children over the fence at break time, I think he is really looking forward to being a buddy to one of them, which I believe happens this Friday
That feeling I get every year, when the schools reopen after the summer holidays and the weather has just turned towards winter and away from hot days, is something I have become aware I feel each year?
Both children are so excited to go back to school and are already in bed after packing their bags and preparing their uniforms, for them they get to see their mates and both are returning to schools they’re used Reagan goes back no longer the youngest in the school and has been told her friends are in most of her classes so she’s going to be fine and Lincoln will return as the eldest in school and will be required to be a “buddy” to one of the youngest in school which he can’t wait to do.
They will be fine with all those distractions and will transition into the next season but for me I see the nights drawing in, daylight disappearing and cold setting in for months. I will be fine but today and especially tomorrow is the end of summer but my days don’t change there is no distractions, the season will change and everyone will just get on with it.
I wrote this while watching TV and probably should have spent more time trying to describe how I feel and explore what that means but for now it’s in the blog and that’s enough,
After writing last nights blog Lincoln went to bed but threw up the Calpol this time all over his bed clothes, so we decided best to cover the sofa with blankets and let him watch TV sat up allowing his tummy to stay where it is. I stripped his bed and got that in the washer and then went to bed because I was working Sunday (today) Mommy could not bare to leave the now sleeping Lincoln so chose to sleep with him on the sofa.
Sickness bugs tend to last 24 hours and while I was at work he began to eat again starting with toast but quickly progressing to noodles and biscuits and lots of drinks, so by the time I arrived home just after 1pm he was feeling better which was good see. His sister was in her room not wanting to be in the same room as him because she is so petrified of being sick which stems from over eating when out with Grandad a few years ago?
Woodworking was my plan for the rest of the day gluing the door carcass together and hopefully getting it fitted which will allow me to take exact measurements for my shed door. It went well and I found that spreading glue on each surface and clamping them for about three quarters of an hour or so before adding screws the secure once the clamps are removed worked really well.
Not one for multitasking the waiting time was filled with a bit of patience and some R & R….
I can not remember the last time either child was sick so when Lincoln took a turn this afternoon it was unusual, although he does suffer the odd headache, but paracetamol usually perks him up. He got on the couch and went to sleep and stayed there until tea time and although he did eat a bit he really just wanted to sleep so I said he would be better off in bed and went qith him to make sure he was OK.
After taking Billy for a walk I returned to find Lincoln with his head in a bowl lung chundering being comforted by his mom who was not copi g well with seeing the contents of Lincs stomach but Mommy mode had kicked in and she was there for him no matter what! I cleaned up whatever I could and suplied a clean bowl and water and generally made sure they had what they needed until he started to feel a bit better.
Once he did he just wanted spider monkey snuggle up with his Mom, who had just received a head massaging contraption from Amazon and was desperate to try it out. The photo below shows a smiling Lincmeister even though he was feeling very poorly but having his head massaging was just so left field and apparently felt good too, not long after I took the photo he was asleep again.
The sad thing is I find it hard to explain how it makes me feel when I am out working on my shed I can loose myself for a few hours working out how it goes together and then create something. I want to get better at woodworking and try to look at the end product, which at the moment is Jamie’s shed, and try and workout how they made it and joined it all together and copy it.
After work tonight I made and dry fitted the door carcass and I am now working out how to permanently fix it with the least visible fixings and I love it. As I began to cut the parts and fit them I could see that the accuracy I had achieved in framing the shed and the door in particular made it easy to add the more detailed woodworking and that was very satisfying.
Once I complete the permanent fix, I will have the exact size hole that I need to make a door to fill. This too looks a lot clearer now I have something physical to look at and measure so I hope that tomorrow I can get a bit more done?
I went to pick up Reagan from horse riding on my way home from Warrington where I had been working so I got there early and was able to see Reagan actually riding in the race she always talks about.
Not only did I see her ride she actually won the race posting the quickest time which made me so proud. She looks really good and really loves riding so the money is worth it.
It’s been 291 days since my last drink it’s nearly the end of summer and I have 74 days to go I am not going to say its been easy but I am now determined to complete a whole year sober.
I am struggling to know what wood to buy because I don’t now what sizes of planed wood are available. It’s just my lack of knowledge that’s holding me back so I went to Howarths to have a look and had a measure of as much as I could and looked what they had.
If I can just get some wood home and start working out how it will all fit together I will be off and running but I am struggling to pull the trigger…?
Now, if I had a table saw I could just buy the wood and resize it to suit and if I had a router I could make it all look great but for now I am stuck with standard sizes.
Until I sort out in my brain whatever it is I am thinking about I can not move on with it, I don’t consider myself clever or intelligent but once I get to the answer once I have worked it out then I “know” the answer?
Let me explain, this weekend and a long time before now I have wanted to build a door as good as good as the one on Jamie’s shed, but did not know how they made it so robust and doubted I could create the same quality so have avoided such a thought and pursued buying one ready made. Yesterday I sat staring at the hole in my shed that needs a door to fill it and the door next to it that would do the that job but no matter how long I stared I just couldn’t work out how it was made.
Today I thought I could see what they’d done but without a router it would be impossible to reacreate so again no point trying but I was still trying. I told Jamie, who always says I could it, if I tried (whatever ‘it’ is), and asked her to come outside so I could explain why I can’t make a door like the one she has!
As I stood there telling her, out loud, that the frame was made from 3 x 2 and the fancy bit you can see within the frame on the inside was just beading and the panels are made from T&G cladding they then add a frame on the front of that to create the door flange around the outside. The cladding o the front of all this I’d just decoration but covers all the screws used to….
It was at this point that it all started to sort itself out in my brain and like a an avalanche of knowledge I began designing my door and went upstairs to draw it out on AutoCAD so that I could put together a cutting list and buy wood and get building my door
Now it’s so clear I will be able to make it and talk about it to anyone sad enough to listen because I have the knowledge, and that’s how my brain works?