First floor joists are in

The last few weeks have seen some progress on the house. The walls are slowly rising from the ground. At the front the builders have started to build the front face in the local stone that the rest of the house is built from. There's one lovely stone with a perfect round circle cut into it, who knows what the original use was. On Friday they got the first floor joists up and suddenly it seems like we're getting somewhere!

The kids are enjoying playing in the extension, not bad parenting I promise, we only let them in whilst we're there.

Blossom sat on her eggs for the full three weeks and alas no chicks hatched. On Friday James popped into a local farm and picked up some day old chicks. He distracted Blossom by picking her off the eggs and I substituted them for the chicks. She was put back in to the coop and she instantly started gathering her babies under her wing. Ever since she's looked after them beautifully.

This weekend we've been in the garden again and are chipping away at the list of jobs. James stripped a damson tree of the ivy that's been sucking the life from it. It was a much bigger job than we'd realised. The damson tree had grown around the ivy so that it was hard to separate the two. There's only a little ivy left, it should just die now and let the beleaguered tree grow a few leaves.

I potted on a few more plants in the greenhouse. This week of sun and rain has brought up all the salad seeds in the garden, the onions are poking through and the peas are looking good. I have left a few leeks to go to seed and am looking forward to seeing them flower, it's not something I've done before so I'm excited to see the result.

The internet is being intermittent at the moment so we've got good old BT coming out to look at it next week. I don't hold out much hope after the last experience.

Week 2 progress, floor down.

This week they've been hard at work building me my dream castle. The footings were dug, filled with concrete, and they built up the floor, put down damp proof membrane, insulation and finally the floor. James put some conduit down ready for the electrics in the kitchen island we're hoping to have one day.

That's the pretty succinct version. It seemed to go well for them, except the last day when the concrete lorry turns up hours and hours late. We had guys hanging around all day waiting to do some work.

To be honest our week has been a bit trying. The wee man came down with croup last Friday night and has been feeling grotty ever since. The cough has woken him constantly and he's been in and out of bed with us. Baby girl has got a wicked cough now too, but she's not as poorly as he's been. He seems to have gone quite deaf now too, I'm talking to him from 2 foot away and he doesn't hear me. If it doesn't pass soon I'll take him to the doctors.

Today it was beautifully sunny so I planted out some of the flowers that I'd started in the greenhouse. We also put some salad in the veg bed ready for summer. At this time of year I can hardly believe in a few months the beds will be bursting with life.

Wee man's been tired from being poorly so he's been having daytime naps. We laid on the lawn for a cuddle and the warmth got the better of both of us. Luckily James had his camera to capture the moment.

After the re-charge the boys did some logging and splitting, ready for winter.

I'm going on my speed awareness course tomorrow so that I don't have to have the points on my licence. It's in the afternoon, which is a bit of a pain, wouldn't we all like to get it over with?

Liebster Blog awards 2016

Hey guys, I was very kindly nominated by Emma at Handmade by Em to join in with the liebster blog awards, which basically gets people to read new blogs. 

Now I hope they mean new to us rather than new full stop or I've got it all wrong! Now, I'm a certified miserable git, anything that vaguely involves joining in is not my thing, I think it come from being a shy child. Anyhow, I'm not a shy adult at all so I need to get over myself and say thanks Emma, you've made me join in!

So I've answered 10 questions that Emma wrote and I've written / plagiarised from the internet, 10 more for my nominees.

Now any of you that have read my blog have almost certainly come from one of these blogs already but I love reading them all and a few more besides, so here's my suggestions for a good read. Honest blogging, not pretty blogging (although your blogs are pretty but you know what I mean!).

Here's how you take part, sorry Emma, I copied and pasted here, oops.

The idea of the Liebster Blog Awards is to discover new blogs and here's what you need to do to take part:

• Ensure you thank the person who has nominated you and include links back to their blog, after all it's important you share their lovely blog too!
• Include a photo/badge of the Liebster Blog Awards logo on your blog post to show you've taken part. 
• Answer the 10 questions asked by the blogger who has nominated you
• Nominate 5 bloggers that you want to share with your followers and blog viewers
• Create 10 new questions to ask your nominees - have some fun!
• Ensure you make your nominees aware that they have been nominated so they know to answer their questions!

Here are the blogs I love to read:

Well first has got to be Kev, An English Homestead cuz I love his company in the real world as much as I enjoy reading his blog.

And then of course there's Kymber from Framboise manor, who is the most hilarious and sweet person and she really likes being naked!! I don't remember who told me to check out her blog, but I was glad I did.

Dani over at Eco footprint South Africa, I love her environmentally friendly attitude, it strikes a chord with me, and she's just so handy.

Cindy at The bee lady from hilltop farm has two blogs, this one and a log of her house build/renovation which I love, it inspires me to look to the future. Plus she's all sorts of crafty and is into keeping bees which I'd love to do one day.

What about Vera from Snippets from Labartere? She has a beautiful house that her and her husband work hard on with a massive collection of animals and veg and she's over the channel in France, very continental.

If I'm honest there are quite a few more that spring to mind and I can name some more excellent blogs. 

So here are the questions that Emma posted and my answers 

1. What was your first pet and what was their name?

My first pet was a Jack Russell terrier named Ticket. My mum got him whilst she lived in Glasgow and apparently his name has a regional meaning, meaning rascal.

2. If you could live a day in a different era of time, when would you choose?

Oh definitely medieval in a small hamlet, watching people live their lives and work as a community. I’ve always had a fantasy to be able to go back in time and watch history unfold, weird? maybe.

3. What would your ideal 3 course meal consist of?

Goats cheese and rocket bruschetta, calzone and sticky toffee pudding. But I like food so that could change hourly!

4. What was your first thought when you woke up this morning?

Oh God what time is it, if I ignore the kids will they go back to sleep?

5. If you were given £1 million what would you spend it on?

I’m boring really, I’d pay off my mortgage, finish renovating the house, buy the land next door for an orchard, go on holiday and put some money aside for the kids to go to uni/get married/put a deposit on a house. 

6. What makes you smile the most?

When one of the kids says or does something sweet

7. What holiday destination would you most like to visit?

I’d most like to go to Boston at the moment. I’m big into history and there’s so much in that area I’d like to see.

8. Chocolate bar or packet of crisps?

Crisps, salt and vinegar!

9. If you could meet any famous person (present or passed away) who would it be?

Probably Patrick Stewart, I loved Star trek the next generation as a kid (still do) and I love the X-men films too so it’d be like killing two birds with one stone.

10. What are your top 3 favourite animals?

Dogs, donkeys and chickens.

Here are the questions for all my lovely blog nominees.

1. If someone threw you a surprise party would you love it or hate it?

2. If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

3. Do you have any fun family traditions?

4. What’s your favourite book of all time?

5. What’s the best holiday you’ve ever been on?

6. If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would you change?

7. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

8. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be?

9. If you could live somewhere else in the world, where would it be?

10. What makes you really angry?

Guys don't feel the need to join in if you don't want to, but do go and look at Emma's blog and some of her nominees.