Nursery Cuteness :) (by sarah)

Mary's nursery sent her home with a toy puppy and a book to write up the adventures!

I of course had great fun with this 🙂 I have put a version of the story up on the Wiggly Pet blog - there are lots of cute pictures of Mary though I wish we'd had slightly longer/remembered to take him with us at the weekend! Then I could have done multiple stories 🙂

Fixing the Roof (by sarah)

So we knew the roof of the workshop needed work - when we moved in we had to fix it to the actual walls! But what is left to be done on it needs a spat of dry weather when we are actually at home which has not happened this summer - this is also why there is still no grass in the little walled area!

It was just about holding up and then we had those strong winds that shredded the plastic membrane on the roof and it has leaked onto the grinder and welder 🙁 They may or may not be ok. Alaric's helmet also filled up with water and in the process of trying to dry it out it has gone moldy 🙁 We have shelving in the dinning area to dry out as well and Alaric has been up on the roof with help from my dad - trying to effect a short term fix to get us through the winter!

He was out there in the freezing night earlier in the week to prevent anymore damage which was a bit hair raising - I got him pizza to warm up with!

They went out there armed with heavy duty plastic sheeting and lots of sealant.

Fingers crossed that next year will be dryer :/

Our Christmas Lights (by sarah)

We both love fairy lights - these are the ones we bought back in Essex - they are still going strong 🙂 They remind me of the ones my grandmother had when I was little! I also found some wonderful snowflake window clings which both Jean and Mary love!

I love having lights showing on the outside of the building - it is like you are sharing the festivities with everyone.

Third Time Was Not Lucky :( (by sarah)

Ok so I've been bleeding since Mary was born and as she is going to be two next month that is a long time, I've had hormones and scans and a coil and then a scan which showed the coil is in the wrong place and then I was waiting for biospies and re-coiling as the womb linning is too thick etc...

But the appointment kept being rearranged or the Dr was sick etc... so today I finally get in to have the coil removed, biopsy done and new coil put in but... the coil is stuck. They are worried that it is in the scar tissue from the C-section so am now awaiting a phone call from another clinic were they can scan me whilst trying to remove it.

I am actually quiet freaked out to be honest.

Because We Have Our Home (by sarah)

This time last year we were not sure if would get this house, we were not really blogging about any of the trials and tribulations of it as we didn't want to get our hopes up. Alaric and the baby were both quiet sick and I was still on crutches and even Jean was not 100% with a repeating stomach bug. But we got through all of that and we got our shiny new home 🙂

With more than a little help from our friends. And feeling secure within this lovely house I finally felt able to write a story about our time after the 2007 floods. Again a time we would have really struggled with if it were not for family and friends!

So when I found out that over 75, 000 children will be without a home this year I thought, I am luckier than them and I should do something to help give them what our friends and family helped us get... A Home. Alaric agreed but we are not flush with money so how? And then a thought.

My mother asked me why didn't I draw the pictures and make the story into a little book for Christmas presents like I did last year with The Little Book of Festive Poetry. My initial reaction was 'There's not time!' and then I thought but I could do it as a mad sponsored thing and raise money for Shelter. So that is indeed what I am doing!

So here is the page where you can sponsor me. The money goes straight to Shelter. You are sponsoring a Draw-a-thon, the idea being that Christmas Eve I will release a free e-book for you all to enjoy 🙂 It will be an illustrated version of Percival's Christmas Wish and it is not going to be a five minute job so I am going to need lots of encouragement!

I have set the target as £100 as that will help five families not to end up homeless in the first place. More money = more people helped. If the target is reached I will be adding in the audio version of Percival's Christmas Wish as a free download for the 12 Day's of Christmas!

Families need homes

I'm not sure if you can understand what it is like to being staying on friends sofas and things unless it has happened to you - no it is not sleeping rough but it is unsettling and exhausting. Especially with little ones. And not everyone has friends and family they can get help from. We are lucky others are not. Please donate/sponsor me.