Goldy (by sarah)

This is a rubbish photo of the fish but until he becomes a bit more accustomed to things it is probably all we are going to get - his name is Goldy the Goldfish and Jean won him at the Fair. We were a bit alarmed to see that this was still going on and the more we explained why it wasn't a good idea to get one of the fish the more determined she became to get one as they looked so sad :/

So to cut a long story short she had a set budget for the Fair - she got a goldfish - we all went home to sort the gold fish out - she insisted on carrying him home herself and fretted about weather he could breath and showed him to any and all other children we passed along the way.

I told of my carnival fish Sandy and Shelly that I had at her age and Daddy spoke of how he and his mother used to win as many of them as they could in order to save them when he was little.

Alaric turns out to be a fish expert (at least as far as goldfish are concerned) and we had wanted to get fish as the New House Pets as there had been fish here when we came to look around.

Once home Alaric and Jean set about equalising temperatures of water with the bag in a bowl - so that the poor thing wouldn't get shocked being put in new water. Then we zoomed out to buy supplies. Which being a bank holiday wasn't that easy!

It is only a small tank for now as we just don't have the money but hopefully say next month we can get a larger one - Goldy seems abit worried about the space to be honest and has mainly hidden behind the plastic plant and dug himself a little whole in the gravel.

Today we went to the Aquatic Habitate to get a real plant and a snail - Jean wanted a shrimp but apparently Goldy would eat it (it was not much smaller than Goldy!). Anyway Jeany has named the snail Slimy and is now obsessed with alliteration :/

Again Jean insisted on carrying the snail and has been very militant about feeding the fish and has even taken to remembering to feed her rabbit without being reminded.

I'm glad we have the fish and we are all looking forward to establishing an ecosystem but we were not happy to find them at the Fair and worse than that - in rescuing Goldy we are supporting the trade :/ But Goldy actually came out to see us today when we came in which we think is a good sign 🙂

Captain Jean Sparra (by sarah)

Today Alaric had to go to London to deal with servers - origonally we were going to go with him and me and the girls were going to head to the Natural History Museum but with the weather being so nice and hot I didn't want to risk having the kids stuck in a car in traffic for like half the day so we stayed here.

We inflated the pirate ship paddling pool Jean got for her forth birthday and spent a good chunk of the morning playing Pirates of the Carrabian with Jean as Captain Jack Sparrow, Mary as Will (as she is the new baby captain) and me as ever other character out of the first three films.

Then I made up stories from the the characters Mary got given as bath toys as a christening present last weekend. So we had Gianty the Giant Squid from the deepest sea trench who went on an adventure to visit a coral reef.

I offered Jean the chance to go to the park and then to Pizza Hut for lunch but she stated she wanted a picnic as Pizza Hut do not have sorrel in their salad. So I made them a picnic with home grown salad 🙂

Which the rabbit instantly joined in with!

I had to take photos before removing and washing salad (I gave him some carrots I'm not mean!)

We then had to come inside as it was too hot and we watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and then Shaun the Sheep. Then it was back to the pool and bubble blowing and then colouring in!

Mary wanted to help Jean so I had to get one of Jean's old exercise books and some of the scrubbed out felt tip pens for the baby so she could colour in too 🙂

We then had dinner in the garden, followed by another paddle and then The Wizard of Oz and pop cakes.

Today scores high on the goodness scale 🙂

New Home (by sarah)

So we have finally achieved the third M = Mortgage which I suppose makes us proper grown-ups or something?

It is not what we had envisioned with the move to Gloucestershire but those plans weren't working anyway and this house seems like it was almost made with us in mind. It is everything we need.

There is a summer house a.k.a Alaric's workshop

A little patch of decking that we can have as a Toddler play area

An area for grass with allotements just round the corner

An attic room that is perfect for an art studio and storage or workshop materials etc...

A lush kitchen with a double oven of the type I've been after for an age with a 'breakfast room' off of it which is perfect for a family dinning room - there is a breakfast bar too!

The 'dining room' is going to be the Library and Music room / study. There is an area just right for having a BBQ in etc... just out side the kitchen.

It needs some work but we were more than happy with the structural reports and Alaric is still going on that we are technically now Lay Rectors. We think we are very lucky as the place cost less than my friends one bedroom flat on the edge of London. Having said that we can only afford it due to a) Alaric's new job and b) the generous loan of a hefty deposit from Alaric's family.

We picked the keys up today and rushed round there but the family was still moving out so we went and got some lunch and then went back - they had left us a lovely card saying they hope we'll be as happy as they've been there 🙂

I did some assessing of where we will be putting the washing machine etc... This feels right unlike our previous move which was all done pretty much with out me. I am hoping we can get things back on track - there is belly dancing within walking distance of the house that is affordable - this is important for my pelvis and mobility so Im very pleased with this. I am hoping to some how fit in the ducks and bees don't think goat will happen now though 🙁

We decided to leave our mark on the place - so here is our rainbow swerl rug that me and Jean made whilst living in the Mill during the flooding episode.

Poor Hydro-Puss (by sarah)

We are currently awaiting info from the vet having approved an operation to wire Hydrogen jaw up and to remove maggots from her feet.

As some of you know she has been missing for 3 weeks now and we have been searching high and low for her. Today - the day Alaric took the car in to have the brakes fixed Barbara turns up and says she's found what might be Hydrogen at the top of the road.

She helped me get her out of the boot. The little thing was so light and smelt odd and it appeared to me that half her face was missing - but not in a fresh way - in a sort of healed kind of way.

I put her in the bathroom meaning to feed her and clean her up she seemed so happy to be home but then I thought about it and wondered how I was going to get to the vets as Barbara had left saying let her know if she needed taking to the vets but that it wasn't an emergancy.

Inge the lady who comes to do the garden came and asked me if she could take us to the vet - and I said yes but realised I couldn't go. Even if I asked another parent to get Jean from school we had left the car seat in our car which is in a garage being fixed.

She my poor little cat who was so happy to see me and obviously needing help - I bundled into a box (the cat basket) and handed to some else to be taken to the scariest place for cats with the knowledge that I will likely not be hearing that meow again - but I had to because either way the vet is who can help her.

My poor little cat - I still remember us getting the two girls - http://www.snell-pym.org.uk/archives/2006/07/07/kittens/.

The Piggies (by sarah)

I found this cute picture of Jean holding the guinea pigs. They are sadly no more but were well loved whilst we had them.