12 May 2017

Sunsets

We try to walk every night, after dinner and it always amazes me how different the sun is when we get to the prom.


I love the view.


It's relaxing after a busy day at work.



1 May 2017

House Update

The house was on the market less than a week and we've sold it!!

The first thing my Uncle said was "Where will you go?"

That's the burning question.  We can move out any time but trying to find a rental is not as easy as it sounds.  Some estate agents give all the applications to the landlord who chooses the tenant.  Some only take one application per house and most of them have houses on their websites that haven't been available for rent for weeks.

We have viewed a few so far and they are all smaller than this one (if that's even possible).
A few more lined up to view this week so fingers crossed one will be ours.




14 April 2017

March 2017

And so to March.

John is still applying for hundreds of jobs.  30 March was the one year anniversary of being laid off.

I'm still working in Hoylake

The YM still loves his job.

We had dinner out one night accompanied by a gorgeous sunset


and Mother's Day was just perfect.  A walk along the Prom, gorgeous blue skies and dinner made by Hubby.





February 2017

So what happened in February?

John applied for hundreds of jobs and had a few interviews.

I'm still working in Hoylake .

The YM loves his job at the school.

It was a year since mum died.  I can't believe how quickly the year has gone.  I still miss her and have a quiet cry when the boys aren't looking.


I picked bright, cheerful flowers to take to the cemetery just to brighten up the grey days.


Hubby decided that after having to wear my glasses, upside down, to see the menu in the pub he really should start taking his glasses out with him.


January 2017

A new year a new start.......

We took a walk along past the lighthouse and along the prom towards Seacombe.


John finally got to meet his Grandson, F (who is a wee cutie).


TANAT started work at Mosslands School.


and my baby is no longer a teenager.  Happy 20th Birthday Young Man xx


December 2016

December''s few things consisted of

Taking flowers to the cemetery on Mum's birthday.  Yellow roses of course.


Watching "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them".


and on Boxing Day John and I taking, what can only be described as a "Brisk"walk along Harrison Drive, New Brighton.


It was so cold and SOOOOOO windy I had to dig out my padded coat.


Looks can be deceiving with blue skies and sunshine.


November 2016

A few things happened in November too.

John applied for hundreds of jobs.

I was still working in Hoylake

and TANAT had an interview for an Apprenticeship as a Lab Technician in a local High School.

He went suited and booted


and GOT THE JOB!!

October 2016

A few things happened in October.

John applied for hundreds of jobs.

I started work at Polder Health Care in Hoylake on 12 October.

The Almost not a Teenager was still waiting to apply for Job Seekers Allowance

and we made the trip across to visit mum and dad.

TANAT had grown somewhat since they'd last seen him.


Christmas 2016

2016 was our first (and hopefully, only) Christmas in Valkyrie Road.  It was just the three of us and John and I had one present each (but not from each other).  We made sure that The Almost not a Teenager had lots to open and that we had enough to eat.


The decorations survived the trip back from the States but our 7ft tree had to stay in the shed.  Luckily we hadn't got rid of the one we had in Scotland so it had pride of place in the bay window.


The living room was lit with small lights and looked really festive.



We may not have had much money but we had a good time.

Moving Day

13 September 2016 saw us moving again.

This time into mum's house.  To start with the container lorry couldn't get along the street, it had the wrong container on the back and the removals company had to get a smaller van to ferry our furniture along the road to the house.  But apart from that the move went well.


It was a bit of a squash but we got it all in.

We had to unwrap everything, sort through all the boxes and give stuff to charity but we are now able to live here without tripping over boxes or each other.

The box room is just that....a room full of boxes and anything that is not going to get damp or spoilt is in the shed.

The shed!  That's another story.  We had hoped to use the brick shed already in the garden but it was so unsafe that Hubby and The almost not a Teenager were able to push it over by hand.  We took it down and bought a new wooden one which now houses various kitchen items the tumble dryer and all of  Hubby's tools.


The garden, I am happy to say now looks tidier and the bricks have gone.  So have those trees.  Mum always wanted them cut down but they were on the other side of her wall.  The guy on the other side was putting a new roof on his garage so cut the tree down.  It saved us having to do it.

We'll have to pack up and do this all again soon!!





Whitwell

From Lincolnshire we headed over to Nottinghamshire to see Mum and dad.

Hubby dragged me round and round Whitwell showing me houses he'd help build, where the school used to be, where Dad used to live and the house he lived in as a child.

We also popped up to the local church to see where Grandad R was buried.


As it was years since we'd been to Sherwood Forest we took a wet trip out to see the Major Oak.
It's still standing but needs a little extra help staying upright these days.




A nice day out.  If a little damp.



Caravaning

We were offered a friend's caravan for a week so we drove up to the Lincolnshire coast.

The caravan was not, shall we say, up to our standards and we only stayed two nights.

We managed trips to Grimsby, Skegness and Mablethorp (where was had awesome fish and chips)


and we found a nice wee pub that sold good beer.


Quickest caravaning trip ever.

What the Lees did in London

We may have only been in London for a short time but we managed to do a lot.

We tidied out the shed for R & A.


We looked after Max whilst they were away at the weekend.



We had dinner in the pub.


We went to the Natural History Museum.


We revamped the garden for R & A and John fixed the jet wash and did the paths.



John and I took a trip into town and ended up in the hard Rock Cafe.



We met up with Mathew and the boys went out for a curry and a pint.


And we took a trip to the Imperial War Museum.  The Victoria Cross section was my favourite bit.






All Change

August 2016 found us returning to the UK from Texas.

We hadn't planned on it.  It happened because John was laid off at the end of March.
We had to make the decision whether to spend our savings and stay and try and find a job or use the money to move everything back to the UK.

The problem was we had just booked and paid for our trip to Tucson with Joanne and Chris and they had booked their flights to Houston.

Much humming and haaing later and the decision was made.

We would stay long enough  for J & C to visit and then we would pack up and head back.

We told the landlord that we would be moving mid August, got estimates for removals, sold furniture that was too big to fit in anywhere back in the UK asked Ruth, David & Bob about staying at Mum's whilst John looked for a job and finally booked our flights.  It all seemed a little unreal as during all this John was still applying for jobs and going for interviews.

Tucson came and went (as seen in previous posts), a good time was had by all and goodbyes were said.


Then the fun began.  Removals came and packed the house and our furniture headed off to the port in Houston.   The charity people came and took away a huge amount of stuff we couldn't bring back and didn't have time to sell.  Cars were returned to the garage and the keys handed in.  The cleaners came in, didn't do a lot, didn't get paid and John had to do most of it himself.  We stayed in a hotel for two days whilst we handed in the house keys and waited for our flights.



18 August 2016 was our last day in the USA.

After a 10 hour flight we landed back in the UK.  What were we going to do next?







8 March 2017

Summer 2016 Pt 10

Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch

We found this little gem by accident.
I was looking for something to do on the way either to of from Phoenix.
This popped up on my search page.

Despite the fact it was 111 degrees F the day we went it was soooo worth it.

 We got to feed....
The donkeys


the deer


the Budgies (or as the Americans like to call them - Parakeets)


The goats up high


the goats down low


and the ostrich.


Vicious things that they are.


It seems we had an ostrich whisperer with us!


There were ducks to be fed


and pretty sheep


and our favourite of all
the Lorakeets


We were given a little pot of nectar each


and told to keep the lid on, hold it out at arms length


and wait!!


Once they had finished the nectar they like to lick your skin!!


If it hadn't been so hot and we hadn't got a flight to catch I could have stayed a while longer.

♥♥♥ I love, love, loved it ♥♥♥