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.

Motivation (by alaric)

Michelle’s Hen Do :) (by sarah)

My Brother is getting married next month so the last two weekends have seen the stage and hen dos! I am still awaiting Alaric to post about the stage 🙂

For the Hen Do we went to a hotel in London for a Murder Mystery Event involving Professor Bugle, Flossy the maid and Lady "Rochy", the dectective Sherlock Holmes and his arch nemisis Moriaty.

It was 1920's theme dress up and because it was her hen night Michelle ended up being part of the show 🙂 I did take video of the performance which I'll attempt to put up here soonly!

This was all over dinner in the lush hotel and was followed by a cheesy disco which we shared with Welsh Chemists 🙂

A busy but productive day (by sarah)

The day started with tidying and doing housework, feeding childs and the like, then Al put me on the insurance for the car as my provisional license came through last Saturday. Then he took me to an art class at Centre Arts - it was about drawing with your right hemisphere, whilst he went off to buy cuttle fish and other casting supplies and got Jean's hair cut.

We then went off in search of a crucible for silver casting - failed at that but found a really excellent art and craft supplies shop in Thrupp!

Then we went on to Tescos carpark for me to attempt driving - hmmm yes well - I can start the car and make it move but panic too much and stamp on brakes and the peddle motion ment that due to the pelvis I then had difficulty walking as it really acted things up but we are hoping seat adjustment might solve that!

Then we got some dinner - Alaric gave me a present for being brave about driving - a how to draw gothic book 🙂 (he picked it up at the art supplies place!).

Then we went on to find the new Stroud B&Q to get the fret saw and bits needed for the casting and on home.

Moving and Stuff (by sarah)

So we have to move and we have been trying to sort it out and get a mortgage and what not which is somehow taking up most of the time we had spare.

But we have found a house we want - my only issue with it is it doesn't have enough grass but it is a garden I myself could maintain without having to wait for Alaric to be free etc... It is double glazed and has central heating - two things that with my health and having a baby again are most important - it was so hard trying to make sure Jeany didn't get too cold here.

There are allotments just round the corner for our veg growing and I can do salad and herbs in pots. There is a workshop in the garden for Al and a fantastic attic room with lots of natural light for my art - plenty of storage and room for children toys!

Obviously we may not get the house still - we have made two offers based on the 20% deposite and how much Al's family had sorted etc... which have been rejected - we are going for a finial offer based on what they say they will take as a minimium. Mortgage brokers seem to think there is no problem with us getting the mortgage though we have been referred by all the banks we've tried for more assessement a we're borderline.

There is no off street parking and there is a derelict building with graffiti and weeds oposite but last time we went to view the house it was being cleaned up as a church hall so I'm not too worried. We drove around the area at different times of day and night - and things seemed ok - kids hanging around drinking fizzy drinks and actually playing on the swings and stuff in the park - there were no needles or condoms in the play area or around either and crime figures seem ok. Prices are low in the area because there used to be a mental hosptail apparently.

If we get this house we will be finially be able to have say the swimming pool out 🙂 I can still have fruit trees in pots and may even be able to sneak in a super coop - though I need to check that the birds would actually be happy with that.

An outside tape - to do stuff with!

We are still hoping to be moved by Christmas. We are hopeful.

(if it falls through I have another house in a our price range book marked which I'm hoping wont be sold until after we have things all sorted - just incase!)