... a few days of unpacking a visit from the in laws

When we got back from our hols we thought that whole week at home unpacking and sorting out the house was just what we needed. However that didn't happen and Phil's sister asked if she could stop at ours for the weekend on her way to Whitby. Of course we were delighted at the thought of Ali, Michael, Lottie and Hannah coming to visit but the house was in no fit state for visitors let alone two little people who like to explore. So three days of mad wardrobe, shelves, chest of drawers building ensued, closely followed by huge amounts of boxes getting unpacked and finally a top to bottom tidy and clean. We were still cleaning as they pulled into the driveway but I don't think they noticed.

We had a wonderful long weekend with them all and I think they loved the house and where we are now living. Lottie and Hannah provided hours of entertainment with a visit to Funsters, a trip to the farm in the rain, playing hide and seek, making drinks with Party Penguin (a variation on Mr Frosty) and watching Peppa Pig lots.

Ali left with the girls on Monday morning to drive to Whitby and when Phil and I got home to the house it felt so empty and quiet. Thanks guys for coming to visit it was really great to have you in our house and thanks again for the amazing flowers.

Now we are back to work. I can't believe its nearly two weeks. Work is hectic but good and I'm loving the project I'm working but sadly it means that blogging has taken a back seat cause I'm usually so tired by the time I get home. But I will try my best to keep posting at least once a week.

Before I go, a big thank you to Lorraine and Pete for having us round on Sunday night, it's really great getting to know people better in the Church and we really feel at home in Sandbach and WHBC. I'll have to dust off my recipe books and have all the people round for lunch/dinner who have been kind enough to invite us.

... cruising the Med

Sorry for the delay in blogging, no real reason why I haven't caught up on it this week but here we go!

We had a wonderful week on holiday cruising the Med. We booked a last minute cheepy and hoped that this holiday would be much better than last years disastrous trip to Egypt. We flew from Manchester to Majorca, then boarded the Cruise ship in Palma. I'll not bore you with the details of the ship but it was huge and had everything on it that you would expect in any hotel. After a day at sea we stopped at Corsica. Next was Rome, which was the most amazing city I have ever been too and can't wait to go back. We only had a day in each port so that meant we did Rome in a day. We filled that day and went to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Square. After all that we even had time for a quick coffee and an ice cream. Next stop was Portofino, North Italy. This is a lovely little harbour for the rich and famous as we discovered after having two cappuccino's which came to a grand total of £8!! Phil says when we are rich (like that'll ever happen :) he'll buy me a yacht and we can sail here! Next stop was Nice and we decided to take the train to Monte Carlo. More rich people and more yachts!! But we saw the Grand Casino (although only from the back cause we are both so daft that we didn't realise we were on the wrong side of the building until later that night when someone else was taking about all the cool cars out the front...there were no cars on the side of the building we were looking at). We also saw the Hotel de Paris (again from the back) and then we climbed all the way up to the Palace and the Cathedral where Princess Grace got married. Next stop was Menorca, not a huge amount to see here but this was by far the most stunning natural harbour we had ever seen. It was an amazing site sailing out of this small harbour on a ridiculously large cruise ship. Then Back to Palma the next day to fly home.

That was a bit of a whistle stop tour of our hols but it was one of the best ones we've ever had. I'll try and post photos soon.

...Alton Towers

I had a wonderful weekend with my siblings. Neil and Michael arrived on Friday night and we all crashed out after a long week and had a catch up. We got up early on Saturday morning and headed off to Alton Towers. It was a wonderfully sunny day and we all had a brilliant time. It was sad on Sunday to say goodbye to my sister Jill who leaves next Sunday for a year in Kiwoko, Uganda. I wish her all the best for her year and hope it is a wonderful learning experience for her.

Phil and I are now recovering and getting ready for our two weeks off work. We have book a cruise round the Med and can't wait to get away to some sunny climates and catch up on some sleep and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to some serious reading. We haven't decided what to do with our second week off yet. We may spend it unpacking the last few remaining boxes and building the last few bits of furniture. But who knows we might get bored at home and take off for a few days. I'll keep you posted.

...enjoy having family to stay

I had a wonderful weekend in Glasgow with Cheryl and we even managed to fit in a quick visit to Dundee where we met up with my old boss and his family for coffee. It was really great to see them all and to catch up on there news. We also tried to meet up with Michael (my baby bro) but he was working and didn't answer his phone :( Never mind he's coming to visit me this weekend.

Jill (my ickle sis) has been staying with us this week and it's been really great to see her and spend time with her before she heads off to Africa in a few weeks. Michael and Neil and Neils girlfriend Maria all arrive tonight and we are planning to have a fun weekend with a visit to Alton Towers, lots of playing on the Wii and a compulsory game of Cranium. It'll be fab to see them all and have them all in my house for the first time, lets hope the weather is favourable!!

...too much

Our mad few months have continued. My mum came to visit a few weekends ago and we had a lovely time enjoying the one day of sunshine we have had all summer and watching the Wimbledon Finals. Thanks mum for coming over, we were just sad dad couldn't make it too.

During the week I went to Ikea and finally ordered our wardrobes. They arrived last Friday and have now taken over the kitchen waiting for Phil to build them. But Phil has not built and installed the new bathroom cabinet, which looks fab :)

Last weekend we had a lovely weekend in London for Esther Norris's wedding and Ali's birthday. London trips are always good fun and we had a great time playing with the girls and catching up with family. Thanks Ali and Michael for putting us all up.

This week has been fairly normal, just very busy at work, but I'm really enjoying it so that helps. I went to the final book club for the year last night. We had lots of food and some really great chat. It was wonderfully insightful to hear what everyones idea of Adventure is after reading 'Up the Yukon without a paddle'. Thanks Ione, I can't wait for next year.

This weekend I'm off to see my good friend Cheryl in Glasgow. I can't wait to take her dogs for long walks so that we can natter away and catch up on each others mad lives.

Only a few more weeks of madness to go and then we are off on holiday. Hopefully by the end of Sept life will have slowed down a little. But who knows!!

....IKEA again!!

We thought that since yesterday was our first free Saturday in weeks we should really get on with furnishing the house. Having failed to get the wardrobes we wanted on our last trip to IKEA we thought that we would try again. So having checked that they had them in stock we headed off to Manchester IKEA. It was a bit of a struggle to find but we did eventually and as we walked round we picked up some other bits and pieces that we needed. When we finally got the wardrobe section we double checked what we wanted and went over to order it.....only to be told the last of them had been sold that morning!! AAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!! How frustrating.

Never mind we had a fun day out, had a bite to eat in Chiquita and went to look at garden furniture. Not sure why since we don't really have the weather to use it. Needless to say we didn't buy any and went home rather disappointed with our lack of purchases.

But we had a nice Saturday night crashing out with a fish supper and can of diet coke. Church this morning was excellent with a super message that I'm sure was written with me in mind! We feel really at home in the Church and all the people are so welcoming and constantly inviting us out for lunch and tea. We are looking forward to getting our new dining table and chairs so that we can return the favour. Now I'm just relaxing on this first quiet Sunday in weeks preparing myself for another busy week ahead. The good news is my Mum's coming on Thursday to stay for the weekend so I'm looking forward to showing her round our new pad and the local area.

...not like the flooding

The flooding throughout the country has been horrendous. I got my first taste of it yesterday on my way to a meeting in Worcestershire. The fields either side of the road were completely hidden under water and eventually I came across a road that was closed. This led to me being an hour late for my meeting. Although me being late for my meeting is nothing compared to the devastation the flooding has caused to so many people. Lets hope this weekends predicted rain doesn't cause the same problems.

...a 30th birthday, a family weekend and a trip to the Peak District

A lot has happened since I last posted. I've been so busy I haven't had time or energy to write anything. I suppose I should start at the beginning, which was about 1.5 weeks ago. Phil turned 30 this year and to celebrate I organized a surprise boys weekend for him. It really was a surprise when 7 of his friends from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland descended on Sandbach for the weekend. The boys had a fun weekend playing on the Wii, paintballing and generally catching up. Phil was thrilled with his surprise and I think all the guys loved having a weekend away.



I thought it was best to escape for the weekend and as it was also my birthday my good friend Cheryl came down from Scotland and we went off the Cheltenham for the weekend for some R&R. It was great to get away from it all and catch up with Cheryl.


Me and Cheryl

After we had recovered from the weekend we had an over night visit from our Uni friends Steve and Becky and their little girl Abigail. They stopped over on the Wednesday night on their way up from London to Scotland. It was great to see them and to meet Abigail.

Phil's birthday wasn't actually until this weekend past so I organized for his Mum to come and stay with us for the weekend. This was also a surprise for Phil and he was thrilled to see his Mum and show off the new house. We had a super weekend going to the Lowry and Imperial War Museum on Sat and then after Church on Sunday we drove over to the Peak District to meet up with Phil's sister Ali and her family. Andy (Phil's brother) also came over for the day. We had a lovely family lunch and a walk in the woods. Phil's mum and brother left and we stayed on for a few more days. Although the weather was awful on the Monday we still managed to have a wonderful time with Ali, Michael and the girls. Thank you Ali and Michael for letting us stay with you on your holiday.


Out for a walk in the woods


Jean and Lottie


Phil, Lottie and Hannah


Hannah on a bouncy castle for the first time

Now we are back to reality with a bump and work is hectic. Taking two days off doesn't really mean you get a holiday it just means you have to do a weeks work in 3 days. But it's nice to be back in our own house and we are looking forward to a few weeks without any weekends away. We might even manage to buy some furniture and get a bit more of the house unpacked. We'll see!!!

IKEA!!

We've had a great week in the new house and we are slowly regaining some level of normality. There are a few less boxes now and we are now looking at what furniture we need to buy. After nearly 4 years of marriage we are looking forward to setting up a home that many people can come and visit us in and that we can use to glorify God in Sandbach.

The compulsory trip to Ikea was in order, and bearing in mind how horrible a trip to Ikea is on a Saturday we decided to go after work. We actually had a good time, choosing new wardrobes, bookcases and chest of drawers. Sadly when we got to the check out the wardrobe we wanted was out of stock, but hopefully it'll be back in soon. We picked up a few other bits and pieces on the way round, so the trip was not in vain!



Phil had fun playing on the trolley!!



I was tired and glad to be going home.

This weekend has been so glorious outside that I haven't wanted to do any unpacking, however whilst Phil was out playing football on Saturday I did sort out the dreaded spare room and also managed to find some time to relax in the garden with my book. It was so wonderful and peaceful. I'm loving our new house.

...take photos sometimes!!

Below are a few badly taken photos showning the extent of our unpacking! We haven't done very much and we're off the Belfast for a wedding so we won't get anymore done til next week. Never mind, we're just thrilled to be in the house.

If you're passing or live nearby, drop in for a coffee (I can't guarentee there will be any were to sit, but I can guarentee a warm welcome)


Living room, not unpacked at all!!


Kitchen, looking down towards dining area.



I asked Phil to unpack important things and this appeared on top of one of the kitchen cupboards!!!

..the big house move

Well, we're in and very happy. Everything went really well this weekend.

We picked up the keys on Friday night and had a quick look around our new house. It was just as we had remembered it which was a relief. Then we shot back home to finish off the packing. Saturday our two removal men were excellent and they had us moved by 3.30pm. It was great not having to lift any of the heavy boxes!! Just as we sat down with a cup of tea, Ben Griffen arrived with alot of shopping for us, which was wonderful and so kind...thanks Ben and Liz. We didn't do too much unpacking on Sat cause we were pretty tired, so we unpacked the kitchen and got fish and chips for tea.

Sunday was a lovely relaxing day, getting to go to Church twice was great and we had lunch with the McKenzies...thank you.

Monday we had great plans to unpack loads and sort the house out, but in reality we slept most of the morning (can't remember the last time we had that luxury) and spent the afternoon out and about checking out furniture stores and the local area.

Still no photos, sorry I'll try and take some tonight, and post tomorrow. We have no internet at home yet so I have to find 10mins at work to post (that's not always possible).

The main thing is we are loving Sandbach, the cows in the fields, the noisy birds and most of all our little house and the proximity to our Church.

...house moving

Well tomorrow is hopefully the beginning of a mad but wonderful weekend. We are completing tomorrow and moving on Saturday. Pretty good timing really cause our lease runs out on our rental property on Saturday and it's a bank holiday so we have an extra day to unpack. Things have been a bit hectic so I don't have any photos of the chaos of packing but it thought I would give you a sneak peak of the house. These are the photos from the website and I'll post more once we get in.



The kitchen/dining area



The living room (thankfully not our furniture)

...a little bit of packing

As the moving day draws ever closer we thought that this weekend past would be a good time to start packing. In reality all we did was repack the boxes that we have kinda unpacked over the last 18 months. So although it looks like we have done lots of packing we haven't really. However, we now have the removal men booked, boxes obtained and a extra boost of energy ready for a full weekend of packing this coming weekend. (Keeping Phil away from the FA Cup final long enough to help may be a struggle!!). Although at times dealing with solicitors, estate agents, etc has been difficult we are very excited about moving into our own home. We have great plans about what we want to do to the house once we get in, although these ideas are based entirely on the 15 minutes we spent in the house when we viewed it. I'm sure they will all change once we have spent some time in the house.

I'll keep you posted as things progress and if I get organized I might even manage to get some photos of the move uploaded.

...Belfast and London in the same week

Last week was a bit mad, but definitely a fun week. I had a brief but wonderful visit to Belfast on Tuesday night. Dad was being installed as the Arch Deacon (Demon) for Down Cathedral and the whole family was descending on Belfast for the night. Also as an added bonus my Auntie had flown in from Canada for the event. We had a wonderful evening meeting up with old friends and the service went very well.

Sadly on my return I got a cold and spent the rest of the week feeling sorry for myself. But then we had a wonderful idea about heading down to London for the bank holiday weekend. Ali and Michael were happy to have so we drove down on Friday night. We had a super weekend with the whole family. The girls have got really big since we were last there so it was nice to see them. Lottie is a little lady now, pottering around the house in all sorts of fancy dress, making tea in her cottage and generally making us laugh. Hannah is now really animated and still as smiley as ever.

Now its back to work for another week, although thankfully a short one. House packing begins in earnest this weekend as it is hopefully only 2.5 weeks til we move. Exciting times ahead.

Brumby's not sure what to think..

This is an interesting quiz and although I ran through it fairly quickly I'm still not sure what to think of the result. At least my mum will be proud and happy to know that I have a Methodist side!

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 86% Reformed Evangelical 79% Neo orthodox 54% Fundamentalist 46% Charismatic/Pentecostal 39% Emergent/Postmodern 39% Roman Catholic 32% Classical Liberal 18% Modern Liberal 14% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists.

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

Brumby questions the importance of blogging...

I'm not really sure why I write this blog, nor am I sure why many other people write theirs. However there are many blogs out there that are primarily aimed at providing us with information that we find relevant to our lives. In particular I am talking about Christian blogs (of which there are many). There are a few that I read on almost a daily basis and find that what they have to say is often an encouragement or a challenge. I am finding more and more now that I am likely to pick up my laptop to browse the internet than pick up a book and curl up on the sofa. Of course there is nothing wrong with this but recently I have been questioning the use of my time. My way, in part, of addressing my use of time is to spend my time on the internet reading these blogs that at times are like mini sermons. I do however love checking the news headlines and reading friends blogs and going on bebo to see what friends have been up to.

So i still don't know why I write mine but I want to thank all the people who continue to write their blogs to help and encourage other people.

...the weekly weight in

Yipee!!!....I've lost 2lbs, which I think is pretty great since I had a weekend of bad food that I couldn't avoid. And my BMI is now 23.4 :)

Had a great weekend even though I did slip up a little on the food. Pilco and I cleared the garage in preparation for the move, its amazing how much junk we have gathered in only 2 years! But it felt good to start the clearing and packing.

Saturday night we went out for dinner at the home of a lovely couple from Church, it was really lovely to get to know them a little better and learn more about the Church.

Sunday was a super day. Church was followed by a Church lunch and then a Q&A for our potential new Assistant Pastor. We are now desperately looking forward to moving down and getting more involved.

...rabbit food

Lunch for the next 6 weeks :(



We're out for dinner on Sat night and we have a church lunch on Sunday and I'm worried about my dietry requirements. I'll just have to do my best and eat what I can without being rude or offending anyone.

The diet is not good when you wnat to have a social life, unless nice people like Jess come for tea (shes also on the Juice Diet).

...the Juice Detox/Diet

Computer just crashed after a lengthy description of my juice diet, so sadly you are now getting the short short version.

-I have a wedding in 6 weeks
-need to look super sexy
-need to lose at least a stone!!
-juice diet works a treat
-juice for breakfast, salad for lunch, fish/chicken and veg for tea
-no carbs, no dairy, no alcohol

Sorry I've had to crop the text but gotta go work. I'll keep you posted on the weekly weight in's.




The green juice that my colleagues think looks like liquidized Kermit!

...Belfast

I know it's been a while, but I'm a busy girl....most of the time. Easter is a special time for our family, especially when we remember the significance of Jesus dying for us and then being raised to life. How wonderful and humbling that he would do that for us. We had a lovely long weekend at home in Belfast with my family. It was also mums birthday so double celebrations. We didn't do our usual mad dash to see alot of friends and just had a relaxing time with family and a few friends, it was a really nice time and just the break we needed.

On Easter Monday Pilco's brother came over to visit us with his new girl friend, she's lovely!!! and we all had a great evening.

Back to work on Tuesday, yuck, it was far to sunny outside to be at work. So on Saturday we took ourselves off to Arley Hall for a stroll in the grounds following buy a little tub of ice cream. We then decided to go out for tea and treat ourselves, after all you're only young once...super day.



Me at the Tea Cottage



Pilco in a tree!

That's about it, I'll try not to leave such a large gap between my entries in future.