Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2020

Dear friends,

Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2020. 

This year I have decided to make a donation to charity rather than sending cards and save the environment a little, and while I was at it I thought I’d bore you l with a few memories from 2019. 

One of my good friends, Ali, is running her first Marathon in April 2020 .... London ! she is raising money for Clic Sergent as they helped a friend of hers a few years ago when her daughter had leukemia, so I have made a donation towards her target, if you’d like to read her story it’s here https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserPage?userUrl=AlisonHarrington2&pageUrl=1

So 2019.... it’s been a busy year, as usual.... 

I’ve done lots of sports this year ..... run a marathon (Liverpool 5:25 ... slower than wanted so there will no doubt be another on the cards in yeasrs to come)

, raced a 🐎 (the horse won but our team still beat some horses over the 22 mile race), run down Southampton airport run way at sunrise, sailed round a Greek island and still managed to fit in some swimming and some cycling (Majorca with some new friends 😀 ) and lots of local and not so local rides on and off road.

Steffi is growing up fast .... she's 14 and is at least an inch taller than me and shows no signs of stopping any time soon.  She is half way through year 10 so by this time next year will have done her mocks and chosen her A levels ! She was supposed to be going to Sri Lanka on a school trip this year but unfortunately the trip was cancelled after the bombing in April 2019 so instead she went off to Germany to stay with friends, travelling by herself !

Markus is 12 and is also growing fast but I’m still winning. though I don’t suppose that will last for long. He has recently joined Army Cadets and now spends his time either marching from one place to another or shining his boots 🤣

Here’s a couple of pictures from our adventures in the summer .... evacuated from the campsite in Keswick on our last night as the lake was about to flood, family BBQ with the Henaghan clan and then a week in France with Gloria (an old friend of mine from my Schlumberger days).

We’re ready for Christmas .... the cake is done ! So roll on 2020 and let’s see what surprises it has in store !

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year

Love

Jo, Steffi and Markus xxx

and the two new lodgers ... Tiggr and Merlin  

Day 5 - birthday party and blankets (3rd Sept)

So busy day today, inset day so the kids aren't back at school ..... Amd someone remembered that when Steffi was 11 she had a water sports party so he wanted the same. 

Well 6 boys was definately a LOT harder than 5 girls and 2 boys ..... But they had fun paddle boarding and raft building and then playing on the WII at home afterwards. And finally a bit of phone number swapping and WOTSAPP messaging and video calls ..... The novelty will soon wear off !

I did manage to fit in a bit of diy and crafting.... Steffi is raising money for her Baden Powell Challenge and has been learning how to embroider names onto camp blankets. They've been sitting around all holiday and we finally did them today

We also managed to fix some shelves to the wall in steffis room ..... A few mishaps along the way .... The wall isn't straight, there's too many holes in the wall from other things (so we've  filled them and just need to sand them down and paint over them ! ). Am not convinced the shelves will be straight and even when we finally get them on the way but hopefully someone will be happy enough with them !

Day 4: Street party and chutney

We had a street party today, the weather was perfect, much better than last year when it chucked it down.

We had the pizza oven out and everyone was very impressed, the kids had great fun making their own pizza .... Wonder how many pizza ovens there will be on the street this time next year ?!?!?

We also managed to make a batch of apple chutney in the new slow cooker and cooked some apple crumble cake with apples from the tree.

Day 3 ..... Still going strong

Saturday ....... More painting ..... The garage door looks good, just needs a second coat ....

Downstairs toilet .... The kids decided that we should have splatter paint effect on the ceiling .... Looks pretty good, just needs another coat on the walls and then we can start putting everything back in .... New toilet roll holder, new towel holder and probably a new radiator :-)

Oh and a spot of furniture building to get the bedroom finished 

DIY Day 2

Well day 2 is actually the next day !!! Although I was one helper down, he decided skateboarding was a better bet than painting the downstairs loo !!!

So the other helper went shoe shopping (school shoes) , then she helped me choose new towel holder and loo roll holder for the downstairs loo, exciting shopping , rewarded with a trip to Asda !!!!

Then she painted the garage door with primer (forgot the action photo) 

Whilst I finished off the white in the loo .... ready for colour tomorrow, if they can agree which wall is going to be which colour !

And is now tidying her room and filing the new IKEA cabinet, think it might even be a finished bedroom when we’ve figured out how to attach the sheleves to to wall :-)