Tag Archives: moving to southampton

OK, I admit it, I’ve been an absentee blogger

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No excuses really, other than, this week is always a heinously busy one in the year because it’s Ruby’s birthday, and then my birthday and those two things keep me really quite tied up (the former, moreso than the latter).

I’ve been lax, and I know it.  There are so many things I’ve been meaning to write about and participate in and just haven’t.  They all began to mount up and I got a bit lost.

But I’ll try now.

1) Barcelona.  What a stunningly beautiful place.  Infact, that’s all I am going to say on that, because it deserves it’s very own post and I will do it.  Maybe tonight, now that my Sky digital has packed in, I have no excuses.

2) Ruby’s birthday.  My daughter is two! TWO! Her party was very sweet.  Our family and close friends came to celebrate my girl’s special day, even in the rain.  She got a lot of lovely presents, she hated HATED being sung to, and I made a very tasty cake.  The only downer was that I was quite unwell throughout the entire day, and took my sorry self off to bed as soon as everyone had left.

3) The wedding plans.  We went to Southampton for a very brief fly by to meet with the vicar who is marrying us.  She’s a lovely warm lady called Frances, and I am chuffed to bits.  We talked for an hour or so about our plans, our move to Southampton, what we were hoping to get from marriage and the wedding itself.  Then she said a little prayer for us at the end, and it left me feeling warm and fuzzy.  We are by no means religious, but we’re having a church wedding because the church we’re marrying at is tied to the primary school we both attended and it’s sweet and perfect and just right.  Even though we are not practicing Christians, the way Frances spoke about the church and the families who attend and the social activities, made me really want to start going when we move.  We won’t be living in the parish but I think we’ll make the effort to go anyway.

After the meeting with Frances we went for a meal with my brother in law and his girlfriend, which was lovely.  And the following day I popped down to the florist to confirm bouquets and corsages.

Which brings us pretty much up to date.  I started potty training Ruby today.  Taking the slowly slowly approach, but she is now the proud owner of no less than 30 pairs of knickers.  When we are at home, she’ll be in them, when we are going out, she’ll be in a nappy.  When she tells me consistently that she needs the toilet before the event, then I’ll try her in knickers.  If anyone has some advice, then send it my way.  Only one accident today, but I know this is going to be a long and very messy process.

Is it too late to do the Gallery this week?  Told you I’d been lax!

Mary, Mary, quite contrary

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How does your garden grow?

Pretty well, hopefully.  Despite the fact that Chez Chapman is on the market and we are en route to Southampton, I still want our tiny postage stamp sized garden to look pretty.  I want it to be somewhere I’ll look back on fondly when we no longer live here.  I’d like to be able to sit out with a nice refreshing drink surrounded by nice smelling plants that are thriving.  But mainly, I don’t want that blasted bindweed rearing its annoying-but-actually-quite-pretty head again.

And the weather is so gorgeous at the moment that today I thought, why not do a spot of planting?! The girls love to play out there and if they want to get grubby, they might as well get grubby by helping me out.  So in the car we hopped, and nipped out to Homebase, and came back an hour later, laden with gardening goodies.

I bought a tomato planter, 3 different tomato plants, chives, thyme and oregano to replenish my sorry looking herb garden.  And the girls had enormous fun.  Who knew Darcy and Ruby we so green fingered?  They helped me turn the compost, water the plants, replant them and pat them down in the soil.  And now I have the makings of an epic tomato salad growing out there in the sunshine.

But actually, I’m really pleased that Ruby is keen on gardening.  One of the things we’ll be looking for when its time for us to look for houses in Southampton, is a much bigger garden.  South West facing, please.  So we get the sun for as much of the day as possible.  I fully intend to get all Good Life on Ross’ behind and grow a substantial amount of food.  Knowing I’ll have at least one mini helper is a comforting thought.

The next thing on my list to buy (because I don’t think I want to stop now I’ve started) is an etagere to put all of aforementioned pot plants on.  Perhaps I’ll think about ordering that at the weekend.