Busy, busy

It was a day full of being busy yesterday. Cleaning out guinea pigs, putting them out in the runs on the grass, cleaning food bowls and water bottles, oh and hanging washing on the line. It was a fabulous day - and quite hot. By the end of the day I was absolutely shattered. I still have some hutches left to do today but ran out of hay and newspaper!

I'm not sleeping very well at the moment and seem to be having not exactly pleasant dreams when I do. I tossed and turned most of last night and even got up around 4.30am for a little while. Of course I've woken this morning feeling exhausted and I've got so much to do today, yet what am I doing - sitting here in my nighty still!

My list for today:

Go to Costco for some floor matting for the garage and a fly zapper! (whooo exciting!) Got the fly zapper, decided against the floor matting as the garage floor is too uneven.

Collect hay, newspaper and bran so can finish cleaning out piggies. Yes did this :-)

Take YS to optician. His eyes have improved so that is good.

Paint tray - it needs prettying up. I used Farrow & Ball, Borrowed Light 235

Before:

After:

General tidying of lounge and kitchen.

Find some time to relax!

Not exactly exciting.

I'll leave you with a picture of one of my favourite toys I had as a child.

Cherry Tree Haven

I know you've already seen pictures of my Cherry Tree, but it really is something at this time of year and I just love its vibrant soft pink (can you have vibrant and soft describing the same thing?) set against the wonderful blue sky we had again today.

I was at work for most of the morning, and was able to spend an hour on one of my latest crochet projects (whoops, yes I have MORE than one on the go at the moment). Once home though was still able to enjoy the weather the rest of the day. I tried out my new 'nana-at-the-shops' bag, (duely named by Jus - thanks ;-) when we walked down to the town centre to do some banking, even hubby gave it a try out! My MIL saw us while we were out and was so taken with it she went out and bought one herself! Oh no it is contagious...

We sat in the garden with a cup of tea watching the guinea pigs enjoying the fresh grass after a winter without. Yes if you look carefully in the picture above you will see I am cultivating dandelions for the guinea pigs!

The beauty of the trees and the day was just what I needed to restore myself after discovering that teaching inflames my arm to pretty much the same pain level I was getting before my TOS surgery in December. This surprised me as I knew playing was still an issue so I purposely didn't take my instruments. Still never mind, there is nothing like sitting outside and taking in the beauty to take your mind off something, even if only for a moment or two.

Just look at that lovely contrast - really inspiring, it is moments like this that I was I could draw and paint.

A Stroll round The Regents Park

Well it turned out to be a lovely Blue sky day today afterall! By the time we arrived in London the weather was glorious. I had my physio appointment and then we went to Regents Park. The Regents Park covers 410 acres and must be the biggest park in London. It was simply beautiful today. So how about a stroll around The Regents Park.

One of the lovely buildings on the way to the park, and a picture of my lovely hubby.

Such a lovely expanse and so little people today which made it even more special.

I couldn't resist taking a photo of this lady's lovely pink/purple hair!

The Honest Sausage where we had some lunch.

Lots of beautiful flowers.

As you can see we picked the perfect day to walk around the park, it was virtually deserted.

A lone purple flower it the midst of others.

Finally a heron - there were lots of these sunning themselves around the waterway, but my camera ran out of battery power at this point!

Blue Monday

No blue sky today unfortunately, it is just a hazy white kind of sky, one that doesn't know quite what it is going to do. I have a busy day today and have to go into London soon for a physiotherapy appointment, so only a little Blue Monday post for 'Blue Monday' hosted by Sally at Smiling Sally.

This pretty little vase was bought from a beautiful craft shop on the West Coast of the South Island New Zealand in 1998. I think it is probably a scent vase as the little top pulls out. This is displayed in a wall display cabinet that is set in the wall between the lounge and the hallway.

The little dolphin below I have had since I was a child. I think my Nan & Pop gave it to me, but I can't remember, it may have been given to me by my Mum & Dad when we went to a glass blowing place. All I remember is having it 'forever'. It is also displayed in the same unit.

Drayton Village, Norwich

Whenever I go to Cavy Shows or Concerts I always try to take photos of the churches in the various villages the shows or concerts are held in. Today I went to the Norwich Cavy Club Show which is held in Drayton Village. This is a lovely small and friendly show with a lovely village church. The photo below was taken of Drayton Village Church on 20th April last year. As you can see, a clear view of the church and the trees are still bare.

What a surprise this year - admittedly the photo below is taken further away, but as you can see the trees are in full blossom and you can hardly see the church at all. Very pretty with the contrast of greens, white and pink set against the blue sky with white fluffy clouds.

Stuff & Nonsense

I was all geared up today for the first carboot of the season and had even convinced Mr BK (Balancing Kiwi) that he needed to come. We got there all excited....only to find it was cancelled as the field was waterlogged. Now why they couldn't think 'outside the box' and hold it in the ginominous carpark is anyones guess, but there you have it - no car boot today.

Now there was actually a good reason why my hubby wanted to go. A few days ago was a charity bag collection for the blind children's society. I'd bagged up four bags of clothes and they had been sitting on our front porch. I thought that the van might miss them as we are a good 30 - 40 feet from the road, so I took them out to the front path. I came in, Mr BK looked out the front door, asked me where the bags were, I said out the front, he dashed out there only to find they had gone already, apart from one bag with coathangers in, which they obviously didn't want (worth a try I thought). Anyway, Mr BK was very upset as he had changed his mind about one of the garments in the bag which belonged to his father. So off we dash in the car looking for the collection van. Luck would have it that we did find it, only to discover that neither the driver nor the passenger spoke any English - nor did they understand it! With much gesturing and them making a phone call to their office, we were able to clamber in the bag of the van to retrieve said item. Would you believe NONE OF OUR BAGS WERE IN THE VAN! Some very selfish greedy person for want of better words, must have been waiting for bags to go out and whipped them. I mean I literally walked down our path, closed the front door when hubby asked me about them and dashed out. It couldn't have been much more than a minute. I still find it incredible that someone actually STOLE bags for charity! So poor hubby has no chance of retrieving this jacket, but we thought perhaps someone might try selling the items at a car boot.

Now this post has ended up rather long, but I really feel like sounding off, so my apologies.

I don't know why I find it incredible really as the last few weeks have seen me experience several examples of people and their consummate lies. Do you remember my Sewing Box I won from eBay? I ended up receiving a box that was completely rubbish and nothing like this sewing box/table.

Yes thats right, this one with all the lovely goodies inside.

The one that never arrived.

Well the first the seller told me; Hi, just to keep you informed, I am trying to contact the buyer of the box to see if they have your sewing box. I will be back in contact with you as soon as possible.mandy

Then she sends me a refund so I ask her why and this is the reply I got; Hi I am glad that the refund has arrived with you safely. I did email you yesterday to explain about the refund. If I do get the sewing box back I will let you know and send it out to you. Once again appologies for any inconvenience.mandy

Um, no sorry you didn't send me an email to explain about the refund. I email her again and say I never received an email and could she please try and locate the box.

I am then told,

Hi, sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I am back and forth to
the hospital at the moment as my son has been admitted. I dont think
I am going to be able to get the sewing box to you. My appologies for
all of this.
mandy

Okay, well I accepted this, as disappointed as I was, as nobody can help it if their son has had to go into hospital (even if in the meantime they are still selling and dispatching items!) But my motto is to try and be forgiving and generous and give the benefit of the doubt. (Even if I am becoming cynical)

So anyway I had emailed via ebay the person who I believed had probably received my box. I had no reply so I sent another one and was totally flabbergasted when I got this response!

I received the work box and sent you an e-mail in response to yours asking if I wanted to keep the box. I answered yes and have started to restore it.Mike 27955

Well that is quite simply a lie. I pretty much told him as much! I NEVER told him he could keep the box, and I certainly didn't ask him if he wanted to, quite the contrary!

So either he is lying or the seller is, or quite possibly both! I just can't believe how people can just let the lies roll off their tongue/fingers. I mean do they really not care. I mean the cheek of it. That was MY sewing box!

Okay I am probably slightly obsessed, but this is the second 'incident' on ebay in the last month. The other was when I won a quilt. The seller was charging £12.50 postage which I thought was quite hefty postage, especially as she was quite local to me. But I didn't quibble, I just paid for my item and the postage on the Sunday as soon as I won it. I hadn't heard anything by the Wednesday so emailed to ask when to expect the item. This is the reply I got (as taken from email)

hellothank u for the enquiry. u should get soon as you purchased on sunday and i have sent on monday.i could not have posted fatser. regards

I thought it strange that I hadn't received it, then got another email on the Thursday:

hellojust found your quilt. sorry i had washed it and left it in the linen room to dry. i have got rid of green stain so it is all dru and packed up to go. i am so sorry i had sent so many off on monday had forgotten about the washing of youras. i cannot send off today as I have no money oin pay pal and will need to wait till i get paid to send. i will try the post office this afternnon but it will go out today or tomorrow and shgould have tomorrow regards
- busyboys101

Does anyone else think this is a strange reply - i cannot send off today as I have no money oin pay pal and will need to wait till i get paid ?

I pointed out that I had paid postage on the Sunday, and that first she told me she had posted it on Monday, and then that she hadn't and couldn't afford to post it. I pointed out that I had paid within three minutes of the auction ending and that I was disappointed, but that I still looked forward to receiving the quilt. Next thing I know I get an email from her saying she was refunding me and also a message from Ebay saying we both disagreed over the terms of the transaction. Forgive me for being a bit vague - but did we?

ok I am so sorry i will refund your pay pal money as I dont think I have been unreasonable, I dont thin you can expect delivery a day after you have bid. But maybe other sellers do so I wish you good luck else where and hope there is not hard feelings. sincer apologises and regards Wendy
- busyboys101

Had I said she was unreasonable? No, I simply stated that I was disappointed. I emailed her again to say I hadn't said anything of the sort, but no luck. How strange! What is wrong with people and why do they lie?

There was a third incident. Not on eBay but through the Gumtree ads. I responded to an advert selling a bass clarinet. Now I have wanted a bass clarinet for a long time and this model was just the one I was wanting within my price range. I emailed the people who duely sent me photos. They said they would send postage free when they knew where I lived. I'm too far away to have been able to collect it. They wanted me to pay by bank transfer which I said fine, but could they give me a few more details such as name, address and telephone number to reassure me and my husband that it wasn't a scam and yes you guessed it - I've heard nothing since. Oh I was given a telephone number that does seem to exist, but conveniently can't be connected! So probably a lucky escape. But I guess the motto is: If it is too good to be true, it probably is.

Well enough of the moaning myrtles!

Yesterday I made a carrot cake. I have been making this since my teenager was a baby. I used to make it for our La Leche League meetings.

Strangely there is none left today! Ooops.

This is my corner where I have typed today's moans.

I bought a picture for our bathroom yesterday from the charity shop for £2.99.

It brightens it up abit - Don't look too closely, you'll spy the cobwebs I missed until I uploaded the photo!

After a busy day today, preparing my piggies for the show tomorrow we had a lovely dinner, salmon, baby potatoes and salad.

Tomorrow I am off up to Norwich for a Cavy show which I am looking forward to. I hope the weather stays good as it has been a lovely day today.