This month we have driven down to Butleigh for the day as it's only 2 hours away instead of around 8 and a half hours away! Got down for morning coffee and stayed for dinner then home by 9pm.  The next day was my birthday and Nick got home around 8.30pm but the children and I had already eaten so we had a nice birthday dinner on Saturday instead.  Also on Saturday we looked at a few houses and found the house that we wanted to buy at last...just across the road from the house we are currently renting would you believe.

We had a nice pub lunch on Sunday and then it was back to the train station for Nick for his return journey back to Leuchars. 

On the Tuesday my mum & dad arrived for a few days and we braved the weather on Wednesday for a visit to Eastnor Castle.

 After getting absolutely drenched (and lost) within the maze we raced off to the tea room for a warming bowl of soup before braving the rain again for a walk round the grounds...cutting it short when it all became too miserable and we were completely and utterly soaked through to our undies!  Thursday we just did a circuitous walk round the banks of the River Severn and then it was Friday and mum & dad were on their way home again.  Tom, Lily and I went to the cinema to watch Brave then we just pottered about all weekend.

  It was really hot at the weekend and my fingers were a bit swollen so I had taken my engagement and wedding ring off and had just popped them on my pinkie finger to take upstairs and put away for a while, I got distracted by the laundry and went to hang it up outside...then ting!  there goes my engagement ring down the drain hole.  Not a problem I thought, I'll get the vacuum cleaner and vacuum it out, after much cursing, poking about and vacuuming I had a pile of dirt but no ring.  I phoned H2O drainage services on Monday and explained my problem

 so at 7.30 on Tuesday morning 2 cheery chappies appeared and after an hour or so guddling around in the drain and a couple cups of coffee

I got my ring back.  So I now know a great drainage company and got a recommendation for a good carpenter which we will need as we put an offer in on the house across the road and it has been accepted!



Well, we managed to fit all the contents of our house, garage and garden into the large removal van after a lot of jiggery pokery by the removal team!  And we were off to pastures new (again).  We spent Tuesday overnight at Mum & Dad's and then drove to Worcester on Wednesday to pick up the keys for our rental and stay in a B&B before the moving in day dawned on Thursday 18th.

 We got everything unpacked off the van and into the house by about 6pm and then the sorting out started.

 Not sure I am going to want to leave here, the house is really nice and the garden is HUGE!  We haven't unpacked everything and there are 2 rooms filled with boxes which will remain unopened until we move into our yet to be bought permanent home.

So we have spent the last couple of weeks exploring Worcester on our bikes and by foot.  Nick and Tom escaped for a couple of days with Les & Ben and climbed Snowdon, meanwhile Lily and I stayed home and Lesley joined us for a potter round Worcester and a few glasses of wine in the garden.  Much more relaxing and warmer!

 Nick and Tom also managed to watch a game of cricket, Worcester v South Africa, which they both thoroughly enjoyed.

 Then just before Nick left to go back up to work at Leuchars we drove to Puzzlewood for an afternoon exploring.

Finally today we got reconnected to the internet, an event we have all been looking forward to:)

Last night was our last night in our home in St Andrews, all the bedrooms were cleared out save for 3 mattresses so we could sleep in comfort and a good part of the downstairs has already been done.

 This was the lounge an hour or so ago and now it is completely empty and Lily has vacuumed the carpet for me.

And this is my Tom in the Box last week before we started packing in earnest.

So most of our farewells have been said and I am sitting on the floor typing this while watching the packers pack the rest of our belongings, should be gone around lunch time I reckon.

We've had another busy couple of weeks, Alistair & Alex came up for a long weekend of golf and luckily the weather stayed kind for them, Nick managed 5 rounds of golf with them over 3 days and Al & Alex managed 7 over 4 days. 

On Thursday Nick & I got up at around 5am to get a flight down to London so we could have lunch with the Queen, Prince Philip, Andrew & Edward along with Sophie as well as the Duke of Kent who was seated at our table!  We had a super day.  Nick stayed on in London as he was going to Waddington on Friday so I made my way back to Heathrow on my own.  Nearly missed my flight only to discover it was going to be delayed by 3 hours anyway so there had been no need to rush after all!  My 7pm flight finally left around 10.45pm so I was exhausted by the time I arrived home and got into bed at 1.30am. 

Then on Friday we drove through to Glasgow for a quick spot of Build a Bear shopping for Lily and book shopping for Tom, then it was back to Lenzie for the afternoon and evening before setting off to Butleigh on Saturday so we could finally meet Alfred.  What a cutie he is. 

 Tom, Lily and I all  loved cuddling with him and playing with Gladys who is now nearly 2 and cute as cute can be. 

All too soon it was Tuesday and we were on our way back North again, just to Worcester though.   We checked into our hotel then went round to the estate agents and paid a deposit on the house we are going to rent before returning to the hotel for dinner and a glass of wine/coke.  Yesterday Tom had a day at his new school so he could meet some of the boys who will be in his class next year and Lily & I went to view yet another house in Malvern.  Ho hum.  After some lunch we collected Tom and then it was back in the car and on our way back up to Lenzie for some dinner and a bed for the night.  We all slept very soundly and then drove back home this morning.  Now I am wondering what to do - I have a room full of boxes that I can start packing or I could just have a nice cup of tea and watch a dvd with Lily instead!   Hmm, choices, we have less than 2 weeks left here so I know what I should be doing.

A few things I forgot to mention in the last post, Tom & Lily were both involved in the school play this year, Tom was helping with the sound - and found it quite challenging!

 And Lily was in the choir which she thoroughly enjoyed.

 Today I drove them and a couple of other children over to Beveridge Park in Kirkcaldy for some Cross Country competition.  Tom did very well and was first out of the runners from Canongate and Lily was third girl from Canongate in her race, not sure where they were placed in the grand scheme of things but it wasn't first and third overall - let's be clear about that!

Lily and Lily Treung enjoying a picnic after their race - the umbrella is being used as a parasol today - it was glorious for a change!

So last Friday I drove through to mum & dad's to stay overnight prior to my drive back to Worcester to look at a couple of rentals.  Got up early on Saturday and Dad came with me, we drove through rain the whole way down, stopping at Tebay en route for a quick coffee.  We managed a quick walk in light rain once we reached Worcester as we needed to stretch our legs and be out of the car for a bit before looking at the 2 houses and setting off home again, we stopped at Tebay again for a nice cup of tea and a delicious slice of cake this time.   I stayed over again at mum & dad's  and then was up early on Sunday and home in time for morning coffee. Exhausted but at least decided on a place to rent until we can find something to buy.

I really ought to know by now not to leave it so long in between posts, looking at photos we have taken I realise we have had a holiday since my last post which I had completely forgotten about!  Probably because it was a very short break spent looking at around 18 houses in the Worcester/Malvern area as we are trying to sell up here and relocate there.

 Needless to say we didn't find our dream house on that occassion. 

Just over a week ago our very good friends, the Frantzs' (not sure if the apostrophe is in the right place, sorry.) arrived for a week of rest and golf in between their grand tour of London, Edinburgh and France.  As soon as they arrived the kids just took off like we just saw them last weekend as opposed to 2 years ago, it was lovely to catch up with them as we have missed them a lot.  Tim managed a round on the famous Old Course as well as the Castle, New and Jubilee or perhaps it was the Strathtyrum, anyway he got in a lot of golf and even Ethan managed a few holes.  Tom was a little under the weather - side effects from the previous week when he

 had been away on his P7 school trip to Nethy Bridge all week.  First time away from home on his own and we both survived, Tom was kept busy doing archery, orienteering and other outdoor pursuits as well as staying up late every night.  Then when he got home we had a dinner party for some of our friends and so poor Tom was kept awake with our drunken shenanigans and loud music until the small hours.  Therefore it was no surprise when he came over all poorly and slept for hours and hours and hours.

Last weekend Nick and I travelled back down south to look at another 11 houses whilst my parents came through to St Andrews to look after the children.  Unfortunately we still haven't found the house we want to buy but on the upside we received an offer on our house which we have accepted.  We now need to be out of our house by 19 July and so I think I am travelling back down to Worcester this weekend on my own to look at a couple of rentals.  Not looking forward to that drive again so soon!

We didn't actually do much on Tom's 12 birthday but he had a nice day anyway and the rest of the holiday was pretty much spent relaxing at home doing very little.

 Two weeks later it was Lily's birthday and she decided to have a few friends round to celebrate.

And all of a sudden I have a 12 & a 10 year old, yikes. Apart from that, nothing much has been going on at Chez Stringer.

Friday 30th came around and the children finished school and then we were off on our skiing holiday.  We drove through to Lenzie and had dinner at mum & dad's house then tried to have a bit of a sleep before getting up at midnight and driving down to Manchester to catch our early morning flight.  To say I was exhausted by Saturday night was an understatement, bloody hell was I glad to collapse into my hotel bed at 8pm on Saturday night and fall asleep. 

Sunday morning dawned and it was a beautiful day and so it was down for breakfast and then off to ski...

 Obergurgl is a lovely resort and the hotel we stayed in, Hotel Austria Bellevue, was fabulous - the food was spectacular (all 5 courses, every night!) and there was also a swimming pool to relax by after a day (or half day depending on who you are) on the slopes.

Tom & Lily met up with a couple of children their own age so had great fun in the evening with them while us adults relaxed and read books or played cards.  Thankfully we all made it back home safely with no broken or injured bits.   Nick is back to work today and Tom, Lily and myself are just chilling at home for Tom's last day of being 11.

The weather this week has been fantastic, it's been in the 20's C, which is blooming hot for Scotland in March. 
I took the children to see a couple of films at the movies at the weekend, We bought a Zoo and The Hunger Games.  Both were quite good, just a shame to be sat indoors when it was so nice outside. 
I've managed to continue to get out running 3 times a week which is good and showing with my times as they keep improving. 
Tom is at a birthday party this afternoon and Lily is playing in the garden.  I think Nick might be on a train home at the moment or just about to board one on his way home from Cranwell where he has been the last couple of days.

Trying to remember what we have been up to over the last couple of weeks, well, Nick and I went round to Jen & Rod's for a curry a couple of weeks ago on a Thursday so my Friday run up Balmullo Hill was quite hard work but I felt great afterwards.  Then I think we had a fairly quiet weekend.  This last weekend, Nick and I went out for dinner to The Russel Hotel on Saturday night and I was working at the Byre Theatre during the day on both Saturday and Sunday. 
It was Nick's birthday on Tuesday this week, so Marks & Spencers made dinner for us and I just reheated it and then we ate cake. 
The weather has been fantastic here the last week or so, dry and sunny with not too much wind.  I have managed to get the back and front grass cut. Now I need to clean the bedroom windows again - why do they get so flippin' dirty?  I hate cleaning windows :( I don't actually hate doing it, I just know I make such a lousy job of it, I may get them clean but they are by no means anywhere near being streak free! 

We have had a lovely weekend.  Yesterday we had lunch out at Zizzi's with Angela, Amber and Daisy and then came back here for tea and cake and meringues and krispie cake (yes, Lily and I had been busy in the kitchen).  Any excuse will do, but it was Ang's birthday.



Afternoon tea party in honour of Angela's birthday



 

Then today we had Sunday lunch before Tom, Lily and I headed off to Tentsmuir for the afernoon, leaving Nick in peace for an afternoon of sports heaven on the telly (Fulham v Wolves, Ireland V France, Spurs v Man U) .  We bumped into Jason with Harrison and Libby and so after our walk we went back there for a cuppa and chat/play.  We had a lovely day - not so dear Nick whose beloved Wolves lost 5-0 at Fulham.  The moral of the day - don't stay home watching sport - enjoy the outdoors with your family and friends;)  Priceless. 

Well it's March already, both Tom & Lily got accepted to Kings School, Worcester and our house is now on the market...so now we wait and ready ourselves for a (final) move.

We have had some lovely weather over the last month and spent a large part of the half term holiday at the local beaches.



West Sands Beach - February Half Term

  Still all wrapped up against the cold but at least it's been sunny and not rainy.

Kingsbarns Beach - Half Term

Kingsbarns Beach - Splash

Apart from that, there's been not a lot going on here, Nick is busy with work, as always. I have been getting out running a bit more and have been keeping the house more tidy than usual just in case we get a viewing for the house.  And that's it really. 

I hate it when I get behind with my blog and I have to try and remember what we have all been up to. 

Tom, Lily and I went down to Worcester a couple of weeks ago on a Thursday so Lily could have a day at school on Friday while Tom & I looked at houses and then Tom went to school and sat his entrance exams on Saturday while Lily and I looked at some more houses.  We saw a couple of really nice ones but the locations were off putting.  We left Worcester on Saturday afternoon and drove up to Lenzie for dinner and bed before driving home on Sunday morning.  Then last weekend Lily and I drove down to Worcester again, this time on the Friday so Lily could sit her entrance exam on the Saturday and I looked at a couple of houses.  One of the houses was in Ledbury and was really nice but it would mean a 25 minute train ride every day for the children so we need to think about that idea some more.  When we left Worcester it had started to snow and it snowed most of the way up the road.  By the time we reached Cumbria the M6 was down to one lane and we were crawling over the lakes at 30mph so we eventually arrived at our final destination of the farm around 8pm and we were welcomed by all the family (Euan, Emily, Oscar, Jo & Rachel were all home for Ruth's birthday) and a glass of champagne for me!  Fab.  After dinner and packing Lily off to bed, Ruth, Jo, Rach and I sat up until 2 am catching up and putting the world to rights.  So we had a slow start on Sunday and after some lunch it was back in the car for Lily and myself and we set off home with a quick detour to Costco on the way. 

Mum & Dad came up last night for dinner and then today it was Mum's 70th birthday so Lily and I baked a cake and we had a very mini celebration before they went back home to enjoy the rest of their day.  Nick and I went out into the garden and did a spot of tidying up before the rugby came on the telly.

Happy 70th Birthday

And tomorrow we have Jason and his children round for a bit of Sunday lunch to look forward to before another busy week begins.

Since Nick went back to work on the 4th and we had nothing planned until the 10th when school restarted, Tom, Lily & I decided to visit Somerset for a couple of days so they could visit with their grandparents and I could nose around the almost completed renovations and extensions to their house.  So after a trip to the dentist for our 6 monthly checks we got strapped into the car for an 8 hour drive and arrived around 730pm in time for some delicious cottage pie for dinner.  The house is fabulous and it was lovely to catch up with the Les's, Martha, Gary and all the cousins and do a little bit of shopping at Clarks Village. 
Tom helped his Gramp out a bit with some plastering and painting and then asked permission for a science experiment involving party poppers and fire...so we got him kitted out with safety goggles, party poppers and a large box of matches under the supervision of Uncle Gar! 
The experiment was a partial success depending on your viewpoint.
There was a very small explosion - partial success, he had tried to blow up 3 or 4 within the confines of a bonfire - but most of the wood was too damp and even with copious amounts of paper and matches the poppers didn't go off with a very loud bang.
Tom didn't blow himself up - huge success.
No massive explosions - failure :(  He had lots of fun trying though and would have stayed out poking around the fire all day and night if he could have got away with it.  I think we have the makings of a pyromaniac on our hands here, hopefully we can channel him towards some clever sciencey engineering explosive type job instead.
We decided to split our journey home on Saturday up slightly so stopped off at Pershore for a look around the town and the obligatory cup of coffee and slice of cake, yum, before continuing up North as far as my mum & dad's in time for dinner again:)  We stayed overnight at Lenzie and then had a short drive home on Sunday morning.
This week I have been out at book club and then again last night for dinner at the Grill House with a few friends which was lovely.  I also went out for a run with Jen yesterday, 1st run in 2 months and we managed 36minutes non stop which we were both pretty pleased with.  I hope to get back out again tomorrow before meeting Jen again on Wednesday.
Nick and Tom have gone off hillwalking today, can't remember where, perhaps Ben Lawers.  Hope the weather is kind to them.

Happy New Year to you all, it has been incredibly windy again today so we lit the fire early and stayed in all day.  Greg came round yesterday afternoon in time for our delayed New Years Day lunch (Nick had been on call so wouldn't have been able to  enjoy a nice glass of wine with his lunch on the 1st) so we had a lovely plateful of beef and yorkies and roasties, along with some veg to make it somewhat healthy and loads of gravy.  After lunch the boys disappeared to Lego for hours before appearing for a sandwich and then disappearing again - Greg stayed overnight and then was here until around half 4 today so we haven't seen much of Tom at all, Lily got a call from Melissa after lunch so she disappeared off for the afternoon as wel,l so Nick and I were able to relax with a book (Nick) /jigsaw (Sarah) all afternoon. 
Earlier on in the week between Christmas and now we drove through to Edinburgh so Lily and I could do a bit of shopping and the boys went to the indoor climbing arena by Newbridge.  We all enjoyed ourselves and apart from that we have done nothing at all except eat, drink and be merry!