WORK IN PROGRESS

Bought a battery operated milk whisk for  frothier coffee from Asda for a massive £2 batteries not included got to say its the best buy ever for all coffee lovers out there buy one heat your milk up in microwave in the cup you have your coffee in , add milk and sugar if required and your coffee and whisk a good 15 seconds later top up with boiled water best drink ever.

I also bought a Stanley Fatmax tool bag sick of going to the shed outside for my tools  I can now keep basic tools altogether which makes life a lot easier for me doing jobs around the van , I also bought more paint to finish the walls off .

Made the first payment on a sewing machine for Helen reduced from £350 to only £199 paying it over three months .

Bought a rug for the living room 1.7m wide and twice the length also bought a wired frame bird cage light holder for the main living room light from six bulbs to one we also bought a yucca plant and a fern plant as well as some drinking glasses a door mat seat cushion for the dining room chairs , candles tea lights and other bits and pieces from Ikea totalling £300 .

The room is nearly completed for now have to wait for furniture and laminate flooring some white Roman blinds to put up at each window and have ordered three wall lights black wired cage lights.

DECO

Been very busy decorating done the living room ceiling caulked all the cornice and gave the ceiling two coats of matt white  we have done all the walls in chalky white but the biggest thing we ripped out the tv corner unit and the glass door shelve unit it made damage to the smallest wall will have to re panel it the main wall was ok just a few screw holes to fill need to go to the tip to get rid of all the fittings and m.d.f panels.

I have also taken all the wall light fittings off from the wall and we will buy new more than likely from Ikea , we have taken all the blinds off all the windows a neighbour is buying them for £150 which will buy a new cover for the three seat settee .

Changed the light fitting in the bedroom over our bed I have wired a new pendant light fitting and we now have a feather shade looks like a flock of seagulls a bit of a dust trap but looks good .

Need to buy a small tool box to keep essential tools in as I am forever having to go to the stool shed outside even time i need something I need to be able to have a selection of tools on hand. , need to buy some proper wire strippers and cutters and a small wrecking bar and a tenon saw .

I also might buy a tv cabinet out of this months wages or at least a set of three tables for £150.

We are thinking of moving the bedroom wall forward by three or four foot to give us more room this will also let us change the position of the bed but will mean moving radiators thermostats and light switches .

Anyway payday this coming  Thursday which is always a blessing , also this week I should get to see my daughter this Saturday I  think we are having a Chinese  meal I will have curried duck and noodles and and  chips with prawn crackers and onion rings with an ice cold bottle of cider yes please .

D.O.A

Had the police at work yesterday with an ambulance with a d.o.a she was a Jane Doe who had been hit by a 40 ton truck , We had to let them in to the morgue area and they had to strip the body and evidence bag it , not sure if the interviewed the driver of the lorry , he could have hit her and not even known , she did not look too bad to say she was hit by such force puts things in to perspective .

Guessing  she got up that morning with not a care in the world  and by tea time she was dead makes you wonder whats it all about .

One of the areas I look after at the Hospital sell books to raise money they had Catcher Of The Rye I bought it for 50p will start reading it , it is one book I always had in the back of my mind .

Buying some paint tomorrow we going to start painting on Sunday .

REVAMPING

Finishing at ten o clock at night my normal finish time but still starting at four in the afternoon .Next week I will be starting at half three the week after three.
I have not really done that much , it seems more relaxed everyone seems to be doing less than before it is amazing what changes in nearly the seven months I have been away.
The local Tesco express is as shite as ever it gets worse nothing better than what has always been there .
Looking forward to payday seems better when you have worked for it rather than getting it for sitting at home .
Ordered Helen a sewing machine that will come at the end of the month hopefully she will be making cushion covers quilts and the like and hopefully it is money well spent .

We are also looking at getting a bookcase as we sold the dresser as well as a sideboard , dining table and tv cabinet which will cost around £1250 .We want to update and modernize the van we also need cash to laminate the floor in the living room kitchen dining  room and throughout , we are also doing some painting starting with the fire place and surround.Eventually get new kitchen doors and also paint the main doors leading to and from the other rooms .We have the time we just need the funds .

Still not driven over to the coast so that is on the agenda either Robin Hoods Bay or Whitby or both also it's been ages since I have been to York and I need to visit my son so that is also on my list of things to do .

TABLE PAINTING

My son Guy gets his license back at midnight tonight he will be able to drive his car again legally.
He received a nine month driving ban which has caused him no end of problems so hopefully he has learned a valuable lesson .
Work is going ok it is eleven weeks today since I had my hip replaced and I am fine , I have more or less  nearly full movement no pain what so ever  and no discomfort it's been a great success .

My sister wants to invest in  Mac I advised her to go for a Mac book rather than a Mac air I reckon she will get better value and it will suit her needs more but she needs to understand the significant loss of the  traditional usb and usb-c , I also advised her to get a wireless hard drive bigger the better.

FRIDAY
It is Good Friday and I will be working and I will be working Bank Holiday Monday too , I like the Hospital where I work it is less staffed easy parking and just seems more relaxed generally plus we get  time and a half and a day off i lieu so its win , win ,win , specially since I finish at nine .

SATURDAY
Helen has been given a table she bought some paint from Laura Ashley and is painting it a hedgerow green we also bought a 2 x4 foot piece of mdf to make a bigger top . She is getting her a sewing machine in a few weeks and needs a sewing table to work on , she is using the spare bedroom .
 She also painted the legs of the table in the dining room the same hedgerow green.

OK

MONDAY
Well, today is the day it had to happen after six months off I return to work .On the plus side it looks like it is going to be a hot sunny day , but saying that I did not want to return on a rainy cloudy grey day .
My swipe cards and access cards no longer work I will have to order two new cards and my computer login was invalid I had to get the I.T Department to reset a temporary password I need to reset my Email then I should be in business , the wages are now done electronically rather than by wage cards and everyone is at each others throats and it is one big mess , all in six months that I have been away.
Things can only get better but will they get worse before they improve .
But starting a four and finishing at nine brilliant , catching up with old friends also brilliant so all in all first day back over in a flash and went relatively ok.

WORK TOMORROW

Last day off work ! it had to eventually happen , that one day I would return to work six months off is long enough. I still of course have the weekend off I don't work weekends hence why I consider Friday my last day off work.
Like they say it is not the job it's the people that  you work with  what makes it worth doing in some cases .
I quite like the idea of starting at four in the afternoon its a great time to begin work and finishing at nine an hour early means I will be home for nine thirty .

Found out today that  I can indeed borrow up to 50k it has been agreed in principal so basically we have to start looking for property and even bigger task is we have to find a buyer for our van before we can move ahead which hopefully will not be too difficult .

SATURDAY
Went over to Wentworth Gardens this time with both my sisters Anne and Irene it was a sunny afternoon and walking round the walled gardens was very relaxing and peaceful  , I could have easily wandered around aimlessly all day if we had brought a picnic hamper and book to read , but we had a schedule to maintain .

SUNDAY
Another beautiful day Helen worked last night so we had extra cash we went to the garden centre and spent £45 on flowers for the hanging baskets and tubs and the rest on food bought a 14' custom made pizza half and half , on my half spicy beef and meatballs with extra  chilli cheese and jalapeños  on Helen's chicken and bacon and onions least it won't take long to cook.

FARMED OUT

Went to two separate farm shops today mainly for something to do the food from these outlets are usually of a higher standard than buying from your local supermarket and are more like homemade cooked or baked and usually a lot fresher and have less insecticide and pesticides  used in they're growing process both of these shops we have been to before but not in the last twelve months the first one we visited was Bolster Moor Farm Shop all we bought from here were a chocolate eclair for Helen and a slice of carrot cake for me the biggest piece of carrot cake that I  have ever had for a 90p I was struggling to finish it but of course I did .Never had breakfast here but I reckon it will be really good .

The second one was a few miles further away at Thornton Denholme  Road it is a lot bigger and have a gardening flower section I bet they do a great breakfast will have to do a visit one morning  , we bought a large chicken and ham leek pie for tea as well as some fresh strawberries and pouring cream Yorkshire puddings and a jar of garlic and chili seasoning mainly  for my chicken legs  that I buy from another farm shop nearer to home either Blacker Hall farm which do really good breakfast or Thorcliffe Farm which do a really great breakfast  .

I have applied for a mortgage I am not sure how it will pan out and I am not even sure if I want one should it be authorised there is a lot of ifs and buts if I sell the van we should have at least £65k or £70k in the bank and we are hoping to get a house for around £100k or less if possible I have been told I can borrow up to 50k which is way too much hopefully £30k will be amble .

SUNNY AND PLAIN

It will be ten weeks this coming Thursday since  my hip replacement surgery and I am doing fine .
This is my last week off work I return next Monday at four in the afternoon and will work until ten at night which will be my shift pattern for the first week back .

I know this week is going to fly by and I will be sitting here in a weeks time pondering my first day back at work in over six months .

This afternoon was sunny I decided to clean the gutters out on the van  the 38ft either side and take a good forty minutes to clean out I was worried about my hip , but after doing one side I felt good enough to do the other side as well although I did miss the bottom run and landed on my artificial hip it was ok .

TUESDAY
Woke showered did sod all worth mentioning here life some days are just plain boring , streaky bacon and egg muffing sandwiches for breakfast and coffee was the highlight of my day.

TIME FLIES

Well we are now a  quarter of the way in to 2017 and so far I have not had one day at work in all my years of working this is a record that I doubt I will ever break  . Next week will be my last week on annual leave I really do hope that its sunny and hot .

Keep meaning to drive down and find a parking space so I can get on to the canal at Horbury around the bridge area would be best then walk along the tow path at the side of the canal I have done many hours walking on the various canals usually close to where I have lived and I  find being near water very  tranquil and peaceful not sure why  and I like seeing the different set of  locks and of course the barges  and narrow boats themselves  and hopefully depending on which canal an abundance of wildlife and pond life  , specially the electric blue dragonflies . Living in the U.K  you are never that far away rom a canal , lake , reservoir or the sea .

Did make it out went for a drive around the country side was going to drive over to the Strines Inn but turned back , went to Marsden's branch of  Morrison's bought some baguettes ham and garlic cheese and a vanilla cheese cake it don't look much like a Sunday dinner but will warm the bread up in the oven and do some fries and have a nice hot baguette sandwich .

We called in to the Foxglove at Kirkburton it was built in 1864 and is quite quaint looking we like the beer garden it is a Vintage Inn and the menu is not that bad and reasonably priced we just had drinks Helen half a lager and lime I a pint of cider , a perfect end to a sunny Sunday afternoon.