Happy New Year

Gosh, its a week since Christmas Eve and we aint stopped!!

Christmas day started with a brisk walk in the country side and ended with me slipping in the mud, hence a sore back for the duration of the holidays, would not mind but I had only just warned Paul about it seconds before hand.... Next came the cooking and boy was it a feast of all feasts, my sister and family arrived for 3pm, it was like a madhouse, but we enjoyed every min of it, then Paul's Dad and brother arrived and it all started again with the pressies and wrapping papaer!!

Boxing day was a blur of pain killers and me driving to Paul's family meal as usual, after the fab day before this was rather a let down!!

Since then we have been shopping, swimming, walking, drinking and eating, the diet starts again on New Years Day! Yikes!

Yesterday, we went over the big hil back to my roots of Lancashire, it was another top day and we never stopped laughing, Thanks Sis, your the best.x.

Today we have bought our Eddie (cockatiel) a new house mate call Champange, and they are both gazing at each other, not a chirp or whistle can be heard....

Well tonight is New Year Eve, the pork is roasing in the oven as I type and the stuffing will be done when I can get my backside off this sofa, Paul's Dad and brother are coming over to let in the New Year while we watch Jools Holland (as usual) with loads of celebs singing into the nite.....

So here goes, whatever you are doing or no matter were you are we wish everyone a Happy New Year.....

Debbie.x.x.

Merry Christmas!

Mr Snowman
Originally uploaded by Snowbabies

It's Christmas Eve and we're almost there, last shopping run out of the way this morning, just one more short trip out and then we can sit back and chill while we wait to see if the big guy in red calls here.

I've never known it to be so hard keeping up with everything, despite getting started with the preparations in early November. Next year, I think we'll get everything sorted in August so we can at least have a day off from the seasonal frenzy in December.

I doubt we'll get time to post during the mayhem of Christmas day so may we take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year!

Paul & Debbie

Work's Out For Christmas!

Christmas Village
Originally uploaded by Snowbabies

Work is finished for this year!

We're home now chilling out on the sofa looking forward to a little less rushing about like nutters and a few glasses of Christmas spirit :-)

Paul.

Glass Wedding Anniversary

Snowbabies Polar Bear
Originally uploaded by Snowbabies

Last night we got back to a very chilly home, the central heating was on strike! We switched it off, switched in on, pressed all the buttons, called the help line but the only thing we found was that the warranty ran out last month!

The hot water was working so it appeared to be the sensor for the thermostat, I checked the manual and tried resetting. The manual said it could take up to half an hour but after 20 minutes we started panicking and decided to sign up for some cover.

Just as we confirmed the order for the cover over the phone, the heating sprang to life which is the best Wedding Anniversary present we could have had, removing the worry of a hefty call out charge this close to Christmas and sitting in the cold for another night.

Today is our third Wedding Anniversary, it's cold outside, but it's lovely and warm in here :-)

Paul.

Christmas Bash Number Two

Peroni Beer
Originally uploaded by Snowbabies

We both went to my works Christmas bash on Friday night, didn't have too much to drink, Debbie had 4 whisky and cokes and I had two little Tiger beers and 3 of these new Peroni things.

Remembered why I'd stopped going on our works seasonal outing, it costs a bloody fortune! Debbie's Christmas parties have always been free.

We left the restaurant sober, however, when I got out of the taxi, I discovered I'd become legless during the journey home!

We had 6 hours solid shopping from the crack of dawn on Saturday before travelling south to see my Auntie.

On Sunday morning, we actually managed a sit down for a couple of hours and watched some of the TV that we've been recording over the last couple of weeks.

Then we were off again, to Dad's for dinner for the first time in years, probably the first time we've had Sunday dinner that Debbie hadn't cooked herself.

Got back home, crashed on the sofa and enjoyed a few drinks while we returned to catching up on the telly.

Finally it's the last week at work, roll on Friday!

Paul.

Lonely Cloud

Lonely Cloud
Originally uploaded by Snowbabies

Spotted this very small cloud floating off into the sunset yesterday and managed to snap it as it passed on by.

Debbie went on her inaugural works Christmas bash last night, I dropped off at an Indian restaurant and picked her up a few hours later at a pub down the road chuckling and giggling away.

The roads were treacherous, everywhere was white with frost and by this morning the temperature had dropped to -3.8c!

Paul.

Frosty This Morning

Frosty This Morning
Originally uploaded by Snowbabies

Real car scraping time today, temperature in our garden is only -2.2c and everything is white.

The fields looked beautiful on the way to work, hope we get chance one weekend to get some nice wintery scenes.

The camera on the 6120 isn't up to much in poor light, we would have to borrow the flood lights from Barnsley football club to get a decent picture at this time in a morning.

Paul.

Wish This Cold Would Flu Away!

Fire Place
Originally uploaded by Snowbabies

This cold is getting a little tiresome now, we've both had it for weeks and it's showing no sign of easing. It's no joke, there must be whole rain forests at risk with the number of tissues we're going through!

At least it's colder today, 0.5c at the moment. Maybe the pesky virus will freeze to death!

Paul.

More Christmas Decorating

Garden Christmas Tree
Originally uploaded by Snowbabies

Had another busy day yesterday going here there and every where. Spent the afternoon putting up the tree in the garden and the new snowing effect lights on the roof. Just a few more lights to get and them we're done!

Paul.

Shopping at Lakeside

Santa's Grotto
Originally uploaded by Snowbabies

Debbie couldn't sleep last night and decorated the tree in the early hours. It looks great, I'll have to snap a picture later.

We went out shopping this morning at Lakeside shopping village and when we got there we noticed a sale starting today at Next. An hour later we emerged, laden with two large bags full of bargains.

We called at a garden centre on the way home and got a white spruce to plant in the garden and a cut Christmas tree which we'll be putting up in the garden tomorrow.

Had enough time spare to put up some lights in the windows, still loads more to do though!

Paul.

Thank Flippin Crunchie It's Friday

Debbie had a little less pain in her toe today but by the time we got to the supermarket tonight, the pain was kicking in again. It was a relief to get home and pour a drink.

Between us we've tried antiseptic cream, lemsips and various tablets, yet yer still can't beat a we dram of finest Bells scotch whisky to numb the pain :-)

Paul.

Effing Toe

Debbie has been in agony all day after cracking her toe on the side off the pool yesterday. After picking me up tonight, the air turned blue as we sped down the very bumpy road. Ooo effing bump, argh effing bump!

When Debbie had to use the clutch I had to close my ears as those words were not very lady like at all!

Swimming was out of the question and the poor Christmas tree is still stood naked in the corner.

Paul.

Feeling Rough

We managed our Wednesday swim last night but Debbie kicked her toe as some numpty got in her way and I was suffering from man flu so we didn't get any further with the Christmas decorations.

Instead we watched on as Lucy tried in vain to get closer to a Plec in the fish tank which was strange as she's never bothered with the fish before. It was hilarious watching her bounce from once side of the sofa arm to the other, transfixed by the big brown fish scurrying about.

In other news, I actually managed to find a way of posting pictures from the mobile (see last post), using Shozu to get them to Flickr and then using their button to post to the blog. I just need to get the layout right so that the picture is above the text rather than floating on the right.

Paul.

Decorations Are Out

Bare Christmas Tree
Originally uploaded by Snowbabies

We got the decorations down from the loft last night, only had time to unruffle a couple of branches on the tree though.

Paul.

The Stairs Are Carpeted

Finished carpeting the stairs last night, it would have been a whole lot easier if the staples didn't stick in the gun and we didn't have to open it up and nudge them down with a pair of scissors for every shot.

They look great though and now all the DIY is done for this year! Now we can start with the Christmas decorations!

Paul.

Busy Times

No posts for a while, we've been busy over the last couple of weeks, new stairs, new mobiles, first snow of the season, new members at the local swimming pool and man-flu . . . again!

Just about got to grips with the new phone so there's no excuse for not posting a little bit more often, if only I could find a way posting pictures from my phone. Millions of kids upload mobile pictures every day, maybe I'm getting too old for this lark.

Paul.

Winter On The Way

There was snow mentioned in the weather forecast this morning for
Sunday over the hills. I think we might be going walkies!

Paul.

Surfing On Telly

Sunday's planned walk was cancelled due to ill health, something to do
with the empty whisky bottle in the kitchen. Instead, some more house
rearranging, we got rid of the computer desk and plugged the PC into
the TV, Snowbabies on 32" wide screen!

Paul.

Out For A Morning Walk

We've been out for a walk this morning, a two hour marathon along the
Timberland Trail. The autumn colours were lovley and the blustery wind
kept us cool as we trudged along. We were going to bath Lucy when we
got back but she's just collapsed in her bed!

Paul.

Walking Round Langsett Reservoir

The weather is barmy at the moment, very warm for October and we've been walking round Langsett Reservoir in t-shirts!

There was a very slight drizzle all the was round but that was quite welcome and kept us cool when the going got quite hard.

Lucy's little legs were black when we got back to the car and our feet weren't much better after sinking into the boggy mud. We're chilling out now for the afternoon, just trying to stay awake after all that walking.

Paul

Morning Ride

With all the little jobs taken care of around the house, I've been out for a ride on the mountain bike this morning. It's some time since I've been on a bike and I was on my knees gasping for breath after about two minutes!

I kept going though and navigated a circular route going up and down a few country lanes.

Noticing a public footpath sign, I took a bit of detour and came across this old cart next to the track.

The sky was a miserable shade of grey when I set of but the sun finally broke through to reveal what promises to be a lovely sunny Autumn day.

Sitting down now with a nice cup off coffee and tuning into Last FM.

Paul

Mobile Surfing

It's been a while since our last update, partly because we've not been out and about lately, partly because I was struck down with man-flu last week and partly because I've been surfing the world wide web on my mobile.

Last month I upgraded my mobile package with Three to include web surfing, up to a gigabyte of internet browsing for a an extra fiver a month seems like a pretty good deal. I've been browsing away on my little K800i and have hardly switched the computer on at all over the last few weeks.

The experience of navigating the web on a mobile has actually been better than I expected, I can now post to Blogger via Gmail, do quick updates in the sidebar using Twitter Mobile and of course check out my usual haunts - every weather page known to man!

It's not a breeze though and sometimes downright annoying! The handsets own browser is limited and to view non mobile pages you have to go through either Google's or Yahoo's mobile converter thingy which by the time it's stripped out non mobile compliant stuff, there ain't much left to look at. The built in rss reader wouldn't work with many feeds and now doesn't work at all.

I downloaded Opera Mini which is much better at rendering web pages and is a whole lot faster too. The included rss reader is great and I use that alot as using the mobile version of Google Reader is royal pain in the butt.

One thing that is missing from Opera Mini 3.1 is the ability to upload pictures, if you try to do that it just starts the camera which isn't any good if you want to load a picture you've already taken. For loading pictures I have to switch back to the built in browser and then switch back again to view them!

There is a new version of Opera Mini coming out soon, I've tried version 4 but it's still in Beta and there is no picture uploading or rss reader as yet so I'll hold off that one until the full version is released, which hopefully won't be too long.

I'm also finding that any applications I try to download now just report as invalid, I've tried the Opera Beta again and that now won't install. It's not for the feint hearted this mobile surfing lark but it does seem to be getting better and while I still have to use the PC for certain tasks, it won't be too long before the mobile will be able to handle pretty much everything.

I'm on holiday this week so I'll have plenty of opportunity to explore without Debbie's current favourite catch phrase, "will you put that bloody phone down", ringing in my ear...

Paul

The Heights Of Abraham

Last weekend we ventured out to the The Heights Of Abraham at Matlock Bath. We drove through here last year but couldn't get parked up as the place was overrun with bikers. No problems parking this year though and we had a fantastic day out exploring the underground lead mining caverns.

We were out at a party on Saturday night then on Sunday we were up at the crack of dawn on the lookout for heather and shrubs. We got loads loaded into the car and spent a couple of hours getting everything planted in the newly cleared border. It looks great now and Debbie wants to do the same on the other side.

By then we were completely knackered and didn't have the energy to go back out and take any pictures, we'll nip out soon and get some snaps.

Paul

Otters & Owls

Last weekend we had an afternoon out at the Chestnut Centre which is not too far from Castleton in the Peak District. It's an animal sanctuary mainly for otters and owls. It was a much bigger place than we were expecting, walking through the field with sheep and deer was great and reaching the bottom you walk along a stream surrounded by trees. It's lovely and dark for the owls of which there a are loads but the pictures we took aren't too cleaver.

Following the winding through the trees, we came across another family of otters and more owls round every corner. The otters were great, loads of different kinds from small noisy little monkeys to a giant otter that loved to throw stones about.

We had a great time there despite the battling with the camera against the dark conditions and the mesh cages.

Paul

Wentworth Castle Gardens

While we were on holiday a few weeks ago, we visited Wentworth Castle Gardens in Stainborugh, Barnsley.

It was on BBC's Restoration in 2003 but failed to win. The restoration of the gardens is going well anyway, still a long way to go though. The glass house is in danger of collapsing and they're currently having a big fund raising push to try and save it.

The gardens are lovely and will look fantastic when their finished. The main building is Wentworth Castle and at the other end of the gardens is Stainborough Castle.

We've been back at work two weeks now and Debbie's not been having a great time. A week ago on Friday she started with a pain in her legs and by Sunday morning Debbie was in agony with her back and legs plus a thumping headache on top of that.

No better on Monday, Debbie stayed at home and on Tuesday went to the Doctors who prescribed antibiotics which we think ended up making her sick. Debbie was violently sick on Wednesday morning and I popped home to see how she was at lunch time. I called the doctors and was promised a call back within the hour. The hour came and went and after I chased them up I had to get back to work.

When I got home, there had still been no call so I called again only to be directed to after hours care who couldn't help because they didn't take over until 6pm and our surgery shouldn't have switched off their lines until then.

I called back after 6pm and we got an appointment at the hospital where we managed to get to see a doctor but he couldn't pinpoint the problem. His best guess would be a very bad migraine and he prescribed stronger pain killers. Debbie took two in Asda car park and by the time we got home she was feeling much better.

Debbie went back to work on Thursday, feeling better but still not brilliant. The pain killers seems to be keeping on top of whatever the problem is and we're now enjoying a nice chilled weekend!

Paul

Robin Hoods Bay To Ravenscar

Yesterday we headed off to Robin Hoods Bay, the weather forecast wasn't brilliant but we didn't see any rain on the way there and when we arrived the sun was breaking through.

Having remembered to check the tide times, we arrive just in time to make out of the main bay and along the beach to Ravenscar. About half way we came across a cave in the cliffs, probably used by smugglers in days gone by.

Debbie found a rock in a pool, of which there are thousands, but this one was sporting a wonderful design made by the water in the sand.

Venturing further afield than before, we came across fossil imprints in the rocks and even found a couple of whole ammonites that we brought home with us.

As we entered the bay next to Ravenscare, Debbie found this waterfall, it was amazing to see the water cascading over the cliffs.

When we got to Ravenscar, we turned round and could barely see Robin Hoods Bay in the distance.

We spent over four hours walking on the beach and weather held off the whole time, then just after we left it started chucking it down with rain!

Paul

Dad's Back On The Road

We took Dad to the hospital this morning for a checkup with the eye specialist. After a month of not being able to get behind the wheel, he's been given the all clear to hit the road again which is great news.

We've been out for a walk round Newmillerdam this afternoon. About half way round we came across a bloke and a teenage boy running out from the trees and then loitering on the path. We walked round them but Lucy was reluctant to pass by and took some coaxing. A bit suspicious and the camera's were back in their cases faster than you can say "leg it back to the car, we've got a couple of fruitcakes here".

Paul

Perfect DIY Weather

I've been on holiday since Monday and it's been raining much of the time which has been great news. If it had been hot sunshine, I'd have been dischuffed hat having to get a few jobs done over the last 3 days. With the lovely cooler weather I've managed to get all the edging down over the laminate floor and made a wooden bath panel. Still loads to do but that's it for now, I'm on strike!

Debbie finishes work today and then we're both off until a week on Tuesday! I think we'll be getting out and about more than we managed during our May holiday. I'm not sure Mablethorpe will be on the cards, even though we've not been for a whole week!

Paul

And The Moral Of This Story Is....

I ran the facebook phenonemon by Debbie earlier today and got the green light to add a profile for each of us, Yorkshire Snowman and Buttercup.

Second rule of the land in these parts is never sign up for anything when your drunk. So, I passed the first rule, ask Debbie first, and then fragrantly pooed the second rule, nver sgnien up when your drunk.

It's like playing Mr & Mrs for live, except when on telly, the contestans weren't usualy 2 bottles short of colapsng on stage.

So I've signed us both up, just waiting for the sober realisation of tomorrow...

Paul

A Bit Of A Scare

Dad's been for more tests following the double vision episode the other week. It turns out that he's suffered a mini stroke, not good news at all and really not what we were expecting.

He's got more tests over the next few weeks including a brain scan. He really does need to slow down a bit, he's on the go more now he's retired than he was when he was working!

The pressure of all that rushing about, Grandma passing away, clearing and selling her house has obviously taken it's toll.

Time for more days by the riverbank me thinks.

Paul

Drawn Back To Mablethorpe

Well, we battled through the traffic past Ingoldmells and Skegness last Saturday, it took us over 3 hours to get to Gibraltar Point. We got there to find a visitor centre, a beach that Lucy wasn't allowed anywhere near and a shed in a field. So, we headed back up the coast to Chapel St. Leonards only to find that they were holding their summer gala so instead of a quaint, quiet village, it was the busiest place on earth!

After over 4 hours in the car, we arrived back in Mablethorpe which itself was pretty busy with the glorious weather and the summer holidays but it was still nowhere near as busy as the other seaside resorts. We spent the afternoon walking along the beach past Sutton on Sea and back again.

On the way back home we called in at Saltfleet to see what was there, I was all for having a walk amongst the sand dunes, however Debbie was rather put off by the MOD warning sign about unexploded bombs littering the area.

Paul.

Shiny New Bathroom

The carpet has been laid in the bathroom and it looks totally different, no pictures as yet as we've still go a few jobs to do such as building a new bath panel.

We had a ride out to Cannon Hall on Saturday afternoon, taking advantage of the nice sunny weather, it was almost like summer!

We took Dad shopping on Sunday, he's still unable to drive since having the double vision scare a couple of weeks ago. His vision is getting better and he spent the afternoon pottering about in our garden tidying up the jungle. I hoovered the lawn and Debbie climbed on top of the sheds and took the chainsaw to some overhanging tree branches.

We're in tidying mode this week, I've done some virtual organizing on our Flickr page but I think Debbie is more interested in the real world, getting our house gleaming so we can start putting down the edging for the laminate floor downstairs and use the remaining carpet to cover the stairs. I've been virtually been getting around to that edging every day for the last two years!

Paul.