The saga of our home renovations (courtesy of the government permitted 25% tax free pension draw down) continues.The same firm that did our lovely kitchen diner have also completely remade our family bathroom and are erecting a fence at the bottom of the garden so for the first time in 24 years we won’t be bothered by dogs, cats, foxes and rats running into our garden from the bridle path beyond.

I’m slightly sad because the garden always felt bigger with the wider vista over the path across to the farmer’s wood opposite and now it feels slightly claustrophobic but security is paramount these days so we had no choice.

Hopefully the birds will still find their way into the garden whereas the squirrels won’t (vain hope).

We’re just counting down the weeks until our annual summer holiday in Devon.  This year we will have the addition of Older Daughter’s boyfriend for some of the time.

QT2 and I will be cutting our holiday short to attend OD’s graduation.  She has succeeded in achieving a 2 i in PE which is a major feat.  Now she’s just in need of a job in education, probably primary school or coaching, where she can gain a teaching or similar qualification so she can start earning.

QT1 has been doing work experience at a local amateur theatre.  She has impressed them so much she was given a proper role as assistant stage manager and had her name in the programme for Sound of Music, They are now clamouring for her to return for more!

In September QT2 is off to University of Derby to study Sports Coaching and Development.  A bit of a come-down from the rugby scholarship in the USA but that had all gone very unreliable and was no longer really an option so he has had to set his sights rather closer to home.  He is looking forward to bringing his laundry home every weekend (when he comes home to play rugby at his local club)!

At least we will be saving plenty of money on the flights etc although we have to pay now to ship his belongings back as he had left them there thinking that he was going back in August.

In the meantime my last stall with my hand made cards was really disappointing, I only just covered the cost of the table and made £10 profit thanks to my mother and sister-in-law buying a selection of cards.  Sadly it was one of those free events which fell between two stools, genuinely lovely craft stalls interspersed with some bric a brac which was frankly either of fairly poor quality or genuinely antique and shouldn’t have been sold there.  Because it was free (and there were no refreshments) random people came in, walked round, and went back out.  Very disheartening.  Better news however is that a lot of people are liking my site and I am on the lookout for the next opportunity to publicly air my lovely handicraft.

If anybody has any ideas for events I might attend in the Leicester or south of Leicester area I look forward to hearing from them at cottagecardsshops@hotmail.com.