Fun with a Settee.

Basically, Sammie wrecked our settee, bless her. It's a year ago this month since we lost her and the house still doesn't feel quite the same.

Anyway, the little madam would regularly rub her chin on the settee until all the pile disappeared, so it was time we replaced it for a new one. The actual "replacing" part was easier said than done. The new one would be coming in separate parts which would be fitted together once in the lounge but the old one was bigger and rigid and had been bought before the new double glazed doors were fitted.

So...... the cushions came off first...

...which we thought about keeping (for about half a second) because they still had their pile..

and then came the point of no return. Husb with his KNIFE! 

Hacking away underneath!

It was disappointing not to find our fortune in the depths of the settee. I was sure we would be much richer. We found 5 peas and about 37p

A door had to come off.

But it was still stuck.

At one point we couldn't go either forward OR back!

And it seemed like Uncle Ivor was laughing with us!

Out came the axe. 

Husb ,,, WITH AN AXE!

AND A SAW! 

(We were now making quite a mess and STILL the settee was stuck)

Positively wedged!

But we persevered and at last got it outside.

The new settees came in 5 parts making a 3 and a 2 seater

And as it was now May....

I took the Christmas table cloth off the corner unit (oopsieeeee!)

Two days later the Jolly Hollies (well...Husb) had some more excitement in the form of a rather nice shiny white Seat Leon to replace Wolfy Scirocco.

Gorgeous to drive!

And a few days later EVEN MORE excitement for the Jolly Hollies  when the Pixen did an AMAAAAAZING swim and run.... to QUALIFY for the World Age Group Championships in London in September!!! What a little superstar. We are SOOO pleased for her as she has been training really hard.

It is fair to say the Pixen is rather excited- not just to compete on the Olympic course (swim in the Serpentine and run in Hyde Park) but the fact that she will be wearing one of THESE!!!!!!!! TEAM GB!!!

It was quite an eventful half term.

Proof that I ran 13.2 miles =)

There are no words......

(but which one shall I have on a mug/teeshirt????!)

Chester Half Marathon 2013

It all started with a casual conversation with my friend who said she had entered the Chester Half .....and I was jealous! This friend had only started running when we had no electricity at Vicars Cross (which resulted in a mishmash keepfit session-she went for a run instead- her first run) so I  considered joining her. The last half marathon I ran was 26 years ago when Nic and Chris were 14 months old. 

It never entered my head that I wouldn't make it round the 13.2 mile course but...

was it sensible?

Surely it was better to regret DOING something than NOT doing something?

 I signed up on Tuesday by buying Debbie's Josh's place (he didn't even have a good excuse for opting out according to his mum!) and then thought I'd better go for a little run. I did 6 miles- I would just have to do that distance TWICE.

 THANK YOU to the owner of the car with registration number SVS that drove past me that day. They were my mum's initials. IT WAS A SIGN!! It was meant to be!

5 days later I was lining up with the rest of the "approximately 2.5 hours " lot and off we went.

Pixen had a fancy name ...

...but I had to label me myself as I was a late entry. Aliholli was not the best thing to write, some people were shouting "Come on ABIGAIL!"

EVERYTHING WENT WELL

A) The pre race meal had plenty of protein and the obligatory Dairylea cheese triangle.

I felt good.

B) The weather was perfect., cool and DRY.

C) We got there early enough to use the toilets without queueing for ages.

D) I overtook Guy Sissons!

E) I made sure everyone I knew saw me.

F) The route was fairly flat - lots of colourful bobbing heads on the long stretch past the Mollington Bannastre to Capenhurst Lane and lots of people clapping us as we ran through Saughall and Blacon back to town.

G) I may have been overtaken by a DOG but I beat BATMAN and ROBIN.

As you can see I was having fun all the way round

(I'm so my Dad)

and I wanted a dramatic finish!

 WE DID IT!!!!

 Time was not an issue as I was chatting to people on the way round. The most important thing was to stay injury free. 

1987 medal and 2013 medal

After 4 cups of tea

Drakey made me a collage. Nic and Chris have changed more than me.

It was a superbly well organised event, for the runners anyway. Well done and THANKYOU to Chris and Andy for organising a fantastic day. But also,THANKYOU to the volunteers and supporters who made a fantastic day even better. Brilliant!

I just did it.

Bye Orla Hi Gigi

Yesterday was the last day with my beautiful Orla Kiely DS3 car so I had an Orla day...

.. I even did the weekend's cricket tea in her, on a THURSDAY....

 I am absolutely gutted to be losing her, I had the towel and everything...

I shall miss those leather seats and the funky headrests...

We have had so much fun together. Over 16,000 miles of fun to be precise and I'm sure my Dad was with us all the way. I hope she has gone to a good home.

We are now looking forward to some more adventures in my new DS3 (I love these cars, they tick all the boxes for me, most notably - small car, big boot) this one is in Belle Blue. I know I am going through a bit of a purpley lilac phase at the moment but I LOVE this colour. Looks like we are calling her Bell/Bella/Bellie then...

 

Alas!  No-one wanted to call her that, so we've had a rethink and as it is a French car and GG has helped me finance it and the registration is LG13 she is now known as Gigi- the French version of GG- Dad is coming everywhere with me in this car too. =)