Day 1 Beautiful morning today, so I parked my car at edge of town and walked the rest of the way - bought a bright bunch of flowers and a new clutch bag to replace the one that has definitely seen better days
Day 2 Jon, Sophie and baby Max came for lunch - baby led weaning has begun and you should see Max demolish handfuls of broccoli!
Day 3 Went for drinks with people I used to work with - was good to catch up on all the gossip!
Day 4 Childminding day, strange how I always sleep so well on a Tuesday night ;-)
Day 5 Took Coco to the groomers - she's so clean and white, I think we shall be having a few days of walks on pavements rather than runs around the field so she stays clean a bit longer.
Day 6 Awoke to the news that Paul's 93 year old mum had passed away in her sleep in the early hours, Rachel and Jon came to spend the day with us.
Day 7 Started to make calls and appointments for all the legalities that need to be done in advance of arranging the funeral
Day 8 Starting to feel a bit less shell shocked now, cooked a nice meal in the evening and watched a film which, although I'd never heard of it before (The Green Book) was really good.
Day 9 Storm Ciara hit the UK, was a very blustery dog walk this morning but it looks like our area has escaped the worst of it.
Day 10 A busy day with official appointments with the registrar and undertaker but feel that we have now done all we can before the actual funeral
Day 11 Back to normality with a day of childminding - it was bitterly cold but we still braved the elements for our afternoon walk, even though Rosie seems to have forgotten she's supposed to use that time to have a nap!
Day 12 Seems like we are going through a sad patch, attended the funeral of someone Paul worked with for many years.
Day 13 Discovered the belly dancing skirt that I bought in Tunisia hidden at the back of the wardrobe and remembered to take it to wear at Zumba today.
Day 14 Valentines day - instead of going out for a meal we enjoyed a 'Dine in for £20' meal deal from Waitrose; Arancini balls for starters, steak, frites, roasted Mediterranean veggies for main and salted caramel profiteroles, all accompanied by a rather nice bottle of red wine - what a bargain!
Day 15 Storm Dennis arrived in the UK, still seemed quite mild out there when we went to bed.
Day 16 Obviously the strength of the storm picked up overnight, woke to discover that two of our neighbours' fence panels had come loose into our garden - even though it isn't our responsibility to fix, Paul had to do some d-i-y to make it secure so that Coco doesn't have the run of the whole road when we let her out into the garden!
Day 17 Unexpectedly had Rosie here for the morning while Rachel took Leo to see the Paw Patrol film
Day 18 Childminding day - had Leo as well all day as it is half term - Rosie is now confidently walking #nannyandgrandadareexhausted
Day 19 Hair cut day, but it was blowing a gale and starting to rain as I left the salon and so by the time I arrived home I looked much less styled than I had half an hour before!
Day 20 Zumba! A bright spot in amongst rain, wind and cold temperatures.
Day 21 Met up with Ruth, her son and Tilly the Cavachon in Cambridge - I've followed Ruth's blog for years and I am pleased to report that she is as lovely in real life as she is in blogland!
Day 22 We have my sister and brother in law, my cousin Amanda and her partner coming for Sunday lunch tomorrow so today was 'tidy up' day, not to mention a big supermarket shop!
Day 23 Sunday lunch was lovely, I had been anxious about it as my cousin's partner has recently been diagnosed as pre-diabetic so has to follow a keto diet - I learned a lot about carbohydrates while deciding on what to cook!
Day 24 Lots of last minute jobs to do in preparation for the funeral on Wednesday.
Day 25 Shrove Tuesday - I let Leo help with making the pancakes, it looks like there was an explosion in a flour factory in my kitchen
Day 26 Bright and sunny day to say our final farewells to Paul's mum - it was a lovely service and it was a true celebration of a long life.
Day 27 Woke to snow this morning - thank goodness it wasn't like this yesterday! Only mushy snow though, it didn't settle
Day 28 Baked Jon's birthday cake ready for Sunday and had friends over in the evening for drinks
Day 29 Storm Jorge is heading for the UK, very wet and windy weather this morning, quite content to spend the afternoon baking pecan and cinnamon sponge with butterscotch sauce ready for tomorrow's lunch!
As usual I have made a 1 Second a Day video round up of this leap year February - only four years to wait until it comes around again!
And, as usual, I am a day early for the official link up for the Sentence a Day party - what can I say? I am a creature of habit and always feel the need to hit the 'publish' button on a Monday! Pop back again in a day or so and see everyone else's month ...
That was certainly a full month of many lows & joys. I do like your belly dancing skirt - that should really shake things up.
ReplyDeleteI always love these posts, especially as I am mentioned on February's Day 21!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of you and the family and am glad to hear that your MiL's funeral service was a celebration. Sending a hug, just because.
What a month of many emotions for you and the family .. and a very full account of it all. Plus some lovely photos of you :). Sending warmest good wishes for a more even-keeled March.
ReplyDeleteLove the second-a-day video and all the cute shots of the grands! What an emotional month for you all.
ReplyDeleteAhh - sorry to hear about the loss... that is a long life to have lived though - a blessing.
ReplyDeleteLOVE your little belly dancing skirt. WORK IT :)
I'm sorry about the loss of Paul's mom. That makes for a hard time.
ReplyDeleteYour flowers are beautiful and I love the belly dancing skirt!
Still feeling sad for having missed the post about Paul's mum. So sorry it took many days to bring everything to a close with her service but glad she is at peace. Hope you both are doing ok.
ReplyDeleteDoes your Tunisian belly dancing skirt jingle? I did belly dancing for about 5 minutes with a former mother-in-law who thought I needed to learn to keep her son happy. Ha!!
Glad you were able to meet your blogger friend and that she the same delightful person in real life. That child-minding is not for wimps. I am worn out this week after 2 full days of helping with my grands.
Coco looks lovely. And so do you! You girls certainly sport your fresh 'dos well.
Hope March is gentler for your family.
XO
Oh, one more thing...had to look up Shrove Tuesday. I assumed it was the day before Lent but don't remember ever hearing it called anything but Fat Tuesday. Shrove sounds much nicer. How fun that it is traditional to eat pancakes in many countries on that day. Love that Leo helped.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your loss, Deb. I'm glad you had a nice blogger meeting and enjoyable family time. Coco looks adorable. I hope March is much nicer to you and your family.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about your sad news and loss Deb! Wishing you all peace. Your storms have been quite wild over there haven't they? You managed to be very busy during the month and I wish you all the best for March.
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