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Today is the last day of my week off work. How can that be? Where did the week go? I don't seem to have done very much with it...but then again, maybe I have.
Let's tick the week off.
Saturday. Took our Sunday School to the seaside at Barry Island. Glorious day, slightly marred by anxiety meltdown on the part of the Small One. Had to shift up the beach twice to escape the incoming tide, and I was plastered with sunscreen and still managed to catch the sun. Here are a couple of pics of pretty Whitmore Bay, where we spent the day.
Sunday. Very busy day. It was our Sunday School prize giving, so we had rehearsal in the morning, a tea party in the afternoon and then the service itself in the evening. But we're now broken up and I get to have Sunday morning lie-ins for a few weeks!
Monday. Very quiet day. Went to Hobbycraft with Mum, then the Small One joined us after her morning on the farm and we just hung out all afternoon. Chel watched DVDs, Mum and I pottered around the garden and attempted to do some pruning but mostly just sat in the shade feeling hot!
Tuesday. Went into town for some casual window shopping (which I never usually have time for) and discovered the Marvel Avengers boxset in a secondhand shop - haven't seen most of the films, so decided to invest. Also, melted, so maybe town in the heat wasn't such a good idea. Also, another viewing on the house - the lady liked the necklace I was in the middle of making; no word on what she thought about the house.
Wednesday. Went to a garden centre with Mum and found that the little craft shop there had a 50% sale - great stuff. Also broke the DVD drive on my PC. Brother Mine came over, took it apart, poked around at it, put it back together again, and voila! It works again. Watched Iron Man with him as payment.
Thursday. Family day. Took the Small One to Gorseinon to spend the day with her friend Steph and baby Kenzie (and it terrifies me that my baby sister is old enough to have a friend with a one-year-old), then went on with the parents to spend the day first at the National Botanical Gardens at Middleton, Llanarthne and then at Aberglasney, Llangathen, which both sit within the Tywi Valley in Carmarthenshire. Beautiful gardens - pics will follow, when I download them off the camera.
Today! Going to get my hair cut and then spend the day with my friend Molly, trawling around charity shops and cafés and just generally hanging out and putting the world to rights.
In Other News, Big Sis and Bro-in-Law seem to have had an exhausting and expensive week, which means it is time for an update on the Cornwall Crowd - my brother-in-law's family. It's been a while, because things have been so much more settled down there - largely because Ray's brother has a new partner, who has got him and the kids pretty well stabilised, and the Crazy Ex has largely dropped out of the picture. Well, brother Anthony and his new partner Kelly got married this week. Good news, yes? Well, yes...except that they decided to make an extravaganza out of it. And I mean extravaganza, to ridiculous proportions. They had a five day wedding. Yes, you read that right. Five days. They had a civil ceremony on a cliff, a pagan blessing, a hog roast, and I can't even remember all the other activities, spread over five days. Deb's mother-in-law Cookie phoned her in tears over the plans because she had to have five different outfits for these five days of wedding, and couldn't afford it - Deb bought them for her (mostly on ebay). Deb and Ray have spent a fortune - they paid for at least one of the receptions, provided the goody bags, had to have five outfits themselves (Ray was the celebrant, performing the ceremony) - they say helping to pay for it was only right, that it's South African tradition for the whole family to chip in and help pay for a wedding. Well, I'd like to know where this tradition was when they got married, because they never had a penny off Ray's family to help with those costs - in fact, they weren't sure right up to the day itself that his family would even bother to turn up! It really upsets me, the way his family sponges off them - and they stump up the money every time, even though they can't afford it. I mean, seriously, if Anthony couldn't afford to pay for five days of wedding himself, he bloody well shouldn't have five days of wedding! Settle for a single day, like everyone else! Deb and Ray did theirs as cheaply as they possibly could and it was no less meaningful. So I'm glad Anthony is happy now, and that Kelly is helping him to provide a more stable home for the children, but I'm furious that he has taken advantage of Deb and Ray's generosity yet again, and taken a huge amount of money from them that they can't afford to give.
As for the Crazy Ex, Anthony was so worried that she'd turn up and ruin the day that he wouldn't tell any of the guests where any of the activities were taking place - instead he hired a big bus to collect them from pre-arranged pick-up points! Madness. It's always madness with the Cornwall Crowd!
Let's tick the week off.
Saturday. Took our Sunday School to the seaside at Barry Island. Glorious day, slightly marred by anxiety meltdown on the part of the Small One. Had to shift up the beach twice to escape the incoming tide, and I was plastered with sunscreen and still managed to catch the sun. Here are a couple of pics of pretty Whitmore Bay, where we spent the day.
Sunday. Very busy day. It was our Sunday School prize giving, so we had rehearsal in the morning, a tea party in the afternoon and then the service itself in the evening. But we're now broken up and I get to have Sunday morning lie-ins for a few weeks!
Monday. Very quiet day. Went to Hobbycraft with Mum, then the Small One joined us after her morning on the farm and we just hung out all afternoon. Chel watched DVDs, Mum and I pottered around the garden and attempted to do some pruning but mostly just sat in the shade feeling hot!
Tuesday. Went into town for some casual window shopping (which I never usually have time for) and discovered the Marvel Avengers boxset in a secondhand shop - haven't seen most of the films, so decided to invest. Also, melted, so maybe town in the heat wasn't such a good idea. Also, another viewing on the house - the lady liked the necklace I was in the middle of making; no word on what she thought about the house.
Wednesday. Went to a garden centre with Mum and found that the little craft shop there had a 50% sale - great stuff. Also broke the DVD drive on my PC. Brother Mine came over, took it apart, poked around at it, put it back together again, and voila! It works again. Watched Iron Man with him as payment.
Thursday. Family day. Took the Small One to Gorseinon to spend the day with her friend Steph and baby Kenzie (and it terrifies me that my baby sister is old enough to have a friend with a one-year-old), then went on with the parents to spend the day first at the National Botanical Gardens at Middleton, Llanarthne and then at Aberglasney, Llangathen, which both sit within the Tywi Valley in Carmarthenshire. Beautiful gardens - pics will follow, when I download them off the camera.
Today! Going to get my hair cut and then spend the day with my friend Molly, trawling around charity shops and cafés and just generally hanging out and putting the world to rights.
In Other News, Big Sis and Bro-in-Law seem to have had an exhausting and expensive week, which means it is time for an update on the Cornwall Crowd - my brother-in-law's family. It's been a while, because things have been so much more settled down there - largely because Ray's brother has a new partner, who has got him and the kids pretty well stabilised, and the Crazy Ex has largely dropped out of the picture. Well, brother Anthony and his new partner Kelly got married this week. Good news, yes? Well, yes...except that they decided to make an extravaganza out of it. And I mean extravaganza, to ridiculous proportions. They had a five day wedding. Yes, you read that right. Five days. They had a civil ceremony on a cliff, a pagan blessing, a hog roast, and I can't even remember all the other activities, spread over five days. Deb's mother-in-law Cookie phoned her in tears over the plans because she had to have five different outfits for these five days of wedding, and couldn't afford it - Deb bought them for her (mostly on ebay). Deb and Ray have spent a fortune - they paid for at least one of the receptions, provided the goody bags, had to have five outfits themselves (Ray was the celebrant, performing the ceremony) - they say helping to pay for it was only right, that it's South African tradition for the whole family to chip in and help pay for a wedding. Well, I'd like to know where this tradition was when they got married, because they never had a penny off Ray's family to help with those costs - in fact, they weren't sure right up to the day itself that his family would even bother to turn up! It really upsets me, the way his family sponges off them - and they stump up the money every time, even though they can't afford it. I mean, seriously, if Anthony couldn't afford to pay for five days of wedding himself, he bloody well shouldn't have five days of wedding! Settle for a single day, like everyone else! Deb and Ray did theirs as cheaply as they possibly could and it was no less meaningful. So I'm glad Anthony is happy now, and that Kelly is helping him to provide a more stable home for the children, but I'm furious that he has taken advantage of Deb and Ray's generosity yet again, and taken a huge amount of money from them that they can't afford to give.
As for the Crazy Ex, Anthony was so worried that she'd turn up and ruin the day that he wouldn't tell any of the guests where any of the activities were taking place - instead he hired a big bus to collect them from pre-arranged pick-up points! Madness. It's always madness with the Cornwall Crowd!
