If it's not one thing...

... it is another in my life!  How is everyone doing?  I've been busy-busy as per usual.  Mr G ended up back in hospital last week, I think he'd been doing too much.  Despite my best efforts.  It was like looking after a naughty toddler.  He had another scan and all was ok, thankfully.

My birthday came and went without too much fuss this year - although I was spoiled rotten, I do have to say!  We had a quiet night in (well, quiet for us!) with our friends Denise and Pete, our children, a gorgeous takeaway, a few beers and Eurovision.  It's an annual thing in our house, sometimes it's a massive event, sometimes low key, some years score cards, some years not, but always celebrated.  And to round off a wonderful day... I had a shoutout from Graham Norton live on BBC1!  On the morning of my birthday I noticed on Facebook that they were asking if anyone watching wanted a shoutout and I left a comment saying that I was celebrating my 38th birthday and named everyone watching with me, and we got a mention!   Mum and Dad took me, Mr G, my brother and his new girlfriend out for lunch on the Monday, as a joint celebration as she has just had her birthday last week, which was lovely.

My gorgeous Maneki Neko pendant from PMog

Some of my cards and gifts

Not one, not two, but three vases of flowers!

My personalised Lawson mug!  Mmmmm Adam...

I had my X Ray results back finally, and they were clear.  And I took it pretty badly at first.  Tears, snot etc.  But as Mr G pointed out, sciatica doesn't show up on X Rays - and even if I hadn't been already been told that is what I suffer from by my Doctor, then all the symptoms match.  Looking at it positively, the X Ray showed no arthritis, or any other damage.  So, it's 'only' sciatica.  The pain is getting worse and worse, and harder to keep under control with pain relief these days.  I'm permanently drained because constant pain can be exhausting, plus the pain relief I'm on knocks me out cold most days.  But... it's not life threatening, there are a lot of people a lot worse off than I am, so I'll just have to put up and shut up.

Trying to get the garden up to scratch for the summer has been hard work.  There's only so much I can do on top of running a home, raising four children and looking after an errant (fifty) two year old.  But it's coming together slowly.  The patio looks lovely, and all the plants and herbs are blooming after the heat and then the storms.  But the decking area, the whole bottom of the garden looked a sight.  All the wood and the shed and the decking needed restaining, which hasn't been easy in this temperamental weather.   Mr G has closed off the decking area with a new fence and tall trellis and as such our big cantilever umbrella won't go up anymore, so we've had to take that up and need to look for an alternative position for the base to be drilled into.  The baby blue tits (I didn't manage to get a picture though...) have all flown the nest, so the left hand side of the garden is ready to be cleared!  We managed to stain the shed, fence and trellis before it started to rain, so the decking will have to wait until tomorrow (cross fingers!).

Adam got in on the action

Old fence down, neighbours storm wrecked shed in the background...

New fence built, trellis up and stained

Next week, all being well, our friend is coming over with some tools and he has found someone who will take the waste away for us too.  The trampoline is falling apart and was rarely used anyway, so the children have said that it can go in return for... ah, you'll just have to wait and see what our plans are for the bottom of the garden!  So in addition to all the above, we've been doing a little bit of this...

... in front of this...

... while munching on a slice or two of these beauties...

... and a bit of reading (when I've had the time!).   This weekend sees the return of Menai Bridge Carnival after over a decade.  My daughter is part of the majorette troup that my friend Denise is running, and they perform in public for the first time tonight at the Queen's crowning ceremony.  The actual carnival is on Saturday, so here's hoping that the weather stays nice for that after everyone's hard work.  And on Sunday.  Sunday, bloody Sunday, I'm going with Caitlin to watch One Direction in concert.  I wish it was Lawson, but... there we go.  It isn't.  I'm sure it will be good...?

M x