This is a holding area for all my posts prior to May 2012. Please go to www.lovebryony.co.uk to see new posts and content!
Expect normal blogging to resume on Wednesday!
Francesca seems to of been possessed by the devil this week: Waking up in the night, refusing to eat her dinner and whinging all day. I’ve found myself demanding “Francesca PLEASE!” on many occasions and by the time Dean gets in from work I’m a stressed out mess.
…but yesterday morning Frankie woke up at a decent hour and was in the most delicious mood. In fact she was being so lovely that I took about 50 million photos of her acting angelic. And everytime she has acted like she’s possessed today I’ve looked at these photos and repeated to myself “It’s just a phase, it’s just a phase”.
It is just a phase right?
Thanks to our crazy floorboard renovation I’ve barely touched my computer the past fortnight, so here’s a little update of our goings-ons via Instagram. I’m warning you now: there are alot of pictures of floors and Frankie in this post – mainly because Frankie has been the only person presentable enough to have her picture taken and our lives have resolved around floors this past fortnight… boring.
A few weeks ago I wrote about the small stuff, all the little things that make me happy. Not the big huge things but simple, barely noticeable parts of life that make me do a happy sigh. So I’ve been watching Francesca closely this week to see what makes her ‘tick’, and I thought it might be nice to write her ‘Small Stuff’ down. All the moments that make her giggle, smile and generally seem content. Obviously she can’t tell me what she’s thinking so I’m going on physical reaction, I like to think I know her pretty well…
Francesca likes getting into Mummy and Daddy’s bed in the morning, espically when Daddy is still asleep – that way she can wake him up by kicking him in the face. She likes hiding under the covers while we look for her and she really likes it when you shout “There she is!”.
Francesca likes getting out her bag of small soft toys, she likes to tap the bigger ones on the back while saying ‘ahhh’ – it’s like she’s soothing them like we do with her. The little ones get to be hugged and kissed, or lined up to watch an episode of 3rd and Bird.
Francesca likes using Bobby’s tail as a a telephone, chasing him into the garden and stroking his ears. She also like sitting on him and pulling his whiskers. Bobby doesn’t like this.
Francesca likes to type on Mummy’s laptop, she likes typing very hard – in fact once she was typing so vigourously that Mummy lost the ‘D’ key! She likes to point at pictures of her friends and family on the screen, and she loves to see herself on the webcam – waving Hello!
Francesca likes going in Nana and Morfar’s hot tub, she likes the bit she can stand up in and thinks it’s very funny when you push the jets up so they come out of the water like a fountain. Francesca likes laying on her tummy in the water and kicking her legs really hard.
Francesca likes Tangled, Big Barn Farm, 3rd & Bird and Mr Moon. She likes dancing to ‘We Found Love’ by Rihanna and ‘I’m Your Man’ by George Michael. She has an eclectic taste in music 
Francesca likes brushing her teeth and her hair, usually using her toothbrush for her hair and her hairbrush for her teeth – sanitary. She really likes it when you have a bath with her, mainly so she can use your legs to line up her toys. Frankie’s favourite bathtime game is throwing everything out of the bath, including half the water.
Francesca likes going on Daddy’s shoulders and waving royally at anyone who passes by. Actually Francesca likes waving in general.
And bizarrely the thing Francesca likes the most is Mummy’s singing and Daddy’s dancing… which, I must add, are both terrible!
This house has officially been our home for 4 months (and 1 day!), and we’re finally getting stuck into the big stuff! We spent half an hour each evening last week pulling up the edges on the carpets and yanking up the carpet grippers, then Saturday afternoon we ripped up the horrible carpets and chucked them out the window!
Then we were ready to for stage two, the most tedious and boring stage! We shuffled round on our hands and knees finding any underlay staples, carpet nails or embedded metal and pulling them out. We were both manned with a pair of pliars, screwdriver, chisel and hammer, and it actually ended up taking about half the time we thought it would.
Next up was the cleaning… oh the bloody cleaning! Hetty the hoover is my new best friend and I’ve never swept so much in all my life. The years of dust and grit that build up under your carpets really is a sight to behold. Unfortunately (or not) I didn’t get a picture of the piles of dirt but I can assure it was GROSS!
The photo above on the right shows perfectly just how incredibly lucky we’ve been – we only need to replace one floorboard (photo below on the left) and nail 2 or 3 down. Before we took the plunge and ripped the carpet up I was having regular nightmares where we’d find tens of rotten, stained floorboards! The previous owners of this house must of looked after it so well.
So for now all our furniture is back in it’s place and I’m spending a bit of time each day hoovering and generally stopping the house from turning into a building site. On Friday (yes we’re spending Easter doing DIY!) me and Dean are off to our local reclamation yard to find a replacement floorboard and to search out any other bargains. Then Saturday morning we’re picking up the sander and the real fun begins!
Where are we getting our information from?
As we’ve never sanded floorboards before we’re asking my Dad lots of questions as he’s done there whole house.
www.sandedfloors.co.uk - A website that has been recommended to me by over 20 different people and forums. We’ve downloaded there ‘How to Sand Floorboards’ video for a £5 and it’s already paid for itself!
DIY: Now How with Show How Book - A brilliant book that gives you advice on all things DIY, we managed to find it in Tesco for £6 so it’s worth keeping an eye out for it on offer.
This morning I read a post on Is There a Plan B? It was about the small stuff, the little things that make you happy. It made me happy, because sometimes you forget about the barely noticeable things that make you happy. So here is the ‘Small Stuff’ that makes me happy.
I like it when people announce their pregnancy, engagement or the sale going through on their dream house, I like reading indepth accounts of how these people got to where they are now. It doesn’t matter if this person is my best friend, someone who I once sat next to at school or a complete stranger – I’m just a bit nosey really.
I like snow. I like snowboarding, I wish I still had time to go. I like the noise bindings make when your strapping your boots in, but I equally like the relief of taking your boots off and being able to properly wriggle my toes.
I like free time. Being able to make a cup of tea and read a magazine without worrying about being interrupted. Making a fancy coffee with our Dolce Gusto. Opening a bottle of wine and filling a sparkling glass to drink in the garden. Falling in love with a cocktail and finding out the recipe is super easy – Hoochie Koochies are a prime example here!
I like watching Frankie walk around the garden. Touching leaves and picking up dirt. Discovering lots of new things and being crazy excited about the simplest things. I even like it when she thinks it’s okay to eat the dirt, she finds it hysterical when I run over and start hooking it out of her mouth.
I like hearing ‘Obobobobobobby’ from Francesca which means our cat has just walked through the door. The fact she starts the word Bobby with an ‘o’ makes me laugh… alot. I secretly like it when I hear ‘Mammmmaaa’ in the mornings aswell – aslong as it’s after 5:30am.
I like our house. The fact it took us so long to get makes me appreciate it every single day. I love the fact the sun streams through the back doors into the kitchen in the evening. I even like tidying it up, doing the hoovering and mopping the floors – I like the satisfaction it brings.
I like eating oranges, grapes and blackberries. Of course I also like Cow biscuits, Dairy Milk Whole Nut and getting the last crumbs out of a bag of Doritos. I really really like avocado on toast, a big bowl of panzanella and slow cooked lamb. I like making chocolate covered flapjacks and over the top cupcakes. Obviously I like eating them too.
I like it when Dean turns the football off and asks what I want to watch. When he makes me a cup of tea just how I like it. I love watching him dance around the kitchen making spaghetti carbonara. I love it when he sings ‘I Gotta Feeling’ by The Black Eyed Peas and I really love it when he does the woohoo’s with lots of enthusiasm!
I like TV. False reality is my favourite. TOWIE, Made in Chelsea and Geordie Shore. I love how truly terrible they are, me and Dean regularly turn to each other with WTF Huh!?! faces.
I like films. Especially ‘Brat Pack’ movies – Pretty in Pink, 16 Candles, The Breakfast Club, About Last Night and Weird Science. I love films from my childhood – The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins and Fern Gully.
I like white tops, indigo jeans and tan boots. I like simple black dresses with gorgeous accessories. I like packing my bag for holiday and spending ages picking the right toiletries to take.
So many small things make me happy on a daily basis: fresh flowers on the mantel, getting into a clean bed, brushing Francesca’s hair, the ‘ding-ada-ding’ noise my phone makes when I get a text, lighting expensive candles, strangers telling me Fran is gorgeous, going for a long swim that makes me ache a little the next day, putting on brand new socks, drinking from my ‘Queen Bee’ mug, singing along to pretty much any Girls Aloud song(!?!), getting into my jammies and having a family cuddle before Francesca goes to bed.
I think I should makes this post my homepage, so whenever I’m having a down day all the little things that instantly make me smile are right infront of me!
I’m Going To…
