A BEAUTIFUL DAY

OH how lucky are we to be living this life on a beautiful day like this.
Sitting here with the side hatch open and the sun bursting in burning my feet!

Earlier we took the girls for a walk along the Rufford arm, we drove a few miles to get further up the arm as we often walk the first couple of miles when were up this way.

They had a great time and we found a track that had been cleared which we walked along then back along the canal.

On the way back we met Treacle another jack Russell who was far too busy to stop for a photo and Millie actually liked her too, that's unusual for Millie.

Further down the canal we met Sweep, a lovely black Lab with the most gorgeous face.

Back on the boat it was time for some soup I had made yesterday, Tim decided to make some temporary shelves to get rid of the mess we are living with in the kitchen and I made a few more curtains for Jon before he leaves us for the Lancaster.

BUSY , BUSY

Hi all, well we both had good intentions of getting up really early with lots to do before Matt & Jess came to see us but all good plans..........

9am damn, never mind.

Managed to get some washing done and out on the back deck, the extra space is fantastic, then it was off to the shower block about a 10 minute car ride away.

Whilst waiting for Kal and Lyndon to have their showers a narrowboat and Butty pulled up at the water point and it was the 'sweet shop nb' they had come down from South Yorkshire to pick the butty up to use as a store room. Tried to convince them to nip into Liverpool whilst they were this way..

Well back on the boat Matt & Jess arrived, had a cuppa then I went with them into Southport for a bite to eat and a laugh at the fair.
Back at the boat Tim had had a quiet afternoon, feeding the boys....

It's been a lovely day, looking forward to the rest of the weekend...

ENGINES, CURTAINS AND KIDS

Last night we had a visit from my eldest son and his partner, the blooming partner that is carefully carrying my first grandchid. oh its such a wonderful time and brings back all the memories of when i was their age and here i am taking my mums place as a nan. time flies. its been a busy and productive day overall. Kalvin has his friend Lyndon staying over till Tuesday so the went into Liverpool on the train for a few hours, meanwhile back at the ranch Tim saw that the engine got its first service and enjoyed the extra space down the engine bay.
His enjoyment was only interrupted by Millie and Maizee seeing off everybody that walked by, became a nuisance really and gave us both a headache.
Now, the curtains, well I didn't get to finish them all but did make up a couple of pairs, too many disruptions and having to have the sewing machine on the bed is not a good height and my back was burning right between the shoulder blades.
Jon bought the material himself and I said I would make them up for him.hope you like.
I am sure they will look much nicer at the windows....
The other picture is of my new handbag £2.45 from the local charity shop, well this boat did skint us!

Just a quickie

Well here we go again, bright sunshine and a frozen canal. Looks beautiful but bloody freezing.
Well today I am finishing the curtains for John and will post some pictures later....

Nana Lolo,

Well so sorry it's late, been out from early today. Had to meet up with my son and his partner for their 20 wk scan and to find out the sex of the baby.
Firstly I must confirm all was well with the scan and we found out.......it's a girl......yaaaaayyyyyy

Sure Jon was a tad disappointed after imagining himself teaching his son to play football for the past 4-5 months.
Well I am posting a picture though I know all scan pictures are the same but this ones differen, it's our first grandchild!

Night night all x

All gone wrong,

Well I am sorry but I have got 3/4 of the way through a recipe and the page published and now I can't seem to add to it.
I wanted to say cook your sweet potatoes, mash with a little butter and serve with shepherdess pie.

It's called pie as your suppose to put the mix in an ovenproof dish and cover with sweet potato and place in oven but it doesn't make it any different so seems a waste of gas.

Now then if you have say a portion of the mix and even some sweet potato do this,
Mix together and put in a blender, add a cup of water and blend till smooth.
Return to pan and add a carton of passatta, add 30 mls of milk and stir whilst warming through.
It's the most amazing tomato soup. My own recipe but you must try...

Hopefully tomorrow I will sort the recipe page out.

Really tired tonight so I am saying night night.
Going to find out the sex of my first grandchild tomorrow , exciting.....
Oh, and our friend is coming home from hospital tomorrow to hopefully gain some strength back for chemo on her chest..night, night all

Running around

Quick run down of what I wanted to do today and what actually happened....
Wanted to finish of Jon's curtains for his boat, well finish half off then go for the other half of header tape cos he didn't buy enough! Jon!
Wanted to go through my new cook books and write a list of things to buy for the store cupboard I don't have...
Wanted to have a relax too

Instead, we went for water and during the fill up I stripped the beds and washed all the bedding, and our clothes, only the dirty ones! Put them out to dry for an hour, one blew off and nearly ended up in the canal, typical, Tim saved the day.
Then we left for the boat yard to get some scraps of wood to make some temporary steps as our fitter still hasn't started. I think Tim made a good job as you can see from the picture.
From there we went to Abikhan, we needed some kind of magnet system for our blinds which we sorted, oh, and the curtain header tape.
Then we headed back and called in for shopping, after which we drove back to the boat and unloaded, 7 trips I think.
By this time we were starved so it was vegetable curry time, Mmmmmmm..

Maybe tomorrow I will do the curtains....we'll see.
Oh, I put a photo of our narrowboat that we had on today too.

The big day

Good evening, were back from an eventful day. It was Dot and Colins wedding day at the hospital and I was a little apprehensive that it may be sad but not at all. We had a lovely day and a few laughs. Dots step daughter had bought her a lovely dress and facinator. She looked gorgeous.

We had been up early but were worried the water was going to run out half way through hair and body washes, all done from a bowl until the bathroom is fitted. I know that must sound awful but it's a bit of fun and were managing. As ever we ran out of time and were rushing around to get there on time. No worries, we were 20 mins early phew!

The wedding was an extremely short ceremony, I couldn't understand that. It was as if let's get this done as she is going to pop her clogs any second! I was a bit sad it was over in two sentences but all the same it was special.

They are a lovely couple, a perfect couple and its all so sad.

Anyway, this boat of ours needs finishing, I may give you a quick picture of our state of affairs .....or maybe not, ooh I can't make my mind up.....

Bed covers stayed in place last night

Now then, don't know the cause, maybe the girls(Millie & Maizee) pull at them, haaaa ,not.
Confused?, well our quilt will not stay on the bed of a night. It starts off nice and high all snugly but at least 3 times in the night we have to pull it up from falling off the bottom of the bed! Never had this problem before. Last night I tucked my side under the mattress and 'hey presto' it stayed put.
I don't really like being tied into the bed, well that's another story, but if it keeps the quilt up! Maybe on the full fit we need a high foot board, we didn't want that but it seems we will have to.

Took the girls for their walk up the Rufford arm before and ended up with 6 Jack Russell's! Tim said it looked lovely with all the dogs around me but wouldn't give in to us buying another 4..... I compromised at 3 but he then made me change my mind when he reminded me of vets bills...
One of them fell in the icy water, awww, the others vanished! I fished him out and wrapped his shivering body up whilst we searched for an owner. Nobody seemed to want to answer their doors and just when I thought we had gained a dog we saw a young lady looking around. Once returned we headed back to the warmth of the boat.


Maybe he will let me get the ferret I have been after, does any one else think this is. Great idea?

Wedding preparations.

Well, we're going to a wedding in hospital on Monday. Our good friend who isn't well at all, who has been condemned 3times in less than a week by the hospital is marrying her long time partner in the day room at the hospital on Monday afternoon.

Now I don't keep many fancy clothes at the best f times but at the minute I have nothing with me so it meant a trip to the caravan storage site to get something suitable from our caravan. That sounds strange I hear you say but remember, we have been living in the caravan for 4 months while the boat was finished and it was our only place of residence and as such all our clothes were there. it was cold and dismal in he van and although it gave us a home whilst between boats we were glad to get out and head back home to the boat.

It was also a day to pick up post from my brothers, it must be 6 weeks since we got our post and there was quite a pile. However, there amongst the wasted paper we found our new licences and our craft number plates. Always a happy occasion receiving these. They are proudly on show in our windows with the new name with an extra 'e' MILLIEMAIZE not MILLIMAIZE.

We're both sniffling, very unusual for us, runny nose syndrome and fizzy eyes!
Just feel like sitting all snuggled up in front of the fire with a nice cup of tea so off I go, see you all tomorrow..

Help!

Oh my goodness, I have brain freeze, not from ice cream may I say. Anyone out there help please, I am trying to write on my Recipes tab but every time I go to that page and choose 'new post' it reverts back to posting on my main blog page. I can't remember how to post on that page. Any help appreciated....

What day is it?

Why do I live full time on our boat, live off a couple of rentals and a few curtain making jobs but never seem to have a minute!
I feel sorry for anyone working full time, been there, done that, 24/7 virtually. Still can't understand where the time goes.
Also my apologies again for my lack of posts but our friend has had more bad news about her cancer and there is nothing more that can be done so she will e going home for her final days/weeks.
This means leaving her life on the boat, sad time....
On Monday at the age of 62 she will be marrying her devoted partner to whom she has been engaged for 12 years, in the hospital, what an emotional time that will be for us all.

Snow! That was a shock this morning, wouldn't be too bad if that cold wind wasn't around, having trouble with Ariel signal in Burscough, our new lorry Ariel isn't quite up to the job and we let our good Ariel go with the narrowboat.
A trip to the caravan sales somewhere around here is in need so off we go...

BURSCOUGH BRIDGE....

Hi everyone, had a little cruise up to Burscough for water. Pictures show our front and rear view as we're moored and a picture of Jack on the hire boat giving instruction.
It has taken quite a few hours to get here as swing bridge 31 by the Farmers Arms had a problem with its wedges. Had to wait for the cavalry and then an electrician had to be called. Why do these things happen when your in a rush.
Anyway, all done, mooring here tonight to go and visit our friends down near crewe who is doing fantastically well considering she was given 3hrs to live on THURSDAY!
Had a few more lovely compliments and a few ' viewings'. Not to happy about those with the state were in but what the heck, as long as they have another look when were finished....
And of course once the internal fittings are completed I will post pictures on here too...

Summer

Isn't it nice, to live on your boat and not really need a certain season, or another country to fully enjoy your free time. The different seasons are such a pleasure and bring with them the things that make boating what it is.
We don't hibernate, saying, I wish the summer would hurry up or worry about it being a bad summer, probably because we're ready and able to catch every good day that were blessed with be it in the autumn, Winter, Summer or Spring. We're so lucky to not be in work looking out of the window at the sun all week then getting depressed every time the weekend comes the weather is dismal.
The cosy warmth in the boat in the winter is so homely, lovely to be out and come home to a warm fire.
We are the luckiest people in the world, that's official...

Apologies,

Please forgive my absence from my blog but we have been at the bedside of our good friend who was rushed back into hospital with complications to her lung cancer..
It's been a hard 2 days and without going into detail we have gone from her having 3 hrs to live to sitting up in bed chatting away looking healthier than any of us even though all vital signs say otherwise. We feel they have presumed her recent problems are stemming from her cancer spreading but we now feel they are wrong and we believe she has a perforated ulcer. It's all so strange but would explain other things.
Anyhow, I am still praying for that miracle that up to now seems could happen......I am sorry to have left you all out, I missed blogging over the past day or so but hope you don't leave.
I am going to post some random pics just to keep you all going...
1. View of widnes/Runcorn bridge
2. A dress we made from recycled newspaper
3.Millie
4.Maizee

Quiet evening in.

It's a very rare occasion, I am alone. Yes I am home alone. Tim has taken Kalvin to ramp works, that's an indoor centre with big ramps for BMX riders. There's a session 6pm till 10pm or even 10.30! Not sure Tm will cope with that, it's freezing in there.
I stayed behind to black out some boots for my sons business. Second coat on now so two more then give them 24hrs before putting the finisher on.
Jonathan and Donna also saw the midwife today and heard their baby's heart beat for the first time, a special moment....my first grandchild, yippeeeeeee
I have been trying to post the recipe for our meal we had for tea but it is proving impossible but I will continue to try. It's one of the most healthy meals you can eat, full of lots of different coloured vegetable, always a good idea...
My mind is elsewhere tonight, thinking about our boating friend who isn't too well and has been for her first chemo today but couldn't have it due to a chest infection....our thoughts are with her for a full recovery.
Going to log off now, couple of pics of the blackout boots in process and don't forget to check out www.tootsboots.co.uk
The pic is stage 2 of the boots. X

ICED IN? Surely not...haaaa

Well as you can see from the pictures, yes, there is a covering of ice on the canal. The little moorhens have been slipping and sliding this morning, ever so cute...
At least the ice is accompanied by the sunshine and it looks like a lovely fresh day ahead.
Today I am 'blacking out' football boots for my eldest son, Jonathan and his partner Donna. They have an online and in store, DW Sports, business. Take a look, www.tootsboots.co.uk you can either send in your boots to be blacked out or you can send for a DIY kit.
Today I am blacking out some samples to go into stores all over the country, well I am beginning the process anyway, it will take 5 days as you need to let each coat dry thoroughly before applying the next...I have put a before picture on and I will be sure to put an after on too..
There a lots of pictures on www.tootsboots.co.uk, see you all later..

RECIPES....

Just a quick apologies, I promised my recipe page would be up and running but I haven't done it and worst of all my stats show you have been checking the tab out...sorry, I will get going on it...
Night night all.

Matthew & Jess , welcome aboard.....

Had visitors tonight, my son Matthew, the footballer and his lovely girlfriend Jessica who is a dance teacher.
Didn't manage to see them over the weekend with being busy moving the boat but they called tonight to drop off some chocolates, mmmmmmmm, counters, mmmmmmm and some beautiful flowers that are sitting in my blender. Yes, blender, god knows where my vases are at the minute.

Walked them back along the towpath to their car and found that the wind has dropped and it doesn't feel anywhere near as cold.
Anyway, time for another chocolate, thank you guys, and a nice cup of tea..x x

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW

Yes it's snowing here in Lancashire, mind you it snowed on my mum and dads wedding day back on the 12th April 1947 apparently, if you have heard of anything later than that let me know. Actually it was the day before the wedding but there was so much snow it was still around on the day.

Anyway I have posted a couple of snow pictures but its stopped now, thank goodness. The wind is freezing. We ventured into Ormskirk for our food haul of the week and came back to a cozy warm fire greeting us with our frozen faces. We spent this morning putting a clear enamel on the wooden surround of our windows where the condensation runs onto the wood in a hope to protect them, looks lovely and rich.

We were a little disappointed with our hot water system as on our narrowboats the colarifier was inside the boat and once the water was hot it stayed hot for a good 24 hrs or more but our colarifier is now in the engine bay and the hot water only lasted a few hrs. Must get extra lagging as soon as possible.

Spoke a bit soon about the snow as its at it again, really heavy...it is blasting past the window as you can see in my photo....
I am now going to have 5 minutes on my new books, hopefully. No rest for the wicked it seems..

Sunshine...

What a big contrast today is to the last two days, glorious sunshine, just perfect for our lifestyle. Saying that, it doesn't matter what the weather is like its all enjoyable.
I didn't sleep very well last night yet Tim says he doesn't remember a thing from lying on the bed to opening his eyes this morning. He has just gone outside for the girls morning wee where's. They love being on the cut, that's the only problem with the docks, no real hunting ground for the girls but now they are in their element.
Well I have posted a couple of pictures this morning, one of the ice that has formed overnight from dripping off the hatch onto the roof and another of a couple of duckies enjoying the nicer weather.
Have a nice day all, see you later...

Long long day

Just had to do a quick post, the pictures below are of a Moorhen that decided to roost by our mooring pin and the other is of our view towards Burscough by the Farmers Arms.
It was a long, cold 4 hr journey from bridge 20 made worse by he fact that the mobile kept ringing as Kal had managed to leave his phone at his uncles and thought t best to ask the rail guard to ring us!!! What we were suppose to do I have no idea but each time the rail guard got hold f us, after we had un gloved un hatted and un neck warmered, he couldn't see Kal. 3 times this happened and on the third time I told him to tell Kal to just get back to his uncles and get he phone!
It was all so mad..
Once we reached Burscough I looked up the trains to Liverpool, ha, as if that would be easy...no. Get a train to Southport! Then to liverpool 1hr 15 mins and a 20 minute walk....
Well after been blown to death, frozen to death, rained and snowed on we were determined to be wrapped up. We made the journey, picked Kal up and headed back to the boat.
Lovely, warm, cosy,home...so lucky. Just wish we hadn't been in a rush today to get to Burscough to be near the station. We hate rushing. But I must say the boat is fantastic....
Sorry the pics have a shadow, not sure how I managed it but here you go.
Not sure of tomorrow's antics, won't be moving the boat so will probably get food aboard.
Must go now as I am shattered, Tims just nodded off and my eyes are heavy now....hope all you mums have had a lovely day, night night...
P.S I will start my Recipe list soon, jut haven't had chance, where do the days go....

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY....

Good morning all, just thought I would wish all the wonderful mums a Happy Mother's Day and share our morning views with you, so nice to be back out on the cut.
The girlies, Millie & Maizee don't know what's hit them, Freeeeeedom....
See you all later.

It's been a long day!

Sorry I know this is my 3rd post tonight but they looked so cute.....night night all

Millie and Maizee ready to go, but not happy!