ENGAGEMENT, WEDDING, 21ST

We have a lot of “stuff” going on at the moment -.

LIKE - our lovely granddaughter and her sporty partner have decided to get married before he goes into the army. So - it’s all excitement and planning for a small family wedding at the local hotel on 11th July. The schedule for that all kicks off this weekend with an engagement BBQ. Hope the weather behaves.

I think her sporty partner’s proposal was so romantic. First he asked the two girls (our great-granddaughters) if they minded him marrying their mummy. He told them that he wanted to ask her to marry him while they were on holiday in Turkey and swore them to secrecy. Now I ask you, how can two excited litle girls keep a secret like that. They immediately started telling everyone that their mummy was going to get married while they were on holiday. Oh how we all laughed. Why they would think such a silly thing as that?

Before they went on holiday he told OG and me of his intentions, asked if it was OK with us and showed us the ring that he had bought. Ahhh! Naturally we said we had no objections. It’s just so good to see them both so happy.

On holiday he went for a walk with our youngest great-granddaughter looking for the perfect spot to propose. They decided on a small island. He then asked a local boatman to take them over later in the day and that is where the deed was done. On one knee, in the overjoyed presence of two excited little girls. How wonderful is that?

LIKE - the building work that is still ongoing after 1 year. But we are making progress! It seems like a lifetime ago that we sealed off one side of the house for extensive renovations to include a kitchen/family room with cathedral ceiling and the addition of my “Hollywood Bedroom/ensuite/dressingroom” http://www.retiredandcrazy.com/2008/03/house-progresses-some.html

The new extension has now been rendered and any day now the scaffold will be coming down. Hurrah! The kitchen is being fitted out. Hurrah! The en-suite bathroom is being tiled. Hurrah! The walls have all been plastered and most have been decorated. Hurrah! Still to be done is the construction of a new glass and steel staircase and elevated walkway across the cathedral family room, the under-floor heating, fitting the kitchen units, tiling the kitchen and the finishing off of the bathroom. Anticipating the glorious move I am now shopping for carpets, curtains etc.

From the start everyone asked how long it would take. I said about 1 year and so it has, give or take. Hopefully we should be able to move over within the next couple of months.

Then we start renovating the part of the house that we are holed up in at the minute. How long will that take? About 6 months from start to finish? So my best guess is that the house should be finished by Christmas

LIKE - waiting for chemo to start. By this morning we still hadn’t had a date and I was getting a little aggitated about the delay so I decided, by hook or by crook, to get to the bottom of it. I randg the Health Care at Home service and spoke to a very nice young man called Graham. He said that Dr Kulkarni’s nurse Charlotte would call at the house for a pre-chemo visit on Tuesday and the treatment would start on Wednesday. I said “who’s Dr Kulkarni” “he’s your husband’s consultant isn’t he?” “no” “oh! I’ll have to get back to you then”. Here we blood go again! But we did get there eventually, a nurse called Janet will do the pre-chemo visit on Tuesday and start treatment on Thursday. Hopefully!!

Plus one of my grandsons will be 21 in a couple of weeks, and another is moving back from France this weekend to resume his education at the local grammar school because, amazingly enough, he says the standard of education is better here than it is at his private International School there! Now there's a surprise. Maybe this country ain't so bad after all.

So, as I said, we have a lot of "stuff" going on.