Another brilliant bit of Lego modelling.

So it’s nearly here. September. The end of the summer. The time that schoolchildren and teachers dread, but most parents look forward to. That time of year when you can feel the mornings and evenings getting a bit nippier. The point in the calendar when you know summer is ending.

I noticed it two mornings ago really. When I woke up in the morning, the breeze coming in my bedroom window was no longer the muggy heat of August, but the chill morning air that I still associate with new blazers and squeaky new school shoes. There was no doubt about it, September was in the air.

I should know that this is coming. I work in a school, and things have gradually been revving up again over the past week. Teaching staff have been crawling out of the woodwork, and the relaxed pace of the summer holidays has gradually been replaced by a sense of urgency, as we all realise how little we’ve actually managed to get done since July.

Still, there are a lot of good sides to September getting closer. When the children go back to school, order is restored. Traffic mounts up at fixed times of the day, so at least you know what to expect. During holiday time, random lunchtime-on-a-Tuesday traffic jams seem to spring out of nowhere. At least during term time you know that between 7.45 – 9.00, the traffic will be bad. So you can plan accordingly. It’s all about order.

I also like the fact that it’s getting a bit cooler. I am 7 months pregnant at the moment, and the heat has been really getting to me. I am, therefore, quite looking forward to a bit of a respite from being constantly too hot. I like coats and scarves and hats and gloves too – accessorising your winter wardrobe is always good.

So, as I look back over a fun and fabulous summer, I am still quite glad that it’s nearly over. Bring on the falling leaves, chilly mornings and first frosts – I can handle it!!

Love this – Legohenge!

I don’t remember the Will Smith film looking quite like this…!

The famous Abbey Road album cover given a Lego twist!

This Lego version of the famous New York poster made me smile today – enjoy!

My fabulous new greenhouse!

Now you may have noticed in my post about fire retardant spray that I mentioned that my mother in law came down at the weekend to help me put up a greenhouse. So, well done any eagle-eyed spotters out there, this post is related to that.

This greenhouse is not just any common or garden outdoor building. Oh no. This is not an aluminium-and-glass affair. This is the real McCoy. Or to be correct, it’s the real Alton.

A brand new Alton greenhouse retails at about £3200. Now before you go thinking that FPO are paying me far too much for my blogging, rest assured that I didn’t pay that much for my one. It was, in fact a present/project from my mother in law. MIL knew that I very much wanted a greenhouse, so when we moved into our new house, she said she’d get one for me. I was expecting the normal aluminium variety, but she spotted a little treasure on eBay.

To say it was in need of a little tender loving care would be a gigantic understatement. However, she saw the potential and bought it for me – for the grand total of £25. First we had to go and dismantle it – well, when I say ‘we’, I mean my husband and some of his friends. It was then transported back to our house in our friend’s van, and it resided in our garage for a fair few months.

My husband sanded the whole thing down, having removed a lot of the glass. I painted it. He replaced any rotten sections of wood. I painted more of it. The three of us levelled the ground that it was going to stand on, and put in some foundations. We scraped the stains off the glass where the previous owner had been slightly slapdash in his paint application. We purchased new bolts and funny little plastic things to hold the glass in. We ordered new glass to replace the broken pieces (some of which got broken after a slightly sharp application of the van’s brakes during transport!). And after a final de-weeding of the site, we were ready to re-assemble it.

So, MIL came down on Friday, and on Saturday morning we began the grand assembly. Now I have to say, that it actually went rather well. My husband had obviously taken care when reconstructing various parts of it, as it all fitted together rather neatly. There was a slightly tense moment involving the roof sections being put on upside down, but in the end it was a perfect fit. We’ve also installed guttering and a water butt and we are now raring to go, as you can see in the picture.

So, a big thank you to my husband and my mother in law. The whole thing looks a thousand times better than I’d hoped it would, and I am looking forward to cultivating my green fingers along with my plants. Here’s to home grown tomatoes!!

DIY. Is it a good idea?

What a HUGE question. I think we need a little bit of context here. Are we talking about doing some painting, or going on a grand scale and adding a loft conversion to your house? There are varying degrees of DIY, and also varying degrees of DIY-ing ability.

Now, I am a very lucky girl. My husband and my father are both very practical people. Give them a task, and they will mull it over and then find the best way to tackle it. They also work very well together, which is a bit of a billy bonus – no-one likes their family arguing over the best way to hold a hammer!

My mum is also a very practical lady. Not necessarily in the hammers-and-wood type way (although she has been known to wield the odd paintbrush or two in her time) but in a more home-decorating, soft furnishings way. She is a genius when it comes to making things like blinds, curtains, cushions – and even managed to reupholster her entire conservatory furniture suite. A very useful lady to have around…

My husband and I decorated our future baby’s room last weekend – all very gender-neutral as we don’t know whether it’s going to be a blue or a pink baby. It took us one day to do the entire thing. Now, admittedly it’s not the biggest room in the world, but I was properly impressed at how quickly we managed it. This week, he’s on annual leave, and is tackling the stairway and landing. This poses a bit more of a challenge. Not only does he not have my able assistance (!), but the stairway is quite high. You can’t reach it without an intricate network of ladders and suchlike, but he has decided that the old paintbrush-on-a-stick method will be sufficient. Hmmm….I remain somewhat unconvinced.

It is at points like this (and two weeks ago when he managed to blow up the living room light switch) when I wonder if there are some jobs which really are better left to the professionals. Decorating I can mostly sort out by myself, but when it comes to things like plumbing and electricals, I think that we mere mortals are probably best off leaving well alone.

I’m off home in a bit. Let’s hope that the stairway’s transformation is complete, and without too many bits of dodgy paintwork – wish me luck!

Last, but definitely not least, is Rainbow. This will always have a special place in my television-viewing heart. And am I the only one that thought George was a girl, just because he was pink??

Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check out this fabulous piccie. This is a very old fire extinguisher. As you can see, time has taken its toll on the poor thing, and I’m fairly sure it would pass any of the British kitemarking standards, but it is pretty cool.

My husband, my father and my mother all work at a miniature steam railway. My husband and father both drive steam trains, and my mum works in the railway shop, selling all kinds of bits and bobs from ice creams to hugely expensive scale model railway layouts and locomotives.

At the weekend, the railway celebrated its 25^th Anniversary. Yes, it officially opened for business way back in 1986, and is still going strong. So, there was a big celebratory event on Saturday and Sunday, and they had nearly all of the engines out running around the track. And, when you have lots of engines running, you need someone to make sure that they don’t crash into each other. This is where the trusty signalman comes in. And in the signalbox was where I found the rusty old fire extinguisher (see, I did get back round to that bit in the end!)

The railway is a veritable cornucopia of old things and stuff. There are original signs from railways, lamps from steam trains, old full-size signals, and levers from original main line signal boxes. And also, apparently some authentic, original fire extinguishing equipment! Now, I’m sure it wouldn’t be an awful lot of good in an actual fire, and so there is also a modern-day equivalent standing nearby, but it is pretty cool to see the old equipment too. I wonder if in 50 years time someone will be commenting on one of the FPO extinguishers and saying what a beautiful example of a bygone age it is?!!