monkeys, headaches and loud neighbours

Monkey members day at the zoo was a day we couldn't miss, Chris has always been monkey mad since he was tiny so he was so excited we got to make enrichment for the monkeys, veg and fruit kebabs on twigs and willow balls with bananas and pears hidden inside..... the lovely Louise is the zoo's conservation officer and she is so brilliant at interacting with the children, here's her and Chris pushing a kebab stick into the ground for the ring tailed lemurs ( his favorite monkey)

the lemurs were so not shy!! they came up so close to us, I really wanted to stroke one as they looked so furry and cosy.

We also fed the gorillas, the new baby was so lovely although the mummy was a bit camera shy, we got this picture of the dad though- I wouldn't like to take any willow off him, he's huge!!

My favourite monkeys the orangutans were funny too, the female in charge gathered up all the food and had it in a pile to herself, she wasn't into sharing at all. The one in the front of the picture kept following her and sitting right by her in the hope of getting some.

On a more rubbish note, I have been suffering from continuous headaches lately, they last for days and Ive tried rubbing peppermint oil into my head, sleeping and even pain killers but it seems to be there all the time, we have had problems with finding a house, each one we have gone for has fallen through, I'm guessing its because we have not got the regular 9-5 jobs and don't fit in with the check boxes all the letting agents have. I just want a little house in the countryside, room to grow veg and keep our chickens, its not that much of an ask is it?

Our new neighbours are right pains in the arse too, crappy crap music blaring out from 8am till dusk and little girls that are being dragged up, I hate spending time in the garden now because I can hear them all the time. Children on the next street keep coming to our street to play and are the most foul mouthed toe rags ever, they boot the football at our windows and swear at you when you tell them off, the neighbour across the road had his windshield put through with their football too.

Tension headaches, that's what Ive got!! Anyone know of private landlords that have 3 or 4 bed houses with gardens in Lancashire, Cumbria or North Yorkshire? If so please let me know.

A spoonful of sugar...

We had a day in Ingleton looking at a different house as the last one went to someone else, this new one is even better suited to us so maybe fate lended a hand, it was lovely and sunny and felt so good to feel the sun on our backs, we had a bit of a disaster getting there, we don't drive and use the bus or our bikes to travel, so we got up extra early and went to get the 7.15 bus only to get told by the driver that you can't buy a family ticket until after 9am, which meant we would miss our connecting bus, I was fuming, I thought bus company's would encourage bus use, I know its because it's peak time but maybe less people would drive to work if the buses were more reasonable and therefore polluting the air less, so we got the rather expensive train instead.

We did enjoy ourselves though, it is so different to where we live, I found out I like taking pictures of churches- not sure why but when I uploaded our photos, I had loads of this church!

The boys have a new photo blog .It is part of there home school to encourage them to use the computer in different ways, they are going to take some photos hopefully each day and put them on the blog, some will be serious and others just silly probably!

This is a lovely one Chris took of us....

and here's another of Adam looking thoughtful, surveying the viaduct...

See another church one - maybe its because secretly I want to get married in it! Shush don't tell!

Mmmm yummy raspberry jam cupcakes with vanilla frosting, a recipe from the primrose bakery cupcake book I'm currently borrowing from the library- note the silly boy in the background!

In between buses we had an hours wait in Lancaster so we perused the charity shops and Ta Da I found this......



Oh call me sad but I was so pleased, Mary Poppins soundtrack on vinyl!! Woo Hoo, it was the one missing from my collection, I just need chitty chitty bang bang and that's my collection of musicals complete, I love to torture, I mean listen to them whilst the children are around to see there joyous faces- that's a lie!, I get the "ohhh MUM, turn it offffff" thing instead but I don't care, I shall dance around in my swirly skirt when I finish it, eating naughty cupcakes and singing at the top of my lungs in between mouthfuls and I know that life is good

Some beautiful tulips in the community garden in Ingleton, there are flowers all over the village, Chris asked me why people don't steal them like they do in Blackpool. I didn't really know what to say - is it because there is scummy tw*ts that haven't got any morals here or just a load of dumbed down wasters that have no decent role models to teach them right from wrong, probably a bit of both and that's why were so desperate to move away.

Does anyone know what type of flowers these are?, they smell heavenly.

ups and downs...

I have been having a great couple of weeks cooking new dishes, each time masterchef is on the TV I get all experimental and borrow more than usual books from the library for inspiration, this yummy plum and polenta cake was delicious but the next day we had very sore tummy's, i think it was overload of plums that did it, I have themed our evening meals this week with a different country or type for the night and we have really enjoyed trying new things, even fussy eater Chris has tasted some new foods after much coxing and bribing!
I found this rather lovely swirly pattern in a watermelon and I have never seen anything like it before, have any of you?

We went here this week -Ingleton, the place we feel at home and the place we really want to live, a house came up and we went on 4 buses and travelled for 4 hours to go and view it, it was everything we dreamed of, we fell for it, all of us even the children, so when we got home we emailed the estate agent and put in an offer.... we waited until the next day for a reply and one came..... not the one we wanted, another application has gone through before ours, I'm gutted, we all are but a small glimmer of hope is still with me, I feel ( and I know this is terrible) that the other persons application/checks may fail and we will be offered it, maybe I'm in denial, maybe I'm just mean thinking that way but i cant help it.

we went to the waterfalls whilst there and had our picnic here.....

We were so happy with the thought of a new begging, a new lovely greener life...

this would of been the view from the bedroom windows :(

I'm trying to be positive and think everything happens for a reason, something even better will come up and all that jazz but it has made me feel pretty sad.

It would of been my dad's birthday today, he died from cancer 4 years ago, it still pains me, I still feel guilt that I didn't go and see him on the night he was dying, I cried this morning whilst making breakfast - no one saw, they thought I was cross because I was ranting about not getting much help, I sometimes feel like it's always me rushing around trying to make things perfect for everyone else, I guess I'm just having one of those days, tomorrow will be better x

moved from here

moved from my other blog you can see my other posts on there i have kept it online.
Just click on the title to go see