Bank holiday weekend

Hiiii

Its friday 6.30pm....start of the bank holiday weekend and I'm bored! Andy is not feeling too good and is asleep - and I am waiting for our second lot of guests to turn up - and I am so bored I'm having to resort to chatting to Lissa on Whatsapp.....

Just kidding!

The annex is all ready for our guests - they are going to be here for three nights.  They have treats and milk and bread and wine!

I've just cooked chicken in yogurt - its a curry - and I forgot to get naan bread but I'd probably not be allowed any anyway!  I managed to stick to weight watchers yesterday....and today - but tonight I am gonna want a drink - so might go over!  In fact I'll probably want a drink tomorrow and Sunday night too (being a bank holiday and all..)

I seem to have done nothing but shop and cook since I went on WW....but its nice that I have had the time instead of working constantly on the house.  I'm going to have to get back to it soon though...or not! We don't have anything urgent to do (for the first time in almost 2 years) although there is still LOADS to do.  I haven't decided what to do next although I think it may have to be our living room - which has a half finished fire place and needs painting.

So - not sure what Andy wants to do over the weekend - provided he is feeling well!  There is stuff going on in Paignton which Helen and Paul asked us about - but with guests here...we didn't feel right going.  We will eventually make it so people can let themselves in, but as its early days we want to make sure we are not needed, and get more confident that people have everything they need. 

Anyway - I haven't actually got anything interesting to say so I'm gonna go...and hope our guests turn up!

Diet...disaster

Morning!

So...yesterday I signed up for weight watchers - and last night I completely pigged out!!  I am blaming the fact that I had no healthy food in the house - I got suddenly hungry and once I'd eaten something I shouldn't I thought...sod it - I'll go and buy all the healthy stuff tomorrow!

So - today I need to spend sometime figuring out what to eat for lunches and dinner - as well as snacks and sweet things.  Then I am going to go out and buy IT ALL lol....

My mouth is still sore - its annoying because tomorrow it will be a week - and it was only a filling! Its not even the tooth that is hurting - its the gums all around it...

Yesterday I cemented the new manhole cover - to keep it in place and the water level was so high I am almost certain it is blocked....joy

So what are today's tasks?  I am going to put all the clean bedding on the bed in the annex, and make sure everywhere is clean ready for the weekend.  I am going to do food lists and shopping and probably some cooking. After that? maybe some cleaning - vac up all the dead ladybirds in the dressing room!!  Oh....I might sort out a few electrics - there is a plug socket sticking out of the fireplace in the games room - it used to be attached to the board that covered and closed off the fireplace - now there is just a long cable with a plug socket attached to the end.  AND I need to replace the sockets I asked Connor to fix - both new ones got broken in the process.

First things first....diet planning because despite the fact that I messed up big time last night - I still really wanna do this!

Just an average Tuesday...

Hi again,

So last time I blogged I was about to go to the dentist! I went...was sedated - and I'm very relieved to say that the sedation worked a treat! No memory of any treatment - just a filling was needed! However...that was 6 days ago and my mouth is so sore!! Been having salt water mouth washes today...

Friday evening Lissa arrived! We jumped straight into party mode - playing pool and having a laugh - for some reason I remained sober but Lissa and Andy were quite drunk!! I was glad I'd not drank too much Saturday morning - but those two were suffering a bit!

Me and Lissa then went off to the Spa - I'd left it too late to add a treatment in - so we just had access to the jacuzzi, steam room and sauna - which was actually perfect because we flitted from one to the other and had lots of opportunity to catch up!  This ended with a cream tea (or coffee) which was very nice!  Saturday evening we took it easy and chilled whilst watching a film - and Sunday we barely moved off the couch!

I'm hoping to book something else for me and Lissa - maybe close to her so I'll make the journey this time. 

Today I joined Weight Watchers online (for £1) so....lets see if for the first time in AGES I can manage to stick to a diet! I'm currently 12 stone!!! ouch!! That might not be too bad if I was 6'4" but unfortunately I am 5'3" - I really want to give it a good go - we are approaching summer and I have lots of nice clothes I cannot fit into - I don't have unrealistic goals - I'm aiming for 10 1/2 stone.  I need to get into the gym again - although I still cant run as I have planter fasciitis in my foot.  I am going into the gym soon - just a bit of exercise bike and I am going to start a 30 day yoga thingy Lissa suggested.

Lissa is very good to chat to about diet and exercise! She's the only person I know who gets as obsessed as me - although she is barely 8 stone! Maybe she is the person I should take advice off! lol.  I'm proud she does so well, because I think I was the person that got her into fitness and exercise in the first place - I just didn't keep it up!!

So - the airbnb - we got a BRILLIANT review from our first guest! She went to so much effort it looks like we paid her or wrote it ourselves! lol  We have had 6 bookings now...so it seems to be working!

Okay - I'm off to browse for a spa me and Lissa can go to and then I'll drag my lard-arse into the gym!
xx

stuff....airbnb...dentist

Hi,

So our first guest left early - but only because her husband was discharged from hospital early - she sent me a lovely message though; "I'm sorry to leave the annex. Its a brilliant place to stay and has made a difficult time much easier than it might have been.  Thanks so much for opening it up early for me"

That made me feel good!!  Its not just about making money - I want people to come and enjoy it! I want people to enjoy the house (like we do) and find it comfortable and enjoy all the little extras we put in!  We put in - toiletries, and face wipes, and wine and bread and milk - couple of eggs etc. We found when we were airbnb'ing the little extras - like salt and pepper, oil etc. go a long way to making life easier.

Was a little weird though - not having access to the part of the house I've spent so much time working on recently! and worrying - I was worried when our guest didn't come back till late (because her husband was in hospital), and worrying that everything is working, its warm enough etc. I expect that will lessen over time however....

I am trying to educate myself on twitter, instagram etc. to try and promote the airbnb - Andy has just tried to explain to me how some people use these things - I have a basic understanding and have used these platforms a few times - but I really want to get more involved and try and keep up with everything - so thats my task today until.....

Dentist later and I'm phobic - so have to have sedation otherwise I can't go through with it - I've tried and ended up sobbing in the dentist - with a very unsympathetic dentist too - so I walked out even though I was in agony!  Later I'm having a filling, possibly a root filling, possibly the tooth will come out.  Either way - not happy and just wanna get it over with! Once its over....

Lissa is visiting this weekend! She'll be here tomorrow night - then Saturday we have a spa thingy - so that will be awesome - give us time to chill and chat and catch up and just spend time with each other which I love because I managed to make a lovely person! I take all the credit for the amazing person she turned out to be lol....and Adam and Connor of course - but their not girls!

Okay - I'm to tweet lol

Annex/Airbnb is up and running!

Hi!

Well....we did it! Our first guest arrived yesterday! I had to work solidly to get it finished - including weekends with Andy helping!  It didn't seem like we had much to finish but we did! lol.

Jane is our first guest and her husband is quite ill at the local hospital, so I hope he's going to be okay!  So the things that went not so well....I had just finished showing her around and we walked back to her car and some bloke cycled into the driveway - looking very dodgy and nervous when he saw us standing there.  He looked quite like a bloke we saw before (and nick-named Kev, after he looked like a dodgy bloke selling phones etc.)....so I am hoping that didn't make her feel unsafe.  Then I remembered that we had borrowed all the coat hangers when Bev stayed last week....then this morning I remembered we had also borrowed the clothes rack...and to top it off she messaged me this morning saying that the loo seat had broken!

She is aware that she is our first guest so hopefully she will cut us some slack and give us a good review!

Its a milestone getting the annex finished! We have bits and bobs to improve on - we want to sort out a different entrance to the annex - sort out the garden....paint a few more things...but we'll get there and then hopefully it wont be too much work maintaining it.

I actually hired a cleaner!  She works hard and moves all our stuff about lol....but it makes my life easier - I just can't cope working on the house and cleaning it all...

Here is a link to our airbnb....

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/27195442?

The living room has been changed a little since the pictures were taken - the TV is now on the wall and there is a wall fire too....

So, my plan was to have a day off today and rest my very painful foot - but now I need to go buy a loo seat and fix it!

So in the last few weeks we have had Joanne and family visit, and bev & Tony visited too (not all at the same time).  It was the first time Bev has visited and we haven't been as close as we once were for a while too, so it was awesome that she made the effort to come and visit.

Anyway - better go and buy a loo seat!

Been busy....

Hi,

So it is now April! Wow how fast time goes....  I thought rather than try and catch up with stuff - I'd just jump in with where I am now

I have been working on the annex - so many things needed doing! I have now finished the bathroom fully - having had to take the bath apart and fix and leak (overflow - was overflowing right through the light fixings in the gym below)...

The living room and dining room are done - I have a list of things to get finished - today I'm painting the downstairs hallway, now that I've removed the firebell, trunking and cabling and other random stuff that was attached to the walls.  Only smaller finishing off jobs are left now...it feels never ending however...

The place is now up on airbnb and our first guest is coming on 22nd April for 4 days - and we have somebody booked in for 2 nights at the end of May.  Very nervous about this - because I want everything to be perfect! Jobs I have left - are things like - make sure all kitchen utensils are there - and relevant, sort out bedding, buy a new mattress etc.  The budget money has run out (£400 left) so, we are having to cut back on all spending so that we can build some money up from our monthly income.  The income from the annex is going to be low to start with - they offer ppl 20% off on the first 3 bookings.  We NEED excellent reviews from these bookings!!! eeekkkkkk......

I am wondering just how much work the annex will end up being if it ends up fairly busy....I don't want to get anything wrong!

In other news, my friend Yvonne has had a gastric bypass operation - so it is going to be fun and exciting seeing her transformation!

I need a filling, and had to find a new dentist that does sedation...having the sedation during the time our very first guest is going to be here!! BAD timing.....

The kids surprised me for mothers day and turned up - which was awesome! we got good weather and spent the day playing Smite in the garden - as well as two party nights - was knackered once they had gone home! lol.

anyway - cats are making it difficult for me to type now as they want to walk on keyboard....and I have the awful sound of a bird slowly struggling for life in my chimney breast...its awful - we cant get to it and had to listen to it all night last night - thought it would be dead now but the poor thing still struggling.....

sorry should not end on a bad note....errr......I'm off to paint......

The Patton's - Family Crest

I know that the Patton family lived in our house for about 70 years - it could have been longer, as we don't know anything prior to 1819 (200 years ago this year!)


I have read mention of members of the family in Bishops Hull prior to 1819 but I don't know if that was in this house or just in the area.


Andy bought me a metal detector and I found a button in the garden believed to be from a servants coat - and it shows the family crest - but you can hardly see the image.  It looked like an eagle - similar to the one that used to be on top of our front porch but was moved to next door - when the house was built and called Eagle House (not by the Pattons, but by the next family: The Waterfields)


So - I found the family crest!


 Patton Family Crest


This came from - https://coadb.com/surnames/patton-arms.html


There were 4 different Patton crests - but the one above said - Stoke Court/Bishops Hall Crest.  As the pattons that lived here also owned Stoke court - I am 100% convinced this is correct.  On the same website I found the following info (which I haven't checked against the family tree I have but it all sounds about right!)


Patton of Clayton Priory

General Walter Douglas Phillipps of Clayton Priory county Sussex was born in 1821 and he was Colonel of the 74th Highlanders, a Knight of Medjidie, and a Brigadier-General in Burmah. He was succeeded his father in 1876 and in 1855, he married Julia, daughter of Sir Howard Elphinstone and five children with her: Walter Denman Elphinstone (1859), Herbert Bethune (born 1860, 2nd Lieutenant 3rd Hussars), Douglas Elphinstone Bethune, Julia Elphinstone, and Anne Florence Louisa Mary Bethune. Burke traces the lineage of Patton genealogy to Colonel Henry Patton of the 6th Royal Regiment of Clatto in county Fide, the eldest surviving son of Andrew Patton, Esquire of Springfield in Donegal (the family gained lands there generations prior for displaying valour in battle). In 1747, he married Mary, daughter and heiress of Henry Bethune of Clatto and Nydie, and he had issue with her. His son was James Susannau Patton, Esq. of Clatto in county Fife and of Priory, Lichfield who was Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant who was born in 1753. He was Major in the 93rd Highlanders and Colonel Staffordshire Volunteers who, in 1780, married Merrial, daughter of Thomas Docksey of Snetsone, and had the following issue with her: Henry (born 1780, Lieutenant 1st Royals), Peter (born 1783, Captain Royal Engineers), James (born 1791, served in Royal Navy), Thomas (of Bishop’s Hall), Richard (married Hannah Cullen), John (born 1793, member of Royal Navy), Maria Elizabeth, Susan, Mary (married Lieutenant-Colonel Elliott), Merrial (married a member of the Dodson family), Emma (married Reverend Richard Winsloe), Charlotte (married Sir William Palmer). He died in 1812 and was succeeded by his son Thomas Patton of Bishop’s Hull and Stoke Court, Somerset, who was born in 1792 and became a Commander in the British Royal Navy. In 1819, he married Matilda, daughter of Reverend Richard Winsloe, and had nine children with her: Walter Douglas Phillipps, Herbert Winsloe (born 1823, Captain in the British Royal Army, married Mary, daughter of Charles Gifford), Henry Bethune (born 1834, married Clara Fripp, was Justice of the Peace, Captain of 27th Inniskillings), Lionel Thomas (born 1839, Captain in the 2nd Somerset Militia, married Annette Isaac), Aubrey de Lisle (born 1841, Captain 14thRegiment, married Agnes, daughter of William Corbett, Esq.), Emma Matilda (married Lieutenant Colonel Rawlins), Clara Agnes, Matilda Winsloe (married Cranstoun Adams), and Isabella (married Theobald Walsh). The Patton Coat of Arms (erroneously referred to as the Patton Family Crest) was blazoned in heraldry as follows: Azure, a sword argent hilted or, between three crescents of the second. Crest: A hawk argent.