White Painted Home Decor: Fresh, Open Kitchen - White Painted Home Decor - Photos - SouthernLiving.com

We interrupt this transmission for some kitchen lust ...

White Painted Home Decor: Fresh, Open Kitchen - White Painted Home Decor - Photos - SouthernLiving.com

Living Life in a Country and Western Song

Too be fair, we still have the car, the dogs and each other, but Joe lost his job a couple of weeks ago and it has been a bit of a roller coaster!

Oh and when I put my laundry out this afternoon it immediately clouded over.

I don't mean to whine, but I'm just having one of those weeks where it is one step forward and two steps back, my health is all over the place and it was supposed to be my week off for rest.

On the upside I have just mended a monkey's bottom!

An orgy of stress induced cleaning means that the house is looking good - I even did the windows, a pet hate of mine.

Most of my seedlings are coming up and my lemon tree has blossoms ... and small shriveled things that could be lemon buds.

And I am totally styling it in my summer dress and wellies.

So I'm off to add up my blessings and make shriveled lemonade!

Dog Walking on the Beach, Counting Our Blessings

I love that the weather and the light are enough to take the boys to the beach for walks, sometimes we get up early and watch the sun rise over the sea, sometimes we head over in the evening while the sun sets over the dunes.

Fitz and Milo love all the space and the smells, and this evening we were also joined by a curious seal who swam along side us as we walked up the beach.

It's very hard not to be content with life walking along the beach, hand in hand with your husband, puppies gambolling like mad things, we are very lucky despite everything that is going on in our lives at the moment.

Get Busy Living ...

9am

Well I seem to have been wallowing slightly in FMS flare up blues lately and spending more time reading about other peoples lives than doing anything with my own

So today I am going to do two things:

1. Sort out this blog, catch up missing blogs and add in pictures
2. Plant up seeds and pot on seedlings

Watch this space!

8pm


Well I got nearly all of my seeds planted, ammended the shameless Amazon "What are we reading?" widget and did the following blog updates:

I added in pics here:

and here:

and published posts on River Cottage here:

and our new puppy here:

modernhaus: As if Portland needed more promoting...

Continuing my recent penchant for lifestyle envy, we move from San Francisco to San Diego (and from there Oregon), and the gorgeous blog of modernhaus:

modernhaus: As if Portland needed more promoting...

I'm probably a bit old to be stamping my feet and wailing, but "I want to live in Americaaaaaaaaaa!"

All better now!

Dream Home ...

I've done a LOT of thinking about how I want our house to be when we finally own one and so far I have come up with the following:

• wooden floors
• all white walls
• all white furntiture with odd brightly coloured highlights
• all our quirky bits and pieces on show
• my eames style flea market finds and kimono fabric cushions
• the wooden initials of my husband and myself
• all my books
• the piano, sax and guitars

turns out I'm not the only one ... this place is stunning ... how green am I?

One small step for man, a giant leap for this Guynan

This year I am officially starting my training to become a Paramedic.

It has been a serious ambition of mine for some 10 years now to leave my IT career behind me and join the medical profession.

My introduction started in November 2008 when I was employed by the East of England Ambulance Service as a software developer, and over the past 16 months I have been promoted to senior developer, and am currently the interim Development Manager for the Ambulance Service.

Since April 2009, I have been a community first responder for the ambulance service which involves being clinically trained in BLS (Basic life support) This includes CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) AED (Automated External Defibrillation) and the diagnosis and treatment of many life threatening conditions.

Should the ambulance service be unable to get to a patient in an agreed amount of time, ambulance control will activate a community first responder to be first on scene and control the situation until a Paramedic arrives.

While working for the ambulance service and responding within my community, I also volunteer to work 12 hour shifts with APRU, Advanced Paramedic Response Unit.

I ride out with APRU, call sign 222, as and when I can, this is the ambulance services Critical Care Paramedic car. They are a team of 2 advanced Paramedics. 222 specialises in pre-hospital care and trauma for both adults and children (paediatrics), they are a registered charity and rely on public donations to enable them to use advanced equipment and carry pre-hospital drugs.

This is a fantastic opportunity for me, as I get to learn many skills beyond the level of a community first responder, and gain priceless experience on the road.

As I have to wait 2 years before I can apply to become a student ambulance paramedic (I need to clear the 3 points on my driving license, and get my Maths GSCE at C grade) I have decided to join Norvic Ambulance, a private organisation that will enable me to gain a recognised clinical qualification, and gain even more experience.

I will be starting my Norvic EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) course in May this year, and upon passing my assessment, I can work part time for Norvic as a technician.

I will blog more about my training in the near future. But for now, I will continue to respond, ride out, and work my way through my Paramedic bible, Emergency care on the streets by Nancy Caroline.

Joe&

Taking Pleasure in the Small Things ...

Well I think today was the first day of spring weather we've had here in Norfolk and it was glorious. I got a lot of chores done and the silliest things seemed to make me smile.

I took particular pleasure in being able to hang my washing outside for the first time this year, and in the little green buds that are showing on my hydrangeas.

Bliss!

Sarah&

Want Lots, Waste Lots

Oops ... Joe and I did a really, bad thing: We went to Lidls to (to pick up chicken for supper) tired and hungry and without a list and as a consequence spent £30 pounds (more than our weekly food budget) on things we didn't need.

Amongst other things:

Walnut Ice Cream £1.89
Guava Juice 75p
Pomegranate juice 69p
2 packs of sunflower seeds 29p each
Cherry Crumble £1.19
Mini Rum eggs £1.79
Mini Marzipan Eggs £1.79 and a
Superking Fitted Sheet £6.99

Even worse I'm fairly sure the chicken wasn't free range. 

Well I've done penance for the chicken by donating the difference between the price at Lidls and Roaming Roosters (about £3) to Hugh Fearnley Whittinstall's Chicken Out Campain.

I guess the penance for the £30 overspend will be another night spent number crunching on the excel spreadsheet.

Waste Not Want Not

Every year in the UK we throw away £12 billion worth of food which could have been eaten. Love Food Hate Waste is a campaign from WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) which shows that by doing easy practical everyday things in the home we can all waste less food, which ultimately benefits our purses and the environment too. If we all stopped wasting food that could have been eaten, it would have the same environmental impact as taking 1 in 4 cars off UK roads. lovefoodhatewaste.com has lots of delicious recipes to use up leftovers, handy hints and tips for storing food to make it last longer, a portion calculator to help you cook the right amount, and information on what food date labels mean. There is something for everyone, whether you are a keen cook, or simply want to reduce the amount of food which you throw away.