Smoke Free at Yew Court

Something has changed at Yew Court. Well I have actually. After being a smoker for most of my adult life, I have finally stopped smoking!!!

Yes smoking is a nasty habit, I know but on 5 July 2011 I become a non smoker.

It is something I have been meaning to do for a long time but never really had the nerve. I was worried about withdrawal symptoms, cravings and putting on weight. Well thats my excuse anyway.

But when I was at the Dentist a few weeks ago, he told me off in a nice way, saying that smoking is staining my teeth (if as I didn't know already) and kindly offered to refer me to a Stop Smoking Clinic. So I agreed and soon after I had an appointment to see a Stop Smoking Councillor.

They advised me on the different methods I could use and in the end I decided to try Nicorette patches along with lozenges to help me stop smoking. I decided on a stop smoking date and was given a prescription for the patches and lozenges.

You can read more details about How I stopped Smoking here.

Since stopping smoking I have been giving the house a good clean to get rid of all the horrible nicotine and hence yesterdays Bath Time For Teddy and Friends lol.

I do feel a lot better since I stopped smoking and the patches and lozenges are a tremendous help. But temptation is always lurking. Richard is still smoking at the moment but has promised to stop soon too but he has decided not to smoke in the house anymore. But the other day he left his cigarettes in the kitchen and I noticed them just as I had made some coffee. I thought to myself, I will have a cup of coffee and a cigarette in the garden - until I remembered I didn't smoke anymore! Oh! darn it!

But I know I am going to stay strong and stay a non smoker.

Bath Time For Teddy and Friends

This week at Yew Court I have been having a spring clean. I washed all the windows and curtains and next decided it was about time the cuddly toys had a wash too.

I have a new washing machine so in they all went in like brave little soldiers.

It was a nice sunny day and they soon got dry on the clothes line.

It wasn't long before they were all washed and dried and looking as good as new again!

We Need More Rain At Yew Court

Here at Yew Court we are getting worried about the lack of rain. Apparently in our area we have only had about 10% of our normal rainfall.

Everything is very dry and the lawns are going brown. Richard has been watering the garden as much as possible but being on the water meter it is too expensive to water the lawns as well.

It keeps threatening to rain and when we do get rain it only seems to last for a very short time. Oh dear I hope we get a good long downpour soon!

The birds have been busy in the garden lately. There has been a lot of activity with nest building and we have some blue tits nesting in the nesting box again. We have seen baby blackbirds being fed by their parents and also some young bullfinches. I love to see all the birds in the garden.

We always make sure there is plenty of food for them and hang up high energy fat balls as well as putting out bread and other kitchen scraps. We also have lots of starlings and they are nesting too. As soon as I put out any food they are soon around collecting big beak-fulls and flying off to their nests and then the next minute they are back for more.

On the work front, I have made a website for my online local business consultancy work where I hope to help local business have an online presence. I am also making a website for my brother's new business.

Also I put a new theme on Richard's photography website which we are both very pleased with. It looks much more professional now and displays his photos much better.

More brownie points for me I think!

Blue Jays and Computer Problems at Yew Court

Last week was about new baby and new career at Yew Court. This week it has been all about shopping for baby strollers and baby clothes for the new addition to the family.

It has also been about computer problems too. The other day I was busy working on my computer and drinking a cup of tea at the same time. This combination can be fatal. I lost concentration for one second and the next thing I knew I had knocked the cup of tea over my keyboard and killed my computer!

I did my best to mop up the tea and dry out my computer but to no avail. Luckily enough I have my computer insured and sent it off to be repaired. If I hadn't had my computer insured I would have had to find a local computer repairs company, which would have been a nuisance. You just don't realise how much we rely on our computers. I was lost without mine. But thankfully my computer was soon repaired and as good as new again in new time!

On a happier note, we have been seeing lots of Blue Jays in the garden this year. We have seen them around other years but this year they seem to come into our garden more and stay for longer. I think they must have a nest near by as we have also spotted baby blue jays too. Richard says he sees lots of baby blue jays flying around in the mornings. They seem to gather around the same time each day and then fly off.

New Baby and New Career at Yew Court

It's all happening at Yew Court lately. First of all Richard's daughter had a new baby boy. His name is Jayden and he is only one week old at the time of writing. Isn't he sweet!

Richard went round to see mother and baby to take some photos. He has decided that as well as doing nature photography he now wants to be a Professional Portrait Photographer.

On top of that my Nephew Graham has decided to become self employed and now has his own Carpentry and Joinery Business in Lincoln where he lives. I think it is very brave of him to go it alone but then he is a first class Joiner so I am sure he will do well.

The weather here at Yew Court is at last beginning to brighten up and we are seeing some sunshine during the day, although the nights are still fairly chilly. But the birds are singing merrily in the garden and are busy nest building and looks for a mate.

To cap it all, next week is my birthday. And please no guessing how old I am lol!

There Is No Place Like Yew Court

Here at Yew Court the days have been dull and cold and winter seems to be lasting forever. But now at last there is some sunshine coming through here and there and the days are gradually getting longer, giving us the promise of the warm spring days to come.

There are still plenty of wild birds around, including lots of blackbirds, blue tits and great tits and of course our resident squirrel. It is lovely to see them all, it brightens the day.

We have been thinking for a while of buying a car and have been looking at the pros and cons. We have been looking on the internet at the used car sales to compare prices. But now with the threat of fuel prices increasing we are getting a bit dubious of the whole idea. Maybe one day.

It is so lovely here at Yew Court with all the birds and wild life in the garden that more often than not, this is the place where we would most rather be. We are so lucky and I am grateful every day to live here at Yew Court.

Snow at Yew Court

The weather here has been bitterly cold over the last few weeks and here at Yew Court we had heavy snow. Of course most of the country had snow too but living here we get it fairly bad and simple things like going to the local shops has been very difficult especially when the roads were icy.

To make matters worse I had a bad tooth ache after losing a front filling. Being reluctant to go to the dentist, I left it until the pain became unbearable!

As previously mentioned finding a new dentist and doctor etc since moving to Yew Court has been a nuisance. I did find a good Physiotherapist in Ipswich at the end of last year though. That was through doing a Google search for Physiotherapist Ipswich. But I digress.

To be honest the dentist I had in London was so lovely and I was not so keen on my new dentist.

Anyway the pain got so bad that I had to go and see the dentist and it turned out I had an infection. Antibiotics didn't really help much and the dentist said the tooth should really come out.

Being stubborn and convinced a filling would make it better, I insisted on trying a filling first. Well that didn't work so in the end I had the tooth out.

Afterwards I thought that would be an end to it, but no the pain got worse and worse so I had to go back to the dentist. He said it was badly infected and gave it some long name. This time he gave me two lots of antibiotics and now it is gradually getting better.

If I had still been living in London when the filling came out I would not have hesitated to go to my dentist to have it fixed. I should have gone to the dentist straightaway and I regret not doing so.

Being in pain for the last few weeks has been a hard lesson learnt!