29 hours… 3 events… sleep not included

Wow. Simply put… WOW! That one word sums up this weekend pretty well. Of course, another word for the weekend would be “Chaos” or maybe even “Whirlwind” – then there is “MAD”. I’m not complaining – don’t get me wrong – it was a totally stunningly awesome weekend that I 110% loved and don’t regret in any way!

We always knew the weekend was going to be a mad but I don’t think any of us fully appreciated just how much of a rush it would be. So, beginning at the beginning of the weekend as it’s probably the only way I’ll get my thoughts together, here goes an update of life with the Hartleys (and not just us 5)

>> WARNING << This blog post is HUGE! Get a cup of Coffee/Tea before reading it!

Continue reading “29 hours… 3 events… sleep not included”

Taz couldn’t get more in a spin than us right now!!!

Life is sooooo chaotic right now – we just don’t seem to be stopping or slowing down. The other week was the British Grand Prix (still buzzing from that – although I really must get around to watching the race on the TV to catch up on the bits we missed) and we still haven’t have time to recover from that, especially as last weekend was just as busy in some ways… and yet more is to come.

Last weekend was great though – as part of the Hope 08 initiative, KingsGate put on a family fun day in Parnwell. I offered to help out on the PA side of things and, despite the occasional “shower” (well, OK, downpour) we had a really great time. Good music, great fun and a good laugh. I also had an “interview” to join the production team at the Church as I felt it was about time I started to get more involved (hey, I’ve been there since May so don’t want to get too lazy you know!) – that did mean that I needed to stay for both services on Sunday, which was quite odd, and also meant that I hardly saw my family during the weekend as our paths only crossed briefly really.

This weekend is even more chaos. Off to Nottingham tomorrow to see my family and Mrs H, me Bro and myself are then off to wonderful Stoke-On-Trent for the evening. Really looking forward to seeing bands such as RPM, thebandwithnoname, yFriday (yay!) and – not forgetting – JARS OF CLAY!!!!! 😀

I’ve been a fan since their first album way back when and Flood is still one of the all time classic songs – but never managed to see them… so Saturday evening should be stunning!

Sunday will see us going over to Trent Vineyard for their Sunday service – heard a load of good things about the Church so really quite looking forward to enjoying that… and then we’ll be rushing over to see the Hartley side of the family for an afternoon of food and fun 😀

All good. All enjoyable. But I hope I get to sleep sometime!

EXCEPT – life is just going to get busier…. announcement coming soon! (and no, Mrs H is NOT pregnant – it’s another kind of “busy” announcement!)

Economic slowdown – for sure!

I have to give a wry, pained, laugh when I hear people saying that we are not heading for recession and that the economy is going to bounce back quickly – although admittedly a lot of commentators seem to NOT be saying that now.

I know 4 people, all of whom are heading (or are already there) for unemployment… unskilled? nope, small companies? certainly not for 3 of them, “luxury” industries? definitely not.

Continue reading “Economic slowdown – for sure!”

Life is… good

Ah…

The sigh of a satisfied man.

The weekend has just finished and I’m now sat at work (that’s not the satisfying part) – but the weekend was a good one.
It was the first weekend for a while that we actually didn’t have anything particularly planned, and with the Grand Prix being early evening it meant we could do what we liked pretty much this weekend – allowing us to get some jobs done and feel like we’ve achieved something.

So the boys bedroom has now been moved around to try and make life easier, the tent on the kids climbing frame has been removed so the slide can be fitted properly and the shed now has (after 3 years) a nice new felt roof on it that looks pretty good (if I do say so myself)

To top it all off I even had a chance to catch up on some sleep on Saturday afternoon (much needed as I was so tired earlier in the week I had been fainting), started typing out some music for a new music folder I am trying to put together, and then we even managed to fit in a lovely picnic at Ferry Meadows after Church yesterday.

A lot achieved and yet it was really quite relaxing. Life is definitely… good! 🙂