A home of our own

This time last year we were living in a 5 berth caravan on a campsite. The summer of 2013 was mostly hot, hot, hot with extreme flooding in between.   After 7 months the camping season was (finally) over and we moved into a property made of bricks, a strange little place located out-in-the-sticks on … Continue reading →

Tired – I could fall asleep on a washing line!

I surrendered my driving license at the beginning of 2014 as I’d experienced too many near misses from falling asleep at the wheel. Factoring in naps during my day was difficult and nodding off in the company of others was embarrassing. Fighting the overwhelming need to sleep is so difficult, once the eyelids start to get … Continue reading →

Brrr-illiant

Although it’s not even been a month since moving into the caravan, I’m pleased to say that we are still really enjoying it (although that may be different once the novelty has worn off!)  There are a number of things that we’ve had to overcome or learn about, for example: Too many appliances cause the … Continue reading →

On the move

Have you ever had a holiday in a caravan? How long did you stay? Just wondering, because in less than a fortnight we will be living in one. I’m not on about a mobile home/static caravan, I’m on about the type you hook-up to a car. Yes, we know it’ll be cold. Yes, we know … Continue reading →

St Paul’s response to the people

I was listening to UCB this morning and a discussion came up about the Anti-Greed/Capitalist Protestors (Occupy Wall Street demonstrations) outside St Paul’s Cathedral. I was horrified to hear that the Cathedral officials decided to close the cathedral doors due to health and safety risks to visitors caused by protestors. The decision to close is … Continue reading →

every woman, every man; join the caravan of love…

….well….sort of. We are planning and only planning at this stage to live in a caravan. It may be the wrong thing to do but we won’t know unless we try!  Come March next year (possibly sooner) we will be moving out of our beautiful, warm, spacious house and into a caravan. We have found … Continue reading →

Home-Working, Home-Making Mummy

Yesterday, I launched my own business, working from home, called ‘The Virtuous VA‘.  Over the past 3 years, I’ve had the wonderful privilege of starting a family and being a very busy stay-at-home mummy. I’ve gained a wealth of new (and sometimes strange) skills that I never imagined possible a few years ago.  I thought … Continue reading →

Farley Mount & Abbey Grounds

We are so blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the country with so many lovely and fun places to visit. Two locations spring to mind, both are free of charge which almost guarantees a fantastic day out. The Forestry Commission have gained Lottery Funding to develop areas of well being and recreation … Continue reading →

Paultons Park

As a child I never really went to theme parks – maybe they hadn’t been invented back then. The thought of visiting a theme park BC (before children) was possibly as appealing as a short family break at Butlins. The funny thing is we ARE going to Butlins later on in the year and even … Continue reading →

Muffin Top Challenge – Wk7

So, Monday 23rd May, week seven progress……………. You may have noticed that there was no week 6, that’s because there was just nothing ‘positive’ to write about. After my knees started to play up I just seemed to give up on my Muffin Top Challenge.  I’ve had zero motivation to exercise and turned to eating … Continue reading →

Muffin Top Challenge ii – Wk1

Welcome to the re-launch of my Muffin Top Challenge. Having identified reasons behind my eating habits and listened to God’s warning of the Devils devious lies (see Muffin Top Challenge – Wk7), I’m hoping that following a proper programme will be what I need to keep me on track.  So, I am using Neris and … Continue reading →

5 answers to prayer

I can not find the words to describe the blessing that have been poured out on me, I feel a little like Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s mother). (Luke 1) Elizabeth said,25 “Look what the Lord has done for me! My people were ashamed of me, but now the Lord has taken away that shame.” Elizabeth’s … Continue reading →

House Build – Shower Room Completed

Jez was very patient letting the children help him with the shower room. Especially after Charlotte had ‘helped Daddy’ by removing all the tile spacers with a pair of pliers last week! And here it is, I love it and even treated myself to some Molton Brown (which of course I’ll refill with shops ownbrand … Continue reading →

Craft & Cooking Part III

So now I’ve mastered a banana and coconut loaf and some Easter gifts I thought I’d take things to the next level and today I baked a Fruit Cake (using Auntie Shirley’s recipe), some Easter Biscuits (using Netmums recipe) and Jez’s favourite, some Millionnaire’s Shortbread (using the recipe off the Carnation tin) – no photo … Continue reading →

Proverbs 31 for 2011 women

I was thinking about Proverbs 31 and how I’d love to be like a virtuous woman. I see the Holy Spirit working in many of my friends and they are amazing role models to me. The way they calmly juggle the demands of running the home, being an amazing mother, loving wife and child of … Continue reading →

Shower Room

Jez has been working really hard finishing off the remaining building works. He has recently rendered the front wall, helped Dad to cut the hedges and shifted some rubble.   At the moment, Jez is spending a lot of his time working on the shower room. It’s been very exciting, today we chose the tiles … Continue reading →

It’s been a while since I stopped traffic!

I’ll let you into a little secret, when I was younger I was quite a ‘catch’.  I had lovely long blonde hair, a trim, toned figure (which I wasn’t scared to show off) and it didn’t take much to receive a wolf whistle or beep of a car horn from male onlookers (perverts).  However, that … Continue reading →

Keep your eyes on Jesus (and bright yellow bollards!)

As you know, I’ve been thinking of ways we can cut-back and live a more frugal life.  One asset we could sell and ‘downsize’, apart from our home, is my car. It’s a Volkswagen Touran 2006 plate. Ideally, I’d like a 6 or 7 seater again but as for a make, model or what it looks like … Continue reading →

Living The Good Life

In our house we are (I am) thinking of ways to be more frugal.  Times are hard for everyone so I would like to start gathering ideas, hints and tips to save money wherever I can. It is unlikely that I will ever be a keen gardener, so growing my own fruit and veg like Barbara … Continue reading →

Frugal Living Tips

Here are my Frugal Living Tips to make sure that as Virtuous Women we do not overspend and that we make the most of what we have. KITCHEN & DINING ROOM * Use Dettol, lemon juice and water in an empty anti-bacterial spray bottle for a cheaper alternative * Shop at Lidl or Aldi to … Continue reading →

Holidays

Our first holiday with Charlotte was fairly hard work, but equally enjoyable. It was in October 2009 and Charlotte was 3 months old.  We went with Mum and Dad and stayed the first few nights in Ludlow Castle, Shropshire and the remaining nights in the Lion Hotel (where Mum and Dad had their honeymoon). Ludlow … Continue reading →

What a beautiful day

> The weather was so lovely today, we saw about 10 hours of sunshine! The children played outdoors on the patio, Charlotte made a track in the flowerbeds for her cars while William watched from his play mat, chattering away in baby language. The sun was warm and it felt like Spring, all the garden toys came out and … Continue reading →

House Build – nearly there

It’s December and we can finally move in. The atmosphere here between us and Mum and Dad is still quite tense but most of the rooms are now habitable and we can’t keep paying to live in rented accommodation. Some of our friends from church have been over and helped with decorating, it’s so lovely … Continue reading →

House Build – 24hrs a day!

Jez has been working like a trooper, he has been starting work at the airport at 5am and finishing at 2pm then going straight on site until very late and then doing it all again. When he is on a late shift he has been arriving on site at sunrise and working until noon, then … Continue reading →

House Build – Jez in control

It’s taken a while but we have managed to get a mortgage. Actually, it’s a complete miracle really, we never thought we would qualify, but the money is winging its way into our account, we can’t afford to pay a builder so Jez is going to build the house on his rest days along with … Continue reading →

House Build – Screwed!

We are all furious and gutted, our builder has said that he can no longer complete the job for the price he quoted, he needs another £50k to get the roof on! The atmosphere here is dreadful.It seems he is a bit of a con-man, we’ve discovered he’s currently extending his own property and has … Continue reading →

House Build – Another £ instalment!

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, our builder says he needs the final amount of money to continue, so we gave him the cash and waiting for him to come back to continue with the next stage. We’re slightly anxious, but have no option as he seems to have us wrapped around … Continue reading →

House Build – Roof

The roof is going on! Yippee! It looks such hard work and it seems to be taking forever, I’m sure the guys on site are putting 3 screws in and taking 2 screws out! Except for Jez of course, who is working like a trooper! You can really see the build taking shape now, I’ve … Continue reading →

House Build – Blockwork

Our builder is SOOO slow, he asked for yet more money again today, promising us this will be done and that will be done within days. We parted with the cash and are hopeful that he is true to his word. Fortunately, he was and here is the progress:

House Build – to DPC

Mum and Dad have pushed me to boiling point! They seem to turn every slightest thing into a problem, they want the most expensive of everything and whatever we decide or choose to do it’s wrong – they know best. It’s driving me mad! We just can’t afford to splash out on things like wooden … Continue reading →

House Build – Demolition and Footings

The works finally started today, it is really exciting but also slightly sad seeing part of The Thatch (Mum and Dad’s house), being demolished. The idea is to build living accommodation attached to the existing property, creating rooms for ourselves and providing Mum and Dad with a new/replacement bedroom and bathroom (so they don’t lose … Continue reading →

L’Ancienne Gendarmerie – saying goodbye

We have grown really fond of our home in France, the villagers and the French way of life, so much so that we made plans to live here. However, when we prayed about it and asked God to show us if there was any reason why we shouldn’t move…………I then fell pregnant.  Bringing up a … Continue reading →

Summer 2007 in Sentein

We have nearly finished renovating the Ancienne Gendarmerie, we have water, electric, heating and hope to have windows soon.  I love our home in France and we are making plans to live here but need to allow God to work in our lives and show us the path we are to take. This summer we … Continue reading →