Onto better things.....

Thank you all for you birthday wishes at the weekend, I had a great time and it was a welcome relief after the week I had!

I started the weekend with vigour by going out with a couple of friends for a meal. We've been doing this for so long now, we are all completely relaxed with each other and always put the world to rights.

Hubby kindly bought me a lovely bunch of fragrant flowers, a 'no brainer' magazine which is always good to read every now and then! and a beautiful white chocolate and raspberry cake from Marks.

On Saturday afternoon we went to my parents to have Pimms in the garden, the boys played their games, opened some presents and then had a scrummy tea. One of the presents was a lovely genuine spool from a mill in Lancashire - look how big it is. I love it. It's proudly sitting in my work room.

My other present from them was a basket full of lovely garden bits.

From my chums I had wine, CK mugs, candles and some great jewellery, so all in all I was a lucky girl.

We weren't looking forward to yesterday that much as Toby had 4 hours worth of football tournaments and it was indoors! Hubby took him and I stayed behind and diligently painted the decking which is one of those necessary tasks! I'm itching to get the pink paint out and do the shed......along with maybe the garden chairs and table but that may be a little too much!

Anyway, Toby got back hot and tired, but he had been awarded 'Manager's Player of the Year' and got a great big trophy! He was so pleased with it, it slept with him in his bed lastnight! We took a picture of him when he was asleep.........and can use that as blackmail when he's a stroppy teenager!!!!!

On Thursday I'm off PYOing with my mum and I'm hoping to get some gooseberries to make some gooseberry jam. I bought a book at the Eden Project called Preserving and it's got so many good jam, marmalade, fruit curds and pickle recipes in it. I'll let you know at the end of the week how I get on.

See you then.

Pants

Is all I have to really say on this week, and boy I'm glad it's almost over. I'm not normally a 'doom and gloom' sort of person, but it seems that if 1 or 2 things go wrong in a week, everything else has to follow.

I hope you're sitting comfortably as I'm just about to spill out what has happened this week!

I was in quite good spirits on Monday, we'd had a nice week away, it wasn't my turn to do the school morning run, so the boys went off happily and all was good. Picked the boys up from school - they asked to play in the park outside of school - I said 'no' as I had stuff to do. Toby then called me 'mean'. I did let it go.........until we got home.

They got the 'new' football out of the garage and started playing. 5 minutes later I see them waving long bits of wood around which they had got out of the garage 'What are you doing I shouted' 'We've lost the ball, so using the wood to shake the bushes' said the boys.

Out I went with the broom to see if I could help. 20 minutes later I was extremely cross as I couldn't understand how a football could be lost in a matter of minutes......Anyway we eventually found it, but by then I was hot and bothered and hadn't done the things I needed to do which is why I hadn't gone to the park......out pours the 'I'm mean am I' bit 'taking you away last week, buying you a football' blah blah blah. I did get an apology so that was that.

Tuesday came - (yes we're still only on Tuesday!). I cut the back grass and put my hand in a load of foxes poo - yuck, stepped back with a watering can and caught my back on the gate catch . The phone rings at 2pm - it's the school - 'can you come and pick Jack up as he's been sick'. I put the phone down and go into frenzy mode - anyone who knows me knows I have a phobia about 'sick'. A real genuine, proper phobia. Off I go to the school shaking like a leaf armed with a bowl and lots of towels.........

Poor little mite he was very pale and not happy as you can imagine. The head said he hadn't eaten much of his lunch etc etc. As there was only an hour left of school, I asked if I could take Toby which was fine. He came out, we all got in the car - Jack said he was 'hungry' - hello??? On the way back whilst trying to be brave (me that is), I open the windows and pray that Jack isn't sick, Toby then says he didn't want to come home as he was going to miss PE, and anyway he's lost his 'brand new' trainers in the space of 24hrs. AAGGGGGGGGHHHHHH is all I had to say. Got home, fortunately Jack took himself off to bed, I sat down and tried to work out where on earth he had picked the bug up from.

Wednesday came, Jack was a little better but obviously stayed at home. Toby went to school and at 8.20 a man came to sort out my rear bumper (remember that from last week when hubby reversed into what he called mud). 5 hours later he finished????!! off he went. As I shut the garage door, I noticed that my bonnet wasn't shut properly so I lifted it up, dropped it down and it didn't catch - oh poo I thought. Phoned hubby - who thought I had it fully open, resting on the arm thing you have - 'doh, I'm not that bad'! 'Dunno he said, I'll have to look at it when I get home'.

As I couldn't pick Toby up, I then arranged for someone else to pick him up. By this point I was very teary which isn't me at all.

Yesterday wasn't too bad, we just had an Actimel spillage all over the table cloth, and the green beans got knocked over in the wind and snapped.

Jack is now fine and has gone to school. I'm nervously anticipating the next disaster, but really hope not - I'm out tonight for a meal with some friends as it's my BIRTHDAY tomorrow!!! - yippee!

I will be somewhat relieved when tomorrow arrives. The 13th may be unlucky for some, but not for me! (I hope).

Phew, I feel somewhat relieved I have got that off my chest. Those of you who have got to this point of the post - thanks for reading all the way through. It's a pants of a post isn't it?

Slave to the routine

Well, the boys have gone back to school today after their half term plus 'bonus week. The house feels so quiet now and I'm now back to the birds for company - not bad though!

As much as I hate routine, I am a slave to it and even on holiday battle with keeping to a slightly different routine versus throwing caution to the wind. The one part of routine I don't like is the clock watching. It just seems so endless - meal times, school drop-off, pick-up, activities, etc etc. Do I dare say it, but I am looking forward to the next school holiday - 7 weeks for us. I don't like wishing the year away - as look, it's already June! but I do crave the holiday times.

Anyway, before we went away, Snapdragon was giving away a limited number of pretty badges of which I picked the caravan one. On my return it was waiting for me. It's so lovely and I'm looking forward to adding it to my denim jacket.

I'll leave you with some photos of the pretties I bought at the Vintage and Handmade Fair along with those purchased on our travels round Cornwall.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside..........

Back again and what a great time we had too! The weather was glorious for the entire week - back to back sunshine from the moment we arrived until the moment we left when it started raining and I mean raining! How lucky were we?

The holiday started with a visit to the wonderful Vintage and Handmade fair in Chipping Sodbury, and it was great to put names to faces in the blogging world. I did feel very restrained in my purchases due to restricted space in the car! but did manage to get some wonderful items which I will share with you on another post.

Our accommodation was great - just outside Bodmin in a hamlet called Tregullan. A farmer had built log style cabins on his land and ours was called Cedar. The views from our cabin stretched for miles - unadulterated countryside. Inside the cabin, the owners had left us a cream tea, and some Cornish fudge. Not only that but there were fresh flowers, and all the usual necessities you might need. It was a real welcome after such a yucky journey.

I'll do a quick summary as I don't want to bore you with holiday detail! We went to The Eden Project which was brilliant. It was so inspiring in terms of gardening, growing your own veg and just generally being a bit more eco friendly. I loved the pink garden shed with the bunting so that's another project added to the list - groan groan said hubby!

Days on the beach, the beautiful National Trust gardens, Padstow, Looe, Polperro, Charlestown, Morwellham Quay, Fowey to name but a few.

We also visited Port Isaac which was lovely. I've never watched Doc Martin, but knew it was filmed there - and lo and behold we saw some filming with a couple of the actors - their names escape me but I did recognise them - it wasn't Martin Clunes!

There's nothing quite like the British seaside, providing the weather is good - a bit of rock pooling, shell and interesting stone hunting, sandcastles and everything else that goes with a traditional seaside holiday.

I might do a separate post about SAT NAV - no not really but it is a love or loath item. It did help us an awful lot, but on the flip side it took us down some very precarious 'roads' which ended up to be quite stressful and caused arguments! I'm a good old fashioned map kind of girl - hubby loves the sat nav and even takes it when we go walking somewhere 'just in case' - so embarrassing. On one occasion we ended up going down a no through road, dead end - but because the sat nav said 'yes' we just had to go down it........................you can guess what happened - we couldn't get through so had to reverse down a narrow lane, three point turn blah blah blah - then crunch....'what's that' I said 'don't worry, it's mud' said hubby 'it can't be, mud doesn't make that noise' I said. To cut a long story short hubby had reversed into some rock and damaged my bumper. I don't think I need to say anything else, do you?

Besides that, it was a truly refreshing break from the routine, and it felt so much longer than just a week - roll on the next one!

Will share some great buys with you all on my next post.

TTFN.

Au revoir folks!

Can you guess where we're off to on Saturday!

Yep, we're all going on a weeks break to Cornwall - yippee!!! Our school bundle all their teacher training days into 1 week after the May half term - how great is that in terms of getting a cheaper break away?!

Got into a bit of a cold sweat when we booked it as I wanted to go to the Vintage and Handmade fair this coming Saturday, but it's en route so all good. I'll be in tow with hubby and 2 little herberts and I think hubby thinks that as the car will be jam packed I won't be able to make too many purchases - ha, we'll see about that!

I always get so stressed just before we go away, getting orders up to date and sent out, washing, ironing, mowing the lawn etc etc and what seems like a swear word to (some) men - PACKING - why is it that men and packing just don't go hand in hand? I don't even mind packing hubby's stuff but he hasn't even got anything out yet. Not being very good at 'not' saying what I think I did highlight the fact that time was moving on etc etc. He made some movement and managed to get 'socks' out, nothing else but just socks?????? AAGH.

Moving on - I hope everyone's having a good half term for those with children and at least the weather has decided to pick up, although the weekend was glorious. We did the rounds at a couple of car boots and will share the great goodies with you on my return.

We've met up with friends at local country parks, played football and a bit more football, and a bit more. On Wednesday we went to visit my mum. I was hoping she'd be the one to help sort out my crochet, but to no avail! She's forgotten how to do it!

Interestingly enough, in the 60's she used to make crochet hats as they were all the rage, and she sold them! We then had a good route through some of her old books. One Ladybird book was given to her by her school and had a book plate in it with the date of 1956! Of course it was written in ink pen. Writing with ink pens seem to be a thing of the past now. Typically I didn't have my camera so can't share some pics. She had Milly Molly Mandy - remember those. Little Black Sambo - you certainly can't get those anymore.

I also found out that my grandparents had all the Beryl Ware, but I think it's all gone now. My grandmother doesn't like clutter and tends to get rid of everything - blast!

Well, I won't waffle on any further. Enjoy what's left of the half term and I'll see some of you tomorrow, otherwise I'll catch up with you all on my return. I might be tempted to take a sneak peek at your posts as I'm taking the laptop with me (sad I know) as I have to keep on top of emails etc.

Bye for now. Xx

2 lovely parcels

Hubby picked up a couple of parcels for me which had arrived on Saturday but we weren't in so I was so excited by the time he came home to see what they were.

The first were my PIF goodies from the lovely Alex at Pink Feather Paradise. Inside the wrapped tissue paper which smelt lovely was a super handy little box to store even more of my bits and bobs. Inside that was such a pretty necklace and the colours are so me - even hubby remarked on how apt they were. Alex - you have great foresight! With it was a pretty little flower. Thanks for those Alex.

The next parcel came from the States and Michele from Calico Daisy was paired up with me for the Freestyle Swap which Silkie Sue had organised. Michele sent me a lovely bag with owls on. She had previously asked what I liked that she made and I did say owls so lo and behold that's what I got! She also knew I liked Laura Ashely so sent me a nice notepad along with a pretty hanging cushion.

Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of what I had made for Michele, but it was a hand embroidered Home Sweet Home heart with little flowers on. I then filled it with French lavender. It does rather paltry compared to what she sent me.....

See you all later.

I've finally gone and done it!

Yes that's right ladies (and any gentlemen), I've finally taken the bull by the horns, plucked up courage and picked up a crochet hook.

After 1 hour I had made half an attempt at holding the wool correctly in my hands and getting the slip knot right - yes that's right, 1 hour without even having done anything. So much for anticipating a nice stack of granny thingies by the end of the day!!

After the 2nd hour I had sort of managed to do 6 foundation stitches. This was after watching a you tube tutorial and looking through 2 of my books!! I do think I'm doing something dreadfully wrong as I'm just not getting it at all. The tension keeps going awol and I forget then how to do a foundation stitch.

Into the 3rd hour I have now lost the will to live and have thrown my toys out of the pram like a child and have discarded it (just the mess I had made!).

I think I have tried to run before I can walk as I gallantly tried to do a single crochet whatever and then that's when it all went even messier.

Boo Hoo. (note to self - stick to knitting and sewing). There is always something in life you are unable to master and for me it's crochet......

I'm now going to take myself off and sit in the corner to cry!!!!!!!!!!