So What's next then?

Good Mail Day

2011-10-18T10:34:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I received a wonderful piece of mail art from the lovely Alison over at Life in the Slow Lane. I love the colours and the stamping on the envelope and even the postage stamps added to the overall colour combo – just lovely.

Inside I found a beautifully handmade notecard and a lovely fridge magnet quote. Thank you so much Alison, it really made my day.

In other news, I have signed up for Shimelle’s latest class.

Just how much I manage to get done remains to be seen but, as always with Shimelle’s classes the pdf’s are all available long afterwards. Now I just need to get myself organised and get stuck in.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Ten books awaiting

2011-10-10T07:58:00.001+01:00

I always have a pile (or ten) of books waiting for me to get around to them, this is the pile that awaits me in the conservatory. From top to bottom then:

1) & 2) Junk Style and Comfortable Country – I love these little books. I can’t say that I have actually read them as such but they’re packed full of gorgeous photos that every so often I drool over.

3) Why does E=mc2? by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw – Hmm, I think it was the sound of Brian Cox’s voice that sold me on this one but I’ve yet to get around to reading it.

4) Exit the Actress by Priya Parmar – I have actually already read this one and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Recommended by my favourite historical novelist and narrating the story of Nell Gwyn, the style was quite different I found but I really enjoyed it.

5) & 6) The Queens Man & Cruel as the Grave by Sharon Penman – This is my favourite historical novelist herself but these two are a departure from what I’ve read thus far in as much as they are historical mysteries. I’ll have to wait and see.

7) Lionheart by Sharon Penman – back to the format I love, this book is brand new as it has only just been published. Telling the story of Richard Lionheart it fits into the timeline of her other novels well and should be a fabulous read.

8) 52 weekends by the Sea by Brigid Nelson and Craig Easton – I first picked this up at the library and loved it, hence the purchase. Featuring the coastline of Britain it winds it way around the country highlighting 52 fantastic weekend destinations. With some yummy photography it has me drooling over many a destination.

9) Decorate by Holly Becker and Joanna Copestick. Another brand new book, Holly Becker is the author of the very popular Decor8 blog and has applied her talents to this new book which I think came out in March. I’ve yet to dip into it, beyond a quick flick, but it promises to be a fantastic source.

10) Living Rooms – love this book and it has my lounge on the front cover. Ok well not exactly ‘my’ lounge but my plans for my lounge lol.

That’s all for now folks. I’ve been missing in action just lately, partly due to my disappointment over losing all the photos from my blog and partly due to ‘stuff’. You can see more 10 on the 10th over at Shimelle’s.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Disaster

2011-10-04T20:58:00.001+01:00

Just a very quick post to say that I have spotted that ALL of my photos on my posts have disappeared. I have re-instated the most recent but it going to take a fair bit of work to get them all back (in fact that may never happen). Please bear with me and normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. Sadly I think it’s all because of my new (replacement) phone!!

Thanks

Wendy xx

Mail Art Exchange

2011-09-29T09:43:00.001+01:00

Yay my package arrived safely at its destination in Spain on Tuesday, which is actually the estimate the post office gave me when I sent it off on its merry little way. The recipient was Alison over at 'Life in the slow lane' and she seems to like it.

I’d decided to use a google map of the area Alison lives in Spain as with her address this was easy but I also wanted to use a page from an old road atlas I had stashed away for crafting purposes. This took a bit of detective work but I did track down a location prior to Spain and used that page as the basis for the front of the package.

Picture taken prior to posting so stamps were added but phew, they didn’t cover up anything critical.

The mail exchange was arranged by Ginger at ‘Gingers life of spice’ and the theme was ‘earth’. I decided to try and use as much recycled stuff as possible for my take on ‘earth’ and so the package itself was an old one, the map page on the front was old and the patterned papers I used were from my scrap box etc etc. I did have to use ink to print the google map on the back (which you can’t see here because I lost those photos when my phone took its dive) but I printed it onto paper from the scrap pile. Finally, the smiley earth was taken from the earth day campaign. I thoroughly enjoyed myself once I got going so thanks once again Ginger for arranging it all and roll on the next one.

What Alison very kindly didn’t tell folks in her post was that I had written a little note to pop in the package and of course, said little note was still sat on my desk AFTER the package had been securely taped. So Alison received a rather boring little white envelope too lol

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

I don’t believe it

2011-09-23T20:33:00.001+01:00

You need to put on your best Victor Meldrew voice and re-read my title, that’s the clean version of what I yelled as my phone (the all singing, all dancing new one) leapt from the back pocket of my jeans and dived head first down the pan. Now, IF the last occupant of the bathroom had closed the toilet lid or IF I had been in any other room when my phone suddenly leapt into life I may not have uttered those words but they hadn’t and I wasn’t and I did so now my lovely new phone is kaput. I’ll not dwell on my sorry tale, I am insured and I still have a smidgen of hope that after a weekend of drying out it may end well – I know, I’m not holding my breath.

In other news I have crafted! All please take a moment whilst this news sinks in but I have. I can’t show you a photo because, you guessed it, it was on my phone. Actually I think I do have a copy on the laptop but I can’t show you anyway because it was my contribution to Gingers Mail Art Exchange and so I’ll not share until it has arrived safely at its destination. Ginger – thank you. I’m so glad you spotted I was back and contacted me before your deadline, it was wonderful to sit and craft again, although I did struggle a little for inspiration. I am determined though to get back into it.

As I can’t share my crafting at the moment I thought I’d share an odd little shot but one that shows another persons craft. Unfortunately I didn’t think to take a before shot and this is probably the oddest thing I have (publicly) enthused about but take a look at my pitch fork.

What about that then, and the spade too. Both of these items were inherited at the hovel and both had seen far better days. They were pitted, rusted and sporting stubby broken handles. A few weeks ago we happened across a market stall selling similar items and as we chatted it transpired that the owner ‘repaired’ these very implements. A few weeks and less than thirty pounds later and look at them now. I’ve never owned a pitch fork before lol.

But now I guess with that I’ll leave you. Thursday saw the Victor moment, Friday saw me obtain a wasp sting as I’ll climbed over a farm gate (you can imagine where can’t you) but I did get a better harvest from the two remaining potato tubs and Saturday, well lets just wait and see shall we – bring it on! Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Under pinning?

2011-09-18T07:00:00.000+01:00

After the really high winds over the last week or so we were slightly nervous about what we might find at The Hovel, especially given the number of large trees behind the property and most actually within reach of it! Thankfully, apart from the black bin wedged in the stream, there was nothing to report.

Our main aim this visit was to meet with the structural surveyor, queue ‘uh oh’ or similar cinematic effect please. Yes, after a year of owning the property we have now decided to consult an expert. Personally I would have done this way back, before we actually signed on the dotted line but t’hubby felt that there was every chance it would cause us enough concern that we would chicken out of buying it. Of course that was highly likely and because it had been love at first sight, especially for t’hubby – we went ahead.

It wasn’t long after it was ours that we started to notice the cracks. They weren't new, they’d been there all along it was just that the rose tinted spectacles had hidden them. Now The Hovel was built in 1768 and as it is still standing we didn’t think it would be disappearing down the hill in a hurry but, at some point in the distant future we (or our children, maybe even grandchildren) will want to sell. And so now we needed to know, so that we can take whatever measures may be deemed necessary. My thoughts up to this point have been that if drastic measures were required e.g. underpinning then we’ll take the opportunity to extend, sympathetically of course but to me it makes sense to take advantage of the situation. Lol, my one daft concern was that if that WAS the case it would throw out our lovely new doors, but I guess in the scheme of things ……

……… And so the man arrived.

And he looked

And he walked around

And he looked

And he walked around some more

And he looked

And then he made his pronouncement ………..

Nothing too severe, phew. There is obvious evidence of past movement and we need to take some remedial action to ‘tie’ the front wall to the back wall (not as bad as it sounds I’m told) as it has moved 25mm since the ceiling/floor was replaced – 41 years ago! Then we need to place ‘tell tales’ to both monitor for any further movement and to provide evidence when there is none (fingers crossed). That way we are also safeguarding a future sale. So all in all a reasonable outcome.

And would we have chickened out if we’d had that done in advance. We’re not sure but we may have done. Because we didn’t ‘know’ the hovel then we may have thought it wasn’t worth the hassle. And so I guess t’hubby was right all along and as I sit here typing watching the sun start to burn off the cloud and rain and reveal our view, I am glad, although had the answer been underpinning I might have been yelling at him, right here right now lol.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment, oh and yes, the campanulas survived on their house bricks.

Wendy xx

Please note this post was scheduled to upload after the time of writing

Happy Pinning

2011-09-16T07:00:00.000+01:00

I think I need to give myself a strict time allowance for Pinterest, otherwise one of these days I may never return.

I thought Blogland and the internet were bad enough on their own but Pinterest beats them all. I suppose it does depend how you use it. If you browse then ‘repin and run’ you will probably be ok. It’s when you browse, open interesting stuff into new tabs, look at said new tabs, follow the link to the source, nosy around that source and open other interesting looking links into other new tabs – are you getting my drift? I sometimes emerge from one of these ‘I’ll just have a quick 5 minutes’ sessions to find I have lost yet another hour plus of my life.

But I do have some delish piccies and new ideas to show for it. Here’s just a small selection of my latest, click on the picture to take you to Pinterest where you can follow the link to the source. Just remember – you have been warned.

Aren’t these just the cutest, I think I could make some and colour co-ordinate to suit the room.

I want to give this a go, I’ve lots of blank canvas’ somewhere that would work just fine.

Cannot wait to give these a go – need to keep my eyes open for proper pots

Sometimes it’s the simplest of ideas that are the most beautiful

I so want to try this out at The Hovel, I’m sure I have that bottom set somewhere.

Well there you are, that’s just a few of the ones that have caught my eye recently. Now I have a question for you Pinners out there. Do you ever ‘pin’ to something you’ve posted about on your own blog or is it always to other folks or sites? I’d be really interested to know.

Thanks for dropping by and I do hope you’ve seen something you like. Please feel free to leave me a comment, I love to hear from you.

The small print - I take no responsibility whatsoever for any lost lifetime hours you may incur during the reading of this post.

Wendy xx

Spec Savers in Action

2011-09-14T07:00:00.000+01:00

I have no idea why I did this; I don’t know what possessed me, but for some strange reason I have taken a photo of myself, in my glasses, using the webcam on the laptop. I don’t DO photos of myself. So before I chicken out and before I get around to trying out the suggestions for improvement (my sincere thanks), I share with you the problem lol

I seem to have a thing about Polaroid Frames going on lol. Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

PS, I guess this post is only going to make sense if you read the previous one, oops.

Wendy xx

Spec saver

2011-09-13T11:12:00.001+01:00

Well we survived the weekend in one piece, the girls went ice-skating and slept in the tent overnight with no mishaps - to my knowledge at least. Although I did recall hearing the question ‘where’s the conditioner’ floating around the house as I drifted off to sleep. My enquiries the next morning resulted in giggles and an explanation of ‘we were doing a Jedward’. Hmm, and this from one girl who is studying hair and beauty, lol.

After a late start to Sunday (and a round of bagels), Grumpy, T’hubby and I nearly lost the tent in a rather ferocious gust of wind as we dismantled it, but after a bit of a battle all was well and the tent was safely packed away until next time. I was then able to turn my attention to a little bit of crafting – well after a fashion anyway and then only really a smidgen.

I’d spent last Wednesday afternoon in London. T’hubby was down there for a meeting and we were meeting up with some friends for a drink after work. I decided to spend my free time having a wander around Covent Garden. Now I’ve never been to Covent Garden before and I’m still not entirely sure what I was expecting but I was sadly disappointed for some reason. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I have a great time meandering through the streets, in and out of all the shops, watching the street performer and picking my way through the market stalls. But somehow it was still lacking in something or other. Knowing me I was probably in the wrong place entirely. Anyway, whilst there I happened upon a Bead shop. I’ve been looking for something to hang my reading glasses around my neck as I seem to be in need of them more and more these days – not a happy bunny at all about this point – and so I had found something I quite liked the look of on t’internet at £12 a time. Not bad I thought but given that I didn’t really know whether it would work for me or not I thought it could get expensive. And so when I happened upon the bead shop I thought ‘Why not’

About an hour later (I dithered a lot) I left with a little package that cost me all of £3.50, and then I think I was actually overcharged but as I had been in there sooooooooooo very long I thought it only fair lol. And so on Sunday I retrieved my little package and had a play.

Ta daa – Presenting my own version for your perusal.

How’s that saying go, oh yes – ‘Don’t give up the day job’ Lol. Jury is still out about whether I will use it or not as I do get slightly annoyed by the beads hanging down the side of my face when I am wearing my glasses (in addition to the snigger from T’hubby) but when they are folded, not in use, it is brilliant.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment, I love to hear from you.

Wendy xx

Ten on the tenth

2011-09-10T07:00:00.000+01:00

Today is my baby’s 15th birthday and boy does that make me feel old. Those years have absolutely flown by with all the inevitable ups and downs of having children (now 15, 16 & 24). Tattyhead can drive me to distraction at times but without a shadow of a doubt, I love her very much – Happy Birthday Baby Girl xxx

Because it’s her birthday and because it falls on the tenth, I thought I’d share ten layouts of my youngest with you today. None are recent as my scrapping inspiration has long been absent – OMG, its over a year I think! They’re a mixed bag (digi and traditional) and a couple are amongst my very first layouts so the styles differ greatly – you have been warned.

And so, in no particular order, I give you….

Tattyhead

The photo used above was printed onto silk then mounted onto card.

Often in a world of her own

Always sporty

Always a poser

I’ve said it already

Will not wear a dress unless absolutely necessary

Sunburst effect on the photo and numerous beads sown on

Completely and utterly devastated for such a long time when her Granddad died

Lol, You may not be able to read the journaling above but I know that I got the date of her birthday wrong on this lo. Couldn’t face the hassle of correcting it though.

Bit of artistic licence on my part

Well that’s all for now folks. Wish me luck, we have The Boy B home for his sisters birthday and 9 teenagers sleeping in a tent in the garden tonight, deep joy lol

You’ll find the links for more ten on the tenth over at Shimelle’s so please take a look. In the meantime, thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Country Living

2011-09-07T08:00:00.000+01:00

I was really pleased with Sian’s comment on my last post where she referred to the photo of my poor potato harvest as a ‘country living’ shot lol. Daft I know, but I do like to make the shots I post as pleasing to the eye as possible. I don’t always manage it (often just don’t have the time) but I had secretly been rather pleased with this one even before the comments. And so I thought it might be a nice idea to share how it was achieved.

The photo was taken on my phone in landscape. The original shot was fine but lacking in something.

I then used a photo editor (Photoshop Express for android in my case) to apply the effect ‘vignette blur’ to the shot. Starting to feel a little better here.

This was saved and loaded up to Picnik where I added the ‘polaroid’ frame (choosing to straighten it rather that leave at a slant), I also then added the text. You could add a frame in Photoshop or another editor but to be honest Picnik is so quick and easy to use its not worth it. The choice of the polaroid frame cuts the shot into a square which had the pleasing effect of reducing the ‘vignette blur’ in the bottom corners. Voila! My Country Living shot – now if only they would employ me ……..

Do you like my flowers? This basket and pot set has sat, empty, on the windowsill at The Hovel for a few months now. I found it in TKMaxx at a fraction of the price I’d have paid elsewhere but I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to put in it. I had a vision of something like ‘mind your own business’ I think they’re called. A mass of tiny green leaves with little orange ball fruit. I think I may be confusing two different plants though and suffice to say, I didn’t find any. I did however, come across these campanula’s in Sainsbury's and I knew immediately that they would look good. What do you think?

Now I just need to see if my watering solution of house bricks in a bowl of water with the plants stood on top (apparently the house bricks will wick the water to the plant) works for the period we’re not there.

Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment, I love to hear from you.

Wendy xx

Back to school

2011-09-05T11:28:00.001+01:00

As summer draws to a close, I realise that it’s been a while since I posted (probably lots to tell so maybe I’ll catch up on some in later posts). Ha, nothing new there I hear you say and you are, of course, quite correct. It’s been so long in fact that I either can’t remember what font I normally use or it has somehow disappeared from my laptop. Uh! If I spend too long faffing about, trying to choose a new one this’ll never get posted at all so I am going with ‘autumn’ – quite fitting I thought.

I don’t really bother much with new year resolutions but I do find myself trying to re-focus a little as summer winds down. I was tempted by Shimelle’s ‘Learn something new everyday’ but I knew that it just wouldn’t happen, so I passed for the time being. But, I am determined to get back crafting in one form or another – I just need to clear my area of our office first that is currently masquerading as a tip lol.

Of course at this time of year, in addition to the girls returning to school – Grumpy into sixth form and Tattyhead into year 10 – it is also harvest time, or should be.

At home we’ve had potatoes, onions, lettuces, sweet corn, carrots, rhubarb, tomatoes and courgettes on the go. The jury is still out on the sweet corn and carrots but the rest have been somewhat disappointing, especially the potatoes and onions. I think our prep and poor soil were to blame and so all my hopes were pinned on the potatoes at The Hovel. After we’d planted at home we had a few left and so we bought a pack of three potato sacks (green plastic tubs) and threw the remainder of the seed in. . Because these were planted into compost, had received plenty of water in the form of rain (we are talking Wales here) and had been able to develop good deep root growth in the tubs I really had high hopes. One bag contained the ‘earlies’, one the ‘maincrop’ and the last a mix of the two. Over the weekend I harvested the bag of ‘earlies’ as the tops were beginning to die off.

Ok, there are perhaps a couple more potatoes per seed than at home but really, is this all I get? I had been working away convincing T’hubby that we ought to get some raised beds in place over the winter so that we could grow more potatoes given that they were obviously doing so well – they DID look like they were – but even I am no longer convinced. I will try again next year. At home we will double dig and make sure we enrich the soil. At the Hovel we will try the bags again. In both cases though I will research and make sure I buy a reputable seed as I now presume this was my mistake.

Ah well, we live and learn ……

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment, it is nice to hear from folks.

Wendy xx

10 things on the 10th

2011-07-10T07:00:00.000+01:00

Oh, what to write about this month? My blogging has gone completely to pot lately and that’s all down to my new phone! Daft as it sounds I don’t sit down at my laptop a fraction of the time I did and consequently, when I do, I have important stuff to get done and so the blogging falls by the wayside.

I feel like Homer Simpson, not that I’ve seen that TV show for years, but I recall something about ‘stuff’ falling out the back of his head as he crammed more in the front. Well that’s how I feel sometimes, the more memories I accumulate the more that get squeezed out into some hidden depth that I can’t quite reach. That’s where scrapbooking (or diary/blog keeping for that matter) work wonderfully, enabling us to record those memories that might otherwise be squeezed out. And so with that in mind, I thought I’d share 10 random, but dear, memories.

1) “Never mind Mommy, I still love you” – The words spoken, unprompted, to me from the back of the car by my young (at the time) son, on a day when I was particularly low. I scrapped this memory and I think you should be able to make out the full story in the attached photo.

2) T’hubby rushing out of the hotel in his smart 3 piece suit on our wedding day with a bowl full of soapy water to wash my feet lol . We were married at a lovely hotel in the Lake District. Being a typical British summer there had been lots of that wet stuff. For a few days leading up to the big day (and indeed for a few days after) it did nothing but rain. Then on the afternoon of the day before it dried up and the following day dawned blue with little white fluffy candyfloss and a golden orb decorating the skies. But to get back to the soapy bowl – After the ceremony we all gathered on the lawns for photos. The ground though was so soft that my heels kept sinking and getting stuck so, me being me, I took my shoes off. Fine no problem, until the confetti that is. Has anyone ever tried walking on rice paper with wet feet? Well I can tell you, the wet rice paper makes wonderful glue – So strong that when I then stepped onto the gravelled drive I found I had half of the drive stuck to my soles with each step!! Now that was painful and so we added our own little tradition to the wedding day – feet washing.

3) Grumpy strutting her stuff on the dance floor in Devon, loving the attention from everyone. We were on holiday a couple of months before Tattyhead was born so that makes Grumpy all of 1 years old, at most. She walked very early and loved moving her hips and arms to music. I remember the tiny beige flowered skirt she wore, plain tee and a little lacy cardigan – her chubby legs sticking out from under the skirt and white leather sandals on her feet. These were the days before digital cameras (well before I had one at any rate) and so I have no idea if I have a photo of that outfit but in my minds eye I can picture it as if it were yesterday.

4) The look on my sons face when I screeched to a halt beside him as he sat patiently waiting outside my Mums house after school one night when I’d forgotten to pick him up. OMG. In my defence I had two babies under two, non stop nappies and feeding. The normal routine was for him to wait inside Mum’s until I arrived, on this day though Mum and Dad had an appointment and weren’t there so I had to be there at a certain time. I forgot – I was horrified when I suddenly (in one of those blinding flashes) remembered. I gathered up two near naked babies, threw them into the car and made the mad dash, screeching up 5 minutes later. My face must have been a picture, I was mortified. Try as he might to keep his face straight showing annoyance with me he couldn’t, his wonderful grin kept spilling over. I think he was just so relieved to see me.

5) I started work in May 1979, I think my first wages were all of £20 lol but, once I’d paid my board, it was all mine. What I remember most about this new freedom though was the first Christmas after I started earning. I can’t remember everything I bought but I do know I bought my Mum and Dad a black and white portable TV. I have no idea if they actually wanted one or not but I was so excited about buying them a big present that this particular question never even entered my head lol. I took great delight in wrapping this huge box up very neatly and I was beside myself for days waiting for Christmas Day. Sadly I can’t remember the detail of how they reacted, I know they were surprised and I have no negative feelings so I guess they did like it, besides which it was in use for a good many years. My memory is all about the delight of being able to buy them something nice and the anticipation/excitement I felt in the build up.

6) “Will there be an ice-cream van at the top?” My little soldiers and I were making our up slowly up the path to the top of Helvellyn in the Lake District. I’d taken the easiest route and was explaining to them how this particular mountain opens up at the top. They were only 5 & 6 and so I described it as being ‘wide like a street’. Big mistake – to a child’s mind that meant there should be an ice-cream van lol.

7) When Tattyhead decided to snowboard. She was only 5 at the time and both girls could ski after a fashion but their big brother of course could snowboard. Grumpy has always been a little more hesitant but Tattyhead knew no fear and decided that she too would snowboard. Bless, she did try but quickly swapped back to skis lol

8) Grumpy’s close call. The girls were about 3 & 4 when we holidayed in Scotland. One day walking through some beautiful Scottish mountain landscapes Grumpy was to my left, Tattyhead to my right and The Boy a few steps behind. We’d made our way down a ravine, across an old small packhorse bridge and were making our way up the other side when it happened. Grumpy, who was a step or two ahead of me at this point, tripped on a culvert in the path. Somehow she somersaulted and disappeared head first over the cliff side. The Boy and I dashed forward whilst Tattyhead clung to my right leg screaming ‘she’s going to die, she’s going to die’ – ever the optimist our Tattyhead. As The Boy and I reached to edge there was Grumpy clinging onto the grass and ferns – together we grabbed an arm each and hauled her back up. Tattyhead, who was still clinging to my right leg, was now sobbing. It all happened so fast, she was right by me, I could have reached out an arm and touched her she was still that close when she tripped. She had walking boots on, not silly shoes or sandals – I couldn’t have done anything different, apart from not be there. All was well and it may seem odd to include it in this list but it’s one of those family stories now and it serves to remind me that ‘a split second’ is all it takes.

9) Tattyhead’s first Christmas present list. She was still only a tot, 15 months old I think (I don’t think it was a year later but maybe it was) and I asked what she would like for Christmas “Winnie the Pooh” was the answer. Anything else? “No, Winnie the Pooh” That was all that I could get out of her, she didn’t want anything else, just Winnie the Pooh. And so that's what she had, the biggest one I could find. Nowadays of course I don’t have to ask and the list is as long as my arm.

10) My Dad and the last look that passed between just the two of us. I can’t explain or describe it here but that memory is mine alone and will be treasured for ever.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment. You should be able to see more ‘10 things’ posts here.

Wendy xx

Dawn is Breaking

2011-06-24T08:49:00.001+01:00

Dawn is breaking, misty grey

With a tinge of silver streaks

A ball of fire begins to rise

Across the mountain peaks.

The ball of fire begins to spread

All across the way

A touch of warmth begins to make

A glorious summers day.

Author – me

Date – uncertain but I remember it being proudly displayed on the wall in my primary school so I’d guess I was about 8 or 9.

Wishing everyone out there a glorious summers day, although where we’re heading is forecast heavy rain and thunder storms but hey ho. I know I’ve been missing in action but thanks for dropping by, and please feel free to leave me a comment.

PS, this is the very first publication of my favourite little poem (apart from all those years ago) lol.

Wendy xx

Texture Tuesday

2011-06-14T19:53:00.001+01:00

I’ve been threatening to for a while and so this evening I have finally joined in with Kim Klasson’s Texture Tuesday. This is my buttercup shot from a few days ago but with a couple of extra layers including Kim’s ‘not too shabby’ textured layer. I quite like the effect.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

30 Day Photography Challenge

2011-06-13T11:32:00.001+01:00

I’m playing catch up again on these but I’m still enjoying the challenge, it makes you think. For example, Day 7 was was fruit – all I had was a banana, what can you do with a banana – DO NOT ANSWER THAT! So you have to really pull out the stops to make this plain old fruit look interesting when shot. Hopefully I managed to lol

Day 8 required a bad habit. Try as I might I couldn’t figure how my bitten nails could be made into anything special so I turned to a recent habit. The courgettes in the veg patch are having a bit of a slimy creature problem and egg shells scattered around the bas of the plant are meant to deter the little blighters, so I am saving them for this reason. I just forget to take them out to the garden.

Someone you love was required for Day 9. Well I do love T’hubby but I do not like this photo. Not his best look me thinks, ‘nuff said.

I needed to record a childhood memory for Day 10 and I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do, but when we arrived at the hovel the buttercups were glorious and reminded me of that little girl thing ‘Do you like butter?’

Blue was the requirement of day 11 and, after a false start, the skies turned blue and the sun shone. Technology however decided to strike again. Unbeknown to me until an hour ago, my phone had somehow reset itself and the camera resolution was way down low and so my lovely blue sky shot isn’t quite what I’d hoped but you get the gist.

Thanks for dropping by and for all the wonderful comments recently, it is lovely to hear from you.

Wendy xx

10 things on the 10th

2011-06-10T07:51:00.001+01:00

This fab idea has been bought to you courtesy of the wonderful Shimelle. You can see the original post and follow the link to all the other posts here.

For my first incursion into this endeavour I thought I’d post 10 random things about me so, in no particular order, here goes:

1) I’ve had had the pleasure of driving my own car for 31 years, now that make me feel so old. When younger, the very fact that I had this complete independence always made me feel grateful and liberated. I guess it was because my Mum never learnt to drive but thankfully, most of my generation did. Now its taken for granted, and is commonplace, for our children to drive – once they get to the legal age of course.

Meet my very first car - Dapple John, I was 17 at the time and my Dad leant me the money (£500) to buy it.. Dapple because I started to rub down the rust, then I primed it, but then I just didn’t get around to painting it. John because the registration was JOH207N. Can you remember all your car registrations, I think I can? It did later morph into Cost a Bomb John when I had a professional re-spray done for £300. He eventually bit the dust when he was costing me more in oil than he was in petrol!.

I still enjoy driving now and I especially enjoy driving across Europe but that’s a whole story in itself for another day I think.

2) I love Peonies.

3) I’m an ex rock climber. Ok, that may be over egging it slightly as I only actually started climbing around the age of 39 and I haven’t climbed since 2004 so my ‘career’ lasted a grand total of 3 years (ish), but I loved it. It could scare me silly when I was ‘stuck’ on the side of a rock face, hundreds of feet above the ground with a sudden inability to move my limbs lol. But oh, the feeling of achievement at the top when you looked down to where you began the climb was unbelievable.

Me, at the start of a multi pitch climb.

It’s also an excellent way of keeping fit and trim so I am tempted to find someone to climb with at an indoor wall. Much less kit is needed for indoor climbing and what is needed can usually be hired. You do need a climbing partner but I suspect there are clubs that allow ‘singles’ to meet up and climb together. Interested? Take a look at The BMC and UK Climbing sites to see if there’s a wall near you.

4) I love having a good read in a really hot bath and have been know to almost faint because it was just too hot.

5) I first left home at the tender age of 4. The reason why has been lost in the mists of time but it is well known that I left with my dressing gown folded neatly over my arm. My destination – Aunt Dinah’s. Now this is passing strange because, bless her, my Aunt Dinah’s just doesn’t figure as first choice for my new home. I guess I was just being practical as it’s likely it was the only place I knew how to walk to, and that was probably debateable anyway.

Look at that little cherub face lol

6) I spend for too much time on the internet, but I guess you already knew that didn’t you lol?

7) At one time I had a thing about collecting teddy bears. I have now got over this phase and don’t buy them anymore. Erm except that is for the one I bought last year because I didn’t have one with T’hubby’s name, I’ll explain shall I?

Meet Black Adam, he a Robin Rive bear

It started with a couple of Steiff bears, I think I have three of them in total but they just have generic names. Then I discovered Robin Rive Bears. These were made in New Zealand but were readily available over here and they all have their own names. Sometimes they are limited editions of 50 or 200 and sometimes there are 800 of the same bear available. As well as some odd little ones (you may have seen Little Ted, not his real name of course, the other week starring in his own video right here) I also have bears bearing (get it) the names of my daughters, my son, myself (courtesy of T’hubby) and of course, my husband. Hmm, I think I should move on quickly!!

8) I have a small mountain of stash that sort of explodes out of the office at every opportunity, but I am not scrapping right now nor have I done any for months. I am currently considering whether I ought to sell some, or indeed most, of it.

9) I support re-cycling and re-using, I think its fantastic. It can be great fun, creative and, ultimately, necessary. Two approaches, firstly we’ve used the Freecycle and Freegle networks extensively when we’ve had items we no longer want. With one single exception, everything we’ve posted has been wanted by someone who has duly turned up to collect said item. The one exception was sadly a piano, in the end I had to pay someone to take it away, I couldn’t believe it. It can be lovely to see your stuff go to a new home though like the two little girls who arrived with their Dad to collect the child’s wicker garden furniture and had great fun testing it out before they left. Or the family of 4 boys who happily took away our old (very large) multi swing set begging their Dad to set it up that very night lol

The second approach includes re-using or remaking items into something new. On my current list of wants are a large wardrobe that I can cut out panels in the door and replace with chicken wire to make into a linen cupboard for the hovel, and, pallets. Have you seen just how much can be done with them? We were already after some to make into compost bins for The Hovel but after seeing the photo above on Pinterest and following links through to this page I now have umpteen ideas floating around of ways to use them.

10) I do quite like lists, aren’t they a wonderful way of capturing what’s important, or what’s going on right now. Trouble is I have lots of lists that start with ‘To Do’ right at the very top lol

Well, thank you for joining me on this little excursion, I hope I haven’t bored you too much, the post certainly ended up being longer than I initially envisaged. Take a look at the other posts won’t you and thank you for dropping by. Please feel free to leave me a comment, it’s always lovely to hear from you.

Wendy xx

Answers on a postcard please.

2011-06-09T11:37:00.001+01:00

I bought this little item a couple of weeks back from TK Maxx but now I am unsure what to do with it. Oh, I’m happy that I want to to display something, be it practical or not, I don’t mind. I’m happy to ‘decorate’ it further – perhaps line the boxes with patterned paper to display treasure in front of. I’m happy to wall mount it or leave it as a table top item. I’m happy to leave or remove the ‘First Aid’ label, I’m really easy going about the whole thing. But here’s the rub …

I don’t have the foggiest idea what to display in it.

Answers on a postcard please and thank for dropping by, please feel free to leave me a comment with or without a suggestion.

Wendy xx

30 Day Photo Challenge

2011-06-06T23:00:00.000+01:00

It just so happened that The Boys provided me with something Green for todays prompt.

Our birdbath is rusty at the bottom, the birds don’t seem to mind though and it does make for some pretty pink clouds.

Whilst waiting for inspiration to strike I was drinking a glass of (healthy) sparkling water. Viola!

Why don’t you take a look at the group on Flickr here, you may not see ALL of them as some are marked as private and only the group can see them (mine are). Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

I’m going for it.

2011-06-06T10:01:00.001+01:00

Whilst visiting upt’north, one of the ‘things’ we came across was My Fitness Pal. Diamond Gal had recently started using it and it sounded quite useful. Its an Android App again and this little fella allows you to record gems like; current weight, target weight, target loss per week, frequency of exercise etc. It then tells you what your target calorie intake is and then lets you record everything that passes your lips during the day. I guess it can take a little while to build up your own list of regular foods but the fact that it also allows you to scan the barcode on numerous items makes it a doozy as well as being seriously cool for the first few times you do it

For me, one of the best things about this is awareness. It stops you in your tracks when you realise just how high some of your regular foods are and because your awareness is increased I think it gives a helping hand if you do want to lose a little weight. My guess is that there will be side effects though, for example: last night I REALLY fancied a cup of coffee but I only had 45 calories left for the day – damn. Because I drink Kenco, and because I’ve only managed to move ‘down’ to semi-skimmed milk but mainly because I flatly refuse to drink coffee without sugar (2 and a half in fact) a normal coffee for me is worth 56 calories. What to do? There was also the rather delicious chocolate cake calling to me from the fridge, and here we’re talking 300 calories per slice!! Hmm, I mused, I could take the dog for a brisk walk and burn off enough for the coffee but I didn’t have the energy or the time to ‘earn’ the chocolate cake. Oh well, warm bath and bedtime instead then. Fast forward to this morning. I’ve not been to the gym for months, just not been able to get back into it, but I figured that if I was going to the trouble of recording what I eat I ought to get back in there. And so I did. 3 minutes and 20 seconds into my workout I’d earned enough for a cup of coffee, woohoo – maybe that chocolate cake is on the cards after all. Awareness see, maybe that’s the edge I’ve been needing all along.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment, hopefully I’ll be back later with my photo challenge shots and an update on the boys

Wendy xx

Would you believe it?

2011-06-03T21:15:00.001+01:00

Today’s prompt for the 30 day photography challenge was ‘clouds’. Now come on, we’re in the UK right, we always have lots of clouds to choose from, don’t we? Who would have thought that I’d have to wait hours before I caught even a glimpse of one AND then they were rather uninspiring (purely for professional purposes of course, long may they stay away really ) …. (oops, apart from overnight, then would be good – with rain of course for the veggies, but gone by morning).

As they were uninspiring I thought a bit of artistic licence was in order.

I’m off up to Manchester tomorrow to see Take That with my Sister, Diamond and her family (well the female members that is). We’re staying the The Boy B and Diamond and then Sunday I can feel a spot of shopping coming on, woohoo.

Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

30 day Photography Challenge

2011-06-02T16:07:00.001+01:00

I came across this challenge at White Peach Photography whilst having one of my first forays into the world of Pinterest. Almost simultaneously I’d been conversing with a new blogging contact, Miriam, about photo challenges. Between us we sort of thought that maybe we’d give it a go, and so we have, although it did take a reminder from Miriam to get me started – how on earth did we get around to June so fast?

The challenge runs for the whole of June with a prompt to each day, photos are posted to a group on Flickr and there’s a discussion linking to all the blogs taking part. Take a look at the link above and maybe you’ll decide to join it too. And so without further ado I present Days 1 & 2.

Day 1 – Self Portrait

Not one of my better ones but as I said, I did need a reminder and ended up taking one in a hurry. It will always remind me that I was washing that day though lol.

Day 2 – What you wore today

It was 15:00 when I posted this shot and I was already on my third outfit of the day. I don’t usually wear that many clothes in one day but on this occasion I’d thrown on the sundress you can see above first thing this morning just for something to make do really. Later, when showered I’d donned the sensible brown trews and top for a hospital visit (you can all imagine I’m sure, hospital visits always require the right clothes for the right type of visit ). Back home I happily discarded that little lot for a cool floaty skirt and plain tee. Phew …..

…….. Did I mention that I popped into an outlet store on the way home and tried on loads of summer dresses?

…….. Oooh, did I also mention that ‘Ooops’ two must of fallen into my basket alongside the teaspoons I needed for The Hovel.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Techno Scrabble & the CAT

2011-05-31T21:52:00.001+01:00

I have to say that technology continues to stalk me a little. Just when I thought I had it sussed, something jumps and bites me! It’s the syncing of my calendar that is todays frustration – yesterday it worked, today it doesn’t. My blog still doesn't want to show the older shots either and Link Within support have not replied to my email requesting advice. I hereby give up on this particular endeavour for now and have removed the offending titbit of code. It’s not all bad though and I can thoroughly recommend a little free app called ‘Word Feud’. It’s scrabble by any other name with the added benefit of being able to play over a distance. The Boy B and I started a game Friday morning whilst I was loading the car to drive to The Hovel, we finished the game Saturday evening with himself still up in Manchester whilst I was safely ensconced in amongst the green, green valleys of Wales. I must also report that I beat him by a very clear 90 points. He may be on his way to being able to call himself Dr but I am still ‘The Mommy’ it would seem lol.

Whilst away, I did manage to re-vamp the barometer – but I don’t like it! I quite like the effect I’ve achieved on it but I don’t like the overall look of it, if that makes any sense? It’s the gold trim and edging on the dials and thermometer you see. I’m not a yellow gold person, I much prefer the metals that are silver in colour be they white gold, platinum or good old silver itself. I did contemplate buying silver paint of some description but the lettering behind the glass etc would remain gold so I don’t think that will work either. At the moment it has been found a home on the hovel kitchen wall and I will leave it a while see if it grows on me, I suspect though that it will be winging its way to a charity shop in the near future.

The hovel, I am pleased to report, had undergone its treatment for woodworm; phase 1 of the water improvement scheme has been completed (remember bad egg smell?) and we’ve agreed upon the work to replace the very wonky cottage door. The only downside is that I forgot to take a photo of the door as it is currently and it will be all changed by the time we next visit. Even though the weather was pretty bad (and believe me, it rained a lot) we still had a lovely long weekend. We also visited CAT – Centre for Alternative Technology, for the first time too. We spent a lovely day, T’hubby, Grumpy, Tattyhead and myself wandering around and debating just how viable solar water heating might be for The Hovel. I loved the demo on the working horses but I don’t think I’ll get away with suggesting we invest in one somehow, do you?

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment

Wendy xx

Technology sucks = Major Aaaaarrrgghh

2011-05-26T18:38:00.001+01:00

I’ll keep it brief:

New Phone - all singing, all dancing, lovely bit of technology. Need to set up to pick up email, calendar etc etc – aaaarrrrgggghhh. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the phone it’s the multitude of user names and different solutions out there that causes the problem. Have spent ALL day sorting things out and so now I’m going to crash and burn on this weeks photo assignment (that’s a sad face not an angry one, although it could well be angry)

Link Within – still not working properly (thank you to those that tried to help) Despite deleting and adding several times I could not get it to display. I discovered that its the very old posts prior to me using Windows Live Writer that aren’t displaying the photos so I duly copied all the older photos from the one blogger online album to the other but to no avail. I am going to go away and see if it changes over night, if not – I am stumped.

Mums birthday yesterday – no stress or technology on this one, or so I thought! Had a lovely day at Trentham Gardens and tried out the camera on my new phone lol

Hmm, its a 8MP camera – it should be better than this, we look like we’re in pain! Guess that’s another thing I need to get sorted – aaaarrrrggghhh, I AM in pain.

ETA (21:46) Well I figured out how to get the higher resolution photos off the camera so I’ll just share this one from the gardens yesterday. I have played about with it though

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Phrasing the Freebie

2011-05-24T09:58:00.001+01:00

Today I felt the need to create. I know it’s rather simple but I liked it so I thought I’d share.

This could be printed onto cardstock or paper and then the edges roughed up a little with one of those little gadgets, before gracing the page of a wonderful layout. It could be used in a digital layout or perhaps on a card, although I’m not sure the phrase itself lends itself to a card does it - unless its to explain why the receiver doesn’t have a present lol

Please feel free take a copy for your personal use. If you do something with it I’d love to see. To save; click on the image, then right click on the large image that appears and chose ‘save as’. Enjoy.

Thanks for visiting and please feel free to leave me a comment.

PS, I still need help with the post below – pretty pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease.

Wendy xx

Anyone know why?

2011-05-24T07:04:00.000+01:00

The Link Within gadget isn’t displaying the photo along with the post suggestion. I’ve used it before, probably more than a year ago, with no problems but I just can’t seem to get it to work right this time. I emailed the support a few days ago but as I’ve not heard back I thought I’d ask the blogging community – someone is bound to know, right?

In the meantime, and as a thank you for visiting, have a listen to the wonderful Jack Johnson with Better Together – this is what Little Ted should have strut his stuff to.

Wendy xx

The final whistle

2011-05-22T21:11:00.001+01:00

I can’t ever recall such a close thing at the end of a football season. I’m not an avid fan, I haven’t been to an actual game for quite a few years but I do keep an eye on my team and especially when they are this close to relegation. We started the afternoon just outside the bottom three, then we were well in the bottom three as we conceded a goal, then we were clear again as other matches went against other teams fighting for survival. Then we conceded another two goals and were once against well stumped. And after all of this it was still only half time! The main man must have given a stirring speech at half time because they came out fighting and pulled a goal back quite quickly – clear again. Then the other teams equalised or went into the lead and we were going down. Again we scored but another team scored also and so we were still on tender hooks as we were neck a neck with a local team on points AND goal difference – we were just edging ahead due to goals scored. In the last minute of extra time of our rivals match they conceded a goal and we were safe. Phew, what a draining, emotional roller coaster ride, so many twists and turns right up to the final, final whistle. But I do feel a little sad for our local team who are now relegated.

The Boy B had come home for the weekend as he had an invite to the match. It’s not long since we’ve seen him to be fair but it is still nice to have him home for a wee while even though, as I type, he’s already back up north again. I must admit I love having all three under the same roof even if it tends to be manic whilst The Boy B is around winding the girls up and encouraging impish behaviour as he does.

Grumpy’s GCSE’s are in full swing and Tattyhead seems to have an envious social calendar at the moment. I’ve a list as long as my arm of things I need to get done (and nice things I want to do) but my one aim for this week is to do up this little item here.

We picked this up from T’hubby’s Dad’s flat when it was emptied last year and has lived at The Hovel for the last few months but it doesn’t really ‘go’ so I’m hoping to transform it somehow, give it a look that I’ll be happy to have gracing my wall. Watch this space.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

What I’m loving right now

2011-05-19T15:25:00.001+01:00

I took a look at Pinterest yesterday for the first time and I have requested an invite. Not sure how much I’ll use it but the theory sounds good ‘Pinterest is a place to catalogue the things you love’ I am forever coming across ‘stuff’ all over the internet and it sounds like a damn good idea to be able to quickly pin something you like to your board. For example right now there this gorgeous door calling out to me:

Original can be found here

Isn’t it lovely, I can just picture this at The Hovel somewhere, not entirely sure where but I can work on that bit. On Pinterest you can follow the link right back to the original location as well as see all the other folk who’ve either ‘pinned’ or ‘liked’ it themselves. I’m not sure how the whole structure of it works yet as I was very quickly distracted yesterday by this blog here:

The owner of ‘My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia’ goes by the name of Kristin and by all accounts she’s had this blog for just under a year. She has loads of inspiring photos and projects of their work on their family home with some fantastic ideas for decorating on a budget. Click the link above to take a look for yourself. What I really like though is that she weekly links to other folk all doing similar things – I could get lost for hours in all the gorgeousness that’s out there. She’s really inspired me to get on with all the bits and pieces we need doing around here.

Last but not least I’ve just signed up to Kim Glasson’s Cafe to receive her wonderful texture freebies. Plus I’ve also just signed up for her Photoshop Skinny mini eCourse. This started a few days ago so I’ll need to try and catch up somehow. I’ve seen lots of folk/blogs using Kim’s textures and, presumably, her tutorials and all of the work looks pretty damn good so I’m really looking forward to having a play.

That’s all for now, I think I’ll grab a coffee and spend a little while cooing over all the wonderful ‘stuff’ I’m going to do – who am I kidding, still at least I can dream can’t I?

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

An Eggceptional Day

2011-05-17T18:17:00.002+01:00

I’ve never really got into using YouTube and as such I don ‘t understand where the rules fall on copyright for backing tracks. This weeks module for CJ’s Advanced Artistry was to create a short stop motion movie. I’ve not done this before and I thoroughly enjoyed it, until I came to post it somewhere that is.

One of my favourite all time tracks is Better Together by Jack Johnson and I thought it would be nice to use this to accompany my video. My video is only 57 seconds long but the first part of the track fitted in well and I promptly saved it. The others in the class have all done similar and I didn’t think anything of it, until I loaded it to YouTube.

YouTube has flagged my video as Content ID matched and it is blocked from being viewed in Germany. On looking into this I came across this info

There are three usage policies—Block, Track or Monetise. If a rights owner specifies a Block policy, the video will not be viewable. If the rights owner specifies a Track policy, the video will continue to be made available on YouTube and the rights owner will receive information about the video, such as how many views it receives. For a Monetise policy, the video will continue to be available on YouTube and ads will appear in conjunction with the video. The policies can be region-specific, so a content owner can allow a particular piece of material in one country and block the material in another.

I think this leads me to believe that my video is ok (apart from in Germany) and that the adverts appearing on it are part of the monetise policy but I’m more than happy to be corrected by someone who knows about these things. I know I could post it without music but its not quite the same and so I have left it as it is but it is not listed publicly, only folk with the link can see it and I will be deleting it after a week or so (once the course tutor has seen it etc etc)

I thought I would share it here with you but I am only attaching a ‘silent movie’ version I’m afraid as my blog is public. I hope you still enjoy it.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

‘Holed’ up in The Hovel ……

2011-05-14T21:39:00.001+01:00

Oh dear, we have woodworm. I guess it’s not really THAT surprising; 250 year old beams of oak; tell-tale signs of a previous infestation; wood-worm treatment tin inherited along with the shed! We just believed the previous owners when they said it was long gone and that they just coated a preventative treatment periodically. To be fair they were probably speaking the truth as far as they knew it. Oh well, it makes for an interesting life I suppose lol. We called in the experts and it actually wasn’t as bad as I’d feared, nothing will be collapsing on top of us and, in any case, come Monday all will be treated – not bad service that.

The weather, however, has not been so kind. We had to dash in out of a sudden downpour earlier much to T’hubbys annoyance as he was desperate to play with his new toy. Another major investment in boys toys, this time its a petrol mower. We do need it actually but I much prefer referring to it as a ‘boys toy’ as it allows me to accrue brownie points for not complaining about the cost of it lol. Now that will definitely come in handy at some point!

I have to tell you that we never tire of the view from here and I know we are so lucky to be able to spend some of our time in this beautiful countryside. Last night we watched as the rain swept in from the neighbouring valley and up the hillside to reach us. Within ten minutes though it had moved on, up and over the hill behind and the skies to the front cleared just in time for a beautiful pink tinged sunset.

And with that I’ll leave you. Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

A little bit of magic

2011-05-11T17:37:00.000+01:00

I love doing CJ’s online photography courses and this current one is no exception. Entitled Advanced Artistry it’s the first one that goes beyond the actual taking of the photograph into the post production arena. I already love using Photoshop and have been muddling along happily with it for the past three years or so. Tomorrow marks the submission deadline for module 1 and already I have learnt loads. I’ve leant the ‘smart’ way of making slight adjustments that can really improve a shot. I know the jury is divided on post production - it can’t make a truly rubbish photo better but it can give good ones the wow factor as well as sometimes saving that special memory that you think is lost in that blurred/dark/over exposed image that’s the only one you have of that particular day. A number of my examples included prom shots which you’ll already have seen in my earlier post but here’s one I took of Grumpy the day after the prom with the required back lighting provided by an obliging period of sunshine.

Hopefully you can see the subtle differences that the post production has made. I must admit that I sometime struggle to ‘see’ it myself. I can do all that work and then look back at the original and think, hmm – perhaps I like the SOOC better.

So which do you prefer?

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

On this Day - 2008

2011-05-11T09:15:00.001+01:00

May 11th 2008. This photo tells me that we’re at the top of the Kirkstone Pass in the Lake District, perhaps we stopped for a bite to eat, or maybe a drink. It looks like we sat outside so the weather must have been pretty good and I’ve not included any folk in the shot so I guess it may have been busy. Actually I know the weather was good and I know that we stopped for a very late lunch because the other photos around this date tell me exactly where we were and what we were doing – It was our Porsche weekend.

T’hubby had turned 50 in the January and as a special present I had bought him a Porsche Boxster for the weekend. Well a Boxster isn’t much use in January is it and so we’d booked the actual weekend for later in the year. We were so very lucky with the weather, it was gorgeous and the top was down pretty much all of the time. We wanted to ‘experience’ the car and so we drove all the way up to Northumberland avoiding motorways as much as possible. We spent two nights in a lovely little b&b in an off the beaten track village whose name escapes me presently. We visited Lindisfarne and Bamburgh Castle in addition to numerous other pretty little villages and coastal towns along the way. For our return journey we drove down through the lakes with our final stop en-route being captured above. A truly magical weekend.

What do your photos tell you about ‘today’ in previous years?

Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Katie Melua and The Space Invaders

2011-05-09T10:10:00.000+01:00

T’hubby and I had the chance to see Katie Melua live last night at The Apollo in Manchester. We have seen her before a few years ago and, once again, her performance was spot on. She opened with ‘Call off the search’ and proceeded to perform a mixture of old classics and current titles from her newest album ‘The House’. Her encore kicked off with ‘9 Million Bicycles’ much to our delight as we’d used the instrumental elements as our ‘walk down the isle’ music back in 2009. One performance in particular made me smile more than the others though. ‘Who Are You?’ The song was accompanied by a large screen video back drop of, basically, Space Invaders.

It took me back to the days when I spent may a hour perfecting my skills at the table top version accompanied by the obligatory half of lager – OMG what a thing to be admitting to lol. I became rather good at it though and I was an expert at angling my shots so that the bottom right or left alien were left until last (they’re usually the first to go) so that I received the maximum bonus points. Eventually interest in this machine waned and I moved onto ‘Asteroids’ This was a stand up machine and so I probably consumed less alcohol as a result lol. Again though I did get rather good and could regularly achieve the highest scores – I used to LOVE it. Sigh, its a good many years ago now though.

Seeing those little aliens on the screen did pique my interest. Did you know you can buy an original Tatio Space Invaders on eBay for a mere £595, or I could get an Asteroids machine for just £3000 – when its back in stock that is!!

I think I’ll settle for my memories, they’re free – apart from which, these things are never quite the same years later are they? I’ll leave you with a video of Katie’s performance from an earlier concert that I found on YouTube, I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Its the eyelashes that took the time

2011-05-08T12:22:00.001+01:00

One of the teachers asked me how long it had taken Grumpy to get ready, much to dd’s dismay I said “2 hours for the eyelashes – 10 minutes for the rest”. Ok, it was a slight exaggeration BUT, I have threatened to emigrate if she wants to wear false eyelashes when she gets married – next time she’s on her own. I suppose nerves played their part but during the ‘application’ she was pure evil. The first eye had gone smoothly but the second was a nightmare. Gone was the calmness that had existed, gone was the spare 30 minutes I’d built in for a photo shoot (especially planned to tie-in with module 1 for CJ’s Advanced Artistry), all replaced with pure stress. Not helped by the limo turning up 15 minutes early it has to be said.

We did manage a few shots before she sped on her way and then more were taken at the main pick up point and again at the hotel after their tour of the town in the gorgeous cream baby Bentley. I won’t bore you forever with photos but for today here are my favourites.

If you’ve got this far down, thank you for visiting, thank you for indulging me and please feel free to leave a comment.

Wendy xx

One happy Grumpy

2011-05-06T22:41:00.001+01:00

And one proud Mommy xxx

Belle of the ball

2011-05-06T11:20:00.001+01:00

Tonight this little girl will be the ‘Belle of the Ball’.

The photo was taken when she was two and a half, she’s fifteen now and tonight it’s Grumpy’s prom. My little girl is still only fifteen not sixteen like most of her friends, but tonight she’ll look all grown up and beautiful.

After weeks of sunshine it appears that heavy rain is forecast locally for this afternoon/evening so if anyone knows the opposite of a rain dance I need to know NOW please.

To my beautiful darling daughter, I hope you have the most wonderful time in the world tonight. Love you always xxx

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave a comment (or do the anti-rain dance for me)

Wendy xxx

Nothing can be accomplished until you begin ……

2011-05-04T16:21:00.001+01:00

Once upon a time I used to work full time – VERY full time. For years I didn’t manage a normal week in terms of hours and I spent months, possibly years, of my life working away from home. I tried very hard not to let it affect family life, not to miss school productions etc but inevitably some fell by the wayside Don’t get me wrong, I was well paid and I met some wonderful people, many who remain good friends to this day. Throughout this time my house didn’t keel over or anyone become ill due to the lack of either a domestic goddess or a super efficient dust buster. Somehow everything that needed doing got done. Ok, Christmas cards were sparse and the ironing mountain did threaten to collapse on occasion, but birthday cards, presents and food on the table always managed to make an appearance and life was normal - if somewhat manic most of the time.

May 2007 (at the start of this blog actually) I walked away from that hectic life, I’d had enough. Most folk who know me expected me to take a few months off and then get back into work in one form or another, those folk are still very surprised that I haven’t. Not only have I not looked for another job I still have no desire whatsoever to get back on that particular treadmill. However (you knew there was a ‘but’ coming didn’t you), Christmas cards are still sparse and pretty much everything that needs organising is done at the last minute. What the heck! I’ve done all the ‘Organisational Skills’ courses imaginable; I’ve read all the ‘Managing your time’ books that are out there; I have 5 days a week to myself, for at least 5 hours a day – So WHY oh why am I still always playing catch up. Aaaarrrghhh.

I started Shimelle’s Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers knowing that for a good portion of the three weeks we’d be at The Hovel but I still felt that I could keep up with it. Humph, I should of known better really, this is me we are talking about. The last prompt I actually read was number 7, the last one I followed was a few before that and, as I type, number 13 has just arrived in my inbox. I’m disappointed that I’ve lost the plot on it and want to get back on the forum, catch up on some of the new blogs I’d started following and see if I can make up for some of the lost time. As always timing is everything and so I also managed to sign up for CJ’s new class ‘Advanced Artistry’ and have received my intro info (which probably has homework in it) but have not managed to read those yet either.

I have to admit though, that we did have a glorious time at The Hovel. The weather was wonderful, the company brilliant and we really managed to chill. T’hubby was desperately in need of some ‘down time’ and so it was a wonderful escape for us all. We had various visitors along the way, an impromptu meeting to assess our ‘water’ problem, a 5 hour hike from our door and our campfire area was constructed and tested out as we burnt the grasses that T’hubby had cut down. Ironically I didn’t get much reading done either and so I have a mountain of books awaiting me too.

Now we’re home and a major catch up has begun as well as the final countdown to Grumpy’s prom on Friday. First step is this post, as I always feel a need to explain myself (really must get out of that), next I want to look around at folks blogs see what they’ve been up to and then I must read CJ’s literature. If only this damn housework (that is also way behind) would just disappear. Ah well, I guess its not going to go away so I best make a start on it, as my title says ‘Nothing can be accomplished until you begin’. Onward ……

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

I may be a while & Introducing us

2011-04-21T10:55:00.001+01:00

I am going to apologise in advance for the fact that I am more than likely going to be a delinquent BBfS participant over the next few days – ‘wind up internet mode’ brings out the worst in me as I just don’t have the patience.

In the meantime I am going to get some naming conventions sorted. I love how you clever folk out there have pseudonyms in blogland for your loved ones. I completely ‘get it’ and I am going to (unashamedly) copy you all.

You must excuse this very ‘au naturel’ shot, twas taken in a hurry at Christmas

I have already started this in using t’hubby for my lovely husband – this does however run the risk of divorce if he spots it.

For my grown up son we have The Boy B, bit boring I know but he’s had this name for ever although it is usually followed by his full surname.

For my 2 lovely daughters we have Grumpy & Tattyhead - although I have to say that I’ve not actually agreed Tattyhead with youngest little darling so I may be in trouble there too. Tattyhead is simply because as a toddler and young child she often had a tatty head, as can be seen below wonderfully, and Grumpy I think is self explanatory – but she does have a gorgeous new smile

There is a story behind this sad little face.

Collectively they’re often know as either The Girlies or Triple T’s (two truculent teenagers) depending on how I feel about them at the time lol.

Mad Dog Maisy is, well, Mad Dog Maisy also sometimes known as The Maisy Monster

And so now you’ve been formally introduced to our little family, there are others that will make an appearance from time to time like my Mum whom you met the other day and my sister and her offspring - I’ll just make their names up as I go along though.

Finally and lol, I don’t believe I am actually about to share this – I present a really, really old layout – one of my very early ones but it does tell the tale of that sad little face. I think you can just about read the journaling if you click on the layout.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx (hmm, maybe I need a pseudonym too – answers on a postcard please)

A well earned rest

2011-04-20T12:23:00.001+01:00

Today (before I get Shimelle’s prompt) I thought I’d share an old layout chosen randomly. The photo was taken nearly 11 years ago so my Girlies were 5 & 4 (well almost 4) and it was taken the day before we very, very nearly reached the top of Scafell Pike – Tell you what, I’ll let you read the journaling for yourself.

Now my dilemma is that, as this is a digital page, I should post the credits for all the elements used only I can’t remember them and I have no way of identifying them without trawling back through all my folders storing my digi stuff. I have had a quick look but to no avail. In this case its not too many elements as its the alpha, flowers, bird and butterfly and I suspect they’re by Kate Hadfield but I can’t be sure. On other layouts the list could be far, far more extensive. When I first created this I will have posted it to an online gallery with all the relevant details but of course, over time, galleries are culled. I’ve also searched my blog but I don’t appear to have posted it previously. I must admit that it has me wondering if I am missing a trick somewhere, in digi or traditional, for a certain level of information – or indeed whether it matters (credits aside of course as they DO matter). And so I apologise for not being able to list the designer, its not by choice.

As I said, I chose this one randomly but its one that always brings a smile to my face and pleasant memories flooding back. And that for me - is what its all about.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

A Day in the Life – Part 1

2011-04-19T13:40:00.001+01:00

It started late, I blame eldest dd. She’d kept my phone overnight and so I had no alarm to wake me, consequently it was 08:08 before I even stirred for the first time. Second time was 08:25, this time I forced my eyes to stay open one at a time and I reached for the laptop. Time to check in with the world and see what was happening in blogland.

09:00 I finally got out of bed and into the shower.

09:30 saw the first load of washing out on the line, and the first poo collection – important point this, maybe I’ll explain that one later. What a glorious day it is looking to be with clear blue skies and a gentle warmth in the air already. Actually its hot in our kitchen. I desperately need to get roof blinds sorted for the conservatory end, otherwise we are going to roast.

10:00 Second load of washing is on, my toast is cooling (hmm, are you a hot or a cold toast person?) the kettle has boiled (twice now) but is cooling a little ready to make my coffee. I thought perhaps I’d start typing this up – whether it ever actually gets published remains to be seen, especially as at this point I have no idea what todays prompt from Shimelle is going to be.

I tried to catch the steam and the furious whistling but failed miserably

10:10 Ah, kettle had cooled a little too much, boiling now for the third time.

10:20 Breakfast outside on the bench, ok the washing is shading the bench a little, bit of a logistical error by me there but hey, I wasn’t awake enough to realise I’d be breakfasting al fresco. Scrummy seeded toasted bread with lashings of t’hubby’s homemade marmalade, obligatory cup of coffee and there we can see the Maisy Monster waiting for her daily toast titbits.

10:35 Ok today's prompt is not actually a post so I guess this meandering gibberish might actually get posted. Now though, if I’m not careful I’ll not have ‘done’ anything else because I’ll be lost in Blogland!

10:55 See what I mean, I’m still here!!

OMG, can you see how dirty my windows are – more work!

11:25 Well, I managed to tear myself away from my laptop for a little while, although I did pop back and tidy up my sidebar just a little. The washing from yesterday got sorted and put away. I hate, with a passion, pairing the socks – especially the black ones. Often not helped by the fact that youngest dd has a tendency to wear odd socks by choice ok they’re not black ones but it still adds to the frustration. This little sortie only added a single item to the ironing mountain but that damn clothes line is FULL of stuff that’s going to be added to this here little pile!

I’d love to be able to show you a before and after shot (you know the one where the second shot is an empty basket) but it just aint gonna happen. I CAN’T STAND IRONING. Hmm and have just realised (as I buried a handful of black socks that I couldn’t pair down inside the ironing basket) that a good portion of the mountain might actually be socks!

11:55 Third load of washing is on, second load is on line and (hangs head in shame) tumble dryer is on. I’ll have to explain myself later as I need now to dash out, pick up youngest dd from my sisters where she stayed the night and then pop in on my Mum.

Say hello to my Mum

13:05 Back home I’ve uploaded and tarted up the shots I want to use, now I think it’s time for a coffee and a bit of a read sat in the sunshine.

13:30 Aaaarrrghhh, not managed to get that coffee yet as I decided to have a quick look at whether I could add a poll here. Guess what, I can’t in Live Writer no matter what plug-in I add, aaarrrgghhh.

13:40 Ok, I think enough is enough I don’t want to bore you any more than I have so far. I am leaving this here and calling it Part 1. At some point I want to post the poll asking if you’re a ‘hot’ or a ‘cold’ toast person but I don’t want to resort to normal blogger posting so we’ll see.

Thanks for dropping by and if you have persevered and read the whole lot, a whole load of extra thanks go to you (but you must be mad), please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Well hello there beautiful smile

2011-04-18T21:13:00.001+01:00

With our road trip safely concluded, Monday morning dawned with blue skies and sunshine. I had a new class starting (Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers – BBfS) and a new phase was dawning for eldest daughter too.

The journey to this beautiful smile started more than three years ago when a referral to the consultant orthodontist at the local hospital resulted in an extensive treatment plan being designed for the eldest of my Girlies. Oh we had the usual crooked teeth but we also had a misaligned jaw, in other words DD’s bottom jaw was too far back! I’d never heard of this before and I’d certainly never noticed it but, of course, as soon as its pointed out to you it stands out a mile – How could I not have noticed this in my baby before now, I must be a bad, bad mother? Anyhow, the main man himself advised us to pick a local orthodontist and start the work as soon as possible. This we did and so almost three years ago we started. First it was the retainers to move the bottom jaw and after a year of those the good old tramlines were fitted. We’ve had our ups and downs with this process; most notably when she left her retainers on a restaurant table, discreetly covered by a napkin I might add, and didn’t realise for an hour! Bad enough you’d think but given that this took place in a lovely, but busy restaurant at the heart of San Gimignano in Italy with T’hubby and I only possessing rudimentary Italian and you perhaps begin to get the picture.

Fabulous place to visit and thankfully they have a good sense of humour too, I can thoroughly recommend it. After hurriedly returning to the restaurant T’hubby did manage to convey that ‘daughter had left her teeth in napkin on table’. Much scurrying and rummaging (there’s that word again) through the BINS later a sudden ‘Ta Da’ was declared. ‘Gracia, gracia’ said T’hubby ‘ but there’s another one!’

They did find them both and took great delight in presenting them to a rather shy daughter of mine, accompanied by a generous round of applause from the audience, oops sorry, the diners.

And so the eldest of my Girlies started today with her beloved (she had grown rather fond of them you see) tramlines still in place. She was really quite nervous about having them removed, she was worried they might have marked her teeth and I think she had just grown so used to them that she didn’t know what to expect. She actually didn’t think she was going to like being without them. She was in the chair for quite a while having the metal work and cement removed but eventually it was finished. She didn’t look in the mirror until back at the car …………..

……………… she hasn’t stopped looking at herself and smiling since.

Today, this is THE most beautiful smile in the world. And, yes, I am biased and I don’t mind admitting it.

Me being me, I still need to work on the first prompt for BBfS but I think I’ll come back to that when I can. For now, I hope your day has been as full of smiles as mine, thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Carpe Diem

2011-04-13T18:34:00.001+01:00

Sometimes you just have to do things no matter that they don’t make a whole load of sense when you sit down and think them through. I’m glad though that I can still be spontaneous and then, more importantly, stick to it. I know I’m more this way inclined than my parents ever were; far, far more so than my sister is or ever will be; more so than T’hubby and at least two of my darling offspring but I don’t know why it can differ so in folk.

I think spontaneity is something that you can lose with age too, I know my Mom needs to have trips planned well in advance and be well aware of the timescales involved in each step. That said, this is the same woman that spent in excess of 36 hours (including overnight) stuck on a snowbound coach on the motorway just south of Glasgow last December. She’s 75 and when I spoke to her briefly, as they were just about to settle down for the night, she was just knuckling down and getting on with it. Go girl go !!

Of course some spontaneity is dependant on other things; like being able to afford to do whatever it is that has just sprung to mind; having the time to do it or just plain being able to abandon whatever daily routine needs to be abandoned in order to fulfil this sudden desire. Often though the rewards can be so wonderful that whatever extra work you may have created for yourself to go back to pales into insignificance.

I think I’ve done a fair few spontaneous things in my life some little, some big but as for right now I’m currently sat in a hotel room in Dumfries, Scotland. My daughters are in their own room a few doors away and T’hubby is on his way back to us from a meeting in Stranraer. We arrived here at 11:00 this morning after a 07:00 start at home in the Midlands. T’hubby has a meeting first thing in the morning and once done we’ll set off again on the 4 hour drive back home. The girls will be dropped off and the two of us will pack another bag and drive down to Hayling Island to visit friends, with T’hubby working from Hook on the Friday. Sunday we’ll zip back up the motorway and gratefully step over our very own threshold at home. It doesn’t last though because by Thursday we’re off again.

What has all this to do with spontaneity I here you ask? Well, we (the girls and I) don’t need to be here, we could have stayed home but a spur of the moment idea about accompanying T’hubby so that he didn’t have a 5.5 hour drive each way on his own resulted in this trip – Even though it meant that on Thursday we’d be driving almost from one end of the country to the other and even though the girls stated that they’d much rather stay home – sometimes these things just have to be done.

The upshot though is that I’ve just spent a wonderful day with my daughters. We’ve shopped (although we did do that yesterday too but in Shrewsbury!), we enjoyed a lunchtime snack in Subway, we’ve enjoyed using the leisure facilities in the hotel – we swam, well after a fashion anyway I think more laughing went on than swimming; we used the Jacuzzi and the girls have tried a steam room for the first time. Ahead of us we have a nice evening meal planned, perhaps partaking of the pool again in the morning and then the trip home.

But I have to say that my triple t’s (two truculent teenagers) have been a pleasure to be with – all day long. Sigh, I am a happy contented Mommy right now – I am deliberately not thinking about the fact that it won’t last lol.

So, what’s your last bit of spontaneity and if you don’t have any – go try it?

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

ETA – Post written on Wednesday evening just delayed by slow internet and travelling.

Wendy xx

Hovel in the hills

2011-04-07T09:36:00.001+01:00

Pete bought me this book for Christmas and I have to admit to a certain dread to reading it. It’s something Pete read many years ago and loved and he felt that right now, with our own hovel to contend with (yes we did get the cottage in the end, woohoo) that I’d enjoy it too. There’s always an extra element of pressure when you’re reading something that someone close to you has ‘loved’ previously don’t you think? I needn’t have worried though, I did enjoy it and yes I think that right now was the right time to read it especially as it made me feel a whole lot better about the ‘cracks’ I keep on noticing that I swear weren’t there when we first bought the cottage. I really connected with the book and the inevitable problems, small and large, that they faced. And so I am nicknaming the cottage our Hovel in the hills even though it does have its own sweet little name already. Roughly translated to mean ‘clothed in the hollow’ Pant Y Crywni is the name that I’ll have carved into a small piece of slate at some point in the future but for here and now ‘hovel’ will do.

Someone asked me what the hovel looked like now - it looks exactly the same as it did on the first day we saw it, apart from the fact that we no longer allow the sheep to graze inside our boundary. Oh they are wonderful at keeping the grass nice and short but the by-product, well the AMOUNT of by-product to be precise, is just unbelievable and unfortunately means that all that green green grass a) isn’t green and b) just cannot be sat (or walked) upon safely.

Whilst the outside remains the same, and will do for a long time, the inside will gradually change and indeed we have started on that already. Nothing structural, just cosmetic, starting with the 2nd bedroom. The hovel is 250 years old, and small. For many years it was a shoemakers cottage with about 14 family members all sharing those four walls. Those same walls aren’t straight, some have the aforementioned cracks in them and the flooring upstairs slopes at an angle that I’m convinced steepens by the week. Believe me, I know - I sleep on the right hand side of the bed and I find I have to stay facing that way now too. If I turn over I feel for all the world as if I am rolling down hill, most disturbing when half asleep!

There’s no point me trying to turn the hovel into something that might grace the pages of Country Living but I’m thinking that a little Shabby Chic meets Vintage meets junk shop could go a long way. This is where my rummaging really comes in handy and indeed I have a couple of items destined for the 2nd bedroom already in waiting. Alone though it is no good, stage 2 also needs to happen – to Shabby Chic – this is where my creative side needs to kick in and give my chosen pieces a makeover. So far I have only managed this transformation on a couple of stools and my magazine rack but I have been fairly pleased with my efforts to date. I know you can’t see the shabby chic’ing but it is there, honest.

However, in true hovel in the hills style it just wouldn’t be right without a problem or two to overcome and, shabby chic’ing to one side for now, we do have a slight little issue-ette at the hovel currently. We appear to have a dose of Hydrogen Sulphide in our (private) water supply, don’t laugh – that’s the good old ‘bad egg smell’ when the water is heated. It’s not harmful, so I’m told, but it sure puts you off your cuppa I can tell you. Complicated by the fact that all our waste goes to a septic tank (whose ‘balance’ must be maintained) and any water we run off separately will end up in an open water course on farmland and the little issue-ette starts to become a full blown problem. Now, if in the ether out there known affectionately as Blogland any of you good folk have a solution or an idea (however crazy) that might help me please feel free to share. All suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment (bad eggs smell related or not) Can I also just say thank you for all the lovely comments I have been receiving as I try to find my ‘blog style’

Wendy xx

A year ago today

2011-04-06T13:07:00.001+01:00

Well well well, I would never have thought to look back into my blog to see what I posted about this time last year. To be honest, I did rather expect to find zilch as my posting, since I started, has been sporadic to say the least. But no, there in front of me was a post from the 6th April 2010. It was just a short one with one photo, full of excited tension and I remember the day well. You can, if you really want to, see the post here but believe me there isn’t much to it and I’ll have to explain it all in this post to make any sense anyway. Lol, the title of it is ‘Long time no blog’ which pretty much sums me up.

The post talks about the fact that we were (im)patiently waiting to find out if our offer on this gorgeous little cottage had been accepted. Gosh I can remember just how I felt; nervous, excited, apprehensive, aaarrrghhhh – I just wanted to KNOW, didn’t that Estate Agent know just how mega important this was?? I guess not because it took them hours, all day in fact, and finally when the office had closed for the day I had to accept that they weren't going to tell us yet. Still once the office had closed I could relax a little, until the next morning that was, when it started up all over again. Phew, it was a nerve wracking time, really draining actually. But on day two we did get the call ……..

…… it was a no. NO, how can that be! Someone had put the same offer in as ours just earlier and, after much deliberation, the vendors had decided to go with the folks who’d made the first offer - there was nothing else to split us. Pete was devastated, he had completely fallen in love with it and although I didn’t blog about just how sad it made us, that too I can remember vividly. We sat around for a while feeling sorry for ourselves but gradually we moved on. We’d been umming and ahhing (how do you spell that, I googled to check and that was the general consensus, well on one site anyway lol) about stuff but now we committed to extensive work at the back of our house and we decided to take a break, just the two of us. It was meant to be Ibiza but we fell foul of the ash cloud and ended up driving across to France. We did have a wonderful time though and little did we know that this would be our last break in our little car – I must come back to that point.

The break was really rather liberating, we had no accommodation booked, we just set off. Above, I think Pete is just about to telephone some hotel, somewhere where we thought it might be good to head. Neither of us had holidayed this way before and I loved it, although we did have one occasion where we’d spotted a nice looking place in a book and were heading towards it but couldn't get in touch with anyone for hours but it all turned out well in the end.

Back home the date was scheduled for work to commence and we’d started tentatively looking at other properties again. The weekend before the work started we had a nosy at this property here – The Old School House.

Isn’t it picture postcard material. It was gorgeous and had a wonderful character inside, even the coat pegs were still there. It wasn’t without potential problems though and so, although we loved it, it wasn’t a dead cert. However, then the estate agent dropped his bombshell - the purchasers had pulled out and the original cottage was ours if we wanted it.

IF, IF – well what do you think we did?

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Colour Inspiration

2011-04-05T21:21:00.001+01:00

You just cannot beat the colour combinations that can be found in nature. Oh, as scrapbookers we conjure up some combos that come a close second but its the natural pairings that never fail to lift my spirits. I think if I absolutely had to choose a favourite colour it would probably be green, hmmm, with sky blue a close second. Actually, throw it a bit of sunshine and I would be permanently happy. I can still remember the feeling that I used to get many years ago (as a teenager) when I walked along a particular alley way. Don’t get me wrong, the alley way was nothing special. It ran between a road close to my parents home and the main road upon which my friend Annette lived. The alley was often full of rubbish and certainly wasn’t a suitable short cut at night but on a spring or summers day it could make my heart sing. I’d walk along and look up through the canopy of overhanging branches to the blue sky beyond and is just made me happy – big time. It didn’t have anything to do with the fact that I’d probably just extracted myself from whatever chores I was meant to be doing, at least I don’t think it did anyway lol. The shot above is far more recent than that but it still captures the spirit I recall wonderfully. Now, as I look around my home I can see these colours adorning my favourite rooms (well, the ones we’ve worked on so far at any rate) but there are lots of other colour combinations that I love.

These tulips just scream springtime don’t they and I love the red and yellow alongside the green but it isn’t a combination I’d use (I don’t think) in my home. For me, alongside preserving the memories, that’s what scrapbooking allows me to do – Interior design try outs in miniature. Oh I know they don’t translate into room designs but it fulfils a need to play with different combinations without breaking the bank. Unfortunately I don’t get a completely free reign around the house, the girlies are no longer girly girls and Pete prefers neutral colour schemes, consequently I’ve not yet managed to incorporate the colour combination below but I’m working on it – watch this space.

An old layout in Pink and Green from a few years ago.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

What I’m seeing right now …..

2011-04-02T20:50:00.001+01:00

….. Well about 4 hours ago to be more accurate but I hadn’t wound up my internet connection until just now!

Sorry but I couldn’t resist. Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Inconsistency

2011-04-01T19:58:00.001+01:00

At some point during my early adulthood I realised that the only consistent point about myself is my inconsistency.

I think that it exists in all walks of my life. I try to be consistent with the girls because I think its important to be. I know I’m not always but then I think that’s because I do try to take each scenario as it comes and react accordingly based on the merits of each different situation.

My blogging is most definitely not something that could ever be considered as consistent. I have tried various different techniques in an attempt to bring some order to things but all to no avail. I’ve tried scheduling a regular ‘word of the day’ slot, I tried a ‘thought of the day’ and many moons ago I joined in on the ‘her space my space’ photo prompts back in the days before it switched to Facebook - but somehow I lost the plot on all of them. Part of my problem will be wondering if anyone is reading my stuff and I guess that’s where another inconsistency comes in. Is my blog one for sharing scrapbook pages or is it about charity shop finds; is it about good books to read or about the trials of taking on a 250 year old cottage (with its own private water supply, septic tank and a decidedly sliding down hill feel to it); or is it just about ‘stuff’. I can’t claim to write witty posts on a regular basis (if ever), I can’t claim to post scrapbook pages at all at the minute – the only thing I can claim is my inconsistency.

I did comment earlier today on a blog from BfS – I will get the name added later I hope but I’m just off-line currently – I commented particularly because she mentioned that she was inconsistent and it was a joy to find someone who used that same word and I do hope she doesn’t mind that I’ve taken up the word for my post today. She’s not inconsistent, she’s interestingly varied and a real pleasure to read. So why can’t I feel the same?

ETA, the blog I refer to is BE Glorious, you can see it here

I’m enjoying BfS, I’m really enjoying having folk visit and posting comments. I’m enjoying visiting all these new blogs and swooping off in all the different directions they take me. I’m a little bit agog at just how much time can be swallowed up by it and, if I want to continue, I need to find a way to control the time that works for me. I’m aware that I’m not visiting or commenting on every blog, so if I miss you, I apologise here and now but as with everything I’m a tad inconsistent.

Thanks for stopping by and please fee free to leave a comment. I’ll leave you with a random photo of Mad Dog Maisy.

Wendy xx

i love a good Rummage

2011-03-29T17:19:00.001+01:00

Rummage - what a wonderful word

–verb (used with object)

1. to search thoroughly or actively through (a place,receptacle, etc.), especially by moving around, turning over,or looking through contents.

2. to find, bring, or fetch by searching (often followed by out or up ).

I absolutely love a good rummage. I blame my Dad. As a young adult his garage was like Aladdin's Cave. No matter what you needed to fix a problem my Dad would disappear into the garage and find a little something to help. I used to follow him in and that was ok but if I wandered off on my own to peruse the shelves, full to brimming with bits, he was soon at my side to see what I was up to. He’d gently remove from my hands whatever I’d picked up and place it back. If I looked at something repeatedly I’d find that it would soon be re-homed never to be seen by me again. So you see my Dad loved to collect ‘stuff’ (and hang on to it obviously lol), but to do that he had to rummage first.

I remember when he landed his dream job, I don’t think he realised it was that when he first got it, and my Mom certainly never imagined the impact it was to have upon her, but my Dad was soon in his element – He became a council tip attendant lol. You can imagine can’t you; re-cycling was still something only 'Friends of the Earth talked about and Charity Shops hadn’t taken off yet, so everything went to the tip whether it worked or not. Now my Dads collecting really took off, much to Moms bemusement.

Fast forward to September of last year and my need to buy seating for the cottage - It needed to be cheap because we’d no idea if it was going to be ruined by damp, mice or worse. I popped into the British Heart Foundation Shop and within 10 minutes I’d bought a 2 seater sofa and 2 large comfy armchairs, all for the wonderful sum of £150 – wow, what a bargain, I was hooked. Since then I have ‘toured’ the charity shops wherever I go and do not mind admitting it. I have a mental list of the things that would be good to acquire and, as long as I’m not in a hurry, gradually I come across each of my items. The bookcase and lamp I mentioned yesterday came from charity shops, I’ve picked up lovely old glass vases and candlesticks for a song and we’ve a wonderful growing collection of old books at the cottage that are not only cheap but their patina adds to the overall charm. Oh yes I’m hooked alright.

Take today for example. My hair appointment wasn’t until 10:00 but I took myself into town straight after the school run so that I could do the rounds first. Occasionally I’m disappointed, but sometimes it’s because I don’t look properly. You see I think you need to be able see the potential more that anything else, and I can’t always. I once picked up a wooden item with a £2.50 sticker on it from underneath the bottom shelf and held it up to look at. An assistant bounded over and asked if I knew what the item was as they’d been discussing it and no-one knew. “I think it’s a magazine rack” I said, and held it against a wall to demonstrate. I did walk away with my prize but not before magazines had been rounded up by the assistants to ‘test’ my theory. A little bit of tlc and paint later and my lovely magazine rack now adorns the seating in the conservatory, you can just see it to the right of today’s acquisition. Hmmm, I think we’ll talk about that bench some other time.

So, rummage, my word of the day that’s somehow turned into a bit of a happy trip down memory lane tinged with a bit of sadness. You see sadly my Dad is no longer with us, and I didn’t intentionally write this post about him (or to be sad) but as I wrote about the British Heart Foundation (BHF) being the shop that got me hooked I suddenly stopped in my tracks and sat staring at the screen as I realised the connection. You see the BHF would be my first choice of charity because my Dad suffered with heart problems most of his life and ultimately didn’t survive them. And now I truly don’t know if this paragraph should stay or go – but I do thank my Dad for my love of rummaging xxx

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment – Sorry for the sad bit at the end but I think I need it to be there.

Wendy xx

It’s odd but …….

2011-03-28T17:40:00.001+01:00

Last night I had actually started to draft a post about being in need of some focus in my life but I didn’t like how it was panning out – too boring. Then Shimelle’s prompt this morning talked about sharing goals etc on our blogs and how one might incorporate them without losing the reader. And so I decided to try something different that I hope won’t be boring to read about but that also might start to give me a little of the focus I need.

Da da

Hmm, I’m not convinced.

Be Creative is self evident, so it could be scrapping, sewing, doing up junk, anything of that nature. I have enough stash to open my own shop and I’m not scrapping at all at the moment so that’s a definite ‘needs improvement’. I have reams of scrummy material and a long list of items to make, so there’s another. I also have a small bookcase and a standard lamp that need to be shabby chic’d as soon as possible too.

Get Fit is another that speaks for itself. I did get myself back to the gym today. I’ve not used it on a regular basis since last year so I need to get back into it. I’ve also listed ‘Run’ under do something new – I must be mad, I hate running! Pete wants to get into his running, he bought new shoes in November and then I treated him to some decent kit to wear too for part of his Christmas present. So far he’s managed to get out exactly …. zero times. So I thought I’d give it a go with him, I hate it though – did I say that?

I’m using the old Red, Amber, Green system to report how well I did against my target once a week on a Monday and I don’t expect really to actually write a great deal about it once its got going. Aaarrghgh, feels too much like it used to when I worked. I’ll have to see how it goes.

The ‘Goals’ little piccie does mean that I have been creative today (ish) I know, I am clutching at straws – and I need to give credit to Dawn Inskip for the border I’ve used. I had to re-install Photoshop first so that I could set about playing and that proved slightly problematical. You can only have Adobe products installed on two machines and each time you install you need your product code AND you need to activate the software. Because our laptop had previously crashed necessitating the installation of a new hard drive I couldn’t perform the de-activation before the activation – if you know what I mean. Damn, what to do now. I googled it and various forums confirmed that there is no way around it and so I googled Adobe support UK, hoping for a number I could call. The site I found here gave me access to an online chat (once I’d selected the option for trouble with activation). The gentleman that I got to ‘chat’ to was wonderful and in no time at all he had re-set the counter so that I could activate my software – brilliant service, and I am keeping a hold of that url for future reference.

I think that’s all for now, thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comments.

Wendy xx

Oblivion

2011-03-26T22:38:00.001Z

Today my Baby DD tackled her fears and joined the queue to ride Oblivion – without me! In fact I wasn’t even invited to join the trip!! A group of them (all 14 year olds) arranged their own trip to Alton Towers. They arranged the minibus (a friend of one of the parents), arranged half price tickets, got themselves up and out at the crack of dawn (well normal time to us adults but mega early for teenagers on a Saturday) and they had themselves a whale of a time. Not without some tears by all accounts. You see Baby DD has flatly refused to even get any where near the queue for Oblivion in the past, she’s scared. That’s ok, she is often scared of things that the rest of us just get on with but she deals with each in her own way and her own time. I have learnt that there is no point whatsoever in trying to make her do it any other way. And so I let her trot off today to a large Theme Park and just kept my fingers crossed. She knew all her friends intended ‘encouraging’ her to try it and she really didn’t know how she was going to react.

In the end she joined the queue without any fuss – unbeknown to her pals, she’d sent me a text saying they were on their way to it. She chatted and smiled as they progressed through the queue, all was well. Eventually they reached the front of the queue and …………. IT BROKE DOWN.

Well, you can imagine can’t you, for one whose tummy was already in knots that was the final straw and, well lets just say ‘there appeared a little wetness upon her cheeks’ Another text home to say it had broken down received a reply from me telling her that she really didn’t have to do it if she didn’t want to – and then silence, no more text messages. It seemed to me to be an awfully long time but it probably wasn’t and then I got the text ‘MOMMY I DID IT!’ and yes it was in capital letters to let me know that she was shouting it. WOOHOO went my proud reply. No big deal I know to lots of folk who (like me) love all the big rides, but for my scared Baby DD it was something significant.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

December (Advent) Charm on a Spring Day

2011-03-25T09:35:00.001Z

Book are for Life (not just for Christmas)

2011-03-24T10:07:00.001Z

There’s something deliciously exciting about leaving the library, my arms full of books. Maybe it’s because my arms are full of endless possibilities to be found on pages I’ve only had tantalising glimpses of whilst making my selections. Or, maybe it’s because the sun always seems to shine as I walk with childlike grin and a spring in my step back to the car. I don’t really believe the suns shines just because I’ve been to the library, more likely that I only pop in when the weather’s good, after all, I don’t want to spoil my precious cargo getting them wet. Perhaps it’s just that I absolutely adore books. I love touching them, stroking them, running my fingers across the print of a novel, reading glasses at the ready. I love the way a good novel transports you into its midst for the duration and the ideas that spark as I peruse my non-fiction choices. I love glossy pages with sumptuous images lovingly sharpened, colour corrected and closely cropped in Photoshop before being selected to adorn the pages of my latest choices in shabby chic, life on earth or mouth-watering cupcake recipes.

Mum took us to the library every Saturday morning as children. I remember happily exploring the children’s section gathering books whose covers took my fancy. To the teenage me though, the library was just a building that happened to be in front of my favourite disco and that’s how it stayed pretty much throughout the next three decades. Oh I dallied sporadically with my on-going membership but it never lasted. My relationship now though has built up over a couple of years and in the last few months I have truly come to understand the worth of this venerable institution with its wonderful staff. Nowadays when I fancy a particular book I reserve it, usually, online. If my branch has it; all well and good, I just collect when next I visit. If not; it’s transferred to my branch and I am duly charged. If my choice isn’t in the Borough but is available elsewhere in the country once again it’s transferred in for me and, inevitably, I am charged. I’ve not yet come across a title that I cannot source in this way. And do you know the mighty sum levied for this wonderful service – 40p per book! Don’t you just love it!

This post is in response to Prompt 4 from Blogging for Scrapbookers. I must admit that it will probably be the only one that gets posted this quickly and then only because I happened to mention yesterday that I might post my failed magazine submission When I read Shimelle’s talk of the library in the prompt – well it just had to be didn’t it.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

5 Random Things

2011-03-23T14:06:00.001Z

1) Blog Hopping is mega time consuming (and is actually in danger of stopping me from getting my own post written) but it does enable you to see lots of stuff; ideas, photos, thoughts, blog designs etc etc. My problem tends to be I end up with yet more ideas whizzing around my head on top of the zillion that were already vying for my attention. Oh, and it does have a tendency to mean that my ‘to do list’ for today does not have many ticks on it Almost without fail in a mega hop though, you do tend to come across blogs that you think ‘Yes, I MUST see this one again. And so I thought I’d share one here that I came across today. I don’t think it is a BFS class member, I think I got to it from someone in the class but I’m afraid I have no idea who now. Take a look – I love her style - Simple Inspiration Don’t forget the take a look in the ‘Who I am’ section and follow the links to the kids pseudonyms – Brilliant.

ETA – Ah yes, thanks to Karen’s comment I can indeed see that the above link came from her blog. I loved Karen’s post and followed a couple of links I think but only looked at them later in the day which is why amongst the dozens of tabs I end up with I couldn’t tell where I’d got it from lol. You can take a look at Karen’s original post here.

2) The Local Library – I don’t know how many of you use your local library but I do and I love it. So much so that I wrote a short piece for a magazine about it. Sadly it didn’t get published but it was a brilliant exercise for getting me to say everything I wanted in a finite number of words – something you can see I have trouble with !! One of the books I returned today but that I think I may have to go buy is this one here. Storage Style, it’s just one of those yummy books with beautiful photos that just can’t fail to inspire you. PS No, I am not on commission for The Book Depository, that just happened to be the best price I found. As for my magazine piece I might just post that later if I can find it.

Todays selection from the Library

3) Interior Design Inspiration. Oh boy this is my THING at the minute, I am swallowing up books that inspire me in this space and it will potentially cost me a small fortune. I posted about a couple of lush books recently and if you want to take a look its here. Shimelle happened to mentioned Decor8 in todays prompt and this is a site I love to visit and I fully intend keeping an eye out for her book which I think is due any day (see more money). Another lovely site though belongs to Rachel Ashwell here and again it’s just crammed full of lushness. I could drool all day.

4) Shopping. What can I say, I love it. Yesterday I took myself off to my first Antiques Market and I had a wonderful time, apart from the fact that I didn’t buy anything.The sun was shining and there were about a hundred stalls all with something worth having a nosy at. I think actually though that’s why I didn’t buy anything – to much choice but I can thoroughly recommend finding yourselves a local one to attend, just Google it. Today, however, I did buy some things. Good old TK Maxx to the rescue. they don’t always have good stuff but today I think I was on a roll. I’ll just share with you this little beauty who’s destined for the girls bedroom at the cottage.

5) Ok, so number 5 is going to have to stay missing for now as I must, must, must get something done but thank you all for dropping by. And thank you for the comments on my last post. One of my ‘issues’ with blogging is whether they’re read or not, whether its interesting or not - so getting comments is lovely – Thank you.

This post was in response to Prompt 3 from Blogging for Scrapbookers by Shimelle Laine.

Wendy xx

Blogging for Scrapbookers

2011-03-22T22:37:00.001Z

I decided to join up, rather last minute, to Shimelle’s latest class Blogging for Scrapbookers. I’d toyed with the idea last time the course had run but somehow never quite got around to it and so this time when I spotted it on day 1 I just hit the button. Joining so late does, however, make me feel like I am already running to keep up and that leads quite neatly into my aims for the next three weeks.

Keep up – ‘twill be a miracle if I make this one but I have to at least try. I have no excuses either, I should have all the time in the world to do it (I’m sure the reasons for this will become clear as I go on this journey)
Decide why I blog – my reasons for blogging shift and turn as does how I feel about blogging. I’m hoping that working through this course will enable me to understand the ‘why’ and ‘what’ resulting in a balanced, better blog.
Find Inspiration – I’ve not scrapped or generally been creative for months. I have a large pile of unused kits on top of all my other stash. I have reams of fabric I bought at a big Laura Ashley sale. I have a zillion and one ideas whizzing around my head. I have all the time in the world to do something with it all - but I don’t!

I’m sure that there are probably more aims that I have but I think these three are quite big all by themselves. As for a photo, well as I’m not scrapping I don’t have a recent layout to share but I can share this shot I took at the weekend that I’d quite like to scrap. It’s not been tarted up yet (apart from the frame done in Picnik) as I still need to reload Photoshop after my disastrous temper tantrum the other week (hmm, there’s another tale to tell sometime) but I quite like it anyway.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

A Lovely Weekend

2011-03-21T14:41:00.001Z

Ant and Chaz joined us at the cottage this weekend, it was their first time. Glad to say they loved it and we had a truly lovely weekend. Saturday was spent at Barmouth, a large part of which took place on the beach - Maisy’s most favourite location ever. Ant had his DSLR with him and was determined to capture her galloping along the beach. Maisy was, of course, more than happy to oblige and above you can see one of his shots. It was also the weekend for moon watching, with the moon being closer to earth than it has been for x number of years – I can’t remember how many but I do know that its 20 years before its this close again. The moonlight at the cottage on Saturday night was brighter than we have ever seen it there and so I’ll leave you with the close-up shot that Ant captured of the moon herself.

Thanks for dropping by

Wendy xx

More Gorgeousness

2011-03-16T10:09:00.001Z

Just lately I have been back to lusting over anything to do with Interior Design. To that end I purchased these two books to fill my need for copious amounts of piccies or gorgeous rooms. I had checked out the second book already in my local bookstore and couldn’t wait to get a hold of it myself. The country home one is pretty damn good too although I was a tad disappointed to find some home repeated across the two books. With hindsight, I shouldn’t really be that surprised and as there aren’t too many it’s not enough to make me regret my purchase.

My next piece of gorgeousness is this yummy bag. Listed as a shopper I’m using mine to store my current reading material, but I am expecting to be able to put the laptop into it too.

I first spotted, and lusted over, it online at Nkuku whilst investigating a possible business venture. The lovely photos you see here are taken from Nkuku’s site – the photography over there is really rather good, helped I think by some beautiful items for sale. Anyway, the second I saw it I loved it but it had a pretty hefty retail price tag that I couldn’t justify. But as the saying goes ‘good things come to those that wait’ and woohoo I found one in a sale at a little shop in Shrewsbury last week. I walked away first off to think about it – it was still a fair price BUT it was a good deal cheaper than I’d previously seen. And so I decided that sometimes things are just meant to be

I have to say that once home it didn’t disappoint and I’m fully expecting this fledgling relationship to develop into something that lasts for years.

Thanks for dropping by,

Wendy

Bakestone Cakes

2011-03-05T21:45:00.001Z

A few weeks ago we purchased a cast iron Bakestone for use on the stove at the cottage. We didn’t get around to testing it out last visit so, although we were fast running out of daytime I really wanted to give Bakestone Cakes a try today. The recipe was taken from a little book going by the snazzy title “Welsh Teatime Recipes”. You’ll have seen the type of book, often sold in Tourist Information Centre, with a smattering of local scenery scattered throughout its pages. Anyway, this was quite a basic recipe for traditional Monmouthshire cakes originally cooked on a Bakestone and so we thought they’d make an ideal ‘first attempt’.

Recipe: 8oz Flour, 1/2oz Baking Powder, Pinch of Salt, 2oz Butter a Single Cream. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together into a bowl, then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add sufficient cream to form a stiff paste. Roll out fairly thinly on a lightly floured surface and cut into small rounds. Lightly grease the hot bakestone and cook, turning once, until golden brown on both sides. Split in half and serve hot, spread with plenty of butter.

We made 8 scones with these ingredients but they did take a while to cook, probably due to cooking on top of the stove not being an exact science. Our first try wasn’t properly cooked through although it tasted fine. However our next try saw a healthy dollop of Blackberry conserve added and I have to say is was delish.

Our afternoon tea complete, we got back to our decorating but not before setting our Mince Beef and Bean Hotpot to simmer away gently on top of the stove. Yum Yum.

Thanks for dropping by

Wendy xx

At last ….

2011-02-28T11:57:00.001Z

Its taken us more than 2 years but we have finally bought a Kerry Darlington picture. We first came across her unique style in a little shop in Lichfield, we loved it but somehow we just didn’t get around to buying it and by the time we decided to do it, it had gone. Then when we married in July 2009 we chose to ask folk to contribute to our ‘painting’ fund if they insisted on getting us something rather than buy us gifts. We even popped along to a little gallery in Kirkby Lonsdale on the way up to the Lakes for our wedding and found yet another one from the same range that we rather liked. We thought that we’d got plenty of time to think about it before committing, and indeed we had, but by the time we did finally get around to making the decision it was a few months later and once again, it had gone. And so, periodically we have a nosy around to see what’s available but we’d still not progressed to actually buying one. At the most recent ‘nosey’ we saw that Kerry had an exhibition at Daventry in just a couple of weeks time. Perfect - we thought – Daventry is only a hour away we’ll go along, meet Kerry and choose our painting. We knew that since our first sighting of her stuff that there had been a couple of new ranges, the very latest being ‘Florals’ which I did quite like the look of. And so, last Thursday I caught the train to Bourneville to meet Pete from work and we drove to Evergreen Art in Daventry. I’ve not been to an exhibition in a small gallery before and I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect but we had a really pleasant time. I think we were determined to buy something and so after going around two or three times, discussing different options with the gallery owner, we did settle on one. However, I didn’t like the frame it was already in and so we chose to do something quite different and now we wait. Hopefully it will still look stunning in our choice of frame, I think I will remain a little nervous until I actually see it in real life though. After we’d done the deal Kerry came over to chat and her publicist took this shot of us holding our precious painting. You can just see in the background the type of frame that we’ve chosen rather than its original.

Kerry is absolutely gorgeous and a lovely person too, it was really nice to meet her and to chat a while. She very kindly signed the back of our painting for us, when she asked what dedication we wanted we looked at each other blankly, then I remembered it was actually a wedding present. And so it now says “To Wendy and Pete, The Wedding Present, Love Kerry Darlington” – How perfect it that? I completely fell in love with the painting you can see just behind Pete and Kerry called Sakura which apparently is the Japanese for Cherry Blossom. I would have loved to purchase this one but with a 23k price tag, we had to pass lol. You can see a larger photo of Sakura by following this link.

The photo above doesn’t do our painting justice, it really is a beautiful piece of art – now we just need to find the right place to hang it lol.

Thanks for stopping by

Wendy x

Marmalade, free hot water and stools!

2011-01-20T18:54:00.001Z

Pete had been hankering after making some marmalade and so last weekend he set to. It’s our first time and so we don’t really know which recipe works best and so we tried a quickie version – only it took an age before it made any attempt at setting. Still we got there in the end and managed to bottle around 12 jars in total. I have to say it’s really quite nice, at first taste I thought it wasn’t quite sweet enough for me but actually its just about right on toast.

Anthony set ME a challenge a week ago now with this lovely shot of a drop of water. Shame on me I still haven’t quite got around to getting one done myself. I desperately want to get making cushions etc with all the Laura Ashley material I acquired and I think my time and energy has gone on this instead. Not that I’ve actually made any yet but my ‘planning’ is coming along nicely. I’ve grabbed some new cushion inners and thought I’d start with some for our bed at home, just to dress it up a little. Hit a snag though with the continuous zips I bought, they’re too dark! Another online order coming on then lol.

I also picked up a couple of stools from a local charity shop. My original intention was to make them both into bespoke bedside tables for the cottage but when I saw one sat alongside the table in the conservatory I realised that they were the perfect size for slotting under the table for extra seating. And so now they are awaiting a little bit of tlc to turn them into cute little additions to the eating area.

Last but not least I have been successful in getting a kettle to boil on the wood burner, woohoo I am so pleased. Gonna try starting some soup off on the cooker and transferring to the wood burner to cook slowly in a little while. I’ll let you know how I fare.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Mystery Veg & Photo Challenges

2011-01-13T10:00:00.000Z

I’ve mentioned previously that we have deliveries of organic veggie boxes from Abel & Cole. The first was actually part of Pete’s Christmas present as I knew it was something he’d fancied trying for a while. They are very well organised but because of this you do always know what you will be receiving in each box. Also because of this you can opt to never receive particular items or skip an item for a box. This week I’d chosen to skip yellow peppers as we’d already got some. This meant that there was going to be one item in the box I wasn’t expecting. Well, when I first looked I didn’t even recognise the blooming thing and so I emailed this piccie to Pete at work.

Mystery solved, it is Salsify. Now I look again I do recall seeing it used on Masterchef by the great Monica to test one batch of professional chefs. Thankfully that meant that we remembered that once peeled the white flesh darkens very quickly if not placed into a bowl of slightly acidic water. We’d also added Wild Pheasant Breast to our order for this week and so you can guess what our main course consisted of last night. I can also report that my crumble was truly delicious. It went in the oven for approx 30 mins and was then served with a little dollop of farmhouse vanilla ice-cream – yummy. I also snuck in an order yesterday for this little beauty to store all my camera paraphernalia in. I didn’t order till yesterday afternoon and the Royal Mail man got me out of bed this morning to sign for it, how efficient is that?. All my stuff is now safe and sound, tucked way and protected so I am a happy bunny.

At home over Christmas Anthony took the plunge and purchased himself a DSLR. He’s lusted after one for a while and always has a play with my Canon when he’s home. After checking out the prices on line he treated himself to the Canon 550D from Jessops. Similar to mine but the next level up it really is a smashing camera. Now he’s home I thought I’d set him the occasional challenge to keep him on his toes.

The first challenge was to create a multiple exposure shot like this one of mine which I’d done for Pete on his birthday – more a Photoshop challenge than photography really but I knew Ant would enjoy it. I know that at least one shot of mine is out of focus but this really was a quick and dirty first attempt:

Ant rose to the challenge and although his creative process differed to mine (he used masks – note to self, I must get into these) he created a wonderful shot:

The latest challenge issued to him was to ‘make like M&S, this isn’t just any food’. I always seem to rush these things and consequently when I look back I spot things I perhaps should have done differently. In this shot, for example, the fruit on the saucer needs to be off centre slightly – too late now though, was eaten up last night lol

It will be interesting to see how he tackles this one, almost too easy really he may have too much choice and struggle to focus, we’ll see.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Do I want to be a DG?

2011-01-12T14:01:00.001Z

That’s Domestic Goddess to the uninitiated. This came up in a text exchange yesterday with a very good friend of mine. She asked if I had any new year resolutions, I said no but I had just made some delish carrot and coriander soup. It was at this point the she referred to the DG business. Now all who know me know that I am anything but a DG, I’m more the ‘can cook but don’t’ brigade. I do, however, periodically have a go at being more inclined towards culinary pursuits. Last year did see a fair few cupcakes and flapjacks (note to self, really must get back into these) but as a general rule I don’t. Pete does the cooking, he enjoys it and is very good at it and unfortunately (without really meaning to) he can be a tad judgemental of any cooking I accidently find myself doing. Such was the case with my first batch of C&C soup last week – wrinkled nose and “too salty” were the initial response. He did redeem himself later by claiming he was wrong and merrily trotting off to work the next day with C&C for his lunch. I found the recipe here on the Good Food website. I made it with the organic carrots that we still had in one of weekly veggie boxes from Abel & Cole, these are going down well and because you suddenly find yourself left with something that you might not usually have it means you make a real effort to use it up. So I made more yesterday because I really liked it , and Pete has trotted off once again with his little tub for lunch.

Today I spotted the fruit from our first veggie box sitting forlornly on the dresser untouched. Pears, Kiwi fruit and Satsuma's – I needed inspiration. A quick look at the good food website again and I decided on a crumble. Couldn’t face the Kiwi so it’s the pears for me, I also grabbed some frozen cranberries and then decided on crunchy nut clusters for the topping instead of the usual crumble.

I had no idea if the combination would work but thought it worth a try and so, after eating my lovely soup for lunch, I peeled and cored the pears and added these with the cranberries to a saucepan with a little sugar. I bought them slowly to the boil and let them simmer away for a few minutes. Meanwhile I crumbled the Crunchy Nut Clusters (cereal that Bex ‘really wanted’ a while ago but seems to have gone off now!) in preparation for the topping. The fruit was then spooned into two large tea cups and the topping added. All I need to do now is put them in the oven to warm through whilst we eat our main course and decide whether its to be ice cream or custard to accompany.

All in a good cause – using up leftovers. Trouble is Pete’s on a diet, oops.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Another year ……… Another bad start to the blog ………

2011-01-10T15:27:00.002Z

One day I will get there, I will be organised, I will blog (I will have something interesting to blog about – but maybe that’s a step too far) and I will enjoy it. Not today (aka THIS year) though by the looks of it. It’s the 10th of January 2011 and this is my first entry since early last month. No point wittering on about everything that has happened since my last post – too much there. But perhaps I can manage to take stock on a couple of things to get myself up to date.

I thoroughly enjoyed CJ’s 12 days of Christmas and I was really quite pleased with some of the shots I contributed. It really got me fired up to use my camera again, to such an extent that I requested extra bits and pieces for Christmas and I have to say that I’m really pleased with all of them. Last week we had one final challenge – To put together our favourite six shots, either from the course or taken over the Christmas period. As always, I found myself rushing it and I think that I could have done better but hey ho! Our family shot is a tad too ‘au naturel’ for my liking but as I nearly forgot to get one done at all before Anthony disappeared back off to Manchester, I guess I should just be thankful. Talking of Anthony, he’s only gone and managed to get himself booked on a holiday in June to Tulum!! My most lusted after destination that I have still to achieve, aaaarrrrggghhh – how come a child of mine gets there before me.

Ok, rant over, what else have we/I been up to. We did have a wonderful Christmas and over this last weekend Pete has also celebrated his birthday (at the cottage). So there seems to have been lots of present buying and wrapping for well over a month now (we started with my birthday on the 6th December). Lots of gadgets, books, magazines etc etc to get stuck into still. Just before Christmas stove man did manage to get to the cottage (the snow thawed for a little while) long enough to install our multi fuel stove. However, with one thing and another it has taken us until this weekend just gone to get there and see it for ourselves. It is wonderful, I really can’t say more than that. We managed to get the cottage warmer than its ever been and I think that is just the start.

For his birthday, Pete wanted to walk Maisy along the beach at Barmouth. It was touch and go as to whether the weather would play ball or not but eventually as we neared our destination the rain stopped and the skies cleared. It was so cold along that beach though, even Maisy stayed out of the sea more that she’d normally do. After our walk we deposited our backsides on the benches outside Dave’s Locker for a bite to eat before a quick shop at The Co-Op and then back to the cottage.

Back a the cottage we had a delicious two course meal, that Pete insisted upon cooking, followed by a lovely cosy evening. Pete’s asthma did flare up again – that’s almost every visit to the cottage I think – but it didn’t detract from a rather pleasant weekend. I took loads of photos of each room so that I can get down to some serious planning on how to decorate and move us forward.

Thanks for dropping by.
Wendy x

Day 6 – Ok I missed a few

2010-12-06T18:07:00.003Z

I’m a bit behind. Spent the weekend in Manchester and had a lovely time but unfortunately I have been feeling lousy. So today is the first module I’ve done since last Thursday. I’ve not followed it to the letter and this is very much my own slant – but I love it! Thanks for playing Ems.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Spell it out - Day 2

2010-12-02T20:06:00.001Z

Started on today's assignment a little later than I did yesterday and as I appear to be coming down with some dreaded lurgy I felt lousy by the time I got going. I wasn’t that inspired by my first attempt so I have to admit to following up on an idea from another persons take and creating something I felt a little better about.

Am thoroughly enjoying this class and its making me use the camera again and remember loads of stuff I think I’d forgotten – Bring it on!!

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

CJ’s 12 Days of Christmas

2010-12-01T16:46:00.001Z

A few days ago I signed up to do another of CJ’s photography classes. Its been quite a while since I last did one of these but they have always, always delivered. When I saw this (free) one posted on UKS I just went for it. Happy to say that I’ve now done two assignments and am thoroughly enjoying it. The pre-workshop assignment was to post a festive SP (self Portrait). Well I hate photos of myself but happily I managed to get something that I do quite like.

I don’t intend posting the details of the modules, CJ works really hard to produce all of the information she shares amongst her students, but I will try to post some of the shots for each days assignment. So today's assignment was the use of White Balance, here’s my pick:

I think they’re self explanatory. In other news, we’ve had a few visitors since the last time I posted. Steve and P stayed for the weekend a couple of weeks ago. It was lovely to see them both and they even managed a quick trip to the cottage to say hello to it. Barbara, of Barbara and Keith, came to visit Maisy and I last Friday and we had a lovely day of walking Maisy, coffee and ginger cake, IKEA lunch plus a very pleasant time shopping at both IKEA and TKMax. Our stove was meant to be installed at the cottage this week but as you may have noticed, the weather has put paid to a few things. Our stove is currently still stuck in Devon as the roads in Wales just aren’t up to it being delivered! I also managed to find a table for the conservatory at long last – that’s stuck up in Durham!! Oh well, all will work our in the end I’m sure.

Pete and I are off to Manchester to visit Ant and Chaz the weekend, so I am really, really looking forward to that – especially as its also a birthday treat for me – yippee.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Wintertime Walks

2010-11-22T13:55:00.001Z

Oh my, I actually managed to scrap. It took me a wee while to find any inspiration and I don’t think it’s one of my best ever but I was really pleased ultimately with the creative process. I’ve used December 2009’s kit for this layout of a Lake District trip back in November 2008. There’s a long way to go and a large number of untouched kits to work through but you never know, this may be the beginning. Because I’ve recently moved my sewing machine onto the table alongside my craft table I was easily able to follow through a thought about adding detail to the ‘hills’ with some stitching. I really quite like the effect it created.

Ok, I needed to remind myself how the thread the damn thing and how to fill up a bobbin with my chosen colour but it all came flooding back quite quickly. Good thing too as I now have my precious rolls of Laura Ashley fabric back from the cottage to play with. Steve and P visited for the weekend and, with Pete at the wheel, managed to pop to the cottage for a flying visit on Saturday. We had a wonderful weekend, once again lots of eating, drinking and generally catching up. We really must do them more often.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Roundup

2010-11-18T12:31:00.001Z

Where is the time going, all of a sudden we’re nearing the end of 2010 and that means Christmas can’t be far away! We seem to have had lots going on and that’s the scene for the next few weeks and probably through to the end of the year. We’re hopeful that we’ll have the wood burner installed at the cottage before Christmas and that I am really looking forward to. We took Giselle and Mark to meet the cottage last weekend and had a wonderful time including a massive shop at the yearly Laura Ashley sale held at the old abandoned factory at Carno. We fully intend going next year too, this time armed with measurements! We managed a trip to the beach for Maisy and a fab evening of copious amounts of food, drink and Mexican train along with lots of laughs. I need to get cracking on Christmas presents and all that stuff. I must sort out a new tree for the cottage and now I feel we need to decorate the conservatory (above) as we spend so much time in there. Of course, Pete doesn’t quite agree but hey ho! on a sadder note, I decided to cancel my GoGo subscription. I haven’t done any real scrapping since June and I have about 6 kits that just haven’t been touched. I’m not giving up on scrapping but just don’t seem to have the space for it at the moment. And so I made the decision – now perhaps i can justify that new tree, hmmmmm.

One man went to mow …..

2010-10-18T09:56:00.002+01:00

…. went to mow a meadow. Well he did after we’d spent an extortionate amount of money on a wicked strimmer with vicious metal blades. But I have to say it did the job wonderfully on it’s little test run the weekend. Hopefully this will mean that we don’t need to endure the sheep poo which is the obvious by-product of allowing the sheep in to keep the grass down and, apart from which, they don’t actually eat the really tough stuff which borders the streams and surrounding area anyway. The weekend was lovely, although we were originally meant to have been joined by Steve and P which would have made it even better but, Steve came down with a really bad cold and chest infection preventing them from travelling. Not to be deterred we came alone. I met up with a stove man Friday afternoon (just awaiting the written quote now – fingers crossed) and Pete travelled from Bournville on the train for the first time. It worked quite well, the train was pretty much on time and we even sampled the local pub on the way home. As the months march on the cottage is feeling colder though – hence the quote from stove man – and for the first time in my life I used an electric blanket on the bed. I used two singles that we inherited with the cottage and I have to say I climbed into the most warm and snugly bed ever. Guess who will be ordering a new double one as soon as we get home!

We also lit a real fire for the first time, it was lovely to see the glow - made it feel like a real cottage at last and prompted another first for the weekend. Bellows, not used any before and I have to say what a damn good idea they are, worked wonderfully on our little fire they did. I think a good pair of bellows are most definitely NOT to be underestimated. It’s going to be a few weeks before stove man can fit us in (if we like his quote) so I think we’ll be using those bellows a few more times over the coming weeks.

Thanks for dropping by.
Wendy x

A ‘moving’ weekend – bit like ‘war & peace’ I’m afraid!

2010-10-04T11:16:00.002+01:00

Gosh, the weekend felt like moving house all over again – I have aches in muscles I didn’t know existed! But we did it, we moved everything as planned into the cottage. It wasn’t without it’s dramas though to be fair and we need another weekend right now to get over it.

We started as planned last Friday. I’d hoped to get the car loaded early afternoon but I ended up spending hours at the opticians trying out a contact lens for the first time, (I’ll have to explain that one in another post). Pete collected the van and set off on his ‘collections’. First stop was the British Heart Foundation for the two seater and two armchairs, meanwhile I was taking my sister and niece to the train station as they were setting off for a weekend in Devon. First step successful, even though Pete had to persuade someone to help him load the van (and that was after I’d checked at the time I paid for the items that there would be someone available to assist!) Pete then collected the Fridge/Freezer before meeting me at Moms to get the desk loaded. By now the van was looking surprisingly full and we still had lots of stuff to load. Back home Pete did a spot of rearranging and managed to get the rest of our stuff in, including the new bed.

We didn’t set off until after 19:00 and so, after a quick stop at Morrison's in Newtown for Pete to get petrol, we didn’t arrive at the track to the cottage until after 21:00 – in the pitch black!. I went through the gates in the Focus first and left them open for Pete to follow. I made my way up the track, cursing myself ever so slightly for opting for the estate rather than the 4x4 as I slid a little. At the point on the track where we head off for the corner post of our land I just couldn’t get the car to go more than a few feet it just slithered and slid on the very soggy grass. I gave up after a few attempts and looked back down the track for Pete, I could see the lights from the van but not the van itself so I walked back down. Pete was stuck in a ditch, well the back passenger side was to be precise. It took us a while but eventually we got the van out of the ditch but there was no way it was going up the track, we could get it to a certain point and it would go no further. So we abandoned it for the night.

The next morning we were hopeful that as it hadn’t rained overnight it would be easier to get the van further up the track. Not wishing to dwell on this I’ll cut it short. Pete tried a few times to no avail and so I went down to try too. Woohoo for girl power, I did it. Bit of welly later the van was as close as we were ever going to get it the gate for the cottage and then the grind began. It took us all morning to unload everything off the van and place it in the cottage. As we were moving stuff around it became clear that it would make more sense to put another double bed in the second bedroom rather than the two singles we’d planned on. After a spot of lunch we drove into Newtown calling first at the dump to drop off the two oldest single beds and then onto Focus where we bought a new double and mattress. Back again at the cottage (no trouble this time getting the van up) we unloaded again and then put the other two old single beds back into the van to take home as a charity donation. We were knackered but we still needed to put at least one bed together to sleep on. Our new bed is one hell of a solid piece of meccano is all I can say, it took an age to put together but it was well worth it. It’s lovely and, as I say, solid. Pete cooked us a lovely chilli whilst I made the bed up. After we’d eaten we collapsed on the sofa for five before hitting the sack. Within minutes we were out like a light, end of day 1.

Day 2 dawned wet and miserable – well we were in Wales after all lol. We had plenty to do inside so it was no great shakes. Pete made us a cuppa and came back to bed with it at which point Maisy joined us on the bed – just this once! Once breakfasted we put together the second double and adjusted the furniture in the room to accommodate it. Again it looked just right and yesterday’s decision proved to be the right one. For the next couple of hours we pottered around righting stuff, Pete chopped up some old bits and pieces for firewood and we had a wander around our little estate (it did stop raining). We have two or three streams that run across our land and due to all the recent rain we could really hear the water flowing, something we haven’t heard before. It did highlight to us though just how much work will be involved in clearing the areas around them but it definitely needs doing. Suddenly it was time to go, Pete wanted to stop off at the tip again with the old fridge and they closed at 16:00. As I left a few minutes later than Pete I met our nearest neighbour, they had post for us and so I had a quick chat with them before heading home. We love our time at the cottage and it breaks my heart to come home after so short a visit. Already our next trip is in the planning with Steve and P joining us for the weekend. Before then though I have curtains and blinds to make, no rest for the wicked.

Thanks for dropping by.
Wendy x

Wet Wednesday

2010-09-29T15:22:00.001+01:00

Yuck, I hate wet days, I’d rather it be cold than wet. It feels so dismal and dreary when its like this. Had a bit of an hiccup earlier with the car we’re supposed to be picking up later today. Pete’s hire car is due back today and so we can’t start messing about but the dealers called to say that we couldn’t have the car today because Pete’s signature was different on a couple of documents! Err, why didn’t they tell us last week when we had time to sort it. Anyhow, I ranted and fingers crossed with the help of a photocopier and fax machine we should still be on for later today. Also today I’ve tried raiding the British Heart Foundation shop again, this time for a wardrobe that I can use as a linen cabinet – I was out of luck this time. There was one that might be suitable but the old wood is just too gorgeous to paint over and as I want the furniture in the bedroom to be cream I won’t have much choice. I did pick up a set of slate coasters for the princely sum of one pound, just the right material for the cottage I think. I’m still looking for a couple of nice plates to make into a cake stand but so far these are eluding me too.

My baby girl had a bit of a time of it yesterday bless her, but after it was all done she didn’t complain once – quite the opposite to her big sister lol. Still no scrapping getting done, I am managing to get through some of the ever growing piles of novels I have so I guess that’s where my spare time is going at the moment. The only slightly crafty thing I have done is to prep some of this months photos (a couple have already been posted) and today’s picture is one of those. All along Amsterdam’s waterways, as well as bikes, you see houseboats – how I would love one of those.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Views of Amsterdam

2010-09-28T12:49:00.001+01:00

This is one of my favourite photos of Amsterdam, well along with the fruit I posted last week, it sums up Amsterdam wonderfully I think. Boats, water and bikes. All that’s missing are the sex shops and the magic mushrooms! Now why didn’t I take any photos of the plethora of shops of this nature – I guess I was just too scared too lol.

We had a lovely weekend with Anthony’s brief visit, although he did spend most of the time out either catching up with old friends or at the Wolves match on Sunday. Pete spent Sunday taking the awning down, emptying the caravan of everything and moving it onto Alan’s forecourt to see if he can get us a sale. Pete doesn’t think that’s likely to happen where it is and that he’ll be back down in a few weeks to move it to Telford Caravans. We haven’t advertised it though so perhaps we ought to give that one go at least.

Most things are set for the coming weekend. The van has been hired, fridge/freezer purchased, a 2 seater sofa and 2 armchairs wait to be collected and finally, a scrummy bed and mattress due to be delivered here on Friday. I’m really looking forward to getting there and getting stuck in to making it feel homely. Before then though, Bex’ orthodontic treatment starts today with two extractions later this afternoon. There’s a long way to go and unfortunately Bex treatment isn’t as straightforward as Emily’s so I have to admit to being a tad concerned. Fingers crossed though that it’s not too bad for her. On a less stressful note (for now anyway) Ems and her friends have started the hunt for Prom dresses – Oh dear! We’ve not been to the shop yet but two of her friends have and the one has already chosen her dress! The Prom isn’t until May!! Interesting times ahead me thinks :-)

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Going Home

2010-09-25T07:00:00.000+01:00

This post is a shameless cut and paste of something my son posted yesterday. Last night he arrived home for a brief visit and I love how he has summed up what ‘going home’ means to him.

Going Home - There’s something especially nice about visiting home for a short while. All the family are there, you can relax and slip back into the role you played before moving away. To be clear; by home I mean the place you grew up before moving out.

I presume this is most applicable to those who moved completely away from the home area, so when you visit it’s more likely that it’s completely relaxed, and purely to just be home and see everyone.

Me personally slips effortlessly into the childhood position he occupied for 18 years, complete with being a general menace to be around. It’s not clear whether or not this is appropriate, but if it’s only for a few days, the family tend to view it as nostalgia in a ‘glad to see you’ kind of way. Any longer and I’m pretty sure it starts to grate

Anyone who looks forward to ‘just being at home’ and being around their family should feel privileged, it’s not something everybody feels, many people have no desire to do so once they’ve been out in the big wide world for a couple of years, and it’s a real shame. There’s nothing quite like being able to leave responsibility behind and act like the child you once were, or always will be, in a situation where it’s perfectly acceptable to do so….if only for a couple of days.

Me for one feels extremely lucky to have a family that allow him to do so, or one that allows him to maintain an illusion that it’s acceptable

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

the GIRL who KICKED the HORNETS’ NEST

2010-09-24T07:00:00.000+01:00

As ever the library worked wonders. I had reserved a copy but when I arrived Wednesday morning I saw a copy on the shelf and so I grabbed it on my way to the desk. It was one of the bestseller editions which meant that I could only take it out for 7 days – 7 days, no worries. And so they cancelled my original reservation and I took this copy instead. Of course whilst I was there I couldn’t resist having a nosy see what other books they had and so I left the building with a further two novels, a little book for Emily and a couple of home decor books to boot. I do wish I could find a way to get the girls to read more by choice. As I walked back to the car I was almost skipping, I absolutely LOVE having new books to devour but reading during the day feels like a guilty pleasure. I wish I could get paid to do it, that would solve that issue. On the topic of guilty pleasures, I haven’t scrapped in an age. As I type and look around me I know why – my desk is a tip. At some point I must make that a priority. Right now though, I think I’ll read lol x

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Beautiful Bouquet

2010-09-23T07:00:00.000+01:00

Every so often something extraordinary happens that you were just not expecting and the lift to your your spirits can be tremendous. This happened to me yesterday. The main man from the kitchen company called to ask if he could pop round and fit the last piece of the glass up stand. As I have mentioned previously we have had a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with the glass but at no stage as it been the fault of this company. John duly arrived and after sanding and polishing the wooden worktops he duly fitted the last piece of glass. He was tidying away and proceeded to produce a box that he pronounced was a little freebie and then came a gorgeous bouquet of flowers. These, he said, were to thank me. Thank me for what – for being so good about all of the delays and problems, he told me. I was astonished, the flowers were beautiful and I wouldn’t have expected them in a million years. I don’t consider my tolerance to be out of the ordinary, I behaved how I would expect others the behave when presented with a situation that was unavoidable, when the company involved made sure that I knew exactly where we stood and were completely open and honest with me. I don’t understand why there is a need to behave any differently. But it was so very nice to have my actions appreciated in such a way. Oh and the box, that turned out to be a brand new Tassimo coffee machine – yummy!

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Stieg Larsson & The Cottage

2010-09-22T08:07:00.002+01:00

Just before we left for Amsterdam last Friday, I started reading ‘The Girl With The Dragon tattoo’ and I loved it. I quickly devoured that one and started on the next ‘The Girl Who Played With Fire’. This too was lapped up and finished off yesterday. My sister, to whom the books belong, hasn’t finished reading book three and so, despite my visible champing at the bit, I cannot borrow it yet. Plan B, apart from making some half decent music, was a definite requirement. And this is where the the good old library came up trumps again. I logged in at 11:15 last night and reserved the last available copy at my local branch. So, that’s where today’s journey must take me – yippee.

One of the things that struck in his books (Stieg Larsson) is that a lot of the characters have summer cabins – woohoo, so do we. I am itching to get back to the cottage. Our first stay after it became ours was lovely. The girls joined us and we had our first visitors for Sunday lunch in the form of Keith & Barbara. I had some ups and downs as I looked on some of the cracks etc that you don’t manage to spot before you buy, but overall all was well. I took flowers, we lit candles, Pete made scones and we had a truly magical weekend.

Our next trip will see us with a hired van, hopefully full of the larger items we need to get there. That does mean, however, that I need to get my act together and obtain said items. It will be the first weekend in October, which seems an age away, but I guess it’s actually only the weekend after next. I need to sort a small fridge freezer and a new bed, plus I need to decide what to do about settees. Do we take a couple from here and replace them with new or do we obtain some second-hand ones from somewhere for the cottage, and if so where from? The one thing we absolutely must do on our next visit is get the fire going. We have a massive inglenook and I am dying to see it in its full glory.

Thanks for dropping by.
Wendy x

I need to change

2010-09-21T14:05:00.001+01:00

Talking to my son yesterday it turns out that he feels the need to jot down random thoughts as he gets them, aiming for at least one per day. To this effect, last night, he created a new website for himself to do just that. He’s hoping to build up a following but currently I think it’s just me, and perhaps his girlfriend. He’s left it anonymous, thereby allowing him to say exactly what he wants – i wonder if he’ll regret giving his mum the url?

It has prompted me to turn to my own ramblings though and the acceptance that I have been very, very poor at keeping this up to date. So, here starts another try at being better organised and getting an update done. Actually organisation is needed throughout my life and I need to find my centre again.

I toyed with posting a photo of the cottage (which is yummy by the way, but we’ve only managed to get there once so far) or our very recent trip to Amsterdam (one of the reasons we’ve only been the the cottage once). Apart from the very obvious sites of Amsterdam there were a couple of things that struck me – their shops had wonderful displays of both cakes and fruit. They almost look too good to eat!

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Wonderful Wednesday

2010-09-01T12:35:00.001+01:00

Once again it has been an absolute age since I posted. Lots to update but not a lot of time to spend blogging so I’ll have to cut a few corners. The cottage is progressing well, it becomes ours next week. We do want to sell our caravan to finance new heating for the cottage, it can be seen here if anyone is interested. The majority of the kitchen is finished although we did experience some delays with the glass worktops – certainly worth the wait though, they look scrummy! Up-stands are being done tomorrow and the seating area is currently being made. The kitchen company have been brilliant and the delays have not been down to them.

We had a wonderful, wonderful holiday in Crete. I just fell in love with it and have decided that’s where I want to ‘retire’ to lol. Ems got her GCSE results. A bit of a mixed bag but then some of them are half results as she’s only just going in to year 11. She has completed her maths though and did do really well with an A so big congrats to Emily. I think that will do for now so I’ll sign off.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

New challenge blog

2010-07-02T15:05:00.001+01:00

It’s been an age since I last posted, or indeed last scrapped. My desk (along with most of the house) is currently languishing under a fine layer of dust that it’s pointless removing just yet awhile. The conservatory was finished and the kitchen has been ripped out. I’ve had that many different workmen here over the last 6 weeks that I’ve completely lost count. I think though that we are finally on the last leg. Monday sees the start of the kitchen being fitted, ok perhaps I mean last leg bar one as I remember that we’ll still need to lay a floor and get the decorating done. No news on cottage, couldn’t cope if there was i don’t think lol, we did the dastardly deal on the cars and that’s about it I think.

Just saw this new challenge blog over here that’s been set up by a few of the GoGo girls and some of their customers. It looks good so if I ever get to scrap again I think I’ll check it out. This is their first weeks sketch challenge.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Snapshots

2010-06-23T13:20:00.001+01:00

The first half of the year is complete. Mainly because I’d decided to use a world cup related photo for this month and so I then also decided that it HAD to be done before kick-off at 15:00 lol I’m going for an emphatic 3-1 victory.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Les Chambres du Francais

2010-06-22T16:24:00.001+01:00

Not sure I have the stamina for a full update so for now I’ll just post a piccie of my latest layout. Enjoyed doing this, I love the colour combo and the overall feel. Made with GoGo’s May kit, I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out.

ETA Ok, perhaps a super quick update on everything. No news on the cottage but I suspect that’s all ok. The conservatory has today been plasterboarded and will be skimmed tomorrow. The first fix electrics and plumbing were done yesterday and we finalised the kitchen design and paid our deposit. We still need to finalise appliances and the colour for the glass worktops but it’s looking good so far.

We’ve sorted out what we’re doing with cars and it is with great reluctance that we’re trading in the MX5, along with the Mazda 5 for a new one of these:

We managed to get a better price by going to the lady who always services our cars for us and so the deal is set to be struck on Monday afternoon. Pete will be without a permanent car until September when he should have a spanking new, super low emissions Ford Focus Estate as a company car.

Now I just need to: organise a hire car for Pete, organise a hire car for Crete, decide on kitchen appliances, decide on lighting for the conservatory, choose and order the table, plan and order the built in seating, choose and buy a sofa, buy all the chrome light switches and sockets, choose outdoor lighting, choose our seats on the plane, chase the refund on the ash cloud Ibiza trip, bring the accounts up to date and worry how to pay for everything!! As is usual in our lives – we don’t do things by halves!

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Stressed

2010-06-20T14:25:00.001+01:00

Life feels so extraordinarily hectic at the moment, and yes I know that in actual fact it is mostly self inflicted and I also know that we are far, far luckier than a good many people locally let around in the world as a whole – but still I am frazzled with everything that we have going on and everything that needs decisions on! As a consequence no crafty stuff seems to be happening at the moment and as I sit here on my tod with a little time to indulge, the big ‘mental’ list that’s sitting on my shoulder just won’t let me play lol.

Rather than bore you (or indeed myself) with any of the detail I’ll just leave you with the latest shot of where we’re at with the conservatory. This coming week should see work completed (plastering, electrics etc), we then have a few days respite before the kitchen is ripped out, the kitchen half of the room plastered, floor ripped up - all ready for work to start on the new kitchen on the 5th July. Still a way to go me thinks!

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Locked in the kitchen

2010-06-16T09:02:00.001+01:00

Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhh – The kitchen door has now seized up on me and I cannot open it at all, poor Maisy desperately keeps trying to pull it open so she can get outside but it just won’t budge. I don’t suppose it’s that surprising really. The door and frame have sat in a temporary wall that’s been knocked about for 2 weeks now and we’ve had to really slam it to get it to close for most of that time. It was always going to give up the ghost at some point. But it is so frustrating to not be able to open up your back door and get outside.

Rant over, just posting a set of self portraits of Bex that I persuaded her to send to me so that I can scrap them. She’s really very good at setting up shots and creating montages and shorts videos (set to music) out of them. Rock on girl!.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

ETA 10:00 Ok I’m back in, or out rather in this case :-) All is well with the world again lol

The Promarker bug

2010-06-15T14:38:00.001+01:00

I have resisted for a long time as I’ve never felt the need – then I popped into Hobbycraft last Friday. Wow, what a good price, £4.74 for a set of five. So I duly purchased the ‘Summer’ set and trotted off home. Well, when I tried them out I was really quite impressed. I’ve printed some little lambs for using on cards (I think they were from Pink Petticoat but it’s a long time ago) and I had a couple that were still ‘blank’ so to speak. The pens worked really well on them. Now I’ve not yet tried shading etc as I don’t tend to be very good on that front but I have since found a website with some tutorials on so am hoping to improve! I liked them so much that I popped back again yesterday and bought two more packets. So now I have ‘Built Environments’ and ‘Pastels’ as well. The little lambs were too pretty to waste and so I set about making one of them into a card, so this is my first card with Promarkers and it’s my first gatefold too.

I think it’s February’s GoGo kit that I’ve used for this one and I’m really quite pleased with how it’s turned out. You must excuse my finger in the shot but I couldn’t figure out any other way to get it to stay closed.

Don’t ask me about the conservatory – it seems to be on a go slow and I’m not a happy bunny but I need to keep smiling and keep positive – it will all be worth it in the end.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

I’d love your votes

2010-06-13T20:08:00.001+01:00

I need your votes please for this layout below that can also be seen on ATDML’s blog here. I’d previously shown you a sneak peek but now it’s been posted proper on the blog I think I can reveal all. If anyone reads this and thinks that my layout is actually the best then I would really appreciate your votes.

As I posted previously, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and I think that using a kit that you perhaps might not have chosen left to your own devices can often produce some wonderful, surprising results. Brilliant idea.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Snapshot shots

2010-06-12T09:22:00.000+01:00

Just quickly posting the last three of my monthly snapshots that have been completed so far.

Of course in March the main focus was on Pete and his brother fitting our new bathroom and the trials and tribulations that went with it. I’ve journaled that March was also the month I attended my first ever GoGo event but I think in fact that was actually in February, oh well.

April saw the ash cloud from Iceland’s volcano affect thousands of travellers and prevented us from reaching the lovely little place we’d booked in Ibiza. We hurriedly booked a ferry to France instead and spent a wonderful few days touring instead.

And lastly, May. The month that saw us at Alton Towers for the day, saw work start on the conservatory and saw us get a second chance with our little dream cottage.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

The frame is up

2010-06-11T09:11:00.001+01:00

Yesterday saw the fitters complete the frame on the conservatory. It still looks like a building site but we are getting there. Not sure if today will see glass being fitted or not. I’m hoping that it will move on at a pace now. I’ve arranged for the very patient Adam to pop round next Thursday and re-measure for the kitchen – his latest design really hits the spot though.

It will be interesting to see what Maisy makes of the new doors that are now on the side of the room. At the minute she just jumps in and out where the glass should be but when finished I’m not sure she’s going to be able to let herself in and out like she used to.

I’ve managed to get up to date with my new little project and just need June’s kit to arrive now for the whole of the first side to be completed.

One of the things I came across, way back at the beginning of the year, was a site that pointed you to freebies – mainly cinema tickets but others as well. That’s how come in February we ended up at one of the Birmingham auditions for ‘Britain's got Talent’, which of course has just concluded. Sad to say we didn’t see any outstanding acts but it was good fun none the less. Will post the other months over the next couple of days.

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x

Snapshot year

2010-06-09T20:08:00.001+01:00

This is the first in a new little project. I was tidying up a little and decided to double check how many ‘pages’ I have for the new D-ring album I ordered yesterday – I order a 12 x 12 you see and then mix and match all the different sizes into one album. I came across the pack of photo pages (each page holds 12 6x4 inch photos over the two sides) out of which only one has ever been used. I’d bought them thinking that I’d add a few to each album just of photos but that’s never felt quite right. So instead I decided to try some mini layouts and I thought the theme of one ‘snapshot’ summing up each month of the year might work quite nicely. I’ve used the downloadables from the GoGo Yearbook and have used the appropriate months kit too. February’s has been done too and I’ve made a start on March, quite productive for me lol.

The rest of the day has been rather uneventful and work is progressing on the conservatory slowly but surely. I keep being told that it will be gorgeous when finished. Jolly good but I want it to hurry up now. I only popped out briefly, apart from the school run, and that was to take Mum and her friend to Boundary Mills – and I didn’t even go in, how good am I?

Thanks for dropping by.

Wendy x