and now for some jolly stuff..

Righty oh, we've had far too much doom and gloom on this little blog of mine lately so I think it's time for a little bit of jolliness.

George is mending slowly but surely (although I think the psychological damage might take a bit longer) We still have lots of appointments to go to and forms to fill out ..yawn. The stress of it all hits you later when you think about all those 'what if's?'.
Thankyou so much for all those messages too, I've been a little bit like a loon this last week not knowing 'my arse from my elbow' as my lovely husband puts so eloquantly, so sorry if I didn't manage to get back to you. All this car crash malarky was great timing for that new job of mine too, third week in and I don't turn up, just a hastily written note pushed through the door at 5am.. hmm great impression I must have made. Oh well it couldn't be helped.Those stinky boys always come first.
Talking of jobs, we got some advice about Pete being laid off, turns out they couldn't just lay him off like they did, so it's definately worth going to the Citizens Advice Bureau if you're in a similar situation to us. So, that's the first bit of good news..band around some legal jargon at work and your job magically gets reinstated. Hooray.
(and you know what that means..my spending of some spondoolies got reinstated..double hooray!...)

Ok enough waffle onto some nice stuff...

SPRING...I just LOVE the Spring. cheery little birds in the garden,my favourites being the chubby little coal tits and their 'tea-cher, tea-cher' tune, pretty little flowers appearing almost daily and filling out my borders and gorgeous pots of colour coming home with me from the garden centre to fill my window boxes and buckets.
CAKE....
When I'm stressed out ( which, as you may have realised by now, is quite often) I either paint or bake.The week before last I thoroughly cleaned and painted the kitchen..(boy don't small kitchens get filthy quickly?!) that was in between running up and down the stairs for his lordship and his leg..and I made cake. LOTS of cake.
Now, I can't cook to save my life but I can make a nice, if a bit basic, cake.. Lemon drizzle cake, chocolate cake, carrot cake..yum, I dont think I'll ever be really thin. Ever. Not when cake's involved.I'd never made a carrot cake before and one of my elderly gardening ladies gave me this recipe,(she's nearlly 80 so it's all in imperial measurements) it was so easy peasy I thought I would share it with you,I hope you can read my scrawl..click and enlarge the photo or send me an email if not and I'll send you the recipe) if I can make it, believe me, anyone can.(by the way I made up the topping part myself..you can't have carrot cake without the cream cheese topping!)


VINTAGE PRETTY EMBROIDERED STUFF..
Did you see these two gorgeous vintage embroidered tablecloths on eBay recently?..they went for over £200 each! £200!! The needlework on them was beautiful though, I hope the seller wont mind me borrowing her photos to show you..
I had a bit of a brainwave (yes,a rare one) about those two embroidered cushion covers that were for sale in my blogshop a while back, they were sold and then they weren't, in the end I decided to keep them, I was almost selling them for what I had paid for them really and I did like them, so it seemed a bit desperate to let them go. Anyway they were a funny size, a bit big, so I cut them down into circular ones made an envelope back and added some buttons, they are so much more useable now..although they don't really match the bedding this time round!
I have a few vintage embroideries abount, I really think they are so pretty. I've some pictures, mainly of gardens,a gorgeous tea cosy with vintage green blanket stitched edges,and lots of doileys and tablecloths that my mum made for her trousseau, or 'bottom drawer' as it was called in the 1950's for when she got married and became a housewife..those were the days!

GARDENING...
The season has started up again good and proper and I love to do the first mow of the year on this lawn, it belongs to a sweet old fashioned garden that I've been keeping tidy for nine years now. Although it looks quite plain now it's stunning in the Summer, full of colour and flowers. There's something very English about stripey lawns, they remind me of cricket, cream teas and the long days of summer (hopefully) lying ahead.

PETS..
I couldn't be without my hoards of creatures, even when they do things where they shouldn't, cost me a fortune, make muddy kitty paw prints on freshly cleaned sheets or floors and even pick my sofa..which has the arms covered in sellotape to prevent it ..(how attractive) They just entertain me constantly. Forgeting to pop their tongues back in after having a wash or pulling a funny face. Spring makes them slightly more crazy. And a sunny windy day even more so (I wonder why?)
I love that they give their love unconditionally..just look at these two, the bestest of buddies when in theory really they shouldn't be, inseperable..kitty/dog love..Red and Ethel, or Red and his convenient cushion who happens to be a rather fat cat called Ethel.

POLKA DOTS..
I know, I'm forever harping on about spotty stuff and how much I love spotty things,they even make spotty dishcloths now, so when this went in the sale recently at our brilliant cookshop in town , I just had to have it..even if I've never made a casserole and really can't cook. Er-hum, moving on swiftly..

BLOG LOVE..
I'm not very good at updating my blog on a regular basis,nor checking my favourites and leaving a comment or returning the lovely messages as I think you must have gathered by now, but one thing I did manage to say thankyou for was this lovely brooch that Viv made me ages ago when I was really down in the dumps.How lovely is that? I'd meant to post about it for Valentines day but no doubt some disaster or another must have got me sidetracked! What nice people there are out there.Viv's blog is called Hensteeth and her detailed mixed media work is utterly gorgeous..do check it out if you have time to.

So there you go. A few things that have cheered me up lately.I meant to be painting the hen house whilst this lovely weather is around, but no I'm off to eat cake and drink yet more tea...I'm sure the ladies wont mind they've all gone broody and are far too busy bickering over eggs, hiding eggs or laying eggs.

Have a lovely week
x