gubbins

I love the word 'gubbins' a word to describe 'an amount of nondescript (and presumably useless) bits and pieces'
Yep that'll do to describe this post.
Firstly..thankyou for all your messages, you know I appreciate each and every one.
I've been away for a while.. up to Kettering for a funeral with a family gathering that would make the Mitchells on Eastenders proud and as far as funerals can be, this one was lovely,sad but lovely.My mum read out part of this post which got everyone talking about, and reading, my blog. In turn this made me go all shy..crikey, I waffle on about all sorts on here..money problems , wayward wombs, naughty boys. It was quite nice being anonymous before and off loading 'my stuff'! I suppose I got a bit stuck for words and not knowing what to write.

Then I went up to Northumberland my second 'home', just me..no stinky grumpy men.. for a girly weekend with my eldest sister, who still won't ADOPT ME, much to my annoyance.
Watching amusing chick flicks (which rang a bit too true!) with my gorgeous nieces and some girly shop 'til you drop retail therapy for clothes for my NEW JOB...eek! No more muddy man boots on a Monday and Tuesday..it's posh stuff from now on for my new job in a local gift shop for two whole days a week.(Just in time for Pete to be laid off without pay for another 5 days)
So you may see why I went a bit quiet for a while, I was doing all this stuff instead..
I'm practically having to tie my hands down in the gift shop, I have to remember I'm not a window dresser anymore or a visual merchandiser and fiddling about with the pretty housey stock and lovely sparkly goodies is not allowed..well, not too often. I was very lucky to get the job, times are so bad that a PA, an architect and a law person apparently applied amongst the hoards of others too. For two days a week. In a shop. Scary hey?
I've met some nice people and some grumpy people, some people who love to shop (who doesn't?) and some who really would rather be somewhere else rather than choosing a gift for 'the Mrs'.
I do miss my comfy gardener's man boots though..boy do my feet ache after two days in posh shoes.

One other good thing that happened before all this was that we surrendered a small insurance policy, mainly to clear some debts and have a little spend for ourselves.Pete and I went for a day out to Cath Kidston in Cheltenham..(ooh that was dangerous) a pretty bag came home with me and a few other bits and pieces.and I visited a few of my favourite online shops and treated our little house to this lovely union jack cushion (from Louise loves) and this pretty tea mug (from The Vintage home)I hope the house felt the same warm and fuzzy feeling of joy that I did when they arrived in the post!

Pete had some of these ..(ooh how exciting..)so he could re-lay this;..just the middle left to lay of our tiny back garden patio in a herringbone pattern, the frost totally ruined the very old bricks which he used before, they just crumbled away.

I don't know about you, but money burns a hole in my pocket and it scared me to be able to spend a bit of money on clothes and some extra pretties, I felt very guilty even though it was ok to do so....ok ,that is, until Pete had his laid off news which put a swift, sharp stop to all that pretty quickly.
Do you ever feel like you take one tentative step forward and several big ones back? hmmm.
Never mind,back to square one, value beans and cheap pasta.
I'm sure our day will come when we can breathe a sigh of relief.

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the Spring sunshine..they say the snow's coming back this week!!