The good,The bad and the downright lovely...

Wooooosh..there it goes, that was the year then, all over and done with for another twelve months.Here's to a good,prosperous and healthy 2010..Happy New Year!!
I'm not a great fan of December, I have to admit. I love the build up and the trimmings and excitement, reading everyone else's blogs and living the season through other's eyes but bad things have a tendancy to happen around this time of year for us so I'm not what you would call the life and soul of any party.
When I was younger my Grandparents both died, my Granny 'Mopsey' on Christmas day then several years later, my Grandpa 'Pop' on Boxing day. I always think of how my Dad kept a brave face all over Christmas, we never knew till later. There have been various other things happen in Decembers past which I wont dredge up, but it is a strange month which I tend to go a bit quiet in.
My parents are in Thailand at the moment, celebrating their Christmas and New Year Thai style with my sister and her family. It's a Christmas holiday they cut short back in 2004 that they are now having good and proper.
Yes, that 2004, that Christmas in paradise, that boxing day Tsunami.
I watched a program the other night that showed the full horror of the Tsunami as caught on peoples cameras. I kept thinking about it again and again, seven members of my family would have been there on that very beach on that very same Boxing day but through a strange twist of fate, came home early because of Josie being ill. Their hotel was totally destroyed by the water. It sends a shiver down your spine.So, Christmas for me, and I know it's a bit gloomy, means I tend to be thinking about those people who may be having a tough time or who are remembering loved ones. I really dislike the commercialism of it all and the endless buy, buy, buy adverts on TV.
Onto some cheerier things now, I had some lovely surprisesrecently, really unexpected ones, firstly I won a competition.. one of those easy peasy 'missing word' ones, I entered on a whim late one night.Never in a million years did I think my name would be drawn out of the hat, but low and behold, those lovely people at Cabbages & Roses sent me £50 worth of Burt's Bees goodies the very next day, all beautifully wrapped in C&R paper and smelling coconut-honey-minty gorgeous.. Needless to say I saved it all for opening on Christmas day..Just look at that cute polka dot bag!!! purrrrrrfect for a polka dot nut like me. Then, my lovely facebook buddy Julie in Sweden (swedishhouse blog) sent me the most gorgeous old Swedish toadstool candleholders.. she knew I was down in the dumps after a particularly miserable facebook post and tagged them with my name in a photo saying these are heading your way! Then as if things couldn't be any lovelier, one of my favourite blogging ladies, Steph sent a lovely parcel of vintagey goodies to cheer me up even more. oh I've missed the Russian cocktail sticks out the photo! they're such pretty colours too.

I can't begin to tell you how lovely it is when someone you are yet to meet does something like that. LOVELY it is...just lovely.
I'm still so behind with everything, right now I'm meant to be making some roman blinds for the dining room as they were next on the 'to do' list (which is currently at least four A4 pages long) I have had the white linen fabric for months but seeing as I can't afford the batons to go in them and they would look like big baggy knickers hanging at my window, maybe it's not such a bad thing. I did manage to finish my patchwork cushion at last and after a lot of deliberating backed it with some Cath kidston fabric I found on eBay that normally only comes in oilcloth items..yes Mel, it's Provence rose! well spotted! (the lady who sells it is in Hong Kong, so it must be where the CK things are made) My mum gave me some money for Christmas and told me I would be in trouble if it was spent on bills or food and wanted to see what I bought with it, real proof of pretty stuff..so, after I had hankered after that patchwork throw at the Malvern flea fair back in September..you know,'the one that got away' and I saw these four vintage placemats on Louise Loves, I knew that they would most certainly fill that void. I hand stitched two pairs of the mats together to make them into cushions, just as Louise suggested,backed with some vintage French linen..oooh 1930's prettiness! The colours seem to be very Spring-like and fresh. I wonder what all the fabrics had been before?I suppose the bad thing is that Pete still hasn't got a proper job, the agency work finished and we are quite literally clutching at straws and living off fresh air (and Quality Street sweeties morning,noon and night) but when you find messages like this on the fridge door, it can't be all that bad... can it?I've got a mad busy week next week with horrid prodding biopsy things going on again..yuk (six months comes round too quickly for my liking) and some very much needed extra days at work so I hope you'll forgive my utter rubbishness at message replying yet again x

ps..my front door is painted in OLIVE by Farrow & Ball!! I forgot to reply to you earlier Claire and Kristina..sorry! xx
I always find their colours come out much lighter than on the chart, so it does look very similar to Cooking apple green!