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

Squished

I Just wanted to say a quick thanks for all your messages, George was very lucky, he was a passenger in the car above. Scary stuff, hey? Maybe it was a good thing I wasn't allowed to the scene of the accident.It even made it into the newspaper last night.
He's feeling much better than he did at the weekend. has learnt that crutches make good cattle prodders to annoy your mum when she's faffing over you too much and you want her to go away... He says thanks to you too, only in a teenager mumbley sort of thankyou way,you know, like they do.
x

why...

..do some people/families have such bad luck?

My eldest son was involved in a 3 car accident last night. A bad one.
Luckily he's ok, they all are, even though the car apparently flipped over after a taxi decided to turn right, across their path a little too late.They were (legally) doing 60mph.For once it wasn't the teenagers' fault as so often seems the case.

George has a broken foot,very bad internal bruising, cuts and bruises and swellings to his face and what looks like a bit of a broken nose from the air bag.You can literally see the marks from the seatbelt on his chest and abdomen.Poor thing.. he's a skinny 17 year old who shouldn't have experienced such a thing so young.All three boys escaped lightly considering.

I wasn't allowed to see him at the scene of the accident but four hours (a long four hours) later I saw a sedated kid in A&E, face covered in blood,body covered in bruises. Shaking with shock, The clothes they cut from him in a green plastic bag beside him.

Sitting in the hospital waiting for any news with the 3 other distraught parents is not quite how I would ever like to spend another Saturday evening again.We had our very own episode of 'Casualty' unfolding infront of us.

At the same time, 8pm, same night, but in Hereford,three other young people weren't so lucky and lost their lives in a similar accident. It could so easily have been the other way round.
My heart goes out to the mothers of them. I cannot begin to imagine their pain.

I think the shock of it all is sinking in now.I'm starting to shake a little typing this, I dont even know why I'm typing this.
I'm sorry if my blog is becoming more like a page of 'Dear Deidre' but you know how it goes in blogland somedays are good somedays are bad..

x

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!!