A testing time (with added expletives)

Hello again, I guess you all get by now that I nearly peed my pants when I won that caravan then?(totally irrelevant silly cat photo of Basil in his 3D specs)

Blimey I'm getting more and more rubbish at this blogging lark these days and I wont even get started on my message skills..(lovespangle the reply to your eiderdown query is underneath your message on that 5 million eiderdowns post, I couldn't reply to you any other way!) oh and hello to all these new people that have suddenly found me on here! Also, I'm so sorry to the lady who sent me an email about the underground map cushions, I appear to have lost it somehow but they are teatowels I bought from an online London gift shop for a couple of quid..Google should help with finding those, if not Rockett St George has a rather fabulous underground map ready made one..(ooh I love that website)(photo borrowed from google)

Harry has the green one and it's really,really lovely (if a weeny bit expensive)

Right, it has been one of 'those' months..yep I knew it was too good to be true..I did say though didn't I? really I'm a size 10 underneath ..it's just the layers of thick skin I seem to have developed that makes me the mahoosive size I really am.Harry's naughty ginger bunny got taken by a fox one evening.Poor old Eddie, he was a nice bunny and we had had him for quite some years. I used to stroke his nose every morning which I really miss doing.It makes me sad to think of it as he was so friendly he would have no doubt gone up to the fox to say hello. The Fox has been snooping about since so we are extra vigilant in case he fancies a chicken dinner.Apparently the stinky boys need to 'mark' our territory to deter them..ewww!
Recently, quite out the blue and for no apparent reason,my debit card kept being declined,not funny when you have a weeks shopping bagged up in your trolley at the supermarket or you need petrol and your husband works away all week. Turned out some w*nker had cloned it and was swanning around using my name spending my hard earned spondoolies on wallpaper (£249 worth) and various other extravagant items all over the world totalling over £800. Luckily my bank had spotted it before I had and recognised that my identity had been stolen and I didn't lose any money.They blocked all the fraudulent activity as well as mine.Now we are getting strange phone calls instead from foreign sounding people that put the phone down when you start questioning them.ARRRGH.They obviously still have some of our details like our phone number and my kids names who they keep asking for.I wish they would just bugger off and leave us alone.
To top that thrilling week off I had to go in for a hideously painful biopsy which hurt so much this time it made me cry, the nurses thought I was going to pass out as I think I went rather pale afterwards.Harry and his girlfriend came with me to the hospital, just incase I couldn't drive home. He made me cringe with embarrassment as he asked in a very loud voice in the waiting area 'Mum have you just had a Chlamydia test?' I think that was the only 'girl thing' he could think of at the time!! Erm, no Harry I haven't!
It's times like these that I really miss Pete being around.Sometimes only a nice big man-hug will do to make things seem better. Teenage boys look at you as if your demented if you ask for a hug and tell you to 'stop being such a girl'. They just loiter a bit longer than usual to see if you're ok and make cups of tea. Tea solves everything in 'girlie world' (then they leave all the washing up for you)

Then...yes, there is more.. both the truck and Pete's car failed their MOT's within a week of each other..my truck which is normally fine, needed £500 worth of bodywork doing which the nice chap kindly let me pay for in installments, Pete's piece of sh*t Peugeot which is 12 years younger than my pickup truck has failed each year, it rattles and smokes and this time was the last straw. It really has been an sh*tty awful car and you wouldn't think it to look at as he kept it immaculate. So for our 13th wedding anniversary after doing lots of sums and umming and ahhing we did something rather scary, we bought a new car. A little pearly white sporty looking new car with less than 4000 miles on the clock and £35 a year road tax. I'm not really a fan of new cars but I'm quite taken with this one.It looks quite cheeky. Hopefully it's a reliable one. I'm especially impressed on how far you can go with just £10 of petrol! I dont think the boys were too impressed though. I was told it was 'ok, but a bit gay'. Strange how that word has changed meanings over the decades from meaning 'pretty or pleasant' in my parents generation to 'rubbish' in my childrens' via homosexuality in mine, a lady I used to garden for used to tell me I had a 'gay face' I was never quite sure how I should have reacted to that but seeing as she was well into her 80s I took it as a compliment! Anyway, I'm sure though I can live with the fact that my new car is a bit 'gay' even though it's probably very politically incorrect to say so.(no offence meant and I do tell them it's inappropriate to use that word for that meaning before you all hunt me down with dogs and pointy sticks)

The two stinky boys had some sad news too, when one of their young buddies was killed in a very tragic motorbike accident.If you live in Worcester or Malvern you may have read about it in the papers. I think it is every mothers nightmare to lose a child so suddenly.Pete and I have both lost best friends at a young age and it was sad to see them feeling the same way we did all those years ago.(another irrelevant Basil photo)

Last night I felt really unsettled, Wednesday evenings always seem to be horrid, we both seem to get 'middle week syndrome' but this one was particularly bad as I was tearful, irritable and comfort eating like it was my last day on Earth, I hadn't a clue why but I didn't go to sleep until after 3am but was woken up with a phone call early in the morning. Pete had had his lorry trailer broken into and some of the contents stolen, he woke up at 2am to find a Van pulled up along side and a gang armed with knives,slashing the side to get at the pallets of..wait for it...orange juice... inside. Stupidly he tried to get out of the cab to see what was going on, all bleary eyed and half a sleep after 15 hours of driving from one end of the country to the other.The gang saw him and tried to get at him in his cab, luckily they didn't as they would have wanted to make sure he couldn't get to the panic button they are fitted with and gawd knows what they would have done to him..six armed men against one. Scary stuff. The worse thing is that it's a sackable offence if your lorry is broken into, they have to get to a proper truck stop before they run out of driving time and the one he got to was full up so he was turned away. He's worried sick, so I hope Mr. Stobart understands his predicament. I guess you become tuned in to each other after 20 years and maybe that was why I felt like I did..who knows.Poor old Pete.
I'll be glad when he gets home on Friday.It's been a very long week indeed..

So, anyway, would you like to see inside 'Florence'..my vintage caravan?
There is quite a bit of painting to be done, some rewiring, a new floor, the glass replaced on the toilet window and all the soft furnishings, so it won't be even attempted for ages, we've got a whole list of other jobs to do first..(namely finishing that summerhouse, which Pete has now dismantled, leveled the base and put back together again..yay!)
There were all sorts of bits and bobs in it, loads of brand new cushions which all didn't match and weren't to our taste, infact everything you see in these 'before' photos came with her..

YIKES!!

needless to say,lots went to the charity shop and the poo stained porta-loo (urgh) went to the skip. After a clean and a clear out she looked just a weeny bit better..for now


The cute yellow frosted glasses were lying in the drawers, I think they are called 'sherbert' glasses or something.

She even had the original 1960s awning in a cupboard, as well as these odd bits and bobs;

A full first aid case, a working retro clock and a box of robin starch from the 1960s.The Bush radio was unfortunately well beyond repair.
There were also some strange framed modern prints of spacemen landing on the moon, so I'm guessing 'Our Flo' must be as old as me!
The recent paint job is really ropey, someone has practically troweled the varnish and paint on inside and out, we will just sand down and paint the inside all white to start with with add some nice little lights and some pretty floral curtains or maybe some gingham curtains or even some retro curtains! I can't decide.
I'd also rather like some bright coloured Formica worktops and a checkered floor. Still, I mustn't complain, It's just a few little jobs and for what we paid for her, she's pretty much ok otherwise.

I'm trying to wean myself off Cath Kidston at the moment, I loved it when it was something new and quirky back in the early 90s but now it seems like the world and his wife owns a bit, it all seems to have become a bit cheesy and mass produced.
That little original 1950s fabric washbag in the photo below is one such design that was tweaked and re-introduced by Miss K 40 years later.
Currently I'm going cold turkey, but it isn't working very well as I bought that scouty looking campfire/caravan badge blanket recently especially for Florence. Oops.As proof of why you should never throw anything out, I've found I'm drawn again to the things I liked 20+ years ago, 1950s things again and it was funny that I was only thinking how I'd like to hang an old swimming costume on a vintage Butlins coat hanger in the bathroom..I have some serious bathingsuit love at the moment...these two are recent finds to add to my old collection

and I was also thinking how I'd like to get some of my 1950s fabrics out the loft to sew some more funky atomic cushions when the most fabulous magazine fell onto my doormat with just such articles..
I'm absolutely loving Homes & Antiques magazine at the mo, I've been buying it for quite a few years and it just gets better and better each month (they are the fourth people to have asked me to do a housey feature thing but the house is really too unfinished at the moment..but how flattering is that?!!)Righty oh , I best go..especially after such an eventful bunch of tales I've left you with.. blimey what a misery guts I must sound but I'm quite a cheery person in real life -honest!
Hope you all at least have a good month!!x

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!

hit the decks

weh-hey the sun came out... it's time to hit the decks!
These are two of my four revamped deckchairs,the 'newer-old ones'..a housewarming present from Pete's mother 19 years ago. I remember she couldn't get over the fact we wanted old fashioned wooden deckchairs instead of a metal padded garden recliner!
Handily the deckchairs doubled up as our first chairs for the lounge too..ahh those were the days.


They are a bit 'Cath' so if your not a fan look away now ..


Ta-da!
The boys managed to get the original red and white stripey fabric covered in oil (they were probably used as a convenient hand towel whilst repairing bikes in the garage..which is just the sort of thing teenage boys do) So it was time for a change.
A staple-gun, spare paint, one and a half metres of cheap, heavy duty, spotty fabric (no, not Ms.Kidston's) and a few minutes sewing in a straight line..the best kind of sewing!


I did however, like the impatient numpty that I am, manage to staple the fabric on the blue one to the wrong side of the bottom bar, so guess what I'll be doing in five minutes time...

See the big new cushion? well being a bit behind the times here in middle England, we had a new store open called Homesense which I no doubt guess you all shop in already and I'm just the dimwit who had never heard of them.
Amongst the trinkets and lamps and lovely things,they had a proper Jan Constantine cushion in there for £35 instead of £73.
A big union jack blue one.A rather lovely big union jack blue one.
Just the one left.I nearly peed my pants.

Domestic bartering ensued.
Pete gets a bit more tattoo than I hoped he would and I got a proper JC cushion.
Oh well it's his arm after all.And yes it is lovely and soft and hand embroidered!

I'll show you the other two deckchairs another time, they have the original scruffy 1950's paint which I love.
Cheerio for now 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!!

The Americans have landed!

Hooray!Remember I told you I had spent some of my Christmas money on a something from America? well theeeeeeeeeeeeeeere heeeeeeere( that was meant to sound like the little girl of poltergeist incase you were wondering whether my finger had slipped on the 'e')I love these two cushion covers..they're so quirky and chickeny and vintagely fun,
I have no idea where they are going to live but they just had to fly over here and live with me, no matter what.But I really wasn't too pleased that *?@#*(you can insert your own adjective there, mine's too rude) Royal Mail decided they would charge me an extra £15 tax to deliver the parcel, £8 of which is their 'handling fee'..pah! (this is the Royal Mail that refused to sign my paypal posting certificate and then told me snootily that they are 'doing me a favour by posting my parcel')..
Needless to say I now need to go in a car to the nearest post office, skwiffy hormones, Quality Street withdrawal symptoms and annoying stuck up post office ladies do not make a good mix) So unfortunately these have turned out rather more expensive than I had first envisaged..oops.

Well I love them, they may not be everyone's cup of tea but they are certainly mine..hooray for chickens in America and their vintage feedsacks!
They will eventually sit with a vintage Union Jack flag cushion I'm yet to make for a bit of an international mix.Now, I don't know about you, but I'm really terrible at managing my time, I really shouldn't be sat here in my pyjamas blogging, the furry tumble weeds are back in the hall, Red needs a walk and the chickens need cleaning out, let alone the sewing, bed making, message replies, parcel posting and general everyday stuff that goes on inbetween the proper work.
I almost go into a pause mode, like I can't get on with the everyday things whilst something else is going on...in the case of last week it was more hospital appointments involving lady prodding, endless bills to sort out,Pete's job and eBay sales.. and those lovely red slippers having to go back to Cath Kidston in Birmingham, which involved lots of cars hooting and scary roundabouts and me feeling like a country bumpkin driving in the city with a traumatised mother in law in the passenger seat. It turns out the cats were innocent, the falling apart was due to them being cheaply and badly made.
I do think two banana skins would have lasted longer on my feet than those pretty red slippers, so they were swapped with a much hankered over green spotty bag (which I have since changed my mind about and it's on eBay..If I'm honest, I had wanted the other spotty one really with the longer straps and the even more ridiculous price tag!)..
My mother in law decided the slippers must have been too delicate for wearing round the house and should have been worn for getting out of bed and looking 'pretty'..pretty? getting out of bed and looking 'pretty' does not happen in this house, Caffeine starved cavewoman in Simon Cowell's pyjamas is not a pretty sight, even with 'delicate' slippers upon her feet.

Maybe I should wear my 'man boots'..yes, man boots are definately more appropriate in this house..

hmm.. anyway a lovely lady in Australia (hello K!) told me about this website..it is to die for and I'm going to share it. I love their style. LOVE it .
Now I want to live in a Victorian house with sash windows and white walls..(funnily enough rather like my first house) and fill it with quirky colourful vintage goodies.
I also would need small cute stinky boys again and wads of cash but hey there's no harm in browsing is there now? ahhhh drool.
Have a fab week x

The Blue 'oeuf' and the kindness of strangers

Not only were we excited by the tiny amount of snow but Violet our little grey hen who has seemed very fidgety lately,was so excited she popped out her first blue egg. Followed the next day by another in the most perfect shade of eau de nil. I much prefer the French word for egg 'oeuf' it at least shows some of the chickens' effort at laying it in the word.."ooooooo-ff"
So now she officially becomes a 'Hen', no longer a chicken.I've been in a jolly mood all week as the dreaded court case was thrown out..helps to show up if you want to accuse someone of something (what idiots) and I've been doing a spot of sewing, had a really nice Christmas and things are looking ok..not fantastic, just ok but that'll do me.

I have to show you something that Faye at Country Chic sent me,this was a really,really nice surprise, it arrived just before Christmas and was my only present on Christmas morning, (apart from some nice smelling deodorant from Harry,very practical..!) so not only did Faye make my day, she certainly cheered Pete up as he was feeling a bit bad that he wasn't able to get me a pressie. The box that arrived was full of lovely things, a copy of The English home, my favourite magazine which I had recently had to cancel my subscription to, a rose scented bar of soap all wrapped up in fabric and ribbons to go in your knicker drawer but far to nice to hide away, posh chocolate and this gorgeous toadstool that Faye sells in her beautiful online shop...'The country chic home'I do like spotty toadstools! Isn't that so very nice of her? What a lovely lady. I sent her a whole heap of good karma in return!
I was dreading this Christmas and it turned out to be one of our better ones, the things we had, we really loved and because there weren't many, we appreciated them far more. George got his Banksy poster, his much hankered over DVDs of some crazy bloke doing crazy things, Harry got his replacement bike helmet so that at least I can sleep at night when I find out he does stunts like this .. Pete got his electric jigsaw (many little jobs involving wood and possibly 'Stanley the dog' shaped cutting planned for him) and I got a pair of the prettiest Cath Kidston red slippers from my mother-in-law (she is just the best mother in law)..already looking well used ..and part pompom-less thanks to one of the cats..pests! As well a few other little Cath Kidston bits and bobs from my sisters which were lovely too.
In fact it made us realise and remember what it's all about really, sometimes it's very easy to get lost in the commercialisation of it all.
This morning I made a couple of London Underground cushions , thanks to a tutorial by this lady in Australia..so easy peasy, infact I cheated and didn't even have to put a zip in as I just made an envelope opening so you just fold it and sew down the two sides.
Thanks for the tutorial Kathryn!I love things like this..making something different out of something run of the mill like a tea towel. I'd like to cover Georges boring drum shades with a map of the underground but I'm not getting very far with the pestering (maybe I should just do it whilst he's at college!)I'm going to make some more cushions for my little shop too, the Kate Forman ones I made for Christmas presents went down really well, so I'm aiming for a few more union jack ones and some flowery ones too..(well that's the plan)
Have a great weekend..and keep warm! x