The winner is.....

Well thank-you all very much for entering my give-away (and leaving some really nice messages too x)
I'm so glad you love Zia's lampshade creations as much as me.

The winner, chosen by my random number generator (Harry in the next room) turned out to be

CHERYL

who popped over via a link she found on the Tales from an OC Cottage blog and left a really lovely comment about Karma..

Well it turns out Cheryl, that karma has in turn, visited you and you have won the 'Lovely Day in Paris' lampshade. Congratulations!
Do please get in touch with your email address (you can email me via my profile page) and I will forward it on to Zia so she can get the details she needs to send it off to you.

Today is St.Davids Day, the patron saint of Wales where it is tradition to wear a Daffodil or Leek on the 1st of March....
So I'd just like to say Dymuniadau Gorau ar Ddydd Gwyl Dewi to any Welsh readers
(which I do hope is the right way of saying 'best wishes on St.Davids day!)

I'll be popping back with some more fab giveaways soon, but first my eldest son, George is finally having his car-accident nose sorted out next week so that will be an interesting few days. Part of his ear is being used somehow to repair the damage. He thinks he's going to come out of hospital with a nose looking something like Michael Jackson's or with an ear protruding off the end of it.We have had some rather amusing conversations about it to say the least..At one point we had him really going and actually convinced him that he would be able to hear out his nose.Silly sod!
Cheerio for now x

Light up your life with a GIVEAWAY!

OOOH at last...exciting, LOVELY stuff to talk about ... A GIVEAWAY!!!
We love giveaways in blogland now don't we?
So here is something to cheer us all up in that cold inbetweeny bit before the Spring comes.

One of my favourite shops to mooch in when I'm re-decorating is Zia's fabulous lampshade shop,


The Old Lamp Shed 


I would love to be able to make lampshades like these below, but alas I cannot so it's lovely to be able to say I know a lady that can.

Her designs were recently featured in a Cath Kidston catalogue and her attention to detail is lovely, little trims and ribbons that co-ordinate beautifully with the fabrics.

Zia has very kindly offered one lucky person a lampshade from her shop to the value of £40..
yep you heard right..completely and utterly FREE.

How Fab is that?
The hardest part is picking a favourite as I love most of her designs, check out the secret message lamps  which are really ingenious (I ought to get one saying 'stop snoring you old toad,you're keeping me awake' maybe that'll brainwash the men in this house!)

So anyway, how about...

a Cath Kidston one?

or a Frenchy one?

A girlie one?(from the made to order range)

or a blokey one?


 a retro one?


or maybe a posh one?

All you have to do is pop over to The old lamp shed,  have a mooch through Zia's creations,(I've only shown you a few designs here) pick which one you would love to own (up to £40 in value) and leave a message on this post saying just that " I'd love this one... in this... size please."

You don't have to have a blog as you can leave a message under anonymous (but just to save any confusion you may want to add your initials at the bottom of the message as we'll need to get in touch with you if you win!)

Then at 8pm on Tuesday March 1st, I'll pick a winner at random.

So there you go, you'll have plenty of time to choose a favourite, you might even pick up a bargain whilst your over there mooching as some lampshades have up to 50% off at the mo.

Best of luck!

Zia has asked me to mention that overseas entrants are welcome but can only choose up to a 12" sized shade for this particular giveaway.

(all photos courtesy of  www.theoldlampshed.co.uk)

Vintage Dogs and going AWOL

Why the long face, Red?

You may have noticed I skipped over of December, Christmas, New Year and most and January too, for good reason though, this blog was becoming more and more depressing and I became embarrassed to add yet more gloom to it, even though that's just our life and that's how it goes sometimes, you get on with it and do the best you can with a situation until the next one comes along.
as you know, our situations tend to come along a bit like buses, none for a while then several one after the other. It's a bit of a pain.
Not long after we had to have Maude put to sleep, we came home and found her sister Ethel had died of a heart attack.

It was a bit of a shock to say the least and very sad too.Two cats in 5 weeks. I have a house of depressed animals now, it's made all of the remaining ones act most peculiar.
Then Pete got put on a 4 day week until March which we could really have done without (hmmm Mr.Stobbart doesn't show you things like that on his cringy TV program where he swans around with his 1980's comedian's mullet in his helicopter betting a mans week's wages on a horse..cringe cringe and double cringe)
Then I had to tell Pete on Christmas Eve that his friend had died, not only a friend but the brother of his best friend who was killed on a motorbike several years ago. Double tragedy for his lovely parents.It was seeing them that really broke Pete's heart. We have also had some trouble with our dear eldest son, who also seems to get himself into situations one after the other. Pest.
So I do hope this belated Happy New Year means just that for all of  you and all of us..

 That's that then..onto other stuff...

Bunty

Buster

As you may know I have a bit of a thing for vintage looking Terriers.Especially those on wheels.
There's Buster who you have already met and his sister Bunty who lives outside in the summer house along with many others scattered about the house, which you can read about HERE. So you can imagine why I was drawn to this little chap;


 I found this little brooch in a gift shop in Totnes when the old bald bloke and I went down to Devon back in October.Many minutes were spent in the shop umming and ahhing and cooing over this one item.I bet the nice lady owner wanted to hit me with a broom when I finally walked away without it.

I kicked myself on the way home as I didn't buy it at the time as it was rather expensive.Luckily thanks to the wonders of  t'internet,  I managed to find the lady who makes them and a diddy dog on wheels brooch found it's way to my house.
Don't you think its just so cute? A cute dog on cute wheels in a cute box..Luverly

 At the moment we are busy giving the house a lick of much needed paint whilst Pete is on a four day week but as with most old houses one job turns into 500 and it seems to be taking forever. It doesn't help that half the leftover paint in the garage froze and went off so we have to do it as and when funds allow (which isn't very often at the moment!) flitting from one job to the next and then back again. I'm meant to be making blinds that I was meant to making this time last year and lampshades too and ... I think I need to make a list else I'll be procrastinating all day.. yet again
I've also been busy helping a chap out walking dogs lately, it's nice but very tiring. I did 30 in one day not so long ago.Utter madness I can tell you but it was great fun in the snow. I need to learn to do that big whistle thing that men seem to be born with the ability to do (one that doesn't require you to stick your fingers in your mouth because obviously the down side of walking dogs is the collecting of poo thing..mmm lovely) One dog is called 'Alan'. It cracks me up and I can't manage to call him across a busy park without it sounding quite ridiculous! "AAAAAAAAALUN"
cheerio for now x

Wardrobe Waffle

Hello again ..remember me?
Well that was a whole big heap of gloom and doom now wasn't it?
Thank-you SO very much for all your lovely messages and emails about losing my much missed kitty Maude (she had quite sudden kidney failure) and waving goodbye to Florence too.They were really lovely and more appreciated than you'll ever know. x
(Lovely Lisa in Oregon..don't worry Basil and his buddies are doing just fine, as you can see from these photos they have been having lots of cat conferences putting the feline world to rights)

mind you, all hell broke loose after Ethel dared to stretch out a kindly paw to her mother!

 It all became a bit too much to bear to be honest so I spent some time in my spotty wellies wading in self pity and lots of tears..there were lots and lots of those...I was a little bit broken hearted I can tell you. I also had to leave my job in the little shop for various reasons which I wont go into, so Pete and I went away for a while to Devon for some blustery blue sky days to blow away the stresses and clear my head before I end up getting carted away by the men in white coats.

Well 'Old Flo' has gone to her new home, not far from here up in the hills. The chap was really pleased with her and will tow her behind his 1958 Landrover. He promised to email me photos of her renovation, so if he does, I'll let you see. He was thinking of painting the lower half of her in a pale 1960's turquoise-teal blue which funnily is the colour I was thinking of too. Great minds think alike hey?

(this was the curtaining I had bought for her..Hen I think you have some of this fabric too?)
I must admit I had a lump in my throat when she trundled off up the lane giving me a crafty wink with her half hearted brake lights.
The nice little bit of profit helped take away a bit of the pain though, pity £300 quid of it had to pay towards for the pointless damage done to my little car but hey ho,I suppose that's life (well, my often pants life anyway!)

Last month,as Florence's farewell treat to us, Pete and I went to Shakespeare country, namely Stratford-upon-Avon, for a drive out and a mooch about the shops and a properly British, award winning cream tea.The best cup of tea ever actually, they had a six page menu just for the different types!

I managed to find myself some pretty clothes to buy whilst we were there.Normally I struggle with clothes shopping as I can never find things I like, they always seem to show the bits I want to hide or I'm worried about looking like some old piece of mutton dressed up like a spring lamb.
Years ago the stinky boys wrote to Trinny and Susannah to try and cheer me up with a new wardrobe of girlie stuff..( I'd got a bit lost in the wardrobe stakes having put on quite a bit of weight and suddenly not fitting in my vintage clothes and favourite Levis) Whilst clearing out yet another stash of 'stuff' I came across it again:

  I found the letter and there was no way on this earth I would stand in that 360 degree mirrored cupboard in my bestest big knickers for all the world to see... or have Trinny poking my tits (or 'giblets' for that matter)...nope, nooooooo way so even though it was very sweet of them, it never got posted. How sad is this bit.."she buys party shoes but never goes to parties"
cheeky buggers!!
I was quite impressed with George's handwriting though!

Anyway..this pretty top I found at Stratford, has little birdies and fish on it, it looks lovely with that blue and green swallows necklace Pete bought me back in April. And a first for me, a couple of woolly berets to match my bargain found-in-the-sale Spring coat.(even though its now Autumn!)I confess to feeling a bit of a berk in a hat, like I'm wandering around with a large sign on my head saying 'lookey here folks at the size of my enormous bonce' but I'm sure I'll get used to wearing them.

I can't understand why I haven't been in White Stuff before last year.. I've never walked into a clothing shop and loved so many things, nearly all the styles are right for (hiding) my shape but also, most unfortunately, very wrong for my budget.
One thing I have discovered a love of again recently is leggings.
I wore them in the very early 80's with tulip-shaped wiggle dresses or ra-ra skirts and big turban-like bows in my hair and a strange fashion of black plimsolls with 'fall-down socks'..(remember those? they were like white surgical stockings without elastic at the top) Later I went on to the black phase much to my parents horror..loving The Cure, black hair,black clothes, black lipstick and studded punk belts before trundling off to Art college in another style..my old-man mac, stripey tights and Doctor Martin's with my trademark bright red lipstick. Art college is where I found a new best buddy and the next wardrobe phase..the 1950s..an era I still adore but my 26 inch waist has had quite a few more inches added and everything is heading south lately..it doesn't quite cut the mustard when you're 41 and a half, I'm more Hattie Jacques than Diana Dors these days!

lovely curvy Hattie

Luckily for me I have a husband who prefers the 'extra padding', it's just me and the rest of society who doesn't! Well,anyway,I know the rule of wearing things a second time round, but I braved leggings on the approval of both the stinky boys' rather gorgeous girlfriends and have fallen in love with them all over again, this time though with biker boots and tunic dresses. Dresses and skirts are something I haven't worn in donkeys years, probably since my wedding in fact.I didn't possess either...
I love this eclectic look for the Autumn; (not sure what the tea cup is all about though) I was a little bit indulgent and that lovely leafy tunic and some fairisle wrist warmers came home too.

There is nothing like a bit of retail therapy to cheer you up is there?
You do get to that point of wondering whether you're too old for some clothes though, it takes me ages to deliberate over things.. but I'm not ready for my blue rinse just yet so I think I might like to grow old just a little disgracefully..

Clothing is such a personal thing but I do love peeking at what's in other people's wardrobes...It must be the long past dream of being a wardrobe mistress in me.

Is there anything you've indulged in or discovered a love of again lately, I'd love to know?

Maude

My beautiful girl,

the gentlest of souls

with fur as soft as silk,

Sleep soundly my lovely Maudey, you will be missed sweet little kitty x
1998-2010