Stuff

Hello!  How are you?  We're all ok thank you.

I'm feeling quite chuffed with myself today as I have actually managed to finish ALL of my ironing for the first time since before Christmas!!  Yay!  I had been doing ironing but hadn't actually emptied the basket until today.  Hopefully that means I'll be able to spend some time doing some guilt-free crocheting over the weekend.

Speaking of crochet, I think I mentioned before that I'd subscribed to the new magazine The Art of Crochet?  Well, as yet I have only received the first issue and I got that in the middle of January.  I have phoned a couple of times to find out where my next delivery is but was told that there was a severe shortage from the suppliers and that they were awaiting more stock (?!).  I was told today that I had been allocated my next issue and that I should have it within the next week or so.  I hope so!  Fingers crossed.....

In addition to getting my ironing done this week, my wonderful Hubby cleaned our oven while Freya and I were at playgroup yesterday morning.  It was a lovely surprise to come home to as it hadn't been cleaned for.....well, I don't even want to think about it really!!   He also hoovered and mopped the floors for me - what a lovely Hubby!!

We had our first "casualty" with Freya yesterday, which was quite scary.  She stood up on the sofa and before we could get to her (Hubby was sitting at the other end of the sofa) she fell off, smashed her forehead on the edge of the coffee table and fell on the floor.  I was sitting opposite and it was as if it happened in slow motion but neither of us could get to her quickly enough.  A massive blue lump with a purple line through it (from the table edge) came up straight away and we rushed her to hospital to be checked over - we were perhaps being a bit over-cautious but as she hit her head we didn't want to take any chances.  It was awful in the car as the line on her head split and started bleeding, although I think that was really just a result of the pressure needing a release.  Luckily she was absolutely fine and the bruise isn't bothering her at all today.  I know that she's going to have lots of bumps and knocks but this one wasn't nice at all!

Anyway, that's about all for now.  I do want to share a couple of cupcake photos with you before I go:

I actually made these last week, chocolate with coffee-flavoured icing.  They were delicious!

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

xxx

Twilight Saga

I've jumped on this band-wagon rather late as I only saw the first Twilight film just before Christmas.  Hubby and I then went on to watch the follow-up, New Moon and I was hooked!  I was given all four books in the series for Christmas and only got around to starting them a couple of weeks ago.

I have actually finished reading all four books in the past couple of weeks - in fact, I only finished the final instalment of the series this morning - I have been well and truly ADDICTED!  So much so that I haven't been getting to sleep before midnight and have not really watched any TV as I have just wanted to read these amazing books.

Hubby will surely be pleased now that I can actually have a "proper" conversation with him in the evenings!!

If you have heard anything about these books or seen the films but not read the books, PLEASE READ!  If the whole human-vampire teenage romance appeals to you then I can not recommend these books more.  They are on a much higher level than an ordinary teenage romance story so I'm sure would appeal to people of all ages.

I hope that you are having a lovely weekend. 

xxx

Lovely Day

Hello!  How are you?

We were blessed with an absolutely glorious day today so we decided to take advantage of the brilliant sunshine and take the dogs for a riverside walk.  We packed ourselves some lunch and we headed up the road to Riverside Country Park.  I'll admit that the wind was biting cold but it was nice to blow the cobwebs away and admire the views......

                   

                   

         

          

I don't think that the photos really convey just how bright and sunny it was today.

Poppy and Holly absolutely loved being out and about....

            

         

Although they LOVE water, they managed to avoid the "clean" looking rock pools like this:

        

and managed to find EVERY muddy puddle around and came out looking like brown, drowned rats!!  Still, it was a lovely walk.  I commented to Hubby that sandwiches taste nicer when they're eaten outside and he looked at me as if I was mad!!  Does anyone else think this or is it just me?!!!!!

I hope that the sun is shining down on you as well this week.

xxx

Catch Up

Hello!  How are you?  How is your weekend going?  I'm taking a few moments out while the house is peaceful (Freya is having a nap upstairs and Hubby has taken the dogs out for a run) to do a "catch up" post.

Where to begin?!!!  Well, I treated myself to a couple of bunches of daffodils this week.  I hardly ever buy fresh flowers, although when I do I wonder why that is.  Look at how gorgeous they look on my kitchen windowsill.....

How about a closer look at the cheerful yellow flowers?

They're keeping my hyacinths company.....

I took this photo a couple of days ago:

The light's not great but the flowers looked wonderful......I've had to cut two of the stems off now as they'd gone brown.  I wonder whether that was what I was meant to do?  Probably not, knowing me!!!

I also bought some blueberries this week as they were on offer.  For some reason I had it in my head that it was Shrove Tuesday so I thought that blueberries would be nice to have on pancakes.  Unfortunately I was a week early so, rather than throwing them away if they didn't last until next Tuesday I thought I'd make blueberry cupcakes..........they're delicious!!!

Lovely with a large mug of tea!

To carry on with my "domesticated" week, I'm also really pleased with my crochet progress.  You may remember that I had been getting myself in a right old state trying to hold the yarn correctly so had got quite frustated and had given up.  I picked up the hook again this week and tried again and, although I still can't quite get to grips with holding the yarn the way I should be and I still occasionally give myself cramp in the hand holding the hook, I actually feel like I've achieved something!!!  Yay me!!  I did a practise of the first square from The Art of Crochet magazine (first issue) and here's the result...

It's not perfect by any means but I'm really pleased.  I'll give it another go later to see if I might be able to improve.  One thing I do find difficult (and I do exactly the same thing when I knit) is trying to get the tension even - my initial stitches and the first row is always tight until I get into the swing of the pattern and as my stitches loosen up I'm able to work the yarn much better and not have to force the hook through the tiniest of gaps!!!  Any advice would be gratefully received.....

I thought I'd finish with a couple of shots of Freya and the dogs.  I can't believe how much confidence Freya gains every day, she really does change on a daily basis.  Her personality is starting to come through now (along with a few temper tantrums!) and she's such a joy to observe.  The poor dogs don't know what's hit them (literally!)

Although Poppy has found her own unique way to get back at Freya......

Gggrrrrrrrrrrr :-(

I hope you have a lovely weekend and I will hopefully catch up with you next week.

xxx

There's No Place Like "Home"....

Hello!  How are you?  We're all fine having just returned from spending a few days with my parents.  It was really lovely to spend time with them as we hadn't seen them since Christmas.

I love going back "home".  Apart from the fact that it's nice to spend a few days being spoilt by my Mum and having family meals together, I always come away feeling inspired by what Mum and Dad have done with their house.  It always looks so "homely" with lots of nick-nacks around but no "clutter".  I try to recreate a similar kind of feel at home but find that our house always seems to be full of stuff rather than items that finish the look off perfectly.  Hmmmmmm, I'm not sure whether I'm explaining myself very well - I know what I mean, anyway!!!  I took a few photos while I was at Mum's using my mobile, so please excuse the quality!

These are a couple of my favourite things in the living room.  The floral display from Next is beautiful and works well with the colour scheme of the room.  I also LOVE this fairly new addition to the room - the unit.  The top half is glazed and houses books, photos and some ornaments whilst the bottom half has cupboards for all-important storage.  I'm not sure why exactly but I just love it!

These are a couple of things that are in the downstairs WC that I love to look at every time I visit.  The boat brings the colour-scheme together very well (brown and teal) whilst the fish hanging on the wall behind the door continue a slightly "nautical" theme.

Finally, a little corner of the kitchen........

We have added some floating shelves to our living room as a place for some of my favourite things, so we're heading in the right direction:

You'll have to excuse the vase on top of my fireplace, it actually belongs on the floor but we had to move it out of Freya's reach!!!!

Anyway, on a final note, we returned home at the weekend to this gorgeous sight:

My beautiful hyacinths have flowered!!!!  They smell absolutely wonderful in the kitchen.

I hope you have a good day.

xxx