April

Hello!

First of all I'd like to say Thank You to everyone who left messages regarding us rehoming our dogs.  We're slowly but surely starting to feel better about our decision but it does still feel strange not having them around at times.

Anyway, where has April gone?!!!  I can't believe that we're nearly in to May already.  This year seems to have gone so quickly.

We have just returned from spending a weekend with my parents in Sandhurst, Berkshire.  It was such a lovely day on Saturday that we spent the afternoon in the garden while Freya and my niece played in the paddling pool.  We then had a yummy barbeque in the evening - all good!

We also had a Christening to go to in Shaftesbury on Sunday, which was really nice.  While we were in the area we popped to Poole for a little walk along the harbour - we treated ourselves to ice-cream and chips!  Yummy!

There's been quite a lot of things going on at home over the last few weeks.  Do you remember My DIY Wish List for 2010?  Well, I can confirm that 2 (yes TWO!!) out of my 4 projects have nearly been completed.  I will post pics when they are finished.

I've also been able to crochet more squares for my Granny Square Blanket.  I'm really pleased with how it's going but at the same time I'm itching to move on to something different.  I'll take some photos in the next few days when the light is better so you can see my progress (if you would like?!).

Anyway, I hope that things are going well with you all?

xxx

Gone

Hi there.  I hope you are all well?

Today has been a strange day.  After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing we made a decision yesterday but neither of us had really thought that the final result would come so quickly.  We think that we've done the right thing for everybody but there's always that small "niggle" in the back of your mind isn't there?

When we brought them home we knew that they were going to be hard work, but we hadn't realised just how hard it would be.  They had far more energy than either of us had imagined.  With Freya to look after I was finding it increasingly difficult to look after them the way they needed to be looked after - they needed to get out of the house a LOT more than they were.  Hubby has been signed off work since the middle of January due to anxiety/depression and he also has not been able to give them all of the attention they needed.

An advert was placed online yesterday morning:  Two 14month old Springer Spaniel bitches need to be rehomed with a family who will be able to give them the exercise and attention they deserve.  They must not be separated as they are inseparable.....

The phone rang at 6pm yesterday evening and some people arrived at 7.30pm to meet our pups.  The family seemed very nice and own a 20 acre farm with horses, pigs, cows etc....plenty of space for the dogs to run around without being able to escape.  Their jack russell currently goes everywhere with his owner and the idea was for Poppy and Holly to do the same.

So last night we waved goodbye to our pups as they were taken to their new life in Horsham.  I believe that this lifestyle would suit their characters more and would enable them to put their excess energy to good use.

The new owners said that they would email us pictures to let us know how they're getting on - I really hope they do and that they look after these loving dogs as they deserve to be looked after.

xxx

Hello?......Is there anybody out there?....

Hi!  How are you all?  I'm sorry that I have been a bit quiet lately, things have just got kind of hectic.

I have been continuing in my quest to become a "Domestic Goddess" and stumbled across a really useful website Flylady.  It is the product of a lady in America trying to get her house in order by doing it little by little (babysteps).  This may not be everybody's cup of tea (it can be a bit OTT at times!) but the regular emails help to keep me motivated and my house is definitely thanking me for it (as are Hubby and Freya!)  I even managed to find time to clean out all of my kitchen cupboards (including cleaning the tops of them) and our local charity shop is about 9 bags of stuff better off (I think?!!).  This website has certainly helped me to feel like I have a "purpose" to being at home.  Of course I know that I'm a mother and it is my role to look after my family but I've found it very hard to switch from working full-time to being a stay-at-home-mum.  I wouldn't change it for the world, but I do need to feel like my time is being used more productively sometimes!!  I hope that this makes sense?

I have also managed to do more crochet in the past few weeks (no photos I'm afraid but I will take some soon) and my blanket is coming along.  I've also (finally!) received issues 2 and 3 of The Art of Crochet magazine, so I'm really wanting to get my blanket finished before I start working on some of the projects in those.

This week I'm hoping to get out in our garden and do some tidying up.  I recently bought loads of plants and bulbs online very cheaply at J Parkers - this link takes you straight to their Latest Offers page, which is where I got all of my bits and pieces from.  All of my plants arrived this week and are currently sitting in 2 boxes in my kitchen waiting patiently to be dealt with.  I'm going to try and give them the best possible start by planting them in small pots in my kitchen first - I can't plant them straight out into the flower beds as the dogs will trample them!!  We want to put raised flower beds in to try and deter the dogs from playing in them, although I'm not convinced it will work!  It's definitely worth a go though - I'll keep you posted.

Anyway, I'm going to go and watch "One Born Every Minute" now, which is currently being recorded on our V+ box from Virgin Media (don't know how we'd live without it sometimes!!)

Take care.

xxx

Married Single Other

Hi!  Long time, no speak.  Sorry, have been a bit busy of late.

Just a really quick one to see whether anybody else has been watching the ITV drama Married Single Other?  It has been absolutely brilliant, if a little sobering at times.

We've just finished watching tonight's episode........OMG!

If you haven't been watching then you can catch up with all the info here.

Will come back soon with a catch-up on my crochet and domestic life.

xxx

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