Cakes but you can't eat them

A couple of weeks ago I sent very patient swap partner, yes that's you Beki, her parcel

I didn't take pictures of everything I sent - because I am useless in more fields than just posting things.

But I did manage to take photos of the cake bits....


A mixed media painting of something I know Beki enjoys

Beki tells me the sprinkles survived the journey south. :)


And a knitted dishcloth....



Just something to help brighten up those tedious daily chores.


Like I said there were other things but no photos I'm afraid.

This is what

you look like when you try to burn the candle at both ends for too long!


Actually I don't even look that cute :)
And yes I made that odd looking little owl - poor wonky thing.

Still snowing!

That was a shocker eh? Not!!

Anyway I think we've covered the whole snow thing before so I'll move on to something else more interesting.


Now while it's like this outside.

My back garden and yes the bottom of the slide is indeed buried in snow.

And your front and back door are about as effective as this.

An idea may be to take this...

and this...

And make this...

The jury is still out as to the colours but to be honest beggars can't be choosers. I bought the curtains many many moons ago and had made some bags out of the red pair so it was just a case of cobbling together what I had left to make them long enough. Yes I know they're too long at the bottom but that is because the draught at the bottom of the door is vicious.

So they may not be the best curtains in the world but for just now they're the best I've got. :D

How's everyone else baring up in the cold?

Queen of Procrastination

Do you remember me posting about working in my pals shop in May? And I knitted something up that a certain someone thought was a cover for their gin bottle? :)

Well I finally sewed it together today. Yes that's right 6 months later.


Big one is very pleased as now she can stop wrapping the hotty botty up in a towel. Bad Mother Award to me.
But I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, I'm thinking of adding some embellishments. Maybe even knocking up a few more and seeing if I can sell them.....maybe.

So what else did I do today. Well I wrapped up warm and took myself off to the charity shop. I don't know if you've seen the news but my part of the world is a bit white at the moment.

This was the garden just before the huge flakes started coming down again. The smalls were very disappointed this morning when I phoned the school snow closure line (yes we have things like that in Scotland) and only the kids who took the bus in from surrounding villages were off. They are hoping the snow keeps falling and their school gets closed tomorrow. LOL

Anyway I toddled off to the charity shop as I've not been down there for a while and look what i found.

The cutest snail. Yes I know I have odd tastes in my knick knacks, what with hands, heads, mushrooms and the like. But look at that face.

Right off to make a hot drink, it's blinking cold tonight isn't it?

Tunisia Part 2

So this was the view from our room. Nice sunset eh?


Coming back to the room in the afternoon was quite exciting as we'd get presents.


While we were at the Sousse Medina we came across a wee cafe place that had a museum attached, it was a lovely wee place. The following photos are from the ground level bit, tomorrow I'll take you underground. ;)

A certain someone told me these needed a post of their own. ;)





A bit of home crafting


Two traditional Tunisian wedding outfits. Look a bit scratchy to me but very detailed.




And apparently this is what a 'poor' Tunisian woman would wear back in the day. Not bad for slumming it, better than joggers and Uggs eh? LOL


Thanks for all your comments about my lousy nights sleep, I can happily report that last night I slept like a baby, one with a full belly and not one that wakes up every two hours screaming. ;)

It's all in the distraction techniques on a wet Monday

The ex finally thought to let me know that they'd arrived safely sometime mid Monday morning - they flew Sunday evening. But at least I could breath a bit easier.

First full day and I knew it wasn't going to be good so I stuck my Ipod in my pocket, plugged in my ears turned up the tunes and set about doing some housework

Beds were stripped, dirty dishes from small people's rooms were collected and washed.

Well that didn't seem to be stopping the occasion eye wetness so I sat and wrote a huge to do list - man that was a bad idea! If I wasn't feeling sorry for myself before well I was now.

Then I remembered I had bought this on our wee camping holiday so first I had to clean the fridge....yeah ok maybe I didn't do such a great job of the cleaning bit.




Aren't they cute. I do love owls. Home Bargains the shop was, they have all sorts of lovely ones and the black bit is an actual chalk board. I wanted the robot one too but that one appeared to be all gone. Ah well.

Then I got back to finding things that no longer served their purpose, looked beautiful or were needed and I came across this.

An old memo board that had seen better days.

So I gave it a helping hand in its own demise and reclaimed the metal board from its innards.
Gave it a good scrub to remove the glue and what not.

Debated covering it in fabric and attaching hangers. But as I do have a bit of a thing for shiny silver I ended up just sticking it on the wall and covering it with all the latest little pictures the smalls have given me recently.

And yes then I sat and had another wet eye moment.

Then I had the joy of trying to source a reasonable car insurance quote, oh what fun that was. NOT! Drives me crazy that I have been a named driver on my ex's insurance for a million years with no claims but now I am back down to only one year's no claims. Cheers for that!
Anyway got fed up of very expensive quotes so attacked a huge pile of papers that needed shredding and sorting instead. Very theraputic

Thank you to everyone for your words of support and understanding. I know the girls will have a lovely time and their Dad will look after them and it won't be long before they home with all their news. I'm off down to Wales later in the week so my pals down there have a few plans to distract me further. And there is a possible meeting of two mad women from the blogsphere happening eh wifey? :D

The reason I put a ban on myself

from doing anymore swaps until I fulfilled those that I am already obscenely behind with -
I guess anyone with any sense wouldn't have signed up for any swaps just after their marraige had hit the rocks but obviously I have no sense.

This is the very over due Spring Swap for MadMummy that she finally has with her. She tells me it was worth the wait but I think she's being kind.


You'd think I'd have ironed them don't you, well I did actually so there! But I realised once I'd wrapped them all up that I hadn't taken any pictures. So I apologise for creased shirts Steph.


Lot of bits and pieces and of course choccy.

Extremely blurry shot of the detail on the side of the dish. Did the dish survive in one piece Steph?

So one swap finally received, now I've still Beki's to finish up and the two giveaway shirts that I owe Mrs Twiggy (can you remind me what you wanted on your shirt Twigs) and Mrs JBJB. Sigh I am sorry ladies :(

I've been a busy bee

I've not blogged for a few days as I've been helping out at my friend's shop. It's a brilliant wee shop called The Rainbow Hat. They run a stall at a lot of rallys, galas and fetes all over Scotland and they are a great couple. I just help out on the odd days when they have to go far afield and are doing it as family time.



Colourful isn't it?



They opened this shop about 18 months ago and people come from all over the place, even Englandshire, to shop



Anyway while I've been there this week I've had the time to do a bit of crafting. I know shocking isn't it? So far this year my crafting mojo seems to have been living under a rock.

Anyway I got a bit of knitting done.

Can you tell what it is?

I've also got some stencilling time in. These are for my newest wee neighbour born recently.



Sorry about the bad photos, I took them on my camera phone and the light wasn't so great.

Oh and just one quick question. Have you seen the advert on tv for John Lewis? Well I was just wondering why is it the lady in red get's taller the older she gets? By the time she gets to the old lady stage she's like a giant! Anyone else notice that? Or is it just me and my odd ways again? Hmm thought so.

Only in Scotland

Yes I did post about winter conditions and yes there really was snow, infact there still is snow lying on the ground in piles by the side of the road where the snow plough has shoved it. But Mother Nature has decided that we do actually deserve a bit of sun and while the rest of the country seems to be sodden and wet the sun has well and truly got his hat on.

So to make the most of a lovely sunny day we went out for a drive and ended up in a local wee fishing village.


I love the no mooring ropes on the light sign, can you imagine how many lamposts were bent out of shape before they put that up? LOL

Obligatory arty lobster pot shots.

Looking at this I could almost pretend I was at some little Greek fishing village. Ok ok I know too much of stretch, the houses would have to be at least white and the sun would be a whole lot brighter and the sea blue instead of the North Sea grey it is. :)

This is a barometer built into a granite pillar that is a Victorian memorial to the seafaring men of the town and there is a plaque to the memory of a local lad who was killed serving in the Royal Navy aged 27 and his ship sank in the China Sea. I couldn't get a better shot as there was a car parked right in front of it. :/

A clear shot of the harbour walls. Romantic or gloomy...you decide.

On the way home wee one said she would like to do some crafting so we got out the beads and she made some earrings.

She made herself and one of her best friends a pair then carried on and one.

The plan is now that she's going to take them to school and see if she can sell some to her friends. My little entrepreneur. She'll be on Dragon's Den soon looking for backing to start her own Etsy/Folksy shop LOL



And of course to finish the afternoon off nicely you have to have a bit of cake.


It's carrot cake so that's one of my five a day covered. :)

Small change

Hmmm just wondering if I'll find any loose change down the back of the sofa as I'm a bit short to be able to afford this fab chandelier.



It's only a mere £13,148.00 but isn't it fabulous. Just perfect to hang over my Mad Hatter's tea party table don't you think?
It's designed by Winnie Lui and is one of 50 individual limited edition designs. You can check it out at www.rockettstgeorge.co.uk I've forgotten how to do links, useless article that I am.

Thank you everyone for your comments, it's always so lovely to get feedback and know I'm not just rambling to myself. :) I'd love to hear what you all think of the film if you go to see it. Big one said last night she really wants to watch it again, so I don't know if she'll be making her way back to the cinema with her pals before long :)

Mother's day is zooming up on us again. Big one will be away at yet another camp so it looks like it will be just me and wee one. If I'm lucky I'll get one of her wonderful handmade creations and fingers crossed the sun will shine so we can get out for a walk with the monster dog.

Mind you I wouldn't mind being served breakfast in bed by this chap. ;)