Busy bee

That's me!

Ok obviously I'm not actually a real bee, this was one that I managed to snap quickly on my old point and shoot digi camera (wish I had a better camera - one day maybe but it's at the end of a very long list) while the kids were playing at the park.

I'm currently fostering a young lad who needs a LOT of attention so my computer time has gone from hours and hours to mere seconds. :) So I'll probably not be around as much for a wee while until things settle down and routines get put in place.
It was a lovely sunny day here yesterday but I see that there was a lot of rain everywhere else, mind you we had a full day of rain on Saturday so when the sun came out to play yesterday we went paddling in the sea and making the most of it because it'll probably be rain again tomorrow.

Hmpfh!

I've not blogged as I've been busy trying to enjoy the sunny days we've been having...


recovering from the mini camping in the garden trip.



trying to keep big one's stress levels at least on an even keel if not totally calm while she's taking her prelim exams (mocks)



trying to sort things out with the ex over our divorce.



trying to summon up some energy to get the million and one things on my to list done



but feeling a bit like there has been a black cartoon cloud hovering over my head all the time.

The smalls and I had a lovely Easter Sunday together today though and I'll tell you all about it and some other good stuff soon. ;)

A walk at the beach

The sun came back today! (yesterday was horribly wet.) So this morning we took the dogs down for a good long run at the beach.

We're currently looking after this handsome chap.

Excuse his messy chops but we'd been running around like mad things so he was a bit slobbery. :) His Mum's off in Turkey on holiday and her usual dog sitter let her down last minute so Jaz is having a wee holiday of his own with us. And she has very kindly given us the dog sitting money to put in our Malawi jar.

Today my darling Monster dog proved what a big pudding he is.


Have you ever heard of a dog letting their owners do this to them? LOL Daft thing he is, he kept so still and didn't attempt to move. Don't worry we didn't hurt him, he was only in the sand for as long as it took to put a layer over him and he was wagging his tail like a very happy dog when he finally could be bothered to move.
Oh before I forget I treated myself to some peonies at the weekend. On special at Lidl £2.49 a bunch. Quick go buy! Treat yourselves. :)

Didn't we have a lovely time

the day we went to Dundee. Ok I know that's not the proper words but it's a bit far for me to get to Bangor LOL

Sorry for being a misery the other night but thank you for the support... all much appreciated. I guess eventually I will get used to them being there.

Anyway big one is in the middle of her exams so it's been books, exams, books, exams and I've been tied to the house for the last couple of weeks on a project that I will share with you if it ever gets finished.
So yesterday we decided we needed a treat and took ourselves off shopping to Dundee .

And what a day it turned out to be! The sun very kindly was beaming down on us and rather than pay silly prices for a lunch somewhere indoors we took ourselves off to M+S where I used my gift card to buy us a free picnic lunch. The ex would get £50 of vouchers every Xmas from his work and we would use it for treats or things for the smalls but one year we spent the lot on him so the following year he said I could get all the vouchers. To be honest it sat in my purse for quite some time (about 2 years) and I forgot about it but it has since proved priceless. When we have a day out now and it's a dry day we treat ourselves to some lovely picky things and have a bench picnic. Today was so lovely as we sat in the square that big one remarked we could be abroad.
We were obviously have far too good a time as we were soon joined by a wee visitor.




Once we opened the fruit selection he was joined by another wee friend.

I wonder what all the office workers out on their lunch breaks made of us, sat there eating our butties and taking photos of posing Gnomes! :)

Now I'm not a big shopper, our shopping trips usually entails the smalls returning with several bags and I'm the one with an empty purse but a big smile on my face. To be honest we're not big on shopping as a family and trips to the big shops only happens every few months or so.
So when I spotted this bag in Accessorize and was obviously displaying outward signs of pleasure. That is stroking it and sighing big one decided it was high time I treated myself.

I did remark that I could make one myself but the picture really doesn't do the bag justice, the gold owls sparkle!

So I thought that was me, my big treat done now it just a quick trip to Boots for big one to get something exchanged and then it was Primani and home. But no it seems today I was going to get all that birthday money I still had loitering about well and truly spent.

I have to admit the packaging did catch my eye but as it was a perfume I'd not smelt before I thought I'd just have a wee sniff. No harm is there, it's not like I was going to be buying any?



Wow! Now that smells good. The lady behind the counter, bless her must have sprayed nearly half the bottle in the air for me to walk through, so you can get a good sense of the smell she said.
Big one agreed with me that it was lovely. For those of you with fellas the male version is absolutely divine. Big one and I did debate finding ourselves someone who would be willing to be sprayed with it regularly just so we could snuggle up to them and just smell them. Obviously Johnny Depp would be the ideal choice. LOL
Anyway the final decision was helped when the nice lady said, oh you get this bag free with it.





Sold to the lady with the skull habit!

Join us

on our tour of Stirling Castle.





We took ourselves off to Stirling Castle for the first time this Easter holidays after 8 years of living in Scotland.
Was worth the wait though, don't you think?
All pics taken by either myself or wee one who is showing a great flair for photo taking. (Big one has her own digi cam) Seems between big one, wee one and myself we'll never be short of a great photo or two. :)

I scream, you scream...

We all scream for ICE CREAM!

I took the smalls swimming, yes I expect my good Mummy award in the post any day. I do love swimming, I love floating about and almost feeling graceful. I love being able to carry both the smalls around in the water as it is pretty impossible out of the water especially as big one is nearly as tall as me now. I love that they carry me about in the water and think it's funny.
I do NOT love walking around in barely more than my underwear for everyone to see. I'm guessing I'm not the only female who doesn't like that bit of swimming too. Oh and the trying to get dry and dressed in changing rooms that are freezing cold!

After swimming I took the smalls to the ice cream shop....




Oh yes I scored multiple good Mummy points!

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. :)

Do you like

my new shoes?







Took big one for her 'just the two of us birthday shopping trip' at the weekend and whie treating her to a new pair of converse I spotted these. Well how could I resist? My baby just turned 15! I had to cheer myself up didn't I?

How to tell your husband wants to make you happy

he takes you to Ikea. Ok that probably doesn't sound very exciting to a lot of you city girls but if I tell you the last time I set foot in an Ikea was 2006 and before that was sometime around 2002 then you'll understand how I get a bit giddy.
I was actually amazing restrained for someone who doesn't get her fix very often. We did invest in some lovely new glass plates and big one and I bought a metre of some lovely bird fabric. Yes of course there were some other bits and bobs that found their way into my trolley but that darn marketplace is just too tempting.

I'm busy busy finishing off my Spring/Easter Swap things for my lovely partner MadMummy and then we're off for a visit to the family down in Wales next week. Plus of course I still have work, the smalls are off school and I'm still practically jumping on the postman every morning to see if there is any news yet about the job I went for over 2 weeks ago!

I realise that I didn't put a cut off date for my giveaway so I will now. As I said I'll be away so I will draw the giveaway on Monday 20th April. I will include your name for every comment you have left me from the original giveaway post till the 20th.

Feast your eyes

Ok then I promised pictures of my Charity shop goodies so here goes.

Price = either 20p or 50p each
Lots of lovely books. Some have some very retro patterns in, in fact there is a pattern for crochet clothes for a dolly. I remember my gran used to make them for my dollys when I was little. Shame I didn't like dollys but I appreciated (even then) all the work she did.

Price = £3A double duvet cover that I will using for the material not as a duvet. Isn't it pretty?

Price = £2
A Pyrex casserole dish, Mother will be pleased as everytime she visits she moans I don't have enough dishes.


Price = £1
I don't know what it is about this bowl, maybe it's merely its simplicity. But I had to have it. Don't you think it looks good on my coffee table full of fruit?


Now I feel I have to explain this next one. I am nor have ever been a girly kind of girl. My profile picture is me messing about with hats in Primark with the small people...you won't usually see me like that :) Anyway I'm not sure what was going on with me yesterday. It could have been the excitement at finding so many pretty things, maybe in my old age my feminity is starting to kick in. Who knows but tell me honestly is it not pretty?

Price = £5 for the 16 piece set

I've looked on line but can't seem to find this pattern, lots similar but not this one.



And there is still more...
Price = £1.50Again with the flower thing? Maybe I'm hormonal.

This next one is now sitting on my kitchen window sill nursing my poorly peace lily (hopefully) back to life.

Price = 90p
That's a 2p piece on the table next to it to hopefully show you how huge it is.

And finally I totally fell in love with this. For some reason it makes me think of a chicken. No..my friend didn't understand that one either. But it is lovely.


And there you go. All my goodies. I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long ;)

Today I went to our local indoor play centre with my friend and her 16 month old son. He had my climbing all the way up to the big slide (ok I did offer) but it's not just a simple case of walking up some stairs. Oh no!!.. it's one of those that is on different levels and its like a maze. And of course you have to take your shoes off but HAVE to keep your socks on so while you're climbing up a ramp (bearing in mind by the second time my wee pal had decided it was far easier if I carried him) your slipping back down due to your socks. Anyway needless to say he fell asleep in his pram on the walk back and me and his Mum decided we were going to go sit on our respective sofas and chill. So thanks blogging all this has kept me awake and now my youngest small person has just come through the door and is now rooting around in the kitchen looking for something to eat. So best go make sure she's finding something suitable. Oh and I better for sort out the spare room, my Mother arrives tomorrow for a 3 weeks stay and him indoors didn't put all the Xmas boxes away properly so if I don't she'll have no floor space. ;)