An Owl, Books and More....

It was UFO Night again over at JA/S&S Forum last night and, despite being tempted to get Mother Earth out for a change, I carried on with Night Watchman as I thought it would be nice to give him the rest of his body.

He's a handsome little chap. LOL

Yesterday saw the choices for February's Monthly Challenge being posted at JA/S&S by Karen. We can choose one of the heart design freebies from Elisa's Passions to stitch and finish as we want. A quick choice this time and the chart is printed off ready and I have a reasonable idea of what I want to do with it re: colours and finish........ which makes a nice change. LOL I've also decided on the design I want to stitch for the Challenge for a Finish piece, a redwork heart-shaped ornie: chart is printed out and thread and fabric chosen but I'm still trying to decide on how I want to finish this. Guess I'll just see if anything occurs to me whilst I'm stitching it. Unfortunately there won't be any pics of those for a while.

As there's a lack of any other stitching or craft pics to show I thought I'd share pics of my latest acquisitions. While I was in the Hospice book shop last Friday I spotted a set of books I'd had recommended to me some time ago by Lynn but couldn't get them at the time, as I knew I was going to be fairly loaded up between the new meds from the Herbalist and a Tesco shop. So, keeping my fingers crossed they were still there, DH and I called in on Saturday morning. Result - they were still there!


Three out of four of the Boudica books by Manda Scott. If I enjoy these as much as I think then they'll be joining my collection - meantime I'll be on the look-out for the fourth book, to go with them. Of course we had to have a really good look round while we were there and I ended up adding another four books to my haul:

Courtesans was from the Non-Fiction section and is about the lives of five specific courtesans: not just about who their lovers were but about the influence and power they held as leaders of fashion and society. The two books by Rosemary Hawley Jarman were recommended to me by one of the ladies in the book shop when there weren't any Philippa Gregory books to be found, as they are supposed to be written in a similar style - thought it was worth giving them a go. The Centurion book I was vaguely interested in reading but mostly got it as I thought it would appeal to DS - another prolific reader.

Meanwhile, DH had been rootling round the CD and DVD section. He'd found a classical CD he wanted and mentioned he'd seen a couple of CD's in there that I might like, so off I went for a rootle of my own whilst he looked at a book I'd spotted and thought he might like. Rootling was successful and I had these three CD's in my hand by the end of it:

I love the sound of panpipes, whether they are playing native music or a version of modern music (like these CD's), as I find them very soothing. I've been listening to them today as I've been doing a few things around the house and feel really chilled out now. LOL I love the songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and as I've not been able to listen to the cassette for ages, due to the player being broken, thought I'd treat myself to a CD version. They didn't break the bank either: they were only a £1.00 each. :0)

I'm afraid DH is a typical man and doesn't know how to shop: whilst I'd got myself a nice haul all he came away with was his classical CD and a book about WWII called Bomber Boys. He has such a fascination with that whole period of history, despite being a most extremely laid-back pacifist, that I'm sure he must have had a previous life then!

My Amazon order came in two parts this week, with the first half arriving yesterday and the second half today. The Candida diet recipe books are great: full of useful info as well as lots of tasty recipes, so I shall enjoy having a play around in the kitchen with those. The other goodies I got were these DVD's:

All of them were in the sale and all were under a fiver. As you can probably tell by the first three I love a good costume drama and these will be watched many times......... obviously when the menfolk are out. DS gave me the Elizabeth, The Golden Age DVD as a gift a couple of years ago so I had to get the first one to go with it, as I have a passion for the whole Tudor period and like these renditions of Elizabeth's story (those beautiful dresses!). The DVD at the end is for DH - part of his belated Christmas gift. He finally chose what he wanted last weekend: a screwdriver kit, complete in it's own tool box, from Screwfix - not much, or very exciting, so I've added this to go with and will be keeping my eyes open for other bits that he will like. I tell you, he just doesn't know how to shop at all - even when he doesn't have to pay! LOL

Well I've got a beef and veg stew going in the slow cooker that needs checking and a couple of Challenge pieces that need a start making, so I'd best get on.

Many thanks for visiting - hope the waffle hasn't bored you. LOL ;0)