The Fairies are Staying, Birthdays and Burglaries

 It's been a quiet week for us, Imogen was away for the week in the Peak District having fun with the NCS (national citizen service), which I heartily recommend for any teenagers who are 15 to 17. Adam and his family were also on holiday for the week near Great Yarmouth, so no babysitting duties for us either.

We had a lovely day out during the week, went for a drive to Scarborough. We visited the most enormous fabric shop, which left me feeling very spoilt and went for a lovely stroll to breath in all that good for you salty sea air. The views are amazing in both directions.

We passed this rather large gentleman on a bench looking out to sea.

Andy posing for scale

I tried to take a photo of the information next to him, but you have to enlarge it to read it. It tells you a little of who Freddie was, born in a mining village, went to war and how he went into Belsen concentration camp on his 21st birthday and saw horrors that we can't even imagine, how every year he cried on his birthday as he remembered those poor souls and grieved for their dreadful suffering.

It's also been a big week for our little grandson, not only on his first holiday, but he also celebrated his first birthday... gosh that went quickly! I embroidered a bib for him to wear while eating his birthday meals, but we saved his presents for when he came home so parents wouldn't have to take them all the way there and back in the already packed car.

Little Zack had no idea of course that it was his birthday, but had a wonderful day playing with mummy, daddy and his big sister and was exhausted by bed time.

Unfortunately on Friday morning before leaving to come home, my son had a phone call to say they'd been burgled during the night. We're so upset for them, they came home to the whole house being upside down from all the cupboards and drawers being emptied out. All their electrical goods were stolen, but the worse thing was Holly's jewellery. It's probably worthless as it's mainly costume jewellery, but it's priceless to Holly as it belonged to her beloved nana who sadly died last year. What an awful end to their lovely family break, but they're going to remember it as the holiday that Zack turned 1 rather than the holiday when they were burgled.

I've had time to spend in my craft room and made a little toadstool house for the fairies to come and stay in when they visit. After baking the clay, I glued it on a large stone from the beach. I did enjoy making it and definitely want to experiment and make more.

Also a little seahorse (I do love seahorses), just need to thread some of my gorgeous velvet blue ribbon through it so it can be worn as a pendant.

 I'm so glad the weather has cooled down a bit and we've even had some rain which we badly needed. It's been a funny summer, but a good one.


Take care
xxx

Birthday Lap Quilt and Slimmer of the Month

I've noticed there are a few of us out here in blogland following the Slimming World plan to lose weight and adapt to a healthier lifestyle. I thought I'd share with you my latest success as I joined Slimming World at the end of April and have been following the food plan since then

I go to a lovely group with really supportive people and I have to say a rather wonderful consultant who always fills me with inspiration each week. This was my third slimmer of the month award, I'm getting a wardrobe full of certificates!

Thank you for all the kind wishes for my parents. Mum's home from hospital and trying to take it easy while also caring for my Dad, if you ask them, they say they're 'muddling through', it's not easy, but they're coping.

On a lighter note, it's Dad's birthday today so I thought I'd show you the lap quilt I've made for him.

It's brushed cotton so lovely and soft. I bought the fabric in a pack from Hobbycraft and thought it would make a lovely lap quilt for my dad when it gets cooler. I sandwiched a layer of light wadding in it so it's not too heavy. It was posted at the beginning of the week so arrived in plenty of time for Dad's birthday today and he says he loves it. We also sent him the full box set of The Detectorists, a lovely gentle humoured series set in the English countryside that I know he'll enjoy.

Take care
xxx

A Catch Up

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post. I've been a bit sporadic with my posting this year, so do really appreciate you all hanging on in there.

Half way through April already, it amazes me, but at least the better weather appears to be coming... I'm so ready for the summer, I hope we have a lovely, long summer this year (not too hot though) and can spend lots of time outside in the garden and at the park.

We've been a bit slow on the garden side of things this year, mainly because of the weather. Andrew went out the other day and used the jet washer on the patio after getting rid of all the bits of grass and weeds that grow between the slabs. He also found this plant growing in one of our containers. We didn't plant it, but it seems to be thriving.

I tried putting the photo into a reverse picture finder and it identified it as Impatiens even though it didn't actually look like the pictures it showed. I know a lot of you have beautiful green thumbs so if anyone can give me any information about it, I would love to know.

My boy has had a birthday since I last blogged. Big year for birthdays this year, Adam and I have had our big ones (Adam turned 30) and Imogen will be turning sweet 16 a week on Friday, then little Zackary will have his very first birthday in August.

Not impressed with Daddy's birthday

I didn't get to see my boy on his actual birthday as he went on a 24 hour fishing trip with a group of friends. He had lovely time even though it was very muddy.

I haven't done as much baking as I planned to, but did use up some left over bananas to make our favourite banana cake the other day.

I treated myself to a couple of new eggcups the other week, I think they're rather cute.

I recently read this book by C.L. Taylor, The Fear. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found myself picking it up whenever I had a spare moment. A good, pacey thriller, I recommend it.

I thought it'd be nice to round off with the flowers on my mantelpiece that my lovely Andrew brought home from the shops today.

It's quite late, so I'm off to bed and will make a start on catching up with everyone else's news.


Take care
xxx

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What a Wonderful Day

It was my birthday on Wednesday, a milestone one, I'm half a century! I had the most wonderful day, spending it with my favourite people, my lovely family who thoroughly spoilt me.

I had breakfast in bed, some tasty kippers. I couldn't remember the last time I had them, I'm the only one who likes them so it felt like quite a treat. I stayed in bed with a nice cup of tea to open my cards and some of my presents, I even had a badge to wear!

When I was ready, the curtains to the conservatory were opened to reveal a very special present from my parents. I was absolutely blown away, a new scooter covered in balloons and banners, what an amazing start to the day. It's more than just a scooter, it's trips to the park with little Zackary, dog walks, trips to the local shops and so much more.

I had a nice cosy afternoon with Andrew and we watched Oliver so I could warble along with all the brilliant songs. Adam came in the afternoon with Zack, Holly and Izzy came later on and we all sat down to a party tea prepared by Andrew and Imogen with all my favourite party food, homemade potato salad, gammon and lots of other bits and pieces.

It was made even more special by Zack being able to join us at the table in the new highchair we had just bought him, though he was more of an observer than participant as he had just eaten his own yummy pureed vegetables and isn't quite old enough for finger food yet.

Imogen had spotted these little '50' sequins so had bought them to scatter over the table, a thoughtful little gesture, my sweet girl. I've saved some for when I do some scrapbooking.

The perfect accompaniment to my birthday tea, a lovely strong cup of tea in a bone china cup and saucer, I drank few of these.

Adam has a friend who makes the most delicious cakes, so between them, Andrew had secretly arranged for Adam's friend, Laura, to surprise me with this amazing cake. The actual cake is the most scrumptious Victoria sponge, my favourite. Even the numbers and the 'balls of wool' had sponge in them, what a clever lady Laura is (and green is my favourite colour).

The lights were turned off while everyone sang happy birthday and the cake was brought through with these amazing coloured candles, the flames were all different colours too, I haven't seen candles like this before.

More cups of tea and some cake followed by lots of special family time, what a wonderful day I had.

I had the best day ever and received so many lovely presents, I'll show you some of them another time.


Take care
xxx

Half Term Catching Up

Where did October go? Time is definitely getting away from us at the moment and last weeks half term went by in a finger snap.

It was my mum's birthday on Sunday so we wanted to do something special, even more so after the horrendous year my parents have had. It was half term last week so it seemed a good opportunity for Imogen to go and spend a few days with her grandparents, perhaps help her granny out a bit as well as spending time with them (Imogen adores her granny and wishes so much that they lived closer to us). Adam and his family took Imogen down at the beginning of the holiday, we were supposed to go as well, but I was full of a nasty cold and as my dad is waiting for heart surgery he mustn't get ill. My mum was able to spend some good quality time with her great grandson as they stayed over and had a lovely time with Imogen too. Andrew and I went down at the end of the week to pick her up (I tried to keep my distance from dad so he wouldn't catch any germs from me) and had a lovely afternoon and good catch up.

I need to establish a routine that fits our new little charge in and still gives me some crafting time as well as everything else that needs doing. How easily one forgets how much time little ones gobble up, though worth every minute, just look how sweet Zack is in his little Gruffalo jumper.

I've managed to spend a bit more time on the cross stitching for Zack's stocking. Last timeI showed you

it's starting to take a bit more shape now. Still a long way to go, but you can see the snowman beginning to appear with the little penguin on his hat.

I've also been doing some crochet on a jumper for Imogen. Last time on here I showed you the rib with the marble yarn

I've done the front design now so it's on track for Christmas.

I haven't spent any time in my craft room for a couple of weeks, so I'm hoping I may have an evening there soon. I have so many ideas of things I want to make and do, just in need of more time. It hasn't helped having a nasty cold and wow, hasn't the temperature dropped all of a sudden!

Here's another photo of our beautiful grandson having fun with his nanny and grandpops.

Take care
xxx

A Catch Up and a Pond

What a week we've had, plenty going on, even during the night. It was 1 in the morning and Imogen knocked on our bedroom door to tell us through a clenched and wonky mouth that she was in quite a lot of pain. I suspected she'd dislocated her jaw when she'd yawned. Off to A & E, hoping it would be relatively quiet as it was a Tuesday night... it wasn't. Andrew went with Imogen and they didn't return until 5am, both exhausted. Imogen had dislocated her jaw when she'd yawned and it hadn't popped back quite into the right place. She now knows how to massage it back if it happens again. It was unpleasant, but not as awful as when her knees dislocate.

April's a busy (and expensive) month for us, both my children were born in April. We celebrated Imogen's 15th birthday last week. She had a wonderful day and felt thoroughly spoilt, just as she should. We had a little family party in the evening, which is what she'd asked for, and then all settled down to watch Mama Mia... and have a good old sing song too!

Imogen isn't a big fan of cake, but does like a chocolate fudge one warmed up and served with some ice cream. I just don't know where the last 15 years have gone, but isn't that just how we all feel, time passes fars too quickly! My son and his girlfriend took Imogen to Meadowhall on Saturday for her birthday present... she shopped till they dropped! It's one of her favourite things about her birthday, getting to spend the day with her big brother.

Things have been busy at home too. I'd been thinking about a pond in the garden for a while, but wasn't really sure if we'd fit one in our small space. Andy planned it all out, did his research and started digging. I wasn't quick enough to get a picture before he put the fleece in, but you can roughly see the size of the pond here.

Onto of the fleece went the pond liner. It was easier to do it this way as he could make it the shape needed for the garden, it also made it a lot cheaper. I think the hardest part has been getting rid of all the mud and stones that were dug up, it meant a few trips to the tip to get it recycled.

Andrew's worked really hard on it and there are still a few small jobs to finish off (a bit more gravelling is one), but it has been very worth it. I absolutely love our little pond with it's plants and yesterday we were able to add some fish too (we had to wait until the water had been in for a fortnight before we could get the fish). I can't tell you how relaxing it is to just sit and watch the fish swimming about with the small trickle of the water to listen to.

We've had toads in the greenhouse most years,so I'm hoping that next year we may even have some toad spawn and other wildlife.

We also need to cover the pond with a grill... here's a photo of Mitzi going for a drink. I took it in the evening, it's not a very good picture.

I'm pleased to report that our other cat, Sassy, is not remotely interested and would rather stay inside sleeping and stretching...

After all the hard work, Andrew was rewarded with a nice hot roast dinner, all trimmings included.

Here's a quick photo of my hexies, I have my box in the conservatory and make up a hexie or 3 when I go in there, definitely going to be a long term project.

Take care
xxx