Faux planting

 We have been having a cold snap, gets right through you, but the Almond blossom doesn´t seem to mind and its popping out on the trees around us, ranges from dark pink through to white. We have lost quite a few of our own trees, age, drought, pests but we have quite a few saplings establishing themselves again. Not always in a suitable place I have to say, but the olive trees do the same thing so unless you want a tree suddenly growing in the wrong place you have to be vigilant.

I´ve had these Gerberas for 3 seasons now and they seem to be determined to ignore the cold weather and are flowering away. Definitely on the shopping list again for this season.  My cyclamen, bought for a couple of euros back in November are doing well too.

The area at the bottom of the stairs is a trifle dark, I have tried several plants but have found nothing that will tolerate the conditions. So I decided to make a Swiss cheese plant, using felt and florist wire, I fashioned leaves into something which resembles the plant, used one of my Dad´s stained glass pots and gravel and planted it. With a little imagination it fills the brief and at least it won´t die.

Last week we were collecting Theo from nursery every afternoon as his Dad was away on business and Mum was working. We took him home and played, but on Friday we brought him up here with us, great fun playing and exploring. We had visited a local charity shop and found 3 huge bags of  wooden train set parts, with trains and cars and accessories, all for 10e, which made great tracks and a good deal of fun. I also bought 30 books, all for 10c each, so the book shelf was quite enticing. 

At last I´ve found the photos of the jumper and throw

That time again, dinner calls

take care

xcx

History

Oh my gosh, we were 19c last week, this morning at 8.15 it was 4c, bright skies and sun shining but so cold. We have become acclimatized to the weather here so cold to us is cold.

We seem to have a few problems in the house too, one of the drains is backing up, yuk! but with the help of the magic whip thing, very technical lol, that was sorted, then we could smell electrical burning, luckily this was isolated to a plug, now the question arises, is it localised or wider spread into the circuit, further investigation from the qualified is necessary.

I do love a bit of history, I was brought up on all sorts of old sayings, even used today as a family, including the London rhyming slang, but I always wonder as to the origin of these sayings. This afternoon whilst knitting another jumper for Theo, I had the TV on in the background, it was a Victorian Farm. This project had been going for about 10 months and I caught the last programme, one of those where they immerse themselves in the project and live the life. Rather them than me, creature comforts like a bathroom with hot water, is far better than boiling water for the tub before a fire. Anyway, wrong end of the stick came up, now how many times have you said to someone, oh you´ve got the wrong end of the stick, presumably meaning what you said has been taken the wrong way. Apparently this originates in the printers environment, where capital letters were stored in a case, the lower letters were stored underneath, hence upper and lower letters. The wrong end of the stick comes because the letters have to be put in a certain way so when printed they appear correct. So if you start at the wrong end it´s all back to front. There you go, a bit of useless information, but a bit of fun too.

Still trying to sort out the photos, then suddenly whoosh lol

take care

xcx

slack

Well, nearly a month since I posted, how´s that for slack!

Theo rallied enough for Christmas day which we all enjoyed, but it was obvious he wasn´t really feeling it. Then boxing day he flopped, by the 27th, I was well into what ever he had and this one went on the chest and was a nasty, no wonder Theo felt so poorly, its taken over 3 weeks to shift for me, but I think Theo is getting topped up at nursery by the bugs. 

It was Theo´s 3rd birthday on the 10th and I baked a Batman cake as requested, I managed to get fondant icing but only in white, adding black food colouring only made it go floppy and discoloured. So we improvised and printed out Gothum city and the batman logo on paper, made bats and stars on cocktail sticks, added a candle and he was happy.

Theo´s party was at the weekend and this time he wanted Paw Patrol, he loves cooking and wanted to make his cake with us, he was expert at cracking the eggs and enjoyed the measuring out and mixing, best bit of course was licking the bowl lol. A 10" square cake was requested, years ago I bought a multi purpose square cake tin, basically 12" which can be made into oblongs or any size. When I looked at the price it was 8.99 with a price tag from Boots, Nottingham. I must have had this since about 1985, really....certainly 1987 when I made my grandparents their 60th wedding anniversary cake.

Photo of the second cake have gone awol, never mind.

Party was at a soft play centre, took him awhile to get going but then it was fun, a family friend was doing face painting which went down a storm, so a good time had by all.

I managed to finish the throw/blanket requested, double bed size and another jumper for Theo, (just realised these photos are on my new phone and not linked yet, watch this space.)

We are on duty all next week as one is away on business, the other working, so evening pickups and playtimes

take care

xcx

Happy Christmas

 Our plans have gone a little array, poor Theo has gone done with something and is feeling very under the weather, so they may not come up tonight, but the most important thing is for Theo to feel comfortable and happy in his surroundings. These things happen with little ones, but hopefully if not tonight then we shall see them tomorrow. It´s only a 15 minute drive up so not a long journey

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas with lots of love, health and happiness

take care

xcx

Quick trip

 Wrapped some presents, made some gift tags and finished off the cone christmas tree, Theo started to help and I was astonished at the dexterity he showed after being told the pins were sharp, especially when he added the sequins, alas his attention didn´t last but he did very well.

On a very last minute decision, they decided to pop back to the Uk to see Antoni´s family in Nottingham for a long weekend. Flights were not too much and reasonable times too. They rang on the Saturday whilst waiting for a bus to take them into town, they looked like frozen peas, Theo was Not impressed by the cold and was slightly mollified by the chance of a nice hot chocolate. 

Sunday was the fourth anniversary of Rose´s birthday, I had already given them a card and little pressie to take with them, then lit a candle whilst preparing dinner. 

Yesterday was Chris´s birthday so we all got together for a nice meal, I did a loin of pork with rosemary, garlic breaded crust, along with all the veg. Rebecca and Theo had made some lovely chocolate chip muffins which we had with custard and a couple of birthday candles. Chris didn´t want a fuss so it was a nice way of finishing the meal off.

Few things left to do, but at the same time if it doesn´t happen it doesn´t matter, the joy of being together is the main thing.

I remembered to book a delivery slot early so the main groceries are coming tomorrow, saves time and energy and so worth the little that they charge for delivery. especially up here.

Time for dinner prep

take care

xcx

Christmas decs

 We retrieved the Christmas tree and decorations from the loft all ready for Theo to help. He enjoyed putting the tree together and sorted out all the colour coded branches. His face was an absolute picture as we opened boxes and he found the goodies. He was careful in his selection and very gently placed them on the tree, I suggested a few but no, he had his ideas and rejected them. Lift me up was his cry when he couldn´t reach.

I then gave him a box of baubles or various sizes and a metal stand, he spend ages, quite happily arranging them to his taste, using them all up. At first I thought it a little over the top, but on a second look it was really well put together with the tiny baubles on the outside, really artistic for a 2 year old.

I´ve been making little Suffolk puffs for Theo, I bought a small polystyrene cone with the idea he can use them to decorate it. I´ve made baubles in the past using these and they are quite pretty.

Most of the decorations are hand made over the years, quite satisfying to see them each year. This one is a patchwork star, made several years ago.

Have fun with your decorations

take care

xcx

Advent time

I have mainly been concentrating on making advent drawstring bags for Theo. Everything has come from the stash, I brought all the craft stuff with me when we left the farm years ago, which has proved to be very useful.  I´ve topped up some things like ribbons but all the Christmas material has come into it´s own.

I asked hubby to print out some luggage labels with all the dates on then glued them to red card, I did contemplate making felt ones but decided there wasn´t enough time and I couldn´t be asked lol. Had to lay them all out and divide the gifts so they made an interesting find on opening. Decorated a wooden box with tinsel and wrapped the gifts carefully mixing them up so Theo has to find the right number. Thought it would help with his numbers and also learn patience with only one a day.

I made a special one for the 18th using Christmas Rose material as a remembrance for baby Rose.

I left it on the table ready to take only to find that Sashi had made herself very comfortable in the box, should have taken a photo, but I was more concerned in getting her off.

So yesterday we visited Theo, we explained the concept and he looked in wonder that there were so many bags in there. Last year Rebecca bought a set of advent books, so he was in his element of choosing which wrapped book he wanted, which was read twice at bedtime, then as a treat he was given a little chocolate one, lucky boy with three. 

He has been finding going to nursery a bit of a struggle and we have been trying to uncover why. Last weekend he said "Mummy, I have a problem" aww bless, not even 3 yet. Turns out a new boy is being a bit of a bully and upsetting him. Hopefully the calendars will be a bit of distraction for him.

I decided to treat myself to an early Christmas present too.  The cold temps badly effect the Fibro so to save energy and the fact that trying to bend and do low jobs like wainscoting, edges, mopping etc are very difficult for me, I decided to organise a cleaner to come once a week for a couple of hours. I still find myself thinking, I should be able to do this, but we have 5 reception areas, clockroom and kitchen downstairs, plus 8 cats, so to have some help is going to be marvelous. So instead of beating myself up, I´m thinking of the nice things I can do with the energy saved, grateful that the hard jobs are being done and enjoy a fresh home. Defiantly a Loreal moment, yes I´m worth it. Also the person enjoys cleaning and gives her a little pocket money, win, win.  We have a friend coming to stay at the weekend and she is willing to do the guest room, remake beds so that will be a relief.

Our front bell is ringing which means the groceries have arrived, better go and get that sorted.

take care

xcx