A Country Life

Thank you :)

2009-10-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

Hello, just a very quick post to say "Thank you!" for all of your kind wishes and words on my last post.

I've not been on the computer that much over the last week or so as my shoulder is not good, but I hope to be back here soon with a much more cheeful and crafty post in the near future :)

I'm planning to do all my Christmas crafting in the next four weeks before I go into hospital so hopefully there will be some very early Christmas themed posts here soon!!!! Poor Mr P will proabably be roped in to help me but he doesn't know that yet... ;)

Hope you are all well, take care xxx

Back from the hospital

2009-10-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back from seeing the consultant at the hospital and he has confirmed that I will definitely need another operation on my shoulder and I'm booked in for surgery on the 19th of November.

I'm feeling very upset and sorry for myself at the moment and unfortunately Mr P is not here to cheer me up :( I know I', being a bit silly and that I need to have this operation done, but last time it was very painful, I had an allergic reaction to the morphine and I wasn't able to drive for two months, which when you live somewhere as rural as we do is going to be very tough! It looks like I'm going to have to do much of the Christmas shopping online this year!

I've just realised as well that the date of the operation means I'm going to miss meeting up with some friends at the end of November, which I was really looking forward too :(

Anyway, enough with feeling sorry for myself, I need to look on the bright side - hopefully this operation will cure the problems I've been having with my shoulder and neck and I will be able to get back to normal :)

I've had to drive to the hospital this afternoon as Mr P is away and my shoulder is really painful now so I'm going to run a hot bath, take some painkillers and snuggle up on the sofa with a ginormous bar of chocolate (sod the diet!), two gorgeous kittie cats and my "True Blood" novel which arrived this morning :) I'm loving this programme already and when I found out it was based on a series of books I knew I wanted to read them! I also got a copy of Cath Kidston's "Sew!" in the same package but I'm under strict instructions not to look at it as it's a birthday pressie for next week! Gonna be tough not peeking though...

Wish me luck....

2009-10-14T03:21:00.001-07:00

..... I'm off to see the consultant at the hospital about my shoulder this afternoon. Hopefully I'll find out today what the next course of action is going to be in dealing with this. I can't wait for it all to be sorted and then I can get back to normal :)

Magus of Stonewylde :)

2009-10-10T04:39:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of weeks I have been off work with a shoulder injury. I had an operation on it about a year and a half ago and the problem has recently recurred leaving me having difficulty driving. The painkillers I have been prescribed also make me very drowsy so I am currently stuck at home as we live approximately 3 miles from the nearest bus route and my OH is at work. With all this free time on my hands I have recently been doing a lot of reading and I am now in the process of re-reading the Stonewylde books :)

I think I might have blogged about these books when I first read them but at the time I was so caught up in the story that I devoured the books one after the other. Upon re-reading these books I have been pleasantly surprised to realise that they are even better than I remember and there are allsorts of details and plot twists that I had forgotten about :) I read Magus of Stonewylde and Moondance at Stonewylde this week and have just started re-reading Solstice at Stonewylde today :) If you haven't already heard of these books and love a cracking story that you can get completely caught up in, then there is a treat in store for you :)

The books are about a young girl who is ill with an undiagnosed illness and unable to cope with living in inner-city London. After making friends with a doctor who is treating her, she moves with her mother to a secret community hidden away in Dorset and once there the adventures begin. Arriving at Stonewylde is like stepping back into another place in time for Sylvie and she soon starts to recover. She meets the Magus of Stonewylde, who is the charismatic leader of the community and she also meets Yul, one of the Villagers, who has never left the community and challenges Magus's authority. The community follow the "old ways" and celebrate all the different festivals, such as the Equinoxes and Beltane, the mythology of which is woven into the story.

Personally, I loved the evocative descriptions of the countryside around Stonewylde and the village itself. Kit Berry described it all so perfectly that I could "see" it all in my head as I was reading the story. I also can't think of many books that have made me care so much about the characters, you really want everything to work out for Sylvie and Yul and the inhabitants of Stonewylde (well, most of them!) At one point I was so angry at one of the characters that Mr P was laughing at me getting so wound up! Seemlessly blended as part of the story, there are descriptions of the various festivals that the community celebrates and the significance behind each one.

I think I've probably babbled on enough now, but I would definitely recommend these books to you (pagan or non-pagan) as these are such fantastic stories. If you'd like to know more about these books, there is a Stonewylde website, which can be found here: http://www.stonewylde.com

I'm off now to get back to Solstice at Stonewylde, I'm at one of my favourite parts of the story :)

The Road Not Taken

2009-10-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was National Poetry Day so I'd like to take this opportunity to share with you a couple of my favourite poems (they're pretty short!)

First up is "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
-I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Next up is "Aede Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" by W.B. Yeats. I had to study this poem at university and really love the final lines:

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

I didn't really like poetry much when I was younger but have found over the last few years that I have a new appreciation for it :)

Do you have a favourite poem you'd like to share with me?

I know it's early but...

2009-08-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

...I've been on the MSE website and there is a very useful thread on there called "Preparing for Winter". I know, I know, it's August. It's meant to be the hottest time of the year, but already we have felt a bit chilly in this house so I am starting to get sorted so come the cold weather we won't be landed with a ginormous heating bill!

We don't have gas heating here; our main heat source is a multi fuel stove and we also have an immersion heater but I don't want to use that too much as it is expensive to run!

Currently we have the immersion heater on for one hour a day in the morning. This gives us hot water for the day (our shower is electric so doesn't need water from the immersion heater) and as there is only the two of use and the fur babies, this is enough for us to do our washing up etc :)

We pay £35 a month DD for our electricity and we have got our quarterly bill this morning and are a little bit in credit. I know it will increase in the winter but I hope it will be no more than an additional £15 a month (fingers crossed!)

The stove in the living room can use either coal or wood so over the next few months we are going to find a good supplier and get a stock of logs and coal.

Other things that we plan to do are:

Fleecy blankets - we already have a few to snuggle up under when watching the telly. I'm going to get a few more of these as they can go on the beds to keeps us warm at night
Draft excluders - as this is an old house, I think it might get a bit drafty. I'm going to make some draft excluders so go in front of the doors etc to keep us toasty and warm
Thermal linings for the curtains - I've seen these on Ebay for about £30 per pair but I'ce also seen the thermal material a LOT cheaper in Dunelm Mill so I think I'll have a bash at at making my own
Hot water bottles - we have three of these so I will check to make sure they are still ok and maybe get a couple more so Mr P actually gets a look in with these ;)
Fleecy pjs - not sexy I know, but warm
Bed socks - see above!
A "proper" waterproof winter coat for me - I have a very nice winter coat but it's not particularly practical living in the country so I'm on the look out for a berghaus type jacket to keep me dry on our walks
Flannelette sheets - we bought some of these last year and they were so cosy. The ones we got were just cheapy ones and have gone a bit bobbly so I'll be looking out for some more good quality ones
Candles - we have had a few pwer cuts since living here. Most have only been for a few minutes but some of the neighbours have said that they are more frequent in the winter
Scarves / hats / gloves - dig out all our winter gear and put it in the utlity room so it is easy to get to when we need it
Foil behind the radiators - to reflect the heat back in

Mr P thinks I'm a bit mad (and you probably do too!) but I'm feeling a bit more organised now and have a plan of action!

An update on the garden

2009-08-21T06:30:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, this year, Mr P and myself have been determined to have a go at growing our own veggies :) Last year in the old house we grew herbs on the kitchen windowsill but as we didn't have a garden we weren't really able to do more.

Here are the veggies I told you we were growing and how they are doing so far:

spring onions - these have been great, really easy to grow and look after. We sowed them in quite deep pots and have just been pulling them up to use in salads etc. Really tasty :) I have some Winter Lisbon seeds so I am planning to sow some more of them this weekend
courgettes - we bought a courgette plant from Wilkos for about £2 and it has been really productive. So far we've had about 5 or 6 good sized courgettes that we've been eating in stir-fries. I just had a look on the plant and there are 3 courgettes well on their way to being ready to pick :)
tomatoes - we've had 8 plants but 3 of them were bashed to bits during the windy weather we had recently. The ones we have left seem to be doing ok. They all have tomatoes on, but they are still quite small and green yet. We're looking forward to seeing how these taste :)
peppers - we have 4 plants which all have lots of green peppers on. The biggest are about 3 inches so hopefully these aren't too far off being ready :)
coriander - this grew really well and we used it in curries etc. I have planted some more and am waiting for it to grow
mint - this grew well for a while but seems to have died off. I think I might have to bite the bullet and sow some more!
beetroot - these have grown really well and we've been eating this grated raw in salads. Yummy!
brussel sprouts - the caterpillars got these :(
kale - another veg lost to the caterpillars :( :(
purple sprouting brocolli - and another :( :( :( Mental note to self - NETS
strawberries - our little strawberry plant is in a large pot and looks like it has thrown out a runner. I'm going to keep my eye on this :)
rocket - this grew fantastically well and we have some more on the go
radish - again grew well and we have some more growing now
runner beans - not sure how, but I managed to kill this off :( I've sown some more seeds but think it might be a bit late now :(

We've also sown some swiss chard and it looks like it's coming along well. This has all been a bit of an expreiment for us this year and as you can see, we have made mistakes but it certainly hasn't diminished our enthusiasm for growing our own. I've sent off for some seed catalogues and am already planning next year's planting plans.If anyone has any suggestions for varieties / veggies to try, please let me know! :)

This and that...

2009-07-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

Since we have moved to the new house we have noticed that there are three families of birds that have also made their homes in and around our garden. We have two families of housemartins who have nested under the eaves of the house (one lot at the front and one lot at the back) and a family of sparrows who are nesting just under the gutter on the outhouse.

These visitors have not gone unnoticed by Missy and Mollie who have been watching their comings and goings with enormous interest! I'm glad to say that they haven't caught any of the birds as yet (although Mollie got stuck up a tree yesterday chasing a bird!) but I'm afraid I can't say the same for the wild rabbits as my neighbour spotted one of the kitties, she's not sure which one, trotting across her garden with a rabbit in their mouth!!!

I snapped this photo last week as one of the sparrows was bringing back more materials for the nest. Mollie was watching the proceedings (and probably watching me to see if I was watching her!) but didn't attempt to climb up :) We've also started growing veggies since living here. At the moment we have quite a few varieties on the go:

spring onions
courgettes
tomatoes
peppers
coriander
mint
beetroot
brussel sprouts
kale
purple sprouting brocolli
strawberries
rocket
radish
runner beans

We're learning a lot and are probably making loads of mistakes but we're really enjoying ourselves! We harvested some of the courgettes this week and had some very tasty fajitas with them. Here is a rather rude looking picture of one of the courgettes!

This afternoon I have been in my craft room having a bit of a play around and have made a card and a scrapbook layout. The papers on the card are from K and Co and I used my cuttlebug to emboss the green panel and my crop-a-dile to set the eyelets which I then threaded the velvet ribbon through. The message is from a little pack of stamps I found whilst unpacking.

I've never really got on very well with stamping but this weekend I went to a great craft shop (Horseshoe Crafts in Ellesmere for anyone who's nearby!) and after chatting with the owner realised I was using the wrong type of inkpad so it was no wonder my images came out all smudgy! I bought a varsafine inkpad and have been playing aroung this afternoon with it and am finding it much easier to work with :) I've also ordered a Magnolia Tilda stamp online and some promarkers as everyone on UKScrappers seems to rave about them and I've seen some beautiful effects on cards using them. I can't wait for them to arrive! :)

I also completed a layout using some of the papers I got from QVC in Shrewsbury. The pictures are of Missy and Mollie from when they first came to live with us. I can't believe how tiny they are! I used the crop-a-dile on this layout to set the eyelets for my ribbon (are you seeing a trend here?!?) and used another stamp I found whilst unpacking to write my journalling onto. I love the look of handwritten journalling but I'm not keen on my own handwriting, lol. I'm not sure if you can read the journalling but it says "Missy and Mollie Sept '08. When you first came to live with us, you always used to curl up together. You were the best of friends xxx"

I can't wait for my new goodies to arrive so I can have a play with them. I think I have the stamping bug!

No Take That tickets :( but a successful shopping trip :)

2009-06-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

Ah well, it wasn't to be :( We didn't manage to get tickets after all. However, we have had a lovely weekend so that has more than made up for any disappointment :)

Yesterday we went to Shrewsbury, which is about 16 miles or so from here. Before we moved to Shropshire I'd never been to Shrewsbury but we've been twice in the last month and I love it. It's full of lovely old buildings and fantastic shops. The last time we went, we went to a shop called Cornucopia which stocks lovely Cath Kidston and Emma Bridgewater goodies. We didn't have chance to get to Cornucopia this weekend but we found the most gorgeous little shop called Wysteria Lane and oh my goodness I could spend a lot of money in there! Actually, I probably wouldn't spend a lot of money as everything seemed fairly reasonably priced, but you get the idea... I saw so many things that will look lovely in the new house but eventually I settled on a really cute photo frame by Gisela Graham. I also found some little Gisela Graham buckets in TK Maxx but am not really sure what to do with them. I had bought them to put plants in but they have stickers on them saying they are not waterproof?!? They are pretty though so I am sure I will find a use for them :)

I also picked up a gorgeous little "Home Sweet Home" sign from a fantastic little shop in Whitchurch called "Ruby Tuesdays". This shops has so many lovely goodies :)

Whilst we were in Shrewsbury, I also went to the QVC outlet store. It's a bit like a jumble sale in there but I had a good rummage and managed to get the following scrapbooking goodies:
* A cute little canvas album with baby scrapbooking papers and die cuts inside - just £1.99
* Some girly scrapbook papers, stickers, dies cuts etc - again £1.99
* A ginormous scrapbooking kit with a silk covered album, loads of lovely papers, die cuts, stickers, quotations, embroidered embellishments etc - should have been over £30 but was £16.00 in the store and I got a further 25% off making it £12.00. Bargain!

I'm hoping to be able to get to a scrapbooking crop tomorrow night so I am going to take my new kit and start putting together some layouts. I uploaded over 300(!!!!) photographs onto photobox earlier today so I am waiting for them to be delivered. I was really impressed with the price; I paid £24 for 350 6x4" photographs, delivery included :)

The picture above is one of the ones I have ordered today. It shows me and Mr P last year at the Party in the Park with Manchester Camerata Orchestra. It was an amazing day (and night) with amazing music, picnic and fireworks :)

Please keep your fingers crossed.....

2009-06-25T02:18:00.000-07:00

.....Mr P has just rung me and there's a chance he can get Take That tickets for us for tomorrow night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, I do hope he gets them! Will dose myself up with painkillers so my back doesn't give me any gyp :)

Missy Moo

2009-06-23T01:58:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this picture of Missy snoozing on the living room floor, it really made me laugh :-) Aren't cats daft? xx

Crochet love

2009-06-19T11:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, I admit it, I'm completely obsessed! I've been crocheting like mad these last couple of weeks, when I really should be unpacking boxes. Next time I'll post some pics of the throw I have been working on. It's just a big granny square so it's nice and easy and I can even do it whilst watching the telly :)

Speaking of tv, has anyone else been watching Big Brother (or am I the only one!)? Where do they get those people from?!?!?

Hello again!

2009-06-09T15:29:00.000-07:00

Well, that was a long break - I didn't mean to be away so long! Hope everyone is ok and I look forward to catching up on what everyone has been up to whilst I have been away from blogland :)

Things here have been very, very busy since I last blogged. In my last post I showed you all pictures of the snow (!) and talked about crashing my poor little car. The car is now mended, although my purse still bears the scars from the bill! We've also been on holiday to Brussels which was great fun :)

The biggest change has been that we have moved house and (not to do things by halves) we have moved somewhere that is 60 miles from the old house! We moved to Shropshire about 3 weeks ago and we love it. Our new house is in a teeny tiny village (it's not even on the map) with about 12 houses, surrounded by fields and countryside. We've wanted to move somewhere more rural for a while now and when we saw this house it was too good an opportunity to miss so we upped sticks and moved to the country :)

Here is the view from the lane:

I love the archway in the front garden :) The little bit at the front of the garden is a bit of a sun trap and already I'm loving sitting there with my book and a glass of Pimms on sunny afternoons!

This is the view over the side hedge:

And this is the view over the back hedge. It's so peaceful, the only sound you can hear is birds and cows. The first night we lived here I couldn't sleep because it was too quiet! There are no street lights here either so there's very little light pollution. I love standing out in the garden at night time just looking at the moon and stars, I've never lived in a place where you can see the sky at night so clearly :)

Missy and Mollie love it here too :) They've really grown in the last few months and have really developed their own little characters. Just look at them now!

It hasn't taken Mollie long to find herself a new favourite spot - she loves sitting on top of the dresser in the conservatory:

I'm off now to have a bit of a mooch around blogland and see what everyone has been up to - I've really missed reading blogs whilst we've not had the internet!

Take care xxx

The obligatory post about snow...

2009-02-03T02:59:00.000-08:00

It would appear that it is "the blogging rules" to have a post about the snow so here is mine!

Living where we live we do tend to get a fair bit of snow if there is any about. The night before last the roads over the tops were closed so we knew it would probably be fairly thick with snow when we woke up and we weren't disappointed!!

I was supposed to be in work yesterday but managed to crash my car into a wall before I'd even got to the end of my road so I abandoned that idea and booked the day off instead! I'm ok, just got a bit of a sore neck but my poor little car has a couple of dints and few scratches. It could have been a lot worse so I'm not complaining!!!

My fiance (!) was also off work so we took a walk along the canal, which seems to have become a bit of a tradition for us when it snows...

If you look carefully, you should be able to see a heart in the snow in the picture below:

There's also a stream that runs alongside the canal. The mill to the right of the picture is now used as studios for artists.

This was the view out the back of our house. Missy was mesmerised by the snow and spent almost the whole day sitting on the window sill watching the snow falling...

Every now and again she would see something that particularly interested her...

And then she would start patting at the windows....

The view from the front was pretty too :)

Again Missy spent a lot of time on this window sill watching the cars try to get up the hill (one got completely stuck at one stage!) and trying to catch snowflakes. Cats are funny little creatures, aren't they? Mollie was completely not bothered by the snow and spent most of the afternoon snoozing by the fire (she's not daft, is she?)

We had some more snow last night but earlier on we had some sleet so the roads are icy and treacherous. I looked out of the curtains this morning to see a car sliding backwards down the hill and decided that I wouldn't be driving today either!

Hope you are enjoying the snow where you are :) If you do have to go out, take care :)

xxx

A Thank you, an award and a tag

2009-02-02T09:21:00.000-08:00

Thank you all so much for your lovely well wishes :) Yes, it was a marriage proposal and we are both very excited!!! I will tell you all more about it in my next post as I have a little bit of "bloggy business" to post about first!!!

First up, I have been the very lucky recipient of these two awards from the lovely Rachel the Krafty Girl who makes the most yummy looking cakes and has an eye for a thrifty bargain or two!

I have also been tagged by Pixiedust to post the 4th picture in the 4th folder of my pc so here you go - an incredibly flattering (not) picture of me supping Guinness on mine and Mr P's recent trip to Dublin. 6 euro a pint for this stuff!!! I nearly fell over in shock when the barman told us the price!!!

As I've been away from blogland for a little while, I have lost track of who has already received these awards and tags, so if you are reading this and you have not already received them, consider yourself awarded / tagged!!!

xxx

Mr P asked...

2009-01-29T07:12:00.000-08:00

...and I said "Yes!" :-) :-) :-) xxx

Hasta luego!

2009-01-25T03:04:00.000-08:00

At the airport now waiting for our flight to Barcelona :-) I'll take lots of pictures and show them you all when I get back :-) Hasta luego (see you later!) xxx

Finally..... some pictures :)

2009-01-22T13:56:00.000-08:00

*Gem sneaks guiltily back in*

I know I'm a bad blogger but I have finally got my act together and got some piccies of my thrifted goodies on here so please forgive me!!!

I have been taking some time out this week and have a lot to catch up on. The saga of the tooth continues but the end is in sight and I am finally off the antibiotics (hoorah!)

Ok, on with business. Here is the first of my goodies from last week. Apologies for the naff photos but the light here is terrible :(

This little basket was 50p and is lined with fabric inside.
The floral tin below was also 50p and I love it! The colours are really vibrant in real life and it has a sort of crackled galze effect on it which I think looks really sweet.

This little tapestry was languishing in the bottom of a basket and was just 30p. I couldn't leave it there and plan to turn it into a little sented cushion :)

This shopping basket was £3.00. Mr P says I should use it to go to the farmer's market but I think I might feel a bit daft carrying it around...

Instead I have decided to use for storing my bits and bobs of wool in :) I've been bitten by the crocheting bug and have been obsessed with crocheting flowers recently. Here are some of them below:

This one is one of my favourites:
And I also really like this one too :)

So, I can heave a sigh of relief now I have uploaded my piccies ;)

I'm going to leave you with a picture of my little Mollie snoozing on the back of the sofa. She really is a softy :)

My first ever award - Thank you Mel :) x

2009-01-13T05:38:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited today because I have been given my first award by the lovely Mel from Country in the Town :)

Marie Antoinette Award a real person, a real award.

Here are the Rules for the Award:

Please put the logo on your blog
Place a link to the person from whom you received the award
Nominate at least 7 or more blogs
Put the links of those blogs on your blog
Leave a message on their blogs to tell them

Without further ado I would like to nominate these lovely ladies. Their blogs always brighten my day whenever I pop in there :)

I will be back later today with some pics of my thrifting from Sunday (yes Sharie, I did take the rather big hint you left me!!!) so I'll see you then :)

xxx

Thrifting

2009-01-11T10:06:00.000-08:00

This morning I got up early and went to a flea market in one of the little towns near to where I live. It's the same place I got the Christmas decorations I showed you a few weeks back and I always find lots of goodies whenever I go there. I'm pleased to say that the flea market didn't disappoint and I came home with the following pretty things:

a double sized candlewick bedspread (I love these!)
a wicker shopping basket
a little piece of tapestry that someone had done
a pretty tin with flowers on
a small basket that I'm going to use in my craft room

If I get my act together I'll try and get some photos up on here later tonight :)

xxx

Thank you :)

2009-01-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Thank you for all your kind wishes and sympathy about my dental troubles. I know I've been a bit whingy recently so it has meant a lot that you have taken the time to sympathise and wish me better :) I'm feeling a bit better today and am starting to feel a lot more like myself :) The antibiotics have kicked in and the painkillers I have got are keeping me reasonably pain free :) I'll be back at the dentist on Thursday for my stitches out so fingers crossed I shan't have too much trouble after that. The dentist said I can expect to hear from the hospital in about 3 to 4 weeks so I'll just have to see what they say about the bits of roots in my jaw bone.

Whilst I've not been feeling well I have been reading an absolutely fantastic book that I saw mentioned on http://teawithwillow.blogspot.com/. It's called "Magus of Stonewylde" and it's the first book in a series by Kit Berry. Thank you Tea With Willow, I really enjoyed this book :)

It is not the sort of book I would normally read but when I read the glowing 5 star reviews for it on Amazon I thought I would give it a go and I'm really glad I did because it is an excellent book. It's about a young girl called Sylvie who has been ill for most of her life. Her and her mother are invited to go and stay at Stonewylde, which is a secret alternative community in Dorset who follow a pagan way of life, focusing on nature and the seasons of the year. I don't really want to say too much about the plot because I wouldn't give it justice, but here is a link to the book on amazon and if you scroll down you will be able to read more about it as well as lots of reviews from other readers:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magus-Stonewylde-Book-1/dp/095514390X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231596869&sr=8-1

I also finished watching the first disc of the Cranford series and it's now ready to be posted back to lovefilm so I can get the next disc. I really enjoyed it and can't wait for the next one. I might be a little bit sad but I really liked the fact that Cranford is meant to be 12 miles from Manchester as the little town where I live is also 12 miles from Manchester (although in the opposite direction). Cranford was based on Knutsford, which is a place I've never been to despite it being fairly close to where I live. I've heard there are lots of lovely shops there so maybe a visit there will be in order....

xxx

The whole tooth...

2009-01-08T12:41:00.000-08:00

Excuse my corny title - the painkillers must be getting to me!

Thank you for all your lovely messages. I'm sorry I haven't been to visit your blogs this week but I have a lot of blog reading to catch up on!

I was back at the dentist today whilst he attempted to do my root canal again. After 20 minutes of drilling and poking around he told me that he couldn't get to the root because it was calcified (whatever that means!) so he said he would have to take it out, which I was ok about because it's right at the back of my mouth and at least if it's out I'll have no more problems (or so I thought). Anyway to cut a long (and painful story) short, the tooth couldn't be extracted normally so he had to do a surgical extraction. I now have 4 stitches in my gum, another lot of antibiotics and enough painkillers to tranquilise an elephant. My face is all puffed out and swollen and it's starting to bruise too :( Good job I don't have any big plans for this weekend because I look a right sight!

To top it all off, I've had to be referred to the dental hospital because the two roots of my tooth are still embedded in my gum - they are stuck in my jawbone and I'll need an operation to get them out :( :( :( The one good thing is that because I've had the tooth out it's costing me a lot less than I thought it would!

Lovely Mr P is looking after me and because I'm poorly I've got control of the telly all night :) We've watched all my soaps and now we're going to watch more Cranford :)

Hope you're all having a better day than me :)
xxx

Checking in...

2009-01-07T12:45:00.000-08:00

Hi, sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I'm still having a few problems with the tooth :( I was at the dentist on Monday when he did x-rays and told me I needed a root canal treatment and possibly an inlay or a crown. This will set me back almost £200 which is not what I need right after Christmas :( Today I was back at the dentist for treatment 1 (of 4) and although it didn't hurt at the time, it's really hurting now :( The dentist wasn't able to get to all the canals on my tooth so I'm back there again tomorrow for him to have another go. He said if he can't do it tomorrow the tooth will have to come out. I'm not sure what I'd prefer him to do - save the tooth (and risk more infections and pain) or just have it taken out. Sorry for such a negative post but I'm feeling very fed up and just want it all to be sorted.

On a brighter note, we signed up for a free trial of lovefilm and our first lot of dvds arrived this morning :) I think I might watch Cranford in bed tonight so night night x

Giddy :)

2009-01-01T09:15:00.000-08:00

I've just booked a night in London in June for me and Mr P. Travelodge are having a massive sale at the moment so we got a room for £19 at the London Tower Bridge :) Really looking forward to it as it's ages since I've been to London when I've not had to go for work. I'll have to start making a list of all the places I want to go to...

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T07:01:00.000-08:00

Hope 2009 is everything you want it to be. I have a really good feeling about this year! :)
xxx

The verdict :(

2008-12-30T11:43:00.000-08:00

Well, it looks like I'm going to need my tooth taken out. The emergency dentist took a filling out to treat an infection under the tooth and has put a temporary dressing on it, meaning I can't really eat anything as I can't close my mouth properly to bite. I now need to find a dentist to extract the tooth as it is unlikely that it can be refilled. Easier said than done. We moved here two years ago and since then I have been trying to get registered with a dentist but none of them are taking on patients around here :( I've got two different types of painkillers and some anti-biotics to take so I'm not going to partying tomorrow night...

Better go and find myself a good dvd to watch tomorrow. Any suggestions?

xx

Sleepless night

2008-12-30T01:39:00.000-08:00

i'm off to the emergency dentist after being up all night with toothache. Wish me luck! X

Messy christmas!

2008-12-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a fantastic time, we certainly did and i'll be back to tell you all about it after i've finished cleaning the midden that is my craft room! x

O Christmas Tree

2008-12-15T11:26:00.000-08:00

Hello :) I've not been around here for a few days because I've not been very well but I'm feeling a bit better so I thought I'd pop on here before I go and brave the crowds at the Trafford Centre (wish me luck!)

Saturday was great fun. I really enjoyed the concert and was surprised at how many songs I knew. I think Mr P was a bit scared when I started singing along but never mind! The first half of the concert was songs from Jason's new album (which are covers of 50s and 60s songs) and the second half was a bit of a "cheese-fest" with songs like Sealed With a Kiss and Nothing Can Divide Us. Great fun :) I did take some pictures and a little video so if I remember I'll try and post a couple of them on here - judging from your comments on my last post there are a few Jason fans out there ;)

The Christmas Markets were absolutely packed. We didn't stay there long because I was feeling a bit shivery and I'm not very good with big crowds of people as I get a bit panicky. We're going to try and get there again before they finish next week but might run out of time! To be honest, I was a bit disappointed by the stalls we did see as it was a load of tat and very expensive. When they first started doing the markets a lot of the items were handmade and were being sold by the original artists but this year it seemed to be the same sort of mass produed items on a lot of the stalls :(

The craft fair we went to was very good and I got a little felted heart brooch and some fabric badges which were very cute. There were a few bits and bobs I would have loved to have got but it was the wrong side of payday!

I'm still doing JYC but am still behind. The pictures on this post are for the day (can't remember which day it was ) that was about Christmas Trees. I'm off all over Christmas and New Year so there will be some serious scrapbooking going on then :)

So here are some of my favourite decorations on our Christmas tree. We go for the "more is more" look here and there are very few branches on our tree that don't have something dangling from them...

The bell bauble was from Tesco and the snowman came from the church fair a couple of weeks ago:
More Tesco decorations. They had a big half price sale on them a couple of weeks ago and I went a bit nuts!
This one is an iris folded bell that I made a couple of years ago:

This bell came from a flea market at the Civic Centre in Uppermill last year. There were loads of baubles with it which decorate our mini tree on the dresser.
I'm going through a bit of an obsession with owls at the moment and this little guy is very sweet!

And finally, Missy snoozing on "her" chair. I thought cats were supposed to be elegant but neither of mine are when they're sleeping. Mollie's even worse. She lies legs akimbo showing everything. Naughty girl ;)

I took all these pictures on my new phone (I'm still working out all the features on it) and uploaded them directly onto Blogger before coming in on the computer to edit the post and add my writing. It makes it so much easier than having to dig out the lead from the camera and resize pictures etc before posting them. I love technology sometimes!

OK, enough from me, I'm off to finish my Christmas shopping and find a dress for my Christmas do. See you tomorrow

What we're up to today...

2008-12-13T04:38:00.000-08:00

Not that you're all waiting on the edge of your seat to find out! lol ;)

Well, for once Mr P is off today so we are going to take a trip into Manchester. First of all we are going to go to a craft fair at Whitworth Art Gallery on Oxford Road. It's on today from 10-4 and tomorrow 10-2 (I think, but I'll check when I'm there today) and hopefully I might be able to pick up a few pretties :)

Next we are off to the Christmas Market to drink some gluwein and scoff chocolate pancakes and maybe pick up some Christmas presents :)

Finally we are going to see Jason Donovan at a concert at the Apollo. I won some tickets on Century Radio a couple of weeks ago and tonight is the night of the concert. My sister (yes the same one I've blogged about before) thinks we are "deeply sad" but I really don't care. It should be good fun, it's something we wouldn't have been doing and it's a free night out :) Always a good thing in my opinion :) When I was about 9 I was the biggest Kylie and Jason fan and managed to convince myself I would marry Jason Donovan when I grew up (either him or George Michael, hmmmm, we all know what happened there!) so it will be like going back to my childhood :)

Mr P has been laughing at me because everytime I win tickets for anything in a concert it is always for some strange thing. Last time it was a Queen tribute act!

Hope you all have a good Saturday

xx

Oh just for the nostalgia, here's Too Many Broken Hearts. Come one, sing along, I know you know the words....

Blogging from my phone

2008-12-12T08:24:00.000-08:00

Hope this works!

Excited :)

2008-12-12T02:18:00.000-08:00

My new mobile has just been delivered and I am rather excited (shallow, I know)! I've been using an ancient Samsung for ages since my last phone broke but now I am in possession of a nice, new, shiny N96 :) I'm off to have a play with it now :)

See you later
x

Simple pleasures :)

2008-12-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

A great book and a brew :)

I got this book this week (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson) and started reading it last night. Absolutely fantastic, I can see this becoming one of my favourite books :) I'd heard good things about it but hadn't expected it to be so funny and you can't help really liking the characters. Miss Pettigrew is the sort of friend that every woman should have. She's so unflappable and always knows what to do. I wish I knew a Guinevere Pettigrew! I'd had a bit of a dull and boring day yesterday and this was like reading a sort of fairy tale for grown ups, if that makes sense? It's one of those books that is so sweet and charming, you can't help feeling warm and fuzzy. The perfect antidote to the credit crunch blues :)

We're being a bit naughty here tonight as we are having takeout pizza :) yum yum! We were supposed to be having a relatively healthy homemade pizza but someone (naming no names but for once this culinary disaster wasn't down to your's truly...) forgot to put the kneading paddle in the breadmaker so after 1 1/2 hours there was still no pizza dough! For a one off it's not going to hurt but we are going to be eating a lot more healthier after Christmas :)

Oh and before I forget, thank you all for your lovely comments about my Christmas cards :) It's something I've been doing for a while but it's something I've been a bit self-conscious about because my sister has been less than complimentary about it in the past. She thinks by making my cards I am being "cheap" and "tight", not realising it costs me more in materials and time and effort than it would do to buy a handmade card in the shops. Oh well, you can't win 'em all :)

See you all tomorrow

Catching Up

2008-12-07T13:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I managed to do 2 days of JYC on time but then my internet was off so I am a little bit behind! I finally got back onto the internet today and have read all my JYC emails and have an idea what I'm going to do for them so hopefully I'll be able to catch up quickly :)

Today I have been Christmas shopping and have almost done all my shopping but I have had a row with my sister about presents. I much prefer to have a surprise to open on Christmas day but my sister says "you either tell me exactly what you want or I'm not getting you anything", which I think misses the point of giving gifts! I'd rather she gave me something she has really thought about, even if it didn't cost very much. On Friday she made me write a list of exactly what I wanted for Christmas (she's getting me books) but said there was "nothing in particular" she wanted. So today I have been shopping and bought her a lovely (expensive) present which I spent a long time choosing. She then rang me up and said she had decided she wanted a very specific perfume and when I told her I'd already bought her present she told me to take it back. I'm so angry with her. She doesn't know what I got her and I spent ages choosing it. Next time I'm not going to bother. She will get money in a (shop-bought) card. I'm tired of being the only person in our family who actually bothers thinking about what people want so I have decided that from now on I will do the same as my sister and my mam and just give people money in a card. Grrrrrrr. She makes me so mad!

Ok, rant over. JYC Day 3 coming up....

Every year I always make my all my own Christmas cards. I think the last time I bought cards from a shop was about 7 years ago and (for me) part of the fun in Christmas preparations is making all my cards, knowing that each one will be individual and the people I send them to won't get another one exactly the same!

I normally start making my cards pretty early (one year I started them in July!) so that it isn't all a mad panic before Christmas. This year I got a Cricut for my birthday and so I have been using this to help me a lot this year :)

Here is a selection of some of this year's cards:

Hope you like them :) See you all tomorrow

Let it snow!

2008-12-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, cheesy title but this was the scene that greeted me this morning when I opened my front door :

We hadn't expected it to snow so it was a great surprise. Even though it has been getting colder these last few days (and we had some snow that didn't stick yesterday), this is the first "proper" snow we've has this winter and I was so excited! I was supposed to be in work today so I got in my car to attempt to drive to work. I didn't even make to the end of my street as the roads hadn't been gritted and my car was slip-sliding everywhere. Luckily I could take the day off work so me and Mr P wrapped up warm and donned our wellies to go for a walk in the snow.

We decided to go along the canal. It was so pretty with all the snow...

A lot of the canal was frozen over completely but there were one or two bits where the ice had started to melt and all the ducks were huddled there. I'm really glad I'm not a duck because they looked freeeeeeezing!

When we walk along here in the summer we often like to stop at this bench and watch the barges go past, but the bench was thick with snow this afternoon so unless we wanted a wet bum we had to keep going!

Although it looks very peaceful in these pictures, we actually met quite a lot of people along the way and stopped to have a chat with them. That's one of the things I love so much about living here - everyone's so friendly. There was an elderly man with his little dog, who was wearing a cute little red jacket to keep her warm, and one man who was clearly a lot braver than us because he was wearing shorts! It was below freezing! They must make 'em tough up here...

We walked along this road to the next village because I wanted to go to the scrapbook store there to get supplies for my Journal My Christmas album. We were talking to the owner there who lives a few streets away from us. She said her road hadn't been gritted this morning (and it's one of the main roads in the area too!) and so all the cars were crashing into the parked cars. Apparently a few drivers just abandoned their cars and walked to wherever they were going. The local newspaper said that one of the other nearby villages was completely cut off and there had been a lot of accidents because of the weather.

So pretty - it's like a scene from a Christmas card. I hope it's like this on Christmas Day but more often it's just cold and rainy!

The clouds were so thick you couldn't even see the tops of the hills!

We stopped at one of the local pubs for lunch and had a Cointreau coffee to help us warm up - yum!

Coming back from the village we saw a snowman that someone had built. All the schools around here are closed because of the weather so the children have all been sledging and playing in the snow. Being the big kids that we are, me and Mr P had a snowball fight before we set off and I'm proud to say I gave Mr P a good whupping :)

When we got back we decided to let the kitties go out at the back to see the snow. This was the first time they've been outside so we put little ribbons on their collars so they didn't get frightened and run off on their own. We are going to let them out when they are a little bit older but they haven't been done yet so we didn't want to take any chances!

Missy was a bit unsure of the snow and didn't really go far from the back door, surprising as she is usually quite adventurous.

Mollie seemed to really enjoy it and even went in the snow. She was funny because every time she took a step she shook the snow off her paws :)

They're both curled up in front of the fire now after their little adventure, snoozing and stretching.

Strangely enough, today's Journal Your Christmas was about the weather, so I am going to use my blog entry for today along with a couple of my favourite photographs from the ones above.

What's the weather like where you are today?

Journal Your Christmas

2008-12-01T12:03:00.000-08:00

Over the last few months I have really started getting into scrapbooking a lot more. I have made my own cards for years and really enjoy doing it and I think scrapbooking was a natural progression for me (and I get to keep some of my creations - selfish I know but I rarely keep a lot of the things I make!) One of my friends won a scrapbooking kit and she gave it to me so I have been having great fun playing around with layouts. My lovely boyfriend bought me a cricut for my birthday recently so I have been having a lot of fun with that too!

This year I have signed up for the Journal Your Christmas class at www.shimelle.com. The aim of this is document my Christmas by completing a scrapbook layout each day. It was a bit of a last minute thing deciding to do this so I don't have a lot of the supplies I'll need. Also, I know full well I am never going to be able to complete a layout every day so what I plan to do is to follow the journal prompts every day and try to write up on here my responses to the prompts so that I capture my immediate feelings and emotions as the month progresses. I have some time off work booked over the next couple of weeks and I'll be off all over Christmas and New Year (lucky me :) I love my job!) so I'll catch up with my layouts then. See, I've thought this through!

So today's prompt....to write a manifesto about why I have decided to do this project, so here goes...

I love Christmas. It is definitely my favourite time of the year and I love all the traditions and fun associated with December 25th. My aim this December is to capture my thoughts and feelings about Christmas in a creative way. The run up to Christmas can be pretty hectic so I'm looking forward to having some "time out" each day to focus on this project.

At the moment me and Mr P live in a little house in a beautiful little town and it's just the two of us and our crazy kitties. We're hoping to start a family next year so hopefully this will be our last Christmas without children. In years to come our Christmas's will be very different to how they are now so I want to be able to look back at this time and remember how things were.

I have been learning a lot about my family tree this year and one of the things I have found frustrating is that there's no-one round to tell me the little details about what their lives were like. In years to come hopefully my great-grandchildren will be able to look at this album and see what it was that Great-Granny loved about this time of year (as well as the things she wasn't so fond of...)

So there we go, one down, loads more to go! I'm really looking forward to my next prompt :)
x

Christmas Chaos

2008-11-30T04:14:00.000-08:00

Ok, Ok, I know I'm a bit early but last night we started to put the Christmas decorations up as both me and my OH are in work all next week. We got the tree up but there are still lots of other bits and bobs to do. Matters are not helped by my two little "helpers" who are driving me nuts! It's their first Christmas and they seem to think that I have put the tree up as an extra-special toy for them to play with. I've already had to fish Missy out of the tree twice this morning and Mollie is showing an alarming interest in chewing the (fake) branches. What can I do to stop them doing this?!?!?

How can you get cross with them though when they are so adorable? (Ignore the bits on the carpet, there were bits everywhere by the time we'd put the tree up!)

We got Missy and Mollie a new bed a few weeks ago because the landing where they sleep is a bit drafty. Don't they look cosy?

Missy (on the left) is doing her "I've done something silly and you don't know about it yet" face on the picture below:

Mollie is the smallest of the two, but she doesn't stand for any messing! She's giving Missy a cuff round the ear in this picture...

So cute!

One thing I am a bit worried about is Missy has decided she likes climbing on top of doors:

I'm scared she will fall off, especially when she starts chasing her tail!

Last two piccies now before you all think I'm some kind of demented cat-lady (actually there could be some truth in that....)

Mollie loves to sleep on people, she's so elegant and lady-like:

Missy on the other hand is a bit more independent and likes to bask in the sun (not that we see a lot of it round here!)

I will be back again hopefully tomorrow with lots of Christmas goodies to show you all, I might have been away from this blog for a while but I have been very busy! x

EDIT Can anyone help me with putting pictures on my posts? It took me ages to get it laid out how I wanted it in Blogger and then when I published my post there were lots of gaps between pictures and writing that weren't there before and some of the writing moved to the side of the pictures?!?

New additions to the household...

2008-08-24T06:49:00.001-07:00

.....this is why I haven't been around here very much!

Can you believe someone wanted to drown these two gorgeous bundles of fluff?

Meet Missy:

And Mollie:

They like to play fight but always ended up curled up sleeping together....

I will be back soon when I'm not fighting for space on the keyboard with two kittens!!! x

Wasting time!

2008-08-13T02:31:00.000-07:00

Messing about on the internet I came across this site: Blogthings which is full of silly quizzes. One of them is "What is Your Name's Hidden Meaning?" and although I thought it would come up with a load of rubbish, it was actually spookily accurate in my case (although I'm not sure about the agression bit!)

What Gemma Means

You are deeply philosophical and thoughtful. You tend to analyze every aspect of your life.

You are intuitive, brilliant, and quite introverted. You value your time alone.

Often times, you are grumpy with other people. You don't appreciate them trying to interfere in your affairs.

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.

You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.

At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated.

You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want.

You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way!

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.

You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.

You have the classic "Type A" personality.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Time flies....

2008-08-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

....especially when you are mad busy with work!!! Things have been very busy over the last few weeks but hopefully it should all settle down very soon :)

In the meantime, when I've not been in work I have been very busy and there has been lots and lots of crocheting going on here - I think I've well and truly got the bug! I will be back tomorrow with piccies :) x

Lovely weekend :)

2008-07-26T03:31:00.000-07:00

Well, thank goodness it's the weekend! Work has been rather hectic this week so I'm relieved it is Saturday :) I have a very busy weekend planned but it is all fun things so I can't wait!

First up I have a concert with band this afternoon and then this evening Mr P and me are going on a date :) The local council near us is putting on a couple of big concerts in the park and so tonight we're going to "Proms in the Park" which looks like it could be pretty cool.

Tomorrow the local farmer's market is on so we're going to get up early (oh yes we are!) and head off to stock up on goodies before going to the second concert in the park which is going to be local bands and Alexander O'Neal. There's also going to be a craft fair and a funfair so it looks like it could be a pretty fun day. Keep your fingers crossed for the weather for us!

I'll leave you with a video of Alexander O'Neal - this song always reminds me of family parties when I was younger so it brings back good memories :)

2008-07-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

I saw this over at Sweet Jessie's site and thought it seemed like fun. You have to answer these questions in just one word which I think will be a challenge for me as I'm a bit of a Little Miss Chatterbox!

One Word Meme
1. Where is your cell phone? table
2. Your significant other? Mr P
3. Your hair? wild
4. Your daughter? future
5. Your son? ditto
6. Your favorite thing? books
7. Your dream last night? christmassy
8. Your favorite drink? dandelion and burdock
9. Your goal? happiness
10. The room you’re in? living room
11. Your church? friendly
12. Your fear? flying
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
14. Where were you last night? class
15. What you’re not? quiet
16. Muffins? rolls
17. One of your wish list items? house
18. Where you grew up? Manchester
19. The last thing you did? phone
20. What are you wearing? skirt
21. Your TV? on
22. Your pets? none
23. Your computer? lifeline
24. Your life? fabulous
25. Your mood? tired
26. Missing someone? yes
27. Your car? focus
28. Something you’re not wearing? socks
29. Favorite store? Borders
30. Your summer? rainy
31. Like(love) someone? absolutely
32. Your favorite color? pink
33. Last time you laughed? today
34. Last time you cried? Sunday
35. Who will repost this? you?

As you can see, I didn't quite manage the whole one word thing but I tried! It'd be interesting for other people to play along so I can see if you're able to be more concise than I am!!!

A pleasant surprise at the supermarket :)

2008-07-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

It's not often you'll hear me say that (especially the way my grocery bill keeps rising) but as me and Mr P were meandering around the aisles today he spotted something that somehow had escaped my notice...... Cath Kidston has designed some reuseable shopping bags for Tesco :)

I can't believe I didn't see these (must have been wandering around in my own little world) but as soon as I had regained my wits I snatched this one up quickly as there were only a couple of them left. Obviously the catalogues and magazines I keep shoving under Mr P's nose are having an effect :)

Apparently there is a spotty one too but they didn't have that one (I'll be keeping an eye out for it though!) Suddenly grocery shopping has taken on a whole new appeal...

Crochet and a bit of inspiration

2008-07-20T10:44:00.001-07:00

I'm still not feeling very well so this is where I have spent a lot of my day...

....curled up on the sofa with comfy quilts and cushions while attempting to teach myself how to crochet properly. I bought this book a couple of years ago and saw a pattern for a bag in here which I really liked but try as I might, I couldn't get my head around the instuctions :( Fast forward a couple of years and everywhere I look in blogland, such as here, here and here, everyone is 'hooking' like mad and producing the most wonderful throws and blankets. After suffering from a serious case of crochet envy, I could feel my fingers itching to take up a hook and give it another go so I bought myself "The Happy Hooker" and oh my goodness that book is fabulous! I must admit, some of the projects are not quite my "thing" but the instructions are so clear and easy to understand (once I'd got my head around the different terminology - why do British and US terms have to be different?!?)

Anyway, over the last few weeks I have been coveting the blankets I have been seeing and have grand plans to make myself one of my own. However, before I rushed out and spent pots of money on lots of lovely, soft, snuggly yarns, I thought it would be prudent to hone my newfound skills on something smaller and, crucially, something I already had yarn for!!!

With this in mind, I went back to the bag pattern I had very first attempted to do more than 2 years ago and now I actually have more of an idea what I am doing, I have made good progress with it this afternoon :)

Shush, don't mention it to Mr P but I have just won an auction on Ebay for a mixed lot of 48 different balls of yarn - already my crocheting is turning into a bit of an obsession... However, as these haven't started winging their way to me, I've had to make do with itchy, scratchy, acrylic yarn. Please tell me that other yarns are nicer to crochet with because after a while this one hurt my fingers!

The pattern uses 18 of these squares and I have completed all my pink ones this afternoon and made a start on 3 more squares. I have to say, crochet is one of the most relaxing things in the world; I have spent a lovely afternoon snuggled under my quilt, hook in hand, listening to podcasts from CraftSanity: Alicia Paulson from Posy Gets Cozy and Amy Karol from Angry Chicken and very inspiring they were too! Mr P said that my crocheting was "very ratter-esque" but he was watching the golf at the time (quite possibly the most boring 'sport' in the world. Ever. Officially) so I am going to discount his opinion on this matter ;)

Just 9 and a bit more squares more to go and then I need to make the handles and crochet round the top. I'll try and do a bit more tonight but probably won't get chance to do much more during the week as I'll be in work.

One last close up of the crochet and then I'm off to break the news to Mr P about the deliveries (did I mention I won more than 1 auction? Ooops!) from Ebay we will be having in the next few days...

Oh before I go,can anyone give me any tips on uploading pictures to blogger? It's taken me almost as long to upload these 3 pictures as it did to crochet my squares!

Mr P avert your eyes now!

2008-07-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to persuade Mr P to let me get a cat. I think I've almost succeeded - just hoping he doesn't see this.....

more cat pictures

Escapism

2008-07-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling a bit sorry for myself today as I'm feeling a bit poorly - I've had a tummy bug for most of the week and am still not feeling good :(

My lovely OH, Mr P, has been looking after me and bringing me cups of tea whilst I have been snuggled up on the sofa blof surfing and watching one of my all-time favourite films:

I love everything about this movie; it's beautifully shot and the colours are so vibrant. It makes me want to go to Paris right now!

Cards and flowers

2008-07-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, not the most imaginative title for a post but I'm not feeling terribly inspired this evening! Just a very quick post as I'm about to jump in the shower and get ready to go out. One of my best mates graduated today and she's having a little party to celebrate :)

I've just been uploading some pictures to the computer and have a few that I want to post on here over the next few days. Here is the first, which is a card I made for a friend recently:

We went to the QVC Crafting Experience in London last week and she was such great company and even was kind enough to give me the prize she won in the raffle there! How fab is she?!? I've got loads of pictures from that event but they're on my mobile phone and I'm not sure how to get them off there and onto here! We had a great day and learnt lots of new techniques. I also got her a big bunch of flowers to say thank you :)

Speaking of flowers, my OH's mam gave me a massive bunch of flowers at the weekend and they are cheering up our front room as I type this :)

You'll have to excuse my terrible flower arranging skills - they look better in real life (honest!) In fact, there's so many of them that we have 3 (!) vases full!

I looooooooove having fresh flowers in the house; they really make me smile :)

If there's anyone reading this, hope you have a fantastic weekend and that the weather is better than it is here. I can't believe it's mid July and I'm wearing a thick wooly cardi! It's pouring with rain here and it's cold, wet and miserable. What's happened to Summer? I feel cheated!

Book to Movie Challenge

2008-07-17T03:07:00.000-07:00

I'm too late to 'officially' take part in this challenge (it actually took place last year) but I thought "what the heck" and have decided I'm going to do it anyway just for the fun of it :)
The idea with this challenge is that you pick (and read!) at least 3 books that have been made into a movie. This sort of thing is right up my street :)
I first saw this on SMS Reviews blog, which can be found here and is well worth a visit if you're a bit of a bookworm (like me!)
I think a little bit of a background might be in order here... when I was 18 and at 6th form, for some reason best known to the college, they decided that all 6th formers had to take an A-Level in General Studies. This caused uproar amongst the students as we all thought it was a huge waste of time as there was no syllabus and it was just pot luck as to which questions came up in the exam. Luckily for me, one of the essay questions was a discussion about books that had been turned into films and which was better, the book or the film? Being an English and Media student, this question was perfect for me. I am sure it was the reason I got my one and only 'A' grade A-level in General Studies and has sparked a long time interest in books that have been adapted into films.
Ok, enough rambling. Down to business. Here is my list:

Anywhere But Here - Mona Simpson
Practical Magic - Alice Hoffman
Da Vinvi Code - Dan Brown
How to Make an American Quilt - Whitney Otto
Mermaids - Patty Dann
Notes on a Scandal - Zoe Heller
The River King - Alice Hoffman (this is actually a re-read but I love this book and I just found out they made it into a film, so let me off with this one!)
The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares
A Slipping Down Life - Anne Tyler
Tuck Everlasting - Natalie Babbit
White Oleander - Janet Fitch
Where the Heart is - Billie Letts

Looking at my list in black and white, I can see that a lot of my books / film choices are girly chick flicks but I like chick flicks!!! I'm not sure if I'll get to read all of these by December 31st so if I don't finish by that date I think I might just carry on!
I've also decided that wherever possible I'm going to try and watch the film (after I've read the book) so I can compare the two. There are a couple of books on this list where I've already seen the film (Mermaids and Practical Magic) so I think I might find it strange reading the books as I'll be imaging Winona Ryder and Nicole Kidman as the characters!

Triple 8 Reading Challenge

2008-07-17T02:53:00.001-07:00

Here is another of the old posts....

Triple 8 Challenge

This is a reading challenge and I think it looks really interesting. I've always been a voracious reader and usually I tend to read whatever takes my fancy at that particular moment. This challenge could inspire me to try other genres or authors that I wouldn't normally read so I think I'm going to give it a go!
I need to do a lot of thinking about which 64 books I'm going to choose (if I'm committing myself so publically to reading something I want to be sure it's something I'll enjoy!) but here are my categories....

Crafts (hey, I might as well feed my craft book addiction at the same time!)
Books I really should have read by the age of 29 (this would be all the classics etc that always appear on top 100 lists)
Childrens / young adult
Historical fiction
Fantasy
8 authors I've not read before
Non-fiction - I love non-fiction books!
Ordinary fiction books! Bit of a cop out I know, but I still want to be able to read the type of books that I've always enjoyed!

I have already started on this challenge and these are the books I have read so far for each category:

Crafts

Lotta Jansdotter - Simple Sewing
Diana Rupp - Sew Everything Workshop (love this book!)
Jan Eaton - 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets and Afghans
Jane Brocket - The Gentle Art of Domesticity (this have turner into one of my very favourite books!)

Books I really should have read by the age of 29....

Children's / young adult

Historical Fiction

Fantasy

8 authors I haven't read before

Non-fiction

Melvyn Bragg - The Adventure of English

Fiction

And that's as far as I've got. As you can see, I need to get myself into gear! Any ideas for books would be greatly appreciated!

101 things in 1001 days

2008-07-17T02:00:00.000-07:00

I first heard about this on Meshell's blog and thought it sounded like a fabulous idea. I have previously posted this on my (now defunct) old blog but plan on importing a few of the old posts over to here over the next couple of days.

The idea is to create a list of 101 things you would like to accomplish in 1001 days. This really appeals to me because I loooooove lists and also because it will make me focus on the things that I keep saying I'm going to do but never actually get around to doing (I'm a bit rubbish like that!)
The idea first originated on this site. I actually started my list on January 23rd 2008 so my 1001 days will be up on WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 20th 2010 which spookily enough is my 32nd birthday. I like the synchronicity of that :) Anyway, without further ado, here is The List:

Key: Projects in bold are completed, italics mean the project is in progress

Learn to knit (properly!) and complete at least 1 project (maybe from irresistible knits book?)

Learn to crochet and complete the following projects: ripple blanket, granny square (or similar) throw, hexagon throw, a project where I need to learn 5 new stitches

Complete 3 quilts

Make at least 3 scrapbooks of the following: Me and my OH, Family, Good Times

Make an advent calendar

Make all my own Christmas cards in 2008 and 2009

Make at least 1 item from every craft book that I own

Make at least 3 bags (1/3)

Create my own Christmas decorations each year

Complete my list of cross stitch projects that I have planned to do (and already bought the materials for!)

Take photographs of all the things I have made and post on this blog

Take part in at least 5 swaps (2/5)

Make at least 1 thing using a craft that I have never tried before

Make new cushions for the front room

Make my OH a mix CD

Make at least 1 handmade present for the following people: my OH, my mam, my dad, my sister, my brother-in-law, my nanna, my grandad, OH's mam and her partner

Make a purse organiser that I can easily switch between my bags

Learn how to make jewellery. Make at least 10 pairs of earrings (not just all ‘drop‘ ones), 2 bracelets and a necklace (7/13)

Make 3 pieces of wall art for my house

Learn how to make handmade journals and make at least 3 to use for ideas, etc

Create 26 mix Cds, 1 for each letter of the alphabet, see here and here to see what I mean

Learn Spanish well enough to be able to more than just “get by” on holiday

Take part in 5 different reading challenges, including the 888 reading challenge and the book to movie challenge

Listen to 3 audio books on CD (1/3)

Learn about 5 new topics (to be decided!) (Growing vegetables, embroidery, ?, ?, ?)

Learn to fold 10 different origami shapes

Take an evening class in something craft-related

Begin (and maybe even complete!!!) the post-grad diploma that I want to do for work

Read all of LM Montgomery’s books (as far as possible in story chronological order), including re-reading books I have already read (4/32: Anne of Green Gables; Anne of Avonlea; Anne of the Island; Anne of Windy Willows)

Complete the Race for Life

Reach my target weight

Buy a bike and go cycling regularly

Walk more! Use my fit bug to record how many steps I am taking each day and try and beat my personal best. Go for long walks in the summer on the canal, Daisy Nook, Dovestones etc

Cook a ‘fancy’ meal for my OH (starter, main course and pudding)

Plan our meals each week and only buy the things we need. Make a list when we go shopping!

Cut out all alcohol for 1 month

Join a gym and go at least 2 times a week

Learn how to bake a cake

Learn how to make a loaf of bread from scratch (I bought a breadmaker and have been making all our own bread but I still want to have a go at making bread without the breadmaker!)

Invite 3 sets of friends for dinner (cooked by me and my OH)

Take my lunch to work at least 2 times a week (I am office based 3 days a week and the other 2 days work at home)

Get my “five a day” every day for 3 months (can be non-consecutive!)

Go veggie for a week / a month

Sort out and organise my craft room so it is a comfy, cosy place for me to be

De-clutter the house. Find ‘homes’ for things. Get rid of things I no longer need or want

Get all my pictures framed and hung up

Try to recycle more

Grow some vegetables and herbs

Get an inspiration board for my desk

Buy at least 3 new board games and have a “games night” with friends and family

Buy a plant and keep it alive

Put laundry away after folding

Find a way of hanging all my necklaces and earrings up so they don’t become tangled

Sort out all my magazines. Put pictures I like into an ‘inspiration journal’ (or similar) and recycle / donate to charity the rest

See the sunrise from Hartshead Pike

Go on a ‘proper’ picnic (with blanket, wicker basket and eat-with-your-fingers food)

Go to a free summer concert

Go camping

Go and watch 5 plays at the theatre

Go to 3 gigs / concerts

Go to all the museums and galleries in Manchester, Liverpool, Llandudno and Conwy.

Go on at least 12 trips to places that I have not been to before that are reasonably close to where I live, e.g. Sheffield, Halifax, etc

Go ice-skating

Go to the zoo (went to the Welsh Mountain Zoo in June with my OH)

Plant a tree

Go to see a movie by myself

Fly a kite

See the Cirque du Soleil

Visit the following places: Paris, America, Brussels, Barcelona, 2 places I have not been to before (1/2 I went to Tenerife in April with my OH)

Get over my fear of flying!!! I'm still working on this - I was fine flying out to Tenerife but cried like a baby on the way back :(

Have a Hallowe’en party

Go to 10 different restaurants that I have never been to before (1/10 I went to Lords in Harrogate a few weeks ago and very nice it was too!)
Stop worrying about what other people think of me. Less negativity

Make a list of 100 things that make me happy or that I am grateful for. Add to it once (or more!) a week

Come up with a tradition of my own for Christmas

Create a journal of poetry and quotes that ‘speak to me’. Post some of these on my blog

Pay off everything that I owe

Save up for our wedding and deposit on a house
Create a work plan. Where do I see my self in 1, 3, 5, 10 years? What do I need to do to get there? Is what I’m doing now what I want to do for the rest of my life?

Get married!

Find out all family birthdays, anniversaries and telephone numbers. Write on a calendar and make copies for my mam and sister

Trace my family tree (back to at least my great-great-great-grandparents)

Go on a date with my OH at least once a month (going to the pub doesn’t count!) (3/?)

Contact old friends and arrange to meet up (if possible!) Call / email / send card to 1 friend a month

Give blood

Attend as many band rehearsals as possible

Participate in a book club

Take more photographs! Take at least 1 photograph a day of something that interests me for a month and post on my blog

Get a cat (got 2!)

Watch 101 new films (I.e. ones I have not seen before), including at least 5 musicals

Organise all the files from my old computer and burn what I need onto discs etc before getting rid of the old computer

Make up 2 Christmas parcels (1 for a boy, 1 for a girl) to go to the Tameside Radio / Key 103 Christmas appeal

Stop using plastic bags. Take cloth bags with me when I go shopping

Get new glasses

Visit the farmer’s markets at least once a month

Put all my slummy into a jar and don’t touch it until it is full!!!
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Phew!!! If you're still reading WELL DONE!!! As you can see, I only have 98 actions on my list. I have 3 spare ones to add new ideas over the duration of this challenge :)

I will edit this page as I complete items on my list and am going to post regularly about my progress on this. I'm really excited about this project as I think it's going to be a lot of fun!

Saturday night sewing

2008-07-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

Still no photos because I can't find the lead for the camera!

Tonight I have spent a lovely night sewing in my little room upstairs. I have been attempting to make a top using a pattern from this fab book. I'm using some jersey fabric I found in a local charity shop for £3 (for LOADS), but I've never ever sewn using jersey before so it has been a bit of a learning curve. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be though :)

I've never made clothes before either so I'm hoping it all turns out ok. It's looking good so far so I'm pretty chuffed. So far, I have cut out all the pieces and sewn the back pieces and front pieces together. I had a bit of a disaster when I cut the front piece out because I put the pattern piece on the fold (like I was supposed to) but for some stupid reason, I cut down the fold meaning my front piece ended up in two halves! Luckily the two back pieces were meant to be that size but with a little tab at the top, so I used the pieces which were originally destined for the front and added the two tabs separately. It turned out quite well because I had to top stitch round the back tabs to create a "v" shape for the fastener and the seam where I joined the tabs ended up being the seam for the "v" as well. I know that probably doesn't make a lot of sense reading it, but trust me, I'm pleased with it! lol

Tomorrow I'm hoping I'll get chance to finish this off but I have a parade with band (I had a concert in the park with them this afternoon too!) and I really need to get things sorted for work on Monday :(

I will leave you (my ficticious readers), with this youtube video of one of the songs I was listening to this evening...

Love it!

A fab find :)

2008-07-03T14:50:00.000-07:00

Last week I went shopping to the bigger town near where I live. I've lived in this house for about a year and a half and go shopping to the town all the time but have never been to the outdoor market there as it's a bit out of the way. Well, this time I decided to walk up the hill to the market and I'm glad I did because there were LOADS of fabric stalls there :) Most of them sell materials for saris (lots of gorgeous colours and patterns) but they have plenty of cotton fabrics too and all sorts of trims and notions :) I spent about £6 and came home with a bag bulging with fabric to make some cushions for our front room. I would have bought more but my OH is whinging about the fabric stash I have already and I don't think he would have been too impressed!!!

This evening I started making some cushions for the front room; I have completed 2 so far and they were really easy to make, just like envelopes. When we first moved into the house, I spent a fortune buying cushions but I really want more and more so the sofa is really snuggly and cosy :) The cushions I've made so far don't really match the sofa but they're bright and cheery and I like them so they're staying! (well for the time being at least....)

I wanted to get get some pictures to show on here but my laptop is still being mended so I am on a different computer which won't let me upload pictures :( I have been assured that my computer is being delivered back to me tomorrow so hopefully then I'll be able to get some on here to brighten things up!

Rainy days and Sundays

2008-06-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

Today has been a VERY rainy Sunday here in my corner of the world. I can't remember the last time I was literally soaked to the skin but today I got absolutely drenched. It was the Manchester Italian Whit Walks this afternoon and the band that I play for was marching with a church from Ancoats. I'd forgotten to bring my rain jacket so had to march in just my uniform jacket and within a couple of minutes I was soaked to the skin and my shoes were squelching! Luckily the rain did stop in the end and the sun came out but it was a shame that it didn't do it before we'd set out as all the Italian ladies had very ornate and detailed outfits on and they got ruined.

Our band does a lot of marches, especially around Whit (although technically speaking, Whit Week was a few weeks ago!) but I think the Italian Whit Walks are my favourite (apart from Whit Friday, but that's a different story altogether!) because the streets are packed with spectators and they all cheer as we go past :) There's always a really great atmosphere and a really good turnout.

The Whit Walks are an annual tradition, especially around the eastern regions of Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire. The film "East is East" starts off with a Whit Walk procession with banners and bands so if you've seen that film, that gives you a bit of an idea of what it's like! Traditionally, these take place during the first week after Pentecost, roughly 7 weeks after Easter but in recent times some of the churches have held their Whit Walks outside of Whit Week. The small town where I live, always walks on Whit Friday (see here and here for pictures) but the next town walks on the 3rd Sunday in June. I'm not really sure why that is?!?

The first Whit Walks took place in around 1800 and were a "walk of witness" with people turning out to show their allegiance to their church. The different denominations used to always walk on different days, e.g. Protestants walked on Sundays, Catholics on Mondays etc but this has died out as the roads have become busier and now the walks seem to be multi-denominational. Another tradition was having new clothes for Whit and I remember my mam used to always make sure that my sister and me had new dresses, cardigans and white sandals for the procession. She'd put our hair in "rags" the night before so we had ringlets (even though my hair's naturally curly) and I remember they used to be really uncomfortable to sleep on! After the procession we would see all our family and they would always give us money for our piggy bank! This was only about 20 years ago but again, this seems to have died out a bit; at some of the Whit Walks I went to this year, people were walking in trackies and trainers. I think the whole thing is quite localised as my other half was brought up about 3 miles away from me but never took part in Whit Walks or Whit Friday and is a bit bemused by the whole thing and the people I work with in Liverpool had never heard about it before! I think they think I'm a bit mad.....

Nowadays, the churches march to a central meeting point in the town for a church service (in Manchester this is held at Albert Square), usually accompanied by a brass band before walking back to the church, where there will be refreshments :) Each church will have a big banner which is carried by members of the congregation and sometimes smaller banners as well, with ribbons on, that are held by the children who are walking. Occasionally a church will also have a Rosebud Queen who is a young girl chosen from the congregation or Brownie pack if they have one. I remember my sister was once chosen to be our church's Rosebud and she was devastated because it meant she had to wear a dress!!!

Although the processions in Manchester are quite big, they are nothing compared to what they used be like a few years ago. I'm 29 now but I remember there being thousands of people taking part when I was a kid. We used to have big carnivals every year in all the towns near where I live, but these have all stopped now because they can't get people to take part or help run them. I really hope that the tradition of Whit Walks doesn't go the same way as it is one of my favourites!

Aaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!!!!!

2008-06-24T12:39:00.000-07:00

I'm having one of those days today where nothing seems to go right. My car broke down last week (for the 6th time in as many months) and the rather large car dealership who I bought it off (hint: they have some really annoying adverts in the tv!!) have been giving me the run around ever since. I'm almost at the point where I want to tell them to keep the car but I'm going to (try to) remain calm and chill out....

Anyway, in order to try and relax myself I have been reading some great blogs such as Plum p Pudding and Posy Gets Cozy and already I can feel myself becoming a lot calmer and de-stressed :)

The photographs are of a recent present I made for a friend of mine who was leaving our office. I was quite pleased with the way the bag turned out considering I wasn't following a pattern but I think the next time I do a bag like this I will add a flap over the top so the top isn't so open.

I really liked the earrings and keep meaning to make some like this for myself :)

Anyway, that's all for now, I'm off to watch Big Brother. I'm quite annoyed with myself this year as I have let myself get sucked in and now I'm addicted!

A fresh start

2008-06-23T02:32:00.000-07:00

I've decided that this blog is going to be a fresh start for me. I've had a blog elsewhere but recently I have found that it has been hard going and I have a few negative feelings about it. Not blogging in general, just my old blog in particular!! With this in mind, I have made the decision to start anew with a shiny new blog.

This is going to be a place where I can share my thoughts (even if no-one reads them) and pictures and hopefully meet like-minded people.

The picture above is something I have been working on recently and hope to have it finished so it can hang on my kitchen wall!