I know it's early but...

...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

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...

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 :)

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.....

.....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

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

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!

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...

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

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...

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

Hasta luego!

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 :)

*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

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:

1. Please put the logo on your blog
2. Place a link to the person from whom you received the award
3. Nominate at least 7 or more blogs
4. Put the links of those blogs on your blog
5. 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 :)

1. Faerie Nuff
2. Vintage Tea
3. A Thrifty Mrs
4. Melmel
5. Mary Poppins
6. Linden Grove
7. Sharie's View to the Hill

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

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 :)

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...

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...

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 :)

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!

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