collections............................

Whilst wandering aimlessly round the house last week, a skill I particularly excel in, I happened upon a few of the little collections going on around here at the moment................

Crochet..........it's everywhere. From the squares for my niece's baby blanket (must be finished next week, and boy, it's taken a long time) to the round cushion inspired by posy and now requested by nearly every family member, to little crochet flowers dotted around the place, the house is being taken over by baskets of yarn and every evening I'm to be found in my favourite armchair, glass of wine and chilled chocolate to hand, crocheting away. I think Ian finds it slightly disturbing and I have many times been likened to an old crone sitting at the gallows - NOT the image I like to think I'm portraying!

Bulbs..............oh, the joy! Flowers I can actually grow, why has it taken me so long to discover this? Now they're everywhere, you name it I shove a collection of £1.26 Lidl bulbs in and a few days later, flowers galore - pure bliss, and an extra place to push in a few crocheted flowers.

Beads..................hanging from the pretty rose hooks I bought in TK Maxx. The perfect spot to keep them, I can see them, admire their colourful sparkliness and it makes choosing one each day soooo easy. I'm a cheap jewellery fan, I have no diamonds or gold. I always have a favourite on the go, this is the one at the moment, isn't it fab?.............

Stuffed toys................obsessed is the word I'd use for my children, they can't get enough of them. can hardly get into bed because of them, all the old bits of crap that no-one else wants, we bring 'em home and squeeze them in. For a person with a bed making obsession it gives me palpitations. I have to fold the duvet around them because under no circumstances am I to MOVE THEM! I don't know how they sleep with them all but it makes them happy, which in turn makes me happy so I have live with the untidy beds (deep breathing, telling myself it doesn't matter, only looking at the bed with one eyes open - I've tried it all)

So, there you are, a brief glimpse of our overly cluttered house, see you all soon.....................

creeping in, full of apologies...............

............what can I say? For a while there I lost my blogging mojo, no idea why. Blogging does take up a lot of time and I wanted to claim back my old life for a short while. It has made me realise just how much space blogging fills so from now on I will keep it up but just not as regularly as before (hah! I hear you say, I was hardly reliable anyway!) This seems to be a common thread amongst many bloggers at the moment, so I know I'm not alone.

...............bit of mosaic inspiration there from Lucy, one of the many ways I've been wasting time recently!

So..........what's been happening in the VH household? Much the same as ever apart from the FANTASTIC snowy days we enjoyed a couple of weeks back. Much sledging and snowballing took place but I'm so far behind the rest of you that I won't bore you with too many photos, although I can't resist a couple. I love snow with a passion, waking up and seeing that glow through the windows fills me with glee and we had the added bonus of time off school. We managed to find a part of a nearby hill that no-one else had discovered and had a whale of a time. We even dragged a very pregnant friend and daughter along to join in, thankfully it didn't induce early labour, my nursing skills aren't up to much!

I've been filling my child free days with crochet (one baby blanket nearly done), coffee (with my new whizzer) and cakes, half hearted housework, a bit of helping in school and completing orders for a few people. Much the same as ever really. We're half way through the half term break right now and we've had a house full of children for the last few days. Jack and I are grabbing a few moments peace by the fire whilst Kit plays with one of her school friends. Needless to say Jack is engrossed in his latest library book, and at the same time pestering me to play on my new laptop (yippee, now I can watch tv and blog!)

We had a fab weekend with friends from Dorset, hence lots of noise, food and just a little bit of alcohol. Sunday we walked it all off through the (unexpected) rain and when they left we settled in by the fire with "101 Dalmations" and pancakes - the perfect way to end a lovely weekend.

At some point in the week Kit will no doubt ask me to "play schools" with her, a request which I'm reluctant to admit does not fill me with joy. It involves me sitting on the hard floor whilst she tries to remember all thirty children in her class so she can take the register. This has to be done whilst trying to hold three different coloured pens which regularly drop on the floor and have to be retrieved, which invariably leads to the losing of the place in the register and starting all over again. Call me a meanie but I can think of a few other more pleasurable ways to pass an hour, selfless mother I certainly am not!

Meanwhile Jack will be up in his room shaking the floorboards with the latest musical acquisition, no doubt much to the delight of our neighbours. Every Saturday he trips up the street to have lessons from one of the neighbour's sons and then comes home to practice and make sure we're properly awake. I have to admit to feeling a little bit envious, how cool it'd be to be a 38 year old drum playing mum, unfortunately possessing no rhythm makes it slightly challenging for me so I end up sitting there looking a bit dumb and not really knowing what to hit next.
Back soon............................