And the winner is....................

First of all apologies (again!) for my absence. Time seems to be running away at the moment and blogging has taken a bit of a back seat. Also the sun has been shining and the last place I want to be is in our basement on the 'puter. Need a laptop, only problem is that finances are needed elsewhere so it will have to wait.

There's been plenty of paddling pool and water slide action, all meals have been outside and it's been bliss, shame the rain's arrived today, still, at least I won't have to water the pots!

We always dress for dinner in this house!

So..............the giveaway. We held the draw this morning and the winner is................

Congratulations Sairer, can you email me your address and I'll post your goodies asap! I hope you like them all.

I read Lucy's latest post about mugs and it got me thinking, as well as making me laugh. There are certain "rules" in this house that I expect everybody, ie. Ian, to abide by and in his way he tries to break them.

Firstly tea and coffee canisters. I insist that the tea canister should ALWAYS be on top because I drink more tea and need quick access. However when Ian makes the drinks I always find the canisters like this...............


.................not only is my tea at the bottom but it's also facing the wrong way!

Next, dinner plates. Ian refuses to eat off my priceless treasures, or "other peoples' tat" as he describes them. So rather than reach up to the easily accessible plate rack he rootles around in the cupboard to find a plain white one.


Same with mugs, he doesn't like the flowery ones hanging above the sink so he's off again into the cupboard to find the "manly" ones.

Don't get me started on towels!...................

I can't really complain about him though, he has to be the most accepting man when it comes to my car boot trips. He merely raises his eyes, sighs almost imperceptibly and feigns interest. Only occasionally does he look truly horrified, so I can forgive him for his plate, mug and canister foibles. That's not to say I'm not working on him, control freak that I am!

Talking of car boots here are a few of the latest finds.............................

......................gorgeous green stuff

....................another fab eiderdown for a couple of pounds

...........................and another teapot.

Have a lovely weekend all................................

A woman's work is never done!.......

Not only do you have to make the tea....................................


....................you have to do the dishes as well!...........................


Hope you've all had a lovely, sunny weekend. Keep those comments coming, I'll close the giveaway on Thursday.

Do snails actually have any purpose?..............and a GIVEAWAY!

Look what they've done to my prized and only allium. I've been watching this little beauty with baited breath after planting it last year. All was well until the snails launched a major assault on it and ate through the stem. Aaarrrggh!

The children are tucked up in bed in a state of frenzy wearing two gruesome (gorgeous) very bright blue and orange t-shirts which came free with our holiday details today. Yes people, a holiday, a trip to France no less. I don't know who's more excited, me or the children! It will be our first trip abroad as a foursome and we can't wait, only 3 weeks to go, no childrens' passports as yet, a minor detail which I'm sure will be sorted, fingers, toes, legs and eyes crossed!

The weather tonight has been fantastic so we've managed tea in the garden, yum! This is the after photo, note the fabulous garden furniture, ie. camping table and kitchen chairs dragged outside. We have been through so much garden furniture, we're just not capable of looking after them and after a year they rot and people end up falling through the chairs!

Kitty and Jack entertained themselves for ages carting jugs and buckets of water through from the kitchen to pans, seaside buckets etc. and then pouring them down the slide so they could whizz down fully clothed. I can honestly say my children are the dirtiest I've ever come across, show them mud and they'll throw themselves headfirst into it.

Well done for staying with me through all that waffle, now my first year giveaway. I've decided that it's going to be a surprise gift, I don't know if that's the done thing, but I'm sticking with it. I love getting surprises, so leave a comment and the first name out of the hat will receive some extra special goodies. So join in, lurkers very welcome, it'd be great to hear from you. (Andrea, I know you're reading and you're not allowed to join in!)

I'll finish with some more gratuitous house shots, my bedside table, complete with handcream, a sure sign of ageing!

Finally a rather blurry shot of our understairs coats, hats, shoes etc. etc. storage area having had a major overhaul.................Enjoy the weekend everyone!

It's been a while...................

Having just survived the whole bath and bedtime routine I'm back! Is it just my two or do all children go mad just after bath and before bed, at the particular time when I'm at my most grouchiest/hungriest/exhausted?? We've had the snorkelling bath routine tonight which was the cause of much merriment and general farty/squirty noises, hmmm probably explains the overexcitement! So, where to start? I suppose with the snow that you've all posted about and are probably sick to death of by now but bear with me, I'm a little behind. We did manage our one and only sledging trip of the year which was fantastic fun if only to watch my friend Marion whizzing down the biggest hill in our (now broken - sorry kids) sledge wearing a bright green duffle coat and screaming with delight! I have to add that I did it too but only after she'd done the first run, cowardy custard being my middle names.

That started our holiday off with a bang and as our friends departed from their weekend visit my sister and her brood arrived for a few days of shopping, lazing about and cooing over our new baby cousin.

We than had a few days up north at my parents house, Jack came down with chicken pox so took to his bed and Kit and I visited aforementioned baby on numerous occasions for more cooing and smooching.

During the holiday Kit took advantage of long days at home and a clear space in the kitchen to learn to ride her bike (with stabilisers, before you think she's a 3 year old olympic hopeful). This involves her whizzing around the table and island unit at an ever increasing rate of knots, much to her father's great disapproval. I'm of the lazy parenting school of thought, if it keeps them quiet and it doesn't hurt anybody, let them get on with it. That's not to say I don't wince every time she scrapes along my lovingly painted units! She now likes to cycle to school when she can which involved us getting caught in a thunderstorm wearing nothing but a cotton cardigan between us on Monday. Something tells me the safest place to be in said thunderstorm would probably not be on a bike!

Can't put Kit in without mentioning big bro' so here's a picture of a theatre he made with his dad tonight...........................

Whilst I've been gone my first anniversary passed me by on the 20th April. As is the tradition in blogland I'm preparing a little giveaway so keep watching!

Last weekend was the Sudeley Castle grand spring fair at which Andrea launched her new company "Lottie's Barn". I was planning on sharing a stall with her, but I know my limitations and decided that the year before Kit started school was not the best time to set a business up. It was a great success, her stall stood out as one of (if not the) best at the show and she did a roaring trade. She still has a few choice Greengate bits and bobs left so let me know if there's anything you're after.

I'll end with a picture of my new doormat, too exciting I know, be still your beating hearts! Don't you just love it, one of my first purchases from Andrea. Try not to look at the scruffy door, that's what comes from having a son who kicks the bottom of it to open it, every time!

Off now for my weekly fix of "the Apprentice", I love it, love it, love it! Keep posted for the giveaway!.....................

Taking after Mummy......

Don't you love forget-me-nots? They take me back to my childhood when the garden was full of them. They are, however taking over my small bed and every year I have to haul loads of them out!

It's been a creative few days here in the VH household. Last week the weather was dire so the children and I decided to be crafty. Now I have to tell you, quite often the words "can we paint?" fall on deaf ears in this house, I try to avoid it at all costs, the mess and most of all the clearing up afterwards put me off, cruel mother that I am. So in order to avoid poster paint armageddon we had to come up with an alternative. Inspired by all the fabulous blogs I read we borrowed a few ideas and here's what we did..........



I asked both of them to draw anything they liked. Jack chose a seaside theme and Kit chose a party scene complete with flags (bunting) and her new baby cousin, my sister and her big cousin.


They then had the choice of any fabric from my massive scrap collection (can't bear to throw even the tiniest bit away!). They decided where each piece would go and I then bonda-webbed them on and machine stitched around each piece. We stapled them to cheap canvases from the craft shop, et voila, Jack and Kitty now have their very own masterpieces in their bedrooms...............................


They're both really pleased with the results and I love the fact we've got a permanent reminder of the stage they're at at this moment in time. We've got loads more ideas in the pipeline!

Last weeks car boot purchase (found by good old Andrea) has become Kitty's new throne in the kitchen. Deciding we didn't like the orange pine effect we thought we'd throw even more colour into our already rainbow like kitchen and painted the new addition bright yellow, Kitty's favourite colour in the world.

Of course, we couldn't leave Jack out of the equation so his old chair got a coat of "letterbox red" and it looks great. As always his beloved weekly copy of "Beano" waits for his return from school.

I often wonder what my children will remember about their childhood home and whether it will influence them as they grow up. Will they become staunch "minimalists" or will they embrace colour, clutter and general chaos as I do?? Sometimes even I think there's too much in this house, it does make for much more cleaning, but I can't help it, it seems to be an inbuilt desire to surround myself with stuff and my entire family have the same affliction. May as well give into it eh!......................

Before I go, a lot of you asked which books we have been reading in our book groups. Here goes.......

The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards - nice, easy read.

The Collector by John Fowles - bit disturbing, not one I'd have chosen but really enjoyed it.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - a great book I thought, bit depressing but thought provoking.

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson - my choice after reading "life changing" type reviews about it. Didn't change my life one iota, but a nice, gentle book.

Nana by Emile Zola - A hard book to get into but once I did I really surprised myself by loving it.

Hope this helps those who asked, have a lovely weekend everyone, school holidays start tomorrow, yippeee!.............

Who ate all the Mini-Eggs?.............

Good afternoon everybody and I hope a good Easter was had by all. Vast amounts of chocolate have been consumed in this household, purely for medicinal purposes you understand! Kit and I have been suffering from the dreaded lurgy this holiday which just seems to be leaving us now. It has not however stopped us from enjoying the few days off.

We ventured out on Saturday to give our new ebay bargain (99p!!) it's first outing. Don't you love it, it smells a bit suspicious but once you get over that it's fab! We stuffed the box with ham and egg (adds to the aroma beautifully!) sandwiches and chocolate cake, filled the flasks with hot coffee and went off to Minster Lovell for a picnic. We hadn't banked on how cold it was so we managed to sit in the car and eat our goodies before dragging the children down to the ruined hall in the bitingly cold wind only to immediately turn round and head back to the car for more cake!

Easter Sunday we had a leisurely breakfast after our garden egg hunt. We lit the fire and treated ourselves to croissants in front of it. Before you picture the idyllic family scene let me tell you it involved one very sulky 7 year old who was having a terrible time trying to stand his Easter chicken up for the photo shoot, whilst his father tried to hide himself behind the crossword! Never mind, I enjoyed my breakfast at least!

We had a lovely Easter lunch with friends, followed by another egg hunt and a very lazy and relaxing afternoon doing absolutely nothing, something I excel at!

Finally, today everybody is back at school / pre-school so I have the house to myself. It's tidy and there's nothing I need to do for the day so I'm catching up.

The garden is starting to spring into life. At last my camellia has flowered. Each year we get loads of buds which then seem to shrivel up and fall off before blossoming, however this year having moved it to a more sheltered position we've been rewarded with theses lovelies......

Tonight it's book group night. Last year six of us, three of whom I'd never met before, decided to start a small group. It's been a great success, it's made me read books I'd never would have chosen and although I haven't enjoyed all of them it's been great to discuss them with the others. I didn't want to be part of a high brow, literary group, I think there's too much intellectual snobbery about literature when really reading should be about pleasure. I did however want to challenge my brain slightly and I can confirm it still works! It's a very diverse group, so we each bring something different to the discussion including a lot of laughter about life in general. Tonight we're going out to eat to celebrate a 40th birthday so after a couple of bottles of wine there may not be much book dissection!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Memories.........

Sorry about the tiny photos, I had to nick them from the internet and cannot resize them for the life of me!

Whilst cycling through the park this morning on the way to pre-school, enjoying the sunshine with Kit singing one of her made-up songs behind me it suddenly struck me. Only a few more months of this and my baby will be at school. Why does life have to whizz by at such a pace?....................

Three ladies and a Renault Espace..........

Where do I start? Life has been totally mad around here for the past couple of weeks. Last week we had five people staying at the house for race week. Each year I say "never again" in the run up to the races when we're desperately trying to get the house ready, but then when everyone's gone the house seems very quiet and we're looking forward to next year! We wandered up to the race course after school on the first race day and watched the horses through the fences, the children were so excited to see them so close.



Everybody left on Saturday morning and we had a lovely relaxing day. We wandered into town and had some lunch, then we came home with a couple of dvds and a huge tub of popcorn, lit the fire and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Sunday was my day off and three of us drove into London for the Country Living show. Rather than park outside and tube it in we decided in our great wisdom to drive straight to Islington. I've never driven in the centre of London before, I apologise to Ken Livingstone profusely, I thought those lovely quiet (ie. bus) lanes were there specifically for 30+ novice London drivers! It was an experience, as you can probably imagine, we managed to buy an A-Z which didn't reach Islington, but we got there in one piece and managed to park right next to the show.

I didn't go mad there, I just bought a couple of things including the glasses below............

and these fabric flowers which smell gorgeous, like rose soap, I wish I'd asked the seller what she'd put on them...............

There were some fabulous stands, so inspiring. I thought it was a better show than the Christmas one and we'll certainly be back next year. I love the whole atmosphere, being surrounded by so many gorgeous things, there were some lovely vintage stalls.

We ended the day with a late lunch in a great eaterie in Islington called "The Elk in the Woods", very trendy, animal skulls all over the walls (why??). Fortunately the vegetarian amongst us had her back to them!

Back to normal today, quiet house, the smell of hyacinths everywhere and a Cadbury's creme egg. Bliss!.................

Nearly done.............

Thank goodness it's nearly over! Ian and I have spent the last two weeks frantically cleaning out our two basement rooms in order to have the new carpets put in. Last years floods caused a bit of damage down there so we've had it redecorated and re-carpeted. Now I'm not much of a carpet person, much too dirty and clumsy, but it's been a bit of a revelation. Kit and I played down there last night and it was actually comfortable to sit on the floor. I'm so used to floorboards that it felt quite nice to be on the floor and I could actually get up without groaning like an eighty year old!

Anyway we went from this........................

............................to this. This is our new spare room, and I have to say the floods were a blessing in disguise for us. We couldn't have afforded to redecorate down there but now we have two lovely new rooms without the hideous carpet. It's been quite stressful because the basement is the dumping ground for all our junk, and believe me there is a LOT of it, since we don't have a loft here. That junk has now been distributed around our house, and we've nearly finished.

This is part of my new work room. My lovely other half (what do you call an unmarried partner - boyfriend is too young, partner too business like!) agreed that I could have the room for my sewing and it is lovely. No more clearing the kitchen table before tea, I can't wait to get started. I've been painting all the furniture down there, including a very overpriced Laura Ashley console table that I'd gone off (sorry Mum!). I've had to agree to one bike being kept in there but I'll work on that one.
I've now got dedicated fabric storage, no more precarious piles everywhere..........

The photos aren't brilliant, I had to use the flash and it washes out all the colours, but believe me it's colourful!

So now I'm in relaxation mode. Ian's away tonight so I've got homemade rice pudding in the oven (makes him want to vomit) and I'm sipping (gulping) Lidl Devon cider because we've no wine, as usual. I know how to live!

Have a lovely weekend everyone, thanks for all the lovely comments about my gorgeous niece.............

Welcome to the world.......

This gorgeous little bundle arrived on Saturday 1st March at 10.10pm weighing 8lb 4oz. Say hello to my new niece Olivia. Mum and baby are doing brilliantly, my sister is such a natural mummy, Olivia is a lucky, lucky girl! Her new dad is thrilled to bits too. So starts a new life............ Needless to say Jack and Kitty are thrilled with their new cousin and lots of kissing and cuddling went on during our visit. It was sad to leave them knowing we won't see her for a couple of weeks. They both made cards for her but only Kit would let me take a photo of hers, don't you love the hair on her baby!...........

I received these in the post this week. I ordered them from applehead after seeing them on another blog (sorry, can't remember which one). They are so cute, this one is my particular favourite, I love the red polka dot dress. I love the fact that you discover things through other peoples' blogs that you wouldn't otherwise know about.

I treated myself to this button box from good old Cath Kidston a couple of weeks ago. Mum and I spent a relaxing hour sorting all the buttons out and it will really help not having to root through jars to find the right button in future.

Mum found this little shelf unit in a charity shop for me, a coat of paint and it's a great place to put just some of the old tins that litter this house. I have so many, but all of them are used. The problem is that I forget which one holds the particular thing I'm looking for so I waste so much time looking through all of them. It's hard work being a compulsive hoarder y'know!

This is the ferry which capsized near Heysham and then floated into Cleveleys where it is now beached. We went to have a nosy on possibly the coldest and windiest day of the year. Jack was fascinated, the picture doesn't really show how big it is, but the waves were lashing against it and it was a pretty strange sight.

Finally a plea for some advice. I 've finally mastered Bloglines (I think) but I can't leave comments on blogs straight from it. Is there a way to do this or do you have to go into the blog separately? Any help will be very gratefully received.

Also, I've been tagged to do the archive meme, I haven't forgotten I promise, I will try to get round to it asap!

Have a great week everyone, I'm endeavouring to catch up this morning..................