wielding the paintbrush..................

Having procrastinated for long enough, a particular speciality of mine, I decided to venture into the spider (and probably rat) infested shed and dig out the old paint remnants and tackle a few of the jobs around the house.

Our kitchen table was a £23 ebay bargain. It can be extended using the lovely wind out mechanism and fits in the space brilliantly. The top however was a mess, lots of different colours made worse by my attempts at stripping it back to give it that bleached farmhouse look. That didn't work so the next idea was to paint the top and leave the legs in their natural state. It's taken a bit of getting used to but now I think I like it. I figure if I ever get sick of it I'll just chuck some oilcloth over it.

Next the lampbase I bought in the sale from Homesense. This was a perfectly acceptable cream base but I had visions of a red gloss version, similar to the ones Cath Kidston used to do. Out came the red gloss used for Jack's chair , I added the beautiful shade purchased from Frances at the V&H fair and the transformation was complete.

Finally, my latest treasure, a £1 car boot cabinet, hauled home last Sunday. This was a particularly fetching Germolene pink which didn't really sit well in our bedroom so another paint remnant was unearthed and it became this, a sky blue beauty. This blue is one of my favourite colours, it pops up everywhere in this house, it makes me smile and I find I'm drawn to it whenever I see it. The addition of a little bit of CK wonderfulness and it's a completely new (old)bedside table. Just got to find one for Ian's side now, not sure he'll agree to the floral loveliness though!

Lastly, whilst the creative urge was upon me I raided the box of gorgeous vintage cards I bought last year from the car boot (must show you those at some point) and made a new addition for Kit's wall. She's thrilled to bits with it, in fact she loves all her pictures, zoom in and you should be able to see the latest car boot picture, a Margaret Tarrant print - bottom left. The seller had some lovely large prints but at £10 each, way beyond my car boot budget. He must have taken pity on me because he gave me this damaged one for free, what a result! Don't look too closely at my new creation, as with most things I make it's slightly haphazard and lopsided, I'm far too impatient to get to the finished product. Same with painting, preparation - Pah! Sanding between coats - who are you kidding?! Surround them with enough stuff and nobody notices - I think!

And look there Hen, see who's nestled among the blankets? I saw the one you made for the Munchkin and I couldn't resist having a go myself. I love it, so much so I have thought of adopting it and giving it a new home on our bed but I don't think I'll get away with that one!

Now the sewing machine has been taken out of hibernation there may be a few more creations to show you soon...............

a perfect weekend....................

How are you all? Hope the sun's been shining down on you too. Despite yet more atrocious weather predictions the sun did indeed shine here, on and off. How fantastic it is to watch this sky at night knowing it probably means a great day in store. This weekend turned out to be the perfect mix of no plans and generally pleasing ourselves, which meant bike rides into town for coffee and cake, trips to the garden centre to stock up on geraniums, a garden clear out and just enjoying the unexpected sunshine.

Lovely enough for a last minute barbeque...............

Saturday afternoon brought a surprise phonecall from my lovely other half to tell me that he'd spotted a pair of boots I'd seen before Christmas but could in no way afford to treat myself to. These boots were now reduced to half price and did I want them? Did I??!! Bless him, just one of the many reasons that make him such a fab man to live with. Doesn't often cook, iron or clean the loo but a more thoughtful man you couldn't meet. Said boots are now residing in their box just waiting for their first outing - if this weather continues (who am I kidding?), they may not be out until Autumn.

This morning brought breakfast in bed for the two of us before the children woke up, one of the benefits of an early alarm call for the cat boot. 7.30ish and the familiar car horn outside means my car booting buddy is here and off we go for 3 hours of rummaging, laughter and bargains. Andrea spends a large amount of time whilst we wander shaking her head in disbelief at my treasures, still, it means there's no arguing over discoveries.

And look at just a couple of the goodies that I rehomed today. My favourite find just has to be this little beauty...............

..................for 50p!! My heart leapt when I spotted it and tried ever so casually to wander (sprint) over and ask "how much?". I'm sure the lady selling was as bewildered as Andrea by my joy at finding such a little piece of deliciousness, but I'm thrilled to bits with it.

This lovely little string box was £1, I'm a bit of a crinoline lady fan so this was a great find.

Finally, for today, these totally gorgeous barkcloth curtains for £1.50. Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em! Washed and out on the line to dry and gladdening my heart with every glimpse. Ian HATES them, but I think they may be destined to become cushions and a bag so he better get used to those gorgeous blooms!

..........want a closer peek?

................scrumptious!

As you can tell, fickle old me has been drawn back into the land of blog. Is it only me who keeps feeling the need to stop one day, but loving it the next. Bear with me, for now I think I'll be sticking with it.

Have a lovely week all....................xx

beautiful derbyshire...............

Squeezing this post in quickly before I tackle the ironing mountain. Time's whizzing by too fast at the moment and like many others I'm having second thoughts about my blog, spring brings with it so many things to do outdoors, and I can't see my screen properly in the sunshine!

Anyhow, how were the Easter hols for you all? We started ours with a little break in the Peak District. Taking a tip from the lovely Lucy we decided to try a Youth Hostel. Ian has stayed in them for his cycling trips but we had never been as a family. It was fantastic! For campers like us it was serious luxury, the sight of the bunk beds sents the children in whooping, jumping paroxyms of delight, us parents less so since we were designated the bottom bunks.

The place itself was amazing, set amongst the hills and with a gorgeous walk down to the river right on our doorstep. We could feel the stresses of daily life falling away as soon as we arrived and the whole three days were fab.

Our days were spent walking, eating and just being together. We found a great 99p walks book in Bakewell and aimed for fairly short and interesting strolls, having a four year old with easily tired legs meant that Ian's shoulders took about a week to recover. She's not the most reliable of walkers but we took it in turns to cart her about when she needed it and bribed her with promises of chocolate and treats when exhaustion kicked in.

Derbyshire is a truly beautiful place, one I'd never visited before. The people are lovely, very welcoming and the scenery is spectacular. We had our usual "let's move here" moments until we realised that Ian would have a 2 hour each way commute each day! We'll definitely be going back as soon as we can.

Signs of Spring were everywhere we looked and despite a dreadful weather forecast of heavy rain the sun shone on us every day.

A hearty YHA breakfast set us up each morning, gazing out at the hills and deciding how to spend the day ahead. We had to tear the children away from the bunkbeds, I seriously think they'd have been happy to perch up there all day. We were all in bed by 9pm, lights off, unheard of for us parents but you don't have much choice when you're all in together. It did mean we were refreshed the next morning and ready for an early(ish) start.

Now the decision is, which hostel do we try next?

See you all soon.................

I'm loving today......................

.............the abundance of spring flowers everywhere at the moment.

.....................and being able to enjoy them even more with the doors flung open

....................which in turn means the children spend all their waking hours in our little garden entertaining themselves, which therefore means a tidier, if much colder, house and dirty handprints over every surface.

.................enjoying the peace and quiet of the post school drop off and washing the breakfast dishes. Particularly loving my red mixing jug, used every morning in the pancake ritual.

.............changing the bed and relishing the anticipation of climbing into freshly pressed, line dried sheets, particularly this delicious new polka dot purchase from good old Dunelm Mill.

..........which goes perfectly with the new lightweight summer eiderdown.

.............grabbing all those wrinkled tomatoes from the fridge and oven drying them on a low heat with thyme then bottling them with basil ready for the tomato tart later this week.

All in all a quiet but productive morning spent at home, a less quiet afternoon spent at school, but more of that later..................

ps. Forgot to say, thank you all for the fantastic comments about school, seems like I'm not the only one who has a bee in her bonnet about the starting age. I did enquire about starting Jack a year later but was told he would have to go in at Year 1 -does that make any sense?? Kit's actually a bit happier this week, we're looking forward to the Easter break so much.

Jack sends a big thank you for all your lovely comments about his circus, he's thrilled.

Good mummy has left the building, naggy old crone is back in town!!

this week...........

One of the greatest stress busters...............bed dancing. Guaranteed smiles all round!

Children bring an unbelievable amount of joy into your life but boy do they make it guilt ridden and emotional at times. After a remarkably smooth transition into school life Kit suddenly started to cry every morning before going in and not wanting to leave me. I know, common sense tells me that how a child is one week will have no bearing on how they are the next but she was worrying us. Suddenly our happy, giggly little girl had become quite unhappy and clingy and wasn't really able to explain why. We think it's probably the realisation that full time school will be the reality for the foreseeable future, quite a lot for a four year old to take on board.

I have a huge problem with the age we send our children to school in this country. Both my children are summer babies which makes them very young for their year groups. Whilst Jack has managed pretty well Kit seems very little amongst her class. I really think that four year olds are too young to begin full time education, I'd be more than happy to have had mine at home for another year. Almost all of the children in Kit's class are tired, emotional and grumpy, why are we doing this to them at four?

Ok everyone, rant over. Still with me? Good, let's have some pics. Whilst having a crisis of confidence this week and feeling the full force of good old parental guilt, I thought I'd make an extra effort to be a nice mummy and not the ranting old bag I'm prone to be, and then I thought I'd take photographs to show the children when I revert to normal, to prove that it actually did happen..........................

Firstly, the good old no-bake cake making. One of the family favourites is good old fridge cake.........which was supposed to be the biscuit substitute for the week but only lasted three days. I mix a 100g bar of milk and one of dark chocolate, add a large lump of butter, two tablespoons of golden syrup, all the broken up biscuits from the bottom of the tin, smashed up, a bag of maltesers, again smashed up, and whatever nuts I have to hand, this week it was pistachios. Its truly delicious, go on......try it, the nuts make it positively healthy........

Next, cornflake cakes for the school cake sale. Always a firm favourite and ones that I vividly remember making as a child. Mum would keep adding more and more cornflakes, we wouldn't believe that the chocolate would cover them but it always did.

Of course we had to try the eggs, just to make sure they were edible. I'm glad to report that they passed with flying colours!

Jack's been creative with a few old loo rolls, making his own mini circus.............

..................before going outside to practice his fire making skills, under my watchful eye. Damp twigs do not make the most ideal kindling but to give him his due he perseveres

meanwhile, conforming to the female stereotype perfectly Kit stays inside practicing her stitching............after helping Jack to waft the flames to life that is.

My creative urges were satisfied with a simple little project, 60 bookmarks for the new cookery book we've produced for the PTFA funds.......

At this point I feel should own up to yet another guilty pleasure.................ironing. Yes, you did hear me correctly, I do actually quite like ironing. Oops, said it again. Before I come over as all 1950's housewifeish let me confess that I'm totally crap at all other domestic duties but ironing I'm quite happy to do. I actually iron very few of our clothes so it only takes a couple of hours in the week, so it's on with the radio and I can happily drift away. And when it's something as delicious as Kit's bedding I'm quite content.

So on that slightly sad note I'll leave you for now. Have a great week.......................x