View from the Hamster Wheel

Excited.

2012-01-27T11:06:00.001Z

Just sneaking on real quick because I am ~~supposed to be looking after other people's children~~ working. The kids all seem super tired today and we are all glad that it's friday. One little is spread out on the couch and one is full of the sniffles and lying on my knee, we are watching an episode of Mickey mouse clubhouse.

Anyway, I just had to come on real quick and document my new friend.

Meet Hilda.

I think it is now very clear that I have some kind of problem. I have no idea why I am compelled to name my belongings, but sometimes these names just pop into my head and I can't seem to shift them. So Hilda it is.

Yesterday I received my new ever so happy and shiny phone. Hilda. She has all sorts of fun features and a camera. A moment of silence please to respect this most awesome of features.

...............................(moment of silence)..........................................

Sigh.

It has been over 2 years since I had a phone with a decent camera and I am over the moon. It will be so handy for the days I forget my big camera, or to snap some fun moments with my best guys when the big camera is too bulky.

Sigh.

(again )

First things first, I downloaded instagram. It is free, it is fun! And I like that it has a wee news feed of sorts, because let's face it, I am so nosy! And it is great to see what other people are up to! And now that Facebook is incomprehensible to me, I would like to take my stalking in a new direction.

But today while I was not at all considering buying it for full price , really I wasn't, I happened to notice that hipstamatic was on sale (for today only apparently) for 69p. Well , who could pass that up!

Not me.

Check out the fun I have had so far!

And all for the bargain price of 69p. Even Peaty has to admit that that's a bargain.

The only thing is that it has me running around the house taking pics of random wee corners , like a mad woman. But no one has batted an eyelid yet so it is just possible I was amad woman before I met Hilda.

Moving on.......

Mickey is coming to an end and Special agent Oso has begun, I must turn that over, it drives me nuts.

Just time to show you what happened when Hilda met Ina

Aaah, the sun shone and angels sang. Perfection.

Is it wrong that I want to print this out and hang it in my kitchen?

Gotta run, back soon :-)

On a cold and frosty morning.

2012-01-16T11:33:00.002Z

There has been a real absence of cold, frosty mornings this winter. But this morning was just fabulous. K and I walked to school, admiring the sparkling frost and looking at the tracks made by her scooter wheels.
. After I had dropped her off , I couldn't resist going for a stroll with my camera.

Even though it was after 9, the sun was feeling lazy and was struggling to rise.

I ended up walking for around an hour, just taking in the beautiful light and sights along the way,

With rosy cheeks and a cherry nose, I returned home for a hot cup of tea and some much needed warmth.

I'm sure I will have to venture out from under this cosy quilt at some point though .....

Our Christmas table.

2012-01-02T07:30:00.000Z

This year our Christmas table was going to be it's usual simple self.

Red table cloth, red and gold decorations with little flecks of green on the napkin rings. These beautiful embroidered napkin "rings" were a gift from a friend f mine who lives in Singapore. I love them and look forward to using them each year.

Our house ended up being so full and busy and wonderful on Christmas day, that the table was only partially laid whenmy parents arrived.

We finished it with the cutlery and quickly sat down to eat. I didn't get a chance to take any nice pics.

We managed to snap a few after our main course, once peace was once more in residence (and we couldn't move from the table!)

It is nice to plan and read magazines, dream over what your "dream" christmas table would look like.

My dream Christmas table is slightly mismatched, very loud and busy. Stuffed with our favourite foods and all of our family. These are the most important parts, anything else are just a bonus if they happen.

I wouldn't change any of it for the world.

If you would like to share words or pictures about your Christmas table, maybe you would like to head on over and share at nice day at Rosie's. She is hosting a lovely giveaway x

Looking back, looking forward.

2012-01-01T13:54:00.002Z

And once again, here we are. Back at the start. There is nothing to make you feel energised and motivated, like the first day of a brand new year. So full of potential and promises. It is like the ultimate Monday!

I am sitting in our living room, looking around at all of our Christmas bits and bobs. Smiling.
The sun is streaming in the front window and I have a steaming cup of tea in my favourite mug. Life is good.

It is January 1st, almost time to go back to work, time for our little family to leave the "holiday bubble" that we love so much. I don't feel sad that Christmas has passed, because we lived it. We lived it all.

We have enjoyed every moment of the season. We have gathered as a family and had so much fun.

2011 has been a good year for us. We have had much to celebrate.

Time for just Murray and I.

Lots of special family times.

Precious times with our precious Joe boy.

K starting school

We have welcomed new members into our family.

(not all of them human!)

And there has been a lot of growing going on.

An awful lot of growing up.

We have had some changes to our lives this year lots of good ones and some sad ones too.

We lost our precious little Bee Bee

And we "lost" our little hughes family and our Joe boy , to the sunny temptations of Spain.

2012 will hopefully be a happy and health - full year for everyone.

Filled with love.

and fun times

2011 also saw the "launch" of my little polka dot adventure - I so hope 2012 allows the fun to continue.
I am full of hope and new ideas.

I am looking forward to trips to Spain this year and extra special trips when they all come home to visit.

Only 30 sleeps until I get to sniff that scrumptious boy again.

What a gift.

I have such a strong feeling that it is going to be a good year. I have absolutely no basis for this whatsoever. But it is there, all the same, in my gut.

I feel good and exciting things are coming to us all.

I have no idea what this year will actually hold.

But, one thing is for certain.

There will be as much family time squeezed into every one of these 366 days that will make up 2012, as we possibly can.

I hope to have many many more links and photos to share of all of the fun we WILL have this year.

And in December we will choose a wonderful tree

(although this tree will certainly take some beating. On all counts.)

Before we know it, we will have hurtled through the whole year. Returning, once again, to the magic of the Christmas season.

Full circle.

But for now, right here, right at this second?

This year is brand new. A gift yet to be unwrapped. Full of wonder. Full of promise and ours for the taking.

Happy New year my friends.

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere!

And gie's a hand o' thine!

And we'll tak a right guid willy waught,

For auld lang syne.

Happy New Year.

December 21st. Kirsten's first Christmas concert.

2011-12-31T23:55:00.001Z

Special Christmnas Emmy was the guest of honour at K's first school Carol concert.

She sang so proudly , all the words to " I was there on the night when Jesus came"

And we were so proud.

To end the show the whole school gathered to sing a christmas message.

I still get a lump in my throat watching this wee film.

You can just see our girl in between the heads of some of the audience.

December 18th. Happy Birthday Fraser.

2011-12-31T23:37:00.001Z

A day filled with celebrations, wishes made as candles were blown out and family all around us.

Dear Fraser,

Our boy is 13!

Our beautiful baby boy with the endless brown eyes and a quick smile for everyone. You were trully everyone's baby.

We laughed and sang and danced our way through your early childhood. You were always ready to entertain us with a song and performance. Our all singing, all dancing wizard and our extra special santa. We finally had to hide that suit when you were sleeping. Santa in February, is a little tougher to explain.

Your years can be marked by the characters you have played, James Bond being the most notable.

I can't believe you are beginning your teenage years.

We love you so very very much and are very proud of you. You are working so hard in school and we enjoy seeing you star in all of your extra curricular activities.

We are most proud of how you are always true to your own self. You stand up for what you believe in and have such a strong sense of self. Your confidence is inspiring.

We look forward to sharing this next year with you, where you make some big decisions at school and continue on your own journey.

With love from Mum, Murray, Kirsten and Meatball xxx

December 17th. Birthday treat.

2011-12-31T23:00:00.001Z

Every year, our kids get the choice of a birthday party , or a birthday treat. For the last 5 or so years, Fraser has chosen a birthday treat. Some dinner, maybe some bowling or a movie and he gets to bring a friend.

This year he chose for us to go to an all you can eat chinese buffet and then to the cinema to see Arthur Christmas. We had such a blast! Beebs and Lor Lor came with us and made it even more fun.

First up was lunch at Jimmy Chung's.

Sigh.

Here are the boys, attempting to eat their body weight in jelly.

K with her new friend, Petal.

Next time Granny C wants something collected, I'm volounteering! Apparently you get to buy toys with the change.....

Sorry ladies, I know I said I wouldn't put it in but well......

and Peaty was there too, he was just sitting next to me and somehow evaded the lens! Hmm must keep an eye out for that in the future.

Special Christmas Emmy came to enjiy the fun (of course.) She even gets her own little seat in the cinema.

I found one! See he was there, well I think it's him!

The boys got their own special seats, as far away form us as they could get! LOL. Just kidding, but 13 year old boys do like popcorn, juice and then left alone.

Wehad a quick stop at Tesco, not to stock up on food (we could still hardly move after lunch) , but to get a few essentials for the big day.

I ~~totally started pointing and shrieking~~ could hardly contain my excitement when we pulled up and saw Santa outside. We had had such a fantastic day, just watched a magical Christmas film and then it was finished off by a quick visit with the big cheese.

It could only have been bettered if it snowed.

It didn't.

But the day was still awesome.

December catch up. December 16th.

2011-12-31T22:31:00.000Z

December 16th, K's very first School Christmas party. She was , of course, super excited to dress for this most special event.

She had a wonderful time and even got a very sweet little pencil case from a VERY special visitor.

Boxing day

2011-12-27T16:25:00.002Z

I love boxing day. I love it for the direct contrast to Christmas day , that it is. Calm, lazy, quiet and slow. We always go to Granny C and Laym Laym's house for dinner on boxing day and we love that traditon. It is so nice to enjoy another Christmas dinner after a calmer day (and I don't have to cook it!!)

Yesterday was no exception, I got a delicious lie in, we played barbies and board games and wii games. Then dressed in our new clothes, hats, scarves and coats that we had received as gifts. I love getting new clothes for Christmas and getting all spruced up in them for our boxing day walk.

No snow this year, I am ok with it really, although I am still hoping we will get a heap of snow this winter. It would have been nice if it had presented itself in blankets of deliciousness for the festive period, but I will accept any snow we get from here on out!

K and Beebs have been waiting for a long time to have a very special playdate. K loves Beebs' Barbie campervan and has played with it . at Beebs' house, for a very long time. But this Christmas K asked for her very own Hawaii campervan and she and Beebs have been eagerly awaiting it's arrival so they could take all of their barbies on a special camping trip. They had a ton of fun.

mmmm I could eat this right now, I am finally hungry after being so stuffed for 3 full days! lol.

I don't have too many pics this year , most of our memories are in our memories are in our memories. A mixture of no light, too much busy and just too much fun have all conspired against me and my picture taking.

But that's ok, sometimes the pictures are just as good in our memory banks.

K and I hit the sales today and she got 4 pairs of shoes at £1 each! Saving around £60. It was great, we are now away to Granny Mary's to continue our tour of family meals. I love this time of year.

I'll be back soon with a December catch up, from days where I actually managed to take photos. xx

ps - if sarah and Joe boy are reading this , we love you and miss you and are looking forward to a decent skype so we can actually chat and see what everyone got for Christmas xxx

Merry merry Christmas.

2011-12-26T21:22:00.000Z

Yesterday we had a crazy, busy, excited, fun, family stuffed, too much food, happy happy happy day.

I hope you all had the same.

I am sitting here on boxing day, still full from our lovely dinner at the Peat family home, contemplating a turkey and stuffing sandwich. Just because.

K went to bed without a peep.

Murray , Fraser and I are settling down to watch a new episode of Poirot.

In about 5 mins I will have my pjs on and will be snuggled under a quilt, looking forward to a good evening, followed by a good sleep and the rest of my week long holiday.

I feel fulfilled, happy and so utterly content.

This is what it is all about.

Merry Christmas everyone xx

Twas the night before Christmas

2011-12-25T01:31:00.002Z

and all through the house, just a meatball was stirring but thankfully no mouse!

The stocking are laid out for Santa to fill

The children are nestled all snug in their beds.

We have had a lovely day with our family around us.

The food is all prepared for our big meal tomorrow.

Santa's treats are by the fireplace and Fraser has even left a comic for santa to enjoy.

and the tree is awaiting the flood of gifts that santa is sure to bring!

Murray and I are wearing our new Christmas PJs and are ready to head to bed, to allow santa to come and do his very special job.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas, filled with love, laughter, family and the kind of joy that makes your soul the most happy of all.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night xxx

Christmas gift exchange.

2011-12-13T12:43:00.001Z

Twice a year, Linda at Craftaholics anonymous hosts a gift exchange. Once again I took part in the Christmas gift exchange and it was so much fun!

This year my partner was a very sweet girl called Lisa. We chatted back and forth a couple of times , via email, and then set to work.

I received the sweetest gift through the post!

A crochet mug cosy!

I am so so excited. I have wanted one of these for such a long time and I love anything that is crochet.

And it is red. Be still my heart.

(Please excuse the ropy pics, my ~~favourite~~ new camera is needing batteries and I have been housebound for the past couple of days! So the old faithful has to do)

I adore the purple heart on the front

and the super cute co-ordinating button on the back.

Love.

Thank you so so much to Lisa for my wonderful gift! I can't believe you are only just learning to crochet! You are a pro already!

And as always thanks to Linda for hosting the giveaway. It is lovely to meet new people and to enjoy exchanging something handmade and yummy!

Merry Christmas everyone! xx

Monday.

2011-12-12T09:44:00.001Z

It's Monday today and it just soooo feels like it! I can barely keep my eyes open! As a general rule I actually quite like Mondays, I like that we get a new start to each week, I like getting our house back into some semi - order after a busy or extra lazy weekend. I'm also quite often off on a Monday too which is not to be sniffed at!

This morning I have my girly with me. She is choked full of the cold and has a pretty constant (and fairly "embellished") cough. She has been prescribed lots of cosy drinks, vicks vaporub and lots of rest. The last is the hardest for K to do, she is never still! She likes to keep busy! We are snuggled in watching Annie at the moment ( I have already cried twice!) and have plenty more movie magic planned for the day.

I wanted to share with you the view I have from my end of the couch, my sweet girl at the other end, snuggled under a "mama made" quilt with her heavy eyes and her pink PJs. Out of the window I can see a lovely wintry blue sky and the sun just making it high enough to tip the top of our trees in gold.

But I have two cameras and neither have charged batteries. Sigh.

So instead I will share a couple of pics taken last week of some of our December fun.

Our christmas cake mix

filled with glistening jewel-like fruit and an amazingly spice filled aroma.

Yesterday K and Emmy got a great surprise, Granny C has been busy knitting up a special Christmas suit for our favourite little girl.

special Christmas Emmy.

I'm off now to pop the kettle on for cuppa number 2 of 200. I may pop back later to share some gifts that have been keeping us busy.

Bee Bee.

2011-12-10T19:36:00.001Z

Thursday was a very sad day for us. Our sweet Bee Bee left us and went to guinea pig heaven.

I can't put into words how much I will miss her little nose poking through the mesh as she begged for grass.
I'll miss her sweet little (and not so little) " weep weep" sound.

I am sure Lu Lu will miss her friend and sister, it makes me hurt to think of Lu Lu being all alone for the first time in her wee life.

BeeBee has been unwell for quite a few months, nothing that could be found or treated, but she just steadily kept losing weight.

It's been a long time since we have seen her in her prime.

We loved her and did our very best for her until the end and she was happy and chatty until less than an hour before I found her, so I have real peace that she lived the fullest life that she could have possibly lived.

Night night sweet BeeBee, we will miss you but we are very glad to have had 41/2 fun years with you , we love you still xxxxx

The most wonderous of days.

2011-12-07T22:14:00.001Z

Oh, Christmas tree day. You lie fond in our hearts. You are one of our most favourite days of the whole year.

Last year you delivered. The air was so thick with magic I am not sure any other year will ever measure up to you on the magic meter.

Although ths year, I am sure, will be unlike any other.

The ~~saga~~ story began on Friday morning when the wheel fell off our car.

Sigh.

Luckily it wasn't a huge job to get fixed, but there was no way it would be ready for Saturday morning, which was Christmas tree day.

There was nothing else for it! We had to call in reinforcements.

I drove Mum's (weeny small) car and Jimbo followed in his van to drive the tree home.

And so began our crazy, chaotic, hilarious tree day.

When we arrived we realised straight away that th farm had changed things up. Instead of the huge choice and great layout, usually there was a man there to help you lug trees around to compare and then measure each one so you could pay by the foot.

This year the poor trees were pretty much dumped in rows, no one was there to help, there was very little choice and they were lumped into price brackets. It just wasn't the same.

Sniff sniff.

But, for us, nothing can take away from the fun of tree day! We still had a blast choosing our own very special Christmas addition!

(K is her Mama's girl, here she is orchestrating a photo opportunity!)

Perfect.

Needless to say, we did NOT bring this one home, even at the bargain price of £35........

Who needs employees to help?? We managed just fine on our own!

maybe this one is a little too large K ...

and here is Jimbo's gloating face, all because we chose the one he was holding!

Will this even fit in the stand???

"Of course it will! " says I.....

(famous last words!!)

We tucked her into the van and took her home!

Where we hit snag number one.

It did NOT fit in the stand! , We sawed all we could saw and it was still inches out.

Again we called in the Jimbo.

Who brought his jigsaw.

It didn't work. It got stuck on all of the sap in the Griswold family Christmas tree.

So we sawed some more, in a different direction.

And then out came the axe.

It's clear to see where I got my mad axe weilding skills!

It was a massacre!! There were bits of tree flying all over!

I thought I might split in two from laughter!

It was even hitting off the mirror above our mantle.

Hilarious.

It was a good fight.....

(K couldn't quite believe what she was seeing!)

Jimbo emerged victorious! And our tree stood proud!

She emerged from her little net chrysalis and.......... took up half of the living room!

This tree is huge!

And very very beautiful.

By the time we finally go the tree standing, Frase had left for a Birthday sleepover.

Tree decorating for three anyone?

As darkness fell, the hilarity subsided and the magic returned.

I think this may be my favourite tree. Ever.

Let the Christmas fun begin xx

It's a good day.

2011-12-07T10:24:00.001Z

Most days I am pretty proud of myself if I manage to get the dishwasher unloaded and a load of washing done in the morning.

This morning the dishwasher is unloaded, re-loaded AND I remembered to switch it on!! There's a whole load of washing washed and hung on the line in the winter sunshine.
And it is only 10.30am!

I. AM. SUPERWOMAN!

I actually feel all kinds of excited and motivated., It is tragic I know, but it is what it is.

Now you have to hold on to your hats people! I have two littles who are about to take me to the playpark for a while and then we are gonna go turn that dial right up and bust out some crafty fun when we get back! All before lunch.

jeez, at this rate I'll need to dust off my gold hotpants and cape.........................

A great start to the season.

2011-12-01T16:30:00.001Z

This is the first time I have ever made gingerbread houses, I used this tutorial from Whipperberry and it all worked great.

The scene was set and we waited with Christmas tinged excitment for our guests.

Oh the fun we had.

We all felt like children, it was wonderful!!

My Mum told me that she had wanted to make a gingerbread house since she was little.

It was so fun to share this together!

I have seriously been dreaming of doing this since the first time I watched Christmas vacation, when I was about 10!

Simple dreams coming true people!

Our little Gingerbread street

Each one was so individual!

This one was K's,

Mum's house on the left and Fraser's on the right (he even had santa going down a little marshmallow chimney!)

Fraser's friend Stefan's on the left, then Michelle's house and then Granny C's on the right.

Beeb's house

And mine.

Sigh, such a pretty street! Wish we could live on it!! LOL.

And so now it is Dec 1st and our Christmas season is under way, started by what is sure to be an annual tradition!

23 Sleeps until the magical day of Christmas eve.

2 sleeps until tree day.

Love.

The celebration of new life.

2011-11-22T22:54:00.001Z

I am always amazed by the twists and turns of life. If we had each made one different choice, maybe , just maybe we would be in a different place to where we are now.

Sometimes we make choices that take our lives in a new direction, sometimes we make choices to stay closer to home.

Some of us make the choice to attend university, if we're lucky we will make friends there.

Sometimes you move on and never look back.

But ,some friends you take with you.

If you are very lucky you will make a good friend, a friend that will share notes on missed lectures with you, a friend that will be your lab partner , even if you fill her pockets with cotton wool!

You might find yourself a girlfriend, who happens to get on very well with your lab partner/all around good friend.

I'm sure it is very rare that when this good friend finds the man she wants to spend her life with, everyone just clicks, gets on well and enjoys one anothers company.

Even though miles and borders and jobs get in the way, when they are true friends, you will always, eventually find a way to stay in touch, to attend each other's weddings and to welcome new babies into the mix.

It is at this moment that it hits you.

You have something so very rare.

It is not often that you can relate to another family like your own. To see your very good friends parenting in such a loving and respectful manner. To see another family with the same values that mirror everything you try to be for your own children.

To have such a bond with these friends is very special indeed.

3 weeks ago our very good friends, Richard and Cheryl welcomed their beautiful daughter into the world.

Kinvara Alice Bailey.

She is completely perfect and utterly adorable.

I am so very proud to say that she is our precious little GodDaughter.

And we just love her so much already.

She doesn't seem to mind me either.

Last weekend we stayed with them all and enjoyed the celebration that was Kinvara's christening day.

We were welcomed like the family that we now are and we had a wonderful weekend.

Kinvara with her lovely and very proud Granny.

My babies.

I love this pic of us.

Kinvara with her Godparents, her big brother and her honourary cousin, Miss K.

Kinvara with her wonderful Mummy and Daddy.

We have a very similar photo that was taken 8 years ago at Murray and Cheryl's graduation ball. We compared the two pictures and decided that we would not trade one year, wrinkle or experience to return to the picture of our younger selves. We feel so complete and happy to be where we are now. And that alone, is so worth celebrating.

The sweet baby girl with her "Grumps" (his word not mine , lol)

Aw look at this new wee family.

Dear Cheryl and Richard,

Thank you for letting us share in your very special day. For welcoming us so completely into your family and for allowing us to share in the lives of your adorable babies.

We love you guys very much xx

September.

2011-11-14T11:16:00.001Z

In the past few days I have been trying to get through my backlog of photos and blog posts. I happened across a photo folder named simply "September" . I had a little laugh to myself as I looked though it. It was a random mix of photos taken throughout September and it cheered me up and made me smile, so I thought I would share.

My new dresser, a gift from a dear friend, made it's way into our kitchen and into my heart.

**sigh** I have always wanted a dresser.

I Think she wants to be white, but we are getting to know each other a little better before we do anything too drastic!

My beloved Cath jug that my sweet hubby bought for me on our road trip, bnow has a home. Front and centre on the new dresser!

Our crazy girl having a snack and some down time before her very first day at Rainbows.

A touch of warmth added to our living room, courtesy of some new curtains.

A snuggly puss sneaking a cuddle with the Baw baw.

mmm my first batch of jam.

Getting to grips with packed lunches.

Our anniversary Hydranga in bloom.

A little sunshine

And two of my favourite people.

September seems to have been a very warm and happy month with many touches of red.

Seems perfect to me!

Catching up

2011-11-12T13:40:00.001Z

Did you know I have 3 seperate blogs? I have this one ( my favourite, ssh don't tell) my polka dot sweetheart blog and I private blog for my childminding business. All three are hopelessly behind! Life is getting in the way over here! I can't seem to find the time to edit pics or upload them, the words aren't so bad and I actually have a few saved drafts, but it is taking me sooooo long to upload the photos, I just can't find the time to blog. It makes me sad, so I must find a better way.

I hit a brainwave a few days ago, I clicked the blessed little " blog this " button on picasa! Genius! Thought. I was wrong, it didn't work. I was able to see them for a short while and now they have gone. Back to the drawing board, does anyone know if it is quicker to upload from picasa web albums rather than blogger?

I'm going to give it a try, here is my attempt at sharing our Halloween photos, by uploading them through picasa web albums . Let me kbnow if you can see them, where you are in the world!

Mario and Luigi!

And two witches of the East Neuk!

Here are the kids with St monans Granny and Granda,

Great Grandparents are the best!

Happy (belated!) Halloween to you and yours! We hope you had a spooktacular time! Our was rushed (as always!) but we had oh so much fun.

M.I.A

2011-11-03T09:58:00.001Z

Wow, I can't believe how liong it has been since I was here. Crazy!! Its been a strange week or so , getting used to the idea of my sister and family moving to Spain and Halloween, today my poor wee princess has added some sickness into the mix. Just for fun!

The main reason I have barely turned the laptop on this week is due to the fact that my house looks something like this

A whirlwind of fabric, felt roses, glue gun, and finally some finished goodies.

I have been crafting it up (constantly!) for an upcoming craft fayre this weekend. Polka Dot Sweetheart is making a craft fayre debut. ( and I am a little scared!)
It's been busy busy busy!
I've been like a wee one woman sweat shop! And I'm not even finished! I wont lie, I was worried I wouldn't get it all done! I need to go and set up tomorrow night!!! Tomorrow night. eek.
I actually still have a ton on my to do/ to make list, it may be a very late night folks! .
My daughter , however, has now aided me with an impromptu day off, so I just might make my deadline. Time will tell I guess.
Right, I'd best head back to the sewing machine, for now, and promise to be back very soon with our halloween pics and my usual ramblings xx

ps - now that Halloween has passed and this craft fayre is over, I WILL be in full festive mode! You can't say I haven't given you fair warning! Hmm I wonder if K is up for a christmas movie marathon today ....

Finding treasure, making memories.

2011-10-25T22:21:00.000+01:00

On Saturday Murray and I took the kids on our annual conker hunt. I love this tradition as it never trully feels like Autumn until we have been.

This year we took our sweet Joe boy with us.

It was wonderful.

I love these sweet faces.

The day was bittersweet, as that scrumptious boy in the middle is now starting his new life in Spain, with my big sister. Sniff.

I took 200 photos of our day and plan on adding a whole chunk on here. Be prepared!

Autumn is really here.

I have to wait until December before I can snuggle this boy again.

Sniff.

Although I may get to skype with him tomorrow, I can't wait xx

Aaah. It' here.

2011-10-20T10:31:00.003+01:00

The glorious cold weather has finally arrived. With attitude! Earlier this week we had some crazy wind that seems to have blown some deliciously low temperatures our way. It's bliss! I feel like I can breathe again!
As much as I have been anticipating it - I don't seem to have been organising for it!! I still have no gloves. Oh dear, it seems I will need to go shopping..........

Today marks the second last day of the October holidays. Sigh. I love having the kids home every day, no time restraints or deadlines. I will miss them so much next week. They start back on Monday, which is , unfortunately, the same day as Sarah, Joe boy and my Mum fly out to Spain. For the start of a new adventure.
Nope , I can't do it, I can't think about that yet. I'll deal with it on Monday.

For now, we are going to have a nice stroll on this cool , sunny day, finish up some crafts that we started yesterday and I have a TON of cutting and sewing to do for an upcoming craft fayre (eek!!).

I have two weeks left to get organised and I have barely even started? All I have so far are a few felt rose accessories

Three things. Not exactly a "fayre"

On the plus side - I have discovered how to get good non-blurry pics of K!

I just need to be attempting to take a photo of something else and ...... bam! There she is! Ready to pose!

Love it.

Love that cheeky little face.

I am looking forward to the next three days, I get to have Joe boy for a couple of days to let his parents pack for their upcoming move. We are planning to go on our annual conker hunt on Saturday and this year we get to take Joe with us. I can't wait xx

Down time.

2011-10-11T12:45:00.003+01:00

It just feels like we have been go go go for weeks now, I guess it's because we have! Getting used to the school routine for K has been quite challenging. Although she is loving it and enjoying it so much, it takes a lot out of her and her emotions become very fragile when she is tired and a little overwhelmed. It's a lot of fun!
We have also been away for a night for the last two weekends. Which has been super fun, and has added in to the busyness.

Today is day two of the kids October holidays and we are having a home day. So far K and I have laid on the couch with blankets, had a cup of tea and a biscuit (or two) and just enjoyed a little down time.

We have watched countless cartoons and I got to snooze a little.

It's been great.

K is now eating plain pasta and grapes for lunch.

I love days like these.

This afternoon I want to make some lentil soup, pumpkin bread and maybe try a re - run of some carmelised onion marmalade.

My sweet hubby bought me a special gift a few weeks back and I have been putting her to good use -

Goood old Bessie.

We have had a lot of fun making jam and yummy apple jelly. But our onion marmalade was a disaster! Hoping for better luck this time. Better judgment? Just a better result I guess.

Yesterday K , Lor and I went on a trip to Ikea to collect Frase ( he had stayed an extra night in Berwick) Ikea was a sensible half way point. (woo hoo!)

I may have went slightly crazy with the christmas stock

I'm trying to persuade Murray that these glasses aren't overly christmassy - we could use these all year round, Right?

I bought all of my christmas wrapping paper!! And some dreamy napkins.

It feels good to be getting organised, it's not long to go now, only 75 sleeps!!

I also have a real sickness. I CAN NOT go to Ikea without buying bedding!

Does anyone else "suffer" from this?

mm yummy.

Now, to the untrained eye (murray) these look exactly like our other covers! But really they are a very different, much more festive, updated version!

Promise.

I was going to hang some washing now and try to get some pics on here while I have time

( time? Thats a joke - K is being all sorts of demanding now that my attention is here!) but the rain has come on! Ah well, I'll just hang it inside for now and go set up the monopoly board while the photos are uploading.

We must also try to finish our autumn project that we started yesterday

This lazy day is not turning out quite so lazy!!

We will try to squeeze in a snuggle with the Joe boy at some point too!

It's probably going to be busy in the end but I'm just happy to be home with my full little nest.

I love the school holidays!!

Changes.

2011-10-05T17:39:00.001+01:00

I am sitting in my cosy kitchen. It smells of roast chicken and home. Family. Everything I love.

Instead of making me all warm and happy as usual, it feels like a punch in the gut.

So I do what I like to do best when I have this lump in my throat, I write it out. I always feel better once I have formed the words.

Around an hour ago I received a crisis call from my sister. She was distraught. She is in the process of moving home and had arrived at the storage facility and had no one to help her. This was the last straw in a long line of stress that she has endured the past couple of weeks and it broke her resolve.
There were tears.
Luckily she was around 5 mins from my hubby who was able to finish work and go to help her out. Isn't that the great thing about family? We can all be there for each other when we are needed. This is leaving me with that same lump in my throat and punch in the gut feeling.

My sister is not only moving home, she is moving country. She and her sweet little family are headed for sunny Spain.

How can we help her when she is so far away?

It is a rollercoaster for us all. I am so happy they are finally getting their wish. Thrilled that my amazing, adorable nephew will get to enjoy this wonderful opportunity. Pleased for my sister who can rid herself of our scottish climate that she loathes so fiercly.

My heart is breaking too.

If one more person tells me that it will be great! Imagine the cheap holidays you can have! I may not be responsible for sharing the punch in the gut!

Holidays don't come cheap when they are costing you everyday moments with your family.

It is no surprise that my family are important to me. Just have a look over on my labels tab, there are more posts on family than anything else. I have been blessed with staying so close to my entire family for my whole life. The furthest I have ever had to drive to see family members is 45 mins. The changes that are happening spread so far into all of our lives, it is a deep ache.

It isn't just that I will miss seeing them on Christmas, Birthdays, Halloween. It is the hundreds of days in between where we see each other, just because.

It will change the dynamic of our whole family. Because we all live so close it doesn't matter if we aren't spending Christmas with my parents or my sister, we will see them regardless. It is a 5 min drive, one of us will pop in to see the other. (usually them popping in to us, we had the kid card to play for a long time ;) ) But now if my parents are spending Christmas with my sister and Joe boy - we wont see any of them at all.

It will be different, another change to get our heads around.

My sister will be spending a lot of time alone (due to her hubby's job) so I would presume my Mum will spend a lot of time over there, and quite rightly so. But I will miss her too.

I am grateful that it is "only" a 3 hour flight.
I am grateful that we have skype and that sarah and Joe are used to using this to keep in touch with their other family who are spread far and wide.
I am grateful that we will be able to fly over and that we are welcome to stay for some holidays!
I am grateful that I have lived for 30 years without feeling the pain of missing people who haven't even left yet.

I guess I just didn't see it coming. We played our whole lives out when we were little. Our favourite game was "Sarah and LeeAnn".
Sarah was a high flying career woman, yet loving sister and aunt. She drove a convertable and loved to shop.
Lee Ann was a stay at home Mum who loved to bake, look after her child and make a home.

Never once did Sarah sell the convertable, up sticks and jet off to Spain!!?? (I'm sure there is a law suit in there somewhere!!) Maybe if she had given me 25 years notice, I could have been prepared!

Uh oh. More tears.

I feel like I have been treading a fine line recently. How do you support someone you love but be secretly sad at the same time?? If you keep that sadness a secret you run the risk that people think you don't care.

I care. I just want to show the happiness more. I'm sure my sister doesn't need to see the tears to know they are there.

I am so happy for my dearest ones to be moving into this new chapter of their lives. Please know that we are coming right along with you. Even if we are very far away, I will be there for a virtual hug a cup of tea and a shoulder to cry on. Murray can share inappropriate jokes by internet. The kids can send art work and postcards or something through the mail. And there is always skype to blow kisses and give virtual tickles to my favourite baby boy. We will always be right there from right here in our busy, messy little nest.

I will be sharing a virtual goodnight handshake with you every night x

October

2011-10-03T14:02:00.001+01:00

Autumn is taking it's sweet time to arrive. We even had a heat wave last week! I try I really do, I do all of the things that I should do in the summer!

But now, I am so over summer and hot weather. I am desperate for cool days and warm colours.

I need fallen leaves to scuff through, leaves falling like snow as you drive underneath them. Warm hats, cosy boots and a little gloved hand to hold.

Today I took a stroll in the sunshine with Murray. I roasted myself alive in a scarf and woolly hat! I was treated to my first gingerbread latte of the season! It was lovely. I even bought a pumpkin!

Pumpkin bread and a walk in the woods awaits.

The weather may not yet be ready, but I wont wait.

It is October and I WILL enjoy every autumn delight!

The weather can catch up ... eventually.

ps- my husband thinks I am crazy because I was talking to my pumpkin. Seems perfectly normal to me....

Spillers Farm

2011-09-24T21:08:00.002+01:00

How sweet is this arch for a welcome?

While we were away for the wedding last weekend, we had the pleasure of spending two nights at Spillers farm.

In the summer months there is also a tea room here and I hope we can sample that on our return! (hopefully next year!)

The owners of the B&B were super friendly. They made us feel like we were visiting friends.

We were invited to explore the farm and introduce ourselves to the animals.

The pigs were so friendly! They breed the pigs and use the "offspring" for their own meat.

When exploring, you always need a tour guide.

The tour guide at Spillers farm was adorable.

Meet Merryck.

He was always up for a stroll around the lake, all he needs is someone willing to open the gates and he will show you around.

Unfortunately we didn't have time to take the boat for a spin, but Merryck highly recommended it, as you can see. He apparently likes to swim alongside.

Bridget and Keith (the owners) buy some orphaned lambs every year, they raise them and then use them for meat also. These sheep have such a happy life!

The farm and surrounding landscapes are just stunning.

The views were just beautiful.

Merryck was a little put out because we couldn't go any further. We had booked dinner in Lyme Regis, so we had to turn back.

Check me out! Check out how close I was to the chickens!!

We had to walk through them to get to the lake.

I had to dig deep for the courage people!

Very deep.

But Merryck cleared the way.

He was my hero.

And I was very grateful for the ah-may-zing eggs in the morning.

The breakfast room doubles as the tea room in the summer.

I loved the adorable china.

I loved EVERYTHING about the place!

Our views from our room were lovely.

And even the keys had my hero on them!

Love!

We would thoroughly recommend this B&B.

Even if only to visit Merryck and eat some of the delicious breakfast!

But you could also explore the surrounding area! It is beautiful.

(Just wait til you see the pics of Lyme Regis!)

I will never get over the fact that I was too ill to eat my yummy breakfast on Sunday.

Boo hoo.

I guess we will just have to go back again!

Warts and all.

2011-09-23T15:48:00.002+01:00

I know, I know. I have a huge catch up to come. But this week has not been a week for blogging. I have been so wiped out from our weekend LAST week to even begin blogging about it THIS week.

I am almost done editing the photos but unfortunately, I am not yet done with the panic attacks. (more on that to come ;-) )

What's with the title? Well, after talking to my sister on my return from our weekend away, she told me that she wanted to hear the story before I cleaned it up beyond recognition, for the Hamster wheel.

What?

Honestly, I don't do this. I swear. Everything I write about does actually happen. But, I can, sort of, see what she means. I mostly focus my posts on the positive of everything that we do. Who wants to sit day after day and write about all of the stress, mess and worries that we encounter? I don't.

I know that I don't do things perfectly every day and that things don't always turn out right. I know I get it wrong. A lot.
You can be guaranteed that there is mess, noise and chaos behind every post that makes it's way onto this here blog.
I do even write about those tough times. I do!

I love to blog. I do it because I enjoy finding words and taking photos. Mostly I blog to look back on our years as a young family, but also to snuggle into that place, in my own head, where it is quiet and only for me. It's like reading a good book, you when you are so sucked in that it takes someone three attempts to get your attention. I love that and I get that from writing on my blog too. It's my me time, but it doesn't take me away from my favourite people.

I wont ever forget that I spent a lot of times being stressed out and tired. I feel overwhelmed often and I have to talk myself down from it. (who am I kidding, Murray always takes a crisis call from me when my sky is falling.) But I also know that it is easy to forget all of the fun and good moments in amongst the day to day, flat out running around the Hamster wheel of life. So I like to remember those moments, laugh as I look through the photos and enjoy it all over again when I look back at old posts, with Murray or the kids.

Anyway, back to the wedding. I am willing to be totally honest and to share my embarassment in full, But, I don't want to re hash all of these details on the official wedding post, as I will probably share that link with the bride and her family. She does not need reminding of the details. She was there. I think I sullied her day enough. Blush.

****Confession time.**** I got accidently drunk at the wedding. Not just a bit tipsy, like I usually would. But all out , morealcoholthanIhavedrunkforanentireyearallatonetime drunk. And some of it could possibly have been captured for an upcoming tv series. cringe.

We travelled down to Dorset to attend the wedding of my childhood best friend. I was a little nervous, I only knew Murray and the bride, groom , her sister and her mum.
The venue of the wedding was River Cottage in Dorset, England. This is the setting of a popular cooking/lifestyle TV series. I was terrified I would make a fool of myself with My friend's other (much posher) friends, who are all well educated and know each other.
I was convinced I would fall over on camera and ruin some great shots. My other big worry was that I would come across Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall , the chef and presenter of the TV series, and feel like I knew him. I am a real kiss and hug type person so I was worried I would be introduced to him, forget that I was a complete stranger, and kiss him. I didn t, by the way. I managed to mortify myself 45 other ways instead.

It started out well, we arrived and joined in the champagne reception, the canapes were very tasty , but I was immediately wishing we had eaten lunch. We ate a huge cooked breakfast in the morning which made us too full to eat lunch. We arrived at 2.30pm by the time my tummy was two glasses of bubbly down, it was already telling my head to begin spinning.

After the bubbly came the most amazing white wine I have ever tasted.
Enough said.
My glass was never empty.
Enough said.

The meal was amazing, of course. It went on for a long time though and I knew I was starting to become loud and annoying, like I always do when I am drunk. Murray says I wasn't too bad but I feel bad about it. The food was obviously the main event and it was spectacular, the cameras were on our table for a while but, thankfully, the girl I was sitting next to had consumed as much wine as myself. She accidently dropped some of it on the table while we were being filmed and I immediately dissolved into a fit of giggles and had to put my head into my handbag to muffle the guffawing. Therefore, I am sure they moved along quite quickly, this was not exactly what they are looking for for their upcoming series (I hope!!). If she has saved me from a drunken appearance on tv, I will be forever indebted to her!

As murray summed up - it was an all vegetarian menu accompanied by a free bar. You can take the girl out of Fife but you can't take Fife out of the girl. It was always going to end in disaster.

I did manage to kiss two of the other presenters/chefs and am also hoping against all hope that neither of these will appear on the show.

After the meal we danced two wonderful, scottish twirly dances and then I went out for some fresh air. At about 11pm (I think) I hit the wall, I told murray I had to leave and so we did. After an hour or so waiting in the fresh air for our taxi, I felt a lot better. We returned to our B&B and I promptly fell asleep.

At 5am I woke up having a panic attack. An actual panic attack. I felt like I had made a complete fool of myself and probably embaressed my beautiful, wonderful friend on her very special day. This feeling happens to me whenever I have too much to drink. But this was worse than usual, I felt like I couldn't breathe. I never want to feel like this again.

It wasn't helped any by the fact that I found two glass things in my handbag from the table at the wedding.
Shame.
I am NOT a thief.
They were there as a joke. But still. I had to return those on Sunday morning, to the hotel where my friend was staying. Cringe.

Cap it all off with the fact that I was responsible for driving us the 500 or so miles home and I felt awful. I wasn't even sure we would make it home all in one go!

My hangover4 lasted well into Monday.

The only way for me to get past this horrible pahnic and guilt, is to continually go over every single detail again and again. I guess I need to confess it all out of my system or something. This is an attempt at a final purge.

Hopefully by next week I will actually be able to look at the photos of the wedding without cringing and hating myself. I may be able to watch the adverts for River cottage on TV without blushing furiously!

I will now go finish editing the photos and write up a post that is worthy of the beautiful and very special day we had and my conscience will hopefully be somewhat healed.

And in the spirit of total honesty - in writing this post, I was almost late for picking up K from school.
Awesome. Just what I needed, more guilt.

So there it is, my life warts and all. My secrets are out. Do you still love me? Do I still even like myself? I guess I will find out for sure when the series airs in November. Cringe.

I guess it's not so bad, at least I'm not an axe wielding maniac.

Oh wait............................

I don't think I'll share my accounts with the lovely team at River Cottage.

I am sure they are still trying to work out a way of editing the loud, drunk, scottish girl wearing bright pink, from every single bit of footage they shot.

CRINGE!!

Cruise control.

2011-09-17T11:32:00.000+01:00

Murray and I are currently on a little road trip.

It's not every day that your childhood best friend gets married and invites you to their wedding at River Cottage. The universe smiled even more upon us as it coincides almost to the day - of our ten year anniversary.

10 years. Wow. We have officially been a couple for a third of our lives!

We dont ~~escape~~ get away , on our own, very often at all. And really, we wouldn't have it any other way, the nest is hard to beat! But sometimes it is nice to head out on your own with no definite timings in mind, just meandering our way through the days. It's nice not to have to know "if we're there yet".

It's good that we get on so well, it has been a pretty long drive but it's been relaxing and even fun.

One topic of conversation that kept coming up was how this trip would never have happened 10 years ago.

For a start it couldn't have happened! I loved my little car of the time because it meant freedom for me. I had been without a car for a while and lived in a teeny tiny village that was quite cut off, so my little white car was my ticket to freedom for my boy and I. But it was far from a ~~road worthy~~ road trip worthy car. When we drove through puddles the water came through the floor, the window wipers hardly worked and well only half of the seats had covers on. But it got us around.

The car we have now is solid, I love our car and it feels so safe to me after the disasters of last year!

I was also not the most adventurous of drivers, I would not have considered driving on a motorway! Oh no. And to drive hundreds of miles on a road I have never seen? Forget it.

But Sean makes it possible.

Oh how I love our Sat Nav!

Another thing we wouldn't have had 10 years ago was a working radio in the car but also a

CD player! And two ipods crammed with music.

If I could speak to my 20 year old self I would tell her how far she would go in the world. A CD player in the car for goodness sake!

And Mr Peat's favourite joke of the day

LeeAnn - there's a huge Q up ahead.......

Unfortunately my knowledge of motorways hasn't really improved much and I seemed to annoy a lot of people. I learned many new aggressive driving styles and gestures along the way.

But those grumpy folks couldn't take any of my excitement away because our car has cruise control! Set that baby to 70 MPH and we were just cruising along. It's like one step away from the Jetson's, people!

Just living the dream.

10 years ago we knew were going to be together forever, But I'm not sure even we could have envisioned how "richly" our lives would have improved.

We both have a job that we love, we have our own roof over our heads, we have two beautiful, intelligent , loving and fun loving children.

Our home and lives are enriched by our love of each other and by the family and friends that surround us.

Here's to 10 years of togetherness and to just cruising along for another ten years.... and beyond. xx

spinning.

2011-09-10T23:37:00.000+01:00

I apologise in advance, my head is spinning at the moment. This is a brain/thought splurge. Thoughts are fleeting through my mind, sometimes blog posts form in my mind and run like a mantra all day. But by the time we have bathed and bedded our girl, loaded the dishwasher and sometimes packed a lunch, we settle down for the night, I open the blank page and ......... nothing. It's all gone.

I am tired. My days are so full at the moment. Starting at a very respectable 7am! eek! The challenge of getting K and Frase out by 8.40am is proving easier than I imagined! (we're not perfect, we were almost late once and I have had to drive twice. I may have yelled a couple of times.) However if I stray a little and snuggle with K until even 7.15 then we lose the groove and it is rush city. But WE ARE DOING IT!

I can be organised!

I can have two (sometimes three) children out the door and walked to school. They even eat breakfast! ok That may seem like a crazy thing to celebrate and for K , little miss multiple breakfasts, it is a no brainer. But it is a revelation for Frase. He is not a fan of breakfast. I thought I had used all of the tricks in the book to get him to eat before he goes to school. But it seems I missed a glaringly obvious one. Yes , I have moved to the dark side. Bribery. No electrical items are allowed to be switched on until he is washed, dressed, has eaten breakfast, his bag and blazer are ready to roll, oh and he has to have clean teeth. Then he can watch a little tv or something before school.
I know just what you are thinking. wow. Mum of the year!! Where did she learn to be so caring and fabulous!?
What? that's not what you were thinking. No me either, bribing your kid with TV is probably a very bad thing to do, but hey! He eats to start his day right and I can limit my early morning yelling, which would result in a day long guilt fest for me.

Once my cherubs are safely esconsed in their respective classes (sob!!) I collect a multitude of other peoples cherubs and care for them all day long instead.

It is busy and fun filled and I love it! I really really love it. In what other job can you spend the day tickling gorgeous little cheeks, baking muffins and rolling out playdough cookies and pies. I get paid for this people! It is pretty awesome.
It is also hard work! It can also smell pretty bad sometimes! And I am about to add 3 more cherubs to the mix. oy. And none of them are my cherub. I miss her so.

Today was a bit of an eye opener for me, we had our usual extra side job to do (which I am totally quitting but can't until I find a replacement! grr.) But instead of coming home early afternoon for some family time, K zipped off to a birthday party!! What's with that? When did she make other plans?

It made me realise how little time we have now, I have so much that HAS to be crammed into the four hours K has between school and bed. I don't get to spend much time with her. At least Frase gets some parent time after K goes to bed but she has to share me all the time.

Next week Murray and I are going to a wedding, far away. We will be away from Thursday until Sunday. We have been planning it for months, excited for so long. It is at River Cottage for goodness sake! In 10 years of being together we have had a handful of nights away and our two week honeymoon alone. I think we deserve a little time together! I know we do. But right now, in typical LeeAnn fashion, a little bit of sadness is creeping in. I will miss home and the crazy people who fill it! I know that K willmiss us and the routines of her normal days. She is a sensitive soul and needs me still. However, I must remember that it is only four days. 3 nights. We will come home again and pick up exactly where we left off. Because it is home.

Tomorrow we are staying home. A day of nothing. I have a little sewing to do but other than that no plans. I think we will play games and do puzzles, watch movies and eat together. We will be a family for one whole day this week. A whole day. One day. Only one day. I must just make more of an effort to be more present in the time that we do have.

So sorry for the brain dump. I wasn't feeling morose all day, I was doing fine this week actually until I was reading a blog tonight. The Mom who writes the blog posted a pic of her two girls playing happily in the daytime, in their pjs. At home. And it hurt. I cried, I know I was lucky enough to have roughly 5 years of those days , with each of my children! It is over now. Those carefree days are limited to weekends andholidays, not every days. I can't believe I clearly can't accept!) that my Mum days of having little little children are gone. It seems so fleeting and so sad that it is over.

And now I am crying again, it's a good thing I cry all the time! Because now no one even bats an eyelid! I am lying next to Murray and he hasn't even realised! LOL. I think I will pop on a Christnmas film and get a good sleep, family day is tomorrow and I plan to be completely unplugged to everything other than my family. Night night for now x

ps - I love uploading pics from my camera, I come across all sorts ....

Our sunny September Sunday

2011-09-04T22:53:00.001+01:00

What a wonderful contrast to the rest of our week. That's the great thing about life, it just keeps on rolling.

Relaxing - weekend style.

2011-09-03T22:49:00.001+01:00

After a horrible week we decided that Friday was the start to great weekend. So we kicked back and relaxed.

Meatball style.

LeeAnn style.

And Murray style.

Last night I finally made the apple pie that had been planned since Monday.

Have you ever seen Christmas vacation?

Do you know the Christmas eve scene where they carve the beautiful, succulent looking turkey and it disintegrates into grey dust?

This was my moment.

The house smelled ah-may-zing.

Like really really good. Like Autumn had properly arrived and brought a touch of Christmas with it.

It smelled like magic.

The pastry was crumbly and golden and crisp. I was so pleased.

But when I cut through the perfect, crumbly , film worthy crust!

The apples were thoroughly undercooked and had oozed at least a pint of juice!!

It still tasted nice! I just drained off the syrupy (yummy) juice and hope that the apples will cook through when I reheat the rest of the pie.

Does anyone know how to avoid ths? I wanted fresh apples , not previously stewed. Is there any way to get the crust and inside perfect?

I wonder if it is too late at 10.50pm to eat apple pie and ice cream.

Well it is the weekend after all......

I should have seen it coming.

2011-09-03T21:52:00.002+01:00

When you start your week with a migraine and a big fat disappointment - it is a sure sign that it is just going to get worse!

I'll back up a little.

Sunday afternoon K and I headed out with Beebs and Lor Lor (and Laurel with the VERY pink hair!) to a handmade charity event in Dundee. I ended up with a migraine, the blinding, agonising type. Yuck.

Unfortunately it lasted until Thursday!

On Monday I went to buy the wellies I have been drooling over for weeks and weeks. When I finally had the good fortune to find a hole in my old wellies, I wasted no time in zipping off for the red spotty ones!!! But they did not have my size! I am still crushed. I tried again today and there are still none.

You can read about the rest of Monday here

On Wednesday my girl broke her heart going in to School. It was totally unexpected and I was blindsided. Completely.
I had to leave her crying .
I shattered into a million pieces.
I left crying and cried all the way home. It was 9am! How was I going to make it to 3pm without knowing how she was? I finally pulled myself together and got on with my morning.
I was sitting playing cars with the new little boy I care for. He is 18 months old and adorable. He somehow lost his footing and caught his mouth on the table. Hard. After some ice and more tears (all mine! the little honey was still smiling!) I was really a bag of nerves. I had a whole day of worrying about two kids to do now!

Lor Lor came to my aid and kept me ~~sane~~ company. We went shopping when the wee man got picked up and the day passed much faster.
K was perfect when I picked her up, she had settled quickly and came home smiling! I put the kettle on for a cup of tea and put a chicken in the oven to roast.
My nerves were settling and I was ready to relax into the evening, the day could only get better right?

Fraser walked through the door with a black and misshapen finger. He had hurt it playing rugby at school. First period.
The School dealt with it in a VERY unacceptable manner and I knew nothing of it until he came home at almost 4pm.
I rushed him straight to the local Hospital but we were already too late for the x-ray dept. We had to go back in the morning.

I was fried! I was so so ready for the day to be over and for Thursday to come.

Thursday morning came and another hospital appointment! Fraser has fractured his finger and needs to return to the fracture clinic next week. Cue a long letter of complaint to the school for the way they handled the situation!

Mama bear is not happy!

On the plus side K went in to School absolutely fine.

On the down side - K got sick on Thursday night and had to miss school on Friday.

What a week! It was certainly not one I was sad to see the back of!

I obviously had to take Friday off of work, I am so lucky to work with the great families I do. They all were very understanding.

K and I had a snuggly day. We lay on the couch and watched Disney films, we looked through cookbooks and made baking plans. We relaxed and re-charged. It was just what we needed.

Today was a busier day, K had a hospital appointment for an eye test (on a saturday??) and I had some fabric errands to run.
I will never do this on a Saturday again!
People in car parks are rude.
That's all I'm going to say about that.
I think this post is long and depressing enough.

Tomorrow we are going to get back to what we usually enjoy as a family. I have some sewing to do and we are going to head out for a long walk somewhere, blow away the cobwebs of this horrible week. I will take my new camera and play a little. I can't wait, it's a good thing that it's almost bedtime. x

Giveaway.

2011-08-30T22:08:00.001+01:00

I think I briefly mentioned a while back that I was starting to branch out slightly with my handmade goods. I will probably only offer up a few things, at a time, on Folksy but figured it wouldn't hurt to have a facebook page too.

To celebrate reaching my first 50 followers I am hosting a giveaway over on my Polka dot sweetheart facebook page.

If anyone would like to follow along on facebook and possibly win some handmade goodness, then follow this link and leave me a comment to let me know what you would like if you won!

Link for a polka dot giveaway!

Hope to see you all there x

Smile. Breathe. Hug.

2011-08-29T18:14:00.001+01:00

I have a migraine. I have a sore throat and some sinus crackly ickyness.

Just another reminder that I need to get back into better eating habits and move my little excercise shy butt!

As soon as I start to push my body and mind in extra ways, my throat starts to flare up and a migraine forces me to slow it down.

K started full days of school today. She stayed in school for lunch for the first time! 9am - 3.05pm. What a long day for Mummy! I am so pleased she chose a packed lunch from home instead of a school lunch, I was able to pack a whole lot of love into that little lunch!

I thought it would be nice to bake some cookies for my two big school kids! used a new recipe and everything! I used this recipe from a pretty life in the suburbs.

K was in great spirits when I picked her up! I was expecting a grumpy mess, but instead got hugs and smiles!

The danger lay beneath!

Unfortunately her tiredness came out in demanding, hyperactive behaviour with a very short attention span for anything. Add on some "lovely" learned behaviour from her new playground peers and I was just having a party!

Migraine mummy does not cope with these things, not when she is feeling sick, has been working and we had homework to do.

K was too wiggly to concentrate on homework.

She decided thgat clapping her hands loudly and shouting mum 3/4 times in a 2 second time frame, was required every 30 seconds. Regardless of what we were doing/saying at any time.

And K did not like the cookies :-(.

And I ended up raising my voice and being frustrated.

And Mummy has no energy left for cooking tea or for any of the bazillion things left on my list for the day.

When I tried to cook tea I opened up the cupboard and a pot fell out and the glass lid smashed.

And K said s**t.

And, and, and.

Why does this always happen when I spend all day thinking of what will happen later and then later comes and I am this horrible person :-(

So I have come here to purge my thoughts. Re group and remind myself to smile, breathe deeply and hug them all tight.

Tea came straight from the freezer and into the oven, I''l redeem it with a baked potato and some veg.

I will manage to read a bedtime story and will get an early night. My migraine will hopefully clear overnight.

Tomorrow will be a better day. I will be a better person.There is always tomorrow :-)

Better days.

There are always better days x

Bedroom makeover

2011-08-28T06:46:00.002+01:00

Slowly but surely bits are coming together. Today I managed to turn my little cushion thoughts into little cushion reality.

Sorry for the picture overload, but I am just so in love with these cushions!! LOVE!!

Oh and I had to move the bed last weekend as we had guests and had to make way for a ready bed, I did hang my frame in the centre, I swear. I clean forgot until I saw these pics, lol.

Another big step

2011-08-27T20:08:00.006+01:00

(please excuse the scary rear view!! The camera adds 10lbs ;-) )

So proud of our big girl.

We need a little more practise but she is defintely on her way!

I'm starting to feel it.

2011-08-25T21:09:00.002+01:00

The itch.

The need for cool air, fresh , crisp days. Boots, long sleeves, hats.

Last night at 9.10pm I looked outside and it was practically dark. I could just feel this bubbling of joy building up inside me and it just hit me how ready I am. How much I am just over the summer. I always feel like this but this year the grinch has managed to hold out longer than usual!

My time of year is coming. I am done with being too warm and feeling ill whilst rushing around in the sunshine. Today was very hot. We made the most of it though,by spending all day outside. All snacks, lunch and tea were enjoyed out in the garden! I have walked my little legs off to and from school and nursery, went to the park twice and had a very special bike ride with K (more on that tomorrow). It was very busy although there was still time to enjoy an icecream.

But the whole time we were out in the sunshine, I was thinking about things like this

Slowly moving into moments like this-

and scenes like this.

Of course for me, the ultimate comes along after the crunchy leaves have been crunched, gathered, enjoyed and spread out again.

After the pumpkins have been planned , chosen and carved.

That's when the magic begins.

That's the good thing about summer I guess.

The best is yet to come!

Letting go.

2011-08-23T21:12:00.000+01:00

I am so tired, my "new life" is kicking my butt!! Work is , thankfully, crazy busy and teamed with all the nervous energy I am using, I'm worn out.

I am so worn out that at 8.30pm I was tucked up in bed. I accidently just posted what I was going to write on here as my facebook status.

And just when I can't seem to find the words - kelle Hampton usually has them. Letting go is tough :-( even if it is "only" for school. http://www.kellehampton.com/2011/08/letting-go-hanging-on.html
I will NOT think about Monday and all that it will bring , instead I will focus on enjoying afternoons with my girl this week.

I am struggling , behind the scenes. But I know I'll get through it. I've dine it once before and I can do it again.

It's good for us to remember how precious our family time is x

oops

2011-08-23T14:42:00.001+01:00

I appear to have made a little mistake while shopping for our summer holiday.

And unfortunately, unmentionables are un returnable!

(say that 5 times real fast!!)

Fortunately they contain a LOT of fabric!

We may need to play spot the panties in future craft posts ;-)!

A whole new world.

2011-08-22T22:28:00.001+01:00

Well the day came.

We have entered a whole new world of firsts, early starts, being organised and learning new things.

Aren't they adorable?

Aw my big grown up boy.

And my big school girl.

I love this photo of my babies.

The very special road we walked, together.

I am still gathering my thoughts really.

I am not sure how I feel, well that's not true I do know how I feel.

I feel so proud of her, so happy that she has settled in and is enjoying it.

I feel happy that I get to collect her at lunchtime and we still have the rest of the day.

I just wish I was used to it all already.

I am aching knowing that we will be apart from 9am until 3pm starting next Monday.

I know I'll get there.

I just need to learn to be big and brave, like my two big grown up schoolkids. xx

The night before.

2011-08-15T21:41:00.000+01:00

It hasn't been an easy day today. And it was not for the reasons I thought would make it hard.
Regardless of today, I am actually looking forward to tomorrow.

Tomorrow K starts school. The big school.

Tomorrow at 9am we will walk out of our front door with K wearing her little uniform. Black pleated skirt, white blouse and red cardigan. And the. most. adorable. shoes.

Black and shiny.

I feel a little sad. I am going to miss this girl a whole lot. It hurts to think of how much.

We are together every single day. If I am in the car, she is beside me , singing along to her disney CD, asking questions, telling me stories.

We are a wee team, she is my little star.

I know she will be the same wee girl coming home to me at 3pm each day, we will still have fun and cuddles and chats.

But oh how I will miss that beautiful little face.

I will miss spontaneous walks with prams, scooter rides or park visits. I will miss playing games, snuggling on the couch and having PJ days, popcorn and movie afternoons. It will still be there, but more limited.

I will miss being at home with my girl.

Maybe I'm not ok. But I will smile, I will wave and hug and kiss and leave her settled in her new classroom.

I will cry.#

I will be proud,

A wander by the shore.

2011-08-07T21:03:00.001+01:00

Ever since returning from our holiday I have been missing our walks by the beach there.

On Friday we went for a stroll in the sunshine along by our own harbour.

There were even more yachts than usual in the harbour as it was the yacht muster this weekend. All the flags were up and the marquee for all of the festivities.

Fraser is pretty much on the tail end of enjoying family walks, so he left us as we were watching a boat being craned out of the water. He had a stroll back to Granny C's house.

I never tire of watching these two strolling along hand in hand, although she is growing too much between photos!

We have all jumped along these stones as children,

and K is no exception. Although she is such a daredevil and jumps so far we are worried she might land wrong and break an ankle!

I love where we live. It isn't always easy to remember how good we have it.

Anyone else think this is too high for her to be walking along??

How about now??? aaaa!

I love this memorial, it is in memory of all of the local men/fishermen who are lost at sea.

But I will never understand why they positioned it as they did! With all of these horrible buildings behind it!

If they had faced it the other way, the beautiful coastline would frame it perfectly.

K ran, skipped and climbed her way back to Granny's house.

(Boy I am going to miss this beautiful cheeky face when it is at School all day!)

and we made it, tired and definitely not wanting to pose for a photo!!

There is nothing like a stroll by the seaside.

I've been pottering.

2011-08-02T13:58:00.001+01:00

No I haven't bought myself a heap of clay and a potters wheel, I have been pottering around with my blog, changing up the template and background. I don't think I have it just right yet, so be sure to be ready for some more "dust" settling as the maintenance continues.

It all started when I decided to start a new seperate blog. I have been toying with the idea of trying to sell some handmade goodies, locally. The jury is out , for now, on an online shop. I'm just not sure my sewing is of a good enough standard. Although I have registered with folksy. Maybe I should buy something to compare? Hmm. That's a thought.
Anyhoo, I figured that it is always handy to have a website of some sort when selling anything and so the new blog was born. At the moment it will just be a "showcase" of some crafty things I have been busy with.

And so, I can now also be found at http://www.polkadotsweetheart.blogspot.com/

I spent a while playing with the template etc and ended up liking it better than this blog. That will never do!! So an overhaul was called for and I stole all of the things I loved from the new blog and put them here, ha! Then changed things up a little over here.

Oh and while I was looking through pics, I found all of the pics from my birthday! I also found a good few pics of the delicious not so baby joe! How did they go un - blogged?? Must put that right!

What do you think? Is the font too hard on the eyes? Is the backgropund too weird? Too busy? Or does it work? gimme your worst ;-) x

One of those days.

2011-07-28T21:32:00.000+01:00

Have you ever had a day that has just been a struggle? Today has been just such a day for me.

I have had to keep looking at my feet to make sure I am in fact not walking through treacle!!

Ugh.

Through the night, last night, poor K was inconsolable. She had woken up and was super sad to be alone in her room. I felt really bad for her, she shared a room with Murray and I last week at the holiday house and enjoyed waking up and seeing us. I just cuddled her and reminded her that she had her baw baw and Emmy and that her new fish Hannah was by her bed. Eventually she settled and I was able to return to my room. It sure made for a tiring day today though! Both of us being tired equals a disaster usually! She whines when she is tired. A lot. And my whine tolerance is less than zero when I am tired.

oy.

Last week we added a new member to our family. The kids have been wanting goldfish for a long long time, so after a recent bedroom overhaul, for them both, I told themn that if they could keep their rooms tidy and organised for 4 weeks they could get a fish each. K is going on at least 8 weeks or more now and while on holiday last week I noticed something in a pet shop window as I passed

I saw a fish bowl with a pink sparkly lid. When we went to collect it K was so happy, she carried that little bag out and was overjoyed with her bowl. Then we surprised her and told her she could get her fish that day too!!

And so she did! Hannah the fish.

K is being super responsible and feeding her and talking to her. I'm very impressed and proud.

Fraser's 4 weeks are up on Sunday - looks like another addition will be happening. And now - they have to keep their rooms tidy for the fish. So they can have a nice home.

Since I started this post, K has gone to bed, Fraser has gone for a sleepover to my Mum's house. I am about to pour myself a glass of wine and call Lor Lor for a chat.

The day has passed, it now just feels like a bad dream. But it is over!

My night could only be better if I could have a stroll here

I am sure it would blow the cobwebs away.

Crazy thing is we live by the sea! We may not have a promenade but we do have the sea. Must find a walk that I love as much as this one. Maybe K and I will go looking tomorrow.

Maybe we can find some of this too

mmmm snickers ice cream!

I want one this size!!!

Goodnight for now x

Rainy days.

2011-07-24T20:57:00.000+01:00

Our home away from home was lovely. With a large open plan room on the top level with beautiful views to the sea. Large enough to hold all 7 of us, plus miffers the dog, comfortably.

we had a little rain during the week so the wii and games/books etc came in very handy.

We cooked and ate

And generally lazed around.

K took charge of the camera and tripod!

And did very well in my opinion!

Monday was very wet, so the boys headed off to the local museum and K , Beebs and I went to Pot - a doodle - do. (awsome name no?) K called it pot a noodle noo. lol.

Anyway, this was a ceramic painting place and it was a very enjoyable way to spend a rainy morning.

Our girl painted a little pot all on her own, I drew around the stencils for her but that was all.

I loved the little farm buildings surrounding us.

I painted a little pendent for Lor Lor's birthday gift.

What a wonderful rainy day.

Home.

2011-07-23T22:39:00.001+01:00

We are home. Whilst packing, I was desperately wishing we were staying until at least Monday. We have had such a lovely and relaxing time and I will miss our little beach so so badly.

As soon as we walked through our front door I felt it. Home just wrapping around us. Us in every corner. Bunting still hung from my Birthday celebrations and a big old hairy face sitting on the stairs waiting for us.

Dorothy was right, there is no place like home.

That doesn't mean we didn't have fun. And that I wont miss these crazy guys!

Good thing I will still see them tomorrow ( although prob not at 6am!)

Oh we had a great time. Our little family has not had a proper summer holiday in 3 years! So we made the most of this one.

My new camera came along for the ride and we spent some quality time with each other. On average I took around 100 pics a day. That is a lot for me to sort through! I did a little while we were away and I look forward to dipping into the rest to soak in the memories we created.

Off to snuggle into my own bed now and I can already feel myself sinking into those delicious pillows.

Night night x

Thoughts.

2011-07-20T17:56:00.003+01:00

Having lots of time on my hands to think and relax brings up some unusal thoughts. I have made a few observations.

When I pay with coins, it makes me feel like a little girl.
I miss the internet far more than is normal.
I take a lot of photos.
I am not as good a Mum as I think I am.
People who wear bikinis to swim in this country are showing off.
I can be quick to judge.
It is possible to sleep through my girl waking up.
I want a dog.
I am a little crazy.
I miss being busy with a project, next time I go on holiday I will bring some hand sewing or crafts to do.
Time passes too quickly when you are on holiday.
I need to learn to have more patience.
I had never seen Disney's Aladdin before this week.
Swimming makes our girl fall asleep before tea time.
I definitely want to make our Kitchen/living room/dining area open plan at some point.
when you go swimming, you are supposed to shower with soap BEFORE entering the pool. Who knew?? not me!

Just some more random ramblings from a relaxed mind. Our holiday continues to be busy, relaxing, sunny, rainy and fun. We finally got down to the beach and built some sandcastles. Today we went swimming, must remember to sign K up for swimming lessons when we get home. Hope you are all enjoying your summer too x

Summer holidays.

2011-07-17T21:48:00.001+01:00

Right now I am ~~sitting~~ no, make that lying along a comfortable couch, surrounded by family. We are currently on day 2 of our summer break, back to our beach and holiday house, that we enjoyed so very much at easter. I, personally, have yet to set foor on the sand, but we have had so much fun already.

The little place we are staying is on the same East coast that we live on but a little further down. Only a two and a half hour drive, just over the border into England. But we don't need to go far to be on holiday. And this sandy beach and long promenade are perfect for playing and strolling on.

There is no internet here, but we have discovered that Murray's phone can act as a modem , when connected to the laptop! Woo hoo!! I'm not sure how it will behave when I try to upload photos, but its worth a try. At the very least, I can document with words as it happens, so I can remember the little things that can easily slip away.

K has been very unwell over the past week. I actually thought she was going to end up with a hospital visit on Tuesday. The pain she was in does not require documenting. It will forever be etched on my soul. With some headaches and vomiting filling the night before we left, the holiday was in jeopardy of being postponed by a day.

But she rallied!! And we arrived with no mishaps in the car on the way.

Our first day ended with a little stroll along the promenade just as the sun was disappearing

It was awesome.

This morning we were all up bright and early at 6.20am. This is so not me! LOL I even tried to go back to bed as it felt so alien to be up at that time! But sleep could not find me. I guess I was just too eager to begin the fun. After an awesome cooked breakfast, made of course by chef Raymond, we headed out for a walk in the rain. We planned on popping in on a charity car boot sale for a nosey but it was cancelled due to the weather. No fear we headed to the little local shop and stocked up on some goodies for our cosy time inside, sheltering from the rain.

After lunchtime the clouds parted and a very warm sun broke through!! Raincoats off and suncream on for an afternoon at a local Lifeboat fete/gala.

We watched the kids play in the funhouse, ride the big wheel (ferris wheel) , K took part in the worlds most dire magician act. They won teddy bears on tombolas and had their pictures taken on huge motorcycles. The motorcycle K was on was incredibly, owned by a man who comes from our home town and lives in our own street!!!! What a small world! He and his biker friends toured their way down too. Crazy.

I so wish I could add the pictures of all our fun but the little modem offering me my little writing space, just can't cope with uploading pics.

I will just need to bombard with pics when we get home.

Our girl seems better and is sound asleep in her bed (on de top bunk!!) . I am sitting with all the guys, in the awesome living/dining/kitchen space, watching top gun on tv after a few wii sessions, a glass of white wine in my hand, listening to the rain tip tapping on the window. And we all know how I feel about that sound.

Happy.

I sent mail.

2011-07-12T12:47:00.001+01:00

As I mentioned in a previous post I once again took part in the handmade gift exchange hosted by Linda at Craftaholics anonymous. I was matched up with a fellow Brit blogger (who knew there was more than me!? ;-) ) My partner was Steph , who has a very sweet blog called southern fairy designs.

We chatted back and forth via email and asked a few questions, a few things I took from our conversations was that Steph liked colour, she enjoyed making and wearing jewellery/pins etc. I also found out that she had a little point and shoot camera , like myself, and after a little ~~stalking~~ research on her pinterest boards, I noticed that she didn't have a case for her camera.

I made her a couple of little brooches/ pins. I used floral and gingham fabric.

The frst one had two little fabric rosettes with some pearls tucked in, it is ridiculously difficult to photograph as it was slightly rounded.

This fabric flower was made using a tutorial I found on the fab ruffles and stuff blog, but be warned - they are super duper addictive to make!!

I also made Steph a little pouch for her camera, I have used the tutorial before when making one for myself and noticed Steph had pinned the same tutorial. I hesitated before making it though as I was a little worried that Steph really wanted to enjoy the process of the " making" . In the end I figured she was probably like me and could use more than one gadget pouch and there was also the scope for her to make one as a gift too!!

Lined with polks dot fabric, of course.

Thanks to Linda and Steph, once again I thoroughly enjoyed the gift exchange , can't wait until November and we can do it again!!

To be continued...

2011-07-11T20:59:00.001+01:00

On Sunday I turned 30. I have had the best weekend. I have lots of photos and thoughts to share. But my poor girl is feeling very under the weather, so I haven't had the time to go through all of the pics yet.

I am feeling so thankful and very blessed. I have the most amazing family and friends, they have made me feel so special and loved.

And - they spoiled me beyond belief!

I'll be back soon and be prepared to be bombarded with photos for a while!!