My Plan for the evening

Hello Everybody! I hope you have all had a lovely day? It has been sunny here but much of the day was taken up with errands so we haven't had the opportunity to enjoy it. Aidan has had a rather awkward day, shall we just call them from now on "toddler days" many of you are Mothers or have at least experience with small children so I know you will understand how I feel!

So following on from a Toddler Day, here is a photo of my plan for the evening........................

That's right, a pint of cider a chocolate bar and all of today's newspapers so I can paw over the Royal Wedding again! Now I should point out that I don't usually buy every newspaper known to man, I have lots of friends in the US and Australia and they asked me to pick up a souvenir paper for them. So I am carefully going to have a read and enjoy an indulgent moment before packaging them up and sending them on their way.

I hope you have a moment to relax and enjoy yourself today, no matter what it be doing x x

The Royal Wedding

Well what can I say, didn't Catherine look lovely. Very stylish and graceful, I think she will make a lovely queen someday. You could tell that they really love eachother and I think it was lovely Harry said "wait until you turn round" to William as she was walking down the aisle. In truth I don't actually have much time for most of the Royal Family, they always seem very dour, but days like today make me warm to them as you see them as natural, real people. That said I always did think William and Harry were lovely boys, just wish their gran would smile a bit more often!

Anyway, we had our little party and drank Fizz all morning (which was great until I stopped and then I got the mid-afternoon hangover, ouch!) I am pleased that everyone said they enjoyed themselves. All of the food was eaten and the cakes were popular too.

Heres some right Royal photos!

And this one is my favourite photo of the whole Wedding, click on it for more photos :-)




Oh and you HAVE to watch this funny advert,

I had to do a double take on Wills, Harry and Kate!

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww don't they look cute!

Tomorrow is their Big Day, all of Britains Pomp and Ceremony will be on show for the world. I am having a little Tea Party for Family so they can watch the proceedings on our nice TV. I've decorated my living room and the front of the house, and tomorrow just need to do some decorating and some sandwiches.

I am looking forward to seeing Kate's dress and I hope it stays dry for them.

Easter Cupcakes

Ok so I forgot to take a picture of the Carrot Cake but I DID remember to take a piccy of the Cupcakes before they were all munched. There are a couple with not much buttercream on as they are for my Dad who is Diabetic, or not as and when it suits him or when a yummy cake is around!




Piping bags scare me so I was pleased with the result of these!

Easter Monday

Another beautiful day here so we got out and about and enjoyed the sunshine. We went for a picnic and lovely walk along the River and then took Aidan to the play area to run riot!

As soon as it got cooler I went and watered my little flowers, the are not much but they are pretty and make me happy.
Here are some photos from our day:

I had a lovely Easter Sunday, I hope you did too?

Our Friends came over for dinner at 12.30 and left at 9pm, they must have been happy and comfy!

For dinner we had a Seville Roasted Gammon, leeks, Carrots, Cauli & broccoli cheeese, Yorkies and Roasties. For dessert we had a homemade and decorated Carrot cake (which I completely forgot to take a photo of) and it was devoured within minutes! After dinner we all sat together and watched "Monsters Inc", Aidan snuggled up with his favourite Godfather and they both had a nap. Later on we sat in the Garden and enjoyed some sun and then watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" whilst we had Gammon Sandwiches and 'still warm from the oven' Cupcakes.

I enjoy having people to fuss over and I like that they all enjoy our hospitality and even feel comfy enough to nap!

101 list revisited

The original purpose of my blog was to track my 101 in 1001 list, man did I get distracted!! Well I thought I would revisit my list and see how I am doing and was pleased to see that pretty much all are in hand so to speak.

I still think there are a couple that are not going to be possible such as move house, try for another baby and complete a diploma, we are just not there financially and with everything up in the air with work it would be foolish to make such huge life changing events happen.

One area I really need to pull my socks up on is the BBC 100 best books as I am falling way, way behind.

101 in 1001 list

1. Tell my son and my partner I love them every day
2. Try for another baby
3. Move house
4. Send a care parcel to a soldier serving our country abroad.
5. Grow my own veggies
6. Make at least 5 new friends (5/5)
7. Bake a cake at least once a month
8. Make/sew at least 6 material bags to give as presents (2/6)
9. Read the BBC 100 greatest books (18/100)
10. Entertain friends once a month
11. Make someone laugh everyday
12. Complete a Diploma course
13. Visit Edinburgh
14. Adopt a Donkey from Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary
15. Clear my debts16. Save £10 a month for my sons future17. Recycle more
18. Write a meal plan every week
19. Give blood as many times as possible
20. Write to my elderly Aunties every month
21. Always remember my bags for life when I go to the shops
22. Condition my hair once a month
23. Have a long relaxing bath ALONE once a month
24. Watch at least 10 films I wouldn’t normally watch (6/10)
25. Dye my hair a different colour
26. Go to Occo, the Moroccan restaurant that I always look at but never go into.
27. Have a no electric night once a month
28. Go to PYO
29. Spend a day “visiting” my town with a tourists eyes and go to places I would normally walk past e.g. – museum
30. Research the American presidents
31. Watch the top 25 musicals (11/25)
32. Knit myself a funky jumper
33. Buy some stripy socks in honour of my friend Fay!!
34. Buy locally more often and support the littler shops
35. Go to see a Shakespeare play
36. Buy a pair of flowery Doc Martens
37. Read the work of the poet Laureate each year (2/3)
38. Make a record or scrapbook of my sons life
39. Hold a corn snake
40. Hold a snake skin (wearing gloves!) Glad that ones done!!
41. Improve my credit score
42. Sell my flat
43. Send random friendship cards to each of the 6 houses in the UK with the same address as me
44. Learn how to set up a blog
45. Sit on a horse
46. Visit Warwick Castle again
47. Go back to Shell Island in North Wales
48. Get my £50 pay out from YouGov!!
49. Book tickets to attend a 2012 Olympics event
50. Visit the Library more often
51. Leave a friendly post it note in all the library books I borrow
52. Make my Best friend a 30th Lucky dip
53. Get a water butt and attach it to the gutter
54. Go and see Priscilla queen of the desert in the west end
55. Visit charity shops more often
56. Cook a Thanksgiving meal for friends
57. Talk to at least 1 stranger a week
58. Take the time to write a letter of thanks when I have received good service in a shop/restaurant/hotel
59. Make a snowman
60. Catch little spiders and take them outside rather than squishing them (cant promise to do the same with biggies!)
61. Buy my mum a present on my Birthday
62. Go to a zoo with my family
63. Talk to my Grandparents more
64. Halve my shoe collection
65. Sort through my bedroom chest of drawers
66. Finish Aidan’s Alphabet cross stitch
67. Watch every episode of The Secret Millionaire
68. Buy myself another piece of jewellery from Tiffany’s
69. Visit a Christmas market
70. Have a PJ day once a month
71. Put up a bird table
72. Try Sushi
73. Get a fourth tattoo
74. Organise a reunion with old school friends
75. Attend reunion with old school friends
76. Make myself go somewhere that I really don’t want to
77. Wash up for my Nan at least once a week
78. Check the oil and water in my car every 2 months
79. Clean my car inside and out every 2 months
80. Visit Bath again
81. Visit Wookey Hole again
82. Go to the mountains in the Rhondda
83. Find out more about my Paternal Grandparents who died before I was born
84. Bake Diabetic cakes for my Dad once a month
85. Cook a “takeaway” dinner for my Mum and Dad so my mum can have a night off once every 6 months
86. Feed the ducks at least 3 times (3/3)
87. Organise the photos on the computer
88. Write to my Aussie pen friend once a month
89. Learn to accept help, people wouldn’t offer if they didn’t want to
90. Return to work Part Time and manage to stay Part Time through effective budgeting
91. Knit some squares to do my share
92. Send 20 people a surprise present just because (13/20)
93. Eat chips from the wrapper at the beach
94. Eat an ice cream at the seaside
95. Collect a pretty pebble or shell every time we visit the seaside.
96. Do at least 1 Race for Life
97. Update my CV
98. Get a family portrait done each year (2/3)
99. Sit by a fire talking with my Partner
100. Start to write a Bucket list
101. Visit the theatre at least 6 times (4/6)


Red - Complete
Blue - In Progress

My Little Kitchen Shelf

Today I wanted to share with you my cute little kitchen shelf, which I love.

On my shelf sits my Daffodil tea set, a berry scented candle, my cooking scales and a Gingerbread man box.

It is decorated with a pretty bunting of red and white fabrics and has Gingerbread men hanging from the sides. My late Grandfather helped me to cut the Gingerbread men out of a large piece of wood and then I painted them myself, hanging just below them are some wooden hearts that were painted with a crackle paint but they seem to have crackled a bit much!!

Between the supports is a Blackwork embroidery of a heart, the writing says "Heart of the Home". I embroidered it myself, I love to do needlework but struggle to find the time these days.

Underneath the embroidery is the noticeboard I made, it was very simple to make but is very useful to post reminders, tickets and prescriptions on.

Well thats a guided tour of my favourite thing in my Kitchen, I hope you enjoyed it!

Our works of art!

As you all know I went to a pottery painting place on my Birthday, we all decorated various pieces of pottery and had a great deal of fun doing so. We had to leave the pieces at the studio as they needed to be fired and glazed so I was really excited to pick them up.

Here is Aidans little handprint masterpiece, he loved dabbling the paint and squishing it round with his fingers.

This mug was decorated by Chris but I should point out he was severely hampered by Aidan. He did the bulk of the childcare and left us to enjoy our painting. I think I will take him back there one day when we are on holiday and Aidan is at Nursery so he can paint something properly. That said I love this as its really bright and I love Aidans "free painting" all over it too!

And here is my Teacup and Saucer. I am really happy with the way it has come out, nice and bright like I wanted it too.

I wish I had taken a photo of my Mums plate, that she painted a picture of our Westie onto, and also my Cousins mug which was decorated with lady birds and a garden theme. Both were wonderful. I really recommend you going to a pottery painting studio, it was very therapeutic and you had no choice but to concentrate on your piece and your piece alone. I would love to go one day, just me on my own, to relax.

They may not be technically great but I love our unique pieces of work :-)

Afternoon Tea

So especially for Saving For Travel here is some photos of my little tea set. It has 6 cups, 6 saucers and 6 tea plates and is made of china, I love it's pretty Daffodil pattern as it is so cheery. The tea is sitting on my dining table on a pretty hand emroidered table cloth that my Nan gave me, silly really but I had never considered that my Nan would have lovely vintage things in the house already.

So what time shall I expect you?

My Birthday

Thanks for my Birthday wishes :-)

I was treated to a lie in and a lovely breakfast and was greeted by this sight when I came downstairs.

After I had opened my Cards and gifts we walked down to a Paint your own Pottery place we have in town and met with my Mum and Cousin. I painted a huge Teacup and Saucer, it won't be a masterpiece but I enjoyed decorating it as we all did. I will post some pictures when I collect our works of art on Saturday. After painting we went and had a nice meal in a nearby pub, it was lovely to spend time with my Cousin Amy and my Mum as well as Chris and Aidan. Once we had finished our meal Amy and I went to this wonderful shop thats opened in town, I say shop but it is a huge old factory and is crammed full of really lovely Vintage and Shabby Chic items. I was in heaven! I am glad I left my purse with Chris and Aidan in the little cafe or else my Visa would have got a bashing! I did buy a lovely vintage, china tea set, it's beautiful and has lovely daffodils on, and I am planning on using it at my Royal Wedding tea party. In the evening Chris cooked me a meal and a yummy Birthday Cake, he baked it all by himself so I am quite impressed.

Today we went to a Farm for the afternoon, there were so many friendly animals for Aidan to meet.

He loved petting them and stroked their fur gently, he bent down to cuddle the baby goats and ran his fingers through the wool of the lambs. The lambs must have liked it as they came back for more and showed off my gambling around on their spindly new legs.

So today I am officially......

Not sure how I feel about it!!!!

The creations of a 2 Year Old!

Another Glorious Day

The sun has shone brightly again here today, the smell of peoples BBQ keeps drifting into my garden and making me jealous.

The whole family went into the garden today to give it a good tidy, Chris and I weeded and bagged up the remnants of Winter whilst Aidan 'helped' by picking up sticks. He was delighted to find a Woodlouse under a pot and squealed with delight, he also managed to find many Ladybirds and laughed as they tickled his palms.

Next weekend I think I will plant some bedding flowers into the pots and take the rubbish to the tip, then I think the garden will be ready for Summer.

Oh Dear!

Naughty, Naughty! I was browsing online for some Union Jack cases for the Royal Wedding cupcakes I am planning on making and whilst looking I also purchased these cute little Easter cases and picks

and also these lovely little bunny and chick sprinkles

The cupcakes are going to look so cheerful and colourful, I can't wait to make them :-)

Sunshine

It has been such a gorgeous day here in Northampton, the sun has been shining and not a cloud in the sky. We have just been for a lovely Family evening stroll, a nice gentle pace stopping here and there to look at feathers and flowers. Aidan loves to run off and 'hide' from us or bring us things he has found on his explorations!
It was so nice to feel the warm sun on your back and enjoy Family time.

My Cupcake book has arrived! I can't wait to get into the kitchen and bake something yummy and pretty, it seems like forever ago since I ordered it. I also couldn't resist a cute little Pink Gingham half Apron I saw, it makes me feel like a proper 50's housewife whilst doing my chores!

There's a a website I love called Good to Know, it's full of recipes as well as lots of other useful and interesting articles. They recently had a top 100 list of Cupcake recipes and ideas for decorating, some are just so sweet.
Have a look, I bet you want to dive straight into your kitchen and bakes some!

Happy Mothers Day

This is such a sweet advert and sums up being a Mummy. Hoping you all had a lovely Mothers Day x