Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh whats that noise I hear?

The sound I am currently hearing is an unusual one, one that does not often occur in our house. Some find the sound scary and unerving, some find peace and solitude in it, Parents tend to doubt it is a sound that actually exists whereas others hear to much of it.

It is of course SILENCE!

Chris has taken Aidan to his Mums for the Day and we had heavy snow in the night so no cars are passing by the front door. Once they had left I looked around at the mess in the Living Room, the mess I really should be tidying up, and decided it could wait. I don't often have the house to myself so I am relaxing with a nice hot coffee, catching up with some lovely Blogs on here and looking out to my snowy garden.

I am quite, quite sure that by the end of the day I will be craving noise again and will be glad when Aidan bounds back through the door but, for the moment, I am just going to sit and enjoy!

Hi everyone,

Sorry not been on much as Ive been having the time from hell.

Car failed MOT, other car has 2 slow leaks and needs 2 new tyres, I chipped bathroom sink with a perfume bottle, solicitors insisting I pay £75 for a boiler service before they will complete on flat, ran out of gas credit so cold showers and no heat until Chris gets paid Tues, he found out he didnt get a job he wanted, toilet cistern broke and was overflowing inside and outside house...............and thats all in the last 72 hours!!!

If anyone needs me I will be drowing myself in a bucket of wine!

I hope your weekend has been better x x

Flat Stanley Project

Back in May I told you about a Flat Stanley Project that we were starting where we had made Flat versions of ourselves and they were going to go travelling around the world.
The project is still ongoing but I thought today I would share with you some photos of some of the visitors we have had so far!

I can't wait to see what adventures Flat Vicky and Flat Aidan have had!

Value Baby Wipes, is there anything they can't do?

My Name is Vicky and I am addicted to Baby Wipes!

There, I've said it.

I LOVE baby wipes, I only ever use a value brand, normally Morrisons Savers, and they cost me the princely sum of 48p for 80 wipes yet they have so many uses. Now I know if I was being money saving I would use a reusable cloth but sometimes you just need the convenience and hygiene of disposable.

Here is just a few of the things I use them for:

• Cleaning Aidan up whilst travelling or after a snack
• Taking my Make up off at the end of a day
• Cleaning up in the car, I grab a wipe and dust the dashboard and gear stick whilst I wait for Chris to finish work or whilst stuck in traffic
• Cleaning the Laminate flooring
• Removing colouring pencil scribbles off of the floors and cupboards
• Generally dusting the Living room
• Cooling down when hot and sticky in summer
• Giving a nice shine to shoes
• Wiping over the Bathroom, sink and loo. For extra hygiene you can pop a bit of Disinfectant on them.
• Removing anything sticky from anywhere! Wipe, scrunch and throw away!
• Wiping down your laptop to remove sticky fingers
• Getting rid of grubby finger prints from light switches and sockets
• Removing cat fur from sofas, rugs and clothes
• Wiping Cats wet paws when they come in from outside to prevent a trail of paw prints
• Cleaning bin lids, again you can pop some disinfectant on them too and then chuck away
• Clearing up spills, especially things like coffee granules
• Wiping the handrail on the stairs, doesnt make it slippy or dangerous and god only knows what germs lurk on there.
• Giving a public loo seat a quick once over before use

And thats just a few!
Now do you see why I always have a pack on me?

Surprise!!!

Yesterday we went to a Surprise 40th Birthday Party for our Good Friend Peter, he knew nothing about it and thought he was just going for a Lasagne at our Friend Michelles house. We all hid in the dining room (let me tell you its hard keeping a 3 year old quiet!) and when he came through shouted surprise, as you can see he was!

Peters Sister had emailed us photots of when he was younger which we printed and
hung around the room.

Photos were taken with all the friends that came, more memories to treasure.

What Birthday party would be complete without presents...........................

....and of course cake!

Later we played on the Wii and chatted, everyone had a really nice time and we spent a fraction of the cost of a night out in town :-)

Valentines Day

This year I am going to make Homemade Valentines Gifts instead of the usual over-priced items and cards that the shops ram in your face as soon as the Christmas items are all sold out.

I thought I would begin Chris's Valentine Morning with a mug of tea. All you need is some drawstring tea bags (which I have some of anyway) and some red paper cut into heart shapes, you can write a little love message if you want to.

I LOVE the idea of sending him his Lunch in a bag as gorgeous as this looks but I imagine he might get some stick from the other men in his office if I did!

I will probably make him some Heart shaped sandwiches using a cookie cutter and I am definately going to wrap a bar of chocolate to look as cute as these, I plan on writing a love note on the reverse of the paper as a little surprise.

Upon his return from work he can be greeted by some tasty homemade fudge Hearts which look lovely but are actually quite simple to make using

• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 3 1/2 cups sugar
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
• Pink food coloring,

Place milk in a saucepan. Stir in sugar; add butter. Over medium heat, stir constantly, until sugar dissolves and butter melts. Increase heat to medium high, bring to a boil, and cover with lid. After it has boiled for a while remove pan from heat, add food colouring. Let the fudge sit at room temperature without stirring, until the mixture is lukewarm. Stir the fudge with a wooden spoon until it changes from glossy to opaque and is thick and creamy, 2 to 5 minutes. Quickly pour into prepared pan. Use piece of plastic wrap to smooth fudge into the pan, creating an even surface. Let cool completely, 2 to 3 hours, and cut with a heart cookie cutter

To relax from a hard days work, I will give him this sweet message in a bottle. In the bottle you place a handwritten love letter, some heart confetti and some bath pearls.

Finally following a Homecooked meal he can climb into bed to read his book and find his page is marked with this lovely handmade Bookmark.

I can't wait to show him throughout the day how much I love him x x

I wish I could crochet!

"The Donkey Sanctuary is asking its crafty supporters to turn their needles to a new herd of donkey-themed crochet projects to help them raise funds for their essential work worldwide.

The crochet donkey mobile phone socks, pocket tissue holders, keyrings and bag charms will join the ever-popular array of knitted donkey toys, hats and other goodies already kindly created and donated by supporters. The finished masterpieces – which being hand-crafted are all unique, just like the donkeys cared for by the charity – will be sold via the charity’s Visitors’ Centre and online shop www.donkeyworld.org.uk, as well as at a variety of events throughout the year.

Marian Gumbrell, The Donkey Sanctuary’s Community Fundraising Manager, says:

“Due to the overwhelming success of our knitted donkey patterns we wanted to make sure that that there were projects available for crochet enthusiasts as well. The new mobile phone socks, pocket tissue holders, donkey keyrings and bag charms will help to raise valuable funds for The Donkey Sanctuary’s work around the world, and we hope they will raise a smile or two as well.”

To receive a free copy of the pattern booklet with full instructions for making the crochet mobile phone sock, tissue holder, donkey keyring and bag charm, please contact Marian or Ruth on 01395 578222 or email Volunteer Fundraising on VFR@thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk. "