A New Friend...

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post. I do try and reply to each comment and appreciate every one of them :)

I forgot to show a photo of the lovely flowers that Andrew bought me for Valentines. We don't really celebrate Valentines, but it's always nice to get flowers and they do look so pretty in the fauna posy vase.

How mantic is my man, buying me roses!

While I'm mentioning his romantic side... Andy was popping a pizza in the oven and came running through to show me this

Huh? I hear you say. It's a small piece of tomato from the pizza. Isn't he sweet!

I was flicking through the last issue of Simply Crochet when I came upon the cutest little bunny. I'm still very new to crochet and haven't made anything like this before so as well as learning something new, it meant we have a new friend come to stay with us.

She was nice and easy to make and I enjoyed crocheting her. Imogen suggests we call her Beatrix, Trixie for short.

Cute little bunny tail...

She's posing with my crochet hooks so I can show off my new GreenGate tumbler. I think it's so pretty, Andrew bought it for my birthday and I think it's going to be the closest I get to any GreenGate for now... love it :)

Take care
xxx

I had a Birthday!

It was over a week ago now... where do the weeks fly to... what am I saying... where do the years go?

I had a lovely birthday with my family. Adam  came round after work, then Andy and Adam made a lovely Mexican meal to celebrate the day. Unfortunately no photos were taken, but I can still show you some of my lovely presents.

This is so sweet, and plays Over the Rainbow, from my thoughtful husband.

Beautiful flowers as a lovely surprise from my beautiful sister and her family (not the best photo, the colours are gorgeous and vibrant). Just right to go in my new jug :)

I was so excited by this, a Sharp Crochet Hook. Andy bought it from America especially, my wonderful husband! It comes with a handy little book with ideas and patterns and means I can crochet borders onto everything without having the fuss of having to pierce holes first.

 They have a website and facebook page full of ideas too.

Also, here are some of the lovely books...

Hmmm... not sure if Andy's trying to tell me something here...

I do love the Amazon wishlist...

It's so nice having a grown up son too, Adam bought me some lovely jewellery

and thoroughly spoilt me with lots of bits and pieces, including some cds of The Drifters and this one here

Imogen knows the way to her mum's heart and treated me to a big box of milk chocolates... yum! Just right for munching through while watching a good film.

Take Care
xxx

Spring Tulips

As we were meandering through the local supermarket, I spotted a bucket with flowers that were on sale. I haven't been lucky enough to find one of these at our usual supermarket before, so feeling well chuffed I treated myself to a couple of bunches of Tulips... they were only 69p each! It's just like having Spring in the living room :)

I've picked up the knitting needles again (haven't done any knitting for a while since I learnt how to crochet) and started on a little cardigan for my Tangkou dolls. I picked the wool up in a charity shop for 10p, it has a silky feel to it. 

A couple of posts ago I showed you some Swallows and said I'd show another picture of them up in the conservatory. Andrew put them up this afternoon :)

Take care

xxx

Pasta All Round

I'm not the biggest pasta fan in the world, but hubby loves pasta and it can make a quick and filling meal, especially on a cold winter's evening.

I made 2 different dishes, one with tuna, cheese and black pepper for Adam

and one for us with chopped up gammon , garlic and cheese.

I also cooked a pan of pasta just for the chickens. Poor things need all the help they can dealing with this freezing weather.

Lots of decluttering going on, I've completely cleared out my wardrobe with just the aid of bags! I hung up clothes I know I'm going to wear and feel comfortable in, had a bag for items to go to the local charity shop and a bag for items that I can use as fabric. It's now a pleasure to open my wardrobe doors and look inside instead of fighting with what's in there!

Meanwhile Imogen has been enjoying the snow, though even she is now getting quite fed up with it all.

Take care
xxx

Snow and First Word

The snow has been falling steadily all day, lightly and not settling at first, but then thick and fast soon becoming inches thick. I do think it looks so pretty out the window, but so great for those out and about in it (children being the exception of course!).

Imogen couldn't wait to pull her boots on when she came home from school and played outside until her small hands were frozen inside her woolly gloves!

Meanwhile, Phoebe has said her first proper word! We've had lots of imitating sounds (the phone ringing is particularly accurate... unfortunately!), whistles and trills, but we now have a very clear 'Hello'. Every time she says it I have to smile at my clever girl.

Before I go let me show you my lovely Swallows that Andrew treated me to. It's not the best picture, but I know just the place to hang them and I'll take another picture.

Here's one of the books Andrew bought me for Christmas 'The Happiness Project' by Gretchen Rubin. I've popped it next to my bed and I'm looking forward to having a dip in it tonight.

Don't you think my tablecloth is cute, loving chickens!

Take care

xxx

Birthday Boy

We celebrated Andrew's birthday yesterday, he had a lovely day and an evening full of family, games and yummy food.

The boys took over the table while I prepared the birthday tea. Andrew had been waiting for Adam to come round so they could play subbuteo together, it was brilliant listening to them play. There was lots of recapturing of childhood and Imogen enjoyed herself to being the ref and doing the score thingamajig.

 For his birthday tea Andrew decided he'd like some stuffed potatoes. We had stuffed baked potatoes and stuffed mushrooms.

Lots of cheese and chunks of gammon were included...

 There was some tasty cheese and garlic bread and sour cream, we also thought as it was such a naughty meal we should have some nice fresh tomatoes and cucumber too!

 So we feasted on this only to follow it with Birthday cake! Adam helped Imogen put the candles in and she carried it through while we all sang Happy Birthday, and Andrew made his wish as be blew out the candles.

Chocolate cake with ice cream and topped with squirty cream... oh the decadence :)

Well it's only once a year and we've been so good today. I made some tasty soup earlier and we had it for tea with crusty rolls.

Take care

xxx

Struggling Back

Hello and I hope everyone has had a marvelous Christmas. Thank you for all the good wishes, it's very appreciated.

I've been poorly since the end of November, with a few days off, getting pretty fed up with it now. I think I must be quite run down to go straight from one illness to the next, but hopefully I'll start picking up soon :) I've started wandering around blogland again, seeing wonderful creations and catching up on people's news.

I finished my throw for the conservatory, and it now sits happily over the back of the sofa in there, handy to pull over your knees when it's feeling a bit chilly!

You can't really tell from the above picture, but it is quite big, so it's nice and snugly and the colours are just right for this lovely sofa that we found in a local charity shop.

After using double crochet to join all the squares together, I made some pretty flowers.

 Then a border so I could include some of the pink from the flowers, and a pretty decorative border just to finish off.

 Time to find something new!

Take care
xxx

Poorly peepers!

Just a quick drop in to say I haven't been around as I've had the flu (despite flu jab) and it kept me in bed for a week very poorly, and running alongside conjunctivitis. My poor peepers are very swollen and my sight has been affected so I can't spend time enjoying reading your lovely blogs... and I haven't picked up a crochet hook for a fortnight!

Hopefully back soon, just need to get my vision back and find that Christmas spirit that's run off somewhere... groan...

Keep warm
Take care
xxx