Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

...and we've had some! This is the worst winter I think the UK's seen for a while. The snow has stayed around for the last 3 days, and some parts of the country are -17 degrees which is colder than Russia! My walks to school have been beautiful and really refreshing and the roads look super white. Really beautiful. Pity it's so dangerous and this country is not cut out for heavy snowfall, so I've not taken the car out all week. It does have the downside that you can't do what you want to because of the trecherous conditions, but it makes you walk more which has got to be good, and apparently walking in snow is the same as walking on sand, so I'll have thighs like a championship tennis player by the end of the week....yeah right!!

Here's the road I walk down to school in all it's sparkly glory, and my road underneath.

I found my Christmas photos on my camera and wondered how it could have been nearly 2 weeks ago  since my daughter sat down in front of this monumental pile of presents! (these were for 8 people, not just her!)

                                                      

And my little sister riding away into the sunset to find her Prince Charming...(snigger)

                                                  

My short hair is starting to grow out a bit and I bouffed it up into a mini beehive for Boxing Day! I love this picture of P, me and my Mom. :) 3 generations of us girls. Love P's face!!

N x

Proper Winter!

Atchoo!! Cough, cough, cough. Ouchy!

:( pooooorly Tiger

Oh, plus it's snowing! We had about 2 inches in 40 minutes this morning and it's been on and off all day. The kids came home from school early and played in the garden, making snow bricks. I had to wrangle 3 of them home, but only got to keep my own!! Bring on a closed school tomorrow so I can stay indoors with my cold and my girl :)

N x

Branching Out?

My kit Lola's been spayed today, and when we went to pick her up, she was wearing this! A cat fascinator!

It's pink and sparkly (no joke!) and she has to keep it on for two whole weeks! I think she looks fabulous and the colour is just her! She's not so sure. She's backing up a lot to try and cunningly de-collar herself, and walking around all top heavy with her head dragging on the floor, and I have to admit, sleeping and eating is a bit of a problem, but she's a tough cookie and she'll be bouncing around in no time after she's got used to it. I'm thinking about branching out into cat head accessories... what do you think??! They are obviously all the rage when you've been for a spaying, and cats have loved hats for a loooooooong time...

The vet said 'definitely a calm and quiet house' to go back to... so, what happens? Charlie walks down the stairs, sees this thing with a pink sparkly collar on, all wide eyed and semi drugged up from the anasthetic, dragging her head around and goes completely nuts, sending Lola skidding off into the kitchen where she promptly bashed herself up against the units... the joy of a crazy cat household! Lucky for Lola, she gets to sleep in the lounge tonight, not the kitchen as it was -7 this morning when we woke up, and I think a post-op feline needs some comfort in a slightly warmer room!

P wouldn't go to bed tonight because she was worried that Lola couldn't sleep and that she was in pain. Too cute. My girl loves her kitties.

I, after all the post-vet commotion, managed to cook a gorgeous mushroom and pea risotto. Yes, I of the 'I don't cook' school of finishing, stood slaving over a hot stove for more than 20 minutes to do our tea tonight! It got the "I hate it" vote of disapproval from P, but Kris loved it and said I could make it again! (If this becomes a habit, I may stop altogether... don't want to be cooking things that are actually nice meaning I have to cook more!)

Oh, and Penguin's finished after a bit of help from Lola last night!

 He accidentally supports Aston Villa Football Club though in his claret and blue strip!... good job they're local!

=

N x

25 Seconds of Bliss

Every Sunday, P and I go to my parent's house for Sunday lunch. Sometimes my sisters are there, sometimes not. Today was a not. Just me, P, Mom and Dad. After lunch they went to watch a film in the back of the house, and I was left in the lounge. I had my knitting with me and sat down, in the warm, with no TV on, and just the whirry slurpy noises of the dishwasher coming from the kitchen, and the hum of the central heating and a sense of complete bliss. I was surrounded by my most comforting things, all the smells and feelings of the house I grew up in, my little bit of crafty, and a warm drink, and I can honestly say, at that moment in time, if I'd got a million pounds in my pocket, I couldn't have felt any happier. I'm  not a rich person in monetary terms, but in terms of being surrounded by a loving family and a happy home, I'm definitely a millionaire...

... of course this only lasted about 23 seconds before my 6 year old and her Grandad came in shouting and play fighting and I had to succumb to the madness of my family life!

I wouldn't have it any other way...  :)

N x

Twenty Ten

So, the dilemma... what are we calling this new year? Twenty ten? Two thousand and ten? Two zero, one zero? It's so complicated, I can hardly keep up! I think I'll stick with twenty ten... or maybe two thousand and ten... who knows... ask me in 363 days time.

I was thinking about what the year might have in store for me and what I need to do to make it a good one. If I had to choose a buzz word for 2010 it would be focus. I tend to get very distracted which is made worse by working from home. There always seems to be a million things to do, but I am determined to make more structure to my days and focus on doing little things each day which are important. Sometimes I find it all to easy to have a million things to do but actually get so consumed with thinking about them that I get nothing done.

I've also promised myself that this year I'm going to do one thing for myself each month. A massage, a facial, a head rub, you know the thing. I really never do anything for myself as my home, business and daughter take up so much of my time, and I think it would help me to focus better if I took time out to do something special for myself.

More focus on saving up for my new kitchen this year too... must stop frittering money away on things I don't use or need. My worst vice is buying stuff for the business. I find it hard to resist that gorgeous feather, or that amazing bead, and have a workshop full of things that I could make but never seem to get the time! I'm like a magpie. If it sparkles, I want it!

But I guess I want a new kitchen more. Mine is SO old and the only room in the house that isn't refurbished. I'll have lived here for 7 years in May and I really don't even like going in the room now. It's cold, old fashioned and small. And there lies the problem. I need to knock through into the utility room and have a complete new roof for it to be worth while, hence not just an easy job. Lots of ££'s. Better sell more fascinators this year!

Talking of magpies, I love this Steampunk Cuff by edmdesigns on Etsy. $225 but fabulously gothic and beautifully made! Such a clever girl!

I hope you have some good reso's yourself and you manage to stick to them for January at least!!

N x

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year's Eve! I hope you have a great night, whatever you're doing and you're warm and safe!

Thanks for reading in 2009, you've been very welcome! See you in the '10!

N x

P-P-Pick Up A Penguin!

What a strange inbetweeny day. Not Christmas, not the New Year yet. What do you do on 28th December? Not much happened historically today... check out Wiki for some light (?) reading... and so, I decided that 28th December was my 'get out the knitting needles and make a cat toy' day.


I got some catnip the other day for the cats, and to much hilarity, my eldest (that sounds like he's my child!) went totally nuts for it. If you don't know, catnip is a plant that 'pleasantly stimulates cats' pheromonic receptors, typically resulting in temporary euphoria', and I'm not joking when I say that Charlie is on a trip when he smells it! I put some onto a knitted toy that he plays with and he was rubbing the toy all over his face with huge dilated pupils and a proper look of love for that knitted kitty! So, I'm knitting him a penguin with the catnip powder inside with the stuffing now! Lucky Charlie. He's been totally demasculated by being neutered when he was 6 months old to stop him making kitty babies with the local queens, (very responsible), so the next best thing for him is a love toy just like the one below, I think which is a Jean Greenhowe design. I love her knitted toy designs. What a lucky boy!!

Well, I guess I should get on with tidying up the bombsite that is my lounge since P came back and decided to get ALL of her Christmas presents out at once this afternoon! Oh to be 6 again!


N x