the naughty step

sometimes when E and Miss K were younger they had to sit on the naughty step (and then we changed it to a naughty doormat......)



we're wondering what shaggy has done to put him on the naughty step........

open house

the aftermath of an open house!
I invited some friends round for a joint "Christmas shopping Open House", one jewellery designer, one card designer, one bead artist, and me......... After panicking no-one would come there was a houseful, and I couldn't get chance to take any photos during, so these are the after party shots.



once neat piles......



a few less bags!



but no less brooches, 3 orders for different ages though



lots of washing up



and some goodies for me! 2 mice for the stockings - sugar mice are traditional, these are more tooth kind!

a scary snake with a pipe cleaner inside so he's bendy!

and two sparkly dragonflies, which may or may not find their way into the Christmas present box.....

oh and that last piece of chocolate cake just got eaten!

sewing and shoes, fingers and toes

well a little bit of Christmas sewing has got finished, this was a sample for the rainbow quilt I made, and it has LOADS of mistakes in it, but I couldn't just throw it out, so it's been finished for Miss K and her dolly Rosie. One down, quite a few more to go.....



I seem to have failed hopelessly at joining in Nancy's week of shoes, so instead these are the shoes of the moment - slippers, with truly ridiculous knee high socks from M&S which are keeping me warm and toasty!

just as well as yesterday we woke up to this, all gone now, but still very chilly!



the rest of the time I live in these, Ali would describe it as being loyal to her shoes, but in fact it's more the other way round, after 2 steroid injections in my ankle for a torn tendon I'm wary of anything other than trainers, in case it flares up again. Not sure what they'll look like with a party frock on at Christmas....



have been doing lots of extra walking this week due to this



Miss K bit her nails SO much that the end of her finger got infected, and I've had to walk to school at lunchtime every day for a week to deliver this

perhaps NOW she'll stop biting them....

other ways we've found of stopping her biting her nails includes this method, bundle her up in a sleeping bag, and make her crawl about the kitchen floor like a big green slug! and no we're not mad and going camping - Miss K went to Brownie pack holiday.

7 things

Thank you Lisa for this award and the 7 things tag that came with it, ......


7 Things to do before I die


in no particular order:

1. learn to crochet
2. raise 2 well adjusted children
3. see the Northern lights
4. make a difference to someone
5. take better photographs
6. meet up with some of my new blog friends
7. find my mobile phone
   

7 things I do now

1. procrastinate
2. spend a lot of time looking for things that I've tidied away somewhere, or left somewhere randomly - like my keys for example, or my mobile...
3. scatter threads through the house as I sew




4. take lots of photographs
5. drink lots of tea
6. eat too much chocolate
7. avoid doing the ironing at all costs, until both children are clamouring for school uniform
   

7 things I can't do

1. crochet
2. park in small spaces, or parallel park, or in fact park in medium sized spaces, if I'm on my own I'll drive about till I find a space I can drive through, and straight out of, without any of that nasty reversing nonsense.
3. find my mobile
4. touch my toes. even after 4 years of going to an exercise class which is meant to make you all flexible and supple.....
5. get the points to match up in this quilt block I'm making with triangles.
6. make small talk at parties where I don't know anyone, - I'm always the one in the kitchen doing the washing up...
7. start the day without a cup of tea - this started when I was pregnant with Miss K, and if I moved at all first thing in the morning I felt awful, so J would bring me breakfast in bed. I no longer get the breakfast - who'd want cornflakes at 6am, but I still get the tea.

7 things that I find attractive in the opposite sex

1. the ability to park
2. sledge hammer or saw wielding ability



3. being able to cook me delicious dinner
4. willingness to deal calmly with insurance companies/builders/phone company/estate agents when I am so cross with them I want to shout and hurl the phone at them
5. sense of humour - you need one in this house!
6. extreme tolerance of my inability to park
7. being willing to bring me a cup of tea in bed every morning, and then not be ungrateful when I ignore it and go back to sleep.

7 things I say most often

1. in a minute
2. have you cleaned your teeth?
3. has anyone seen my keys?
4. has anyone seen my mobile?
5. I love you
6. when will you two be old enough to make mummy a cup of tea?
7. what would you like for dinner?

7 celebrities that I admire

not sure if this is admire as in have a crush on, or admire as in talent, charitable good works, or sense of humour....

so a random selection then.... Nigella, Ian Botham, Kylie, Rebecca Addlington, Ronan Keating, James Blunt, David Tennant


7 favourite foods

1. chocolate
2. chocolate cake
3. chocolate dipped strawberries
4. chocolate brownie
5. hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows
6. hot buttered toast
7. Christmas dinner
   
   mmm, do you think I should have tried to include some healthy options...

7 people to join in the fun..

Simone, Lynn, Nancy, Rachael, LizzieJane, Jessica, Lesley

lovely post

about this time last year I joined a pay it forward from pink green, the idea being to promise a gift within a year if the recipient passed on the promise. I made little felt flowers, posted them off, and promptly forgot about it, so I was very delighted when this gorgeous little parcel landed on the doormat yesterday. A pin cushion, needle case, oh so pretty beaded keyring, and a tiny babuskha brooch. Thanks so much Cathy.

Also on the door mat were these labels



I've been dithering for MONTHS about whether to order some, and from which site, I liked these, but they were more expensive than the cash ones which I went for in the end. As for the colour choices, well they were endless - in fact that's another reason I went for the cash site, less choices - easier to make my mind up. Then there was the choice of font, text, logo or not, and then how many to order....... you can see why it took me so long. I'm quite pleased with them, but they're darker than I expected, I hadn't accounted for the fact that the blue thread would be solid on the back, and show through, and they're more mushroom than cream, but I've just had fun sewing one in a bag - show and tell tomorrow - when I might finally get round to finishing Lisa's tag, and join in with Nancy's shoe week.

flowers

flowers for Anna (garden girl), because she's just got out of hospital.
Get well soon sweetie.
Go visit her, and leave her a get well message.

bags and more bags

I've started to try and make a few Christmas gifts, it will probably all end in tears, probably by the end of the week, but for now I have a pile of handles and pockets,



a pile of little totes, (although the dino thinks he is a big one!)

some teeny bags for sweets

and using scraps leftover from this, some little present bags, instead of wrapping paper - apparently last year in the UK we used 83 sq km of wrapping paper, enough to wrap Guernsey...

of course what I really want to be doing is playing with my new fabric from sew mama sew, which I finally ordered with my voucher.

so pretty!

kitchen poetry 7

blackberry and banana smoothie - Sunday morning breakfast, utterly delicious, except if you are a child, when it's not at all nice, even when mummy re-names it purple brain juice........
oh, well more for me!

the delay in finishing kitchen poetry week was caused by the camera battery, which is no problem at all, as it's rechargeable --- as long as you can find the charger........

kitchen poetry 6

room with a view

kitchen poetry 5

friday night........

kitchen poetry 4

frozen peas = kitchen 1st aid



which is what I needed yesterday when I knelt on my pin cushion...

kitchen poetry 3

my fridge



currently decorated with last weeks sewing club work
the theme was 12 days of Christmas



E had 11 pipers piping - love those sequin faces!



Miss K did 4 calling birds

I sat sewing a little calling bird whenever I wasn't needed to thread needles, it's still in my coat pocket - not quite finished..........

kitchen poetry 2

the contents of my fruit bowl have been displayed before, but these have seen better days, and so are destined for kitchen magic



with the addition of some chocolate chips they become



yummy muffins, you can make them big or small, depending on how hungry you are.

banana choc chip muffins

mix together
8oz Self raising flour
4oz sugar
1 tsp baking powder

in a separate bowl mix
8 fluid oz plain yoghurt
squirt of lemon juice
1 egg
2 or 3 mashed bananas
handful of choc chips
2 oz melted butter

then fold in the dry ingredients gently, and spoon into muffin cases, bake at 200C for 15-20 mins.

kitchen poetry 1

after reading Ali's blog this afternoon I rashly decided to join in with simple sparrow's Kitchen poetry challenge - post a photograph of your kitchen everyday. Ali cleverly cleaned hers first, but I decided no - I shall just get my camera and photograph the first thing I see....



post school accumulation; you can usually tell how much tea I've been drinking by the number of mugs stacked up by the sink, plus lunch boxes ready to empty and wash out, and my car keys, I'll be looking for them later......

back tomorrow, with a tag, some sewing, and probably more washing up!

halloween

glowing pumpkin faces in the windows



casting an eerie orange glow

E spent an hour of designing this beautiful mask and then couldn't hide his disappointment when I failed to sew it into a mask for him.....

but it was ok, because Indiana Jones came to the rescue, and went off in search of hidden treasures - aka chocolate!

so a happy Halloween was had by all, but the black (ok burnt) pizza wasn't popular, so won't become an annual tradition........