friday

1. I wrote a blog post about coeliac awareness week. and then deleted it. it was really boring.  you're much better off going to coeliac.org.uk  they've got loads of great information.
2. one of the cats brought in mice. two mice, at the same time. no idea how. whilst I caught mouse one in a box mouse two hid somewhere in the kitchen. he's still there, I saw him this morning run from under the fridge towards the washing machine. he is super fast and super tiny and occasionally the cat looks at the washing machine in a slightly puzzled way and then wanders off bored....... the teenagers want to keep it as a pet.
3. the teenage boy had a haircut. after years of wanting to have long and shaggy curls he suddenly asked for it really short. . he has filled my phone with selfies trying to look at it from all angles............      when he walks into the room for a second I don't recognize him.... does that make me a bad parent.....
4. the teenage girl has suddenly become obsessed with baking. I suspect it is because the exam revision is making her go slightly mad. 
5. I am preparing to wage war on slugs. Claire has already had slug casualties. All slug repellent ideas welcome. Also mouse removal expertise appreciated.

hope you have a lovely weekend, with lots of cake.  and no mice. or slugs......

joining in with Amy's five on friday.

keeping it real

everything I look at online at the moment seems a bit picture postcard perfect. exquisite flat lays on instragram. gorgeous gardens on pinterest. perfect meals, of well balanced superfoods and not a messy kitchen in sight.  nothing like online pressure to make you feel like your life isn't quite as it should be.

Then Penny at homemadeheart posted a picture on instagram of her kitchen sink with the hashtag #reallifehome.

Light bulb moment!

I want to live a real life.
in a home and not a show home.
I never ever want to create a flat lay, my garden has the biggest crop of dandelions you ever did see, and I'm quite proud of that. and mess, oh I can create the best kitchen mess you ever imagined.

so in the interest of "keeping it real", here are some bluebells I picked from my mother in laws flood battered garden.  Transported home, and still elegantly displayed in the takeaway tea cup that was in the foot well of the car because the journey there was extra long due to the road works, and we had to buy tea at Scotch Corner services after sitting in stationary traffic for nearly an hour .........

As for the show home, well on Friday night it turned into a film studio for the teenage boy's course work, Every personal item, picture, cushion, plant and accessory got squirrelled away(stuffed in cupboards or dumped on my bed.............), to be replaced only by items suitable for the film's character - wine bottles, dirty dishes in the sink, takeaway menus on the fridge and a giant mess of dvd's on the floor..........  some of the furniture even got the dust sheet treatment.... thankfully the teenager put it all back again afterwards, and the house is mostly back to it's chaotic usual self, although there are still dirty dishes in the sink - guess that's my reality too.......