Attic24

Doing my Job

I have my off days like anyone else, but mostly I have to say I adore my job as a stay-home-mum. It suits me down to the ground and I consider myself very fortunate to be able to do this job, a job I love with all my heart. I'm not a worker really, no not really. By nature I'm far too idle and ditsy and free-floating to be a good employee, I do pretty much hate being told what to do. I like to feel free, I like to feel that (within reason) I can pick and choose what I want to do each day, set my own schedule according to my mood and the weather.

That's not to say that I don't like routine, cos I do. I like to have some basic structure to my days,  and certain things do need to be done each day, and I do need to be in certain places at set times each day. But that all balances out with the deliciousness of being able to free-float in and out and inbetween the must-do's and must-be's. Like I say, it suits me down to the ground.

I'm really enjoying this stage of Motherhood, I like the playgroup/nursery years a great deal more than the baby years I think. We get to have quite a bit of fun, Little B and I, he is terrific company. I'm enjoying the pace of our days and weeks and feel we're finally achieving a good balance between together time and away time, catering for each of our needs pretty well I'd say.

Thursday is the one day which I leave open without plans. No music groups, no toddler groups, no playgroups, no arrangements. Sometimes my in-laws come across and look after Little B so I can skip with my bag to knit and natter at the cafe. Sometimes I take Little B with me to knit and natter, where I spend much of my time trying to keep him away from the coffee machine which he is obsessed with. But lately, we've just been hanging out together at home on Thursday's, and it's been lovely to enjoy a bit of quiet down time together.

Yesterday though, well yesterday was declared (by me) to be a day for Going Places. The sun was shining and I suddenly thought how grand it would be to walk down to the station and take a train ride. I ran the idea by Little B, and he responded with a great big Yeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! and an excited kicking of his legs. So down to the station we went to get on a red, shiny train.

Little B had selected suitable reading material for the occasion, and we chatted about various forms of transport for the whole fifteen minute journey. Actually, no that's not true as we did look out the window quite a bit and pointed out things we could see. Sheep and tractors and lorries and the such like.

We journeyed to a nearby town in search of essential clothing supplies for my offspring who will not stop growing. Destination Large Supermarket. We got to ride in a lift. I bought Little B some incredibly dinky-sweet Fireman Sam underpants and new pyjamas with dinosaurs on. New socks and jammies for the Little People too. And one or two wee things for Mummy which snook into the basket, I'll show you those in a bit.

Once all the shopping was done with, we walked the few minutes back to the station and jumped on the train back again. But instead of going all the way back to our home town, we got off a stop early, at the village we visited a month or so ago,  the one with the fabulous play park. What a grand plan that was, Little B was all smiles, and I felt all puffed up and pleased with myself. Doing a Good Job today I thought, what a happy day of Going Places and having fun being Mummy!

Unlike last time we were here which was during the school holidays, today the park was deserted when we arrived. Totally empty and all ours. It was great.

We had the whole run of it, even the giant sandpit which is usually full of kids on busy days.

It was a beautiful day yesterday, still quite chilly, but unmistakably an early Spring sort of a chill and not a late Winter chill.

I was delighted to see some early blossom, it looked so very, very pretty.

And full blown pussy willow too, a sure sign that Spring has most definitely sprung in my patch.

After a good while playing at the park I began to feel peckish, so I persuaded Little B to pause and come have lunch. He was devilishly busy collecting up handfuls of wood chippings and shoving them through a hole in one of the little stone walls, but at the mention of food he came running. We sat at a wooden picnic table in the sunshine and ate some sandwiches, biscuits, bananas and grapes that I'd bought with us. How I love to picnic eat outdoors, I really do love it. So simple and so satisfying. I did have a little bit of picnic envy as a family arrived at the next table and the other Mummy had thought to bring a flask. Damn, I slipped up there, I suddenly felt most desperate for a cup of tea when I spied her pouring smugly from her flask.

The sky was a hazy blue, the sun a sort of pale, watered down version of it's usual bright self. But it was truly blissful to have hazy blue and pale yellow shine down on me as I ate lunch.

It took a lot of persuading to get Little B to leave the park, we were there quite a long time. But eventually I really did kind of Need To Go if you get what I mean (no facilities at the park unfortunately), so I scooped him up (literally) and trotted the few minutes to the little station to wait for the next train back.

I sat on the platform bench and crossed my legs (getting desperate for Facilities), and Little B sat and crossed his legs too. He has new pumps this week look, dinosaur ones, very cute. Already well worn in.

By the time we arrived home, Little B was flat out asleep in his pushchair, worn out from the mornings excitements. I had about an hour and a half before the school run so I quickly chopped and mixed and got the dinner on to slow cook (a curry, this recipe but made with red lentils and mixed peppers. It was delish). Then I set about playing with my new purchases.....

This is what I bought for myself from the Large Supermarket, I just couldn't resist their happy, carefree, colourful charms. They were only £1 each and I felt so giddy putting them through the checkout and stashing them away in my bag. 

I spent a while jigging about in the back yard, clearing away the dead things from some of my big pots so that I could satisfactorily "plant" my windmills. Oh what fun! They look so charming!

I can see them from my kitchen window, spinning round and round in the breeze. I love them.

After all that, I had a weeny window of time left to make myself a brew and sit out in the sunshine a while. I've positioned a chair and cushion right outside my back door for just such occasions as that's where the afternoon sun hits at this time of year.

I sat and thought about our day, and what a good time we'd had together, Little B and I. In fact, our days and weeks are really full of simple pleasure I have to say, we've settled in to a very lovely weekly routine. You may remember I told you he had started going to playgroup two mornings a week? Well the first fortnight was hideous and I felt constantly wrung out with the emotional strain of leaving him when he was crying so much. But then on the 5th day, his lip wobbled considerably, but he Did Not Cry (oh joy!!), and on the 6th day he was subdued but no quivering lips. And by the time we hit the 7th day (which was last week), he positively beamed with happiness when we arrived, waved goodbye to me and ran in to play. Such a humongous relief, I can't tell you.

Right, all this talk about Doing My Job is making me think that right now I should not be sat at my desk chatting to you. Sorry, I do need to go now. Need to scoot off and attend to the business of cleaning. It's Friday morning, Little B is happily at playgroup (yiipeppepeeeeee) and I've got some Home Blessing to do.

See you soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday Happy

:: coming downstairs early on Saturday morning and loving that I still feel completely bowled over by the happy sight of my Shelves. Also loving that I can now photograph the flowers on my table without being overwhelmed by horrendous backdrop of visual doom ::

:: these are Fridays Fresh Flowers, the most beautiful, highly scented narcissi. The smell of them fills the room and is indescribably beautiful. Not every member of my family shares the same thought, but I care not ::

:: pottering. Happy happy. Watering the growing things on my mantel and loving them so very much. Lost count of how many successive yellow pots have filled these hooky tins this year, I will keep buying them week after week until they are no longer available ::

:: same goes for the hyacinths, think this is possibly the 4th or 5th batch. Pink this time, I'm really looking forward to them ::

:: pottering some more. Happy happy. Notice with a lurch of my heart that my new book is still sitting looking gorgeous in my newly acquired funky red wire In-Tray. Must make it top priority to find a Window of Opportunity for it ::

:: the urge to bake strikes, I immediately think Lemon Drizzle cake. Start to assemble ingredients but realise I've not enough sugar. Send Little Man running down to the little shop at the bottom of the road to purchase required sugar, then spend happy time making it happen. The resulting smell that fills the air is quite divine ::

:: suddenly remember that on Friday I bought the Little People new things from the discount bookshop in town and get them out. Am unsure as to whether sticker books involving animals, fairies, princesses, dinosaurs and lego people will still cut the mustard with 7 and 9 year olds, but I am pleasantly surprised by their enthusiasm ::

:: ahhh just like old times. I lovelovelove watching them become so engrossed with these simple books, just as I often did when they were much smaller. Sticker books are ace. Children busy with sticker books are ace ::

:: busy busy now, jobs to do. Dash upstairs to strip bedding off two beds and one cot. Big smile when I go into Little B's bedroom to see that he's managed to build the train track all-by-himself. My heart expands as I imagine his happy play ::

:: beds are stripped, washing machine sets to work, then a little spot of happy Pegging Out. It's not especially sunny, but there is a breeze and I am sure they will pretty much dry outside. I look up and down my back street and see there are many back yard washing lines full of laundry flapping in the breeze. It reminds me of a book illustration, so I go search it out and read it to Little B ::

:: this is a really delightful childrens book with the most heart warming illustrations. My Mum bought it for Little B's first birthday. It's called Peepo! by Janet & Allan Ahlberg. Little B is not yet at the stage where he'll sit still and be read to, but he does like doing the "peepo" bit of this book very much. And instead of reading the verse (which is wonderful but lengthy for a 2yr old), we do a sort of spotting game with the illustrations ::

:: 1 o'clock, and miraculously I am All Alone in the house. Children are out with friends, J has taken Little B to visit grandparents, and so it's just me by myself. I ponder over what to do with this precious window of time, and decide on something a little unusual for the time of day....a bath. A deep, hot, luxurious bubble bath. It is absurdly lovely to sink into the hot foamy, scented water in broad daylight, feels very decadent and naughty ::

:: post bath time now, and I am on a roll. I am continuing the naughty/decadent theme and feeling jolly happy with myself. I bring up to the bedroom a steaming hot cup of tea, a slice of still-warm lemon drizzle cake, and the Urgent Item from the top of my in-tray to deal with. I am in my pyjamas fresh from the bath, and into bed I creep ::

:: getting back into bed in the middle of the day feels kind of guiltily wrong but beautifully right all at the same time. As did the middle of the day bubble bath. And my friends, I can very, very, very highly recommend it. My pleasure-o-meter soared off the scale ::

:: this book, oh this book is fan-TAS-tic. I've read it all, cover to cover, devoured it, lapped it up. I'll be chatting more about it very soon, but for now, let me just say it's one of the bestest books I've ever bought ::

:: out of bed now, tea and cake in tummy, precious book on bedside table, back downstairs to real life. Bath and bed in the middle of the day!! HA!!!! yeah, I did that, and it was oh so GOOD! Pootling about and I spy my basket of ripple. Think to myself that it's been a while since I got it out and gave it an appraisal ::

:: it's looking very bright and joyful. I notice that the last six or seven colours have run through quite a rainbowy phase, so I decide that my next set of colour combos will shake it up a little. A few sparks need to fly I think. Still having a ball with this blanket, I don't think I really want it to end. Which is why I'm working on it oh-so-very-slowly. Eeeking out the pleasure of it ::

♥ What a gloriously simple, Happy Saturday for yours truly. So happy. So blessed. ♥

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Outside Potential

One of the things I love about this time of year is the subtle shift of focus from indoors to outdoors. It's still a bit early here to spend any great length of time outside, ie it's still bloomin' cold! But I am starting to spend little pockets of the day out in my backyard, pegging out the laundry, checking over my rather forlorn pots, pottering about with Little B. And it feels rather good.

I had a good squizzy into all of my pots this week to see what's alive and what's not. I'm happy to report that the honeysuckle is re-sprouting, as are the chives. The rosemary has bright new tips growing, and the mint is having a good think about waking up. Not too sure about the rest, lots of dead looking stuff, but then I did have a lot of annuals in the pots that are not supposed to carry on.

My Creative Mind is starting it's familiar annual journey into all things Outdoors. My head is buzzing with the possibilities, and it's simultaneously thrilling and exhausting. I am conjuring up all sorts of mental images (my Minds Eye is boggling!), plans to prettify. I'm thinking new bunting. Crochet seat pads. A bench (with cushions). More vertical planting involving trellis. More big planting involving erm..Big Things in Big Pots. Shrubbery? Small trees? I am hugely excited about it all.

One thing I think blogging is especially good for is Recording Progress and documenting Before-and-After endeavours. So with this in mind, I took a few photos in my back yard yesterday, even though at this time of year it all looks a bit grim. Consider this the "before" element of a work in progress.

I stood on a chair in the corner with the camera held above my head to take a photo so that you can get an idea of the scale. It's L shaped and tiny. Each stone square measures 60cm, so I've got about 12m² in the main bit as you come out the kitchen door and then a little bit more under the kitchen window.

This is the view directly out of the kitchen door. I love that old stone wall, although I would equally love to see some greenery scampering up there. Ivy perhaps?

This is the outer boundary wall that you'll probably be familiar with as this is where I plant up and photograph most of my summer annuals. Funny, I remember writing about this wall in one of my early posts about the back yard...here it is, June 2008. The ideas I had back then for topping the wall with a bit of fence and creating a narrow raised bed to grow climbers in are still in residence. I'm currently looking for a builder who can do clever things with stone as I've decided the raised bed must be made of stone. Like the house.

This is the view down to the teeny bit of "working" space I have outside, where I keep my pots and tools and gardening paraphernalia. It's not very pretty. But I'm visualising (in my busy Minds Eye) a weeny potting shed at the end there. Painted aqua blue and strung with bunting. Can you picture it?

And now we're looking back again, into the main square of space. To the left is the window into the dining room, my desk is under that window. I'm thinking of moving my herbs and putting a wooden bench under the window, as the sun hits that spot just in time for early morning coffee in the summer.

I have to say, although this is a small, humble little space, I really do quite like it. It has potential to be an awful lot more than it is, and isn't the Thought Of Potential one of lifes most exciting things??

J very frequently says how much he misses our old garden, which was quite a substantial corner plot. Lots of green hedges and flower borders, a large lawn, apple trees, a playhouse for the Little Peeps, a vegetable bed. Of course, he forgets how much work is involved with a garden. He forgets how irritated he used to get when the grass needed mowing and the hedge needed trimming and the large shrubs needed pruning. He says he feels guilty that Little B is growing up without a garden to play in. Pah, what rubbish I told him!! So to prove my point I took a whole load of photos and some (very sweet) video footage of Little B at play last week, to show him just how much fun can be had in our small back yard.

I filled an old washing up bowl with warm soapy water, and out came the watering can. Lots of watery, soapy fun was had.

The dumper truck was also brought outside, I wish you could hear the babble that accompanied this play. It was joyful!

A little water and a few pebbles, what good, clean fun.

We pottered and played with the water for a  good while, then I decided to introduce a bit of dirty fun.

Ahhhhhhh yes, lets get dirty! Digging and filling up pots with damp earth, it was wonderful. A lovely little time spent outdoors before cold hands, wet clothes and sleepy eyes told us it was time to head back inside for afternoon nap.

And just as I was packing the play things away, I happened to notice the fresh buds on my sweet Little Nut Tree. Oh joy! I was given this small sappling in the summer when it was in leaf (it's a hazel tree) and of course being a deciduous tree it lost all it's leaves when the weather turned. I was very worried that it might've died, but I hoped with all my heart that it was just going to sleep. I am soooo excited about those leaves coming back again.

In fact, I am excited about an awful lot of things right now. So much Potential, so much creative fun to be had in the great outoors. I am brimming over with the thought of it all to come.

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Out!

Yesterday and today, we've actually been Out! Out the house! Doing Family Things in the outdoors!! Yes folks, we finally managed to get out and about in the fresh air, not once but twice, and it's been brilliant. Brilliant.

Yesterday afternoon, despite the rather gloomy grey, cold weather, we made a spur of the moment decision to walk down the hill, along the canal to the station, get on a train, ride along the line to the next stop and get off again. The train ride itself took less than ten minutes, but it added an enormous amount to the whole experience, especially for our sweet little two year old.

Our destination was a small, rural village not far from the Attic where there happens to be a really terrific playground just a minutes walk from the station. The Little People took their scooters, but there was plenty to keep them occupied here. It's a beautifully designed playground inspired by the Yorkshire landscape with large rocks, wooden sheep and tractors to climb on, stone walls to balance along and lots more besides.

Such a fabulous thing to watch children at play, I adore to see such boundless energy, such joy in using limbs and muscles to swing, climb, jump, run, slide, spin, crawl, leap, bounce, balance, dig, step. Two hours of fresh air and active good fun, it was great to shake off the indoorsyness that we've been experiencing of late.

This morning, after weeks of exceptionally cold, bleak winter weather, we finally saw blue skies and sunshine. After the happiness of yesterday's little outing we decided to head 9 miles out of town to a small National Trust property that we'd always meant to visit (seeing as we are NT members) but had never got around to. This is East Riddlesden Hall, an old, old 17th century manor house.

It was beautiful inside, quite informal, even cosy for a grand house. It had beautiful windows. It also had lots of old, old chairs and other valuable furniture and possessions that were scarily at toddler height and not roped off in any way. It was quite a stressful experience taking Little B through the beautifully laid out rooms. He rolled about on the floor quite a lot, and he touched many things that were labelled Do Not Touch. But the house was quite a modest size and we toured it relatively quickly. I physically exhaled with pure relief once we were out in the fresh air again and Little B could go running freely about.

I expected more of the gardens, but I suppose it is the middle of winter, and many of the information boards standing beside areas of bare earth told us how beautiful it would look in Spring and Summer. One area that made my heart soar was a small Wild Flower garden where the early spring bulbs were already carpeting the grass. Such joy to see the crocus with their petals flung wide open to the morning sunshine!

After such a lengthy spell of freezing grey air here in North Yorkshire, the blue of the sky today gave me an incredible surge of joy. I walked around much of the gardens with my face turned towards the sun, soaking it in, drinking in the rays as if I were parched. I've sooooo missed the sight and feel of the sun in recent weeks.

There was a small but lovely playground in the gardens, and for the second day running I enjoyed watching my Little Peeps do their thing. I never tire of taking them to these kind of places, it makes me feel really good just to stand back and observe them. I remember one of my earliest blog posts was about a visit to our local park, it's such an essential part of life with children isn't it?

And seemingly stripy tights are the outfit of choice for Park Visits, some things don't change much.

After all that outdoorsy stuff, it was rather nice to come inside and enjoy this cosy National Trust cafe for a spot of lunch. We are normally a family of picnickers, but today J declared he would treat us to an indoor lunch, and it was a really nice treat. Sandwiches for the Littlies, homemade soup and crusty bread for J and I. Frothy coffees, apple juice and a generous slab of cake to round off.

I'm enjoying this holiday from routine very much actually, despite the rather moochy start. Tomorrow...........well tomorrow is Hooky Day for me, yaaayyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!! I've (hopefully) secured time to work on the Happy Flower for you, well that's to say that I've arranged for Little B to be taken out with his wonderful grandparents so he'll at least be out of the equation for a good part of the day. I'll still have J and the Little Peeps at home, but they've been told in no uncertain terms that Mummy/Wifey will not be available for normal Mummy/Wifey duties. We shall see. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snow Play

We went out to play this morning. We wrapped up warm and walked the five minutes up the road to our local park where we knew from previous years that the Snow Play would be first class. We weren't disappointed, the park looked as beautiful as I remembered it from before. There was a terrific atmosphere with so many excited children, dogs and parents-of-children-and-dogs all out to play. We met and chatted with lots of friends and neighbours, I think half of our street was at the park this morning.

The Little People had a wonderful time with their sledges, they were a complete joy to watch. Such visible excitement on their faces at the end of each long, fast downhill run. Little B was a little bit more tricksy as it turns out he really doesn't like the snow very much at all. It made him cry and he refused to walk in it. Like absolutely, completely threw a wobbly when his boots touched down on the stuff. After much persuading we managed to get him to sit on a sledge so we could pull him to the park (he was happy with this arrangement cos none of his body was actually in contact with the snow). Actually he enjoyed being pulled around on the sledge and eventually after an hour or so he did manage a little bit of walking and a little bit of snowball throwing. It was so funny when we returned home, I took off his hat, mitts, boots and snow-suit and his face suddenly broke into a wide grin of pure relief, as if to say Thank Goodness THATS over with!!! Bless.

Ahhhh, it's been a wonderful weekend here in my patch, full of Winter Joy. Warm, cosy, indoor stuff and cold, exciting outdoor stuff. Perfectly Februaryish. But much as we've enjoyed our snow time, I'm keeping fingers crossed for sunshine and a Big Melt tomorrow. It can all go away now, thank you.

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Keeping Warm

A beautiful start to the weekend with pale, clear sky and streaming sunlight. But cold. Oh so very cold. Well below freezing.

After a super quick (and freeezing) hop into town to buy a magazine and drink coffee, I came home and settled myself in for the day. My main priority was to Keep Warm.

Today the tightly closed buds of my narcissus "Bridal Crown" began to unfurl in the warmth of the room. So beautiful.

My attempt to Keep Warm this morning found me in the kitchen. I practically wrapped myself around the oven to absorb the heat into my body. In fact I loved being in the warm kitchen so much that I double-baked. Oaty apricot cookies followed by buns. Warmth and good smells.

I took time out from my heat seeking activities to help Little Lady with a craft/sewing project. Totally her idea, she just needed me to provide the supplies and assist a little with the design.

There was some colouring fun too. Little Lady plus two visiting friends (our house is never dull or quiet at weekends), then later on Little B joining in.

I love that this table gets used for so much daily activity. Cutting, stitching, gluing, colouring, eating, crocheting, designing, working, playing, climbing (oh that naughty Little B!), reading, drinking.

Late morning and I found myself unexpectedly alone for a weeny while. J and Little B were out together, Little Man was at a friend's house, Little Lady (with her two friends) were playing upstairs.

I made coffee and settled myself into the Big Chair to lose myself in the pages of Country Living magazine. It promised Fresh Spring Style, how delicious!

Three blankets and three cushions made up my Chair Nest. Got to be warm and cosy and comfy when I read my favourite magazine.

I lit the fire at lunch time. I made a second nest of blankets and cushions for myself on the floor right next to the hearth.

My lunch was yummy. I made a bowl of tomato cous cous and tossed in some oven roasted garlic and rosemary veggies left over from last nights dinner. Carrot and pepper strips, chunks of red onion and courgette, whole cherry tomatoes. Mmmmmmmmmm.

After lunch I iced the buns. I made my usual glacé icing (icing sugar mixed with water) and added in a teaspoon of cocoa powder. Sweet little chocolate shapes, chocolate crispie balls and mini candy coated chocolate drops to decorate. Finished off with a light sprinkling of edible glitter.

The snow started at lunch time and continued steadily all afternoon. I watched it fall, gazing out of the windows upstairs and down. It looked incredibly cold out there.

But I was warm and toasty-snug next to the fire working on my ripple blanket. The weight of the blanket across my legs combined with the incredible warmth of the cashmere felt heavenly.

Some time after lunch Little B came home with J. He's starting with a cold and is all snotty and out of sorts. He came to sit next to me by the fire. Actually, he tried to pull my crochet away and sit right on top of me, but I gently persuaded him to get his own cushion and a book and sit beside me instead. I rippled away and made all sorts of Big Vehicle noises to keep him happy as he page turned.

3pm and I decided that it was a good time to partake in a tea and cake break.

Little B was happy to oblige. A chocolate iced bun is just the thing when one's feeling just a smidge under the weather.

Outside it continued to be snowy. I kept looking out of the window at our street and thinking how glad I was to be indoors. How glad I was to feel warm. Yes, warmth was Good.

The Little People don't seem to feel the cold like we do, do they? They were out in the street playing in the snow, rolling and sliding around in it, digging in it, scraping it up, throwing it around. Brrrrrr.

Early evening, dark outside. Little B is tucked up asleep and I can hear the excited shouts of half a dozen children still larking about in the snow outside. I peek out the window. They are rolling a huuuuuge snowball down the street, the beginnings of a Street Snowman. I potter around upstairs, folding clean laundry, straightening the covers on my bed. Already looking forward to bedtime.

Back downstairs, making a cup of tea. Open the back door and a stream of light falls into the back yard. I'm surprised to see just how much snow has already fallen.

I think tomorrow's post is going to be predictably full of white. The sledges are already waiting by the door. No getting out of it. I'm going to be feeling the cold tomorrow.

Night night x

 

 

 

 

 

Oh-So-Slow

The weather here continues to be plain nasty. We alternate between rain, sleet, hail and snow, all of it wet, cold and yuck. I am longing for a little of the crisp, bright beauty that I remember from this time last year.

Little Man continues his lengthy stint on the sofa, he has never been so under the weather for such a long period of time before. He is battling a throat infection, and it's obviously a very tough army of germs cos he is completely worn out with the effort of just being horizontal day after day.

Every so often he will pep up a little and seek out some slow, gentle activity. Yesterday he cut out and hand stitched a sweet little christmas stocking decoration. My heart squeezed a little as I watched the concentration and effort etched on his pale face.

Little B has taken a while to adjust to these oh-so-slow days stuck indoors. He alternates between being plain irritating (pulling all the wet wipes out of the packet, breaking toys, scribbling on the furniture etc) and super sweet (making me pretend cups of tea, chatting to Daddy on his mobile phone, sitting quietly to look through books, stacking towers of cups and clapping himself proudly).

We continue to bake. Little Man asked to bake biscuits yesterday, I smiled to myself when I saw him get out the silver balls, remembering last year's baking :o)

I continue to plod my way through the slowness of the days, sneaking a little time in Blogland when I can. I am drinking a lot of coffee and working my way slowly-but-surely through the tin of gingerbread festive traybake. I can tell you it improves immensely after a day or two.

When Little B naps in the afternoon, I sit in the bay window and work on my crochet projects. A little bit of holly. A little bit of bunting edging. Slowly, slowly it's coming together.

I am trying very, very, very hard to embrace these oh-so-slow days, to enjoy the comfort of being in a warm, cosy home with my two boys. Drinking coffee, baking, photographing, writing, crocheting, cleaning, cooking, sorting laundry, providing care and comfort and love. But. I am frustrated at not being able to go out, I am missing my friends, I am just about managing to hold down a huge swell of panic when I think about the Christmas presents that haven't been bought yet. Not a single one. There's time yet? It'll be OK? Yeah. I hear you. It'll be OK. I can do Last Minute, I do it every year. Breathe deeply. Drink more coffee. Eat more cake.

It'll be OK.

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Edit to add :: aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yes INterNet ShoPPing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel like a right Plum Pudding now. Of course. The magical Internet. No need to go out tramping the streets! Amazon, here I come!

 

 

 

Stay-home Day (again)

We're experiencing the most dreadful weather this week, it's very wet, cold and stormy. Gusty, icy rain showers, freezing hail storms, furious winds whipping through the streets. It's made the school run really horrid, even with jazzy wellies to wear. The house has taken a real battering today, the rain has lashed against the windows and doors, the wind has whistled relentlessly down the chimneys, and water has dripped mournfully through the bay window roof. Drip, drip, drip.

Little Man continues to do battle with the lurgy and spent another mostly horizontal day home from school.

Which has meant that we've had a second enforced Stay-home Day. But given the state of the weather, it's not been a bad thing by any means. We've had a wee bit of cabin fever, with Little B being a tad on the naughty side due to boredom I suspect, but well, it's been OK. There's been lots of time for me to hang out with my boys. Chatting, singing, snuggling, reading, watching recorded episodes of Postman Pat (Little B's favourite), and generally just hanging out.

We baked this morning Little B and I, yesterday too, it's what I do when one of my Littlies is poorly. Any whiff of a high temperature or achy limbs and I go straight to the kitchen to bake. It's my stress relief mechanism. I made buns yesterday, iced and decorated with glitter and sugar snowflakes. Today it was fruity flapjack. Little B stands on a chair to help, and he's surprisingly good for an under two. He wears a sweet little apron that belonged to Little Man when he was small.

The heat from the oven steams up the kitchen window, I just love it when this happens. Love to stand in a warm kitchen inhaling the scent of something sweet baking and see my little window all steamed up.

Right in front of the steamy window is my beloved coffee machine, which I absolutely cannot do without. I've had it for many years now and I've come to wholeheartedly look forward to my morning coffee at home each day. Always in the same stripy cup. Always with a dusting of chocolate powder on the top, and always with my sweet little melamine spoon for all important froth-scooping. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Mid morning and it's snack time, so I hand out warm-from-the-oven flapjacks and various bits of fruit. I smile to myself as I watch Little B making short work of his satsuma, that Little Boy really does love his fruit. The word Scoff springs to mind. Just as his chequered apron belonged to Little Man, so did his bowl. More smiles from Mummy, and more memories layering new upon old.

Late morning and I suddenly realise with a jolt that we are a whole week into Advent and my Advent Garland is missing. Holy-moly!!! What a slip-up!!! The box of Advent/pre Christmas bits and bobs came down from the Attic eaves weeks ago when I brought out the Christmas House tin, I just forgot to get out the garland. Ahhhhhhhh I'm SO happy to see it hanging once again, it made my heart squeeze a little with so many memories already attached to it. Do you remember me making it?? This'll be it's third advent.

After lunch (cheese and ham sandwiches for the boys, a bowl of left over chicken and barley casserole for me), Little Man retreats to his bedroom for a while and I take over the sofa with Little B. Little B loves sofa-snuggling. He loves to surround himself with cushions (the round one made from Kool Kotton is his fave, he's very sweetly possessive about it) and get his little legs tucked under a blankie. He often gets himself in place, shouts loudly to get my attention and then pats the spot of spare sofa directly to his left. In other words, Mummeeeeee-come-sit. Mummeeeee-come-snuggle. Ahhhh ok then, I'll be right there in a jiffy. Let me just bring my magazine (January issue of Country Homes and Interiors, my-my, it's pages are making my heart leap about!)

Later in the afternoon and Little B sleeps. I make tea and decide to sit at my desk in front of my laptop to work a little pattern through. Small, neat rounds of amigurumi involving some furious counting. I'll show you tomorrow when/if I manage to actually get out the house, get to the shops and find/purchase some suitable beady eyes.

Early evening and thank goodness, back home after a freezing cold and windy walk to school and back. Poor Little Man, with his weak and wibbly legs, I did feel sorry for him, it was awful weather to battle against when one's body is Not Well. I made a gently spiced, super tasty curry for dinner, a fanTAStic recipe passed to me by my mother-in-law. I love to make a sauce from scratch, to use whole, honest ingredients, fresh herbs and spices. I'll do one of my On-The-Menu posts soon and pass you the recipe, it's a good'n'.

It's gone 9pm here now, and I am feeling weary. It's been a funny old day. A mix of mild stress and cosy comfort. Of shut-in irritation and home-loving content. I'm off to the land of fluffed up feathers very soon, to snuggle down between crisp cotton sheets and my warm woolly blanket, a hot water bottle at my feet. I've got a date with page 37 of my magazine, where I am seriously lusting after this.

Sweet dreams one and all ♥

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October 2011

Isn't this October calendar page sooo atmospheric and Autumnal? Little B (who LoVeS ducks) has enjoyed this month's picture and has regularly been found quacking at the calendar. 

So...October has been and gone, it's felt like a long month! I've been looking back through my photo archives to remind myself what I've been up to during the past 31 days. Honestly, my memory is seriously shot through, I can hardly remember yesterday let alone weeks ago. I just realised that I've slipped out of the habit of making my monthly mosaics, no reason for it mind you, it's somehow just not happened. However, I felt inspired to create a visual summary of October, so here it is.......

...doesn't seem quite as colourful as usual, but it does perfectly sum up the month for me, most especially the change of seasons. September still felt very much like it had it's feet rooted in Summer, whereas October most definitely swung itself into Autumn.

We've had some incredible skies throughout October, with some awesome bright and clear sunshiney Autumn days.....

.....some incredible early morning sunrise colours.....

....and some magical early evening sunsets.

It makes me smile to notice how many of my photos each month are taken with the camera pointed sky-wards! I never tire of observing the weather, the light, the clouds, I'm continously enchanted by the rhythm of the seasons played out in the skies.

Last week as I think I mentioned, the family was roosting at home for half term hols and during this time I tried to take a few pics of the way we spent our at-home days. One of the things I adore about blog writing (more so the longer I stick at it) is the way it allows me to capture a tiny bit of the Little People's childhood. I look back at my blog writing over the years and I am incredibly grateful to myself (!!) for taking the time and effort to photograph and write about our Ordinary Life. It allows me to peek back through a small window into the past if you like. Posts like this, this and this. Just plain ol' family life at home, but oh so precious for their Ordinariness.
So in no particular order, here are some visual snips from last week's activities....

:: chalking pictures on the road outside the house ::

:: Little Lady, bubble blowing for her wee brother ::

:: Little Lady's Knitty Suitcase after a knitting spell on the sofa ::

:: den-building. The sofa was pulled forward and a long, thin hideaway was created behind ::

:: Little B loving the Brio train track, inherited from his big brother ::

:: Little Man, hanging on the street with four of his buddies, all on their wheels ::

:: helping Little Man to master simple origami boat building (instructions here) ::

:: me, working on some ideas for new Christmas decs (tweaking still needed) ::

Sigh. They grow sooo fast don't they? Heart warming to see that some simple things are remaining constant across the years (bubble blowing, chalking, den building with blankets).

Cripes, I am sighing a lot writing this post, I'm glad you can't hear me!! I'm feeling quite reflective I guess. It's good though, to look back and view the patterns of one's life. Good in a sighing sort of a way.

Right, lets view some Views shall we?? A selection of October vistas from the Attic window then....

Lovely.

Last week we finally felt the cold creep in and lit the fire for the first time, more than a month later than last year. It was absolutely wonderful I have to say. Makes the Autumn season Official somehow, when the first frost has been and the first fire's been lit.

Only sixty one days left of this year you know.

*Sigh*

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More Yarn Stuff

Hello! I was just re-reading the knitty post I wrote up last night and it occurred to me that I forgot to include The Sunflowers. I can't believe I left them out as they were one of my favourite things in the exhibition. 

I just love the above photo, it sums up the exhibition beautifully. Can you see how you are immediately captivated by the sunflowers, they're so tall (as tall as me) and so striking! So clever!! So beautifully made!!! But if you keep on looking at the picture, you begin to notice other things. The birdhouse on the wall. The butterflies that have alighted on the window. The little grey mice that are scampering across the top of the radiator. The little grey mice that are scampering along the pipes just above the floor. Ahhh the whole thing was just fabulous, it really was.

Of course I am now dreaming up my own stripy hooky pot of giant flowers. A Big, tall, colourful version of the above. Something wonderful and wacky to stand about the place. I can only imagine what J would have to say about it, The Look that he would give me. It'd be worth making a crazy object just to witness his reaction teehheee. Naughty naughty me.

Some other yarn stuff I've been meaning to share with you is the knitting progress that Little Lady has made in recent months. You may remember the post I wrote in March about her learning to knit, and her very first project which came from the Made By Me book by Jane Bull??

Well pretty much as soon as she had finished her little knitty purse, she began working on the sweet little owl softie shown on page 54. She picked the exact same colour as in the book (cloud blue Stylecraft Special DK) and off she went with great enthusiasm.

It didn't take her long as each row was only 12 stitches long. But somehow the actual making up of the Owl got delayed. We kept saying we would do it, but never actually did. That little strip of cloud blue knitting sat around on my desk for weeks, it even disappeared and then reappeared somewhere else a few times.

Then one day in the middle of the summer holidays, I found it under a pile of magazines and asked her if she would like me to work on it with her.

She was mega excited (I love how she physically jumps up and down and claps her hands when she's excited), and couldn't wait to set to work.

She did all the sewing up by herself with just a teensy bit of guidance in the beginning. She was absolutely beside herself putting the stuffing in, who knew that polyfil stuffing could provide such a thrill?

She ran to her bedroom and fetched the roll of coloured felt that I'd bought her (when I was trying to convince her that stitched felty things were waaaay better than complicated knitty things), and together we selected colours.

Owly eyes were cut out, and a little yellow beak took shape.

Some glue was found and the felt shapes were carefully stuck into place.

We had to leave it to dry for a while, and it was very hard to get her through the waiting.

But later that day, we had a little look to see if it was dry (it was indeed) and Little Owl was finally held up to be admired.

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awwwwwwwwww, we had a proud little Mummy-daughter Ta-dah moment together and some  excited jiggy-jig dancing took place.

Love was even declared.

Little Owl was named Bernie, and there he sits on the mantel under the Love Heart Twigs. We love him very much. Bernie was originally destined for Daddy's desk at work, but actually we kind of decided we need to keep him here at number 24 for a while.

As soon as Bernie was roosting on the mantel, Little Lady moved immediately onto her next project. She is very like her Mummy you know, her Creative Mind is alive and kickin' up a storm it seems.

So after a great deal of pleading, I treated her to some posh new yarn to work with, her Very Own Stash. Queue more mega-excited jumping and clapping, I do so love her enthusiasm. This yarn is called "Snuggly Smiley Stripes" by Sirdar, an incredibly soft bamboo/wool blend. Gotta hand it to Little Lady, she has great taste in yarn.

So this is progress so far on Project #3. It's going to become a small bag so I believe.

I'm so proud of her. Like really busting at the seams with pride.

Now then........before I go off to The Land of Nod, I'd just like to say a big, huge thank you for all the lovely comments you leave at the end of my witterings. I love to read what you have to say, your collective voices bring me so much pleasure! It's hard to put into words but I am extraordinarily grateful to you all for popping by day after day in order to catch up with my potty little comings and goings. It means such a lot that you take time to write to me.

((THANK♥YOU))

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