I'm still here but I've recently bought myself a Blackberry Playbook tablet so I've been playing with that instead of using this laptop and because the touch-screen keyboard will take some getting used to for me to use with long nails I've not felt inclined to blog - but now the laptop is charged up so I can decide what I do on which bit of kit, so blogging on the laptop.
I'd had to leave the laptop for a while as the power lead had given up and as it has got slower and slower it uses up a lot of charge doing not much at all...very frustrating. The new power lead arrived and it got fully charged so now I can be selective and do things like blogging and uploading photos to flickr etc PLUS we are getting the new BT Infinity broadband installed next week so fingers crossed on-line frustration may be a thing of the past :o)
Doesn't mean to say my life will be more exciting or I will blog more poetically, but hey you can't have everything!
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Sunday, 24 June 2012
Friday, 15 June 2012
Un joli vacance .....
We've just got home from a four day holiday in France with our neighbour-friendsP&A. This one was all Hubby's idea as he wanted to see the tallest viaduct in the world at Millau in Southern France http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millau_Viaduct
We set off very early Sunday morning and got back very late Wednesday. Used the Eurotunnel train both ways and drove a total of about 1,600 miles......so a lot of time in the car! Both men shared the driving with Hubby doing most of it (his car). Our 3 different hotels were all 2-star but lovely although we all lamented the missing tea/coffee making facilities in the room that a better hotel would have provided but we survived! They did all provide free wifi which was very useful and a good selection of continental breakfasts which we took total advantage of :o)
Hotel stops were at Bourges, Millau and Chalon-Sur-Saone and we did other stops for meal and comfort breaks although most of them were main road services. Our furthest south was to the beach was at Palavas where unfortunately I took a tumble (probably shocked at finally being in warm sunshine) thankfully my fall was broken by a couple of those beautiful Mediterranean palm trees, you know the ones with the big prickly pineapple looking trunks.....so I was grazed and perforated and bleeding from hands and arms, but the worst was the crack I took to my knee cap ouch ouch ouch (have to confess to saying a lot worse at the time)! So while I'm remembering the bad things and getting your sympathy I'll also mention that Hubby started the journey with a bit of a sore throat and ended it with a full blown head cold, he also dropped his phone and broke the screen and I also managed to break a shard of tooth :o(
OK moan over and back to the good bits....we bought lots of nougat as we stopped in Montpelier as it's very near to Montelimar which is famous for it (and I love the stuff) and we bought lots of mustards as presents when we stopped in Dijon. We found some good restaurants too. Food makes all things pleasant eh?
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We set off very early Sunday morning and got back very late Wednesday. Used the Eurotunnel train both ways and drove a total of about 1,600 miles......so a lot of time in the car! Both men shared the driving with Hubby doing most of it (his car). Our 3 different hotels were all 2-star but lovely although we all lamented the missing tea/coffee making facilities in the room that a better hotel would have provided but we survived! They did all provide free wifi which was very useful and a good selection of continental breakfasts which we took total advantage of :o)
Hotel stops were at Bourges, Millau and Chalon-Sur-Saone and we did other stops for meal and comfort breaks although most of them were main road services. Our furthest south was to the beach was at Palavas where unfortunately I took a tumble (probably shocked at finally being in warm sunshine) thankfully my fall was broken by a couple of those beautiful Mediterranean palm trees, you know the ones with the big prickly pineapple looking trunks.....so I was grazed and perforated and bleeding from hands and arms, but the worst was the crack I took to my knee cap ouch ouch ouch (have to confess to saying a lot worse at the time)! So while I'm remembering the bad things and getting your sympathy I'll also mention that Hubby started the journey with a bit of a sore throat and ended it with a full blown head cold, he also dropped his phone and broke the screen and I also managed to break a shard of tooth :o(
OK moan over and back to the good bits....we bought lots of nougat as we stopped in Montpelier as it's very near to Montelimar which is famous for it (and I love the stuff) and we bought lots of mustards as presents when we stopped in Dijon. We found some good restaurants too. Food makes all things pleasant eh?
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Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Our 3-day celebration event in 5-days...
Friday - Daughter was here and shopping and here again and lots of prep was done for the party tomorrow. So much food flying around but unfortunately so much of it has to be done fresh tomorrow. Also Daughter's bell tent up as a children's tent (although I think it's only girls invited in) and Daughter's camper set up for a family of 6 that can't bring their own.
Saturday - Today was the 'friends' celebration of R & E's 10th birthday and the girls' special request was to have a camping party.....my garden being a lot bigger than their's was the obvious venue! We were all busy from quite early, with R, E and O beautifully decorating my house with long long runs of home made paper chain and ribbons. Their first guests to arrive (just after 11am) were a family of 4 and they very quickly had their tent pitched. After that there was a steady arrival of families throughout the day. I'm guessing in total we had about 40 people here (including some that didn't stay over), bringing food for the heaving buffet table. There were 8 visiting cars on the drive I think and 7 tents and the camper! M had made the most fantastic 7 layered rainbow birthday cake
and Daughter had made a long run of plain bunting for everyone to decorate with pens, hopefully adding their names as a keepsake of who came to their party this year. Well into the evening lots of the campers huddled round the portable fire pit toasting marshmallows coming in about 10pm-ish when it got far too cold for them (actually had been far too cold for me all along). I said good night well after midnight leaving about 6 adults still chatting.
Sunday - Noisy chaos for breakfast and bathrooms and making packed lunches was ongoing for a couple of hours really, then everyone left all heading to the Medieval Oyster Fayre in Colchester. The weather was not good at all, it was very wet and obviously was going to stay that way all day, (I decided not to go because of the weather) so there was lots of deciding about who was going to go in Tudor costume and who wasn't. Most had planned to and had it all with them but in the end the adults didn't and 6 children did (including my 3).
Authentic Tudor crisp packet of course :o)
Hubby and I took advantage of the empty house to have a major tidy up and then they all filtered back gradually in cold and wet states. Chilli had been bubbling away in three slow cookers all day (1meat, 1veg and 1veg no mushrooms) then I cooked up a load of rice and Daughter then served dinner with tortilla chips and grated cheese, yummy, in about 3 or 4 sittings. We even had extra guests for dinner. About 10pm one family packed their tent and headed home and all the rest stayed. I was the last to bed and started getting breakfast things ready on the table at 1am....unfortunately for me I opened the fridge door and a plastic pot of hummus and another of spicy tomato relish stuff hit the floor and exploded everywhere, all up my trouser legs and right across the floor, so not the end of the day I had hoped for and a much later night than I should have had :o(
Bank Holiday Monday - And another breakfast and bathroom scrummage. All the drivers were asked to have their cars off of the drive by mid-morning as we were setting up for our Jubilee Street Party. Some of the campers took this as a time to pack up and leave anyway and also some were happy to move their cars and stay for the street party too :o)
There were lots more people arrived after this photo but Hubby had hung out of our bedroom window specially to take this so I had to show it, didn't I? Lovely to have lots of our neighbours together. We started at 1pm and about 20 of us moved inside at 7:30pm to watch the Jubilee Concert live outside Buckingham Palace on our TV.
Bank Holiday Tuesday - Was a major clearing up day. Daughter came over and collected all her stuff together with a heap left behind by her guests posting a lost and found message to them all. Too wet for her to sort out the tent, gazebo or camper so they will have to wait for another day. I collected all the stuff left behind by the neighbours and it's in a huge box by the front door for collection. Food that wasn't thrown out is boxed (mostly cake) or fridged (mostly salads) or frozen (french sticks I've made into garlic bread).
All great fun and lots of people told us what a great time they had. Of course the clearing up and getting our house back to normal could take some time yet! I'm exhausted but so pleased we did it :o)
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Saturday - Today was the 'friends' celebration of R & E's 10th birthday and the girls' special request was to have a camping party.....my garden being a lot bigger than their's was the obvious venue! We were all busy from quite early, with R, E and O beautifully decorating my house with long long runs of home made paper chain and ribbons. Their first guests to arrive (just after 11am) were a family of 4 and they very quickly had their tent pitched. After that there was a steady arrival of families throughout the day. I'm guessing in total we had about 40 people here (including some that didn't stay over), bringing food for the heaving buffet table. There were 8 visiting cars on the drive I think and 7 tents and the camper! M had made the most fantastic 7 layered rainbow birthday cake
and Daughter had made a long run of plain bunting for everyone to decorate with pens, hopefully adding their names as a keepsake of who came to their party this year. Well into the evening lots of the campers huddled round the portable fire pit toasting marshmallows coming in about 10pm-ish when it got far too cold for them (actually had been far too cold for me all along). I said good night well after midnight leaving about 6 adults still chatting.
Sunday - Noisy chaos for breakfast and bathrooms and making packed lunches was ongoing for a couple of hours really, then everyone left all heading to the Medieval Oyster Fayre in Colchester. The weather was not good at all, it was very wet and obviously was going to stay that way all day, (I decided not to go because of the weather) so there was lots of deciding about who was going to go in Tudor costume and who wasn't. Most had planned to and had it all with them but in the end the adults didn't and 6 children did (including my 3).
Authentic Tudor crisp packet of course :o)
Hubby and I took advantage of the empty house to have a major tidy up and then they all filtered back gradually in cold and wet states. Chilli had been bubbling away in three slow cookers all day (1meat, 1veg and 1veg no mushrooms) then I cooked up a load of rice and Daughter then served dinner with tortilla chips and grated cheese, yummy, in about 3 or 4 sittings. We even had extra guests for dinner. About 10pm one family packed their tent and headed home and all the rest stayed. I was the last to bed and started getting breakfast things ready on the table at 1am....unfortunately for me I opened the fridge door and a plastic pot of hummus and another of spicy tomato relish stuff hit the floor and exploded everywhere, all up my trouser legs and right across the floor, so not the end of the day I had hoped for and a much later night than I should have had :o(
Bank Holiday Monday - And another breakfast and bathroom scrummage. All the drivers were asked to have their cars off of the drive by mid-morning as we were setting up for our Jubilee Street Party. Some of the campers took this as a time to pack up and leave anyway and also some were happy to move their cars and stay for the street party too :o)
Bank Holiday Tuesday - Was a major clearing up day. Daughter came over and collected all her stuff together with a heap left behind by her guests posting a lost and found message to them all. Too wet for her to sort out the tent, gazebo or camper so they will have to wait for another day. I collected all the stuff left behind by the neighbours and it's in a huge box by the front door for collection. Food that wasn't thrown out is boxed (mostly cake) or fridged (mostly salads) or frozen (french sticks I've made into garlic bread).
All great fun and lots of people told us what a great time they had. Of course the clearing up and getting our house back to normal could take some time yet! I'm exhausted but so pleased we did it :o)
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Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Special treats...
Last Thursday our twin granddaughters, R & E, became 10 year olds :o)
They started their day quite early as O was so excited he made them get out of bed to open their presents, and that's when Daughter told them that one of their presents from her was a trip to London to see Matilda the Musical.
Daughter and the three very excited children arrived here about 9:30am to open presents from us and also to be told that as we had plans for Friday in London we were staying overnight and I'd added a hotel stay to their treat. We had a lovely birthday lunch including birthday cake and candles then Daughter and I hit the road with the girls leaving behind O to play with Granddad until his daddy got home. This was a very special treat for the girls but also a very special treat for Daughter as it was the first time she had left O overnight and was really looking forward to an undisturbed nights sleep!
We parked up at Newbury Park and tried to surprise my SisterM as the girls wanted to call in to say thank you for their birthday money in person but they were out, so they put a note through the letterbox instead and we walked round to the station. We found the hotel just a short walk from Marble Arch station and even then we were all a bit hot and sticky as it was a very hot day.
We had booked a family room which actually turned out to be two bedrooms and the girls immediately asked if they could have the big room and share the double bed, so Daughter and I had a single bed each in the smaller room which worked out well.
A quick freshen up then off we went. I treated us to a black cab to The Cambridge Theatre in Covent Garden then a short wander and we found a lovely Italian restaurant for our dinner. We were all quite full after lovely main courses but as it was a treat desserts had to be chosen (actually I didn't), the girls were thrilled when they ordered lemon sorbet and it was served inside a whole lemon peel with its little cap back on :o)
Matilda The Musical was amazing. The lyrics by Tim Minchin were so clever and so funny (Daughter and I both like him as a comedian anyway), the cast were amazing, about half of them were children and they were amazing too. Even the set kept us amused the whole time with the surround being made up of lettered blocks making words relevant to the show although none of the words were obvious so we had lots of fun searching and pointing out to each other the ones we found. The only bad thing I can say is the theatre was so uncomfortably hot and stuffy.
We stood outside the theatre a little while just to get some air then hailed a cab to take us back to the hotel. Fans on, we got ready for bed and watched a bit of TV with our cups of tea/hot chocolate and maltesers then lights out about 11:30pm.
Friday morning all up in good time to have baths and down for breakfast by 8:30am. Then packed up and checked out by 9:30am. The plan was to meet up with other home-ed friends in Regents Park at 12noon so with time to kill we took a walk along the West End shops stopping in New Look and Primark to try on and buy a sun hat for R and sun glasses for E. We also had to buy something for picnic lunch in the park and also another treat in Selfidges having coffees and teas and posh cupcakes.
Then as a group we left the park and travelled onto the Photobox photo processing factory, Daughter's friend is a director and founding member of the rapidly growing company and had arranged for them to show us around. It was a really interesting visit and they really looked after us all especially the children and after the tour and refreshments a group photo of all the children was printed onto a souvenir mouse mat for each of them to take home.
Bit of a problem at the end of the day when R really wanted to go and eat with the others but E was tired and just wanted to get home, hopefully in time to get to her normal trampoline lesson, so we split up leaving R to go with friends who will bring her back by train and Daughter E and I got back to the car and managed to crawl in a traffic jam all the way home. Then Saturday morning they were off early again to meet their dad and enjoy a special day at Chessington theme park for their birthday treat and home again Sunday evening.
And this Saturday Daughter is holding a birthday party (at my house) for lots of their friends and most of them will be camping in the garden as Sunday we are all off to the medieval Oyster Fayre in Colchester and then Monday is our street party for the Queen's Jubilee.......so hopefully this will be a birthday they will always remember with a smile.
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They started their day quite early as O was so excited he made them get out of bed to open their presents, and that's when Daughter told them that one of their presents from her was a trip to London to see Matilda the Musical.
Daughter and the three very excited children arrived here about 9:30am to open presents from us and also to be told that as we had plans for Friday in London we were staying overnight and I'd added a hotel stay to their treat. We had a lovely birthday lunch including birthday cake and candles then Daughter and I hit the road with the girls leaving behind O to play with Granddad until his daddy got home. This was a very special treat for the girls but also a very special treat for Daughter as it was the first time she had left O overnight and was really looking forward to an undisturbed nights sleep!
We parked up at Newbury Park and tried to surprise my SisterM as the girls wanted to call in to say thank you for their birthday money in person but they were out, so they put a note through the letterbox instead and we walked round to the station. We found the hotel just a short walk from Marble Arch station and even then we were all a bit hot and sticky as it was a very hot day.
We had booked a family room which actually turned out to be two bedrooms and the girls immediately asked if they could have the big room and share the double bed, so Daughter and I had a single bed each in the smaller room which worked out well.
A quick freshen up then off we went. I treated us to a black cab to The Cambridge Theatre in Covent Garden then a short wander and we found a lovely Italian restaurant for our dinner. We were all quite full after lovely main courses but as it was a treat desserts had to be chosen (actually I didn't), the girls were thrilled when they ordered lemon sorbet and it was served inside a whole lemon peel with its little cap back on :o)
Matilda The Musical was amazing. The lyrics by Tim Minchin were so clever and so funny (Daughter and I both like him as a comedian anyway), the cast were amazing, about half of them were children and they were amazing too. Even the set kept us amused the whole time with the surround being made up of lettered blocks making words relevant to the show although none of the words were obvious so we had lots of fun searching and pointing out to each other the ones we found. The only bad thing I can say is the theatre was so uncomfortably hot and stuffy.
We stood outside the theatre a little while just to get some air then hailed a cab to take us back to the hotel. Fans on, we got ready for bed and watched a bit of TV with our cups of tea/hot chocolate and maltesers then lights out about 11:30pm.
Friday morning all up in good time to have baths and down for breakfast by 8:30am. Then packed up and checked out by 9:30am. The plan was to meet up with other home-ed friends in Regents Park at 12noon so with time to kill we took a walk along the West End shops stopping in New Look and Primark to try on and buy a sun hat for R and sun glasses for E. We also had to buy something for picnic lunch in the park and also another treat in Selfidges having coffees and teas and posh cupcakes.
Then as a group we left the park and travelled onto the Photobox photo processing factory, Daughter's friend is a director and founding member of the rapidly growing company and had arranged for them to show us around. It was a really interesting visit and they really looked after us all especially the children and after the tour and refreshments a group photo of all the children was printed onto a souvenir mouse mat for each of them to take home.
Bit of a problem at the end of the day when R really wanted to go and eat with the others but E was tired and just wanted to get home, hopefully in time to get to her normal trampoline lesson, so we split up leaving R to go with friends who will bring her back by train and Daughter E and I got back to the car and managed to crawl in a traffic jam all the way home. Then Saturday morning they were off early again to meet their dad and enjoy a special day at Chessington theme park for their birthday treat and home again Sunday evening.
And this Saturday Daughter is holding a birthday party (at my house) for lots of their friends and most of them will be camping in the garden as Sunday we are all off to the medieval Oyster Fayre in Colchester and then Monday is our street party for the Queen's Jubilee.......so hopefully this will be a birthday they will always remember with a smile.
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Monday, 21 May 2012
Unexpected gift....
Yesterday we were all sitting at the dinner table eating a really good spaghetti bolognese cooked by R when hubby suddenly left the table and ran outside. He had seen something bounce some distance across the grass, presumably thrown over the fence by a child, and went to retrieve it.......it turned out to be a half filled glass jar of mint sauce!!!!!
Hubby went upstairs and looked out of the bedroom window to see where it may have come from but there were no people at all in any of our adjoining gardens and certainly no playful children. We were all amazed it hadn't broken and could only speculate that a bird had been trying to carry it off and dropped it, is that possible?
Hubby of course had to text his best friend next door and share the giggle and the reply said "Mint sauce very useful. Also got present from the sky about same time but ours was only a plastic croissant" !!!!!
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Hubby went upstairs and looked out of the bedroom window to see where it may have come from but there were no people at all in any of our adjoining gardens and certainly no playful children. We were all amazed it hadn't broken and could only speculate that a bird had been trying to carry it off and dropped it, is that possible?
Hubby of course had to text his best friend next door and share the giggle and the reply said "Mint sauce very useful. Also got present from the sky about same time but ours was only a plastic croissant" !!!!!
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Saturday, 19 May 2012
Home alone...
I've got a 'home alone' weekend as hubby has gone on his annual walking weekend with a bunch of blokes, they are in Sussex somewhere so not too far away. My neighbour 'home alone wife' and I did the ritual waving on the drive at 9am yesterday till they were out of sight then nipped into her house for our 'freedom' coffee break and chat.
Daughter and O came over for a few hours while the girls attended a workshop on plants/woodlands/gardening or something similar. Poor O is full of cold with a really runny nose, barking cough and very heavy red eyes. Felt so sorry for him. When most of us would curl up under a duvet he just kept going and going and going till he finally collapsed on the sofa and slept for a while. Actually daughter and I both realised this must be his first 'unwell for days' in his whole 3 years (apart from teething) which is amazing!
I have a bit of a busy day Sunday with E, collecting her from home when she phones me then escorting her to music school and afterwards to trampolining while daughter is with R at an all-day dancing competition.
So today the plan was no plan, have a lazy self indulgent day. Actually I haven't been totally lazy as there were a few usual jobs that needed doing, plus I've managed to complete a lovely montage of photos of my 2 lovely children - I'd done a large framed collection of photos of our daughter for her birthday party a couple of years ago, for her friends to see and since then I've been meaning to add all my favourite images of our son to it, which I did today, took a lot of hunting through old photos and rearranging and I'm glad it's done but not totally sure it's back secure on the wall. Ohhhh knew I'd wish hubby was here!........actually I'm now sitting with a dinner I like that he wouldn't and holding the remote control for a change so you decide <giggle>
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Daughter and O came over for a few hours while the girls attended a workshop on plants/woodlands/gardening or something similar. Poor O is full of cold with a really runny nose, barking cough and very heavy red eyes. Felt so sorry for him. When most of us would curl up under a duvet he just kept going and going and going till he finally collapsed on the sofa and slept for a while. Actually daughter and I both realised this must be his first 'unwell for days' in his whole 3 years (apart from teething) which is amazing!
I have a bit of a busy day Sunday with E, collecting her from home when she phones me then escorting her to music school and afterwards to trampolining while daughter is with R at an all-day dancing competition.
So today the plan was no plan, have a lazy self indulgent day. Actually I haven't been totally lazy as there were a few usual jobs that needed doing, plus I've managed to complete a lovely montage of photos of my 2 lovely children - I'd done a large framed collection of photos of our daughter for her birthday party a couple of years ago, for her friends to see and since then I've been meaning to add all my favourite images of our son to it, which I did today, took a lot of hunting through old photos and rearranging and I'm glad it's done but not totally sure it's back secure on the wall. Ohhhh knew I'd wish hubby was here!........actually I'm now sitting with a dinner I like that he wouldn't and holding the remote control for a change so you decide <giggle>
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Saturday, 12 May 2012
What shall I wear? ...
Haven't had anything special to blog about this week, not that I haven't been busy but it's been all the usual stuff.
Extra busy today as Daughter with R & E have gone all costumed up to an all day meeting for the Tudor re-enactment they are doing this summer, so O stayed behind with me and Hubby. He will do the Tudor week with them but would cause havoc at an all day meeting, and I have to say we have had a lovely day just the three of us, no havoc at all. The weather has been great so Hubby and O spent ages out in the garden this morning and the three of us went for a very long walk through nature reserves and woods and play park.
Tomorrow, according to the weather forecasters, is supposed to be much the same as today. We are off to a family surprise 60th BBQ party. Walking around today needed a cardigan but not a coat, however, I think it might get a bit chilly just sitting outside and of course there is the slight chance of a shower. So....what shall I wear? We need to drive for an hour and half to pick up a sister and brother-in-law then drive for another hour and half to get to the venue so no nipping home for extra layers.
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Extra busy today as Daughter with R & E have gone all costumed up to an all day meeting for the Tudor re-enactment they are doing this summer, so O stayed behind with me and Hubby. He will do the Tudor week with them but would cause havoc at an all day meeting, and I have to say we have had a lovely day just the three of us, no havoc at all. The weather has been great so Hubby and O spent ages out in the garden this morning and the three of us went for a very long walk through nature reserves and woods and play park.
Tomorrow, according to the weather forecasters, is supposed to be much the same as today. We are off to a family surprise 60th BBQ party. Walking around today needed a cardigan but not a coat, however, I think it might get a bit chilly just sitting outside and of course there is the slight chance of a shower. So....what shall I wear? We need to drive for an hour and half to pick up a sister and brother-in-law then drive for another hour and half to get to the venue so no nipping home for extra layers.
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Monday, 30 April 2012
First cut is the deepest.....
Or I could have called this "Fear is my best motivation".
I have a nice black coat that is a good fit and very useful in-between weight and has deep pockets and a hood, perfect.....except for one of those two-way zips that is a nightmare and has completely trapped me inside more than once, I have even been in a posh restaurant and had to push my coat downwards to step out of it, then had to go home freezing because I couldn't get back into it (actually very funny when I look back but not at the time). Having survived this winter just using the press-studs I'd decided that I need to make it into a button up coat. The four decorative buttons on the pockets are of course perfect for down the front.
So the project is to cut out the zip, reposition the buttons, cut and stitch four button holes and shorten the back of the hood (it comes right over my face). Yesterday, I carefully cut out the zip (not too bad as I hadn't used it for some time) and stitched the back of the hood. This morning I hunted the house for where I'd put the forth button when it fell off, somewhere safe to sew on again, somewhere very safe as it took me ages to find!
I measured and pinned where the button holes should go.......then I brought down the dirty washing and put the first load in the washing machine, then moved the coat along the sofa and checked my email and social networking sites again, unloaded the dishwasher and reloaded and ran it, then I cleaned all the kitchen paying special attention to the stainless steel sink, put a second load of washing on and hung the first lot upstairs on the clothes horse, went into the bathroom and washed my hair and brushed my teeth, then cleaned the bathroom, downstairs to make a coffee and took one out to hubby who is erecting a shed, sat with my coffee, looked at my coat, then heard the washing machine spin to a stop, so on with the third load and upstairs with the second, then out to check on hubby and see what time he wants lunch "now will do", so made lunch. After that I cleaned the dinning room, wrote out a birthday card and phoned a restaurant to book a table (for June), then it was 2:30 and my nail technician arrived so I sat for an hour being manicured and of course I can't do anything for a little while afterwards............then it's 4:30 so I cut four holes and sewed them around! Phew!!!
Really pleased with my rejuvenated coat, and my clean house :o)
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I have a nice black coat that is a good fit and very useful in-between weight and has deep pockets and a hood, perfect.....except for one of those two-way zips that is a nightmare and has completely trapped me inside more than once, I have even been in a posh restaurant and had to push my coat downwards to step out of it, then had to go home freezing because I couldn't get back into it (actually very funny when I look back but not at the time). Having survived this winter just using the press-studs I'd decided that I need to make it into a button up coat. The four decorative buttons on the pockets are of course perfect for down the front.
So the project is to cut out the zip, reposition the buttons, cut and stitch four button holes and shorten the back of the hood (it comes right over my face). Yesterday, I carefully cut out the zip (not too bad as I hadn't used it for some time) and stitched the back of the hood. This morning I hunted the house for where I'd put the forth button when it fell off, somewhere safe to sew on again, somewhere very safe as it took me ages to find!
I measured and pinned where the button holes should go.......then I brought down the dirty washing and put the first load in the washing machine, then moved the coat along the sofa and checked my email and social networking sites again, unloaded the dishwasher and reloaded and ran it, then I cleaned all the kitchen paying special attention to the stainless steel sink, put a second load of washing on and hung the first lot upstairs on the clothes horse, went into the bathroom and washed my hair and brushed my teeth, then cleaned the bathroom, downstairs to make a coffee and took one out to hubby who is erecting a shed, sat with my coffee, looked at my coat, then heard the washing machine spin to a stop, so on with the third load and upstairs with the second, then out to check on hubby and see what time he wants lunch "now will do", so made lunch. After that I cleaned the dinning room, wrote out a birthday card and phoned a restaurant to book a table (for June), then it was 2:30 and my nail technician arrived so I sat for an hour being manicured and of course I can't do anything for a little while afterwards............then it's 4:30 so I cut four holes and sewed them around! Phew!!!
Really pleased with my rejuvenated coat, and my clean house :o)
.
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Crafternoon....
In a local church hall every Wednesday afternoon ladies get together to craft, and of course they call it Crafternoon :o)
A neighbour mentioned it to me at my first coffee morning and what with one thing and another it took till today for me to make it there. I was welcomed and made coffee and spent my time doing a little sewing and a lot of chatting which was lovely. Think I may become a regular there.
So glad that my day turned out with something enjoyable as I have to confess that due to my very forgetful brain I managed to miss a lunch date. It was organised some time ago by emails going between 5 of us and when the date was finally agreed I must have been distracted and totally forgot to add it to my online calender or my phone calender or even the big paper calender on the wall in the kitchen!!! Got a phone call at 12:30pm asking "Are you on the way?" but already being half hour late and knowing it would take me another half hour to get there (would have to wash my hair first) so I told them to go ahead without me - gutted :o(
Emailed the gang afterwards and they've promised to arrange another lunch soon.
.
A neighbour mentioned it to me at my first coffee morning and what with one thing and another it took till today for me to make it there. I was welcomed and made coffee and spent my time doing a little sewing and a lot of chatting which was lovely. Think I may become a regular there.
So glad that my day turned out with something enjoyable as I have to confess that due to my very forgetful brain I managed to miss a lunch date. It was organised some time ago by emails going between 5 of us and when the date was finally agreed I must have been distracted and totally forgot to add it to my online calender or my phone calender or even the big paper calender on the wall in the kitchen!!! Got a phone call at 12:30pm asking "Are you on the way?" but already being half hour late and knowing it would take me another half hour to get there (would have to wash my hair first) so I told them to go ahead without me - gutted :o(
Emailed the gang afterwards and they've promised to arrange another lunch soon.
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Monday, 23 April 2012
Made with love....
3am this morning I finally finished making this jacket and went to bed....it's a late birthday present for my darling Daughter and I gave it to her when they came over for lunch.
She thought I'd bought it and was surprised when I took photos when she tried it on! Then she realised that I'd made it specially and was even more thrilled.
So, now they have declared us in drought and it hasn't stopped raining, by that rule and the fact that Daughter now has the warmest knitted jacket we are bound to have a heatwave in the next few days!
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