Two Little Words

     

I've tried really hard to just choose one word for 2013 but I just can't do it so I'm rolling with it and having two.  I have so many projects on the go that I have started and never completed and I really need to focus on a more than a few areas of my life.  Focus is also apt for my desire to complete a 356 photo a day project.

GIVING IT AWAY

So Pete was ill at the end of last week and over the weekend and being a true gent he has now passed it on to me so I'm currently feeling Bleurghh!

It was my step Mum's birthday at the weekend and I took the opportunity to experiment with my brown paper and do something fancy with the wrapping.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  All I used was some brown paper from Wilkinsons, some gardeners twine from Wilkinsons and an old paperback book which I used Tim Holts tattered floral die with to make the flowers and a little hint of pink ink added to the edges.

ANYONE FOR SCRABBLE?

Over on PInterest a while ago I saw a link for a picture that I thought was rather cute.  I had a broken game of upwords ready to be sold for spares, binned or crafted with so I got to work and made myself a picture for my living room.

I like it even if I do say so myself but there is no surprise that Kyle thinks it's "gay". 

This afternoon I have caught up on "Downton Abbey" from last night.  I don't get to watch it on a Sunday evening as the male members of the household would not been seen dead watching it.  So on a Monday afternoon I get to curl up on the sofa and play catchup and I Love it!

GRANNY SQUARE MADNESS

I'm feeling pretty smug at the moment as I have learnt how to make granny squares with some patient guidance from Anita via Skype and a HUGE crochet hook.  I started trying to learn about 2 years ago and all my crochet bits and bobs have sat in a sad, abandoned Asda carrier bag, next to the sofa, ever since.  But no more!

Now I am a master of crochet and have 2 nearly finished granny squares under my belt.  Yesterday, I could wait no longer and had to go and buy these bad boys to attempt a poof blankie with.  At a rough guess the after shots will be sometime in the long and distant future as I am still painfully slow and have a tendency to get rather tangled in the yarn.

To finish with I will share a wonderfully grimacy shot of myself showing off my new short, but not as short as I want it, haircut.

SPENDING SPREE & TREES

A couple of weeks ago I saw a lovely tree on pinterest.  Pinterest is my new found love and if you look right you can click and follow me there.  We are lucky enough to be getting free wood for our log burner from a log cabin making company so when we picked some up last weekend I put some of it aside to make a similar tree.  After a bit of prating about we eventually came up with this.  I was going to paint and distress it but I love it so much Au Natural that it is staying as it is.

Yesterday I went to spend some money on useless items that I don't actually need.  Pete even insisted I bought this advent calender ready to decorate

We went for a look see around some antique units and I spotted this piece which will make 7 snowflakes for my Christmas Tree.  Hopefully by next Christmas I will be able to make my own.

The sewing shop was amazing and had the most beautiful fat quarters but I resisted and came away with some embroidery bits and bobs and some beads to use on things I make in my newly decorated fire room.

A visit to the scrapbooking shop completed my spending spree with these gorgeous papers which will match my new room beautifully and a template for making felt Christmas decorations.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE

In fact it's been a lot longer than a while!  I've got a pretty good excuse though as we have been doing major decorating over the summer.  We started in the hall which looked like this

and then after lots of hard work, sweat and tears it now looks like this.

The hard work was worth it as we both love it now even though it still needs those fancy finishing touches doing to it.

After we finished working on the hall we started on the back living room and installing a log burner ready for the winter.

So not quite a before picture as by this stage we had already started but it's the best I can do

It then progressed to this

and Pete found this old back boiler full of smelly water in the depths

More plaster than we expected had to come off

 

After a good friend plastered for us it started to get put back together again

Eventually it was finished and we LOVE it and are now looking forward to winter.

Hopefully it won't be too long before I blog again.

NO MORE EXCUSES.....

Love this and am planning to do something similar to hang in the kitchen.

ROOM WITHOUT A VIEW

So my aim to read more books this year is going well so far.  A couple of days ago I finished reading "Room" by Emma Donoghue.

Room is written in the voice and perspective of 5 year old Jack which  I found quite grating to start with and I wasn't convinced I could read a whole book written in this style.  However, I persevered and it didn't take long before I was hooked, so much so that I sat in a cold bath for 2 hours as I just couldn't put it down.

The beginning of the book is played out in a 11ft x 11ft room occupied solely by Jack and his Ma.  It quickly becomes apparent that Ma was abducted and that "Room" is her prison, where her abductor "Old Nick" is the only visitor and the reason for Jacks existence.   Ma has created a world for Jack within the four walls and Jack is content in this world, he even has friends in the shape of meltedy spoon, rug, bed and wardrobe and has been lead to believe that nothing else exists beyond this.

The second half of the book moves to the "Outside" and explores Jacks reactions to the new experiences, relationships and situations that he finds himself in.  I'm not going to be any more specific  as to the story line as I do not want to spoil the book for anyone who hasn't read it.

The circumstances in which Ma finds herself are undoubtedly horrifying and yet I found myself feeling uplifted and in awe of this amazing young woman and her resourcefulness, her survival instinct and her ability to protect her son.

This is undoubtedly a  haunting story which is both thought provoking and heart wrenching.  Even when I have put the book down for the last time it stays with me and made me see things in a different light for a while.  Highly recommended.

AN OLD SURPISE

I got a wonderful surprise in my emails this morning from my Dad's cousin Gail which contained some photographs that I didn't even know existed.  I have very few photographs of my paternal Grandma as she died just two years before I was born.  My Grandmother Violets brother Alan was a very keen photographer and my Dad remembers him using the Anderson Shelter in the back yard as a dark room before he used the cupboard at the top of the stairs.  Uncle Alan emigrated to New Zealand when my Dad was young and then moved to Australia with his wife Joan and children Gail and Paul so we never knew about the photographs.  I got in touch with Gail via Uncle Alan via facebook last year and our friendship has grown.  Unfortunately Uncle Alan died a couple of weeks ago aged 80 and peacefully in his sleep at home.

As far as my Dad remembers these photos were taken at Whitley Bay on a Sunday School outing in the early 1950's.

 

This is the only picture I have seen with My Grandparents and my Dad together.  The lady on the right is Aunt Joan who was married to Uncle Alan.

 

I love how Grandpa is sat on the beach in a suit and tie.

 

This has got to be one of my favourites of my Grandma leap frogging Aunty Joan.

This picture of my Dad reading his comic reminds me of my youngest son Kyle minus the dashing tank top of course.

ONE WEEK IN....

... to 2011 and so far so good.  I have done a review of how I am getting along with my Doings 2011 list which you can see here if you are interested.

This week we tried an amazing recipe which we will definitely be having again as it is not only delicious it's low fat too.  The recipe is here and it looks like this.