Merry Christmas

Well here it is. Christmas is finally upon us, the kids are probably running around the house like something possessed waiting for the arrival of Santa Clause, I wouldn't mind a visit from the big fella myself:)

The presents should all be wrapped and the turkey well and truly defrosted, but just in case you're only remembering to do that now, you'll be needing this, you can always have that bird on Boxing Day.

But, if you're completely ill prepared and nothing is bought, made or wrapped or you've forgotten to tear a few pages off the calender and Christmas has jumped out from behind the bushes at you this year don't panic, sit yourself down and take it easy because I've heard a rumour that they're planning on making this a yearly thing. And sure it can't be ruined if there's an unlimited supply of do-overs, can it?

Merry Christmas everyone, and if I don't see you before then a very Happy New Year too.


Love Leanne xx

Oh yes we did

I know what you're going to say ...

It's only November!

It was Halloween five minutes ago!

You need locking up woman!

And maybe I do, but where's the fun in that. So here it is, Chloe's first "It's only the middle of November and you're mad you are Christmas Tree".



You never forget your first Christmas tree or at least I didn't forget mine. It was tiny, about two foot tall and all the decorations and lights were permanently attached to it so 'putting up the Christmas tree' for me meant taking it out of the box, demangling the branches a little and plugging it in. Not much I know, but it was mine and I was the boss of that tree. It stayed in the box in the bottom of my wardrobe and it was up to me when I put it up in my room, usually the middle of November.

I can't in all honestly take any credit for Chloe's tree though. My mum first mentioned it a week or so ago that she was going to keep an eye out for a little fibre optic tree she could keep in her bedroom and Robert remembered the spare one we had in the roofspace.

The spare one was my first Christmas tree, I was 17 and working in a job that paid a pittance. I walked to work for two weeks instead of taking the bus so that I could buy that tree. When we moved from Belfast to this house and I bought The Biggest Tree Ever™ I just didn't have the heart to get rid of the old one.

So now it's Chloe's tree, even if it is seven years older than her already.



Robert even took her out last week to pick the decorations for it, pink and purple tinsel and a stack of resin decorations, plus a few of my own. The little wooden nutcracker decorations are the set I bought 12 years ago:) You'll notice though that Robert being Robert, he couldn't resist wrapping up one of her stocking fillers and putting it under the tree to torture her.

Do you think she'll still remember her first tree when she's my age? I hope so.

Oh Christmas Tree

When my brother and I were little my mum had one simple rule about her Christmas tree, "If my kids made it, it goes on the tree!".

Simple as that. Now with two kids in a very large primary school which managed to get through a mountain of toilet paper every year that made for a lot of TP decorations on the tree, but she didn't care because we made them.

I have exactly the same rule, though because Chloe's only four years old we're still building a up to a decent amount of her little handmade decorations. Until the day when she can single handedly fill our huge tree to the point it's at risk of falling over I'll fill in the gaps with things that make her smile.


And yes that box of Christmas decorations does include a green paper fairy, hand print angels, golden paper stars and a slightly mad eclectic mix of giant glass m&ms, fruit fairies, Mickey Mouse stringing his own set of lights a big blue penguin with a light pushed inside, a set of really, really gaudy glass ornaments featuring a lion and a monkey nut of all things, cushions (it's a big tree) and even a rubber ducky.

I have coloured lights because Chloe likes them and Christmas belongs to her inside these fours walls, so she gets her way.

And as if that isn't enough, there's even some tinsel chucked in for good measure.



There is no question that a child lives in this house:)

Merry Christmas everybody and a very Happy and hopefully relaxing New Year!

My Poor Mum

She's having a really rough time of it lately and nothing we do seems to lift her mood.

It started with a handbag that my brother was buying for his girlfriend. When it was delivered to my mum's office she couldn't help herself and had to have a look at it. Of course she didn't realise that she had a dot of ink on her thumb which very quickly transferred itself onto the stupid bag which very quickly sucked it up like a sponge. Quick side note, Radley handbags made from incredibly soft leather probably aren't the wisest choice for a bag, not if you plan on using it anyway. That little flumox cost her £75!

Then she received a letter from the very lovely people at Disability Living Allowance who are clearly trying to get some money together for the Christmas party this year. Basically my grandfather died two and a half years ago in the early hours of the morning on 22 May. From what we can gather from the letter because he had the absolute cheek to die before midnight on the 22nd, DLA would like their money back for the period 9th May to 22nd May because he wasn't alive for all of it!!! Well needless to say that didn't put her in good mood either.

Neither did the fact that because she was absolutely seething in work over it a woman managed to confuddle her and walk off £157 better off by managing to get away without paying for her electric bill and a postal order. Alright, that one was my mum's fault because she wasn't concentrating but keep in mind that this woman comes into my mum's post office at least twice a week and chats away asking after Chloe and my mum's family and when you consider that her actual change should have been nothing but a handful of coins instead of the handful of notes she ran off, it really makes you wonder what is it about this time of year that brings out the worst in some people!! That's another £157 that will have to come out of her pocket if she doesn't set eyes on the woman again this side of Christmas.

My mum has always had a hard time at Christmas. She gets so wrapped up in the money side of things, somehow convincing herself that the more money she spends the better Christmas will be when in actual fact it always turns out to be the complete opposite, at least for her.

When it comes right down to it, although shops and supermarkets and toy manufacturers would love you to think otherwise, Christmas and money don't really have anything to do with each other.

I'm trying to get across to my mum that Christmas dinner won't be any more special if she buys the huge turkey and cured ham instead of the roasting chicken and a couple of gammon slices at an eighth the price or that Chloe's going to any more over the moon with the £200 go kart instead of the £40 one. Alright, the child said she wanted a Ben 10 go kart because she saw it on tv but I can tell you know she won't give a toss if she gets the plain black one with the 79p sheet of Ben 10 stickers slapped on it and better than that, her day will be the bestest in the whole wide world ever if we let her put the stickers on herself.

Christmas shouldn't be about money, but my mum has a hard time getting past that because when my brother and I were kids we didn't have any money and my mum usually borrowed to make sure there was something under the tree. Ever since then she's never really been able to overcome what can only be described as her hatred of all things Christmas. She's already trying to put a brave face on at a time of the year she can't stand and the slightest little thing gone wrong can send her into the depths of despair.

It's a real shame that something like money has ruined almost the last 30 Christmases for my mum. If I could just get her round to realising what Christmas is really all about.

Now I know that everyone has different opinions on what Christmas is really about, but for me Christmas is that its that special time of year when everyone (including your boss) agrees that you should have a few days off work and be at home. With family. With friends. With loved ones.

Whether you spend it at home curled up under a blanket by the fire, getting fat and merry, or driving clear across the country to be with ones you love. What it all boils down to is having a few days to just be together and no amount of pears covered in gold leaf and used as place settings on your table is enhance Christmas any more than it already is, just by having the people you care most about near to you.

So this is what my blog looks like!!

We're hopefully now in the gentle slide down to Christmas and almost two weeks of blissful relaxation and cake eating.

We're all still here, including Chloe

Note to self, Leanne your phone is so old you might as well still be calling an operator and asking to be patched through. Stop using it to take photos!!!

I wrapped a few of Chloe's presents this morning and popped them under the tree. Obviously that's just asking for a whole world of pain but it had to be done eventually. A presentless tree is a sad looking sight indeed.

Chloe decided a few months ago that she doesn't like Play Doh any more. She packed it all into it's carry case, handed it to me and told me to give it away. Being the clever mummy that I am, I put it out in the garage instead. Usually when she decides that she doesn't like something, she's asking for it again in a week or so. I put the stuff out there almost three months ago now.

Anyway, I dug it out again last night and made a bunch of these little fellas. Hopefully the Play Doh will see a bit more action for a while.

They remind of me that Stretch Armstrong thingy from years ago. You can stretch them and squeeze them and pull them out of shape and they spring right back again, a bit like little stress balls only for a stress free four year old.



I've seen a ton of tutorials for these all over the place, but basically you just use Play Doh to stuff balloons and then draw little faces on them and top them with a pom pom for hair. You could use googly eyes too, if you happen to have them lying around.

Here they are all packed up inside the bag I got her from Nicsknots.



We have some good news too, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Well.....(deep breath and begin)

I'm back to work now, kind of. I worked two days, then Chloe got sick and I was off for three, then I managed a whole week, then Chloe got sick and I was off another day, but I'm back in work again and it has been a whole three days and counting.

I'm enjoying it, it's nice to be back working with real live adults again on a regular basis although the rest of life in general has taken somewhat of a battering though I'm slowly clawing back some semblance of a routine. Very slowly, mind you.

Going back to work hasn't had any effect on Chloe which I'm glad for. As far as she's concerned I still take her to school every morning and collect her again at the end of the day and I'm never late so she's happy. Though she's wanted to make doughnuts all week and dear love her I just haven't been able to fit it in, definitely at the weekend, I've promised her.

The last few days have been a little rough here though. We've had a handful of things which needed to be replaced and repaired, first the washing machine sprang a leak which wasn't that bad, then a radiator needed replaced and that really had to be done as it's getting colder by the day (why do these things never break in Summer), the garage roof was leaking pretty badly and we've managed to cobble together a pretty decent patch job but we absolutely have to replace that roof this Summer, there's no putting it off again this year, plus a handful of other smaller things which while they aren't much on their own they all added up to put a fairly substantial dent in any money we had set aside for things like that. I mean you expect repairs, just not all at once!

I've been soaked to the skin twice today and I'm started to feeling a bit frayed around the edges.

My mum had to go to London on Tuesday with my aunt for some legal bits and bobs and even though I spent the weekend printing off little maps for her to prove that Oxford Street is a mere five minute dander from Harley Street and they could spend a bit of time window shopping and ogling the pretty but very expensive things, the two of them still spent all 10 hours bar 90 minutes in the middle in Liverpool Street Station. Honestly, only my mum could do that.

And then, wait for it this is the cherry on top, the husband's boss has been pestering him to go on yet another training course at a week's notice which will have him away over night, for yet another system that he doesn't even use on yet another site that he's never even been to. We're talking about a company that does pigeon hole staff so if he hasn't seen the system to date, chances are he never will!

Obviously he didn't want to go, for various reasons. His passport's out of date and while you can travel on a driver's license on some flights you can't on others and the lack of a passport makes travelling a pain in the backside and a much longer experience seeing as you can't check in online without one. Also, he's been feeling really rough himself the last couple of weeks and he and Chloe seem to be just passing coughs and boogeritis back and forth between them and if our luck lately is anything to go by, he would say he could go and then get taken down by something really bad and have to cancel. Let me tell you, those courses don't come cheap. Plus, I've mentioned the cash flow took a hard hit and the way the trips usually work is that you cover yourself while away and then claim it back on your return and we just can't afford that this month.

Anyway, they pushed it and pushed it and pushed it some more and then called him to the office to chat to the boss about why he didn't want to go and after a particularly sticking day he lost the rag and said he was looking for another job and didn't want them to waste their money on him when plenty of the guys would be grateful for the chance to go on the course.

Nope, not a good move.

Even though he's the guy that spends the vast majority of his time fixing everyone's stupid mistakes (reason 1 why some of the other guys could do with training!) we're also talking about a company that have been perfectly happy to cut their noses off to spite their face in the past so he's basically waiting now for them to tell him he's sacked.

Merry Christmas eh?

I've mentioned it to a couple of people and now have about half a dozen solicitor's ready to sink their teeth in if anything does happen. In all fairness, the last year or so has been very quiet for them! But still even the thought of it is, quite honestly, scaring the crap out of me.

I could do without this. I could really do without this. I could completely and utterly do without this.

The rarely shakeable Leanne, is quaking in her boots.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

40 days left. I can't believe it and I'm starting to get that real child like excited feeling.

I really enjoyed reading all of your lovely comments on the giveaway post and I have to agree with each and every one of them. There are just so many things I love about Christmas, mostly that I get to spend a handful of completely uninterrupted days with family. No work, no phone calls, no emergency emails. It's pure bliss.

If I had to say one thing I didn't like about Christmas it would be the shops. They seem to start into Christmas just a wee bit earlier each year and the adverts on television really seem to be aimed at every one's panicky side, don't they. I love Christmas but for me, Christmas shopping is something I do when I'm wrapped up warm in all my layers and scarves with a cold nose and the steam rising off my breath. For years past when I would be working in the run up to Christmas, its also something that I now think I should be doing in the dark in Belfast, able to see all the Christmas lights fully lit.

Anyway, you're not interested in all this. I'm supposed to be drawing the winner of the giveaway.

I always use Random.org (I like a bit of randomness too) and from 33 comments, Random picked........ number 27.




Congratulations to Oddsox, the winner of my Christmas Giveaway*. As soon as I get Oddsox full postal address I'll begin stalking her parceling up her winnings and get them sent off as soon as possible.


*The title "Christmas Giveaway" does not mean that there will not be a further giveaway before Christmas, though I may have to call it "Christmas Giveaway, The Prequel", prequels are all in at the minute, aren't they?

I mentioned a giveaway, didn't I?

Its almost that time of year again, there just isn't any avoiding it.

I've spent the last couple of weeks rearranging furniture and generally clearing all the junk out of my that accumulates during the year to make space in my living room for my Christmas tree. I don't live in a huge house and permanently vacant corner for a tree so it has to be created every year.

Its a good weekend's worth of work just to put up and decorate our tree and that's before I even think about doing anything with the rest of the house so I like to get the organising and rearranging out of the way nice and early so that I can enjoy decorating my tree because, you know trying to shift a bookcase and throwing your back out when your plan was to have a wee glass of wine and hang a few stockings can really put a crimp on a girl's Christmas spirit. Yes that actually happened to my mum and whereas my solution to the problem was to start earlier hers was to buy a 1 foot fibre optic tree that sits nicely on top of the bookcase.

So I'm feeling all Christmassy and I want to share my Christmas spirit (not the mulled wine variety) and what better way than with a giveaway.

And its a pretty good one!


Everything is handmade by yours truly. If you win you'll receive a set of two of my prim style Christmas trees, a set of three gingerbread men tree decorations, a set of three mini I-cord wreath tree decorations (complete with hand knit berries) and a hanging star gift bag, big enough to hold a piece of jewellery or a handful of chocolate coins (I'd recommend filling with chocolate coins). As if that wasn't enough, there will also be something edible included in the giveaway, maybe not a reindeer that poops jelly beans as cool as that is, but something yummy just the same.

The giveaway will be open until midnight on Saturday 14 November, I'll then draw a name on Sunday and pop in the post on Monday so you have it in plenty of time to decorate your home and tree.

Easy peasy, and all you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post. Tell me something you like, love or loath (we'll work on your issues at a later date) about Christmas!

You can get extra entries into the giveaway by doing any or all of the following;

1. Subscribe to this blog here;
   
   
2. Become a fan on Facebook;
   
   
3. Tweet about the giveaway and include @SeetheWoods in your tweet;
   
   
4. Blog about the giveaway and link back to this post (not the main blog url)

That's a total of five chances to win this giveaway, just remember though that you need to leave a separate comment for each entry, the more times you enter the more chances you have of winning.

And because we don't have the sole rights to Christmas in the UK (actually I think Disney might own those) this giveaway is open worldwide. You've no excuses now, get entering!

Where has this week gone?

I'm honestly surprised that its Friday already, I can't imagine where all my time went this week. I have to try and organise myself a little better.

I don't know where I got the stupid idea that I was sorted as far as Christmas presents go, because of course I looked into my box of already wrapped presents and had the usual panic attack that there wasn't enough. Don't tell me I'm the only one that has this panic about Christmas because I know everyone gets it. Also I completely failed to factor one huge thing into my gift making this year......

Chloe started school!

So add a teacher, a class room assistant and a rapidly expanding group of friends to that list.

**************

Chloe is still enjoying school although I'm in a bit of a pickle at the minute. She has arrived home from school a few times now to tell me that someone hit her. She isn't upset about and it certainly hasn't put her off going to school because I still have to fight to keep hold of her in the morning as she runs down the street. Its just something she has mentioned in passing a few times now.

My problem can be separated into

a) she's telling me about the same event over and over again, because she does have a habit of doing that which would mean that it isn't a case of someone picking on her,

b) in Chloe's mind there is absolutely no difference between someone hitting her and someone hurting her and not apologising (she's big on apologies) so she may not have been hit at all, but someone could have bumped or jostled her in the playground or stepped on her toe as they ran past and not noticed and she would take offence to that, or

c) someone actually has hit her, but she really isn't that bothered by it.

I think its likely b) because she's also mentioned some other kids being "hit" while they're playing outside and because I know that the P1 classes share a break, we're talking about roughly 80 kids all in the playground at the same time. There will be bumps and jostles and spills and that can't be helped.

My problem is whether or not to mention it to the teacher. I don't really want to tell her teacher that she's being hit in school intentionally because I honestly don't think that's the case, but if I were to tell her teacher that Chloe might get upset if someone hurts her unintentionally and that Chloe will likely say that someone "hit" her even though it was an accident I don't want Chloe to get a reputation as the kid that tells lies (she doesn't tell lies, she just sometimes doesn't understand the difference yet between being hit and being hurt because she's never had to) or as the kid whose mum will down to the school every time someone bumps into her daughter, because I won't.

My concern would be that Chloe will tell her teacher that she's been hit and that some poor kid will get into trouble for what was for all intents a purposes an accident!

To be honest I'm not at all worried about getting the reputation as the mum who will be down at the school every time her daughter gets hurts, because I don't really give a damn about my reputation. All I care about at the minute is that Chloe knows without having to give it a second thought that if she comes to me with any problem at all, I'll deal with, without question. I'm her mum and I'm here for the sole purpose of being the shoulder to cry on and to make things better, I just didn't realise that role would be tested quite so soon.

***************

I've been thinking a lot about friends this week too, for new opportunities and new challenges and it's taken my mind away to other places quite often.

***************

On a brighter note, my Folksy shop has seen an unexpected boom this week. I didn't expect such a rush until Closer to Christmas to be honest, but I'm happy and grateful nonetheless.

My Pear Bean Bag is no longer mine. It will be winging its way to a new home,


Along with Pumpkin Jack. I'll be sorry to see this little guy go, but I may work on some new ones this weekend. If I find the time.



They're both off to the same new home along with a set of my new Earth Scenes Notebooks

The Earth Scenes Notebooks are a larger version of my Food Lovers Notebooks which (fortunately for me and unfortunately for everyone who missed out) have all now sold in a little over 24 hours. All five packs are now off to new homes and scribblers and they should hopefully (fingers crossed, damn those postal strikes) start arriving this morning. I'll have to try and find some more gorgeous foody photography to make some more.



I'm determined that today is the day I finish a pressie for Louise's mum who turns 70 on Christmas day this year. Louise has taken on the task of making herself (with a tiny bit of help from others) 70 handmade presents for her mum. I have to give her credit, because I honestly don't think I could manage that many. You can stop by her blog to see how she's doing with her personal challenge.

But of course, the longer I sit her, the less likely I am to finish anything at all!

Marching on

I'm sitting here, trying to adjust to the fact that it's not even 8pm, the curtains are closed and the lamps are lit. I could do with putting the heating on, but it isn't quite cold enough yet to force me up off my backside to go and do it.

Autumn has definitely arrived and Summer is fading fast. Don't get me wrong the last couple of days have been beautiful and today was a bit of a scorcher but it doesn't change the fact that Chloe and I crunched on the first fallen leaves on the way home from school today and I let her pick her first apple from the tree in the garden, although there are so few out there that this year she will pick them all. Her dad will even lift her to the very top of our (admittedly shortarsed) tree.

One of the reasons I love Autumn so much is days like these. It poured from the heavens on Monday and Tuesday and I was soaked through waiting for the courtyard gate to open at school on Tuesday, but because I'm in an Autumn mindset now I expect dodgy weather. It didn't disappoint or get me down whereas the last two days have been so beautiful, unexpectedly beautiful and warm that I can't help but be thankful and grateful for them. Its Autumn and sunshine and warmth isn't a promise, it's a gift.

I'm finally wrapping my head around this free time I have each day and slowly learning not to take it for granted, plus its only six weeks to half term so I'm glad to say I've been quite productive around the house lately.

It will soon be time to light the fire again, and I can't wait because I think my absolute favourite part of Autumn is that it means Winter is on the way. I can dig out my big scarves (not that I didn't replace them with much wispier versions during the Summer) and set about making my home cosy and inviting.

But as it is, Autumn's here and its our shortest season in the UK, Summer yawns on stretching its arms into September and before we know it the frost bites down hard so I plan on enjoying the few precious moments of true Autumn, for as long as it may last.

Clarification

Alright, here's the thing. Yesterday I posted that I have already completed, wrapped and labelled all of my Christmas presents for people outside the house.

I may have given the impression that I've been toiling away and now have a huge box filled with dozens of beautifully handmade gifts and I'm thinking now that I should have elaborated on that a little more.

Last year, as much as I said at the time that I was cutting back and having some common sense by the time the New Year rolled around the total amount of presents I had made, bought and gifted ended up being as much as any other year. And if you had visited my home after Christmas you would have been forgiven for confusing my kitchen with the stock room at Marks and Spencer. There were at least ten tins of biscuits and likely more than that but I've blocked them from memory, countless boxes of sweets and chocolates were stashed everywhere. We tried giving the stuff away but everyone else seemed to be in the same boat. It was completely ridiculous and we were still trying to get through the stuff at Easter, in fact there's still a tub of Marksies mint collection chocolates in there that will need to be thrown out.

I swore to myself after last year that this Christmas we would be much more sensible. I told everyone that I would rather they hung on to their money rather than buying sweets and biscuits to give to us and I've reminded the of that since then. It sounds harsh but something along the lines of "don't buy for me because I'm not buying for you", it really does seem to be the only way to get the message across. Plus money's just going to be a lot tighter for everyone this year and I'd hate the thought of someone feeling obliged to buy me present.

So at this particular moment in time I have my whittled down list. So far I have prepared gifts for my mum which are a bag which I showed you the pattern for earlier in the year (although it wound up being teal and I changed the cable design for something more traditional (read more repetitive and quicker to knit) with two short handles instead of the long strap) and another shopping bag (one of the old fashioned mesh market bags with the round plastic handles).

I've made another beanie hat for my brother. He loves the look of knit hats but likes it when I make them for him because I line the hat with t-shirt cotton so its soft against his wee head and I've also made him a phone cosy for his blackberry (its only new so there's no chance of him upgrading as xmas). My dad is getting a phone cosy in his football team's colours (Man City) and a waterproof drawstring bag to go inside his backpack when he's on the motorbike to keep all his bits and pieces dry.

Beyond that I've made simple messenger bags for two aunts, Ann and Eleanor, who have been very good to me and my mum over the years (she wouldn't have been able to go back to work and probably would have lost our home when my dad left had it not been for them) and lastly I've knitted a gorgeous poncho for Ann's youngest daughter (my cousin and Chloe's best friend). She has beautiful red hair and it can be difficult to find clothes for girls that don't have pink in them somewhere so I've went with a nice safe cream with a green flower corsage pinned to the front. I also made her two hair bobbles and a fabric covered hair band from a tutorial I saw on Craft magazine a while back for the same pink reasons.

And that's really about it for dedicated presents. It isn't much really when you think about it and they're all quite simple and quick to make but they are made with love and made specifically for the person they'll be given to.

So that's it really, four bags each taking no more than two hours each, well five if you count the drawstring one, but that took all of half an hour, a couple of phone cosies which took about an hour all in, ok the poncho took a few hours but the hair accessories were whipped up in a few minutes and a hat which took no time.

I've finished the macrame scarf now for Eleanor, one colour in bright red and I made a second one for the shop and I've started a bracelet (which I'll make a few of) and I'll use the beads I received in a destash swap just placing them along the core strands and using the working strands to secure them.

I have to say though, when I look back over the things I've made and realised that it's taken, what, maybe 15 hours all in, 20 if you count the time thinking about what to make for each person I'm kind of disappointed in myself for not managing to be more organised in previous years. There just hasn't been any good excuse for not having things done (Last year was a mad rush to get finished).

Plus it works out well for me having, ok not everything, but a good lot done. I have my public liability insurance in place now, I'm registered as a small business (you have to within three months or they'll come looking for you, kidding the people at the Inland Revenue are lovely) and I'm just about to do my first tax return and now I'm thinking that maybe I should consider doing one of the larger craft fairs at Christmas. I was thinking about looking into St George's Market which is big in the run up to Christmas. The extra money at that time of the year certainly wouldn't hurt either.

Which means of course that now I have to make stock because that dear friends is one of the many, many things that I don't have organised.

And on top of all that I'll soon be adding another string to my bow, one that I'm really looking forward to but more on that soon enough. It'll be worth the wait, don't worry.

Nerd Alert

I'm paying lip service to the old menu plan this week. The temperature is to reach 29C by Wednesday so this week I will be mostly eating salads. Apart from tonight when we had burgers and onions rings followed by big slices of gingerbread with lemon icing. I'll post the recipe for that later in the week (the cake not the burgers).

Right, that's that out of the way.

I'm feeling very good about myself today because I had a very productive weekend. Do you ever get like that, if you take it easy over the weekend and relax you end up a bit depressed and feeling like you wasted all that time come Monday but if you manage to get a couple of things done and dusted you feel great about yourself? Maybe that's just me.

I checked the weather during the week and on seeing that it was to rain cats and dogs over the weekend I rented a big heavy duty steam cleaner for Saturday to tackle my carpets (happy in the knowledge that Chloe no longer spills).

On Saturday morning the weather was, as predicted, rubbish so the husband popped out and collected the steam cleaner. The plan was to set to work as soon as my mum collected Chloe in the afternoon. It rained all morning and the wind blew a gale and then my mum arrived and the clouds parted and the sun shone and the birdies sang their little hearts out. Murphy's out to kick my ass for getting one over on him (Bring. It. On).

So I spent my Saturday afternoon in the sweltering heat, cleaning carpets and sweating like a mad woman. Do you ever remember that advert years ago for women's antiperspirant "They say women don't sweat, they glow. Well I glow buckets"? Yep, that was me on Saturday. It wasn't a pretty sight, clothes glued to my back, hair plastered to my forehead. Meanwhile, Murphy's wet himself laughing, he's on the floor by this stage tears streaming down his face, fists pounding the floor with the hilarity of it all. Don't worry I clipped him round the back of the head with the cleaner just to remind who's boss round here.

I lost roughly a stone that afternoon, but later found it again at the bottom of a tube of Pringles. Balance restored.

Still I sit here now surround by lovely clean carpets. The windows have been open full all weekend and the smell has all but disappeared. Have you ever cleaned your carpets with an industrial steamer because let me tell you, the smell is atrocious.

They smelt perfectly fine before I started, but if anyone has ever knocked over a pint in your living room and you spent a good ten minutes and countless towels making sure you mopped up every last drop, you may have even got down on your knees with that silly Scrubber carpet cleaner thingy the husband thought would be a good idea let me assure you now, you missed a bit.

Because when that scalding hot steam hits that particular spot on the carpet all of a sudden your home will smell like a brewery.

And before you go running off to buy some Shake n Vac, it won't work. Even doing the wee dance won't help either.

On Sunday (shattered and a bit light headed) I decided to take it easy. Sort through a few things, filing, post, tidy up my crafty bits and make sure everything could be easily found. At the bottom of one of my tuff crates I came across a few things I'd started with xmas in mind but hadn't got round to finishing. A couple of knitted things and it was really only the making up that needed doing so I settled myself down to those and once they were finished I was able to wrap and label them using one of Lupin's wrapping paper tutes:)

I hauled out the huge tuff crate which is stashed on top of my wardrobe in the bedroom and went through it, checking the gifts off the list I keep inside and do you know what. Apart from Chloe and the husband (Bob, might as well get that one out of the way while I'm at it) I'm all done.

Sweet or what? I'll admit now that I'm in the middle of a macrame scarflette for my aunt which wasn't on the original list but which she's asked for and I'm planning a couple of pieces of macrame jewellery for stocking fillers as such but apart from that all of my presents for people outside the house are finished. Not only finished but they wrapped and labeled and its only the middle of August.

Now I'll just get myself comfy here against this rather tall concrete wall, pop the blindfold on, light a cigarette, burn tip of nose, lift blindfold slightly, light cigarette and wait for the firing squad.

.....

.....

.....

You done!

Good!

Cause so am I. Neener, neener, neener.

Tale of the Lost and Found Phone Photos

onto two I'm pleased with myself today, I managed to get a ton of photographs sorted out last night and filed properly. It'll hopefully make them much easier to find. I also copied a load as slide showscd's for my mum. She'll eventually ask me for prints of the ones she wants, it would be too much to print all of them (although she would if she could).

I completely forgot to take my camera to the park with us last week, but the husband managed to take a couple of photos on the Blackberry.





Her upper body strength is amazing, but I think all kids are like that aren't they. She swung like that for ages.

I'm surprised actually that they turned out as well as they did considering its supposed to be a phone, pleasantly surprised really its a lot handier to carry around than my huge camera. I really do need to see about getting myself something more compact. Any suggestions of a nice, compact and more importantly easy to use camera would be really appreciated.

I've been thinking ahead. Sometimes being organised can be a bit of a pain and yo may hate me for it, but I've been double checking my Christmas list and making sure that I've made a good start on everything I'm going to need.

Then while I was sorting out photographs I came across this one.




Its another shot snapped with a phone. We were at the Christmas Market in Belfast in December and Toots loved the merry-go-round and I mean loved it, I think this was her third or fourth go and clearly she's still enjoying herself, plus this one also shows why I'm so impressed with the blackberry photos.

And just because it made me laugh.




This was taken one morning when I was at work very early and the husband had the job of getting Toots ready for daycare. Notice the subtle use of three hair clips down the side of her head.

When I collected her from daycare that evening, the girls told me that they had to stop themselves laughing when he dropped her off, because those three visible hair clips were in fact three of twelve.

He managed to fit twelve hair clips on the head of a three year old.

Although he still maintains that he and Toots did it "for a laugh" backed up by the fact that he took a photograph. Hmmm, the jury's still out on that one.

So that's another box on the great never ending to do list checked.

Again though if any has any good suggestions for a camera I'd love to hear them. I do like my big old camera and its very good for taking photos, but there is a short delay between pressing the button and taking the shot which is fine for static things. Try getting a four year old to stand still long enough to take a photo though, I've missed more than enough photos of her already.

WFMW - Oh yes I did.

It's that time of the week again and you'll be sooo pleased you stopped by.

Oh yes, its also that time of year again.

Yep, I'm planning for Christmas.

Wait, wait, don't be running away just yet. There's a perfectly good reason for planning so far ahead.

Seriously, I don't know about anybody else, but Christmas here just wasn't the same this year. I'm sure its been very difficult for everyone this year and I personally know a lot of people (myself included) starting 2009 unemployed or facing the real prospect of redundancy.

So with that in mind (and in part to take my mind off it) I'm planning really far ahead for the holidays this year. All holidays and birthdays in general but mainly Christmas.

I'm determined this year will be completely a "make your own" year. No presents will be bought ready to give, no ready made bread, biccies or buns. If I can't make it, you won't get it here.

So, the first step is to organise the knitted and hand sewn projects.

I grab the hold of my handy little A5 binder (I've carried this around with me for about 2 years now, couldn't be without it) and add another section.


Next I need to have a look through my ever expanding pattern books. I have three like this with around 80 patterns in each and four lever arch files which I need to get around to sorting into books like these. So much more space efficient. You'll notice straight away they aren't sorted into sections. That's because I like to just ramble through them to pass time.


My mum will love this bag. A new bag is her first request for every birthday and Christmas, although she wouldn't be too keen on the colour. She prefers bright colours, even in the dead of winter. So...


My mum is #1. I'll pop a little sticker on each pattern for her with a #1 written on it and pop in a list to remind me which yarn I will use.

Then back to the book and make a list detailing each gift for each person along with supplies needed to complete the project. If I have highlighted the item, I already have the supplies in my (huge) stash. Bonus.


And lastly I need an easy shopping list to carry around with me.

I never leave home without my phone and even though its quite old now I can still open a new reminder in my calender and pop in an abbreviated list and set it to recur weekly. This way I can keep a quick track of anything I've still to pick up if I spot a good sale.

So there you go. Is anyone else mad enough to prepare for Christmas in January?

For some, perhaps more sensible, tips, tricks and ideas, head over to WFMW at Rocks in my Dryer.

The Christmas Post

I woke on Christmas Eve with the mother of all chest infections this year, which is nothing new, I've pretty much always came down with something at Christmas but I can usually function.

Not this year unfortunately.

I haven't cooked a simgle beautiful meal for my family. I haven't baked a single thing apart from some chocolate chip cookies to make Toots some ice cream sandwiches which were to die for by the way.

And I haven't taken a single photograph which is crap.

I still don' feel 100% but I think the main problem is that I've let my caffiene levels drop to an all time low.

Its almost 11.00pm at night, I've had seven cups of coffee in the last two hours and I feel fabulous.

I never realised I drank as much coffee as I do, so I'll have to start a weening process in the new year. I don't like the idea that I need the stuff to function.

Still Toots and the husband have really enjoyed their Christmas this year.

Luckily we were going to mum's house for Christmas dinner this year, so we went up for a few hours and everyone (not me obviously) had a beautiful meal cooked by my dad.

Thanks Dad, you rock.

Toots had her, now traditional, two Christmases.

She woke up around 8am.

A blissful lie in for mum and dad. We had hung a stocking in her room filled the the usual asortment. Chocoloate coins, two rolls of stickers, a clementine and a pink power ranger which was pure hell to find. If your kid likes red or blue your sorted, but pink and your in diffs.

Once we'd all came aroound a bit we went downstairs and she played with her new easle while I made breakfast, croissants, bacon and eggs.

We then made a start opening the presents. I always try to make a point that she plays with each present and spends a bit of time on each one as she opens it, rather than it just turning into a conveyor belt of shredded flyinf paper and empty cardboard boxes. I'm glad to say that this year we had no problems like that. We had only bought a small amount of presents this year and she loved each and everyone of them and we almost had to force her to move on to the next present in the end to try and get the day moving.

Her favourite by far was her new digital camera. Its aimed at kids and because of this the picture quality isn't fantastic. It takes much better photos outside than inside and I'll get her out of the house with it as much as possible but for now, the following for your viewing pleasure.

Her new bike at Nana's house later on Christmas day. Another gift that went down very well. We had to bodily lift her, bike and all back into the house again when her nose had turned the brightest shade of red I've ever seen. Rudolph would have been proud.

Then Dad had the camera connected to the television on Christmas morning so that she could see him taking photos of her with some of the pre-programmed borders which can be added to the photos as you take them. Yes that is him holding a snowflake and yes she is very happy about that.




And one a bit later in tthe day when she was getting ready to go to Nanas, just because it was funny.

I'll have a go at working on some of the other photos with photoshop to try and fix the exposure which seems to be the main problem using the camera inside.

All in all she had a lovely day. A bit of relaxing at home with us in the morning and then some food and playing with friends at Nanas in the afternoon.

I'm really glad we decided to get her the camera now, otherwise this would have been another photoless post.

I hope everyone else had the Christmas they hoped for and a lovely start to 2009.

I wish it could be Christmas every day

Well ok maybe not everyday, but I do like Christmas.

And as Toots gets more excited so do I. Actually, I'm probably a lot more excited about it than Toots but we'll not go into that.

I've already started to make room for my colossal Christmas tree. Seriously, that thing is a monster. I completely misjudged just how big it was in the shop (because everything looks smaller in the shop) and would up with an eight foot giant.

The only downside to the tree was that I had a beautiful fairy for the top of the old tree, except the new one was so tall, she was kind of perched on up there, with her head craned to one side against the ceiling and one day the front door was open and a gust of wind caught the living room door and slammed it so hard she took a swan dive off from eight feet and landed on her porcelain face.

She's in a box now with her faced in pieces. I keep her in the hopes that one day I'll find someone to fix her.

Anyway, big ol' tree with a knitted fairy on top which looks remarkably like a toilet paper cover (anyone remember those?)

As well as planning where the monster tree will go (and making room for it), I'm chuffed to say I've almost all my Christmas presents in and ready to be wrapped. Not that we bought much this year, but the vast majority of the knitted presents are ready and with Au Naturale changing hands to B&M who sell a huge amount of kids toys I was able to pick up everything I wanted to get for Toots for around half the money I'd planned to spend (picture me smiling, difficult I know).

Her main present this year is the Vtech Kidzoom Digital Camera


We actually opted for the older version of this camera after reading some reviews and trying a couple of the models in Smyths Toys. The new version is waterproof and because of this the buttons are very difficult to press.

I had finger cramp trying to squeeze the button in because of the blister design so even though it states ages 4 and up I would find it hard to believe that only a child built like the Hulk could manage this camera without it becoming frustrating and Christmas day turning into a screaming match, so the old one it was, which was around £15.00 cheaper than the new version and whilst it isn't waterproof, it's a joy to use (yes I've been playing with it for ages now)

I figure as long as it gets looked after the camera will last for a few years anyway and at £35 I can't really complain about that.

I also picked her up a Dora the Explorer pottery wheel which was £6 in B&M the cheapest I had seen this anywhere else was £15 so another bargain. I also picked up a set of Dora the Explorer instruments for £5.

The husband also picked up a huge Crayola set with six different types of pens and markers to replace the crappy ones she has which stain everything and a mini version of his tool box (which she's fascinated with) except its full of sponge stamps, little cutters (like the scrap booking variety) and patterned rollers to be used with paint.

She'll also get books and I've collected a box load of different coloured paper and three huge packs of different coloured tissue paper (50 sheets for £1) in the factory shop in Bangor which should keep her busy.

I've still to pick up some books but I'll double check with mum what she's already bought in case we wind up with a book overload like last year.

Sorted. And I can't wait.

Last year was a bit much for her. She got too excited opening presents, then tired, then grumpy and then nothing would pacify her, so I think this year she should enjoy it a bit more.

Oh and the husband has dug out his old Itoy and Samba de Amigo for her to play with. Remember the Itoy. Its like the eight track version of Wii.

This can be her....."when I was a girl all my friends got a beautiful new bike (Wii) and all I got was a stupid skateboard made out of a plank of wood and casters* that dad made himself (Itoy)" story.

Sure everyone needs a "hard done by" story.

You should hear some of my dad's.

*Oh here, I've had my wrists slapped. My darling husband has informed me that said skateboard was actually made out of a plank of wood with one of those old metal skates which you wore over your regular shoes screwed to the bottom, not casters. Apparently this was a fantastic idea because you could have two skateboards for one pair of skates. Husband, I apologise.