It's the law

If you live in the UK and have snow at the minute it seems that there is some long forgotten law that says you must post a photo of it.



Pathetic isn't it? A lot of the UK is buried (well buried for the UK) under snow and we've had nothing, not a jot until this tiny little smattering arrived this morning. Of course I ran at break neck speed out into the garden with the camera to snap a few photos before it all melted (which it has now done).

Anyway, if we don't receive another delivery of snow at some stage I've at least served up a couple of photos of what people in much colder countries might consider a light frost*, but here it qualifies as snow.

So there:)

*Chloe wholeheartedly agrees.

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!

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.

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.

Love of Winter

Image courtesy of curlgirl1

I could get used to these long dark days.

I’ve always preferred winter to any other season.

There’s something more familiar and cosy about winter that I just don’t get from any other time of the year. I can throw on a jumper and a huge woolly scarf and a decent pair of walking boots, happy in the knowledge that if I tried to rock my four inch heels 12 months of the year I would look like the village idiot. I don’t have to worry about the perfect beach body or shifting that last few pounds, trying to buy something to wear when the shops are filled with clothes that would be more expensive than gold if they were sold by weight.

I love to curl up in front of the fire with a book or some work, a glass of wine or even a big mug of hot chocolate. A blanket wrapped around me even though it isn’t cold inside. Call it my snugly if you like but I just love to have a blanket handy.

I’ve spent the last few nights like this and I’m definitely enjoying the laziness of it all. Yesterday I left work a little early (due to lack of anything interesting to do). I arrived home probably about an hour before sunset. I lit the fire, switched on the laptop and settled down with a big mug of coffee and started to order my groceries online. I was a lot more sensible this year, I didn’t get caught up buying silly things, I just stuck to my list and made sure to order all of my heavy items which will save me having to cart those home be myself.

It took around an hour and by the time I’d finished it was almost completely dark outside. I hadn’t closed the curtains yet and the lights from the Christmas tree were reflected in the glass. The laptop shut down for the evening, the only noise left to listen to was the sound of the fire crackling.

I walked to the kitchen and almost without thinking, lifted the lasagne from the fridge and put it into the oven before switching it on. I went back to the fireplace, added some more peat and upstairs I hung some towels near the radiator for Toot’s bath time.

After checking everything was secured, I pulled on a jumper, lifted my coat and big woolly scarf and headed back out into the cold to collect Toots.

We walked back up the hill together towards home, with the constant sound of traffic no match for the volume of her giggle as we slid on the already frosty ground and she tried to “catch” me with the steam she blew from her mouth.

We arrived home and got rid of the coats and boats, heading straight for the sofa and all those lovely cushions. She immediately grabbed a blanket and curled up with it draped across her knee. Her eyes shone and sparkled and the faintest hint of red could still be seen on the tip of her nose and her cheeks, but still completely happy her smile shone brightest of all.

She asks eagerly if it will snow before Christmas and I hope for her (and me) that it does.

My little apple never fell far from the tree.