An unscheduled blog break

I've either just had one or I'm coming close to the end of one, I haven't quite decided yet.

Understandably I have been on a bit of a downer lately and didn't real feel like stuffing my blog with depressing posts and bringing everyone else down as well, but my hopes are up again.

We're back to the waiting game for a while yet, it seems my dad's cancer was caused by a defective gene. I don't really understand all the ins and outs to be honest, I don't know if it was a cancerous gene or whether it was just a bit wonky and the perfect place for cancer to get a foothold, but whatever it is it has meant that all his sisters have had to be tested and we're waiting now for the results.

On a high note Chloe is absolutely loving school and I'm amazed at how far her reading has come along. You might remember this was a big issue last year, but her teacher this year seems to be really getting some good out of her so we're going to keep working on that and hopefully build up her confidence in reading. She still prefers maths and it's the one homework each week that she really seems to look forward to.

I know there's a whole debate on homework and whether 4 and 5 year olds should get any, but Chloe really enjoys it so it just isn't an issue for us. Don't get me wrong sometimes I kind of wish she didn't get as much homework (two writing, one drawing, one maths, two reading books and some memory cards over four nights) but that's down to my being a lazy cow time management skills rather than Chloe being unable to cope.

As an extra bonus the novelty of the packed lunch has already worn off so she'll be having school dinners instead:) It works out perfectly because we're supposed to be in for a cold snap this week and I don't particularly fancy her sitting eating cold sandwiches and yogurt and then going out for a play in sub zero temps afterwards. And yes, Chloe's school is big and I mean BIG on outdoor play, it's even incorporated into the normal classes so freezing temperatures, rain, sleet, snow or hail the kids are bundled up and go out to play. Luckily we're not short of a scarf or two around here.

I'm sat here having one of those odd mornings where I really don't know what to do with myself. Mum and dad are off on holiday in a few days so they wanted to keep Chloe for the entire weekend, seriously I haven't seen her since Friday afternoon and she won't be home until this evening. It's weird because I really did think that I had mountains of stuff to, but it seems all these things only take so long to do because I've a five year old helping me. While she's been off enjoying her social life I've managed to get everything done.

I think I may nip into the kitchen and make some doughnuts for Robert, the poor bloke spent all day yesterday installing some whole house ventilation system that I was told would be much quieter and efficient than the stack of individual vents dotted around the house. I must admit he was right. The old vent in our en suite was all mouth and no trousers, I swear it would sit up there on the wall making a racket and still the steam would hang around in the room for ages, but when I hopped in the shower last night I actually didn't think the new one was working because there was no noise but when I peeked round the curtain the room was completely clear, even the mirror didn't steam up!

He's done good, but he is knackered and possibly ready to admit that he's getting a bit to old to spend 6 hours drilling in a roof space.

Now if you'll excuse me I have sugary treats to make and enough Mark Williams Industrial Revelations and Alton Brown sky plussed to at least see me through the morning:)

Flying Visit

Sorry, I'm just crashing through quickly because I've a stack to do and it'll be tomorrow before I have any real details, but my dad was at hospital this morning to get the results of his biopsy.

He had the operation last Tuesday to remove the tumour, it didn't go exactly according to plan in that it should have taken 90 minutes, but ended up taking closer to 4 hours to complete the surgery and he's been in an awful amount of pain since then, but anyway ..... he went to the hospital this morning and his doctor told him that they had tested 24 nodes and he's in the clear, the tumour wasn't aggressive and he won't have to go through chemotherapy.

It's the best news we could possibly have hoped for and his doctor even said that it will be ok for him to travel too. My mum and dad had booked a holiday earlier this year and planned to fly out on 22 September and now they'll still be able to go, of course he'll need to take it easy but if anything his doctor thinks it will do him good.

He'll still need to have the usual checkup every two years, but for now everything is on the up:)

Folksy Friday - Kick the leaves

In a garden behind my home there is a huge tree.

I've never really bothered to find out what kind of tree it is, but I like it. It's an absolute monster of a tree and it gives my garden some dappled shade in the Summer.

It's also a very easy going tree. If it were a person it would grow old gracefully, embracing the grey hairs and the little lines that are proof that fun was had.

It gives up the ghost of Summer very easily, turning beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red and casting it's leaves lazily in even a slight breeze.

Autumn comes very early in my back garden and Chloe and I can sweep up all the golden leaves only to kick them all over the garden again and we can do this in the blazing afternoon sunshine.

I'm lucky to live in a place where there is still room for trees and gardens to catch the falling leaves. Do you kick the leaves?

Yay even more bullet points!

because I've felt a bit like a bobble head doll the past few days and can't point the old noggin in one direction for too long.

• We finally got word of my dad's operation. He was to have his assessment this Tuesday and then go into the hospital on 14 September and have the operation on the 15th, but we had a call from the hospital on Friday afternoon to say there is a cancellation and his operation has been brought forward to tomorrow. Needless to say much running around, bag packing and general panic ensued.
  
  
• Oh I forgot to mention, I'm not going back to work so this will be me for the foreseeable future. I have my little business and I'm going to work on building it and I still get to be home for Chloe.
  
  
• Chloe's first two days back to school were brilliant. She didn't bat an eyelid going in, but then I didn't expect her to. If anything she's become even more independent from me over the Summer holidays.
  
  
• That's a good thing in my book. I figure I have two jobs as a parent, one is to get Chloe to the point where she doesn't need me any more and the other is to keep her safe until she gets there.
  
  
• Two days back at school and my fridge door is filling up nicely with school notes already.
  
  
• Two days back at school and my house is properly tidy for the first time in months. That makes me sound terrible and honestly the house is clean but with a child off for Summer I didn't see any point in getting my knickers in a knot over the tidy bit. If you had called at my home and there were toys and books everywhere and the driveway was multicoloured after all the games of hopscotch, you would just have had to deal with it.
  
  
• Bit random, but what happened to eggs? I still sometimes get eggs from a farm not far from here and practically have to wrap them in cotton wool until I'm ready to use them. On the other hand I've dropped supermarket eggs onto my kitchen floor and watched them roll away without so much as a scratch on them. Have they done something weird to eggs and chickens to making distribution easier or is this a differing breed of chicken thing? Do some chickens lay armoured eggs?
  
  
• I can't seem to remember how to cook without a crockpot. Handy that it's Autumn really and soups and stews are welcomed. Yes I'm just going to come right out and say it, I know it's still August and some people are desperately clinging on to the hem of Summer, but I've the heating on, it's blowing a gale out there, my deck is covered in leaves and I wear a cardi when I go out. It's Autumn and that's ok.
  
  
• Or at least it would be ok if Autumn didn't mean oven cleaning time and I don't mean sweeping out the little pile of dust left by the self cleaning function and opening every window and door in the house because, seriously, that self cleaning gimmick can really stink a house out. No I mean getting down on my hands and knees, taking the entire thing apart and scrubbing like there's no tomorrow.
  
  
• Does anyone like cleaning ovens?
  
  
• Do you want to come and do mine?
  
  
• Please!!!!
  
  

Bye Bye Toes

It's been lovely having you here. I'm sure you've enjoyed your quiet yet peaceful life nestled in your box amongst the tissue paper, only occasionally worn and admired in front of the mirror.



However, it's now time for you to embark upon a great adventure. An adventure from which I'm afraid you will not return.

It will be great though, it's the reason for which you were created.

You'll get to play football and hopscotch, you'll skip and you'll dance and you'll twirl around and around.

You'll be wrapped around the legs of chairs and dragged along the ground. You'll watch from a distance during the sponsored bounce and you'll cheer from the sidelines on sports day.

You may even occasionally be ground nervously into the parquet flooring when your owner is caught up to no good!

Yes dear little toes, tomorrow you'll be off to school on the feet of a five year old. You'll carry her through things both new and familiar and remain completely taken for granted through most of these things, but I'll clean and polish you on your return, I'll keep you good for as long as possible.

So little toes, I bid you farewell, it was nice to have had the pleasure.

And thank you for taking my little girl everywhere she wants to go.

Time to start using night cream!

Because that is a very early birthday picture painted by Chloe with my age on it!

I'm 29:(

Remember me

It feels like it's been so long since I've written anything, but it's really only been a few days. I've no real concept of time passing at the minute to be honest, any routine we had is long gone what the school holidays and what have you.

I have no more news about my dad at the minute. We're still waiting for his assessment appointment, which should have been today but wasn't so it may now be next Tuesday. He needs to have the assessment before the operation and although he seems to be fine his doctor is concerned at the length of time he's having to wait because he's still losing quite a bit of blood.

We've been very patient so far but unfortunately it seems that rather than patients being seen in order of most urgent, it seems to be more a case of who pisses off the hospital staff the most and causes them the most headaches, so we'll try that for a bit and see how it goes.

I've been keeping myself pretty busy as usual between mucking about with Chloe and work, I've had a few commissions in the past week or so, though I'm fairly up to date in that I'm down to one remaining current commission and I've just taken a new one as well, so that will keep me occupied for a while.

My lovely husband who claims that he is not influenced by anything he watches on tv, saw a report on said goggle box yesterday stating the incredibly concerning fact that 1 in 10 children don't know that a conker comes from a horse-chestnut tree. When I was a kid conkers came from conker trees and were promptly hung on the end of the sturdiest shoe lace to be found in the house, usually from one of dad's work boots and I turned out all right.

For the record our primary school was also surrounded by "helicopter trees" and were referred to as such by the pupils and the teachers!

Anyway, long story short is that I now have a bowl full of conkers in the kitchen, kindly brought home by the husband for no reason whatsoever!



This is what I'm currently working on. It's a bag and fascinator (my first eep) for a gala at the end of the month. I'm glad that it's being delivered in person, because it's an absolute mare to photograph. It's actually a blueish green and what looks like handfuls of dust in the photo are actually tiny silver sequins, the quilting is silver embroidery thread too. It isn't finished yet, well I suppose it is in the sense that it functions as a bag but I'm still waiting for peacock feathers to arrive. I'll hopefully have this one complete and delivered by the weekend.



I'll be making a start on the new commission for a wall plaque this evening and I'm looking forward to that.

I also have a sale on my Folksy shop at the minute from page five onwards. A lot of things are up to half price as I desperately need to make some room in the stock room (read two stock boxes which fell in love, mated and spawned half a dozen ickle stock boxes which are fast growing into half a dozen strapping lads and I don't really have a room specially for them).

Of course the husband occasionally complains about the amount of space I take up around the house, at which point I offer that we do in fact have a spare room which I could move everything into (you remember the man room right?) and he shuts up.

So that's basically what I've been up to or at least plan on being up to over the next few days. That and making sure I have everything ready for Chloe's return to school next week. I can't believe the Summer holidays are gone already, I feel a bit like Rabbit in Winnie the Pooh when he lost all the calender pages!

Ickle ATCs

Crafty Lil things is organising an ATC swap for the little(ish) ones.

I missed the swap organised last year by Wise Craft, so I've signed Chloe up for this year's swap and she's really looking forward to it.

If you're not familiar with ATC's, they're Artist Trading Cards, the only rules about the cards are that they must measures 3.5 x 2.5 inches and they must be swapped and not sold.

Kids are invited from anywhere in the world to take part and the three age groups are:-

12 months to 3 years
3 to 6
7 to 10

You can send as many or as few cards as you like and they're pretty inexpensive to post as they fit in a regular envelope. The only thing you are expected to send is the card itself and aren't obliged to include any extras whatsoever.

It's a great way to introduce the very little ones to the idea of pen pals, as I know there is a pen friend programme in Chloe's school for kids age 6 and over and it'll give the kids something fun and a bit different to talk about on the show and tell days once they're back to school.

You can make the cards from absolutely anything and in any medium so you won't need special materials or anything like that, kids can paint, draw, colour, cut and stick or whatever takes their fancy and you can even let the very little ones go nuts with a big sheet of card and then cut it to the right size yourself.

You can pop over to Crafty Lil Things to sign up for the Kids ATC swap, and you'll receive an email with your recipient(s) and the date for posting shortly. Ideally this will take place over the remainder of the Summer hols so sign up quickly. You might even receive a mini Chloe masterpiece:)

A little silver lining

Well we've at least had some good news today.

My dad had originally been told earlier in the week that he would have a CT scan taken of his chest on Thursday, now obviously that didn't happen yesterday and he was told that he would be discharged today and that there wouldn't be any urgency in having the scan done immediately and that it could be done at a later date at the outpatients dept. My mum wasn't particularly happy about this and lets just say she made the poor doctor aware of her feelings. Anyway, when my mum arrived at the hospital this morning to go through everything with the oncology nurse and bring my dad home, he wasn't in bed and it took her a while to find a nurse who knew where he was. Yep, off having the CT scan.

The good news is that the scan showed his chest to be completely clear and so far the only signs of cancer in his lower torso is that one large tumour.

My mum and dad were sat down with the oncology nurse (who I'm told is absolutely brilliant) and she talked them through everything, they were admittedly a bit concerned about waiting five weeks now for the surgery, but the nurse called the surgeon who will be operating on my dad in and he assured them that the surgery would take place sooner than this.

My mum said they felt 100x better after speaking to the nurse, she explained that this type of cancer starts as a polyp which becomes cancerous and continues to grow at a very slow rate and it can often remain undetected for as long as ten years. The reason most people are referred to hospital because of this cancer is because they need blood tests for some other reason and their blood count is low. The only other symptom which it seems to cause is the odd bout of deli belly, and sod's law hasn't my dad tried a couple of new fast food places in the last few years and been on that Liverpool ferry more than once! You just wouldn't connect the two, would you?

The surgery will still be major, in the majority of cases it can be removed by keyhole surgery and all being well my dad's will be no different although he will have half his upper bowel, appendix, nodes and some tissue removed. Then the nodes will be tested, if they're clear then so is he, but if they contain any cancerous cells he will have to have a course of chemotherapy.

It doesn't feel quite so up in the air now and we feel like we've at least half an idea of what to expect over the next few months. It's going to be difficult but the cancer is very treatable, and we can prepare ourselves now and just get through it one day of it at a time.

Thank you

I want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers over the past few days.

We've just received the results of my dad's biopsy and unfortunately it has confirmed our worst fears.

My dad has cancer and it would seem judging by the results that he has has this tumour hiding like a coward inside him now for the past 3 to 5 years.

I just can't believe this, he's only 43 and although I've done nothing but break my heart since the doctor told us a huge part of me just can't comprehend it at the minute. I'm still in some way convinced that they're wrong ...

He is being discharged from hospital tomorrow morning following some discussions with his consultant and some nurses who will help provide support and advice. He will have to have an operation in three weeks time to remove the tumour and then the chemo will start. His doctor has basically said that the cancer is at such a stage and the operation itself will be very stressful and he feels that waiting a few more weeks won't make any difference and he would prefer that my dad take it easy and try and build his strength and that the best place to do this is at home.

I know it's going to be alright though. My dad is young and strong and he'll fight this. He's been putting up a decent enough fight against it for the past 3 years at least without even realising it and now he knows it's there, the cancer doesn't stand a chance!

Cry like a wreck in the corner .... or ....

I only get one option seeing as I'm at home all day with Chloe. Thankfully, I'm pretty good at the whole stiff upper lip thing. It's difficult though, I keep thinking that the next time I see my mum break down openly or stare out a window crying silently, hoping that nobody can see, it will get the better of me and I'll crumble.

My dad was admitted to hospital yesterday morning. He had hurt himself in work on Saturday evening and everything about it played out like your typical pulled muscle.

He'd been pulling one of those large bread trollies (you've seen them in supermarkets only these are too big to see around so they have to be pulled rather than pushed) and he got a sudden pain in his groin. He figured he'd pulled a muscle as it continued to throb and he was in pain, but not so much pain that it kept him off his feet. His boss sent him home from work at about 10pm and later that night a fever started to set in during the night.

My mum found him curled up on the sofa early on Sunday morning under blankets, wearing jumpers and a woolly hat and still he shivered. He still refused to see a doctor, saying that he wasn't going to be laughed out of a doctor's surgery for going in with a pulled muscle. After another awful night on Sunday he finally gave in and went to his gp on Monday morning.

His gp immediately referred him to the hospital with suspected internal bleeding. He was admitted to a ward shortly after arriving at hospital and given a ct scan which showed a growth or thickening in his bowel. We now have to wait until Thursday when a biopsy can be carried out and the rest of his bowel can be checked for any more growths to determine whether the growth is benign or malignant and what exactly has caused it. After that he'll need to have an operation to have it removed.

And now it's just a matter of waiting and trying to carry on ...

Snippets and why kids shouldn't eat crackers in bed

• Nothing beats lying on the grass, eating ice cream except maybe lying on dry grass, eating ice cream when it isn't raining. Still good though.
  
  
• The peas are in and we've been picking and munching away on them. A single pea has yet to make it past the back door though and Chloe will only eat them if they're still in their pods. I'm glad I bought those delicate little plants instead of the woody big boys that taste like monkey nuts.
  
  
• I've a website now, kind of, well it's getting there and for scatter brained little old me I think I've done alright so far.
  
  
• I've cut my hair again. It is very, very short even by my standards. I'm plucking up the courage and waiting for whoever it is that is going on holidays and left their luggage hanging around beneath my eyes to come and collect it before I chance any photos.
  
  
• My old faithful camera is very nearly knackered. I do not like the husband's canon as much as I did when it was merely a back up instead of my very soon to be only option.
  
  
• I wonder how hard it is to fix a digital camera!
  
  
• My mum's dog, the rottweiler, has taken to sleeping on Chloe's trampoline when he thinks no one is around to see him. Unfortunately twice now he's being doing that walking in circles thing that dogs do before lying down and he's obviously gotten up a bit too much speed and started to bounce, not been able to control it and vomited all over the thing. Hasn't stopped him climbing in there though.
  
  
• When do sunflowers flower? Our plant just seems to like making more and more leaves and if it gets any taller we'll have to go upstairs and look out a window to see the flower if it ever does make an appearance.
  
  
• Children left unattended after their bath are more than capable of sniping downstairs, grabbing a box of cheesy crackers, climbing back into bed again and eating half the box all in the length of time it takes to rinse out an average sized bath tub.
  
  
• Cracker eating in bed will result in me having to endure the husband's dirty looks as he tries to wipe the cracker crumbs from the bed at half past midnight before giving up and plodding off downstairs in a sulk.
  
  
• I slept in that bed all night, didn't feel a single crumb.
  
  
• Sometimes I think I live with the princess of princess and the pea fame.
  
  
• It occurs to me that if the "princess" had a hairy chest and hands like shovels, whether or not she could sleep in a bed with fresh produce would have been the least of the prince's worries.
  
  
• And seriously how convoluted a plan was that whole pea under a gazillion mattresses thing anyway. Surely an easier way would have been to tell her she'd let herself go a bit. If she runs off crying then she's the delicate (if a bit high maintenance) little flower for you, if she lamps you one round the side of the head then it's probably time to start hanging out in singles bars again.
  
  
• I thought bullet points were supposed to focus the mind and stop people prattling on endlessly about complete nonsense.
  
  
• I probably shouldn't do too many posts like this.
  
  

Folksy Bird Swap

A while ago .... actually quite a long time ago (she's very organised you know) I signed up for another of Noodlebubble's swaps. I had to really, it was based on birds for a start and I do like a birdy or six but better yet, it was a Noodlebubble swap. She's the Queen of swaps, basically when the woman's driving the bus you just hop on board!

Anyway, I was properly down in the dumps today. I mean well and truly disgusted. The main reason is that the weather is really, really getting me down at the minute. It's having a much worse effect on me than it is on Chloe. We were all ready this morning for a walk to the park with enough snacks and drinks to carry us over lunchtime if we happened to stay later than planned. The sun was shining and it was a glorious morning, we got ourselves together, locked up the house and were on our way. We'd managed to get maybe a ten minute dander from the house when the sky turned black and the rain came down hard. We even had thunder and lightening. Even though the ten minute dander away from home was cut down to a two minute sprint at full pelt back again we were still soaked through.

So another rotten day trapped indoors, looking out through the windows and running through the checklist of "Super Fun Things To Do When It's Raining" which we've already worked our way through half a dozen times already and really don't care if we never see another ball of salt dough ever again. Seriously, we already have xmas decs made!

And then the postie arrived. Lately there isn't much to get excited about when the postie arrives because my normal bestest postman in the whole wide world is off on holiday and the guy covering his route likes to punish us for making him go out in the rain by carrying all of the post in arms while his empty bag flaps around in a useless fashion at his side. I've had paper mache twice this week already.

But today my parcel arrived wrapped in plastic (#suckit postie).

Isn't it absolutely gorgeous ....

Lynne of Lynne's Pattern Parlour fame made it for me.

It's a gorgeous crocheted notebook cover. Crochet is about the only thing that completely stumps me, I just can't get my head around it all so it makes this even more special.

I really was so down today that when it arrived and I opened it, it very nearly brought a tear to my eye. I'm not kidding, I was just so overwhelmed by her kindest and how completely perfect it is that I had to take a minute to compose myself.

Notebooks are like crafter's crack, we buy them, make them and stockpile them. They're absolutely everywhere in our homes, but this one will be kept for special things. I'll carry on writing my usual (mostly crap) ideas down and then transcribe the very best ones into my new book.

Thank you Lynne, I really do love it:)

A Quick Fix

Eww, I've a horrible case of mummy guilt at the minute.

Those of you who put up with me regularly will know that I've been prattling on about redecorating Chloe's room since Christmas!  It still hasn't happened and she's making me feel downright awful about it.

She gets a look on her face like the Little Match Girl every time we have to put it off for yet another week.  I could give a list of reasons why we haven't got around to it yet, like money but in truth we have all the paiint and bits and bobs already bought then only thing we need to buy is new carpet.  It's not exactly the biggest room and I'm not minded to buy the very best Axeminster for a five year old's room so it won't cost much.

I could say we've been busy but in truth we just haven't tried as hard as we could have to find the time to get started.

I could say that I'd rather do it on a weekend when she can stay in my mum's house overnight because I don't want her sleeping in a room which smells of fresh paint, but the problem with that excuse is that we've had a few weekends like that this year and she could just as easily sleep iin our room for a night or two instead of her own room and it's the Summer holidays and if I were to throw up a two man tent in the living room and give her a sleeping bag she'd be over the moon.

I've got no excuse other than a shortage of time rather than a complete lack of it and an abundance of laziness on my part.

To ease my guilt I opted for a quick fix ...

I bought two huge sheets of decals to brighten her room up a little.

You'll have to excuse the awful photos, it's been a bit grey and miserable here but trust me, her room is really bright and cheerful.

I managed to get them all on the walls while she was at my mum's house because decals are really just glorified stickers and the only thing kids love more than putting stickers on it pick pick picking them back off again.

And all for the grand total of £4 and 20 minutes of my time.

We will get to decorating her room as soon as we can but in the meantime she's happy and I no longer have to wince each time she gives me "the look".

*I don't really know what's going on with blogger at the minute, but it just refuses to centre images*

Commission

It isn't something I do an awful lot of these days. I found myself making a lot of jewellery in the run up to Christmas last year.

Jewellery is one of those things that I don't mind making in small quantities, I'll make a few things for myself or as gifts but it isn't something I enjoy enough to do it full time.

However, a friend asked me if I would mind making some for her to wear to a wedding at the end of July.

Luckily she's quite specific in what she wanted because with me being no expert on jewellery making if her instructions had been at all vague I'd have been completely stumped. She'll be wearing a pale blue maxi dress with a halter neck and a slight plunge to the neckline so she asked for a very simple chain but with something a bit more elaborate at the end than a single pendant and she wanted a bracelet and earrings to go with the necklace but didn't want everything to be too matchy matchy.

More importantly though, she's pretty much tapped herself on the dress so the jewellery couldn't be too expensive or overly dressy that she wouldn't be happy to wear bits and pieces of it on your average day out for a walk in the park with the kids.

She called yesterday to collect them and I'm glad to say that she was really happy with them.

I used nickel free silver plate for the findings and chain and sterling silver for the ear wires. She's one of the lucky people who doesn't seem to react to nickel at all, but I just prefer the nickel free stuff, it seems to stand up to a bit more man handling if I'm honest, regular silver plate seems to chip quite easily, or at least it does in my hands. I was lucky and able to pick up some clearance beads in colours she loved from Jillybeads and the little jewelled disc which the beads are suspended from on the necklace was harvested from some old jewellery.

All in all, I'm really pleased that I was able to give her something nice and still have it come in under budget for her too.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've been missing my sewing machine something awful.

Public Apology

Murphy I'm really and truly very sorry and for what it's worth I promise never to try and get one over on you ever again. I've managed to dupe you out of a bit of good luck twice now and I know that is more than my fair share. It won't happen again, honest!

Thursday was not a day filled with laughs.  Don't get me wrong, I'm sure we'll laugh about it one day, just not today.

We started the morning peering out of the windows trying to work out what the weather was going to be like.  Of course we could have checked the weather on the tv or online but I'm fairly sure they're all standing in the met office peering out windows and wondering what the weather is going to do as well.

Having finally decided that the last remaining clouds weren't suddenly going to blow away and leave us with a beautiful day we decided to risk it.  I packed a picnic, we jumped in the car and headed for the Folk and Transport Museum.  This is the third year we've tried to plan a trip to the folk park and something else always seems to crop up or get in the way.

This year was no different ....

I needed to lift out money and told Robert this before we left the house, but as soon as he's behind the wheel of a car he slips into autopilot and managed to drive past every ATM on the way there so we drove on past and stopped at a garage in Holywood so that I could get some cash.

Just as a quick aside on the slim chance that somebody from Tom Tom should ever come across this.  Luckily we know where we're going but it doesn't stop Robert punching in postcodes "because he can", but I just wanted to point out that the exit from the city bound lane into the Folk Park is roughly 200 yards closer to Bangor than you think it is.  It is not, as you would lead unsuspecting people to believe, at the end of some poor bloke's driveway!  You should probably fix that by the way, best case scenario is that the guy has a couple of barbecues disrupted by people unfamiliar with the area while he redirects them 200 yds back up the road, worst case scenario the poor guy winds up on a register after running out into the garden wrapped in a towel to grab some underwear off the line just as a huge gust of wind carries the towel up into a tree and at the same time a bus load of school kids on a day trip arrive at the top of his driveway while he makes a run for the house to a chorus of screaming kids drowning out the dulcet tones of the rather posh lady telling the bus driver that he has arrived at his destination.  What, it could happen!!

But I digress ... we'd just pulled into the garage and parked in one of the uncovered spaces close to the ATM, which was out of order so instead I nipped into the shop to get us a few drinks and pay with switch so that I could get cash back.  I had just hopped back into the car and put on my seat belt when Chloe told us that her tummy hurt, she then proceeded to pebble dash the entire back seat of the car with Frosties.

We both jumped from the car, just as the heavens opened and started to try and clean her up.  Completely and utterly soaked to the skin and looking like a couple of drowned rats we both finally realised that we'd have to take her out of the car if this little exercise in cleaning up was to be in any way successful.  It was at this point that we both turned to look at the spaces beside the petrol pumps, which were bone dry as they're covered by a huge roof to keep people from getting wet when they have to get out of their cars.  These spaces were a mere ten feet away from us.  Robert jumped in the car and reversed it back under the roof and we lifted Chloe from the car, just as the rain stopped!

We finished operation clean up as best we could and headed for home .... at about 10mph.  The car having decided that it didn't really appreciate being covered in sick and then parked in the rain with all it's doors open had decided that now was the time to take a huff and not work properly.

We arrived back home again a little after 11am, completely knackered, still soaked to the skin, with a child still smelling of sick and while I started the clean up, Robert tried in vain to figure out what was wrong with the car.  He had a look over it himself and was stumped so he called Renault and explained what the car was doing.  The guy on the other end of phone told him that he hadn't a clue what it might be and that he would have to bring the car in to be hooked up and the diagnostics checked to see what the problem is.  This alone was going to cost £76.00 before they even thought about fixing the problem!

Then my lovely postie arrived with a kilo of buttons for me and obviously because of the state I was in when I answered the door (bedraggled, might have been a bit of Frostie stuck to my cheek) he asked if we'd had an eventful morning and after listening to me rant for a few minutes he told me about SS Car Repairs, just round the corner from my house.

Robert called the guy and was told to bring his car down to be looked at straight away.  He drove the car into the repair centre, turned off the engine and stepped out of the car only for the mechanic (proper mechanic, with a socket wrench set rather than a laptop) to tell him the problem was a coil pack.  He didn't even have to lift the bonnet, he just listened as the car came in.  £30 later and the car is running like a dream again.

So the silver lining to this miserable, manky grey cloud is that we now have a car guy and a bloody great one at that:)

Whimper

I've only gone and done it again.  Since Tuesday I've had a blinding headache and a noticable case of the shakes after standing for nearly two hours waiting for and then watching the bands with Chloe.  It was a great day and Chloe loved every minute of it, but of course I did my usual routine and spent all our time in the scorching sun covering Chloe up and plastering her in suncream and making sure she drank plenty of fluids and didn't bother a jot about myself.  So I'm a little rough around the edges at the minute.

I'd say we live and learn but you probably all know me well enough by now to know that if I did the same thing last year and th eyear before, chances are that I won't be learning anything new in time for next year!

The July Jesters are still going strong and I'm managing to keep up alongside getting ready for another craft fair on 7 August.  I've been making button bird purses again ...

And the rest of the Jesters aren't exactly struggling to keep up either.

Here are some of my favourites today...

Folksy Friday - July Jesters

Woohoo, day 9 and I'm at least managing to keep up with the listings. Hmm, still 22 days to go though, so you'll have to wish me luck.

I'm not alone in challenging myself to list an item every day in July, and I imagine I'm also not the only one with an ever expanding wish list.

Here are some of my favourites ....

Wildlife

I actually remembered this year to snatch a photo of one of the little hedgehogs which potter through my garden in Summer.



These little guys are brilliant and probably the biggest reason behind why I'm able to go into my garden and pick salad and greens completely devoid of nibbles.

More often than not I don't see the little guys, but I always hear them crunching and slurping their way through the slugs and snails. It's a bit gross to be honest, but to each their own:)

When we moved into this house there was no gate closing in the back garden and adding one was one of the first things we did. We planned on having kids and wanted the garden to be secure, but at the time we didn't know that hedgehogs came to the garden so now I have to remember to leave the side gate open for them from the beginning of June onwards.

I only managed to get this photo because the cat was giving off stink in the back garden and when I went out to check on her I realised that the hedgehog was stuck in the garden because Chloe had closed the gate before coming in and I, stupidly, hadn't noticed at the time.

The cat doesn't bother them, I think she maybe has had a go at a hedgehog in the past but now she leaves them well alone so they're perfectly safe in the garden.

I love looking out into my garden and being able to see the wildlife which comes tottering through, from all the birds and insects to the hedgehogs and the very occasional squirrel.

Which brings me rather untidily to the Campaign for Decency. Fox hunting has been banned in the UK and now there are plans to repeal the ban. You can add your name to the petition in an effort to stop this repeal. There are links to the petition in the top left corner and at the bottom of the home page of Campaign for Decency though I warn you that there are some very unsettling images near the bottom of the home page. If you're likely to find these images upsetting a) that's all the more reason to sign, and b) please use the link for R.O.A.R at the top left of the page.

Thank you.

Leanne

Belmont Tower Craft Fair

I spent almost all day Saturday at Belmont Tower Craft Fair. My very lovely mummy and I arrived a little after 8.30am and started to set up my stall. Well, I set up my stall and my very lovely mummy (who knows better, bless her) sat drinking coffee and watching me from a safe distance.

We all like things done our own way, don't we?

I finished up sorting the stall out and with plenty of time left before the doors opened I started having a natter to some of the other crafters. It turned out that all bar two of us were completely new to the fair so we had no idea what to expect.

I sat having a quick coffee and watched a few people taking photos of their stalls once they were ready and I thought, I must remember to take a photo!

Anyway ....
Head like a sieve as usual, honestly where some things are concerned no sooner have I put it in there, than it falls straight back out again. Photos seem to be one of those things. But look ...

Chocolate!


Thought that might work.

I was really pleased with how the fair went in the end. It wasn't the busiest, but because the other stall holders and the customers were of the absolutely outstandingly brilliant variety it meant that I got to stand and have a chat with everyone instead of having to excuse myself every few minutes.

Sales wise I did pretty well, well enough that I've booked again for next month (bagged the last free table) and I've booked ahead for November too. I was very pleased that the first thing I sold was one of my handbags, this one to be exact. The first hour of the fair was very very quiet and all of a sudden a lady appears out of nowhere and declares "Lovely bags, I'll take that one please".

Do you know when it's been so quiet to begin with and then someone asks to buy one of the most expensive things on the stall and it throws you for a second. My mum and I just looked at each other as much as to say "did she just say she wants a bag?", "aye I thought that too, must be the acoustics in here". We just couldn't believe it for a second, but quickly got over it:)

So you'll find me there again on 7 August. Now if I could just ask one of you lovely people to yell, "don't forgot the photos", on my way out the door that would be great. Ta.