We're Off.....

We are going on our holidays, no really, WE ARE GOING!!!

It's been booked for nearly a year. Mickey Mouse and the sunshine state are beckoning, 10 fun filled days with friends, maybe be a little run or two just to pass the time.

We don't care that we have over a foot of snow, it is not important that Mr Magic's car had to be abandoned 5 miles from home last night and do we care that the airport is currently closed??

NO!

We are about to slowly, carefully, with much merriment and hot chocolate in flasks, begin the journey to Uncle Andy & Auntie Paula's - Bumble is spending her holiday there as they are so close to the airport. Then a short slide to our flight whenever it takes off!

So have fun in the snow! Hugs Debs xx

It's a dog's life.........

I thought I would show you how tough it is being a dog around here at Christmas time! Firstly leading up the Christmas Bumble spent days running around snow covered fields, sliding over icing pools of water and collecting balls of snow on all her legs, which she would nibble off when she was inside the cottage - leaving us to find mini puddles of water everywhere! It is safe to say she did not care in the slightest that this white stuff stopped all our Christmas visiting in it's tracks, that just meant more walks!


Then she was bundled up with dog bed, food and chews as we made our journey to quite wonderful friends, who had so generously invited us to stay for Christmas. I think the sight of Rose Cottage at the moment beggars belief that we can achieve a standard day, Christmas would have been a huge challenge. So we invaded their home where we spent the most lovely of times, the company was just superb, the food incredible and their friendship, kindness and generosity made our Christmas just perfect.

Needless to say Bumble makes herself perfectly at home in their house. They not only have a log burner, but also a young lady who is terribly generous with tummy rubs and she has pet rabbits! Thankfully Miffy & Cocoa have got used to Bumble running up and down the length of their run for hours on end and pay her little attention, but for Bumble it is just the hightlight of her visit.

The Christmas tree was groaning with gifts and much to Bumble's delight there were several with her name attached.


Much spoiling followed, a Christmas stocking full of doggy treats, a new squeaky Christmas pudding ball and then the gift from her tummy rubbing host that made Bumble's Christmas ........



...Phil the Pheasant!!! She could not wait for anyone to remove the tags and once she had hold of him no one was likely to get anywhere close! This toy makes a fantastic quack/honk type squeak which makes her go quite mad - it's very entertaining. This is not the first Phil that Bumble has owned, so we knew the pattern of events that would follow.



Glee and happiness as she parades around the house with him for several hours. Then a little light tossing of him into the air so that she can pounce! Next the intense look as she begins the work of exposing his squeaker - this is by far her most favourite part! Once the squeaker has been removed the general unstuffing of her beloved toy commences. This takes weeks and slowly, slowly the toy changes shape.

So now contented with a saggy toy Bumble is preparing to enjoy her next gift.........a bottle of dog beer!

New beginnings

Wishing you all a healthy, happy and fun filled 2010 - See you next year!
Debs xx

Eureka!

Is it really Thursday?! December always gallops along but hec this one is the speediest yet. As usual Christmas is gaining pace on me and sending me into a whirl wind, now is when I start to panic slightly and begin my compulsive list writing.

But forget all the chaos (although I am sure that you are all terribly organised and serene) and help me enjoy my EUREKA moment.


Since our move last year I have been a full time stay at home Mum, which is a privilege. I have been able to settle Mstr B & Miss A after all the upheavel of relocating, be here for all their disasters, all their achievements and all the taxi requirements 8 & 10yr olds need! So finding my creative side has been a real adventure which has had many ups and downs in itself. I am yet to find a great love for my sewing machine but we are now friends, which is a major accomplishment but crochet has been a different matter, my hook and I now share a very special bond.


I have followed blogs avidly finding new things to crochet, new stitches and designs, I have gazed longingly at others talents, their impeccable creations which look so perfect, not a stitch out of place, colours that compliment and speed that I could only dream of.

But my dear friends today was the day that I sat back and looked at one of my creations and thought WOW. The feeling is immense, quite overwhelming and very unexpected. One would think that I have created something gigantic but it is only small and I have only actually finished one, not the two that are needed, yet I am still all unnecessary, twitchy and excitable.


Let me start with the yarn, the colours are delicious, it is a Rowan Kid Classic Yarn, so it feels just lovely to play with. I love standing in the needlecraft shop drinking in the rows of yarn, they look just like sweeties. These colours jumped out and begged to be brought home - so I obliged!


In just a short amount of time yesterday evening, hooking away I made one wrist warmer in this lovely yarn. I know I said my speed was improving too so just to let you all know I also finished a pair for a dear friend but I can't show you those or it will spoil her opening her pressie!

This single wrist warmer has made me soooooo happy, strange isn't it?! The small things really can make a big difference. Thank you so much for allowing me to wallow in my eureka moment, I can't wait for this evening to arrive so I can pick up my hook and finish my project, but for now the other side of a stay at home Mum is needing attention, the ironing is calling, supper must be prepared and the vacuum cleaner is getting such little use that it is trying to get out of the cupboard by itself, not to mention a furry ball of discontentment who is following me around with her nose at my ankles!

Going to a Party......

That's right, tomorrow is party morning. A very dear friend, Rox and the one and only Mrs Bun need to celebrate. Of course I muscled my way in because I simply love birthday parties, they really are the best kind of party.

So with great excitement and enthusiasm this morning saw the start of my party preparations - do you want to see??

Now you mustn't forget that Rose Cottage is rather muddled at the moment so first things first were to clear the decks!

A good rummage through many boxes unearthed muffin pans and cupcake cases.........


To go to a party without sparkle would just be terribly rude - so sparkly sprinkles made an appearance............



And as if by magic - cupcakes!! So now time for a little wrapping, dusting off the party shoes and then I think a cup of tea with a tiniest sample of the offerings might be in order - well it wouldn't do if they hadn't been tested!

First's

Hello! Happy new month to you all! The 1st December, the most exciting first day of the month in the entire year. Mstr B & Miss A were so excited that Miss A found it hard to get to sleep and there are still 24 nights to go!!!! She is so funny, although the not quite so amusing at 6am when she is dancing around our bedroom unable to contain the excitement any longer - when do they grow out of that???


As you can tell December is a big thing for us here, real magic, a wonderful month and it all starts with the advent calendars. One year, some years ago, we got Mstr B a lego advent calendar and can I just offer one small piece of advice to any parent, don't start anything with children that you are not prepared to continue for much longer than you anticipate!! I am not entirely sure he will ever out grow lego, so it has become a ritual. Miss A is never quite so straight forward (!), her fabric calendar that she has had for some years now is looking very tired so I promised I would make her calendar from a jumbled up mish mash of ideas floating around in my head. What a promise to make, my brain resembles a crows nest at the moment, so it was right to the wire creating this Chrismas tree from match boxes and lovingly covered. So to the wire that I couldn't get craft match boxes anywhere so I bumbled into our local Co op and brought 24 boxes of matches - we wont need to buy matches for years!! We got there and Miss A is delighted, her own countdown which gives her, her own Chrismas decoration at the same time - Phew!

Blogland has turned into a place of such busy creativity that I can't keep up, my poor hook is exhausted! Sparkly stars and flurries of snowflakes have been appearing everywhere, my cosy corner is now the messy corner! But I love it, so busy with so many Christmas goodies slowly coming together.


Mr H is concerned that he will be sat quietly watching a film and by the end will be knee high in a snow drift!!! I really should stop but they are so addictive and so many uses, not that I have come up with many yet.....!!


I have also been busy making these lovely wrist warmers that came from a brief visit to the Attic.

Now as many of you will know there is still no kitchen here at Rose Cottage and cooking is one of my great loves. Baking has seen me through many a stressful time and I am really feeling the lack of a kitchen as we approach Christmas and as for stress........we'll talk of that another time.

So maybe you could cast your mind back to the autumn, full of wonderful sunlight for photos of autumnal colour. I spent many a day with Bumble gathering sloes and rose hips. Much rose hip syrup has been guzzled and the joy of straining our first jar of sloes was so exciting. Never before made so the first sip was divine. As the excitement changed into a mellow mood sat by the fire my thoughts drifted to the huge pile of sloes, somewhat drunken, not like me, sat in a colander - what do you do with those??? Throwing them in the bin seemed such a waste so I googled my dilemma and the results are yummy!

Sloes have a rather annoying stone in their middle so I sat with small paring knife, wet wipes for sticky fingers and a couple of bowls, one for fruit and one for stones. The fire was roaring and with The Good Life and Tom & Barbara with all their smallholding antics keeping me company I removed the fruit from the blessed stones - it is a slow, boring and tedious job, but the end result is worth it.


The next job is to melt plenty of dark, cocoa rich, chocolate, then dip each fruit into the chocolate and leave to set - delicious and well worth the effort. Also particularly good for Christmas gifts along with some home made truffles (I got the recipe for the truffles from Country Living's December issue) decorated with some gold leaf.


Then you have the perfect excuse to sit and play with paper! Making your own boxes so that you have a reason for buying these...


OOOOOhh I love December! xxx

Remembrance

While I was flying around blogland a couple of weeks ago I stopped by at the Fairyglade and found the most beautiful crocheted poppies. Remembrance Day for me is always special. I was always part of a Remberance Parade as a child with Brownies then as a Guide and it is also the date of my late, much loved, Gramp's birthday.

So with Dev's call to pick up our hooks, I made a cup of tea at high speed while rummaging through my yarn stash to find a good red yarn.


It was lovely to sit hooking while allowing my mind to drift through the memories of years past, the traditions and rituals, my pride in being the flag bearer, the inevitable goose bumps from hearing the last post and the chill as the roll call is read, mingled with the delight of sitting with my Gramps, eating winkles from a brown paper bag and traumatising my cousins with talk of rabbit stew, his huge hands which in a hug could make you feel so safe, his glass of scrumpy and polly-just a walking stick.........simply remembering.