Hello Monday

Completely and utterly inspired by Alison’s post here (she also links back to her inspiration too) these are the things I'm saying Hello to this week.

• Hello 17 – Grumpy has her birthday on Wednesday and yay, she’s at home for the day so that will be nice.
• Hello panic stations – Grumpy again, interview for Head Girl and ever the drama queen has gone into overdrive.
• Hello holiday packing – don’t really need to do it just yet but yay yay yay, three weeks time we’ll be in warm sunshine, what a change that will make.
• Hello to the orthodontist, again – seems like we’ve making this trip for ever, first with Grumpy and now on-going with Tattyhead.
• Hello to The Old Vic, London – Thursday night theatre trip with dinner at The Bangalore Express. A lastminute.com cheapie – I’ll report back.
• Hello to the V&A and Hyde Park – two things I intend to do whilst in London Thursday/Friday
• Hello to MaMere – very kindly dog sitting.
• Hello to the odd photo – just because I can (and also because I have this hang up about posting without one lol)

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Instagram 365 (tennis spoiler at the bottom)

Somehow it had passed me by for a little while but no longer, I have discovered Instagram – yay.  I thought I might try it out by focussing upon a 365 theme with the hope that I can turn it into a piece of art for the wall next year.  I’ve started on the 30th June, odd you may think, but that's when I downloaded Instagram and, because of the topic on that June day, I didn’t want to leave it out.  Now I love capturing the day to day in photographic form but sometimes I need more than just photos to encompass my day so I thought I’d share here on my blog too where I can add words to my hearts content. Perhaps, just perhaps its a Blurb book in the making as well as wall art.

The Olympic flame was due to pass by not far from home and given that this was as close as we were ever likely to get to it, we decided to pop along and have a look.  I was expecting an anti climax but it turned out to be quite a pleasant little outing. I understand that The Wanted were in one of the coaches that passed us by but if they were I didn’t spot them. Its great to have the photo above, we don't have many of all the girlies (with the exception of one cousin) but this entry wouldn’t be complete without the flame itself would it.

I don’t know the name of the lady that carried it at this point but I’m sure she won’t mind being included here given the number of photos that were probably taken of her.

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The weather this summer has been atrocious apart from a few days back in May. None the less Maisy still gets to be taken for walkies by Tattyhead and The Footballer (Tattyheads boyfriend). Can you spot T’hubbys new (old) car in the background.

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Sometimes you just forget to take a photo until its bedtime lol. Given a little twist by using the Paper Camera app. I wonder how many more of my bedroom will feature?

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Lunch with an old friend Tracey who flatly refused to have her photo taken. The teapot doesn’t tell the full story of course, we’d chatted, eaten, chatted some more, partaken of a little alcohol and were onto the tea and coffee when this was taken.

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Quarter finals day at Wimbledon. Andy Murray, fantastic match. Murray played very well indeed and went on to win against David Ferrer, who gave a fabulous account of himself too. I love the selective blurring of this app.

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A busy day at home, early evening awards ceremony where Grumpy received a much deserved excellence award. A quick curry and then a dash to The Hovel, arriving after 11pm. Electric blanket on (and its July!!) car unloaded, hot drink made and off to bed with it.

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Semi finals day at Wimbledon. We have no TV at The Hovel and so the radio is stood in the window in order to get the best signal possible. Federer went through in fine form against Djokovik to make his record 8th final appearance, and then onto Murray versus Jo Wilfred Tsonga. Gosh he (Murray) was like a steam train and took the first two sets very quickly indeed. Tsonga suddenly starting playing like only he can in the third set – game on and the third set to Tsonga. In the background another Brit Johnny Marray is through to the Mens Doubles final with partner Nielson. Gosh, if Murray makes it he’ll be the first Brit into the Mens Singles final for 74 years! Fourth set and Murray breaks Tsongas serve in the 4th game. Tsonga desperately tries to break back immediately – and he does it. Tsongas serve and they’re all level again.

4 games to 3 Murray,Tsonga to serve   ... ... ...   0:15  ...  0:30   ...  15:30   ...  15:40  ...   2 break points for Murray ... 30:40 ... Deuce  ...  Advantage Tsonga  ...  Game Tsonga.

4 games all and Murrays serve – he loses the first point, takes the second and loses the third ... ...  15:40. First break point saved, second break point saved. Advantage Murray  ...  Game Murray.

5 games to 4 Murray, Tsonga to serve  ...  ...  ...  15:0  ...  30:0  ...  40:0  ...  40:15  ...  Tsonga wins

5 games all Murray to serve  ...  ...  ...  15:0  ...  15:15 after a double fault Murray  ...  15:30  ...  30 all  ...   40:30  ...  Game Murray

6 games to 5 for Murray, Tsonga to serve  ...  ...  ...  0:15  ...  0:30  ...  15:30  ...  15:40  ...  2 match points for Murray  ...  Hawk eye is needed but its in

Murray wins, he's through to the final

Phew, I need to go lie down now, I’m not even a tennis fan lol

Wendy xx

Crate expectations

Over on Pinterest I have a wonderful little collection of ideas for recycling pallets and crates, at one point I think it was becoming an obsession! Until recently that's all its been, an obsession - oops I mean a collection of ideas. And then I found Matey in Welshpool. You must forgive me, they all get called Matey by t'hubby and it can be rather confusing but that's off topic - Matey in Welshpool is a wood craftsman who has just made us some new windows for The Hovel but who also has a shed load of crates, quite literally. Ta da, oh how I drooled when I spotted them, oh the ideas that flew around my mind tumbling over each other in their haste to land uppermost. Somehow I managed to convince t'hubby that buying three was a good idea, my intention being to create some wall storage in the kitchen. Two were to be hung on the wall and the third would provide the wood needed for shelves inside the other two.  At £15 for the three of them I was well pleased. These were no ordinary crates, they're  bigger than your usual fruit crates and I did secretly suspect that they'd be too big for their stated purpose. I wasn't worried about that though, I knew I had a mountain of ideas.

Back at The Hovel they were indeed too large to be hung on the wall, they were actually rather heavy, but they were also the perfect height to act as benches around the kitchen table. Voila it would seem. Whilst moving around, giving them a quick spruce up etc, I had them stacked for a little while and of course I remembered that they looked fantastic as bookcases too. Sucker. In all I made two further trips and bought four more crates. I used two in the bedroom in my little corner to create a bookcase/display stand and the rest make up the new kitchen benches. I'm not intending to paint them, I may later on make some cushion pads for them but for now they're actually quite comfortable as they are (we did have to remove a few nails first).

I am so very pleased that I have finally acted upon at least one of these ideas that whizz around my head. And the downside? Oh dear, I did have to buy a new table as the old round one didn't quite cut it but hey, at least my benches were cheap!

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

PS, breaking news, I’ve spotted yet another fab idea and will be buying one more crate next visit, I’m on a roll see.

Wendy xx

Story telling Sunday – Chatterbox and Giggles

Today I have a little story to tell,  its bought to you as part of Sian’s Story Telling Sunday. This is the first time I’ve managed to join in but plenty of others play each month and so there are lots of tales out there just waiting to be read, please take a look at the others which you can find links to from here.

When The Boy B was still very little, we’re talking in excess of twenty years ago, I myself was still only a strip of a thing. I’d always been thin, yes I’d managed to put weight on whilst pregnant but it had disappeared again as soon as I was back on my feet. I’d always hated being thin and had endured some horrible name calling in my time but post pregnancy I guess I was now ok with it.

Ok with it? Actually looking at this photo now I think I should have just got on and ‘enjoyed’ it.

At the same point in time, The Boy B was a prolific talker and would happily chatter away as we went about our daily business. There were a few hairy moments when he used words that he couldn’t quite say right and it sounded for all the world like he was saying very bad swear words but I’d smile sweetly and explain that he couldn’t say his ‘l’s’ right as he pointed to something that had caught his eye and tried to say “look,look”. His chattering continued as his speech refined and his lovely clear voice could be heard for some distance as we meandered along.

One day The Boy B and I were shopping in town. I spotted something I liked in BHS and duly went into the changing rooms to try it on. Although a lot of the cubicles were occupied, it was quiet as we went in and, for once, The Boy B was also quiet as he sat there watching me undress – then he decided to speak – loudly and clearly he uttered these unforgettable words:

“Mommy, why haven’t you got very big boobies like all the others ladies”

My mouth dropped open as I looked at him and then I heard the giggles from the other cubicles. For long seconds there was silence in our cubicle as The Boy B and I stared at each other, and then I sniggered, and then he giggled and pretty soon we were laughing our socks off. Of course the downside of the decision to laugh with him rather than find a hole to swallow me was the fact that he thought it was great fun to repeat the exercise!

Do you know, to this day, I have no idea what I took in to try on, but I didn’t buy it. We walked out with our heads held high with the cubicle curtains twitching as we passed.

Thanks for taking the time to read my little story, don’t forget to pop over to the others too.

Wendy xx

Friendship

It never fails to amaze me when I meet up with really old friends just how easily the intervening years are stripped away and once again we're reduced to the giggling girls we were when we trained together more than thirty years ago  (and boy are there some tales to tell from those days - but I digress). I was all of sixteen when I first met these particular old friends and fresh out of school. So fresh in fact that I'd had my last exam on the Friday and had started work the following Monday, I couldn’t be any ‘fresher’ lol!  Pam and Christine were both older & wiser than I and had definitely seen more of life than I had, no slur on them I was just so innocent or was it naive, probably both. We worked in a completely female environment and although you could get the inevitable nastiness that so often happens in these cases, it was here that friendships were formed that became an intrinsic part of your life and that would truly stand the test of time.

Friendships that saw folk marry, have children, divorce. Friendships that saw Christmas parties, trips to Blackpool and Alton Towers. Friendships that experienced promotions AND redundancy and finally; friendships that saw folk from the wider group sadly pass away. Gradually over the years people move on, and I was perhaps one of the first to go. Our lives each going in very different directions and yet somehow never being THAT different to each others, but this you only realised when you finally manage to get back together.

We've not been brilliant at keeping in touch, we've met up perhaps a handful of times over the years and more frequently very recently. The thing that strikes me most each time is that it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how long since the last time. It doesn't matter that as one of us approaches 50, another is approaching 60 whilst the third (somewhere in between) has had both hips replaced! None of it matters and all of that giggling years ago, well, it could have been just yesterday. What truly wonderful gifts friendships are.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment if you’d like.

Disclaimer, this wonderful photo taken from Pinterest in no way is intended to represent anyone mentioned within this post lol, not yet anyway.

Wendy xx

Academia

As I mused the other day, contemplating what I might post about I received messages from two of my three children. One telling me how her maths exam had gone, the other telling me about a ‘published’ paper of his. Ah, the word - Academia:

The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece, which derives from the Athenian hero, Akademos. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning. The sacred space, dedicated to the goddess of wisdom, Athena, had formerly been an olive grove, hence the expression "the groves of Academe."

In these gardens, the philosopher Plato conversed with followers. Plato developed his sessions into a method of teaching philosophy and in 387 BCE, established what is known today as the Old Academy. By extension Academia has come to mean the cultural accumulation of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations and its practitioners and transmitters.

In the 17th century, British and French scholars used the term to describe types of institutions of higher learning.

Not a word I would ever expect to be using when referring to my family. I didn’t even do any A-Levels let alone attend University, in fact it was never even suggested. I’m clinging to the belief that this was due to it still being the province of those that could afford to go rather than the fact that I wasn’t capable lol. But somehow my children are in this space.

My eldest, The Boy B, was adamant he would NOT be going to ANY University. Sadly I have to admit that I didn’t really present any resistance to his decision, so strong was his voice. Suddenly though a girl changed all that and I found myself rushing off up North, touring the halls with potential students all a year younger the The Boy B so late had he left his monumental decision.

But he went and I can still remember the day he moved into student halls and how I felt as I left him there. I can remember his little face as he sat on his bed in his little room as if it were yesterday rather than nearly 7 years ago. I can still remember the girls saying goodbye to their big brother, the oldest smiling though her eyes were full of tears and the youngest wailing and sobbing all of the journey home in the car. He never came back. Oh, he visited often (and still does, so all is well) but he made a life up there with his girlfriend (soon to be wife) and I think they’ll continue to live in that area, and I’m glad – it suits them. What’s more he seems to be continuing with the Academia as following his degree (4 years) he started a 3 year KTP with a PhD to boot and is now slowly switching to lecturing so that at the end of the 3 years he hopes to become a lecturer. Bit odd for someone so set against going to Uni don’t you think.

Then we have Grumpy, DD1 on the left, determined to do even better than her big brother. She’s in the middle of her AS exams and is really trying as hard as she can to get good grades. She plans her revision so that focus is placed on the areas that need more attention and so that she can re-cap in a timely manner just before each exam. She worries about which subject to drop as she still can’t make her mind up about what she wants to study at Uni let alone what she wants to be ultimately - But the The Boy B has NEVER known what he wants to be so I tell her not to stress about that lol

Lastly we have Tattyhead, DD2 on the right, who wailed so much when we left her big brother all alone in that nasty place. Tattyhead will always do things her own way, and that may not coincide with what I might want but boy does she has a cast iron will. She’s year 10 and starts a few of her GCSE exams next week. Once again the rules have been changed and there will be NO re-sits allowed for the exams she takes now. Not that I advocate being able to re-sit endless times BUT she isn’t ready yet and I just hope it isn’t her undoing. She is revising (some) but I do worry that being the third she feels she has a lot to live up to and rather than being outwardly determined to do as well or better than the other two she’s setting the scene for doing the opposite. I don’t know how to counteract this, all I know is that she’s easily as bright, if not brighter, than the other two and she’s my baby. She too wants to go to University but has no idea to do what yet.

So come the summer we’ll be doing the rounds of Uni’s (at the right time) for Grumpy and then once again two years later. Hopefully by the time Grumpy goes The Boy B will be secured as a lecturer and then when Tattyhead goes all three will be safely ensconced within the world (or is that word) of Academia – fancy that!

Phew, is that (part 1) job done do you think? T’hubby and I will then sell up and run off while there’s no one home lol, only joking ……….  But then I do quite fancy Crete !!

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment, it is lovely to hear from you.

Wendy xx

And we’re off

Hmm, well we’re possibly off. Long time no blog – no excuses, just life. I’m back because I do get the urge to capture ‘stuff’ and just writing into a journal doesn’t feel quite enough, I like to add photos at the very least. Although that said I did try out another method recently whilst we were away for a long weekend. I bought myself a Pogo on eBay and took it off on our little trip with me. It worked really well, apart from the fact it ran out of battery and I didn't have the charger with me, but lesson learnt there. Each evening I wrote up the day in my holiday journal and added my choice of photo printed straight from my phone. Fab, bit of a grungy/instamatic type thing going on but that suits me just fine.

Been at The Hovel a lot lately, gradually starting to get things updated and the way we want them. We’ve just had it completely re-wired and with that comes the inevitable patching up afterwards. We needed to hide the new consumer unit and the cupboard that had been there previously just wasn’t up to the job. We found a man fairly local to build us one to match the floor standing units we inherited. I chose a range of paints, china blue, to use for the kitchen/downstairs from the Little Greene paint and wallpaper company.  These have some lovely colours and fabulous wallpaper too, I’ll have to share some wall art made with samples from them at some point.

Using the lightest colour I managed to get it finished last weekend. I’d decided to do something a little different on the inside and so when I’d visited B&Q recently I raided their bargain paint shelf. I bought three pots that folk had had mixed as testers then not liked, all for 50p each – I think they’re 200 or 250ml each so there’s plenty there too.

         

The first has been used on the inside of our new wall cupboard and as we paint the old units I’ll use the others on the interior of those. I like the fact that all is serene and grown up on the outside and then as you open the cupboard there’s this loud injection of colour. At the very least it will detract from any untidy jumble one finds inside lol.  Last, but not least, I added a couple of pretty little knobs I had in my collection for the finishing touch. Voila, all done.

I think that’ll be all for now, lets see if I can visit again and report on the update to our stairs shall we – now who won’t be holding their breath lol. Just before I go though I’ll think I’ll share the tune that is currently blasting out as I type.

I hope it doesn’t play unless you want it to–Enjoy xx

Thanks to anyone that does drop by and please feel free to leave me a comment if you’d like.

Wendy xx

Good Mail Day

Yesterday I received a wonderful piece of mail art from the lovely Alison over at Life in the Slow Lane. I love the colours and the stamping on the envelope and even the postage stamps added to the overall colour combo – just lovely.

Inside I found a beautifully handmade notecard and a lovely fridge magnet quote. Thank you so much Alison, it really made my day.

In other news, I have signed up for Shimelle’s latest class.

Just how much I manage to get done remains to be seen but, as always with Shimelle’s classes the pdf’s are all available long afterwards. Now I just need to get myself organised and get stuck in.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Ten books awaiting

I always have a pile (or ten) of books waiting for me to get around to them, this is the pile that awaits me in the conservatory. From top to bottom then:

1) & 2) Junk Style and Comfortable Country – I love these little books. I can’t say that I have actually read them as such but they’re packed full of gorgeous photos that every so often I drool over.

3) Why does E=mc2? by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw – Hmm, I think it was the sound of Brian Cox’s voice that sold me on this one but I’ve yet to get around to reading it.

4) Exit the Actress by Priya Parmar – I have actually already read this one and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Recommended by my favourite historical novelist and narrating the story of Nell Gwyn, the style was quite different I found but I really enjoyed it.

5) & 6) The Queens Man & Cruel as the Grave by Sharon Penman – This is my favourite historical novelist herself but these two are a departure from what I’ve read thus far in as much as they are historical mysteries. I’ll have to wait and see.

7) Lionheart by Sharon Penman – back to the format I love, this book is brand new as it has only just been published. Telling the story of Richard Lionheart it fits into the timeline of her other novels well and should be a fabulous read.

8) 52 weekends by the Sea by Brigid Nelson and Craig Easton – I first picked this up at the library and loved it, hence the purchase. Featuring the coastline of Britain it winds it way around the country highlighting 52 fantastic weekend destinations. With some yummy photography it has me drooling over many a destination.

9) Decorate by Holly Becker and Joanna Copestick. Another brand new book, Holly Becker is the author of the very popular Decor8 blog and has applied her talents to this new book which I think came out in March. I’ve yet to dip into it, beyond a quick flick, but it promises to be a fantastic source.

10) Living Rooms – love this book and it has my lounge on the front cover. Ok well not exactly ‘my’ lounge but my plans for my lounge lol.

That’s all for now folks. I’ve been missing in action just lately, partly due to my disappointment over losing all the photos from my blog and partly due to ‘stuff’. You can see more 10 on the 10th over at Shimelle’s.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Disaster

Just a very quick post to say that I have spotted that ALL of my photos on my posts have disappeared. I have re-instated the most recent but it going to take a fair bit of work to get them all back (in fact that may never happen). Please bear with me and normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. Sadly I think it’s all because of my new (replacement) phone!!

Thanks

Wendy xx

Mail Art Exchange

Yay my package arrived safely at its destination in Spain on Tuesday, which is actually the estimate the post office gave me when I sent it off on its merry little way. The recipient was Alison over at 'Life in the slow lane' and she seems to like it.

I’d decided to use a google map of the area Alison lives in Spain as with her address this was easy but I also wanted to use a page from an old road atlas I had stashed away for crafting purposes. This took a bit of detective work but I did track down a location prior to Spain and used that page as the basis for the front of the package.

Picture taken prior to posting so stamps were added but phew, they didn’t cover up anything critical.

The mail exchange was arranged by Ginger at ‘Gingers life of spice’ and the theme was ‘earth’. I decided to try and use as much recycled stuff as possible for my take on ‘earth’ and so the package itself was an old one, the map page on the front was old and the patterned papers I used were from my scrap box etc etc. I did have to use ink to print the google map on the back (which you can’t see here because I lost those photos when my phone took its dive) but I printed it onto paper from the scrap pile. Finally, the smiley earth was taken from the earth day campaign. I thoroughly enjoyed myself once I got going so thanks once again Ginger for arranging it all and roll on the next one.

What Alison very kindly didn’t tell folks in her post was that I had written a little note to pop in the package and of course, said little note was still sat on my desk AFTER the package had been securely taped. So Alison received a rather boring little white envelope too lol

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

I don’t believe it

You need to put on your best Victor Meldrew voice and re-read my title, that’s the clean version of what I yelled as my phone (the all singing, all dancing new one) leapt from the back pocket of my jeans and dived head first down the pan. Now, IF the last occupant of the bathroom had closed the toilet lid or IF I had been in any other room when my phone suddenly leapt into life I may not have uttered those words but they hadn’t and I wasn’t and I did so now my lovely new phone is kaput. I’ll not dwell on my sorry tale, I am insured and I still have a smidgen of hope that after a weekend of drying out it may end well – I know, I’m not holding my breath.

In other news I have crafted! All please take a moment whilst this news sinks in but I have. I can’t show you a photo because, you guessed it, it was on my phone. Actually I think I do have a copy on the laptop but I can’t show you anyway because it was my contribution to Gingers Mail Art Exchange and so I’ll not share until it has arrived safely at its destination. Ginger – thank you. I’m so glad you spotted I was back and contacted me before your deadline, it was wonderful to sit and craft again, although I did struggle a little for inspiration. I am determined though to get back into it.

As I can’t share my crafting at the moment I thought I’d share an odd little shot but one that shows another persons craft. Unfortunately I didn’t think to take a before shot and this is probably the oddest thing I have (publicly) enthused about but take a look at my pitch fork.

What about that then, and the spade too. Both of these items were inherited at the hovel and both had seen far better days. They were pitted, rusted and sporting stubby broken handles. A few weeks ago we happened across a market stall selling similar items and as we chatted it transpired that the owner ‘repaired’ these very implements. A few weeks and less than thirty pounds later and look at them now. I’ve never owned a pitch fork before lol.

But now I guess with that I’ll leave you. Thursday saw the Victor moment, Friday saw me obtain a wasp sting as I’ll climbed over a farm gate (you can imagine where can’t you) but I did get a better harvest from the two remaining potato tubs and Saturday, well lets just wait and see shall we – bring it on! Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Under pinning?

After the really high winds over the last week or so we were slightly nervous about what we might find at The Hovel, especially given the number of large trees behind the property and most actually within reach of it! Thankfully, apart from the black bin wedged in the stream, there was nothing to report.

Our main aim this visit was to meet with the structural surveyor, queue ‘uh oh’ or similar cinematic effect please. Yes, after a year of owning the property we have now decided to consult an expert. Personally I would have done this way back, before we actually signed on the dotted line but t’hubby felt that there was every chance it would cause us enough concern that we would chicken out of buying it. Of course that was highly likely and because it had been love at first sight, especially for t’hubby – we went ahead.

It wasn’t long after it was ours that we started to notice the cracks. They weren't new, they’d been there all along it was just that the rose tinted spectacles had hidden them. Now The Hovel was built in 1768 and as it is still standing we didn’t think it would be disappearing down the hill in a hurry but, at some point in the distant future we (or our children, maybe even grandchildren) will want to sell. And so now we needed to know, so that we can take whatever measures may be deemed necessary. My thoughts up to this point have been that if drastic measures were required e.g. underpinning then we’ll take the opportunity to extend, sympathetically of course but to me it makes sense to take advantage of the situation. Lol, my one daft concern was that if that WAS the case it would throw out our lovely new doors, but I guess in the scheme of things ……

……… And so the man arrived.

And he looked

And he walked around

And he looked

And he walked around some more

And he looked

And then he made his pronouncement ………..

Nothing too severe, phew. There is obvious evidence of past movement and we need to take some remedial action to ‘tie’ the front wall to the back wall (not as bad as it sounds I’m told) as it has moved 25mm since the ceiling/floor was replaced – 41 years ago! Then we need to place ‘tell tales’ to both monitor for any further movement and to provide evidence when there is none (fingers crossed). That way we are also safeguarding a future sale. So all in all a reasonable outcome.

And would we have chickened out if we’d had that done in advance. We’re not sure but we may have done. Because we didn’t ‘know’ the hovel then we may have thought it wasn’t worth the hassle. And so I guess t’hubby was right all along and as I sit here typing watching the sun start to burn off the cloud and rain and reveal our view, I am glad, although had the answer been underpinning I might have been yelling at him, right here right now lol.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment, oh and yes, the campanulas survived on their house bricks.

Wendy xx

Please note this post was scheduled to upload after the time of writing

Happy Pinning

I think I need to give myself a strict time allowance for Pinterest, otherwise one of these days I may never return.

I thought Blogland and the internet were bad enough on their own but Pinterest beats them all. I suppose it does depend how you use it. If you browse then ‘repin and run’ you will probably be ok. It’s when you browse, open interesting stuff into new tabs, look at said new tabs, follow the link to the source, nosy around that source and open other interesting looking links into other new tabs – are you getting my drift? I sometimes emerge from one of these ‘I’ll just have a quick 5 minutes’ sessions to find I have lost yet another hour plus of my life.

But I do have some delish piccies and new ideas to show for it. Here’s just a small selection of my latest, click on the picture to take you to Pinterest where you can follow the link to the source. Just remember – you have been warned.

Aren’t these just the cutest, I think I could make some and colour co-ordinate to suit the room.

I want to give this a go, I’ve lots of blank canvas’ somewhere that would work just fine.

Cannot wait to give these a go – need to keep my eyes open for proper pots

Sometimes it’s the simplest of ideas that are the most beautiful

I so want to try this out at The Hovel, I’m sure I have that bottom set somewhere.

Well there you are, that’s just a few of the ones that have caught my eye recently. Now I  have a question for you Pinners out there. Do you ever ‘pin’ to something you’ve posted about on your own blog or is it always to other folks or sites? I’d be really interested to know.

Thanks for dropping by and I do hope you’ve seen something you like. Please feel free to leave me a comment, I love to hear from you.

The small print - I take no responsibility whatsoever for any lost lifetime hours you may incur during the reading of this post.

Wendy xx

Spec Savers in Action

I have no idea why I did this; I don’t know what possessed me, but for some strange reason I have taken a photo of myself, in my glasses, using the webcam on the laptop. I don’t DO photos of myself. So before I chicken out and before I get around to trying out the suggestions for improvement (my sincere thanks), I share with you the problem lol

I seem to have a thing about Polaroid Frames going on lol. Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

PS, I guess this post is only going to make sense if you read the previous one, oops.

Wendy xx

Spec saver

Well we survived the weekend in one piece, the girls went ice-skating and slept in the tent overnight with no mishaps - to my knowledge at least. Although I did recall hearing the question ‘where’s the conditioner’ floating around the house as I drifted off to sleep. My enquiries the next morning resulted in giggles and an explanation of ‘we were doing a Jedward’. Hmm, and this from one girl who is studying hair and beauty, lol.

After a late start to Sunday (and a round of bagels), Grumpy, T’hubby and I nearly lost the tent in a rather ferocious gust of wind as we dismantled it, but after a bit of a battle all was well and the tent was safely packed away until next time. I was then able to turn my attention to a little bit of crafting – well after a fashion anyway and then only really a smidgen.

I’d spent last Wednesday afternoon in London. T’hubby was down there for a meeting and we were meeting up with some friends for a drink after work. I decided to spend my free time having a wander around Covent Garden. Now I’ve never been to Covent Garden before and I’m still not entirely sure what I was expecting but I was sadly disappointed for some reason. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I have a great time meandering through the streets, in and out of all the shops, watching the street performer and picking my way through the market stalls. But somehow it was still lacking in something or other. Knowing me I was probably in the wrong place entirely. Anyway, whilst there I happened upon a Bead shop. I’ve been looking for something to hang my reading glasses around my neck as I seem to be in need of them more and more these days – not a happy bunny at all about this point – and so I had found something I quite liked the look of on t’internet at £12 a time. Not bad I thought but given that I didn’t really know whether it would work for me or not I thought it could get expensive. And so when I happened upon the bead shop I thought ‘Why not’

About an hour later (I dithered a lot) I left with a little package that cost me all of £3.50, and then I think I was actually overcharged but as I had been in there sooooooooooo very long I thought it only fair lol. And so on Sunday I retrieved my little package and had a play.

Ta daa – Presenting my own version for your perusal.

How’s that saying go, oh yes – ‘Don’t give up the day job’ Lol. Jury is still out about whether I will use it or not as I do get slightly annoyed by the beads hanging down the side of my face when I am wearing my glasses (in addition to the snigger from T’hubby) but when they are folded, not in use, it is brilliant.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment, I love to hear from you.

Wendy xx

Ten on the tenth

Today is my baby’s 15th birthday and boy does that make me feel old. Those years have absolutely flown by with all the inevitable ups and downs of having children (now 15, 16 & 24). Tattyhead can drive me to distraction at times but without a shadow of a doubt, I love her very much – Happy Birthday Baby Girl xxx

Because it’s her birthday and because it falls on the tenth, I thought I’d share ten layouts of  my youngest with you today. None are recent as my scrapping inspiration has long been absent – OMG, its over a year I think! They’re a mixed bag (digi and traditional) and a couple are amongst my very first layouts so the styles differ greatly – you have been warned.

And so, in no particular order, I give you….

Tattyhead

The photo used above was printed onto silk then mounted onto card.

Often in a world of her own

Always sporty

Always a poser

I’ve said it already

Will not wear a dress unless absolutely necessary

Sunburst effect on the photo and numerous beads sown on

Completely and utterly devastated for such a long time when her Granddad died

Lol, You may not be able to read the journaling above but I know that I got the date of her birthday wrong on this lo. Couldn’t face the hassle of correcting it though.

Bit of artistic licence on my part

Well that’s all for now folks.  Wish me luck, we have The Boy B home for his sisters birthday and 9 teenagers sleeping in a tent in the garden tonight, deep joy lol

You’ll find the links for more ten on the tenth over at Shimelle’s so please take a look. In the meantime, thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Wendy xx

Country Living

I was really pleased with Sian’s comment on my last post where she referred to the photo of my poor potato harvest as a ‘country living’ shot lol. Daft I know, but I do like to make the shots I post as pleasing to the eye as possible. I don’t always manage it (often just don’t have the time) but I had secretly been rather pleased with this one even before the comments. And so I thought it might be a nice idea to share how it was achieved.

The photo was taken on my phone in landscape. The original shot was fine but lacking in something.

I then used a photo editor (Photoshop Express for android in my case) to apply the effect ‘vignette blur’ to the shot. Starting to feel a little better here.

This was saved and loaded up to Picnik where I added the ‘polaroid’ frame (choosing to straighten it rather that leave at a slant), I also then added the text. You could add a frame in Photoshop or another editor but to be honest Picnik is so quick and easy to use its not worth it. The choice of the polaroid frame cuts the shot into a square which had the pleasing effect of reducing the ‘vignette blur’ in the bottom corners. Voila! My Country Living shot – now if only they would employ me ……..

Do you like my flowers? This basket and pot set has sat, empty, on the windowsill at The Hovel for a few months now. I found it in TKMaxx at a fraction of the price I’d have paid elsewhere but I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to put in it. I had a vision of something like ‘mind your own business’ I think they’re called. A mass of tiny green leaves with little orange ball fruit. I think I may be confusing two different plants though and suffice to say, I didn’t find any. I did however, come across these campanula’s in Sainsbury's and I knew immediately that they would look good. What do you think?

Now I just need to see if my watering solution of house bricks in a bowl of water with the plants stood on top (apparently the house bricks will wick the water to the plant) works for the period we’re not there.

Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment, I love to hear from you.

Wendy xx

Back to school

As summer draws to a close, I realise that it’s been a while since I posted (probably lots to tell so maybe I’ll catch up on some in later posts). Ha, nothing new there I hear you say and you are, of course, quite correct. It’s been so long in fact that I either can’t remember what font I normally use or it has somehow disappeared from my laptop. Uh! If I spend too long faffing about, trying to choose a new one this’ll never get posted at all so I am going with ‘autumn’ – quite fitting I thought.

I don’t really bother much with new year resolutions but I do find myself trying to re-focus a little as summer winds down. I was tempted by Shimelle’s ‘Learn something new everyday’ but I knew that it just wouldn’t happen, so I passed for the time being. But, I am determined to get back crafting in one form or another – I just need to clear my area of our office first that is currently masquerading as a tip lol.

Of course at this time of year, in addition to the girls returning to school – Grumpy into sixth form and Tattyhead into year 10 – it is also harvest time, or should be.

At home we’ve had potatoes, onions, lettuces, sweet corn, carrots, rhubarb, tomatoes and courgettes on the go. The jury is still out on the sweet corn and carrots but the rest have been somewhat disappointing, especially the potatoes and onions. I think our prep and poor soil were to blame and so all my hopes were pinned on the potatoes at The Hovel. After we’d planted at home we had a few left and so we bought a pack of three potato sacks (green plastic tubs) and threw the remainder of the seed in. . Because these were planted into compost, had received plenty of water in the form of rain (we are talking Wales here) and had been able to develop good deep root growth in the tubs I really had high hopes. One bag contained the ‘earlies’, one the ‘maincrop’ and the last a mix of the two. Over the weekend I harvested the bag of ‘earlies’ as the tops were beginning to die off.

Ok, there are perhaps a couple more potatoes per seed than at home but really, is this all I get? I had been working away convincing T’hubby that we ought to get some raised beds in place over the winter so that we could grow more potatoes given that they were obviously doing so well – they DID look like they were – but even I am no longer convinced. I will try again next year. At home we will double dig and make sure we enrich the soil. At the Hovel we will try the bags again. In both cases though I will research and make sure I buy a reputable seed as I now presume this was my mistake.

Ah well, we live and learn ……

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment, it is nice to hear from folks.

Wendy xx