Half Term High Jinks!

Half term was wonderful, chaotic, mad, shambolic but wonderful! Tanya and her lovely family came to stay for a week from France. Poor things were treated to far more rain than they are used to but I guess that is always a risk if you visit North Devon in February. We shared some great times together this week, we laughed, cried, ate the obligatory cream tea, listened to great music, drank, shopped (despite toddlers, tantrums, grumpy old men and endless rainfall), were treated to a show put on by the kids, thrifted, marvelled at how our eldest girls have grown up, talked and talked and talked (despite having 7 children in permanent earshot), celebrated Floss's 13th birthday early and generally caught up after having been apart for the last year. I miss Tatty so much. Since she moved to France we use the telephone and emails to keep in touch but it is no substitute for being together and lately my girlfriend has needed a hug (or two). After being in each others company for a few hours it is like we have never been apart. The same thing happens with our children, they just pick up from where they left off a year ago. Lovely, like Lettuce says, 'Good friends ease the heart'.

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My website

My website is live boys and girls! Go and take a peek, tell me what you think. I need feedback. Pin It

All the fun of the thrift

I had a great day thrifting on Friday. I spotted some mannequins for sale in the local paper. Mr Big Stuff had been looking for some for quite some time and the little old man who was selling them was retiring from running his clothes shop in Ilfracombe and was selling up. Thinking he may have some old shop fittings I accompanied MBS there. Sadly the shop was completely gutted ready for refurbishment but the mannequins were fabulous and just what MBS had been looking for. While he was loading up I decided to venture into town as I had spotted some charity shops on our way through (It's the first thing I look out for when entering a new town). Now I don't go to Ilfracombe very often, especially in winter. It's a funny old down-at-heel North Devon seaside town, all fudge and fairy shops, but the charity shops were great. I love going to charity shops in places I don't normally go. Their stuff always seems more exciting and unusual somehow. I also liked the fact that the charity shops were scruffy, independant charity shops for obscure charities. I find that some of the bigger charity shops like Oxfam, Barnardos and CLIC are a little sterile these days. Their stuff is sometimes too new and I wonder what happens to the old smelly stuff. I fear the worst! Anyhow I found some great stuff like this........

Flour shaker to go with my sugar shaker



A gorgeous pile of crockery in ice cream colours



A scottie



A shabby chic jug









Some tablecloths


A linen Teatowel





And my favourite thing of all, a kitsch poodle tin full of buttons!!

I know, I'm easily pleased! I also got some fabric, some old kids books and a teletubby rucksack for Lizzy who was beside herself with love for this tatty old thing (like mother like daughter!). Oh and I still had change from a tenner!

After all that thrifting I was quite hungry so we went down to the quay and had lunch in Damien Hirst's restaurant. It was lovely. As it was a fine, spring-like day we took our time driving back along the coast marvelling at the views and reminding ourselves how very very lucky we are to live here. I just wish I had remembered to take my camera.

When I got home I sorted out boxes and boxes of stuff for a lady to take away for a local jumble sale. She had a car load and could have held a jumbly with my stuff alone! It's my new regime, one out, one in.

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Fabric and Fairies

On Thursday a parcel arrived at my house. I unwrapped it and inside I found this......

Further unwrapping revealed this..........

and, finally, this................

A beautiful pipe cleaner fairy made by this clever lady. I fell in love with her immediately. She was so lovely and beautifully made, the attention to detail is undescribable and you just can't see how extraordinary she is from my photos. Believe me she is wonderful! The only trouble was she wasn't mine. I had bought her for my Mother-in-Law whose birthday it was the next day. She has been virtually house bound with extreme sciatica. Now for an extremely active lady like my MIL this is so frustrating for her and it has been getting her down a lot. Nothing she has tried has shifted it. I parcelled up the fairy together with The French-Inspired Home, some scented candles, chocolates and a corsage, all things she can enjoy from the comfort(?) of her chair. She was thrilled, especially with her fairy, and it really cheered her up. I had to get in touch with Niki though and ask her if she could make me one the same, or at least very similar, before I let her fly off to her new owner!

I have found a child minder for Lizzy for 1 1/2 days a week so that I can at last get on with stocking the shelves for my website. It is all ready to go now and just needs me to spend a little time adding the fabric to my shop. Here for you is a little preview of things to come, enjoy!

1930's cotton

1930's cotton

1940's cotton

1930's paisley cotton

1950's kids cotton

Vintage French buttons

Polka dot grosgrain ribbon

Vintage linen buttons

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Weird?

I was tagged on Sunday by Lisa.

Here are the instructions - The Rules: Each player of this game starts with "6 weird things about you". Each person who gets tagged needs to write a blog post of their own 6 weird things as well as clearly state this rule. After you state your 6 weird things, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you're tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog for information as to what it means.

I have to say I found this incredibly hard as my weird things don't seem so weird to me. I have got used to my own weirdness and so they now seem normal!

So here are my six weird things

1. I love giving birth. I am not so keen on pregnancy, as an impatient Arien I find it goes on rather too long for my liking, but giving birth is the best. I had 3 wonderful births. Don't get me wrong they were not pain free by any means but they were the most wonderful exciting days I have ever had. When I was pregnant with my first child, some 17 years ago, I was scared and unsure of what will happen during birth. A visit to the antenatal clinic showing a video of a woman giving birth, laying on a bed screaming, upset me and I went home and told Paul I just couldn't do THAT! I went to pregnancy yoga classes in North London where we were living and then to Active Birth Parenting classes. With the information I received from these I knew exactly the type of birth I wanted and as I had no medical problems and my labour was straightforward I was lucky enough to have the birth I planned. This then led me to train as an Active Birth teacher and I taught pregnancy yoga classes, couples courses and Baby Massage classes 5 days a week in Kent before moving to Devon.

2. I have to have brown sugar sprinkled on the top of my cappuccino. If it is stirred in the drink is ruined.

3. I think that my gran (who died many years ago) guides me when I am looking for vintage bits. She was a great lover of jumble sales and charity shops and used to enlist my help as a little girl to help her behind the table at jumble sales. I seem to find things when others have not seen them and also feel a strong pull to go to a certain charity shop on a certain day. I will nearly always find something quite special on these occasions.

4. If I have a cream tea I must have the jam on the scone first before the cream. It's the only way!

5. I believe my cats to be sacred guardians of our home when we are not there. I think they keep our spirit alive in the home and that nothing bad will happen when they are around.

6. I buy fabric to sell on ebay as well as on my website (coming soon I promise!) but sometimes I cannot sell it or use it but tuck it away somewhere and get it out from time-to-time for a little stroke.

Crikey, actually now I read them back I am weird, really weird!

I tag GOW, Tanya, Wendz, Lettuce, Luce, and Pod
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Corners of my home

I always love looking around other peoples houses. The blogs I visit with photos showing corners of their homes are so fascinating so I thought I would start to feature corners of my home from time-to-time. Niki recently posted pictures of her enamelware collection. I too love enamelware (much to Paul's disgust as he hates it!) and have collected as much as I am allowed to get away with! It is quite evident in my kitchen and is used a lot. I have tins which are in constant use, jugs which are used as jugs or vases, my bain maries are the only ones I have. My colander (hung up by the aga) is used daily but the teapots are never used I have to admit. They are purely decorative as is the tin labelled 'tea' in the glass cabinet whose lid is rusted on but I forgive it because it is so beautiful and therefore qualifies as far as Mr Morris is concerned when he said “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”.

So here, some of my enamelware in my kitchen.









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Springing into 2007

I have had a busy time of it since the New Year. I have been getting my website finalised and just as I thought I was there I decided to opt for a few upgrades so that means another slight delay. I'm not too worried though as I want things to be right before launching my self out there and as this is a long-term project I am happy to take my time.

My website developer had emailed me about marketing and was offering their services at, what I thought was, a huge cost. I was not sure about this cost and wanted to find out what other website owners did for marketing. So I sent an email to a few lovely ladies who have their own websites to ask their advice about marketing. I was touched and truly amazed at the response I received. Within a few hours each one had sent a long, detailed email giving me invaluable advice. These women all have busy lives with their own business and some with children as well so I thank Gena, Kelly, Cherry and Niki so much for their time and advice. You are amazing women.



Lately the weather has been very wet and windy, encouraging lots of stay-at-home activities, lovely log fires, home made soups and copious amounts of tea. The children have to be coaxed out of their pyjamas, Alfie in articular would stay in them all day if he could. They have been making great camps under our dining table with the help of a few blankets and the torch. They make camp fires and cook their plastic food which they have 'poached' from the local woods (inspired by Danny Champion of the World by Roald Dahl!) They love to play make-believe all day long. It's lovely to watch and I remember being lost in that world of play myself when my sister and I would play for hours oblivious of the time until my mum sent out a search party to fetch us back for our tea.







Yesterday was a very different day. The sun was out, the air had that beautiful unmistakable smell of spring. It was fresh and new. There are signs of spring everywhere. Our daffodils are growing at an alarming rate, the camelia is in bud and the winter jasmine is still out as well as the heavily scented white jasmine. The waft of this plant comes in through the kitchen door in late spring reminding me of when my little Jasmine was born, nearly 17 years ago, and Paul bought my mum and I a big jasmine plant each. Our flat smelled of new born baby and jasmine.








Even Fifi is thinking of venturing out. She can see a patch of sunlight in the distance but then again her bed is soooo warm!



The weather encourages gardening activities and country walks once again.





The house is one colour at last, we painted it cream instead of white and it now looks fresh again. The scaffolding is still up for a bit of roof work though. That's the next job and with a roof the size of ours it's going to be a long one!





And last but not least a HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY to my mum GOW who had a birthday on Wednesday. I couldn't put an announcement up on Tuesday as Blogger was having an off-day! We had a great day together in Exeter, shopping (of course) and a gorgeous meal in a vegetarian restaurant overlooking the cathedral.

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Books

Here are the books I got for Christmas. A delicious pile of bedtime reading!




and a smaller pile of cookery books for the kitchen. Did anyone else get any good books? Pin It

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2006 was a great year for me and I think 2007 will be a great one too. My website is days away from it's grand launch and I have hopes, dreams and wishes that I plan to make realities this year.

I have made some great friends and contacts through my blogging and I am so grateful to all of you for your kind words and comments throughout the year. I wish each and every one of you a joyous New Year Pin It

Christmas Day

Well Christmas was wonderful. A chaotic, shambolically wonderful time was had by all. Stockings and presents were opened, toys played with, a delicious Christmas dinner was cooked by me, (for the first time), and was delicious thanks to Jamie Oliver and his wonderful turkey recipe. It was all over too quickly and as you can see, one little girl almost didn't make it to Christmas dinner as she fell asleep in her plate! I woke her up and she ate about 15 brussel sprouts!!! Paul got his hair back for Christmas, which is what he has always wanted. I have a pile of the most delicious books to read and as one of my New Year's resolutions is to read more books and less magazines I may be blogging less in 2007.

Boxing Day was a much more relaxed affair. We played with toys, went for a cold brisk beach walk and came home to a lovely meal and a spirited game of Monopoly.

The day after Boxing Day I had my Father and his family here which meant more presents and mayhem and then the day after that we had 13 extra people here as Paul's family came. This time we went out for a meal as I was all cooked out.

Tonight we are having a New Year's Eve party here so I will wish you a very Happy New Year. I hope 2007 is a happy and healthy year for you all xxx

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