That time of year...

...when we celebrate the birth of our first child.  15 years old..wow!!  We celebrated as he wanted..with the extended family enjoying spaghetti and meatballs.  We are very lucky too, in that this boy is still happy with Lego for his main gift :)  I made a wintry birthday cake for a change...many of us nearly lost teeth to those silver balls!  Having a birthday 5 days before Christmas must be hard going but we try and keep everything separate.

This is also the time of year when today marks another year gone since my lovely Mum died.  This evening will be the 7th year without her here...although I still feel her with me, so she not really gone.  The thing I do miss though, is being able to just pick up the phone and talk to her, tell her those silly things/happenings, that don't really mean much, but are great to share.  I'm quite sure she's been checking  in on the progress of my Hut and would have loved to have done some crafting with me there. 

I'm actually feeling very positive today.  I've been to the Christingle service at school this morning, then dropped off an order.  This afternoon my sister and I are going to see the Book of Remembrance at the Crematorium.  Neither of us have seen it yet as we usually go to the cemetery where we scattered her ashes, so this year will be different.  Then this evening I've got the last order to finish and the marzipan to put on the cake (which I only managed to make yesterday!).

I would like to thank you all for sticking with me through this up and down, busy busy, year.  I shall try very hard to post more regularly in this lovely online world next year.

Solistice blessings for today, Yuletide greetings/Christmas wishes for the 25th and lots of love and happiness for the New Year.

Oops

Wow, anyone who reads my work blog will no doubt know why its been 10 whole weeks since I posted on here!  To say I've been busy would be a slight understatement.  November was full of craft fairs (and trying to keep stocked up for said fairs), the rest of the time is just filled with orders and family...I won't include housework here as I've barely had time for any.  Business is so good that I'm having a workshop (known as 'The Hut on the Patch') built in the garden - the open day is 15th!!  I'm so very excited.  I get my own workspace and we get the house back ;o).  Right, only a quickie today, mainly to let you know I'm still here, but now I must get the littliest ready for school, then we've got home ed group and lots of orders to deliver.  I hope that everyone is busy doing lovely, lovely things.

Treasure

Another busy week here.  Orders for Handmade Haven are constant at the minute, which is great, but means I have to try and fit everything around family life in the summer holidays.  I did manage a day out to see my wonderful Nan who I hadn't seen in a few months.  We had a wonderful lunch and a catch up and she gave me a carrier bag filled with treasure.  When I got it home and looked through it was full of tiny beads that she can no longer see for her sewing.  At 84 she is still sewing things but she has taught herself to knit as well, so she still has something to do :o)  Such an inspiration!

I'm really bad aren't I?!  I thought it had only been a week since I last posted not two!!... that's the pitfalls of having two blogs I suppose.

The spotty boy is all cleared up and back to his usual self.  We've had a few days out, and I've got a new bike so we're going for small bike rides as well.  He wants to ride to school one day which is ok for me but 3.5 miles is a long way for a small boy :o).  We'll build up steadily and maybe do it at home time instead of at the start of the school day ;o)

I was very excited to receive the above book from Amazon last week.  It's a book I used to borrow from the library when the youngest two were small, and then I couldn't find it when JJ was born.  I'd trawled the internet, had Waterstones search and even had a saved search on ebay, but nothing came up.  I'd given up to be perfectly honest but then a couple of weeks ago the title jumped into my head again so I had a quick search on Amazon and there it was...for 1p!!  I love its rhyming text, and I love giraffes so it's a win win for me.  I also got this one in a charity shop and was reminded of the lovely Jacqui on her Croft :o)  Another beautiful story.

JJ has been joining in when I've been sewing...here's his first bauble for Christmas.  I've also managed to make something for myself too.  I can't remember the last time I did that!  I wanted a bag that I could use on days out as I usually use a big hessian shopping bag which is not very pretty.  I made this out of scraps left over from the skirt I made last year, which make up the liner, then a full piece for the outside and the handle. It's very comfy, fitting snuggly under the arm, into my side, which is just perfect.  Right, I have a cycling date with a small boy, so I'll see you all soon.  Hope your all having a fab summer.

!!!

Helloooo.  Sorry, it's been a while again hasn't it?!  Well, the end of term/start of the holidays has not started out well.  Sickness which has turned into a full-on spotty boy, which has turned into sickness again means we're not really doing much (other than visiting the doctors and the emergency doctors over the weekend).  Ho hum.  Trying to keep a very active boy from over doing it so he can recover fully is hard going.

In the ongoing kitchen news...hopefully today the hubby will start painting it!  Yes I said paint on the kitchen walls.  It's only been waiting 5 years through all the changes that have happened in this room.  I can't wait.  We are still in need of an oven, some tiles and a splashback, but there shall be paint.

And finally, I have some exciting news over on Handmade Haven's blog if you want to pop over to take a look :o)

Hectic

I thought I was quite good at blogging this time until I checked the date when I last posted!  Hectic just about  covers my weeks at the minute.  I still have no hob or sink, but hopefully that will be sorted out over the weekend.  We managed to get sports day done yesterday, with only one postponed date...and the sun shone too.  In fact it was a little bit too hot but I'm not going to complain :o).  Today JJ got the Pupil of the Week again..our hearts sang.

I've had a good few orders to complete, with a small list still to do, and tomorrow I have a Summer Fayre to go to.  I love it all...I've booked a fair few more fairs and events for this year too, and I've already got 2 for next year!  The Handmade Haven workshop saga has finally been decided (I know  I said the loft was going to be converted!) and I shall be having my own shed in the garden.  I can't wait.  Now I'm off to get the stock ready for loading into the car, but I shall be back in a few days with some craft books and magazines that I've forced myself to part with.  Hope you all have a lovely weekend planned.

13

We have another teenager in the house!  13...it just seems so ridiculous to say that...and he's the middle child!  Anyway, cake was made and eaten, a big family gathering was had with chilli and jelly and strawberries and cream (not altogether I hasten to add).  It was a fabulous day enjoyed by all. 

Melting heart

Friday is parents assembly...I couldn't be there this Friday as I had no car...but when I picked him up from school he presented me with this....

...he was pupil of the week!!!!  "I was trembling" he said.  My heart melted then grew twice the size.  Giant cheesy grins ensued.

More Adventures and a big WOW!

The first adventure of the day (after all the running round and it's not even 10 o'clock yet!) was a trip to the barbers.  My middle son decided he wanted to have a change of hair style, and he didn't just want it all grade fouring like my eldest. 

Hope your ready for the big WOW!  Isn't he handsome?!  The poor hairdresser was a bit speechless when he told her what he wanted but she did a fab job (and I got a tuft to go in his baby book ;o) ).

The second adventure of the day was at home ed group.  Now we do pick the activities with the children in mind, but us forever-young children had to have a go too ;o).  Mosaics were done...I just used the square tiles but wished I'd done a proper mosaic with the broken tiles once I'd finished.  I'm going to use this as a pot stand in the kitchen, and we shall be adding this activity to the Craft Group that I started. 

On the subject of the craft group, we met for the first time on Tuesday.  There were three of us.  We did lots of talking and laughing, reading of craft books and magazines, no actual crafts were completed but we have a list ready for the next one in March.  There are supposed to be 10 of us in March!  I'll keep my fingers crossed for this adventure :o).

At last

(Picture by JJ)

After living here for 4 years, 4 months and 1 week, we finally had our first meal sat at a table...and how fabulous it was.  When we moved in the kitchen was tiny, with an even tinier breakfast bar!!  Not suitable at all for 5 people (even though one of them had a high chair!).  So after adding a bedroom, moving a bathroom and a bedroom, then knocking a couple of other internal walls down, having 2 Christmas lunches on our knee!!!!, we had the space to put up a table.  We still need to paint and sort out the flooring, but heck...we really, really needed that table.