winter wonderland....

who'd of thought the view of the college car park from our bedroom window could look so pretty....

Lazy.....

Sorry, this a very lazy post and vaguely christmassy old photo, from an old post

by the time I get home from work and remember to take some pictures it's too dark for any decent pictures.

I have just popped back to announce the winner of my giveaway - the lovely Kelly from Last Day Of May, who was one of the first bloggers I discovered, I have decided to keep the prizes a surprise, but they are christmas inspired.

Our tree has been decorated, but I'm yet to get the holly and ivy in and make the wreath. Can't wait till we break up on friday for the hols, I have lots to do, and apparently my long awaited car should be available for collection this weekend, fingers crossed! I can't wait!

one hundred

Please excuse my unexpected departure from my little blog, I have been lying low, although I have still been popping into have a peek at what you are all doing from time to time.

There has been a few changes in the TWV household, I managed to land myself a new job as a learning support assistant in my local secondary school, I started in September and my first week coincided with the last week before this little lot (above) started to go off to their new homes, which I have to say was a bit hectic!
I absolutely love my new job, and although I have to be in work too early to drop Ella off to school in the morning, I finish at 2.40pm which gives me plenty of time to pick her up in the afternoon and get the dinner on, and I don't have to worry about childcare in the school hols either, which is lovely. I do have less time for crafting, but surprisingly the house isn't suffering too much (to my shoddy standards anyway!) as I am a serial procrastinator, and actually seem to benefit for having a little more structure to my days.

After the puppies went, we all had a little treat, Dan had a week away at his friends apartment in the Canaries, and I got myself a new favourite toy, my White iPhone 3GS, it just made sense to me, as I my old phone contracted had expired and my trusty 4 yr old iPod had just died on me, and I couldn't live without an iPod!



I also put a deposit down on a new car. My very uneconomical 13 yr old Peugeot 306 is on it's way out and needs over a grand spent on it, and so with the £2000 Scrappage Scheme we started to think about getting a shiny but tiny, cheap to keep new car. At first my husband suggested we go for one of these, the sensible choice maybe, but if I had to put up with almost zero amount of boot space for hauling that must have piece of junk furniture home it had to be a little more aesthetically pleasing.

So my research began, and it wasn't long before I was lusting after a Fiat 500 and I went online and spent a weekend designed my ideal one. But I had my doubts about it's size, and when Fiat had a bigger offer of £2900 off it's slightly bigger cousin, the Grande Punto, I decided that that would be my best option.
Only when I got to the showroom I couldn't help but be disappointed with it, it was a bit plasticy on the inside, and I could only afford the bog standard with no air-con. My attention was soon turned towards the little cute one, with all the bells and whistles, and decided that yes, I could definitely put up with leaving that bargain chair at car boot, I haven't got room for more furniture anyway!








That was 8 weeks ago, and I have been told it is expected to arrive for collection the first week in December, I have been very patient, but I can't wait! (I was told it would take 8-12 week for delivery due to their high demand)

Meanwhile, my portable hard drive broke while transferring my photo library and I managed to loose all my photos on my computer, gutted. Then my 4 yr old iBook got broken, double gutted. Lucky I was covered for accidental damage under our home insurance, and they decided to pay out which means I am now the proud owner of a brand new Macbook.



But it hasn't been all nice new things, we are facing a bit on an uncertain time with Danny's job, he has a new one on the horizon, but he has been put on a three day week since the beginning of October. Fingers crossed, the new job will start in the next couple of weeks and we can hopefully breath a sigh of relief and get back on track for the Christmas hols.


Oh, I almost forgot, this my 100th post, hence the title, it's taken a while, I'm not exactly the most prolific blogger, but in true blogging tradition, I'm having a giveaway to celebrate.
I haven't decided what the prize will be yet, but I'll work on it this weekend. To enter please leave a comment on this post, and make sure you leave a way for me to contact you if you should win.
Jxx

Summer update

There has been some making.......


some updating.......


some treasure hunting............




a trip to the seaside.........


some celebrating - mum & dad's 35th anniversary..............


mum spent weeks planning a picnic, but on the day it was drizzly, so we decided to have it in their conservatory instead, as close to outdoors as possible!


and then last sunday at 4am, after spending all night up with her, Lily gave birth to the first of the pups, and the last was born at 8am. Mum came over in the morning to let me have some sleep, and then she took Ella home with her to stay for a few days, to lighten my load.


she had nine, 3 girls and 6 boys, but unfortunately I discovered that one of the boys had a cleft palate, the reason why he couldn't latch on, my sister came over on monday evening, and helped me feed him by hand over night, and the next morning we took them all the the vet, who said his chances were very slim, as it was quite a bad cleft, and it would be better in the long run to have him put to sleep. It was so sad, I was so glad I had libby to sob in the surgery with!
Over a week on and mum and the rest are doing fine, they've more than doubled in weight already. We have five families booked in to visit when they are 4 weeks old, so if all goes well we only have 1 girl and 2 boys leaft to sell, and they are only 1 and a 1/2 weeks old.

while I've been away....

we spent spring half-term in Menorca, with Danny's family.
We stayed here, and although the beds weren't very comfy, the location was beautiful.


The hotel was right on the cliffs, with paths and steps cut into the rock leading down to a little private cove, with white sand, and clear shallow water for the kids to paddle and catch crabs and fish if they where quick enough, leading to deeper water for the grown ups to swim in.





while we were there sitting round the pool one day, we experienced the painted lady butterfly migration, they flutter passed all day in their hundreds, it was so beautiful.


see you soon.....

thrifty thursday

Since wednesday is a car boot day for me I have decided to do a weekly 'thrifty finds' post (mmm.....I wonder how long I will keep it up?) 

pretty mop buttons, some more embroidered tray cloths, and china posy earrings without their clips

a new rose enamel bowl

and my favourite, a vintage rose deckchair, not my usual colours, but I love, love, love it.

It wasn't for sale, the man was just using it to sit on, but a persuaded him to let me have it for a fiver.

nothing to do with thrifting, but I thought I'd share some photos I took a couple of weeks ago of my rapidly multiplying potted flowers. It such a nice change from this view.

another year older

On saturday I celebrated my 26th Birthday, I had a party with some family and a few friends outside on our new decking. It was such a lovely day, we where very lucky with the weather as on friday the weather forecast was pretty grim for a garden party. 

Saturday morning started out rather overcast, with a light drizzle of rain, but come lunch time the sun managed to make an appearance. 

As you probably know if you read my blog regularly, I was was going for a pretty village fete theme, and with a little help from family and from my friend Lesley who kindly let me me borrow some tables a benches that she hires out as part of her business, it turned out to be just that.

So I thought I show you some pictures (courtesy of Lesley)

RE:

I made some of these little tea light holders last year, we live on pesto in this house, so I always have loads of these little jars around. I especially like the sainsburys own brand, because they have a pretty ribbed neck. 

They look so pretty on a warm evening, hung on branches, or lined up along walls or tables. Last time I just left them plain, but this year I thought I'd pretty them up a bit.


my first thought was to use some of my ribbon stash, but then I thought I could use some left over fabric scraps instead, which is more along the reuse, recycle theme, so out came the box of fabric scraps, useless for most sewing projects, but I just can't bear to through them away.

I think they look really pretty, I really like the effect of the torn fabric, and the only thing that I bought to make them was a reel of wire which I got from the florist for a couple of quid, and I still have loads left. They would be lovely for a country style wedding on a budget, you could use baby food jars as well, and because they require so little money and effort to make, you could afford have loads of them dotted around.

I've decided that I'm going to use them for little posies of flowers for my birthday lunch at the end of the month, it's going to be outside on our soon to be finished decking, so I will be praying for a sunny day, and in the meantime I better be cracking on with making some more bunting. I think I will have rhubarb eton mess (new family favourite) in pretty teacups for pudding too.

simple pleasures

Three vintage stools, begging for a lick of paint, 50p each

 

vintage duck egg blue enamel weighing scales £1

wooden crate with 'simple pleasures' stamped on the side

wrapping a little gift I made gift for my mother, a little lavender bag made from a pretty vintage embroidered coaster, or a 'smeller' as my daughter called it. 

oohps....

Country Living was lovely.....

Pretty ribbon from here

more gorgeous ribbon on lovely vintage wooden spools from this lovely lady

and I finally got myself one of these at a reduced price too.

The pretty fabric used to make these dresses is designed by Bryony at Poppy, I loved the design, but couldn't afford the price tag, so I bought a little 'make with mother' kit that they make up with the left over fabric from the dresses, just so I could have a piece of it to treasure. But now I've discovered you can buy the fabric by the metre on the website, so I may re-visit when funds allow.

after I'd 'done' the fair, I made a detour via Marylebone High St to here where I treated myself to a pair of these lovely pumps, some oilcloth for the dining table and a cute little budgie badge. Sadly they didn't have this in stock, so I didn't get to have a proper look at it, to see if I really love it and really want it. They said it's due back in mid april, so hopefully it will be a firm contender for my birthday present wish list.

So all in all it was a good day, even though my partner in crime didn't manage to make it because she was brought down by the dreaded lurgy.