The Wendy House

Not quite the reward I had in mind.............

Firstly I just want to say thank you for your lovely comments I found them so touching and supportive, from people I know but would not recognise if I passed them in the street, to many that would seem quite strange,but that's what makes blogging so wonderful. Those comments really encouraged me to keep going. It is so easy to forget the things that have filled your time and blogging is a way of recording them to look back on.
Writing my post this time I feel much less harassed and I have looked forward to sitting down and doing it. Although as I sit here I have just realised why I am feeling slightly uncomfortable. I am sitting on top of 6 pieces of lining fabric which I really need to take down stairs. I will make sure I do that as soon as I have finished.
I am also feeling better as I have managed to find the time to get my hair cut at last , so no longer look like a rat peeping out of a haystack.

As I was working away today I was thinking to myself about the rewards of being a mum.  Motherhood has been part of my life that I have always been fully committed to. I had a fantastic role model in my own mother and over the years I have often thought about how full her plate was and yet there was always time for us, so I have tried to follow her philosophy. She always reassured me that the difficult times that come with bringing up children always pays off. I would tell this to myself when I sat alone on a hospital ward with Lucy giving her hourly nebulisers to relieve her asthma and the lonely nights sat trying to stop her ripping her own skin off when eczema threatened to drive her and me almost to insanity.
Over the past few weeks I have been watching quietly (unheard of for me)giving as much support as I can, as my Lucy sets off on off on a very scary trip setting up her own business.
So what is my reward?  .............. I get to make 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! roman blinds for her studio. My mum never told me that bit.

4 chocolate brown and 2 pink floral.

Going back to times when I think of mum and what she coped with, I was given one of those reminders a few days ago. We were collecting some furniture from my sister for Lucy. My little nephew was still up when we arrived full of beans at 8pm having woken his mum that morning at 5am. He was excited to see us and wanted to show me his new big bed. As soon as we were in his room he threw himself onto the bed and bounced up and down until he had made himself cough. He missed the sloping ceiling by about 2". Next I took on the battle of getting him into his pyjamas, playing those games where you have to take ages to count to 5 so they can independently take off their clothes in that little unco-ordintaed way they have. In between each garment that was removed more jumping on the bed ensued. As I watched him wondering, where all that energy comes from and hoping he didn't miss the bed and crash to the floor breaking himself or something else in the process, I realised I was looking at another one of me!!!! the little person who was always found sitting on the furniture the wrong way up, the little person that bounced everywhere nick named by my Uncle Alf as Wenders Benders. So mum, I want to say how sorry I am that I wore you out on endless occasions and how relieved I am that I seem to have a daughter that was and is so much like my sister. Maybe that is why my sister is such a good mum to her son because she has had years of experience growing up with me.

Birthday and other stuff

One part of my role as a nurse when planning care for patients was setting goals, with realistic objectives to achieve those goals during their road to recovery. This can be adapted to anything in life, but I admit it is something I preached but did not practise. So I am listening to myself today. I feel disappointed in myself because I am not able to blog so often. I love the contacts I have made through this activity and feel like I am letting the side down. So I have decided that it is realistic for me to be able to post on a weekly basis and if I manage more often that will be a bonus but for now once a week is achievable and takes the pressure off that I have put on myself.

It has been another very full week, the three of us spent a late session over at Lucy's studio laying carpets which we all felt pleased about. Poor Tim had no idea of what he was taking on when he married me, this week he is doing furniture removal and cutting a counter top for Lucy's till to stand on. I will post photos soon, opening day is next Tuesday. She is on a very steep learning curve at the moment but holding on well.

Lucy and I had a trip to Alexandra Palace for the Knitting and stitching exhibition on Sunday it worked out much cheaper if we drove there or to be correct if I drove there. I don't mind driving anywhere but it's navigation that I have a problem with. Tim has no concept of how things work inside my head. I said wouldn't it be good if he could go inside it for a while and then maybe he would understand. He said it would be too scary in there for him.
Anyway fortunately Lucy did do her bronze Duke of Edinburgh award at school and is to be able to map read. So after a wrong exit from the M11 she did well to get me back on course and we made it to our destination.
We really enjoyed ourselves and felt like small children in a sweet shop with so much to look at. No doubt Lucy will post her purchases on her blog. I bought this little kit and hopefully will have a go at it soon.

I already have the fabric in mind. I have had my eye on it for a while and finally managed to persuade Tim that his old shirts would be more beneficial in my work room than on his back. He reluctantly handed them over in a swap for two new ones.

Next we set off for IKEA which was only 10 minutes away from the exhibition. I don't go very often as we don't have one near by, but like many other people I love it. Lucy was getting furniture for her studio, it is so reasonably priced there. Fortunately two items were out of stock, disappointing at the time but a great relief when we got back to the car as we had over estimated what we could fit in the back. The trip home was a slightly more comfortable repeat of the kitchen collection journeys.

Today we are taking a day off as my wonderful husband is 50 today. We are going to spend the day together. Something we are not doing very often at the moment. After I have finished this post we are getting in the car and will end up where ever we stop. Tim was hoping to go out on the boat but the weather is not good enough so maybe a walk instead and we are having a meal out tonight.

Happy Birthday, I hope you have a lovely day you deserve it xxxxxxx

Can someone put a few more hours in the day?

Yet another week had flown by and I haven't posted during that time. When I started this blog I thought it would be easy to create a post on a regular basis but no, it is not. Time does not seem to allow it and I am so slow when I do write a post.I am also finding it difficult to read all the blogs I love to visit. Now that we have just about finished the house I was becoming concerned that I would have nothing to do and would end up filling my day for the sake of it with nothing productive. Since that thought crossed my mind things have changed. I have been asked to do a complete makeover on a house and garden before it goes on the market and Lucy has taken on a studio to work from which also needs a makeover.So it's been back to work for me. Needless to say the days have become very full and pass all to quick.
Since my last post I have managed to knit a few little hats for this though. They are very simple and don't take too long or much yarn. There is still time if anyone wants to try one.

I didn't have the correct bottle to model a hat on so I had to get this chicken to stand in so you can see how small they are.

A couple of months ago Zoe, Michele and I decided we would meet about once a month to spend some time together to work on craft projects. Our group has now increased to 5 which is great. It is a good way of getting specific things done, because there are no distractions. My friend Jayne had asked me to make some simple velvet pouches that she can fill them with chocolates to sell at her Christmas coffee morning, I managed to make a few today then I continued with my knitting.

I know they don't look anything special at the moment Jayne, but just so you can see I have started on my delegated task.

When we returned home from holiday I had a parcel waiting for me. I couldn't think of anything I had ordered or swap I was waiting for. I was very surprised and have to admit had a lump in my throat when I opened it.

P was the person allocated to me in the one skein secret pal, I would send to her and she would send to someone else in the chain but not me. I was not able to reveal my identity to her until I sent the last gift. She sent me this beautiful vase, some felted tulips that she made with her daughter and a card with some very kind words. Thank you so much P I am very touched.

Recharging batteries

This year has been very busy in one way or another and seems to have passed very quickly. Tim and I are not great at making plans well ahead and enjoy being at home, so holidays are usually the last thing we think about. We decided though that maybe some time away would recharge our batteries. So we headed for the hills. Having parents that came from either end of the country many childhood holidays were spent by the sea down south or in the hills and mountains up north. For me I always feel at home in these places because they hold so many wonderful memories.
We had an overnight stay with my Aunt and Uncle with wonderful home cooking. I needed to do some interpreting for Tim at times as my Uncle has such a strong accent. We used to laugh at Dad when we visited as children because he would always revert back to his home dialect and we couldn't understand him.
We then headed further north into Scotland which is another place I love. We have had 4 days of walking eating and just trying to absorb the most beautiful countryside. I must add a note of warning here, this is not the place to visit if you want good hair. Wind, rain walking and ferry trips all add up to a bad hair week, but I have to say I love it when the wind blows through your hair so much it really does feel like the cobwebs have been cleared out.

We both love walking, but our home area is considered quite flat and a 5 mile walk here would just be a short stroll. We tackled a 5 mile walk which took 4 hours and went in an upwards direction until we reached 2400 feet.The last bit was almost on hands and knees scrabbling to the summit not quite my idea of pleasure but the views from the top were amazing and worth every aching muscle and joint that followed.

One of the great things about walking is that you get so much pleasure, satisfaction and exercise from something that costs absolutely nothing. This was the "Pap of Glencoe". The decent which involved sliding down some places on your bottom was made more appealing by the thought of a hot cup of tea in the visitors centre. This turned out to be better than expected because they had wonderful settees to sit on whilst you savoured your drink.
Returning to the car I spotted this......................

I have only seen these before in books and a certain blog. This one is for you Weirdbunny.

I won't bore you with anymore holiday details but just share some more views because it really is such a beautiful place, and there is so much to see.

These cows on Mull were in no hurry to let us past so all you can do is sit and admire the view until they are ready to move on.

I loved these colourful houses in Tobemory.

Views as we were leaving Skye.

Changing the subject completely now several of you have asked for the chutney recipe so here it is as promised.

No Cook Chutney
1lb of peeled and cored cooking apples grated
1lb finely chopped onions
1lb finely chopped dates
1lb demerara sugar
1 pint vinegar
1/2 tsp salt & pepper
1 tsp dried English mustard

prepare all ingredients (beware of grating fingers whilst doing the apples and tissues to the ready for the onions) mix in large non metallic bowl with sugar, mustard s & P pour over vinegar and stir ( I use malt vinegar).Cover bowl and leave for 24 hours before pouring into clean jars and cover with screw top lids or cellophane type. This will need to mature for about 1 month before it's ready to eat.

I do hope you like it.