Marching out with a smile

Well, it would seem this month is going to end on as nice a note as it started .....'cos today is my birthday :-)

I've been completely and utterly spoiled with lovely gifts from family and friends.

Moogsdad went technical and bought me a shiny new phone, that I can use as a mirror to put my lippy on!

He also bought me a book to read to the children :-) While Minx made me a lovely flower corsage....with a little/lot of help from her mother (ie me!). The children also bought me a couple of new cardigans that they chose themselves.

Postie was kept busy too, with a bundle of fabricky, booky goodness from my lovely friend Mrs Locket .

Some essential nutrients and more gorgeous fabric from another lovely bloggy friend, Rachel :-)


....and a package of very scrummy fabric from the delightful Miss Kitty :-)

As if that wasn't enough, the very lovely Julie sent me a bundle of rather pretty fabrics to cheer me up - and they really really do! All wrapped up in some of Julie's gorgeous snow dyed fabric.

Thank you all so very much. All of your gifts were such a wonderful surprise and made my birthday very special.

I can't wait to get started on using those fabrics!

I bought myself a birthday present too and it arrived today. With the bedroom revamp project temporarily stalled at the 'waiting to be painted' stage I felt it needed prettifying. I had been looking everywhere for some bedding that I liked, and that Moogsdad agreed with.

I spotted this the other night - at Tesco Direct of all places....Moogsdad said it was 'ok'.... and it was quite unbelievably cheap....so I bought two sets!

Tomorrow promises to be almost as exciting, as this new toy is on its way.

I'm now looking forward to fragrant nights and days filled with the smell of freshly baked bread :-)

Love xxxx

...not wishing to speak too soon....

.....but things seem to be settling down around here.

I went to see my Dad on Tuesday, in hospital. He looked grey and worn out and was in and out of consciousness. My brother and I both thought he was on his way out.

By Wednesday evening he was sitting up in bed, eating his way through a box of Thornton's toffee! He is recovering well from his virus but won't be going home until he's fully mobile again.

Moogsdad is going back to work tomorrow. He's still not 100% but feels he needs to go back. I'm not going to stop him - the TV has never been on so much, the house has never been such a mess and I have never eaten so much as I have this past two weeks!

I'm not one to wish my life away but I will be glad when this month is over. March has been quite a month for my family. Here's a little snapshot of what else has been happening:

- early March my cousin had a tumour removed from his lung - all went well and he's now at home recovering.

- same week as Moogsdad's accident, my other cousin's daughter had to dash home to South Africa, from work in Bangkok, as her husband had been beaten up by a gang whilst he was working late - for the sake of his car keys!

- last week, another cousin (I do have a few!) was out for an evening with two good friends (one of them being a girl on her first night out since having a baby a few months ago) when they were set upon by three 17 year old's with iron bars! My cousin is now sporting 9 stitches, a very swollen black eye and a footprint on his face. Apparently the lad who attacked him is well known for such unprovoked attacks - but during the day 'he's a nice kid, who goes to college'....WTF?!!!

Being an optimistic sort of a gal, I'm assuming things can only get better!!!

There has been a bit of craftiness amid the chaos. I finished this last night...



The camera seems to have made it turn a funny pink colour - maybe that'll hide my very dodgy virgin attempt at free-motion quilting!

I've also got a whole host of lovely projects to try my hand at, thanks to Jodie! Just lookie at all these wonderful patterns and goodies that she sent to me - these are my wages for pattern-testing the Kinder Girls pattern for her!!!

Jodie - they are just wonderful - thank you! I would have paid you to test that pattern, y'know?!

During the coming week, I'll be endeavouring to catch up on work and reading blogs - both of which have been sadly neglected of late. Dare I tempt fate by saying it's good to be back?

xxxx

...and on it goes...

I had intended to reply to all your lovely comments this week but even more life c**p has gotten in the way.

Moogsdad is recovering slowly. Getting a bit less confused and a bit less sore. We had a revolting week sorting through all the insurance and legal c**p last week. Here's some hard-won advice - don't ever get third party only insurance - it's just not worth the hassle.

Although the insurance companies involved have agreed the accident was definately not his fault, his insurers have left him to sort out all the crubbish with the recovery company, lawyers, police. It cost £300 to settle the recovery bill and, because he was third party, we've had to pay that up front and now need to claim it back. Pah!

On top of all this my lovely Dad is very very ill. As well as being terminally ill, very frail and almost immobile, with a brain tumour, he has now contracted a very severe case of Novovirus. It's not looking good. I'm heading up to see him tomorrow. We are hoping he'll be admitted to hospital today (bed spaces permitting) as he desperately needs round the clock nursing.

Life is like buses. You bimble along quite happily and then it all comes at once!

I'll be excusing myself from blogland for a bit longer.

Here are my latest, and rather gorgeous, socks to keep the craftiness going....



L xxxx

Update on the man of the house

There've been times this week when I haven't known whether to laugh or cry - I think they call that shock, huh?

Thank you all so very much for all your wonderful comments and emails of support - I cannot begin to tell you how much it means to us.

Moogsdad is on the mend. The GP has checked him over and confirmed that all his symptoms are what you would expect when you hit a car head first at 30mph.

He slept for most of the 48 hours after the accident. He's been awake more since Monday and trying to get to grips with all the insurance and legal crubbish that needs sorting - just why is there so much?!

Poor love has been walking round in a daze. His short term memory has been affected - resulting in some quite bizarre and hilarious conversations. Apparently, this will improve as his brain recovers from the battering it received. He's drawn himself a mind-map on the computer to help him remember all the people involved - his inner geek is obviously intact :-)

We visited his poor bike - some of which was still inside the car! We also saw the state of the car and that really made us realise just how lucky he was to get away with 'multiple soft tissue injury'.

Both his and my employers have been incredibly kind and supportive - I've even got a month's extension on the stinky report! I'm going out to work tomorrow....and may turn the gas, water and electricity off before I go just in case he does anything daft!

To make this week even better, our bedroom is being plastered today - which means I moved two wardrobes, two chests of drawers, two bedside cabinets and a king-size bed out of there, on my own, yesterday!! I did suggest to Moogsdad that we postpone it for a week or so but he wanted it done and out of the way - bless him ;-)

In the midst of all this chaos, I have finished Monster's socks and the first of my next pair! Don't think I've ever knitted so fast in my life before!

Hopefully, normal service will resume shortly but please excuse me if I don't manage to read or comment on your blogs this week - I still love you all and will be back soon!!

Moogs xxx

S*** happens

I got the phone call at 8.30 last night. The one that every wife/partner/relative of a motorcyclist dreads and if truth be known, almost expects.

A very kind and sympathetic staff nurse was phoning, from A&E, to let me know that the reason my husband was 2 hours late coming home was that he'd had a side on disagreement with a car.

Some muppet of a car driver had turned right across his path at some traffic lights - apparently not even seeing him or the car next to him. My lovely hubby then proceeded - thankfully at low speed - to push his head through the passenger side window of the car.

Incredibly and unbelievably he's fine. He's home after a night spent in hospital. Very bruised. Nothing broken. Utterly exhausted. Totally unaware of what really happened as he blacked out on impact.

Bit p'd off that they had to do this to get his motorcycle jacket off....

...but glad that his helmet was worth a few weeks grocery money....

...and it stood up remarkably well considering it pushed his head through a toughened glass car window!

His bike is dead - RIP Mike the Bike :(

His parents are livid. Saying 'I told you so'. Threatening to buy him a car.

His wife and babies are glad he's alive. We know he'll get another bike. We know this man will not welcome being wrapped in cotton wool. We know that if we tell him 'NO' - he'll do it anyway. It's him. That's why we love him...

...even though he's hobbling round like a 90 year old.

The babies have been whisked off for a weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. I'm booked onto an overlocker course tomorrow. Moogsdad insists that I go.

He'll be happy at home with a plate of sandwiches, a flask of tea and as many crappy b&w WWII films as you can shake a stick at.

As I said - 's*** happens'. We deal with it. I'm not going to force us to spend our lives thinking about the 'what ifs'.

Having said that, if either of my kids ever buy a motorcycle - I'll strangle them with it!!

Love. Keep safe. xxxx

Here she is!!

Phew! I've been bursting to blog this! Now that Jodie and Locket have blogged about it, I think it's okay for me to do so.

A while back I asked Jodie if she could make one of her lovely dollies for Minx's birthday - forgetting completely that Jodie was working night and day to get ready for a very important event!

Rather wonderfully, Jodie offered me a very very exciting deal - if I agreed to test her dolly pattern for her she'd let me have it for free!!!

I agreed - of course!!

As a result, I am delighted to introduce you to the very lovely, rather shy (but sometimes a bit minxy) Tilly.

Here she is in her very favourite dress, made with some beautiful fabric that was a gift from Syko quite some time ago. Her little cardigan is made with some felted wool that I bought from Monda's etsy shop - also quite some time ago.


Of course, I had to share some of my stash of Chocolate Lollipop with Tilly, for her other best dress...


...and what girl wouldn't have sweet dreams in pyjamas made of clouds :-)



... and a nice cosy dressing gown - all ready to snuggle up with Minx.



It has been so hard to keep this a secret from all of you! What does Minx think of her new dolly?

No idea - it's not her birthday for another month and she hasn't the slightest idea that she will be getting one of Jodie's girls - albeit made by me. The temptation to give Tilly to Minx before her birthday has been almost too much for me but she's still sitting quietly in her little hiding place, ready for the big day!!

I feel so honoured that Jodie offered me this wonderful opportunity. I loved everything about making this little dolly and felt so grown up with my pattern testing 'job' - Jodie was also a great boss :-)

Thank you Jodie - I think you may have guessed how pleased I was ;-)

Before I dash off to the Co-op for a loaf of bread, here's what kept me happy last night.



Thanks to Angela for sending me these gorgeous fabrics, I am now ready to post a lovely bundle of star blocks to the Bushfire Quilt Block Appeal.

I may have to make some more stars in future - I think I have a kingsize quilt brewing somewhere at the back of my befuddled brain.....not quite ready to tackle it yet though!!

xxx

We ran away

While Moogy had a nice long weekend of peace and quiet with our lovely neighbours, Moogsdad, Monster, Minx and I ran away to this little haven of tranquility.

This was the perfect way to celebrate our anniversary - even with the children there ;-)

You can never be sure what you're going to get when you try somewhere new but this little National Trust cottage was wonderful. Everything about it was gorgeous.

I knew I was going to love it here when I walked into the kitchen and saw a huge old dresser laden with Cath Kidston china.

Moogsdad knew he was going to love it when he walked into the lounge and saw a wood burning stove - and spent a whole weekend indulging his caveman instinct to make fire :-)

Upstairs, the floors were so wonderfully wonky - you had to walk up a slope to the children's room, uphill to the loo and downhill to wash your hands!

We left the car at the cottage for the whole weekend and walked everywhere. There was a fab farm shop just up the road and the beautiful little market town of Wimborne just a mile away. We overlooked the river and saw deer, fox, pheasants and bunnies.

As if that wasn't perfect enough - I was even allowed to knit socks!!

One pair finished for Minx - only one here as the other was already on her foot :-)

...and a pair half done for Monster.


We're all feeling relaxed and restored. In fact, so relaxed that we didn't want to go back to school/work today.

At least I have this to look forward to

- two potential pairs of socks for ME!

So, although I still have a huge stinky report to do for work and other stressy nonsense going on, I'm feeling as if it's less of a mountain to climb now - and Moogsdad and I are already planning our next National Trust cottage holiday.

In other news, you all know me far too well!! You all spotted the odd one out in my last blog post. It's true - I do not, in fact, love housework or ironing - at all!!

Twenty six of you commented and thanks to this litte random number generator...



the winner is......Maria!!! As promised Maria, something from my stash will be on it's way to you very soon!

I'll be back very soon to introduce you to someone who's been dying to meet you all :-)

xxxx

A bit of this, that and the other

As if to prove all I said in my previous post about the friendliness of blogland, I am now the very proud owner of a sparkly new award from the very lovely, new to me, blogger - Woody at bake and sew!!

Thank you so much for my award Woody! I love how they depicted me on the picture - so very true to life ;-)



The award comes with a little tag attached, whereby I need to list five addictions. Addictions, moi? Surely not!

Mmm - I suppose I could try. I'm going to play a little game with you though. I need you to spot the one that really isn't me. Those of you who guess the correct one will go into a hat (don't worry, it will be a big hat - either that or I'll just put your names in) and the lucky winner will win some bits and pieces from my stash.

Here goes - my five addictions:

1. Being creative. Whether this is sewing, knitting, crochet, papercrafts, painting, cooking - I have a constant need to make. I get twitchy if I have to go more than a day or so without making or doing - and I'm not nice to live with when I'm starved of craftiness!

2. Nature. I have to get my fix. Whether it's simply listening to woodpeckers as we walk to school or spending time watching the sea, I need to be in touch with the beautiful things that nature provides - I need it as much as air.

3. Our chickens' eggs - they're bloomin' gorgeous! Why did I not know how fantastic homemade eggs are before now?

4. Housework. I love nothing more than to spend time cleaning and tidying my house. Show me a big basket of ironing and I am one very happy woman.

5. My little family. Love 'em - even when they're all driving me to utter distraction.


So there you have it. Now, I'm going to be a big bad rule breaker and not do the award passing on thing - because you know I love all of you and cannot possibly choose for fear of offending! It's yours for the taking :-)

What else?

Small bits of craftiness have happened. I've only managed to make two stars from the gorgeous fabrics Angela sent to me, so far. I have another seven cut out but have not had a minute to do them. They're at the top of my list and need to be done, so that I can send them out to Australia.




Other than that, there has been a little bit of sock knitting - oh, and I ran away to my best friend's on Saturday for a girls' night. We went for a delicious Thai meal here - which I can highly recommend - and then settled down with a nice glass (or two) of red and Mamma Mia.

Of course, we talked through the whole film! I wasn't too worried, as I've seen it eight times. We also discussed a very exciting plan. In two years' time, we will have been best friends for forty - that's 40 - yup, you heard me FORTY years!! We've decided that's something that should be celebrated and to mark the occasion we are going to run away together. Or to be more accurate - fly away together. We'd like to have a weekend in a European city - possibly somewhere Scandinavian - not sure. Any tips would be gratefully received!



I'm now going to excuse myself from blogging for a wee while. I have rather a lot going on and need to focus my attentions on family stuff and some stressy report stuff for work.... and, hopefully, more patchworky star stuff

I'll leave you with some floral loveliness - happening right now inside and outside Moog's house.


....and the news, that the man who did this to my home and I are going to be celebrating our first decade of total married bliss (snort!) later this week.....


Bedroom destruction update: old ceiling down. new plasterboard up. plasterer cannot come for another three weeks. mess down to almost bearable level. children still sharing a bed. Minx has decided she wants to share a bed with Monster for ever. anticipated date of bedroom rebuild completion - at least a month from now. ugh.

Take care. Have fun. Back soon.

xxxx