Lilys House

sort of back......but not quite

Just had to share evidence of the most lovely and welcome sun today. After days indoors with brief outings to the shops for milk or the quickest of doggie walks, I decided that we would get out and get some air today. Everyone up, out and pile in the car with a flask of hot choccie. The sun came out, the water was calm and clear, the beach pretty much deserted. It did the trick - broke the spell of hibernating in the house and keeping away from reality (I try to string that out for as long as possible even though there is a deeper nagging, urging me to clear up, put away and get back to normal).

I think I like this in between time best , not Christmas, not New Year - it's definitely the most relaxing!

Enjoy the rest of the holidays. I know many peeps are back at work (inc me) but you know what I mean !
See you in the New Year....

ok, it's time

Time to wrap up the posts till the New Year.............

It's 1535 and I've grabbed a few mins whilst my candle is melting (don't ask - more handmade gifting, and a lot of fun!). Thought I'd just take this opportunity to show the bag I've made Lily for Christmas. It was one of those projects that went well. You know, there are those that seem to foul up all the way - this was sweet from cutting to finish. Spur of the moment things mostly are I find.....no expectations or pressure! Please excuse picture quality.....

pocket detail....

Anyway folks, here's wishing you all a very cool Yule and good wishes for the New Year! Many thanks for reading this little blog (it still suprises me when people drop by :) and see you in the New Year, happy and rested (maybe) x

.....x

motivation please

Just a quickie - am starting to feel the panic rise.......................just chasing my tail really. Lots to do, all perfectly do-able if I just take a deep breath and get on with it!. Which, I guess, means not sitting here :(

before 7am, in the garden, freezing cold - does she care? No.............

mmm.............I think thats a bit dangerous...........! Nothing like a little one with loads of energy to get you moving in the morning. Let's just say we were all a bit sluggish.

Totnes market was excellent last night and Lily and I rolled in at 10.30pm, very late for her. We'd been sidetracked by a fab Irish band outside a pub and jigged away till they finished, which made us rather late. We also enjoyed these guys, who are local and dance at many a festival. Superb atmosphere there and absolutely packed with people and of course wonderful stalls. I didn't take my camera as I didn't want to lug it around, but I wish I had.

Phew! No wonder I'm a bit jaded today. Poor Lils could hardly get out of bed for school. Oh and we've all got the dentist this afternoon - can't wait!

another tick on the list

Hottie cover number 2, for my lovely Grandmother, Mama. It's a little pointy and I asked Lily if i should round off the top - but no, she likes it that way, so the point stays!

Maddie had her first meeting with Father Christmas yesterday at toddler group...............

and he gave her a wonderful present.............................

thankyou so much Santa! Just what a frazzled Mum needs!

She was so thrilled with it, not just any recorder - a yellow one, no less. Most of the children got some sort of musical instrument, so it was pretty noisy afterwards as you can imagine. Bells, maracas, recorders, kazoos, you name it............still, it was lovely to hear them all so excited and full of beans - full of Christmas.

Off to late night market in Totnes this evening with Lily. Our girly night. It's a lovely affair, outdoors, candles, mulled wine, stalls and stalls of handmade................can't wait.

Mainly pics I think for the rest of the week, got to stop using the computer to avoid the pressing stuff!

reluctant angel

Oh, it was so sweet......Poor Maddie had a bit of stage fright and just wanted to climb up onto my lap. She was cajoled into raising her wings once but that was it. The show went on without her and she watched with me. In fact there were a few tears from other children too.......Apparently the run through had been fine but when the poor little tots came out and saw all these strangers sitting there, it was a different matter! Beautiful though, they did so well. Most are only 2yrs old. Bless.

Otherwise, thing are moving ever forward with the completion of a couple of gifts.....snakey being one of them - destined for Toby, my little nephew

Am I bovvered???

thawing out

Well, no joy on the shelves :(
Went out all excited and came back empty handed. I've decided to hold off till after Christmas when we can broswe around at our leisure rather than get something that will 'make do'. However, this means that the middle room will still be a dumping ground, albeit a tidier one (no choice there) for Christmas.......To be honest I think our families are rather used to us being in a permanent state of 'not quite finished'! One day.........

Got some things ticked off yesterday. The snake awaits his eyes, can't for the life of me locate them, but is fully crocheted. I took him to bed with me last night and got him finished whilst listening to 'Today in Parliament' on Radio 4. Not the most thrilling experience....
Will hopefully get him photoed in jazzy poses for Monday.

Amazon order - check
other online kiddy shop - check

This has got to take the award for the most boring post - sorry (at least it makes me feel better!). I can see that some progress is being made..........

Moving on.....
Am off to see Maddie in her first Nativity/Christmas do later this morning. Can't wait. I am going to cry I know - I cry at anything involving children looking cute and singing. I'm almost crying now just thinking about it! We can take pics so no doubt you will see her in all her glory next week.

I'll leave you with some pics from my walk today. Its been -5 here lately, which is about as cold as it gets in these parts. Hence I am sitting here with this bucket of coffee still unable to feel my toes - oh and the really healthy breakfast...

I only noticed this after ploughing into the puddle...

Have a lovely weekend!

not really running to plan.......

Well yes, this about sums it up. The general feel of things not flowing quite as they should. I have just decided to go with it (the only thing to do if you don't want to go mad) and plug away slowly with a list
- and be the turtle not the hare......

The main prpblem is the stinking cold with aches and shivers and cotton wool head, that's come out of nowhere just in time for the last (or first in my case) Christmas push.....nothing some Beechams and a brandy coffee won't sort out, only joking (maybe..).

Anyway, 'nuff of that.........things to do people to see. Nick's off today and we are about to hit the local antique/house clearance people to look for some large bookshelves for the middle room (aka the dumping ground). At the moment there is about 500 books, 2 surplus chairs, and worst of all bags, yes bags, of paperwork residing in there. So if we can find at least the books a home, I'll be very happy!

This afternoon I need to get on with a bit of gift making - hottie covers, as the photo (one down, two to go), finish crocheting a 3 ft snake, and a bag. Get the Amazon order done, oh and write the cards....

By the way the bedspread I so artily tried to photo (until the pussies got involved) was a fiver in the local charity shop.............nice isn't it?

the boy is back in town!

It's late and I've just got back from a lovely night out with Nicky (our favourite curry place with lots of gossip), but couldn't wait to do this post......As you've probably guessed Mowzer is back in the fold where he belongs having been found a good 2 miles away on the other side of town.

It went like this.............

ring ring - rush to phone in case it's news about the cat (numerous phone calls were not and left me bearly able to be civil to the caller......)

hi, its the vets - have you found your cat yet???

Nooooooo.................

Could you confirm what he looks like as he seems to fit with the description you gave us?

So I rattle on , with lots of confirmations from the other end of the line......

He was found hanging around someones house last night, she said.........they took him in but unfortunately their cats took a disliking to him so he's ended up here.....

At this point I dare not even hope it may be him, how had he got 2 + miles away? Still I was excited and went straight to the vets with Lily after school. Nervously and expecting disappointment we went in to the back room to view the stray..and there he was .........looking a little disheveled but totally ok. Honestly I thought I would never see him again after 5 days and horrendous weather. We are so over the moon and he is now happily back with his brother , playing and causing mischief as kittens should, as if he'd never been away. The events surrounding his little jaunt to remain a mystery.

Thankyou so much to everyone who left kind words regarding this little episode, it means a lot.....x

extreme gingerbread

Although worried and sad about the missing pussy cat, there were still guests to receive and fun to be had. I did feel guilty about trying to have fun when the little one is missing, but life must go on and the children needed some cheering up.

My Dad and sister Rosy visited for the day from Cornwall and we set about making and icing gingerbread. My Grandparents joined us too and it was a really lovely family gathering.

I doubled up the quantities and had enough to make about a thousand biscuits - seriously. Well, I figured that more was better than less, lots of room for experimenting and burning etc!

With the mulled wine flowing through my veins it was easy to overlook the carpet of sprinkles and silver balls covering the floor and every surface. It was a true production line with my Dad in charge of the oven, kids decorating and me overseeing (!) and of course checking the quality......

As you can see, the adults had some fun with the decorating too..... (top left, cheers Dad!)

watching and waiting

Missed posting on Friday as I was busy doing all the things you do when a pet goes missing. One of my little kitties went for a little wander on Thursday afternoon and at the time of writing (Sun) has not yet returned. In fact I last saw him when I was in the garden taking these photos and realised pretty quickly he was missing when only his brother returned inside. I think he went over the back wall and became disorientated. They usually keep very close to the house. We started looking within the hour, but not a peep.
He may well have been enjoying himself for a while but unfortunately the weather came in very bad with terrible rain and gales and has continued this way over the weekend.
I have leafleted and postered a few roads either side, but no joy. Today I'll be doing it further afield, just in case. He's also registered with all sorts of places as missing, so I don't feel there is much else I can do apart from keep calling and hoping.

The poor children are so upset (as am I, but I have to be brave, positive Mummy).
Hope he just turns up as if nothing has happened, but I must admit that because of the weather I'm less than hopeful........ (ok, thats not being positive I know...)

Come home sweetie........