Lilys House

taking stock

Things are a changin’ here.  Mostly my job…..and it’s all a bit unsettling.  Without boring you all senseless, the large organisation that I work for has decided that instead of working the evening and then going home to be ‘on call’, we are now to work waking nights based at the hospital.  To make matters worse, the proposed new hours are totally unsuitable for those of us with young families.  An 8.30 am finish, when our partners leave for work at 7.30 am – I think not.

Anyway to cut a long story short, I have  got to accept that I am going to be more tired. The thought of going back to full nights fills me with dread.  Me + no sleep = evil bitch queen, seriously.  I took this job to get out of all that.  I work part time but even so, this change is enough to tip the balance from ok to bloody awful.  Unfortunately we can’t afford for me to give it all up and concentrate on yaarrrnn!  Wonderful though that may be :)

We get the feeling that we will have to go along with what has already been decided…..and it sucks.

Typepad has not been my best friend either, with multiple browser crashes when typing.  I was ready to throw in the blog towel, I tell you. 15 attempts and 2 days of exasperation to get a post up does not make for happy blogging !  I’m using Windows Writer right now, so hopefully I can get back to stress free posting.  Fingers crossed.

So amongst all this doom and gloom (it’s not really that bad, I’m just totally looking at it from a half glass empty perspective…..hey, there will be more knitting time overnight, even if I am a zombie…) I am keen to point out some great things around here.  Things that are small and silly but important and life enhancing none the less.

Looking through my recent pics I came across these…and they remind me how lucky we are to live in this beautiful place, with fresh air and ……..cows………

They are a  frequent blockage on our way to school……the girls get all excited and lean out of the car to touch them..

(told you they were silly things, but they make me smile anyway)

Living near to my Grandparents is another source of happiness.  I am very close to them and it makes me feel very complete knowing that they are just a few miles away.   Mama busies herself around me, treating me like royalty, with tea and biscuits and toast, even though I tell her to just sit down ! They are lovely people and I always feel better after a visit and a wander round the garden..

I’ve spent a bit of time in Papas ‘shed’ too, where we have been making a skein winder, me drilling holes under his supervision as his eyesight is very poor now.  He is very gifted with his hands and was a brilliant artist. 85 yrs old and still helping me out  :)

Small things….aren’t they just the most wonderful ?

Hopefully by the end of the week I’ll post some  knitting in progress (gasp !)  and a rather wonderful thrifty find that I had to rearrange a whole room for.

together

It's been lovely recently.  Nick has been off in the week, using up his holiday.

The sun has been shining, creating the most wonderful warm spot on the kids sofa - the 'in' place to sit..

 

 

Mothers Day involved the beach..and loads of knitting magazines and books (thankyou guys ;)

 

 

And last but by no means least, my Etsy shop is ticking along nicely.  Thankyou so much to everyone who has supported me.  It means an awful lot to me and I am over the moon that my little venture has been well received.

bliss

The weather we had over the weekend was gorgeous.  Sunny, warm and spirit lifting.  Dad and I made the most of it and headed off to a little secluded beach, accessed through  steep Tolkienesque woods. It's a walk I love but have not done recently due to the probability of certain little legs protesting.

 

 

 

I spent an unfeasibly long time trying to capture the sunlit seaweed !

 

and Wilf took his first (unintentional) dip of the season, bless him.

not a lot going on

..hence scant posts lately.  Not feeling very inspired here at all.  It's been a nice relaxing time however with Nick using up some annual leave and me  off work last week.

We have just been mooching about really, getting little jobs done.  As we speak he is at the dump, offloading a winters worth of crud from the back yard. As the weather is getting a bit milder we just had to tackle it.

We've also finally sorted out loads of Maddies younger age toys and donated most to the charity shops and the hospital where I work.  The cds have also been purged, I keep most of the music on my mp3 player and honestly can't remember when I last listed to a cd, apart from in the car.

It feels great to clear out all the excess.  I had been putting it off for ages, especially Maddies things, I'm a sentimental old thing at heart. It has enabled us to make a lot more space in one of the downstairs rooms, turning it into a bit of a playroom with all her stuff accessible.  She loves it in there and is rediscovering long buried toys.

  

 

we got out for a walk and delighted in the signs of Spring

  

The sun stayed out over the weekend and we even hit the beach. I'll get some pics up soon !

 It's wonderful to be able to throw the doors and windows open at last and give this place an airing, lets hope this is the start of something good (weather gods, do you hear me?)...

PS. If this post seems a little disjointed I apologise...I've been trying to get it uploaded since Friday and added a few bits this morning. Just part of the ongoing struggle with Typepad and my laptop (I won't explain further as it's pi**ing me off too much even to go over it :) Think screen freezes x 100.

a pretty perfect sunday

 

Getting to bed early on Saturday night (lights out by 10pm....unheard of..) certainly played a part in the rush of creativity seen on Sunday morning. I was up for it.

I work so much better in the mornings and sort of lose momentum as the day goes on. I like to clear the decks, put on some music or a podcast and get going.

 

The process is messy and fun but I'm quite a tidy worker, so it's always under control. What do you mean 'that's tidy ?'...well it's tidy for me ;) 

I dyed up lots of sock yarn for the shop and a couple of rovings.   This morning will be spent reskeining, photographing and generally organising the evergrowing stock.

For those that like sock knitting and especially Cookie A's patterns, there is a fab knitalong on Ravelry called Makin' Cookies, organised by the tireless Knitsomniack.  It's timed to begin around the time of Cookies new book coming out.  Go and check it out, it looks like it's going to be a whole load of fun. There will be prizes and mystery tours and all sorts of goodies.  I'm donating some sock yarn to the cause and the list of other sponsers is jaw dropping - some big names indeed with fantastic yarn.

I will probably win first prize for slowest knitter in the universe, having only got to the heel on sock one, after weeks.  I'm obviously not making enough time for my knitting ;)

 

Anyway, back to the Sunday.  I got loads done, the sun was shining (in the morning....the afternoon was dismal with sheeting rain and gales) and then we popped into Exeter to Pizza Express as a treat for the girls. A relaxing, productive and gentle day. Here's to many more like that.

sun and snow

what a mixture lately .  Our walk the other day was positively balmy. Fueled up with our new discovery (a big bag of assorted broken biscuits from Costcutter............massive restraint needed not to repurchase...) we strolled through the sun dappled woods and lay about in the field.  Ok, it was a bit damp on the grass but we chose to ignore that.  The warmth on our wintery pale bodies was gorgeous and we all flopped down and soaked it up.

Wilf  is a total sun worshipper.  I noticed that last summer when we first had him.  He would go straight out to the back yard after a walk, stretch out on the hot paving and luxuriate in the warmth.    He makes his needs very clear by standing in  sunny spots around the house looking plaintive, until I put his bed there. Harry, being the more pale and interesting type, prefers the shade...and the sofa. 

It was lovely to see them roll about in the grass, obviously enjoying the gentle rays.

 

look, no coats.  Hurrah ! 

Today we woke up to snow, just a little.............but the sun was still shining.

P.S......did you notice Maddie's new self styled fringe in the top pic. I must gather up all the scissors......

Have a lovely weekend :)

look up

After noticing the ivy covered tree pictured a couple of posts back, I have been making the effort to check out what is above my head as well as at eye level.  It's all too easy to walk around blinkered, eyes fixed to the middle distance, concentrating on the goal ahead, well it is for me anyway.

Here's a few things I noticed around my town whilst running a few errands the other day.

First up Cyber Dolly......

 

 she graces the window of a local tattoo parlour. 

 

one of our many churches, peering over the roof of the Chinese takeaway.

 

a tangle of wires against a blue sky. 

Blue sky..........and sunshine today too.  I'm going to make the most of the light and take some pictures of my yarn and maybe even do a few rows of my sock.  The dogs are crashed out in pools of sunlight streaming through the windows, I think I'll join them with a cup of coffee before I get busy.

Whatever you are doing today, have a lovely one.  And don't forget to look up !

Saturday mornings

consist of ballet practice....and child wrangling.

Lily is coming up to a ballet exam soon and is on 3 lessons a week at the moment.  Much as I want her to do well, having to be somewhere on a Saturday morning grates a bit, especially after a wonderfully busy night at work ......Actually, I can't moan as the lesson is now at 11am.  It used to be 9am and that was just plain mean.

I normally walk the hounds whilst she dances but they are both a little under the weather, having picked up a bug.  So this week, I left them feeling sorry for themselves on the sofa and Maddie and I stayed to watch ballet.

Maddie likes to 'join in', which is not usually a problem.  Exam rehearsals are different though and she was encouraged to sit nice and quietly....(ummmm, right..)

 

the dinky toy she is holding (a stretch limo of all things) got dangerously close to the proceedings on more than one occasion ;)

  

  Since when did Lily get so tall ?  She is eye to eye with me now and has the same size feet.  She is 11. Wow, she's growing up so fast. 

I'm very proud, can you tell ?