100!! ( we're nearly there!)

well this is my 100th post.. i had hoped that id have some wonderful makeover to show you or something spectacularly amazing to talk about ...
sorry to disappoint!!!

well this week we've had pre school jabs, sick babies.. lots of interrupted sleep, still having to go to work as well so i have to say Ive been very tired, i look a kip if I'm being honest..the house is a mess and today the kids arnt even dressed.. how bad is that!!
so I'll just have to show you some of the pretties from this week!!

well i managed to nip out yesterday on my lunch and went up to the charity shops.. there are three in my little town and one of them had shut early for the day.. i wasn't best pleased!!
i picked up this lovely little plaque, it was hidden under a load of cups and i nearly didn't see it!!


how pretty is that. i love it against the red jug .

a little enamel tin.. i love tins.. you can never have to many can you. not sure what I'll put in this yet!!



my mum got me this lovely throw.. i think its very cabbages and roses looking.. its got little cherubs on it as well which is not normally my cup of tea but i think they are very sweet!!..




i haven't found a home for this yet.. the boys tend to chuck my throws and cushions all over the floor normally. so i might have to put this one in the bedroom were it will be safe!!!

then the hubby bought me this sweet little plant as Ive been feeling a bit low this week.. i think yellow flowers do bring a smile to your face don't they..


here they are in the pretty bag



and then in situ on the window sill . so whenever I'm washing up Ive got something pretty to look at!!

so there you go.. 100 posts old!!!

eeeeek...ive just looked at my posts and i only have 98 published posts.. 2 were drafts that have never made it onto the blog to be read.. so looks like i could have more of a cheery 100 post when its the real 100th post!!!!
im so thick!!!

Fantastic Mr Freecycle

I love freecycle.. i really do.. i look around my house and so much of what i have is from there.. its great

this weekend, i again picked up some more things and lovely they are to!!
i got this lovely cupboard.. which the lady had said was a bathroom cupboard.. when i saw the picture i thought i would perhaps take the doors off and put it in the boys bedroom as a bookshelf.. ha ..that was until the hubby brought it home and i thought.. "nah to good for them to ruin it within seconds!!" but then i had a bit of quandary as i really haven't got any spare walls for cupboards these days.. ( i obviously need a bigger house!) didn't want to put it in my bathroom as i like what is already in there.. so i said just leave it there and I'll have a think...

and i liked were it had been left !!.. so now i have a hallway cupboard!!!

i think I'm going to change the handles to pretty it up a bit more but isn't it just lovely.. i love the little curly edge on the back.i think it was from IKEA but they don't make them anymore..

Ive been trying out a few bits on it this morning.. i still have to put some actual photos in the frames though!!..

along with the cupboard..off the same lady we got this lovely little shelf.. which I'm going to put at the top of my stairs.. theres a tiny bit of wall that's empty.. it needs filling!!.

.

and then this laundry basket.. our basket was falling to bits.. every time you picked the lid up another bit of twig fell off!!!.. so this is great and it sits right in the corner so doesn't take up any room.. always a bonus!!

oh and here's a plate that my sister gave me last night when i popped into see her.. i love the pattern and the edging is so pretty all frilly!!!

reminder to self... need to buy some plate holders so pretty plates can go up on wall sometime soon before breakages happen !!!!!!

what we did today

we made the most easiest recipe for biscuits EVER !!!!!

4 oz 100g) butter or margarine
3 oz (75g) caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence ( or you can use lemon juice)
8 oz plain flour

Cream the butter/margarine and sugar.

Beat in the egg with the vanilla essence. Fold in the flour and form into a soft dough.

Roll out the dough

and cut into biscuit shapes. bake for 10 - 15 mins at 375F/190C/Gas mark 5. Leave until cold and then ice and decorate.

look at those gorgeous squishy hands couldn't you just eat them as well!!!



we picked out our shapes to make the biscuits


got the tins ready

we went for stars, cars and hearts shapes today..

erm...mummy kinda managed to burn some of them eeek!!!!

they don't look anything but they taste gorgeous.. Ive had a few nibbles as i am on a diet but i had to make sure they tasted OK for the baby's to eat them!!!!

white feet and daffodils!

well I'm not talking about my white feet ( even though they are.. the hubby says they look like they've been killed they are that white..gross !!) but the feet on my bath.. Ive finally finished them off properly .. so here they are.. i think they make the bath look much pinker now ( is that possible!)




took advantage of the gorgeous ( and warming up i must say ) sun today and got the boys out for a walk.. we headed into town which is only a ten minute walk from our house so its just right for little legs .. and mummys legs to!

i picked up this lovely pair of pillowcases.. in a gorgeous pale pink with flowers on.. very ck i thought..

and guess how much!!??...

that's right not even 60p how fantastic are charity shops when its just run properly and not trying to outdo selfridges on price!

so Ive popped these in the washing machine and i cant wait to put them on the bed!!

speaking of cath kidston ( did you see what i did here!) ....my lovely mum picked this little makeup bag in the charity shop the other day.. do you see the tag...

do you see the pattern.... i think its her washed roses pattern.. I'm so made up.. a little bit of Cath always brightens up my day!!

so anyways on the way home. we called into the florist by our house were i bought two little bunches of daffodils..

i think they look a bit like asparagus all wrapped up!!

Ive popped them in my little green jug which has been crying out for yellow flowers for weeks i think .. and I'm just going to watch them open up and be full of yellow joyousness for me !!!

and now I'm just taking advantage of the fact hubby has taken the boys to get a hair cut.. ( oooo this is the baby's first hair cut... just a little trim.. I'm not losing his curls yet!!)

so I'm catching up on some blogs.. and having some home made soup that i made last night..

carrot, onion, celery and lots of chilli....MMMMmmmmm!!!!

trouble is .. its really needs a massive chunk of crusty bread and butter to go with it but I'm on a diet now ..well not diet .. more healthy eating and cutting back on the junk Ive been eating.. i only started on Monday it has been the longest week of my life haha!!

keep it in the family!

about three years ago when we moved into our house.. we bought a little dresser like shelf from the car boot sale for about £1.50, the woman had originally wanted £2 for it but it was practically closing up time and we were down to the coppers!!..so she took what we had left !

anyways it was a horrible old orangey pine.. that soon went when i painted it an off white.

so i put it up in my kitchen.. but the way id decorated it did nothing for me after a year so we soon decorated again.. i didn't think i wanted the shelf back up as id put different shelves on the other wall and i didn't want it to look a bit to much shelf'tastic !!!

i offered it to my mum who put it up in her kitchen were it looked most pretty with her things on.. then about a year later she had her kitchen completely refitted and didn't have the wall space for it.. so she gave it to my sister.................................. were it sat in her attic for a few months!!

have i mentioned how even though my sister has a beautiful very old house.. its full of character and once completed will be just fantastic.. is so not bothered about interiors.. well that's a lie, she does have very good taste.. simple Nordic clean lines with a bit of traditional chintz thrown in.. but isn't obsessed like me and my mum about shelves and jugs etc.. preferring killer heels instead!!!..

so it has sat in her attic and i just knew that there was something missing in my bathroom.. a space that was growing bigger by the day when i looked at it!!..

so on Friday i hop skipped and jumped into her loft to get it.. ( yes her house is that fab.. her loft is a proper room with a staircase with a gorgeous cast iron fireplace..obviously were the housekeeper would have lived!!!).. i know that she wont be using it any time soon and then once she does think about wanting it. I'm sure I'll have found something else to go in the space.

yes this little shelf has been around the family!!!..

we always do this though.. keep all the things we buy mostly between ourselves.. are you the same??


so here it is.. i decided to put the books that we are reading at the time on here as well its a bit more hygienic than keeping them at the side of the toilet ..urgh!!!.. but im sure if your a busy mum like me you realise that this is sometimes the only time that you have a few mins peace to enjoy a good book!!!

Ive put a few bits on that Ive been collecting over the past few months but I'm sure it will soon have a change around!!

and here is a little pic of the mid afternoon sun from today.. i just loved the light it gave off through the lace drops and with the wallpaper it looked so pretty!!

forgot about this little tray i bought the other month so ive used it to hold the aftershave and perfume collection haha .. my collection is very poor in the fact i have one bottle and 2 testers!!!..

finally finished!

Ive finally finished my first ever quilt!!..

it only took me one weekend to sew all the squares together and sew onto the backing and wadding..
it was the bias binding that took the longest.. i even took it into work to pin it all i did that one lunch hour and it took the whole hour!!.. ..
but my sewing machine is proving to be a little temperamental at the mo so after a few stitches the thread comes out of the needle.. and then on one side the cotton is all looped up and loose.. so i think its the tension or something so think I'm going to have to get some one to take a look..

so i had to wait to take it to my mums and you know how things pop up
anyways i digress were was i.. oh yes the quilt

so i was going to sew on the binding myself, took it to my mums to use her sewing machine but luckily she stepped in and did that bit for me ( i mean come on mum how many hints did i have to give you!!!!)
and here it is.. basically i just used most of the free fabric samples that you can order online from john lewis!!!.. which cut down on the cutting of the fabric as they were just the right size haha..




i used mainly greens and pinks.. with a few red bits thrown in.. in spotty, check and floral patterns..

and i had bought some red gingham from a carboot last year so this was used on the back

i am pleased with it especially as it was my first attempt.. i have got the quilting bug now though so as soon as i get my machine fixed i already know what I'm working on next !!!

so today we were rudely awoken by our 3 yr old at around about 5.30..jumping on us wanting us to get up .. have breakfast etc.. when i finally woken up and made the children's breakfast, washed up, put a wash on, put some washing out..it was still only just turning 8am!!.. i thought to myself how this was going to be a long day.. so i thought id take them into town.. run the legs off oldest boy and have a mooch round the charity shops.

i was dreading it though. .i never take both out on my own ever.. not since they were in the double buggy..( it was about the size of an estate car though was far to heavy !!) so usually we are stuck in which gets very depressing..

anyways oldest boy was simply amazing.. was so well behaved and once we got the toy bought and the little cupcake bought for him . .he was even better..

it made such a difference and the chance to be out on this glorious day has done us the world of good!!

i bought this blanket and i love the faded pastel colours on it.. i think sometimes the checked blankets can look a bit heavy looking but i really like this and at £1.99 i couldn't have left it!

i actually quite like it at the end of my bed and i like how it has the same colours in as my throw over so they kinda match in their own way!!

well i seem to have wrote a lot .. probably bored you halfway through so well done if you got this far!!!

hey wait a minute mr postman

Or should i say thank you Mr postman!!!..
for delivering to my house this box of goodies first thing on Saturday morning!!

I won Debbie's over at "Country Heart and Home" blog goodie box giveaway...


now I never win anything .. nothing .. ever.. so I was most excited!!!..

and I wasn't disappointed ..

the door went .. Mr postman handed me the box and I couldn't wait to get it open!!

here it is with all the boring other bits of mail that come through your door.. you know the boring stuff that you have to pay!!!!

here I was getting myself ready to see what lay in the box ooo exciting!!!..

have a look at the beautiful card that I'm guessing the very talented Debbie made.. its now got pride of place on my dresser and its just so pretty..

how generous is this though.. i couldn't believe how many things were in the box!!!

some fab Sarah Smith dusters .. well if you're going to have to do housework you might as well have pretty things to look at as you're doing it hey.. !!

some cute little nests and eggs..

you can never have enough coloured pencils.. ( well in my case we didn't have any so these have come in very handy for being creative with the kids!)

some yummy marshmallows that smell soooo sweet.. and a maltesers egg that actually is still whole.. don't know how long for mind!!

pretty ribbons..

this fantastic book that Ive been salivating over when looking through.. I'm going to make a start over the next few weeks.. as theres quite a bit in there that I know certain people in my family would just love!!!!

oh and an address book and note book..both of which I have been meaning to buy myself so that was amazing.. the address book has already been filled in!!!

egg moulds.. we are going to have some fun with these.. think me and the oldest boy are going to have a go at making our own this week.. I'll let you know the results!!

and not one but two packs of storage tins.. my love of pink and of polka dots are indulged with these gorgeous tins!!

I was really honestly overwhelmed with how generous people are.. isnt the blogging world great!!

Thank you Debbie for the lovely items that I received..!!!