Blog award!

I am so so happy to have received a blog award from Nicki at homebird!

It put a big cheesy grin on my face when the e-mail beeped through onto my blackberry during a long car drive today.. I didn't ever think that anyone would pass one of these things on to me on my little blog.

So, thank you very much Nicki xxx

Sooo here goes, 10 facts about myself..!

1. I had to hitch-hike to my own wedding. We had hired a big posh classic car, but just as we got to the outskirts of the town where the church was, the car got a flat tyre. My step-dad managed to get a couple of cars to pull over and take us the rest of the way to the service!


2. I have an addiction to all things ‘Cath Kidston’… I really should limit myself. But it’s just all so lovely! I have a lot of things from the shop, it didn’t really help when they opened a CK shop here in town..! I haven’t actually been inside for a little while, I’ve managed to keep myself away! My fave wedding gift was my CK duvert and pillowcase set. : )

3. I lovvvee Nutella chocolate spread. I’m on Slimming World at the moment, trying to lose my baby weight and even though I’m very close to target.. Nutella is my weakness and I just can’t resist!

4. I lived in London for a year, but hated it. I’m just a country bumpkin at heart and love the countryside. Even though we technically live in a city at the moment, it’s very green around here. We’re here for the next two years but after this we will hopefully be moving further West, to where I’m from.

5. I love gardening. I’ve only just got my own garden recently and have loved learning what to do out there. It’s so lovely when you put in a tiny plant and suddenly lots of lovely flowers start to appear from nowhere.

6. I reeaally like the smell of Pledge furniture polish. I probably use a bit too much of it when I’m doing the polishing. I just love the smell of it, a bit like petrol.. now I just sound really weird!

7. I cannot sing to save my life! I stay away from singing lullaby’s to Rose at bedtime.. I think if was just upset her..!

8. I am one extremely accident-prone person. I’ve broken my wrist and collarbone, and have had to have stitches on other various occasions. I walk into the corner of our bed at least once every couple of day’s…

9. I'm scared of the dark. I Hate walking in the dark on my own... I have a very good imagination and always think of the worse things that could happen. I always think that someone may be following me..! Silly I know.. But when I turn off all the lights at night to go up to bed, I have to do them in order and when the last one goes off, I walk Very briskly up the stairs!
10. My favourite chocolate treat is a creme egg! They’re so ridiculous sweet and sugary.. but I just love them and could eat a Lot of them!

So, there you go..! You now know quite a few thing's about me!

And so, to pass the award on.. (I don't actually know how many people I'm supposed to pass it on to..)

I'm going to pass it on to:
Jacey at Coffee 'n' crochet and Penelope at L is for Love

(Two great blogs which I love reading..)

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A lovely couple of days..

The last few day's have been lovely..

My Nan came to stay for 2 days and helped me with the garden. When we first moved here, the garden was a complete mess and because I didn't really know much about gardening.. Nan helped me to weed the whole thing and get it planted up with bulbs and some nice plants.

But seeing as I've been looking after Rose for the last few months, the garden had gotten a little unruly since spring began. I have been out there quite often doing little bits and bobs but I hadn't kept on top of the weeding.. this mayyy have had something to do with the fact I couldn't tell which plants were weeds and which were my lovely plants.. I thought that all the weeds were about to bloom with gorgeous flowers! Oops!

Well, anyway.. she came armed with her gardening gloves and clothes and we spent two day's sorting it all out. It's looking so so nice now, when the weathers a little better I will take some photo's to show you all.. And I should be able to keep on top of it a little more now, seeing as I've learnt what a few of the weeds look like..!

But here she is, hard at work.. chopping away at my Rose's!


                             I had a lovely surprise in the post today... some lovely magazines! : )

I have a subscription to Country Homes & Interiors and I always look forward to getting it every month in the post. It's always full of such lovely photographs and this month was no exception! I also love reading the 'At home with..' sections, the homes of these people are always incredible and well... a girl can always dream can't she..!?

The Cath Kidston magazine also came through my letter box and there are sooo many lovely things inside, I just want it all..! I know... greedy me...!

See! Such gorgeous pictures inside.. a treat for the eye's.. I love all the CK picnic bowls and cutlery, so scrummy..!

Rose has been a very happy girl today, she was a little grizzly the other day as we had to go and have her third set of jabs.. poor little girl has got some sore looking hard bumps where she's bruised from the injections. Ouch..! I don't mind needles at all, but seeing them go into her little legs is very difficult. The cries she let out were just horrible.. But looking on the bright side, at least she doesn't have to have any more injections until she's a year old now.



Got to head off to bed now as we are off to a wedding tomorrow, really looking forward to it. Although a little worried that Rose might be a bit of a handful towards the evening time.. the last wedding we went to, Rose was only tiny and just slept through most of the day..! It should be a lovely day though, I will let you know how it goes..

Oh and I almost forgot to say... hello to all my new followers! I can't believe it.. 23 followers! To be honest, I didn't really think that Anyone would be interested in reading my blog. But I'm so enjoying writing it, so I'm glad a few people are enjoying reading it too..!

(I'm having a bit of  problem though, the 'followers' section on my blog is blank and when I click on where it says I have 23 followers, that page is also blank. Is anyone else having the same problem? O do you have any advice on how to sort it out..? Thanks!)

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Ta-dahh post for Rose's cardigan..!

Well..! I did it!

I finished the Debbie Bliss cardigan for Rose.. it Jusstt about fits here.

Basically.. she wore it for one day and now it's hanging up in her wardrobe looking all pretty. I could squeeezze here into it a couple more times I suppose, but it does look a bit ridiculous! 

I'm such a numpty, but I've learnt my lesson.. always do a size bigger than what she is at the time you start it!

It is very pretty though.. don't you think!? Such lovely soft yarn.. it was so lovely to knit with, but not so great when it came to the crochet edging.. the strands all went a bit splitty so it was a bit of a fiddly business.

 

It's supposed to have a button near the neckline but she could only just about wear it as a type of bolero thing, so there was no way I could button it up.. I will add one though, just to make it look a little more finished..

Look... Such a poser for the camera..!!

I'm carrying on with my Japanese flower scarf now, I've banned myself from beginning anything new (Let's see how long That lasts!) so you never know, I might be back on here with a 'Ta-dahh!' post soon. And then on with my tea-cosy....

(Had my weekly SW meeting tonight and good news.. I've lost another 2.5lb's! A total of 1st2.5lb's.. only 7.5lb's to go!)

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Little snapshots..

A few images to show you what has been making me happy today..

No.1 ~ A bunch of freshly cut roses from my garden, arranged in a lovely jug that I use for a vase. They smell just divine.. and look so yummy. So they will be put in pride of place on our dining room table to enjoy whilst we eat.

No.2 ~ The first strawberry that is beginning to turn red..! It's the first time that we've grown strawberry's in the garden and I'm just so excited for when I can taste the first one that is ready. There aren't loads and loads of strawberry's on the plants, so we will still have to buy them from the shops.. but it's pretty exciting to have some of our own..!

No.3 ~ One of my favourite places in my house.. my shelf of craft books. I never seem to find the time to get around to making a lot of the things that I desperately want to, but when I get a moment I love to sit down and flick through some of the lovely images inside.

No.4 ~ A small amount of my yarn stash.. It all looks so so scrummy and I need to think of things to do/make with a lot of it. But it's lovely knowing I have it all there ready for me when I get around to using it all! I've made myself make a promise that I won't buy myself any more yarn. I just don't need it! But I alway's seem to come across something that I 'just must have'!

    No.5 ~ Little Rosebud's tootsies.. It so hard to get a clear picture when she's kicking them all over the place! She's just got all this energy from somewhere..! The shoes are new, as we had lots of smaller sized one's but they just weren't fitting her anymore.. I can't believe how quickly she is growing.

No.6 ~ A lovely card which also came with a letter, to go in Rose's room from her God-mother and my bestest friend. I just love the googely eye's!

No.7 ~ A lovely parcel arrived a few day's ago from my mum in the post, inside was the most gorgeous dress for Rose to wear this summer.. a hand-painted card which is now up on display in her room and a surprise for me, a lovely easy to read 'chick-lit' book for me to enjoy when I find some free time!



Well, that's all from me for now.. back to the housework!

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Special day's out to remember.

I've had such a lovely day today..

Ray is working all weekend and although I've had a very busy week indeed with things going on everyday, I was at a loss of what to do with my Saturday..! It's been such a gorgeous day and couldn't bear the thought of staying inside.

I rang up a good friend and organised to go around to hers.. so I got myself and baby Rose organised and headed over. We went for a really nice walk around a huuugge lake in Arundel, the water was so so clear and the best thing of all.. there was an ice-cream stall waiting for us when we finished our walk around the lake..! : )

Rose definitely enjoyed herself anyway.. I was a bad mother and forgot a sun hat for Rose! (There are sooo many things to remember to pack in the car these day's!) So I had to borrow one from my friend.. she called it the doily hat but I love it, it looks so old-fashioned and so so cute.. the hat is now Rose's. : )

You can rent the boats out and go for a row around the lake, I was dying to do this but it wasn't a very practical idea when we had 2 buggy's with us and 4 children in total.. only 1 is mine though!

Doesn't the water just look so cool and fresh.. when standing at the edge of the water, you could see right down to the bottom of the lake. Loadds of ducks and swans, you can buy bird food to feed to the ducks so I think the majority of birds in the area are attracted to this particular spot! 

I love the way the water glitters when the sun shines onto it.. it's almost magical.

I have no idea who this lady was... but she just looked so happy and relaxed sitting by herself looking onto the lake. Peace and quiet.. something I don't think I'll be getting much of for a little while just yet..!

I now realise it's very hard to get a baby to look at the camera at the right time! She smiles for me all the time when I'm taking photographs of her.. but when I try and have a photo taken of myself with Rose (this doesn't happen very often!) she just shows no interest.. everything else is just that little bit more interesting..! haha

Right.. should probably go to sleep now.. I was planning on getting up early and going to a big car boot sale to try and bag myself some bargains, but the idea of the early start isn't seeming Quite so appealing anymore. To be honest.. I'll probably be up early anyway, so we'll just have to see..!

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Enjoying the peace and quiet..!

Well, the hubby is out with the boy's for the evening so I'm enjoying having the whole house to myself!

Rose went down for the night quite easily today which was lovely and I reallllyyy hope she sleeps through til the morning!

You see.. I didn't have the best night's sleep last night. Ray and I went for out for a meal together for the first time since the birth. So, it's been quite a while..! His parents looked after Rose.. thankfully she slept for most of the evening. I knew I would find it difficult to leave her and drive of to go for our meal, but I was actually quite surprised at How glad I was to be back with her. The connection between a mother and baby is quite something!

The meal was very nice, although not so great for my diet! We had a curry and it was lovelllyyy.. I was so excited to have one, as I've been so good food-wise the last few weeks but this week, I haven't been quite so strong-willed at staying away from chocolate and biscuits! So I really am beginning to dread Tuesday.. (weigh-in day!) I know I Must have put on weight instead of losing it! Oops..

So, making the most of some 'me' time tonight, I've been doing a spot of web 'window shopping' and browsing through one of my favourite online shops. I have a slight addiction to Cath Kidston you know and I just can't resist! I know I really shouldn't get all of the things from there that I do, but it just all so prettyyyy..!!

I love this bag..!

Okayyy.. well, on with the knitting I go. I'm getting quite far with Rose's Debbie Bliss cardigan.. although I'm pretty certain it's going to be too small for her. Why oh why am I so dippy..!? I Should have done the size up! Oh well... I'm nearly at the point of stitching it all together.

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Almost there!

I'm getting there gradually with Rose's 'Debbie Bliss' cardigan..

In this photo is the back of the cardigan, the right front piece and the start of the left.. I took it a few day's ago though and have now finished the left front and am a little way through knitting the first arm.



I was a bit dippy when choosing the sizing.. I wanted her to be able to wear the cardigan straight away when I finished it so I chose the 3-6 month choice of sizing.. but now realise I Really should have started making the 6-9 month. Silly me! Oh well.. when I finish it, she'll probably be able to wear it just about long enough for me to take a picture anyway..!

But I did get some good news tonight.. well not exactly 'news'.. But I found out I've lost 1 stone since I started slimming world and I'm now back in my pre-pregnancy jeans! Woohoo! : )

I hope you are all well..!?

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I couldn't resist....

Once again, I've started something new! I have no will-power to just stick to something and finish it..!

Although... I am sooo close to finishing my japanese flower scarf..! It should only take an hour or more to do, I just need to sit myself down and get it done!

This is my new little project.. : )

It won't be as big as the cardigan in the photo, as I'm knitting the 3-6 month size for Rose.

Isn't it gorgeous!?

I've not knitted anything in moss stitch before.. but I really love it, it's such a lovely texture and so so soft. I'm using Debbie Bliss' eco-baby yarn..

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The little thing's in life..

I absolutely adore having my garden.. it's lovely just being able to take a wander out there and see all the changes that seem to take place every single day. I've loved seeing all the plants growing so speedily throughout spring, but along with the lovely plants come the weeds and oh my, I do struggle to keep up with the weeding!

Just a few photo's to show you the lovely flowers that are out there at the moment..!

When we moved here, I didn't realise how many lovely rose's we would have growing in the garden.. 

My tomato plants are doing really well.. I can't wait until we can be picking fresh tomatoes from outside our back door. : )

We've got runner beans as well.. I wasn't sure that they were going to grow very well in the beginning, but they've actually picked right up..!

Although I have so much to do in the garden still...

I have about a million  seedlings to pot up... there is some serious over-crowding going on in there..! Now I just need to find some time from somewhere to get it all done!

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So many things.. so little time..

I have so many thing's that I want to blog about, but I just haven't managed to sit down and get writing until tonight.. So I'll write one entry and then see if I can try to squeeze another entry out before the end of the evening..!

First of all.. a big hello from Rose..!

Last week we took advantage of the fact that Ray had a week of annual leave and headed off for a short break at my Mum's in Cornwall. Although we did plan on breaking up the journey by staying a night at my grandparent's house on the way down there.. we ended up staying for a few more nights as we had car trouble and needed our clutch to be replaced. Luckily my step-dad was very kind and helped Ray to get the work done, so we did eventually manage to make it down to Cornwall for 2 nights which was better than none at all.

The good thing about all the travelling in the car was that I managed to get a lot more of my hexagon blanket done..

While Ray was busy with the car.. I was lucky enough to enjoy the lovely weather in Dorset and went for a walk with Nan and Grandad around one of my favourite places to walk in Dorset, Langdon hill which leads up to Golden cap.

There are some really beautiful views around there..

See..!? How gorgeous are those views!

We went on to have a really lovely couple of day's in Cornwall with my Mum, it was a shame that the weather wasn't particularly nice whilst we were there but we plan to go back and visit again soon when it's a bit more sunny!

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Rose's Christening xx

Well, the day went off without a hitch..!

We had a lovely time and Rose behaved beautifully throughout the christening.. right until everyone was trying to take photo's, when she had a real grizzle and then fell fast asleep in my arms. So most of the photo's that were taken of us up by the font show Rose either screaming her head off or head slumped, fast asleep..! Ah well... nevermind eh..!

A photo of Ray, Rose and I cutting the beautful christening cake that my Nan made for us. She completely shocked me with the cake.. I knew she was making us a christening cake, but expected something pretty plain and simple. The cake was stunningly beautiful! It had creamy white icing covered with tiny little baby pink dots and a bunch of lovely flowers on the top. I don't have a photo at the moment, but I will have to get on on here soon.

My mum took this photo of me and Rose.. it's a little blurry as she took it on her phone, but I forgot to take enough photo's on my camera. I suppose that was bound to happen when I was worrying whether I had spoken to everyone enough. I don't really like hosting party's or events of any sorts.. I don't feel confident enough to be the centre of attention. Well, I know Rose was the centre of attention at her own christening.. but you know what I mean..!

Vicky, my best friend for years is now Rose's God-mother. : ) I know she is the perfect person for the job and will always be there for my little Rosebud.. She had her own blog, why don't you go and have a peek.

My mum travelled up from Cornwall for the day :)

Doesn't she look like a proud new grandmother..!? I can't believe how big Rose looks in this photo, it's so scary how fast she is growing..!!



Right, off to try and finish all of my thank-you notes for the generous gifts that were given to Rose..

I'll leave you with a photo of the special little girl..!

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Granny bunting and crochet jar-jacket to match..!

Well..! My granny bunting is finished, joined together and up on show in my kitchen.. and I LOVE it! Sorry for the dark photo.. I will try to get a better one sometime, but you get the idea..! In my last post you can see them up close and can see the beautiful colours a lot better..

I can't believe how utterly plain and boring the window looked before it was put up there.. it definitely needed something to fill the space and distract the eye's from the dead boring blind that was just there before and I think I found just the thing..! I keep stopping to admire the bunting as I walk through the kitchen. : ) Loving all the pretty colours!

And to match.... a crochet jar-jacket to hold all my pens for the calendar, in Matching colours no less..! I've never been so colour co-ordinated!

Rose's christening was yesterday, we had an absolutely perfect day and were sooo lucky with the gorgeous sunshine. I will be putting together a post shortly..

Bye for now xxxxxxxxx