Snowballs!

Well at last its finally stopped snowing. I think it snowed non stop from 2am on Friday morning until yesterday evening sometime. It it now beginning to melt but there is that much of it now that this will take some time!

I've been using the time at home in some very productive ways. Lots of de-cluttering (I had to stop once I had filled the car boot with stuff to take to the skips as I couldn't actually go to the skips to empty it.) I'm now on a a bit of a de-cluttering roll though so I think I will do a bit more over the Easter holidays. 

I also started this ripple blanket last weekend when I was ill (and needed something to force me to rest in order to recover)...

Its not my usual colour palette but this is because, as I was too ill to go and buy wool last weekend (that's how ill I was!!) I had a good look in the stash cupboard(s) and found lots of wool that I bought when I first learnt to knit about 6 years ago. I've never really known what to do with it since then but now its finally getting used. I feel quite proud of myself for using it up too! I did a few more rows yesterday afternoon, sat on the bay window seat while watching my 2 youngest children outside...

(forgive the quality, I took them from the warm and dry side of the window, there was no way that I was going to risk going outside to take these photographs with all this going on!)

After 2 whole days, venturing out only for 15 minutes to buy milk and bread, even I couldn't bear it any longer (partly because the nest were clearly bored) so I decided to try and dig the car out and go a bit further. Well I say 'I'...what I meant was that I did what any responsible mother would do. I sent my 7 year old out with a plastic spade and directed him from inside the house as to which snow to shovel and where to put it...

He did an ace job (I did feel guilty enough to go and assist him in the end!) and we made it to Broughton Shopping Park and back again. That will do me until the rest of the snow is gone!

So back to the ripple blanket then for me.

Spring Snow Day!

Yes that's right. It's officially spring, but we are all at home today because Flintshire is at a standstill again. This is why...

So that was at 7:30am this morning. It's not stopped snowing since then so now its even worse although the roads are a little clearer.

I had lots to do so I have spent much of the day working. Child #1 has gone out (!!), Child #2 has done lots of this...

Child #3 and I baked!...

And then he did this...

and lots more of this....(!)

Obviously I haven't left the house all day and don't intend to either!

Happy snow weekend.

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day!

My daughters combined their funds and Child #1 offered to go to Chester, after school on the bus, earlier this week to purchase gifts for me. I love it when they prove how independent they are, it makes me feel like I have managed to raise kids that will be able to fend for themselves in the big wide world someday rather than just depending on me or other family members/close friends for help all of the time.

So Child #1 has been saying how much she was looking forward to today ever since. She did text me on the day she went shopping to ask what I would like and I said some 'funky pens' so that I can use them every day and think of my them when I do.

She exceeded expectation completely....

I received pens - funky ones as requested - I love them. In addition she bought the owl pencil case to put them in, some little stickers to put on my chromebook (she and I both have the same model now and it can get confusing) and those fab socks! Child #3 made both the cards on left - one at school and one at home last week sometime.

My kids are great...FACT!

Yesterday I had a bit of cooking day. I bought a new cake book a couple of weeks ago so yesterday I made this...

This is a chocolate and orange marble cake. It delicious...most of it has now been eaten! 

I also made this...

Delux chocolate and prune refrigerator cake

This is from the Sarah Brown book which I must admit I need to put a bit more effort into really. Its not because I don't want to cook but more the lack of ingredients because I'm never organised enough to remember to buy them in advance.

Child #3 made some shortbread biscuits too. Not many, so hence they were all gone before I could photograph them but he is quite the little cook when I have the patience to help him.

Yesterday evening Child #3 was suffering from a really really bad cough which was made worse by him leaping around and hanging upside down on the sofa etc as he usually does. In an effort to keep him settled I suggested a jigsaw...

He does love a photo opportunity! This isn't just any jigsaw though. This is a jigsaw that I had as a child, I'm not sure what happened to the actual one I had but I found this one on Ebay a few years ago and couldn't resist it. Its a photo of a minature shop so lots of things are made out of everyday items. Like the 'soap' in the jar is actually pain relief tablets etc. Its good fun to do with the nest as you spot things like that as you do it. 

I cannot believe that it was snowing this morning either! Snow!! In mid March!! I so want spring to arrive. I thought it almost had last weekend when I snapped this picture of my living room window...

The sun was blazing through the window onto the rug (much to the delight of Oscar the cat...where there is sunshine, there is the cat). I went for a walk on Tuesday lunchtime and it gorgeous and sunny and warm. Today...it snowed. :-(

Well I shall get back to enjoying a very unspring-like mothers day and leave you to enjoy the rest of yours. Bye for now.

My son's new bed.

I think I have to admit that I am pretty impulsive when it comes to purchasing things no matter how big or expensive they are. Well...I am writing this from the front room at Vivod after all. Vivod was the most expensive impulsive decision I've ever made!

Last weekend I had planned on a rather dull weekend consisting mostly of work (lots and lots going on at the moment - all good but too boring to blog about!). And work I did, until about 3pm on saturday. I then decided that a trip to IKEA was needed. At this point it wasn't for anything specific. Having realised that this could result in a lot of money being spent on many 'nice but not really needed' items, I decided that I would just buy the bed I promised Child #3 last year sometime.

The bit of this story I am proud of is the fact that at this point I did actually make the effort to check the website for the size of the box and then measure the car to check it would fit. 

So at 4pm off I went. I was very self disciplined and only bought a few extra items. I did get my son some new drawers too as his were falling apart. I had one of those trolleys that you can stack high with flat pack boxes and then hang a bag with all the other random items over the handles. The bed was easy - huge but just in the one box (when I saw the size of it I was a little concerned about it fitting in the car and figured i may need to unpack the box in the car park - it wouldn't have been the first time!). Then I had to find the 16 (yes 16!!!) boxes that the 2 little chest of drawers were in. Needless to say that the trolley was now stacked quite high and I also had to push it whilst keeping one hand on the top to stop it all sliding off.

At the checkout the cashier explained that I can leave the trolley with the security man who will bring this out to me when I drive the car to the pickup point. Handy. I took the trolley over and he asked what car I drove...then, having eyed up the trolley, struggled to keep a straight face when I said 'Black Ford Fiesta'. He clearly doesn't understand the versatility of such a vehicle! ;-)

Anyway, with a bit of imagination and a slightly challenging drive home (with a box blocking the view almost completely to my left unless I lent forward) I arrived home at 6pm. Made a cuppa, ate half the bag of swedish crisps I'd bought (I had planned on something more nutritious for dinner) and began unpacking. Half an hour later and numerous trips up and down the stairs with random pieces of wood, it's fair to say I was completely knackered. I would have happily left it at that for the evening and gone downstairs to knit. However, this was state of Child #3's bedroom...

The hallway was covered in cardboard, the living room was covered in the 16 (!) boxes for the chests and the table was covered in everything else I had bought from IKEA. It was at this point I remembered that I had agreed to meet a friend the next day at 1pm for Lunch. So that meant I had 18 hours to sort all of this out, put everything together, take all the rubbish to the skips, tidy up, sleep for a minimum of 6 hours and be showered and ready for lunch. So I ate another 1/4 of the packet of swedish crisps and got cracking.

I love IKEA but the bag of screws, together with the highly descriptive (or not!) instructions always makes me question why I shop there...

Its just like lego but on huge scale!! So an hour later and I had got this far...

Another 30 minutes...

Another hour (this was delayed by the fact that the bed was reversible and I didn't want it the way the instructions demonstrated so I had to figure out exactly how to reverse it before it was even together)

Another 30 minutes...

If you are keeping up with the times you will have realised that by this point it was about 10pm! I stopped taking pictures and stepped up a gear. Finally managing to finish the bed at midnight. I think I got to bed at 1am having done a litle tidying up but not much - and deciding that my neighbours probably wouldn't appreciate the hoovering at that time either. So at 6am (on a sunday!!) I woke up and immediately remembered the chaos that Vivod was in. Only now I was also aching from the efforts of the previous evening. 

By some miracle I managed to:

• Put together the contents of the 16 boxes and make 2 sets of drawers.
• Dismantle both the bed and the existing drawers and take all this downstairs.
• Tidy the room and put the finishing touches to the bed.
• Take all the old furniture and cardboard to the skips
• Tidy the house so that it looked presentable enough for guests
• Eat breakfast
• Get ready for lunch

All by 12:30pm!

It was all worth it. When my little boy arrived home just after 8pm this is what he found...

This is the picture Child #2 took of him before posting on facebook and commenting on how jealous she was...

So this weekend I have promised to make some colourful curtains for the section beneath the bed to make it more 'den like'. I think I can manage that. 

See you soon.