Here Comes the Weekend!!!

This week has been been glorious on the weather front, quite unseasonable and warm. The clocks went forward so it was lighter in the evenings, it actually feels like spring bordering on the summer.

I was out at a meeting in Hertford and when I parked the car I spotted this beautiful tree which looked stunning against the bright blue sky.

This weekend I am collecting my final shabby chic cupboard, then I will be able to finally set up the PC and get the last few things packed away. I feel I have made some huge changes for the better.

I have been catching up on all my scrap booking, all my photos are now scrapped, I just have a few pages to finish with the journalling. I am looking forward to adding to my photos with our Easter celebrations followed by our trip to look at the Tulips in Amsterdam!!!

Another night with The Osmonds!!!

Late yesterday afternoon I travelled down to Southend with my friend Karen, to meet up with Lynn, who used to live in our road and her friend Debbie. I am certain that Southend has moved, it seemed a lot closer than before, mind you that could have been because I wasn't driving and its nice to chill out in the passenger seat for a change. 

When we got there the sun was just setting, we got a parking space and made our way to the venue to meet with our friends and to get a bite to eat. As we arrived the support group turned up in their coach. It was so funny to watch all this 'silly' middle aged women swooning over these men who were lapping it up!!! We hadn't thought to book ahead and when we went to the planned restaurant it was fully booked as was every other one within walking distance. In the end we went for traditional fish and chips, eaten in Karen's car in the car park!!!! It was lovely, particularly nice when you are hungry!!!!

Karen had come up trumps with the tickets again, and we were again second row, but at the opposite end to Watford. Southend had laid on bouncers so we got chatting to the guy near us. He was going to prevent a pitch invasion at all costs. He hadn't bargained on the die hard fans who were going to get to the front whatever. Poor Lynn had an inconsiderate woman next to her who kept 'drifting' into her seat space and in the end she had to use her elbows to stop her taking over completely!

This time I took my big camera, which our bouncer chap was happy with, I did manage to get a few shots that were OK, but the lighting was unpredictable so I also got a fair few duff shots as well. 

They were singing their very last song when another of the staff told me that I couldn't use my camera as it had a telephoto lens!! So I put it away, but TOO LATE!!!! I already had my shots!!

So all we have to look forward to now is Karen sitting on the phone and computer to get tickets for next years show starring Donny and Marie. Go get them Karen!!!!

New Work Space

Over the past few weeks I have been trying to sort the conservatory out, adding new shelves and cupboards and making it a nice place to work. I am nearly there, I just have the computer side to sort out. My friend steph made me a set of shelves to go above my work table and they have now been painted to match the dresser. I really like having somewhere to keep my pretty things like photos cards and flowers. I also have all my flame working 'stuff' in the one place and its a pretty flexible set up with my oxycon underneath along with my gas, which can be easily accessed. The extractor can be moved out of the way when not in use as can the tiles protecting the table, which are loose. So far so good.

On the other side of the room I am trying to sort out the computer stuff. I have a nice bureau painted to match the dresser and shelves. I am bidding on a matching cupboard to go along side the bureau, as its proving difficult to get the PC sorted out. (I had planned to put in a cupboard, but then had trouble with wires and drawers in awkward places) So I think another couple of weeks will have it sorted. I have emptied all the filing cabinets and it will be a straight swap once the new cupboard arrives. 

Today I am off to Southend with my friend to see The Osmonds, it seems that they are missing us, having not seen us for a few weeks!!!

Beautiful Tulips!

Carl bought me some Tulips for Mothers Day. They have been absolutely stunning, particularly the white ones, which started out very floppy and looked a bit sorry for themselves. They have picked up and I think they are so pretty. I took a few shots of them this evening, natural light, no flash, they have a few days left in them yet. 

Beth was first in the fracture clinic today, they wrapped her leg and tried to move it without too much luck. They are happy that its not fractured, but it was bruised and swollen still, so in light of this not being the first time it has happened she has been fitted with a leg brace. The problem is that the knee has moved sidewards and stretched the ligaments beyond what they are comfortable with. This allows her knee to move backwards and forwards but no side way movements. She is finding it easier now she can start to mobilise it again. The problem is she has to wear it for the next six weeks, have physio and then go back to fracture clinic. She is going to go back to school on Monday as she can't get any further behind with her work. Despite asking on several occasions the school has not provided her with any work or even returned my phone calls. I am not very impressed. 

The brace looks like a torture device, it has 4 straps which go from groin to ankle, she said its not that uncomfortable. Wonder what she'll be saying in 6 weeks!!!

Excited...

Its the small things that can be exciting, tonight I am collecting my recently purchased and now repainted bureau. I am also collecting my shelves which have been painted to match so I can finally get the conservatory set up as my craft room. I am still bidding on a double cupboard to match the bureau which will need repainting and if I win that I'll be set!!

Its exciting to have a space that a bit of thought has go into and finally set up with pretty things that I like and I hope will inspire me to be creative. Its usually such a faff to have to get everything out and then put it all away again, now I will be able to leave things set up and still have the place look nice.

Tomorrow poor old Beth has fracture clinic, her leg is still no where near right and it been very uncomfortable. I hope tomorrow they may be able to make a decision on a plan of action for her.

I think this is the end of her trampolining career!!! (and the return of my garden with any luck!!!!)

Happy Mothers Day!

Today has been a lovely Mothers day. I have been very lucky. The day started with Beth handing me a huge card  (left on the photo) plus a present of 4 blocks spelling out LOVE !! They are lovely. I also got a pink helium balloon with sparkly writing, its very pretty. Carl left me a card Plus two huge bunches of Tulips, one bunch of yellow and one of white. (I haven't photographed the yellow ones, they are in the living room). Then this afternoon Laura came over and gave me a lovely boxed card plus a ceramic 'Pamper pot' All pink and sparkly. The label says that if you fill it with two pound coins when its full there will £1000 in it!! I have aimed a little lower and I am going to put all my spare 20p in there. 

Tom gave me a pair of beautiful yellow chrysthants. This afternoon Emma,Dan and Bobbie came over for a visit and finally I went around to see mum and give her our gifts. Poor old Tom has been suffering from a dodgy tummy so didn't want to risk handing anything onto either of them. Although he seems to be a lot brighter this afternoon.

So Happy Mothers day to all the wonderful Mums out there.

That was a week!!!

Its been another of those busy time flying weeks. I am glad its the weekend!! The easy high light of the week was my trip to Watford to see The Osmonds !! Thanks to the ticket guru over the road Karen, we had second row tickets and an excellent view. The only downside was that we were spitting distance from the speakers that were easily 12ft by 12ft big and very very LOUD!!!!! That said afterwards we could still hear each other so all deafness was only temporary. As always they gave a fantastic show, we enjoyed it so much that we are going back again next week to see them play at Southend!!

As well as some of their new music, which was very good, they played a load of the classics. What was quite disconcerting was the number of middle aged plus women there were in the audience. The thing is I don't see myself as middle aged (cos I'm not!!) BUT the placed was full of 50 and 60 something people all screaming like sixteen year olds. I felt quite restrained compared to a couple of full on grey haired granny types who were up there with their silky Osmonds scarfs and their walking sticks shouting 'We want the Osmonds'!!!!

This time I only took my little camera, because the last visit we made they tried to stop me taking my big camera in, they asked us to wait while they checked out if it was OK for me to go in with it. Like naughty school girls, we legged it as soon as the security guard was out of sight!!!! This time no one checked so I was in a prime position with a puny camera, that will teach me!

Towards the end there was a near pitch invasion as all the fans arrived at the stage for the grand finale. (They had probably started their journey to the front in the first half!!!) These groups must be raking it in all these people with disposable income now living out their teenage dreams!!!

Beth ended up down A and E this week after she hurt her knee trampolining at school, this time she has damaged the ligaments and is in a great deal of pain. She has been X rayed and they have put a 'cricket bat' bandage on it. She has to go to fracture clinic next week for them to decide if it needs plastering to help the ligaments heal. The last few days have been really painful for her as it seems to have had an effect on her hip as well. Fingers crossed it starts to get better soon . 

I am on a bit of a roll with holidays as well. Last week we paid for our Cruise to the Fjords in May so I am getting excited about that one. We had been toying with the idea of going to see the Dutch bulb fields. Although we seem to visit Holland far more regularly than I visit my local town centre, its usually in the summer or winter when the bulbs have finished. So I have been looking at a mini cruise trip to do that during the school Easter holiday . When I first noticed the trip we couldn't get a cabin for three of us, just two twins which we didn't want. So I checked back a couple of days ago and found that there was a cabin available, so I booked it and now we are off for a three day trip including a day spent at Keukenhof Gardens  I can't wait, I think I should be able to get some fantastic photographs !!

Happy Birthday Dad.

Last Saturday it was Dads birthday, so we took him a cake around and celebrated with him. He is 74 years young!! So what do you buy a man who has everything he needs?? In the end we got him some trailing pansies, a brand new breed of tri-coloured pansies which can trail in baskets up to two feet!! Dad likes pansies, so I am sure he will be able to grow some from the seeds of these plants.

We also got him a bird feeder for his garden and I gave him one of my 'exclusive' hand made coasters with his name on it!!

I took a few photos of the flowers in Dads garden as you can see he likes pansies!!!

 

He has some lovely Violas growing in the green house.

I hope the new ones are as pretty!!!

A morning wandering around.

Yesterday morning I went to Van Hages garden centre in Amwell. One of those rare times that I could take a trip on my own and take time to look. I had decided to make the trip to buy dad some new trailing pansies that Van Hages had introduced and were the only place selling them this year at least. 

When I arrived the place was stuffed with beautiful displays of lovely home bits and pieces, lots of florals and Kath Kidston stuff. 

I loved this table wear, so bright and and lots of fun, its also quite expensive!! So I may have to save up.

This year is the Queen Jubilee it would be great to celebrate with a street party, but its also half term and before realising it was a big date we booked a cruise. There is a lot of celebration goods around I love the Union Jack stuff, there was bunting and all sorts here. Perhaps we will have to celebrate while we are away with Mad and John!!

I am a late comer to the Kath Kidston craze, but I really love the style and the old fashioned florals. I am getting quite a collection of bags and mugs in her designs. Its nice to see how someone else displays her wares!

Of course Easter is just around the corner so there was lots of Easter decorations, I have noticed that in recent years they have been on the increase. I seem to have a bit of a thing for decorative chickens at the moment!!  It was a nice morning wandering and I even managed to bump into my old neighbour Tracey, waves to Tracey!!!

Bit late updating this week.

I returned to Uni to collect my last bits that had been cooked. Monday night was a busy one, Beth was in a production at the Barn theatre youth drama festival (photos to follow) So I popped out after her play had finished and collected my creations!!

The circle above was last week when I put it in the kiln, bright blues, yellows and purple. I did sprinkle a bit of copper bubble powder which comes out green, plus some splashes of water. Well this is the result. Not much yellow in evidence!!

It is however quite interesting and I like the dull result for the patterns in it.

Look at all greeny blue colours and tiny bubbles, lovely!!!

I had mixed results with the coasters, the fingerprints faded to nothing which was disappointing. The black outlines stayed strong. The lines and dots were OK, but dull, and the heart was OK, I wish I had used the white more as that with a bit of frit came out quite bright

Beth's two coasters, the animals and the the words came out well  as did the mum and dad ones. Its dads birthday the weekend so I will give him one as part of the present.

So to sum up the course was OK, and I think I might go back later in the year to see if I can do something else with glass. I asked about the course feedback form, the tutor gave me one but it was filled in with someone elses name, that just about sums up the adhoc disorganised nature of the course!!!

My New Dresser.

I have always been very envious of my friend Madeline, envious in a nice way because she has fantastic taste and her house is so gorgeous. She has the knack of putting things together so they look good. When I try and do the same it looks like a jumble sale rather than shabby chic. Well times are changing, I am changing things around and trying to emulate her style.

I needed to make a bigger space for my glass things, I also wanted to have a place to display things that I love. So I set about looking for a shabby chic painted dresser, I found one I liked on eBay and made an offer. This was accepted and yesterday we travelled to Chipperfield to collect it. I am now the proud owner of a beautiful dresser, painted 'aged white' . The lady selling has said that she would be happy to paint any other furniture I have to match, so we have a bureau to collect next week and some shelves they will all match !!!

Here is my first attempt at 'doing' my dresser.

Its looking a bit busy at the moment, but I have run out of room and need the cupboards that the bureau will have to put  the boxes on the bottom shelf  away. I'll keep fiddling until I get it just right!!

Check out the web site of the lady I bought it from its gorgeous!!!

Rose 'n' Lily

I think I'll be buying some more!!!

Quiz Night!!!!

Tonight Tom and I went out, not been out for a long while in the evening, together at the same place. We went to our old Primary school to take part in their annual Quiz night.

This Quiz has been going for years and we are what I consider to be 'floating' quizzers, we don't really have an established team, we go with who ever will have us. Tonight there was a great turnout and what I particularly liked was that there were loads of faces from my time as a parent at the school. I think its fair to say that doing a quiz in a team is hard, its down to how much you persevere and how much you insist that your answer is right in the face of louder people saying that you are wrong. Its such a balance having to write down an answer which you are convinced is wrong and then worse of all trying very hard not to say 'Told you' when your original suggestion is shown to be right!! So every year we attend and walk that very fine line between friendship and flouncing off!! 

Tonight It was the same again, trying to find that balance between not winning, (because if you are on the winning team you have to set the questions for the next quiz and that is bound to end in tears) and not ending up to far down the table. Its OK to be last because you actually get a prize for that, so in my opinion the place to aim for is 2nd or 3rd and no more!!! Tonight we fell sadly short and was 10th out of 16 teams. A case of Please try harder!!!

It was great to see some old pals, (waves to Lorraine and Michelle!!) plus their families. Its a great family school with some folk having been their for donkeys years (Waves to Jackie and Janet!!!!)

This weekend will see us shifting a sofa over to Laura's flat, then dumping her old one on the way back. I want to rearrange the furniture in the conservatory and install my lovely beautiful dresser that we collected earlier this evening. I have still to collect my new bureau and as a bonus the lady who I bought the dresser off of has said she will paint the bureau to match, that's a real result as I hate painting!!! If after all that I have any energy left I might make beads!!! Watch this space.xx