Coming into Winter

I finished the jumper! It was a bit of a slog as I was fed up with it and the weaving in of all the ends drove me slightly mad but it’s done. And neither boy likes it. Whether one of them will ever wear it I don’t know but at the moment it’s in jack’s drawer but he is not allowed to wear it to playschool in case it gets wrecked.

I was going to make something for the baby but of course needed yarn and needles so have ordered them from getknitted.com my favourite online shop for knitting stuff. In the meantime I am making a pair of socks. I started them two nights ago and am now about to start knitting the foot part so am going really well on them.

I can’t remember if I mentioned I have decided to stop reading online about crafting and start actually doing some. Well, I am keeping it up and doing really well. If I have a day where I only manage a tiny bit I don’t feel too bad because I am at least doing something.

I have plans to make a jacket for Alfie as well. I made a jacket from this particular pattern a few years ago for Sophie from some Hello Kitty fleece but it’s a bit too pink for a little boy. Years ago I bought some Blue’s Clues fleece for Ellie but didn’t ever do anything with it so am going to use it for this jacket.

Over the weekend it snowed. Not a huge amount, but enough to make the snowman in the photo. I think Jack and Alfie enjoyed their experience of snow, although they both ended up really wet and needed stripping off when they got in. The snow only lasted a few hours.

I feel quite sad that we don’t get snow like when I was young. I remember it being knee deep and lasting for weeks, not the couple of inches that only last a day or two at most we get here. I’d love to live somewhere that it snows and lasts for several months.

That’s all that’s happening really. We’ve started the Christmas shopping. It’s easy to buy for the older ones, they know what they want and it’s mainly games so they’re just a case of going into somewhere like Game or going online, but the little ones are difficult. They’ve either got huge lists (Millie’s is 4 pages long!!!!) or in the case of the two littlest ones there are no lists and we have to find something. They like cars and trains but we have loads of both, same with Duplo etc.
Craig and I aren’t buying each other anything as there isn’t anything we need or want (we tend to just buy what we want throughout the year) and there’s no point buying for the sake of it. Although I will admit I have ordered myself a pair of Uggs and a Mama jacket (baby wearing coat) “for my Christmas present”.

I think I will be putting up the tree etc in the next couple of weeks. Still haven’t decided where it will go mind you. Actually, we have two. One in the lounge and one in the dining room. But at the moment my dining room is taken over by my new bathroom suite so until that is done I can’t really do anything in that room.

I would love to do an Advent Spiral this year, and hope to get it sorted out for a few weeks time. Just the family, but it will be lovely. I think it’s a very Steiner/Waldorf thing - does anyone know it’s origins?

Anyway, that’s it for now. Hope you’ve had a good week and aren’t too cold!

Last week we had what had become our twice yearly visit to Centerparcs. We’d decided it will be our last one for a few years as we now don’t fit in the accommodation (well, we could but they won’t let us) so it was hopefully going to be a good one….

The night before we were getting the children ready for bed when I noticed a few red spots on Alfie’s back, one of them was large and fluid filled….. My first thought was chicken pox, but surely not the night before our holiday?? Yep! By morning he had quite a lot of spots all over. We decided we’d go anyway and just keep him away from other people which did mean no family swimming trips or visits to the play area in the sports bar while we relaxed over a coffee or an orange juice and lemonade (yes, that really is what we drink!!)

We stayed in the Executive Lodge accommodation which was nice but a bit of a disappointment this year. Last year it was brand new and lovely - we were the second or third lot of people to stay in it - but this year it wasn’t so nice. Stuff was damaged (the coffee maker looked like it had been chucked around and the dining chairs had been scraped at with a sharp implement for example) and the patio doors had been screwed shut. I know you’re going to get wear and tear but this just seemed like some of the people who had stayed were of the “well, it’s not mine so I don’t care if I wreck it” mindset. I’m the opposite and because it’s not mine I’m even more careful than I would be normally.

I’ve got to the point where I’m just really tired and ended up sleeping quite a lot so with me and Alfie we didn’t do very much at all. Craig took the children out swimming in shifts and we did have a couple of walks. Not much of a family holiday which I feel sad about (we normally do everything together) and it reminded me a lot of my childhood holidays where all four of us (my parents, myself and my sister) would all go off and do our own thing even when we were very young. Even swimming - we'd go on our own from being about 5 or 6. We never did anything all together. We didnt even have family days out really - I remember two and they were both ruined by my mother having one of her strops over apparently nothing, as were our holidays. But I dont want to dwell on all that now.

But it was nice to be away from home for a few days and I had my usual “I want to move” thoughts on the way home. It was lovely only having a few belongings with us and I really liked the idea of getting one of those big storage containers put in the garden and putting all our stuff in it. If we want to use something we can go and get it but if it’s still out there after a year then it’s gone. It would be really interesting to see just how much we actually brought back into the house, and how much we could do without. I would so love to give it a go!!

I finally got to the point the other night where I am fed up of spending my evenings online, usually reading about other people’s crafting and feeling envious that I don’t have the time to do any myself. Well, if you want the time to do stuff then you need to make it don’t you?? So this weekend I have. I’ve decided to only visit a couple of websites now and only once a day instead of my usual several times a day.

So, this weekend I dusted off the sewing machines (and cleared off all the crap that had been dumped on my sewing desk) and did some sewing. First job was sewing on a big pile of badges onto various Brownie, Scout and Rainbow uniforms (embarrassingly one of the badges was from when Millie was a Rainbow. She left about 18 months ago……) It’s one of those things that only takes a short while and I always wonder why I leave it so long.

Next were the trousers we bought in the summer holidays for Robbie for school. Yes, poor mother that I am still hadn’t gotten round it taking them up. So that is also done.

I have also made a door curtain and 3 t-shirts. A second curtain is going to be done tomorrow (had to dye the fabric today). I also spent some time dyeing fabrics - some silk squares for some of the mums on one of the forums I go to, the curtain fabric, and some other bits and pieces. I love dyeing as well, and always wonder why I don’t do it more often.

I know I have that jumper to finish (and no, I didn’t do any while we were away) but I started to crochet a blanket for the new baby with some wool I’ve had sitting on my sewing desk for god knows how long. I had bought it to make socks but it’s not going to happen so it’s being turned into a blanket. I’m about halfway through it. And then I’ll do the jumper. Promise!!

Tomorrow I plan to do the second curtain, refill the beanbags (got some new beans for them today) and maybe make some trousers for Millie and Sophie to go with their new t-shirts. I’m really enjoying having the crafting bug and finally doing something with all the stuff I have. And the stash busting is great too. I hope I can keep it up and make lots of nice things for the family.

Today was Sophie’s birthday. I think she had a lovely day - she liked her presents anyway. We had a little party tea for her which she loved. I can’t believe she is 6 already though - she’s such a tiny little thing she doesn’t seem big enough to be 6. But she is so precocious sometimes - and I was telling her off last week and she rolled her eyes at me. I didn’t manage to finish what I was saying before I started laughing at her (I am terrible at rolling my eyes so I really cannot say anything, lol)

So, that’s been my week. Hope yours was a good one!

Ponkers!

Ponkers!! No, I’m not being rude - remember a few weeks ago I said I had some photos to post, well, I finally did it. And here they are, Jack and his ponkers (or conkers as the rest of us call them). No idea why they are called ponkers but ponkers they are and we think it’s sweet. Jack and Alfie love playing with their ponkers, they’re definitely popular and not going to go mouldy in a box again!!!

What else is happening? Ummm, well, not a lot. The house tidying didn’t quite get finished but it was a good enough job. Yes, there’s more to do but it can wait and the worst of it was done which was the main thing. The girls bedroom was the most in need of the blitzing and was lovely and tidy for a few days…. The thing is, every time we clear that room out we get rid of several bin liners of stuff yet it still gets messed up again despite there not being much in there in the first place. Well, ok, we do usually find 5 or more loads of washing in there (nope, not joking!!!) and loads of washing up, along with a load of other stuff that you can’t work out why they would take it up there, but why do they do it? They love it when it’s tidy, I just wish they’d keep it that way!!

I shocked myself the other day by working out how many weeks I am now. So far I haven’t really thought about it, after all there’s Christmas to get out of the way first and until the birth is actually imminent it doesn’t really matter does it? But I was supposed to book an appointment with the midwife at 28 weeks so decided to work out when that should be. This week!!! I’m actually going next week.

We’ve bought a little snow suit for the baby which is very cute - I held it up on my shoulder like a real baby and it did look as if there was one in there which was a bit scary but sweet at the same time. I almost had a double pushchair as well - I won’t go into the saga of that one, if you know me you’ve already heard it, if not, lets just say my absolute bargain didn’t turn up and I am now in dispute with the seller to get my money back. Sadly, I’m not the only one to have been ripped off by her and there are at least 9 of us I think who were duped. She’s now changed her feedback to private to hide all the neg comments - but it just looks even more suspicious.
I now have to decide it I want to spend the money on getting one from a reputable seller or if I should just forget it.

I think we may have chosen a name for the baby. We have a nickname that we use which is so sweet but not really the sort of name most parents would give their child nowadays. The other children hate it mind you and shout at us whenever we refer to the babe by it. No, I’m not giving any clues away, I have to admit I really hate it when people announce their unborn baby’s names weeks and months in advance. I don’t know why, it just makes me cringe. We made that mistake once and it really took something away from the excitement of making the birth announcement - and was also very embarrassing when she didn’t look like a Rebecca and we changed the name after she was born (Sophie). I’m sure we will change our minds before February comes around as well.

Craft wise, well, not a lot doing. I just started the second sleeve on the boys jumper - I have second sleeve syndrome, lol I so want to get it finished so I can make something for the baby but am bored with it. Hoping to finish it at Centerparcs.

It’s so typical that I think of all sorts I want to put into my blog then when I sit down to write I can’t think of half of it!!

One bit of random news is the Pet Shop Boys are being given a big award at next years Brit awards. Why do I care about that you may ask? Well, Craig and I met through their fan club 16 years ago so they will always hold a special place in our hearts. But they are so old now!!!!! I can’t believe it. Makes me feel old, or should that be, makes me realise how old I am now. Mind you, we’ve done a lot over the past 16 years.

Right, that’s it for now. Take care until next time.