Resting

I was expecting a card through the post, who doesn't love it when the letter box clatters with a delivery, this card is so me, garden and birds, both loves of mine. For years I made my own cards, it takes care and thought to make something so beautiful, thank you Angie, I'm glad you loved the socks, thank you for the stamps, they always come in handy.

I love this author, this is set in the future in a changed world, AI is in homes where marriage is monitored, the government want happy families. We follow 5 different people, how they live their lives, living on both sides of the official line, can AI judge people, understand them, very tongue in cheek, I enjoyed it, very different read. Book 10 read this year.

 Last year's amaryllis bulb, I hope this will produce buds, last year I ensured the leaves were left to die back, I popped the bulb in my greenhouse, hoping it got enough sunlight. I started to water it again in December, now all I can do is wait.

My bulbs are still looking good, plenty of blooms, the second amaryllis bud is starting to open, keeping this spot looking good for a while longer. 

I have picked up a bug, not feeling great, I was due to pop to daughters on Saturday so she could take George to a party, but he has a bad cold again, so she kept him at home. The rain once again has kept me inside, the whole of the weekend was reading and watching the birds at our feeders, the foxes are back in next doors garden, no signs of them coming into ours, no signs of any rats either, hopefully Lilly is helping us out. I did listen to the tennis, Alcaraz and Djokovic Australian final on Sunday morning, Carlos winning in 4 sets, which pleased me, I have often said I do not like the arrogance of Djokovic, he is a great player, but I'm still not sure he is the best, give it a few years and his records alongside Nadal and Federer will fall to Alcaraz and Sinner, who both achieving so much at a younger age. 

I have been thinking about my flower beds, mainly I have to wait to see what returns, I did go through all my garden post since our refit to note what I had purchased, working out what grows in our soil. I already know big daisies, dahlias and lupins never return, my hope is not to purchase so many plants this year and ensure any I get will thrive and return in following years. I was surprised in December to see how much I had spent on plants, seeds and bulbs for my flower beds, about £500, I spent the same amount on fixtures and pretty bits, hopefully I won't spend so much this year. These days I am not swayed so much by a pretty flower, I like to check if it's suitable for my soil and climate. 

Homemade and reused

 I made these advent bags in 2022 and I have filled them each season, this year hubby has filled them, they fit well into this big vase. 2 chocolates each day, one each, the week before Christmas we have 3 in each bag as my brother will be here. 

These are much older, I made them when daughters were young, they noticed we did not get a stocking, so these were made to keep them happy, we still use them every year.

Our cards are being used for the 4th year, when I suggested to hubby we reuse cards he was not happy, these days, I'm sure for a quiet life he goes along with it.

My brother offered to make me a tree decoration using his 3D printer, he sent me photo's, it's a bit different, I was surprised when I received it, it's too big for the tree, it kept falling off the branches. I've popped it up on top of my corner cabinet, I think it looks good, if different, he made the date hanging from the fingers.

I do love to make and reuse my Christmas decorations, I have things sewn, cross stitched and needle felted, which come out each year, along with the 3 cakes I make each year, it's a fun time to be doing seasonal things. 

It's been a busy week, Monday we were both had eye checks, hubby had great news after his cataract surgery, his glass prescription has changed for the better, still expensive as he needed new glasses, as he now has to wear them full time, varifocals were necessary. I have a small issue on my left eye, I went in to check what to do and had a full eye test, my eye is OK, but I do have the start of an issue which could become a problem, it's a case of watch and see. 

Tuesday morning we popped to Asda, our final trip to this big supermarket for this year, only getting bits we can't get in our more regular shop at Lidl, we did have a list and got most of what we needed. I took the kittens to the vet for a check up, little Lilly is not eating as much as the other 4 and daughter wanted her checked over, the appointment was at school run time, vet gave a glucose drink for all 5 kittens, she was not too concerned about Lilly, which is a relief. 

Getting ready

We have written all our Christmas cards, ready for posting on last day of November, I got a few packs back in January, when at half price they were great value. The cost of stamps make it expensive, most of our siblings live scattered around UK. I do love to send and receive cards.

This is as always a family photo opportunity, in previous years hubby and I have sat here with various grandchildren, this year both Will and George are at school, so we did a 3 generation photo, as next year Molly will be at school.

Our favourite garden centre has so many places to take photos, all free and child friendly. Molly loved being here with the reindeer, so many happy children, we looked at all the Christmas items, she did not touch anything, she did love all the lights.

Lilly like the other four kittens is growing, Lola (mum) is now happy for the kittens to be cuddled, daughter allows each child to have some time with them, one at a time so they don't scare them with their excitement. I have been told by hubby who has only seen our kitten for the first time, he's not sure about the name Lilly.

It's been a family weekend, daughter and children came over on Saturday, they had been to a local photo shoot, it had loads of activities for them to try, they played well and did not notice there were less toys here. Sunday I popped to daughters to sit with Will and George whilst Molly went to a party, hubby checked all the house radiators, as the one in George's room was staying cold, without daddy around I am on call to help with parties, so most weekends I am with them. 

Storm Bert did it's thing, a cold wet and windy weekend, our garden is OK, loads of leaves everywhere, which I will pick up in the week once everything is a bit drier, nothing was moved or damaged. Just glad the temperature has risen back a few degrees, no settling snow for us.

Scrooge or eco warrior

 We ordered an afternoon tea from our local lady, we had it delivered Sunday 13th, there is always too much food for one sitting, so we had a lovely late lunch and then saved some cakes for Valentines day. So beautifully created, we always have them packed in boxes, she does at no extra cost normally serve them on tiered stands and loan cups and saucers. 

Hubby is making a lovely curry for tonight, we never dine out, as I feel we end up in a crowded place, given the venues choice of Valentines celebration, so we stay home together, nice bottle of Prosecco. We have the leftover scones and cream from yesterdays afternoon tea for lunch.

Hubby can't make his mind up, am I cheap? or saving the planet, I pulled out cards from previous years from my memory box to reuse, saving money and not adding to the card mountain I already have in my memory box. I'm happy to be both.

These are from last year.

Book 13 read this year, I do love Sharon Bolton, her plots are always different and brilliant, this one did not disappoint, I could not put the book down, it was exploring guilt, and very clever with it. Finding a book with a great plot is always a gift, I've had a few good books so far this year. 

My SIL gave me a beautiful gift over the weekend, I did ask if he could help, what was it? a bag of grass cuttings from his lawn, he did his 1st cut of the year. My composter was getting low, I have not added any bulk for a couple of months, so now it's full again, it's always the simple things which make me smile. 

Saturday we had a couple of hours at youngest daughters house, Will was practising his writing, he is now trying to write sentences, it's so very pleasing to see him so engaged with his school work, Molly was full of cuddles and then rolling all around the floor. George was having his afternoon nap, but I did get to wake him up before we came home, the smile when he saw me, was stunning. I am so blessed to have this happy family living so close.

We are happy to have our afternoon tea a day early, I would not be able to eat afternoon tea and then have a nice meal afterwards, our local lady lives close by, so it's an easy drop for her, she does not like you collecting, she is strict on who can enter her kitchen. This is becoming our Valentine's day treat to each other, hubby stopped getting flowers a few years ago, on my request, the cost of flowers can be so expensive. 

Valentines day has changed so much for us, no huge bunches of red roses, boxes of chocolates, meals out, weekends away, my hubby is a romantic and very thoughtful, he has not changed, but the way we view the world has, so a homecooked meal cooked with so much love, a small nod from me and he would get flowers. I really do prefer our chilled out, less of everything life we have now. 

Another busy week

This first lot of Christmas cards are ready to be put together, I prefer the simple design, I'm doing them in 2 batches as the rest of my cards are slightly bigger. I did not have any gold or silver mirror card, this pinkie purple looks good, the pattern smaller star on top covers most of it. 

Daughters cake has it's marzipan layer, our cake had another drink of brandy. I hope to have daughter cake flat iced by end of month, our cake I don't add marzipan until middle of December, leaving it so late means the almonds don't sink much into the cake and I can eat some, I always cut off the marzipan and icing. 

This is a lovely sign, well made and a gift sent to hubby, just arrived in the post from his brother, it represents everything we try to avoid, the gift was 'I saw it and thought of you' which is lovely and very thoughtful, BUT hubby does not and has never owned a Hartley-Davidson motorbike, which are outside of our budget. Hubby had popped it up on the outside wall of the garage and sent photo's to his brother.

The garden on a dull morning, at least it's dry, most of the leaves from our neighbours trees and overgrown plants have fallen, just now a case of picking up Magnolia leaves as the fall, my dustbin in filling with the fallen leaves, so hopefully leaf mulch next year. Still flowers in bloom and our Acer is a lovely colour. I love the view down the garden, with the fence infront of the greenhouse gone it's a less cluttered view. 

Please don't think hubby was ungrateful for the gift, it is a beautiful sign, when he opened it 'why' was his thought, his brother is not rich, so we would rather they spend their money on themselves. A dear sadly departed friend told me many years ago a gift should be something the person wants, but something they would not buy themselves, I've always tried to stick with that, as we get older we have so much and want so little, so now I use it has to be useful or beautiful, I spend so much time thinking of the person and try and get a gift which is a joy to receive.

I have predicted I have 5 rows left on my crochet blanket, I weighed my ball of yarn, did 1 round and weighed the yarn again, 73grms and then 62grms, 11 grams per round, then end is in sight. I've not sewn in any ends on my shawl, I have been reading, the book suggested to me is brilliant.

I have been out a few days this week, our sign ladies went further away to a big garden centre at the edge of Southampton on Tuesday, loads of Christmas stuff and gifts on sell, with a lovely chat over coffee, it's always nice to go somewhere different. Wednesday I spent time with daughter and Molly, firstly we had tree decorations made using Molly handprint, I have the same ornament using a footprint from Will and George, the boys were at school and nursery, I managed to get a couple more Christmas gifts, so I'm almost finished.

Sadly both our Taunton grandsons have had positive covid test, same for their daddy (hubby's son), mummy has a bad cold but tested negative, they are not ill, just isolating at home.

Tell me when is Black Friday, not that I will purchase anything, I'm just sick of the loud adverts everywhere, it's been every day, hopefully soon it will all be over. 

Saving memories

I save everything, I have the biggest memory box and it was full, so I spent an afternoon looking at all the cards and sorting ones I did not want to pop back into the box, I managed to throw away a huge pile of cards, over £100 worth, such a waste, but I did keep all the grandsons photo cards.

I also kept all the cards with big writing made by small hands, I have always said the joy these cards bring to me, from scribbles to neat handwriting I have many. 

This card stays, it's reflective of how we feel after the boys had been for the day, all cards popped back into the box. It's such a shame to not be able to display these, but there is a limit on how many you can have out. 

I got thinking, spoke to hubby and we looked for a big frame, this A1 poster being the biggest, the 'glass' is perplex so even with the size it is not heavy. In our stair well we have a ledge outside of our bedroom wall, this frame would fit there brilliantly and we would see it everyday when going upstairs. 

All finished, not too cluttered, it fills this space well and it's big enough to see everything, we will look at it every time we go to our bedroom. We do have wedding and baby photos in this area, it does look like a gallery, we look it and it keep the photos in the house a to smaller amount. 

This was a fun project, we painted the back board a light colour from our supply in garage, the only extra cost was a can of spray mount. it does look good and is full of happy boys growing up, it's also out of the way, filling a dull spot. I did move my African ladies to another shelf on the stairs and then cleaned moved the glass bowl and vases, and removed a couple of things which had nowhere to go.

My memory box is now only half full, I am trying not to keep so much, having said that would you like to see my 18th birthday cards, yes they are in there alongside 21st and finishing work with my 1st baby.

I am hopeless with somethings, I have letters and cards from my mum, I do love to get them out and read her hand writing again, I don't have any cards from my dad but I still have his red book driving licence which he signed every year. There are loads of hand made items from both daughters, which I keep. 

My biggest joy of memories are my blog books, each year I publish my post into a year book, I have 9 and 2 more to publish 2019/2020, neither are finished. I often look in them, I looked for the post for the link above it's the quickest way to find dates. My youngest daughter was reading one on a recent visit, Will like all our grandsons loves to see his photo in my books. 

The season for giving

I received a parcel on Friday, it was a very wet dull day, 

so an unexpected parcel was wonderful. 

Inside was a card and numbered little parcels, Jo from Through the keyhole, included a letter, stating these parcels are for the 12 days of Christmas, one to be opened each day until 6th January. I had stitched with her, when she set the 12 days of Christmas challenge. 

They are so pretty.

My friend had a saw this and thought of you moment,

it's a brilliant card.

We have not been out at all, hubby is struggling to walk very far, he needs to rest, if he on his feet too much his leg swells and aches, I know he is bored, but rest is the main course of action for his healing. I have nowhere I need to go, we have most of what we need for the next few weeks and beyond.

I finished watching The Crown, I did enjoy it, but felt they stirred things up a bit, don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of Charles, to me he has always seamed spoilt and self-centred, and I do understand Diana was different from them all, but the way they set the royal family, cold and each of them self obsessed, I did like the rebel Princess Margaret.

We had Will on a sleep over, he wanted to come to our Strictly party, each year on the final Saturday program we have a takeaway and enjoy a bottle of wine, for us it's the start of Christmas. In normal years we would pop out in the day with cards and gifts for friends and family, this year that was all done last week. We did have a our party, only one glass of wine each, we will have another glass this evening. Bill winning was a shock, but at least he can dance, everyone in the final deserved to win, they all danced well. 

This is the year we all need to be kind to each other, having the knowledge someone has thought about you and acted on the thought is powerful and uplifting. I have done more random giving this year, mainly to local groups, food banks and gift request for children and older folk. I have been able through local pages on Facebook to give funds where needed, never sadly huge sums, but as a community together we have build funds for those who are in need.  Even just a smile can be uplifting, catching someone's eye and sharing a few seconds together, before getting on with your day, or a kind comment on a blog, contact without touching, small things are big this year.

When oh when is this nightmare we are living through going to end...... 

Midweek

Hubby was unimpressed with the dogwood plant I ordered online, it's planted under the frame, so we popped out for some shopping and went into our local garden center, he is happy with this much bigger plant, hopefully in time these will hide most of the water butt. 

The Olive tree is doing well in it's new place, we did not lose any of the Olives when we moved it, here is can get as big as it wants. 

You can see the Olives growing in size, plus lots of new Olives forming, we have never had a crop from this tree before, not sure what we can do with the Olives, will have to check online if they can be used. 

Christmas cards are done, most of these are left over from previous years, I always make the extra bases, just incase we need more, so it's a really quick and simple make this year. The only new deign is the Snowflake blue cards. 

All my time is stitching, I am so enjoying seeing this come to life, I am working on the right side to get it finished, I do find time each afternoon to stitch and often time in the evenings, my focus is getting it done by early December.

I am pleased to have so many crafts to do, it fills the hours in each day, we miss seeing daughter, Will and George, at least 3 times each week.  Hubby has filled his time sorting his new motorbike, adding a few things and of course giving it a good clean and polish, he is also a book worm and does most of the cooking, he enjoys being in the kitchen and I enjoy everything he produces. 

We have been out in the garden, hubby picked up all the leaves which had blown into the garden, I did some planting, I got 2 pots of Sweet Williams for 50p each and they are in my raised bed. I mainly walk around checking on new plants and cutting back things as they go over. My side bed is a bit empty, but I don't mind so much, it's just too small to have colour the whole of the year. Having dry weather helps, being able to be outside, walking in our park and to the village shops, being able to say hello to neighbours as walk by, as always it's the small things which make us smile. 

Christmas cards

I've been playing with cards, I prefer the blue card design, I do love snowflakes, this is just the start, I do like to make the base the same, and then add different homemade toppers so no two cards match. The red card is not good enough to use, I made a few slip ups which render the card scruffy.

Last year, I purchased this book of scrapbook papers at half price on a weekend where the site had a limited postage charge, I also purchased more coloured card, they are not Christmas papers, but they can be used for Christmas cards. So even with the postage added on, these were still a great bargain. 

I also found these cards, made in 2010, I added a round sticker over the date, each card has inserts inside, in 2010 I had Christmas decoupage on the front, Some of the card have from Portchester instead of The Jones's.

I make less cards each year, back in 2010 when the printed cards were made, I would make over 100 cards, so the bulk we made the same, these days I will make about 50. I still purchase cards for special people, I have already got them for this year. I will still make a few special ones, my sister loves a hand made card, so I always make one just for her. I have everything I require in my stash, Die cutters, adhesive, lots of peel offs, the inserts I print as needed, I have saved templates on my computer.  

It's just a case of settling down and thinking until a design comes together. I like to post my cards in early December, so now is a perfect time to get them done. 

 

So this is December

For the 1st time in years, we both have an advent calender, mine is full of tiny balls of yarn, all hand dyed, hubby has one full of chocolates he loves, I made it for him.

 Our 1st Christmas card, plus a new Santa, it's always lovely to received cards through the post, but the 1st one always leaves a sad memory, my SIL, who lost her battle with cancer many years ago, always sent the 1st card. 

 New for our tree, this one has George's name on, 

it's our 1st year with 7 grandsons. 

I've made a good start on my Christmas cards, embossing each card, and then adding decorations, I have 25 in this style, the rest will be different, I ran out of the oval disk, I have so much in my stash drawer, I will find other things for the rest of my cards, about 20 more to finish.

 I have seen some great decorations for nails, and thought I would have a go, this is my 2nd try, I did the red or green on the outer of my nails with the golden line, but it did not look good, so I changed the colours around, I am pleased with these, simple but pretty. 

Everything is on plan for Christmas, I have some wiggle time with my craft, I only have one gift to make, and 2 cakes to finish, but I'm not at all feeling festive. I would like our tree up, so Will can see it, but I have no desire to drag all the boxes out and dress the house.
A few of the issues which made our relaxing trip necessary last week are still present, time will help, but my head feels it's going to burst, so my thoughts, wishes, fly around all the time. I have slept alot the in past few days.
I did enjoy our sign performance at our local library, it was in a private room, but we had loads of people watching, mummy came with Will and George, and all the sign ladies got a cuddle, Will was spoilt with gifts from Shelia, as was the other children present.
Sunday was a lazy day at home, I should have done some housework, but choose to sit in the sunshine make cards and read, yes I am again hiding in books.

Missing

These are stunning

Two stalks blooming together 

 3rd stalk still growing

 This space in the sitting room is perfect for plants

I am missing watching the blooms on my Amaryllis, we are in Somerset for a couple of days, today Friday 8th is my sisters birthday, so we have travelled down, I'm about to go out and spend the day with her, which will involve gardening and craft, as it's her birthday, she gets to choose where to go. Later we have booked a meal with 2 of my brothers and her partner, and of course my hubby, hubby will spend the day with my brother Martin. We are also celebrating Martin's retirement from work. 

I made her card, using the blue's and purples she loves, plus butterflies, everything was handmade here except the butterfly stickers, I am now trying to make cards without purchasing too much ready made. I cut the numbers and the tiny butterflies into the card and have inserted blue card inside, the label with her name on is added on top of the card. I have loads of dies and coloured cards in both flat and shiny colours. I normally make cards using A4 card and cut to size, I have loads of different colour A6 envelopes to match my cards.
We are driving home tomorrow as on Sunday hubby is out for most of the day, so more craft time for me, I will be getting my sewing machine out, I want to make another knitting bag for a birthday gift for a friend.