Catching up

Not baubles,

but something to cheer me up

This is very pretty

 With the fabric I shall use to make it into a small cushion, 

its a German design and a quickie for me

I will get back to the last six baubles

 Some more bulbs for my garden, these are going to be added to the garden along the side wall in front of my garage, the Lily is late but it was 50p from the pound shop, worth taking a chance on. These were purchased a couple of weekends ago.

 The roots on my hyacinth, are doing well, the second one is not growing much, 

Sam's is as good as this.  

 A new Orchid, at £5 a cheap way to have flowers, this will last for weeks.

 My Avocado shots are growing, I think more leaves.

 Hubby got me two poppies, the Union Jack will stay on my coat, and the red poppy is for my jumper each day. These came from Royal British Legion.
I tried to pre book to purchase two of the poppies surrounding The Tower of London, but they have all been sold, as yet we have not been to see them and as time is running out, I fear we will not get time.

I am not in work today, I have a sore throat and a cough, enough to give me a permanent head ache, I think Logan left it behind last weekend, and with the worry of my brother, I am feeling a bit down.
So after a lazy morning, I am going to stitch, I'm OK whilst I am not doing much, as soon as I walk about, every thing hurts, hubby is playing golf and will be home later, he will fuss and ensure I am OK. We had planned to go out for a meal last night, but I passed on that and enjoyed a nice piece of fish from the fish and chip shop.

Fun to be 4

Sam's on Saturday, four of them played for three hours, 

at the top, Josh, Sam and Logan, Harry is on the left coming down the slide

Harry (yes Harriett) is Sam's best friend

Sam's 4th birthday

 They were left to their own fun, Josh kept a bit of an eye on them, 

the amount of noise coming from this place, was deafening.

 Not the best photo, but Purdy wanted to play with Logan

Logan stayed for two nights.

 My Avocado has now two buds? 

not sure what what these will become, but nice new growth.

 My stash has arrived, I have three fat quarters of 28 hpi, in various shades of brown,  this is for my little girl pulling her Christmas tree, and this fabric. I am behind with my baubles, I have 4 gold infill to complete, not sure if I am in the mood to do them tonight.

It was great fun to see the boys and Harry have so much fun, I think Harry outran all the boys, we enjoyed having a girl about. Saturday was all about Sam, he enjoyed all his birthday presents, we got him a large toy landrover with flashing lights, and a winch which works. Sunday was another day in our car, almost three hours to get Logan homes, time with mummy and then on to visit my brothers, and then over 3 hours to get back home.

My older brother Mel is very ill, and I am so sad to see him so sick, bloody cancer, it's taking another of my brothers. Martin is being a great brother, Mel will stay with him for as long as possible, but it's horrible, just horrible. I now worry for Martin, he is always so strong.

Work is good, I enjoyed the day in court, and have two more days for the same case, it will be interesting to see it through to completion, it's not a nice case, they never are in the family courts. I have almost finished typing my notes, it's nice to have an absorbing task to keep me busy at this time.
Sorry this post is not so good, but it's a sad time in our household.

Family

This is coming along well, no stitching tonight, I am out soon for coffee with Su

Plus of course the gossip to go with the coffee

From last weekend, our own Fireman Sam

and his big brother Josh

 It has been a very busy week so far, work is going so very well, already they are giving better task to do, and enhancing my role, I am enjoying working at both offices. Today we had training on money laundering, the law is very interesting, at my level I only need to be aware of it, loads of things to think about. Tomorrow I will be in court all day, taking notes, after I can decide if it is something I might like to do again. I have been in a court doing jury service, so it will be again interesting to see the court experience from another angle.

I have been in a reflective mood this week, we have had oldest daughter Fliss with us for three weeks, and we have settled into a family routine again, we do not see as much as we would like of Fliss, each day after work she pops into see both Josh and Sam (hubby would not leave the home, and forced Fliss into leaving) we are still really close to both boys.
One of the main changes we have made is with our food, Fliss has to eat Gluten free foods, at first we thought this would be expensive and awkward, but in fact  as we check our foods we are finding more which can be used for all of us. Bread is the main difference, Fliss has her own, Kev has a small loaf for him, and I don't bother. We all love rice, rice noodles and jacket potatoes, we do have separate pasta's,  we stopped using pre-made sauces, so no change there, I have got some gluten free flour and we are starting to bake, most of the time we make gluten free for all of us, and not noticing much difference. For me I am feeling much better, I have problem eating refined white flour, so pastries and pies have been off the menu for ages.

I have done some more to my book, but still have a few more post to add, and then editing, it does not matter how many times I check, I can always find a small mistake after the book is printed. I will start 2014 in January after we have replaced this computer.

We have a busy weekend coming up, Sam will be 4 on Saturday, and Logan is staying with us and going to the birthday party. Sunday we will travel back to Somerset, take Logan home and then visit my brothers Martin and Mel, Mel has been unwell and is staying at Martin's house.

That's huge

I love these gold glass baubles, I have another set in silver as well.

 These are huge, I purchased three of them,

not glass, but still very me

I think I now have enough for my new larger tree.

 A few craft bits I can show you here, 

I want to make some handmade baubles for the tree, 

these six are a good price and with the snow effect they have a nice texture. 

The buttons will not be hung on the tree, these will be used on parcel wrap.

 This little bird house will find it's way into my shed, it is just too cute. 

Daughter, Su set me a task to find myself a birthday present from her, I have sent to her a photo of a nice bug house for my garden. I found it very hard to find any thing, I have de-cluttered so much, and with my new way of thinking, I don't want loads back. 

I did get loads more items, most as gifts for Christmas, which can't be shown here.

I did a little stitching last night, slowly I am getting these done.

This week I have to spend time on my book 2013, I have about 10 post to sort, then a tidy up, proof read. One last check and off to be printed. I am on a time scale, hubby is buying this for my birthday present, at £50 the books are not cheap, but I do love them. 

We enjoyed a nice cream tea whilst out shopping, the garden center was packed, every one had the same idea, I also manage to purchase a few more spring bulbs, photo's next time. They were selling the glass bulb holders, for £1.99, which makes mine purchase at 50p a real bargain. 

Last night we stayed in, it was a pleasant evening, Fliss is knitting a scarf and got loads done. 

Busy day at work today, I was in the office I prefer, can't say why I prefer it, both sites and the people who work there are great, but the smaller office is just a much nicer pace.