Juggling

Pause for thought on this lovely Sunny Sunday

I have noticed that some of the younger members of the blogging community, those with a young family mainly, seem to be having a tough time of it lately. Some words of advice from someone who has been there and got the t-shirt .... stop trying to juggle so many balls at the same time because eventually you will drop one. I went through the same thing when my brood were younger, part time working to put food on the table, university to try and catch up on what I thought I had missed out on (turned out not to be true), looking after the children, household chores, helping at school, running the PSA, on the governing body at school etc etc

One day somebody said to me you are always running around ... and I was .... no time to stop to think .... I then decided to take a step back and re-assess all that was going on in my life and came to the conclusion that I had to lose some of the balls before I dropped them. So I gave up the uni, governorship and scaled back on my involvement with the PSA ... there then seemed more hours in a day and life was not so much of a whirl. If I felt like sitting down and doing nothing I did.

Lecture over ladies, I hope you will take time yourselves for a re-assessment of your lives ... have a great Bank Holiday weekend.

Ellie's Big Night

Ellie's dad was playing in a Cup Final this evening at the Luton Town Ground and she was mascot ..... here she is .... one of the boys .... she is such a character and they all think the world of her .... should have been a boy !!

Sunny Sunday at Delapre Abbey

Today was the day of Delapre Abbey's St George's Day Celebrations in Northampton. They had a craft marquee and I was lucky enough to get a stall ... the sun was shining as we arrived.The Abbey is surrounded by acres of glorious English countryside and we wished we had brought the dog with us ... they were allowed on site and she would have loved it.This is the Abbey courtyard and the Craft Marquee faced the clock tower building .. this area was used later in the day for musical entertainment.It didn't take too long to set up our table as I had been practicing on the kitchen table last night ... this is only the third fair that I have taken part in so am still learning.
This is me all ready to go ... my daughter Laura came along to help and husband too but it was a little cramped behind the table as we had to share with the neighbouring stall run by Linda and Steve .. a lovely couple who we chatted with all day and swapped crafting and life stories ... it was really nice to meet friendly people and made the day go so much quicker. With the current economic climate it seemed that a lot of people were just looking and not spending a great deal but not a bad day overall and a profit was made ... seemed later in the day the good people of Northampton were more interested in offloading their spare cash in the beer tent.

During the afternoon this gorgeous Silver Cross coachbuilt pram arrived in front of our table ... it was the pram that caught my eye, I love them but my daughter wouldn't be seen dead with one (shame). Then I did a double take on the baby ... it is a handmade re-born doll, her name is Georgina and she is so life like it was quite spooky.

Then to top the day ........ yes ladies and gentlemen .... Elvis was in the building ... this young man came on to do two sets during the afternoon and he was really good (considering he probably wasn't even born when the King died .... for those of you who are old enough do you remember where you were at that time? I was tucked up in bed with an old tranny radio under the covers so my dad couldn't hear listening to Tony Prince on Luxembourg 208)

If you see anything on my table that you like please get in touch as I have lots left and will be adding them to my website and blogshop during the coming week. Tara for now.

Paying it forward - the Gift

A BIG BIG thank you to Louise over at Snuggle Shack for my paying it forward gift. A lot of hard work and love has gone into making this lovely felt heart hanger which has a lovely sparkly button (doesn't show too well in my photo), a sweet little crochet flower brooch and a Russian Doll key fob - such tiny little stitches and so neat. Thank you so much. I picked Ellie up from school yesterday and you know what 4 year olds are like, they don't miss anything. What are these nanny she said when she spied them on the table .. I like this and this and this ... I did manage to keep the key fob for myself but the heart is now on her wardrobe door and the brooch on one of her many bags. I thought as a knitter, sewer and crocheter (?) that we were a dying breed and it is so refreshing to learn that there are so many of you young ones keeping the skills going. I wish my girls would take an interest but they don't sadly .. maybe one day

BIGS THANKS ONCE AGAIN XX

This green and pleasant land .....

Although I live in one of the grottiest towns in Bedfordshire I am so lucky to be on the outskirts close to the Hertfordshire border and just a few minutes drive away from this beautiful countryside. This was the view from the pub garden where I sat with my daughters this lunchtime. My son lives in the village mainly because that is where is partner's family are and he is so lucky. I dream of moving to somewhere like this but the house prices are just way beyond me.It has two main roads with lovely individual traditional houses and a few modern ones chucked in here and there. Three pubs have survived (number one son works in the one we visited today so we had personal service and a discount ... lucky us!). There were two others but they have now been converted into dwellings along with an old Methodist Chapel and some old barns. The house pictured below has been on the market for ages at around 900K .. it was derelict and the little cottage to the side was almost falling down and it has a large plot of land at the back which cannot be built on. If my lottery numbers had come up this would be my dream home .. someone has now bought it and has started renovations ... I do hope they don't strip all of the character and install loads of spotlights and stainless steel. I will keep you posted on progress.As we leave the village to drive back home via the country route the pond and the large house are the last things we see. Such peace and tranquility and it is only ten minutes drive to Luton Airport.

Trolley Dolly

The small people returned to school today leaving just Angel and me at home and we have had such a beautiful day it was too good to stay indoors. We travelled 8 miles to the next town for market day .... taking my new trolley for its first run out. The little one thought it was great and insisted on dragging it around until it got too heavy. My lot laughed at my granny trolley but they are well worth investing in .... loads of room ... stands up on its own when you stop to buy/look at something else and unlike the husband doesn't wander off!! Angel loves the charity shops and we came home with a dozen new books, three pairs of pumps for me (brand new and only £1 each) in orange, turquoise and a CKesque floral print. Also found this boxed set entitled Best Kept Secrets of the Women's Institute, in pristine condition with an RRP of £32 - purchased for £3 and well worth it. When my gals saw them they were horrified and thought I was going all Julie Walters on them and asked if I was getting my baps out! There wouldn't be enough icing and cherries big enough for mine ......

Such a Perfect Day

What a perfect day for car booting ... today however we were turning our trash into cash ... daughters 1 & 2 and I set off this morning for Stondon in Bedfordshire where my favourite boot in this area is held and this was the first one of the season. I love this one because it is very well organised and doesn't start till 10 am so we don't have to get up at the crack of dawn! They only charge £4 per pitch and it is solely proper car booters ... no traders are allowed. We took around £300 and I was very good and only spent £4 on this little distressed cabinet containing soap, candles, flannels and pot pourri, some knitting bits and couldn't resist the doggy book coz it has Cath Kidston Paisley on the cover.

Because I was such a good girl and didn't bring another load of crap home with me I treated myself to this nifty trolley ... it will come in handy next week .....