We are home

 Well that week went far to quickly in Devon!!!
Although it is always lovely to come home to your own bed, I am already pining for the sound of the waves and the smell of the sea air. Being away has given us all some much needed down time to relax before baby arrives (8 weeks to go YIKES!). We have had some lovely rambly conversations sat in the sun on the beach about everything and anything. Here is a taster of some of our adventures.

 We have been to Occombe Farm to visit the animals and try lots of tasty things in their farm shop.

 Cockington Village where we investigated a craft village and many many many duck ponds.

 Several local adventure playgrounds and parks.

 Amusement arcades for long lazy evenings to spend our pennys.

 A wonderful model village in the town of Babbacombe.

 The wonderful historic harbour and town of Brixham.

 Many beachs, quays and bays. Not to mention rockpools, piers and proms.

 And Paignton Zoo, where DD had a whirlwind holiday romance with this guy. (Hence the kissing)

 I miss it already.

x x x

50 things that show your a grown up

 I recently read an article on the Daily Mail's website containing a list of 50 things that show you are a grown up, as voted for by 2000 people in a survey. Most of them seen quite sensible, some don't apply to our lifestlye at Handmade home, but over all I'm pretty sure I score pretty good. (Red are things I haven't done).

• Buying a house
• Mum and Dad no longer make your finacial decisions
• Paying into a pension
• Conducting a weekly food shop
• Writing a Will
• Having children
• Budgeting every month
• Being able to cook a meal from scratch
• Get Married
• Have life insurance
• Having a joint account
• Recycling
• Having a savings account
• Knowing how to bleed a radiator
• Knowing what terms like ISA and Tracker mean
• Planting flowers
• Watching the news
• Owning a lawnmower
• Taking trips to the tip
• Doing your own washing up
• Having a view on politics
• Keeping track of intrest rates
• Finding a messy house annoying
• Being able to change a lightbulb
• Owning a vacuum cleaner
• Holding dinner partys
• Listening to Radio 2
• Enjoying gardening
• Spending a weekend just pottering
• Mum starts asking you for advice
• Carrying a spare shopping bag just in case
• Like going round garden centres
• Wearing a coat on a night out
• Going to bed before 11pm
• Making sure mum and dad are phoned at least once a week
• Classing work as a career rather than a job (Self employed)
• Repairing torn clothing rather than throwing it away
• You iron (Can iron but choose not to)
• You wash up immediately after eating
• Enjoy cooking
• Buying a sunday paper (Always read them online for free never buy them)
• Always going in sensible shoes
• You like recieving gift vouchers
• Work keeps you awake at night
• Filing post
• Having a best crockery set
• Being able to change a car tyre
• Being sensible enough to remove make up before bed
• Being able to follow a receipt
•  Owning best towels as well as everyday towels. (This just seems a bit wastefull)

How did you score?
 x x x

Wooly chaos

  I have had a horrible afternoon :(
 All my wool stash was neatly organised by colour in carrier bags in my craft cupboard. It was a system that was working really well for me, I knew where each colour was when I need it for a new project and it stopped me from overstocking on similar colours when I already had several balls in that shade.
 And then I discovered that biggest problem with reusing modern carrier bags. They are now mostly biodegradable, which is fantastic for the environment but not so good for storage. I now have several piles of wool covered in teeny tiny bits of flakey carrier bag :( It is taking me forever to pick all the bits off each ball that's affected. I have put them all in a big plastic tub now instead, much to the amusement of  DD. At least she found something to smile about while I was in a grump.


 But if like me you have several things stored in carrier bags around the house in various cupboards and drawers, then make sure you check them regularly! I wonder how many people have things stashed in their attics that they won't look at for year and years before they realise.

While I will still use them as rubbish sacks for my kitchen each day and emergency nappy bags, I will certainly not be relying on them for long term storage.
Stupid bags

x x x

Good days and Bad days.

  Sorry for the lack of posts lately this week has quite honestly been the week from hell!!!
So  it made my day to receive this lovely parcel above from the wonderful Frugal Queen. I was hoping it would arrive before we went on holiday because I am a girl of little patience and wanted to dive into my goodies lol.
 So let's take a look at these lovely goodies eh?

A beautiful set of hanging kitchen utensils, and a gorgeous condiments set from the same range. A quick peek on the company's website tells me that I have nearly £150 of top quality prize here! 

 

I have rewrapped all the contents lovingly and popped them to one side so I can sort them out properly after our holidays.

 And as a bonus DD has a lovely new pile of bubble wrap type packing to play with.

And a lovely new box to sit in! Excuse her being in a top and nappy in this picture, we had great fun splashing in all the puddles on our route home and she needed stripping the second we got in the door.

And finally the reason my week has been rubbish! I can't say much for various legal reasons but I can tell you that it wasn't a robbery (although most people have already decided that it was lol) it was a traffic accident. No one was hurt and the only damage other than the window was a few hours of lost sleep early on a Monday morning. Thankfully everything has been organised quickly and we have had a new window put in and all the various paperwork completed with just 48 hours spare till our holiday.
 I definitely need to go away now! My brother and his partner are flat sitting and pet sitting while we are away so if there is any issues they can get in contact with us quickly and deal with things on our behalf.

x x x x

Week Three - Summer of Colour

 I've just finished off my next entry for Summer of Colour. I realise that I am super quick and efficient this week, but I have to be as next week I am going away. A very kind friend of mine, Ang from Tracing Rainbows has agreed to pop the linky up for me next Monday so all should be well.
 But without further ado here is Baseball nut with his ribbons of raspberry swirl and pecans. I found this weeks prompt quite hard to plan, possibly because I have never heard of this flavour before being a Brit. I've opted for deep purple and blue threads mixed together for the fly stitch ribbons. The stitch looks a lot like the stitching on a baseball to me so I thought it was really apt. The nuts are in his expression, I was going to add a few pecans to the cream and I still might but I couldn't quite decide where and how I wanted them.

So here are my three ice creams all together. I think they make quite a lovely threesome. My DD keeps giving them all kisses when she sees them which makes me smile no end. People have been asking what I'm planning to do with these guys once I'm done, but I'm going to be horrible and leave you all in suspense a little bit longer.

 Thank you for all the wonderful and supportive comments on my last entry. I hope you all like this weeks just as much.

x x x

Summer of Colour Week 2- Mint Choc Chip

Week two is here already and so is my next stitchy creation! I have used the same outline as last weeks (and I will for each week). But this time used a mix of minty green swirls and outlines, and chocolate brown french knots. I am completely in love with him.

I don't know why I felt he needed a shocked face but now I can see him and last weeks entry side by side, I think she may have said something rather rude.
 I'm looking forward to visiting everyone else's blogs again this week, I loved all the comments from week one, so a huge thank you to everyone who popped in to say hi. Can't wait to find out our next colour prompt.
x x x

C-word prep.

Peppa Pig book  £2 - Peppa Pig bath toy BNWT £2 - Peppa Pig colouring set £1 - Peppa Pig dress (argos) £4.99

  I know it's only June but already we are thinking about the C word sneaking closer. This year I am determined to be even more organised than usual. So we have started looking out for present bargains to pick up for DD and bump.
 Yesterday while charity shopping I picked up some of the things above. The book, bath toy and colouring set all look brand new. The bath toy still has its original tag and the colouring set is unopened. Well worth £5 all together for a local charity. Looking up on Amazon and Ebay most of these items would fetch around £5 each to buy new so I'm very pleased.
 The dress is size 3-4 years and was part of a clearance sale at Argos for just £4.99. Originally it was £7.99 which is about the same price as the Peppa Pig outfits we were looking at in Mr.A. It is a tradition in my family that you get a new outfit at Christmas and this is something I want to continue with my children. I was really pleased to find it half price!

 Not a big post from me today I'm afraid. DD and I will be spoiling Daddy with presents, card, kisses and nummy treats all day for Fathers Day. I will be blogging it later or tomorrow morning depending on time so be prepared for a Daddy themed post soon.
x x  x

It's a harDD life.

 It's tough being DD. First there is before breakfast playing where you get out as many toys as possible to make Mummy and Daddy late for work.

 Then when we get to work you have to spend the morning trying to balance the store mascot on a windowsill.

 After lunch you have to test out some gaming equipment with Daddy while Mummy organises things online.

 Then you test more equipment with Mummy while Daddy does the post office run.

 And finally when you get home you have read your dolly a nice long story before dinner is ready....

....if you can make it that far without nodding off on poor dollys head.

 Yes, it's definitely tough being DD in this household.

x x x

Funky freebies

 Who doesn't love freebies? I have been lucky enough to receive two recently. First was a crochet kit and pattern from a lady at my knitting club. She subscibes to a monthly knitting and crochet magazine but doesn't actually crochet at all, so often passes them my way. I'm planning to make that cushion cover as soon as I've finished my next pompon scarf.

My second freebie came in the post from the wonderful Carolyn over at Mess, Muddle and Fun. This is my prize for entering her last blog party every week plus a little extra for winning one of the weeks to! I've popped them straight into our pile of goodies to take on holiday. DD is especially excited about the sticker book and pencils. OH has his beady eye on the wordsearchs in the puzzle book. You couldn't have picked better Carolyn!!!
x x x x

Thursday afternoons by the sea

 Thursday afternoon are our time off together as a family, and we seem to be ending up at Hayling Island more and more often. Not that I'm complaining mind you, there is something really enjoyable in walking along the seashore for a little bit hunting for treasures. One day I will find dubloons or Nazi gold I swear!

  Today while beach combing we found lots of pretty rocks and seashells, seaweed, cuttlefish, a few pieces of crab shell and a broken necklace. We left everything but the necklace almost where we found it. I wish I could say that it was a diamond or opal necklace but alas it is a simple leather thong with a few glass beads on it, I didn't want to leave it there because it might have hurt some poor local wildlife and also because it was my first find in ages and I just know I can think of something crafty to do with it soon.

 After our walk we enjoyed some of the local arcade games. As usual we let ourselves have a pound or two each and tried out luck winning some goodies.

Then we finished up by having a wonderful meal in the Beachlands cafe. We don't eat there every time we visit as that would make going far to expensive, but today we just couldn't resist the smell of a fry up wafting around us. DD was very pleased with her mountain of baked beans, sausage and chips. As you can see she had a very healthy appetite after our walk.
x x x

Getting busy

  Sorry I've been AWOL on the blog posts for a bit. OH and I have been hugely busy in our shop these last few days. I wouldn't usually post much about our business on here as I like this to be a family life blog. When you are self employed it can be extremely difficult to keep a firm boundary between home life and work life. Sometimes one just has to win out over the other and just lately the shop won. So above is picture of all my hard work for two days. Every single game (63) in this display cupboard has been checked over, cleaned, listed online for sale, priced up and arranged in this cupboard by little old me. I'm pretty sick of seeing SNES games at this point and I just know I'm going to dream of them chasing me all night lol.

 However the box they all arrived in has been cleaned out (lots of cobwebs) and given new purpose by DD. She has such a fascination with boxes at the moment and just can't resist climbing into every one she sees.
  I think sorting out all those games would have driven me quite mad if it hadn't been for my little helper giving me regular cuddles and telling on an almost minute by minute timescale if a man or woman was walking passed the shop window.
 Today OH's mum is coming down to visit us again but I haven;t a clue what we will end up doing. It usually involves food though lol. Best start getting ready.

x x x

Summer of Colour - Week One

 Hooray the Summer of Colour has officially started and I am thrilled to reveal my first entry/attempt. I love the ice cream theme and decided that it would be perfect for some embroidery. I been having a craving to embroider for sometime and just couldn't find the inspiration needed to do it.

 So here is my Rainbow Sherbet ice cream cone. I mixed a few skeins of various oranges, pinks and a few yellows to give the ice cream a more mixed feel. And used alternate colours on the cone to give it some texture and make it more waffley. I really enjoyed watching the character of my ice cream coming out as I stitched so decided in the end to add a beaming smile to this happy chappy.

 Thank you for looking at my entry, I will be popping round to everyone elses shortly as they list. I can't wait to see what everyone else has created for week one!

x x x

BBQ Sunday

 Yesterday my brother inviting us all round to his house for his annual summer BBQ. Sadly it was quite an overcast day but we still made good use of the garden and managed to cook lots of food on the BBQ. DD was in her element because DB had invited several of his friends and our mum to the afternoon as well, and there is nothing DD likes as much an audience.
 DB had been especially sweet by making sure there was plenty for DD to play with including a stickyball set and an inflatable football.

 Although not a large garden there was plenty of grass for DD to stomp about on after devouring a massive pile of sausages, burgers, cheese and nanny's famous homemade cake. She certainly worked up an appetite with all her entertaining.

Once the weather had eventually made us all retreat inside, we watched a football match on the TV and had lots of random conversations. The kinds you do when their is a group of you and drinking has been involved. Topics included immigration, the Olympics and smoking.
 It was a lovely chilled afternoon and DD slept really well last night after all her adventures. So a huge thank you to my brother for having us, feeding us and for the many games of throw and catch with DD.

x x x

Sunny Saturday

 When we arrived at the shop this morning I had 2 lovely letters waiting for me. I love receiving post so I was all excited that I had two things to open.
 The first was a free Euro 2012 wall chart I had ordered for my OH. He has given it pride of place in the shops kitchenette so he can keep track of his football.

 And the second was my prize from the lovely Fat Doormouse.
 I had a lovely little letter to enjoy reading with my morning cuppa, and a lovely french fridge magnet. Sadly the envelope was torn to pieces on arrival inside a little plastic bag covered in french writing. According to Doormouse's letter I was also supposed to receive a handmade bookmark but sadly it hasn't made the journey. As you can see from the letter I had to piece it back together to read it. But I did really enjoy receiving it anyway, thank you so much Doormouse :)

 After my post-a-thon DD and I sneaked out the shop to have a look at a local monthly craft fair. We went a little mad and snapped up 4 postcards for 10p each, 2 hair slides for DD at £1.50 and finally three of Thresa's legendary cakes for £2. It has taken all my strength and more to get those three cakes home intact for our pudding this evening!
 While we were out a friend of ours popped in to say hello to OH and say he was back from his holiday in France. He picked me up a french newspaper on his travels which has made for a fascinating gift as we spent a happy half an hour trying to work out what various headlines could be and translating them with google to see if we were right.

 And it's been such a lovely sunny day, we decided to take the scenic walk home and let DD have a good walk. After this awful patch of weather we've just had it was lovely to just stretch some muscle and breathe from fresh air. Funny enough the speed of a 2 year old  toddling is about the same as a 6 month pregnant lady waddling so we managed along very well.

Though we did have to have a few rest stops, but DD insists they were for her stuffed doggy and not for her. Funnily enough it was also stuffed doggy who kept picking treasure up all along the route.
Me; Why is there a stone in your pocket?
DD; Doggy stone
Me; ..and the feather?
DD; Doggy feather.

x x x x

World's happiest OH

 My lovely hubby is the world's happiest bunny today, just as I started writing my post from yesterday we had a knock at the door, it  was a courier with OH's new arsenal goodies.
 Normally their new shirt comes out a little closer to his birthday in August but for some reason it's earlier this year. But look at his beaming smile, he is so happy posing in his new top. He wanted to wear it to work today but I've hidden it so I can give it a wash first. In the past his new shirts have had a lot of dye left in them and he went pretty pink after the first wearing.

He also added this little romper suit and bib set for our impending arrival. When we found out we were having DD he ran out and brought her a little arsenal baby outfit almost straight away so I just knew he would do it with this one as well.

And a special free gift for preordering his shirt. In the new arsenal colour scheme and just the right size.......

for DD to toddle around with. OH already has a big backpack he uses for work so she took great delight in wearing the new backpack and acting just like daddy. I don't think OH has Peppa Pig toys in his bag like she does but I can't be sure lol.

x x x x

Thursdays happenings

 DD woke me up a 5.20am this morning! Just because she had decided to get up and play, not due to night terrors so I suppose that is an improvement in some ways. I pottered about for an hour putting the washing on and doing the washing up, but as soon as I sat down for a nice cuppa I promptly nodded back off with her on the sofa. That's when OH rolled over in bed and noticed I wasn't there and after checking on us both decided to take this snap which he then plonked on Facebook for all to giggle at. He's a meany sometimes, but I do think its a pretty cute photo.

We are at the end of week 3 of Home school already. Our last task of the week is to make a cat out of sugar paper with spaghetti whiskers tomorrow. I will add our weeks progress to my homeschool page shortly. We fitted in the number 3 colouring between my knit and natter group this morning and my midwife appointment in the afternoon.

After seeing the midwife and being told my pregnancy is now boringly normal, which is how they like it, we decided that we were just to close to the local Harvester to say no to a meal out. OH had is usual meat feast and I had their lovely simply pasta dish. DD had a little bit of both meals along with a small helping of goodies from the salad cart. She is a huge huge fan of raw sweetcorn and pineapple chunks. We always make sure we have a few tins in the cupboard as a snack for her.

After our meal we took a quick dash into Mr A on our way home for some top up supplies. We ended up spending quite a bit as they are currently having a massive clearance on hundreds of things in the store. I will pop up a post on our choice of bargains in the next day or two.
 We are now all cuddled up on the sofa together having a well deserved rest from our adventures. OH is trying to distract himself from the impending arrival of his new Arsenal shirt, as they have just released the latest one and he gets a free backpack because he pre ordered it a little while ago. I will blog about that to when it arrives, as it will be almost as exciting as our bump arriving in August lol. DD is singing happy birthday over and over to her stuffed piggy toy, and I am blogging it all to you fine people.
 I might even toddle off in a moment and have a nice luxurious bath with bubbles and a good book. Wild aren't I?
x x x