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

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

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

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

Friday Fun

 Can you guess what we are making from these ingredients?

 Peppermint cream :) I kept meaning to try this recipe out for a while now, so I can perfect it in time for Christmas. Just as well as although it came out lovely and dough like, it soon melted into gloop. Tasty though.

 Anya is feeling much better and eating again. Even if it is only the butter she licks off her crackers lol.

And our home school wall for week 2 is finished. I will review it on my home school page in just a mo, but over all it's been another successful week.

 Our plans today are to hit not one but two Jubilee events and take part in some free crafts that are going on in our home town. I look forward to sharing our adventures with you shortly.

x x x

A dull dull day

 Yesterday was quite dull to be honest. DD spent most of the day sleeping as you see in the photo above, and I've never realised just how much she fills up my time. Because she was asleep I ran round the flat and did my chores, which we're considerably less from her lack of participation. Then I watched a program on Iplayer that I wanted to catch up with. And then I got a bit bored to be honest.

 I made some chocolate and banana cakes again because they are so popular in this house and we had a few bananas going squishy. OH remarked that they taster more banana-y than usual which I think is because DD tends to eat the banana lumps as we go and I'm never sure how much gets in the finished article. It's the same with raisins lol.

 Then I sat and watched a movie on Sky on Demand and start another scarf for Xmas to add into my stash. I'm hoping to get it finished off today.

 About three o'clock though she woke up starving hungry and ready to play. So after some nummy sandwiches I put a towel down on the coffee table hooked out a few containers and cups and let her play with some water.

She has great fun pouring little bits of water from one container to another, and its fun to watch her experiment with different quantities and learn through example.
 Lets hope she's feeling a bit better and more awake today :)
 x x x

Hot off the press

 I've just an email from my Dad with some photos from DD's day out to the zoo yesterday. He has such a talent for taking photos, which sadly doesn't seem to have passed on genetically. OH takes most of my photos for me on here lol.

Marwell have just refurbished their penguin enclosure for their 40th anniversary and from some of the photos it looks pretty snazzy. According to my parents it is where they ended up spending most of their visit, DD is just fascinated my penguins.

 I especially love this shot of DD playing in a tunnel. It's my new laptop background.

 DD even picked up a new furry friend to bring home.

 It looks like she had a lovely lunch of cheese sandwiches, crisps, fruit and milk. And a rather pleasant lunchtime conversation with nanny.

And finally a lovely long nap on the way home in Granddad's car. You can just make out the king spot on her cheek, and a few others on her arm. She hasn't seemed to developed anymore overnight but this morning she is quite warm, sleepy and grumpy so I'm waiting for more to pop out. We have dug out a stash of her favourite DVD's to watch on the sofa and relax. Expect some craft posts for the next few days, I doubt we will be going out much over the next few days.
x x x

The big day out

 I am exhausted!! As soon as this post is written and posted I will hitting the shower and then the bed for a well deserved rest. First we spent a few hours at a local car boot sale, we found several bargains and I will give them their own post tomorrow. Then we went to Uncle D's house to meet up for a special day out. For DD's second birthday in March Uncle D promised us all a ride on a mini steam train and today was the perfect timing and weather to finally go. 

 First we helped feed the fish in Uncle D's  goldfish pond. There are hundreds in the there and DD finds it really entertaining.

 Then we went to Royal Victoria Country park, after waiting on a little station we were off on our birthday train ride.

 Then came ice cream cones and tickle fights in the sunshine.

 A bit of posing in Daddy's sunglasses.

 A slap up pub meal and a play on a bouncy castle.

And finally we helped Grandad water his allotment before going home for a well deserved rest. All in all a fabulous day out was had by all.

x x x

Bits and pieces

  I finished this little ladybird a few minutes ago. DD has become a bit obsessed with ladybirds lately and spot them everywhere we go. When I spotted a free knitting pattern for one online I just had to make it up for her. I knitted all the pieces during her nap yesterday and sewed it up during todays.

 What do you think of this cupboard? OH spotted it in a local charity shop for just £55. Its really heavy and sturdy and just perfect for DD and bumps bedroom. Plenty of storage for all their clothes and bedding with some to spare!!

 It fits just perfectly behind their door so it doesn't take up any playing room! He has such a great eye for things like this. I love it, though I am tempted to decorate each of the drawer fronts and make it really jazzy.

 

 And finally I've added a page to this blog to keep all DD homeschooling stuff together. Please have a looksie if you want, I'm hoping it will grow and cover all her lessons on the course we are trying.
x x x