A week of things....

The last week or so , well it hasn't been my finest.   I've been told things and found things out regarding family and and a issue nearer home here that well left me angry but more upset than anything.  Not a ideal start to the year but I refused to let either sour my New Year and have sadly made my peace , dealt with them and both are now gone.  So that's where I have been for the last week or so.  I have never liked confrontation..I like to think I am a peacemaker .....but sometimes even I have to admit somethings are better completely out of your life than hovering in some limbo
that you know will never get better or ever be the same it was before.

Today I am expecting to get my photo's sorted so I can post the Christmas swaps, sorry for the delay
But they need organising as they are in a random mess at the moment.

Well lots of blog authors have started the New Year with inspiring aims, words or ideas....... As many I do not make resolutions but have resolved to do two things.  One is to slow down (a bit) and notice things and the other is to appreciate in whatever form it arrives in my life things that make me happy and bring me joy.

Well this last week I found joy when ....and noticed ...

My son for some reason has started to call me "Tiger", no one has ever called me that before and I
burst out laughing the first time and nearly squeezed the life out of him!!!!! He knows how to make his mummy happy.

Seeing for the first time a woodpecker eating from my bird feeding station.

Sitting quietly and showing the children on the internet all the birds that visit our garden. Then watching them, watching the birds with obvious interest and telling me who we have visiting today.

A new black calf arriving in the field next to us and my son naming him "Dave". Another funny for me!'  The children always notice the new calves and the names they chose always make me laugh.  Before we have had Digby (I still do not know where that came from as I don't remember them seeing the film about the dog) , Pansy Cake ???, Twinkle Moon and Trevor!!! to name a few, not yet a "Maria" but I expect that day will come !!!Quite a combination and always guaranteed to bring a smile to the farmer's face when Little Miss informs him!!

..............

Not so funny, husband telling me he has arranged for out spare room to be decorated...good I thought
..until he told me I had 3 days before the man was arriving to empty it!!! Oh and I needed to
dismantle the old bed and choose the paint!!!!! I did it though and did a clear out at the same time.
Nothing like a time scale to work to, if that doesn't motivate me, nothing will!

Going to my first WI.  Another funny I am the youngest by at least 20 years! Having said that everyone was friendly and inviting and we had a lady who gave us a talk on Istanbul, a bit about
Turkey in general and the carpet making there...two and a half hours flew by.  I will be back.

On the craft front  I am doing a bit of sewing , trying to finish a cross stitch and stitchery but am getting a bit distracted.  I blame Pinterest and having time to really explore it this Christmas and I have not been alone as my dear girl spotted things too.  The result,  me and her having lovely play times crafting, when really I should be sorting  out house things.

Our garden chap has chopped back our huge bushes at the front.....they really were a pain sprawling onto the drive and already buds are forming.  He tells me this year the blooms will be a wash out but
then next year it will all have been worth it.   It seems strange seeing the field over them.

So many bulbs waking up in the garden and daffs peaking out here and there...not sure they will like the forecasts of snow expected "soon" I"m told we need frost before the snowdrops and bluebells will appear,  that too is.  apparently on it's way.  Everyone says it is mild but here the last week the heating during the day has been on (much to my DH's disapproval...his body thermostats is obviously set quite a bit higher than mine! ) .  Our oil tank gauge seems to be a constant sign of interest for DH as the moment .. Working out how many litres etc are left...beyond me I'm afraid .must be a man thing!

and so in rolls a New Year..

Happy New Year everyone.  I confess we did stay up to see it in......I can't remember the last year we did to be honest and now I know why ..... Late nights do not suit me especially when pupster woke me at 4am howling like a puppy, I think the wind frightened him and there I was at 4am giving him a cuddle until he was ok to settle again.

Well it has been windy here ,quite scary so I don't blame anyone being afraid.  Little Man has been so frightened so he has been in with me but even then he hasn't slept well, so a nice duvet and pillow has been left on the settee so he can nod off if he wants during the day.

Before storm Frank arrived we did at last get a hour on the beach at Aberporth on Tuesday, by golly it was chilly..Dextie loved it and went into what must of been freezing water...made me shudder to watch.


This is my Christmas Cracker swap from Debi from Busy Little Chickens blog.  The swap was organised by Tracy from Mad about bags blog.  Debi and I chatted over the Internet and this is what she sent me...

I so love Angels 

Beautiful wrapped 

(Funnily I used a similar fabric)

Fabric and cross stitch

Decorations and bookmarks

Another angel and pegs 

Handmade keyring

chocolate and handmade earring

I do not know how Debi fitted all this in the cracker

and then a extra something

a hand covered notebook

With a big spring of Lavender 

Thank you Debi I love it all.xx

Now in my haste to see how many thinks I could fit 

in a kitchen roll I forgot to take pictures!!

So 

You will have to pop over to Debi's to see what 

I sent

Thanks to TRACY for arranging 

such a fun swap.

I am not sure if I mentioned  I was

hoping to join the very local WI 

in the next village.

This morning I received a call inviting me

to the first meeting of the year 

on Monday.

I am really looking forward to it

and will let you know

how it goes.

A really nice start to the New Year ..

Husband's  reply when I told him was

"Oh goody CAKE!!"

On that note

Wishing you all the best year ever.

We jingled all the way...

Christmas Eve we were blessed with a rainbow.... But first blustery rain after a very dark start, but for a time blue skies appeared

the rainbow

was beautiful

The  big day started as it always has since their very first Christmas .  Me getting up and laying out the presents , putting the heating on and waiting and waiting and........then at 8.30ish I can't wait any longer so wake DH up and then wake up the children .  Am I the only mum that has to wake her children up on Christmas morning? No one can believe it as they say their kids wake them at some  unearthly hour and have to tell them  go back to bed! Not in this house..!!!

Anyway rewind a little to the night before...


Santa brought little man a proper size punch bag.  Well as we knew it was coming we bought  the
sand in to weigh it down.  Boy were those bags heavy! After seeing on Santa tracking that he was in Europe, the children put on their wellies and coats, put out the "magical" reindeer food on the drive and did Santa and Rudolph's treats.  Off they ran to bed, giggles all the way , no protests , no trying to get a few minutes extra to stay up they couldn't wait (or so it seemed ) to get into bed and THEN......

The punch bag was in a huge box so I should of guessed it too would be huge !
As it happened the base of the punch bag was very big but only had a small hole to fill it ! and oh the sand was wet when we opened the bag .... and we just knew we'd still be filling it come Easter if we used the sand and probably could only use a spoon with the hole so stupidly small. So we had to reject the sand idea and use water instead. So we topped up our glasses of fizz and using our kettle and the biggest jug and funnel we could find we started to fill it.. Then for the next hour we went back and forward to fill it.  Then I wrapped it and we sat down looked at each other and burst out laughing.  How many other parents like us were doing the same, figuring out how things worked,
how to assemble things , fitting batteries etc etc and knackered like us as a result!!! But it was a huge
success.... Our Little Man well I think we made his Christmas,
he opened his other presents and we had kept the playroom door shut.so when it was the punch bag
turn .....we blindfolded him , lead him into the play room and when he opened his eyes, he said " have you wrapped a human!!"  The punch bag top is the shape of a torso....well the fright on his face was so funny.. He thought we had wrapped up someone .I know I'm wicked  but it was really funny  and I laughed so much I had tears rolling down my cheeks. Little Miss too looked a bit worried , so we said "oh no unwrap him he can't breathe!!! " he tore the paper off, stood back ... And our reward was our little boy jumping up and down shouting "yes yes....I can do my training now" throwing his fists in the air ,  I have only seen him this happy once before and that was when we got Dextie.


Then after a quick tidy and bags of wrapping paper put out, a quick Hoover , order was restored .

DH and the children bought me scented candles, perfume and some other goodies including
a ceramic candle holder which is quite tall and makes a beautiful centre piece for the dining
room table at the moment, but will I think be moved to the fireplace mantel after Christmas.

Little Miss fancied her nails being painted, I did that....all sparkles ... One of her stocking fillers...DH pottered, I dressed the table... I did go for that stroll yesterday and my the holly centre piece this year was made with my sweet girl helping.

A very Christmas themed candle...

Santa brought DH some boxing gloves too and he and son had loads of fun playing ..no sorry .."training" on the punch bag..boys and their toys. !!! Us girls watched telly, played games, I did some stitchery and helped my girl get to grips with sewing a little project of a fox.  For her it is hard but she isn't giving up and I am so proud of her...I will show you what it is when she has done a little more, the fox is sewn onto a wooden grid.


Dinner was lovely

and afterwards we all crashed out on the sofa , children playing with their new toys and things, us watching telly.  Dexter snoring by the fire after he had some turkey.  He is now a slim boy again having lost 4 kilos.!!!!The vet was really happy last week ....it was hard for,dear Dextie but then you have to be cruel to be kind and we didn't want our boy to be fat and prone to all sort of nasties.  He has one kilo to go but even pupster needs a Christmas treat. He had a new Christmas pud toy and rope thing and spent the morning playing in his bed.


The kids had nibbles later but me and DH couldn't face it.  The fridge was  full and so were we.
The next day bubble and squeak discs were frozen..soup  and stock made and frozen and we have during the following days nibbled our way through the rest.

Boxing Day I planned and did.as little as possible.  I did some more sewing, caught  up on a pile of
magazines , watched some telly and new movies the children received and we  just chilled.

I opened swaps too over the days and will post those over the next few posts otherwise you may get "swapped out!" To say I have been overwhelmed by the gifts given in the swaps.  is an understatement.

The weather here continues to be awful and I so feel for the poor people up north...never a good time to be flooded but at this time especially it must be heartbreaking.

I am craving a bracing walk near the sea so hope if we have a rainless hour or two we can escape to do that.
  I have my mum's birthday next week and want to sew her a little something. Sadly she is in a nursing home following a stroke several years ago and doesn't remember any of us now , but I will send a up to date photo of us , a little letter and her gifts .  I know the nurses will read it to her . , I used to ring her but that only caused her great confusion and upset , so now I no longer do that. One of my brothers will spend the day with her , but the rest of us have all moved all away, the furthest
living in Hong Kong and Phuket.

So as this year is pulling to a close , I am thoughtful over it's many events and the changes we have been through.  I don't make resolutions or plans for the New Year.  I have a little notebook where I have written down all the new things I would like to try to make,  and hope this year to plan a little bit better and get organised for birthdays etc.   I have spent lazy afternoons looking on craft blogs and Pinterest and have found so many inspiring ideas, lots saved and some printed off, but nothing written in stone... Just thoughts or dreams  ... I think I have achieved a lot this year for me... And I am excited about a new year, one thing for sure is I am never bored ..... and for the first time is many years I have photos now of things I have made and done here  since July at least....... new blogging friends and new blogs made and found.  , all.  have brought lots of smiles and happiness ....

If I don't get a chance to get back before the New Year , I wish you and all those you love a wonderful and peaceful New Year....let's hope it's a happy, fun one.

              Maria xx

Twinkle twinkle little star...

Little Miss had her 12th birthday yesterday.....we had such a lovely day and lots of fun.

DH and I once we decided to start a family did not give any thought to when the baby may be born, needless to say when it happened Little Miss was due to be born early January, but, as these things go sometimes, complications happen . When a doctor tells you the baby has to come early and tells you it will be the 23rd December you do not argue.  I have always said I was given my own Christmas Angel and I am sure she was not going to miss out on one more Christmas than she had to!    It was really strange knowing exactly when your baby is going to arrive and pretty much the hour.  We spent the first week of her life in hospital.  Lots of other baby's were being born , obviously other people with our planning skills too.!!! Christmas morning one of the consultants brought his rather large broad (made me laugh as he obviously was in the right line of work...babies) and they all with the nurses sang us a selection of carols...I thought that was a very kind thing to do.

Oh the years like yesterday have whizzed by.   Presents, phone calls, lots of cuddles, board games  was the theme of the day.  We took Little Miss to a restaurant overlooking the sea for lunch and as you do chatted  and laughed and just had a nice time.  It wasn,t busy in the restaurant and so Little Miss was very happy that it wasn't noisey.   We came home, and a little while later .....

I made her cake ,

of course somewhere it had to

be pink

so I used her favourites,

pink smarties 

&

kit kat chocolate

wafers

I got a huge hug for this

and the biggest smile.

Little Miss is my "little star"

She has been so brave

and is 

so kind and loving.

Her favourite nursery rhyme

was always 

"Twinkle twinkle little star"

she has brightened our life

no end...

She is our own little

diamond.

Happy birthday darling

Xxxxxxxx

Today.

Well the tablecloth will be freshly 

re washed and ironed.

Hopefully the stroll to find 

the greenery and holly.

Platters washed ..

finding on the net exactly 

where Santa is

and following his journey.

Later magic reindeer food 

sprinkled on the drive

(additional little food for the birds)

DH

his jobs 

....

cooking the gammon,

relish,

turkey stock,

stuffing,

sausage rolls

cheese straws

mince pies

feeling peckish just writing

about it.

More birthday cake in between

and 

Of course I can!!!

(Years of practice!!)

PLEASE !!!

If he doesn't 

there is going to be 

big trouble

because

(Of course)

So 

Wherever you are ,

From our home to yours 

Have a wonderful Christmas

&

Happy New Year.

Getting cosy

Hi everyone, how are you all doing?  I hope you are all way ahead with your Christmas things, (if  you celebrate Christmas of course), and your tinsel remains untangled!!!

Yesterday we all popped out to get things like cranberries, chestnuts and decided to go to Aberaeron instead of the big supermarket...I could not face queues...I am feeling rather chilled and intend to stay that way as much as I can thank you very much!!!! We got everything we wanted including husband's cheeses and locally made oatcakes...he was very happy when he came out of the deli with his little brown paper bag...he had sampled some new cheeses, one of which he bought which was very stinky and now in it's very own box in the fridge!  The turkey and veg DH is collecting today from the farm butchers and then hopefully apart from Little Miss' birthday we can snuggle down, really get cosy and hopefully not have to venture out for days!!!

Today I intend to spend at least a couple of hours having a bit of "me" time .  I seriously have two things to finish off and well I have decided I deserve a break!!! All the bits of making I had had planned are still waiting and we need to empty my stuff out of the dining room  to get the table "back" for Christmas lunch.  The table is always done by me and our sweet girl...she loves it especially when we get the crackers out and always wants balloons.

DH always (well apart from when we worked over Christmas....oh I do not miss that) 

does Christmas lunch and begins Christmas Eve....the house smells lovely and I put my feet up,

and he will need the dining table for when things begin coming out of the oven, so between today and tomorrow I need to finish off any last minute wrapping and relocate craft items back to the craft room.

Little Man has a cold and although 10 , it's flu apparently !!! I told him to put his slippers on , his reply " you do it, I am too ill mum". That was after he had been jumping around playing his Minecraft game like a bag of mad frogs, seriously he is a terrible patient.   

oh I do do hope DH doesn't get it...two sick men in one household , I will be running for the hills to save my sanity!!

I intend (if this rain ever stops) to have a stroll through the village in the next day or two to collect some holly and foliage...this is our second Christmas here and last year I made a little centre piece for the Christmas table and would like to try to do it again.  Our village has holly (in Welsh) as part of its name so it seems rather fitting and apt to have holly somewhere in our home.  Last year I had clusters doted here and there and it did look nice though we had to be careful of the berries because of our Dexter as they are poisonous and he will eat anything!

Here he is our  beautiful boy.

I hung his stocking up

his is of course the spotty one.

Dextie can be so vocal 

and when he saw it , oh it was funny,

he grabbed it and ran off

I grabbed it back

and I wish you could of heard 

the groans, grunts and

and funny noises as

I hung it up out of his reach

(He isn't allowed upstairs )

He is so funny

I just know he knows goodies 

get put in there.

Oh we love our spotty boy

never ever had a boy like him.

This is our 5th Christmas with him , 

at night he sits watching the lights..

I'm sure sitting near the fire going ,

lights twinkling is one of his favourite things.

Yesterday those  that took part in Amy's "love made our home" Christmas card swap linked their posts and I have enjoyed receiving lovely comments from bloggers who took part and doing the same  by visiting their blogs and commenting.  This community of ours is fantastic isn't it, ? if we girls ruled the world we could sort all the woes of the world out I'm sure.  Thank you Amy..this swap has spread a lot of happiness..have a wonderful Christmas and New Year....

Well this little tree displays the handmade decorations I have received and made too this year in swaps and decorations gifted to me.  It brings lots of smiles when I see it and wow what lovely ladies I have meet this year through the blog and swaps...very happy times.

Both mice have new scarves now

Lists what lists?  I only have one little list left..yippee ....and that is to remind me what to take out of the freezer on the 23rd for my lovely husband ...... Hope your lists are getting shorter and somewhere in this busy time you find time for "you".   Take care

Mud but it's not glorious...

the heavens truely opened yesterday  (but to be honest I don't think they have closed for weeks!)
It poured down for hours, our down pipes were gushing water so fast at times it was spilling
 out of the drain covers.  We had big puddles on the drive though thankfully we are higher than the lane that slopes away from us, so it poured eventually away, but the lane had it's own little stream.

Our garden is waterlogged, has been for weeks, Dexter now does want to go out and when he does nips back in seconds.  This morning after I let him back In , mud everywhere !'thankfully I grabbed him just as he reached the carpet...mud and not remotely glorious.  His paws looked like he was wearing black little boots..... Before I had a chance to clean them the little sausage had also walked all over his bed,aargh as if I haven't got enough washing to do !!! The mop and bucket too seem to
be a permanent feature too in our kitchen at the moment ...we inherited a cream coloured floor , hardly ideal with a pupster and two kids.

On Friday pupster had he yearly jabs and afterwards we nipped down to the river walk at Newcastle Emlyn
He has to go back in 3 weeks for another top up booster.  The vet told us there are 2 new strains of a virus and that's why he needs this one off additional booster jab to protect him....so if your dog hasn't had this additional jab it might be worth checking out with your vet if your dog needs it....this jab  is apparently new and I would hate for any dog to get one of these new nasties as these viruses are life threatening, and there have been a rise in cases.  This weather apparently hasn't helped as the virus
is mainly transmitted by rats and the bacteria is loving this wet yet mild weather!! Better to be safe than sorry.  Our vets sent out a letter last week but I don't know if this is common practice and of
course the countryside are full of vermin.

We have never walked at this park 

before, but the flow of the

river was VERY fast

And very high 

our little chap was a good boy

and kept away from the bank.

This is the castle in the distance 

We have not yet been here two years yet but we didn't have rain like this last year.  A few weeks ago a farmer from up nearer the main road said she was having huge problems with the sheep going lame .She was having to move them to higher ground, something she didn't really usually do (just in case worse weather like snow arrives) or want to but had no option. More work for her ,  the
sheep now need more care and probably additional feeding , and  making sure the lame ones don't get worse and of course the dreaded
vet bills too to treat them . she really wasn't moaning just stating facts .
 More and more rain forecast in the coming days ......it is much worse Carmarthen way reading my friends blogs who also live in West Wales....  Today at least it bright  and so far no more rain.

With weather like this I do so think of the emergency services , district nurses, carers, elderly.  I am pleased we have little travelling left to do and am home for Christmas . A neighbour has Macmillan nurses coming in daily and when I dropped a paper in for her this morning she told me how far the night cover nurse had had to come .... I find it amazing and admire those that do so much for others.

Little Miss is 12 this week (she was supposed to be a January baby but complications meant she had to come early, I always say she didn't want to miss out on Christmas!!!)
and we have planned to take her out for lunch (she so loves eating out) that is one thing I hope we don't have to cancel as she is so excited.

Yesterday I didn't do one thing I planned.  I felt all day I was taking 1 step forward and 3 back.
I would start something and someone was calling  me to do or find something!!!!'   I complained to Amazon on Thursday about the two missing presents , they told me to let them know on Friday if they still hadn't arrived (two weeks after they were ordered and apparently despatched) well I did and
both orders were replaced and resent and arrived yesterday, so I have those to wrap.  I was really impressed with Amazon..never had anything go missing before   and couldn't fault their customer
service...makes a nice change.

On Thursday we saw this beautiful

display in a shop window in 

Aberaeron.

Thought I would share it with you

Hoping this finds 

you all well, 

& safe .

Llanerchaeron Christmas Fair... National Trust 2015

A girly day out .

Welcomed by carol singers

and they were really good.

Staff dressed in Victorian dress

Lots of rooms of the main court yard

filled with other stalls 

Two weeks ago Little Miss, my friend and her little girl went to Llanerchaeron a National Trust property .  It was nice to be the other side of a stall table and wander about although it was very cold.

Some stalls were situated in a small tented area and the property had lots of rooms off a large courtyard, these also were filled with stalls.  This was a bit we found tricky as the rooms were quite small and dark and Little Miss didn't like going into them as they obviously got busy as the fair is well publicised .  Some people
were pushing to get in and out of the rooms and it all got a bit much to be honest at times so instead we had a wander in the less crowded areas and just enjoyed looking around in the house.

Of course we had to see Santa

then

inside the house

The room was a little dark but 

the table was dressed for Christmas dinner.

It was beautiful..

I loved this dresser..

On the top shelf was a box of Kilner jars going back

"Donkeys years" 

Then time for a coffee and a 

little wander

 outside

The grounds were so nice 

I think this must of been the old orangery 

Beautiful vegetable gardens

The house has a working farm 

and a lake but it was 

too cold to explore more, 

we will be back on a better day. 

I bet it will be a lovely place

To visit in Spring.

Little Miss decided 

to spend some of 

her saved pocket money on these

Now  one has a red scarf  and I need to 

make the other one too... 

These were actually in the 

National Trust shop.

We bought a few edible gifts

but I forgot to photograph these 

before they 

were wrapped and posted.

The children have now broken up,

I did a bit of  Christmas food shopping today

and the shops were not as busy

as I thought they would be.

One week to go !

I am hoping to get some more of 

the red and white 

quilt stitched 

this weekend......

I found some plain fabric to back

The Christmas panel

hopefully that will be 

ready to show next time.

See you soon.