Our weekend x

Another cold frosty day, but look what I found peeping from under a shrub....I do love a snow drop.

A weekend in pictures....less chats today....................

Mr.Q found this wasps nest in a hedge whilst gardening....biggest bumblebee has proudly shrouded it in toilet roll in a cake tin and taken it in to school beaming with pride over her treasure! All in all, we had quite a nature filled weekend spent garden tidying and bird watching for the RSPB's BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH!

Did you take part???????

Germies...........x

This is the view from the computer cupboard this morning. We are all sick, sick, sick again. A sicky bumblebee, a sicky Mr.Q and a sicky Mummy.....and Seth just wants a tummy rub, that's all.

Big bumblebee has escaped the germs so far....it's only a matter of time. She has turned into a budding Violin player, so I am going to show her off, as we have had a few schooly/friend/stuff issues with her lately, and to see her doing so well with something she loves so much warms my heart.

With added supper round her face and everything.............................

My mind is not quite capable of crafting and making, (the sleepless nights have seen to that! ), so I have been revisiting books. And one that has gotten me excited for the springtime is this....

GO WILD! By Jo Schofield and Fiona Danks.

This book is soooo fab, my girly girls LOVE anything in this book, but can you imagine the excitement from ANY boy receiving this as a present, and I know a few that would be thrilled.

So there we are, I think once warmer weather is upon us, we will have a Saturday morning cook out, and  perhaps try our best at some weapons ( you never know in Somerset ) a catapult? Bow and Arrows?Peashooters? Blowpipes? What an adventure we will all have...........x

Four things........x

How cold this morning? The school run was a slippery slidey ride across Somerset lanes in -4 temps!!! ...................................The fun of living in the country!

A few things have caught my eye this week.........

1. LOVING jumpsuits...

 Quite honestly they are my new favourite with a slouchy cardigan x

  2. The Twilight films......I know I am quite behind the world on this, but enjoying the brooding and mysterious  Edward Cullens!

3. Sticky Toffee Pudding......................ROCKS!!!! This recipe from Jamie Oliver is brill and soooo tasty, I think January ( particularly in this cold) still needs a bit of comfort!

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING RECIPE X

4. Mark Ronson's new album, best turned up LOUD ( sorry neighbours but needs must )....the bumblebee's like the bike song....I like them all x

Finally.......do you like my new lights? The dresser needed some sparkle, and my lovely sister found these.....

T.T.F.N xxxx

Gained pom-poms but lost my marbles........x

My big Bumblebee has been pom-pom making with a lovely kit she was given for Christmas...eventually it will be a garland with felted purple birds attached for her bedroom.....a work in progress. She did ever so well.

Mr.Q also came home one day to find the two Bumblebee's sitting on the dining table, with markers in hand! I think he thought thinks I have finally lost my marbles. Well I may have BUT.....the table top has been looking shabby ( and NOT chic ) for some time now, usually it is covered with a gingham cloth. The legs are painted a bright hot glossy pink. It's not an old table, and had too many marks anyway!!!!! So my free-range girls set to it. And I quite like it. It will be added to along the way, we are going for the school desk look......

 And yes, they are in their P.J's too......what about it??????????!

My fav doodle so far? This one.........

Looking after the pennies........................

Being thrifty, and frugal. THIS is my New Year's resolution. Out of want and necessity, 2011 is our year, and probably for many other families too, to watch the pennies, re-cycle, re use, grow our own, make do and mend etc etc. Am I in danger of becoming the old lady in the rubbish tip from the film Labyrinth?!!!

Obviously I will have to buy things here and there....weekly food shops ( but even these I am going limit, and plan ahead with my meals ), but if it's not home-made, hand-made, or second hand, it can't set foot in the cottage.
As a child I was dragged along to jumble sales, and like any typical little one, found the whole thing utterly boring....why on earth would you want to buy that smelly old curtain?!!!! Because my Mum would add it to her colourful stash of second-hand/vintage fabric finds, and make the most lovely patchwork blankets. To this day I still have two of them, they are a must in our drafty cottage!

I have a vision of a vegetable garden full to the brim, bursting at the seams with home grown peas ( always best eaten sneakily then and there, never quite finding it to the dinner plate ), carrots, rhubarb ( for many a crumble with custard ) garlics, onions, nasturtiums wildly spreading, my cut flowers ( which even impressed Mr.Q last summer, so many beautiful flowers from just two tubers! A whole summers worth of flowers for the house! ) anyway I am going on and on just a little bit.........

One more thing though.............I think it's super-duper important for the bumblebee's to learn and be part of it all too. So many children think their parents have a money tree growing at the bottom of the garden. I don't want the girls to be burdened by being frugal, but want them to learn the value of a pound.
This is all ever so meaning full and deep today.
Sorry 'bout that, so perhaps this picture will end this post well today.
Look at this woodpecker visiting the garden! oooooh you should have seen me run for the camera!

xxT.T.F.Nxx

Ooooh first proper post on my new proper blog........x

What say you about the new look blog? And the name? Well Telling tales was already taken on Blogspot, so I referred back to a name I had been using over the past four years ( for a while I made cakes and cupcakes....) So now we are Florence and Rose. Both are middle names for my bumblebee's and is familiar for me to use. Do tell me what you think! I can't tell you how happy I am with it. To finally have it looking how I have been dreaming it to be - is fab!

I am thinking about New Year resolutions. There are plenty of things I need to do, want to try, make an effort with, but just how realistic does a resolution need to be????
I am a terrible time keeper. I am not quite sure what happens, I do try it's not that I don't. It's my thing. But I do think it is quite an unrealistic goal to set myself........when there are things like, make do and mend more, recycle more, be healthier ( just by typing this I feel better already )....and on and on......ho hum.

The "panchry" is starting to look less like we have been on a supermarket sweep and dumped all naughty foods inside, and a more slim line...less bulging version is appearing.....Gosh did we eat over the Christmas hols, well we all did.....didn't we?! I have to admit that I DID give the chickens a few biccies and crispies just to get rid.
So......fancy looking at my new treasure? Mr.Q did a great job this Christmas, I feel a very lucky girl. And I can honestly say that I had no idea ( which makes a change, usually I am far worse than the kiddies...far far worse  )....I love it. My new phone....most people want an iphone or a blackcurrent.....me?.....I LOVE this...

It does make us all jump out of our skins every time it rings....but she's beautiful.

More loves included a new Emma Bridgewater mug, tray, canister, new C.K mug, bag and these lovely bits.

But the best part for us was having Mr.Q about for 10 days. His break was long overdue, and I THINK he had enjoyed it...I hope?! This morning was our first back to school. We actually arrived on time, dressed, with appropriate bags and stuffs....bit of a shocker though, having to get out of the house on time again.................give it a week and reading books will be read at breakfast, musical instruments will be forgotten, and slippers will be worn on the school drop off............xxx

Happy New Year Lovely friends x