Spring cover fantasist .......................x

I buy far too many magazines...........but what can I do when a cover looks so good?

Cucumber sandwiches with little flags, pastel coloured iced biscuits, and a yellow Easter cake topped with chicks and bunting.......am def. going to have a bit of bunting on my Easter cake. AND my sandwiches will be adorned with flags, with the sweet waftings of hyacinths on the window sills......

I love leafing through housey magazines with a cup of tea, I think perhaps I am just nosey.......looking at the lovely houses inside wishing I had a timber framed conservatory, and a bespoke kitchen with a smeg fridge, and an aga, and, and, and, and....the list could go on couldn't it? But lets be happy with what we have, because we always want more, more, more, and really..............

I was happy to just find this.......in the spirit of spring......

YELLOW NAIL VARNISH!!!!!!! Ooooooh and to think I nearly walked past it in H&M at the weekend. B.T.W they have some rally nice colours in there, but Mr.Q had had quite enough of wandering around by that time....and I sensed I was on thin ice! ( A longer post of our trip to Exeter will follow soon )

Do you love ribbons?????????????????????????????????????????????? Me too, I like wrapping presents in them, and putting them in the bumblebee's hair....and so I bought in bulk today as you never know when they might be needed.

Thank you for all your sun shiney wishes, we have had a rather good few sunny days non? As I sit tapping away, the sun is streaming through the lounge windows, onto some very sleepy lazy dogs on the sofa! AND it is 5PM!!!!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Just a few things on a sunny day.....x

Today the words are not flowing. This is my third attempt to write this post today. Have I drunk too much tea? I know I have not had any chocolate ( which, ask my Mum...makes me quite excited! )....I feel all gobbledygook and tongue twisted. I quite often have the same affliction when crafting, and reading.......and almost always when gardening.
I must move on..........
Waking up late, with bumblebee's wanting to read school reading books to me whilst I am trying to apply my mascara ( was as good as it got this morning, hair didn't even get a brush ) then finally getting out of the door to find that naughty Jack frost had been.....AGAIN......does he not know I have no spare time to scrape frost from the windscreen???!!!! THIS.FROST.MUST.END!!!!!......Although.........


Today is infact warm and sunny, blue sky overhead in Somerset, which makes me smile. So was wondering if you fancied a peek at the other garden today?

To be honest it is still a huge mess.......mud piles everywhere, branches and even the christmas tree in a huge bonfire style mound. The neighbours must be thrilled.......but we are on the way to it becoming a serene quiet calm place, for chickens, vegetables, and den making, and lets be honest the weather has been dreadful eh?

My little apple tree is doing well, all bricks found around the garden, soon we will add timber for raised beds and gravel for the paths.......

Have you met my Daisy Do-Da? Actually her name is Daisy Do-Da Marmalade and she is a fluffy, cuddle cat.

And how about him?????? I think he is called beetroot but the bumblebee's are constantly changing the chickens names, so I forget.....talk about shaking your tail feathers......

Can we all wish for more blue skies and sun please? And while we are at it, perhaps an extra half an hour in the morning? T.T.F.N lovelies x

Today I am loving.....................x

We had beam love on our last post...............................
Today being Friday......hip hip horray....I am still feeling the love.......
I love Bumblebee's pencil hedgehog......

Candle teacups.......

Naughty Aggie sneaking on the sofa.......caught you out lady....

Things starting to grow..........

And gifts from friends to nurture and grow................

.....and admire some wafting daff's........

My Fridays loves.........are you feeling the love today? x

beam love, beam love...........................x

I have this little folder..........( well quite a big bulging folder )

Inside are my prettys and inspirations, cut out from magazines and kept to make me happy. And they do, make me ever so happy.

Friends and family know I have had a little thing about painted beams for a while now.......I am aware how divided people are on this, but I love the clean crispness of that Scandinavian style, and with our eclectic home I think a bit of clean crispness is in order to tone it all down!!

And so....while Mr.Q was climbing the roof last week....( don't ask.........we had a hole in the wall and a leaky lean- to roof...good old Mr.Q to the rescue has fixed it..... ( but as with all old houses...it's just fixed for now! ) I decided to get going on my beams. Now I know I should have sanded them, used the proper paint for the job etc etc...but I have tut tut used normal emulsion  paint....so far so good!

Now our beams are real, just not that old....and I really don't like that horrid dark stain people put on them...makes me itch just thinking about it....

And tut tut I didn't remove any furniture...just painted around it all, in fact some pieces were extremely useful to stand on......and the bumblebee's enjoyed jumping over and around it all too...

Three or four coats later...ta daaaaaaaaa. It was a lovely bright room to begin with but now.....ahhhhhh.

And I think it shows up the lovely beam across the fireplace too...think this is elm?????

I am super duper sooo pleased with it...I have the bug now.........I think the flooring the dining room must be painted white now AND the kitchen floor and beams too...........oooh I love it when a plan comes together.

You likey?

xxxxxx

Melancholy Monday..................x

 I am feeling needy. I feel needy and deserted. Bumblebee's are back at school and Mr.Q after a week long hol has gone back to work....sob sob. I love them all here with me, it's just not fair. Oh yes it is lovely to gain back some sort of routine, a cleaner house (of sorts ) BUT today....I....am....just.....ever.....so......humpfff.

Yesterday afternoon we did a girly afternoon tea, with homemade scones no less........with shop bought jam, I can't help it....I love those Bonne Maman shaped jars muchly........ How cute are little children's hands?

So today I had elevenses all for me. It was nice not sharing!!! So there's an upside!

Will be posting pictures of the new painted lounge beams soon....I indeed have gone a bit O.T.T with the white paint...oooohhhh x

T.T.F.N

Beautiful Bath x

Is it possible to feel even more tired now, than before half term started??????!!! I wish we had another week off, one week just is not enough.

Our half term so far has been filled with housey mending and painting ( more to come of this soon x ) and days out. Today was exciting, as we zoomed up to Bath.........lovely, lovely Bath. MUST.DO.THIS.MORE.OFTEN....we keep saying we will visit the Christmas markets they have there, but after 10 years in the west country we still have not been, tut tut, this year we will!

Hold on to your hats, there are quite a few pictures I simply couldn't whittle down.......

I am afraid Q and I are turning into my parents, dragging along the bumblebee's to stand and look at buildings  architecturally interesting, lucky for us the girls seem happy enough for now to go along with it....but for how long?!

Quite honestly, who wouldn't want a home in the Circus or the Royal Cresent, as we are in Austen country, we can while away the hours at a window dreaming of Darcey........

Of course we squeezed in a visit to a special shop. In fact biggest Bumblebee insisted she wanted to spend her saved up pocket money in there ( a hankie now being used as a head scarf, and yes we stood in everyone's way once we had exited the shop to immediately pop it on her head, tis tre important to her to be looking her bestest! )

Sorry about the blur, I was in a dreamlike state! I wanted to sweep up everything into a Mary Poppins style bag, to bring home and re-create........Aahhhhhhhh.....happiness in a picture.

The day was finished off by cornish pasty buying, and sitting by the river munching..(.avoiding the pigeons...they scare me ...to the delight of the bumblebee's, how rude! ) and a little stroll.

perfect eh?!

x

Playdough pour femme........x

Yippeeee it's half term....hurrah that means a few lie in's.....perhaps?!

I have been using my tinted moisturiser for some time now, I find it far easier than fake tan, and avoid zebra like disasters. In the bargain bin in Waitrose I found a new one reduced to £1.50!!! I couldn't believe my eyes ( I was on a bit of a bargain shop actually, I seek out those reduced red labels like no-one else, I have no shame. We all love a bargain, the delight in telling Mr.Q of my savings!!!!! His answer is usually along the lines of....." oh that's good.......WHAT FOR DINNER?" )..........Anyway..................
Since then I have slapped on my new tinted moisturiser with gusto...I can't get enough of it...why? Because it smells of playdough, and I love that smell almost as much as nutmeg.
Littlest Bumblebee in a strange knowing smell induced thought process, this week kept asking for playdough! I think my aroma has jogged her memory for playdough fun.......


And so yesterday we made some. Here is the recipe. So easy....and far cheaper than shop bought. Squished into a fancy jam jar it will keep for weeks. In fact for a kiddies party one year I gave playdough away in jam jars with ribbon and a cutter attached as the going away present....

 X HOMEMADE PLAYDOUGH X

1 Cup of water.

1 Tablespoon of oil.

1 heaped cup of plain flour.

1 Cup of salt.

2 Teaspoons of cream of tartar.

Food colouring/glitter of choice!

Place all ingredients into a heavy based saucepan ( except the glitter or colouring! ) and heat gently for a few minutes until it becomes firm.

Let it cool and then knead until nice and smooth.

Add required colour and or glitter and have fun! see...how easy is that?!!! 

P.S      The floor stain or paint debate is still in full swing......I think we will have to see how much the boards dry out in the next week....head says stain.....heart says paint!!!

xxx