It’s been an odd week, and in all honesty one that I haven’t quite recovered from yet, although I know that for others it hasn’t been such a straightforward week either, and in a strange way it helps to know that I’m not alone when I find the less day to day aspects of our lives ( thank you Marfan Syndrome ) a little more difficult to bear.

The tallest had a fantastic result from the cardiologist saying that there has been no significant change to her heart in the last six months, and if she hadn’t been going through such a growth spurt, he would have even considered lengthening our time between visits to possibly 9 or 12 months, but she’s growing good right now, so just for the immediate future we’ll still see him at 6 monthly intervals.

We are all full of a low level cold, just enough to give you a runny nose, sore throat and just enough germiness to make you feel grotty, the combination of this and the fact that my mouth still hasn’t quite recovered from all the dentistry I had, and the reoccurrence of some troublesome palpitations, possibly linked to the lack of sleep, or even the infection I’ve picked up thanks to the tooth, has made us all a miserable bunch really! ( Gosh that was cathartic )

The appearance of the sun today has definitely helped to lift everyone’s spirits today, and I felt inspired to repair the Ashford Traveller upright spinning wheel that lovely Hubby bought me ( second hand) for Christmas. It got a bit of abuse from the girls in the holidays and the original leather couldn’t cope and snapped as you can see in the photo, a simple job, a bit of leather from an old belt and a couple of screws later and I was good to go. I’ve been plying some yarn this afternoon as I am about to embark on knitting a Lucky Seven pinwheel blanket for a friend due in a couple of months, and rather than purchase more, lovely but expensive, yarn I’m Navajo plying up some baby DK that I already have into Chunky weight yarn – amazing how doing one little thing can lead onto doing so much more isn’t it?

Did the sun inspire some get up and go in you today?

(oh by the way San, I can’t seem to comment on your blog? Is it just my WordPress ID as others seem to be able to?)

…is how I could describe both the gift and the person it was made for. It was my Mum’s birthday yesterday, and the pin cushions were ordered requested by the Smallest after she discovered that Nanna kept her pins in a tin! The affrontery! I had intentions to make the small one with a wrist strap, as Mum sews gigantic curtains and other soft furnishy goodness for a living and wanted something more portable, but I am currently being dogged by awful toothache (caused by one trip, and not yet rectified by another trip to the dentist) and my concentration levels leave little to be desired.

Mum has taken up the gauntlet to make the wrist strap and isn’t at all worried that I didn’t complete my task, but there are more to be made as the Tallest would love one, although I am trying to convince her that she should make her own instead of me, but where’s the fun in that? She wouldn’t be able to boss me about if she did!

The buttons are the perfect finishing touch don’t you think?

So here it is in all it’s bare beauty, minus any planting right now, but looking an awful lot better than it did.

My favourite aspect of this garden is the fact that most of it is using the rubble and leftovers from clearing up in the first place. It originally had a crazy paving pathway which left little to be desired and in my personal opinion it’s performing it’s new function as a wall so much better.

I have plans for this little space to contain as many useful plants as possible, I hope to fill it with herbs, medicinal and dye plants. To fill this tiny wee space with as much scent as possible, to create a tiny sanctuary away from all the trundle toys, bikes and dogs feet…

There is already Lavender, Rosemary and several other herbs waiting to go in, once the frosts pass. I also hope to plant things like Madder so that I can produce a wider range of dye colours than the allotment currently does, there’s only so much onion skin dye you want to make you know!

Thankfully my Dad has a large pond / wet area in his garden so I have begged a bucket of weed and sludge from him to get our mini pond started, he has said that I’ll more than likely end up with Mint in there as it has rather taken over his pond, which would fit the theme perfectly. The ‘pond’ is actually the lid off a pheasant feeder that my Dad salvaged whilst dog walking, he’s a bit of a magpie for things like that, and in this case certainly I couldn’t be more thankful.

Any favourite plants that also serve a purpose that you think should go in the garden? I have a fairly extensive list, but it is always great to have recommendations from folk that have actually made good use of them.

Fresh Air has been key to putting some colour back into the Tallest’s cheeks after her prolonged spell in bed.

Whilst the girls kept themselves entertained with wheelbarrrows and discovering small veges that escaped the winter clean up, I managed to tidy up the raspberries canes and do a bit of ‘pottering’. I’m quietly surprised at how good the allotment is looking, the raised beds are so clean in comparison to the weed growth that I would normally of had by this time, and I didn’t even get round to covering the beds before winter as I had planned to do. Hubby and I are making steps to put more beds in at the front of the plot, which will be a combination of permanent beds and potato beds. I’m hoping to put willow in one of them which I’m very excited about!

There’s been some gardening going on at home too, for too long now I have been staring through my front window at a tiny unloved space, which was previously cleared of the unsightly clutter it was filled with only to sit entirely empty for the last 4 months, Monday and Tuesday changed all that, and hopefully I can share my achievements with you all real soon. It’s bare….but beautiful!

I had originally intended this hat to be for the Tallest as a Christmas present, but the making of the dolls became my priority.

I was happily following the pattern as found in The Children’s Year, when the Tallest duly informed me after looking at the pictures, that she wouldn’t wear a hat that had a long tail, so rather than frog the whole thing, I have foreshortened the long tail at the back, so all but for a bit of additional rib around the collar to tidy things up it’s all but finished.

Next time I decide to make my girl a hat, I’m going to sit her down in front of the patterns before I make a decision!

Tidying away after taking down the Christmas tree, I realised that I hadn’t really shared the dolls that I had made for the girls. So here they are…

The idea was that each was effectively a miniature version of the girls, I’m not sure if I have captured their likeness, but each one went for the right doll, so that’s a hopeful sign. The fact that they wanted to take them along to Nanna and Grandad’s house on Christmas day was also a good omen.

There is still much to do in the way of clothes, as I only had time to make each doll a dress, top, pair of pyjamas and a pinny. The cardigan is courtesy of Mother who didn’t check her gauges before knitting for my niece! Thanks Mum! Once I have finished what’s on my needles ( more on that tomorrow ) I already have a request for all the appropriate knitwear required by any discerning doll. I’m enjoying making their cute little felt shoes too…

I’m home nursing a poorly Tallest, who was sick in the wee small hours, we don’t know if it is the less than satisfactory diet from yesterday, or a virus. I hope it the former and not the latter for all the obvious reasons and I spent the morning relieving the house of its plethora of crisps, snacks and chocolates. Hubby has a Tupperware party susan, which used to belong to his Nanna, it comes out for special occasions, reminding him of some very special and treasured times with his grandparents. Unfortunately over this Christmas it has been restocked within an inch of its life everyday of the Christmas holidays, perhaps the combo of shortbread, cheesy snacks and chip sticks, on top of the evenings dinner and some milk was more than my poor girls delicate stomach could handle – having just read that back I think the odds are fairly in favour of yesterday’s bad diet decisions. Poor love. I’ve just checked on her and she’s finally snoozing, having held out this long despite being awake since 2am.

Fingers crossed for a peaceful night tonight, and that your castle remains intact despite the howling gales and hale…

As an impressive sunset settles over us tonight, so many of us will be sharing with others the hopes and expectations that we have for the coming year. Some may be considered trivial, others life changing, but all are important enough to have been decided on for the coming of the new year.

In all honestly I probably couldn’t tell you what all mine were without looking them up in my diary. I know a few of them, and I know that I have struggled to keep to one or two of them as well, but I like so many will be taking this opportunity to start as I mean to go on.

Most involve kindness, in particular to my long suffering husband – I suffer from that eternal affliction of having to be right! Always having an opinion on things, especially trivial things, seems to be my speciality, so I will once again be learning to try and keep myself in check again in 2012.

Spending more of my evenings making things, and using my quiet time usefully will be right up there at the top, along with limiting myself on using the computer, iPad, etc. To 90 minutes a day (excluding listening to talking books and music, as I can work whilst listening), and that includes the odd sneaky peek at facebook and especially blogs, which see me reading them until way after the clock has chimed midnight! 90 minutes is still quite a lot so I’m hoping that it will be a fairly straightforward resolution to keep.

Will you be joining in with the resolutions this year?

Well now, here it comes, that gushing, sentimental post about time spent together as a family, and savouring beautiful moments within our children’s ever changing lives.

Yes, all that and more so of course, but in all honesty, no.

Will I be chained to the Internet equivalent of the stocks for actually putting it out there that our Christmas had its clearly less than enjoyable moments in it, and for Hubby and I things are only just beginning to feel festive despite being surround by beautiful greenery and beautiful children enjoying their gifts?

It started with the realisation that the Tallest had brought home with her a little more than her collection of crafted presents from school, a discovery made on Christmas Eve I might add, so treatment done, clothing and bedding changed, and early baths for everyone on Christmas day morning. Scratch, scratch. Such Fun! Not.

I have been suffering with a severe chest infection in the run up to Christmas, bruised and pulled ( suspected cracked) ribs, antibiotics, anti inflammatories and pain killers all being used to full effect, but still not giving me the relief that I needed to get what constituted as a full nights sleep, so awoke exhausted by not just the frantic last minute preparations.

To then suffer the ultimate insult I was ‘glutened’ by my poor unsuspecting father, who had worked so hard to create a delicious gluten free lunch, only for him to erroneously feed me the wrong pud at the end of the day, so my Christmas ended at approximately 6pm when I could finally no longer keep body and soul together, lost my lunch and was swiftly taken, weeping, upstairs by my darling man, whilst the girls played with their new toys unaware of my sudden turn for the worse. Boxing Day was spent in a fug of recovery, snoozing and generally being pretty unbearable to be around, and my mood has only just now begun to improve. ( Why does being glutened affect my mood so – there must be a reason I’m sure)

So there you have it, a bit of a pants Christmas if we are being really honest about things, but they are on the up, we had a good blustery walk on the beach, lunch at a local ( gluten free friendly) pub, and visited my ( still feeling terrible about it – bless!) Dad and Mum today. With plans to visit the girls Godparents tomorrow and then have friends over for lunch and a hearty walk on Saturday. So all in all things are heading in a more positive direction.

I realise that, when looking at those three photos up there I could of fabricated some cosy Christmas idyll with which to entrance you with, living as I do in a household where even the dogs get Christmas gifts, buts that’s not my style is it? A friend once told me that she enjoyed my blog posts because they are honest, they deal with the reality of life, especially life with two small children and a plethora of other problems to contend with on a daily basis, and who am I to disappoint?!

Be seeing you in the New Year, if not before. X

Bringing the greenery into the house made me realise that it’s been too long since I wrote a post. (Secret sewing and knitting after two little cherubs are tucked up in bed have put pay to having an evening to play catch up here.)

I’m trying my best to not allow the thought that I ‘ought’ to make people their gifts for Christmas, out way the fact that there is only so much humanly possible. (And it’s nothing a popcorn and movie afternoon next week won’t allow me to play catch up on.) So many biscuits and sweet things can be made when the smaller members of the household are drawn into a world of armchair adventures. It’s not that I don’t want them to help…okay, strictly speaking that’s not true – as much as I love to see them having fun in the kitchen with me, it does nothing for the time and motion! So distracting them with some good old fashioned fun won’t hurt every once in a while.

We collected and decorated the Christmas tree on Sunday, we have decided to give our pot grown tree a rest this year as the dry summer hasn’t done it too much good, the Girls and I have plans to decorate it with some popcorn strings, and fat balls so that it still gets the yearly dressing that it deserves, and the bird population will benefit.

I am particularly pleased with the wreath on the door, made entirely with found foliage. I used this this years growth on the Buddlea ( I do have willow growing down at the allotment, but couldn’t face wrapping myself and the crew up for the half hour there and back so made do with what was to hand). Wrapped up with Clematis, and then decorated with Holly, Ivy and seed heads, it’s made a welcome addition to our front door.

With the nature of making the Girls Christmas gifts, I have often reached a point in the evening when I no longer want to concentrate on small stitches on stretchy fabric, and neatness, and have become happily distracted by the joys of felt. In one evening, 10 felt hearts, 5 buttons, 6 beads, some stuffing, and finger knitted yarn became a cheerful addition to the Fireplace, potentially good gifts for friends and family next Christmas I feel, and variations already ordered by a certain young lady for her next birthday – ” Can you do them in Pink and Purple Mummy?” !

Hopefully I will continue to blog, if a little erratically over the next two weeks, I have missed getting it down here. I truly do see it as a journal of sorts. Abeit one that sometimes writes back to you.

Good luck with all your Christmas preparations, and don’t forget to enjoy them!