Arriving In Style!!

Are you ready for a chuckle? This was me today arriving at mother-in-laws 70th birthday get together:

My sciatica was so bad I had to lay flat out in the car to make the 30 min journey to MIL's!!

Yesterday, whilst at the stables (the first time I had left house in a week!!) I had a terrible shooting spasm from hip to ankle that took my breath away and my leg since has been really, really sore again. 

Even getting ready for the party was tricky but when we set off it became apparent a couple of minutes into the journey that it was too painful and so we turned around to take me home. 

I had a little cry as I didn't want to miss the party and so Mr G came up with the idea for putting the seats down (our front passenger seat goes forward and flat as well as the back) and piling cushions on them to lay me down.

It worked!! Laying flat made the pain bearable and so off we went!! 

Fortunately, I have never been one to worry about what other people think as I was just about level with the top of the doors and there was much hilarity from the Mr G and the boys at some of the odd looks we got and the fact W had to hold my skirts down as they were being buffeted and threatening to go over my head!!

I spent the day installed on a sun lounger (virtually flat!!) while I was waited on hand and foot (Mr G says why change the habit of a lifetime!!)

Here's my frock:

I had my reverse anorexia today, where I look in the mirror and think I look thinner than I actually am!!

Nevertheless, I felt very feminine in my swishy frock & petticoat.

I did get Mr G to take a pic showing my petticoat better (it was peeping out underneath my skirts) but I look dreadful in it so I will spare you!!

The birthday girl:

Lots of family we hadn't seen in a-g-e-s and a-g-e-s:

Mr G's Dad:

My Mum, Stepdad, H & W:

Mmmm, cake!! (There was LOTS of puds and cakes!!):

It was a lovely family day, the weather was glorious and I was very pleased not to have missed it!!

Hope you've all had a nice weekend....

S x

Petticoats And Dressing Table News!!

You may remember way back in January when I was a brand new blogger telling you how I wanted to make a net petticoat and it being a disaster?


Well, since then I found The House Of Olivier that makes the most wonderful cotton petticoats - one day I will treat myself to one of their Voluptuous petticoats but in the meantime money is tight and I had 3m of cotton lawn doing nothing so a couple of months agoI had a go at making one myself.


Unfortunately, it was all a bit wobbly around the bottom and a funny length so it was put to one side to fix later and there it sat until yesterday when my Sis came over and helped me do just that. Her being a perfectionist is very helpful when it comes to getting hems straight and arranging pleats evenly and this is how it turned out:

The dress you see behind (that needs a good iron) is my £5.99 bargain from eBay that I'll wear with the petticoat on Sunday - Mr G's Mum is having a family get together for her 70th birthday. 

Isn't the fabric pretty?:

If I don't look too much like Waynetta Slob in a frock I'll let you see a picture after the event....

Waynetta (Google Images)

Other news is I have gone back to the drawing board for the dressing table fabric - after reupholstering the top (and crippling myself in the process, sciatica still v. present) I have decided I don't like the fabric!!

Mr G thinks I am mad but having lived with the half-finished item for a week I just wasn't feeling it and my Sis made my mind up when she said yesterday she didn't think it was right either. So, I think I have found an alternative fabric and hope I can shift the remaining 6m of what I had on eBay!!

Hope you have a lovely weekend, my lovelies....

S x

More Awards = More Facts!!

I have been given two more awards!! I am so thrilled by this as these awards are given by my fellow bloggers who give me so much inspiration and fill me with awe.


First of all Grateful4Crochet has given me the Leibster Blog Award:

I'd like to pass it on to two of my favourites:

Hookin' With Laalaa

Jellybean's Odds And Ends

I've also been given the Versitile Blog Award by Ashley at Country Rose (do check out her blog, she has a wonderful giveaway running at the moment):

I'd like to pass this onto:


Little Cotton Rabbits
Nelly's Eggs

So now I have to think of more facts for you!!

• I used to teach antenatal classes for the NCT.

• H is named after my beloved late Granddad, we adored each other.

• I can do the Vulcan "Live Long And Prosper" salute with both hands & I can roll my tongue.

• Today, aged 38, I read "The Velveteen Rabbit" for the first time - loved it!!

• I am a late person. Late for everything despite trying not to be.

• I love cheesecake - I am on a quest for the ultimate cheesecake - the type that is cloying and claggy & sticks to the roof of your mouth like the Polish cheesecake we had when we were kids - I find it perhaps once every 10 years.

• Despite being a pretty good cook, I cannot bake a decent cheesecake, they are either too dry or too moussey.

• My sister is nothing like me, she is a size 8 pefectionist prefect - I am a size 22/24 "that'll-do-ist" who likes to break the rules!! She is my best friend.

I think that's all I can manage!!

How do you feel about blog awards? I love getting them, it gives me a real buzz to be acknowledged by the ladies who I admire the most. Lately though, I have been surprised to learn that some bloggers don't really "do" them, maybe it's just each to their own?

Now, before I go sciatica news!! Still v. sore though marginally better today - yesterday I had my hair highlighted laying down!! Luckily, my friend does it and so wasn't phased at all, bless her she even gave me a foot massage whilst my foils were cooking!!

S x

All Kinds Of Randomness - And A Giveaway Winner!!

(Do you sometimes struggle with what your post title should be? I do, I try and make it something that will grab a readers attention as well as give a preview to the contents of my post, but I think I am usually way off the mark!!)

I had a hobble around the garden, picked myself some flowers and took some pictures to share with you.

I'll start with the sweet pea saga - you may remember me wondering where are my sweet peas? a few weeks ago? Well, as of last week there were still only a couple of buds on the big bank of them and a couple of blooms on the ones in the pot outside the door.

I contacted The National Sweet Pea Society and the chap replied to basically say I was on a hiding to nothing as:

• They shouldn't be in a raised bed
• They shouldn't be in bought compost
• They shouldn't have been bought at B&Q
• They should have had their side shoots pinched out
• They should have been planted out way earlier

Mr G also noticed that they were covered in greenfly and so I Googled what to do and the majority of advice was to spray them with diluted washing-up liquid. So I did - and this is what they look like now:

It fried them!! :0(

I did it on a cloudy day too, so it wasn't as if they were scorched by the sun!! 

They are all dry and crispy but on a brighter note there is no sign of the greenfly!!

Luckily I didn't do my potted ones, although they look a bit tatty at the bottom they are OK:

This is our second year of having flowers (we just had lawn up until last year) and TBH the whole flowerbed is looking a bit crap. I favour the untended, cottagey look but things that are tall have grown at the front, there's big gaps and it's all looking a bit scruffy. Nothing I planted from seed direct to the flowerbed has been a success this year either.

The hollihocks have come back from last year (as did one delphinium, goodness knows where the rest are!!):

Look at Mr Bumblebee!! We have a tiny gap in the path at the front of the house, just below a large buddleia and we think we have a nest (hive?) living in there as we often see bumbles going in the hole.

We have pink ones too (hollihocks not bumblebees!!):

Now on to giveaway news - I used the random number generator and the winner of the Home Sweet Sewn book is:

A Mermaid's Purse - well done!!

I have been really honoured and chuffed to receive a couple of awards, so I'll pop back tomorrow to tell you about them and pass them on. I can't say how much it means to me to receive an award from a fellow blogger - especially as I am in awe of you all!!

Now as for my sciatica - still v. sore. I thought it was marginally better yesterday and gritted my teeth for the short drive to the garden centre but I'm not entirely sure that was a good idea as it's as bad as ever today. The pain has gone from my back and has settled in my leg - it kind of feels like that calf cramp you sometimes get at night - not pleasant.

Mr G did suggest earlier that "I bet your leg is fine now, you're just enjoying being waited on" - and I had to resist the urge to thump him!! Still, I can't complain he has been a star looking after me and the boys.

There's a Hitchcock movie on this afternoon "Dial M For Murder" with Grace Kelly so I am going to settle down in front of that with my knitting....

Hope you have all had a lovely weekend.

hugs,

S x