Recurring Dreams....

Ever since my Dad died two years ago I have had a recurring dream. The main "story" of the dream is always different but intertwined within there is the fact that "they" got it wrong and my Dad is not dead. He is back with us, but is still ill and is going to die again.


In the dream I wonder how "they" could have got something so wrong, and how it was discovered that Dad is not dead. The overwhelming emotions are relief that he is back and great sadness that I have to watch him die again.


I wonder what this dream means? I think that it might be because I feel that there were unresolved, unsaid things between us - more specifically from him to me.


A month or so before Dad died he was taken to hospital and I took that opportunity to give him a letter in which I told him what a wonderful childhood I had had, shared some memories with him and told him how much I loved him. I know he read this letter as my Stepmum told me, but he never mentioned it. Apart from saying to my sister and I "You are good girls" he never opened his heart to us before he went.


I hoped maybe he would leave us a letter but he didn't and I think this is the reason that I have this upsetting dream.


Apologies for being so solemn, I did think twice about sharing this but I want this blog to be *me* - completely not the edited version.


I do have something lighter to share with you though - another homemade bag:

OMG, it was a PIG to make!! I broke 12 needles as some of the layers were so thick and although my machine is pretty sturdy it did not want to play!!

I really like it now though, I just love the Cath Kidston print (and another CK tea towel label to make it look authentic!!)

S x

Another Busy Weekend - Painting & Papering....

Hello, my lovelies!! I hope you have all had a nice weekend?

We've had another weekend of DIY - well, I have Mr G was out all day yesterday RC car racing so he only had a few hours of it.

We went to a car boot on Saturday and I got a lovely large ceramic lamp base (which I have forgotton to photograph for you) for a £1 and Mr G got a couple of bits so he is rapidly becoming a fan of the old car boot sales.

Then in the afternoon while Mr G was out playing with his motorbike I made a start on painting the lounge white - it was a pale biscuit colour and I ummed and ahhed over various creams until I decided that plain old white was the way forward due to so many of the gorgeous shabby chic interiors having a white base and the colour added with soft furnishings and a splash of wallpaper.

Now, please remind me if I ever consider buying cheap paint again that IT'S NOT WORTH THE SAVING - I foolishly fell for the Wickes ad that says that professional decorators reckon their paint is super. It is not. It is thin and patchy and going from pale biscuit to white took several coats. Had I stuck to my gut feeling and bought Dulux or Crown it would have been a one coat job.

Before:

After:

Do you think it looks better? I'm much happier with it.

The cupboard we made over is fitting right in - I forgot to tell you that when we got the cupboard home I realised what I was that it reminded me of - The Marvellous Mechanical Mouseorgan off Bagpuss!!:

See?!! It just needs a set of pipes on the top!!

I have been having trouble sleeping lately and that is when I come up with all kinds of ideas, some of which are still good ideas in the morning, the majority of which are not but it was Saturday evening I thought of doing the old patchwork wallpaper routine in the porch which until now has been dull, dull, dull:

Now I love, love, love it!! You may remember I have done a similar effect over the bath  - this time I chose different papers. The beauty of this method of papering is it is free - I just waltz into B&Q bold as brass and take 3' "samples" of all the papers I like!! Does that make me a bit naughty?

S x

Edited to add: The wallpaper I took was from the rolls that are already open to enable you to take a sample, I wasn't just opening random rolls and helping myself!!

June....

I decided to take inspiration from my fellow bloggers and do a couple of mosaics. One of completed projects and one just because:

Gosh, I was busy making things this month!!

June is always a busy, expensive, emotional month. We have Father's Day; H's birthday; the anniversary of my Dad's death; W's birthday and then what would have been Dad's birthday - phew!!

S x

Versatile Blogger Award - So More Facts About Me!!

The lovely Ashley over at Jellybean's Odds and Ends has given me a Versatile Blogger Award!!

Thanks so much Ashley - I am thrilled to bits!! I just had to laugh as I looked up (can't touch type!!) and I had typed "trilled to bots"!!

I've been blogging six months now (where does the time go?) and I cannot tell you how much it means to me each day to receive your comments. I really don't know what I did with my internet time before I did my daily blog visits and I really feel as though I am making some friends - so thank you all, so much.

Now, I am charged with sharing seven facts about me and passing this award onto seven other bloggers - so here goes:

• Mr G and I have never been to America. These days it seems everyone has been but not us. We hope to remedy that next year before the boys are too old to appreciate Disney!!

• My sister jokes that the refuse tip is our furniture shop - she only buys new. Her loss I reckon, lol!!

• I am 1/4 Polish. I have often been told by Poles that they can see the eastern European blood in me.

• Although we have both, I am allergic to cats and horses. If I cuddle my horses or TC gives me a kiss (he loves a smooch and I can't resist) I come up in a red, itchy rash.

• I love musicals (and so does Mr G!!) Particularly Phantom, Chicago and Sweeney Todd.

• I detest fish, unless it is in fingers or battered from the chip shop. Any other fish is just too fishy.

• I wear my late Dad's wedding ring on my right thumb.

Gosh, that was hard!!

Now to pass it on to some of my favourites:

Crochet With Raymond

Bunny Mummy

Annaboos House

Teawagon Tales

The Quiet Home

Wired To My World

Suz's Place

S x

Another Mini Makeover, Crochet and Washing-Up!!

Did you have a nice weekend? 


Our dishwasher is indeed, on the blink so yesterday for the first time the boys did the washing-up. I couldn't resist sneaking up with the camera to get photographic evidence:

I

Then they saw me so H posed with his rubber gloves!!

I've brokered a deal with them that if they wash up every evening without complaint they will get extra pocket money - I didn't tell them that it'll probably be a couple of months before we can afford a new dishwasher!!

I've been making over some picture frames I got from the car boot sale - they were dated white and gold but only 50p each so I painted them with emulsion tester pots, gave them a coat of varnish and made a mount from scrapbooking paper:

Look how little they were, bless!!

I also crocheted a case for my phone:

Ignore the stray thread!!

The pattern is from a crochet pattern in a  free eBook from Julia Crossland.

Lastly, Ashley over at  Jellybean's Odds and Ends has very kindly given me a Versatile Blogger award, so I will have to think of seven facts and seven blogs to pass it on to and tell you tomorrow....

S x

Weekend Makeovers and More Birthday Pics....

I hope you are all enjoying this scorching weather? It makes a change after all the rain we've been having. Why is it the weather in this country goes from the sublime to the ridiculous? We have an unseasonably dry April & May and then it tips it down for the majority of June. Not good for the hay which means I'll be forking out a fortune again to feed my ponies this winter.


Anyway, let me show you what we've been up to this weekend.


Firstly, a couple of pics from W birthday tea at Grandma's on Thursday:

Mr G, Grandma, Granddad, W & H - look at at the size of those fish & chip suppers!!

Although the cake looks rather like a cowpat in those pics it was, in fact, a hedgehog (as requested by W):

A bit of a scruffy hedgehog

Yesterday we all the way up to Basingstoke to get a funny little dresser that I got off eBay. I wanted it to house the xBox/Virgin box/media PC/Wii etc as the sideboard we had lost a door when H hauled himself up off the floor by hanging onto it and Mr G couldn't fix it as the wood had split.

Apart from a car boot sale this morning we have spent the rest of the time giving the cupboard a makeover and performing the mammoth task of moving all the electronics and miles of wires from one cupboard to another.

Before:

After:

I just love painted furniture, I love how you can take a really ordinary, dull or dated piece and with a few coats of paint turn it into something beautiful.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out, I think it's as nice as anything from Laura Ashley and it only cost £40. Not only that it's eco friendly to reuse!!

We already had the paint, I used cream as a base then I watered down some duck egg blue paint and applied it with a brush around the mouldings and edges and immediately wiped off. Then I had a go at it with the sandpaper to create the distressed edges. I'll wax it too, but I have to get some.

I have car boot finds to show off too, but they are in the dishwasher and the bloomin' thing keeps washing for 5 mins and then telling me it's done and so I just hope it's not on the blink!! Will have to show them to you tomorrow....

S x

Kitchen Favourites....

Sarah over at Modern Country Style is having a Kitchen Favourites Link Party so I thought I would join in.


We're supposed to show a favourite part of our kitchen and tell you why.


Well, my kitchen is so dinky that the whole thing is my favourite:

When we moved in the kitchen was a hideous 1970's brown and beige formica affair and in an attempt to cultivate a Mediterranean look I painted the walls orange (over the wallpaper!!) and the cupboard doors dark blue which chipped spectacularly. Where you see the opening into the conservatory was a window and next to it the back door. 

After a couple of years we were able to afford new cupboard doors & worktop on the old carcasses and new floor & wall tiles. But it was still all a bit cheap and orange and I never really felt the love for it....

Then three years ago we had the conservatory/garden room (it has solid ends, with a glass front and peaked conservatory roof) across the back of the house. We really wanted the kitchen wall knocked out and the kitchen into the new room but due to money and regulations we had to make do with taking the door & window out.

We then got a brand new kitchen in my dream country style complete with butler sink and painted the walls my favourite duck egg blue:

Mr G's mum and dad treated us to the hoooooge fridge freezer

The only thing that is not quite right now (and in fact looks worse in these pics than in real life) is the cooker hood and splashback. A few months ago our stainless steel cooker door finally fell of completely (it had been hanging by a thread for years!!) and when I saw the above Aga style baby on eBay for a bargain price I bought it matching splashback or not!!

So that is our dinky little kitchen, small but perfectly formed.

S x

PS Ooooh and the side effect of this link party is the kitchen has had a good clean so I could take pics for you!!