2011

Oh my its nearly here. 2011 is only 2hrs away, where has 2010 gone.
You know i keep thinking what things am i going to do different in 2011. Well i suppose one is for hubby not to go anywhere near fences again he he!
No for me its is the simple things
1. Learn how to sew with my NEW SEWING MACHINE that i got from santa.
2. To be more crafty to make more things rather than buy them.
3. To take back control of our garden as since hubby decided to erm break his leg it has gone abit to pot. It needs so much work...
4. Also to regain my veggie patch as like above it has gone to pot.
5. Buy and support local shops.
6. De clutter the house of all the things that really dont belong, all things in a home should be loved.
7. Continue to recycle waste and reduce the waste that cant be recycled.
8. Finish all those unfinished jobs that still need to be done.
9. I would love to learn a craft, glass blowing, pottery, crochet, knitting etc.
10. To find out who iam and what my  likes and dislikes are, i dont know about you guys but we as mums tend to do so much that we forget who we are as people, everyone knows us as someones mum etc i need to take time out abit more and find what  i really like . 

It makes you think, we are so busy running around cooking dinners, dealing with the children, hubby's, animals, work, food shopping you know the routine i need say no more that we forget who we really are, there is no time normally to think as im programmed to just get on with things.
In a way having started this blog in september has made me think of the things i would like to acheive or just try.  There are so many of you out there in blogland that make, draw, or do such wonderful things that you have all been a true inspiration to me, so THANKYOU.
So i hope you all have a truly wonderful 2011. x x x x x

gone in a flash

Well didnt that all go by in a flash. Christmas has passed and the new year is coming, i have to admit though i cant wait for the new year to start as these last couple of months have been enough to last all year and i know i still have a long way to go before things are back to normal but at least things keep improving. Anyway with all the xmas stuff thats been happening i havent showed you guys what cast my hubby now has......

Yes RED we thought it would be very festive and that it would match his toe cosy!!
i will have to apologise if you are abit sqirmish about his leg. i keep calling him my own little Frankenstien minus the bolts.
Bear has had a great time, you should have seen his dear little face when he realised that santa had been and that he had eaten the mince pie that we had left out, and you know i have never seen anyone so eager to open their presents before either. The other two were abit more calmer but then they are about 8 years older.

As you can imagine you couldnt see the floor afterwards, but al least fun was had. The rest of the day was filled with playing, entertaining family, eating, drinking and just enjoying the day.

So i hope you all had a fab xmas and lets all just look forward to what 2011 can bring!!

chocs away

Well today has been a fairly busy day, up for work at 6am to be in for 7am, which i have to admit was abit of a struggle today as you all may be feeling, as it has been bitterly cold and very dark at this time of day! but off to work i went  but lots to do, i work in a local retail company and as you can imagine everyone is out trying to do their xmas shopping whether it be food, clothing or toys. I had to do gap checks, serving customers,  replenish the stock, accept deliveries you get the idea, so as you can imagine i was pleased to finish and get home again to my family.
This afternoon though while Bear was kipping i thought it would be a good time to finish off my rum truffles. Its quiet relaxing spending a bit of time doing these not that there is much to them but at the same time you cant really rush them either. But after a little time here are my truffles.....



Rum Truffles yum...

 I still have to wrap them up nicely before giving them as presents but for now they will stay in the fridge, thats if i dont have to make another batch because i have worked my way through them! I know that prehaps you look at my truffles and think well there not very round, but to be honest i think thats what make homemade unique because there not like the shop brought stuff.

these are the shop brought ones

|Even though i have these chocs at home which someone gave me, they're just not the same as my homemade ones, fair enough these ones dont have any rum in them, but these ones just look so uniform all square like little pictures of art.
What do you think?
Anyway better get off the computer now as i now have to tidy all of Bears toys away back into the cupboard x

almost there

Well xmas is almost upon us, 1 more weekend, 7 more sleeps and the kids have broken up  for the festive holidays. Im i ready NO is the answer to that, im sure im not the only one that says every year ' next year im going to be more organised'.
  Anyway this year i decided that im going to make up a couple of hampers for my parents, as you know what they say 'we have everything, there isnt anything i really need' so at least with a hamper i thought they would use everything eventually. So yesterday i made another batch of lemon curd which just fitted into the jars that i had prepared, im also at some point during this next week  going make some really yummy if i do say so myself Rum Truffles. I have sold these before at our local gala day which is always held on the first saturday of July and my customers were truly delighted with them. One thing i did have to do before i forgot again was to go to the local florist and pick up some selophane to wrap these up in and of cause the xmas cakes that im also going to put in. I have to admit though when at the florist i was so tempted to buy some flowers they were gorgous, but  at £1.50 per stem i thought i had better hold myself back and concentrate on what other xmas things i still need to get, prehaps next week when im done i could go back and treat myself and get some fresh flowers in for xmas, will see..
   Changing the subject a little, while i was out in town the other day looking through the charity shops to see what little thing i could find, Bear got a little upset after seeing a thomas train on the shelf, i politely told him no we have thomas at home we dont need anymore and he got a little grumpy. Well anyway i then had all the customers and the staff say arh whats upset your little girl  and tried to cheer him up, notice the word HIM. After a few more comments i had to politely say to them im sorry to say but SHE is a HE. I know what its is Bear has gorgous hair with lovely curls, and i cant bring myself to cut his hair really short, it would be a sin. But you know it doesnt matter he wears boys clothes, no pink in the slightest but still people mistake him for a girl, i take it all light hearted though and i have to have a quiet little chuckle to myself.



Bear the cheeky little monkey!




i mean you have to laugh do i really look like a girl..



My hubby reckons that Bear is going to break a few hearts when he gets older....

Anyway i suppose i had better go and try and sort out some more things for crimble, so will see you all back here soon x

goodbye boys!

Just a short little note today.
Today is a sad day, as today my boys are gone. My two gerbils Fred and Ginger have passed away.
They were both fine yesterday, but alas i come home from work this afternoon and there they were. I do find it abit strange how they both decided to go, but at least they will stay together for ever.
So this is to Fred and Ginger  you will be sadly missed, goodbye boys x x

cosy toes

 6 weeks on from my hubbys accident im still his slave no sorry little helper. I have come to realise that he has this really annoying habit, no fault to him as i know he doesnt mean to do it but everytime and i mean everytime i go to sit down and just get comfortable he will then ask oh can you get this and oh can you get that. I mean can he not see that i have just sat down, no i say to myself keep calm, dont get stressed get it done THEN i can sit down again. In reality my hubby says im not too bad am i, i say oh yes you are he he. Come on it is panto time. Thankgod i have got a wicked sense of humour he he.
Anyway hubby has been saying lately that his toes were getting cold, so my mother in law has very kindly knitted him a toe cosy.

What do you think, very festive..

 Anyway he has his next appointment on the 22nd so we will see what happens then.

I would just like to say thankyou to everyone who commented on what colour cast he should have next, the Jury is still out till the 22nd so keep your eyes peeled. Sweetpea erm multi coloured i think you said, not sure if that is viable could prehaps ask, but as some of you said red would be very festive and i guess would match the toe cosy, lets wait and see.

pussy galore!

Last week we put up our xmas tree, we always put it up for my daughters birthday which is on the 4th of december makes it abit more special for her. I love putting up our tree as we put lots of crafty, homemade decorations on it.

my little angle, she looks out for us over the xmas break..

i picked these little gingerbread men up at a fayre i went to a couple of years ago

There is one xmas dec that i really cant remember putting on the tree and it does rather look out of place, can you see what it may be?

As you can see chewy the cat has found the tree. This is his first xmas so he is totally excited about having a tree inside the house. Im not kidding everyday since we have had the tree up he has climbed it at least 6 times a day. Decorations scattered everywhere, the tree wobbles from side to side and im surprised it hasnt fallen over yet!

Nevermind hopefully next year he will be alot calmer.

We also like to make our own paper chains every year its abit of a tradition in our house.

I do love xmas after all the rushing around getting everything organised you can just relax and take in the atmosphere.

What is your best bits of the xmas season let me know x

Visit from Jack Frost

Waking up this morning was a complete joy.
I know it was freezing but just look what mother nature has delivered, wonderful scenery as far as your eyes could see. There was spikey little points on everything. Poor chickens will have abit of a shock when they go outside today. Its funny you know im sure its much more colder now with the frost than what it was when it snowed last week. All i can say is thank god for central heating!



This is a view from my kitchen window.



 This is the area where i keep my chickens, as you can see from the picture their enclosure is abit frosted, you normally can see right through.

While i was out this morning i thought i would take along my camera to see what delights i could take, and now i would like to share these pics with you....

You know one thing i do love with these frosty days are webs, cob webs they stand out so much better and again another one of  mother natures miracles..

As you can see incy wincy spider has been very busy, im surprised in someway that these poor little things dont just freeze in these conditions.



I do love poppies, before they flower when you just see their spikey outers to when they undress to reveil their aray of beautiful colours within, and then when they have shed their colours to show off  the most fabulous seed pods.

Well tommorrow will bring another cold day not sure if it will be as wonderful as today, but you know this is what i love about our seasons they are so different but so beautiful in their own right..



browsing

while i was blogging tonight i came across this lovely blog called Silkie Sues, why not pop along yourself and take a look!  Silkie Sues Christmas Giveaway.. and as you can see for yourself she is also having a little giveaway too. I would have put a button on the side but i still havent managed to figure that one out yet, if you know then let me know. Ta x

 

mummies little helper

Today Bear helped me in the kitchen. I have  delayed  doing this for a while, just with everything that has been going on in my life at the moment i just havent had the time, but today is the day that me and Bear made some MARMALADE!!!
You have just got to have marmalade on toast for breakfast no other jam will do for me.
I have been saving all sorts of jars just for this day, only thing is im not too sure how many jars i need.
I have to be a little bit honest before i start  iam not making marmalade from scratch i have a little assistance from a tin of ma made. For those who are un sure of what this is, then i shall let you know. Ma made is a tin of  pre made marmalade so it saves on all the fiddly bits of peeling etc all i have to do is follow the instructions on the tin and add water and sugar, so i have to admit it is so much easier.

Here is the pot with the ma made, sugar and water.



Once the ma made, sugar and water are all in the pot we had to stir continously till it started to boil.

Bear was very good and ever so helpful. He was actually getting quiet excited by it all.

So there he perched on the top of the cooker, yes i know health and safety doesnt look good but i was with him all the time and believe me when i say he sat there as good as gold.

As you see from the photo Bear was ever so good and he stired it so nicely, so we took it in turns, till we reached the next stage.



Once it got to boiling point we had to  turn the heat down a little but still keeping it on the boil, we had to do this for a further 15 mins. When the 15 mins had past we then had to test it, im sure alot of you already know this but you have to put abit onto a saucer and leave for 2 mins and if when you put your finger through it and it ripples then you know your marmalade has set. Ta ta!!!

Next me and Bear  let it cool for a few mins then we could pour it into the steralised jars that we did earlier.

And as you can see i made a few jars out of this 1 can of ma made. All i have to do now is to put some covers on the lids. 2 of the jars are going towards hampers that im making up for xmas presents, along with the marmalade i will be putting in some more homemade items like homemade lemon curd and xmas cakes. Yum Yum.
You know you get so much pleasure in making you own stuff whether it is edible or not, but to know that other people enjoy your homemade delights is the icing on the cake.. 

The great escape

While sitting in one room today watching abit of Sunday tv, me and the family heard our little whirlwind Chewy the cat. Chewy has this habit like all cats i suppose if of being fascinated by our pet gerbils Fred and Ginger. He often sits on the top of their cage looking down on them, and wondering why he cant get  to them, when all of a sudden we heard this comotion in the next room. What on earth is going on i thought so i said to Cameron just go and check on what Chewy is doing. All of a sudden Cameron comes back into room saying ' the gerbils have got out the gerbils got out' oh god i thought this has happened once before and it didnt end so good as my eldest two found out the hard way.
First thing was to make sure that Chewy very quicky gets removed from the room. Thankfully we got to him before he got to the poor litle gerbil! So out he went, and the next thing was to find this poor frightened little gerbil. Out he popped so i picked him up and gave him a quick check over before putting  him back. He was so lucky.
I dont know how Chewy managed to undo the top of their cage but for now they are both back safe and sound.

Ginger after his Great Escape!!

cast away

On Wednesday hubby  had to return to hospital for his first appointment since being discharged 2 weeks ago. I have to admit we were both abit anxious about what they may say or do.
When we went into the side room the consultant who i must say was a very lovely young man told us that we will take a look at the leg first so off we went to the plaster room. The consultant did warn me though that it wont look pretty so just be prepared if i wanted to go in with him, and also that it could take up to 16 weeks before the leg even starts to mend so i think we are all in for the long run. Anyway after abit of a wait and after much thinking i thought be brave it cant be hat bad so i stayed.
Well off came the plaster and the bandages and slowly his leg was reveiled to me the first time since his accident. This is ok i thought, considering he looked abit like Frankenstein as he has two very long cuts on either side of his leg which goes from his knee down to his ankles. So i sat with him for a while sitting there for about 10minutes looking at his leg so i could deal with everything that was going on.
Oh but then just as i thought i was ok with it all, i just started to feel just alittle hot and abit sick, so i thought as suggested by the nurse that i would sit and wait outside the room.
Well 40 or so staples and so many stitches later i returned just in time for him to get his leg plastered. This time hubby decided to go with this colour!

blue

The question is what colour will he have next as i dont know whether you know or not but they come in all the colours of the rainbow!

My daughter has suggested RED

My oldest son likes GREEN

And Bear seems to like the colour BLUE

I think personally that PINK would be a good one he he!!

So the question that we are going to put to you bloggers is what colour do you all suggest? let me know what you think.

His plaster will be changed on his next appointment in 4 weeks time, so another trip to hospital right on top of xmas hey ho, we know how to spend a good xmas in this house.

All the colours!

Its getting to that time of year that we start celebrating christmas. 
Every year here where i live they hold a Festival of Light at the church, where different groups and businesses put up a tree. I suppose its one of the ways how our little community all gets together to do something special.
I thought i would share with you some Xmas joy!





This is the tree that my family put up for the Local Nature Reserve that my husband Wardens, even though he is still layed up in bed it was still worthwhile putting one up as it makes people aware of the flora of the reserve.

 On the tree instead of normal decorations we put up pictures of all the butterflies and insects etc that we found this year at the reserve and a little note about what  the reserve is about.







you might just about see a label that says bag it and bin it, this is a campaign that we have at the reserve to encourage people to pick up after their dogs, so far so good its seems to be working!





A business called Creative Balloons put together this one!



This little pink one was done by the brownies

The font looks fabulous

This one is done by the village allotments groups

A local farm that produces lovely fresh meats done this one

You may like this one as it has been put together by the village sewing club

The sewing club ladies made this lovely Angel and the wonderful little owl!!

Theses white wreaths were made by the guides, apparently they used white bin bags! Im all up for recycling!

So many people have worked so hard on their trees this year. Its amazing every year to come to the church just for this one weekend in the year for you just to lose yourself  and to forget about any worries you have even if it is just for a while.
If by any chance you also want to remember the people that you no longer have with you then there also is a very special tree in the church for you to remember them by writing a message and the popping onto the tree. Very sweet and thoughtful and such a lovely idea x

I do hope you enjoyed my festive journey x

Thankyou

Me and my hubby would just like to say a huge thankyou to you lovely bloggers for your very kind messages that you have left.
Please can anyone else let me know if they have had any problems posting comments on their blog or other peoples blogs, as i tried to leave a comment on mine but it just came up with there is an error. Its so frustrating after writing something then it doesnt get posted, then you forget what you wrote, so you have to start all over again.....

Poor Old Man!

Its been a long couple of weeks. Hubby is now at home after being told if he came home he would have to have total bed rest. So out came the sofa bed as he can't get up the stairs, and even though we have a downstairs toilet he can't even make it there!
He has to just lay in bed resting his elavated leg.

hubby in full leg cast..

I am totally  at  his beck and call all he needs now is a bell of some sort and he would be sorted!

I find it amazing, how on earth do us humans keep going when everything else around us keeps falling apart.

Ive got to keep positive next year will be a better year, the leg will hopefully eventually mend ok and we will be in happy days again.

One thing though that does have to change is smoking. The docters have told my beloved that he has to stop smoking or he could still lose his leg. So he has now got everything patches, gum, inhalators bad moods, grumpiness  and of course a great BIG pain in the arse. No he really isnt that bad...

Like they say when you get married for better and for worst etc

A week in A & E - i think my bad luck is still here!!

well let me start at the beginning.
On Monday last week my husband was helping out at a nature reserve by looking after the buffalo they keep there. When he looks after the boys as he calls them, he has to follow the electric fence that surrounds them to make sure that the is no obstructions to it. Well half way round he noticed that there was and as he went to climb over the fence as safely as he could so he didnt electrocute himself he somehow managed to slightly catch his trousers on the barbed wire and this made he fall and he fell on his leg.
 Well if you havent already of guessed he fell and hurt his leg, queit badly in fact, as at the point he phoned me while i was at home to say he needed some help as he has broken his leg.
So well this is where the fun begins i had to firstly call the ambulance to get them to meet me there, then they told me they needed an address which i didnt have as this nature reserve is inbetween two villages out in the fens. In the end they said they will find it so with this i then i had to phoned the manager of the reserve to get him to meet me there as he knew exactley where to go and to help as hubby was all by himself then i had to sort out the issue that was the children.
This wasnt too bad as my mother in law was to hand as she only just lives down the road, so i phoned her to explain what had happened to her son then i dropped off the children.  At this point i had my husband keep phoning me as he was tottally in the middle of nowhere with a broken leg a starting to worry as no sign of the ambulance. I managed to get to the reserve at the same time as the quick response vehicle, which we then realise wouldnt be enough so the paramedic phoned through to get a land vehicle to come to the site.
Then me and the paramedic had the task of trying to locate hubby in the middle of this reserve, so got hubby back on the phone to whistle until we got closer enough to see him. Eventually after walking through a very boggy, wet, slippery path with an electric fence on one side we found him laying on the ground in a very sorry state. Gas and Air was given straight away as the paramedic quickly realised he had broken his leg and he was in a great deal of pain. The only problem we all faced was how on earth are we going to get him out of there as the ground was so dangerously slippy and uneven. 1st thought was air crew but the helicopter would even struggle so that was a no. When the manager turned up the paramedic went off with him while i stayed with hubby so they could work out the safest and quickest way out. After 15 to 30 mins later the land crew arrived with more gas and air, stretcher, blankets etc and the manager with a mule (which is like a larger quad bike). Slowly but surely we got him onto a stretcher and then the task of getting him onto the mule but first there was abit of walking to be done 4 people with the stretcher, 1 carrying the gas and air, and 1 carrying other equipment. After a couple of slips in the mud and stopping and starting we all managed to get safely to the mule.
At this point the gas and air had finished so hubby had to put up with the pain till we get to the ambulance. After a short, bumpy, painful ride on the mule past the buffalo we reached the ambulance. Hubby was now nearly on his way to hospital 2 hrs after he first fell.
By the time i left him went home got changed (as i was muddy as a mud cake) popped in the make sure the kids were ok and made my way to the hospital, hubby was stil in A and E waiting to be seen he was now on his 4 bottle of gas and air. 2 more hours after getting to hospital the nurses found a bed then off to x-ray to be seen.
My dearest husband had done a proper job he had broken and fractured his tib and fib. OUCH!!!
He was in sooooo much pain but i was so helpless to help him, we just had to keep waiting.
Finally at 7pm they got him a bed on a ward i left him in the good hands of the nurses as the children will be wondering where there mum and dad were.
Next morning i phoned to see how he was and was surprised to hear they had taken him down already for his op, but then they told me they had to rush him down as he had compartment Syndrome and he was so close to losing his leg. omg!! deep breath! main thing is that his still has two legs at least they got to him quick enough!
Its been such a  long week up and down, up and down to the hospital im starting to feel like a yo-yo!
He had a second op on thursday to close his wound and to put on a plaster cast, hopefully he wil be on the mend, but oh no. Last night after i visited him they had to quickly take of his cast as his leg was starting to swell up again, but alas this morning he is starting to feel better again.
Talk about roller coasters ive been on a few this week, lets see what tommorrow brings!! hopefully sooner or later he will be coming home.

last of the summer

I can hear the wind blowing down the chimney the sky was looking grey,  winter is just round the corner, and next week it is November where has the year gone.
Well just before all of that i was pottering around my garden yesterday i thought i would like to share the last summering flowers as soon the colours will all be gone.

These are the last of our roses, we have are own little rose patch some of them have some lovely scents, my husband always says they smell of turkish delight!



Sea Holly

This year we brought some Sea Hollies, 3 different sorts, 1 sort flowered and has now dies back, 1 has'nt really done anything and this one has just started. I do love the spiky pods they have before the colour comes out.





 snap dragon


Snap Dragons i always remember these from my parents garden.  The way that you gently squeeze them open used to facinate me.


I do hope these flowers have brightened up your day!!.........