Vintage,pretty & shabby

Putting pretty back

2013-04-11T18:17:00.000+01:00

Hillbilly Bella

Living with a grey sitting room is like living in a thunder storm. Well that's what I've decided anyway. hmmmm...bald bloke is not pleased with me. Fussy mare that I am.
It looked lovely when the sun shone (and when the brightness of all that snow shone through the windows) but who am I kidding? I live in England for goodness sake, by a big hill that makes its own micro climate that consists mainly of rain. We get a lot of rain here.
So commences the process of putting just a little bit of pretty back.

It has to be Celadon green. I LOVE Celadon green and it goes nicely with calamine pink and grey and funnily enough that olivey-yellow colour. Plans are being made.....
In the meantime, now that the stinky boys have both gone, along with the gadgets and remote control cars, pairs of crutches (found under the bed) and the general stinky stuff older boys seem to hoard, I once again have an empty house. Just me and the furry ones.
It's quite strange to start with I think I had 'empty nest syndrome' and although it was a relief to be shouty, stinky and untidy boy-free, I had that strange feeling wash over me that all of a sudden I was all alone.
It was the exact same feeling you get a few days after you give birth..but for the opposite reason. Funny that.

Inbetween a nasty chest infection and hacking cough that has lasted at least a month and looks like its got no intention of leaving just yet..oh and another dog bite (the perils of working outside in damp,sub-zero temperatures...and walking other people's dogs) I have been sanding and painting and planning and buying stuff I shouldn't on ebay..oops.

This was stinky Georges room.I couldnt believe the state it was in when he moved all his junk out, walls had to be re-plastered and the carpet cleaned 5 times! They're an 'orrible lot these boy creatures.Festering in their lair infront of the x-box.
It's going to be the guest bedroom, so all those visitors we couldn't have to stay before, can.
Calm pale duck-egg walls and a pretty wardrobe filled with pretty pastel coloured 1950s hangers...both eBay bargains.

Our lovely old, but rather knackered looking, black metal bed has gone back in here and they'll be some other old bits and bobs added too.

Bald bloke sprayed the fireplace with barbeque paint and it came out a treat. Looks like new.

I remounted this beautiful iridescent vintage butterfly and added a little label.

I need to track down The Laundry lady to purchase some of her gorgeous 40's style bedlinen, I've been hankering after some for a very long time.

I still plan to sort out the loft and put some stuff in my shop or on ebay but the whole house seems to be in some kind of 'state' at the moment, once its sorted out a bit more I'll have some space in my brain free for the next mission.I find it quite therapeutic de-cluttering and simplifying our lives. All the curtains are being replaced with simple linen roman blinds.All the walls are being painted in calm ethereal colours and my hoards of 'stuff' are being relocated. Even the peace lily in the lounge is finally flowering after years of just leaves.

As part of the simplifying process,my Beastie truck got sold. I had been worrying myself silly about the MOT in July as it needed a heap of work doing and an even bigger heap of money to pay for it.A mountain of money almost. Scary. A young man came up to me in a car park on Valentines day ( ooh I thought my luck was in !!!) when I was walking the dogs, asking if I wanted to sell it. I was quite attached to my old truck and my heart was saying nooooo and my head screamed a sensible yes, a deal was done a few days later and he bought it for great price, in good knowledge of all the work it needed.
I'm now the owner of a boring old Ford estate, very economical, comfy and with a working radio. woo. (the enthusiasm is overwhelming there dont you think?) It's not going to seduce me with it's fancy gadgets and shiny finery I'm afraid, but it'll do for the mo.
Unfortunately the bloke who sold it wasn't as honest as me and the second day of ownership the blinking thing wouldn't start. Aaarrgh!

This was the snowy sunrise view of the hills out of the window the other morning. They were far more pink than they look in this rather bad photo and the moon looked like a glowing silver orb.
It was silent but for the birds chirping away. So pretty. Roll on Spring....

Cheerio for now x

Grey January...

2013-02-04T21:08:00.000Z

Our lovely 17 year old 'Desmond '

I'm slightly shell shocked by last month. (oooooh nooo doom and gloom!! ..surely not again I here you groan) Sadly, we lost another of our Kitties, lovely miss Daisy, also known as the cat with the most made up names: Dee-dee, Desi-arnez, Debbie McGee(lol), Maggie or Desmond, but mostly Desmond thanks to Pete for some strange reason. She was the replacement kitty to cheer up a pining Basil after his sister Betty was run over many, many years ago.
Our lovely, fluffy, friendly girl who had the loudest purr in the world and who wagged her giant bottlebrush tail like a dog, finally had to make that last visit to the vets with me. Very sad.
Poor old Desmond.
I do so miss her and her two lovely daughters Maud and Ethel. I get quite worried that Mr. B who is 18 this year and my lovely old black Labrador Red, who is 14, aren't going to live forever like they promised me they would. Basil wanders from room to room making the most dreadful sad howl. Poor old chap doesn't quite understand where his furry soulmate has gone.

sad Basil

I also lost an Uncle too. It was strange seeing my cousins again who are in their 40s who I hadn't seen since our early teens.We remembered times from our childhood and their Cocker Spaniel dog.
In our family you always seem to be remembered by your dog.
My second cousin Richard gave an amusing sermon involving urine, well the word 'urology getting muddled up with eulogy' (toilet humour must run in the family). It was much needed on what was a freeeeezing snowy day sat in a freeeeeezing Norman church.

When I was a teenager in the 1980s, that cousin called Richard was in a pop band. He happened to be the very talented pianist in The Communards (and Bronski Beat).. anyone remember them? Jimmy Sommerville and his very high voice might ring a bell.
Now and again he pops up on TV and even hosted 'Have I got news for You' not long back. Fancy that!

The oldies came over from abroad and it turns out my poor old dad is really quite poorly. Losing his only brother has probably not helped matters much either.
France seems a million miles away when you don't possess a passport, your mum doesn't drive, you refuse to drive longer than an hour and a half and they live in a part of France that is in the middle of no-where. Hmmm.
He's having a scan tomorrow to see what is really up with those lungs of his. Fingers and toes are crossed.

In between the dips and gloomy bits there has been some good stuff, like my 'little' brother coming to stay. How I adore my little bro. We laughed sooo much and stayed up ridiculously late eating strange cheeses. he also made me try this posh salami and I likened it to eating someone else's scabs.(I haven't by the way..eaten someone else's scabs) much to his amusement and my utter disgust and horror, watching random old movies like 'The Fly' and drinking proper BRITISH tea.
The stinky boys idolise him and bombard him with questions about fancy cars and the latest gadgets and about once being the British Tae-kwon-do champion.
He's far more cosmopolitan than his 'hillbilly' knackered-pick-up-driving sis.
I think we've talked on the phone more this year already than in the past 10 years he's lived in Canada. He's having a totally pants time at the moment, going through a horrid divorce, so laughter is what is needed... and Cake and BRITISH chocolate... so I'm told.

big Strudders little Strudders

As you can see he's not so little, 6'3 in fact. Now we know who stole the tallness genes from his 4 older 5 foot nothing sisters.(I just grew outwards instead of upwards!)

Meanwhile, back at Shabby Towers, and inbetween an epic hair colouring disaster (I'm currently sporting muddy, dark, dishwater coloured hair..urgh) Bella nibbled the teeniest bit of wallpaper off from half way up the stairs, this in turn led to a chain reaction that ended up with my hall walls having to have the plaster chipped off back to the brickwork.
Cheers brown hound.
I know the hall needed decorating but we weren't quite prepared for it to that extent! Revamp time me thinks

.This is my mood board so far...

You might notice I'm moving away from the 'flowery stuff' and have gone a bit grey.Well, we've always loved the salvage/industrial look, old signs and letters off pubs, so we are going for a mash-up of old and new. I also have a colourful old fairground sign to put up somewhere. Pete is insisting that he wants the stairs to be dark grey. I'll need a little more convincing before he wields that paintbrush. A whole lot of simplifying life and home is going on at the mo,well, that's the theory
As it happens the last of the stinky boys is moving out later this month into his first home so before we decorate his room again and make it into a spare room and whilst it's void of boy-stuff we are going to completely empty the loft and garage (an epic chore) and then I will eventually be listing many bits of 'stuff' in my Blogshop.
It's going to take a while, so be warned, I might be absent from here for a quite sometime.. but I've got pictures, mirrors, old chapel chairs,eiderdowns, vintage blankets, quilts, a pair of rare Edwardian light bowls (from the hall) a Laura Ashley olive velvet Osbourne chair and kitchenalia galore to add at some point.
Ahhh clear out time!....so if you are interested, keep an eye on my side bar on this blog.

cheerio for now x

Feeling festive twice over

2012-12-19T15:53:00.001Z

Hooray! I'm actually looking forward to Christmas, now that makes a change doesn't it?
Probably because I'm actually seeing some of my spread-all-over-the-world family this year. My not so little Canadian based brother is coming to stay, (he's nothing like me.. tall,dark and sporty as opposed to short, fat and blonde) but with the same stupid sense of humor, we laugh soooo much when we're together
The oldies are trundling over from France and hopefully I'll even see my sister from Thailand too.Yay!
We are having 2 Christmasses, a family one and a gifty one..mainly because pay day falls 4 days later than the big day and someone forgot to save any money up because of urgent plumbing repair jobs and a getting carried away with a certain room being decorated...er-hum.
Oh well, it will be fun having two festive days.We'll be like the Queen and celebrate things twice.

We even have two trees this year, the big fake one we bought in the sale last year and a little frosty larch one. I found some blue baubles in the loft from about 15 years ago and decided to go a bit patriotic and a bit kitsch in the dining room....

behold the Kitschmas Twee;

you can't see the bottom as I ran out of red spotty ribbon!

I sooo love these 1950's paper balls

some decorations get sneaked on the tree every year

and are looking a bit ~~worse for wear~~ 'well loved' these days

you can't beat a blue flocked reindeer

meanwhile, in t'other room, grey stag head has his headlights on ready...

and it's all a bit sensible and frosty looking (still no blinds...)

don't tell the chickens!!!

...and it was all a bit frosty looking last week here too...loverley

We are training Belle to wear her jingly Christmas antlers but she spends most of the time thinking someone is behind her. When they do fall off, she tears round the house with them in her mouth making sounds more like of a herd of Santa's reindeer.

Butter wouldn't melt hey?

Old man Red, being very nearly 14 very deaf and almost blind will sit for ages in them but really is more bothered about getting his tea on time. My first ever post was about Red in his flashing Christmas hat, must be 5 years ago now...crikey!

it wasn't me...

He has the delightful aroma of cabbage about him lately, lets hope humans don't end up stinking of cabbage when they reach 13 and a half in dog years... maybe it'll be sprouts after next week. Just for a change.

Hopefully I'll pop back a bit more often next year but just for now ...
Happy Christmas to you...have fun! xx

49 and a half shades of grey

2012-12-03T15:21:00.000Z

Before you ask....nope this isn't about THAT shade of Grey!

It's not very exciting stuff I'm afraid, what we've been up to really, something and nothing.
I'd love to tell you we'd won the lottery and had buggered off to see the Grand Canyon in a convertible dining on nothing but sticky buns but alas, it's just been the normal boring stuff. Although, saying that....

Stinky littlest boy joined the Royal Air Force.He looks soooo grown up in his uniform, it's quite scary.

We went away 'oop North' and got to see the seaside on a stunningly beautiful but chillllllllly day where Bella unfortunately got poked in the eye with a stick (she's ok by the way) and Red got wooshed over by a big wave. We've also been doing a spot of decorating which has taken FOREVER but for no reason other than I can't be bothered with it all... oh and lack of funds to do it all in one go.Yep it's still not quite finished but I'll show you some sneaky peeks..

Cyril..who smells like old socks. Nice.

One job always ends up turning into 5 million more in this house,which I may have said already before.
The simple task of decorating the lounge, just a lick of paint so we thought but bigger cupboards had to be made either side of the fireplace and that in turn made the plaster fall off...you know how it goes in old houses..urgh.
One. Big. Money. Pit.
I must admit I ended up sneaking off and making cups of tea or getting sidetracked by a magazine instead of getting on with stuff like the hideous chore of sanding.

I'm turning into a right lazy tart in my old age.

paint;F&B Downpipe, Pavillion gray

Our 10 year old sofa had split at the seams and was becoming more than a bit uncomfortable, It was embarrassingly bad. Unable to afford the feather filled sofa of our dreams just yet, a trip to the 'Dodgy Furniture Store' surprisingly came up trumps with a simple grey velvet number (the never ending sale price and interest free credit for 400 years not surprisingly swung it). The evil twins Olive and Flo decided to pee on the our other one too, right through all the scatter cushions, seat cushions and base, not once but twice.


Library sign from 3potato4, a pressie from my little brother.

They also did it on me when I was asleep in bed.Yuk! Now that was a seriously eeeeeevil thing to do at 3am I can tell you! I believe it was my punishment for having them spayed and keeping them holed up at home with a litter tray. It made the 'requiring of a new sofa' decision much easier though.
The not-so-little kitty gits will be banished from the lounge unsupervised from now on though.Grrrr.

Anyway, I've done a complete turn around in my ideas for this room, I'm not sure whether it works or not but we'll see. After about 10 pots of tester paint we decided to go with the warm grey walls that stinky George's room was painted with. It was just right with the grey sofa and some charcoal roman blinds which will eventually be made from some bargain £25 linen-look curtains purchased from Ikea.(the shutters I long for are also on hold due to lack of funds).

shop letter via ebay from France

For someone that suffers with bouts of depression like me, it could be a dangerous step to go grey all the way, not to worry though, there's a bit of frivolous nonsense too..like Cyril, the stuffed finch, a large French metal shop letter, a painted pigeon hole cupboard and some kitsch 60s stuff thrown in for good measure.

Cyril came from ebay, glass dome £4 (bargain!)Homesense, housedust..free

I was amazed to read in Homes and Antiques last month about vintage taxidermy as I had purchased the exact same butterfly on the cover and 'Cyril' only days before its publication. Fancy that hey?!

We bought some picture frames too from Ikea, a whole bunch of them half price for £4 each and filled them with some lovely butterfly prints from the wonderful emporium named Rockett St.George (one of my very favourite online haunts)

The lacy-but-industrial-looking rusty metal lampshade came from there too. It makes a lovely pattern around the room when you use the right kind of lightbulb!

I usually hate any sort of change, become a grumpy mare and have sleepless nights worrying if it looks right or not but this time it was nice to go for something a bit trendier or colours I like but wouldn't normally consider. Luckily at this time of year you get lots of discounts, free postage and offers to tempt you, so lots was done quite cheaply.

Wooden stag Rocket&Rye, they sent the lovely snowflakes in my parcel as a pressie!

It's all looking appropriately wintery and festive now that we've begun 'Christmassing' up the house too.
One thing I do like is that by having plainer basic stuff, we can ring the seasonal changes with cushions
( yay for CUSHIONS!!!)

Velvet cushions cox &cox, vintage barkcloth cushion, ebay.

And if I do find it all too depressing and grey, there's always plenty more paint in the garage...

Cheerio for now. x

Pensioner's day out

2012-08-27T17:56:00.001+01:00

Now and again Bald bloke and I, like to go out on little trips which we refer to as our 'Pensioner days out'.

We like to live the high life, going out for tea and cake don't you know...

Well, after lots of debating on our half an hours drive limit (gawd forbid I get a blinking headache if we dare to venture further) we decided on Burford House Garden Store.

The interiors shop

It's not far from Ludlow, in Tenbury Wells (there's also a Burford near Oxford) and it was far more than just a 'garden store', much to our delight.
I could have spent a small fortune there, quite easily.

the reclamation yard

We were traveling behind a horrendous thunder storm and when we arrived it looked like they had had the worst of it already. There was a lot of mopping and sweeping water out of the shop and cafe going on.
The garden centre was lovely and quite reasonable,there were lots of plants that I had been looking for locally and everything had been reduced but what we didn't expect was finding a fabulous Georgian house that was an interiors outlet store, selling wonderful Newgate clocks, mirrors, candles and vintage-looking homewear, A children's wear shop with the most gorgeous clothes and toys I've ever seen, a wonderful reclamation yard (we both LOVE having a mooch in those) and a pretty riverside garden to stroll around attached to the house.

There's no charge to enter the gardens and they were shabby but lovely.

Old English country house style which is just what I love. I used to maintain a garden like this and they are super-high maintenance, by the time you'd taken a month to get round the whole thing, the weeds in the first part you did were two foot high and it was time to do it all again.

If I hadn't of got my most un-sensible flip-flops on (considering the thundery weather!) I'd have got stuck in with the weeding. I love a challenge like that.

Pete spotted this great hand painted vintage tin sign attached to a door in the reclamation part. It's about 30" high. Knowing how much I love old graphics and tatty stuff he made the lethal mistake of pointing it out to me...

A little bit of cheeky bartering later and it came home with us for probably a quarter of the price you'd have got it on eBay for.

It was a bit bent,covered in grease and filthy but very 'us'.He spent the afternoon gently cleaning it up with petrol of all things. An insanely cheap Victorian terracotta flower pot came too.

In the main house, I also spotted a mirror that I'd been hunting for. I have the little version but really wanted the big wall version for the bathroom. (You'll have to imagine the big one as it's still all wrapped up safely)

the little version

Ages and ages and ages that's been on my wishlist, so when we found it there for half price it was too good an opportunity to miss. Bald bloke just gives me that knowing look when I start whining on about 'wish lists' and the like. I promised to live off beans on toast for a week and it came home with us aswell.

The cafe was quite nice too..the cup of tea was pants but the cake was lovely!
(In my best Homer Simpson voice Mmmm Caaaaaake!)

The cafe with it's lovely Lloyd loom chairs

I'd thoroughly recommend having a mooch if you're over that way anytime!

The HQ incident...

2012-08-21T19:26:00.001+01:00

I was asked up to White Stuff Headquarters recently.
Very exciting stuff but also a bit scary.
Its been donkeys years since I went up to London on my own (probably about 25 years!) and I seem to be the worlds worst traveler.
If I dont manage to get myself lost, I'll get a migraine or throw up which in itself creates a viscous circle of worrying that I will.... so I inevitably do.
Sigh.
Well anyway, the journey there was surprisingly straight forward, I had forgotten quite what a fabulous thing the Tube is.Winding, breezy tunnels of gorgeous green, black and cream deco tiles lead you to those clunking screeching, rushing trains and your destination. I wanted to take photos of their colourful retro looking seat fabric but a fear of being clocked as a tourist (instant pickpocket target!) stopped me.

White Stuff HQ is in the Oval area of south east London. It's like entering someone's retro decorated home, not a company headquarters and you are greeted by a bunch of lovely smiley ladies who treat you like an old friend. Vintage 30s cupboards filled with awards, comfy sofas and old fashioned kiddy rides with a backdrop of whirly 1970s wallpaper makes you feel like you are stepping into one of their clothing catalogues.
I love White Stuff clothes and shop online with them often (always with a discount though!) When I go into their shops the assistants are lovely and dont make you feel awkward or too old or too fat to be in there, It's one of a very few shops I don't mind shopping in and even though they are more expensive than some others, I do feel it's worth it. This, apparently, has made me one of their 'super-shoppers'.... hence the invite.

The day started with me being missed off the list as they hadn't received my email to say I'd be coming. Oops. No problem, a name badge was quickly rustled up. Then the15 of us had a tour of the offices. We met the now infamous, Ivy and Lil stitching away in their little room, there's a 'street' with 3 mocked up shops, all as they would be outside in the real world, with windows displays and proper doors and signs and there are offices decorated in their quirky style, one themed as a Royal room (vintage royal portraits, red flock wallpaper, swags, velvet and tassels and a gold crest on the wall) a log cabin room (wood wallpaper, huge fake moose head) and the 50s kitchen with not one but three 1950s kitchenette cupboards and a formica table around which to talk business.
All in all a rather fabulous place to work (even your dog is allowed to come to work).

We were there to have our brains picked, eat a fabulous lunch (and afternoon tea) and see the new collections, giving our opinions on things like customer service, fit and quality.
Knowing that I'm prone to migraines and having been up since 5.30am I started on the water straight away.
I think I must have polished off about 4 litres before the queasiness and 'fizzy eye' thing happened.
Urgh I know those signs all too well. After a rather scrumptious lunch, the queasy thing took hold and I had to be excused to sit in the garden.
The offices are on the second floor and all face onto a glass walled garden that sits bang in the middle. So there I sat huffing and puffing, fanning my face trying to look jollier than I felt (which was bloody awful) like an over weight, nearly-middle-aged goldfish!
When it rained I snuck back inside, started drinking yet more water and the queasiness became the sweating, face draining sickness I dread.
The loos at white stuff have large portholes where you can see out but (un-beknown to me) no-one can see in.
Projectile vomiting 200 litres of water whilst on your toilet paper covered knees thinking that everyone outside can see you is not a good feeling. Nor is trying to wash the ends of your hair in one of those teeny tiny hand basins.
Drying your hair in a Dyson air blade is neither a good idea nor a good look! Dont try it.
Candy floss and sheep's wool come to mind.Thank goodness I had a pony-tail band with me.
My make-up now looked like that bloke from Kiss.
As you can imagine, by this point all I wanted to do was be transported home by time machine, but alas, alone, bar a handful of strangers and a long way from the big hills I was going to have to rely on my good old British stiff upper lip.
Keep calm ( sort your face out ) and carry on....
So the day came and went, we were thanked by The Lovely People and given a fabulous goody bag.. a scarf, belt , pretty necklace...vouchers and discount cards..whoopee!
I hopped back on the tube, took my super-strength knock-out pills at Paddington and away we went.

The train journey was slow. A sweaty man smelling badly of B.O was in my reserved seat and was most irritated to be moved, the lady behind me (well dressed,well spoken older lady, traveling alone) gave me a great running commentary on everything she ate, saw and drank, interspersed with the odd 'F' word.(actually it was more like every other word was the F word)
A posh student gave the whole train a loud phone commentary on his part in the Olympics, much to the groans of the passengers. I think a hundred hushed voices said 'it was the Mary Rose' when he described to 'mummy', Annie Lennox riding Noah's Ark.
It makes me laugh how no-one would ever dare to say can you please be quiet. Oh no, us British, we just tut and mutter. Sweary lady had a field day when posh teenager started up.

The train finally broke down at Worcester, having crawled home at a snails pace, It was dark and I'd missed my train link to Malvern. Urgh.
After some bribery I managed to persuade a friend of stinky boys to be my taxi.
I got home at last. Phewwwwww
As you can imagine, I didn't take any photos. The day ended up being quite surreal in the end. Almost like a Mr.Bean sketch!

I think This little video will show you how lovely the people there are and give you a sneaky peek into the world that is......... White Stuff.

I'm off for a lie down!..... xx

Ker-Pow!

2012-07-17T22:56:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post to shout out the winners name .... KAT! KAT! lovely Kat Whelan, you have won the splendid swimsuit as you were the 9th person to leave a message (my random number generator named harry in the other room shouted out number 9 earlier this evening, so I guess that be you!)

You can send me a message via my profile page and I'll forward on an email address to Hepburn and Leigh. Congrats to you! whit- woo someones gonna look a slinky minx in that blue beauty!

I've just discovered Kat's blog and I'm already hooked, being another lover of vintage crap and industrial stuff it's great to see what she's doing to her home and garden. Don't you just love the real-life blogs like that? I just want to read more and more. And much to my amusement her chap has an old Cortina.with a union jack roof. Love it!
Now that really brings back some 80s memories, snogging in one of those...(and a bright pink one at that!!)

cheerio for now x

Fantastic Freebie Giveaway! Kiss Me Deadly swimsuit!

2012-07-02T12:10:00.003+01:00

Those lovely people at

Hepburn & Leigh

have asked me, to ask you, if you'd like to partake in a giveaway..

Not just any old giveaway either one worth a

MAHOOSIVE £75!!

Hepburn and Leigh are one of only 3 online stockists of the exclusive Kiss me Deadly range of retro inspired swimwear.

Some of which is so exclusive, like the Jojo check playsuit, only 18 will ever be made!

***

Delores swimdress by Kiss Me Deadly

If you would like to win the gorgeous limited edition Delores, sexy, figure-fantastifying Kiss me Deadly swimsuit (or swimdress as it likes to be known) in the photo above, there are a few little things you need to do first..

***

Jojo check playsuit

Only 18 ever made!

1.Take a look at the Hepburn & Leigh website

(not only do they sell gorgeous retro swimwear but Lingerie,clothing and stockings too.)

Gorgeous AND reversible swimwear!

2.Tell me by posting in the comments form on this blog, which is your most favourite swimwear item on the whole site.

Ahoy Sailor swimwear by Frauline Annie

3.The giveaway closes midnight GMT Monday 17th July 2012

Ahoy Sailor swimwear by Frauline Annie

Simple!

The Delores swimdress comes in sizes 8-18 and usually costs £75

One person will be picked at random on Tuesday 17th 2012 and will be informed via email and/or a post on this blog....so please leave a name... even if its a made up one!!

Your name and email address will be forwarded to Hepburn & Leigh who will post you out your fantastic prize in your chosen size.

This giveaway is open to anyone and everyone...

GOOD LUCK!

Hooligans

2012-06-22T01:05:00.000+01:00

Our house sometimes seems like an extension of a rescue centre.
I've made some hasty decisions in the past (ducks and a turkey to name but two) which later turned out to be a bit of a disaster. Unfortunately the words 'I'll have them/I'll do it' fall a bit too freely from my lips some days and I then spend my days worrying about the hasty decision I've just made and its consequences.
Colin is now living as a pet on a small holding. Apparently he is in love with a pea hen and there will soon be lady turkeys for his entertainment too. Poor Colin, his very loud calling out for a lady turkey (every 5 minutes from dawn til dusk) was getting him nowhere.

These two little cuties are our latest rescue.
A farmer was going to drown them if nobody had them, so a friend of a friend of a stinky boy took them all and has been looking for homes for them ever since.
I seem to remember saying ' Okay, just one, not a black one (we've had 2 in the past and I fancied a change)and not a girl'
So here are Olive and Florence ( I know,she's not a caravan or a short-lived stripey hen but I do SO like that name...) both black and both girls..and just incase you didn't notice already, there are two of them.
Ho hum.
Kids are very good at persuading parents. They should take GCSE's in persuading, they'd all pass with an A*.

Olive and Florence spend their days climbing up inside the curtain linings, leaping across chairs and tables, eating plants and smashing ornaments often with an excited brown Labrador not far behind them.

And there was me thinking how boring life was becoming...!

cheerio for now x

P.S thanks for your messages on the last post, I've been a bit down in the dumps lately and a bit lost for words too, so sorry if I didn't reply..you must think I'm being very rude indeed! xx

Spring stuff...

2012-05-03T23:24:00.001+01:00

Ooops I did it yet again, disappearing off without telling a soul. Naughty me.

squished bears

Whilst I'm at home making myself poor by visiting eBay far too often (urrrgh hands up who else is sick of the flipping rain?) I thought I'd better stop by and poke my head round the door.
I have been busy with general stuff, visits from 'up north' sister..a sister who likes to walk and walk and walk (and then eat cake just like me) and a little brother who isn't quite so little anymore (dont know where he got his tall gene from) came to stay all the way from Canada.
There's been Stinky boy taking his RAF Airman's test ..and passing!

all new chickypoo pen

There's been a spot of decorating and lots of repairing stuff (mainly the chicken run as I fell over in it whilst wearing my pyjamas and spotty wellies, doing a spectacular roll in the mud and snapping off all the posts..Bald bloke found it highly amusing, being covered in chicken poo, I less so) Oh and our chicken run is in the FRONT garden....
Changing the little white car for a more 'manly' slightly bigger black one, (boys and their cars, honestly) I have the most 'manly' vehicle of all but nobody wants him as he leaks on you when it rains, smells like a wet dog most of the time and has bright orange arches.
Poor old thing, good job mummy still loves you Beastie truck.

Beastie

There's been the getting of super-duper new glasses after Bella decided to eat mine.
Bella likes to eat stuff don't you know. Blind as a bat for 3 months, I was.

geeky chic?

There's been some injuries, namely from over excited hounds smashing into my calf at about 30 miles an hour. It felt like no pain I had ever felt..ever. Like being punched very, very hard with a red hot bowling ball. Yow! The dogs were fine, incase you were wondering. I wasn't.

Harry (looking a little bit deranged), Felicity and Patricia (he named them!)

There's been Birthdaying, corrr I was very, very spoilt this year with lots of unexpected surprises, two new chickens to replace some dear old girlies and a Cath Kidston holdall filled with pretty stuff and Bald bloke bought me a birdbath. Reeeeesult!!)

Just need a weekend away now

And lastly there's just been the general dog walking and gardening that I do anyway.

Nothing much very exciting really but I know you like to know, just like I do on your blogs.

Spring is definitely in the air amongst all this rain because I'm getting that nesting urge again. I really do have distinct need to decorate at the moment (lack of the big funds unfortunately stops me) I would love to paint the hall and have new blinds, have those much longed for shutters in the lounge and knock a big hole in the wall to make our teeny lounge bigger. I have so many ideas I have to write them down in a book before I go to bed to stop my head exploding in the night. It's quite interesting looking back through it and thinking "oh I'm glad I didn't do that" or "yes I did that and it worked out OK"
I wallpapered a couple of walls a several months back and I love wallpaper, really love it, but every time I use it, I have a uncontrollable urge to paint over it a few months later.
About 10 years ago our bedroom originally had Cath Kidston pale green and white teeny polka dot wallpaper, it was really lovely but I got bored with it and painted over it in blue on a whim, much to bald blokes dismay. (that meant different curtains and bedding, you see)
Then I acquired two rolls of Cath Kidston Paris Rose paper. How I loved this beautiful rosy paper with its nod to the 1950's but I actually prefer the red version if I'm honest.

nope, way toooooo rosy

I papered the chimney breast in the dining room but once again, not long after,out came the paint. The same thing happened in our bedroom, a couple of lengths of rosy loveliness and then having just decorated and 'de-boyed' Harry's old room in readiness for my sister coming to stay, I splashed a couple of coats of my favourite Farrow and Ball blue over Cath and her rosy kitschness.Well, the paintbrushes were out so why not?... CRIMINAL isn't it? Especially as you can no longer get Paris Rose. A new old mirror (99p from eBay..bargain!) and a shifty round of 'stuff' and I can sleep at ease without the rosiness shouting 'LOOK AT ME!' all the time.

my 99p vintage mirror!

I just might wallpaper the inside of the wardrobe doors with the leftovers though, we'll see.
Now I know I must turn away and not be seduced by pretty wallpapers. I'm a plain and simple paint person and that's all there is to it. However I did see some fabulous pink 70s wallpaper on a trip to Tewkesbury recently and it keeps popping into my head niggling at me like a Labrador wanting it's dinner. Hmmmmm, I wonder..

cheerio for now x

My 15 minutes of fame..

2012-01-23T15:40:00.000Z

Whilst I'm hunting around high and low for a hospital letter with an appointment date and time on (Bella has eaten it I'm sure) I thought you might like a peek at this interview I did for US eBay's online magazine 'The inside source' back in October, which was published this month.

My original vintage Pex chicken sign from the USA

http://www.theinsidesource.com/article/pretty-shabby-blog

I know the photos are a little old now, been and seen sort of thing, but I was quite chuffed That Marni used the whole interview, just adapting my English waffle for US readers.
My wish list on eBay gets longer and longer, I'm sure my house would be cleaner if eBay, blogging and Flikr didn't exist!

What's on your wish list?..eBay or otherwise.

Ooh and I've done this thing with comments so you and I can reply to each other on the actual post..much better!
cheerio for now x

That Christmassy thing

2012-01-16T11:16:00.001Z

I made my first ever ~~Christmas~~ New years cake (with a little help from Delia)

So off it goes, yet another year whizzing by, taking the craziness of Christmas with it.
I have big plans for this year as I feel I completely wasted the last one. Faffing about,fretting and missing opportunities because of having the curse of zero confidence making me not go for a job I really, really would have liked (like, since I was 5 would have liked) arrgh! I could slap myself with a big wet fish sometimes. I should have a degree in procrastinating.

the kitschness tree

Anyway, back to Christmas, I got to choose my own stuff this year, with Pete working away so much it was a case of oooh look what Father Christmas bought me, isn't ~~she~~ he clever knowing exactly what I like?!

My manifesto for 2012, a present from myself!

Everything was covered in pine needles this year too, Harry and I bought what ended up to be the worst tree in the world, 5 minutes before the garden centre closed on the worst, most rainiest day in the wrong car (the little white car instead of the big beasty truck)
Bella ate most of the plastic or wooden baubles at her eye level, producing sparkly, polystyrene dotted poo the following day (she is currently on a mission to eat as many different things as possible, including my spectacles!) Every time we shut the door, drew the curtains, the wind from wagging dogs' tails (and possibly the wind from dogs bottoms for all I know, too) seemed to make a mass of needles drop off it..heaps of the things! The dogs, cats, presents, floor, us..we all got covered in prickly needles. I even found some in my knickers for goodness sake!
The poor, sad tree was a bunch of brown twigs by New Years Eve.
We have bought a pretend tree for next year in the sale, a bargain at £30 instead of £100 (crikey aren't fake ones expensive?)
I shall really miss the smell of a real tree because to me that is the smell of Christmas. Never mind.

Basil got in touch with his feminine side and helped me wrap presents

Before Christmas, whilst out on a jolly but insisting he wasn't drunk (yeh right, do kids forget we were 19 once?) George tripped off the curb and badly hurt his ankle.He was whisked off to hospital in an ambulance and the first we new of it was him waking us up at 4am trying to get up the stairs on crutches. His ankle was 3 times its size and bruised up to his knee but wasn't broken like the paramedics thought. He said the pain was worse than when he broke his collarbone...or his hand (3 times)..or his other ankle...or nose or his finger for that matter...and he couldn't put any weight on it at all for 2 weeks. He was due to start a new job fitting solar panels to roofs the following Monday. Talk about unlucky!!
So once again I have been the 'fetcher of things' for his lordship.

The boys asked for strange things for Christmas, George asked 'Santa' for "a bed that wasn't someone else's or that some granny might have died in"
George doesn't 'get ' the vintage thing.

Okay then, looked like a trip to Ikea for Santa (with George and his crutches in tow). His room has been revamped, it's all grey and white and retro-modern and parents are banned from it. My only imput was the Orla Kiely bedding which really looks rather nice and was very much approved of by stinky George and stinky, furry pesky Bella.We moved some metal locker cupboards from Harry's old room and swapped the shabby vintage linen blinds for some smart white wooden ones.
George bought a chair and the bed and Santa bought the side cupboards, funky plastic lampshade and various other bits and bobs. Ikea beds are HUGE..even the little ones are huge!
Are Swedish people all really tall as well as gorgeous?

The ouchy looking outline of Lady Luck

Harry asked for some money towards a tattoo, sounding like a complete hypocrite I begged him not to have one, gave him the lecture of 'its for life' but he went ahead anyway. He likes vintage things like we do, old cars, pinups and polka dots and often I hear old 50s tunes coming from his ipod. He's 18, doesn't live at home anymore and as much as I protested I didn't really have much of a say in the end.
It's just as scary when your kids grow up y'know...

I was given a lovely woolly pompom hat and scarf from George..

my new woolly hat!(and rather dusty mirrors!)

and Harry and his girlfriend gave me some lovely vintagey type things like a large green metal number 2 and an I grew up in the 80s CD..he thought it was hilarious that I new the words to most of the songs....bring on the disco!!

Well this month, like probably the rest of the UK, has been incredibly tight money wise, so imagine my utter delight when I won a phone in competition on the radio this morning to have a bill paid....a £99 and 44p bill to be precise!!
I must have sounded like a dithering, dribbling, gibbering wreck, and their pronunciation of my supposedly German sounding double-barrelled surname was hilarious, still, who cares? They could have called me Mrs Mashed-Potato for all I'm bothered!
A good start to the New Year and hopefully how 2012 will go on.
Pete's mouth is all okay too, yay! Although the lovely Italian mouth specialist actually made me snort with laughter at his demonstration of how the saliva glands work..yep we can see from 4 foot away that bald blokes work properly, hmm, thanks Pete! (she says wiping a shot of saliva from her eyes)

Happy, Happy New year to you all...cheerio for now. x

Bella, Bunting and the Bucket List....

2011-11-21T15:59:00.011Z

Thanks for all the Bella and Colin love on the last post. x

Bella actually belongs to George which means I get called 'Granny'....can't say I'm too chuffed about that! Colin is still as mad as ever, he flew right down the garden the other day, crash landing in a bush so it looks like I'll be getting the scissors out to clip his wing feathers again soon.
See, I told you he was a bit of a berk.
Bella (or 'The Belly' as she is known, typical Labrador- stomach on legs) is learning all the good habits from my lovely old black Labrador, Red, who is in turn learning a few naughty habits from his new little sister. You should here the racket Colin makes when they play together in the garden, who new Turkeys made such good referees?

Bella and Red

I quite like having another girl around, it means 'Granny' gets to buy pretty Cath Kidston flowery dog beds and leads and butterfly shaped pink dog toys!

Anyway,I'm trying my hardest to get into the Christmassy spirit thing.

It feels a bit weird to be thinking about Christmas just yet, I feel like this year has just flown by, the weather has got me out of sorts too, one minute it's mild and I'm wearing a t-shirt to garden in and the next it's blowing a gale..last year at this time we were deep in snow! I know it will creep up on me far too quickly, I'll be disorganised and probably skint as usual..especially as we have just had to have a new all singing all dancing economical combi boiler fitted...yikes (I'm sat here sweating cobs and now realise just how bad our old boiler was, I think I need to adjust something to make the house cooler! phewwww )

dotcomgiftshop

Recently I got sent some of this gorgeous Christmas Bunting from the DotComGiftShop
If you dont know this website already, click the pink link you will discover a whole heap of kitsch and pretty loveliness at your fingertips...Christmas or otherwise. Now I can't wait to string them up. Jolly little houses and snow scenes, I think they have the same sort of look as a certain Mrs Kidston.
I'm going to get some kitsch flocked reindeer lights this year too as they are just my cup of tea..kitsch and 50s looking but without the dodgy vintage wiring!

I think a certain Bald bloke would like a cup of tea in this mug

and I'm so in love with this framed doggy print.

It was always my job to go to the post Office when I was younger to purchase the 13p dog licence when it used to be 'required by law'.

That'll definitely be on my wish list...pretty please Father Christmas!

Pete and I have been away 'oop north' again for our annual trip to Northumberland to see amazing fireworks, puppy worship (two of my sisters have puppies too) drink far to much frothy coffee and eat waaaay too much cake, oh and to tick something off my Bucket List.

I'm very lucky to have a great family, who mean everything to me.
I adore my 3 sisters and my little brother who I just don't see often enough.

photo:Google

My brother-in-law whom I've known since I was 4, ( he and my eldest sister were childhood sweethearts) treated me to something I've wanted to experience in a long time, an Opera.

photo:Google

OOOOOH posh stuff!! It was at the amazing Newcastle Theatre Grand , a beautiful Victorian place which has recently had a 5 million pound facelift (pity about the new chairs though, they had to be THE most uncomfortable chairs ever in the world..fidget, fidget, fidget)

I went to see Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

photo: Google

Set in the 1940's, in the hills above Nagasaki, it was beautiful, very moving and you don't need to be fluent in Italian to understand the story of Lieutenant Pinkerton of the US Navy the and his 15 year old Geisha bride to be. The singing was incredible and the parts you recognised musically gave you goosebumps.
Wonderful stuff.
Big TICK of the list that one.

Of course when 'oop north', there is the obligatory shopping to do, especially in the Roman village of Corbridge which has Dickensian streets of stone houses and shops with Christmas windows that might even make old Scrooge smile. I spent some hard earned pennies in one of my most favourite shops.. RE
Giant paper snowflakes to hang in the big window in the dining room, architectural shop letters that will eventually light up and various other bits and bobs came home with us.

Inspired by a local coffee house, I'm going to make a cushion out of (yet another) tea towel, this time from a vintage French map of Britain.
If only you could smell these gorgeous French soaps!

Perfect colours for our 1930s bathroom.

They have some really great, quirky stuff there, far more than on the website.

Unfortunately,November also saw both my stinky boys loose their jobs, so we have been a bit pre-occupied here, I worry myself silly about things and if I'm not careful I get a bout of Shingles or the dreaded Migraines. This month its been the latter. Great.
December is lurking around the corner which as you know,is one of my less favoured months, already we have hospital visits lined up, (lifting heavy mowers into trucks does you no favours ladies!...get doing those pelvic floor exercises!!) and the dentist found something odd in bald blokes mouth which requires a biopsy.Scary stuff. Keep your fingers crossed for him pretty please...he's my rock. x

Cheerio for now x

p.s
Xxx's....for Lynn for her lovely Harry....

Unimpressed

2011-10-14T16:03:00.000+01:00

Red, Basil and Daisy are completely unimpressed by 'Colin', the crazy acting, odd looking, beeping, peeping, gobbling turkey (yay, I got one at last!!!) he sounds like a futuristic ray gun, "peeeawwwww peep!" until he hears a passing siren or a child crying or a screech of tyres, then he does his proper "gobble gobble" turkey noise.
Colin came from a teeny cottage tucked away in the Forest of Dean. A lovely little old couple kept them because they liked them along with lots of other creatures feathered and furry. I promised not to eat Colin and he came home sat on the back seat with me. We got some very funny looks when we stopped for petrol and he peeped out the window.

He looks like a miniature ostrich who's wearing their intestines as a neck warmer and he acts (endearingly) like a bit of a berk.

The ladies like him and he rather likes them.
Happiness.

However, Daisy has found the highest place in the house and gone on hunger strike and Basil is just plain horrified at the other new arrival at Shabby Towers.
They are completely unimpressed by the new 'thing'

Basil could win the X-factor with all the wailing that's going on.
Red, who at first couldn't even bear to look at the new 'thing', has finally come round to the idea...

and the humans at Shabby towers are all in totally besotted and in love....

.....with Bella.

This week's messages on the fridge..

2011-10-11T22:19:00.002+01:00

Fridge love...

mummy love....

Brotherly love...(er-hummm)

Keith Lemon love...

and I just plain love this...

***

Teatowelaholic

2011-10-03T16:28:00.001+01:00

Nothing much interesting has been happening round these parts, just the mundane everyday stuff....like a lovely, lovely gardening customer of mine dying from that awful thing beginning with C... the cooker, boiler (again), tumble dryer and my precious, indispensable and expensive big boys Honda lawnmower packing up after 10 years service,(hence me selling practically my entire wardrobe from when I worked in a shop, on eBay to fund a new one) Dislocating my little finger by having a dog lead wrapped around it when a dog bolted, (corr that hurt!) oh and reversing my truck into the brick wall that stinky boy and bald bloke built and completely buggering it up so much so the whole thing has got to be re-laid....yep,you know, just everyday mundane things like that.....hmmm think I need reviving with more than a cup of tea!

Anyway moving swiftly on to pretty stuff...

One of the many things that I seem to hoard are Tea-towels.

I love tea-towels

Cheap,cheery tea-towels.

Vintage ones, seaside ones

and of course,Cath ones,

I like the fact you can pick one up for under a tenner and it will hang there looking cheery by the sink on the dullest of days.

When we have a proper kitchen (ie; a kitchen bigger than 5'x7') I hope to frame some of them for the wall. I've made cushions out of a couple and even a pillowcase, so that versatile rectangle of drying up cloth does have its uses.

Recently I was asked if I'd like a couple of freebie tea-towels in exchange for a mention...ooh yes pleeeease would I!!

I even got to choose so I picked a Greengate one

and a fab atomic fifties patterned one

which I've never seen the likes of before.

The red Greengate one will be used as a proper tea-towel and the gorgeous 50s abstract one will eventually be made into a cushion...(I think!)

They came from an online shop called
All tea-towels
(click the pink link if you'd like to take a peek yourself)
which I think is a fabulous idea..a shop selling nothing but tea towels in all different styles and best of all, postage to the UK is free and silly cheap to everywhere else (How many times have you seen the perfect thing online only to find the postage costs more than the one you want?)

These are some of my favourites from this fab online shop:

Tunnocks tea cakes!..my favourite kind ...and calorie free if you buy them this way!

Arent they just great?
The 'easy as pie' one is particularly appropriate in this house, I can make boiling an egg a whole new experience...egg explosion anyone ?
There are all sorts of designs to find there from traditional to modern, birds, butterflies, chickens...gravy!.. all sorts.
Thankyou Al, for the fabulous freebie tea-towels and the link to yet another fab online shop which I shall put in my sidebar, I think its just a brilliant idea and no doubt I shall be back for more to add to my stash!
***
I'll hopefully be popping back again in October to introduce you to Colin, the new man in my life...so cheerio for now.

Jolliday

2011-08-31T23:47:00.014+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, Bald bloke and I went off on a jolly to Devon.

Sea and sand (and pebbles) ice creams and rubbish British weather...weh hey! You cant beat the feeling of toes in silky pink sand and the smell of good old vinegar and chips by the seaside.

Ooooh it was so nice spending more than the usual 48 hours a week with the bald bloke, no stinky boys and no cooking! (that, believe me was the biggest highlight as I loathe cooking to the point that I'd rather squeeze lemon juice in my eyes than rustle up a meal for 4)
We did have one very sunny day where we went up coast to the rather quaint Lyme Regis, Sidmouth and a place called Beer and on the rainy days we went to the pictures to see the Inbetweeners which, having a toilet sense of humour and being the owners of two teenage boys, we both found hilarious to the point of tears or mooched about the shops and pretty villages stopping to drink tea and eat cake in twee teashops.
Great stuff. Just wish we had a bit more of the old spondoolies to spend there though as we visited some wonderful antique centres and a museum full of vintage signs and motoring memorabilia that was about to close forever and be sold off.. I only bought a little vintage pot home with me from Devon as I loved the Celadon green colour and the cute little deer and rabbit.I did get my swimsuit though, a spotty red and white 50s style one from ForLuna, which made me more of a butternut squash shape than a baking potato but the 'walk of shame' was not only a quick scuttle from the changing room to the pool.. ohhhhhh nooooo siree, it involved slippery flights of stairs and glass doors that refused to open aswell as the forgotten towels and having to do a swim-suited 'mince' to reception to borrow a pound for the locker.
All in all, a hideous out of pool experience.
Hmm swimming is definitely not my thing..
(but at least I had a gorgeous swimsuit)

We came home to a weeks worth of cleaning and washing, the obligatory broken mug and thirsty chickens
but at least dog-fur covered house was still standing.
BOYS are pesky and stinky creatures I can tell you.

Last week I have had the oldies to stay from over the sea who I haven't seen for a year, it takes a while to get used to seeing your parents after that length of time as strangely you remember them best from your teenage years and still expect them to look like that.
Tomorrow I've got to think up free stuff to do with my bestest buddy.
I think a picnic is called for by the river.

August..you have certainly been a mad busy month!
Now I'm off to list stuff on eBay so that I have more than 89p in the bank for September!... cheerio x

At Last!

2011-07-19T18:13:00.006+01:00

Finally, after many years of searching, many near misses on eBay and many hunts in antique or junk shops to no avail, I have found a pair of Avery sweet shop scales. Luckily they weren't fifty squillion miles away from home (nobody will post these as they weigh an absolute ton) and didn't cost the earth...infact they were quite a bargain and cheaper than my normal boring everyday scales...Yay!
Aren't they just fab? I spent Sunday afternoon dismantling them and cleaning 56 years of sweetie shop grime from them..and how do I know that it's 56 years? As the date of May 8th 1955 is stamped inside.
Now I've just got to fathom out how to get the needle back to zero. Maths was never my strong point!
Don't you just LoVe it when you can tick something off the wish list!

ps. Thankyou so much for your last lovely messages, it was so nice that I hadn't been forgotten and that you don't mind putting up with my waffly, erratic posts! x

Go on say it....

2011-06-27T15:08:00.011+01:00

ABOUT BLOOMIN' TIME you old crow..I hear you shout. Yes, I know, I've been gone an absolute age but you know how it is some days, life comes charging by and sweeps you along at warp speed, (that, and the fact I lost yet another very old kitty which made me a bit sad and I'm not very good at doing anything else when I'm doing sad)
Thanks for the emails asking if I'm dead or alive. I think I'm somewhere inbetween so I'll make this one a big post about nothing in particular as no doubt I'll scoot off again, doing two highly knackering jobs with funny hours dependent on the weather makes you do that sometimes.

::Weird freaky stuff
Now you might think I'm two sandwiches short of a picnic when I tell you this, but this is how it happened so I'll just come right out and tell you.At the height of my feeling down and tearful and thinking that the whole world and it's wife hated me, I had a visitor.
I woke up with a start to find a lady stood by my bed. Just stood there looking at me. Needless to say when you wake up to find someone unexpectedly stood by your bed it freaks you out slightly.I freaked out big time and hid under the covers, waking Pete up with my absolute freaky-outy-ness. Maybe it was a dream, I dont know, but I do know that this strange perfect heart shaped mark appeared on my arm a few days later.

It usually takes a huge whack to bruise me and I haven't bumped into anything heart-shaped or been stung by a horse fly or anything like that. It was just there, not hurting or anything.It stayed for a week and vanished as quickly as it came.(It had faded a bit when we took this photo, believe me, it was a perfect heart!)
Weird and freaky indeed but strangely it did lift my mood, I feel ok again and feel like the world isn't against me, which is why I'm here blogging. Ok that really makes me sound like I'm barking mad, what a way to start a post!!

::The paper knickers saga

A couple of people have asked how George's nose is after his reconstructive surgery. It's very good thankyou and you can't see the join where they stitched it back together with a bit of his ear...very clever stuff.
It was a bit weird seeing him with a slightly different but very nice 'textbook' nose, no-one else could tell the difference from his pre-accident one but I could because I made it in the first place. Being the right wuss that I am, I must admit I shed a secret tear for the old nose.
We wont go too much into the saga of the surgical paper knickers he was asked to wear but eventually after such a blooming hooha and delaying the surgery he was allowed to wear his own boxer shorts. Vanity? My son? Naaaah.

::The Marmite chair

I bought a gold metal and nylon velvet 1950s chair for £6, took it home sprayed it red and am in the process of covering the seat. It spins round. I love it. Basil loves it too especially when it spins but then he's always been a bit odd..he also like to be hoovered with the vacuum nozzle. Did you spot him in the White Stuff catalogue in his spectacles? Fame has gawn to his head and he finally has his wish of posh princess sachet food..(well there's only two kitties left now so I think they are allowed)
Everyone else thinks this chair is vile. A bit like Marmite..which I can't stand and everyone else in this house loves. Urgh.

::The Rainy day lampshade

I spent ages hunting for a cheap large white linen drum shade for the £4 standard lamp base I renovated ages ago, only to end up covering it on a whim one rainy Sunday afternoon with some fabric I'd saved for a deckchair.
Mmmmm, 1950s painterly lushness how I adore thee..

::Things you thought you hated but have now decided you like

I grew up with things like this, 70s bubble glass and G-plan furniture.Funny how you can change your mind about stuff isn't it?

::Square balls.

Remember my round-but-take-forever-to-clip box balls? well they are now slowly becoming a hedge.
There's been a lot of changes in the garden, the extra cold winter we had killed off a lot of plants front and back so I took the opportunity to change a whole border in the front, taking out large shrubs and replacing with my favourite perennials, it's all still a work in progress but then that's how gardens should be, an ongoing thing.

The first year is always the crappiest as everything tends to be the same height.

I'm far better at doing other peoples gardens than I am my own, if I'm redoing a flower bed for someone, I've got a budget, a colour scheme and a soil type but when it comes to my own plot, well that's another thing altogether. I'm a bit like a kid in a sweet shop when I'm at the garden centre and buy the pretty stuff I love with no-where suitable to put it! oops!

::Chickypoos

It wasn't only our 21 year old cat Winnie, that died, I also lost several of my old ladies this year including lovely old Big Bessy so there are 3 new lovely young chickypoos joining the flock; Florence the Barred Orpington and a Black, feathery legged Cochin/Orpington hybrid who looks like she's got 70s disco flares on and a jacket of the most amazing beetle-black colours, she's called Fanny (after Pete's Granny incase you're wondering who was neither black nor had a pair of 70s disco flares but there you go) and a Lavender Orpington called Beryl. The Barred one is HUGE and still only a baby. They came from a fabulous farm near us that takes chickens in for boarding, they sell beautiful,friendly, healthy birds in immaculate pens (often occupied by an oblivious Bacon the Jack Russel too) a farmhouse looking like it's straight out of Country Living and to die for Shepherds huts, made on the premises to order. Needless to say, I rather like going the 5 minutes down the road for a chicky-fix. (there's a link HERE if you'd like a peek)

::London

Pete HATES London. Only because he has to drive a 44 ton lorry through the hoards of traffic cutting him up at every opportunity and giving him more verbal abuse there than anywhere else he goes to in Great Britain. It makes him grumpy and it makes him sweat alot as there are hundreds of low bridges and narrow streets down there that his Sat Nav always seems to miss and if you come to one of those it means a lot of slow manoeuvrings, hooting, being sworn at and hassle all round.
I on the other hand have rather fond memories of our capital city.We used to live on the London /Essex border so trips to see that huge blue whale in the British museum and the Changing of the Guards were commonplace. I had my 5th birthday at London zoo when Chi-Chi the panda came over from china and it causes a heap of excitement, (poor old Chi-Chi is a stuffed exhibit in the aforementioned museum these days) then there was my 10th birthday at Madame Tussuads and feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar square.My first proper visit to London with Pete was to go to Johnsons on the Kings road for a pair of much hankered after biker boots, a visit to Flip for some 50s American bowling shirts and a milkshake at Eds Easy Diner.
Although I haven't been there for years, I do rather like London.

Don't think my other half will be too impressed with this though when he gets home...
I, on the other hand, love it. A kitschy 1950s London souvenir tablecloth.

::Swimsuits
I am trying to find a swimsuit with a retro look. Not an easy feat when you are shaped like a baking potato...this is the lush list so far:

Laura Ashley

For Luna

Cath Kidston

Ideally I would like to be able to just appear in the water without having to do 'The walk of shame' to the pool, but if you're going to look like a walrus, you may as well look like a walrus with style...

::Mollie Makes

Oooh this is the most fantastic magazine ever in the world, like, EVER. I've canceled my Country Living subscription and subscribed to this one instead.For the first time in months I've actually wanted to make stuff and this is what has inspired me.AND, you get to see in some of our favourite bloggers' gorgeous houses so it's not only making things. Go get it, you really do need it in your life.

So there you go, see..told you, nothing exciting, just some stuff to waffle on about but I thought I'd better show my face sooner rather than later.

Cheerio for now x

Dragonfly Day

2011-04-05T16:00:00.003+01:00

It's Dragonfly Day today!

This is a 1-day international event to raise as much money as possible to help my lovely niece's charity which she set up before she died.

If you can, please donate a small amount through the pink link below or by clicking on Josie's picture. Every single pound is more than appreciated by these children and their families-

You won't miss a couple of quid but your donation will help to brighten the life of a child or young person who has been told their cancer is no longer curative.

I think the video above speaks for itself.

This... is for Josie's 21st Birthday....Thank you x

www.justgiving.com/dragonflyday2011

Round the World ONE DAY Dragonfly Challenge

www.justgiving.com

The winner is.....

2011-03-01T21:29:00.002Z

Well thank-you all very much for entering my give-away (and leaving some really nice messages too x)
I'm so glad you love Zia's lampshade creations as much as me.

The winner, chosen by my random number generator (Harry in the next room) turned out to be

CHERYL

who popped over via a link she found on the Tales from an OC Cottage blog and left a really lovely comment about Karma..

Well it turns out Cheryl, that karma has in turn, visited you and you have won the 'Lovely Day in Paris' lampshade. Congratulations!
Do please get in touch with your email address (you can email me via my profile page) and I will forward it on to Zia so she can get the details she needs to send it off to you.

Today is St.Davids Day, the patron saint of Wales where it is tradition to wear a Daffodil or Leek on the 1st of March....
So I'd just like to say Dymuniadau Gorau ar Ddydd Gwyl Dewi to any Welsh readers
(which I do hope is the right way of saying 'best wishes on St.Davids day!)

I'll be popping back with some more fab giveaways soon, but first my eldest son, George is finally having his car-accident nose sorted out next week so that will be an interesting few days. Part of his ear is being used somehow to repair the damage. He thinks he's going to come out of hospital with a nose looking something like Michael Jackson's or with an ear protruding off the end of it.We have had some rather amusing conversations about it to say the least..At one point we had him really going and actually convinced him that he would be able to hear out his nose.Silly sod!
Cheerio for now x

Light up your life with a GIVEAWAY!

2011-02-04T19:11:00.002Z

OOOH at last...exciting, LOVELY stuff to talk about ... A GIVEAWAY!!!
We love giveaways in blogland now don't we?
So here is something to cheer us all up in that cold inbetweeny bit before the Spring comes.

One of my favourite shops to mooch in when I'm re-decorating is Zia's fabulous lampshade shop,

The Old Lamp Shed

I would love to be able to make lampshades like these below, but alas I cannot so it's lovely to be able to say I know a lady that can.

Her designs were recently featured in a Cath Kidston catalogue and her attention to detail is lovely, little trims and ribbons that co-ordinate beautifully with the fabrics.

Zia has very kindly offered one lucky person a lampshade from her shop to the value of £40..
yep you heard right..completely and utterly FREE.

How Fab is that?
The hardest part is picking a favourite as I love most of her designs, check out the secret message lamps which are really ingenious (I ought to get one saying 'stop snoring you old toad,you're keeping me awake' maybe that'll brainwash the men in this house!)

So anyway, how about...

a Cath Kidston one?

or a Frenchy one?

A girlie one?(from the made to order range)

or a blokey one?

a retro one?

or maybe a posh one?

All you have to do is pop over to The old lamp shed, have a mooch through Zia's creations,(I've only shown you a few designs here) pick which one you would love to own (up to £40 in value) and leave a message on this post saying just that " I'd love this one... in this... size please."

You don't have to have a blog as you can leave a message under anonymous (but just to save any confusion you may want to add your initials at the bottom of the message as we'll need to get in touch with you if you win!)

Then at 8pm on Tuesday March 1st, I'll pick a winner at random.

So there you go, you'll have plenty of time to choose a favourite, you might even pick up a bargain whilst your over there mooching as some lampshades have up to 50% off at the mo.

Best of luck!

Zia has asked me to mention that overseas entrants are welcome but can only choose up to a 12" sized shade for this particular giveaway.

(all photos courtesy of www.theoldlampshed.co.uk)

Vintage Dogs and going AWOL

2011-01-23T12:48:00.001Z

Why the long face, Red?

You may have noticed I skipped over of December, Christmas, New Year and most and January too, for good reason though, this blog was becoming more and more depressing and I became embarrassed to add yet more gloom to it, even though that's just our life and that's how it goes sometimes, you get on with it and do the best you can with a situation until the next one comes along.
as you know, our situations tend to come along a bit like buses, none for a while then several one after the other. It's a bit of a pain.
Not long after we had to have Maude put to sleep, we came home and found her sister Ethel had died of a heart attack.

It was a bit of a shock to say the least and very sad too.Two cats in 5 weeks. I have a house of depressed animals now, it's made all of the remaining ones act most peculiar.
Then Pete got put on a 4 day week until March which we could really have done without (hmmm Mr.Stobbart doesn't show you things like that on his cringy TV program where he swans around with his 1980's comedian's mullet in his helicopter betting a mans week's wages on a horse..cringe cringe and double cringe)
Then I had to tell Pete on Christmas Eve that his friend had died, not only a friend but the brother of his best friend who was killed on a motorbike several years ago. Double tragedy for his lovely parents.It was seeing them that really broke Pete's heart. We have also had some trouble with our dear eldest son, who also seems to get himself into situations one after the other. Pest.
So I do hope this belated Happy New Year means just that for all of you and all of us..

That's that then..onto other stuff...

Bunty

Buster

As you may know I have a bit of a thing for vintage looking Terriers.Especially those on wheels.
There's Buster who you have already met and his sister Bunty who lives outside in the summer house along with many others scattered about the house, which you can read about HERE. So you can imagine why I was drawn to this little chap;

I found this little brooch in a gift shop in Totnes when the old bald bloke and I went down to Devon back in October.Many minutes were spent in the shop umming and ahhing and cooing over this one item.I bet the nice lady owner wanted to hit me with a broom when I finally walked away without it.

I kicked myself on the way home as I didn't buy it at the time as it was rather expensive.Luckily thanks to the wonders of t'internet, I managed to find the lady who makes them and a diddy dog on wheels brooch found it's way to my house.
Don't you think its just so cute? A cute dog on cute wheels in a cute box..Luverly

At the moment we are busy giving the house a lick of much needed paint whilst Pete is on a four day week but as with most old houses one job turns into 500 and it seems to be taking forever. It doesn't help that half the leftover paint in the garage froze and went off so we have to do it as and when funds allow (which isn't very often at the moment!) flitting from one job to the next and then back again. I'm meant to be making blinds that I was meant to making this time last year and lampshades too and ... I think I need to make a list else I'll be procrastinating all day.. yet again
I've also been busy helping a chap out walking dogs lately, it's nice but very tiring. I did 30 in one day not so long ago.Utter madness I can tell you but it was great fun in the snow. I need to learn to do that big whistle thing that men seem to be born with the ability to do (one that doesn't require you to stick your fingers in your mouth because obviously the down side of walking dogs is the collecting of poo thing..mmm lovely) One dog is called 'Alan'. It cracks me up and I can't manage to call him across a busy park without it sounding quite ridiculous! "AAAAAAAAALUN"
cheerio for now x

Wardrobe Waffle

2010-11-04T14:00:00.008Z

Hello again ..remember me?
Well that was a whole big heap of gloom and doom now wasn't it?
Thank-you SO very much for all your lovely messages and emails about losing my much missed kitty Maude (she had quite sudden kidney failure) and waving goodbye to Florence too.They were really lovely and more appreciated than you'll ever know. x
(Lovely Lisa in Oregon..don't worry Basil and his buddies are doing just fine, as you can see from these photos they have been having lots of cat conferences putting the feline world to rights)

mind you, all hell broke loose after Ethel dared to stretch out a kindly paw to her mother!

It all became a bit too much to bear to be honest so I spent some time in my spotty wellies wading in self pity and lots of tears..there were lots and lots of those...I was a little bit broken hearted I can tell you. I also had to leave my job in the little shop for various reasons which I wont go into, so Pete and I went away for a while to Devon for some blustery blue sky days to blow away the stresses and clear my head before I end up getting carted away by the men in white coats.

Well 'Old Flo' has gone to her new home, not far from here up in the hills. The chap was really pleased with her and will tow her behind his 1958 Landrover. He promised to email me photos of her renovation, so if he does, I'll let you see. He was thinking of painting the lower half of her in a pale 1960's turquoise-teal blue which funnily is the colour I was thinking of too. Great minds think alike hey?

(this was the curtaining I had bought for her..Hen I think you have some of this fabric too?)
I must admit I had a lump in my throat when she trundled off up the lane giving me a crafty wink with her half hearted brake lights.
The nice little bit of profit helped take away a bit of the pain though, pity £300 quid of it had to pay towards for the pointless damage done to my little car but hey ho,I suppose that's life (well, my often pants life anyway!)

Last month,as Florence's farewell treat to us, Pete and I went to Shakespeare country, namely Stratford-upon-Avon, for a drive out and a mooch about the shops and a properly British, award winning cream tea.The best cup of tea ever actually, they had a six page menu just for the different types!

I managed to find myself some pretty clothes to buy whilst we were there.Normally I struggle with clothes shopping as I can never find things I like, they always seem to show the bits I want to hide or I'm worried about looking like some old piece of mutton dressed up like a spring lamb.
Years ago the stinky boys wrote to Trinny and Susannah to try and cheer me up with a new wardrobe of girlie stuff..( I'd got a bit lost in the wardrobe stakes having put on quite a bit of weight and suddenly not fitting in my vintage clothes and favourite Levis) Whilst clearing out yet another stash of 'stuff' I came across it again:

I found the letter and there was no way on this earth I would stand in that 360 degree mirrored cupboard in my bestest big knickers for all the world to see... or have Trinny poking my tits (or 'giblets' for that matter)...nope, nooooooo way so even though it was very sweet of them, it never got posted. How sad is this bit.."she buys party shoes but never goes to parties"
cheeky buggers!!
I was quite impressed with George's handwriting though!

Anyway..this pretty top I found at Stratford, has little birdies and fish on it, it looks lovely with that blue and green swallows necklace Pete bought me back in April. And a first for me, a couple of woolly berets to match my bargain found-in-the-sale Spring coat.(even though its now Autumn!)I confess to feeling a bit of a berk in a hat, like I'm wandering around with a large sign on my head saying 'lookey here folks at the size of my enormous bonce' but I'm sure I'll get used to wearing them.

I can't understand why I haven't been in White Stuff before last year.. I've never walked into a clothing shop and loved so many things, nearly all the styles are right for (hiding) my shape but also, most unfortunately, very wrong for my budget.
One thing I have discovered a love of again recently is leggings.
I wore them in the very early 80's with tulip-shaped wiggle dresses or ra-ra skirts and big turban-like bows in my hair and a strange fashion of black plimsolls with 'fall-down socks'..(remember those? they were like white surgical stockings without elastic at the top) Later I went on to the black phase much to my parents horror..loving The Cure, black hair,black clothes, black lipstick and studded punk belts before trundling off to Art college in another style..my old-man mac, stripey tights and Doctor Martin's with my trademark bright red lipstick. Art college is where I found a new best buddy and the next wardrobe phase..the 1950s..an era I still adore but my 26 inch waist has had quite a few more inches added and everything is heading south lately..it doesn't quite cut the mustard when you're 41 and a half, I'm more Hattie Jacques than Diana Dors these days!

lovely curvy Hattie

Luckily for me I have a husband who prefers the 'extra padding', it's just me and the rest of society who doesn't! Well,anyway,I know the rule of wearing things a second time round, but I braved leggings on the approval of both the stinky boys' rather gorgeous girlfriends and have fallen in love with them all over again, this time though with biker boots and tunic dresses. Dresses and skirts are something I haven't worn in donkeys years, probably since my wedding in fact.I didn't possess either...
I love this eclectic look for the Autumn; (not sure what the tea cup is all about though) I was a little bit indulgent and that lovely leafy tunic and some fairisle wrist warmers came home too.

There is nothing like a bit of retail therapy to cheer you up is there?
You do get to that point of wondering whether you're too old for some clothes though, it takes me ages to deliberate over things.. but I'm not ready for my blue rinse just yet so I think I might like to grow old just a little disgracefully..

Clothing is such a personal thing but I do love peeking at what's in other people's wardrobes...It must be the long past dream of being a wardrobe mistress in me.

Is there anything you've indulged in or discovered a love of again lately, I'd love to know?

Maude

2010-09-09T21:18:00.004+01:00

My beautiful girl,

the gentlest of souls

with fur as soft as silk,

Sleep soundly my lovely Maudey, you will be missed sweet little kitty x
1998-2010