Kooky Boutique: The Blog

Easing in gently.

2012-01-10T23:50:00.000Z

So, 2012. Ten days in, and to be honest, I'm still in a bit of a fog.
My little burst of new year energy and excitement has sort of fizzled like a dodgy cheap firework.
Not in a bad, sad, or gloomy way - just in a stalled car sort of a way.

I think it's partly because we started the year in limbo after the Tall One was made redundant on the 30th December (company he was working for went bust, uh-huh, lovely start to the year), plus I was inwardly freaking about The Short One starting nursery, while keeping busy with work stuff, so it all combined into a bit of a mushy blur, and I don't really feel like the year has actually started.

I haven't done anything remotely creative or Kooky Boutique related, my massive declutter is yet to start, and I've not even filled all the birthdays in on my new Charlie & Lola calendar - and that's one of my favourite jobs of the whole entire year!

Don't worry, the purpose of this post isn't to bore you all into submission so I can play catch-up while you sleep, it's to give myself a little metaphorical kick up the bottom.

This week, (all two days of it), has been pretty great. The Tall One went back to his old job yesterday (less money, but stable, and with chance of promotion, so millions of times better than nada) & had a great first day. The Short One had his first nursery settling in session and loved it. (So much so, that tomorrow, I'm going to try leaving him on his own for an hour tomorrow - that'll be the real test, think good thoughts.) I still haven't done anything crafty, but I'm planning - and plotting, which is a good start. And as soon as I finish this post, I'm going to put he birthdays in the calendar.

So that's where I'm at. Not exactly grabbing hold of 2012 just yet, but getting ready to.

I'll leave you with this photo of short stuff - is there anything more exciting when you're two and a half than having the whole park to yourself?

Hello Twenty-Twelve!

2012-01-01T21:53:00.001Z

Happy New Year Peeps!

Hope you all had fun welcoming in 2012? My boys & me had a super night of miniature food, watching a dozen different fireworks displays from the comfort (& dryness) of our own living room window, & Jools Holland on the tellybox. Perfect.

And of course there was a little reminiscing on the year gone by.

Can you guess what's coming next? Yes of course, it's the obligatory 2011 review...

2011 was a busy old year - a bit of a rollercoaster, but with more ups than downs, so yay.

Highlights included Paul Weller & Kings of Leon at Hyde Park, Bill Bailey at The Brighton Centre, and of course, partying with Postman Pat on his birthday (and mine!)

Short-stuff and I tried our hand at gardening - with reasonable success - definitely enough to convince us to keep it up this year anyway.

Kooky Boutique had a pretty great year - I finally have a site design I love, and the feedback I've had from happy customers makes me allsorts of smiley.

Music-wise, I continued my love affairs with The Arctic Monkeys & Elbow - both of their new albums were amazing. I fell for Eliza Doolittle, and even learned to love Lady Gaga.

On the tellybox, I continued to be shamelessly hooked on Hollyoaks & Glee, and added American Horror Story to my sky+ box. (Which frankly, scares the bejeesus out of me - it was Darren's pick, and I hate him for it because now I'm gripped & must see how it ends, despite the fact it gives me nightmares.)

At the cinema, my favourite was The Inbetweeners movie. I know, I know, I'm not a 16 year old boy, I shouldn't find it funny. But I do, really a lot.

I've crushed on Noel Fielding and Neil Patrick Harris (yes, I know I'm far too female for him, but he's still delicious), and I'm still holding out for Jamie Carragher, especially since having seen him in real life at my very first football match in September.

We haven't been on holiday, but have had oodles of fun days out here and there. Time spent with my boys is pretty much perfect regardless of where we go - keeping a toddler entertained certainly makes you appreciate the joy of the simple things in life. Stomping round the park, paddling in the sea, feeding the ducks... all good stuff.

This year's been a massive learning curve for me as a mummy - toddlers are way harder work than tiny little babies, but they're a whole lot of fun too. I had a mini meltdown yesterday at the fact we're just 4 months away from having a t-h-r-e-e year old, but deep down, I can't wait. I'm loving watching him grow up. He's a little monster, but he's amazing. So clever, and funny, and caring. Such a curious little dude - always into something, always smiling, always making me & the tall one smile too.

All in all, life is pretty great, and I can't wait to start another year full of memories like these:

So as far as 2012 goes, I'm excited! I love that feeling that comes with a new year - all full of posibilities and ideas.

As always, I have a whole lot of ideas buzzing round in my head, but we'll get to those in due course.

For now, I'll just wish you all a very happy new year - remember, 2012 can be pretty much anything you want it to be if you put in the leg work - so grab hold of it & make it an amazing year! ♥

December Round-up & Christmassy Goodness

2011-12-31T20:49:00.001Z

Hope you all had a spectacular Christmas? Ours was dreamy - I won't bore you with a blow-by blow festive blog post - I'm sure we've all seen enough of those, and I'm a little late for one anyway. Safe to say we must have all been on the nice list because Santa left a whopping chunk of lovely presents, I cemented my domestic goddess status by pulling off a pretty fabulous feast for 7, and the Doctor Who special was so good, it actually made me do a little tear. (I know, how very humany-wumaney.)

Anyway, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a few thousand words about Christmas at Casa de Kooky:

Yep, fun times all round.

December as a whole was pretty great really - manically busy, so a bit of a blur, but yes, good.

As much fun as we had though, I must admit I'm pretty ready for everything to go back to normal - I miss knowing what day of the week it is without stopping to ponder. And having a to-do list that's not in double figures. Well, not often. And a diet made of things other than pringles, chocolates and lots and lots of cheese. And wine.

For now though, I'll continue to indulge - tis New Years Eve after all, and I have a hot date with my two favourite boys & abottle of Pinot.

Have fun whatever you're up to - say hello to 2012 in style! ♥

November catch up...

2011-12-11T01:58:00.000Z

It occured to me today that in amongst all the busy of the last couple of weeks, I forgot to do a photo mosaic for November.
So in case there's anyone out there who looks forward to my monthly round up & is feeling incomplete somehow due to the lack of November-ness, or more likely, for my own neurotic sense of continuity, here are the best bits of my November:

There were fireworks (complete with duck-hooking, teacup rides and a chippie dinner).
The tall boy in my life had a birthday - there were drinks, laughs & good times with friends. Plus cake, presents, and cuddles with the short one.
And there was a date night to Brighton to watch Bill Bailey live - in the front row. (Safe to say I won giver of bestest birthday present this year.)
There were several surprisingly mild days for this time of year - the sort of days that need to be filled with stomping around the park, spotting squirrels, and getting muddy.

It was a pretty great month actually.
This one is shaping up nicely too - if a little busy. So I should really go cross something off the ever-increasing to-do list. It'll get shorter eventually. Right?

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

2011-12-03T00:38:00.000Z

Okay so not really - it's only the 3rd December, I know, but when you've been up to your eyes in a felted winter wonderland for weeks, you can be forgiven for feeling festive already.

On the upside, I am more or less caught up with custom Christmas orders, so if anyone is still interested in snapping up a little bit of kooky festive-ness, now is your chance!

I have five sets of Christmas Chum Tree ornaments in stock at Folksy, plus can take orders for custom-collections directly. You can pick any 5 designs you like (choose from Rudolph, Robin, Gingerbread Man & Tree) - they can be all the same, or a selection of your choice, for £15 including P&P.

Plus, there's still time to order a Personalised Surprise Bauble too - these can feature the character & initial of your choice, and can be made in your own colour scheme too - just get in touch & we can discuss what you'd like. Surprise Baubles are £7 each including P&P, or two for £12.

And, since I do love you dearly for reading this blog, I'm offering a special bundle offer too - five regular Christmas Chum ornaments, plus one Surprise Bauble, for £20 all inclusive.

To order any of these, please email hello@kookyboutique.com with details of what you'd like - but do it quickly, I'm going to stop taking custom orders no later then Friday 16th December - possibly earlier if I get swamped again!

Also, please remember that all my decorations are hand made to order, so do allow up to 7 days for delivery, though I'll try to be quicker!

The Gallery: 11.11.11

2011-11-11T22:38:00.001Z

I haven't done anything for The Gallery in *ages* but this week, Tara is all about celebrating how cool today's date is, and the geek in me couldn't resist.

Sadly though, we haven't done a whole lot that merits photo-taking today. It's been very much a moochy one, partly because it's been allsorts of grey and yeuch out there, and partly because Mummy is still in the recovery position from two busy days and two late nights out in a row.

I suppose I could have taken a photo of our Nutella croissants this morning (breakfast of champions), or clicked a snap when we were colouring up a storm earlier, but instead, I decided to capture the essence of the day, 11.11.11, by spending some quality time with little legs, mooching & being silly for the camera.

Voila:

(Brought to you in glorious monochrome to save your eyes from my walking-dead-sleep-deprived chic. You're welcome.)
How about you? How have you spent 11.11.11?

How to pick the perfect Nursery?

2011-11-10T08:59:00.000Z

I'm in the midst of my biggest parenting decision to date.
We (The Tall one & I) have decided that it's time for the short one to go to nursery. It'll only be two sessions a week until September next year, but we agree that it'll do him the world of good.
He needs the time with other small people, and much as I hate to admit it, he needs to learn that he can get along without mummy always being around.

So after much deliberation, we picked our top three choices, and today, we went to check them out.
I was assured by my sage, more experienced mummy friends that we'd 'just know' when we found the right one. It'd feel 'right' and it'd be great.

Well, they were right, except that I got that 'this is the one' feeling, for two of our choices. (Technically, I loved all three, but one has been eliminated purely because it's out of our budget.)
Dylan was absolutely no help, as he happily went off playing & exploring at both - basically so long as there are toys and snacks, I think he's happy. He's quite easily pleased really. Much like his mummy.

Both have slight downsides I can deal with, both have a whole load of positives that I love.
So how on earth do I choose?!

I shall do what I do best - mull it some more. And hopefully make a decision before my head goes pop.

How To Make a Personalised Felt Christmas Bauble

2011-11-06T08:00:00.004Z

Well, people said nice things about my first attempt at a tutorial, so here is another...

It's my own design, inspired by and adapted from others I've seen here and there, so may I present to you... the Felt Surprise Christmas Bauble! (If anyone can think of a catchier name, do let me know.)

Cute, right?

To make one, you will need:

~Two squares of felt - one red, one green, plus scraps of brown, preferably in 2 different shades. (You can of course use whatever colours you like, but for the sake of the tutorial, I'll refer to the colours I've used here.)

~Ribbons/Buttons/Sequins & whatever other embellishment you fancy.

~A small piece of contrasting ribbon to make a loop for hanging.

~Sharp needle.

~Embroidery floss in coordinating colours.

~Card/paper.

~Pencil.

~Scissors.

Got everything? Okay, let's go!

First up, make yourself a circle template as big as you want your finished ornament to be (for mine, I drew around a roll of sellotape - it's about 7cm diameter).

Use your template to cut three felt circles - 2 red and 1 green.

Cut a small portion off the top of the green one as shown above.

Next, cut another couple of card or paper circles the same size as the first. Use these to draw your bauble design on - I use two so that I can gauge how the pieces will overlap. I've done a reindeer & a D for Dylan, but again - you can put whatever you like on yours, just make sure you leave at least half a centimetre gap all the way around for sewing the pieces up.

Cut them all out & use them as templates to cut the same shapes out of your felt pieces like so...

Next, take one of your red circles & arrange your pieces however you like, and pin them down:

Now, you're ready to stitch them all down - I use very basic tiny little running stitches, and I do it by hand because I'm hopeless at machine sewing - if you're a whizz, by all means fire up your machine and do it that way! When you're done, it'll look a bit like this:

(I decided not to sew the antlers down because a. it's way fiddly, and b. I like the 3D effect it gives.)

Once you've stitched everything down, add any other embellishments you like - I gave rudolph a red nose & tiny button eyes, plus a little sparkle. Voila:

Next, it's time to start putting the bauble together. Take your embellished red circle, place it on top of the plain one, and add the green one to the back of the pile. Make sure all the edges line up nice & neatly & pin the three pieces together as shown below:

Now, start sewing around the edges - making sure to go through all three layers when you get to the green part. Again, use any stitch you like, but I think blanket stitch works well & gives a nice edge.

I'd reccommend starting just left of the top middle point, because then you can do a few stitches and then sandwich in your ribbon loop for hanging as central as possible as shown below:

Keep stitching all the way around, but stop about an inch or two from where you started so you can add some stuffing (you can use felt scraps, proper toy stuffing, or like me, good old cotton wool. You can lightly pad it, or pack it tight for a firmer bauble (?!) - your choice. Once it's stuffed, keep stitching till you're back to where you started. Put the needle back through your first stitch, then all the way through the bauble, snip off the end & let the excess get hidden inside.

And you're done!!

The green piece at the back has cleverly become a little pocket/pouch deelie that Santa can leave an extra little treat in for a special boy or girl to find hanging on the tree on Christmas morning - how great is that?

(In the picture, you can see a gift tag too - I'm hoping that Santa might also leave Dylan a little note to say thanks for his mince pie ;)

So What do you think?

If you make one of your own, I'd love to see it!

(And if it all looks like too much effort - I am taking custom orders for these, they'll be £7 each including p&p in the UK, email hello@kookyboutique.com to discuss your needs - but do it asap - these will be made to order, so you'll need to allow up to 10 days for delivery - and feel free to tell your friends too - thanks! :D)

Operation Christmas 2011

2011-11-05T16:50:00.000Z

There are 50 sleeps left before Christmas.

Sorry, but it's true.

If, like me, that figure makes you catch your breath while your heart races a little, panic sets in and you start mentally writing a list of the eleventy million things you need to do before D-day, then take a deep breath, and relax. I have a plan.

I have decided that this year, there will be no last minute panic, no festive themed meltdowns, and definitely no rage enducing pounding of the hight street in the middle of December.

Because actually, 50 sleeps is loads, so long as I take note now & don't let myself fall into the trap of thinking 'oh it's still ages away, no need to worry just yet.' (Also known as exactly what I did last year.)

Better still, technically, I've only got 5 jobs to do, look:

Job one = Presents. This year, my present shopping is going to be done by the end of November. Yes, really. This weekend's job, is to write a list of what we're getting for who, then there are three weekends to do 'real life' shopping - and I figure so long as anything I need to get online is ordered by around the 21st, it'll be here before December & completely iliminate the terror of 'what if it doesn't get here in time?!'. Oh I hate that game.

Job two = Food & Booze. My cunning plan here, is to book myself a supermarket home delivery slot for the Thursday before Christmas - you can usually 'reserve' a spot about 3 weeks in advance by just adding the minimum order value to your trolley (I reccommend doing so with appropriate quantities of wine and chocolate) - it won't be charged to your card until the day of delivery - then you just need to remember to edit said order before it's due to be delivered to make sure you get more than just a few bottles of Pinot.

Job three = Calendar. By which I mean a. get treats for the drawers in Dylan's advent calendar so he doesn't end up with a boring, ill fitting chocolate coin wedged into each one, and b. social calendar - weekends & daddy days off fill up quick this time of year, so I *must* keep track of putting events ONTO THE CALENDAR rather than relying on saved texts/emails/scraps of paper tucked in my diary. (also, also known as exactly what I did last year.)

Job four = Special Deliveries. I can't remember a Christmas where I haven't made at least one trip to the post office to stand in an all too long queue of grumbling people to pay a fortune for special delivery because I've left it too late to send cards & gifts to far off friends & relatives by regualr post. NOT THIS YEAR!! My plan, is that anything that needs to be posted, will be on it's way in the 1st week of December - better early than me making the papers after a self adhesive postage stamp related rage incident. Definitely.

Job five = Be Merry. By which I mean, spend December feeling smug about my military style organisation skills and being able to enjoy just being Christmassy. Decorating the house, wrapping prezzies, baking Christmas cookies, doing Christmas crafts, going to see Santa, having friends round for mulled wine - all safe in the knowledge that everything else is taken care of.

That, friends, is The Plan. Now I just need to pull it off. Easy, right?

Octoberfest.

2011-11-05T08:52:00.000Z

October, was a bit brilliant, and a bit epic. It started with a mini summer revival (picnic in the park on October 2nd? Oh okay then.), then got gorgeously autumny very quickly, then ended up with allsorts of spooky Halloween fun & a definite nip in the air.

A busy chunk of a month, full of good times:

Halloween was loads of fun - that Jack Skellington masterpiece (ahem) was my first attempt at pumpkin carving, and I was a bit proud of myself actually - plus the little dude loved it, so I suspect a new tradition has been born. It was the first year Dylan's really been interested, rather than just being dressed up against his will for mummy's amusement, so we decided to give trick or treating a whirl too. We hit the streets with our chums from Beetroot & Gherkins not really knowing what to expect, and it turned out some people in our area take Halloween *very* seriously! It was brilliant - some houses had gone all out with spooky decor & all three mini skeletons went home with bulging bags of swag. Seeing the streets lined with pocket size witches and ghouls was really heart warming in a funny sort of way and I'm sure it'll be more fun every year as our own little spooks get older.

Speaking of which, as of the 20th, my little monster was officially Two and a half. Gulp. That means that once Christmas is out the way, it's all downhill to me having a three year old. Double gulp.

2 1/2 is an ...interesting learning curve.

For the most part, he's still my gorgeous little boy who makes me smile and laugh and feel incredibly proud. But just now and again, the planets align a bit wrongly, something happens and *poof* that sweet little boy with the infectious laugh turns into a screaming hissy fit throwing demon child. In about 7 seconds.

Yeah, it's keeping me on my toes, that's for sure.

We've decided that nursery would be a good thing all round - just a couple of mornings a week for now, which has me all over the place emotionally, but it Will Be Fine. It'll be great, actually, once we finally get him a place & settled in. There's a whole other blog post there really!

And yes, I did mention the C word - sorry. But consider it me trying to be helpful - I'm on a mission this year to have the shopping side of things all wrapped up (pardon the pun!) by the end of November. Ambitious much? We'll see. there's another post in that too.

I've also been in a bit of a festive frame of mind because I've made a start on kooky flavoured Christmas pretties - again - another post - I'm on it.

For now, I'm going to indulge in November - we had a super wholesome fireworks outing at a local school last night, which was fun, and today little legs & I are bundling up for a stomp around the park & a lunch date. (Plus, I've heard a rumour that Starbucks gingerbread lattes are back again, which is very very good news.)

I do believe I'm loving this time of year folks. Rather a lot.

Crafty Halloween: How to Make a Pumpkin Garland

2011-10-25T01:55:00.000+01:00

I love Halloween, always have done. Perhaps it's the child in me, perhaps I just like a good excuse to dress up and eat sweets, who knows.
Either way, having a small person in my life has given me reason to really indulge in the fun & silliness of it all - at 6 months I may have dressed Dylan as a pumpkin for my own amusement, but I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it too.

This year, at two and a half, little legs is a bit more aware of what's happening - he's picked his own costume (a skay-ton - that's skeleton to you and me), he can say pumpkin and is very much looking forward to going out to 'tick or tee!'. So, I decided this year we should indulge in some creepy crafting too.

And, as I keep thinking about trying my hand at tutorials here on the blog, I've decided to kill to birds with one stone. Without further a do, here is how we made a Halloween Pumpkin Garland!

You Will Need: A humble potato, a sharp knife, some paint (yellow + red = orange!), paper, and something to stick all your pumpkins together with (we used ribbon & sticky tape as you'll see later, but I forgot to put them in the photo - can you tell this is my first tutorial?!)

Cut the potato in half, and using the tip of the knife (carefully! clearly, this part is not a job for toddlers!), cut out a spooky pumpkin face. I found it easiest to do an outline, then used a cocktail stick to 'pick out' the insides - you want to take out reasonable deep chunks - at least half a centimetre.

Don't forget to use the other half of the potato too - experiment with different faces!

Squeeze some paint into a shallow tray - we used a plastic one out of the recycling box to avoid washing up - a paper plate would also do the trick - dip your potato pumpkins into the paint, press down onto your paper, and voila, painty pumpkin prints!

Keep going til your paint runs out or your toddler gets bored, whichever comes first - play with different colours of paper, try embellishing the faces - can you tell Dylan is very into googly eyes and glitter right now?

When all your pumpkins are dry, cut them out & add any other embellishments you fancy - Dylan though feathery stalks/hair would be cool.

Next, you need to string all your pumpkins together - you could use a needle and thread, punch holes through each one & thread together with string, but I knew Dylan wouldn't have the patience for either of those, so we opted for a long piece of ribbon, and old faithful: sticky tape.

Keep adding your pumpkins in whatever order you (by which I mean your toddler) likes, until your ribbon/string is full.

Hang 'em up in the window, and tah da! The funkiest handmade way of scaring off any loitering spooks and ghouls.

So there we go, my first tutorial - what did you think? If you make a garland of your own, I'd love to see it - or are you making another spooky craft?

Oh, and incase you're wondering - that up there, is Dylan's scary face. Don't have nightmares!

September Round-up. Yes, on the 16th of October.

2011-10-16T22:51:00.002+01:00

Right, let's blow the dust off the blog shall we? Yes, again. Ahem. Still, I've managed to *just* squeeze a post in before making it a whole month's worth of white noise, so that's good... right?

Moving on... how are you all? Good, I hope. Here at Casa de Kooky, things are pretty great actually - super busy busy, hence the lack of anything happening online, but it's all good stuff, so you know, mustn't grumble.

So September. It feels like a million years ago, perhaps partly because we've briefly had summer again since then, but I remember it was full of good stuff, including a birthday for me, partying with Postman Pat (yeah go on, be jealous), laughing till I hurt at Alan Carr at The Brighton Centre (awesome), lots of eating & drinking with chums (birthday girl priviliges), baking dinosaur cookies with the small boy and going to my first official football match with the tall one. (I was informed that the Hollyoaks charity match we took Dylan to just after he was born doesn't count, this time we went to watch Liverpool vs Brighton at the new Amex stadium, I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to, and not just because Jamie Carragher is even hotter in the flesh than on the tellybox.)

And I know it's stupidly late, but for posterity and my own neurotic sense of continuity, you're still getting a photo mosaic of September's best bits. See:

You may have noticed there's even a little fabric-crafty shot in there - because oh yes, I have been MAKING!! Really! Progress is slow, as it's mostly happening when a. the small boy is in bed and b. I'm not completely exhausted which is c. a rarity, but progress is being made, which makes me happy.

I may have been slightly premature when I announced on facebook early last month that Kooky Boutique was coming out of hibernation, but hey - it's all about building the tension. Or something.

Anyway, getting there. Will have pretties to show you soon, honest.

For now though, this chick needs a glass of vino & some trashy tv. It's been that sort of a day.

Innovation's what you need!

2011-09-18T14:23:00.004+01:00

The role of ‘parent’ is a steep learning curve, part of which involves filling your home with essential parenting 'equipment' to make life easier.

There's a lot to choose from - but any gaps in the market are swiftly recognised by mums (and dads!) who make the jump from ‘If only someone would invent {insert super parenting gadget idea here}’ to ‘Actually, I’m going to do it’!

Amazing women like the CuddleDry ladies, Cara from SnoozeShade, Lynda Harding of Easidream fame, Helen from My wonderCube – all of whom are exhibiting at Brighton BabyExpo - have led the organisers to bring an exciting new area to the event this year. ‘Innovation Alley’ will include companies such as Snugglebundl - 2011 winners of the Barclays Take One Small Step competition alongside amazing exhibitors such as NLP Kids, Strider Sports, Cot2Tot, Versatile and many more offering a fantastic range of products and services to ensure you and your family are always one step ahead and turning heads at BabyGroup!

To see the full list go to: http://www.brightonbabyexpo.co.uk/exhibitor-list, and if you're looking for some inspiration, don’t miss the flexible working zone at the show where you'll find expert advice, franchise and employment opportunities and tips to help you get that family friendly work/life balance - YOU could be the next big thing!

Of course there will be lots more to see and do on the day too, including my own personal reason for being so excited - cBeebies favourite Mister Maker will be in attendance! (I'm excited on Dylan's behalf. Obviously. Ahem.)

This year's Brighton Baby Expo is on November 13th at The American Express Community Stadium - click here for more info & tickets.

Speaking of tickets, I'm delighted to have a pair to give away here on the blog too - all you have to do is leave me a comment on this post to say you want in - easy peasy :)

I'll pick a winner via the random number generator next Sunday night at 8pm.

Happy Birthday Postman Pat!

2011-09-06T07:24:00.000+01:00

Do you ever check the paper on your birthday to see what celebrities share your day? I do. And I'm always a bit disappointed to be honest. Russ Abbot is about my most exciting match to date. Rock and Roll.

This year though, he can move aside. Because this year, on 16th September (my birthday), Postman Pat turns 30! (He's looking pretty good on it, no?)

Yes, Britain's favourite mail delivery professional has been delighting children and getting his catchy them tune stuck firmly in the brains of their parents for three whole decades. Which is pretty impressive if you ask me.

Dylan loves Pat. In fact, the theme tune was the first 'song' he ever learned, so we were delighted to be asked to review the special 'Happy Birthday Pat' DVD That's released on September 12th to mark the occasion.

The DVD includes over three hours of Pat's adventures, plus a bonus CD of Pat-Brand party tunes to really get you in the mood for celebrating!

It's been a massive hit in our house. Dylan has been glued to it daily for the last week - even above a certain cowboy/space ranger combo, which is unheard of! And it's fun for the parents too - to mark Pat's big 3-0, the DVD includes a mixture of brand new episodes not previously seen on TV, plus several incarnations of 'old school' Pat - just like the ones I watched myself as a tot!

I must admit, I was concerned those decidedly aged versions (what was going on with everyone's hair? The people of Greendale were decidedly less well groomed back in the day!) wouldn't hold Dylan's attention - given that he's used to glorious technicolour, fully animated Pat, but I needn't have worried. He doesn't bat an eyelid - it's all Pat, and he loves it - old or new.

It left me wondering though - whatever happened to Peter Fogg? Why would you cut a guitar playing biker with an amazing beard from your cast of characters?! And Sam with his mobile shop? Granny Dryden, I suppose may have moved away to a nursing home, and I can't say I'm too fussed about Miss Hubbard (bit snooty that one), but I'm all for Peter making a reappearance. And The Major for that matter - how great was the Major?! (I told you, we've watched it a LOT.)

Getting back to the point though, if there's a Pat fan in your house, I definitely recommend getting this DVD. I can't say we love the music CD (well, not true, Dylan does, I try to zone it out and then 'lose' it.), but the DVD itself is great value for money, perfect for a rainy afternoon - and the nostalgia value for parents is priceless!

It will be available from all major retailers from September 12th.
Happy Birthday Pat - here's to another 30 years of making sure that nobody realises Jess is the brains of the operation!

August, you were a rollercoaster.

2011-08-31T23:04:00.000+01:00

Big fat chunk of a busy month, was August. There was good, there was bad, there were fun times & stressful ones, but the final tally says yes, August was actually pretty awesome.

There was a lot of picnicing (inbetween the positively biblical rains), there was gardening (yes, I'm still hooked, we did harvest stuff and everything.), there was my first ever week of solo parenting (I was a glum & gloomy mardy bum, but I survived, go me!), there was time spent at the beach, and at the park, and on the whole, in spite of occassional aforementioned monsoons, it mostly felt decidedly like summer, which was lovely.

Summer holidays don't really mean a whole lot to me yet, what with Dylan only being 2 and not going to nursery yet, but I'm still feeling the pain of friends with little ones getting ready for going back to school - or in some cases - the epic milestone that is FIRST day of school. It's making me cherish every single day I spend with little legs - and even moreso every one that we spend as a family.

Time goes waaay to quickly - especially when there's a small person in your life, so my little nugget of wisdom for today, is just enjoy every moment of it and embrace the happy in the little things. That's what I've been doing, see:

And so, onwards to September. There's a bit of a chill in the air, a promise of Autumn, and even a birthday for yours truly! (yes, that's right, I'm 25 again. ahem.) Let's hope it rocks.

The one where I'm a bit of a sappy girl...

2011-08-23T15:06:00.000+01:00

It's just me & the small boy at home this week. The tall one is off in Essex, training for his new job. He left this morning, and won't be back until Saturday night.
So when I say a week, I actually mean five days. Four sleeps. It still sucks though.

I get a bit cross and feel like I should have a word with myself when I think of my friends Bec, who's Mr is a policeman who often has to up & go at the drop of a hat, or Claire, who is a sailor's wife & has to deal with her Popeye being at sea for weeks if not months on end - I'm only having to do four nights for crying out loud - man up leslieanne!!

I'm fine with the solo-parenting bit - sure, I'll probably be half dead by the end of the week, but I'll manage.

The thing that does worry me a bit, is that I am not good at being on my own.
Don't get me wrong, a few hours of 'me time', involving a giant latte & a bit of retail therapy, super, am all over that - but night times? I have no idea what to do.

In the 14 years Darren & I have been together, we've spent less than a handful of nights apart - not because we're mental, just because there's been no reason. We do basically everything together, because we just plain like eachother's company. I know it's a god awful cliche, but it's true: My man, is also my best friend. And I miss him damnit :(

Which is ridiculous, given that it's just gone 3 o'clock, and if he were at work as normal, he'd still be there now, but it's the whole knowing that he's not going to walk through the door at 6pm, looking to be fed. Or be there to use as a human pillow when I go to sleep. Or be sat on the sofa to listen to my gibberish and make me cups of tea after Dylan's gone to bed.

That's going to be the worst bit I reckon - four evenings of talking to the dog. She's super cute, but not much of a conversationalist.

Ah well, perhaps I'll use the time to actually get some work done & Kooky Boutique might magically get updated.

That, or there will be a lot of Pinterest time in my future.

Roll on Saturday night.

The Gallery: Water

2011-08-10T09:44:00.000+01:00

I've not made time to do The Gallery for ages, but sometimes the title pops up & you just so happen to have taken a perfect photo for it, so it'd be rude not to really.

This week, it's 'water', and as luck would have it, this week Dylan discovered the fun a small boy can have with a hosepipe:

And incase you're wondering, it took him about 20 seconds to work out how hilarious it would be to spray mummy.

Little poo bag ;)

Have a peek at Tara's Blog for more watery Gallery shaped goodness.

Dinosaurs, Fireworks & an Anniversary.

2011-08-01T07:38:00.000+01:00

It's been a busy few weeks at Casa de Kooky, see:

Highlights included a trip or two to the beach in hunt of shells & other goodies - not just for fun though, oh no - all in the name of research for mine & The Dylanosaur's first joint effort at a published work. Okay I might be over-selling that a little - but we did review a fantastic little book for UK Handmade - check us out.

We also did a whole lot more gardening - there's a chance I'm getting a bit addicted. Never thought I'd hear myself say that. That's not be confused with me saying I'm actually any good at it of course - although we have had fresh raspberries everyday, and some potatoes & veggies, and the sunflowers were pretty impressive - but there have been a few disasters along the way too. Learning curve and all. But hey, Dylan's loving it, and it's a good excuse for getting out in the sunshine, what's not to love?

Speaking of The Dylanosaur - we took him to see real dinosaurs too! Well okay no, not really. But some pretty convincing models. They've moved into Churchill Square in Brighton, on loan from The National History Museum, and well worth a visit if you're around. Dylan LOVED it - I suspect we'll be back before they go 'home'.

Then there was the seafront fayre - the one weekend a year where Worthing thinks it's Blackpool... ish. It's a bit rubbish really, but in a so-bad-it's-good-and-I-secretly-love-it sort of way. There were fireworks to 'oooh' at, and and ducks to hook, and carousel horses, and charity tombolas... proper old fashioned family summery fun. Good times.

Oh and yesterday was a bit special - the 14th anniversary of the day I met the love of my life. Aww :) We celebrated in our traditional fashion, eating our weight in tapas & drinking too much sangria. Ahem.

Throw in one of my best girls having a big birthday, a bunch of playdates & more laps of the park than I can count, and it goes some way to suddenly understanding why I've been so freaking tired.

Wouldn't change a minute of it though, it's been a brilliant month. Hope you've all had a good one too?

And now, to August. May it be full of sunshine, cake & good times. Ready, steady.... GO!

Dear Gurgle: Do One.

2011-07-28T18:46:00.000+01:00

When I was busy baking The Dylanosaur in my belly, I signed up for just about every 'hey you! chick with bun in oven, we have information you NEED!' style website & newsletter on the whole entire internet. And trust me, that's an awful lot of emails. Which I still get flooded with on a daily basis.

I know, I know, I should unsubscribe, but I never find time (funny that, 2 year old running wild and all), so generally, they get deleted unopened, over and over.

Today though, I had one from Gurgle, entitled 'Is it better to have a working mum?'.
Now admitedly, the good people at Gurgle don't know that I'm a stay at home mum, but I'm going to guess that at least quite a few people they sent that message to are also stay home mummys, so frankly, it's a dangerous little game.

The article goes on to discuss the findings of a new study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ECRC) on maternal employment and child socio-emotional behaviour in the UK. (Yeah, I thought it sounded like a bunch of gobildeegook too, or at best, a pointless endevour to justify a bunch of research assistant salaries. Anyway...)

In short, the 'ideal' scenario for a child, is to grow up in a home that both parents live in, with both parents in full time employment.
Dr Anne McMunn (who sounds SUPER!), the principal researcher in this study said:
"Mothers who work are more likely to have higher educational qualifications, live in a higher income household, and have a lower likelihood of being depressed than mothers who are not in paid work."

Well, Doctor, that told me then, huh?
A few points though, if I may...

-If I had gone back to my full time job, after paying for childcare, my household income would not be a great deal different than it is at the moment. I would effectively have been working to pay someone else to look after my son, which was a massive part of the decision to stay home.

-I have excellent educational qualifications, slightly better than those of my employed full-time fiance, actually.

-I am in general a very cheerful sort of person - utterly content with my little life. In fact I'm pretty certain I am much happier as I am than I would be if say, I was holding down a full time job, then more or less giving my salary away, whilst hardly ever seeing my son in the process.

Granted, I'm not a doctor, I'm not even a research assistant. However, I am living proof that perhaps, just maybe, these 'studies' that the news is choc-full of everyday, are quite possibly, a massive waste of time.

Anyone with any common sense knows that the best environment for a child is one where they are loved, safe, and cared for.
Over and above that, it's all down to personal choice and circumstance. If being a working mum works for you, fantastic. If you love staying home, that's brilliant too.
So long as your child is happy and healthy, you're doing fantastically at the hardest, most important job there is: Parenting.

How about you? Do you work/stay at home/somewhere inbetween? Do you think these studies actually hold any merit? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Now, I may go do some email unsubscribing ;)

Silent Sunday

2011-07-24T20:33:00.000+01:00

Silent Sunday

2011-07-17T13:52:00.000+01:00

Silent Sunday

2011-07-10T21:54:00.001+01:00

Ohai July!

2011-07-01T20:07:00.000+01:00

Sooo. Hello there! *wipes a month's worth of dust off poor neglected blog*
You all alright? Still there? I seem to have the same amount of followers despite a whole month of white noise, so that's nice!
I must apologise though, for the lack of, well, anything throughout June - I wish I had a really good excuse, but other than feeling a bit blogged out after May's blogathon, and the usual busy busy, I don't really.

In lieu of that, I'll just say a big shiny sorry, and make my best puppy dog eyes at y'all and hope you still love me?
You do? Super! Let's play catch up?

June. Hmm. Funny old month. I was going to give it a hard time for the all too big chunk of rain, but then I realised a. I live in England, it's hardly a shock (though it did definitely seem extra wet for alleged summer), b. It did pull it's socks up & give us some sunny for the last week or so, and c. scrolling through my photos to pick some mosaicables brought back a whole bunch of lovely memories that the rain must've blotted out.
See:

There was...
-PAUL WELLER!! (& Kings of Leon) at Hyde Park - more about that in another post probably.
-Daddy's day. Aww.
-Gardening! (Yes, that's genuine excitement - Our sunflowers have heads!! That's a whole post to itself too)
-A jaunt to Brighton for coffee with a bunch of our favourite twitter chums. (6 mummies & 8 small folk = a lot of crumbs. Sorry Starbucks!)
-Another date night with The Mr, made of a lot of delicious food & way too many tiny cakes.
-Sunshine! Yes, belated, but it got here in the end, and it was lush.

So, it's a fond farewell for June, rather than being glad to see the back of it, and high hopes for July - long live the sunshine and fun times.

How about YOU lovely lot... whatcha been up to?

Maybe May Wasn't So Bad...

2011-05-31T22:02:00.000+01:00

I was a bit worried about doing my monthly photo mosaic today, partly because last month was so good, partly because it's not exactly been the most exciting few weeks ever, and mostly because I've been sans-camera during most of the good bits - boo!

Still, turns out I had a few decent pics to choose from, and looking back at them, it's actually been a pretty decent month too. There was some sunshine early on (the last week or two seems to have wiped all memory of it), we did lots of gardening, plus there was catching up with old friends, a little bank holiday mayhem, and even a rainbow!

So yes, sorry for doubting you May, you actually did pretty good.

AND, did you notice? I've done it!! One post, everyday, throughout the whole of May. I have officialy completed my first Blogathon - go me!

It's made me stop and really look & think about my blog - and given me ideas & the like - good ones, I hope - but more about that another day. It was certainly harder than I thought it'd be, and I do actually feel kinda accomplished for keeping it up!

See you in June gorgeous people xx

Bank Holiday Business as Usual

2011-05-30T22:26:00.000+01:00

So clearly somebody reported the mistake the weather made on the last few sunshiney bank holidays - today was a return to the quintessesntially British bank holiday climate - by which of course I mean grey & drizzly. Bit rubbish really, but we have been spoiled up til now, so shouldn't grumble. Much.

What did make my heart smile though, when walking the dog with the small boy earlier, was the faint waft of a barbecue, drifting along on the damp breeze. I couldn't help but hope that somewhere, there was a fiercley determined man, hopefully wearing a Union Flag apron, with tongs in hand, laughing in the face of drizzle saying damnit - rain or no rain, I will cook meat for my family, and we will eat it outside, because it's bank holiday, and that's what we do!! Love it. That's proper British Grit right there!

We, on the other hand, opted for our own little bank holiday tradition of waiting for The Daddy to get home from work & ordering a Chinese takeaway. Wussy? Maybe, but delicious.