Angel Jem's City Cottage

The Pirates of the Carribean 3 comes out the day after my birthday. That gives me a problem. Do I go to lust (sorry, admire) after Johnny Depp very selfishly alone or with Hubby or celebrate my birthday with my children by watching Spiderman 3 ? Chocolate bar or chocolate cake? I think I know the answer to that. Any offers of babysitting, friends?

I will not be at the same school after Easter. Shame. I liked knowing where I was every day. I liked knowing I could be there to pick up & that I was going to get money every week. But that's supply work. When I said yes I knew this was a temporary job. I knew it might be two weeks or twenty... but I hoped for the twenty. Never mind, I enjoyed my two weeks, I can have a slob day again now and I will go back onto supply next term. On a brighter note, I went to Oxfam books today and for the price of 2 paperbacks got all of these... I nearly bought two of them as holiday reads last year.... so glad I didn't.... then as I was passing out the door I saw a small blue box marked £8 the lot.. which had 2 small tapestry frames, a couple of hand held embroidery hoops and this instrument of torture.... a table top frame. Worth the money on its own, I thought. With the two half-done embroideries and some threads, I feel really chuffed. A veritable bargain day! So I spent my savings on ...

A while ago Posy posted a picture entitled ' Heaven' which, if you are Posy afficionados you will remember was her feet(!) and her fireplace. It summed up her idea of heaven and probably that of a lot of other people, too. Well, yesterday one of my ideas of heaven popped through the letter-box. I wasn't blogging when I went to see this, but if I had have been I would have told you that a friend and me went to see it together, that we spent a fair proportion of time talking about the sets and that we came out feeling happy.... well, we did take a small bottle of wine and a decent box of chocolates into the cinema with us. And now it's on DVD! And it came to my door yesterday! You have to realise that I love Christmas. If Christmas had been a man I would have married Him, I love it that much and I love Christmas movies with a, well, a passion that means I don't put a time bar on them. Christmas in March? Well, why not? I truly live according to Dickens' injunct...

Yesterday I had an ofsted inspector come in to the class where I was teaching. I'm on a long-term supply post, mornings only, and yesterday was my second morning. He wasn't very nice to me and basically said I didn't know where the children were up to, that I had to aim my work at the right level better and that I had to, essentially, rush a bit more to get through more. This all based on a 25 minute watch of the input (carpet) section of a literacy lesson that I had to change because the bit they were supposed to do last week didn't get done by someone else and... blah, blah, blah. Basically, at the end I felt like crap. I'm sorry to use bad language but that's the right word. It was demoralising, humiliating and horrible. And I don't think it was justified. Yes, I don't know where the kids are up to ( in one case, I had a little boy yesterday whom I had never seen before!) but in 4 hours of contact time, I don't think I should have been able to tel...

Here is my Mum and DP. She shares her birthday with my daughter, she used to call me a 'Little Madam' when I was naughty (quite often, sometimes). She made me dresses for the summer with Dick Dastardly and Muttley on and butterflies and then make my dolls dresses from the offcuts. She showed me how to knit and sew and bought me wool and material so that I could have a go. She let me pick my own bedroom colours (red curtains?) and made the darned things, too. She taught me how to feed a family of seven on half a pound of mince while putting 4 children through private school; and she never complained about the effort. She took me to school with her from an early age and showed me how to teach. She took care of her own mother until the end, she takes care of me now and I love her. If The Princess and I can be as close when we're both grown up, then I will be a happy Mother. God bless you, Ma, and I'll see you later! And another call for names for a bookmark swap; if you...

With apologies to Mia, Anita, Henny and Monique here at last are the hearts from my first swap!!! Anita's hearts all feature the word 'nostalgia' and a picture of the cutest little girl. It's pinks and peaches and very soft-toned. Mia's heart is patchworked on both sides and in beautiful vintage/vintage-style fabrics in beige-peach-cream with a simple satin ribbon loop. Monique an d Henny's hearts were almost twins. Moniques has lovely lace and beadwork on it with a button and lace loop. It's backed with a small blue sprigged flower fabric. and Henny's is blue and green with the embroidery thread in blue and white beads sewn on to look like flowers. Mine were red gingham with felt applique. I have a very bright image of nostalgia. I don't do sepia photos either. Sorry. And also today.... I got a parcel! From that Nice Mr Amazon. He really likes me because he always brings me things (usually after pay-day) and today he brought me; I haven't ev...

And somedays there just isn't any time to say it. I love reading blogs and have a list of at least 20 that I read when I have an hour or two free. My sidebar has several of my favourites, but is no where near extensive enough. I keep sliding another one into my favourites list. The down side of reading other folk's stuff is that when I'm reading I'm not writing or crafting or cleaning...... or doing anything else. Can I waste too much time on blog reading? I like to read them, I love to know what's happening and to see how the same and similar things float around for as while til the next fresh inspiration hits. I love how granny squares are every where at the moment, and yes, I have my squares growing steadily. I love how snow gets sprinkled every where when it snows and flowers bloom by common consent when it's spring. I love how someone makes something which inspires someone else and then on to someone else. I love how it's like a group of schoolfriends, ...

I have 4 beautiful hearts which I must show you that come from my heart swap partners. This was organised by Anita of My Country Cottage Garden in Germany and involved people from Finland, Austria, the Netherlands and Norway. I'm sorry, Ladies, I haven't posted my hearts yet, I haven't had a chance to.... but they will be here tomorrow.

We went to Wales this weekend, 18 members of our family including a Fairy Godmother, 4ft 6, cuddly and addicted to whiskey and lemonade (go easy on the lemonade, though) and 9 under 15's. We all met together on Friday for a meal in the hotel restaurant and again on Saturday night when the youngsters had a film & food night in a bedroom while the grown-ups (including a stunning-looking 16 year old niece; am I really that old now?) went to a dinner dance in a function room below. Did we have a good weekend? Well, apart from the fact my daughter has a touch of something cystitisable and needs the toilet every 25 minutes, yes we did. It is always good to meet up as a large group, as many as possible and spend time as a family. The food was lovely... is there any better food than proper Welsh lamb? I suspect it's a bit like Guinness, they keep the best stuff at home and only export the next-best. I love lamb, and Saturday's was wonderful. The only disappointing part of the ...

I'm off this weekend to Wales to celebrate St David's day... plenty of daffodils on Monday, then, and a happy St David's Day to anyone Welsh who is reading this! Have a good weekend.