Angel Jem's City Cottage

I need to post this. I signed on at Shropshire Girl over (well over) a week ago, then had Liverpool's 800th to celebrate, and a whole host of other goings on so forgot to honour the next part of the agreement; I have to offer the same thing. So here it is (copied from Alison, who copied from Tracy....) ; I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week… LOL… but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. Ok, peeps, the chase is on. I am offering three hand-painted boxes, subject indefinite but probably winter themed because I like painting houses in the snow. Think Mary Engelbreit and you have my style so..... ready, steady.... go! Who wants them?

How about break her arm and need it in plaster for ...... six weeks? Yip, that's right, the whole holidays. Call it divine retribution for attending the HP launch party if you like (If you're that way inclined) but my daughter has indeed managed to get herself a greenstick fracture of the radius that means I can spend my hols looking after a plaster. You know, don't get it wet, don't get sand in it, don't let her stick anything down it... I mean, you cannot be serious. I can barely look after myself & three kids let alone a plaster cast that can't even recognise its own name! It's better than a puppy, but only just. There are advantages, though (Pollyanna, again) My Princess and I have spent more time together but unfortunately in hospital this week than for a while before. I have finally seen inside an X ray room, twice (boring) and in an effort to make her less completely freaked by this heavy & horrible plaster that someone slapped on her on Satur...

Here I have to admit that the summer holidays always have me reaching for my purse and spending on some books, new or second hand, that I will read. The benefit of being a teacher is that I always get 6 weeks off to read (house work, well, that's not absolutely necessary, is it?) Of course, in these days of children it is a little more problematic with desperate voices crying "I want my tea, Mummy!" but that's what God invented crisps for, the ultimate serve yourself food. And the older they get the more likely they are to sit and read too. Time and money spent on books is never wasted. My list this year is, I regret to say, longer than I anticipated. For the past couple of months I have been reading the blurb on the back of books, the reviews in the papers and looking at other people's bookshelves to see what I fancied and then looking out at shops (both full & charity) to find the right combination of brains, sex and sloppy romance to keep me reading this ye...

(But it's actually sunny here today) We have a birthday party here for JW tomorrow..... 7 seven year olds and I need an even break...... some sunshine & the ability to go outside to play would be ideal... failing that, a trained children's entertainer.... We are entering the misty zone known as School Holidays the day after..... blogging will be a little known thing, I expect, and very much bottom of my to do pile; days out, t shirts to decorate, two glorious weeks in Wales and Cheltenham, a house to tidy with my little helpers and a host of friends to catch up with in the real world; I will try and post when I can and of course, try and grab some time to keep up with my virtual friends, but if I am an even rarer person than now, I apologise. Six glorious weeks! PS; Harry Potter tomorrow night; I will be at Borders from 7 til 10 with three very excited children & a fazed father. He doesn't get the lure of Potter, but I love him anyway. And the new book? Well, I thin...

I have fallen in love. Her name is Chloe or Cathy or Claude or Gina. She is 33 cm tall. She has a lot of friends who are like her; good at shopping, fond of gossip, into fashion in a soft, non-threatening way and above all good at acting her age (5+) She doesn't wear cropped tops covered with spangles that show off her midriff and chest, she doesn't wear lycra so tight that you can see every crease in her bottom. She doesn't have her hair dyed or wear pierced ears or pile make up onto her face so that her eyes are half shut in a state of weariness because she is *sigh* so bored. She has a wardrobe that will take her from the playground to the schoolroom to the family party or church on a Sunday. She has a raincoat, a warm jacket, a ballet outfit and a pretty dress and cardigan. She doesn't have a pregnant friend or a boyfriend or an incessant desire to be an imaginary princess. She is happy in herself... bien dans sa peur, again. Is this possibly because she is French? ...

"small elements of my home that I do not detest and that I have photographed so as to eliminate all traces of dirt and detritus". I love reading all the blogs on my list. I love reading all the house books that I can lay my hands on, ripping them to pieces and sticking them into my inspiration books. I won't get into how much more time I have to actually do things around my house if I don't go on t'internet and how much more money I would have available if I didn't have this programmed need to buy buy buy ..... I admire the true homemakers, I really do. I have a hankering to have a successful business, clean house and a family who can find matching socks without looking in three different places and finally finding the match half way behind the sofa cushion where it's been for three weeks so that I have to wash it before they can wear it and they either have to wear it wet, in which case I worry about pneumonia, or start again on the quest for a pair with ...