Angel Jem's City Cottage

Ha! Doesn't it? You try telling that to DP Who has broken his arm in the same way and same part as the Princess, meaning he has to have a plaster for 5 weeks and, since he only has a back slab plaster for a week, he needs to have a whole week off school with me! Literacy (we went to Borders and treated him to a book ), mathematics (we got on the lego website and compiled a wishlist, then added up the amount. Cripes!), and history (he showed me the websites he has been browsing at school. Add to that engendering a love of the classics (we watched part one of The Two Towers ) and we have had a good day without really feeling like work. I have told him that next week it is Times Tables. He'll be glad to get back after that. (and I will miss him!) So, it's a good job I didn't do anything with the plastic cover that I invested in for the Princess. Best £7 I spent this year. And, before anybody asks, I have already told JW (No. 2 son) that he is banned from going anywhere...

If not quite dim, then rather so." Poetry for October, "Twenty Years Hence" by Walter Savage Landor. Couldn't resist it. I love poetry, don't read a lot of it (who does, nowadays?) but I did do an English degree and studied a lot of nineteenth century poets. There is something so fantastic about being able to quote a whole poem at need. My mother, raised in post-war austerity, is of the generation when schools made you learn poetry and she can reel off whole poems word perfect (sometimes better than she remembers what day it is!) while my brief foray into organised literary criticism got me no further than remembering Blake's Oh Rose (8 incredibly short lines that I once spent a 1 1/2 hour lesson deconstructing. You have to love literature to do that!) I have bought the 'poem a day' books and read them (not every day, but often) and I do like to read poetry when I can.... but I still fail dismally at knowing a poem. Wish I could learn at least one. Fa...

Kari at Just Livin Large. Well, who else could Christmas Stockings go to? I swear, I wrote the names out, pulled one out and it was the Christmas Queen herself who won! Now tell me there ain't a God? And, Kari, if you send me the details I shall send you the prize (even though I really love your Christmas signature and want one too. I'm not jealous, Granny Skywalker. Oh no, not me) (not much, anyway) Congratulations & look forward to hearing from you soon! And to everyone else who entered, I am sorry, and better luck next time. Thanks for entering!

I love fiddling around the house, puttering and doing pretty things. If only they stayed pretty! However, I try ;) I like making something in my living room seasonal. During the holidays, this is usually the mantlepiece, with shells and stones gathered from walks on the beach and certificates from school to show the end of another school year and the progress made. At this time of year I fall back upon Keats as my inspiration. I love the fruitfulness of Autumn and, even before children, could never resist the lure of a freshly shelled chestnut (where else in nature can one find such glossy copper-beech-brown?) or a pinecone placed where I can watch the tightly held sections opening out as it dries up inside. I like to change the colour of the flowers I buy from pink or white to yellow or orange, whether Chrysanthemums or Gerberas. I look longingly at the sunflowers in the shops now, too, but since you pay per bloom, they tend to get left behind. One day I will buy a bunch of five and f...

Folks may remember me saying I had started a ripple blanket after the fiasco that was my granny square blanket , when I told DH to tuck off. That is too small, still too small, but I use it in my den as a snuggle cover on cold days, so it can stay too small til I get the willpower/time to undo the naff edging and do several circuits of treble crochet to make it big enough. So, never, then. Anyhows, I began a ripple blanket back in March and set to to finish it for this winter. Those of you who have ever made a ripple blanket will know that the first few rows are fine. It's still small and portable, it still fits in an average-sized shopping bag and it still goes where you go. However, when you're making a king-sized blanket, ( especially when it has to have a decent tuck on pain of death) it soon grows..... and grows..... and grows . And any one can tell you that sitting under what rapidly becomes a heavy and unwieldy pile of wool is not anybody's idea of a good time in sum...

I have a cold so today's programme is; Lemsip (breathe east with menthol to clear the nose) Gingerbread men (2 because they get lonely easily) Medicinal videos (including as previously mentioned Outbreak , I'm ill but at least I'm not that ill My ripple blanket, because when you're ill there's only one thing better than snuggling under a cosy blanket and that's being able to snuggle under half a king sized blanket and crochet the other half. So, I'm in today, and keeping warm. Tomorrow I will go for the fresh air to clear the airways approach, but I think a snuggle day (I may even stay in my jim jams as long as possible(!)) is not too much to ask for,is it?

I read the Mail on Sunday (sorry, but I do) and it had an amazing statistic in it. The average Briton will read 533 books in their lifetime. I'll repeat that. The average Briton will read 533 books in their lifetime. OK, I thought, that's not too bad...... Then I thought again. Hang on, said my little inner bibliophile, you read an estimated 1 book every two weeks (not counting school holidays and cold winter days when the best thing to do is to snuggle under a duvet with Jane Austen). That's 25 books a year. That's 250 books in ten years and your lifetime average in 20...... And if I assume that my reading career started at 12 (when a book a week was slow) then I could have chalked up my first 500 in the ten years before I hit my working life and a career intervened... But hang on a cotton picking minute, are they counting childrens books as well, I wondered. In which case I probably covered my 500 before I left primary school. And do they include text books? So I paus...

I love finding new places to look. I love looking at other peoples comments, visiting their pages and finding out about new people. i was always a person for acquaintances rather than a few close friends. I have a couple of close friends, mind you, the sort you need in a crisis, but I have a lot more acquaintances, the people it's pleasant to spend time with, to have coffee with, to see about and talk to without heavy commitments. I like finding new (to me) places on the ether, too. I love finding a new blog, especially if it comes with an extensive archive and/or a flickr link. Isn't it strange, that I can see someones house without knowing them? But then, they can see mine without knowing me, so honours are even. And as long as neither party turns into a stalker, it is no weirder than enjoying house magazines, with the added attraction of being able to leave comments (usually only nice ones, at first) So todays new acquaintances, whose blogs and flickr group have me smiling i...

Here is the photo that I couldn't upload yesterday. Don't they look cute? And imagine little red and white striped canes hanging out of the top.... yum yum! So, to qualify for my giveaway please post a comment on yesterday's post & the name pulling will be done on Friday 21st in the morning. As I write this with a cold, grey sky and a distinctly chilly air, I have to admit that I feel cold. You see, the last couple of days the morning has been chilly, but not really cold, and I have put on a long sleeved top thinking that today would be the day when the cold weather would come in. Ha. I have then changed my top for a t shirt, smiling at the sun shining on my arms. Great for building up defenses against flu & depression, yes? So, today I figured I'd get ahead of myself and start with the t-shirt. Ok, you can stop laughing now. I am cold, really cold. And I will have to go and get changed.... again this week...... into long sleeved tops. Fortunately, I'm not o...

Yip, it is my 100th post today and I am well chuffed, so to celebrate I have got a little giveaway. I tried up loading photos but my Kodak software isn't playing ball. Instead (and in the spirit of finding alternative ways & means) I scanned the stuff so, here is my 100th give away. A set of four stockings, each about 7 inches from tip to toe and with lovely ribbon hanging loops. They are made from classy Christmas cotton, lined with soft-feel fabric and have a faux fur trimming that came off a blanket (pity the poor child who goes to sleep this winter to find their toes peeping through the hole). I was thinking that there would be one stocking for each Sunday of Advent, with a little restorative treat in each one for all the hard working ladies (sorry, and gentlemen if there are any reading this site) to sit and enjoy this Christmas, but obviously it's up to you how you enjoy them. I love them so much I'm going to make loads more (until my poor child has no blanket lef...

I found this ticker (or at least her version of it) on a blog called Just Livin' Large , owned by a nice american lady who calls herself the Christmas Queen. Nice, isn't it? I want to set it as part of my template, but it won't let me!!! So I am reduced to making sure that when I post again, I change the date on this one so that it always stays first... or shall I put it as Christmas, then it will be the first... I am off for a fiddle.

You know I like commenting on blogs. I don't even need to know you and I comment. So, imagine my distress when I tried and tried and tried.... and it won't let me! All I get is the secure info thingy & do I trust the site (which for most of you, I do) Help! What do I do? (No, a new computer is not an option) I have so many little comments I want to leave and I can't! Apologies to those of you to whom I want to comment. If you want to e-mail me addresses, I'll comment that way until I'm sorted. Otherwise, Kari especially, I have to apologise for not being able to talk! Oh, and my next post will be my 100th! I'm trying to get sometime to be organised and make something for a give-away for it. It could be some time before you hear from me again.............

I don't know whether to call it The Common Sense Party or None of the Above (on the grounds that most of my members would be people who wanted to vote for none of the above) Its manifesto is easy; Whatever you want to do you have to ask yourself "Is it sensible?" and then, if it is, you might as well do it. It already has a set of policies in early formulation, amongst them education, economics and environment. And it has an easy set of criterion for its candidates; if you apply to be a candidate you can't be one, since the fact that you seek power means you are unsuited to have power. (That's based on Douglas Adams' idea that the man in charge of the universe doesn't want to be and would much rather watch cricket, but since he wants the job least, it's his) In Education, the policy is early intervention... preferably before birth, with an emphasis on encouraging people to achieve maturity themselves and to establish a stable relationship before even c...

The last day of the holidays; a little lie in (not too long; they have to get up tomorrow), a leisurely breakfast together, perhaps at Borders with time to look at their favourite topics of conversation at the moment, Nintendo DS games; visit Ma for the last time midweek until October, a little trip to Warrington, picking up something nice for tea, then home for a cuddly bath and hairwash in prep for tomorrow's relaxed school start. Sounds good, eh? Did we get any of it done? No. Oh, only the hairwash and bath. The rest of the day was spent; Wake up, discover that there was no breakfast (no worries, remember, we can go to Borders) and go out to the car. The car won't start. No, seriously the car won't start, no chug chug or wobble or anything. No lights, no sign of life. It's a good job my children can't lipread yet, but I bet they're working on it. A year ago they couldn't spell and me and DH communicated in L-E-T-T-E-R-S, until the top two finally repeated...

There we were before the holidays sharing a last cuppa in freedom when my friend said "Oh, well, at least none of ours has Mrs * (to protect the innocent), I hear she's having problems..." At which point I had to say..... "Oh, but JW is (and I haven't heard about any problems....)" So, now, my quandry is; 1. Ignore the comment. 2. Don't ignore and panic. 3. Be aware but trust that the problem will either go away or not be so insurmountable that my little ray of sunshine cannot charm his way out of it (She has the reputation for being depressed, apparently. So does the Princess' teacher and I wish Homeschooling were as easy as abc, although I'm not in favour of it completely, but I just feel it may be one of those school years... and it hasn't even started yet......)

One of my family's publishable names for me is the Christmas Fairy. I love Christmas, I adore Christmas, I start thinking about it in July.. or June... or this year I think it was actually May when I first wrote the wonderful words 'Christmas 2007' in my red polka dot notebook. I have my thinking lists compiled and a list of what I need to get and make planned by the time my holidays are over. On years when I visit Cheltenham I stock up on those silly little stocking fillers at Hawkins Bazaar shop, in the Regents Arcade there. I've missed out on that this year, since we had to change holiday locations at the last minute and ended up in Linlithgow in Scotland. No Hawkins Bazaar, true, but there were two fabric shops within 50 yards of each other and I had my list... I have got my fabric ready and now I need to tidy up my craft room just a little so that I can get making.... Five ballet backpacks, four girlie bags, three boys things, two notepad covers and... A pa...