Angel Jem's City Cottage

We had a lovely time; Cookies on Christmas Eve (one for Santa; two for me) Opening presents on the Day itself A Sansa clip and a Sylvanian caravan for the Princess, Wii with games and extras for the Boys A beautifully decorated table; done by my 7 year old daughter. I have passed on the mantle. Christmas Dinner; turkey and all the trimmings complete with silly hats and crackers (97p from Tesco but they were red and white and just looked so right for our table) Doctor Who; yes, I cried, but not as much as I will on New Year's Day. And an early night, ready for the next day.

And a happy, peaceful and love-filled 2010

I seem to say that more and more at the moment. What have I been up to? Not a lot, really, making gifts, wrapping them, tidying enough that any body could drop by and I wouldn't feel too guilty, at least for most visitors. We've done the usual visit to St Nick (on St Nicholas day, how well arranged was that?) and now I'm facing my last morning alone for two weeks. A little light house work, a couple of present finishing, coffee with friends, it'll be an average day. The rate I'm blogging this will probably be my last post this year, so to all my friends out there; Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It's that wonderful time of year when every day seems to bring a new magazine..... and this one is always first. Unfortunately, no pictures since my camera has run out of juice. But so far I've seen ideas for decorations and enough mince pies to make the most blase Santa happy. I'm off now to make a coffee and read a little snow-covered pleasure on a Friday. Have a good weekend & see y'all Monday!

The sight of people wandering around in regency costume doesn't make you laugh, just utter a wistful sigh that you really had the balcony necessary to carry off an empire line. I don't, really, not without the sort of engineering works that made the Victorians great. I was in Bath with my DH and we walked miles..... and ate chocolate cake, went to the Jane Austen centre, visited the Roman baths and ambled home via Worcester. A good weekend was had by all. I love Bath, it has such a wonderful coloured stone. We live in a sandstone area, so all our stone houses are red (which I love, too) and the visual stimulus of a different coloured stone very often makes you appreciate the houses that, at home, you just pass by in silence. It had a Christmas shop called December 25th .... look, they let me take photos to show you! The website isn't a shop, but it is a showcase and does have contact details so that you can visit. The little interiors shop called Hansel und Gretel stocks ev...

I'm busy, you can't expect me to blog and change rooms over, can you? The family room will have the toys and the box room will have my craft stuff. we tried it once before, but they kept moving in and it didn't work. Now I have a bureau coming from my parents and lots of shelves I know it will. I need to craft. Photos tomorrow (or the day after. I may never get out alive!)

My heart longs for non-stop music, has done a while, but I just can't get organised. My niece has an i-pod nano, but I can't dream of spending that much money on an electrical item. Mr DH doesn't see the point of them, and I can't argue in as much as I think it is a lot to spend on something so small. Also, there's the colour issue; it has to be red. I thnk I may have found a workable solution; the sansa fuze 4gb in red, with an extra card or something to double the capacity. And at least half the price. I know what I want for Christmas (101 days to go) and I just have to be sensible in asking for it. Please. So I found e-music had a 50 free downloads offer on... ok, so nothing really fashionable or pop, not a jot of Oasis or Girls Aloud, but I found Leigh Nash and Fleet Foxes so I'm happy. Sixpence none the richer , weird name, weird sound but good. And I have got my listening for December planned already. Tee hee. Now all I need is the said sansa fuze. 101 da...

Watching the leaves change colour is an annual delight, but am I the only one who thinks it is too soon?

Early morning, sat in a large window overlooking the Irish sea. On a clear day I can see Anglesey. No such luck today. Instead I get to watch clouds of all shades of grey and white rush past. I can hear the wind hammering against the house, and the white horses are racing for the shore. Great British Holiday. Don't you just love it?

This is my number 2 son (that's birth order, not preference) He was born 9 years ago today at 10.30 at night. I didn't get a lot of sleep that night; not just because the hormones of what is potentially one of the most magical things I have ever done were rampaging around, but also because I had the Goblet of Fire as pain control and I had to finish it . This is my sensible son, very practical, physical and even tempered (unless it's a game and he loses. That's when the monster appears.) He's more of a were-wolf than a vampire, and really more of the hero than the monster. Good at maths, smiley, just very cute. G force and a BBQ at his Grandmas. What a way to celebrate!

So why does my heart feel like September? My Mum gave me some nectarines and pears today, from France, where she has been on her holidays. I was going to photograph them this afternoon and only just now got the camera out. It's seven o'clock, and as I tried to get the light to be... well, light enough, it occurred to me that the evenings of long golden sunlight are fading fast. Only 3 weeks until school. Half a holiday gone...... We shopped today for pens and pencils, new pencil cases and a mobile phone. Moving on, always moving on. You have to buy now because come September the aisles are full of Halloween stuff.... and all too soon Christmas. The dreaded C word. I don't remember summer's lease having this short a date when I was young. Perhaps I need to slow down. Connected to slowing down, in a manner of speaking, I got this today. Economy Gastronomy . The series is running on BBC2 at the moment and, since I enjoyed last week's episode and recognised a style of c...

A new organised me? I don't think so. As anyone who has ever taken part in a swap with me knows, I do not make deadlines. I don't altogether know what day it is most times. And I can't tell you what the kids are up to today, let alone tomorrow or next week. But I love organising things; filofax, notebooks, diaries. Part of my problem is the quest for the perfect organising tool. It doesn't exist, I know that, but I still seek the best diary, calender, folder or filing system. Perhaps, like the Holy Grail, it can only be claimed by somebody truly pure in heart. Oh, well, counts me out. I only want to get organised to make more time for myself. Actually, if I don't bother getting organised and just don't care, I'll have loads of time. Might try that approach this year. But until I really can't be bothered, I'll keep searching. My current organiser is a pocket filofax. I had a pretty poppy covered one, but it got damaged and the ringbinde...

DH has taken a day off work today and we went out. Chester is a lovely old city near to us. It has half-timbered shops and roman ruins. It has lovely shops, a park that has clean benches and a definite feel of respectable gentility about it. I'd love to show you a load of photos but I didn't take any. Just google Chester, UK and you get the picture. And it has a pasty shop. I love pasties. My childhood is full of memories of eating cornish pasties at the side of tourist attractions in Devon and Cornwall and drinking milk straight from the bottle with my brothers. I think my Mum even has photos of us sat in a row, with bottles and half-dead pasties really clearly visible. I love pasties as a food memory, and today as I counted up the points (about 8 to 10) and ate on regardless (no points on chocolate today) it occurred to me that I have never tried to recreate a pasty in my own kitchen. They are, like a lot of things, something which every self-respecting wife could make at one...

I am no domestic Superwoman. I manage a little dusting and as little vacuuming as I can as much as I can.... which is strange, since I appreciate a clean and sparkling house as much as the next woman.... I'm just not sure I should need to do the work. But this week has been almost spring-like in my cleaning. I find myself pulling out and sorting cupboards, drawers, bags and the bottom of settees with a zeal that is frightening (I am NOT nest building, I will never need to nest build again) There was the strange case of the loo in the daytime (Mr K never noticed that the walls had changed colour until later that evening; at which point he asked me what time that night I had managed to do the painting; normal service will be resumed as soon as possible) The kitchen has had a good wipe over and the living room had a corner cleared. But of all my work this week the one I am most proud of is my bedroom. I love my bedroom; it is possibly my favourite room in the house. Everything in it i...

Building tents. We raided the garage for bamboo and wood, nicked every blanket out of the living room (can you tell I like red?) and set to work with nothing more than masking tape and wool. We have every kind of tent I could think of; the teepee, the Indian summer tent (canopy only; I don't have enough white sheets to make all four sides. Princess not happy with this.) and a traditional triangular tent with my comfiest red blanket as the roof. And me? I don't get a tent, only a parasol that I had to buy myself, with a glass of blackcurrant (the sun's not over the yardarm yet) and a couple of magazines for company. I predict that we are here for tea and into the night. Can't think how to do a campfire safely, and I haven't got any marshmallows so s'mores are out, but we might make do with tomato soup and burgers if it gets cold. Ans when your tent gets boring/ cold/ too sunny, what do you do? Move in with your brother.

Than a decent toilet with a good flush and soft toilet roll. For the past 8 years, since we moved in, the toilet downstairs (the 'guest' toilet) has been a nightmare vision of dirty cream loo and stained basin, peeling striped vinyl walpaper and a light the hideousness of which defies description. And I'm good with words. I know, I know, I could have decorated around the brown-stained sanitary ware, but my heart always sank when I went in there. Which strikes me as wrong. Even if it is the smallest room in the house it should be a warm, welcoming and above all clean place. So, this summer we replaced the broken toilet. Plain white, neat, smooth and no ledges in the bowl to cause bad staining. Then in July I stripped the walls. The wallpaper had been put on over some cheap and tacky white paint which peeled off in places so they were white and patchy now, still not calm inducing. I needed to paper, but didn't feel inclined so I stuck on a coat of yellow paint. Still not ...