Angel Jem's City Cottage

I keep writing posts at blogger, and changing them, and having multiple posts show up in my post shelf, some of which are on the blog and some of which aren't. I am not a happy bunny. And it's not just this blog; I run Peter's blog on Blogger as well, and Sarah has started a blog to run alongside her business GCSE project. And they are all playing the same game with me; every blinking draft I write gets stored on the post index. I need to take a closer look at the settings. There must be something I've fiddled with. Anyhoo. On to business. How are you all? I am well, thank you, and working hard. We have a case management system which I haven't been able to use until today... and now I have a log in and all of a sudden Peter's come over all efficient and telling me to do stuff like payment letters and requests for medical records. Honestly, you'd think he pays me to do his donkey work...... oh, wait... yes, actually he does. And the promise of a cut of a...

It's funny how you can have waves of shopping, isn't it? There was a year when everything I got was black... or red... or had squares or circles on it. I took Sarah off to Yarndale again this year, so I suppose it shouldn't have been too surprising when the shopping ended up having a common theme to it. But first... Yarndale . Sarah and I were both shattered after a week in school/work (and following on from a weekend away last week) so we cancelled the planned weekend away. We were due to Yarndale (that's a verb, it means spending time browsing yarn and stroking a lot of alpaca) yesterday, but had a pootling day at home instead. My living room is clean and smells nice again now. That only lasts until tomorrow, when the guineas will do their worst. So we decided that today was the day. We were up and out at 10.30, and at Skipton for 12.30. Last year we went on the Saturday and it was packed, like standing room only packed. The fact that we drove straight i...

At the Handmade Fair there were lots of small, contagious objects that caught my fancy. If I could have, I would have bought loads of trinkets and doo-dahs, but neither my purse nor my house will support uninhibited spending. So I set a limit and did my best to walk around and see everything before I bought; with the exception of Sally's Shed. I'd looked at these on t'internet before and loved them. In reality they were even cuter than I thought and I couldn't resist a couple... or it may have been three. They look lovely lined up on my mantelpiece, but they are destined to go on my dresser which is getting quite a homey theme going on. I love pinning inspirational quotes on Pinterest so I loved the range of cards by Rachel Seymour. I love this quote. We should all take time to do this. It was a Handmade Fair and I knew I wanted to bring something to do home. When I saw these kits from Corinne Lapierre I just had to have the owls for Sarah and then th...

This weekend Mr Angel Jem (OK, Peter of Peter Kneale Solicitor . Let's not pretend anymore) had a day's training to do in London of all places. Would I like to go to? It would mean I was all alone.... in London... all Saturday. Would I like to go???? I don't think I have said YES!! quite as quickly or enthusiastically as since he proposed, and I'm ashamed to say I may have been a little more emphatic about it. I was absolutely happy about the idea of a day alone in London anyway since my little jaunt for The Chase last June which I very naughtily never blogged about! I was quite happy with the idea of just sauntering around and watching the world when I found out that The Handmade Fair was on just the weekend I was there. I like Kirstie Allsopp anyway. Her programmes are fun to watch, and what she can do with a junk pile is nobody's business. I signed up, dressed up and went. On the advice of my husband, I wore a summer dress. Big mistake. Although on the...

I am loving the slew of hygge books that fell through my postbox last week. From the first day of September onwards I have been busy reading about and thinking through how to make my home hyggelig and ready for the A word and the W word before the C word strikes. Do you hygge?  I love it. It's like the fanciest comfy-cosy-safe-together idea I know. And untranslatable. But then, they said the same of pyjamas and bungalow, and all we Brits did was use the word and eventually just think they were our idea in the first place.  I am a big hygge fan (you'd never guess) and since everyone else will now understand what I mean when I say let's hygge, I am going to use the word as much as possible as many times as possible as many places as possible. Let's Hygge the British way Click on the picture to go to the site. My new baby. I haven't had a thing I feel so positive about since last week, when I did the SEO for Peter Kneale Solicitor and he jumped fro...

Golly! I haven't had a regular system (again!) for ages. Work, it's the bane of the working classes. Anyhoo, I'm working in an office with a computer and plenty of time between clients to be able to spend some time doing stuff for me. I'm only paid part time at the moment and working full time, so we came to an agreement; rather than me feel ill used, I could work on a side hustle. Don't worry, Angel Jem's City Cottage is not my side hustle, but my retreat. My side hustle is or will be a new blog called How to Hygge The British Way . It'll be a more polished, monetised, affiliate linked blog when it's up and running; and it's specifically about trying to get a lot more hygge and Danish style living into my life. I know I like a lot of Danish things and I may be the only person who looks at the 10th circle of hell that is Ikea with pleasure, so why not spend a year of my life living Danishly... in Britain. Is it possible? Can we really hygge the life...

Today is my second payday as an Office Ninja, so time for a Payday Treat. This month's was easy; for 99p at Amazon you can have this little beauty. Listen, cry and love what must surely be a totally hyggelig song. This is my house. It isn't much, but it is enough for me.