Angel Jem's City Cottage

Wednesday is usually a good day in the office. I get in early, after dropping David off at the station at 8 for University at 9.30. I can clean, run backup, get the first cup of tea in and be writing at my desk, all before 9am. I leave by 4, to tutor a child, so the day is even a shorter day than usual. I think my early morning quiet session will be a good time to do my weekly round up. So here I am, only a week later than I thought! What am I reading this week? I had to mostly read Reservoir 13 for bookclub on Monday. It did not go well. I know it's won all sorts of awards and been raved about by people,had prequels on Radio 4 and all the things that meant I should have liked it.... but I just didn't. I don't know whether part of that was I was reading in very short bursts and often late at night in an incredibly busy few weeks, or because the style is deliberately disjointed, with no identifiable main character. I didn'y have sympathy for any of teh character...

There are 74 days left until Christmas!! This came as a bit of a surprise to me when I looked it up today, as I don't feel anywhere near ready for Christmas. Also, is it my imagination, or have shops not got Christmas in as early as last year? I went looking for wrapping paper last week and couldn't see the sort I was after in Tesco, W H Smiths or Asda. In fact, Asda had no Christmas paper and shelves still full of Hallowe'en! That struck me as rather odd, because when it comes to Back To School the shelves are cleared and replaced by Halloween before school even starts. I think I was hoping for something similar with Christmas. So, in an effort to get Christmas juices flowing, I thought I'd share a few things I'm looking to do or get for Christmas. 1. Visit Salisbury Museum. They have the Terry Pratchett exhibition on, until January 13th and my two sons are keen to go. We live in Liverpool, and there's a long distance between the two places, so we...

I can't believe how far behind in Christmas shopping I feel this year! Normally by now I have lists ready and I'm well underway. I think part of the problem is that I haven't been able to get a sensible word from the Lads about what they want, and I am just not prepared to have a go at guessing myself. That, and the money flow is not the best. We are doing well, thank you, but working for oneself as a business, especially one like solicitor, means that you never know whether this month is a feast or a famine. I thought I would be giving up tutoring, but I still need to keep it up for the next year at least, if only to pay for Christmas. Having a small amount of cash every week just gives me the freedom to know that I will have x amount to spend on y day. It helps. Like Tesco says... every little helps. But this weekend I finally sat down, notebook and Evernote to hand, and planned the shopping. I still have no idea what the lads want, but they'll have to mak...

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...

On Saturday I went to Black Sheep Wools for a workshop. It was run by Jane Crowfoot, whose latest CAL started last week. I feel very lucky to live a bare half hour from BSW, and to be able to get up at 9 and still be there by 10 for a workshop. There were 12 of us, all gathered around the table and keen to start making a bag. The project was called the Lily Pond Bag and Jane designed it to use up all the bits and pieces left over from the Lily Pond blanket CAL last year. It looks divine; And the workshop was set up to allow for a degree of individuality. I love a degree of individuality. We got to choose colours and order, and everyone who attended got the pattern as devised by Jane. It was only 6 hours but you can get a lot done in 6 hours as well as eating a LOT of sandwiches and cakes. The furtherest participant had come from Northumberland, but there were mostly local people there. And there wasn't a lot of talking; the patterns are deceptively fiendish an...

No, neither do I. The last few weeks have been hectic. Good hectic, nice hectic, hectic for good reasons, but I don't do endless movement. I am a child of the current, a duck circling lazily, rather than a swooping eagle always on the go and hunting out the best. Hell, if I could get somebody else to throw my food at me from the edge of my life's lake I would do. Last week was Yarndale. Yes, I loved it, yes I took some photos but not as much as I thought I would. There was altogether too much to see to take the shots and, besides which, my daughter gets embarrassed at me always having a camera in hand. And even more importantly, it's harder to stroke the yarn with a camera in hand. Regardless, I had a good time, and a wonderful weekend away with Sarah. We slept over at Keighley Travelodge, and spent Sunday in Leeds. It is good shopping, and a fun place to be on a sunny, mostly warm Sunday afternoon. And this week I was patiently waiting for Tuesday ...

I would love to show you my completed bedroom this sunny Tuesday morning; but life's not like that. Yesterday I worked through 4 hours of one to one tuition; very intensive, very much an hour of deep thinking all the time. So my much hoped for finishing off time didn't happen. And today is Son Number Two's 15th birthday, so it won't happen today (but I hope to be back later with a report on what we did... exciting times, I hope!) Instead there are a few promising shots, with a full reveal to come (possibly this weekend!!)  This is the view up my bed. The village cushions came from Dunelm Mill (£5.00 each) while the smaller cushions were presents that have quotes to live by!  The house cross stitch above the bed was made by me in 1992, the year before we married. I will take a picture of it sometime without the great glare from the window. The dotty duvet comes from the centre of my interior design world, Dunelm Mill, while my bedside chest is both my bedside ...