Angel Jem's City Cottage

Truthfully, I can watch this movie all year round. I know it's supposed to be a Christmas movie and I know I've probably written about it before on the blog, but I've never done it for Film on Friday and I needed a soft, cosy, warm, cuddling movie this week... yes, you guessed it, I was searching for movie hygge. I can't believe that The Holiday was released in 2006! That makes it 10 years old, crazy! I do watch it every year at least once, probably more often, but it wasn't until recently that I introduced my daughter to it. She had managed to always be at school somehow when I watched it before... back in the days when I could stick a film on in the middle of the day, do my housework while watching it and be finished in time for the happy ending and cookie making before the kids rolled up. Happy days, eh? The Holiday was written and directed by Nancy Meyers , who also directed The Intern, Something's Gotta Give and The Parent Trap.  It's a li...

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...

Mark Rylance and Tom Hanks are two of my favourite actors, and for almost the same reason. They're both ordinary people, and give off the feeling that if you met them in real life they'd be very nice (indeed, Tom Hanks gatecrashed a lady's wedding photos in Central Park while running; he stopped, wished the couple well, asked them their names and had lovely words to say, then posed as they had their official photograph with him before.... and this is the beautifully Him thing.... pulling out his own camera and asking, "Can I have a selfie with you folks? My wife won't believe this!") They also don't over act. They know how to do nuanced, measured performances using every part of their face. And that ability gets used and used well in Bridge of Spies . With Mark Rylance as a Russian spy, Rudolf Abel and Tom Hanks as the civilian American lawyer James B Donovan who is drafted in to act as an independent emissary to negotiate the release of Gary Powers...

Fine, thanks. I had a bit of a busy day on Saturday, racing off to collect a daughter from Badminton (the game, not the place; I'm not that rich, you know?) before going to buy some clothes (for Her) from Asda, have an argument in the doorway because she'd lost the receipt and I thought we were going to be accused of shoplifting, before taking Medium Hairy One to the barbers, where he had about half of what I would have said to cut off cut, and then off to visit Ma who was cooking us tea. I hate watching my parents cook. It's one of the most stressful experiences, especially when my Mum limps in with a hot dish in one hand and the cane she is leaning on in the other. It's just simpler, easier and a lot less stressful to have them over to ours. And Strictly!!!! The one shining moment on a busy Saturday. We watched Strictly with our mouths agog to see what Judge or Ed or Louise would come up with. Are you watching Strictly again this year? We've completely lost...

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...