Blanket goodness

Hello there, how has the Long Weekend been with you?  We've had such a fab time, I'm feeling very lucky!

Its just been rotten weather here, but really perfect for the HH household.  We had a bit of an Indian Summer, but it then turned back into dark, dank weather-um, pretty much the same as our Summer!!!  I love Autumn, Winter and all things snuggley!  So we've been fine and happy!  After visiting The Chocolate Bar with my friend Holly I knew I HAD to visit there with The Husband.  It is the most amazing shop in the whole of the North East!  There are so many chocolates wrapped up like teeny tiny jewels I can hardly count them.  Its run by three women, and you can always see there little ones running around!  The seats are super snuggley and cosy, and there are loads of windows to peak out at people from.  When The Mother in Law visited here this weekend we all ventured over to Ellon to have a good look around and eat too much!!  We had chilli hot chocolate and some cake-oh my goodness it was just too good for words!!  We sat up at the counter on the super sleek bar seats and stared at all of the gadgets behind the counter....oh and the extra sprinkles for our cocoa!

Afterwards we had a lovely walk around to see some china and some beautiful old books and then back to the car via a charity shop.  It was jam packed full of lovely things but most wonderfully of all-thick wool blankets!!  I was so super happy that I ran at the poor Husband and begged him to hand over the cash ASAP.

All I could think of when I saw them was of an old Cherry Menlove post from ages ago!!  I am so excited to get the blankets on a good wash and hang them out to dry...then I can decorate them and stick them up around the house!! 

I will post some pictures later, but Im off to check on Sunday Dinner!!

Christmas Extravaganza Weekend

Yay, I am already overwhelmed by excitement about Christmas and all thing which can be put in the category of Over The Top!!!

I've bought us tickets for the Country Living Christmas Fair, which we went to for the first time last year. It was so much fun last year, and we both got to take part in two demonstrations which I think was unbelievably lucky, so I hope it’s just as great this year. On the same weekend as the Fair we’re also going to see Scrooge at His Majesties Theatre.

It’s my all time favourite theatre and A Christmas Carol is one of my must reads every December-so poor Mr HH is being dragged along on what I'm calling our Christmas Extravaganza Weekend.

Thrifty Christmas

Don’t get cross with me for mentioning the Christmas word right now, I'm not trying to antagonise anyone!!


As anyone who knows me already is aware, I adore Autumn and Winter more than any other seasons, yes sunny summers are great, but on a rainy day I’d much rather make a stew than pretend I want to eat strawberries and cream in the grey sun porch! With this in mind my aptly named friend Holly and I have been planning the galas and fairs we’re going to attend.

Although this is really great and a lovely thing to think of right now, this is the first Christmas The Husband and I are going to have with a relatively big family. Before now there were so many disagreements that we only ever had to buy things for a handful of people (excluding all of those little spare presents to be kept at the front door!). And now, with all of those hatchets well and truly buried, we have more than twenty people to buy for…a really big shock for someone from a teeny tiny family!

We have…ooops, I mean, I have been creating my lists again so that I can prepare this operation with military precision (When Hubby is ex-Army, why can’t he think more of my plans?). Its really not because I am an organised person, I really am the least organised Librarian in the world, I mean Dewey organised the worlds knowledge into 10 classes and I forget to defrost supper I if I need to iron something in the morning….anyway… Its mostly because seeing as money is tighter than normal at the moment I want to be able to take advantage of every little sale or bargain that I can, and being organised will help me do that.

Much too often I don’t leave enough time to shop on amazon for a great title and I have to go to the bookstore. I run around and grab anything, just so that someone can unwrap something…I really don’t want to, nor do I think I can afford, to put myself through that. So, while the evenings are still light I will be merrily cross stitching or sewing, I will be crafting as well as sneaking on to ebay for bargains galore and hopefully, when the nights are dark and the winds are wild I will be tucked up inside safe in the knowledge that Great Aunty Whatsit will have something to swig on Christmas Morning!!

What a week, what a week..

What a week, ranting, horrible, evil work week!!  When Friday rolled around it was all I could do not to scream out loud because I had already promised to do a shift swap for someone and I had to work on Saturday morning.

There I was, almost skipping from the building, when a giant rain cloud passed right over me...and......let the sun peep through!!  It was the biggest smile I had on my face all week!!  So there I went, walking-the boss was too close for me to do any skipping at this point really, on to the bus stop when what should happen?....the bus appears right away to take me into town for a bit of 'pick me up' shopping.

Anyway, the sun was getting brighter and brighter the more we headed into town, so much so that I treated myself to a milk shake once I got into Union Square.  After a little look around the shops (why is it that when you find you have money there isn't anything in your size?), and a bit of a nice wonder about, I got straight onto the bus home...where I found The Husband and his friend having a very fun afternoon eating olives, cheese and bread in the back garden...talk about medicine for an awful week!  A couple of hours of the weekend had me in a very good mood again!!

From there we walked down to the harbour, where we met a friend for drinks in their garden at the beach and we pretty much sat there for three hours although it only seemed like three minutes!  We got home, got the BBQ and firepit set up and ate so much chicken, burgers and smores that we almost fell asleep outside under our little blankets!

I am really, really working on not sweating the small stuff, I promise I am, and this weekend has really been exactly what I needed.  I am so, so lucky to have a great husband, lovely friends, and to be happy with what I have (most of the time!!).

I hope everyone's had a great weekend too!

Sheila

x x x

Sherlock Holmes

Oh dear...I am much too sad for words.  I have been living for Sundays and the BBC's greatest recent show, Sherlock.

I can not wait until there is more, there really must be more....how can I drink my cocoa with marshmallows on a Sunday night without it?

Changes

When I was little I grew up in a small fishing village about twelve miles from where The Husband and I now stay. It was good and exactly how I want my children to grow up. The village was so small that it was easy for me to go about and explore, I walked everywhere with my family and as we owned a yacht (which my Father built-we weren’t rich!) I was always busy and had stories to tell from the weekend.

Once I grew up a bit we moved closer to town. I was a teenager and loved the freedom which came from being able to walk into town anytime I wished. Everything was on my doorstep and I was able to get a job in a clothes shop in town which was lovely. Discount on fabulous clothes, and all my wages spent in my place of work pretty much ensured that we always made a bonus…which invariably was spent back in my workplace!! It was a great time and exactly what I needed at that time.

When I met The Husband, and he was just The Boyfriend I moved into his home. That is probably the oddest time for me. It was my first home of my own, but it wasn’t really- it was his… In that place I didn’t learn to cook and I barely cleaned up after myself….how embarrassing!

I was so glad when we moved to a lovely area in the suburbs; our teeny tiny little flat was perfect. I cooked and cleaned and made it my own. I was so happy and proud, I made an actual home. People visited, and although there wasn’t much space we always made sure people knew they were welcome. That became exactly what I needed. The Husband and I got married, we honeymooned and came back to that flat, it was a physical example of our commitment to each other-we had made a home which one day we hoped a child would move into.

Now we’ve moved into our new home. I now live quite close to my first home ever. I've come full circle and I love it. I know not to expect anything about little ones in this home-but that’s alright. There is now a spare room which is perfect for guests, we now have a home big enough to properly have people over to, and feel welcome in. It’s a wonderful feeling to be that prepared, something I’ve never had before. I know not to think that we’ll be here forever, it’s probably the last thing I say before I find the roof caves in knowing my luck recently, but I know to take things in my stride and start handing things over to ‘The Universe’. I really need to let go and go with the flow, so I am happy to learn that skill…slowly, in our new home.

Bye for now,

Sheila

x x x

What a weekend..i need a holiday!

Oh my goodness-what a weekend! It’s been so terrible; I honestly am at the very end of my tether!

It is all to do with moving house and renting and quite frankly being very, very cross with the landlord-to the point where we think we might be taking them to small claims court! So I'm sure you can imagine how cross I am!

It has all been such a stress, added to the fact that seeing as it happened over a weekend we can’t speak with anyone with lots of knowledge and advice. I'm really not someone who can step back and let things take their course, but I'm now someone who is forced to be!

Wish me luck with this, we certainly need it.

Sheila

x x x