Washer Woman

The Washer Watcher in action!

 The weather has been pants lately, adding to the frustration of not being able to go out wandering as much as we'd like is the ever growing stacks of wet washing with no where to go. Drying indoors just isn't glamorous, unless.......
You spend a rainy day totally re vamping your washing room, whilst avoiding all other housework!

I started on this little baby airer. It's been with me for years now, a bargain find in a Nottingham junk shop. I saw an idea recently in a magazine for tying ribbon around the joints but I thought I'd go one better and replace the tapes with fancy trimmings, from my collection.

Here is the finished article laden up with Joels 'real' nappy's

...drying off in front of our lovely blue Rayburn

I also got my lovely selection of old tins out of storage and set them out along the high window sill. I used some of Joel's building blocks to spell out WASH

Hanging from the ceiling are these fabric print paper lanterns which used to block a street front window at my old house.

and our traditional big airer. Where would we be without it!!!

The finishing touch was covering Myrtles crate with some bright red, spotted oilcloth. The Orla Kiely Tesco bag for life is perfect for emptying the machine into as I can carry it over my shoulder to the line whilst holding Joel. Much better than a wash basket.

So all in all I am very pleased with my efforts. Who said utility can't be pretty?

Birthday Boys

One thing which has kept us very busy since our trip down south was planning for Joel and his friend Rory big birthday bash!

Rorys mum is planning her wedding so I took the lead on the boys do. After a couple of weeks of planning the big day came, we'd chosen the local village hall as the venue, sent out Mr Bs beautifully designed invites

We requested no gifts as we wanted as many people as possible to share this special day and didn't want it to cost our friends to attend. Birthdays are about get togethers not spending money.

I baked lots of buns (adult and wee sized ones) as well as some extra chocolaty cornflake cakes (oh my they were VERY good) this was my first try at baking, I figured as a mummy it's essential to at least get buns right. Mr B and Uncle M were on hand to help decorate them.
Unfortunately in all the rush to get things made I didn't get to photograph the fab eats and layout before the party started. I can assure you they looked and tasted fab!

Joel with his cousin Sophie. Rory and the two Mr Bs are in the background

It was a brilliant day, everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and the boys were wiped out come 5pm. It's been the fastest year of our lives and quite rightly deserved a massive get together, I can't wait for next years shin dig!

Good news

The news is so depressing at the moment, it's making me feel so sorry for all the people who have had their lives turned upside down in the cities. I am glad that we live in a lovely rural area. Last night Mr B and I thought how lucky we are, in so many ways. So I thought I'd cheer us all up over the next few days by writing about the nice things in our lives.

Mum and Son fun on a Camel at one of Kendals playgroups.

I feel that Joel and I have really hurled ourselves into the world of mum and baby socialising, something essential for keeping your sanity! We had a slow start on this as the total shock to the system of having a baby, teamed with physical recovery and problems establishing breastfeeding meant we didn't really surface from Oakbank until some 6 weeks after he arrived. Before we knew it we had lots of places to go and friendly faces to see. Yet this wonderful world of play sessions and interaction only exist during term time, thus assuming all mums have more than one child! This leaves new mums who have built up networks of support and activity suddenly stranded. Who would have thought that when your children aren't yet at school the timetable has such a hold over what you do?

With this in mind I decided to take over the local baby/toddler groups booking at our village hall, Tots Tuesday Summer Club was born. I've managed to get enough mums each week to cover the hire of the hall (it's a non profit group) without doing any advertising. We have loads of space for little people to travel around (by tummy, crawling, bum shuffling and walking, however they like) a kitchen for the all important brews (I serve the tea from a hatch!) and a fab outdoor space (though unfortunately it's in full sun at that time of day so not ideal for new skin) It is small scale but I've really enjoyed it, I love making up groups and clubs and partys so am already thinking of my next venture :)

Happy Holiday

It's been a very long time since my last post about our trip to Dorset. Life seems to have been so hectic since getting back, the time away was lovely and relaxing though, especially for Mr B who is all 'work, work, work'. I'll get you up to speed on what we got up to.

We rode on an open top bus from Westbourne (where we were staying) to Swanage. It was a lovely sunny day and lots of other people had the same idea as us. Mostly retired folk as the schools hadn't broken up yet.

The bus went really fast, it felt like a rollercoaster ride for OAPs!

Joel liked smiling at everyone and at one point some of the ladies sat opposite us took turns bouncing him on their knees.

It was a long journey, including a ferry crossing, Joel nodded off after a while. It was so nice to share the moment with Mr B. We will always remember this moment. His warm bady snuggled between us asleep on an open top bus :)

So much love for this boy xx

When we got to Swanage we went straight on a steam train to Corfe Castle. It was ace!

The decor was all original wood panelling

Joel liked crawling back and forth between us across the table. He is NEVER still.

Another day we went to the New Forrest, it was so beautiful and so special to see it for real 34 years after my first postcard was written there. There were wild ponies running across the roads. We also saw Deer and a huge Ants nest (hard to tell from this pic, but) it was covered with millions of Red Ants!

We spent a couple of days in Bournemouth, it was so nice. A proper old fashioned sea side town, with amazing formal gardens running through the middle of it. There was an old fashioned Balloon ride too, we didn't go on but enjoyed watching it rise up above the buildings. Isn't it pretty!

Joel thoroughly enjoyed himself, we stayed out late most days. Usual routine went out the window with regards to bed time but we figured all the fresh air was so good for him it didn't matter.

All in all it was a brilliant time for us, so nice to get away from house chores and for Mr B to get away from work and spend quality time with our little treasure.

Summer wear

This last week the weather has been so hot, after being really grim. Our summers are getting stranger and stranger making holiday planning very difficult.
You may remember quite a few of my early posts were about my Great Aunt Margaret, in particular all the cool stuff that came to me once she had passed away. I didn't know her very well but looking through her stuff and seeing connections to myself was a nice way to get to know more about her life.
So with this in mind we are going to stay at Margarets old flat for a week, a whole week! Our first ever family holiday.

My last sewing project before we go is this little beauty. Margarets fabulously retro swimsuit! I've filled out, a little, since having Joel so this style looks great on my shape. Though the bust is a bit too big, even with the boning taken out so I'm doing a quick snip and tuck on the boob compartments. It's in great condition, I wonder if it was ever even worn?

There is a pool at the flats so I thought I really must wear this for our morning swims. Just hope the lovely hot weather holds out! I'll send you all a postcard x

Baaber

 

Last night all the local girls were herded past our house to get their hair cut. You should have heard the noise they made. I bet they feel better for a trim today. Unfortunately Joel missed them but Mr B and I watched from over the garden gate. Good Life :)

Nature and Nurture

Me again. You can see I'm making the most of Joels nap times. It's great to write though, I miss having the time to contemplate and express myself at a leisurly pace on here, still I get to bank my photos and ideas and draft write in the evenings. My creativity has had to adapt to family life, like everything has.
Our lane has been more colourful lately.... 

With this bank of fox gloves lining the way up hill

Bees were dashing in and out of the trumpets, too fast to photograph though.

There is all sorts of interesting grasses too, Joel was reaching out of his pram to stroke them. They felt lovely.

Bright red Sorrel and dainty Buttercups broke the greenery up

Joel likes holding the different grasses.

Flutterbyes

A long time ago I lived in Lancaster, it's not my favourite of places so I didn't stay long, one place I always wanted to visit but never got around to was Williamson Parks Butterfly House. So when Lisa and Margot suggetsed a trip out there Joel and I jumped at the chance.

It was mega mega hot in there so we had to peel off a few layers before hunting for winged treasures but just look at what we found!

Butterflys are well into their bananas

They eat them through a straw coming out of their face

Margot and Mummy counting fish in the ponds

We were lucky enough to get to see the butterflys in their cocoons. They hatch in a special cupboard and the keeper takes them out once they have had a chance to dry their wings off.

Some of them looked just like jewels, with gold spikes. They were amazing.

It was nice to cool down in the breeze when we got out, Margot and Joel had a wee chat about who had spotted the most winged beauties while Lisa and I supped Lady Grey tea in the sun. Lovely Jubbly :)

Up Up and away!

Three weeks ago Joel cracking crawling, he'd been commando crawling for about a month before then, last week he started pulling himself up on things. After many bumps and bangs he is now coasting around the house using handles, radiators and even Myrtle to get about.

We can see now why people say treasure the moments you have with your little ones, he is not yet a year old but already striving for independence.

Playing cups at his Grannys

Preperations are underway for his first birthday party, which he is sharing with his first friend, Rory (born just a few hours after Joel) It's more than a birthday party though, we had planned to do a naming day at six months but time just flew by and it's only now that I feel able to organise anything. So we'd like to look at this day as being a celebration of arrival, acheivement but most of all our love for our boy.