Lovely Day Out.....

On Sunday 7th October ma, pops, me & the 2 dogs headed to Shepton Mallet for the giant flea market!

I've wanted to go for a long, long time & it did not disappoint!

It took a while to get there but it was a lovely autumn day & after a much needed cup of tea we got down to business!

I didn't want to spend too much money but I did have £11.50 left of my birthday money & I intended to spend it wisely!

All this for £11.50!

I spotted this tea pot on one stall for £35 but found this dirty one in a box on another for only £5!

Of course I had to get another dog...... my collection is growing!

And my best bargain.....

When I started in Habitat in the 90's we sold these cabinets for the the costly sum of £45..... too much for me at the time! I've always regretted not getting one so about 4 years ago I decided I was going to treat myself..... it was just what I needed for my bedside table.

However after finding them online & couldn't justify the cost of £91 so I waited & waited......... this beauty came home with me for just £25!

I really wanted a red one buy hey you can't have everything!

Then it was back to my parents to meet the new member of the family

Meet Rosie..... isn't she lovely?

This photo was sent the following day to say sorry. 

You see the little monkey only went & scratched my eyeball...... how could that happen?

I think she was watching my eye lashes! 

It really hurt at the time & just got worse during the evening so I ended up at the walk in centre the following day. I was given eye drops & it cleared up very quickly..... better safe then sorry :)

So that was my day out........ pops loved it & wants to go again. Thank goodness as he's the driver!

Ladybird

You all know about my love of Ladybird books so imagine my surprise on Tuesday when my sister gave me this!

She found it in a charity shop & thought I would like it...... too damn right I do!!!

It's been on my Amazon wish list for 4 years waiting for someone to buy it for me for Christmas or my birthday.

I've been saving it until my day off & squealed with delight when I started looking through!

Pat was always my favourite as a child...... no surprise!

Chips!!!

I had to share the Sunday page!

Remember when Sunday's were like this?? Oh happy days :)

Summer!!

It's a lovely book which brings back many memories :)

Ladybird Books

Just popping in to show you my latest edition to my ever growing Ladybird book collection....

I don't remember this one..... do you?

I always find a ladybird book when I go to Oxfam but I was giving up hope & was just about to leave when I spotted it.

Some beautiful pictures inside....

I love this one...

I've been busy making lavender bags....

It's been very rewarding using my lavender that I spent hours dying last summer!

I've added them to my Folksy shop this week.

Another spring picture to make you smile

Off to Cardiff today for a meeting...... hoping to find time to check out the charity shops as I've heard they're very good! My parents are very kindly driving me so I don't have to put up with the 3 hours each way train journey! So hopefully it won't be such a long day.

Back soon

Fab day out & the end of my time off

Hello everyone, hope you're all enjoying the beautiful weather we're having.....why wasn't it like this last week????

However I do think it may be a little bit too warm today.... I was up nice & early to do my house work before it got too hot but I can't even go in the garden this afternoon without roasting...... I don't do sunshine!!!!
I need to sort out a sheltered spot for next year but then who's to say we'll have a good summer next year!

I'm a little bit behind with my blog so first up thanks to everyone one who left a comment on my last post..... it was great to meet so many new friends through Floss's birthday party..... what a great idea.

On Friday I had a great day out in Totnes with Sal......I'm not used to taking photo's for my blog when out & about so you can read Sal's post here.
It was great to be with a like minded person & not dashing about while OH waits in a near by pub!!!

This is what I brought......

A doormat from Amanda..... it's too thick for my front door but I've found another home

The goodies below ......

I've been looking for the Ladybird Crochet book for a while now so I was very happy. The plate & bowl is for work..... think everyone will know it's mine!!!

Some more red spotty fabric and gift bags for my friend's birthday gifts.

After shopping we spent the afternoon at Sal's beautiful house..... her blog does not do it justice.... the garden is fantastic.... so beautiful..... & her craft room??? Well I'd still be there now!!! I never seen so many goodies, it would take you hours to look at everything.

She very kindly let me take this home....

Thanks for a great day Sal, so nice of you to invite me to yours to have lunch & meet the family.

I showed you theses flowers on Saturday.....

Really beautiful but they didn't last long.... you were right Sal!!!

So it got me thinking........... what do I have in my garden???? Now I'm more into veg then flowers but I managed to pull together this....

I think they look lovely............. lots of cat mint, mint, lavender, jasmine & roses.

Wonder how much that would cost in a shop??

I must tell you a funny story about our parasol..... on Friday after my fab day out I returned home to noticed our large green parasol was missing!!!! I looked around the garden but couldn't see it..... I didn't want to ask OH as he would be angry because he hates living here. All night I sat & pondered where it could have gone, in the morning I had to point it out to OH to ask if he had moved it....NO!!! I was right he was angry, as you all know we've had a few problems since moving here with the terrible children. After we both walked around the garden looking for signs that some one had climbed the gate we gave up.

Later that afternoon I spoke to my neighbour to see if he had seen anything odd...... well yes he had...... the parasol had been lifted by a big gust of wind into the garden behind!!!

It was in a base so the wind must have been very strong..... thankfully it didn't damage anything although it was a shame that none of the horrible kids where hurt...lol!!!

So all that worrying was for nothing....... how silly!!!

It was back to work on Monday.... boy I sometimes wonder how they manage without me..... my tray was full of things that should've been sorted last week!!!!!

I will be back soon to tell you how how my Brownie night went on Tuesday.

Pay it forward & Ladybird books

Hope everyone had a great weekend..... the weather was beautiful here, how was it for you??

I had to work Saturday & Sunday, there was not a cloud in the sky in Exeter on Sunday...... it was a nightmare looking out the shop window, I just wanted to go home to my garden!!!

When I got home on Saturday my 'Pay it forward' gift was waiting for me. The lovely Sarah sent me this.......

Great isn't it???? Not sure where it will live, at the moment it's hanging from the handle on my kitchen window ...... I did take a photo but then you would all see how dirty my windows are....LOL!!! In the end I thought it looked better on my sofa!!

When doing my housework on Friday I found theses.......

They were on the top of my bookcase!! Now I do remember buying them but it was a long time ago, I had put them on the bookcase to take upstairs but they got buried under other books.... I'm naughty when it comes to books.

I had a comment on my last ladybird book post from Helen, if you haven't checked out her web site I recommend a visit.....she has lots to sell, I'm waiting until pay day then I will treat myself to the knitting, sewing & crochet ones.

If you fancy some free seeds click on the Dig in link on left hand side bar, lots of good ideas on the web site..... great for first time growers.

Brownies part 2

I thought I would keep you updated with my Brownie adventure, as you know I recently found out the pack I help is the worst in the area. After reading all your comments on my last post I felt I needed to make a change. I feel so bad that the parents are paying £25 a term for their children to run wild playing tag etc....... they could play that for free in the street!!!

One of the reasons I joined was to wear this lovely uniform....

I was never in the Brownies as a child, can't remember why now.....did I not want to go or did mum not want us to?? My oldest sister was in the Guides for years & even went to rangers....

So now I've finally joined I see the uniform has changed quite a lot.... I hate it!!! Who chose those's colours...yuk!! I'm wondering if I could get away with the brown leggings

LOL!!!!!

We will be moving sometime in May because we only have 9 girls & no one wants to come to this pack because the area I live is a bit rough!!!! There is a waiting list for the other packs nearby so we will be moving to another church hall, this is about 15 -20 mins walk from my home so not great...the church now is less then 5 mins. It's a shame because the girls who live near me may not come with us & it them we really need to help..... the regional person doesn't understand that not everyone has cars.

On Tuesday we had a planning meeting & I wanted to give them one more chance to change before moving on..... I wanted to join the WI but don't have enough time to do both, I chose Brownies because I felt I may be doing some good. At the meeting I used all my skills learnt from many a management course... glad they came in useful!!..... to get them to change their ways.

Anyway we now have 4 weeks planned & they sounds pretty exciting....

Next week will shall be working towards the 'cook' badge, the first badge we've done since I joined in January!

They didn't seem to know how to plan anything so I suggested that we do this over 2 weeks for full impact. So next week we will be making place mats & shopping lists. We will be making mini pizzas & smoothies the following week . By planning ahead we can get everything we need & get the girls excited about coming the following week. I've also suggested that we split the girls into 3 teams as we have one leader & 2 helpers, this means we only have 3 girls each which I think will work so much better because when it's a large group they all mess around & talk.

I'm really looking forward to this & just to keep it on track I've asked for a meeting at the end of each session so we can keep to the plan....the leader likes to change things, so I'm told......& also to see what works & what doesn't!!

They started a knitting project before Christmas but it's been forgotten about until now.... you all know how much I love knitting!! They were knitting squares but with no end result so I suggested we start a competition to see which group can knit the most squares then we can sew them together to make 3 blankets to go to the local animal rescue centre.

I'll let you know next week how it went.... I'm feeling more positive now.

Don't forget Cath tonight.

Ladybird books

A bit of a photo overload I'm afraid...... so here we go....

The story began about 5 months ago when I came across this book in my local Oxfam......

I remembered how much I enjoyed this book as a child & thought it would be nice for my friends little girl. However after getting it home I decided I couldn't part with it. Remember this......

Always my favourite thing to make. So I looked on the Internet & found loads more information & joined groups on facebook etc, now I'm hooked!!!

I asked my mum if she still had ours, these are the only 2 remaining......

If you look closely you can see our names written very clearly on the front, I'd like to say my written has got better although not much smaller!!!

She also had these.....

These belong to my brother so must date back to the early 80's.

I then found these....

Smoke & Fluff was my favourite one as a child, I took this to my friends house & her little girl loved it, glad to see they don't date. We all read her a story when I go around first daddy, then auntie Joe & finally mummy...... she enjoyed it so much we all had to read it!!!


Glad I was able to find the pair of picture books....

The best picture in the first book....

From the second......I have theses egg cups!!!

Which one is your favourite???

I didn't have any of the 'What to look for...' but I'm sure I had the puppies & kittens

And finally the last 2 that I brought last week....

So that's my collection so far, not that many but I'm working on it. You don't always see them in charity shops, I need to go to a boot sale but the really big one in Exeter is no where near where I live so I have to wait until someone wants to take me.

I really want the knitting, crochet & sewing ones next, I've looked on ebay but I really don't want to pay £5 each....... I'm just happy to wait.

Hope these brought back some happy memories for you all.

Back to work tomorrow :(