I'm Back!

Sorry that I have been away for so long, it seems like an eternity.   I have been a little side tracked and my meanderings of my little world have been put in a little grey box and stored on a shelf whilst I have been fighting a jolly good cause for my little village in which I live.  Our beautiful riverside village has been thrown into turmoil with the unexpected arrival of a new business set to change our surroundings forever.  Our old derelict shellfish shack is set to become a Car Dismantling business which in my world means the same as a Car Breakers Yard!  The wheels of our campaign were set in motion when the realisation set in that this could severely affect our lives, homes and rural idyll. 

Then came Christmas, which was pure joy, although tinged with a slight distraction of the cloud that still hangs over us, it was sheer hard work and everything that a family Christmas should be.  My fantastic beautiful family, parents, sisters and brother, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews descended upon our cottage for a most fabulous Christmas celebration dinner which was, for the first year ever,  a collaboration of all our efforts and shared costs, much to the relief of my husband!  I will post more extracts and photos from our Christmas Day activities in due course.

Of course the inevitable happened, as always does after a flourish of hectic life and madness!  The dreaded illness descended upon us, knocking us down one by one! My husband, Adie, daughter Rachie and I were all struck down with really bad colds, sore throats, coughs and sinusitis.  I am now midway through the second week of having this and it is wearing me down.  But, I see a light. A small glimmer of turning that corner and feeling just that little bit better.  I have spent far too many days and nights cocooned in my favourite blanket which has the soft gentle brush of a comforting teddy bear.

My thoughts are now turning to 2012...What will it bring, on which paths will I travel and which opportunities will I make....my life in my hands! Its so exciting. Of course there will be good times and bad times and choices will deliver unexpected  changes in direction but thats all part of our complex lives.

I had to venture out this week to pick up some more medication and took the opportunity to pay a quick visit to my favourite thrift shop.  Nothing much there I thought, no great finds until I took a quick glance in the book room at the back of the shop....and there it was...like a beam of sunlight, my first find of the year.  From the darkness of this musty room I glanced a rug on the floor partially hidden by piles and piles of books. Promptly asking if this actually for sale I was delighted to be told it was and swifty sealed the deal.  All the while I heard my daughters moans of disgust at how musty, dirty and awful this rug was and how cross Adie would be at me bringing yet another unloved article into the cottage. This was not just any rug, no, no, no.  This was a truly genuine silk rug in need of some love and attention.  My next project awaits my recovery and my cottage awaits yet another gem of recycling so keep in touch and the progress of how I get on will be posted here.

I am off now to get some more tablets and hope to be able to spend more time with you sharing my passion for recycling and my adventures with my rural cottage life.

See you all soon.

Meet Millie our mad Beagle!

This is Millie our really sweet but totally mad Beagle.  She is pure....hard work but we love her all the same!!

and just to show she does sleep, albeit not much, here she is chilling out on her chair.

She is now settling down into a much calmer dog but still has bags of energy and is still looking to get the better of you....a very stubborn little girl...who likes to tell you she's boss....but I am....no really I am!!!

She is a real sweetie and training is going well.  If there are any other beagle owners out there who have had a hard time I would love to hear from you.

Busy busy busy!

Well, I just can't belive where the time has gone.  My weekend just flew past in a blink of an eye....one minute, 3 great days ahead to ponder what to do and the next .....the weekend was over!....Saturday was going to be a baking day...but it just didn't happen......  because I found out that our local garden nursery was due to close and everything was going for a mere snip of the original price....Sad in one way that we were about to lose such a great store but grateful of an opportunity to buy some more basic materials for more of our outdoor projects at knock down prices.

This is how my weekend panned out:

Saturday: food shopping, bargain shopping at the nursery, off to the river to pick up some more rejected bits of driftwood, back home to build a step (with my recycled materials which were previously collected) for outside the Cottage Craft Studio (photos to follow), back down the river to take the dog for a walk, putting on a few loads of washing, cooking dinner and then an evening crashed out on the sofa!

Sunday: Breakfast, taking the dog for her morning walk, in the kitchen putting up a cabinet and some hooks, then out in the afternoon and evening for a family party!

Monday: Going back to the nursery for some more bargains (had a second thought on how much we needed) a bit of cleaning, out the front starting the front garden renovation....weeding, then out in the car to get some horse manure to  build up the flower bed....Hmmmmmn that was a smelly job!  Pressing Apples from our tree for lovely delicious juice and after a bit of blackberry picking. Ades dad came for dinner....then again a bit of down time chilling on the sofa.

Phew! a Busy weekend.  Most of this week has been spent tidying my Craft Studio again! A job which I really wished I never started but its one that just had to be done...and now it is I am really pleased at the result.

This weekend and next week is going to consist of some more crafty creative sessions for me I think! I have got plenty of things to do so hopefully I'll post lots of photos of what I've been making.

Wake up with a Smile!

There's always time in the morning to make something delicious and packed full of goodness!  Most mornings I create a quick thick fruit milkshake as part of my "five a day " fruit and veg consumption.  It always makes me smile when I drain the glass of this most scrummy liquid breakfast epsecially when it leaves that tell tale milky lipstick mark and you have to tidy yourself up afterwards....Hey I guess I must be drinking it too fast!

  

All you need is:       Frozen fruit, I used a mix of red berries, natural yoghurt, honey to sweeten and milk. (you can also pop in any fresh fruit you have too)

 

Just pouring the milk in!  Then take a kitchen hand blitzer tool and blitz until the fruit is broken up, the one you use to blend soup with, or you can also use a mixer blender.  (I use the hand held tool as it can go in any tall jug and blended in seconds.)  I don't over blend as the frozen fruit keeps that chilled thick shake consistency.

All finished off with a natural yoghurt heart.  Made with love!  Now thats gonna make you smile.

Have a great, happy day....enjoy and make new happy memories! 

A Breath of Fresh Air

A lovely morning.  I am sitting at my computer updating the blog.  The french doors are wide open and I have just heard the calls of seagulls.  A lovely reminder that I am by the sea.  I can also smell the salty seaweed this morning....its a shame we haven't got a white sandy beach here in South Fambridge as I am now dreaming of walking along the sand barefoot, sand beneath the toes.  Awwww ...Jolt back to reality.  I'll just have to make do with a walk with the dog and picking up driftwood and shells off the shore...Mud flats are just not the same as a white sandy beach.  Today I am off to collect some flotsam and jetsom from the river to help Adie start his first piece of artwork for August. Hopefully I'll find some goodies to help him create. (Flotsom are things floating by action of the sea and jetsom are things jettisoned from ships crew....apparently!)

Hopefully later I'll update you with what I have found. x

Its been a busy day.

Have been sorting out the craft room today. I never knew I had so much stuff.  I can see many busy days ahead making goodies to go in Autumn Cottage.

Just set up my Blog

Aaahhhh the blog is now up and running!  Took me a while to get to grips with the design elements, but here we are, ready to let you know what I am up to with my homely makeovers using traditional crafting  ideas with recycling at the heart of my home.