Making Good Use

Reasons to be Cheerful ....

The most bea-u-tiful warm sunny day - quite exceptional for mid-November.  The washing is blowing nicely on the line, I was able to go out and about this morning without the need for a coat (indeed, it was so warm, I wished I'd left off my vest too!)  There isn't a cloud in the sky (only the vapour trails of jets en route to somewhere more exotic), and the wisteria has now turned to the colour of autumn sunshine.

Coming home to find my 'free' organic moisturiser from The Telegraph offer has arrived (I had to pay for P&P).  Jolly nice it looks too, as, indeed, it should as the RRP is £19.95.  The Spiezia website (www.spieziaorganics.com) has some wonderful looking organic creams, ungents and soaps but, sadly, at £7.50 for a bar of soap their prices are waaaaaaaaay beyond my budget.

Having a homemade wrap for lunch.  I'm really into wraps at the moment - they never seem to go stale and can be filled with all sorts of leftover bits and pieces to make a really tasty lunch.  Today's wrap had salad leaves with some shredded cooked chicken breast (leftover from last night's meal) and parmesan shavings with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil - delicious.

Having had a reasonable night's sleep after trying out the warm milk and honey 'cough cure'.  It didn't exatly 'cure' the cough but it did help me to sleep much better.  (Wendy, did you try it?  Did you find it any help?)

Having not one but two Christmas Fairs to look forward to tomorrow.  Sadly, they're both on at the same time but, hey, beggars can't be choosers, and I know which one I'm heading for first.

Fix It, Clean It, and Make It Last

This book seemed a useful investment of 75p in the charity shop - 'Fix It Clean It, and Make It Last - The Ultimate Guide to Making Your Household Items Last Forever.'

I've only had a quick flick through it so far - it's one of those 'flick-through-it' sort of books - but have already found a useful tip should any of Maurice the Mouse's little cohorts decide to move in again. Apparently mice can't resist pumpkin seeds and if you set a trap with the seeds in you're guaranteed to catch the little blighter.  I'm hoping I won't have to put this particular tip to the test but it would be worth a try if necessary.

I've found some other useful tips as well - such as, grate too cold butter with a cheese grater to make it go softer quicker.  That's something I'm always doing - forgetting to take the butter out of the fridge when making a cake so it's too cold to mix.  And here's one I might try tonight - cheap cough cure - a cup of warm milk with two teaspoons of honey.  Apparently it will soothe the throat, stop the cough, and help with sleep.  I do hope so.  I'll let you know if it works tomorrow.

On the 11th Day of the 11th Month

In Memory of
Lance Corporal THOMAS SMITH GLASSON

15430, 11th Bn., Border Regiment
who died age 31
on 31 July 1916
Son of Mrs. Sarah Glasson, of London Rd., Carlisle; husband of Ethel Yule (formerly Glasson), of 57, Oswald St., London Rd., Carlisle.
Remembered with honour
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL

He was my Grandma Yule's first husband.  He died six months after she had lost her first child, Nora, aged five, to diptheria.  They had two other daughters - my Auntie Betty and Auntie Ella.  I can't imagine how terrible that time must have been for her.

The family story of his death is that he and a young boy soldier had both been injured by a German shell - Thomas having lost a leg - and that when the medical orderlies got to them he insisted that the young boy be taken to safety first.  When the stretcher team went back there was nothing left of him - presumably he had been hit by another shell.  My Grandmother - who, I believe, was not a fanciful woman at all - said that at the time of his death she heard an enormous explosion whilst she was in the garden and that she ran back into the house fearing a gas leak.  She saw him lying on the settee with a leg missing and ran towards him.  Before she could reach him he disappeared.  How true either of these stories are I don't know as my Grandmother died when I was only three.  I'd like to believe they are both true.

Lest we forget.

Dreaded Lurgy

I've been hit by some horrible dreaded lurgy and have spent most of the weekend lying about in bed feeling very sorry for myself.  At least today I've managed to get dressed - but only really because we've had to get a television aerial repair man out.  The poor chap is lurking about the house at the moment as the weather is so hideous (high winds and torrential rain) that he's putting off the evil moment when he has to brave the elements up a ladder - rather him than me, I got so wet I had to change my trousers just going out to open the side gate for him. 

The aerial has been a pain in the bum ever since we've lived here in that it had a very long cable on the outisde of the house which would flap about in a southerly or westerly wind (the main wind direction), this led to some very fuzzy telly pictures and a fair amount of swearing on my part.  The trick has always been to go round the side of the house, gently feed the cable back through the wall and repeat as necessary depending on the wind strength.  Not ideal I know, but liveable with.  On Saturday evening the wind really picked up and P, not wanting to go out in the cold, decided to try yanking the cable through the wall (I'd told him this was not a good idea) and somehow completely lost the connection.  I'd taken myself off to bed before this and was not best pleased to find we now had no TV reception at all.  Cue a Sunday evening with P up in his study (presumably avoiding my bad mood), and me stuck with no TV and feeling like cr*p.  Oh yes, a good time was had by all!!

I Got Mail

I've received a couple of really lovely parcels in the past couple of days. 

First of all I got back from Euro Disney to find I'd won a giveaway from Claire (www.elfieandme.typepad.com).  The prize was a pack of her lovely 'Christmas Lanterns' Christmas cards - they are so pretty and much nicer than the usual commercial Christmas cards (and they're printed on recycled paper).  Check out her site - www.madeinpixieland.com for other cards, magnets, badges and soaps with a pixie / fairy theme.  Thank you so much Claire - the cards are lovely.

Then today I received a parcel of goodies from Michele at 'Cowboys and Custard' (www.infocowboysandcustard.blogspot.com), which includes four Christmas cards with removable badges, a very stylish 1920s print handbag mirror and a 'Fairy on the Christmas Tree' magnet.  Michele sent me this great selection because I'd sent her a vintage 'Test Cricket' game which had been languishing by the computer for months.  I'd picked it up in the summer thinking I could do something with the wooden pieces but in the end knew I'd never get round to it.  I know Michele makes the most gorgeous vintage box frames which are so evocative of childhood and bygone days and thought I'd offer to post the game to her.  Thank you Michele for the very generous parcel you sent me in return.

Michele is also organising the 'Vintage and Handmade Fair' on 22nd November at Rangeworthy Village Hall, nr. Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire.  I'd love to be able to attend but even if I was down in Bristol that weekend it wouldn't be possible to get there without a car.  I bet it will be a wonderful event.

A Bit of Knitted Nonsense

What to do when you've got some cream organic wool left over from knitting a hot water bottle cover? - Why, knit yourself a little Scottie dog of course.

The pattern was from a Jean Greenhowe booklet I picked up at the 'Coffee and Jumble' a couple of weeks ago.  Jean Greenhowe dolls are not really my thing and I only bought the booklets to sell them on ebay.  Flicking through I spotted this little Scottie and thought I'd give him a go.  I still wouldn't want to knit any of the larger dolls but this little dog was super-easy to knit and very quick.  The instructions were excellent and I was pleased with the result.

Souvenirs de France

Last time we went to Disneyland I somehow completely forgot that I was actually going to be in France so would be able to find 'Marie Claire Idees' really easily in any old newsagent.  This time I remembered and managed to find a copy very easily at the railway station at Disneyland.  This is the 'automne' edition (I missed the publication date of the Christmas edition by a couple of days - darn it!) and there are some tres tres chi projects in it.

A bird bag

Art deco style letters

An amazingly eye-catching sideboard

Having 'achieved' an ungraded French 'O' level (that took some doing even in 1976 - if I remember correctly I did very little apart from write my name on the answer sheet!!), most of the text is incomprehensible to me, but I can spend hours looking at the beautiful photos and getting lots of ideas and inspiration.

I also came back with a Chip'n'Dale tea towel (Torchon Tic et Tac according to the French label) from Disneyland and my sister bought me a lovely Tinkerbelle water glass to go on the beside table (sadly this was a b*gger to photograph in the gloomy half-light we've got in Essex today so you'll just have to imagine how sweet it is.)

Home Again, Home Again ....

A very busy and enjoyable few days have been spent celebrating Halloween at Euro Disney. 

In some ways it was all even more magical when it was dark as the lighting displays were fabulous.

So were the fireworks at midnight on the 31st.

And, of course, when you're only five the whole thing is magic from start to finish.