The Big Move

Ok so another short blogging break wasn't planned but here I am. New chromebook to type on and a wonderful Google photo account which uploads straight from my phone.

Obviously there is a back story which many of you won't know so here is a quick run down. I fell out of love with blogging in 2013/2014. I had split up with the boys Dad and the boys & I moved to a gorgeous Victorian semi. We had 3 amazing years there so much happened - the boys grew into young men, finished school and both went to Uni. I met a really lovely man and we got married last August (more on that another day).

The Victorian house was sold in March 2017 as I was by then living with S in his flat in South West Suffolk. I had a full time job in the same school as him and all was wonderful. We married in August 2017 and after that decided we really did need more space for when both giants were home from Uni. Many of mine & the boys things were in storage as the flat was just not big enough.

We saw this little cottage on my birthday in March 2018 and put an offer in the next day. A tense few months passed before we got the keys on the last day in June. 

The cottage dates from 1880 and is quirky & colourful with the most gorgeous wildlife friendly garden. We have been here just 4 weeks but it already is our home. We moved the flat contents in one day and had it all unpacked by the end of the first weekend! The stored things came the beginning of the next week and we have worked like crazy to get them sorted and either unpacked, or sold or given to charity. Proudly only a tiny amount has gone to landfill - our local recycling centre really does have facilities for recycling everything!

Anyhow - less waffle more photos!!

 One of many stained glass windows.

 You know a house with a bat doorknocker is going to be fab!

 The kitchen is a favourite space - I have discovered my love of cooking again.

 The open shelves are wonderful - its great having our favourite things on display and at hand.

We have this little area at the bottom of the garden - a wisteria covered gazebo - its our favourite space to sit of an evening - glass of gin in hand. By day its pretty but at night it sparkles with 100's of solar fairy lights - a proper grotto. I must take a picture one evening!!

 Just another picture of the kitchen - our collection of vintage kitchenware is growing. I love that S totally understands my love of vintage and floral and I love his collection of more folk / pagan inspired things - and the 2 collections together work wonderfully.

It was wonderful to unpack treasures that had been stored for 18 months and put them out again. I culled quite a lot and only kept things which had really special meanings. I have quite a few of my childhood toys still and many of these are out on display - waiting for small visitors to come and use them. 70's Fisher Price toys were made to last - the camera was for my 5th or 6th birthday - and has been used by all my younger siblings, my boys and all my nieces and nephews.

The orange room is our front room which also doubles as a study and spare room! Hard to believe 2 weeks ago it was full of boxes - it had its first visitor this week. Small giant came to see the new house which was lovely.

We have Big giant here living with us whilst he has a break from things after 4 tough years at Uni. The final months were not easy - exam stress and losing both Great Grandma's in the space of a week.

Right I think that's enough for today. I promise I will be back soon - there is so much to share. 

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

52 weeks of Vicki - week 4

Good morning

How did it get to be Sunday again? I had planned to write a mid-week post but it just never happened. Another busy week, working, having work done on the house, family stuff and birthdays.

So instead of 2 posts this week - I've condensed everything into on 52 weeks of Vicki post - or I'll never get caught up!!

Starting with the last thing first!! I went roller skating yesterday - for the first time in at least 6 years possibly more. I use to skate loads when I much younger and even when the boys were very small, I'd take myself off to the local leisure centre at the weekends for a couple of hours of skating fun. Sadly they stopped offering that service and I sold my skates after I tore my achilles a few years ago, thinking I'd never be able to skate again. Well it seems I was wrong - after a very wobbly start the muscles remembered what they should be doing and I was happily whizzing round - avoiding small children who had even less sense of direction than me!! I do ache a bit today but nothing to bad.

This week I've had a plumber here replacing a radiator in the front room - I meant I had to clear some stuff away - including a few christmas pressies that remained on the coffee table. This gorgeous box was painted by one of my sisters;

I also had a tidy in the dining room - there was a pile of recent CS buys I've been meaning to photograph before putting into the right places;

 I love Lucie Atwell's  illustrations - my Mum has a few of her childhood annuals and when I was a small child, I was occasionally allowed to read them - very carefully.

Another Ladybird book for my collection - that elusive copy of Cinderella is still hiding out there waiting for me I am sure!

Lastly for this post - another CS buy - cake/pastry forks - so cute and in their very 50's style box.

Another busy week beckons - music at the pub later, more work, a very special belated birthday treat for little son and most excitingly, my little nephew is being christened next weekend.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

2 of 52 weeks of happy

Good evening

Just a quick post whilst waiting for teenagers to vacate the bathroom so I can have my turn in there!

Week 2 of 52 weeks of happy - here they are;

1 - My Ipad mini - I've been saving for one of these for ages and finally had enough money and ordered it. It came last week and I am in love - great for watching tv in bed when those brass players of mine are at practise and for checking for school closures on snowy mornings from the comfort of my own bed!!

2 - A pretty ceramic cottage jam jar bought from the CS for just £1 - I want a cottage just like this one day.

3 - Homemade bread - my breadmaker is dying and no longer produces more than dough. When we had our snow day on Friday I decided to try something other than the normal rolls - this came out brilliantly. Next task to try making bread entirely by hand.

4 - Ladybird books sent by another blogger - love the kindness within blogland :)

We did manage playing outside in the snow on Friday - there are pictures to upload and sort. I think there will be another tomorrow as its been snowing here for most of the afternoon/evening and the roads seem worse than last time. Only time will tell - I will be checking online from my bed tomorrow and if school is closed I'll leave those boys of mine for a longer snooze!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

A Winters Day in Cambridge

Good evening

I said I was planning a little escape from Suffolk didn't I. Well all went to plan and yesterday I headed by myself to Cambridge to meet a friend of mine. She lives in deepest Cornwall and we don't get to see to much of each other. Her clever daughter was off being interviewed for a Uni place next Autumn and it left us too with time to wander, natter, drink coffee, shop, drink more coffee and more shopping!

The sun was rather low yesterday so the river, bridge and Kings College look rather dark. The river was empty no punters.

Cambridge seemed rather quiet - am guessing lots of students have already gone home on their Christmas breaks and perhaps the shoppers invade at the weekends only? Anyhow, the two of us had a good time - we found some gorgeous little independent shops in the back streets and presents were bought for family & friends. We also found the CK shop in the Market Place - rather hard to miss. We spent ages in there looking. As you know Miss Kidston & I have had a rocky ride this year both craft kits I've bought have turned out to be rather useless. However her Christmas design with the cute Bambi style deer is rather appealing so I bought a couple of things - Christmas cards (I must get these written) and festive tea-towels;

My friend arrived to meet me at the station bearing gifts;

A gorgeous blue & white cornishwear jug and a Ladybird book - lovely additions to two of my collections :)

All to soon it was time to say goodbye and head back on the train to Suffolk.

Fingers crossed if her daughter gets her Uni place then more meet ups can happen next year.

We've got to that point of the year now - lots of things happening and not many days left for them to happen - meaning that some days we've 2 or 3 places to be at the same time. Roll on Friday 21st when the school madness stops and MrVV finishes work.

See you soon - just can't promise when.

xxx Vicki xxx

Oh btw - thank you & welcome to my new followers. I shal endeavour to pop over to read your blogs very soon. I can't at the moment follow any new blogs as blogger says I follow too many ! I shall have a look sometime to tidy up my reading list - maybe unfollowing some blogs which are no longer in use.

I've actually made something!!!

Good evening

How has your week been so far? The weather here in Suffolk has been mostly kind and I've been plodding on with my late for 2012/early for 2013 'spring' cleaning!  Blooming spiders they been so busy.

As well as the boring stuff, I've found time to do some making - first I've really done since May;

 I went back to my S&B group last night for the first time in ages - a combination of the weather, apathy and lack of mojo meant I'd not been for a couple of months. Was lovely to see friends again and have a good catch up - new babies, graduations and other news. I quickly made this little felt owl as a pressie for one of the groups birthdays as I knew she was an owl fan.

 As the weather was kind, I took photos of some of my other makes in the ivy on the side of the house. All of these are destined for a fair next month.

 I love making felt gingerbread men - must have made over a 100 in the past few years.

When I was in town the other day I went past one of the charity shops and something colourful caught my eye. I remember these books from my childhood - we had a vast Ladybird collection (wish we'd keep them all). The collage pictures of paper & wool brought back many happy memories - of reading these to myself and later on to my younger siblings.

Who else has been watching this on BBC2? Whilst I've enjoyed the other programmes in this series this one is my favourite. My Grandmas family lived in the countryside and she's often spoken about wartime life on the farm. I've ordered the free booklet that accompanies the series and I've added the official book to my online wish in case someone wants to be buy me something for the event in December that we must not mention yet!!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Mondays Musings

Good evening

Well that's another week started then - honestly they are going by so quickly at the moment.

Today was the first day of 'back to normal' - MrVV at work, Little Son at school and Big Son finally started 6th form - he's been on hols since late June, he was more than ready to get back to using his brain.

I've been trying over the last few weeks to be more organised - this is week 3 and so far so good :) I right myself a task list for each day - some mundane and some nicer ones. Today's included more fruit shopping! Our local greengrocers has loads of English apples and plums for sale at the moment and they are rather lovely - as fast as I buy them they get eaten!!

Another item on the list was catch up on photo taking. I've joined a local Facebook selling page and its proving a good way of getting some extra pennies - working my way through the big pile of items I never got round to carbooting this summer!!

As well as those pics of course I found time for a couple of bloggy ones too;

The lovely Lucey from Lemonade Kitty is also a fellow Ladybird book collector and she responded when I had a couple of doubles to swap - here's what she sent me. Not one I'd seen before but its lovely and I was pleased to see a section about Ely Cathedral we visited last month in there too. Thanks Lucey :)

Right I promised a crafty catch up too. The squares from a previous post sat in a pile whilst I pondered what to do with them - I liked them but wasn't 100% happy. A quick look through Pinterest and Instagram gave me the answer. The white square was unravelled and I used the white to border the other squares. All 6 have been joined together and voila - the first 6 squares of a 36 square blanket;

I've got a while till this needs to be finished so there might not be much progress in the next few weeks. Instead I must crack on with making for the next fair. I've a huge list of ideas and pile of fabric so there is no excuse not to have loads to sell.

I mentioned at the beginning it was Big Sons first day at 6th form - he reluctantly posed for photos this morning - after all these years in school he knows the drill. Perhaps for his 18th birthday I can put them all together as a mosaic!!

He came home from school tonight shattered - so much to take in, new timetable, new classrooms, no rules and just the shock of a school day after so much time off!

Right time for me to have a wander around blogland and get caught up with everyone.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Bubbles, Ladybirds & Cath

Good evening

Hurrah its the weekend again :) Finally caught up with the post holiday washing from both ours and Big Sons trips. He arrived home Sunday night with a huge bag of washing, having had the most brilliant time away on camp. He's rather an old hand at these sort of things now so there's no worries about whether stuff is missing - nor is dirty washing and clean stuff mixed up. That boy of mine is getting old.

Talking of such - yesterday was GCSE results day. He went off to school and I paced around waiting for THE call - his voice was full of emotion when he told me his results - he'd done very well even in his worse subject of English - I really must thank his teacher she really did get the best out of him.  He's happy to be heading back to school to do A Levels next month.

Last night a small celebration was in order;

Today he's been hard at work with MrVV but a shopping trip and reward is planned for Sunday :)

Whilst tidying away holiday stuff I found something I'd treated myself to in York. I'd arranged to meet a friend out the CK shop and of course we had to go in. Just a couple of things for me - a diary for next year and a set of stacking tubs I'd wanted for ages;

The charity shops came up trumps this week - I happened to be in the right place at the right time - a pile of Ladybird books;

Now I've managed to double up on the 'What to look for in Summer' and 'Night Sky' books so if any other Ladybird collectors have doubles and want to do a swap, let me know.

Have a good bank holiday weekend - we're off to a new folk festival nearby tomorrow. I've been told to wear lead lined boots as there is to be no repeat of last August bank holidays dancing disasters!!

See you soon.

xxx Vicki xxx

End of the charity shop drought

Good evening

What a difference a day makes - since the weekend its been wet, grey & yucky here in Suffolk - I've got soaked many times out and about on my bike :( However this morning when I woke up I noticed something different - a sunbeam peeping through the curtains :) It and its friends have stayed all day. It makes such a difference - the shop was busier and people just look happier. Plus it meant I could safely leave the house without wearing a raincoat!

Now in recent weeks, I've not had much luck in the charity shops - a few bits of clothing for me but none of those little bargains that you need and want to share with blogland.

This week the drought has ended;

A 70's bowl - probably meant for sugar but I filled it with Pick-n-Mix as a treat for Little Son - its that time of year again - school really could do with ending this week so in order for him to last another week he needs regular infusions of junk!!

As well I found a couple of books;

 Another Ladybird book for my collection - in really good condition - just 30p

This book is wonderful it dates initially from 1891 with this version published in 1945. Some of the advice is just so wonderfully dated - am sure lots of it was still being used in 1970 when I was born. Though I don't ever remember being put out to sunbath with just a nappy square to shade my face!!

Lots of advice too on how to facilitate early potty training - from just 7 or 8 months old. As for the weaning advice and some of the food suggestions - its a wonder we survived!!

Right I really ought to catch up on my blog reading - sorry if I've not commented recently - I've got so behind that I am just reading in a bid to catch up!!

Have a lovely weekend - we're down to just 3 of us as Big Son is off on an Explorer Camp - here's hoping the weather forecast is wrong!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Five minutes peace!!

Good morning

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas? We had a great day - just the 4 of us and I must confess that's our preferred way. We can please ourselves - and it means if we fancy a mid-morning doze on the kitchen sofa then its fine (one of us had a bit of a 'thickhead' for mixing her drinks on Christmas Eve!!).

Christmas morning started at 7.30am when the boys appeared in our room - armed with mugs of tea and their stockings to open. I do love this part and there are rarely any photos as I prefer just to watch it happen and remember it in my mind. They were very happy with their mix of pressies - including new hats which appear to have remained on their heads for the past few days.

Once stockings were empty and tea was drunk, it was downstairs to open the pressies under the tree. Wow such a lot this year and I'm pleased to say everybody loved everything - no pressies to 'regift' at all.

Here are a few photos from the rest of the day;

Little son in his Monkey onesie suit - he's worn this loads - really suits him!

One table set for lunch.

A warming glow once all the candles on the piano were lit.

MrVV and 2 hyped-up teens!

Little son & I.

Little son again.

Just some of my pressies - loads of new books with ideas to inspire, a hat, a scarf and a mini hot water bottle.

Big son and MrVV - reading out their awful cracker jokes.

I tried this year to make quite a few of my pressies for Christmas and any December birthdays too - here's a mosaic which shows them all. BTW the knitted monster for my nephew was a big hit - he tells me its his favourite pressie!!

One final set of pictures for today - a mosaic for December;

Right I'd best be off - a trip out to the sales is planned - I've been saving up to replace lots of household things that have broken and worn out - am hoping I can replace many of these today at bargain prices.

See you later in the week - I've got my results for the December Photo Scavenger Hunt to share with you - it was a special one - a Festive A-Z!

xxx Vicki xxx

A weekend and a winner

Good evening

Forgive me for being such a bad blogger at the moment - tbh its been far too nice to be indoors these past few days so I'm horribly behind with everyones blogs and commenting - sorry.

The lovely weather from last week continued. We collected one slightly tired and pink cheeked small boy from school on Friday afternoon. He'd had a good week but was glad to be back to his bed and to my cooking!!

Saturday we all - all 4 of us! - headed to Southwold. The promise of ice-cream even lured big son from his room. Armed with 4 cameras we headed off;

A rare family photo ;) - I'm not quite that fat - I just have the bag with all the camera cases/spare batteries and of course pennies for ice-creams! Though at Southwold prom prices pennies won't go far - you definitely need pounds! We discovered the cheapest place for ice-creams was the cafe at the front of the Pier.

The men all decided to take a picture of one of the oil-tankers moored off the coast - I thought 4 identical pics would be boring - so I snapped the 3 of them taking pics and still got the tanker in the background ;)

Despite its expensive ice-creams, Southwold is still my most favourite seaside place - looking forward to visiting again soon so I can have my first paddle of the year.

Of course if I want to build a castle then I might just need a new spade ;)

Sunday morning 3 of us were up bright and early - we headed off to the bootsale leaving big son asleep. We left him a note on the toaster so he'd know where we were. Little son has mastered the art of haggling and managed to knock a couple of dvd sellers down to £1 per dvd - one happy boy with 2 new films to watch. I managed a few little bargains for myself;

A ladybird book - one I've wanted for a while. Just need to wrap up warm one night and try and work out the stars in the sky. I was also lucky with my flower press - brand new, the box hadn't even been opened - just £1.

I spotted this next item on a stall and nearly didn't ask the price - it looked one of those ones where everything was expensive - however this wasn't;

I've had a quick look online and as far as I can tell, its a Victorian pewter pincushion - mine for just £1.50!! If anyone knows anymore I'd love to hear from you.

Sunday afternoon, MrVV & I headed out alone for a walk - we decided to go somewhere different so his camera could get more testing - Orford. Quite a pretty little village and somewhere that apart from school trips I've not been for ages.

We didn't go in the castle this time just around the outside.

I loved this sign outside one of the pubs near the Quay;

Right onto business - my giveaway. Wow thank you to all those who entered - I got writers cramp when I wrote all those names on slips of paper. These were put into a handy mixing bowl (a clean one);

Only one person could be the lucky winner and the one pulled out by little son was;

Well done to Kandipandi who wins all the treats and a few more later additions. If you could let me have an address and then I can get your parcel off to you this week :)

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx