18 of 52 weeks of happy

Good evening

What a difference a week makes - much chillier today than last Sunday and rather soggy at times too. Never mind I've found plenty to do indoors instead.

I must confess at times in the past week, happy has not been my state of mind but as ever wonderful friends and family have been there and picked me up and dusted me down. Of course those daft boys of mine help too - I am still the butt of so many of their jokes but they've worked out the signs and can now leap in if they think I'm wobbling and soon make the corners of my mouth turn upwards.

One thing I've been focusing on lots is my house move. It is all slowly coming together - paperwork is being signed and sorted. A date of early August is most likely as it suits all involved.

Some packing has started as lots of stuff will be moving to P's new house at the end of the month - I will end up with a couple of very bare rooms but there is plenty others we can use and we've changed how some are used and they seem to work fine for us for this short time we've left here.

Apart from the practical house move stuff, I've found myself collecting things for the new house - both new and charity shops finds - here's this weeks happy picture;

1 - A mini chest of drawers - in need to sanding and repainting but too lovely and cheap to leave behind. Luckily I bumped into my Dad in town that day and he brought it home for me - I was then pondering how I could fit it into my bike basket with the pile of proper shopping I'd got!

2 - A painted enamel tray - this I think will end up on the wall - its too pretty to use.

3 - A hearts picture - I fell in love with this when it came into the shop - but the 24 hour rule meant I couldn't buy it straight away. I thought it was gone the next day when I went in but it was in the shop window and soon became mine. 

4 - Two little purchases from Rochester last weekend - I found a gorgeous little shop in the High Street and went back after we'd finished dancing to buy these - I can see them hanging from somewhere in the new house.

Right six weeks of exams starts tomorrow for my boys - AS levels for Big Son and then some GSCE modules for Little Son. Both have been revising hard and I hope we get through this all with confidence and not too much stress!

Oh and there's a dance out with the Morris lot on Tuesday night - in a pub!!!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Enjoying sunshine on a bank holiday!!

Good morning

Shocking - firstly two posts in two days and then sunshine on a Bank Holiday in England!!

The boys and I hadn't planned to go far - domestic stuff needed doing and there was exam revision to do as well. However the gorgeous sunshine made us decide to have a barbecue. Once it was unearthed from the garage and all parts found - I went into town to buy supplies.

We spent the early part of the afternoon in the garden together - reading, surfing the net and revising;

I must confess I've never been in charge of a barbecue before but I decided it couldn't be hard after all most men can do it ;). Once it was lit - we waited to see if it would get hot enough to cook our food;

The sun moved round and so did we - I tried to snap the boys together but they sussed I was taking their photo;

I brought the boys both a tankard back from my weekend away - cider is the perfect partner with a barbecue;

It was lovely - food cooked to perfection - no swearing or muttering - no one even moaned about the insects trying to join us! I sat and watched the sun move round and shine behind the cherry tree;

Utterly blissful - here's hoping for some more perfect weather very soon.

Its lovely here again today so once my chores are done, I am catching the bus and going to see little sister and my gorgeous baby nephew :)

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Rochester Sweeps Festival 2013 - 17 of 52 weeks of happy

Good evening

Wow what a weekend - it seems only best to combine two posts into one - a wonderful weekend providing the 17th post of 52 happy ones;

Rochester Sweeps Festival has been running in its current form for 33 years now - its become the largest May Day celebration of its kind in the country.

As well as music, workshops, stalls, a funfair and more street food than you could ever imagine - there are 60 Morris sides dancing in the street at various points over the 3 days.

We arrived on Friday evening after a uneventful drive down - traffic was light - it all seemed to be heading in the other direction! When we got to the campsite we soon found the others - a huge space had been saved and we were camping together as a group.  Once the tent was up - it was time for dinner. Fish & chips (well just chips for me) were bought and soon consumed along with the first of many pints of cider!

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny and once breakfasts of bacon rolls were consumed, costumes put on and for the men, faces blacked - we headed down the hill and into town.

I am not sure who took this picture of me - but I found it on our FB page today and decided I rather liked it - though slightly windswept and not smiling then, I can assure you I loved every minute of Saturday;

More photos - just one more of me though I expect more to appear once people return home and get time to upload them;

 Lots of fun was had, dances performed and just 2 sticks got broken that day!! Oh and we even managed to time our lunch break so we could go and watch our friends the Bounty Hounds perform in the castle grounds;

We had a group barbecue in the evening and then some of us headed over to the school hall to a ceilidh which was rather fun. I didn't have a very late night - my body was shattered and was rather keen to climb into my sleeping bag for a good few hours sleep.

We headed back into town on Sunday morning for our final dance slots - finishing up near the castle and dancing under the most gorgeous cherry trees in full blossom;

 Here's the view upwards;

 Just gorgeous - a very happy view indeed.

I had a wonderful weekend - good company, good beer/cider, good food and good fun - roll on 2014!

Oh and in case you wondered, those boys of mine had fun too. They spent a lads weekend with their Dad and part of it was spent Segway racing in Norfolk;

Apparently it was great fun - even though many crashes were had and bottoms landed on!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

May Day

Good evening

Just a short post to wish you all a Happy May Day - the sun has been shining, the sky blue and its been quite warm too.

I've been checking our cherry tree every day when I open the curtains in Little Son's room - the blossom has been late - last year it was the middle of April when it started.

Well today May 1st this is what greeted me;

Blue skies and blossom - just gorgeous.

I missed an important milestone yesterday - it was my 500th post! Normally I'd do a giveaway at this point but things are still rather up in the air here - instead I promise one when I reach my 4th bloggy birthday in September.

Right I shall wish you all a Happy Bank Holiday weekend now - I am off to a Morris Festival in Kent (goggle Rochester Sweeps Festival) - if you are there look out for me - I'll be dancing in my purple and black glory along with the rest of the side. We're camping for a couple of nights and I'm rather looking forward to that - I've been hunting down my little tent and gear today.

The boys are having a weekend here with P - a rather fun lads day is planned for Saturday - just hoping they remember to take photos.

See you after the weekend.

xxx Vicki xxx

Photo Scavenger Hunt - April 2013

Good morning

Hurrah - am handing my homework in on time this month!!

 Six - cannons on the clifftop at Southwold

 Big - the size of big sons converse now compared to those he wore as a baby.

 City - the hedge in the back garden - like a city of wildlife - so many birds nesting in there now along with other wildlife at the bottom - awaiting the first sighting of a grass snake this year.

 Collection - my printers tray holds a collection of little things.

 Curl - my friends sons hair - just wonderful.

 Dinner - a family favourite - chicken pasties, roast potatoes and veggies smothered in gravy.

 Nightlight - my bunny light on my bedside table.

 Pink - something flowering in the garden - no idea what it is though!!

 Plastic - my Fisher Price school house - a birthday pressie when I was 6 and something I loved so much I've never been able to part with it.

 Sport - just part of the household collection of badminton racquet's - there's another pair somewhere - probably hiding in the boys rooms!

 Takeoff - a Ladybird book of aircraft.

Texture - the wood on the summerhouse.

As ever linking up with Greenthumb's blog.

Off to check out the list for May!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

16 of 52 weeks of happy

Good morning

Hurrah the sun is shining again - a good start to the week.

The sun mostly shone this weekend too - it was especially important for yesterday. Another Sunday afternoon dance out with the Morris side in a pub! The pub had a Celebration of all thing English - silly sports and Morris Dancing featured heavily. Most of this weeks happy pictures come from there - one taken by me and the others borrowed from a friend behind the camera;

1- A relay race with a difference - Pass the Pint - our heat Girls v Boys from our dance side - of course us girls won! Sadly we were pipped to the post in the final by the pub team.

2 - Space Hopper Jousting - lances tipped with custard so strikes could be seen. Here's our Squire and his wife (my friend) in the final - it was so fun to watch and Mrs beat Mr :)

3 - A bit of dancing - such fun and for once perhaps due to the cider I wasn't nervous - here's hoping this continues for a weekend away dancing this coming weekend!

4 - The freedom of no socks always makes me happy - there was a bit of a blip but I happily sock less again today.

Right plans for today - boring housework, a cycle into town, more crochet and trying to get the rest of the Scavenger Hunt photos taken!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

A Ta-dah for Friday!

Good afternoon

I promised yesterday that I would show you my latest make once it had been handed over - well here it is. A blanket for a sister for her 40th birthday yesterday. I'd met her in the morning and handed over what she though were her pressies! I then spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon frantically finishing her main pressie - a blanket. I started in plenty of time in the autumn but what with 'other' stuff it was debatable whether it would get finished on time - however there's nothing like a last minute panic to spur you on!!

The edges do lay flat when persuaded!!

My sister loved it :) However I've started something - the next sister hits 40 in 18 months time and apparently she needs one too! AND the other 3 will want them when it eventually gets to be their turn!!

This morning there was some good news - a mortgage has been sorted for the new house and I've been paid for lots of shop shifts. Therefore it meant only one thing - time to think about my next project - a blanket for my superking sized bed! I stood in the shop for ages trying to find a colour combination I liked - I knew I wanted just 3 colours this time and the plan is for a giant granny square in wide 4 or 5 round stripes.

The yarn I choose comes in huge 400g balls and its an aran with 20% wool so should be lovely and snuggly when its eventually finished. I knew straight away that the green had to be part of the colour palette and once I'd settled on the pink it was just a matter of the 3rd colour - thank goodness for lovely customers in the shop and my friend too - we settled on a tweedy petrol blue. Can't wait to see how this all looks once I get started. In fact I might just do that now!

Have a good weekend all - I'm off out on Sunday - lunch with friends and then dancing at a pub :) The boys are off to spend time with P and eat him out of house and home for a change!!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx