My Garden

I've spent a good deal of time working out in the garden over the last couple of days - I can tell that because every time I move my body my muscles yell at me!

My big pallet bed - I've planted out the tomatoes, cayenne peppers and sweet peppers that were living on the kitchen window sill too.

The curly kale and broccoli. I've since thinned these out - I hate doing it. I find myself apologising to the seedlings that I remove!

Radishes and onions.

The potatoes are growing well - I have three sacks like this with a fourth I planted yesterday.

The dwarf green beans and peas.

I love the delicate flowers of the saxifraga.

If you have some space in your garden, I suggest a visit to Wilkinsons, they have all their summer flowering bulb packs down to 75p. The packs above I bought in Homebase a few weeks back when they too had reductions, but they are pretty much the same type of thing in Wilkinsons. One pack my Mum bought yesterday was a mixed pack of 50 bulbs, again 75p. I dread to think how many bulbs I've planted over the last couple of days ;-)

My herbs plus mixed lettuce, rocket and spinach. The squirrel has been digging in here, in the first row of lettuce.

This was the cloud that suddenly appeared Friday - such weird weather. Yesterday glorious sunshine, today rain.

I also got a quick project done yesterday too. I bought these 2 small planters at the local car boot - 20p each.

One quick coat of some clay paint...

Much better - all planted up with some of the bargain bulbs from Wilkinsons.

I need a few more to fill the plant stand that I've put outside my front door.

Hope you have a good rest of the weekend - we were planning a walk later but we'll see if the rain lifts first.

K x

Last Saturday at Upton

Last Saturday it was my Dad's birthday, so we headed out to Upton Country Park for lunch and a wander round the gardens, cameras at the ready.

Unfortunately the newly-opened walled garden was closed for a private function which was disappointing.

Trying to get a decent photo of the boys with my Dad was nigh on impossible with these two cheeky monkeys!

The blossoms were absolutely beautiful.

We had to take shelter when a particularly heavy shower passed over - we stayed perfectly still and this little guy joined us away from the rain. He was so close I could have touched him.

So many blooms on the ground after the heavy rain.

I sneaked a look through the gate of the walled garden whilst the security guard was busy - such a beautiful location for a wedding reception.

We are so fortunate to have these places preserved for us to enjoy.

Ten on Tuesday

1. I'm sitting here with the heating on, plus socks and a jumper, what is going on with the weather.
2. Football training was cancelled tonight because of all the rain the pitch is flooded - I may have done a happy dance around the kitchen, does that make me a bad mother ;-)
3. The Mr promised to bring me chocolate tonight on his way home.... if he forgets I may not let him in.
4. I may have agreed to do something quite ridiculously crazy today, think marathon in your bra at night in London...!?!
5. I've been on my new thyroid medication for 5 days now... I won't say this too loud, but I'm feeling pretty good so far. May this finally be the resolution I've been asking for.
6. First Project Life pages complete - woohoo. Unfortunately I've run out of photo paper and for this project  I'm gonna need lots!
7. Have started watching the Harry Potter films with Jake right from the first one. I've realised I don't think I've ever sat down and watched them end to end. I must have wondered into the room when they were on because I've seen bits, but not all of them.  So far we've done the first and second ones - they're quite good aren't they?
8. Mum found a lady selling cutting dies at the car boot sale this weekend. Brand new but at much cheaper prices than the shops - this may or may not be a good discovery ;-)
9. We have found that changing the bedding on the boys new beds is 'fun'. I've had to send the Mr up there to sort them out as I just can't reach.
10. He's home... he forgot the chocolate...I let him in ;-)

Ten on Tuesday

1. What amazing weather, yes I know I'm British and I talk about the weather. Just enjoy it and whatever you do don't look at the forecast for tomorrow or the rest of the week.
2. The Mr was off again today.. and I'm all out of sync. He's normally off Wednesday and Thursday, but this week it was Monday and Tuesday. Did I ever tell you I like routine ;-)
3. Thought about watering the garden tonight, then checked the forecast...and didn't bother.
4. Planning one or two bits towards the eldest's birthday, 12 can you believe it? I certainly can't.
5. According to the count-down on my phone it's 99 days 'til our holiday... not that I'm counting or anything.
6. I have over 700 blog posts to read from my favourite sites, but my ironing is all up-to-date... perhaps I need to rethink my priorities;-)
7. We sat with Jake and watched the Hobbit the other night. Have you seen it? It was okay, a bit slow I found, and of course with another two movies to follow, didn't really have an ending. Jake loved it though.
8. My life seems to now revolve around football, either training sessions, up-coming tournaments or washing kit.
9. I now have all I need to start Project Life, but for some reason I just can't seem to get going. Must work on that, I know once I do I'll love it.
10. There's a half eaten tub of Ben & Jerrys calling my name :-)

K x

A Bank Holiday Treat

Being in the catering trade means the Mr is never off at weekends, evenings or holidays - I don't like it, but we're used to it by now. This morning he surprised us by announcing he was off for the day - on a bank holiday! So after a lazy morning, we packed up a picnic and headed to Upton House, with a football of course ;-)

This one of Todd above made me stop when I was looking at the on the computer at home - how grown up he looks, not 6 1/2. 

Love this one - all legs.

This one will be 12 in just a few weeks.

The sky was gorgeous with barely a cloud to be seen.

I'm so glad we have these beautiful open spaces preserved for us all to enjoy - it was so busy there today.

After the picnic, we hopped in the car and drove to Barford Farm for an ice-cream.  If you haven't been, you really must. Today I had a scoop of honey-comb and one of maple syrup, bliss. The farm's garden is so lovely to just sit and enjoy your ice-cream. Although I must admit we weren't the only ones that thought that. I counted 75 people in the queue today. So glad a local company is being supported - I'd love to know how many they served today.

The farm house.

A quick stop in Asda, then a barbecue for tea. I really wish he was off more often :-(

K x

Ikea to the rescue.... again!

Since we'd done the dining room, my printer had been sat on the floor under the desk. However, I was concerned about it sitting directly on the floor and had been looking for a small table or footstool I could use to sit it on.

At our last visit to Ikea I found the perfect solution and what made it even better, it only cost £3 ;-)

It came from their kitchen accessories range and it's meant as an extra shelf inside cupboards for things like tin cans. It's metal so quite strong. Perfect!

K x

The Boys Room....an update

Last time I showed you their room it looked like this.

BEFORE:

Well not the green but it was the only photo I could find showing how we'd used the Expedit as a room divider. Todd's bed also changed from a single bed, to the cabin bed in the last picture.  This worked for a while but then we realised that Jake needed somewhere to do his homework. The dining room table was just too busy.

After looking around at high sleepers, we came across this company Mrs Flatpack. As the title suggests they are flatpacks, however they had just what we wanted and the price was good too.  With a little help from family we got Jake this bed.

We liked it so much we wondered if it would be suitable for Todd too.  With a little planning, sorting out and selling his cabin bed on Gumtree, the room now looks like this.

AFTER:

This is Jake's bed. The door to the room is on the left.

This is Todd's bed, and he loves having a desk too as you can see. The wardrobe unit is to the left of the desk part, behind the ladder.

We've moved the Expedit against the wall again. A new taller set of drawers 'Malm' from Ikea is shared for undies, t-shirts, tops and sports kit.

The shelves are full of toys and big books.

Todd now has lots of floor space for lego and cars.

Here's a peek inside the wardrobe part. We bought hanging shoe racks from Ikea to solve the shoe problem, you know the one where shoes are just chucked in a heap!

Flatpack furniture may not be everyone's ideal furniture, but for us now, with the boys growing, these are perfect.  The service from the company was excellent.  They came so quick when we ordered the beds.  When the second one arrived the bottoms of the drawers were missing.  One phone call, they were so apologetic, and they arrived in the post the following day, and that was after we'd rung about 2pm the previous day.

We feel much better about their room now, and I know they love it!

K x