Well, it's only been three years I'm sorry to say but better late than never, how are you all? fit, well and raring to go after a wonderful Christmas? We have been marooned in Cumbria for the festive week which has been a happy accident and the strangest of experiences but if you expect the unexpected what do you expect...if you see what I mean!

Have you ever met two overexcited teenagers from Beijing on the top of a massive hill? no well it can be very entertaining, they really made me laugh shrieking into the wind and Steve trying to take their photograph.

Of course no visit is complete without the Windermere boat trip, the jetties just above the water and no ladies loo as the floor had collapsed!! As you can see the sun shone and we were all in a good mood which made up for the previous grey dreary day, but hey, it's all good no cooking was required and an Agatha Christie on the telly!

more soon

merry Christmas to everyone 

jennyxx  

Great excitement in the Slade/Smith families... Tanya's waters have gone so we will all have an anxious wait all day seeing how quickly she progresses...eek! Steve is on a stag weekend in Skipton on a barge {!}so bad timing  grandpa!!! will keep you all posted jennyx

Right then!

 Okay, so this is where we take up where we left off, so pour a cup of tea, in a vintage cup-of course!                                   
 I really love blogging and try to write every other day but sometimes real life happens and that's just about it!

so, please forgive me as I haven't even been commenting on anybody's blog either so anything could have happened and I don't know about it! I haven't forgotten you all or anything and when baby Chloe is born next week I promise all will be back to normal,  the strange thing is there isn't even a lot to catch up on I just feel as if there has been no space for the me that blogs at the moment, does that make sense? am I bonkers? but I'm sure' me ' is out there waiting  for her chance to make a comeback! loads of love , jennyx

Bargains!

If you love a bargain you might want to give our bag a bargain a onceover this week with NINE new offers on there waiting to tanatalise you including £10 off this brilliant statement wall clock! Sorry I haven't had much time  for blogging this week I had an urgent tea cosy to knit! it was also the Waterstones book club tonight  which is very grown up indeedy, it was great and I enjoyed discussing 'The Help'.Next month we are discussing 'The Poisonwood Bible' ooh er, craft club tomorrow night then dog sitting on friday, meanwhile the pile of laundry grows to epic proportions!!! (again!) night night!

Shall we eat outside?

 It's a lovely day today, tra la la! I'm so happy, the sun is out and it's my day off! let's eat outside!!

 One of the best things about setting up an outside dinner is the use of melamine plates, great big chunky plastic goblets and other indestuctable  items of kitchenware, it is forgiveable because it is outside, so if you have a whoopsie moment, no problem the crockery just bounces! get yourself a dog to eat anything you drop and you have a self cleaning. minimum of fuss get together! I think this will be my plan for Easter, an afternoon tea and a family bake off with silly prizes for the least effort (already know whose name is on that one!) and other silly titles.

 Only snag with eating outside is that you are confronted with all the shortcomings of your garden, whoops, did I forget to weed? give me trees, bluebells, shrubs anything but a mixed border! my ongoing battle of wits with Colonel squirrel of the Red House platoon  has reached new peaks of sneakydom,  where are my agapanthus? eh, Mr Tufty? stop looking so cute washing your whiskers on my fence!!

Have a great day !

home at last!

 Well, here I am home after my York minibreak, a quick one nighter with Theo and Rachel catching up and helping Rachel look for her lost Cath Kidston purse, eek! don't you just hate that gut wrenching feeling when you know it's gone?

 But York was lovely with all the daffs out , I have really appreciated the flowers this spring so far, every lovely bloom is like a promise that better things are on their way, the temperature was also lovely in York, about 15c and it felt like summer to me!    

 We had a quick trip to Ikea doing a reccy for my kitchen sink as the kitchen improvements are gaining a bit of pace! but it's so nice to get home for a lovely cup of tea with hubby and look at the washing I put out two days ago and noone has brought in!!!!!

have a lovely evening...

juicy pears

 I don't know what is the matter with me I can't stop going to the gym and eating juicy pears! is the sap rising? is it a full moooon? ha ha the oldies are goodies! what the blooming heck is going on???  A week off work I hear you say? well, yes as a matter of fact! a whole week of  cleaning reading, ironing going to the gym ,sorting out  lazing about... bliss

 but all that ends today... it's Steve's birthday, yay! and it is a family tradition that chaining me to the kitchen for hours on end to produce food for millions of people is a suitable way for everyone to celebrate including a pre dinner trip to the local pub, just to rub it in ! just as well really if I'm honest, gin and tonics are fatal to my masterchef timings and legendary sobbings 'where did it all go wrong?' I have even had to defrost the freezer to get the joint of beef out that was stuck! ha ha curse you Mildred the cow!

 of course the secret to big family dinners is going out  sticking to what you're good at, but unfortunately cheese on toast isn't grand enough, so the traditional sunday dinner it is, except Mildred is rather large and the margin of error is equally large, however I have been known to stick undercooked beef in the microwave before now and it was fine so what's to worry about? pudding...

 I absolutely resent piddling about with desserts that disappear in about thirty seconds so I take my hat off to the young chap called Piers St John Worthington Minor of the upper fourth or something similar who, as the story goes, dropped the pavlova at his public school, shock horror, scooped it up off the floor (classy) and served it as Eton mess! well done lad ( he's now something big in hedge funds!)

But what I really , really want to do is sit and dream endlessly at this lovely porch belonging to Donna Flower! sigh....have a lovely day!