It's good to help!

Well, hello! What a beautiful day...

For me, it started when I got into the car with the Girl - some of the most beautiful frost patterns on the windscreen that I have seen for ages, so pretty! Then we had snow and sunshine and more snow - glorious, indeed.

Here is my list of five smiles for today:

1. Pretty ice patterns on the windscreen
2. Sunshine on icy grass and leaves...
3. Catching up unexpectedly with friends
4. Being able to help friends out of the blue :)
5. Inspirational friends, whatever their age...

Sometimes I learn the biggest lessons from some of my youngest friends, amazing...

Cheery smiles, D x

Sorry for the delay...

Hello, many apologies for the delay in writing - what with internet not letting me on, headaches and feeling generally poorly... Anyway - that's enough moaning and groaning, let me get to my list of positive things for the past few days...

Cheery smiles for:

1. Sunshine
2. Frost on windows
3. The Boy being fab and getting a bronze certificate from school
4. The Girl continuing with her knitting
5. Vegetarian haggis with neeps and tatties
6. Meeting up with old friends and generally having fun
7. Hugs 
8. Wibbling Wools in Bury St Edmunds
9. Nice warm duvets and a good book
10. A cup of tea and a home-made biscuit

I keep trying to take a photo of the biscuits but they don't seem to last very long in our home, I shall attempt this again this week. I have lots of baking to do and only two days in work, in theory I should be able to do it but life has that fabulous way of interfering...

Cheery smiles, D x

The long weight and other stories from the workplace...

Good evening, a little late today but I've made it :)

It's a long time since we've done the 'can you get me a long weight, please?' anywhere that I have worked - but today it worked a treat with my friends and the new girl... All four areas of the department were in cahoots and it worked a treat - tee hee! Simple ideas are so good...

Five lovely things to smile about:

1. More sunshine, so good for the soul
2. Amazing angel friends xxx
3. Old jokes...
4. Fortune cookies
5. Cuddles on the sofa

Gung hei fat choi! We had a delicious stir-fry for supper and the children loved their fortunes, always good. Mine said that my life was full of adventure and that this week would be radiant - what more could a girl want...

Cheery smiles, D x

Happy day...

What a beautiful, sunny day... I was lucky enough to spend it with my family - three generations around one table, bliss.

We went to the Greyhound pub in Chevington - if you haven't been, you must go there. It is a lovely old pub which has kept its traditional style but does the most fabulous food. They make the best curries in this area by far - all of them freshly cooked to order and with such delicate spicing... Delicious! The Boy perked up in the back of the car when he realised where we were going :) And the desserts are very, very good - do not go there to if you are on a really strict diet x Home made blackcurrant cheesecake with a honey and lemon base anyone??

Five very cheery things:

1. Sunshine :)
2. Really, really good food
3. The Boy's love of good food
4. Baking with the Girl
5. Seeing a shooting star this evening...

I love shooting stars, I saw my first one on a roof terrace in Bologna and they still make me smile whenever I see them. 

A new week beckons, hope yours is full of love and smiles, D x

Weekends will now be spent with my family!

What a glorious day - fun and scones at work this morning, a mini-party if you will, as it was my last time to work a weekend or bank holiday :) And it was good to clear my desk - always a bonus!

Cheery thoughts for today:

1. No more weekends - huge, smiley grin 
2. The Girl and I having to go shoe shopping 
3. Laird C humming Bonzo Dog Doodah Band songs under his breath all evening
4. The Boy creating his own comic
5. The Girl telling me that I was just so lickable - like a skinny lollipop!

And tomorrow we are going out with family for a lunch at our favourite pub.

And one of my loveliest friends just asked me if it would be okay to come and visit soon...

It's so gratifying to have such exciting things to look forward to...

Cheeriest grins, D x

Last weekend shift...

Thank you to the lovely people on F11 for helping to make my last weekend shift so much fun xxx

The end of another week...

Hurrah, it's Friday and Laird C comes home today! He had a horrendous journey, no doubt because of the torrential rain... And I didn't even get a chance to use my brolly today because I was at work and am terrified of leaving it there :(

The Boy and the Girl are overjoyed to see their Dad every Friday - especially if I'm not here, hmmm... but homework has been completed and now they have the weekend free! It's my last weekend shift tomorrow, the end of an era. I am so looking forward to being able to see Laird C when he is at home rather than just pass each other by in the kitchen and accepting the odd cup of tea from a tall, dark stranger!

Five cheering things today:

1. His Lairdship is home - hurrah!
2. The Boy's face when his new comic arrived today
3. The Girl loving her homework - it was to do with cake
4. Working with people that I haven't seen for a long while
5. Making new friends

Cheery smiles, D x

Excellent day - big smiles :D

What a marvellous day!

Five smile-inducing things today:

1. Walking to school in the rain sharing an umbrella with the Girl
2. Spending the day with the Marvellous Mrs M
3. Laughing
4. Seeing how well the Boy is growing up
5. Cuddling the cats on the sofa

After an early night yesterday - one of the reasons I didn't post yesterday - I woke up feeling pretty blinkin' good! The Children were up and cheery and ready for school on time without any tribulations, it was raining so I got to use my favourite umbrella, I'll post a picture soon, and then had a lovely day out with the Marvellous Mrs M.

The sun was shining as we walked through town for a quick 'pop'. This is when we go out for the day and look at lovely things and have a good, old-fashioned catch-up with everything that is going on in our lives. Plans are made, goodies are bought and there is generally at least one coffee stop!

Today we went to our favourite wool shop - Wibbling Wools in Bury St Edmunds. We stroked lots of yarn and discussed the benefits of this and that helped by Theresa, the fastest knitter in the East. We were remarkably thrifty having both decided that we need to bust our stashes rather than buy more to create UFOs or sit looking beautiful... Mrs M has nearly finished the most beautiful crocheted afghan in glorious muted technicolour and needed some new wool to edge it. I needed a pattern to make the Boy a jumper, I already have the yarn... Then lunch at our favourite restaurant - The Lounge, followed by a swift pop through town, window shopping as we strolled.

This afternoon I had the chance to go to the Boy's Tudor open day at school. I was so proud of him, he had made a game of memory based on the Tudor VIPs. Poor lamb didn't have a chance to show me other people's work because he was too busy helping all those who came to see him! It does a mother's heart good to see one of her children so interested in what he was doing.

My amazingly talented friend Smokey has just taken up lino-printing and has sent me a beautiful print from her first tile - a shell in dark, bluey green on a white background. I shall post the photo of it when I have found the right frame for it!

Cheery smiles, D x

Phew - what a day!

Well, what a day! Both the Boy and the Girl had friends to play after school today - two of whom stayed to share veggie toad-in-the-hole with us, it was meant to be veggie shepherd's pie but there was a slight mistake in the catering department... All this followed by an impromptu sleep-over, too! I shall enjoy meeting my pillow tonight.

I've finished three things today - the hat, as evidenced by the photo, making a huge batch of chocolate-vanilla cupcakes and remembering to put half in the freezer AND reading a wonderful book by Gil McNeil. It's called 'Needles and Pearls' and it was thoroughly heart-warming. I stayed up far too late reading it last night and then snuck in some extra reading time this morning. Loved it, loved it, loved it - I've got three more to look forward to now :)

Maybe I should add a new aim for the year to finish off all of my UFOs, that would certainly help to clear some of the stash that my husband comments on quite regularly.

Five cheering things for today:

1. Impromptu cuppa this morning with a very dear friend
2. Finishing the hat, does it show that I'm really quite chuffed about that
3. Having a houseful of children and still finding a quiet place to sit
4. Having children enjoy my food
5. Being able to help out the marvellous Mrs M

Cheery smiles, D x

I've finished the hat!

Me with the new hat!

Okay, here is the hat with me wearing it - it fits, always a bonus and sometimes a surprise, and I love the colour, thank you to the Marvellous Mrs M for the birthday wool.

Now I just have to make a flower to go on it and it will be completely finished - I'm not sure what colour I should make the flower so any ideas will be gratefully received.

Cheery smiles, D x

A bit of a late start...

This morning didn't start too well - the Girl came through at 8.05 saying, 'Mummy, why haven't you woken me up yet?' Cue mother leaping out of bed and racing through to the Boy's room 'You've missed your bus! Get up now!' Followed by stumbling downstairs to make two packed lunches and a vague sort of breakfast, 'yes, cheese straws are fine for breakfast :$' We made it, a four mile journey in the car to the Boy's school, tipping him out of the car and heading back full pelt to arrive looking serene in the playground in time for the Girl to go in!!! I blame the cats - they woke me at 2 am complaining that they hadn't been fed yet today - hmmm...

The hat is nearly finished now - four rounds of crochet to go before I get to wear it, it is looking very cute if I do say so myself! As the cheese straws were finished for breakfast, I managed to make a fresh batch which, for the first time ever, the children are eating without complaining AND saying that they are better than the shop-bought ones. Gosh, who'd have thought it!

My five smiles for today are:

1. Another gorgeously sunny day in Suffolk
2. Cheese straws that the children will eat
3. Cuddles from my children
4. A car that works when you really need it :D
5. My marvellous husband who is always there when I need him xxx

Cheery smiles, D x

The next day...

Well, I've managed to come back to my blog. After a lovely sunny day spent relaxing with my family, I'm taking a moment to catch up with this new venture...

Okay here are my five things to smile about today:

1. A day full of sunshine and love.
2. Mr C cooking the most delicious paella for dinner.
3. The Marvellous Mrs M's most reliable cookie recipe.
4. Cranberry and chocolate cookies made using said recipe...
5. Snuggling up and watching The Navigator with the family.

Those are good things to be happy about, as is the fact that we have a sofa that is still just the right size to snuggle on!

The hat is coming on nicely, I should be able to post a picture on here soon, if the technical deities smile upon me. I have to admit to being better at techy things than I like to admit, it's not good for my tree-hugging hippy image!

Time to snuggle up with some mango and orange juice and carry on with the beanie - I'm quite looking forward to sharing an image of something I have made :)

Cheery smiles, D x

By the way, if you move your mouse over the fish to the right they follow it and you can click to feed them - some people are so very clever...

Wow, new stuff to do...

Hello, my name is Daisy and I like to smile.

I've never blogged before so this is all very exciting and new to me - I may not do this very often, but I will try to do it at least once a week...

I'm at home with the family this weekend and am enjoying time with them. My family consists of his Lairdship, the boy and the girl - they are aged ten and eight and a half. My family fill my heart with joy and pride because they are all so wonderful :)

I love ribbons and buttons and gorgeous yarns and fabrics and am going to spend some time stashbusting this year, who knows what will appear - I'll show you photos if there are any good projects, and probably even more photos for the ones that don't go entirely according to plan!

I've started on a lacy, crocheted hat for myself today - my wonderful friend gave me some recycled yarn - I've been trying to find the right pattern for it for ages. Thanks to another friend, I've found it! Smiles all round, I'll show it when it is finished :)

We are in a state of flux at the moment, I handed in my notice before Christmas and have yet to find another job to keep me out of trouble. There are several possibilities floating on the horizon and I'm sure that the right one will show up as and when... well, fingers crossed anyway...

Cheery smiles, Daisy