Easter hibernation...

Inspired by the real thing, of which we have quite a few here, I rustled up a wee hedgehog yesterday whilst Harvey was having a deep hydro cleanse, trim and blow dry (a bath and a hair cut).

The hedgehog has had a warm and cosy night under a pile of crispy beech leaves and now he's having a little wander about. Luckily the dog is not keen on hedgehogs and is giving him a wide berth.

He is probably thinking, 'is it the end of winter?'. I don't think so.

Settling down for the Easter break...

Aargh! The end of term crept up on me suddenly! My quiet time has now ended for a fortnight. I am thankful for a teenage sleepover tonight. It means we only have the all singing, all humming, noisy boy here tonight. One at a time works well. As you can imagine, the constant humming and random sound effects do sometimes wind big sisters up. Mind you, with loud music in one bedroom and sound effects in the other I am sometimes quite grateful I am deaf.

I've done as much spring cleaning as possible given that the kitchen knock through has begun and the master craftsman, ie. M, has strangely decided to finish the bathroom that he started five years ago! We've had a functioning bathroom all this time, it just lacked a few finishing touches; tile trim, pipe boxing in, blinds and a little shelf I've had kicking around for five years! Men are definitely from Mars.

Meanwhile, I've had a pleasant hour tackling all the skeins of cotton I had lying about in my cottons basket. These pesky things have to be wound into balls before you can use them or a big tangled mess is guaranteed! I just love the muted colours of these organic cottons, they look like they are straight out of the countryside.

The wool winder is great fun so I got a little carried away and rewound all the oddments of cotton too. They were already in neatish hand wound balls but now they are even neater! Such simple pleasures.

I made the little mouse in a very short amount of time during my afternoon ritual; watching a rubbish movie. In this household I am now known as the Queen of Cheese. These movies involve such themes as overcoming paraplegia, finding your birth mother, solving ridiculous inter-family murders. Actually, one of my all time favourite films was on the other day and J actually came out of his bedroom to watch it with me; Bugsy Malone. He first saw it when he was four and very much into wearing a hat all day long. We had to seek out a suitable hat and purchase the DVD of the film and I think he must have watched it a hundred times!

The mouse pattern is from Inside Crochet, issue 35.

Friends...

There was a bit of a commotion this morning when Ted woke up. It seemed to be coming from the tall boy's bedroom. A cheeky little character with a red and white striped jumper was swinging from the light shade in search of bananas.

As soon as he caught sight of Ted peeping round the door he swung over and landed right by his feet. This daring stunt startled Ted somewhat but not forgetting his impeccable manners introduced himself as 'Ted'.

Monkey knew he was a monkey but he didn't want a dull name like Ted so the two of them put their thinking caps on and decided Monkey should be called 'Marvin'. The two of them have been inseparable ever since. Ted has shown Marvin where the bananas are kept and Marvin has introduced Ted to the biscuit barrel. Ted had never known such pleasure as Oreo's until he met Marvin.

If you listen very carefully you can just hear the two of them chattering away on the sofa. I wonder what they are planning?

Danger...

Poor Ted. He's keeping well away from this furry four legged 'friend'! Along with talk of shrinking if he gets wet in the snow, Ted is beginning to think that the world is a very dangerous place.

I think Ted could do with a friend. Perhaps a cheeky chap. Someone to bring Ted out of his shell.

The cat and I...

We've had an up and down relationship, the cat and I. Never under estimate the powers of persuasion of a seven year old is the lesson I take from the whole cat story. Ella was heartbroken one day when we took in a stray for a week or so and then of course, it disappeared back home as strays are wont to do. It hadn't been too much bother and it was heartwarming to see how gentle the children had been with him (Jake would have been four at the time).

So it came to be that we 'rescued' Mollie, the left overs of a divorce. Things went downhill fast in those early days and frequent calls were made to my Dad (who lived close by at the time) to come and remove a dead bird or mouse. Thankfully, now with food she likes (boy is she fussy!) and plenty of fields to go mousing in she seems to only bring the odd mouse indoors. This morning was one of those lucky occasions.

Some spring cleaning went on yesterday, despite the absence of Spring as we know it. All pale cream cushion covers from our basket furniture were washed and dried. I usually cover these with an assortment of tartan blankets to prevent cat hairs and cat claws ruining them. This weekend I decided that they looked nice and fresh and spring like, and tidier without the blankets. The cat usually pounces on the fresh covers within minutes of them being put back on but she is otherwise sidetracked this time... by the pile of tartan blankets! Talk about princess and the pea!

Ted ventures out...

Phew, Ted has had a giddy morning. When he opened the curtains this morning he couldn't believe his eyes. Everything was white. He thought it was quite beautiful until he felt how cold it was, and wet, and windy too.

Not owning a good pair of waterproof boots was a small problem he managed to overcome by borrowing a small boat from a tall boy. The tall boy told him to be very careful with the little red boat because it came all the way from France. Ted was very careful indeed. In fact he only sailed a foot from the patio doors because it looked quite choppy out in the big wide world.

After his brave and daring maiden voyage Ted retired to the safety of the door mat and watched the daft wet dog play in the snow. He seemed to be throwing it in the air and catching it in his mouth. Ted didn't know what to make of that.

Ted felt that was quite enough of an adventure for one day and settled down on the sofa with his blanket. A little snooze he thinks, and a marmite sandwich for elevenses.

Waiting...

Ted can hardly contain his excitement. He has heard that snow might be on the way. He's not really sure what or who snow is but he can tell from the children that it is something to be excited about. He knows he has to wear his new warm scarf when he meets 'snow' for the first time so he is ready and patiently waiting.