Feels like summer...

I feel like I have earned the right to sit down today! Yesterday I donned my lumberjack shirt and lugged bits of felled tree into my car and drove several loads to the local tip. Note that husband has no regard for the felt roof in my old jeep but goes berserk if we so much as touch the roof in his. My car is looking worse for wear and will probably never be rid of conifer bits and pieces.

I think I mentioned before that my car should really have a sign on it saying, Juanita's Property Maintenance Services. Letting a property is seriously stressful and nothing surprises me anymore. You think you are a good judge of people and it turns out you are not. We have just spent the best part of a month putting right what the last occupants did to the property.

Actually it is all hands on deck when it comes to it. Mum and Dad do lots too. Dad is particularly meticulous when it comes to lawn mowing. Mum and I clean and do the cosmetic touches. M fixes broken things. This time round we have painted the whole house which is something I don't want to have to do again in a hurry.

Other news this week; driving around the countryside using up lots of expensive fuel in an attempt to play several cricket matches which the opposing teams didn't turn up to because they thought it was on another day. Not very impressed with the organisation. Probably a good idea to hand the reins over to a woman next year.

Very quiet this week because E is away on a school trip. J has been lapping up the one to one attention and taking liberties with indoor cricket every time my back is turned. Honestly, I've lost a child this week and gained one. Three times in one week I have told my husband to grow up. Futile.

So, it is gloriously sunny if a little breezy today. The dog is by my feet, the cat is nearby in a patch of sun. My latest charity shop basket (I can never leave one behind) is packed with J's blanket in progress and my latest book. Tea is in the pot and apart from aching from head to toe (lumberjack) I am feeling very content. The hoovering can wait. Crochet here we go!

P.S. Best book I have read this year; The Glass Palace. Worst book I have read this year; The Wilding.

Outlaws beat Bears...

I blinked and the weekend was gone!

A pretty good one though. I had Saturday to myself (mostly). I did succeed in dragging 'nearly-teenage-boy' away from his gaming for a few hours. It cost me some school supplies, two balls for indoor cricket and a double scoop mint choc chip ice cream! See? When in doubt resort to bribery.

We did have a lovely moment or two whilst sitting in a nice picnic spot overlooking an old racecourse, albeit in the car during a torrential shower. I had my takeaway salad lunch and J had his all time favourite cheeseburger (he's a man of habit). I suggested a game of I-spy knowing fully well he isn't four years old anymore (i spy with my littul eye, somefin ginning with curly cuh', um car? Yes!!!). He went along with it. It's surprising how funny it can be. He got my windmill, castle, cathedral and horses and I failed to get his clouds and later, sky. Doh, and I always thought I was more in tune with how J's mind works!

The highlight of the weekend was popping over to Nottingham and watching Notts play Warwickshire at Trent Bridge. It was an exciting second half with Samit Patel knocking his first century for three years including a number of massive sixes, and finishing on a six to win. Everyone stood up to clap.

We weren't sure whether the rain would hold off but it did and we even got sunburnt in the final hour. It was extra especially nice to go with Mum and Dad too. Much picnic food got passed up and down between us all, and to think I was worried about going hungry!

E has decided she wants to be Nuts the Squirrel when she grows up! Though I reminded her of the problems of having to like small children, blistering heat and looking like an idiot. She changed her mind.

Bit disappointed we can't go and see Notts versus my home county of Sussex on Friday due to one of E's cricket matches but I suppose I'd be very unpopular cheering Sussex on.

So, today it is back to real life! Washing, housework, la, la, la.

The game is reviewed in more detail here

http://www.nottsccc.co.uk/news/2013/june/samits-century-extends-winning-run.html

Saturday morning...

Be careful what you wish for eh? It's a bright new Saturday morning and it looks like I'm gonna get that quiet time I've been craving. Only thing is, it doesn't feel right to have it on a weekend day! M is working on a job too good to turn down. E is deciding what to wear and 'fixing' hair and make up in order to go shopping with friends. I'm still getting used to having a nearly sixteen year old. J will be in the horizontal position for most of the day until I bully him into something else, eg. a lovely walk with Mummy (might have to work harder on the ideas for the 'something else'.)

So I find myself up at seven in the morning, showered, dressed and feeling partly lonely and partly pleased about having a quiet day. I've got my new boyfriend...crops on. Honestly! I wish Marks and Sparks would come up with more grown up names for their cropped jeans, I'm forty something for heavens sake! My iPod is in one back pocket and my new phone is in the other. I have yet to pass my driving test with the latter. My previous phone was over ten years old and the children advised I shouldn't get it out in public! I would have been happy with it for a while longer if it hadn't developed problems. Problems of the 'turning itself off in the middle of texts' type.

So my iPod tells me it is raining in my village right now (wrong!). My phone tells me that M has just arrived at his destination and is having a bacon roll (predictable). Who needs actual company?

I decided to do a bit of stock taking this morning. I've reviewed my current wips. Two jumpers and a blanket. Ahem, yes the second jumper was started after the frustration of doing rib stitch on 5.5mm needles and getting a bit of wrist strain. So naturally the solution was to cast on for a jumper using 10mm needles. Wrist strain problems sorted. It means the oatmeal jumper is going to take a bit longer but hey no rush.

Actually I will confess to doing a classic mistake with the first jumper. I rattled off the back section no problem at all and then cast on for the front panel forgetting to use the smaller needles for the rib section! Rather annoying because I really loathe the whole knit one, purl one routine!

The second jumper uses Rowan Big Wool Fusion that I have had lying around for quite a long time. It'll be the second jumper I've knitted using this basic pattern (the first was for E when she was about 9). This time I've given it a denim blue lower half because I am one ball short of the beige mix. This knits up very quickly so I am hoping to have a finished jumper in a few days time. It's the jumper on the left hand page below, in dark purple; I'm not intending to wear it with a belt round the middle like the model! Just another layer for cold cricket matches.

And finally, this second strip of blanket is taking so much longer than the first half! I think I am bored with the stitch now but I will keep plodding on because J will really appreciate it when it's done. Our conservatory is used all year round as a living room and it can get a bit chilly by late evening so we tend to always have a few blankets lying around. This one does look a bit more interesting in real life, the wools have a lovely texture with flecks in.

So, a lazy day, flitting from one project to another. A spot of gardening in between rain showers and electric storms. Homemade carrot soup for lunch (we have had a lot of carrots in our veg box deliveries lately.) Redbush tea, plenty of. Dog walk, maybe, I'm still not sure if I've forgiven him for 'unplanting' a plant pot I had just planted yesterday afternoon.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend, wherever you are. J x

Preparing for the weekend...

Mollie is in training for a lazy weekend... I think I'd quite like to join her.

Woolly therapy...

This poor woman looks just how I feel this week! Zoned out.

I count my blessings and feel grateful for everything I have but sometimes I just want to 'escape'. My mind wanders back to the time I rented a small, unheated cottage for just myself and my two Springers. Life was much simpler back then. Lighting the coal fire was a priority for heat and hot water, walking the dogs was next on the list and running my small design business from home paid the bills.

At the moment, here in this household, everyone seems 'below par'; either grumpy or ill or both. The most stressful issue is the anxiety, panic attacks and vomit phobia of a certain child of mine. I've done the practical help, I've done the listening, I've done the amateur counselling, we've done the professional counselling but still we have big problems when some child at school throws up. I tell you, it's enough to test anyone's patience.

Time to myself seems like a rare thing at the moment. If I could read a book, watch a film and knit or crochet all at the same time I'd be very happy! I'm settling for a bit of woolly therapy with re-runs of The Royal. Extremely cheesy series but with great potential for spotting all kind of vintage and retro bits and bobs. Crochet blankets everywhere! This one was definitely a 'left overs' arrangement!

Quack quack...

It's probably a bit difficult to make out the actual ducks in this photo; the young are the dark brown furry blobs paddling in the tiniest amount of water. The water levels are extremely low this year and although we have a duck family nesting somewhere very near to us every year this morning was the first time we have seen them.

Previous years have been quite sad. The Mother duck starts out with about 12 ducklings and usually ends up with 2 or 3. We're not sure what happens to them but there is the road, foxes, drains (we once saw half a dozen ducklings fall down a drain, but luckily were rescued).

This year the Mother has ten ducklings who have all reached a very good size so that's a big improvement on the last six or seven years. She certainly knows where to get a few slices of bread!

Freebie...

It's not every day you drive by a house and pick up a free table! M and I knocked on the door just to make sure it was a free table and not free plants or other things that had been on the table. The lovely woman was just glad we wanted to take it away.

It's a very large teak table that would easily seat eight. All we plan to do is sand off the flaky paint but not remove it all meticulously, I rather like the distressed look. We currently have a smallish four seater teak table so this new one will be ideal for barbecues with guests, banquets even! Just as well my workshop is full of random chairs I'm in the middle of renovating!