Halloween Half Term

We've had a good half term so far.

Sunday morning I took S into town with me as last weekend was the last chance to see a photography exhibition housed in a historic building called The Wool House. This was formerly the home of the Martime museum and is now being used as a venue for exhibitions and workshops. The event we went to see was part of Black History Month and the information said that items were chosen from events from over the last nine years and unfortunately some of the pieces did look a bit old and tired. 

Laid out on a big table underneath the right hand window on the first floor was a roll of paper and a lots of felt tip pens. Next to it was a sign saying 'draw what you can see out of the window'.

This is S's interpretation of the Tesco lorry she saw waiting at the Isle of Wight ferry terminal opposite.

On entering the Wool House one of the first things you see is this big clock from the Docks. I'm not sure where it was originally hung, but as my Dad worked at the Docks for many years I did wonder if maybe it was something he would have seen on a regular basis.
I love this dress which is made from plastic, so intricately cut, the bugs are cut from old plastic milk bottles too.

It was very windy on Sunday and so we didn't stay in the park for very long. S burnt off some energy on the swing, slide, climbing frame and finally the trampoline before we headed home. 

Monday morning the three of us went to the cinema to see Despicable Me 2 which we all really enjoyed and in the afternoon S and I cut out some pumpkins and bats to be used as part of our Halloween decorations later in the week.

On Tuesday we put on our wellies and went to the country park for the Halloween trail. We found a fabulous den which had survived the stormy weather, a couple of others were looking a bit worse for wear.

No words needed!

No photos of the trail pictures as they were all the same as last year so instead we have one of S sat on a badger.

After we do the trail we go to a garden centre for hot chocolate and a mooch around their Christmas department.
We liked the display just by the entrance, a shed with stag head over the bright red door a mini stack of pumpkins and the children patted the head of the dog sat behind the hedge!

We have eaten quite a bit of Halloween themed foods this week. Mainly junk I have to admit. The treat tin has snack sized packets of biscuits in, for lunch we have had eaten crisp webs and there has been potato pumpkins and Halloween shaped pasta for tea. 

Today we have been busy putting out our decorations for Halloween. A ball of bobbly black wool from the 99p shop was wound around tent pegs to create a spider web on the gravel in the front garden.

S made a wonderful Hello Kitty pumpkin. I found the idea ages ago on Pinterest and S loved it when I showed her. She did loads of it herself, she painted it, cut out the ears and stuck on the eyes and nose.

When G came home from work he got busy with carving the other two pumpkins we had bought. Both look great

but this one is a real triumph. We heard lots of our 50 plus trick or treat callers squeal with delight as they spotted it and said 'ugh look that pumpkin's been sick!'

Birthday Time

It was my sister's birthday on Thursday which can only mean one thing. 

I spend an age wrapping up all the bits and bots I have accumulated for her all year. 

For those that don't already know, for our birthday and Christmas gifts to each other we have a budget of £10 and the presents have to come from a car boot, a charity shop or a jumble sale.

Sometimes this rule is broken because we find 'just the right thing' in a shop.

That's why I gave her this CK Christmas sack. I found it reduced way back in February for £3.50 and I knew she would love it.

The look on her face when she opened it confirmed that

The bodywarmer she knew about as we were both at the same jumble sale. It looks brand new and cost 30p, the blue bowl was also 30p, as was the heart patterned dish. The mini mugs were 20p each and the heart shaped dish the most expensive of this lot at 50p.

Unintentionally I had a bit of a colour theme running through some of the clothes I bought. From left to right they cost 30p, 50p, 50p and £1.00 each. The crocheted bag was 50p.

Finally we have a stripy knitted hoodie for 30p, a jigsaw for 50p, a black and white top for 30p and a tshirt with cute little birds on for 50p. I also bought a really pretty navy dress patterned with red and white bows for 30p which I somehow managed not to photograph. I am disappointed about as it was my second favourite thing after the CK deer present sack. I shall just have to try and get a photo of her wearing it instead.

3 weekends

Well here we are in October.

 September was a blur. 

Every weekday I had off was spent going to appointments, such run of the mill things like the dentist, hospital, doctor and car MOT.

Then there has been the time hanging around the house waiting for workmen to turn up. Initially to lay new lino in the bathroom and then again because they had done such a rubbish job having to go through the whole thing a second time.

 Frustrating to say the least.

As for work, that's all changed.

 I've been doing the same job for the last 7/8 years but now I have been moved to a new role on a newly created section. 

This could be seen as an exciting new opportunity and I really am trying to be positive about it but I can't help feeling that in reality I am totally unsuitable.

 There are big changes at work involving many staff being moved and the truth is I wasn't chosen to do this role for any other reason than my working hours are a better fit here than elsewhere.

I felt pretty tired for most of September.

 I started the month with the worst bout of IBS I have ever experienced and finished it with a stinker of a cold, one which completely knocked the stuffing out of me. I took Tuesday off work sick and really should have taken Wednesday too but as I was starting my new job last week I went in and then spent just about all of my day off on Thursday back in bed again!

BUT, before I sound like a completely miserable moany old bag, there has been some fun stuff too, especially at the weekends.

S and I finally managed to complete the Rhino trail.

I was a bit concerned we weren't going to get to see this rhino because we read he was one of three which had been removed due to vandalism. Thankfully he was still on show at an indoor location. Love the hard hat over his ears.

Love a bit of bunting.

This rhino was sponsored by the Mayflower theatre and the decoration relates to loads of different shows which had been staged there. It was fun spotting ones could recognise.

Two of the baby rhinos S liked which had been decorated by local schools. She liked the glitz of this one

and the recycling of old plastic toys on this one.

On our way home we stopped in the Guildhall Square. There was an all day music event and although S wasn't impressed I had to stop and listen to this Ska band for half an hour. Shame G was at work, he would have enjoyed it too.

This is a bad photo of S's very good school project we made the same weekend. She had to make a sculpture out of things which would normally be put in the recycling bin. We made a bird cage from a Whiskas cat food box covered it in wrapping paper and strips of cardboard packaging. S cut a bird shape from a cake box to which she glued some shredded paper. It was topped off with the lid of a shampoo bottle.

Now on to the next weekend. Last year I went to the Tudor house for amongst other things a talk on Tudor fashions. This year the Tudor revels took part in a different location and there were quite a few things I was interested in seeing but unfortunately the timings of some of them clashed with each other.

I needed to pass some time in between events and so I went for a wander along part of the old City walls which run alongside a big brown brick office building owned by BT. I have seen this building hundreds of times but I had never seen these tiles. I liked the carving round the edges on these top two panels.

The walls, or specifically the Friary Gate, was used as a back drop by two actors talking about the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII. The Friar at this time was Friar Peacock who made a speech against the King and not surprisingly ended up being thrown in jail.

The talk I was most interested in going to was by Sarah Morris. Sarah was there to talk her new book In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn and the time she and King Henry spent in Southampton whilst on Royal progress in 1535.

Sarah looked fabulous in her tudor gown and I managed to have a quick chat with her afterwards as I wanted to tell her how much I had learnt from her in such a short time. Sarah was so enthusiastic during her talk, the passion she has for Anne Boleyn was so clear to see. The book is definitely on my Christmas list.

Having a go at Tudor dancing was also on offer. I didn't have a go, but everyone who did looked like they enjoyed it.

Baking biscuits with S rounded off the weekend. The Minnie and Mickey mouse looked a little deranged in some of them but they tasted pretty good.

Saturday was a beautiful day and just right for the Autumn day in the local park.
We started off wandering around the stall selling old English varieties of apples and left with a big bag full of something juicy both S and G liked.

The ferrets were back again and here they are raring to go. The darker one is called Ferris but with the marking over his eyes I thought he should be called Zorro.

G has fallen in love with another. 
They cuddled for ages.
Her name is Boots.
She is a skunk.
In case you are wondering she has been descented.

To console G after he had to return Boots to her owner we made our way to the ice cream van. G and S's friend L chose a bubblegum sherbet dipped ice cream. G thought it looked like Papa Smurf had been frozen and stuck in a cone.

Gingerbread family

Sometimes my children say things which just make my heart go squeeeeeeze with love.
Whilst in TK Maxx S pointed to this pack of cookie cutters and said 'Look mum, a family just like us.'

Adoption is the way G and I chose to make our family.
We have been parents for 10 years now and consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have our little happy family.
BUT there have been various issues from what I think I shall term as outside influences, which have made things decidedly more bumpy along the way tahn anyone could have imagined.
So when S said that, it just reminded me of what we have and how far we have all come. Together. 

More Rhinos

This weekend went by so quickly, I can't believe we are at Monday morning again.

We had a guest this weekend. G had invited his mum to come and stay.

As it was the heritage open days weekend and she had never been to the Tudor House museum before and it was one of the 4 events on in the city (poor show really Southampton for such a big city) we combined a little visit with tracking down the rhinos at this end of town which we hadn't seen yet.

The museum is just visible at the top of this photo along with Rosie the rhino.

She is definitely one of my favourites, so colourful.

I have been to the museum a couple of times but I don't recall seeing this ship figurehead before.

It dates from the 1800's and paint traces show she would originally have had a blue jacket and yellow shawl and hatband so she would have been dressed as a sailor from that period.

Another extremely colourful rhino, this one is outside the ruins of Holyrood Church. Love this photo, everyone is looking at the camera and looking happy!

This chap is stood on a mound looking out towards the Isle of Wight car ferry terminal.

It was very busy around this end of town at the weekend because the Southampton boat show had just started.

Another firm favourite. You can probably guess that this one is sponsored by the Dock board. We loved the rhinos being hoisted up by cranes.

There are still more to find and we are planning one more trip into town this weekend coming because the final day they will be on show is next Sunday.

Coral

I was going to blog about some of my recent bargain buys but yesterday I wore one of my favourite things and decided to take photos of that instead.

I can't remember where I got it but I have a feeling it was a jumble sale buy.

I LOVE THIS TOP.

It's perfect for wearing over the top of a plain white long sleeved t-shirt on slightly cooler days.

It's perfect for wearing with jeans.

I love the shade of green and the pattern which reminds me of coral.

I love the slightly fluffy bobble trim along the bottom hem.

I love the two tiny flower buttons I sewed on to replace the plain buttons which were missing.

I love that I get to wear one of my favourite green necklaces with it.

All Creatures Great and Small

Tuesday was the first day of school for S and she was very happy to be going back again. She practically skipped down the landing to her room at bedtime happy in the thought that the next day she would be seeing all her friends again.

She is now in Year 4 with a teacher who is new to the school and all was fine and dandy during these first days back.

T went back on Wednesday. I had to return to work on Wednesday and as T had a late start, not needing to be at school until 11.30, I had to leave him to ready himself. I didn't feel particularly comfortable about this but T had no such issues.
This photo was taken at the end of the school day rather than the start but it's still a record of his beginning Year 9.

Knowing that he can sometimes leave getting organised to the very last minute (sometimes second!) I left him a list of what he needed to do and when he needed to be ready by as I could easily envisage him frantically looking so something crucial with a minute to the time he had to leave and me getting a phone call at work. 
When I got home from work I found this very hastily scribbled note from him which he did just as he was going out the door. I thought it was very sweet of him, it's little things like this I hold on to when he's being a 'teenager.'

Those two are the Great creatures and now to two Small ones.
Don't scroll down if you don't like mice or bats.



Yesterday morning I went to a jumble sale where I scored a huge bag of clothes for S and another good haul for my sister. I have had so many good finds recently I must get around to doing a post, or two, about them.
In the afternoon we wandered down to the local nature reserve for their late summer fair. It was their 25th anniversary celebration and we were expecting a bigger than normal fair but it actually turned out to be smaller than normal.

We spent a little time talking to someone who runs a wildlife rescue centre.

There was a tiny little mouse in a big glass case who was constantly on the move, running around and in between all the foliage and corn stalks, each time returning to the blue dish full of food.

There were lots of people gathering around her to look at this baby bat. She really was the sweetest little thing and so soft which we found out when we got to delicately stroke her back.

A day indoors is on the cards for today. It's currently pouring down with rain and is forecast to be like this on and off for most of the day. Still it means there is plenty of time to get those first pieces of homework done.