Easter Decorating

Although I could quite easily have cat napped on Monday after my dental appointment I decided to do something which I knew would cheer me up.

First off I hung up my new Easter wreath. I made this a couple of weeks ago.

Last year I made a bunny wreath for the front door.

This year I fancied something different.

I bought a metre of dress netting which was cut into strips which were then wrapped around a polystrene wreath.

A bag of 99p mini glitter eggs were then stuck onto pins and pushed into the wreath.

Then it was onto changing the mantelpiece in the dining room.

Bunnies, candles,

chicks and eggs will now be on display until the end of April. Let's hope there's some chocolate as well before too long.

We have a new addition in the front room.

T bought me this Easter Egg Hunt sign.

He said he saw it and thought 'mum likes things like that' and decided he would buy it for me as a surprise gift.

Such a thoughtful thing to do and very much appreciated.

Bits and Bobs

We are all toddling away doing our own thing here in the Jumble and Jelly household. 

Nothing especially post worthy in it's own right so a post of bits and bobs for a little round up seems to be the order of the day.

It was G's weekend for working but one day either side he made a start on decorating S's bedroom. It'll look great once it's done but in the meantime half of her belongings are piled on the landing and I'm trying (and failing) to ignore them each time I walk past.

I went out with a couple of friends on Saturday night. First we ate, chatted and laughed and then we saw the new Bridget Jones movie and laughed some more.

Loving my latest necklace purchase. The pink beads are so lustrous. I need to cut back on my spending what with 'that time of year' approaching but couldn't resist this brand new one in a charity shop for the teeny tiny sum of £1.49.

My mum's aunt passed away a few months ago and now her home has been sold and cleared her son asked us if we wanted to go and choose a little something as a momento. I picked out this little lidded glass dish. I love the little addition of the china flowers on top, I have a couple of brooches like that, and I know I will use the bowl in lots of different ways. 

T has been offered a transfer to a store much closer to home. This would cut down on his travelling time but he would have less responsibility which he would miss. He does like seem to thrive on that in the workplace we've noticed, so he is weighing up his options.

I am completely smitten with the new range of foxy items from Asda, not good when I'm trying not to spend. It's those cushions I'm most coveting, the foxy designs and the Stay Home and Snuggle one.

Talking of home, this is what I saw when I came home after work on Friday. Glitter ball sparkles on the kitchen ceiling, what a happy sight.

S is still enjoying school and is out with friends as much as she is able to be. We have had to have a serious chat about homework but with our help she is getting her head around learning to be a bit more organised in her approach with it's completion. One of the changes senior school brings!

These two are starting to spend more time indoors with the steady drop of temperature. Although they are also spending more time out the front of the house (and using the open window as a cat flap) as next door now have two cats who are determined to attack ours on every occasion they possibly can. We now have a spray bottle filled with water which we squirt at them whenever we see them on our garden wall or in our garden.

It's G's 50th birthday this Saturday so that's been keeping my brain busy, thinking of all that needs sorting for it.

We are out for a meal at lunchtime with his family and then back home friends will be arriving for cake. 

I baked this black bean cake because I thought it sounded interesting and it turned out like a brick so needless to say baking a cake for G isn't on my to do list.

Two of my favourite things, blogging and cakes, are combined in a deliciously cosy way on Jo's fabulous new blog how to hygge the british way which I am thoroughly enjoying. I urge you to pay her a visit and give yourself over to making your world a lot more hygge as we go into autumn and winter.

We've started in the perfect way.

Cinnamon pastries. 

Transfer Day

Just words today. 
It's just something I wanted to record which S has written.
Yesterday was transfer day at school. The day where children spend time in their new year group, with their new teacher, in their new classroom.
S was very excited when she trotted off to school in the morning.
Thankfully she was just as excited when she came home again, brimful of things she wanted to tell me about the day.
One of the tasks they were set was to write about themselves and feelings they had, good and not so good, and liken them to animals.
I really liked what S wrote and her reasoning behind some of the choices.

There is a confident dolphin inside me who is always happy and cheerful.
S said she chose a dolphin as they look like they are smiling and the clicking noises they make sounds like they are having a happy conversation.

There is a working hard tiger inside me who is always cool and fantastic.
Well there is no arguing with her reasoning that a tiger is a cool animal. I also wondered if she felt they were cool because we have always called Tony (and he'll hate me for this) Tony Tiger after the Frosties character and she adores her brother.

There is a tidy hippo inside me who is always helpful and clean.
When the recycling bin is close to overflowing it's S we call upon to climb into the bin and stamp it down for us. She loves doing this, always has done. She decided that a hippo was the right animal as once a hippo sits on something it's got to be tidier as it's going to be so much smaller!

Grump

Not the most exciting weekend to report on, but it did start off with a relaxing lay in followed by a good breakfast.

When I left my previous job all bar £50 or so of my last wage was deducted, in error, by the tax office. It has taken until now to get it sorted and have the money refunded. When pay day arrived I decided to share the joy and buy croissants to take into work Friday morning seeing as it was croissant day. Most were eaten by appreciative colleagues and the  left over ones I took home and we had them for breakfast Saturday morning.

 

With it being pay day I needed to spend some time doing my monthly finance admin stuff and there was a bit more to do than normal as I needed to set accounts straight after the refund. No month is good to lose money, but a couple of months before Christmas was definitely not helpful, anyway all sorted now.
Next on the agenda was a trip to the local charity shops. Now this is normally something I would enjoy. But a casual mooch around the shops to see what's to be found is a different kettle of fish to the trip we had Saturday afternoon when we had a definite idea of what we were needing to buy.
Next Wednesday children in S's year need to go to school dressed as a king or queen. This half term is all about the British Monarchy and a royal feast with suitably dressed participants is being arranged. I can usually cobble something together for these dress up days from things we have already, or borrow something from my sister and her extensive wardrobe and maybe buy an odd item to finish it off.
But for this costume we have not got one single thing of any use.
After visiting 10 charity shops these are the three items we came home with.
The first thing we bought was the black v neck top. I thought the pearls and beads could lend itself to a Tudor style. Maybe the addition of more pearls or beads? The item of the left is a huge kaftan with gold embroidery down the front. I'm thinking that maybe I can cut this and sew to the bottom of the black top. The pinky red woolly skirt will be the overskirt so the gold embroidery is seen as a panel at the front. I'm not explaining myself very well, but I've got an idea in my head, I just need to translate it into something which can be worn! The three items cost £4.00 in all so it won't be a financial disaster if it doesn't work, but if it doesn't work I'll be well and truly stumped. Fingers crossed.

The remainder of Saturday afternoon was spent helping S finish off her homework. She had to choose a monarch from any point in history and present some interesting facts about them. It was her decision to go with Queen Elizabeth I.

That was pretty much Saturday. Sunday I had to go and do bit of shopping and then do an online grocery shop, pop to my sister for a much needed hair cut and most boring of all do some housework. I try not to do housework at the weekends but this time it was unavoidable.
So by the end of the weekend I must admit I was in a bit of a grump as I didn't feel I'd actually been anywhere or done anything.
Of course this wasn't true, I'd been out and I'd been busy, just not doing anything particularly enjoyable and weekendy. I had checked online and there wasn't really anything going on locally we could go to and I suppose some weekends need to be this way, the everyday stuff needs to be done, I'd just rather it was confined to the weekdays!