THE LUCK OFF THE DRAW!

Hello girls..... firstly I would like to apologies for the long gap between this post and the last...boy doesn't time fly bye... i have had a very busy social life recently and have been very lucky to have been out and about far too much for my own good !!! Plus fitting in a bit of full time work ...have dropped in to your blogs to keep an eye on what you have all been getting up to .. we are all so busy in different ways..... A couple of weeks a go I had a little outing to Harrogate.. lunching ..shopping.peolple watching... and as i was walking past Bettys tearooms and heading down Montpelier parade were all the swish shops and restaurants are..just window shopping honest..eeh..ermm.. i looked in a restaurant window .. and spotted a pile of wood ,the restaurant was been refurbishes..... and on closer inspection..nosed pressed up to window..spotted an old pine draw ..feet..cupboard doors..

so putting on my best smile and fluttering my eye lashes ,flicking hair miss piggy fashion ..I enquired what they were doing with the wood jigsaw.. the lovely polish builders asked the even lovelier owner if the "lady" could av cupboard..

he said go ahead its all there ..we were just about to chuck it in the skip.. girls i have a small car and it was verrrrry difficult getting all in ..even thought four lovely chaps with bemused faces helped me.. what are you going to do with it lady said one.. keep rabbits in it!!

well as you can see after piecing the cupboard together,its a rather nice bow fronted old pine side board.. all the pieces were there and D is fixing it as we speak..

I intend to paint it a lovely frenchy colour and put it in the bedroom to house my small excess amount of clothes...

What do you think.. not bad for a bit of cheek and all for free... i,ll post as the project progresses..

have a great week ..we had lovely sunshine today and hope you have had some too ,xx

I AM A SCARLET WOMEN

Happy valentines day... hope you were all inundated with choccys and flowers to day !! Some thing strange has been happening to me recently.. i have become drawn to the colour red.... i have always quite liked it as a colour but over the last few weeks its the only colour i am drawn to.. why? what does it say about me at the moment... red the colour of love if there is one, the colour of danger, anger, of warning,of life's blood... in your face vibrant happy warm red...

When i was in Harrogate last week ( on another weeks holiday from work , had to fit loads left in before April ) and went in To the wonderful clothes shop toast.... and saw these shoes, love at first sight.. heart skipped.. purse opened on its own... had to have them.. even though i don't normally do heels .. my kind son said i walk like a transvestite with bunions in heels!!!

but they didn't have any in my size.... good job I thought because even in sale were rather eye watering expensive.. but couldn't forget them and eventually tracked down pair in Cheltenham branch of Toast.. so these beauty,s are mine now, going to wear them to my husbands birthday dinner at the end of this month .. keep tripping round house in them .. Lily Savage like.....

this is a picture of me .. yes don't be scared.. in my bargain scarlet new coat taken on Sat in the lovely town Of Knaresborough , was taken to a lovely boat house on the river for lunch, the son shone and had a lovely time, and glad to report since my last post have lost 10 lbs... and still trying to loose a bit more ,so hard though...love FOOD

the story behind this scarlet coat is while in m&s last week while in Newcastle on a shoppo trip with girlfriend ,I spotted this coat.. ow er instant attraction.. but as i just had bought THOSE shoes was trying to be on best non spending behaviour , £89.00 with a black scarf as a set ..walking away from the coat an assistant( a very nice assistant) came up to me and said do you like the coat and what size are you..? 12 i said, she vanished and came back with the coat.... a returned try ed on coat... reduced......... to .....£12.00......fate, we were meant to be together... my friend said ,
stop jumping up and down your embarrassing me again!!!

so this lovely cord coat which i know i will were lots is very happy with me.. love the collar and buttons...ermmm errr on same trip I bought this scarlet knitted top also from marks .. loved the hem and well ..ho what is a girl to do... seduced again.. but in my defence in the sale again...

fell for this little felt brooch as well i a lovely hand made shop..... spring cheeriness to put on my coat...

Cath kidston ... bag i got for Christmas .. it goes with every thing.. and holds my empty purse!!!

and lastly a vintage style rose heart... what colour are you mysteriously drawn to and why do you think. you are..? i am a scarlet women .. back soon.. enjoy your week! xxxx .

A COMPLIMENT GOES A LONG WAY...

Sorry for been absent from blogging for a while , i have missed you all.... no reall excuses ,just life swallows you up some time and before know it time has just whizzed bye... I don't know if its the grey weather ,or just that January feeling ..but I have been feeling .. ho I don't know ..humphy ..and lumpy....

out of sorts .. so when I had to go out on Saturday night to a works staff outing to a rather nice Italian restraunt... I started to get ready to go out ,I try edthis on then that on , nothing felt right .. I was having a real FAT day .. I am a size 12 ,OK I have gone up from a size 10 since summer...and i felt I looked DREADFUL..... but I had to go... even with hubbies you look fine ringing in my ears...i still felt i looked like a dead whale..I felt just how this lady looks.. . so when I arrived two work colleges said ho you do look lovely.. this made me feel a little less like a dead whale.. then a young male college said you look great ,really great,, so slowly began to feel a lot better about my self... so from now on i am going to compliment friends and acquaintances when they look good or they are wearing some thing nice not just think it say it.. because it can make such a difference go on take on the challenge .. at least twice a day try to compliment some one.. i just want to say at this point how lovely you all looking today.. really..

On a slightly different note I have started going to a local indoor car boot again .. bit hit and miss until this Sunday.. do you remember in my last post I said I wanted to collect more of these metal retro mirrors.. well look what I found .. another three..
At the moment there a not very nice 60s 70s gilt colour and I want to paint them to go with my other ones...

so I don't know what colours to go for.. i want the cath colour look .. what do you think.. blue will that go with the reds, pink? green.. HELP....

At the same car boot i found this lovely Victorian cake stand, quite hard to get now as you all know how popular they are.. so I swooped on this one and hugged it to me so no one else could snatch it,, and it was only a £1..



A Friend knew I was feeling a bit fed up with my self and when she went away for a romantic break with her hubby she brought me this little Mailed elf girl to go with my Elfie boy.. I was so touched she thought of me..

Her they both are on my mantle piece riding on my wheelie elephant..



when i get some thing new it usually ends up on my mantle place to have star viewing

and finally I found these bricks at the car boot.. they were featured in country living emporium last month and i liked them .. my knees went weak when i saw them on a stall. unwanted Christmas gift and i got them for £2.50 they were £16.99 in the mag ..so bargain happy .. spare tyre sad... hope you are all in good spirits .... don't forget you all look FAB.. XXX

TAKE IT EASY....

This last seven days have been bliss.. I have been taking a weeks holiday from work ,a much needed rest to recharge my batteries and just breath... and have time ,those of you who work full time will know exactly what I mean, don't know just how many times I utter the words I don't have time..... well this week I did .. I had a stay cation is that the right word when you have a holiday at home?

We are hoping to go to France and possibly Cornwall latter in the year ( fingers crossed) for a proper holiday, but this week i didn't make plans ,I just did things as and when, I pottered in the house, rearranged things , I don't know about you but I always think the house looks rather dull ,colourless after the Christmas decs come down, so I have been craving colour, don't know if you remember my post about buying these mirrors at a car boot in the summer ,well I managed to get them up at long last on the newly decorated walls of the dining room , i am rather pleased with them and I will look out for more of these this year as I would like to add to the group..

I love fresh flowers (don't we all?) and treated my self to theses again to bring colour into the house ...

think they go well with my vintage red enamel candle stick

Do you rearranged your things , regroup, I think it makes you look at thing with fresh eyes ,just before Christmas I bought this lovely Nursery set by the saintly Cath from where I work ,We sell bits of Cath Kidston , the egg cup was broken by a customer ,so I got it at a bargain price, ad of course you know i wouldn't be able to resist as its got my fave little dog on..

Bright yellow ans so cheery ..

I also fell for this vintage style french chocolate sign, which I bought from a little vintage /interiors shop called NO 8, which has just opened in Thirsk, North Yorkshire , it has fab things , I had gone over to have lunch out with a friend , and this little shop beckoned me in... just had to have it as it goes so well with my other sign..

I know I have showed you my kitchen before,but saddo I am I wanted to show you my new kettle( our old one went bang, things don't last as long as they used to don't you think?)

Its a morphy Richards and though it had a retro look, well its been put to work a lot this week keeping supplied with a stream of Earl greys, As I have put my feet up and read my book ,i have been reading this biography of the Brontes for weeks now and I spent some guilt free time engrossed in their world

its a very scholarly read rather monumental , a meticulous book which looks into the life of the Brontes , but for those with a love of there work and worlds ,
fantastic, I could now appear on master mind, with no passes and a high score!!

So what else have I done with my precious week, I have become a lot more chilled, almost as chilled as my cat Malachy who was fast a sleep in this positions...

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Spent time with the furry babies, having cuddles and naps between all that tea on the sofa,,,

But have also had the pleasure and luxury of meeting with Friends for coffees , some for lunch and some for dinner, I have been to York twice( to meet up with different people)Harrogate , Easingwold, Thirsk and many other destinations in Yorkshire.. so you see I did leave the sofa..

I also had a trip to the beautiful world heritage town Durham , its a fab university city, and we saw a wonderful procession of 100,s of mortar and gowned students entered the cathedral, had a fab lunch and visited a great shop with the wonderful name of Mugwups , which you can find on saddler street, this shop sells gifts etc , but upstairs it has wonderful cloths ,Noa Noa, sandwich, Darling, and the Irish Avoca range, which are just so lovely and different ,but a bit pricey, but to my delight there was a 70% sale on the odd item , so as it was my holiday and rather cloudy and grey outside and my thoughts turned to summer and I bought this yummy top..

Pale blue dotty with a sweet brooch with Celtic writing ,

Ideal for my proper holidays and I was chuffed as I had wanted some thing Avoca for ages. This week has flown by , but I do feel refreshed , recharged ,connected to my civi life again ,Its hard getting the work /home life thing balanced isn't it, felt I was getting off balance a bit , but I am ready to jump on the tight rope again ho yes I am, until next time lovely friends, x x .

SANTA WAS SO SO GOOD TO ME..

Happy new year to you all ! having popped into some of your blogs you all seam to have had fab Christmases and I have enjoyed " sharing your Christmas,s ", specially have enjoyed seeing all your beautiful trees and your houses decorated for Christmas .. but best of all was seeing what Santa brought you all!! I had a peaceful and rather lovely family Christmas and got a couple of days rest that I so badly needed after the frantic build up to the big day..
On Christmas morning look what I found under the tree waiting for me ,yes, yes ,yes, it was the 1950,s Triang fox terrier which I have been wanting for ages and ages after spotting one on Nicky,s blog the vintage magpie( in my blog list) , I saw one on eBay two months ago and bid ,but it went over what I felt I could spend on one ,I did regret not winning it and kept thinking about the foxy boy ...... ,but unbeknown to me D had bid on it and had him hid in the shed all this time, I am so thrilled with him , he is in great condition and I love him.. LOTS.. ,

I would have been quite happy just to have got my dogie, but I must have been a very good girl last year ,as I also got two Cath kidston bags , yesssss two... One from Nat ( Via dads money!!) and one from a friend( I have generous and lovely friends who know my likes!) When I opened the one from my friend first , Nat gave out a ho no its a Cath bag , me thinking the poor boy had had enough of my Cath (slight obsession,OK big obsession), but of course he was worried she had bought the same bag,but no I ended up with two lovely different patterned bags.
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This is the one from Nat, lovely cord/velvet feel. great for winter and the other one for spring!

More Cath goodies.. and D bought me a new phone... erm.. you see I am fairly techno phobic, I am still amazed I have managed to control (ish) the computer to blog, in fact I have stunned my self... but I only really used my very very old mobile for emergencies , and this new phone scares me, specially as the other morning I text ed D ,asking him too sweep and wash kitchen floor,( as I was at work and he was lolly gagging at home,and I have to keep him out of trouble by giving him tasks ) and my boss came up to me and asked what time i wanted him round to do the floor!! yes,yes,you guessed it he got the text ed... ho boy....

and as for trying to control the slip sliding out of control screen, please tell me some one else has these probs and not just old me? Evey time it rings I look at it like its a hand grenade!!!



Sorry to Cath bore you, but even those of you who are not big fans of her things should try this hand balm ( found in my stocking),its great and smells wonderful, my poor farm hands are looking almost famine again..


Finally this is the new years eve table been laid for our evening meal.. I love candle light ,don't you ?, After a few too many glasses of sparkly ,I announced my resolutions were going to be .. to loose weight as My waist looks like that of an elderly hippo, and I would at last go into rehab for my dog on wheels/Cath kidston/vintage any thing /magazine buying /chocolate habit, but before I go I will just finish this qualitie street!! I hope you all are going to have a happy ,healthy 2011, and looking forward too sharing with you what ever the new year holds for both you and me!!