{tag-tastic}

Thank you to Meg {meggetscrafty} for the tag (my first!) but it has taken me such a long time to respond......apologies.....but things quite often get hectic very quickly round here and before I know it its 4 weeks later....but better late than never i say

THE RULES
1. respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add more one question of your own.
2. tag eight other people

Marmite or Jam Marmite for me............I love Jam especially on a Scone but you can't beat a yummy cheese and marmite sandwich

Coffee or Tea? It will always be coffee, I can't stand tea don't even like the smell of it which is not a good thing as my husband drinks buckets of the stuff. Coffee has a wonderful aroma and there is nothing like a Sunday morning with a couple of cups of coffee over the papers.......not that i get that as my children usually interrupt me!

Whats for dinner? Oooh no there's a question......your guess is as good as mine! I'm a veggie and its hot hot hot today so maybe just salad or Faijtas not sure yet

What would you eat for your last meal? Gosh I hope I never have to answer this in real! I love asparagus so maybe something like asparagus with a baby corn and a garlic butter sauce....... or maybe a gorgeously cooked pizza.......i love food really love food so its quite a hard choice

What was the last thing you bought? I went out for a birthday present and came back with this gorgeous little dress for my daughter

What are you listening to right now? I was listening to Radio 1 but got bored, as i usually do, and instead put on the wonderful Because of the Times - Kings of Leon ......... its such a fantastic album. When my dear husband first bought their stuff a number of years ago i told him to "turn that s**t off" (as he keeps reminding me) but now really do love them. In the car i have 'Off the Wall' Micheal Jackson and in the kitchen i have Smashing Pumpkins ......... it really depends where I am as to what i listen to!!

Whats the best gift you have ever been given? I know it sounds a bit well cliche .... but i do have to say my children.........but if were talking 'material' it would be a gorgeous diamond necklace my husband bought me a few years ago for Christmas it had been a very hard year for me and it was a very special present

What is your favorite ice cream flavour? Has to be Mint Choc Chip from Thornton's

What do you think of the person who tagged you? I love Meg's blog its very inspiring and i think she has a natural way of writing it, she is also so much better at updating than me!! but i am new.....

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour where would you go? To Kittywell House in Croyde, Devon. We went there a couple of years ago, no kids, and it is so beautiful and peaceful there. Wonderful little shops to look around, fabulous tea shops and a lovely lovely beach.......{dreams wistfully}


Which language do you want to learn? I'd like to learn Italian. Its such a beautiful country and I'd like to spend more time there when I'm old and grey.

Whats your favorite quote (for now)? Life without music would be a mistake - Nietzsche

What is your favorite colour? Erm...well that changes with the wind really. We're currently painting our Lounge a plum colour so I'm having lots of fun finding things to 'go' in the room, especially different fabrics, I wanted something that would work as a living area and also to be a bit more 'grown up' and I think this colour works well

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? I think it has to be my jeans, i love jeans you can wear them anywhere for anything! I have 'work' jeans, 'going out' jeans, 'school run' jeans, jeans for every occasion they are just so wonderfully versatile i love them

What is your dream job? My dream job would be to run a coffee shop that sells 'things', you know all these gorgeous lovely homemade local 'things' (ornaments, jewelry, bedding, vases, pottery etc) in somewhere like Croyde (I keep trying to convince my husband to move down there...)

What is your worst habit? Its not my worst habit but something I strive to be....which is organised!!

If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on? I think I'd spend it on a lovely day out to the beach with my family with fish and chips.......and some shoes if there was any change!!

Do you admire anyone's style? my friend Tracey has a wonderful eccentric style that I would never get away with, yet she does it effortlessly and beautifully

Describe your personal style? I love vintage style for both my house and my clothes, I enjoy looking around for things when i get the time and always feel very excited when I find what I'm looking for....especially when I don't know what it is! I also LOVE Audrey Hepburn's style, but could never copy it

What are you doing after this? Having a glass of wine in the garden in the evening sun

What are your favorite movies? I love watching movies especially Audrey Hepburn, Marylin Monroe, Doris Day, Cary Grant I can just get lost in the charm, wit and sophistication of these films

What is your favorite fruit? Raspberries

What inspires you? It can be anything from a something someone says to me to something I see or hear, I can't say there is any one thing that inspires me but there is always something that I will draw upon from my everyday life that challenges me or makes me see things in a whole new way that I hadn't thought of, so I suppose I could say life itself inspires me

What is your favorite book? I would love to say its something vastly intellectual or philosophical but my all time feel good favorite book is Pride and Prejudice

Do you collect something? I without realising it started to collect Jugs a number of years ago I have lots of them in various shapes, sizes and colours but I do not have the room for them.....or so my husband says anyway!! I also have a small collection of brooches which I am building on thanks to the various little junk shops I manage to find them in

What is your favorite smell? The smell of stocks is wonderful I have them all over my house (in my jugs usually!) the smell fills the air its lovely and makes me smile

What are you most proud of? my 5 beautiful children

How many times do you press the snooze button before you get up? I'm so lazy if it was left to me I'd probably just turn it straight off but luckily its on my husbands side and I therefore don't have to do it, he's very good and presses snooze a couple of times before he gets up and drags me out of bed!

Cats or Dogs? Cats definitely! I love their snobby manner they really have great characters you have to work hard with a cat before it will accept you, I quite like that

What's your biggest fashion mistake? I can't believe I'm actually admitting to this....but i once had some MC Hammer style yellow trousers.....OMG...how awful!!!

Complete the following: Love is...? something you shouldn't have to work too hard at

I'm going to tag: needleberries , thriftystylishhome , studiomela , shophandmadeuk , swishandswanky , teaforjoy , edenrose , tovadarling

{Oooh I do love a bargin}

I went to our local garden centre today (i use the term 'garden centre' very loosely indeed though as its one of those places when you can buy everything except plants....you know the places i mean) i went there in order to buy my dear H something for Father's Day but found myself getting in the 75% off Bargin Corner and my goodness me I did get some lovely things
I bought my daughter, L, a lovely Gisela Graham duvet set from the Tea Time Tooth Fairy range for £12....reduced from £60! and i got her the matching apron for £2.30. I also managed to pick up a lovely Jamie Oliver blue (denby style) big caserole pot for £8 and a couple of vases
....needless to say dear H is still without any Father's Gifts but I still have a couple of days to sort that out

{peonies}

Peonies have to be among my favorite flowers I currently have them placed in various jugs, pots and vases dotted around the house to cheer it up, and my dear husband always knows when I need them and stops by the local flower market in the city before he comes home. I love scented flowers like stocks and roses too we don't have any 'old fashioned' scented roses in the garden yet but quite a few of my neighbours do so thought I might try and get some cuttings from them.......not sure where I will put them though

I had a scout round the local charity shops the other day looking for some gems for the house but there were none to be found......I think I might venture into Cambridge this week there are so many fab shops there i'm sure I'll find something

.....I did get to a french market on Saturday though and bought some lovely cheeses and breads, most of which are now gone!!

{Have a lovely weekend!!}

Well its been one of 'those' weeks! L was sick for the first couple of days and then it just kind of went to pot really....so not much accomplished at all, but never mind L is on the mend so no doubt the weekend will bring some more jobs to light

We must crack on with decorating though......what about a plum colour for the living room? its large and has great light so i think we could probably pull it off....


Anyway have a lovely weekend!! xxx

{easter eggs in June??}

...erm... yes believe it or not i've just found about 18....yes 18....uneaten easter eggs in my cupboards {shock} so i think the best plan is to melt them down and make some yummy chocolate cornflake cakes with the children. Mind you the only problem with that is that i love melted chocolate and will probably end up doing a digustingly gorgeous chocolate cake from the Nigella book ...... hmmmmmmm ..............

{welsh dresser and hidden gems}

I have a lovely welsh dresser that has been in my family for years, however it is now a little sad and tired looking and in desperate need of an update. It is currently being used as the toy cupboard for my little ones and houses all their craft things and paints too!

I was thinking of giving it a distressed look purely because anything else might look out of place in this house and also that once the children start using it again it won't stay looking pristine anyway!!

More rumaging was done at the weekend and i discovered some more jugs i had forgotten about, it was a lovely surprise to find hidden gems in my house........

{Jugs a plenty}

Its a lovely sunny day here contray to the weather reports!! I have decided to attempt doing 'things' in the house today if little P and H let me anyway.....quite what i'm going to do i'm not sure but inspiration will come to me before long......

I have a number of beautiful jugs which i collect i think i might try and find places for those today they are all in boxes and in various corners of the house and on window sills........flowers i need flowers to put in them too.....right into the garden i go....or maybe not i might get sidetracked in the garden and leave the house untouched again......

{P's hair update}

after yesterday's hair cutting spree it doesn't actually look that bad today ........ pooor girl!!

{buttons}

What a beautiful day it is today........the sun is shining, the birds are singing what more could you want!!

I'm trying to think of things I can do with buttons....all suggestions welcome.....

I should in fact be trying to think of decorating ideas but i do get so easily sidetracked. There really is so much to do here i don't know where to start. We have managed to plaster the downstairs of the house but that's as far as we've got!

....but back onto the buttons....i have loads of lovely funky and vintage buttons in a tin, i keep changing the buttons on the childrens coats and clothes but they are now starting to get annoyed with me "oh muuuuummmmm" seems to be the noise i hear now so i think it may have to stop

xx

All was going well this morning, we we're on time and everything!! then i opened the front door and the boys J and H decided to 'help' me bring the milk in ....... 2 smashed bottles later we finally got to school just as the last bell went. Oh and E forgot his bag halfway down the road and had to go back......aaaarrrrrgggghhhh

We have 3 boys E who's 10, J is 4 and H is 3, and we have 2 girls L is 7 and P is 7 months

I have just tried to cut a little off the sides of P's hair and now she looks like a boy ....... ooops

wow this is hard....

i've been trying all day to work out how all this works

its quite hard isn't it? especially when you need to feed and water everyone!