All Change

Friday was officially my last day at work.  I was really nervous about going in to work but actually I had a lovely day, finished with a good evening out - (although I drank far too much and suffered all day yesterday!)  Everybody was very generous and I was presented with some great gifts.  One of them being lovely pink bag (I have a love of handbags - but hey which girl doesn't!) which Mimi instantly took a shine to.

Gosh this was taken quite early on in the evening - I think?

With a new day and a clear head I am looking forward to what the future might bring.  I think top of my list is to sort this house out! I am still working on my 101 in 1001 and I have plenty of craft projects on the go which need completing, and of course I am looking forward to the Brit Mums Live.

My day was made even better when I came home and found my huge box of Jelly Belly's which I won courtesy of Munchkins.

Yesterday when we woke up our kitchen was a balmy 8 degrees and outside it was -6, this morning it is slightly warmer at -4.7.  The wind finally decided to drop off enough that I felt it wasn't too cold to take Mimi outside to build a snowman. I needed the fresh air!  However our snowman became a snow blob because the snow was so powdery that we just could not form it in to a ball.  It is crazy we have now had this snow on the ground for over a week.  Wonder if we will get any more?  I don't think winter has finished with us just yet.  My onions looked like they needed some water but I was a bit worried about watering them in-case the water froze and ruined them.

Here is to change.  One door closes and another one opens.  I wonder what fate will bring us.

Wow what fab weather we had all weekend.  What a shame its going to end tomorrow.  We went to the beach early Sunday morning.  There were loads of people out prawning.  It truly was a fabulous day.  Difficult to believe that it was October.  I even donned my swimming costume and dipped my toes.  Bit too chilly for my liking but plenty of other people enjoyed a dip.  We eventually managed to persuade Mimi to go paddling and then struggled to get her back out because she loved it so much.  When the weather is like this I always think how idyllic it is here.  It really feels like you are on holiday.  However in the winter it can be very bleak.

Is this really October?!  What a beautiful morning.

What an amazing view

Mimi finally decided she wanted to go paddling.  Here we are jumping the waves.

Mimi & her little friend playing on the beach.

We caught a couple of prawns and a shrimp.  I always thought that prawns and shrimps were the same so I learnt something new.  A shrimp has speckles and a little tail with black edging where as a prawn is all clear in colour.


In the afternoon one of our friends had a party for their 50th birthday.  They live right on the beach and so most of the party ended up in the sea.

Other than enjoying this beautiful weather I have been putting together a new website

http://www.groov-ekidz.com/

I would be really tickled if some of you guys could check it out for me and let me know what you think.  Most weeks one or all of the supermarkets have offers on Nappies, Baby wipes and other baby essentials but it is difficult to know whether you are getting the best deal or not.  The aim of the website is to bring it all together in one easily accessible place.


 

One lovely new pair of shoes......................................
One lovely new pair of shoes which are now soaking wet and smelling of wee wee!  GREAT!!!

Today we have spent another beautiful day in the garden running between the house and the garden.  Who can believe that we have got such glorious weather so late in September?!
I do truly believe that this is the calm before the storm and that this winter will be another harsh one.  Only this morning at music one of the ladies was telling us that someone she knows has got the long range fishing forecast and they reckon that late October early November will be bitterly cold.  Somehow they can tell what the weather will be doing based on the fish.  Only time will tell, however at the moment it seems a little unbelievable that potentially we could be plunged into the middle of winter in under a month!

What did we see in the garden today?

I think that this is a solitary bee.

Blackberries.  They are still going but are nearing the end of the season.

Ewwww check this whopper out.  A common UK earwig.

A giant spiders web.

Mimi trying to tell the time with a dandelion.

Mimi taking tea in the garden.

We also found some Beech Tree nut shells and saw a very tame little bird in the shrubs which I am struggling to identify.  I originally thought it may have been a tree sparrow but the colours were wrong.  I think it may have been a Dunnock.  Anyway it was very cute and Mimi was very impressed with her find.

A Dunnock

If I am totally honest I am really struggling at work at the moment.  So to keep my spirits up I have been plugging away on a number of little projects.  One of which is my beautiful quilt for Mimi's bed.  I am so proud of my progress.

First panel completed

This is what the end result should look like

Pattern came from Material Obsession

In amongst all of the chaos we also managed to pop to the shops to pick a few bits up and a pocket money visit to Poundland where Mimi got a Peppa Pig Recorder (Not sure what I was thinking off when I brought this!) and some ladybird wings.  One very happy buzzy bee!!!

We have had a bit of a weird week.  I managed to work myself up in to a bit of a frenzy over work, which as usual turned out to be nothing much.

Mimi does not seem to like playschool and poor Mike is having to leave her in tears.  I think it must be a phase she is going through as she did the same with me when I left her with my Dad in the week.

As usual it poured with rain on Tuesday evening for my bus duty.  I don't think it is boding well for the year as I have done two so far and both days it has rained!

However Wednesday the weather improved and we had a lovely couple of days at home.  We made cakes (and a huge mess). 

The end result.  Don't they look great.

Then we took our lunch down to the beach for a picnic.  I hope that there are some more days like this before Winter arrives.  The sea was beautifully calm and the sun was shinning.  

We also managed to get over to see J & H and his gorgeous new sister G.  She is just so cute.

We had some friends over for dinner on Friday night.  I was really excited as I had decided to cook a Green Thai Curry which I knew they like and is also one of my favourite meals.  Unfortunately I had a bit of a dippy moment and didn't bother weighing out the curry paste.  I guestimated and used about 3 times the amount of required paste.  Hence as you can imagine the lovely curry that I had so wanted was edible but only just.  I would like to blame my mad moment on too much alcohol but that wasn't the case.   

Additionally I think I must be getting old.  I think I have been in denial that I am still in my youth when actually I am in my 30's.  I honestly didn't drink very much, but boy I felt rough yesterday.

Check out the clouds this morning when we got up at 6.30am!  Aren't they just amazing.  We don't often see clouds this big.  We looked it up on the met office website and it was miles away.  Well over Ostend. 

Daddy just made pancakes for Mimi's breakfast - this is always a preferred choice given a chance.  However I am not sure Mike washed the pan out properly before cooking them as they had taken on a distinctive curry flavour.  Poor baby!

What a difference a day makes!

Two days ago we were on the beach and yesterday we had the paddling pool out.  Today we sheltered inside from the driving rain.

To keep ourselves busy today we have done some baking.  We made the Jamie Oliver Chocolate & Chilli cake although I adapted the recipe and made it with dark muscovado sugar.  I also adapted the icing.  I placed the broken up chocolate in a bowl and heated the cream with a knob of butter on the stove until it was boiling, I then poured the cream over the chocolate and left it for about 5-10 mins.  I then stirred it  altogether and when cool placed it in the fridge until it started to set.

Chocolate and Chilli Cake

We played Hide N Seek

Mimi's idea of hiding.

In between the showers we managed a quick trip in to town to grab a few things for the weekend (we have my brother and his girlfriend coming to stay).  We brought Mimi some new socks.  I had my back turned for 1 minute and she had put them all on!

I have managed to squeeze in a spare few minutes to upload my first items on to Etsy.  Quite nervous about how people will view my work and whether I will get any interest or not.  There is so much good stuff on there like these fab bracelets which I am going to order as soon as I have completed this post.

I Love Knots Bracelet

Just after putting Mimi to bed I was looking out of the window when I saw this cute little cruise ship going towards Dover.  Looking at this photo now it almost feels as if we haven't had any rain today!  

I am hoping the weather improves tomorrow as we have to go out for the day.  Mike has a business associate coming down from London.   Having your wife and noisy child knocking about doesn't really give that "Professional Edge".