This week I have mainly been covering boxes . . .

Storage is a big issue in our house, there's not enough of it, or is it that we have too much stuff . . . ? I think I'd like it to be the former but my fear (as a perpetual hoarder) is that we have too much stuff! So I am in a constant and on going round of finding clever storage solutions. Just after Christmas I bought some pretty little boxes, covered in gingham and roses, which I thought would be ideal to hide some of Flopsy Bunny's toys on her bookshelf. They were every bit as gorgeous as I thought they would be and did the trick in hiding some of her things but I was a bit disappointed in the size - somehow they looked bigger on the website! Anyway, not to be put out I suddenly remembered the shoe box of DH's that I had been keeping/hoarding and thought it was a great size to store some wooden puzzles. So off I went to this lovely little shop that stocks a lot of Cath Kidston's things and bought some lovely flowery wrapping paper then set to work with a pencil, ruler and a lot of PVA glue! I'm on a bit of a roll now, there's still some wrapping paper left and another box I've just found . . .!

As a bit of an aside just wanted to say how astounded I am at myself - 9 posts this month - what's got over me!!!!

Logs

Our tree prayers were answered and they came in the shape of Little Roo's lovely Godfather who had his heavy duty chainsaw with him. He and DH made light work of the base of our lovely old tree - we reckon around 50-60 years old - I'm still really sad about it coming down. But as they say out of adversity comes prosperity and every cloud has a silver lining, etc etc. Well the log stack speaks for it's self and that is probably only a quarter of the logs we will get from the tree. Also that part of the garden is soooo much lighter and now we are talking about putting up a new shed, planting a new tree (of course), the possibilities are endless. It is funny how life's accidents and disappointments can open up new things for you.

Things that wouldn't have even crossed my mind to do before having children ...

. . . like making a model chainsaw and helmet! DH had his chainsaw out at the weekend to start cutting up our fallen trees. Flopsy Bunny was very interested in it and having tried on his helmet and ear defenders said "mummy can you make me a chainsaw and helmet please" (I've inserted the please but I'm not sure if it was actually in the sentence - can always live in hope!) So I Hmmmmed and looked across at the recycling basket and hey presto a kitchen towel roll, biscuit box, paper and sticky tape became a chainsaw and a bit of newspaper and string became the helmet. I must admit I surprised myself - OK the perfectionist in me would have painted it etc to make it look realistic, but then Flopsy Bunny loved it and I knew it would be back in the recycling basket by the end of the week! Here she is trying to cut back our blackcurrant bushes!

The amusing thing about this is that our recycling basket has become a bit of a hot bed for craft activity in our house. I guess in those pre-recycling times it wouldn't have happened so much but Flopsy Bunny just walked past the basket the other day, whipped out an empty box of chocs, paper bag and some paper and with a bit of PVA glue and some ripping made a robot - the whole thing took all of 3 seconds! Another reason to recycle?!

Sleepyhead Gown Finished at Last!

Flopsy Bunny's Christmas (whoops!) Dressing Gown is finished at last! Unfortunately the other pocket had to be unpicked to finish off the crocheting round the front edges, but I'm OK with that. I also added a knitted rose to break up the mauvyness of it! I found the knitted rose on Ravelry but you can also find it here - very easy and quick to make and uses very little wool - I have a feeling this rose is going to crop up in lots of places!

The dressing gown came from the wonderful And So to Bed: Hand Knits and Things book by Lucinda Guy. I've already made Otto Owl from the book and there are a few other patterns I want to do too! I must say I was a little bit worried about running out of wool as I thought the gown would be far too big but it's not too bad, I had made the size larger than Flopsy Bunny anyway as I wanted it to last and it doesn't swamp her too much. My crocheting however leaves a lot to be desired. I managed to find some diagrams on the web to help me work out how to do double crochet but it's not very neat - don't look too closely!! Just confirms to me that I ought to stick to knitting. Well there it is and here is a reluctant girly in her gown who didn't want her photo taken unless she could take one of me!

Looking Back and Thinking Forward

Another snowy photo of our house and garden before the snow falls again - we are due heavy snow from 3am this morning and all day tomorrow. It is funny how all this snow can change the rhythm of our lives - everything has slowed down, there are less expectations, our days are suddenly free from obligations - I'm actually quite enjoying it.

It has given me a chance to look back on 2009, I've changed my project lists on the blog and was quite surprised when I counted up the things I had completed in 2009 and realised I had almost completed one a month - which considering I had a newborn baby and a three year old has actually been quite an achievement. I'm hoping to be more productive this year but I've also come to realise that I am a terrible planner of time. I tend to drift, have ideas and things in mind that I want to do but never get round to the sitting down and working out when I might actually do them. Time takes on a strange quality when you have children, as a mother I have certainly found that time is never my own any more and I need to think more carefully about how I am making the most of the time I have. I would love to hear how other people manage their lives - I always have this fantasy that everyone is so much more organised than I am!

Aaarrggggh!!

The saga of the mauve wool continues . . . I did manage knitting it by the December 25th deadline but then thought - oh it's done and put it to one side without blocking or sewing it up! It wasn't until Flopsy Bunny said "I'm cold" the other morning as she danced around the kitchen in her PJ's that I thought - hang on a minute I've got a dressing gown for her which is definitely needed in this icy weather. So I blocked and sewed and then ... oh no ... ran out of wool before I could finish sewing up the last sleeve and there is meant to be some crocheting up the front too . . . So I've decided to unpick one of the pockets and hope there is enough wool to finish it off - I'm not sure Flopsy Bunny will mind and I wasn't going to do the pockets as per the pattern anyway. What I am starting to get worried about is the size though - if I have run out of wool ... that doesn't bode well!

Winter Wonderland: Part 2

It hasn't all been fun and games in the snow, we have suffered a couple of casualties too, luckily of the tree variety. But I was very sad to see this one come down in the garden. I think it was a green gage tree and it very gracefully and slowly just tipped over - thankfully missing the shed! The other tree, a plum, I wasn't too sad to see go as it was half dead and I think we were going to take it out anyway later on this year. This tree too managed to fall down, without crashing into the greenhouse and missing an apple tree growing very close by. What it does mean is that DH will have plenty of chainsawing to do when the snow goes and we will have a fresh pile of logs for next season!!

Winter Wonderland

It's been very snowy here this week and set for more at the weekend. It has been a funny time - without the use of the car and no pre-school, time has been our own. I think we have all enjoyed it, although we all feel a little stir crazy now! Lots of sledging has been done which has been fun and there's still a snowman to build - Flopsy Bunny gets too cold to stay out in the snow for long. The days have been glorious, bright sunlight and blue skies, very glistening and sparkling - who needs the alps!

Gathering winter fuel

Happy New Year!

Sorry for the poor photo but it was getting dark when I took this and it doesn't really do justice to my pile of sticks! Flopsy Bunny and I spent the weekend collecting sticks in the garden and tying them up into bundles of kindling for our fire - a handy tip I got from Country Living mag! Flopsy Bunny was very excited by our stick pile because it looked like a little house!! I think we collected our firewood just in time as the snow is starting to fall again - first of 2010 though! We have had some amazing Haw frost in the last two days and it has been very very cold. Time to huddle up with a cup of tea and some knitting . . .