A Bitting And Bobbing Day!!!

Today I have a few odd jobs to clear up. I need to finish Ruby's skirt for the play so that she can take it home tomorrow and I have to take up two pairs of trousers for Andy.....oh how I hate that job. These must be the longest I have ever had to shorten......they need eight inches cutting off before I hem them.
There are also the sofa blankets to wash and put away.
I'm glad there are no heavy jobs to do as it is so warm today. There's not much sun to see but there is a warm breeze blowing through the windows.

Last night we just had a quick sandwich for tea before going out so I don't have to think much for tonight....we'll have the chicken strips and salad we were going to have......one brain cell saved for another day....lol.

Now I have to butcher two metres of fabric by tearing it into strips to attach to a waistband for the woodland fairy skirt so I had best go and get on with that. I hope this works as I haven't a clue what else I can do.

Hope you are all having a smashing day.
Sheila-x-

Three Days Gone In A Flash!!!

I meant to blog every day of the last three days but you know what it's like....life got in the way as usual.
The weekend has been a mixture of shock and anger regarding BIL's situation, nice things and this morning a very aggravating time with Mr Tea Towel.
There were plans to be doing some sorting out upstairs today ready for a mega sleepover with both of the girls later on in the month but I just thought 'sod it' and have spent the last couple of hours making headway on a new cross stitch and I am now down off the ceiling and somewhat calmer.....lol.

Nice things.......we needed a new tv and as luck would have it Andy got his half yearly bonus from work so we now have a rather large one sitting in the living room. It's so big that I can watch it without my glasses on......in fact I think I'd still be able to see it if I went and sat at the bottom of the road....lol. It's a 'smart' tv whatever that means and has way too many buttons on the remote for me to fathom out so there will be no daytime watching until I get the hang of it.....not that I do anyway.

I've not given a thought to what DD and I are having for our tea today. It will be something quick and simple like chicken strips with a pea shoot and piccolo tomato salad. I'll see what she feels like when she comes in.
After tea I need to go out and do a top up shop which was going to be done this morning but we had the plumber here fixing a leak so there was no time.

Anyhoo I had best get off and run the hoover over before DD gets home.

Hope you are all having a lovely day.
Sheila-x-

It's Here!!!

The sun has arrived....but thankfully not the high temperatures as there is a good strong breeze blowing and keeping it quite cool today. I am dreading the very hot weather.
Too late to save my beautiful peony which I never got to enjoy before it was battered by rain but other things are coming into flower now for us to enjoy.
Lots of birds still visiting the feeding stations....a greedy pig of a crow who keeps flying off with the half coconut shells, loads of squabbling starlings and the other day a bird which I think was a Hobby. It didn't stay long but oh it was beautiful.

One very excited Ruby came for tea yesterday. She has such a lot going on again. Off to London at the weekend, the school play (she loves her drama and singing) and two induction days at her new school which she moves to in September.....I've never seen a child so excited about school....lol.
I have the job of making her costume for the play and luckily it is a fairly simple make and the remit from school quite precise so I am hoping it goes well.

I am still cross stitching like it's going out of fashion and have finished a fairly large chart of a Winter Alphabet which I am going to make into a cushion for the girls. It was worked in the called for DMC colours but there was pink in it which I didn't like so I am doing another version on a smaller count of fabric with my own chosen colours.
I'll show pics when they have been washed and pressed.

We haven't anything much planned for the weekend I'm just glad we won't be having a repeat of last Saturday when we had a guy here cleaning all the outside of the house, soffits, fascias, gutters, windows and doors. he did a smashing job but he was here for four hours.
This Saturday we are going to visit the pet crematorium where they are going to transfer Smudges ashes into a casket for us as I have decided that I don't want to scatter him in the garden after all.

Andy is sleeping well today so I am off to see if I can sneak in another hour of stitching before he gets up.

Hope you are all having a fabulous day and that you have sunshine to enjoy.
Sheila-x-

Starting Over!!!

OK....let's start again shall we?
The last three weeks unplanned break from blogging will not go down in my history as the best weeks of my life and the rest of this week will be a little tense too but I need to get back to some kind of normality.

I don't know where it came from or what triggered it but I have had quite a bad bout of depression and I still don't feel entirely like myself but I'll keep soldiering on and hopefully it will bugger off eventually.

There was a rather baffling wobble with Ruby who decided that she didn't want to come to our house anymore and she wouldn't interact with us when we visited her house. This went on for a couple of weeks until she was eventually able to tell her mummy what it was all about and it turned out that she was missing Smudge and was frightened of us talking about him and getting upset.
It's all sorted out now and she is back to visiting again thank goodness.

On top of all this I am still dealing with regular phone calls from brother in law about his ongoing problems but we are hoping that the next three days will see some light at the end of the tunnel and a solution set in stone that will enable him to get on with his life.

We did have a lovely family meal out in the garden for DS's birthday on Sunday. I cooked his favourite roast lamb and the weather played nice so it really was a nice relaxing day. He loved it and is now angling for an August Bank Holiday barbecue so we can do it all over again.

Today it has not stopped raining and it's thoroughly miserable although I suspect I will be wishing for rain and cold if we get this very hot weather that is being predicted.

Well I had best get off and get ready for Miss Marlowe. I am watching her for an hour while DS goes to an appointment and then Ruby will be here later......Andy is on standby to pick her up from school if DS isn't back in time so two little rays of sunshine to brighten my day.

Hope you are all well. I shall come back and have a catch up with some blogs later on after tea.
Sheila-x-

Same Old, Same Old!!!

Life seems to have settled into a bit of a rut here at Tea Towel Mansion. The jobs are getting done in the mornings and I am spending most afternoons cross stitching.
There is nothing exciting going off but thankfully nothing on the other side of the coin either.
I do however seem to have developed a slight dislike for the computer and have hardly had it on for the last week....just the odd hour or so here and there for domestic admin and checking for messages from The Doodles while they were away last week. It could be to do with the fact that the flaming thing has decided that it likes to turn itself off now and again....usually when I am in the middle of something....for no apparent reason. I hope to goodness it is not on it's way out.

Now that we have finished watching Game of Thrones DD and I are watching Line of Duty and thoroughly enjoying it. We finished season two last night so we'll start on season three tonight as I have no plans to be going out anywhere....the top up shop can wait until tomorrow as I have enough salad for tea tonight.

Anyhow....I hope you are keeping well. I will catch up with blog reading either tonight or tomorrow and see what you have all been up to.

Sheila-x-