Spring Is Starting To Spring :)

Hi Honeys
Just dashing off to work and wanted to wish you a happy Sunday full of smiles and hugs :)

Yesterday was an incredible day. It was bright and, until mid afternoon at least when it clouded over a little, the West of Scotland basked in the most glorious sunshine :) I was at work all day and so I missed what would have been my first opportunity of the year to hang out laundry.  Imagine! Me, missing a laundry day?  You know how I am about laundry :)

You know what though honeys I don't mind :) There will be (hopefully) many sunny days ahead to do laundry and I had a great day at work :)  Today we have beautiful blue skies with not a cloud in the sky.....

It is positively glorious outside honeys. I'm smiling even sitting here typing this :) It's been a very long, very dark Winter and just to see the sun shining through the windows in the morning feels fabulous and lifts my mood :)

I went outside to snap the above photo to share with you and even though it was after 10am there was still a ground frost...

Even the frost looked pretty in the sunlight though. We only have four weeks left till the clocks go forward and I know that temperatures will start to climb over the next few weeks and maybe (hopefully) sunny days will become less rare.  Till then, I'll wear a cardigan to stay warm and you can bet the next non-rainy sunny day where I don't have work, I'll have my laundry outside :)

Have a wonderful Sunday dear ones, I hope you're having a bright sunny day where you are too :) Till next time, huggles always xxx

Rulers of Britain Coin Collection: Richard III

Disclaimer: I haven't been paid to promote this magazine, I'm just a history nerd and wanted to share my latest smile :)

Hi Honeys
It's Saturday :) Exactly four weeks from tonight, at 2am to be exact, the clocks go forward in the UK. Yaaaay! I adore being a Scot but Winters here are so dark. I mean seriously dark honeys. During Winter months we'll have between five or six hours of daylight a day tops in the run up to the end of the year and it's depressing!

So, in four weeks time the clocks will go forward one hour, we'll lose an hour's sleep but it will be lighter in the mornings, stay light longer in the evenings and with a huge amount of luck, we might even have an actual Summer this year instead of the far too frequent rain we had most of last Summer.  Not that I'm ungrateful for the rain, it blesses the garden and helps the roses grow, and I do love our roses :)

Now that I've done the most British thing ever, complain about the weather, on to today's post then :) I posted on Thursday about a new historical partwork called Rulers of Britain.  I adore the idea of this magazine series because it looks at history from an interesting perspective. Each issue is supplied with a reproduction of a coin commonly used in the period being discussed.   Issue one had two coins from Elizabethan times, a sixpence and the interestingly named quarter angel.

Friday Smiles: Easiest Ever Knitted Squares Blanket Pattern :)

Hi Honeys
Happy Friday :) I hope you've had a wonderful week & you're looking forward to a fun filled weekend :)

My Friday smile this week is kinda cute in an odd not-quite-finished kinda way :) Wanna see?

:) Hee hee :) I just can't stop smiling :) Having knitted two squares for my blanket using a small ball of gorgeous green wool I was left with a little left over.  Now, since I wanted to practice my new knitting skills, such as increasing & decreasing stitches, as well as learn how to change wool/yarn colours while knitting, I had an idea :)

Rulers of Britain Coin Collection - It's Another Partwork!

Disclaimer: I haven't been paid to promote any products, just wanted to share my latest smile x

Hi Honeys
I hope you're having a fabulous week and staying warm in the lingering Winter chill. I can't believe it's almost March and I'm still wearing mittens, scarf & hat to go outside! I know I've said it (a lot) before but I absolutely believe that hibernation should be an option. I'm a Summer baby, I can't cope with chilly weather :)

It's not all bad I suppose, I get to snuggle on the sofa with our furbaby while her Dad is at work, both of us kept warm by a huge sherpa fleece blanket, and I've started knitting too :)

At the start of every year television ad breaks are filled with promotions for new partwork series. Magazines which explore their chosen subject over weekly or bi-weekly issues.  

How A Kitchen Worktop Saver Can Be Super Useful On Your Dressing Table

Disclaimer: I haven't been paid to promote any products, just sharing my latest homemaking project x

Hi Honeys
I hope you're having a fabulous week so far. Are you seeing Spring yet? The past two days have been bright and sunny, with gorgeous blue skies broken only by the occasional fluffy cloud... but (and it's a huge but honeys) it's freezing! I mean seriously bone chilling, skin tingling, can see your breath kinda freezing! Oh I so, so, so wish it would get warmer so that I can be hanging out laundry!!

For now though, our furbaby Jade and I are sharing a huge sherpa throw on the sofa, she snuggles down for a nap on her cushions and under the lovely soft blanket and I sit here typing away on my laptop.  Winter has definitely overstayed her welcome this year, dear ones.  The cold seeps into my bones making my joints ache.  I need cheering up and what better way to do that than to make something pretty :)

You know those glass worktop savers we all have in our kitchens? I use ours to sit pots on when I take them off the heat of the cooker or to sit under my chopping board and for so many other things. Well, it turns out they have a whole other use too....

Friday Smiles: New Books & A Cool Knitted Blanket Worksheet

Disclaimer: I haven't been paid to endorse anything, these are my smiles this week and I just wanted to share and hopefully make you smile too x

Hi Honeys
I'm sorry I've been quiet recently, I've been battling what a lovely Doctor at our local Rhuematology clinic at the hospital called a "flare."   This isn't a fun flare though, like those cool 1970s trousers you can find on Pinterest and on late night TV shows.  This is an arthritis flare, not fun and certainly doesn't make anyone smile :/

What we need though dear ones are smiles! It's Friday and we need to go into the weekend with a wee smile :)

First then, even though we are desperately trying to downsize our homes clutter, on Wednesday I went to have my hair cut. After weeks of living with constant pain, I had started to finally feel almost human again and in the hopes of addressing the problem of having to pin my (very thick and so also very heavy) hair up at work I thought I'd have it shortened.

What does a hair cut have to do with clutter I hear you ask honeys, well the hairdresser I go to is in our local shopping centre (mall) and in that same shopping centre is a branch of my favourite (online) bookstore...

Friday Smile: Still Knitting :)

Hi Honeys
Just wanted to wish you a wonderful weekend before dashing out the door to work :)

Oddest thing today, the sun is out! Yaaaaay! Sunshine honeys :) I was starting to forget what it looked like :) Maybe Spring is ready to make an appearance after all, I so hope so! It's felt like a very long Winter.

 Do you remember the little squares I started knitting to take my mind off those awful storms honeys?

The Picture Perfect Project - Last Of The Scottish Holly

Hi Honeys
Back again with the second post in the monthly Picture Perfect Project.  If you missed it you can see the January post here with Winter snow :)

The Picture Perfect Project encourages Bloggers to take more photos to improve their photography skills (and so improve their blogs) and have a whole lot of fun while doing it :) There is a link up every second Thursday each month throughout the year.

For this months challenge I wanted to try to take some photos outdoors since most of my blog images are taken in doors in our kitchen where the best lighting is available thanks to the large windows.  I did really enjoy photographing our garden last year though, especially the roses which were just breathtaking.

On a visit to our Doctor's surgery for a blood pressure check up earlier this week I noticed the last of the beautiful Winter holly bushes and wanted to capture them before they're cut back to make room for Spring growth.  When I got home I looked at the images and was again reminded that true beauty is all around us and we all walk past it every day.

Here are the holly bushes outside the Doctor's surgery....

Fun & Beautiful Bedding To Set A Mood & Make You Smile...

Disclaimer: I haven't been paid to promote any products, this is just a little virtual retail therapy to distract me and I thought you might like to tag along and keep me company x

Hi honeys
I'm sorry I've been missing for a few days. The damp from the almost constant rain and bitter cold seeping into my bones has been causing a flare of my arthritis.  So, I thought I'd distract myself  by finding some pretty and fun bedding :)

You might have heard me say before on this blog how much I adore bedding.  Bedding is to me what shoes or handbags are to other ladies (although i do love those too!)  Bedding can be the final, finishing touch to a bedroom makeover. It can be the difference between your bedroom being a place to sleep and being your oasis of calm.  Colour and design choices are personal of course but I thought I'd share some duvet set designs I've found online that have made me smile :)

First then, since we're rushing towards Spring (the sooner Spring appears the better) why not a few duvet sets with a fun pattern sure to raise a smile?  

Friday Smiles: Now, Where Am I Going To Plant A 55 Foot Tall Tree?

Hi Honeys
I hope you're staying warm in this never ending Winter we appear to be trapped in.  I thought for this week's Friday smile I'd share a little update on Katie's adorable Christmas gift, which you might remember from this post was a living gift. A perfect tiny Christmas tree :)  I so adore this little tree honeys, yep I did say little... now, about that... :)

This week I decided I should re-pot him because he was starting to look a little squished in his original pot.  He has now been potted again into a larger pot.....

This is the biggest plant pot we had in the garden, but by the way he's growing he won't be in this pot terribly long till he's moved again into a much larger planter (it's on our to buy list.)  When the weather improves (very soon I hope) he'll be moved outside to sit on our little patio where he can soak up the lovely fresh Scottish rain and the sun to help him grow.

Storm Damage - Repairs Update..

Hi Honeys

Well, it's been an eventful twenty four hours around here! Do you remember the mess Storm Gertrude made in our garden? Well,  Hubby, bless him, took the day off work yesterday because we'd ordered large posts to repair the damaged high fencing in the back garden and he'd had a text telling him they were due to be delivered yesterday afternoon.

So, first thing yesterday morning, as always, he and our furbaby Jade went for their walkies together and when they got back Jade hugged me on the sofa and Hubby had his breakfast.  Since the fence posts hadn't arrived yet Hubby set off to our Doctor's office to pick up my prescription and then went to have it filled at the chemist (thank you honey xx) When he got back he had a cup of tea and then headed off into the back garden to start clearing away the storm damage.

Fun With Yarn

Hi Honeys
You might remember from yesterday's post that we've been battling the elements here in our little corner of Scotland.  After the dreadful damage caused by Storm Gertrude, we went straight into Storm Henry and again spent last night being buffeted by eighty mile per hour winds.

Anxious to find some kind of escape from the disaster movie being played out in our back garden over the weekend, I decided I needed a distraction...

Do you remember a recent post where I shared a new magazine partwork I'd bought honeys?  It was on knitting and supplied with issue one were the materials required to make the first two squares in a knitted blanket project.

Since the first issue was only 99p I had bought two copies because I'd had the idea of knitting two of each of the first squares and then doing this...

Stormy Weather!

Hi honeys
I hope everyone is safe, well and staying warm.  You know I keep saying I wish I could hibernate through Winter?  Right now, I mean it more than ever...

Did you hear about Storm Gertrude honeys?  If not you can read a little about it here.  A little before 3am last Friday morning I was awakened by such a heart racing, scary as all got out crash!

Our bedroom window is always open a little and I'm guessing the wind had caught our window and slammed it shut with the aforementioned nerve shreddingly loud crash.   This is seriously so not the best way to be woken out of a sleep honeys, it's really not.  I've seen way too many horror movies to be woken up like that!