Planning is afoot for the festive season!

Hello! (Bit of red for Christmas). This is the point at which I normally let you know there will be no more apologies for talking about the festive season. I think you have the measure of me by now and know that I just LOVE this time of year.

Well, seeing as Halloween and Bonfire night are pretty much a distant memory, I have begun my planning in earnest! Here are my planners, lists and reminders; obviously there will be some additions, changes etc here and there but always good to have a strong, basic plan.
 

We should be at home for Christmas Day by lunch time, after seeing some family on the Eve. I am already deciding on some yummy recipes for the big day and of course 
easy-to-eat, buffet style food for Boxing Day. I love having really yummy eats and leftover dishes that you can just go to the fridge for between watching films and not have to actually cook! I will be hopefully making and baking some more festive food for December 27 when we have some more family here for my Mum's birthday.

I think I may have mentioned the Christmas cake is made and getting fed weekly with Gluhwein. (Love that stuff; put it in my homemade mincemeat, the Christmas cake and the pudding!) I also have some Morello cherries soaking in vodka to give as presents to a couple of people, depending on the size of the bottles I use for the finished product. Both are now sitting on the designated shelf on the cellar steps so I can gloat at the tasty treats I am gradually preparing every time I go downstairs to the washer!

I took a few minutes this morning to look for some more traditional, nostalgic Christmas ideas in articles from Pretty Nostalgic. I subscribe to this wonderful compendium of gorgeous Britishness and have recently signed up to be a Pretty Nostalgic Pioneer. Check out their website for more information.
 
 
 I collect recipes, decoration ideas and anything to make the festive season tasty and attractive so this is one place I go to. Of course, Christmas is NOT complete without  
Country Living. I subscribe to this wonderful publication, too, and admit I wait with anticipation every year for the Christmas issue!

It has taken me a couple of years but there are just some things I cannot do without on the table.

Oh, and I have been seewing a runner for the table this year and although it is a little basic I am chuffed to bits with it.
 
 
I would love to know what your favourite things are to make and bake for Christmas. 
Is there something you just HAVE to have or everybody asks you to make?

Catch ya later!xx

Hopes dashed in the wind and rain at the edge of the world.

So here I am finally getting round to telling you about our trip to Lewis last week.  I'm going to cut to the chase - it was not a success. The house itself was pretty much as we expected, if a little unkempt due to it not having been lived in for a while.

The first problem arose when Harry said he didn't like his room as it would have been in the extention and slightly away from the main part of the house.

Then as we looked around the areas outside it transpired we could not do as we had hoped with the land. It was so boggy we would have been unable to have pigs/sheep on it long term so there were pens closer to the house than we would have liked. Plus the field across the road had common grazing rights and we would not be able to put services across for  anything like toilets if we hoped to us it as a small camping area.

However the killer was that Harry got very upset. After talking to him he explained he wanted to do all the exciting things like climbing, fishing, beach-combing etc, but it was just too far out of the way for him. We think it was very brave of him, as an 8 year old, to say what was on his mind, even though it was a tough thing to do. We would never try and make the boys think it would all be ok, just because it had been a dream of ours for everybody.

So on our return, and after a few days thinking, we know we have made the correct decision for all of us not to move to Lewis.

Most people go an hour or so down the road to look at a house they may buy. We took the risk and made the commitment to go that little bit further! If we had not gone we would have regretted it we know for sure; you regret more the things you don't do that the things you do.

So onwards and upwards. We have hit the ground running, though, and are preparing to go see some properties very soon. We still intend to live our Good life of growing and making our own food, keeping a few animals and chickens and try to give our boys the best childhood we possibly can. 

So watch this space. xx

Our life-changing visit.

Good morning!

This is my last post of the month for a couple of reasons. My two liccle men are away with the Gramps until tomorrow, with it being half term; hubs and I are missing them terribly but know they will be having a wonderful time.

Therefore, with hubs back to work after the weekend I am having a little me time. I have just yesterday finished some Christmas bunting as a gift for somebody and I'm really pleased with how it turned out; hope to wrap that up today then add it to my festive stash!

The main reason I will not be blogging for a few days is that our trip to the Isle of Lewis in the western isles of Scotland  is getting very close, at last! Hubs and I are so very excited, all be it a little nervous, about visiting what we feel will be the place and home of our dreams. All our arrangements are made; accommodation booked, ferry travel sorted, visit to the school booked and of course estate agents contacted.

We have to be prepared for the slight possibility of arriving on the island and finding it is not for us after all. We were given wonderful advice early on in this venture -  

"houses (in that part of the world) generally sell well to very committed people, but usually it takes a while for the right people to come along; not everyone wants the remoteness, even in return for the safety and beauty!" - this is exactly what we are looking for!

Hubs and I have had such positive reactions about our plans from those who really know the kind of people we are, along with wonderful assistance and guidance from those helping us to arrange this adventure.

We feel deep down this is the right thing for us as a family. I really do become quite emotional when I think of the reasons why we truly hope it will be all we hope for. I wrote the following entry in my Smash Book I am creating for this journey - 

"life is truly too short to be afraid of who you want to be, or of doing what you want to do. Live your dreams and make them a reality" Now I am almost in tears.

Our wish for so long has been to have a smallholding or small farm where we can take ourselves back to basics, prove we can make our own food, keep animals for our own use and live differently from the fast pace of life of which we have always been a part. As well as this a huge part of our plans has always been to give the boys a wonderful childhood whilst they are young enough and hopefully provide them with some very different life skills for the future.

I can very much imagine some people may think we are living in cloud cuckoo land, fooling ourselves and basically just dreaming. As I write this I have butterflies in my stomach of expectation, anticipation and a hundred other emotions I cannot even explain. I believe these feelings will transform into a flight of life, not fantasy, and our aspirations and plans will eventually come together in a very positive way.

I cannot wait to share the experience of our trip with you when we come back.xx





 

I'm a Pioneer Woman!

My post today is about a very exciting project I have just become involved with. I'm sure you know I am a huge fan of the publication Pretty Nostalgic. 

Well it has now morphed quite beautifully from a published magazine into a Society, a cooperative, of like-minded individuals. The thoughts behind the original issues continue with those who are keen to promote, amongst other things
  

• all that is beautifully British
• a make do and mend, waste not want not ethos
• original creativity in a world of manufactured, mass produced sameness
• an appreciation of the life and times of a bygone era.

Therefore, I have signed up to be a Pretty Nostalgic Pioneer! 

I hope to assist in spreading the world, and word, of Pretty Nostalgic. Why not visit their website and see what Nicole and her small but dedicated team are all about?

At the same time order a random back copy of the magazine in preparation for when the 1st edition of the brand new compendium is issued at the beginning of December - see here the front cover to give you the festive warm and fuzzies!

Personally I can't wait! You never know, once you see how Pretty Nostalgic can enhance your life you might like to become a Pioneer Woman, too! 

I hope you enjoy my post today? Let me know what you think and I hope you decide to become involved in some small way with the joyous thing which is Pretty Nostalgic.

Louise.xxx

Hello
(Apologies for the gaps where there shouldn't be any, hate it when that happens!)

I seem to have been quite busy in the kitchen this last week or so.

On Sunday I made some Calzones from one of my the new cookery books I received for my  birthday, the fantastic Ree Drummond's Pioneer Woman. 





  






These were my versions of Ree's Cowboy Calzones. They were really easy and quite delish with lots of scope for different fillings to suit everybody!



Next came Angel Cookies, again from Ree. Baking these had them turn out a little larger than I had intended, but to be honest if you're going to have a biscuit you might as well have a decent sized one!

Yesterday was the school Harvest Festival assembly so I decided to make one of my usual baskets to add to those being delivered to the elderly. This year's consisted of a pecan and banana loaf cake, some oatmeal digestive biscuits, cheese soda bread, fresh apples and marmalade.  

 











 















The latter was my first attempt at homemade marmalade and it was both fantastically easy and tasty. Just had to try it for my elevenses!
 

 I wanted to make a little treat for a friend's birthday so I decided on sewing this little fabric envelope which could be for anything from keeping tissues in or nik naks in your handbag. 
 

That's all folks. Catch ya later. xx

Makes and bakes.

A great big hi there and hello to you!

Thought I'd catch up with a few things I've managed to make and do over the last couple of weeks. 
 
I've added a few more pages to my Smash Book so thought I'd share them with you. I'm really pleased with the effect I have created!

I decided that I won't use it simply for our road trip to Lewis at the end of next month, but for the start of the amazing journey we will be making as a family when we finally move there to start our new life, whenever that is - soon rather than later we very much hope!

 
I have also been baking and making things over the last week or so and these include the following.

Yummy American style pancakes for breakfast with my niece and the boys.

  

Harry asked for sausage rolls but with bacon and this is what he and Alfie got. Good result and a hit with the boys.

  

Jon bought me a meat grinder/sausage maker for my birthday. Here was our first attempt. Definitely room for improvement in the seasoning but the overall look was quite good.

Then I gave my niece this apron I had been sewing as one of her birthday presents when she came to visit last weekend. She almost didn't get it as when I realised I'd sewn the tie tapes on the bottom and not the top of the apron it nearly went through the window. However I gathered, as Kate Twinset would say, and carried on regardless and all came out well in the end.

I have cut out myself a new plain blue apron; this is more serviceable than pretty as is for when we move - pictures to follow soon. We are looking at not just growing and rearing our own food but also trying to make as much "stuff" as we can in every possible respect. This means I'm going to pick up on my sewing skills, but just found instructions for making a new ironing board cover so we're ok on that front!

Should go now as I need to get back to my in- anticipation-of-moving de-cluttering jobs!

Hope you like what you see!

Catch ya later!xxx

My first home made Smash Book! Eeeek!

I have had my eye on creating my own Smash Book for a while - the pre-printed ones seemed so expensive for what you got therefore, here you have my DIY effort!

I have made this for a trip I will be making with my family to the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles of Scotland at the end of October - a little early to be done and dusted but you know me, I always like to be organised!

I have not bought anything to create the book. To begin with I had one of my favourite things to work with, a Reeves sketchpads in stock from when I used to make embellished journals. (Check out my Pinterest board here.) I wanted to show you the inside pages using a video link thing into my blog but have failed miserably. Instead here are a few of my favourite pages and I'll figure out how to do it another time - might see if I can get it onto Pinterest.

To start making something of the blank pages I searched through all of my papers, card, embellishments, stamps, you name it. I also took pages out of books I use for paper crafting and basically anything I had lying around that seemed appropriate. Luckily I am a bit of a magpie and usually have something of use! Again, as with any journals I have done in the past I tried not to make it look too contrived and I think I'm really happy with it. I have purchased a double-ended glue/pen pen to take with me 

and I have asked for a few things to make my entries special for birthday presents.

Whilst I'm at it I may as well tell you about getting set for the coming school term. We were given some weekly plans from school. as usual to keep tabs on what the boys will be doing each day but they are a bit plain, being black and white. Instead I found these on the internet so are now completed and placed on the wall under the calendar in the kitchen. This way the boys can double check what they are doing and I know when things have to be in school on what day! Love them. Good job I printed off an extra one last week as the tomato ketchup came flying out of the door shelf of the fridge yesterday in spectacular fashion and practically covered one of them. Funny?

Time to go but just have a minute to show you the first Gladioli I have ever grown and that I am very chuffed with myself. Love the colour!

 Right, must dash but hope you liked what you saw, especially the Smash Book.

Catch ya later.xxx