Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 7

Slightly stunned. You heard my revelation yesterday. My husband has been made aware of these posts as I confided in him due to an attack of conscience where I needed advice on whether to bring forward the big confession. However, I was not expecting what happened this morning! Never did I expect to receive an item of clothing from my husband this Christmas since he frequently tells me I have too many clothes and I don't need anymore. However, he decided to take pity on me in that respect today for which I am very grateful. I am always sad when Christmas doesn't include a new item of clothing.

He handed me a soft-thin package as I cleaned my teeth in my dressing-gown and leaned over and kissed my head whispering, "Something for you to wear today in line with a familiar theme." I was puzzled, since I wasn't obviously expecting anything! I opened the package to find a long-sleeved, intarsia-knitted jumper. Across the front were SWANS- white with black and yellow beaks. Alas, there were TWO swans, as opposed to the required 7, but then the odds of actually finding the correct number on a knitted jumper in the Metro centre in Newcastle in the space of an hour, yesterday afternoon, were obviously pretty slim. As I hugged him in grateful and stunned joy, I couldn't resist the opportunity to say surely, he could have commissioned an experienced knitter to make one perhaps, had he had a year to prepare? I must confess, I was OVERJOYED and couldn't wait to share this revelation with all of you after yesterday!!! I was giggling in utter joy!!!

I donned my new jumper with a short black skirt and new brown ankle boots and it really did look nice in this combination with my rabbit earrings. This would be a lovely warm outfit as we went to take a walk to Lambley Viaduct. He flatly refused to take a picture of my outfit as punishment for my blog dishonesty saying it would be a blog case of the boy that cried wolf and I would just have to wait till we travelled home to Essex and I'd charged my Canon battery to take a picture myself! How are you? X

Unusual Christmas presents 2013- an aside

Up until this time, I have faithfully told the truth on this blog. However, with this Christmas series, I have so far enjoyed my foray into fiction-writing. My husband is, alas, not as perfect as he has thus been portrayed, nor things as they seem, but I would ask you to carry on along this fanciful, romantic adventure with me which I hope you have been enjoying as much joining in with, as I have enjoyed writing it! You may be saying, "Whaaaat?" especially with your effusive reactins to my posts, (My husband is gloating) but I have been feeling increasingly that I must tell you this now, rather than later, as originally planned, since I really was not expecting such positive reaction to my posts. I feel it prudent to tell you now, rather than face your wrath in 6 days time! I also hope you aren't disappointed. More explanations soon.

Anyway, onwards we go...

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 6

This morning, the family and I enjoyed a particularly fine breakfast, courtesy of my husband's Christmas creativity. I came down to breakfast first with my father-in-law and enjoyed a small bowl of porridge. Suddenly, my husband bounded in through the front door, slamming it carelessly as he did so. He handed me a rather large egg box, unwrapped.

I opened the box and inside, found 6 large goose eggs Atop each of these was a knitted egg-cosy made to resemble a goose! Admittedly, they did look a bit duck-like and were all white with white necks and little stubby wings with orange beaks and black pin-stitch eyes. As I carefully lifted one of these eggs dressed in its egg cosy, I laughed out loud as it did genuinely look like an enormous egg was coming out of the goose's bottom!

Once the entire family was down, we cooked up a large pan of scrambled eggs and a pile of buttered toast with a generous pot of tea and sat down to breakfast together. Such a luxury to sit down to a breakfast with those I love. I'm definitely trying to avoid thinking about the return to work when breakfast is a hasty 5-minute porridge-gobble.We all had a good laugh at those egg cosies and sat them atop the slightly more modest looking hen eggs that were sitting on the worktop. Hmmm, 6 hens a laying doesn't sound quite so funny.

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 5

We woke really late after swing dancing so late and I confess I was in a complete grump. I had a headache after such a late night. Stomping around teh house, preparing to go round to a friend's, I was obviously not fun to be around so my husband called me to join him over by his computer where he was checking his e-mails.
"What?" I huffed, sitting down grumpily.
"I've got something to cheer you up," he smiled at me encouragingly, immediately makign me feel guilty for being so stroppy. "Oh?" I enquired, thawing a little. He handed me a tiny wrapped cube box which was remarkably hard to unwrap. "Use enough sellotape?" I muttered as my stubby fingernails scrabbled uselessly against the inpenetrable parcel.

Eventually, the target was breached and I opened a black velvet box to reveal a ring consisting of 5 very thin bands in varied shades of gold from silvery white gold through shades of yellow to rose gold. I was sure I'd seen it on a blog before in someone's wishlist, perhaps the Twobirds or Alex Oddsocks or perhaps just something on Etsy? It was very pretty and I worried it had cost a lot. "Look, it seperates into 5 tiny rings" he showed me, eagerly pulling apart the stacking rings. "You can wear just one or any combination!" he continued.
He doesn't usually buy me jewellery so it certainly was a surprise. And as I sat there playing wiht my gold rings, I suddenly noticed that my bad mood had dissipated. That did well once again. Five days in, I wondered if he'd manage to keep up the originality in his daily gifts.

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 4

Thank you for your recent comments. In the interests of fair game, I should point out the interesting absence of my camera at the moment ;-) In addition, my love of creative writing and books!!!!

We had a lovely day hitting the sales in town I bought a couple of items- a dress and some books - but not so much! I didn't receive my Christmas surprise until the evening and was curious as to know why.

It reached 6 o'clock and my husband suggested we go and have a bite to eat. As we finished our loaded jacket potatoes, he pulled out a red envelope and slid it over to me. Curiously, I opened it up to reveal 2 tickets to a swing-dance night with a new live band called 'The calling birds'- an Andrews sisters-style line-up with accompanying swing-band. This was their debut gig! I was overjoyed to be going swing-dancing and with an amazing live-band! At which point, I looked dismayedly at my trousers and rabbit jumper. But my love had thought of everything and pulled out a bag containing my red and white swing dress so I could dress up.

We headed off to a nice bar where the swing evening was being held. The Calling Birds were fantastic singing many of my favourite Andrews sisters classics. We danced and danced to their dulcet tones which I hope means that my husband won't be so reluctant to go swing dancing in the new year.

I write this on the train as I come home and I confess, I can hardly keep my eyes open! All in all, today was the best present so far!

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 3

By the time it had reached mid-morning and I had got out of bed and breakfasted, I thought at first that my darling husband had forgotten his promise of a gift a day but luckily he turned up with a rectangular box wrapped in red paper with white and blue polka dots on!
"Ooooh, what is it?" I exclaimed gleefull, grasping it and instantly shaking it.
"DON'T!" he cried, panicked and stilled my hands with his.
I set it down and unwrapped, noticing too late, the Fragile, handle with care label. Inside a cardboard box filled with shredded paper, I found 3 tiny porcelain models of hens- one pecking, one in a scratching-the-ground pose and a 3rd which was seated like it was laying eggs. "Oh!" I gasped in remembrance and joy, having spotted these figurines in an antique/second hand shop in Lotte-et-Gerond, France a year and a half ago when we holidayed there in a cottage. I'd reluctantly put them down, realising that ornaments gather dust and I was supposed to be getting rid of things, not buying them. How thoughtful of him to remember my hens!

My hen figurines will sit proudly on our fireplace! Ooh, I forgot to mention that the partridge was delicious! One to cook again, methinks!

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 2

This Boxing Day morning, I was all in a flutter wondering what my true-hearted dear husband would turn up with for my holiday Christmas present today? It's really lovely having something to look forward to. He bumbled into the bedroom at 7am where I was to be found drinking tea in bed, reading Georgette Heyer.

Handing me a smallish, flat parcel wrapped in grey tissue paper, he said, "Something for our tree." I haven't really mentioned that we have a pretty bare tree this year as it is our first Christmas together and we don't have a lot of money for decorations. We're actually using our landlord's old tree. Anyway, I digress. I pulled off the silver ribbon adn ripped the paper off to reveal 2 darling Christmas ornaments of 2 doves with their beaks touching- I'm not sure which species of dove they may bell: turtle or Collardoves maybe? I am hazy on my birds. They were grey with soft brown and black wings crafted from feathers, with a little stripe near their neck. They had kind eyes and a touch of glitter hanging from a loop of white ribbon. They were not at all tacky but sweet, delicate and well-crafted. I ran down to test my doves on the Christmas tree. Such a little present but oh so thoughtful! I may not be an ornithologist but I adore bird-themed items!

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 1

Happy Christmas to all you- far and wide! May you be blessed in all you do! So this morning on this Christmas day, my husband declared to me that he would be distributing my presents to me daily over the holidays so that I might feel special and loved in our first year of marriage and have something to look forward to each day, to avoid the end-of-Christmas gloom. "How thoughtful!" I thought to myself. Though I must confess that I hoped this wouldn't mean he was doling out a bag of chocolate coins piece-by-piece but that there wuld be some delightful treats sent my way. Still, mustn't be ungrateful. I appreciate the gesture.
He promised faithfully that these woud find their way to me even if he was out.


As we sat there in front of the Christmas tree, I waited with anticipation, the glittering lights reflecting in my gleeful eyes. My present was quite large- a box shape! I was very excited at what it might be and tore the metallic wrapping off in a flurry! My husband is very keen on cooking with fresh ingredients and good quality ones and trying new culinary delicacies, so I wasn't surprised when I opened the parcel to discover a hand-written recipe on a scroll of paper for Roast partridge in pear sauce - something that sounded most delightful! Moreover, he'd provided me with a miniature fruit tree from which I could pluck the ingredients myself in order to make the sauce and then enjoy in the garden once planted. Beside the tree in the box was a fresh organic joint of the meat. I hope he's kept it cold.
What a delightful and original present. One I can make myself! Good start, my lovely!

A pause for Advent 2013: 4

Every year since I have been a teacher, I have written a song for Christmas for my children at school to sing. I'd love to have a complete nativity after teaching for 10 years which I can put together. This is one of those traditions I have now established and something I will pause from my regular schedule to do each year. For me, it is an act of enjoyment, an act of giving (to my school) and an act of worship, using of my skill and inspiration, even though the songs are not usually written as worship songs but are usually about a part of the nativity.

My thought for today is: Thousands and thousands of songs, plays, scripts and works of art have been written about Jesus and about this time of year and one might say, perhaps there is already enough, it's been done and I should not add to this with my mediocrity (and I am aware, as a trained musician, that this is NOT skillful composing). However, for me, there will never be too many things said and Jesus will always take my offerings as they are- offered in love and to serve.

I always love the story, which I never remember exactly, about the priest or someone in a church who sang loudly and out of tune but with a heart full of praise. One year, someone told him that he was singing out of tune, so he stopped singing. When he was in heaven, God asked him why he had stopped singing and he replied explaining. God replied that to him, the singing was the most beautiful in the world because it was full of his heart. We might not do things well or the best but if we do them trying our hardest, with a heart full of love, then they are beautiful to the person who we wrote them for. Yes, my songs each year vary in quality and execution and they may be flawed and other people have done it better. But, it is always good to look at the nativity in diffferent ways, hear different words, hear different songs, hear someone else's take on it. Perhaps, just perhaps, by hearing something new, your heart might just be touched by it in some way. Thus, I will continue to write songs of the nativity each year though they may not be masterpiece works of art!

FYI, this song was meant to convey the fluster and selfishness that we can feel when we are at our busiest. We might think that we just CAN'T take any more, or help anyone because we are just too crammed, too saturated. But, there is always a part of us that CAN help, offer a little something. Just like that final innkeeper who offered his stable, even though it was a little too dark, a little too dirty and was essentially aimed at animal accommodation, not for the Son of God! He offered it, it was accepted gracefully and it has been heralded for 2000 years since!

This is my Pause for Advent, 2013. Joining in with Floss and co.

You can't hear the words very well as I was too close to the handbells but here is a transcription:

Chorus: Dear Sir, my wife and I arrived
So late, we crave your pity.
Could you spare a room for us.
My wife’s in need of rest.


Not in any shape or form,
we surely have no room.
No inch, no square, there’s none to spare
Goodnight, good luck, no room.


Chorus

You must be kidding, Sir and Ma’am,
my Inn’s at full capacity.
You must be mad to come so late,
They’re all here in this city!


Chorus

The situation’s dire, my Friend,
I hate to let you down.
We’re full, and I hear folks are crammed
in every nook in town

Chorus

I must confess, I’m at a loss,
I don’t have one iota
Health and Safety’ll be after me,
If I exceed my quota!

Dear Sir, my wife and I arrived
My wife is giving birth
It needn’t be grand, you understand.
We just need one small turf.

Well it’s dark, and filled with hay
But warm, spacious and out the way.
If you can bear the animals,
My stable is the place to stay!


Words and music Copyright: KezzieAG Dec 2013

Friday letters 20-12-13

Dear School,
You're good to me and I love lots of what I do at you but OH, how glad I am that we are going on a break from each other. I think we're spent too much time together recently!

Dear Work colleagues who have left,
Oh I am so sad about you leaving. I will miss your company. L- you have been a great colleague and I am sorry I feel like that all you ever seem to hear out of my mouth is when I am moaning about pesky students! Thank you for your sincere, kind comment about my teaching. I love your honesty in saying what you did! F- I cannot believe you are leaving!!! Why did you only tell me today!!!??? I will miss you and I am sad we didn't have the time to produce a musical together like I was hoping. Let's stay in touch!

Dear makers of Shrek,
I had SUCH a nice morning watching your film. It is highly entertaining and it meant that instead of marking year 5 work, I was somehow rendered unable to be efficient. Instead, I enjoyed the film with my year 1's!

Dear Children who gave me cards,
I have enjoyed the 30 different spellings of my new married name that I have received adorning Christmas cards. Some of these are truly inventive and some of them highly amusing. Full credit for using your various blending strategies!!! I have compiled a list of these to send to my in-law family, so they may enjoy the various spellings of our name. Not experienced such merriment since my school days of Krenza, Krenzi, Crenza, Carensa, Carenza, Karenza, Karensa etc.

Dear KS2 children complete,
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing singing yesterday at the church!!! I was sooo proud of you singing so in tune and enthusiastically and for the super drumming club and recorder ensemble. You are absolute stars and I am so proud of you. I know I throw really hard songs at you, but you always manage to pick them up and sing with gusto and confidence! Here's to a new year of exploring exciting new music! Oh and sorry for being ratty when you all bombarded me with questions all at once. I am not super human and can only do one thing at once, especially when I am trying to set up! Let's be honest, you could have answered your own questions or looked more carefully for what you were missing!

Dear washing machine,
WHY? Why do you insist upon somehow producing a pool of water in you for no reason whilst you sit dormant?!!! Surely wetting yourself is not good for you! Dear CBC,
Oh heck, we have to tidy this big mess, find presents, somehow pack and get up to London for sibling meeting in 24 hours!!! Eeeeeeek. Now WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Ian Clarke,
Thank you for writing such funky flute music! I wish you were still my flute teacher. I look forward to tackling 'Hatching aliens' this holiday!

Dear J and WOMOTM,
Yay, I can't wait to come and spend Christmas with you!!! I've missed you!! Hope we get some lovely walks and a Christmas carol service or two?!

Dear Bloggy darlings,
Thank you for your lovely comments this week. You have said some lovely and kind things and I cherish each and every comment you leave!! It's always exciting coming home and checking my e-mail to find new comments!!!

Dear God,
Thank you for making everything go so well this week and keeping me going despite not being totally well. You do so much for me.

I am joining in with Ashley Slater's Friday Letters. I forgot how fun it is to write! If you decide to write any Friday letters, please leave me a link in the comments box, I love reading these! xx

Scribble Boy

A while back, I read a children's book by Phillip Ridley called Krindlekrax which I found to be a superb book for my level 4c readers at school. It had SO much you could discuss during guided reading- Suspense, characterisation and idiosyncrasies, dealing with death, descriptive passages for creating a certain mood and lots more. Therefore, I was really excited to find a secondhand copy of Scribbleboy and hoped it would be just as good and therefore, might be a book to buy for school so the children could compare an author's writing. Scribbleboy tells the story of Bailey Silk who has moved to a new area full of grey concrete. He's dealing with his own issues as his mother disappeared off one night. He meets a range of quirky new characters in the area- Ziggy, a boy in a wheelchair who tells him of the legend of Scribbleboy, a genius graffiti-artist who made the walls beautiful but who then disappeared- Ziggy being the only one who still remembers him. He meets Tiffany Spangle, an ice-cream Doctor who slowly comes more into his life, Levi Toot and his homeboys. As with Ridley's previous book, all the characters have really discussable and obvious idiosyncrasies- they're all a little crazy and like my group of boys who I had for Guided reading of Krindlekrax , they'd love this one too as it's all a little loopy! The book has the obvious merit of being the possibility of opening a dialogue and debate over whether it is right to graffiti and why or why not. There is mystery with who Scribbleboy was and is and why they disappeared. I personally found that there was rather too much dialogue in this one- it lacked the description that Krindlekrax had. I also found the idiosyncrasies of the characters in this case, rather irritating but then I am not a boy of 10 something. This is an interesting book and I would recommend it to anyone with 9-10 year old kids. There's the inevitable passages they might go 'Ewwww! to but there's a lot that would be great for discussion. If there are any teachers amongst you who would like my questions that I used for Krindlekrax, do pop me an e-mail address in the comments-box, I would be happy to share them. By the way, did you know that www.foyles.com sell second hand books as well! So you could try there as well as Amazon!

Gingham dreams

Nothing like a swirly Dorothy-Style (albeit monochrome) dress for making you feel like spinning! Smoke gets in your eyes? Hair, more like it!

As mentioned, CBC doesn't feel like going Swing-dancing at the moment, so my swing dancing dresses are feeling neglected, so I attempted to be creative with otherwise summery clothes by wintering this one up with sweater and tights and of course, my lovely vintage Jaeger coat, which I glimpsed in Oxfam in a traffic jam in Oxfordshire last February and managed to persuade my friend to purchase for me! It felt like vintage coat day. I got the idea of adding a black sweater from Lauren at Someone like you aaaages ago when she teemed a halterneck polka dot dress with a black turtle neck top.

Speaking of the swing dance- I had a lovely time going up to London last Tuesday and learnt/relearnt another lindy charleston variation which was great fun! PLlus, since I had completed the Beginners' 10 week cycle and the Intermediate 10 week cycle, that instead of doing the Beginners again, I would go to the Charleston workshop with Nikki in the cafe downstairs. It was so fun learning a partnered Charleston routine apart from the scary fact that I got there late, 20 mins to be precise and I had to dance with Nikki as no other partners!!! Eeek.

Speaking of other things mentioned on her, we had a lovely time with J, my mother-in-law staying. It was so nice to see her and spend a bit of time with her. We enjoyed CBC's first Christmas concert at his school and had a lovely meal out. She bought us some lights for our (Landlord's)Christmas tree

We also did some Christmas shopping at Westfield on Saturday after helping an injured relative to the hospital. They have these really cool 'hire wheeled chairs' which were by the entrance of the Royal London, linked together like trollies in a supermarket which you must insert a £1 in order to borrow. Good thing we got one to wheel him in as we seemed to walk miles and miles of corridors in order to find where A&E was and that would have been painfully slow!! Westfield was heaving as was to be expected. I don't really like a closed in mall, especially a big one, I've decided- I much prefer a High Street! Still, it was fine and we got some presents for people.

Tonight, I went round to a friend's house for the evening for dinner. It was really lovely to spend time together and we decided we must do it more! She cooked a lovely Gnocchi, butternut squash, tomato and goats cheese bake which I devoured in large quantities. She's a self-confessed 'non-cook' so she was rather pleased at my 'wolfing down' reaction and said she'd try cooking more. I don't know why she isn't confident, I loved what she served up! She came to the carols last night and I'll see her at the Church christmas meal tomorrow. Amazing the way things come in threes! I was also really happy as my old next door neighbour came to the carol service as well and I've been asking her for 3 years now and she finally made it!

This is the week of my carol service at school. Am excited as usual but always a little nervous that all will not go according to plan. They say never work with animals or children right? I hope the world premiere of Innkeepers' rant goes well! Once it's over, I must actually write the music notation for it instead of winging it each and every time I play it.

Linking up to Visible Monday with the beautiful and florally attired Patti at Visible Monday

Linking up with the super Claire Justine too at Creative Mondays

#A pause for Advent 2013: 13

Tonight was my Carols by Candlelight service at my home church. It is always a beautiful occasion but tonight, I was overwhelmed by a sense of holiness, beauty, warmth, love and generosity from God and from those He brought there.

We sang a variety of different Christmas songs and carols with traditional congregational hymns, interspersed between the 9 readings with a prayers and a short address. It was as I sat there listening to one of the readings, that it struck me that this was my real pause for Advent, a pause for Jesus, giving this time for him alone.

The service struck me as soaring between two things:

Peace and praise.

We, the choir, raised our voices (around about 16 of us) so that we raised the rafters, our hearts bursting with joy.

But in between that, a quiet intimacy between God and us opened as we all listened in silence to the Bible readings. It was as if time stood still. Peace, true peace.

The service emcompassed those two things overwhelmingly. But also, it struck me, often people talk about Christmas 'doing the same old things'. Though, many of those things we did tonight, I have done for over 30 years of my life, they are never the 'same old'. God makes all things new and fresh, he can open our eyes in new ways, make them afresh, rejuventate our hearts so we come 'like a child' to that place and those traditions again, in awe and wonder, never monotony and overfamiliarity.

Old some things might be, but always new and fresh.

Tonight, I was asked to sing the first verse solo for Once in royal David's City , a tradition I have known for years. Believe it or not, I have never been asked to do this in church before. For me, this was a special honour (one I have always longed to do) and I longed to give God my all as I sang alone. He has given me the gift of perfect pitch, so I can pitch the notes and keep true to it without accompaniment and I was glad to use what he has given me and to experience that song I know, oh so well, but in a new way- to sing alone to Him (and a packed church).

We sang John Rutter's 'Candlelight Carol' which we sang last year but as we sang 'Gloria, gloria, in excelsis deo', my heart filled with love and joy, not tedium of something already known.

How can such beauty inspired by God and given by God not fail to touch me with its beauty

I sang for Christmas with my Mum and sister in church choirs for years but this year, I asked her if she would like to come and sing with us at church (she joined for the Centenary when I asked her) and she came. Being there with my mother- new and wonderful though I've done it many times in the past, it felt familiar but new. It meant so much to me that she was part of that praise.

My pause for Advent today finishes thinking about applying those four things I thought tonight to life.

Peace and Praise, Old but fresh and new.
Peace: Prayer time, listening to God's word spoken, spending more quiet time with God.
Praise: Using my skills to praise God. For a time, I wrote lots of songs for church. Why had I stopped that? I must again.
Old but fresh and new: Enjoy each experience and look at it with fresh new eyes like God when he surveys the new day and sees what is good.

Today I am joining Floss and other bloggers in a Pause for Advent

Christmas jumper politics

Jumper: River Island but given by a friend

Polka dot blouse (underneath): Farah, Nottinghill charity shop.

Trousers: ASOS

Belt: from vintage dress.

Shoes: Red or Dead.

Beads: Tescos

Hat: made by Mum.

As you might be aware, today was 'National Christmas Jumper Day' (or something of that ilk) and so we were encouraged to sport our best minging jumpers for this. Now, for years, Christmas jumper has meant to me, any sort of knitted jumper, perhaps with heinous design or fair-isle, animal jumper, any knitted pullover affair OR any jumper you were bought for Christmas. CBC and I, a couple of years ago, were going to go and search for a 'Christmas jumper' for each other in the local charity shops as a challenge!Of course, you'd have to be blind to miss the genuinely 'Christmassy jumpers' available in every store- in fact, the market is saturated with them (not complaining fyi, just pointing out). I decided not to buy a specifically Christmas jumper because I have lots of novelty jumpers anyway and because I want things I want to wear at different times of the year and genuinely didn't see any I wanted overly. What's your opinion on the definition of Christmas jumper?

Today, I turned up to school in this ensemble and as I entered my meeting, my lovely deputy head (who delights in mocking me, affectionately of course) said "What sort of Christmas jumper is that? Cats?!"

To which I replied in a summary of what I said above.
The morning meeting commenced and my Head gave the notices, saying that it was nice to see everyone in funny jumpers and commented on how 'K managed to make hers more stylish by adding a belt."

The deputy then gave her notices and at the end said, after speaking about, how I was trying to fob them all off with fake reasons for wearing a cat jumper, which isn't a Christmas jumper!

Humph!!! It SOOOOO counts!!!

CBC's school also wore Christmas jumpers and he was remarkably fussy over it until we found this one on ASOS (with 20% discount code) which he was pleased about because it had mallards, deer, foxes, pheasants and a skyline on!

I am a little embarassed to tell the tale of getting this jumper but what the heck, I will share anyway.
We paid for next day delivery in order to ensure it was here for Friday (ordered on Saturday night) and I added my new address to my ASOS account and clicked that for delivery address but the billing address is still my old house.
DPD, the parcel company sent a text saying it would be delivered Monday and gave options of delivering to a neighbour etc (had to be signed for) so I asked my new neighbours who were in, and texted back. Monday night, I came home to a text saying it had been delivered to Number 7 and someone called Ali which I thought strange, as we live at a higher number. I tried number 7 in our close AND on the main street but to no avail. At which point, CbC had the brainwave it might have gone to my old house as I lived at number 6. He was right when I checked on the DPD website (still annoyed at ASOS how that happened). Anyway, so I went on Tuesday to go and look for it at my old house. I walked along the street to look for number 7. After number 5, it was a converted house into 7A, B and C. "Great!" I thought. "Which one?". I rang the bell and banged but no answer. Lights were on upstairs but there was no bell for 7C. No answer from 7A and finally a window opened from what was 7B and a woman spoke in broken English. I asked about Ali but she said 'No'. I hoped she'd understood. I texted a friend to ask her to try the house during the day as perhaps they worked nights. She had no luck. Thursday night, I went over for choir practice and went and tried again. No answer from any of the houses, all in darkness and the one upstairs not answering at all. Somehow, all of a sudden, I was FURIOUS!!! I couldn't understand why they hadn't got in touch with me or where my parcel was or how I was going to get it! (Also contained the black trousers above). My Mum had to put up with a really irritated me, stressing over what CBC was going to do. I went to Tescos to see if I could find one. No luck. Finally, I don't know WHAT it was that made me check but I walked down the street slowly, scrutinizing each house and walked past 7ABC and found a number 7, a little bijou AFTER the big house of flats!!!! Surely 7 would come BEFORE 7ABC. Happily, the family of Ali was in and I got my parcel but I felt SUCH a twit. What point was there in my irritation and annoyance? I just got myself wound up! The moral of this story- don't get stressed about what you can't change OR 'Get a life, it's only a jumper!!!!!!!!'

So three things:
a) Define 'Christmas jumper' for me.
b) Do you have one?
c) Did you wear one at all today?
d) Do you have an embarassing tale of Mistaken Identity or Mistaken address?
e) How are you today my lovelies?

Tank you

Sophie recently posted a gorgeous outfit featuring a lovely lilac tank top with a white blouse and tartan trousers that was really beautiful and I laughed because I had set out my lavender tanktop and a white top out for the following day- the tank has been missing for ages and I had finally found it. I liked her whole outfit with the tank with the blouse and fitted trousers so much that I decided to actually iron my newly washed white blouse again (after school girl outfit) and try and great a similar one. Sadly, I couldn't carry off the tight trousers so I wore green leggings instead with a teal cordhuroy skirt. However, I really enjoyed this outfit which I wouldn't have thought to put together otherwise. Thanks Sophie!

I adore the tank top which came from Whitestuff about 4 years ago (and I cannot believe I only featured it once before in this post.) When I bought it, I fell in love with much of the catalogue and ending up ordering about 5 items which equated to spending more money on clothes in one go than ever in my life. Whitestuff tends to be a bit pricy I find but very pretty! I think it's the coloured button assortment which makes me think I should just change the buttons on a lot of my cardigans to update them and give them a bit of a facelift!

Caught on Camera

Here's a really simple card idea you can make out of very few things!

This card was made for WOMOTM, my Father-in-Law who is into photography and I imagine might make a good card for any photo-happy blogger or man of photos!

You will need: Long, thin base card in colour of your choice,Black felt-tip pen, ruler, scraps black/dark brown card (mine came from a Green and Blacks easter egg box), scraps of silvery/holographic card (could easily come from Christmas crackers or other festive metallic packaging) three medium/small black buttons, 3 small white pearly buttons, scissors and circle punch (can be done free hand), PVA glue/doublesided sellotape

1. Cut three identical small rectangles out of the back card.

2. Cut 3 circles out of the silver mirror card and stick to the centre of the rectangles.

3. Stick the black buttons centrally onto each of the mirrored circles.

4. Stick the pearly buttons on top of these (double sided sticky tape works well).

5. Cut three thin strips of mirror card to the length of your 'cameras' and adhere to the button.

6. Cut three pirate hat type shapes and adhere to the top of the camera. Draw on a little black rectangle for the view finder.

7. Stick the three completed angles at equal intervals, at a jaunty angle, along the middle of a long card.

8. Get your black felt-tip pen and draw 2 black lines close together above and below your cameras (like negatives). Draw in little thicker lines to join these at 3mm intervals.

9. Draw 2 vertical lines between the three cameras to complete your 'film'

10. Voila, finished and made very cheaply indeed! This card could cost you less then 10p if your cards were cheap!

(11. You could also add a little loop of black ribbon to the side of each camera to make handles (you could use the hanging ribbons that come in many tops or a clothing label string or wire) but I chose not to!)

Linking up to:

Creative Mondays with Claire Justine

IN and out link party with Feeding Big

Cottontail

Fern Cotton today wears a cosy winter outfit. I think you'll be getting bored of my cream Bunny sweater as I'm sure I've worn it for Inspiration Monday more than once! And once again, I will not be persuaded into skinny jeans so we have a dress added to cover my modesty in leggings! However, it's appropriate that I can make a bad pun on the Fern Cotton and rabbit link. I like the fact this outfit has made me think of more ways to wear my bunny sweater which I usually wear with the same black trousers!

Wearing: ASOS BunnySweater, Appletree boutique horseprint dress, Primark leggings, Leather boots: eYe Boutique, Robin print scarf (it appears to be the day of animals?)

DO you know what? I am so envious of you bloggers who can get outside photos. I am tired of dim dingy photos in which I try to capture an outfit and wish I could actually experience some daylight during the week. Perhaps I should get out of bed earlier (laughs hysterically!)

I am so excited that my Mother in law is coming to stay with us for a couple of days. She's coming for CBC's concert and it is exciting that she's going to stay as we have not hosted her before and moreoever, she's going to be our first overnight guest. This is not something I have experienced much. I think I can count the number of overnight guests I've had on one hand in my adult life (excepting CBC of course) and this is the first time I've had a spare room! Frantically trying to hide away all my piles of stuff and realising that perhaps I should remove a crammed drawer full of clothes so she can put hers in a drawer. My spare room serves as spare clothes storage!

I am hoping to go Swingdancing myself tomorrow night. CBC seems very reluctant to go recently and he has one of his two school concerts, so I am going to lindy in London tomorrow whilst he's doing that! Seeing the Swing off on Strictly come dancing last night has me itching to go and swing! It's surprising how out of practice you can get by not constantly going! I also have to go and pick up a lovely Christmas jumper from ASOS up from my old house that has arrived for CBC. I have plans to steal this jumper once Christmas is over! If you like Wardrobe zoos, you might like this one!!!

Head over to the Twobirds for some fluffy jumper love!

xx

#A pause for advent 2013 : 2

Not really a religious theme to this today or any reflection on me but something my husband said really made me think. He said that, in any other case at this time of the year, in the UK and cold climates, we would be staying home, huddling against the fire, we probably wouldn't be socialising with anyone, making much effort but just trying to survive by ourselves and what is it about Christmas that makes us so sociable and doing things before Christmas?

The time of Advent, whilst those of us are preparing for the coming of Christ would like to do that peacefully in theory, it is actually rather wonderful with its sense of busyness and bustle and activity!

We will make the effort to see friends and family whereas we might otherwise be reclusive, 'before Christmas'. It spurs us on to meet each other. It encourages us to get out there and meet up and whilst for some of us who have family and happy situations, this might be something we do anyway, for others who lack that, should they so choose, it is a chance for them to be included in this family and community be that through meals, carol services, switching on of lights etc. Even just going to the shops, gets us out there and ensures we aren't too much hermits.

As one more house after another puts up Christmas lights throughout Advent-tide- the super early ones graduating to those who wait for Christmas eve, there is a sense of growing joy. Noticing the jolly glow makes you think of the people who have put them up. They have made you smile and perhaps entered your thoughts and somehow draws you closer if only subconsciously.

This time of preparation offers us a chance to think of others a bit more that we might not otherwise consider. People choose, at Christmas, to volunteer at soup kitchens and providing Christmas meals and events for others, either on Christmas day or throughout Advent- perhaps if we didn't have this time of Advent, an extended 24-day period of cheer, that they/we might not otherwise consider helping and getting to spend time with new people and spreading a little cheer.

Likewise, we all receive the charity messages asking for support at Christmas time. Whilst I am committed regularly to specific charities- the feel and fact that it's Christmas makes me inclined to help other organisations that I don't/cannot do regularly throughout the year. Advent offers me thinking time to consider how and if I can support a charity.

At Christmas, we are more likely to invite others round and visit others, whereas if it wasn't Advent- the lead up to Christmas, we might feel less inclined. It helps us to open ourselves up to others more.

Though it might not feel like that sometimes (like you are being dragged on a ferris wheel of chaos and busyness, that you can't seem to get off), taking a bit of time to think and it becomes obvious that you choose how to be around Christmas- you can choose to get stressed and angry, you can choose to hate Christmas, or you can choose to join in and enjoy those aspects that you love or at least don't hate (if you are a Christmas-phobe).

For me, I have always enjoyed Christmas and don't really get stressed. Admittedly, I don't have to plan or cook the meal (though I am going to try and reduce any stress during our holiday by doing as much as I can- chopping, cooking, washing up etc) but those aspects I adore at Christmas are of course the church services with the wonderful carols, the finding of presents and knowing that I love and am loved.

I will take part in as much as I have time for without stressing me out or making me unwell. Next week, we have our carols by Candlelight service which is always magical and I can wholeheartedly recommend attending such a service no matter your religious persuasion for a sense of joy and community it engenders, even if you never set foot there again! Admittedly for me, there is no Christmas without Christ, but if that is not you, just remember this one thing about Advent-tide, even if you are not religious or just plain grumpy about Christmas: Think how grim December would be without it! I like having the hope of Advent and Christmas when it's cold and miserable!

Blessings and hugs to you xxx

Head over to Floss's for more pauses in Advent. Ang's at Tracing Rainbows is particularly wonderful!

November nourishment

I love looking at photos of what people have been eating and making. Fat Dormouse and Sophie in the Sticks are particularly good for this.

Thus, I thought I'd share a few meals that I/we made in November.

Clockwise from Top left:

1. Roast chicken, roast potatoes, beans, peas, carrots, gravy. We bought a £6.00 huge chicken from the COOP and I cooked my first roast chicken ever. Honestly, I don't think I've done one before! It was really tasty.

2. Thai green chicken curry: There was stacks of chicken left so I made a one of my favourite meals: used left over green beans, pak choir, spinach and then boiled rice.

3. Salmon in carraway seeds with shallots, fried aubergines, rocket, avocado, packchoi and tomatoes. Very tasty and it was a break from the chicken which we still had lots of left.

4. Pie Minster Turkey and bacon pie with fried courgettes, tomatoes, cabbage, spinach, beans and onions. We contemplated booking Pieminster for our wedding caterers as we really love their pies but they were just too expensive! Our local COOP has stocked stocking them annoyingly, so we were pleased to find them in Sainsburys in a nearby town. I love turkey so it was a novelty to try this limited edition pie. We do tend to eat the same vegetables alot!!!

5. PIctured, our dinner table from our evening when we invited friends round: Chilli con carne, savoy cabbage with pancetta, mixed salad, olive and walnut breads, artisan sausage rolls, roasted butternut squash with herbs, mini peppers stuffed with goats cheese, tortillas, French almond and plum tart... They ate well but we still had stacks of food left!

6. I bought a pumpkin soup from the COOP and added sweet corn, carrots, red pepper and noodles to it to bulk it out into a meal soup. Again tasty but I preferred my homemade soup!

7. Tagliatelli with pancetta, pak choi, tomatoes, red peppers, shallots, garlic and then garlic bread. The pancetta was left from our party as we had fried cabbage with pancetta. This was extremely yummy!

8. Chicken and vegetable soup: This supplied meals for three days and it was made of the stock from the boiled chicken carcass, loads of leftover chicken then onion, carrots, parsnip, garlic, potatoes, squash. We ate it with garlic bread on one day. The remainder of the chicken went to a friendly cat. It was very hard to blend as there was so much of it so it was rather a viscous, lumpy soup but it was hearty on cold evenings.

9. (central) Jacket potato with chilli concarne, cabage, tortilla chips, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, grated cheese. These were left overs from our November dinner evening with friends

Other meals were had, but somehow were deemed not interesting enough for photos! WHat have you been eating in this weather?

Swan lake

A short post from me today. Today has been great in some ways (choir singing at Residential home for elderly people with health problems, child telling me I am her inspiration, seeing my Mum) but I had a generally hacked off feeling all day and it was a busy one. Home late but somehow I still have that November feeling of wanting to blog every day. It was Style Imitating Art with Jess of Animated Cardigan . Her choice of inspiration this time was Swan Lake by David Wiesner- the cover of a book. For some bizarre reason, I had the colours in my head as shades of blue rather than the more lavendery and white shades so I donned a variety of blues and a rather silly ballet pose to put it together. The intention of water was there if nothing else. Head over to Jess for the other interpretations. I'm also linking to Style Crone's Hat attack with my pale blue beret!

Christmas present idea: Ceramic workshop

I thought I'd share one of the nicest Christmas presents I received in the past. One really nice idea for a Christmas present is arranging a workshop for someone to learn a new skill, particularly one where they can make something. Groupon offers discounted workshops and these seem really nice ideas- dress-making, millinery etc (I've been sooo tempted!). However, I somehow think these are still expensive sometimes, certainly for a present, even if discounted. One very reasonable workshop to do is ceramic painting. A couple of years ago, one of our lovely Christmas presents I completely forgot to mention was that J paid for us to visit i-pots in Hexham.  This is a ceramics workshop where you pay to paint a clay item.  It's brilliant value because it only costs £3 or something similar for the paint, time and a cup of tea and then the item you want to paint.  

We spent around about 5 hours there creating our pieces.  CBC chose a big pasta bowl, I chose a big lipped bowl and WKWTTG chose a vase.  With inspiration all around, we set off.  It was very therapeutic and totally absorbing. They had loads of stencils, colours, painting tools and we set off.  CBC went for a Meditteranean theme, I chose my old favourite of daisies and WKWTTG went with a lovely graduating landscape and sky effect.   CBC and I also squeezed in a ceramic Christmas decoration each because Faff-boy took so long.  

The excitement and pleasure in our crafts was great!  We were soooooooooo exuberant anticipating picking up the finished product (they fired and varnished it for you) 3 days later, on Christmas eve. 

They had stencils and lots of inspiration around. You had all sorts of paints, stencils and there were tons of items to paint from the cheapest Christmas ornamnents like baubles to larger vases, mugs, bowls, jugs etc. You could book yourself in for a session in order to make presents for people. There are some novelty items like Snowman and things that are aimed at kids but there are lots of genuinely useful items you can paint for people. CBC chose to use pointinism and a paint brush for his bowl, I chose to use paper daisies as negative stencils and WKWTTG used his natural genius! (And the staff in the shop really liked his one!)

I really hope to squeeze in a session when we go up to Northumberland this time as it was really fun. Plus, I then used the skills I'd gained at home with painting a mug for a Blogswap last year, so the workshop definitely helped me with some skills.

And ta da, here were CBC's and my bowls after being varnished, 2 years on! They get lots of use as pasta/soup bowl and fruit bowl respectively

November Photo Scavenger Hunt

Hey there! Here are some photos I took for Greenthumb's photo scavenger hunt!

01 Gold

Beautiful candles as part of a Labyrinth at our church centenary flower festival.

02 Five

See no.12

03 Patterns

Some exquisite examples of early guitars in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford with beautiful patterning. They've got a super collection of instruments there including the Messiah Stradivari, one of the most purest Strads in the best condition in the world!

04 Bread

Mmmm, the COOP do a really nice olive bread which I managed to get reduced to 35p in the supermarket. Bread is really expensive nowadays. This was £1.30 originally. I remember when 35p was expensive for bread!! (Showing my age!)

05 Happiness

What is happier than a cat being tickled behind the ear. Especially an affectionate tabby. Should have smuggled her in my suitcaseWish. She. Was. Mine.

06 Rain

Ok, so I am cheating! It really WAS raining as we took these, BUT what you can see is a waterfall in front of the rain!!!

07 Traffic

Epic fail!!! I didn't manage to get a photo of any traffic

08 Boxes

Box, singular. I forgot to share this before but we found this rather cute Bicycle box in TK Maxx when looking for something for people to put their cards into at the wedding. You can get lots of fancy, expensive items for this but we rather liked this box!

09 Staircase

Another useless photo but fits the bill! At the Ashmolean museum, I had left my camera in the car. It has the most wonderful atrium- you can see all the staircases and all the levels. My sister in law, who is a structural engineer thinks it's genius so it must me!

Here's CBC's better photo

10 Sunset

Terrible photo but I saw a lovely sunset and all I had was my awful HTC phone camera- not captured another one this month!

Here's a nicer one I took in Lake Como,Italy on my honeymoon, that I haven't shared yet. Sunset by a pool- bliss!

11 Park

My local park has recently installed a couple of water features into the pond. They're rather nice though I don't really ever seem to have the time to look at them as I go to work as I am usually running to catch a train I am already late for!!!

12 Pair and 02 Five

Two pairs of semi-quavers in a flower arrangement based on the Saint Cecilia at the church centenary, placed on a FIVE line stave. Aagain, BAAAD, photo quality! The light was terrible. But you can see the clever twisting of twigs!

It's been fun to join in Greenthumb at Made with Love's Scavenger Hunt. I've been meaning to join in this photo challenge and Sophie's Show and Tell for a while!

On a branch of a big tree, sat a little bird- Peter's friend

This Saturday just gone, my orchestra held its annual children's concert. Once a year, we put on a matinee, shorter-length concert for the younger members of the community. The pieces are chosen carefully in order to really capture the children's interest and imagination, there is always audience participation, lots of fun and stacks and stacks of cake! This time, the main item in the programme was Prokofiev's Peter and the wolf.

Our conductor, ever the imaginative one, asked the woodwind to avoid their usual coloured attire (rats, I was looking forward to wearing a turquoise silk dress!) and to don clothing fitting to our character! As the flute, I was the Bird, and luckily for me, had items of clothing that would work. Poor female-bassoon player who is Grandfather.

I donned a Dorothy Perkins electric blue dress with a turquoise Monsoon shrug (brand-new with tags in charity shop!) alongside a Primark bird-necklace.

The shoes are my slightly guilty item here. I bought these Trinkletina low Irregular Choice shoes a while back on sale and in the magic way that Irregular Choice seem to do- they seemed to go with the dress despite being a motley collection of patterns! I really don't need any more shoes, especially novelty ones but somehow I gave in to temptation...

As I pondered the costume a few days before the concert, I worried that the costume wasn't really visual enough from a distance to the children so I borrowed the awesome Coast fascinator my friend wore to my wedding to go with it. I can recommend their fascinators. It was really comfy and didn't grip my head uncomfortably being a headband, nor did it feel insecure like I usually find the comb ones.

The concert was a tremendous success. We had a large crowd of children and adults. Many friends and past members of the orchestra came (with babies and children in profusion!) and a lot of members of the local community in Dulwich village where the church, St Barnabas was. Kathy Clugston of BBC Radio 4 was our brilliant narrator as usual and the programme also included a world premiere of a version of What shall we do with the drunken sailor, arranged superbly by Danyal Dhondy(which has fired me up for ideas for what to arrange for my orchestra at school!), a wind quintet by Malcolm Arnold of the same tune and a movement from Beethoven 3. If you have the opportunity to go to a special orchestra concert for kids, I recommmend it- they are very well thought out. Only the day before, I took my children to a special LSO concert and they adored it!

Remember my charity-shop flute bargain of some weeks ago? I am so glad I bought it as a long line of fluffy-haired girls asked to try my flute out and I really don't like handing over my precious main flute to children, so it was good they could try this one!

On the way home, we were caught up in the most dreadful traffic (sort it out town planners of Forest Hill!!!) and we had only reached Thurrock by 7.45. We decided to nip into Ikea at Lakeside to buy a salmon lasagna for tea (they're really nice!) and Christmas jumpers in Primark. We didn't buy the Christmas jumpers but I did buy an outfit I really like- jumper, skirt and hat (!). Again, guilt...

There's a hat link-up!?!?!! (thanks Val for the info!) Why did I not know this! I'm linking to Style Crone's Hat attack. She has an awesome hat by the way!! Linking up to the beautiful Patti at Visible Monday, who I haven't linked up to for ages, but really wanted to! I love her positive vibed (if such a word exists!?) link-up!

Here's a recording of the beginning of Peter and the Wolf, narrated by David Bowie! That chirpy flute- that was me (not on this recording sadly!)

#A pause for Advent 2013: 1

Floss's annual Pause for Advent is back and I am really grateful to be participating. I found taking the time to reflect on some aspect of Advent or Christmas was really useful last year.

This year, I pondered what to write about and as last year, the ideas didn't come to me until the day. As I sat in church this morning, watching a DVD of the new Arch-bishop of Canterbury, Justin Wellby talking at the New Wine conference last summer. He talked about Waiting, Change and Prayer. And it struck me that these were the things to talk about in this pause.

Before Jesus was born, the Jewish people had been waiting SUCH a long time for the Messiah to come who had been foretold. They knew and hoped that He would bring about great change to their lives for the better. They had prayed long and hard for the Messiah to come. They didn't quite know or bargain for what they'd get when Jesus came. He broke the rules of their expectations in many ways.

Likewise, in our lives, we are always waiting for something to happen. Waiting for answers to prayer, for those things that we care so deeply about, that we long for. However, we don't like to wait or always like to pray about them. I know I certainly don't. Analysing my own behaviour in recent times, I want things to change instantly when they aren't the way I want them to be and I try to force the change. I then get frustrated and wound up and certainly do not come across in a patient way to those around me which means I can and do come across as stroppy madam. That is not at all the person I want to be and I have recently faced change in my life - living with CBC after not living with anyone for 5 years. I have been more stroppy Madam in these months than since I was a teenager and I don't like myself. I really don't.

There are things, including this, in my life, that I really need to take patient time to pray about, things that are hard, not ideal, and to wait and to wait patiently. The change may come. It may be a long time coming. But somehow, I am just not praying about them. I think about thinking about praying about them but then it doesn't happen. And I know that I should and that is what I need. It seems to be me me me wound up in myself and not in Christ. I need to take the time and for me, this advent, if I can take the time, as we prepare and wait for the coming of Christ, is to wait and pray. Take the time. Use a prayer journal- I find writing keeps me focused and I speak with more clarity. Spent that time preparing for the coming of Christ and stop stressing about everything I can't do or is not what I want.

This afternoon, I went to a Christmas market on my local highstreet. The streets were all shut off and people were everywhere buying food, drink, presents. It was nice but it was crammed. I didn't manage to find any presents. But I took an hour to go and sing carols in the church there, along with people from the church I have been going to, taking that hour out was so peaceful and joyful. I didn't worry about not having bought any presents. But as I left, as we went to fetch our bikes, I managed to find one present, nothing expensive, but something I thought was rather charming! It was nice to not have worried or forced the issue and then found something when I wasn't expecting it! Please go and visit some other Pausers in Advent over at Floss's who are alot more eloquent and more joyful than I!!x

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Here are my (more eloquent) pauses from last year: A pause for advent 1: the music of the journey
A pause for advent 2: lies, the truth or a madman?
A Pause for advent 3: Traditions and stories
A pause for Advent 4: Peace