Positive News

Fil shared this great link to this magazine online:
https://www.positive.news/ 

It inspired me to share some positive news- I suppose this is a version of my 10 things to be thankful for but with a different title! Written on GOOD Friday.

1. Our heating is now fixed! Electrician came round and fixed new underfloor heating box.
2. Back in October, I lost my case which houses my school digital recording device, digital camera, portable hard-drive, spare batteries, memory cards and all electrically useful items.  I had no idea where it had gone but the last time I had seen it was in Northumberland- I just couldn't fathom where it had gone and thought that the people who cleaned the car (valeted it) had stolen it from under the seat as that's where it was the last time I'd seen it.  Weirdly, I opened my suitcase to go to Northumberland today and there it was in the suitcase.  I had checked said suitcase several times in the search for the case and have even used the case about 6 times since October so I have NO idea how it turned up in there! Whatever, I am so grateful!
3.  We made it up to Northumberland safely.  We are here for several days!
4. We have arranged to see my Dad the following week! So happy to see him!
5. I am meeting up with my lovely flute quartet next Tuesday for the first time in a year.  Annoyingly, I have been double-booked for a rehearsal for a Jazz gig we have at Pizza Express Jazz Cafe in Soho in 2 weeks so I can't stay as long as I would have liked but this is positive news!
6. My cold is almost gone, pretty much!
7.  Our new sofa arrived! After almost 4 months of sitting on a camp chair, I am very grateful! We took a risk on it as we hadn't tried it but it is perfect! You might even say my dream sofa!
8. Our dining table is arriving next week too!
9.  Going to the wedding of two music camp friends next Saturday who I am very excited about getting married!
10. The most positive news of all: Christ has died, but he will be risen soon!
In the words of Isaac Watts: "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all!"

Fox zentangle

I am the very lucky recipient of Zentangles made by the wonderful Alison- AKA Fatdormouse, Dormouse. I have a music one and a TARDIS one and I commissioned her to make my Mum one with butterflies and the moon which lives proudly on her wall.  She very kindly makes them for people and Bev requested a fox. I very cheekily asked if I could have a photocopy of that one as I love foxes!  She duly copied it onto some gorgeous marbled card and sent it in an envelope addressed with her usual beautiful calligraphy!

Isn't it wonderful!?

What a wonderful gift!

Thank you so much Alison!

x

Photo an Hour March 2018

Generally, I forget to join in with Photo an Hour! Luckily, I noticed it was happening on Instagram on Saturday and joined in! 

Nothing happened before 10am as I was asleep!

Catching up on #photoanhour . Stayed up late watching The Sarah Jane Adventures on iPlayer so finally woke up at 10am. Downstairs for a cup of tea. Ooh, kettle looks really grubby! #photoanhourchallenge #teaoclock

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel) on Mar 24, 2018 at 6:00am PDT

11am: Washing up from last night's dinner. Hello Fresh disaster- burnt the steak, pan was a nightmare. Enjoying Washing Up Jenga with our new Washing up rack! I think this is going to be a dull day! #photoanhour #photoanhourchallenge #copper

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel) on Mar 24, 2018 at 6:02am PDT

12pm: How dull and domestic is this day? Behold the empty clothing rack in the utility room, finally cleared of ahem, last Sunday's washing! Embarrassing! On the plus-side, anyone who fancied a little sneaky viewof my new house hopefully doesn't mind! #photochallenge #photoanhour #photoanhourchallenge

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel) on Mar 24, 2018 at 6:06am PDT

1pm: Having finally been in the shower, deciding which pin to wear! #pingame #photoanhour #photoanhourchallenge #pinbadge #pincollection #enamelpin

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel) on Mar 24, 2018 at 6:09am PDT

2pm: writing a birthday card! #cardmaking #zest #photoanhour #photochallenge #photoanhourchallenge

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel) on Mar 24, 2018 at 7:13am PDT

Catching up on Photo an Hour! Missed 3pm as I forgot! 4pm, headed to town to do a bit of shopping. Such a pretty hotel! #photoanhour #photoanhourchallenge

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel) on Mar 24, 2018 at 3:54pm PDT

5pm: enjoying an enormous slice of cake at this quirky cafe (swipe for a decor shot) but it was too big!! Had no container to take home the rest. #cake #cafe #chocolatecake #photoanhourchallenge #photoanhour

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel) on Mar 24, 2018 at 3:58pm PDT

6pm: researching paint at Homebase whilst waiting for husband to go and fetch the car. #photoanhour #

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel) on Mar 24, 2018 at 4:00pm PDT

Between 7pm and 8pm: had to drive to a town 45mins away to pick up Handles for our fitted wardrobes. Contemplated the ENORMOUS selection of Plastic Crates in that Homebase! #photoanhour #photochallenge #photoanhourchallenge

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel) on Mar 24, 2018 at 4:02pm PDT

9pm: Home and putting the new plant in the spare room and finally tidying the last bits of detritus in there! The watering can is a handbag! #homedecor #houseplant #photoanhour #photochallenge #noveltyhandbag

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel) on Mar 24, 2018 at 4:04pm PDT

10pm: putting up the new clock (has been preset to British Sumner Time) and having a delicious mug of Lipton's peach tea. Where did I buy these tea bags? I want more! #photoanhour #photochallenge #tea #teaoclock

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel) on Mar 24, 2018 at 4:06pm PDT

11pm: @cee_to_zee is cooking something for dinner (ridiculously late eh? But we've been operating late today. I'm watching The Sarah Jane Adventures which is quite scary!! #photoanhour #photochallenge

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel) on Mar 24, 2018 at 4:22pm PDT

Embarrassingly, I didn't actually get to bed until about 2 hours after this, possibly 3!!! It was one of those occasions where the procrastination is epic!!! What did you get up to on Saturday? xxx

TARDIS Tuesday - Face the Raven- the destroyed outfit

Hello there!

Hope all is well with you!!  Time for TARDIS Tuesday!

After a brief Amy Pond detour, we are back to planet Clara.

Here is a very brief outfit she wears at the beginning of her Swan song episode- Face the Raven.

The outfit consists of this nice simple jumper from French Designer, Claudie Pierlot with a white frill hem and a green neckline.   She wears it with black jeans and her Ash Cool wedge trainers (not pictured)

Image borrowed from Clara Who cosplays Tumblr

In terms of Clara cosplayers' wishlists, this jumper is pretty high up as it is really rare and hard to find plus expensive!

Image borrowed from Clara Oswald Cosplay Facebook 

I am not a) lucky enough to have found the real jumper nor b) the funds for an expensive item BUT, I have been able to work out my own version of it!

 Pretending that something has exploded over me here! I achieved this jumper look by finding an ex-display Anne Weyburn jumper on eBay with a white pleated voile hem for £6 including postage. It's amazing actually, how hard it was to find a BLACK jumper like this- lots of grey but this is the only black one I've seen. To give it green piping, I wore a pea-green round-necked t-shirt underneath which showed over the top.  I was quite pleased with the effect!

Underneath I wore some black trouser- alas, not my usual fitted trousers as they were in the wash, but some looser ones and my Ash Bowie wedge trainers. I thought these were comfortable until I had to walk several miles in them- not so comfy!

What do you think? Did I manage to achieve the look?

xx

Food choices

I consider myself very lucky with CBC's food tastes in many cases.  He is most definitely NOT a meat and two veg guy so I am very glad that I can cook him a plate of vegetables and he will be happy with it and not moan.  He also cooks very tasty vegetable dishes.

Most my Mum and sister are married to fussy eaters who aren't vegetable fans (one doesn't eat them at all) and I would find that hard to cope with that.  

After 2 weeks of Hello Fresh (more on that anon), I was SO glad to go to Lidl and buy tomatoes, courgettes, broccoli, spinach, green beans, Pak choi, Kale and prawns and cook a simple 'Throw it all in the pan' pasta dish. I never seem to get bored of eating the same foods over and over again.  

I do like variety but a bit of simple familiarity is also good.

What's your family's relationship with veg like? Do you have any difficulties?

x

Spring colours

We keep hearing more ominous foretelling of the third Beast from the East rearing its icy head but today, it was a lot brighter for Palm Sunday and as I went to go and fill the bird feeders in the garden, I thought I'd take one or two photos of some of the Spring colours in our garden.

In the raised herb bed are a few beautiful golden trumpets of the ever-loyal daffodils, though miniature ones.

Since it is Winter, I haven't really had a chance to scrutinize aforementioned herb bed though I had noticed rosemary, lavender and sage but today, to my utter delight, I noticed chives!

 Just two delicate hyacinths a little further along, both welcome.

 And more of those ebullient daffodils.

 Hello to the bright red berries of this shrub- I hope you make a bird a tasty snack.

In our old garden, we had some of these pretty pink flowers- I hope they grow and give us an equally abundant yield.

I look forward to seeing what else gives us colour later in the year.

What is growing in your garden?

x

5 brooches or rather necklaces #66

I haven't done a 5 brooches post since November!  What with moving and getting straight and leaving cameras in Kent, I got out the habit of photographing my brooches or necklaces or posting pictures of them!

I seem to have been wearing more of my necklaces recently so I wondered whether to call this 5 necklaces but I'll stick with the normal name.

Yesterday, I went with the fishy look!  The acrylic necklace was a purchased from Kirsteen Stewart in Kirkwall in the Orkneys and is a great favourite.

 Jammy Dodger badge at the Steampunk event I went to with Sophie at the Museum of Power

My work colleague knows how much I like foxes and her daughter made me this fox necklace for my birthday!

This starry night necklace is just so pretty!  It came from Kimchi and Coconut

Finally, I bought this slightly damaged necklace from Sugar and Vice because it is Tik Tok from Return to Oz! I love anything Oz.

Only 1 brooch today and the rest necklaces.

Any favourites here?

x

Friday letters

It's time for another Round of Letters where I address absent friends, inanimate objects, abstract concepts and non-present people who have annoyed or pleased me!

Dear Year 5,
For the most difficult year group in the school, you sure did well in your music lesson today! Your sea shanties were excellent and are now stuck in my head!

Dear Year 2 Music Club,
Your behaviour was shockingly bad! How can 7 year olds be so utterly disobedient and rude. I certainly won't be asking some of you back to the club next term because you can't be bothered to listen.

Dear R,
You are such a talented boy! I cannot believe the sound you make on your recorder. Please, oh please, do not lose that enthusiasm and zeal for music that you have when you go to Secondary school! I gladly give up my lunchtime to help you become a better musician!

Dear Vaillant,
I am not impressed that your leaking evil boiler managed to get inside our underfloor heating box and short out the system. Why should we have to pay £350 for an engineer to come and fix our electric box because your stupid boiler caused the problem.

Dear Heating,
I miss you.

Dear mini-fan heater,
You are my champion- thank you for warming up the room we are in. The trouble is, I don't want to leave this room!

Dear Sun,
Whatever you can do, just do it but please stick around!

Dear Mini Daffodils,
Why HELLO!!! What a surprise it was to see you poking your heads out of the raised herb bed in the garden.

Dear Brambles behind the fence,
We will find SOME way to vanquish you, even if we have to somehow get permission from Network Rail to allow us to go beyond our fence towards the railway line!

Dear WOMOTM,
Talking to J today, I am struck by the sadness and strangeness of you not being there for Easter when we go up.  I think of you often.

Dear Washing,
Do yourself please.

Dear Hello Fresh,
Much as I have enjoyed your meals, never have I been more reluctant to get in the kitchen and cook! Sorry, but way too faffy! We won't be having you again!

Dear Wardrobes,
Can't wait to see you united with your doors!  Exciting!

Dear Steak,
It's now 10pm. I guess I should cook you!

Like the proverbial bad penny!

Last week, I taught my KS1 Singing Assembly a song called Magic Penny. I loved this song so much, I wrote a blog post with it as the Title and talked about it: http://kerenzaallin-garner.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/magic-penny.html    I cannot believe that I haven't taught them that song since February 2013!!! That's five years! It's funny how seldom I repeat songs in Singing Assembly, particularly KS1!
I found that post as I was looking for a picture of me looking cold and it was filed under the same label,  Two Birds, I searched under.
It took me back to the early 2010's and all the outfit blogging I did, particularly due to the wonderful pair of sisters Nora and Megan Bird who organised Inspiration Monday, a challenge where they posted a picture of a celebrity in an outfit which you then had to take as inspiration and post and link up your own outfit for.  I loved that challenge! It was so nice to link up and meet other bloggers and it really made me begin to explore different sartorial choices- not just pairing obvious items together.
It was real bout of nostalgia for me to look at and to see some items of clothing that I had completely forgotten about and no longer own!

I thought I'd just select a couple of these to have a little reminisce about. Because, why not!?

http://kerenzaallin-garner.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/magic-penny.html  

This is the outfit which inspired this post!  I LOVED this M&S striped tunic dress! It came with a navy turtle neck which I still have. What a shame I got rid of this. I suspect I decided that I'd put on weight and it didn't look so good which is a great pity- I would love to wear this still!

From http://kerenzaallin-garner.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/spots-are-stripes-right.html 

I totally forgot about this striped Tescos sweater dress!  I think I culled this one because I felt again, its shape wasn't totally flattering on my pear shape with more weight but it looks quite funky here!

http://kerenzaallin-garner.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/the-6-degrees-of-separation-of-tardis.html

To be honest, I only got rid of this skirt last year because I just had too many items of clothing (I still have all the other items) - pity as I did like it! It may also have been harder to get on!

http://kerenzaallin-garner.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/add-your-cat-hat-and-all-will-be-well.html

I LOVED this duffle cardigan! It was such a teacher cosy-cardigan. I think the toggles fell off in the end and I said goodbye. Wish I'd kept it as a back up at work. I have an old cardie of CBC's as my back-up cardie at work!

http://kerenzaallin-garner.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/amazing-grace.html

I actually own all the items in the picture still but I just don't remember this outfit at all but I like it! Also, these jeans look much looser here than they did yesterday! These jeans are about 18 years old now!

http://kerenzaallin-garner.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/she-wore-furry-hat.html

Ha ha, I remember this outfit was worn for snow like now really! I still own all of it except for the jumper- I seem to remember it was a bit itchy. And handwash only.

http://kerenzaallin-garner.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/interpreting-animal.html

I included this outfit because....WHAT was I thinking!?  I was trying to match the inspiration as much as I could but sadly, my items didn't match!

http://kerenzaallin-garner.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-dream-skirt.html

I loved this one so much! I looked so chilled. I think I still have the skirt but I honestly haven't worn it for a long time if I do still have it. Where is it!??

http://kerenzaallin-garner.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/bears-no-relation.html

I wish I still had this coat! It would be a great cosplay item!


I'd love to see the Two Birds make a come back in the blogging world. I still follow them on Instagram but wish I could still take part in this challenge!

Hope all is well with you!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Dinosaurs on a Spaceship - Amy Pond

I figured you might be getting a little bored of Clara week upon week, so this week, I decided to have a go at an Amy Pond outfit.  To be honest, a lot of Amy Pond's outfits are not really me- they involve leather jackets, ridiculously short fitted denim skirts, jeans or interesting layering combos but this one appealed to me from Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. She wears a Reiss textured stripy jumper, brown brogues, skinny jeans and TARDIS blue nail polish!

Image borrowed from this Polyvore but Amy image belongs to the BBC.

Unlike several of my recent Clara outfits, nothing here is Screen Accurate (AKA same item as worn on TV)- I simply dipped into my wardrobe to find items.

My jumper is actually the Sainsbury's one I have which has a boat on it- but the back of the jumper is stripy so I simply wore it back to front. It has a good texture to emulate the one worn on TV.
The Lesser-spotted jeans on KezzieAG- I've had these M&S sequin jeans since the year 2000- bought at M&S Angel Islington for £12 in the sale- I blatantly copied my Stepmum by buying these!  They are much tighter on me than then but still fit!
The brogues are Clarks Men's. CBC bought some shoes in the Clarks sale back in January and I was feeling left out as usual as the Size 8 Women's selection was dire as is typical. I spied these on the men's section and gave them a punt- perfect as I wanted a pair of these for ages!

That is indeed a dinosaur at my feet. He is one of my two remaining childhood toys- Snorus- the Dinosnore. He makes a snoring sound when you move him due to one of those contraptions that used to make bears growl.

I am also wearing a ring similar to the one in that Polyvore above. Don't know if Amy ACTUALLY wears one like that but I had one so I wore it!

What do you think?  My Snowy uniform has been jumper and trousers for the past 2 weeks so there is nothing new here except the jeans of course!

xx

Braving the cold

Hello there!

Greetings from our bedroom!  CBC and I are currently hiding in our bedroom as it is so cold and our boiler is broken! What unfortunate timing as we have had snow this weekend and I have been in all weekend!  

It is ironic that we have moved into our new house which is only 3 years old with a 3 year old Vaillant boiler and have been here 3 months.  And in that time, our boiler has broken TWICE!  This time it broke last Wednesday but the Vaillant engineer cannot come till Tuesday. I thought Vaillant were supposed to be the best? I can honestly say that this is not my experience at all!  We lived in the Bungalow for two years with a Vaillant boiler and it developed about 15 faults in that time.  Most of these times we managed to fix these by bleeding the radiators, allowing more water to go in, trying to raise the pressure but on THREE occasions, the engineer was called out. I have really started to develop this silly conspiracy-theory in my head where the engineer DOES something each time to ensure that it will develop a fault in a certain amount of time and then it will go wrong! 

Having got used to central heating over the past 4.5 years of being married, I sometimes struggle to imagine how I survived living in a house with no central heating for some 30 years! I DO remember the cold. I remember in my twenties when Mum had got married and moved out, sometimes, I would sit myself on one of the uncomfortable fold-up chairs from the kitchen so I could sit right up in front of our fake-fire fan heater wearing a myriad layers. In fact, I remembered a blog post in which I shared what I would put on when I get home to combat the cold and have just spent 10 minutes searching for it- here is The Blogger who came in from the Cold!

I have been adopting that very same technique today and yesterday to try and combat the cold.  I thought I'd take a picture and show me dressed up in all the layers! I am wearing thick trousers, handmade thick wool socks, sheepskin slippers, a long-sleeved top, a reasonably thick, jumper, a vintage alpaca wool over-sized jumper, a vintage sheepskin gilet, a sheepskin lined hood, a fluffy scarf, a cashmere shawl and two odd fingerless gloves! Sorry, I could have moved the unsightly boxes and random carrierbag from the background but I didn't!  

CBC and I have both turned the oven on a few times and stood in front of it with our hands in whilst in the kitchen.  Aside from the oven and layers, the other two things which have been our saviour are the tiny little portable fanheater that was my Mum's that I used to put on when I was going to bed back in my family home. We've had it on here in the bedroom.  The thing that makes me most happy about this was, when we moved here, CBC was all rude and bitchy about this little heater and told me we didn't need that dusty old rubbish any more with our new modern house with underfloor heating, EPC rating B+ and the suchlike. I told him that we WERE bringing it with us and our heating might break at some point and then he'd be grateful for it.  He was, of course, very sceptical, but I now hope that it has proved its mettle in remaining in our house as a back-up.  I keep it by my side of the bed and like to use it anyway when it is cold when we go to bed.

The other saviour comes in the form of a gift from WOMOTM, my Father-in-Law. He was already the saviour when I lived in my childhood home as he bought me an electric blanket. But Christmas 2016, he bought us an electric duvet for our present which saved us in the poorly-insulated bungalow.  Last night, I went to fetch it from the spare room and it kept us cosy all night. Even beyond the grave he is still protecting us!  On that note,I was so happy on Tuesday night because he was alive in my dream. It was so vivid, he was well and I was able to chat to him. When I woke up, I realised, of course, that it was a dream, but it was so lovely to see him. 

What do you do to combat the cold?

xx

Chicks, chicks, chicks!

Hi there,

I hope you are well. I am ok but developed a stinking cold on the coach on the way up to the Royal Albert Hall yesterday for the biennual choral festival with my local borough and school choir. It went really well but I've just been conversely bunged up, streaming and sinuses of doom!  

It's fine.

Anyway, at school these past two weeks, we have had some delightful new arrivals. Our reception children had some eggs in an incubator and they hatched into some yellow fluffy bundles of joy last week.  I've been to visit them a few times but never taken any pictures.  Finally, we were told that they were being picked up by the Happy Egg farm tomorrow so I went to say goodbye.  

 They are such unbelievably cute little characters.  They've grown so much in the past week!

 This proud little fellow with his chest puffed looks like he's practising his role as Chanticleer.  The one who appears headless in the food bowl didn't raise his/her head once but chomped his way through the fodder.

 The camera lens was suddenly noticed by this character.

 It cocked its head in curious interest...

 And then invited a friend to come and look.

 The friend decided that he preferred the other action but he remained.

 For a while longer.

I headed over to the pen in the other classroom where everything was a little more sedate.

 And it all seemed more affectionate.

 Honestly, the miracle of life in these little darlings, seeing them hatch and watching their rapid growth-what an honour and privilege for those children and us, the willing bystanders!

Can you possibly resist the adorableness of this?

xx

From the archives: And they call it Bunny love.

I know some people are ashamed of or embarrassed  by their early days of blogging but I always love looking back at my old blog posts in a nostalgic way- I remember being that person at that time, the feelings, the emotions, the moments and like to think about those times.
I was looking back through this blog post from 2009 entitled And they call it Bunny love.  It was a really short post with 17 words and 2 photos including the one below.

So little content but secretly embued with so much hidden emotion and feelings.

Alice and I

The photo was taken by CBC before we had got together and become a couple.  We didn't know each other that well.  We'd met for a concert and rehearsal in May and then met for another rehearsal and a concert in late July.  I thought he was rather lovely but it was rare in my life that someone so lovely that I actually liked would be interested in me and my way of dealing with feelings of attraction was to be awkward and shy and pretend I didn't like the person in case they didn't like me back and didn't like the feeling of being liked nonreciprocating.

After the July concert, CBC had suggested going to the pub with our friend A but A wanted to go home. We agreed to go round to A's house to play music together 3 days later. A is the bunny queen and had a new lovely white rabbit called Alice who I wanted to meet. CBC and I had to exchange numbers because he would give me a lift from the station to A's house.

We had a lovely time playing music and eating some lunch. I was cuddling Alice and CBC asked if he could take a photo.  He took this one and then sent it to me via text later in the day.

When I look at that photo, I think of that feeling of really liking him a lot and the joy of having an excuse to send a text message and receive a reply. CBC showed the picture to his housemates apparently and I was referred to thereafter as 'Bunny Girl' by them! 

This photo makes me think of the early days of love, the uncertainty of feelings, shyness and those delightful moments of communication, dreaming of what ifs and I wish and eventually, when it transpired that he did like me back, the feeling of utter joy and bewilderment. Why did he like me back?

Even a short post, one with few words, few photos, very little shared can have a hidden depth and meaning.

Do you have any blog posts from your early days that you have looked back on with affection like this?

xx

World Book Day 2018 costume: The Snow Queen

Hi there,

I hope you are well.  I am fine, just rather tired and wanting next week to be over oh so much!

Last week, because of the snow, I thought I'd missed my opportunity to dress up but happily, World Book Day was rescheduled to Tuesday.

I had already decided that I wanted to come as the Snow Queen from Hans Christian Anderson's story. I was debating the White Witch from Narnia but realised I didn't have anything suitably austere-looking in the crown stakes.

 So here I am. The eagle-eyed amongst you will recognise I am wearing my Grecian Helen of Troy dress from World Book Day about 7 years ago. I was HOPING to wear a wedding dress I have which is at my sister's but I didn't unfortunately get to see her.   As usual, my costume was hampered by tights that were too short for me - these are my Mum's old ballet tights I think and they are too short for my legs and a bit big in the waist so I spent most of the day annoyedly yanking them up or walking uncomfortably as the waist and crotch sagged despite my wearing a tight pair of white shorts knickers over the top of them!

My crown came in the form of this Crown and Glory gold headband I received a few years ago from their subscription box and worked well.

I barely ever wear make-up but decided to try and wear blue and icy tones on my face. Ancient Blue stage eye-liner (the eye-liner really is about 30 years old. I know they say not to but it hasn't harmed me yet...) and some blue eye-shadows. I then applied Crown and Glory pearly glittery shadow to my cheek bones. 

Various staff members were actually agog at my appearance and told me how much make-up suited me. I said I can barely scrape myself out of bed in time, let alone be bothered with all that!

 I added my ancient vintage furry coat and then some crystal bead earrings and my iridescent snow-flake necklace (the one worn by Radio 4's Kathy Clugston at our last Children's concert!)

 I do love seeing all the children dressed up and I took a picture of every child in their book area.  There was a brilliant home-made BFG costume and one of the teachers (a very handsome male one) was dressed as Fantastic Mr Fox - he looked really good in a fox costume- it made me laugh!

 Oh and one other little touch I forgot was that I added this snowflake decoration to a beaded bracelet!

What do you think?

xx