Treasure!

How would you feel if you stumbled across this at a boot sale table?!

Er VERY excited>?!! I asked the man how much this item was (trying to look as nonchalant as possible)..'oh the tent,... oh um i fink its that Caff woman-oh i wanted a fiver-gimme four quid'!!!'

I enquired as to the condition-noted the sticker on the outside-*tent*complete*-but as the bag had a small(tiny)tear in it i wondered how much of a bargain i was getting if i got home and there were no poles in the bag or a similar scenario?! (ive never put up a tent in my life btw).

Regardless, something inside me said *buyitbuyitbuyit*So, I pressed a fiver into his hand, got my change and practically skipped back to the car(imagine a big pink elephant swaying from side to side!)

Got home and looked on ebay initially to see if i could make a few pennies out of it...well how often do we camp? (never)....and we could do with the cash?(new baby)...

Then daddy put it up for the girls...i mean, for me to photograph for ebay, and to check it was all there...!

And, well, the rest is history!

I also got the two sun loungers from a house clearance man, two quid each, still with their £10 price labels on(asda).

My kitchen is now missing various things that the girls needed as props for their camping experience.

Note daddys lunch box above, being used as the camp fire-with sticks on top!

Its been so lovely to see them out there all day, i dont know if ive got the heart to spoil their fun by packing it away and flogging it on!

What would you do?

So not only did i get a CK tent, i also got a CK butter dish, boxed, two quid! Hurrah!

My fave item though was this, STUNNING, Gap navy wool coat, doesnt even look like it was worn once!

The photo really doesnt do it justice, its beautiful, the shape is classic and flattering, a nipped in waist, funnel neck and button detail on the back and pockets, i cant wait to wear it this winter when im thin again.

I'll wash it and pack it away until then. (Again, this was just TWO TEENY TINY POUNDS!!!!!!)

From the same(lovely) girl i bought this scarf from white stuff-YES WHITE STUFF-er 50p...she must have been nuts, im so SO in LoVe with this scarf, it has neopolitan ice cream colours, the pink is so pale these photos dont really show it off, then a rainbow of other shades...simple, but stunning.

Here's me and bump enjoying a snuggle with the new scarf!

From the same girl, i also got this m&s, tweed style jacket-perfect for the winter with a white shirt, indigo jeans and riding boots...TWO POUNDS-*but*i also bought a black topshop vest and a pretty cotton dress for that price!

Also yesterday i got a pink cashmere belted/hooded m&s cardigan, £1.50, its in the wash so couldnt photograph it....and a john lewis sofa cushion, £1(sooo lovely) and a few plants for my butler sink.

Looking pretty eh?

Ive planted up some Basil and thyme in the sink so far but have a few trailing geraniums in with them, and some verbena to add colour..just need to plant it up!

I love this little area by my back garden table, and as i wont have much time this year to take care of the garden im sticking to just having some easy plants in a few pots along the little wall.

I didn't celebrate the royal wedding at all as i couldn't plan anything because of the baby's due date, which has come and gone, so im now very jealous of all your lovely posts showing off the wonderful street parties...im so glad you all had such a fab time....I watched it at home with Mr P, and cried- ALOT, but loved it!

I will catch up with you all as and when im next able.....fingers crossed i'll be 'too busy' very soon!

Love Kirsty XoXo

A lovely weekend...

So, yep, here it is, still waiting for the egg to hatch.

Not that its overdue yet...hopefully somtime after this friday (D Day!) we will be welcoming Baby P...just thought you might like a little bump shot update?

Love this dress. I went to visit my mum this weekend and ended up dramatically waling 'ive got nothing to wear in this weather'*holds up back of hand to forehead*....then i nicked her new dress PLUS a ton of other lovely things!

It made her feel good to share clothes with her 27 year old daughter so im doing a good deed by taking them off her..right? (the necklace was hers too).

We were stood in front of this glorious scene in these photos, its the River Itchen, which runs through Hampshire, where i live.

Mum, myself and our adopted mother/grandmother Wendy went to a lovely local pub, The Bridge at Shawford near Winchester, for a special girly easter treat lunch on saturday, it was very much enjoyed, sitting in the sunshine with half a shandy, so peaceful.

This little place is famous as its where Victor Meldrew met his end when he was knocked down by a car in the final episode!...(you can watch it Here if youd like!)

I hope you all had a fantastic easter? Im sure the beautiful weather made the holiday time extra special this year-dont you think?

Here are the girls putting together their easter tree

On monday we headed to the outlaws for a family bbq. It was heaven to have someone else cook and to just sit, chat, enjoy each others company, the sun on our backs, watching the children play.

They all received soooo much chocolate, i think mummy might have to help them out there!

Here is Poppy hiding her new bunny in the tree!

I can just about still lift my current 'baby', Ruby!

We really havnt done anything during the time off over the last two weeks but its been blissful watching the kids with the hose in the garden just making the most of each other and the sun....

Im keeping well but my body has started to tell me enough is enough so Mr P is around a bit more at the moment to give me an extra helping hand. Oh, and the new hens are laying like there's no tomorrow, and range in egg colour from dark speckled brown to almost white!

So, thats a general round up for you, im sure many of you had a far more exciting time than us but we kind of have to keep things low key at the moment!

The girls are at school for the next two days and have lots of royal wedding celebrations planned, hopefully i can photograph them all dressed up, each child in school has even made a single bunting flag, ready to be strung together!...Will you be watching on friday??..

Here is a final shot of Murphy in the dandelions...the headland round the field just next to the garden fence is full of them...all waiting to be blown away!

I will keep you posted as much as possible as to when the bump arrives, and if you follow me on facebook im sure you'll read it there first!

Love Kirsty xoxo

New friends...

So, although mothers day was fab, i did spend a portion of it crying!

A devious Mr Fox had crept in that night and helped himself to my chickens, unfortunately that flock had never been ones for properly going to bed at night in the hen house, they just used to roost up in the roof of the inner pen. I was devastated when i discovered them, as you can imagine, luckily my brother was here to kindly lay them to rest for me. I only had three chooks and the fox had killed them all but not taken any, god i hate foxes.

Later that week a kind man who was delivering some rubble to the farm (for a new 'road' we're hopefully putting in), came over while i was stood in the garden and explained that he had 13 cocks/hens which needed a new home as he was emigrating, and would i like them??

Well, i guess you could say fate was smiling down on us that day! I practically kissed this kind stranger and stumbled over my words but think i managed to say 'yes please' at some stage as this week he and his wife arrived with our new friends.

I felt incredibly guilty, and still do, about how the last chooks met their fate, so its made me all the more determined to out fox the fox this time round, they've only been let out of the main pen once this week and were kept securely in the hen house for 2 whole days when they arrived so they knew where to roost at night!

Poppy i completely in love with them and spent some time yesterday taking photos of them. The only ones i took were ones with her in, they're quite impressive!

Meet 'Buffy' the imaginatively titled Buff Orpington.

The girls have named most of the hens but they change them from hour to hour so goodness knows what they are called today!

Even managing to hand feed them, they are friendly, noisy, and fun!

Cant wait to get to know them better...

Its just a shame i wont have time to make any cakes with all those eggs over the coming weeks!

Mind you, family and friends will be glad of the fresh egg supply coming their way.

So today we raise a glass(of lemonade) 'to new friends'

Love Kirsty xoxo

Truly Thankful......

No one could fail to notice the beautiful weather we've been blessed with lately, and long may it contiune, but, just in case it doesnt i caught a few rays today in the garden, it was blissful.

A feeling of complete contentment came over me as i laid in the garden, i could hear the pigeons cooing, the hover flies and bees collecting nectar from the apple tree above me...and nothing else.

I took some photos today, just for me really, i wanted to indulge in this blissful peaceful moment. I keep worrying that maybe tonight...tomorrow, i might have the baby, then thats it, im not pregnant anymore.... have i taken enough photos of the bump? Do i appreciate this time when my baby is contentedly wriggling inside me?...do i appreciate having an excuse to be fat, and people giving me all this attention, just for growing a little person in my tummy?

Ive had a good think....and d'u know what, i do. I really, really do.

HUGE isnt the word!

As i look up..i see...

As i look down...i see...

(my shadow!)

Isnt it amazing how the sun on your face can lift you so much?

I appreciate that

Im even appreciating tiny flowers in the lawn and the feel of the grass under my feet

A new haircut and colour today...boy do i appreciate that!

Dandelions, yup-you guessed it....i appreciate them-because my girls do..they love them

One of my only 'big fat pregnant dresses'

But not for long...! We're 37 weeks tomorrow, so baby can be born at home anytime from then

(scary stuff)

Love Kirsty, Ted, and Bump

xoxo

Thank you x

Firstly i obviously need to say a huge thank you to all of you lovely girls who've taken the time to restore my faith in blogging. I cant believe how many lovely, sweet comments and emails ive received this week!

Im pleased to say i will continue with my ramblings, and if there is anything you would like to read more about, just let me know! I know we're all guilty of reading and running sometimes(me-alot of the time!) but its been really reassuring to know you're with me!

So, firstly i have to show you what i got for mothers day! The girls and i were up at 6.30am as i needed to do another boot sale to rid the house of a bit more clutter, the girls and daddy firstly called me into the bedroom and presented me with a beautiful card....i then had to wait there while my gift was wheeled into the lounge and i was instructed to close my eyes until the TA DA! Moment!...Well, you can see what i received below!......

A new wheelbarrow! And not only that, a PINK wheelbarrow!

Now, you might scoff at the idea of a wheelbarrow as a mothers day gift, akin to receiving a washing up bowl for some women, but this was actually something i needed.wanted!

For the last three years ive been using a holey, rusty barrow with a flat tyre.

And when you consider how much use i get out of one-it takes my laundry from the utility to the line, my shopping bags from the car to the house, my logs from the pile in the field to the back door in winter, i couldnt live without one!

A new barrow was even on my birthday list this year, but i didn't know you could get pink ones!

Mr P really pulled it out of the bag this year...thanks baby x

Sunday was a really special day. After the car boot(made another £45) my mum brought my brother over and i cooked a huge lasagne with salad coleslaw, garlic bread, salad etc for us all. Mums favourite! Mr P even came home from work at around 5pm to share the day with us. He then spent the rest of the evening mowing the lawn-the girls had THE best time left to learn how to ride the mower themselves, lots of videos were made to show them when they're older.(for the safety conscious among you the cutting blade was disabled when they dove it and it was kept in the lwest gear-slowest speed possible, and Mr P was in the garden the whole time!)

After we'd eaten, something special happened, there was a light shower of rain, then bright skies....and right outside our lounge window, the most beautiful rainbow came out, ive never ever seen the start and end of a rainbow-both of which were in our field, it was truly a sight to behold...i guess growing up on a housing estate was why id never seen the start or end of one before? It must of always been hidden behind a house!(im not sure the photos show this but honestly, you could see the ends of it!)

Not only was there one stunning rainbow, as the sun got stronger ANOTHER one came out above it!


It was a perfect mothers day. I cant believe this time next year i'll be a mother of 3!!!!!!!

So this week is a hectic one, the kids break up for easter on friday, 17 days off, then 3 days back at school, then 4 more days off...i didn't plan this baby very well did i? I'll be 37 weeks pregnant on friday(only 3 left) and im dreading the holidays to be honest!

Im trying to make the most of every child free day, and yesterday i headed off to IKEA to get a few things for the baby and the house but they didn't have half of what i wanted so of course i ended up buying some crap i didn't need instead!

This lustworthy item called to me, but i think it was about £18 so i resisted!!!

Really don't need another blanket but this one was so lovely with its pretty fluted edges.

They also had it in blue and green if you want to grab yourself one!

But here's a shot of some goodies which did come home with me.

(Ive just noticed this is a distinctly 'Pink' post!)

The daffs were bought at the car boot sale on sunday, a pound a bunch, i bought two but the lady gave me 3, how kind? They're the big double fluffy ones, cant wait for them all to come out.

(...I took this photograph at about 7pm yesterday evening, look at the light, low sun, gently lighting the house, beautiful)

Onto the goodies. The CK memo block was a gift bought by my step mum who i spent the day with on friday, we had our mothers day then as she was working on sunday. She treated me to it from Johm Lewis, we headed there to stock up on baby essentials(i think i have everything now).

The pink spotty candles, pink glass candles and strange white towel things you see there were all IKEA.

When i saw these candles i got SO EXCITED, i wanted to bundle the whole display full of them into my trolley and run for the exit door!!!!!!

I mean look , stunning CKesque pink glass candles, which smell AMAZING, and polka dot candles-how often do you find these?!

The polka dot ones were also available in baby blue and yellow(i think)...Perfect for easter!

Ive now rearranged my mantle piece to incorporate the new pretties...

Do you love these as much as i do?!...

Here is a close up on the name of the scented candles if you want to look them up.

I think they'd make beautiful presents...

I also saw a new design of duvet cover in there. It was white with pretty rose buds all over and was so soft, almost flanelette like, you can view it Here @ the IKEA website, but it doesnt do it justice! They only had one single one left so i think its going to be a really popular design.

They also had LOADS of rosali duvet covers in my local store(southampton), i cant believe we all went so mental over them a few years ago and now they're so readily available!!!

The little white towels you see there were bought as ive been hunting for some terry towelling nappies to use as burp cloths, but so far had no luck(or they've been reeeallly expensive!) these were the perfect size and only 40p each in ikea! I was really lucky to spot them i think!

On Monday of this week i had to go to work (this saturday is my last shift-cant wait!), on Tuesday i caught up on housework, today, a final boot sale will be done with the last of the items ive sorted(its currently 4am and i cant sleep!).

On Thursday im going on a post pregnancy clothes shopping trip to primark-for essentials of course! And a little visit to CK in winchester...and on Friday im having my hair done...crikey, the weeks are whizzing by!

Thank you all for checking in with me.....

Hope you are all well today?

Love Kirsty xoxo