So sorry...

...That ive been absent for sooooo long! The past three weeks have literally flown by, and here i am at 10pm and tomorrows sandwiches still arent made! Prime example of how hectic thing are right now! Ive not forgotten any of you, im a bit sad that i havnt had any time to check up on you all(not to mention feeling quilty!), but right now my home and my family need me. Ive been enjoying some beautiful days in here in the country, and appreciating the simplest things,like the stunning dandilion i photographed very early one morning last week, while the dew just hung there(click to see more detail)...lots more photos to share, i hope to have some time on sunday to show them to you, but for now i must go...promise i'll try not to leave it so long this time!

Bad news-washing machine update!

Bad news, very bad news. Lovely washing machine man arrived yesterday to break it to me. The bearings in my 2 year old machine have gone so the drum was basically wobbling about all over the place with nothing holding it-hence the awful racket coming from it!! The long and short of it is that he will be back on monday-yes thats MONDAY of NEXT WEEK to fix it. Hmmm. I think even if i had one of these......
...........id be far too lazy to use it! And i think id end up looking and acting alot like this lady...!!!!!
For now all my washing is bagged in tesco ladybird bags according to type. So far i have four full ones-towels, whites, daddys clothes, and colours.......and counting! I know what i'll be doing next week!!!!!!!

Waiting!

Yes, thats me today, waiting. First day of the holidays and i have to wait for 'the man' to come and take a look at my washing mahine. Its been poorly for a few days now, first making a very loud clunking sound when its on a fast spin, then i came home on friday to find it full of bits of rubber-which smelled disgusting. I have piles of washing all over the house just waiting! Hopefully he will get here in good time and not at 5.30pm, and hopefully he'll have the right bits with him to be able to sort it! Im making the most of being grounded, ive made the beds, tidied the house, and completed the next stage of the loo makeover, at least i have more beautiful Dhalias from saturday to keep me going. I put my little CK jug by my bed so i could admire them whenever i go into my room-so pretty!

Bits n bobs...

A jolly little post today, hope you are all well? A few bits and bobs to talk about today. Despite the cold Ruby and i had an amble round the friday market this week, i was so tempted to buy lots of plants but im saving my pennies for bulbs, i need to get to the garden centre and make my selection-im quite excited and may even treat myself to a blub planter, i thought some daffs scattered beneath the oak tree would look really beautiful next spring.

In town we pondered for a very long time in a new shop in town called Aromas. They have a huge selection of Yankee candles and allsots of different bath bombs which little lady spent her time sniffing carefully, then ponted out which ones she'd like for christmas-they were 1.99 each! I am a bit of a sucker for Yankee candles, i just dont think there's a rival candle which can beat them for burning time and an amazing scent which fills the house and lingers for hours. I was being very indecisive but eventually settled on this one, its black cherry, its not too sweet and sickly(i hate vanilla for that very reason!) and im really glad i picked it, although next time i think id like the new one out called 'farmers market' it really was so delicious, i looked like a bit of a loon standing there for ages inhaling deeply with my eyes closed!-back to the farmers market one-it was really autumnal and spicy-but a different spicyness to the others-have a sniff if there's a place near you which sells them.

I also bought myself another little treat, thus far ive really enjoyed the jam making, so i picked up this in my friend Debbies lovely shop Kit & Caboodle in Romsey,this is so that all my jars are neatly(and prettily) labled(Ms Kidston must be rubbing her hands together!)

For those of you who have wondered, the Damson jam turned out perfectly, i hand delivered a jar to Mr P senior who had lovely little smile on his face that id taken the trouble to A.collect the damsons from his mothers tree, B. given her immense pleasure in appreciating the fruits of her planting all those years ago and C. made the effort to get some to him as soon as it was cool! It made me smile too, another achievement ticked off my list, jam maker extroadinare! lol.

Next onto chutney i think...ooh the excitement!

This weekend we've been sat in the lounge reading stories, playing hide and seek and bike riding, making the most of our last days together before school tomorrow. Ive painted the loo and its nearly finished-when i have the house to myself tomorrow i'll finish it off then show you the finished product.

In light of the recent store cupboard goings on in my kitchen Ive decided i must have a larder, im sick and tired of searching for muffin cases, chicken seasoning, garlic paste etc, knowing one of the above is stowed away somewhere im kitchen cupboards but not being able to remember which cupboard its in and getting very stressed when things fall out on top of my whilst im searching! Id LOVE one like this.....which can be found here... isnt it dreamy? Check out their website you'll be drooling!....but im formulating a plan because obviously this one is for my dream country house which i'll buy when i win the lottery! For now im thinking of having a shuffle in the kitchen, its not finished yet anyway, and we need a swap about for a new fridge, conservatory doorway, and the Rayburn. Not that ive informed Mr P yet-i need to get it all on paper first-its as if he's the bank manager and im doing a business plan isnt it?! I know he'll just say 'you know you're going to have whatever you want anyway so why are you bothering to ask me?'...because dear man YOU'RE going to build it!.....

New things...

I thought you might like to see these stunning Dhalias i picked up yesterday, i popped to the boot sale which is behind our house(not literally) and didnt really get anything worthy of showing you...although Ruby would beg to differ as she got a new floaty, net, pink ballet type skirt which ive yet to persuade her to remove! I got the dhalias from the lady who sells things on a little stall, veg, plants, eggs....would you believe these stunners were just 50p and were still there when i arrived to snap them up at 10.30?! So the above picture is where i sit, at the dining table, looking out onto the garden at the oak tree, maize field and the chickens pecking worms out of the lawn. I dont know why this photo was so dark, it was actually a lovely sunny but i know it doesnt look it! There are so many colours and types of Dhalia in there there's no way i could pick just one as a favourite...ive put them next to me so i can really appreciate them as i sit here alot, to do my make up in the morning, to surf, to eat lunch, this table is pretty much the hub of the home, cant wait for Mr P to get on with the Rayburn and knocking the kitchen wall down so its all a bit more open......

I did get these from the car boot sale they were two bunches for £2.50 i stuck them in a kilner jar, stood back and admired the view and its really making me smile having flowers about the place again- i havet been able to stretch my funds far enough for an indulgence of this type over the holidays but i appreciate them all the more for it.

And lastly, these are new to a certain little lady who will be taking her first steps a week tomorrow into that big scary new place we call SCHOOL! She isnt really bothered at all in all honesty its me who feels im loosing my baby. We went to buy her first pair of school shoes on saturday, we took our meat counter ticket and waited patiently to be served. I think little lady was slightly shocked at how heavy the shoes felt to her, she's only used to wearing little ballet pump type shoes and im not sure im all that pleased about her tender little puds being squeezed into these day in day out, she's have the calf muscles of a russian shot putter in weeks! The have little purple cats on them which im sure will have swayed her choice here but, if you were four years old, wouldnt you want the new shoes with the purple cat on??!

I wont be sending her to school in the stripy socks of course-oh no, its boring grey or white im afraid.

I remember the feeling of getting my new school shoes, i was so excited and wandered around the house with them on for hours getting a feel for them, posing in front of the mirror, but i didnt get that same feeling of excitement from Ruby, maybe its because school is still a scary thought ....or maybe she has so many pairs of shoes that these are just another pair to be kicked off at the end of the day and then relegated to the shoe graveyard in a couple of months when they're scuffed and unloved(and grown out of!!). Whatever the reason, i got pleasure from seeing her in them, then all dressed up in her uniform-puuurrlllleeeasse can i try it all on together mummy?!!.....I'll let you know how shes getting on in a few months time, im sure big sister will show her the ropes then they'll be no stopping her!

Country living christmas fair 2009

Morning ladies, just to fill you all in, we have arranged a blogland visit to Country Living Magazine Christmas Fair in November.

If you have never been you have to come! It is fantastic! You can find details on my facebook page. Wouldn’t it get be great if we arrange a day to all go and we can meet up ! Oh how exciting. know it is a little way off but it will give us all time to save up and something to look forward to.
This all happened in a flash last night when a few of us were on facebook. Mandy(livelaughlove)and also my lovely auntie(!), mentioned about the nights drawing in and being dark at 8.30pm when Mel answered saying ‘yes before you know it, it will be Christmas!’ She went on to say ‘Don’t mention the C word in August, but at least we have the Country Living Christmas Fair to look forward to’ and that was it, it snowballed.
The more the merrier come on everyone you know you want to come.
We are thinking that probably Thursday 12th would be the best day.

Please say you can come it will be great to meet up. xx

What we've been up to

Hi all, ive finally got round to finishing this post, its taken a while but im done now so i can go round after this and catch up with you all!
I thought id start with a couple of photos of myself and some good friends having an amazing night out on friday evening, after all your support from the last post i thought it the decent thing to do. My best friends little sis is going to oz for a year out so we went for goodbye drinks in a few of our favourite posh bars for cocktails galore!
This is me(right)and my friend Julie, im drinking a pina colada-my ultimate fave!

And here's (almost)the whole gang, im bottom left, happy times!.

Onto less glamorous things, we've been making the most of this sunshine lately, on saturday we headed over to Mr P's mum and dads farm to gather some essentials from their veg patch. You wont be surprised to learn that the little ladies adore pulling picking and digging the veg. They also picked a couple of the beautifully pretty Gladioli which are planted around the border.

Mrs P and Ruby personally selecting me a perfik cabbage!

The apple tree next to the patch is heavy with fruit, almost ready to harvest for lovely pies!

Pops did her bit for the garden by gathering as many cabbage butterfly catterpillars as possible!

From the patch we got-Beetroot-for chutney making, new pots, carrots, runners, and a cabbage. Not bad for 10 mins pilfering!

I must say, the main reason we went to the farm was to collect some purple gems from Granny P's garden.....thats what the jam pan below was borrowed for....

Ah those purple gems! These are Damsons, from the plum family(sorry if you all knew that already!) but with an acidic skin, so too sour for eating off the tree-but perfect for jam! I implore you all to plant one-this is really interesting to read.

This lovely lady with my girls is Granny P, Mr P's granny(obviously!). She's a wonderful lady who is so knowledgable, having been a farmers wife for 50 years! The Damson tree was planted in her garden many years ago when she first moved onto the farm with her beloved husband Grandad P, who sadly is no longer with us.

We collected lots and lots of fruit, so now i just need to get onto freecycle and see if i can get a few more jam jars!
Last week the girls and i picked blackberries, 3.5lbs worth to be exact! This was definitely the highlight of their holidays so far-i cant tell you how great they thought it was. They've eaten them every day since. Who said you have to spend money to have fun?

With our lovely free fruit i set to work making a crumble(read more about the beautiful apples further down-such a pretty pink inside and out!). I used lots of oats in the topping which tasted really yummy-i defy you to make a crumble and not have double cream poured over it!

So, thats one sort of harvesting over, onto another....

Over the hoidays i like to make the best of the lie-ins, this is how im found until about 9am . New snuggly matalan pj bottoms(love that check!), laying there admiring my heavenly greengate cushions.Usually with a dog and two cats for company getting hairs all over my new LA duvet cover!

Lately, as i lie here and see this view out of my bedroom window...another bright sunny hazy morning, i know it means another day will go by when i wont see Mr P.

All this sunshine, spells only one thing for us-harvest time. Ive been missing him terribly this last ten days or so, we've hardly had any rain here down south and its been go go go to get all the straw bailed on all the different farms he contract harvests.

On one he'll do at least 300 hours of bailing this month alone, as well as lots of other jobs inbetween.

This was on saturday, he was on our farm so we thought we'd meet him for a picnic and some family time, we snatched a lovely hour together.....

This photo shows his spangly new square Bailer, boys and their toys!

Neither of the girls have had any tractor time lately as they cant sit still for the 4 or more hours they'd need to to do a whole field so they just did a few rows of this one.
I got the blankets out of the car so we had comfy bottoms and we enjoyed eating and chatting and playing for a while.

Considering how much hay bale wrap is(the black plastic) this was a quick posed photo, we plonked the girls on then whipped them off before they could scuff it!

Daddy always has his binocoulars in his tractor so when i noticed something at the far end of the field he grabbed them and gave the girls a lesson in how to use them(supervised as they're tres expensive!)...

And just look what they saw, two beautiful deer...they were fascinated, kept very still and quiet and watched them for a good ten minutes or so.

On such a sunny day the fields look so beautiful, i was inspired to take a few arty photos! Hope you can appreciate how lovely it was. I love the neatness of how the rows are sown, and the bails dotted about the field look like lego blocks!

Of course i had my beautiful boy with me and did a little mosaic as i couldnt choose just one picture of him, he gave me the fright of my life today so im spoiling him with cuddles this evening!

This photo was taken last week; of the boys wholecropping. The vehicle on the right is Mr P's 'Claas' forrage harvester, it cuts the crop, and then little metal teeth called tynes flick it up into the inner part where its then sucked up into the arm and then spat out into a trailer driving alondside pulled by a tractor. This is the method which will be used when the maize corn is ready to be harvested sometime next month.

When i arrived home on saturday evening i discovered these fab french beans hanging in my porch, my dad had popped over to drop them off earlier in the day after picking them from his veg patch. They taste amazing!

He had also picked me these beautiful apples from my nannies tree. They smell just as amazing as they taste, i couldnt believe my luck! You just cant get apples like these from the supermarket. And have you noticed how bloody expensive apples are?!

Earlier on saturday Mr P's mum had said she had something she thought id like, i nearly wet myself with excitement when she presented me with this enamel 'tapioca' tin, its really really old and im totally in love with it! Just look at that blue!

The CK mug is what id bought her for her birthday earlier this year-fine bona china-she'll only drink from the best! But sadly when she poured boiling water into it, it cracked, when she told me, i said dont worry i'll have it and put it on my shelf among my other pretties and get you a new one! She duely obliged but did remark that as ive got so much in my house where they hell was i going to put it-i assured her id manage to fit it in. She also said she's got tons of other stuff for me but she'll need to have a sort out-result!

Back home then and there's been lots of fun to be had in the garden in this lovely weather....

The above pictures are of my mum and aunties new pup Stanley-he's a real sweetie, and of course little Archie, he loved playing with the hose, and jumping on the trampoline when they were all in the garden-he's a cheeky little monkey but totally gorgeous as you can see!

Little miss Roo decided to take up residence in my spot on the lounger! Wellies and CL, a girl after my own heart!

So, thats life for us this month, missing daddy, playing-for as little money as possible, harvesting, eating, baking, making the most of each other.

Hope i havnt bamboosled you with all the machinery talk-i'll stop if you tell me to, its just thats our day-to-day so thought id involve you all.

I thought id leave you with a little shot of our garden gate which goes through to next doors garden, when the first pigman lived in our house when the farm was originally up and running he needed to be able to cut straight through to the quickest route to check on the sows when they were farrowing.

Its nailed shut at the moment but will soon be in use again, hurrah!

Do you like the LA beach hut bunting?....

Lots of love Kirsty xxx