NYE

What a way to start New Years Eve - sent home from work ill. Not quite how I'd planned to spend today - most of it in bed feeling quite rough with a migraine! 

It's been a funny old year. From deciding to start this blog early on in 2014, to taking the plunge and opening a shop on Etsy, such a lot has happened. We've had some fabulous holidays as a family, and a few wild camps in the van with DH. I've spent more time with my mum this year, and DD has not only passed her driving test, but has also now bought a car (she signed the paperwork yesterday and is very excited now!). 

Thankfully all my animals appear to be ok despite the fact that they are all getting older - my eldest cat, Gizmo, is now 17, with Gadget, the Maine Coon being 15. Oscar (our Sheltie) is getting better with other dogs when we go out with him - he'll never be completely ok with other dogs, but he doesn't become quite as vocal now. And good old Molly, our Westie, just plods along in her own little world, which at 16 we think she is perfectly entitled to do. The vet said her heart is still strong, so we let her have a life of luxury now, with a few short walks thrown in.  

I'll probably take the Christmas decorations down at the weekend (sadly I always like to leave them up until my birthday which is in a few days), and then the house will look bare for a while. 

I'll have to find a home for these fab planters that my mum bought me too ...

Who knows what 2015 will bring? Hopefully good health and happiness and hopefully lots of new walks. 

Happy New Year everyone!

It's all over ...

Well, Christmas 2014 has been and gone. Just like that. All over with before you know it. But what a fabulous Christmas. The day itself was quiet, with just the three of us and my mum for most of the day. It's nice just to spend time together and chill. We all received some lovely gifts too. But ultimately, we had time together. 

Boxing Day, for me, was a day to do the full lunch all over again for DH's daughter and her partner. It was really good to see them as we haven't seen them in months. So, time to catch up and exchange gifts. A good day again. 

Yesrerday DD was back at work so she took the car. More driving practice for her after we'd defrosted it! 

And today, as it was forecast to be sunny, we've been up to the Lake District for a short walk. We headed up to Rydal Water and walked on the slopes of Loughrigg Fell, looking over towards first Grasmere and then Rydal Water. 

It was a beautiful, if extremely cold, day. 

We got back to the van before it went dark and had a welcome cup of tea (or coffee for DH) and piece of stollen. 

 

Christmas Eve

Yesterday was shopping day. The last day for me to get the turkey and trimmings before heading out for my Christmas Eve walk today. 

So, the turkey's now bought, along with sprouts, potatoes, carrots and parsnips and snacks. 

This morning was time for me to set off and find somewhere to walk. I ended up parking at Grasmere. I nearly didn't go walking as it started raining as I was getting my rucksack ready. But, with waterproofs on I finally set off. I followed the path towards Easedale Tarn and then took the path towards Far Easedale. 

There was a lot of water around, and I had to paddle quite a few times! 

The path started climbing and the wind got stronger and I nearly gave up. But with a brief stop for some hot chocolate and a sandwich I eventually made it up to Brownrigg Moss. 

The view was fantastic, but it was so cold and windy get I didn't stay there long! 

Time to head back down, back through the puddles, crossing the streams using the stepping stones.......

......and back down to Grasmere and the van, for a well earned hot chocolate and piece of homemade stollen. 

And now the chestnuts are cooked and ready to be shelled so that I can make the stuffing tomorrow. 

Have a fabulous Christmas Day, wherever you are.  

Wrapping and baking

I finally managed to wrap some presents yesterday - DD's presents are now wrapped and labelled. 

I also braved the supermarket, thinking I would get just a few bits until I do my main shop on Tuesday. Oh my goodness! What chaos! It looked like people were doing their main shopping already!  I'm still aiming to do the last bit of shopping, for fresh vegetables and a fresh turkey, on Tuesday. Goodness only knows what the shops will be like then. 

I've done a bit of baking too. Stollen. I try and make it most years but this years has turned out to be my best so far. Very tasty! 

And today DD made our evening meal! Only the two of us as DH was working away. But she doesn't cook very often, and is still quite a novice in the kitchen really. But she made fish curry, making the curry paste from scratch. 

And all this while wearing a festive onesie!!

She made dessert aswell, but we've had to put it in the freezer to set properly .....

All in all a very successful evening meal. Well done to DD!

Nearly there!

I was only in work two days last week - Monday and Tuesday. I don't normally take a couple of days off work so close to Christmas, but I'm glad I did! 

DD was off work on Wednesday too, so we went out shopping in the morning, with her driving to a lovely garden centre not far away from us. It gave her some driving practice and a chance to look at some last minute gift ideas. 

Thursday I'd decided to spend a bit of time making some more jewellery pieces. 

I know that when I finally take the plunge and do a craft fair, I'll need to take quite a lot of pieces with me. So I'll keep making pieces and either put them on Etsy or keep them for a craft fair. I've had a couple more orders on Etsy so it's all very exciting! What's also exciting is seeing my jewellery out in my hairdressers when I went on Friday, and getting my first payment from there! 

I'll have to get some Spring goodies ready to take in after Christmas. I've so many ideas and not enough time! Not now anyway. With Christmas looming, and presents to wrap and last minute food shopping to do this week, I doubt that I'll get much crafting done.  I think today will be present wrapping day, tomorrow I'm working, then Wednesday will be shopping day, and Christmas Eve I will hopefully be able to take time out and go for a walk to chill before Christmas Day when my mum's coming round, and Boxing Day when my step-daughter and her partner are coming round. 

I bought another snowman yesterday too ......

.......just to add to the collection .......

Party!

It was my line dancing party last night. A chance to dance to some Christmas songs and eat some lovely food which we all took. I did a bit of baking on Sunday night so I had some cupcakes to take, and DH asked me to make some Ecclefechan Tarts for him to take to work this week. 

I've also finally put some Christmas decorations up at home so it looks quite festive now .....

I have quite a selection of snowmen......

Snow!

After checking the weather forecast for the weekend I suggested to DH that we went walking yesterday, not today. So, hot chocolate and sandwiches packed, and up to the Lakes we went. The weather was looking pretty good - blue sky but cold - until we came near to the turning for Staveley. We noticed that quite a few cars going the opposite way had snow on their number plates ....... and then we were driving in snow! It seemed to come from nowhere and we were very quickly slowing down as the road was turning very white! 

We parked up at Ambleside to this ......

Normally we would have headed up the steep road to Lily's Tarn, but looking at how slippy the road looked, we opted to carry on walking towards Rydal Water. The views were beautiful ....

 

Sadly, the blue sky didn't last very long. 

We walked up the hill overlooking Rydal Water and stopped for lunch. 

Despite the lack of sun, the views were incredible, made better by the snow and mist. 

All in all a fabulous walk. And when we got back to Ambleside we saw these......

Christmas Lunch!

I've been in training for 3 days this week, refresher training on things I was doing over 6 years ago. It's been interesting, and hopefully I'll remember what I'm supposed to be doing when I get in to work next week! 

It also meant that I had three shorter days at work than normal - no early starts and no late finishes. Yay! It also meant that as I didn't have to go in to work early, getting the bus was an option so that DD could drive herself to work on Wednesday and Thursday and give herself some practice at driving on her own. Scary stuff! She did it though, and managed to park ok in the carpark. I felt a bit sorry for her though, as the weather was horrendous on both days - wind and rain, which isn't good to drive in when you're an experienced driver, let alone a newly passed driver! Yesterday she wanted a day off though and was quite happy to be taken and picked up.....

Yesterday was my first, and only, Christmas Lunch - my Ladies that Lunch. We went to our usual pub and had a lovely meal and a good chat. It's so nice to keep in touch with friends who we don't work with anymore. Although I'd forgotten to do Christmas cards for them all, I'd made them each a bookmark with specific themes for each of them. 

Not long to go now - two weeks 😃

Another driver!

She's only gone and gone it. DD has passed her driving test - first time!!! Amazing. So, it's off with the 'L' plates, and on with the 'P' plates. 

I sorted out the car insurance when I got home so she's now on as a fully fledged licence holder (albeit with a bit extra on the premium). 

Knowing that DD is now going to be wanting to 'share' my car, I've come up with a quick plan - I'm in training this week at work, so I don't have to be in the office too early, so I don't mind getting the bus. I've said DD can take the car as she'll be starting later and finishing at 8pm. As she's used to the route to work she should be ok. So tomorrow will be the first time she drives completely on her own, no guidance from anyone, making her own decisions. Quite a scary thought! I'm sure she'll be fine once she gets used to it. 

I gave her a congratulations card tonight and a present to say well done - so proud of my DD 😊

Clothes Show Live Part 2/Etsy

Yesterday was our second day at The Clothes Show Live. After being woken up early again by the same water gurgling/banging noise in the hotel, we checked out after breakfast and wandered down to the halls. 

As DD had met the people she wanted to meet on Saturday, it meant that she didn't have to queue for anyone, so the time could be spent browsing the rest of the stalls. We had tickets for the Fashion Show at 11.15, so headed for the theatre after a quick look at a few stalls. The show was really good, with Stereo Kicks performing, and lots of outfit changes! 

We didn't do too much browsing as we'd had a bit of time on Saturday, so after lunch we decided to set off home so that we could get back at a reasonable time. 

When we arrived home I had to start parcelling up my first Etsy order!! I'd had an email Sunday morning to tell me one of my items had sold - so exciting!! I wasn't expecting to sell anything so soon after opening the shop, so it came as a lovely shock! Thank you to my first customer! 

So today I sent my first order off 😊

 I hope it's the first of many.  

www.etsy.com/UK/shops/catztaylcrafts