The Daughter's 17th Birthday & A New Project Begins

I love my children's birthdays.  You get to think about the day that they were born and what you would have been doing.  The Daughter was 17 today .......17 I tell you, where did the time go!!!!  I can remember everything about the day and how pleased I was to have a little girl.  Well, I say little but in reality she was a big baby at 9lb 9oz and she certainly stayed a big baby as well.  She was always on the top line of the centile chart in her baby book and was a gorgeous, big, chubby, brown eyed girl.  Oh, I could have eaten her!!  I really wanted a girl and for her to be a girlie girl and I got my wish.  She loves pink, sparkles, flowers, hearts, shopping, clothes, shoes, bags ....... I could go on, but you get what I mean.  Yes?

She got up very early for a weekend and opened her cards and presents which included money, a beach towel (pink), bunting for her bedroom, a Hummingbird Bakery cook book and vouchers.  A very happy girl.

Me and Irwin (the husband) went off to a small local town to have a look around a bric-a-brac shop to see if we could get any bargains and future projects for me.  There wasn't much there, but Irwin did buy some old gardening tools and I came away with some small terracotta pots for my flowers.  When we came out of there I spotted another shop over the road which I had to go in.  It was an antiques and ironmongers shop and I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I walked in.  I was full to the brim: baskets, bottles, china, boxes, gardening tools, carpentry tools, books, jewellery ....... you name it, it had it.  I walked around with a spring in my step and a big smile on my face.  I bought some more terracotta pots as they seemed a good deal at 40p each but the best thing I bought was a hanging kitchen rack.  I was so excited bringing it home and thinking how good it is going to look with all my bits and pieces hanging off it with some fairy lights and dried flowers.  The worst part is that I need to spray it first to fit in to the new colour scheme that I will be doing in the kitchen.  I will put a separate post on here showing what I did and the finished project.

I came back and done some gardening which I had been meaning to do for a long time.  This was just tiding up the beds and moving a couple of things.  After a quick shower we headed into Oxford to go and have dinner at Jamie's for The Daughters birthday meal.  It was a lovely meal and an ideal opportunity to do a spot of people watching ...... one of my favourite past times!!  Irwin thought he spotted Davina McCall in there but it turned out to be a woman that looked similar ..... well it was a little dark in there!  The most notable people in there were a couple from New York, who are living in London for six months, who were visiting Oxford for the day (it's amazing what you can learn).  She had the most ENORMOUS ring on and I mean huge!!  The Daughter's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw it, ha ha ha ha.  It was a lovely ring, but I would be afraid that someone would chop my finger off to get it as I'm sure you could buy a house it!!!  My family call me nosey, but I am just interested in other people .........


Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.

My First Post!!

Well, this is a very daunting thing to be doing ..... posting my first blog!!  I hope that someone is going to read it and more importantly enjoy it.

Today has been a busy but very enjoyable day.  The Youngest Son had his first football tournament of the summer. It was at a local village that was holding an opening ceremony for their new sports pavilion.  They had several sports going on including tennis and croquet along with the football.  There was also a brass band playing in the background ....... very English!!

Here's Youngest Son enjoying the day and most importantly enjoying winning the trophy!!!

I took Hector (my dog) and we had a lovely walk along one of the many country lanes nearby and took some pictures along the way.  Hector thoroughly enjoyed the day as he got lots of love and cuddles from everyone.  He is a 4 month old Italian Spinone puppy who I love deeply.  Yes, I'm afraid I am turning into one of those people who put all of their love onto their pets when the children have grown up.  I used to hate those people and now I am one .......... and I'm loving every minute of it. So there, ha!

Anyway, enough of me trying to justify my love for Hector.

We popped into a garden centre on the way home where I bought some Sweet Williams and Dahlias for the garden.  I love Sweet Williams and can't seem to understand why I have never bought them before now, but there you go.  When we got home I finished off the chocolate birthday cake I had made for my brother and The Daughter and I am very proud of my efforts.  She is 17 tomorrow and is very excited to say the least.   We then headed over to my mums for a barbecue to celebrate with everyone.  It was a good afternoon and I hope everyone enjoyed the cake, although we were very full from the lovely puddings my mum had made.

Yum, yum,yum!!!

Well, that's all for now.  I hope you enjoyed my first post and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.  It's going to be a day spent in the garden.