ART 'N' CRAFT CLUB

Two posts on the bounce on the theme of Crafting?  Why, surely I am spoiling you . . .(?!)

Yes, after-school Art & Craft Club has started up again (I took a break after Christmas due to family commitments) and our first session was on Tuesday afternoon.

I was quite looking forward to it, a new batch of 6 victims children eager to express themselves through the medium of whatever I bung on the table.

Trouble was, this week turned out to be rather more miss than hit. 
As it was a brand new group, I decided to keep things simple so I could get a feel for the mixed range of abilities.   I had fond memories of drawing with wax candles as a child and then covering it with a wash of paint.  I still think it's epic now, watching the invisible wax drawing come to the fore, as if by magic (it's true, I don't get out much).

So off I went to school, spring in my step, song on my lips, unfeasibly heavy Craft Bag hanging from the crook in my arm...

FEELING A BIT CRAFTY...



http://www.patonsyarns.com

I've always wished I could crochet - ever since Junior school when one of the older girls showed me how to make a chain using just my fingers (and wool, obviously).  This kept me satisfied for a while, but there are only so many things you can do with a long single chain of wool. 
How lovely, I thought, to be able to sit in the evening and make crocheted blankets and throws for family and friends.  (Cue gazing whistfully off into the middle distance).

So last night I decided to stop my whistful thinking - and start learning. 

Luckily I had all the necessary equipment to hand, as Phase 1 of Learning to Crochet was completed some 18 months ago with the procurement of a Glossy Mag entitled 'Learn How to Crochet - It's Really Easy', or something equally misleading.

FRIDAY 13TH ! ! !

Friday 13th!  Eeeeeek.

Okay, so that was yesterday , but I thought it made for an exciting opener.
Not that any thought was given to ill-fortune in this house anyway - because Friday 13th was the day one of my favourite people got married.

Don't they make a lovely couple?

Despite gloomy forecasts the weather was beautiful and we got to the venue in Woodstock, Oxfordshire in good time to catch them coming out after the ceremony. 
While we were waiting I took the opportunity to line up a few shots with my new (birthday present) camera.
Gradually more well-wishers* arrived to join us and we all stood, staring fixedly at the mighty double-doors, as the time the happy couple would emerge grew ever closer.

Then it struck me.

What if those doors aren't the ones they'll come through? 

MAKING A CLEAN BREAST OF IT

Last night I went with a friend to clean her rental cottage in a village close to where we live.  Anyone who knows me well would probably die laughing gently smirk to themselves at the thought of me helping to clean anything. 

Cleaning and me are unhappy bedfellows. 

I will be entirely up front - I really, really, really don't like cleaning my house.  Or my car.

In fact -  I hate cleaning.  I will do anything to put it off,  and even the things I do which are supposed to help me clean hinder me. 

A regular method of mine is to gee myself along by blasting out a load of show tunes on Spotify once all my cleaning materials are lined up on the kitchen table. 
Result?

EASTER VISITORS

Easter in our house is not a major event like, say, Christmas or the World Cup, but it is quite a peaceful time for us all to spend a few days together; catching our breath after the barrage of birthdays that befall us twixt the beginning of February and the end of March.



My Easter Table Centrepiece.
Tasteful, no?
No...I know.



Easters at Grandma and Grandpa's are a tad busier - with country walks, decorating eggs with fabric scraps, flowers and onion skins (really, the results are lovelier than you might imagine), church on Sunday and an afternoon Easter Egg Hunt - before collapsing, completely exhausted and stuffed with food.

With my default setting being 'Basically Lazy', Easter at home is rather more centred around loafing.  Indeed, thanks to the generally relaxed atmosphere on Good Friday, it was 8pm before anyone even thought about dinner - and that, in the absence of any better ideas, consisted of a bowl of breakfast cereal each.

PROUD TO BE DIRTY!

I knew it would happen eventually...all I needed was a little patience.



From the Daily Telegraph

The headline, or by-line (or whatever the billybobthornton they're called) screamed at me from the morning paper.  Yes!  Yes, I will.  My car hasn't been washed since Mother's Day 2011 and, to be honest, I was feeling pretty bad about it.

But I shouldn't.  And it's official.

Apparently, in the light of recent water-use restrictions, Thames Water are issuing bumper stickers with the message, 'Proud to be dirty'.

Derren Brown - Hall of Heroes

Derren Brown
Lovely, ain't he?

Not a post, not really.  More an update.

I've added DB to my Hall of Heroes. 

Bit concerned my Hall is not ever so very user-friendly.  Anyone know how to do it like a Home Page?  With jump breaks and the like?

Anyone...?

:)

It's Good Friday - Easter Cake Competition

I am having a proud moment, and feel duty bound to inflict it on share it with the good users of the World Wide Web.

No.3 child - the 9 year old girl one - won the Key Stage 2 (what used to be called Juniors when I was at school) Easter Cake Competition.

So, for your delight and general bemusement, I give you

The Prize-Winning-Easter-Cake

"Bunny Race"

All her own work :)







Bless her, I'm so proud

The Dog . . . the next instalment

Witch the Cockerpoo
In Bed with Mrs Cow Toy

Just in case anyone's interested, I have updated 'The Dog - Don't Break it' page.

The next thrilling instalment is entitled...'After the Operation'. 

I must warn you - it's not exactly dripping with laughs :)

The Unkindest Cut . . ?

It's been haircuts all round in our house.  Well almost all round .  The dog was done on Monday, and the Daughter and the No.1 Son were done yesterday.  (I hardly need mention - I hope! - that the cuts took place in different establishments). 
The kids are happy with theirs, and the Dog is happy with everything, especially if it comes with cheese.

Before
(Which one's the rug?)

After
(What happened to the other rug?)

I, on the other hand, had my hair cut on my birthday, and it is only now - some 8 weeks later -  that I am able to talk about it without weeping uncontrollably.

(I'm kidding.  Well...kind of). 

It was not, as you've probably gathered, a good cut. 

Stalker Tendencies

Becoming a leeeetle concerned.

Climbing into the car with the kiddies after school, I overheard a Mum talking to her child as they walked past.   (The car windows were open - it has been very warm for March).

And Mum says, "We must go straight  home - Uncle Derren is cutting the grass."

Some Grass

 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Derren ?   Really ? ?  As in one of my heroes? ? ?

(See my Heroes page.  Later though, I haven't put him on there yet).

The inscrutable Mr Derren Brown of Mind-Melding and Pointy Beard fame?  Whose sleight of brain and sharpness of hand have enthralled and delighted me since first I clapped eyes on him?