Happiness is.......

A Wedding.

Oh how I love them.   My lovely soon to be wed friends popped in today surprising me with an invitation handed to me in person.............

 It's all very exciting and even the fear of making the requested three tier cake cannot deter me from the sheer joy I feel about attending a wedding.  The cake is inspired by this one....

 ...from Cake Chic by Peggy Porschen.

I love the detail of a bow with a brooch.  It also takes away from having anything too complex for an amateur like me.  The ribbons will be attached on the back by diamante pins to make it look like a delicately buttoned up gown.  It will look very elegant I think.

I cannot wait to see the tables decorated, to see my boys in kilts again and to dance the night away.  Oh and the flowers, how I love flowers...

It will be a wonderful celebration and I am so very pleased to be invited to share in my friend's special day.  I will be like the proverbial pig in mud.

My piggy Seymour with the floppy Elvis fringe

X

Acceptance of a truth?

Recently I gave my gorgeous Father-in-Law, as a gift for his 60th Birthday, a voucher for Tea For Two at a tres posh hotel in Edinburgh (I could be gracious and say 'we' but c'mon, who organizes all the gift giving in your house?) .  Lovely, I'm sure you agree and the very thought of a posh afternoon tea does sound delightful but I had a thought.......a thought that came to me as I was dabbing the coconut and cake crumbs from my plate with my tongue.....am I refined enough to go posh?  I want to dab and lick plates clean.  I like a cake fork, nice plates, stands and all the presentation paraphenalia that goes to showing and eating any kind of cake or pastry at it's best BUT do I need the privacy of my own home so I can scoff it in an Aunt Sally, unlady like fashion? Shoving in teeny sandwiches instead of delicate nibbling? I have eaten quite a lot of cakes and pasties at various establishments (I love that word but really you know I mean cafe's, coffee shops etc) and cannot remember if any dabbing and licking of plates has taken place out there in public ( I find it hard to imagine not!).  Is it the thought of being somewhere so posh that I would be so self aware that I was uncomfortable I was doing the 'wrong' thing or more likely become a bit rebellious and go for a dramatically defiant lick of a plate? Exaggerated and unnecessary (debatable?).

There are many more important dilemmas in life I am sure.

But still I ask am I refined enough to go posh and more importantly do I even want to be?  Is it still expected of us?  Isn't refinement a list of behaviours learned and dependent on whether your were taught that list or not?  Issues of Class, Etiquette and the 'done' thing?  It's not just eating cake and sandwiches though, is it? It's a venture laden with questions of worthiness or acts of pretense.  Acting like it doesn't matter and you don't care whether you 'belong'.........or is there even such a thing as 'belonging'......too much pondering either way.

Let's just call it a treat and have done with it.  Yet I know there is always a chance of feeling discomfited which says more about me than what I am partaking in.

Can you see how 'clean' that plate is?

X

My new friend!!

I have a new friend.

I find myself in desperate need, in deep dependency, reveling in reliance.  

It could be called healthy.....

My friend makes me warm.

My friend soothes my aching limb.

My friend helps me fall asleep, if only for short while.

 My friend stops the pain.

I am so in love with my new friend!

My poor, poor leg!

X

A week.....

...it has been.  

Up and down which is usually the way with school holidays.  Moments of pleasure shared with my boys, moments when I consider the legalities of locking them out the house until their Daddy comes home from work.

The bad - after being away at cub Camp all weekend and banning Youngest Biscuit and I from watching Doctor Who (A Crime!!!) until Hubby and Eldest Biscuit came back, aforementioned Eldest woke up very poorly on Monday morning, lay on the sofa for two days, so no going out, and since has been in a mood most foul, many arguments and strops and sending/stomping off to his bedroom have ensued.  It hasn't been pleasant.  To top it, Youngest Biscuit's bestest wee friend was away so that spoiled his whole life apparently so many arguments and strops and sending/stomping off to his bedroom have ensued.  Yes it's been repetitively horrid, yet there have been.....

The good - I received my birthday present from Hubby.........

Martha

Is she not beautiful?  Look at that face!

She is from The Vintage Magpie and I love her.  Deeply.  I feel like a little girl just looking at her and a delighted, heart glad one at that.  Go look, but be warned!  Your purse may empty!

Time has been spent in the garden mainly to bang my head as I hang out washing but we did spot our first Ladybird of the year....

It was huge and it was like receiving a magical present when we spotted it.  It even did that wonderfully freaky wing opening thing that reminds me of the DeLorean from Back to the Future.

I even managed to get my blog giveaway goodies posted to their recipients and was very touched by how welcome those goodies were.

My bunnies...

of Ali's knitting bag, are!!

..and lastly to chocolate cake as, in my opinion, there can never be enough photos of cakes.  Not never, not no how!!

and I got to be girly and my Biscuits still ate it!

I must face my demons now, i.e clean the effing bathroom but there are good things this weekend.  Tonight I am making vanilla ice cream to go with Sticky Toffee Pudding for tomorrow as we are having the postponed birthday meal for my gorgeous Father-in-law.  We are on a mission you see.  Many moons ago, in a former life it feels at times, we ate a meal at Charlotte Square in Edinburgh in the National Trust For Scotland restaurant and were served the best, the most delectable Sticky Toffee Pudding that there ever was.  The sauce tasted of childhood memories of jaw sticking McGowans Toffee and ah we had our benchmark.  We have yet to find a recipe that has reached it, so tomorrow I will be trying a James Martin recipe in hopes of it being that good.

I confess, in a way I hope to never find it as one I wouldn't want to negate that fine, fine memory and two to lose the excuse for continuing to feed everyone and myself one of the best ends to a meal.

Enjoy your weekend!

X

Fragmented randomness of thoughts on a Saturday morn when I have no business being on my laptop as I should be doing other things....

I was playing in my room last week, taking photos, thinking "Are bed knobs not really lovely?"  Then it hit me....mine look like Fred.  Who's Fred I hear you say?  Fred is Mr Homepride and looksee......

I confess I am food obsessed.  I am also baking chocolate cake today.

X

An Easter Giveaway....and the winner is!

I am not long back from a lovely jaunt away where of course I never got round to taking photos, ate too much, drank like a fish (no offence Lovely Fishy) and didn't do nearly as much knitting as intended but still........we have our winners.

Picked out by my Eldest Biscuit (who felt very responsible so shoogled the names for a long time)...first...

Rubyred

who shall receive two bunnies and some other goodies...

and second....

Paperfish

who shall receive one girl bunny plus goodies.

Well done ladies!

  I shall need addresses of course so if you could e-mail me with your details and I'll endeavor to get the postman with you as soon as I can!

I'd also like to thank Julie Williams who gave me her kind blessing and permission in using her pattern and photos in my giveaway xx.

Enjoy the rest of your ..er...Tuesday.  I had to think there!

X

p.s I feel bad not knitting a bunny for each of you so if you really feel like life is now not worth living because you didn't win we could talk, swap, spread the Little Cotton Rabbits bunny love.  Of course they wouldn't be for sale, not ever, not no how!

Celebrate good times! C'mon!

Happy Easter everyone! Have a lovely weekend!  Hope the rain stops long enough for any egg hunts or planned outings and that you all get scrummy chocolate.  I am off away until Tuesday to a really old turret house in Kelso, I hope it's not haunted.  It looks bonny....

...and I'm looking forward to the time away, our third jaunt this year I'm surprised to say.  Usually we manage it once late in the year, not that I'm complaining mind.  I'm taking my knitting with me and will see you all on Tuesday to announce the winner of my Easter giveaway.  Anyone not entered can leave a comment on the previous post.

Bye for now

X
 

p.s Thank you the lovely Heather 'Pink Milk' and Alex Mason(my beloved Wolf with a Birthday cupcake!!!) for sending me cards.  You are lovely, (lovely, lovely, lovely,) thoughtful ladies! X

An Easter Giveaway.......it's time!

****NOW CLOSED****

Morning to you all.  Does anyone else feel *wrong* because the clocks have changed?  I feel like I got dragged from bed kicking and screaming in the middle of the night.  My body clock feels totally off.  The sun has gone off on a mini-break too.  It started pouring here yesterday five minutes after I put the washing out on a nice Spring day, the sun was out.  Obviously his bags were packed and he was waiting at the car to go.  The heavens opened, serious, proper rain and it hasn't really stopped since, snow is predicted up here tonight and tomorrow.  So it's feeling very un-Spring like here but never fear I have just the thing............

photo used with the kind permission of Julie Williams, Little Cotton Rabbits.  All rights reserved.

....an Easter Parade of these little laddies and lassies.  Don't they scream SPRING?  I love these bunnies.  I love their ickle faces and their spring-y jumpers.  I love Little Cotton Rabbits as do most of the world as far as I can gather.  Getting your hands on one of Julie's creations is like trying to find gold dust.  As soon as any of her animals or cakes appear in her shop they sell instantly so the shop is almost always empty but that is OK.  Julie is not a knitting machine and she appreciates the demand out their for her creations as she has recently opened a lottery so more people have a chance of buying something.  Now I cannot offer you one of Julie's Bunny Egg Cosies, one knitted by her (as seen above) but I can offer the next best thing.  Cosies, knitted by me from Julie's original pattern available here.  They are lovely to knit and it's wonderful to see them coming to life as you knit and sew them up.

I am offering the winner two bunny cosies, one boy and one girl, in stripey jumpers, plus other Easter goodies  including chocolate, there has to be chocolate.  I may even give a second prize of one cosy plus goodies. 

In true Blue Peter style, here's one I made for me earlier........

let me introduce..

Isn't she adorable?  

I tweaked the design of the jumper for me as I love spots but the giveaway ones will be stripey like the original pattern designed by Julie Williams.  I have some lovely new wool perfect for spring.

So all you have to do to win is leave a comment on my blog telling me what you love about Spring  before the end of Easter Monday (5th April), GMT and I'll pick a lucky winner on Tuesday 6th by which point I'll be a year older and fatter as I am getting a huge Lindt Lindor Easter Egg because it's my birthday on Easter Sunday. 

Good luck!

X