One of our favourite gifts this year was this beautiful painting by my very talented mum. The birds in the hedgerow are just like the birds popping out of our back hedge by our patio. 

When someone hand makes or paints a gift it really means so much!

Did you make or receive any handmade gifts this Christmas?

first I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the cutest little brown baby ever ... yep I mean my dog ... she is 7 today :) ... look at her ... what a cutie x
then I wanted to share with you some of my lovely presents from yesterday ... thank you everyone for all your birthday messages :)

I am really looking forward to trying some doodle stitching embroidery ... it looks so much fun :) and this pretty scarf is so me colours.
on my wish list since I first saw it is this lovely Emma Bridgewater mug and I am sure I can find one of my many many photos to put in this lacy frame :)

I spent my birthday money and some of my savings ... and got myself an iPad ...
been hankering after one since my dad got one a few years ago :) I nearly got one after Christmas but thought I would wait till the new one came out and I am so pleased I did ... I LOVE it :) ... its amazing how I now look at my iPhone and it seems so tiny and the icons so close together.

a few of you have commented on here and facebook how like my mum I look, so I thought it would be fun to see ... I took a photo of myself, on my iPad ;) and have put them side by side ... what do you think?

well not really ... 30(cough)six years ago today my mum looked like this ...
she took my brother out picking blackberries down the lane near their cottage.
I was born that evening in their bedroom ... 3 1/2 hours after her first twinge. I had lots of hair (it had to be cut at 3 months as was in my eyes) and weighed 7lb 7oz ... and was a day early ... having 4 Star Wars mad brothers, meant the phrase 'May the 4th be with you' was said every year!
I don't think I was born able to wink ;) haha ... I think it was just a fluke .... oh and that lovely flowery dressing gown my mum is wearing ... it never wore out ... she only got rid of it last year!

These are the first couple of photos of me taken when I was only an hour or so old. Its funny to think that now the news of a birth and photos are placed on facebook so fast and everyone can share in the parents joy straight away. I remember looking at these when I was little thinking 'wow, is that really me?'

They moved out of the cottage when I was 2 1/2 to a bigger house not that far away. I don't think I can remember the inside of the cottage and I am not sure if what I remember is really me or just what I have heard people say ... we used to walk passed the cottage most weeks on the way to Church and so I knew it well from the out side. I always felt a little bond with it because I was born there ... I wonder if the people who live there now have any idea that someone began their life in the bedroom upstairs ... I guess lots of houses have history like that, but we never really think about it ........

anyway as I am still officially 35 till 9pm tonight, I am going off now to enjoy being a little bit younger than I will be tonight ... (I guess that's true of everyone, but hey, you know what I mean!)

I used to dream of walking around the world, of doing something amazing, traveling and seeing the whole world ... but my life didn't work out like that, I have seen some of the world and have loved traveling, and they have been in 6 month and 3 month and 1 month trips ... but I still have the dream of walking.

I have quite a yearning to walk around Scotland ... have had since I was little, but this would mean lots and lots of time off work ... An easier thing to do would be walk along Hadrian's Wall - 84 miles and would take about 10 days ... but then I realised that I live in Herefordshire, near the Welsh border and there is a great walk much much nearer!!


OFFA'S DYKE is like Hadrian's Wall ... but it runs along the border of England and Wales and is a bit longer ... well twice as long actually ... but as it's pretty much on my doorstep, so should be a lot easier to get to.

I have been talking to my mum, who also loves walking and we have decided to go for it ... to walk the 177 miles!


We are not sure exactly when we are going to do it, but it will be this Summer. We also may have to split it into sections, depending on getting time off work etc. We still have lots of details to work out ... and a lot of training to do! I already walk every day ... usually for about an hour (walking into work and back/walking the wooflet) but I know this is going to be a big step up from that! I am looking forward to the challenge, and all the countryside we are going to see!


I will keep you posted with how my blisters come on! haha
may even do it as a sponsored walk

Day 4: Your parents

This is an easy one ... my parents are the best.
This is them on their wedding day ...
Yep, mum has her eyes closed (nothing changes!) and my dad grew a beard not long after this. Mum made her wedding dress .... not sure about the net curtain on her head though ;)

I am the only girl of 5 children, and I think they did a great job! I have probably caused them the most stress and worry (hey, what can I say ... I am a girl) but they have always been there and I love them to bits x

I remember when we were little, mum has always been a great believer that kids are like dogs and should have a walk every day, so when it rained, she would get the cushions off the sofa and put on some loud music and we would jump around doing exercises and try to make it round the room without touching the floor. She also loved having 'opera' days (not that she is a huge fan of the opera) where we would have to sing everything to each other .... they never lasted long as we always forgot, but it was a fun idea. We had a craft box where she would save cardboard and bits of plastic and things and we were always making things from it ... fablon (or sticky-back-plastic for all you Blue Peter fans) played a big part of most creations, especially spaceships for the boys.

Dad could fix anything and make most things ... I have many happy memories of us all snuggled up on the sofa watching Carry On films (don't think we got half the jokes then!) The A-Team and The Two Ronnies with him. He retired a year ago and has been doing up a bungalow ... built and extension, so he can have his 'man room' and added solar panels all over the roof!

They have a great sense of humor and I am so thankful for them x

I went to my 2nd weaving class today, had great fun using an Inkle Loom ...
 I know, it looks like an instrument of torture and very complicated, but its actually ok! It is for making narrow weaving like belts, straps, bookmarks, things like that.
This is what I made ... and yep, I am hooked ... I fear I will have to get me an Inkle Loom! hehe


It's my mum's birthday today and I just want to tell the world how wonderful she is and how when I grow up, I want to be just like her ... she is patient, generous, fun and beautiful.
~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST MUM IN THE UNIVERSE ~ I LOVE YOU LOTS AND LOTS! ~