1. Clover flowers I picked this week from the side of the road!
2. Great clouds with red trees.
3. My first mail from the Sew Crafty Snail Mail group.
4. We started to make a snow man in the little bit of snow we got yesterday, then paused for a quick snow/mud angel!
5. Snowy leaves taken on the Hipstamatic app for iPhone.
Happy Monday! Let’s make it a great week.
I picked up these questions from Alison at the fabulous Writing Wishing blog. So here is a bit about me. Grab the questions at the end of the post and play along if you want.
Four names that people call me, other than my real name.
Clara (most times this is what people seem to hear when I tell them my name in this country, I blame accent confusion)
MUUUUUUUUM!
Clare Bear was the nearest I got to a nickname.
Clack (I honestly once got a coffee in Starbucks and this was written on the cup as my name!)
Four jobs I have had (not counting current jobs)
Usher at Nottingham Playhouse.
Saturday girl at Lincoln Box Office.
Bell Ringer at the village church (I think we got 5p per practice and if we rang for a wedding we got 10p!)
Directory Enquiries at British Telecom.
Four movies I have watched more than once
The Incredibles
A Bug’s Life
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Cinema Paradiso
Four books I’d recommend
Where’d You Go Bernadette?
Tell the Wolves I’m Home
The Hive
The Universe versus Alex Woods
Four places I’ve lived.
Lincoln, UK
Nottingham, UK
Ardeche, France (for 3 months in a tent)
St Louis, USA
Four places I have been
Paris, France
London, UK
New York, USA
San Francisco, USA
Four places I would rather be right now.
Lincoln, UK (where my parents live and where I grew up)
Brighton, UK (where my brother and his family live)
Australia (where lots of my online friends live)
Nottingham, UK (where two of my most bestest friends live)
Four things I don’t eat
Peaches (make my mouth itch)
Hazelnuts (see above)
Butter beans
Sun dried tomatoes
Four of my favourite foods
Noodle soup
Thai Curry
Chocolate
Caramel
Four TV shows that I watch
Elementary
Project Runway
The Big Bang Theory
2 Broke Girls
Four things I am looking forward to this year
My birthday which is in a couple of weeks.
Christmas and all the making and baking which goes with it!
Trying a new workout on indoor surfboards (you will hear all about it this week!)
Snow and lots of it!
Four things I am always saying
Can you please get off the XBox?
When are you getting off the XBox?
Why did I come into this room?
How long are you going to be on the Xbox?
Fancy a go? Copy the blank list below and consider yourself tagged!
Four names that people call me, other than my real name.
Four jobs I have had (not counting current jobs)
Four movies I have watched more than once
Four books I’d recommend
Four places I’ve lived.
Four places I have been
Four places I would rather be right now.
Four things I don’t eat
Four of my favourite foods
Four TV shows that I watch
Four things I am looking forward to this year
Four things I am always saying
We made our first pumpkin pie of the year today, not the last I am sure. Got a Six Word Saturday? Share on Instagram or in the comments.
I am @catseatdogsmakes on Instagram, come and find me!
Hope you are having a lovely weekend, it is forecast snow here, but none has appeared yet!
Happy Friday! I hope your day is going wonderfully. Here is what I am liking today –
Stocking/Advent calendar fillers. I was very happy to find these cool arrowheads today which I can pop into the Advent calendar for the boys or use a stocking filler.
Making jewelry. This is a lovely long, wood necklace I have just made, all ready to go into my Etsy store. These really long necklaces are one of my favourites at the minute, they go with everything and can be worn long or wrapped two or even three times around your neck. I picked the flowers as I walked home this week from doing some Christmas shopping. Pretty weeds!
DIY lip balm. I am looking forward to making some lip balm soon, I want to use herby flavours like Basil and Parsley and Lemongrass. Sound good? I think so! There is a recipe to follow in this fab post by Tiny Rotten Peanuts. I always see the DIY ‘beauty’ products, but never actually make them, I fancy whipping up some delicious scrubs too as seen at Mama Nourish. Maybe this will be the year I will make them!
Spotify. I know I am late to the Spotify party, but I am a convert, my teen is the Spotify expert but he has allowed me a little playlist of my own!!! Ha ha ha, I am going to take it over with cool Mum music in no time…..
Roasting vegetables. I love roast veg, especially butternut squash, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and always a whole garlic bulb in there. They are delicious as a side or add a jar of curry sauce and you have a dinner. Ta da!
See you tomorrow for ‘Six Word Saturday’.
This week’s Through the Lens Thursday prompt is ‘Shine’, so as soon as the sun started to shine through our stained glass windows I grabbed the camera and snapped away. As I was looking at the pictures, I got the feeling I had done this before. So I looked back at previous TTLT weeks and there it was, week 8 ‘Window‘. Time to re-think this week’s picture then.
Sunshine I thought, that will be a good ‘Shine’ subject, look up at cloudy skies…..
The shower was dripping, so I went to make sure it was properly turned off and there it was, all shiny! So I gave it a quick wipe over and made sure it wasn’t still dripping.
I got into the shower, assumed a strange lunge position directly under it, said a little prayer to the plumbing gods that it not drip onto my camera and snapped this picture. I like that I am reflected in the shower head and I like that you can’t see the pained look on my face as I try to hold still!
Next week is ‘Gloom’.
Happy Thursday!
It has got cold this past couple of days, November has shown us a glimpse of winter and there is a rumour that it might snow on Saturday, how exciting! I love snow, as long as I don’t have to go far.
So, I have pulled out my trusty coat with the furry collar and cuffs, again. Now, this smashing coat is a winter staple in my wardrobe and has been for fourteen, yes fourteen years! Which tells you that it is a classic or that I have not moved on in the clothing department and I am still stuck in nineteen ninety somewhere.
When I bought it, I was pregnant with my now thirteen year old and I had some jewels on sale at the local University student union. I was no longer a student, but they had stalls every Friday, so one week I booked one and here I was. I felt sick and pregnant and didn’t want to be there one tiny bit, but I had seen this coat in a local shop and I wanted the coat. So I stuck out the sale until I had made seventy five pounds which was the price of this garment I so coveted. As soon as my goal was achieved, I high tailed it out of there (sorry Uni, for leaving early!), dropped my stuff off at home and walked into Nottingham to get my coat. It got me through a pregnant winter of 2000 and I still love it today!
I wish that photo was a scratch and sniff because the lavender still smells fantastic!
Coat – Roxy by Quiksilver, Skirt – Goodwill, Boots – Timberland, Watering can – Home Depot.
Do you have an Advent Calendar and do you manage to get it all set up in time? I am pretty convinced that the days speed up right after Halloween and the 1st of December creeps up with little notice. A simple flip of the diary and boom, there it is, the month of Christmas celebrations and the first day of Advent right there, at the beginning. Did you remember the calendar?!
I always like the chocolate calendars with the chocolate behind the window whose appropriate number takes about 20 minutes to find every morning. I really think the numbers move every night, maybe it is the Elf on the stupid Shelf who is responsible….
Just remember not to shake up the chocolate calendars, just in case all of the chocs fall to the bottom on the inside of the lovely calendar and they will not make an appearance behind the window and the foil when required. All the chocolate treats will be languishing in a heap at the bottom of the calendar.
When I was young and earnt my cash by doing a paper round and ringing the church bells (I don’t recommend either if you want to get rich, very low pay even for a kid!), I saved up the 99p it cost for a Cadbury’s Chocolate Advent Calendar and when I got enough money, I ran all the way down to the local newsagent to get my hard earned calendar. I don’t remember if I shared it with my brother, maybe, maybe not!
In recent years I have been using a hand made calendar which I hang on the wall and add treats to every day and the boys take turns at picking out the treat. I found the idea on Pinterest (of course!) and adapted it to suit our needs. I made 24 little hanging boxes and got the boys to help decorate them, they hang on strings of yarn across the wall and I put a treat in each night for the following morning. Apologies for the rubbish photo and the creepy snowman which I have to take credit for!
However this calendar is getting a little shabby after a few years of use, so I bought a new fancy one this year from the Design Life Kids shop (which you must visit, they have the most adorable things). It is made up of little box houses and buildings which form a pretty Advent Village when they are all built. I am thinking I will sneak in a little treat when we make each one for the following day. My challenge is finding suitable treats which will fit in the itsy bitsy houses.
I am trying to think of teeny treats for older kids to put in the village, so far I have come up with sweets, Lego minifigures (they will have to be out of the packaging to fit), Mega Bloks minifigures, Squinkies (are they even still around?), coins, rocks (I have a rock collector in my house, so I don’t just mean rocks from the back yard..!), notes with a ‘prize’ written on like lunch out or going to see a movie, puzzle erasers, toy soldiers, toy animals, toy cars. What else can you think of to fit in houses which will be a few centimetres high?
Another Advent ‘calendar’ I made last year was a pom pom calendar which I loved making and it looked super once it was all full of pom poms. I got the idea from Pip at Meet me at Mikes and instead of plain poms, I made some of them into pom pom elves with felt hats and I hung them all on a branch which I picked up from the woods and spray painted with gold paint. I am going to do the pom poms again this year, but I think I will find some white and maybe sparkly wool and make plain pom poms and hang them all together maybe on a circle to make a snowball effect. I will be sure to share when I get started so that you can see how it goes!
Do you have any Advent calendar plans? Do you have the same one every year? How many? One per kid or taking turns? I must admit I vary on this and often end up buying a chocolate one so that they alternate with the handmade one and the choc one. Do you have a calendar just for you? That’s a fine idea, one full of wonderful fancy chocolates would be a good choice!
1. The leaves are nearly gone from this tree in our back yard.
2. Some feathers I saw on the woodland floor this week.
3. The morning frosts visited this week.
4. Carved pumpkins look so much better when they are starting to go moldy.
5. Hanging out at the creek.
6. Always remember to look up. The leaves look so gorgeous against the blue sky.
Have a great week! x
Do you still use Hipstamatic on your phone to take photos with an instant funky look? Hipstamatic was one of the first photo apps I got for my phone and I still really like it. You never quite know what you are going to get, but it usually a fun photo. I love all the films and lenses to mess about with.
I downloaded the new Dalston Hipstapak this weekend and used it to take some photos while we were exploring in the woods today. We donned our wellies and trudged about in the undergrowth and the creek, we made a dam and picked up some old creek glass and pottery shards which have been worn smooth by the water over many years.
We stood and watched a little woodpecker make his way up a tree pecking out bugs as he went.
I hope you managed to get outside for a while this weekend.
I have been making some lavender bags today with the flowers I have picked and dried from my garden. The fabric I used is vintage nylon ribbon which is a lovely pale pink and complements the colour of the lavender really nicely.
Do you have a Six Word Saturday? Do share.
Clare Davis Etheridge 