Lifestyle - Holiday Hijinks

Its half term and I am in that unenviable position of having had to entertain the madam for the last few days in the rather horrid weather. This has led to us spending more money than I would have liked because indoor things are (almost) never free!

We haven't even had chance to do a museum day which we always love... 

Monday we went to the cinema and finally got to see the Lego Movie. And it was as good as I had been led to believe. My only issue was the part that was in live action. I just felt like it slowed the whole movie and it was the only point where madam got fidgety. But it was awesome, on the whole. 

Tuesday was a fun trip to the job centre so I could sign on and then a trip into Hull to re-submit my Divorce petition as there had been an error on the first version. Despite my mum and I having checked, double checked and checked again. Bugger.

The error was mainly caused by a difficult to interpret marriage certificate, but the court sent me an example that I could follow and I'm hoping that this time it won't bounce straight back... 

Wednesday, nah, we didn't do anything much. We didn't even get dressed until 4pm! 

Yesterday we went swimming for the first time in ages. Madam therefore got to wear her new 'kini again and I had to run the "do I still fit in my swimsuit" gamut. The answer was "yes" and all systems were go! I stopped taking madam a while ago as I find it quite frustrating to not be able to swim and have to instead pay out for us to have a bath!

Mum came this time which helped no end and we tried to teach madam the basics of swimming. I can't afford the £45/term fees for lessons and she won't get them at school until year 3. So, we worked on teaching her to float. This merely requires her to stay still, which is a near impossibility for my wiggly girl! 

She pretty much got it, but her fear of putting her face in the water and other little things have made mum and I determined to bring her more often throughout the summer to build up her confidence. And maybe she might get to swim by the end of it too...

Today we went to the SeaLife Centre in Scarborough with my parents and brother (younger). We had a 40% off voucher but it was certainly not a cheap trip! Madam was given a pass book that she had to get stamped in various locations around the centre and also a Moshi Monster hunt form. This last was just for half term and we hadn't known about it, sadly. Madam is a Moshi Monster fan and was rather thrilled to meet Katsuma. 

We saw penguins and otters, jellyfish and seals, sharks, seahorses and turtles. It was really good fun. My mum even forked out for a rather silly photo of us all. This was mainly because it had all of us  in (barring big bro and girlf) which is an unusual occurrence. 

After we'd seen everything we headed to the beach for a picnic and madam had a quick paddle in the sea. We had a mooch along North Bay and then caught the little train back to the SeaLife Centre and the car. 

Madam slept all the way home whilst wearing her new pirate hat and hook. It was a good day :-) 

So, what's your week been like? I am actually going to need aftersun later! 

Love, Pearl. 

Craft - Frozen Cape for Madam

What did you do with your Saturday night? I ended up spending hours making an Anna/Elsa cape inspired by Frozen for madam. She, like many many other little girls around the world is totally in love with the newest Disney film.

She asked me, originally, to make a cape like Queen Elsa's coronation one, but that one is really too hard for me to recreate easily. Princess Anna also has a purple cape on for the majority of the film and this has a pom pom trim. I decided to make a combination of both of them. It is full length on her and flows really well.

checking the length!

I found this simple tutorial on Pinterest and used that to make the cape. Obviously I scaled it down to make a child sized version and also made the hood a snugger fit as I didn't want it to be sinister! 

I chose to make the hood and cape ties in a different colour and fabric to the main cloak, just to make my life more complicated! It all went well until I came to attaching the hood to the cape and then I managed to break my sewing machine needle. :(

After a frantic hunt through the house I managed to find the spare needle I knew I'd seen somewhere. *Mental note: buy more machine needles!* After finishing attaching the hood I only had to add on the pom pom trim and the neck ties. Simples. Yeah, except the trim wouldn't go through the machine!

Pom poms pinned in position.

Hand sewing trim down the full length of both open edges takes ages! And I had promised it would be ready for the morning. Argh! I just used a simple back stitch and got cracking. That's a lot of pom poms.

But I am so glad I did it. It really finishes off the cape perfectly and it makes it look less like the quick sew it really was! (She has ordered a red one and a black one as well. You know, to be Red Riding Hood and Darth Vader. Obvs.)

Finished! Just waiting to be snuck into madam's room for a morning surprise...

Madam has not taken it off since waking up to find it hanging on the wardrobe door in her room. Well, except when I insisted during painting at Sunday Club earlier!

She wore it over her coat whilst walking to church and back and she wore it to the restaurant for my parents Ruby Wedding lunch. She even wore it whilst we watched Frozen after getting home from the restaurant again.

a demure, queenly pose

yeah, that's more like madam!

I'm glad all my effort was at least appreciated and the number of people who've commented on it has been quite satisfying too! But, no, I'm not making any more that quickly. At least not with pom poms!

She asked me to take a video of her dancing on her bed in it this morning, so here it is for your amusement...

What did you do with your Saturday evening? I think my next one will be *much* quieter!

Love, Pearl.

Lifestyle - Honeysuckle Farm, Hornsea

I have taken some more photos of Spring flowers to add to my collection of signs of spring, but I shall restrain myself for today as there were loads to add to this post already! (I collaged them to save space!) 

Yesterday (26/3) madam's school was closed due to the teacher's strike. So we decided to take advantage of the situation and go and visit our local farm. This is one of our favourite days out and we try and go a couple of times during their short opening season. 

They opened this weekend just gone (22/3) and they will close on the last day of the school summer holidays. Meaning madam cannot have her birthday party there no matter how much she wants to! Anyhow, we had avoided opening day as we thought it would be stupidly busy and had planned a visit this weekend coming. Having to find something to do on Weds led to a rather easy choice. 

We decided that we would try and make it in time to see the milking demonstration. This is at 1.30 and we don't usually make it in time! This is cause we usually go after lunch. Madam and I petitioned to be allowed to have a picnic this time and this meant we set off early enough to get there...

When we arrived we were impressed with the new entrance and layout of the milking area. Madam wriggled to the front and then ran away back to my dad as everyone shouted good afternoon to the dairy hand! She's a wimp with loud noises. The guy was really good, very informative and pitched it at the right level for the 5yr olds to understand what was going on. 

that's the Pearl parents getting their heads in all my photos!

The woman behind me that was surprised that cows needed to have a calf to provide milk made me rather depressed. She was a teacher... FFS! Also, the guy that asked why they only used female cows... (really. Really!)

After the milking demo we let madam loose in the barn to play on the hay bales, we also saw the rabbits, guinea pigs, kids and goats that live in there. We wandered round to see the pigs in their new enclosure which now has space for them to root. They were having a famous old time in there. 

Rabbits, pigs, madam taking it all in and the goats with their kids.

The red squirrel and the *massive* carp in the pond were all hiding out of the cold weather (don't blame them!). But what we came to see were the lambs. And there were loads of them, everywhere! So cute! We found a field with sheep who were still waiting to lamb and one of the farm hands explained that the different colours told you how many lambs they were having. Yellow for 1, Red for 2 and Orange for 3! 

So many sheep! 

The lambs once born all had matching numbers to their mothers and madam was rather thrilled to see a pair together! We did see lots of other things too. The calves and cows were in one field and horses in another. Everywhere there were beautiful primroses in bloom and we saw loads of frogspawn in the ponds. 

There weren't as many ducks as we've seen before, but many more chickens! Tommy the horse was pulling the cart for the rides and Tinkerbell was in the stalls getting her feet seen to by the farrier. I didn't get a photo of her though, sadly. 

Tommy in his finery, an all-over blue/green mallard, the herefords and madam in the car on the way home!

All in all we had a great time as usual and it's a fairly inexpensive day out. I think my dad paid £15.50 for all four of us. We will be back again at the end of the Summer to see how much everything has changed in those months. Madam would go every week if she could! There are loads of play areas dotted about and you can feed all the animals as you go round.

It's definitely a favourite place of ours, do you have anywhere you go all the time?

Love, Pearl.

   

Lifestyle - Spring is on it's way!

I am so happy that Spring seems to be finally getting itself in gear and getting going. It's pretty much my favourite season. I love the fresh colours and the way the start of the warmer weather and proper sunshine seems to put you in a good mood.

For some reason the arrival of the Spring flowers - daffodils in particular - makes me think of my friend V. Funnily enough, she says the same about me! This year the Spring is feeling extra especially wonderful as my garden is sorted and I can enjoy it properly! 

I'm loving the gorgeous flowers popping up all over the place as well. My parents garden is a fabulous riot of fresh greens, purples, whites and yellows. I was trying to get a decent photo of their Rosemary yesterday, but it wasn't having it! I did get that wonderful one of their Grape Hyacinths though :) 

actually, now that's enlarged a bit it's not too bad!

I've also been going a bit manic on Pinterest and have made several new boards including one for Spring & Easter as well as some dedicated to various colours! I've had a re-jig of my profile and everything, so do check it out and you can marvel at my random collection of things!

I do love a collection. I have been a bit of a collectaholic since I was small. The first thing I remember collecting was frogs. I had a little display shelf for them and everything. I have also had a collection of ladybirds that was mainly due to my friend L. 

I  can't remember how it started, but she used to get me ladybird themed gifts for all occasions :) It was cool. 

My most precious collection was always the one that my Grandma triggered when she gave me her porcelain doll, Peggy. Technically,  it should have gone to my older cousin, but she wasn't really as interested in dolls as I was. I used to buy myself a new doll every summer holiday when I was younger with the money I had saved up for ages. 

They were mainly all girls, but I have a beautiful little boy doll from Venice dressed in a little blue velvet outfit. He is the only one on display now. He sits in my parents den and supervises our computer use! The rest are packed away and never get seen. 

I would love to have them out again. They remind me of such happy days. I have nowhere to display them and a madam who I worry would break them. But I was given Peggy when I was smaller than she is now, so maybe I should have more faith in her. 

Peggy herself is pushing 100 years old, so perhaps I will leave her safe in the padded box my grandma made for me to keep her in. She is an Armand Marseille Dream Baby doll, they seem to be quite popular on ebay. I know some people find dolls spooky, but I love them! Never liked the ones that talk though...

Have you got any collections?

Oh, before I go, I uploaded that photo of my mum and I and I thought I would share it with you...

I was cute, right? And how 80's is this photo!

I do love this photo...

Love, Pearl.

Lifestyle - Throwback Thursday

I took part in the Blogtacular Twitter chat last night and we were talking about theme-ing your blog around the seasons etc. and general blog design. And I got to thinking that I might like to change my background photo to something a bit more Spring-like (first day of Spring today folks, Google says so!) Naturally, this meant I've been trawling through old photos on my laptop cause I knew there were some lovely Spring ones in there somewhere.

I found the right photos but I also found some rather cute ones of a younger madam sitting on a lovely sunny Hornsea beach. And it kind of set me thinking. Today is Thursday and there is a popular tag featuring old photos called Throwback Thursday and I wanted to share some with you. Also it's Mother's Day a week on Sunday and I wanted to do something to celebrate that too.

I *really* wish I had some photos of my mum to share with you as she (obviously) means the world to me and recently I have been taught to value her even more. I have a lovely one of me when I'm little dressed in a red velvet dress and wearing a drum majorette's hat with a baton sitting on her knee with us both grinning like maniacs. It's in a frame on my mantleshelf in my bedroom.

But here are some photos from my mothering experience so far. She is my favourite madam, but she is *such* a monkey sometimes!

Not my best angle! But very pregnant...

Mere minutes old

Her first photo! My mum took it whilst I was being stitched back together after my C-Section. K had just been asked what type of black he was so they could fill in the forms. This confused him greatly and amused my mother no end!

Fast forward to one of the best holidays I've ever had... Road trip to see some of my bestest friends. The highlight of the trip was a massive swarm of bees right next to my friends cottage, and this photo of a madam who *always* needs to know what you're doing!

She couldn't get much closer to the camera, really!

She and I were in the happiest point of our lives about here. Her dad was about to blow our family apart, but it hadn't happened then. It would have happened anyway, just maybe less dramatically!

So, by the next summer we had moved house and settled in to our new life with just her and I against the world. She was as independent as ever (I have a feeling she is going to achieve great things) and her hair had grown back in properly!

Ah, Sudocrem. I think every parent has a photo like this somewhere!

The summer after was 2011 and we had got very happy in our routine, and she in her little house in the garden! I do wish we'd been able to bring it when we'd had to move the next Spring, but the garden we have now is just not suitable.

Eating breakfast in my own house is just better!

2012 marks itself out as being a rather horrid time for me as K managed to make our lives infinitely harder by coming back in to them, but not in the way we needed. Madam just got on with it though, that's who she is! She started her new nursery in the September and insisted on wearing this when she went for a look around! She's a style queen!

Doesn't look too weird from the front...

Yup, it's a Frohican!

Almost up-to-date now! Last year I accepted the end of my relationship with K (yes, it did take that long). I also went through one of my worst personal periods with my depression getting a really strong hold on me. It was already starting to show in that last photo, look at the state of the floor! That was early Sept 2012. Moving on to a happier photo though...

She had to look serious so I could get a decent photo! Purple and pink cats are the best...

Honestly, we had such a good day, she was way happier with her cat than it looks! Also, she was asked what she wanted to be and said a cat and then when asked what colour (whilst the lady was getting her black and white ready) she insisted on purple, with pink. I love that kid! She was the only purple cat there... 

And now it's Spring 2014 and I am feeling strong and healthy and happy again. So much so that I am allowing you to see who I am a bit more (there is an actual photo of me in the sidebar!). So here is my last photo for today. Madam, with her very short hair, looking beautiful and very grown up!

No, I don't know why she needed the wellies on with her fairy outfit! Or why there is a bowl under the radiator...

I am going to go home and take a photo of my mum so I can show you how much I don't look like her, but madam does! I know not everyone is going to celebrate Mother's Day in the same way that I am, I know it will be a horrible day for many. So, I will think of you and send you my love. And if madam could she would draw you all a picture.

Love, Pearl.

I have updated this post as I got the date of Mother's day (UK) wrong in the original version! Whoops! Sorry if I panicked anyone...

Lifestyle - Shoes for girl's with big feet

I have got some new shoes. They are black and shiny and I got them for when I start my teaching job. A girl has to pretend to be respectable sometimes. I love them as they are brogues and I have wanted some since I was a little girl, probably because my Dad always has a pair. 

They're from Clark's as I had to go back and swap madam's new school shoes as they'd broken. I was so surprised that any shoes from Clark's could break! They were lovely and swapped them for a whole pair no questions asked. I knew they would be easy to deal with which made me more confident about taking them back. 

I always buy madam's shoes from the local Clark's outlet because I'm not fussed about her having the latest style (they're school shoes, after all) and they're always at least a tenner cheaper then in the shops. When you're onto pair number three since September, this is important!

Anyway, back to *my* shoes. I had mentioned that I could do with looking for some work shoes whilst we were on our mission for madam as I thought turning up in trainers would probably be frowned on. I have some black, cheapo things from Tesco, but they're not *that* comfy and if I'm going to be on my feet all day, then I want comfy feet!

My mum and I hunted through all the available women's flat shoes in my size. I'm a 41 and a wide fit, I use the European size because until about 10 years ago that was always a size 7 and then suddenly it was sometimes an 8, which is usually the biggest size shops do. 

This is a pain if you used to be an 8 or, if like me, you wear a slightly bigger size to fit your big, wide feet in more comfortably! Clark's does do a wide fit, and there were a couple of styles in the 8 I liked. But all of them were just slightly too tight somewhere. 

At that point I thought I should check the men's shoes. They're usually a wider fit to begin with, and go to bigger sizes (obviously). I tried on a pair of size 8's and realised they were too big. On inspection, men's size 7 are still European 41! Why?? So annoying...

So, I looked at the size sevens and fell in love with the brogues but put them back because of the price. Even at the outlet and with £35 off the original price they were really quite expensive. I found another pair of plainer, Oxford shoes and was going to settle for those.

In steps my Dad. He looked at me and said, "which ones do you *really* want". 

"Ummm, I rather love the Brogues, but they're too expensive."

"But I'd rather you have the ones you like, they're going to be on your feet a lot."

I showed my dad the price of the Brogues. He made his *ouch* face. He took them over to the pay point. He then insisted my mum get the zebra print boots she'd fallen in love with too!

My dad is the best.

I have been wearing them in. They're proper leather and have rather shocked my feet by being properly enclosed and supported for the first time in ages!

So, here are my lovely shoes, all £54.99 worth. 

That might not be a lot in the grand scheme of shoes, but it's way out of my budget! And they're soooo lovely. And yes, they are on top of my wheelie bin, I needed proper light to take the pictures!

Can you find shoes that fit easily?

Love, Pearl

well, that was unproductive!

Today I have sent madam to school with her new Christmas jumper on as it's non-uniform day. The payment was a donation to the Christmas hamper they're raffling off. Judging by what I saw going in to class this morning it's going to be a rather biscuit heavy hamper this year! 

I am genuinely fed up of being ill now. I have had a cold for over a week and in particular a chesty cough. Even though I have had antibiotics for the cough it seems to be getting worse. It's really putting a dampener on my mood. Also, I am constantly exhausted so have achieved nothing in the last few days despite having access to a car :( 

My plan was to dump a whole load of stuff off at the tip and take a bit more control back in my house whilst we weren't living in it. Total fail. I haven't even managed to get to the gym (I should be there right now, but as soon as I start exercising I can't stop coughing (or breathe)).

We have been at mum and dad's house this week as we've been cat sitting for them whilst they've been away. But, due to the storm that's been going on for the last couple of days, they got stuck in Edinburgh for an extra night. This also meant that the stuff I thought I would do last night at home I also haven't done because I wasn't there :( I feel bad for everything getting so behind.   

I was hoping to avoid another bad go with a cold this year after I ended up on pneumonia meds because of a cough. But I think I really am going to have to go back to the docs and ask for further drugs. Though I quite want different ones as these ones have not really agreed with me, leaving me with headaches and other side effects.

I have guides tonight which I am quite looking forward to. We are doing Christmas crafts at the moment and I am quite keen to finish off my Christmas pudding pom pom :) Also, it means the guides will not be too loud and exhuberant! I don't think I could cope with them jumping around too much tonight... 

Advent is upon us!

It's the first Sunday of Advent today. Also, the first day of opening advent calendars as the two days have aligned for once :) I am mean though and we don't have a chocolate one, just a gorgeous perpetual one that creates the nativity scene with little figurines. Madam rather disgraced herself last year when she was given a chocolate one by eating them all on the first day!

First Cristmas!

I am a real traditionalist around Christmas and loathe that the shops go into overdrive as soon as they take down the Halloween stuff. I like Christmas to be special and to be kept as a family celebration, not a massive opportunity to sell stuff. Our family has always kept a very small celebration which I have grown to love and appreciate as I got older (as a kid I wanted Christmas to start on the first of December like some of my friends had it!).

We were always told it couldn't be Christmas until my younger bro had had his birthday (the 19th) and that he could have his cards up for as long as possible. We were all allowed a week of cards, but A only ever got 6 days... So then, on Christmas Eve we would erect the tree (we now also put the lights on it). And that was all. We would do that sometime in the afternoon and then after tea we would go to church for the 9 Lessons and Carols service. 

Second Christmas...

We would come home after church, have a warm drink and get sent to bed. And then, in the morning when we got up, everything would have been transformed. The tree would have lights and decorations, the other Christmassy stuff would have been put up and yes, the presents would have arrived under the tree. 

Of course, as we got older and learned how Christmas works we were allowed to stay up and help with the decorating, though never the presents! And then, as we got older we just started doing it all on Christmas Eve. But since madam came along we have reverted to our old ways and now madam has to be in bed before operation Christmas commences. Last year was the first time that Christmas really clicked with her, so when she came downstairs and saw the tree, the decorations and the presents she was so excited!

Third Christmas :)

She checked that Father Christmas had drunk his whisky (which she thinks we should give him more of this year!) and eaten the biscuit she'd put out for him. Then she checked to see if the reindeers had eaten the carrot she'd left and checked outside to see if the reindeer food had gone.

We explained the sparkles might not disappear for quite some time as reindeer don't eat those bits... In case you've never heard of reindeer food and have a little one who may like to put some out to guide Santa to their house, it is made from porridge oats and glitter mixed together! We used quite big glitter so that it sparkled really well in the street lights. You can put food colouring in the oats if you fancy, but we couldn't be arsed! We use about half and half quantities of oats and glitter, you can make it in fairly small batches (you don't need very much) and the birds will take care of the oats!

Fourth Cristmas...

But now that it's advent I am happier to start preparing for the big day. I have already got part of madam's prezzie and something for both my mum and dad. I just need to get things for my brothers and they are always the hardest to get for :( Last year I got older bro a Lego Deathstar! I also need to attempt to sort out cards as for the last few years I have forgotten to send them out!

I think that Christmas is much more fun now that madam is around to be excited by it. When it's only adults it definitely loses something. Madam is still busting for a white Christmas, but I'm guessing she's going to be disappointed again!

Fifth Christmas, brought to you by Hello Kitty!

In case you're wondering, all the decorations come down by twelfth night, by which point we're getting bored of them anyway. I always miss the fairy lights though...   

annual mushroom hunt 2013

At about this time last year we went on a mushroom hunt with madam and my parents. We got some great photos and found an enormous amount of different ones. All just in a field near the chalk quarry which is up a public footpath which starts near my parents house. That image on the sidebar is of madam standing near one.

 

So today we thought we would go hunting again, speculating that we would find loads. But sadly we didn't find the same variety as last year, and none of the big fairy rings were in evidence... However, there were still loads in the field and madam really enjoyed it. Here are the photos we took :)