Its been a whirlwind of a week!!

It starts with the ending of our auction on Ebay for my beautiful VW Passat on Saturday. The highest bids were much more than we had anticiapted and so it made the sale a little less painful. I did love that car so.
Three very tall polish chaps came to collect it on Sunday, after we had taken Kim home and had a walk along the canal. Why do they always come 'en masse'? I find it quite unnerving, especially as Tom was not around and they seemed to be trying to haggle. Ugh. Rob went off with them for a test drive...a test drive? If they wanted a test drive they should have come and viewed it before the auction ended!! Don't they know you bid to buy and not to view? The car was as described, us being honest folks and the deal was eventually completed.
And that after the clocks went forward and we were all feeling a little out of sorts!!!
Monday we had some HE friends over and managed to get out for a walk despite the rain. They brought with them a magnificent cockeral called Charlie which we were going to rehome for possible breeding purposes and this.....












I have wanted a stock pot like this for ages and my friend found one at her local swap shop. Luckily the lid wasn't the right size for her one, so she passed it on to me!!!! Yay!!!! It was put into service the very next day with vegetable soup. Yum!






Tuesday was spent knitting these...
a seed stitch face cloth...





















and a soap sack...




for my friends birthday the following day!!


















David had a creative moment and drew this....

We'd been listening to Raymond Briggs' 'The Man' and I think the whole fairy description sparked it off!
Then Wednesday was a little more hectic. I went swimming with a friend at a local private pool....very nice!! I went back to hers for a very civilised cup of tea and a chin wag, child free!!!!
Then when I got home we realised that the 'moon buggy' had not only run out of Tax that day but of MOT the day before and we needed to do something about it desperately!!! The local garage was all booked up until after easter so we thought about alternatives. My suggestion was to look for a Discovery a little sooner than we had planned, rather than spend the money and energy on a car that I really did not like!!!!!!
And as usual, fate had a hand in our life. A disco that we had been watching on Ebay was due to finish that afternoon, and as Rob was looking at it with Tom, Tom realised that it was osmeone he knew from his off roading forum!! So we called him, struck a deal and arranged to pick it up later!!
Rob and Tom whizzed off into town to get some money (that we don't really have!!!) to top up the money from the Passat deal, and we were in business!!!!
Tom and I went off to fetch it that evening. And here it is....



A vehicle worthy of the title 'Survival Family Vehicle'. I have nicknamed it Disco Diva because of the lights, but really I am just so pleased to have it, I don't care what it is called!!!

Thursday saw us out and about in the new car going to the woods with the dog, and then in the evening I went out with a couple of friends to the cinema.
Tom finished his IGCSE English assignment whilst babysitting for my firnds children that night and I think he has made a fabulous job of the creative writing task. This is a boy who has not done ANY thing of the sort for about 4 years!!!! Lets just hope the momentum keeps up for the other 9 assignments!!!!!
Yesterday, saw the sale of our Moon Buggy! Rob listed it on Ebay the night before and by 9 o'clock we had a call from someone local who wanted to have a look. By lunchtime had been paid for and taken away! Fastest sale ever!!!! Thank god it has gone. I really did not like that car, not one little bit, despite it being so very reliable and spacious inside. It was ugly and annoying. I am so glad it has found a new home.
William talked to granny for over an hour on the webcam while I made a start on the boys Easter eggs. A slow process but I just can't bring myself to spend that much money on such a small amount of chocolate and such a HUGE amount of packaging!! Goes against the grain somewhat.
And here are the doggies asleep TOGETHER on the sofa last night!!!


This is following about an hour of play fighting during which I wasn't sure if I should have been intervening or not!!!









This is Will's house and garden, with garage that he made all by himself the other day...





















and this is David's spider made from Lego..

And today? I'm off to take Tom to Kim's and then to collect a lonely chicken from a friend that has lost her others to a dog and then on to another friend's to pick up some unwanted cockerals before he goes on holiday later on. Jon has an exciting afternoon ahead of him!!! They are very large Buff Orpingtons and are, unfortunately destined for dinner.
I also have to go down the field to feed the sheep and check on them. Their owner is away on holiday and we are looking after the girls that are due to lamb sometime next week he thinks!!!

All go here!!!

Ok. It's confession time.

Instead of blogging about this....




















Or this....




Hand knitted pressie for this little girl.




















or about planting these....

















or these....


















Or about the planting of the potatoes down the allotment, or the trip to an FAI farm yesterday
We have been unashamedly playing with this!!!



I just don't know how she got here!!! Honest!!
It wasn't planned. Well, not completely anyway, and I can honestly say I was egged on by a few other members of the household!!! I didn't even drive there so Rob was definitely in on it!!!
I do not take full responsibility for the extra chaos we have probably brought upon ourselves, into our already chaotic home,
but DARN, she's cute, huh?!!!



This is Annie. A 9 week old Cocker spaniel. A companion for Louis and an early birthday pressie for me...well, that is how Rob justified it anyway!!!
She is settling in well and Louis and her are forging a good relationship. They aren't sharing a bed yet, but I don't think it will be long before she is able to snuggle up next to him at night.

So confession is over. Its out in the open. I am a Animaholic!!!!

An assortment of things.

This post is going to be an odd assortment of bits and bobs, I think. I can tell, because even now, as I am typing, I have no real idea of where this is going to go.
I just know that a post is overdue and I have a few photos to share, so I shall just make a start and see where we end up!
So firstly, a few pictures of our new member of the family. She travelled home with us last Tuesday from our friends where she wasn't really fitting in terribly well!! I think their words were unhandleable, which I am sure isn't a word!!!, and maybe even vicious was used too!! So, me being me, I lifted back the covers on her run expecting to see some kind of white sticky up eared rabbit, with pink eyes and big pointy teeth!!!
Instead I was greeted by this little lady...





Well, I say little but she is rather a large bunny and looks a little like a bear!! But she is gorgeous!!! Totally, 100% gorgeous!!
Anyway, I picked her up and she seems to really like me!!! So she is now, as you can see, happily pottering around in the garden and we are now a two rabbit family!!!
What on earth happened to my no useless pets rule? !!!
Yes, I know we could breed them to eat, but I'm really not sure we could eat such cute fuzzy bunnies.
Now if they were white with sticky up ears and pink eyes......




A few crafty makes coming up.
First up is Jonathan,s spinner (fishing tackle used for catching pike)that he made from wood and off cuts of catapault elastic!!! Ingenius!!!





















This is David wielding his shield that he made himself.



His own idea (inspired by a computer game with roman soldiers), design and pretty much unaided...just a little help to work out which way to fold the tin foil around it as we only had one piece just big enough left!!
This is the handle on the reverse.




















And this is a face flannel I made for Rob's mum in Cornwall.




It has a cat in the centre, just in case you couldn't tell!!! I also made some soap sacks that did turn out well in the end. I will try to get a photo of those on here but I forgot to take pictures before I posted them. Doh!!!
I have had some little labels made up to sew into my handmade things. You know the type. Like school name tapes but pretty!!
I'm thinking of setting up an Etsy shop but not sure how to go about that...maybe Ebay would be a start?
And of course, someone had a birthday didn't they!
Here he is blowing out his candles on his caterpillar!!!

He had some lovely presents...photos to follow another day! My little man is 4!!!
Oh yes, and we now have a 5 bedroom house!!
Following Tom's accident the other evening, when he fell through the high sleeper on to the top of William, he has been evicted by William to the bathroom!!!
We are currently converting it, but it makes quite a nice little cosy room for him!! Don't worry, we still have a bathroom. I haven't quite managed to convince Rob to build a compost toilet and solar shower!!!
LOL!!

Bad weather and feeling poorly can be good for some things, I guess!!

So, with the weather being so miserable here and me feeling poorly, it has been a week of crafting.
My socks are now finished and I have rellay been enjoying wearing them. So comfortable and cosy!! I have been sneakily buying some wool for me to knit up once I have worked down my list of projects! I finally understand the meaning of 'wool stash'!!!!
But instead of casting on for Rob's socks (the first priority item on my list!), I have been making these...


The wool was a little dark perhaps for the top but I'm pleased with the effect. I've never really done anything with two colours before.

This egg was made up as I went along using the same principle as the banana...turned out ok, but now they want a whole set!!!

2 sausages so far and one fried egg, also of my own design, made up as I went along. Really pleased with this!!!
And the two older boys have also been making things....not knitting but sewing.
Jonathan made this drawstring bag for his marbles from the bottom of the leg of his old camo trousers....


And Tom has re-vamped this strap for his car, by sewing a loop on to one end and a hook on the other! He wants to test it out for strength one day soon before he takes it off roading!


And this of their own free will!!! And self taught, pretty much.

Winter as it should be....woolly socks and hot water bottles!

Isn't it beautiful today? We woke up to a bright moon in a starry sky, with a wonderful frost that has made everything white.Hoar frost. All day. We braved the roads in the car for a walk in the woods first thing this morning. The journey was bright and beautiful...the sun shining across the fields and hedges. Glorious. It wasn't sunny in the woods. In fact it was downright freezing, but still beautiful!
This is how winter should be isn't it....cold and frosty.
We came home and lit the fire. Cosy in the living room we had scrambled egg and toast for lunch.
Just how winter should be.
The boys all have thermal leggings to wear when it is like this. In fact William has worn his since September as trousers generally, but David and Jon got theirs for christmas. A necessary for outdoors folk at the moment!!
Something else the boys got for christmas...my homemade fleece hot water bottle covers...one each for Will, David and Jon.

These are David's socks that I knitted for christmas also....

And here is William modelling his pair just as I finished them this afternoon!

I hope to cast on for Tom's later on. He had neither a hot water bottle cover, or thermal leggings as he seems to have his own central heating system!!! But everyone gets cold toes don't they!!