Dreaming...................

'Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.'  Goethe

Things are unsettled around these parts.  There are a few facts that are adding to the unsettledness (is that a word?) namely:

• Debt.  While not adding to it, we are not doing a very good job of reducing it.
• Being fed up with being part of the Rat Race (still makes you a rat).
• Wanting to live a simpler life.
• Being fed up with living in 'rabbit hutch road'

Now I realise that we are healthy and we LOVE each other, and we are truly lucky in those things, and I don't want to sound moaney, I am just writing to myself here, but this life is here for the taking.  I believe we only get one shot at it, so better make it a good one. Hence I find myself needing to do something about the above in order to make myself (and therefore 'us' I hope, feel better about things).

I confess I have never really had a proper life plan.  I know people who have five and ten year plans, tbh this always seemed a bit anal to me, I preferred to see what happened as I trotted through life. However, as I have gotten older, I see that there isn't really that much time just to trot through, if I want to make changes I need to plan for them in order for them to happen. Simple really. It just took me a (long) time to realise this.

For the past 12 or so years, since I went back into education, I have tried to make decisions by asking myself if I will regret doing something or not having done it when I get to the age of 70.  Whilst it may seem trite to some it has caused me to make some of the biggest decisions of my life (hello baby no. 5), and I have absolutely no regrets so far (well, I could have lost a few pounds more but hey, no one is perfect).  While this works really well I need to be a bit more focussed. There are a few things I can recognise here:

• While we are not fostering (another post) we can't pay off any debt - fact
• I am on the way to fixing the above problem
• which will mean that hopefully by 2012 we can start to repay debt
• which will mean that we can have a plan to do so - working out how long it will take
• which will mean that we will be nearer to living our dream

I have determined that we will not increase the debt for anything, especially Christmas. Therefore, each of the children will have a very small present this year.  I have told the older ones who are fine about this. I think or at least I hope that this may lead us back to the true meaning of the Season, rather than the commercial crap that usually takes over.  I don't think that our friends and families will mind contributing to food etc if they are coming to our home and if they love us they will understand.

We would like to need much less money to live on.  This will probably mean selling our house and down sizing.  I don't think this will be a problem for me, however for those of us less inclined to visualise things working out as we hope, this may pose a few problems.  I am a glass half full kind of person, haven't always been but life events (one specificly sad one 21 years ago) changed my perspective on life as I knew it and with regard to optimism I haven't looked back since. Others however are not so blessed and may be trickier to win over.

I will keep plodding on

Chickens and other things



Ok so I have missed this little space here.  I think with the addition of two little children for 12 weeks I haven't had time to do much more than look after everyone.  I am now feeling like I am on holiday as they have gone back to their original foster carer which was the plan all along, just that 6-8 weeks turned into 12.  I believe that everything has it's own timing, and ours for that journey seemed to be perfect for us. The chooks are laying daily, although we think they are all laying, not had a day with three eggs yet so hopefully soon we will be in full production.  We seem to be having lots of eggs though, poached is the preferred method of preparation around here at the moment!  Here as promised are some pics of the chicks:

Marjorie




Penelope




Matilda




treasure from our allotment




more thrifted finds - 50p each




I have wanted one of these for ages, an Acroc Cow butter dish - 50p!




lovely 1970's table cloth 50p




fairy skirt for Miss Noodle £2





beautiful linens £3 the lot




lovely table cloths - to be used as dolly shawls I think! 50p each!




just because I like to look at her picture!



chickens

Wow, with three under 5's I feel like I have never been so busy! Things are manic around here! We got our three chickens last week, and have been gifted with three eggs already!  Marjorie, Penelope and Matilda are very cute, and so far very well behaved! Miss Noodle loves them, she calls Penelope 'Pen melon pea' - so cute! will add some pics here later.

"Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."
~ Lao Tzu

our Easter Tree

first rhubarb from the allotment in a crumble

the gorgeous Miss Noodle

Miss Noodle with her Daddy and his lovely granddaughter

can't believe it's been so long......

WOW! I can't believe it's been so long since I posted anything here! We have two little children come to stay (we are foster carers) and life has taken a turn for the busier! They are 16 months and 4 years old! Combined with our own Miss Noodle things are a bit hectic around these parts!

To say I'm not sure if I'm coming or going would be only slightly an overstatement!

Will try to upload some pics later, things are certainly challenging at the moment!

{ this moment }

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.-soulemama

thankful list continued...

7. The warm sun, 'life feels better when the sun shines on it' (thanks Kelly)
8. Tiny seedlings popping through the compost
9. The fact that I can get in my car and go anywhere
10. Our garden, such a lovely playspace for the children

spring is here

Spring is here! and it is beautiful!

I love blossom! this smelled wonderful

I planted this in January, the first flower appeared this week

first ladybird of the year

first rhubarb! this was after I picked some to make rhubarb and apple crumble with tomorrow

planting the first potatoes on our new allotment

little helper has to be strapped in or she runs off!

{ this moment }

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. -soulemama

gratitude

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.  ~Epictetus

 

There is no greater difference between men than between grateful and ungrateful people.  ~R.H. Blyth

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.  ~Thornton Wilder

 

Inspired today by http://ecomilf.blogspot.com/I am going to start listing the things I am grateful for here.  I think that I don't pay enough conscious thought to things that I should be grateful for, I take so much for granted.  Watching the unfolding horror in Japan over the weekend I was suddenly grateful for water running from my taps, something which I take for granted every day.  Listening to the radio and someone moaning about being stuck behind a refuse truck made me grateful that we have people who take our rubbish away for us every week.  We have luxuries that many dream of, but are we thankful? I realise I am not, so here I am going to try to be more consciously thankful.

Here is the start of my thankful list:

1. household utilities, I am thankful that whatever I need is just a switch away

2. health, I am so thankful that my family and I are healthy

3. the beautiful world around us

4. my friends

5. a roof over our heads, in the form of our lovely house, it's not perfect and there is much needing to be done to it, but it is our home

6. the internet, where I can connect with people and places that would not otherwise be open to me

I will aim to continue as and when I can...

weekend bargains

lovely, Old Britian Castles set, 99p from ebay!

so pretty! especially for 50p!

And on another note, here is where I would like to be just now

On the Sharpham Estate, the last half mile by rough track and right on a sylvan bend of the river Dart, stands this Grade ll listed Georgian bathing house, secluded in trees and with only an occasionally occupied boat house as neighbour.  It is in the most idyllic, tranquil situation right on the river with views towards heavily wooded banks all round.  With only the noise of the water, breeze in the trees and the passing traffic of the river (canoes, day boats , the occsional seal) to disturb.  Oh my! give me a minute to dream!

(picture and description courtesy of Helpful Holidays)

Awsome

this is just the most awsome Christmas song, I know it's March but I just want to put it on here to remind myself....

aspiring to be a better mum

Someone I used to know cropped up fleetingly in my life again this year, and her mum has recently died. Her facebook post saying goodbye to her mum on the day of the funeral rocked my socks. Everything she said about her was true, as I remember her, brave, funny, great mum, things about the profession she chose and rose to the heights in, and how she was loved by her only daughter. WOW. Got me thinking, what do I want my children to be able to say about me when I die? How lucky am I that I have time NOW to be able to do things that they will hopefully remember, learn from, love about me or even maybe think I am a great mum when I am no longer around to do the mum things I can do now. I think I have a great relationship with them, the boys agree with me, it has been hard work but I hope I am winning.

The song 'The Best Day' by Taylor Swift is a beautiful song, written by her and inspired by some video footage she found of when she was a young child. It was written for her mum, about how much she loves and appreciates her and how she had 'the best day' with her. I love this, and the accompanying video is lovely,  makes me cry every time.

There is such a lot of stuff in my head about this, about my relationship with my own parents, but what I can do is hope that I am being a role model for my daughters, someone that they can know, really know, feel free to ask anything of, feel comfortable with, want to spend a bit of time with, share things with and generally when they are older be their friend as well as their mum.

 I do know they know I love them - my sons and daughters know that, thinking about it my son told me a few months ago that I am an awsome mum! that was nice, I want to be an awsome mum, but not only that, I really want them to think that I am the best mum they could wish for.

Now that really would be something.

this moment.....

Inspired by SouleMama...

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

 



We collected this lovely cup and saucer from a lady nearby today, 99p from ebay, it matches the tea plate sitting underneath, this is one that Miss Noodle picked up in a charity shop for 35p! She has been having her lunch on it but now I have a set I'm wondering if I should keep it for her for when she's a bit older, just in case she ends up loving old things and tea cups as much as I do!  Thinking about it I could save it for her birthday in July, I am planning a tea and cakes party, using  my vintage crockery, with cup cakes and cream teas, a great excuse to be on the look out for more cheap vintage goodies if you ask me!

On being authentic

Now I'm not so narsisistic as to think that anyone cares what I put on this here little old blog of mine, however, I think I need an outlet for myself, somewhere to put things that I think are important or interesting, hence the random shot of cupcakes above! Incidentally they were my first go and they have sparkles....yes SPARKLES! get me, and my, were they good! In case anyone is interested the beautiful stand was £5 from ebay, my Aunt embroidered the table cloth and the china was cheap from a charity shop! I like to invite my friends round for lunch or tea and use my beautiful crockery, we jokingly call it 'posh lunch', but somehow it seems like more of an occasion when we use things that are beautiful and have history. I'm not precious about it, if something gets broken I would far rather that while it was being used than kept in a cupboard..........I am reminded of Irma Bombeck's poem written before she died about what she would have done differently during her life if she had another go at living it........... she would have used the best china and burned the beautiful candle shaped like a rose......That's partly why I want to record this stuff, life is too important not to use the good stuff.  I don't want to get old and wish I had done things differently. Obviously there are choices I could have made that may have been better for me than the choices that I did make, but I don't regret one of them.  Each choice I made has got me here to the place that I am in now, the present, my present, here now. I wouldn't change a thing, even the painful things because this has been my life, I have choices in how I choose to live it, and I am trying to make wise choices, listen to God (bad choices have been when I haven't consulted Him first).   Gosh I have just read this, I was going to post about how often I read blogs and the owners seem to live perfect lives (obviously not but they choose to blog about the great stuff) and I wanted this to be real, about me, not the nice tidy (hmmm, not sure when that was) house that I live in, but about me, warts and all, because if I can't be authentic and genuine here when I'm really talking to myself, when can I be?

By the way, I was going to confess that I am really bad at housekeeping! I would so rather be doing anything else than cleaning but ironically I love to have a clean and tidy house! With that in mind the following photo is of my best ebay purchase ever, I seriously LOVE this, it's in our hall and SO useful, probably the best storage we own.  I particularly love the little holders where I have put the photo for the person who's things are inside. Even though I had to drive 30 miles into the countryside in the worse blizzard (I kid you not) that I have ever seen to get it, it was worth every penny of the £10 I paid for it!

And yes, I did have to clear a ton of junk from the top and make it look pretty before I took the photo! lol!

How I love the sunshine

Oh my goodness! It's a beautiful day - crispy cold but warm sunshine, somehow there is the feeling of warmth and possibility everywhere.  Leaves peaking through earth, windows opening after the cold of winter, shadows on the floor, and the sound of birds singing outside.  Seasonal transitions are my favourite times of year, the exciting changes, reminding me of time ticking past, of what is to come as we enter a new phase. Spring particularly is a lovely time of year for me, newness, change and growth are things that are everywhere at the moment, I feel quietly excited with possibility and creations, or maybe that should be the possibility of creations!
We made a big batch of play dough this morning, bright pink of course! which we look forward to playing with later - yes, spring is the season for creating!
I am trying not to miss a single second of my time here with the little Miss, even though it has slowed considerably since I stopped working, it is still flying by!

Welcome to Love Vintage

I love vintage! I have started this blog to document some of the things I love  in this world.  My family, what we get up to and my vintage finds from my delving around in charity shops! Since loving all things old I have discovered I love tea, but it has to be made in a teapot and in a cup and saucer! Above is my latest find, an Alfred Meakin tea set (although it only has two cups but that means it's perfect for tea for two!)  all for £6 in an RSPCA shop! I love it, our tea has tasted wonderful in it this weekend!

Since I have been rummaging in charity shops I have discovered that I really don't like to pay full price for anything, and get far more pleasure from a thrifted treasure, something about the history, where it came from, who owned it, who has used it, these things are interesting to me. I am currently considering selling some of my vintage treasures (Etsy here I come) because my cupboards are rather full!