New year planning for the croft.

Today I don't feel tooooooo ill!
Which is great.
I can muddle through with pain and illness usually but this jelly legged, woolly headed feeling is just NASTY! Even just a short walk yesterday left me feeling wiped  out, and there's always the fear of experiencing a set back.
But today I feel good and so I'm hoping tomorrow I feel just as good, if not better, because DAMNIT!! I have stuff to do!!
There's something about a mild January that leaves me with itchy fingers.
Desperate to get on with something... Anything!!
In the garden, being in the NE of Scotland, any chance to do anything when it isn't a) under 3 feet of snow, b) 6 inches of permafrost c) 12 inches of lashing rain, is a god send, and the last couple of days have been unseasonably mild and dry, which means I have a list as long as my arm of things I COULD do NOW!
A few are....

• Fill in the new rhubarb bed.
• Lift and divide the last of the rhubarb.       
• Take apart the old raised beds and use them to make the new ones.
• Put up the new semi-temporary chicken run.
• Prune fruit trees.
• Dig up current bushes (most likely over 40 yrs old and no longer fruiting)
• Plant up new fruit bushes.
• Prep front of house for spring planting.
• General tidying.

So yeah... plenty to get on with.... So who wants to guess it snows tomorrow ;)

So what now?

I took down the decorations today.
Not because I wanted to but because some nice twist of bedroom emergency means I now have a futon in my kitchen... it was either the tree or I slept standing up...
To be honest, the last week hasn't been so peachy... Xmas day aside... in fact most of December has been blah and by the time the big day rolled up most of us had been ill, were ill or were shortly to get ill.
I know we're not the only ones.
The truth is, I'm finding I view the run up to Xmas with more dread than excitement now.
On the 1st of December I put up a white board with every date till the 25th and was horrified to see that we had something "xmasy" nearly EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!
What with school plays, carols, pantos, shopping, parties, decorating, wrapping, baking, work.... The kids were so tired by the time school kicked out that its like the immune system goes " uuuuuuuuuuuuuuggghhhhhmmmmrrrffffppppmmmm...plop..." and dies....

Am I the only one who feels rail roaded into being Xmasy and jolly and full o festive cheer for the best part of a month?
Its not even like these are our plans, mostly they're school or village things.... and then you feel mean for thinking like that.

OK people... am I a grinch for wanting to disappear for the whole of December?
To have a quiet, understated, yule celebration and then creep back in the dead quiet of January the 1st?

Tell me I'm not the only one?    

Merry Xmas Blogger

So that's Xmas over for another year.
Was it a good one?
Sadly we've had Norovirus in the house for the last ten days, although thankfully Xmas day was drama free with only Middle child being a little sick in the morning. But lets face it, its not Xmas if you can't lay in bed all day watching movies and putting Lego together ;)

We still had a good time though and I was pleased as anything that lots of the gifts I gave this year were either made by friends or relatives or I managed to pick up second hand.

Sadly I didn't get round to taking pictures.

Here's a few from the day itself though :)

Our little tree, its over 30 years old and still going strong. Decorated in the main, as always, by  the knitted decorations my mother gave me a few years ago.  

Mince pies :)

Home made "posh" chocolates,.  

Mushroom and cashew pate.

Reaction shot to the big box of 2nd hand transformers and transformer DVD's. 

Redmills "Cheatin' turkey roast" was a big hit!

"Merry Bloody Xmas"

Anyway..... 2013.... I have high hopes.

The veggie garden had a major overhaul last year and will be ready to plant up properly this year. We have plans for the house and possibly even a business venture.

Watch this space... blogging will resume in earnest ;)   

      

Rug.

I suffer from a lack of rugs in my house but, rightly so, am always wary of buying them as a) they're an expense I can't justify and b) invariably with 3 kids, 3 dogs, a cat and a husband, they get filthy.

Anyway, the other day I was in an proper old fashioned hardware store, mooching about while his-self looked at bolts or nails or fecking armadillo polish, I don't know...  when I wandered into the carpet section.

They have  small selection of carpet to order and big blocks of samples.    

My eye fell on a shelf in the corner full of samples from discontinued ranges.

So... guess what I did next?

First pick 6 tiles of similar density.

Next, grab a heavy duty needle and some string and stitch the tiles together end to end. 

Now, put by the fire and watch various small animals gravitate towards it.

Gonzo approves of frugal ruggage..... 

So yeah. The idea is if it gets dirty or SOMEONE (points up) pee's on it, I can just snip the string off one square and shove it in the washing machine.

One large deep pile checked rug: £3.00