A little arctophilist

When we were at Muncaster Castle a few weeks ago we sat next to a lovely lady whilst Emily had her lunch.Milly had just purchased 3 collectible bears dressed in Victorian style outfits and was a very happy bunny and had them sat on the table.We got chatting to the lady who informed us that she also collected bears and told Emily she was an arctophilist,the name given to bear collectors!! Milly is now an official arctophilist:-)

Back Home.......

Back home,great hols,very tired and taking a couple of days to do as little as possible:-)

Milly got back and went into nest making mode.






Which morphed into the ice bridge(row of chairs and a rug rolled up on top as an added danger to balance on!!) as she continued her Golden Compass game.

Off on Holiday

Off on a short break with friends.Looking forward to beachcombing and fossil hunting with lot's of swimming thrown in,indoors I would imagine, although the forcast is quite good ,not sure it will be that warm:-)See you when we get back.xx

Thursday evening snapshots

Couldn't get a picture of the two of them (Alan and Emily)as they played around the garden and went off to climb a tree in the park.All part of a game involving Chrissie a Lyra(Golden Compass) character who came through a window(Milly's version of a portal) into our world this afternoon!! Granny and grandad were visiting and were tickled at Emily coming downstairs in an outfit she had put together for Chrissie and was speaking in an american accent and was no longer Emily:-)Golden compass books and CD part of our evening.Both Alan and I have been characters in the ever evolving game.



Keeping my fingers crossed as the sofa covers get the second round of dye.Hoping the dye takes and we get as near as possible to chocolate brown.....




Trying to shop online and this bloody message appearing for the thousandth time:-(



Hanging a picture in Milly's room, she wants to have crimson bedding.We might not get round to painting the walls any time soon but she is thinking she wants crimson walls as well,leaving the frames white.She is still in our room to sleep but spends time in here during the day.




Making a big pan of Chilli for tea tomorrow(and some to freeze for Al while we are away)while cooking tonight's tea.




Which led to lots of this!!!




A present from Milly to me....

Confidence under pressure ;-)

My sister was looking after Milly whilst I went to an appointment that Milly didn't want to accompany me to.My sister had promised a friend she would give her a lift in to town to do a little shopping.When I got back my sister said that her friend (a teachers wife)must have felt she needed to pack as much info into the car journey as a learning experience for Emily.When she had talked to Emily about a few things on the journey she asked her what she had learnt this week,(bear in mind this is the little girl who when asked that question about school always said"nothing") she answered that she had learnt to bake bread with her Granny,the friend then asked if she had learnt the science of making bread and quick as a flash Milly came back with the fact that we had done an experiment (well remembered because this had been done in the very early days after taking her out of school)with yeast in a bottle blowing up a balloon!! I was so proud of her and happy that she had been so confident under interrogation;-)) I asked how she has felt about it and she said she was a little annoyed but that she hadn't wanted the lady to think she was totally uneducated !!!!;-))

Wednesday evening snapshot....

What we get up to on an evening;-)



Me


Milly ,doesn't everyone wear a shower cap to do a drawing??Milly was running a bath and then came back down as the urge took her to draw on her fresh canvas:-)


Al

Two rooms done, 3 usable and one to go!!

Update on the big change round.The aim being to make every part of our downstairs rooms usable and functional and to increase storage to make cleanups easier.

After a week of sorting and building we have three usable rooms again BWG!!

Everywhere has been decluttered and storage has been the main priority.
In the sun room there used to be a couple of tired old rattan chairs and we rarely spent any time relaxing in what is a really great room.
We have moved two small bookcases from here into the dining room and this large bookcase means we now have toys,jigsaws and games available to pull out when watching TV in here.We also have books that we can just pull out as we are snuggling in here that may not otherwise get looked at.
Milly fell in love with a very large and expensive swivel chair (size of a single bed!!) in DFS but good old ikea came up trumps with a more affordable option.



The sofa bed moved from the living room into here.It was an aubergine colour and I have taken off the covers to dye chocolate brown.I was far too impatient on Saturday when the pre dye and dye I had ordered came.I just wanted to get it done and shoved it in the machine when I really should have waited and ordered another box cos there was far too much weight in the fabric:-( So at the moment I am waiting on a delivery of two more box's to try to rectify the tye dye,mottled aubergine effect they are at the moment.......So untill that comes and I can then dye them we are living with an unclothed settee covered in tea stains!!



As we go out to the back door we have made full use of this unit and have gloves scarfs etc to hand,as well as dog grooming brushes and other such paraphernalia.Many years ago when I went to Kenya I brought back a very small sandstone Elephant ornament which sits on Emily's bedroom windowsill.We love elephants and have decided to start a small collection, our first being Mummy and baby sitting on here :-)



Finally we have the TV cabinet.I initially got these box's to store toys in for easy access but they have proved to be too flimsy so I decided to store lighter things we don't use too often in here and have brought the toys down to the more substantial plastic box's in the dining room.They are still much more accessible and are easy to bring through.



The dining room has benefited from a really good sort out and I have been ruthless with old pictures and stones and bits of pot found during archaeological digs in the back garden!! I have been obviously checking with Milly before throwing anything I know she is attached to.I have been surprised at how easily she has let things go this time.



This isn't a great picture but it shows the table does get cleared sometimes and if we did want to we could actually eat here.It also shows my bargain chairs(the dark brown wooden ones) I got 6 from Impact housing(they recycle old unwanted furniture) for 10 Pounds, all they need is a clean up and some white paint and they are perfect.i have been looking around Impact every week for sofas and bookcases but had no luck with things that would fit our room but well worth a look if you don't mind used furniture.Still some old furniture to move out,this old Rattan chair is going to go to Impact housing.



The next two show Milly's new little corner.She has already spent many a happy hour listening to tapes and drawing or just lying on her chair bed.One other thing has been the things she has used because they are out at her level,Milly has never really looked in cupboards at what we have available so one of the reasons for doing this was to be able to put things on the shelves that I think will interest her.I have found it is better to do this subtly as any obvious attempt to interest her in anything is usually ignored.We are going to move some of the posters and paint a section of wall white so that she can sit and draw on the wall and we can just repaint it when it needs it.




The kitchen is the only room where things haven't been moved around but as yet has not been decluttered but this will have to wait till we get back from our short break in Filey with friends next week.

The living room is a long room and the top half had furniture in but was never used it is my new home for the computer and is still very much a work in progress.Alan has built the new furniture but as we are storing the furniture I need to sell it is still in a real mess in here.I have not ordered the new setee and chairs yet but they will take 8 to 12 weeks to come so that gives us plenty of time to sell this furniture.We have sold three items already but still more to go.I have not suddenly come into money:-) The sale of these is financing the new items but we decided to take out a 0% visa deal and pay it off as the things sell and we have 13 months to do so.I have found in life that you can sometimes wait for ever for something to happen if you don't take a chance and make it happen.We will not be left in debt as we will have the means to pay it off by then, even if the furnture dosen't sell.





We have advertised on local notice boards and will be posting leaflets through doors in the neighbouring villages.

Just in case you are interested here is the ad,and if you can get to west cumbria and are interested in anything at all just e mail me at pixiemum@yahoo.co.uk ;-))

Flat pack marathon!!!

Had a very busy day at Ikea with Al,funny just the two of us with no Emily to flit about in between the furniture and try out every sofa,bed or chair ;-)

We got everything we needed and the only hiccup was about the furniture I had chosen for the sun room.I had spent ages thinking about the colour scheme and decided on a walnut bookcase and Tv stand.As we were looking at them Alan asked if I was sure as it might be a little dark.Well, that sowed a seed of doubt and what seemed like hours later after looking at the units over and over again I changed my mind and we bought the light birch finish.On the way home all the way on the 2 hour journey I was kicking myself,I really felt I had made a mistake,but still wasn't sure.

The next day we opened up the box to build it up and even though it was a nice colour it was the exact opposite to what I had planned and I knew without a doubt it was wrong for our room and there was no way I could live with it.I was so annoyed with myself.Alan been the kind of guy he is suggested taking it back and he set off that afternoon and exchanged it taking 6 hours to make the return journey and do the exchange..Have I mentioned how much I love him:-))

Thankfully all the bits (so far) have been in the boxs and we have finished putting up the furniture in the sunroom and the dining room is nearly completed( this was mainly moving furniture from other rooms)just the living room to go and there is a small matter of furniture to sell before we can order the sofas or put up some of the new furniture.Had some luck and have sold a few things and am planning to do some leaflets to go on local noticeboards and post them round the houses in our village and the neighbouring ones to try and shift the bigger peices ASAP.Fingers crossed or else we will have to live with what looks like a furniture showroom in our living room.

Hi there xx

Still here just not had much to say.Well that's not quite true,I have started posts and then kind of lost it half way through and given up.I have been a little withdrawn and quiet in real life and it has seeped over into blog life and although I am reading blogs I find I start to comment and the words just don't come.Been here before and it will pass.

Alan is on holiday and things have been hectic over the last couple of days.Some time ago I had a great idea to make the sun room a more comfortable and inviting place to spend some time and that has now spiralled and every room downstairs has been changed around and furniture is dizzy from being moved:-)

There were areas that space was wasted and when the move is complete the whole of the downstairs will be much more usable.I am selling all my living room furniture and replacing it.We have hired a van and head off to Ikea in the morning for bookcases and and other bits and bobs.Every room will have better storage. I forgot to take pictures before but when we eventually finish I will share the results.The other benefit to this moving around is the spring clean the house is getting,it is long overdue........