Hooray

On closer inspection my LYS isn't closing down. They're having some work done. Phew! Don't use it that much but it's nice to have when I need to go and squish stuff.

Bad news

On the way to the dentist I noticed that my local wool shop is looking decidedly empty. Looks like it has closed down. What a bummer! I could be wrong, and it could be that it's being done up or something but I suspect not. Sigh...

Dental update

The girls were due for a check up today so I made an appointment for me too. Sat in the chair with a huge sense of impending doom to be told that it wasn't a hole in my tooth but some tartar build up that had chipped off leaving a sharp edge. What a relief!

So £45 worse off and an industrial power-washing (scale and polish) later I have lovely stain-free and smooth teeth again. Phew!

Tooth Problem

Not the children for once - but me!!

A piece of one of my lower front teeth has fallen off. There's a hole now. It's sharp. I can't stop fiddling with it with my tongue. It's going to cost a fortune to fix.

Still, at least it doesn't hurt. Yet.

Chilling out at home

The weather over the weekend wasn't so great and yesterday there was even some sleet for a while. It's been rather chilly at times too.  Nothing for it but to find a cosy nook and get on with some knitting or crochet.

Not to mention, enjoying a lovely blazing fire of an evening too.

New camera joy, Rotten Wood and appalling stink

My old faithful Kodak camera finally conked out for good last year.  It was only a 4.2 megapixel camera but always took lovely, lovely shots.  So we decided we needed a new camera, set a budget and got a little fujifilm finepix compact camera.  Full of anticipation we have tried all the different modes.  It's pants.  Really, really, really, REALLY pants. The pictures are too overexposed, you can't focus properly with it, there's no view finder ( thought I could get used to not having one but I can't) and we hate it. We realised that it isn't about the megapixels - it's all about the lens. The Kodak had a really great lens hence the good pics.

So I started looking on ebay to see if there were any of the kodak camera that we had for sale. There were, all bids unsuccessful so in the end we have got a second hand Nikon D40 digital SLR. And it is justawesome!  Just getting to grips with it but it's looking pretty fab so far.

We trundled up the road to Rotten Wood so that the girls could let off some steam and to play with the camera a bit.

There aren't many signs of spring there just yet but the amazing brilliance of all the green moss is spectacular. I particularly like the almost furry look it gives to some of the branches.  There are lots of interesting fungi about too.  We all love the fallen trees as they are so much fun to clamber about on.

And of course, we had to visit the elephant tree.

The only downside of our little trip was an appalling stench near the entrance. Like something dead. Honestly, I was retching at one point and I really thought I was going to be sick  - it was so bad. Fortunately, it did disappear after a while but it was quite possibly the nastiest smell I've ever smelt. Not the usual manure/muckspreading kind of thing... definitely a rotting flesh kind of thing.... ughhh... And even now a few hours later I keep catching a faint whiff of it. Yuk!

Half Term Begins

Well it's half term at last.  There are a couple of those pesky 'inset' days tacked onto the beginning and end and despite working term time now I still don't have quite enough days off to cover those as well.

Friday inset day the girls were home with daddy and nipped out for a bit of a walk.  Barbie 1 and Barbie 2 just simply absolutely definintely had to go along too and were happy to pose for a couple of glam outdoor shots.

Barbie 1 and Barbie 2 proving that outdoor activies can be glam!

As usual, older girlie managed to find something interesting. And many fables were invented and elaborated upon concerning the 'death skull'.

Weather hasn't been too good over the weekend so there hasn't been a great deal going on really.

Birthday Pampering

Well my older girl is now 8. How time has flown. I just can't believe how quickly the years have passed. It seems like the blink of an eye sometimes.

Anyhow, we decided no more big parties so we had a Body Shop pamper party for some of her friends from school. It was a blast.  A really fun time was had by all. Vicky, the lovely (and rather glam) Body Shop consultant came along to pamper and preen them... there was some facial treatment, a foot scrub spa and some toenail painting. There was a little bit of glitter and lippy too but nothing to American Beauty pageant!

 

The Birthday girl in the middle of the foot spa session.  Lots of fun being had at this point.

Loving the spa caps!  Also check out the latest granny stripe just muscling into this picture on the right!

And of course, there had to be cake.  The most chocolate-y cake ever. Which is what we made yesterday afternoon. Smartie decoration done by the birthday girl.

A super fun girly time was had by all. It was gorgeous!

Best socks ever!

I am taking part in the Sole Sisters swap on Ravelry and my package arrived yesterday. You make either socks or mittens for your partner. My parcel came from Norway which filled me with excitement as it was sure to contain some woolly and warm wonderfulness. And I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I was completely bowled over by the socky magnificence. In fact they go far, far beyond mere socks. They are stockings. Fantastic, awesome stockings! Just look at these babies....

 Ooh they are soooo toasty.  I shall wear them under my bike pants on chilly rides and they will be just perfect for chilly evenings on the campsite when we head back to the lakes.  Just love them!

Many, many thanks to Ann from Norway