The British Homemaker - One day at a time

For the last three weeks my kids have been hit with colds, coughs, vomiting, tonsillitis and laryngitis... then last Thursday I woke up with a hoarse voice,  no illness or anything, just sounding like a man. Friday morning I woke up with a voice that worked part time.... each sentence held missed words even though I was actually speaking!! I have no tonsils so I assumed it could be another bout of swollen glands.... which I had in August and found extremely painful. Saturday came and I was drowsy all day,     Sunday came and I was in pain all round my neck and throat area... so Kirsten called NHS helpline to see what I could do to ease it, not only did I want to scratch the skin off but I wanted to ice my entire mouth inside, I was sure it was on fire. Because I have asthma and I was periodically struggling for breath they sent out the paramedics, over kill for sure! Thankfully, it wasn't anything sinister but mere laryngitis. I still want to scratch my sk...

Do you like white Christmas trees? I have to be honest I have never, ever liked or appreciated them, that is until I saw my moms last year and I kinda sorta maybe almost liked it, a teeny, tiny bit! Being in temporary accommodation when Christmas came last year we had zero tree/decorations so I set out building my own, or at least I planned to when my mom offered me to use her green one. The kids jumped at it and who was I to say no? I mean, they'd had so much to deal with for the previous 8 months that I was going to do anything to put some magic back in their lives if only for a couple of weeks. I think I should learn to stop digressing! ;) This week I went into town to get a couple of things I'd 'added' to my list, one being a 6' white Christmas tree. Now for those of you that know me in real life will know that my Christmas tree is the pride of the season seconded only to the Saviour himself. I usually have a huge one, 8' high by 5' wide at the...

I raise this post from a couple of years ago as this is what I a working on this week. I wanted some quick and easy but effective blinds for the two front bedroom windows for my daughters room in our former home, after a few ideas I came across this style on one of my favourite blogs which hit me perfectly upside the head! I knew they were perfect. As I a considering how I want to dress the two windows in my room this style keeps jumping around in my head, only in red and white {they are my room colours} I would just swap the black for the red but the style would be exactly the same. The best thing about this style is you simply sew the two fabrics together once cut to size, add three tabs to the bottom to fold over and hook onto three stitched on buttons {I used black buttons with red flowers hot glued on top of those} Because the fabric is polycotton it is lightweight so you don't need a drill or nails double sided velcro is perfect for hanging. I would suggest, for hea...

I meant to post this on 1st December to see if it could be added to and/or altered for other fun crafts. My teen isn't huge on crafting but the dude is, he will sit for hours making, drawing, designing, writing, colouring and creating something from almost nothing. Add that to the fun of Christmas crafting and it makes for a happy mommy! Every year we have our own little routine in preparation for Christmas, quite simple really and it keeps the kids happy on the colder days and longer nights. Goes something like this: 1st - Tree goes up and decorated 2nd - Decorations around the house From here on we have a rough sketch of what we want to do each day up to Christmas Eve: Make window decorations paper chains operation Christmas child boxes {between 2 ad 6} paper bunting felt ornaments bread and pastry goodies soap/hand lotion gifts teacher/church teacher gifts salt dough decorations personalised baubles chocolate and marshmallow chocolate gifts cookies, cake...

I love things to do with homemaking, diy and creativity and for the last 5 years I haven't had a fire surround for the stockings to be hung... an absolute must in my house but it just wasn't feasible in our former home given the ridiculous amount of doors in just the living room and radiators on the other. However, a few months ago I gained a dark wood one from freecycle with an electric fire, it needs a good overhaul in all honesty but I just haven't got to that on my to-do list yet. BUT that doesn't stop me enjoying the fact that the kids now have a place to hang their stockings and i get to play at mantel dressing.... or is it a fire place? Here in the UK we call it a fire place/fire surround but our fellows in USA call them mantels....so we'll go with both.. keeps the peace, dontcha think? :) I have a gorgeous dark wood framed picture of the baby Jesus above the fire place/mantel, {another to-do list project, lighten up the frame} which i...

Week three and my little dude is still sick, week two and the teen is also sick... I am assuming that when they are both recovered I will be sick. I have an irrational fear of being ill. But that's for another day. On the 'up' moments with Charley he has been getting down and crafty with my cricut machine. He came up with an idea, I simply followed his directions... An A3 canvas board was covered with some thick fabric then Charley placed his strips of cardstock and numbers exactly where he wanted them. I added a bit of blitzy glitter glue to the push pins {he chose that way to secure them to the board} and job done! He's very impressed with his idea, I a so proud of him for getting something so awesome from his wonderful little mind! Forget the other two advents he has, this is the best....and if he says that over Moshi Monsters then that's the final word!!

I've been practising time management this last few weeks, I set out my to-do list, kept it real for this time of year and set out to achieve three things off the list per day... except Sundays. So far I am on target and I'm kinda proud of myself. Because I found a system that works for me I have been very blessed to have Christmas 'all wrapped up' as they say thanks to my seasonal craft sales... Handmade fabric wreath with a selection of accessories.  The popular wreath this year is silver. This mocha and polka is the second favourite. Handmade, lighted garlands. I do these in different sizes and they too have been flying out the door! I feel extremely blessed for the things I've been able to achieve this year, so very different to last year that's for sure :)

A photo a day.....just for fun : Come share something fun....and meet new people!