So much to do, so little time

Much has been going on these last few weeks and will continue to do so for a while yet. Family get-togethers, school trips, football and tennis to watch, sports day, pre-school visits and two birthdays to plan for. Hoorah! July is THE BEST time for a birthday and both Small Bean and I are counting the days til we wake up with that knotty excited feeling in our tummies and then eat cake and chocolate all day. (As well as quite a lot of champagne too in my case as it is Quite A Significant One for me this year...)

I have also been very busy making treasures from my magic bean box. A lovely shop in Clare, Blue Dog, has bought some of my pieces (hooray). A couple of toggle clasp necklaces like this...

and some bird earrings and necklaces too.

I did a (sadly disappointing) school fair in Suffolk (boo). Our own school fair is at the end of next week, I hope I do a bit better than last weekend. I made this last night to put on the stall

but I really like it and am almost hoping it won't sell.

There is a chance that Sterling Designs at Burwash Manor may want some more silver soon too and I've had a couple of commissions to do. My brain has been quite full of new ideas which I have not yet been able to do. Busy busy busy.

As a result of all this madness our poor old garden is being a bit neglected. I am not going to show you a picture of it, I'll wait til it's all a bit more cherished. What did look all green and frothy a couple of weeks ago now looks quite brown and tired. It doesn't help that we have had almost zilch rain for yonks but I am NOT complaining about that.

Right. Back to the party planning. Or tennis. With a cuppa and chunk of Dairy Milk...

Overheard in the playground...

Small Bean: What do you like best, burps or farts?

Godson Bean: Farts.

Small Bean: Yeah. They make a better noise don't they.

Tidying Up

I feel quite out of control at the moment. Too many little trivial things to do but not really enough enthusiasm and momentum to do them. Then that feeling when the Smalls are in bed that nothing has been achieved and yet more things have been added to the To Do list. Not much has been crossed off this week. Until now. I am doing a tidy up post. Then, tick, the blog will be firmly crossed off the list.

Do you remember me telling you about an amazing felt brooch I bought on our recent trip to Saltburn? It was in this gallery. Well, here it is. Do you like it? What do you think? I'm sorry the photo if it is a bit on the wonk but I was too lazy to take it off my jacket. I love the teeny tiny beads but mostly, the serious faces of the heartsease. How simple, but so so effective.

I have been meaning to update you on the progress of our wheat. Look! It has ears. It is tall and straight and I think that we will actually be able to have a mini-harvest later this summer. Will we have enough to make a bread roll? I truly don't know but I cannot wait to see.

Doesn't it look gorgeous? This field of green is in the middle of Cambridge! Yes. I am the little red hen.

Now, earlier this week we had a rather Big Milestone. Small Bean lost his first tooth. He was giving them a good old brush before bedtime and came rushing and screaming into me and Smaller Bean shouting 'My tooth has come out, my tooth has come out!' and all the while spraying blood around. (Well, not that much but there was quite a bit of the red stuff in his mouth.) We left his bedroom window open (for easy access) and that Tooth Fairy left him a golden coin. He is one of the last in his class to loose a tooth so the excitement has been great.

Big Bean is quite sad about this, our boy will never look quite the same again. Small Bean is just waiting for the next wobbler to drop.

On the subject of Small Bean, this is one of his favourite pastimes. I have wanted to blog about the wonders of Playmobil for a while. His bedroom floor is littered with tiny important pieces of plastic which are all part of a complicated game. Where else can Romans, deep-sea divers, pharoahs, knights and pirates all rub shoulders and Small spends HOURS on his floor totally immersed in this world. It is such a fabulous toy. Great for imagination, history, communication, social skills and fine motor development. It should be in everyones house and in every KS1 classroom in the country. Godson Bean loves it and his Big Brother who is 10 still plays with it regularly. I hope that Small's wonderful imagination lasts for a long time to come.

So. I'm off. Need to find a pencil to cross this blog off the list and then plug in the iron. Sadly I won't be joining the crusader and flying off on a rescue mission. Have a good weekend.

Deja Vu

We went away for the weekend (and bunked a day off school too, shh) to a gorgeous place where Big Beans grandparents lived wayback in the 70's. It is called Saltburn-by-the-sea. Heard of it?

We stayed on the top of this cliff in a one of the Coastguard cottages. You can just about see the little row of cottages on the top of the cliff in the photo above. We were just a short walk down to the most amazing beach we have been on for yonks.Just look. Empty sandy clean sand for as far as the eye can see. We spent a lot of time on the beach. In and out of the sea, writing names in the sand, more splashing, pebble spotting, football and watching this...


...the funicular tram, taking people up and down the steep cliff to town. Big Bean had a long chat with the Tram Master (made up title but quite a good one don't you think?) about how it worked. I switched off after water, cables and weight but he knows all about it so email him if you need to know more...


Big Bean was very excited to be back after such a long time away. We both thought it was fab. A marvellous farmers market on Saturday, delish chocolate shop and beautiful rows of Victorian terraces. I bought a brooch (brooch, I sound like my mother, something about that word I really don't like) made of felt with beads on it, in the Artsbank Gallery. Will blog it later when I've photoed it.


If you click on here you will see the Beans names in the sand.

But mostly we did this.

EDIT: If you want more Saltburn-by-the-sea fun, refer to Attic 24's post a week or so ago.

Winners...

Apologies first. Sorry. I think I sounded a bit gloomy and brattish on the last post. I wasn't meaning to at all but gloom and brat seemed to come across. I am of course very grateful to anyone who visits and reads this blog and I am subsequently thrilled that so, so many of you entered the lucky-dip. I need to thank Vintage Vicky and A Country Girl especially as they were the first to put a link to MagicBeans on their blogs. VV and C-G, tvm for doing that, x.

Anyway, apologies over with, now down to the nitty gritty.

I made a grid.

I filled it with names.

I covered the names with squares of Cambridge Agenda.

Then I called in my three willing assistants. (Actually they were all a bit reluctant, one was on the loo, one was finishing an ice lolly and the other had just started a new playmobil game.)

Finally they came and showed quite a lot of interest.

Small Bean removed the first square to reveal

Little Gem . Hooray for Little Gem. Email your address to me and that Birdy Necklace Giveaway will fly to you.

Then Godson Bean removed the next piece of paper...

Sherri B!!! You have won something too. A little package will be in the post to you (when you let me know where you live).

And then Smaller Bean wanted to get in on the act, so she picked

Jane. My schoolfriend who I've known since 1981!!! She was the first person to reply to the giveaway on my website. Well done you, a little something will find its way to you in London.

So. There we are, it has been Good Fun doing this. I have also done a World Cup Sweepstake in the Street. Maybe I should get some bingo cards printed and start Two Fat Ladying and Legs Elevening as a bit of a moonlight. Or maybe I should just stick to Beans.