Prizes

Way back in October I won a little giveaway, here over on Vintage Squirrel, which is a very lovely blog indeed. However. For reasons beyond everyone's control (and my knowledge) I only found out that I had won a couple of weeks ago.

I was invited to chose a brooch from the amazing selection that The Talented Mrs Squirrel makes. Quite frankly, this is An Impossible Task. All of them are beautiful. In the end, after much umming and ahing, I plumped for one which combines two colours which I think go oh-so-well together, red and tealy blue.

It arrived in a scrumptious brown squidgy envelope and when I opened it there was a packet wrapped in red tissue inside. Can you see the little personalised stickers holding the tissue together? Inside that was the treasure, and it does not disappoint. It is much bigger than I imagined. It has a dear little ribbon which I love and it was fixed to a hand-stamped brown card with all Mrs Squirrel's details on it.

Isn't it beautiful?

(Even better if I'd managed to get the blinking photo the right way round..)

Now I have the task of choosing how and where to wear it. On my hat? On my bag? Or perhaps I need to fix it to my poor old coat, just to jazz it up a bit and make it a bit less brown?

Pop over to her blog- it is a treat. And thank you, Vintage Squirrel- you have put a wee bit of colour into my grey Cambridge week.

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.