Watch out for the witches tonight...

Hellooo there. It seems like a long time since I've posted a proper good(?) read, thanks for sticking with me and hanging by. Work, building and a lovely week up in the Scottish Borders have seriously eaten into my posting time. Don't worry. I'm not going to grumble and grouse as I have been over the last few weeks to poor old BigBean and my two loverlee neighbours, about work, dust and No Time. Instead, I am going to be jolly and smiley.

First, I need to thank two bloggy readers, driftwood and Jenevieve. They both gave me a blog award. I was totally speechless and really truly touched. I ramble on and show you a glimpse of my home life and some of you actually like it. Two of you like it enough to give me a little trophy and I thank them both enormously. However, I am not a good enough blogger to get the award pictures up on the side so feel free to unaward me...

And let me know how to get the thingies up on the side. It's truly baffling me but I am blonde(ish).

I think that I now need to post seven things about myself that you don't already know.

1. I love the smell of washing just off the line.

2. I love these books and the fourth one, Heartstone, is in the post to me as I type. When it arrives I will be the most anti-social person in town. Mr Sansom transports you back in time and Tudor London is so real you can almost smell it. Gripping, exciting and unexpected. Please read the first one and you'll see what I mean.

3. If money was no object, I would dress head-to-toe in these clothes. Just look at the bonkersness of some of these things. So so comfortable. So unusual and so luxurious too. I can only buy them on ebay and even then I have to be feeling quite rich. Actually, I think head-to-toe might be a teensy bit too much.

4. I get very excited when I see hares out in the fields. I think they are wonderful. Earlier this year I counted nineteen (19) in a field in Suffolk, quite near a regular haunt of the Beans, The Leaping Hare.

5. Marmite? Love it.

6. Capers? Gross.

7. My guilty little TV secret is .... X-Factor. Yes. It's true. I love it. Bad bad bad but I just can't help myself.

Now I need to pass the Versatile Blog Award on to five fellow bloggies. Sue over at The Quince Tree never fails to make me smile, Kirstie for her unfailing calming influence on me, Julia, for her honesty and reality, Ali for the simplicity of her posts and lastly, I really want to give it back to driftwood for her humour and on-my-wavelengthness. Is that allowed? Please let me. I really want to.

Another smiley thing is that my Halloween swapsie with Jille arrived last week looking like this...

It couldn't have arrived at a better time. I had had a truly pooey day and this parcel made me feel much better when I opened it. Inside were some lovely things.

A gorgeous felty tweedy autumny flower brooch which is now on my jacket
some fabby ghoulish bunting
a screme egg which I munched as I opened the other packets


a card with a ghostly message inside

an excellent and most subtle pair of skeleton socks

and a pair of wonderful trick-or-treat bags for the SmallBeans, filled with creepy crawlies. This last parcel almost reduced me to tears such was my emotional unbalance that evening. There were a couple of other things in this most generous of swaps but uploading is not playing nicely with me and I can't face the uncertainty of losing it all. I am also sorry that the photos look rather garish and bright but I suppose I can get away with it for this once because of the subject... For a better look at the stash pop over to her blog. Thank you so so much Jille, you really made a huge effort and put a lot of work in and The Beans love them all.

Hope you stayed the course. There is so much more I need to post about but you'll have to wait.

Have a totally creepy and scary Halloween. Hope the goblins don't get you.