Tuesday 26 August 2008

One of those days!!

Last night we got back from staying at the Caravan since Friday. We had a fantastic weekend with family and friends. Lots of dancing, laughing, eating and drinking. Just how a bank holiday weekend should be. The weather held out for most of the weekend and we managed to sit outside for most of the days. Finley particularly enjoyed himself as he rode on two different tractors, which are his favourite things at the minute.



Last night i decided to take some meat out of the freezer to defrost overnight for tonights tea. The freezer really needs defrosting but you know its one of those jobs that i never get around to doing often enough. I couldnt shut the door for all of the ice that was there so in my tired state began hacking at it with the handle of a dessert spoon. I soon gave up and asked CB to help. A few minutes later there was a hole in the freezer and gas was escaping. End of fridge freezer.
Today i have had to throw all food away and i now have a waterfall in my kitchen as the freezer defrosts. I have been on a mission all day to find somewhere that will deliver a fridge freezer today/ this week. No chance. 5 working days is the earliest delivery. I have given up!!
The TV in the kitchen has decided to die today also.
I decided to get on with the mountain of washing that i seem to have bought back from the caravan. Two loads done and hung on the washing line. The washing line decided to snap. Yes you have guessed it. Two loads of clean washing on the ground. Could today possibly get any worse??!!!
I intended to spend today catching up on jobs washing, cleaning, paperwork etc but none of that has been achieved. Instead i have spent my time mopping water, emptying bowls full of water and trying to track down a new fridge freezer. I have finally picked up the washing from the ground after staring at it for ten minutes wondering what to do with it!!
So now i have a bowl of water as a makeshift fridge! A pint of milk and a tub of butter are bobbing around in there.
I hope that tomorrow turns out to be a better day!!!

I remembered that i never got round to doing the green olympic show and tell. Have just scanned my treasures and i have not got anything green. I dont know why because i actually quite like green but i have nothing at all that is green. The only thing thats kindof greeny is the seat pads on the 99p stools that i made over. I have already posted the picture somewhere but here it is again. Its a kind of mint green that looks really nice with the pink.


I must say thanks to Sesga, who has given me an award .
I think i now have to pass the award to others. I love your blog sesga but oviously you have had the award already! So im going to award it to the other people i like to visit. Check out their blogs on the right hand side of this page. Fredsworld, Happy loves Rosie, Polka dotted world, Hollyhocks, and Sophie Honeysuckles English decor. Your blogs are all so inspiring but so very addictive!!
Ok im now going to relax for half an hur before CB comes home. Thanks to the no food situation we are eating out tonight. Every cloud does have a silver lining!!
Take Care Happy thrifting x x






Monday 18 August 2008

Yellow show and tell!

Continuing the olympic show and tell, today is yellow. I have quite a few yellow bits so here goes. Im not sure which of these i like best. It used to be the Babychams but im always changing my mind, i think thats why i have so much stuff. I can never decide on one thing to collect, i just collect things that i like.

The yellow trio is Midwinter and i got it about 6 years ago from a collectors fair. I really like the tin at the moment. Its to mark the coronation in 1953. Its a bit scratched and bashed but i like things that show their age!

The book is also quite charming. Its a News of the world household almanac from 1956. It has allsorts of articles including, diy, health, recipes, beauty, shopping, holidays etc. I love reading it and the adverts in there are really fascinating aswell. Theres a really interesting question and answer page on air travel. Questions such as: 'is air travel expensive'?, 'How does one book a ticket'?, 'Can one take luggage'?, 'Can children travel by air'?. Its amazing how much things have changed and how far we have come!


I have not been thrifting much recently but yesterday called in to one of my favorite places, Whitemoors antiques centre. Its not really a thrifting place as such as some of the prices are quite high, but if you are after something special its well worth checking them out.


I came away with this lady.

I have wanted one of these for a long time but have never been lucky enough to find one at my usual thrifting haunts. After a lot of sorting through boxes i spotted her. She still has her original earrings in, which is unusual as they normally are missing. She only cost £3 which i thought was a bargain. She has now taken up residence in the dresser and looks lovely in there!
Im not sure what year she is from but would imagine 50's/ 60's, probably a souvenir from a hot faraway destination. Trouble is i think she would look great with a couple of friends so the hunt for these dolls continues!!

On Saturday night we went out to celebrate Rae's 18th birthday and her getting a place a uni. We had a great time and lovely food.

We continued the party at mums with a spot of singing on the 'singstar' game. Fin entertained us all by doing his best Elvis impression. Singing into the microphone with the trademark foot tapping. In the past weeks he has become somewhat obsessed with Elvis! Maybe something to do with his Daddy and Mamma Nesta i think! At two years old im sure that he must be one of the youngest tribute acts out there! He is perfecting his skills gradually by requesting to watch Elvis DVD's day and night. He used to like watching cbeebies but of late has been watching Elvis, the 68 Comeback Special appears to be his favourite! He definitely takes after his Daddy!

Anyhow a mountain of ironing awaits so i must get on.

Happy Thrifting! x

Saturday 16 August 2008

Smarty Pants and red olympics!!!


See this smartypants girl???
Shes just got herself a place at uni!!! Going to be studying Accountancy!!!
We are sisters. We both did exams, only one of us took A levels and passed. Miss Rae this post is dedicated to you. You are the cleverest person we know and we love you very much.
Kyle, we love you also, you are gorgeous too x x x

Good luck to you at Uni, we will miss you like crazy but will be very proud that you are there.

You are our one special girl.

We love you soooooooooooooo much (as fin would say)!!! Dont 4get about us.

You are gorgeous and clever and we are lucky to have you hunny!! x x x x x x x x x x x x x x


ITS THE RED DAY HOOORAY!!!

I love red. It makes you happy. It makes you mad and Happy Mixed with blue and pink is gorgeous and happy. Olympic show and tell : RED:


Red spot Winton wear (yes Winton and not Minton!!). Red Beeko cake cases. They are still in there. 21 of them from (i think 1954) I Dont want to take them out to check!, Red rose tea set, oh so fifties, oh so gorgeous.
Just love it all!!
Do any of you have a Shar Pei???? Any advice on skin and allergies would very much be appreciated at this time!!!

Tuesday 12 August 2008

Elvis, British seaside and Olympic show and tell 2!!

As many of you know, we went to Bolton on Saturday night with our friends to see 'The World's greatest Elvis.' Can you remember the show on BBC hosted by Vernon Kay?? Well it was the winner of the show performing.

We travelled up there in Jim's car and listened to Elvis all the way of course!

We couldnt believe how close the hotel room was to the arena.






Once dressed went to the bar for a drink. We met others in costume and had lots of photos taken. We were photographed by Manchester Evening News and other local newspapers.


It was such a fun time.



The concert started with my favourite act of the night. His name is Justin Shandor, from USA and he performed as the 'fifties Elvis' which is of course my favourite era!

He was so talented, looked and sounded like Elvis, he was also Very goodlooking, which helped too!!


Another couple of acts and then it was time for the headline act, Shaun Klush. He won the greatest Elvis title.



He was really fantastic


A great night had by all!!!




On the way back home we stopped off for a visit to Blackpool. As usual the wind was blowing a gale but the sun did shine. We had a wander round and then had fish and chips. There really is nothing like seaside fish and chips is there??



CB on the beach!!





Ok i need to carry on the Olympic show and tell so today the colour is black.



I dont really have many black items but i do have some gorgeous Homemaker pieces.
I really love them as they are so retro.
I also love this glass cocktail shaker, i suppose it counts as it has a black lid!!


We also went to Alton Towers yesterday. I only have one picture as the batteries in my camera
decided to die.

The rain stayed away for us so we managed to stay dry all day!

I didnt go on any of the big rides as i have done those before. So i spent my day going on the toddler rides with Fin!
It was his first time at a theme park and he really enjoyed it. He especially liked the Mcdonalds farm area and driving the green tractor!
There were lots of things to see and do and by 3pm he was fast asleep in his pushchair!
We really enjoyed it.

So as you can imagine a very busy past few days and now i have lots of cleaning, washing and ironing to catch up with. Its amazing how being out for just a couple of days can lead to such a backlog of jobs.
I dont mind doing jobs today though as the weather here is dreadful. Not only is it gray and drizzling it actually feels quite cold. Not a bit like August.
When I was younger i can remember summer as being really hot and winter as being really cold and having a lot of snow. Where have those days gone? When you could wear summer clothes in the summer and woollies in the winter!
I dont have many summer woolies unfortunately!!!!
Hope the weather is better where you are!


Happy Thrifting, dont forget to show us all your treasures in the Olympic show and tell. x x x

Friday 8 August 2008

Olympic show and tell

Ok, as today is the start of the olympics i thought i would base this for the theme of a show and tell. Thought i would use one of the olympic ring colours each day to show one of my favourite items in that colour. Today is going to be blue, followed by black, red, yellow then green.
Anyone else feel free to join in this show and tell.

So here goes for today.

Ok so i had a little problem choosing one item, i found a few that make me happy.

My favourite (i think!) is the cat. He is the blue half of a pair of Holt Howard 1950's salt and pepper pots. His other half has a pink bow. I have had them for about 6 years and also have a pair of mice and a pair of rabbits that are equally charming.
The glass candlestick holders are tinged blue and really pretty when the light catches them.
The egg cups are laura ashley, i love polka dot.
The Gaydon cups and saucers are a really lovely blue shade and i also love the shape of them.
The blue flowery glass is one of six and has a matching jug. They are a lemonade set i think and are really pretty and remind me of hot sunny days spent sipping homemade lemonade.
I love the cheese dish as its so retro and fits in just right.
Ok so its not the same shade of blue as the olympic blue but blue nevertheless.
Happy Thrifting. x

Thursday 7 August 2008

Cakes and kisses!



Today i thought we would bake some cupcakes. Finley put on his new apron and got out his new wooden utensils. It all started well but didnt go according to plan when Fin decided he needed to eat the flour, butter and sugar raw from the bowl! How do you explain to a two year old that you dont eat what is in the bowl, despite the fact that normally he is told to!

He soon decided his birthday toys were far more interesting than mixing so off he went.

So here are the finished cakes. What better way to decorate them than to co-ordinate the icing with your kitchen! Can you see the hidden message on the red ones? Its supposed to say L 'heart' C. Thats our initials because tomorrow is our fourth wedding anniversary.
How time flies.

Four years ago today we were staying here

The gorgeous Breadsall Priory in Derbyshire. We stayed for 4 nights. The men played golf and the ladies relaxed in the spa. We arrived on the Thursday and got married on the Sunday. The weather was some of the hottest i can remember. There were about 20 of us staying here so we had a great time with friends and family and went out for some lovely meals altogether.

Sunday arrived and we got married here


Morley hayes in Derbyshire.
It was a lovely day and evening and we all looked like this

I cant believe its four years ago, although so much has happened in 4 years that it seems longer.
We have moved house twice, opened a business and had Finley who is now two!!
Quite scarey really!!!

Hope you are all enjoying any sunny weather you might have had, we had a little sun this afternoon so made the most of it in the garden.

Take care Happy thrifting x x

Tuesday 5 August 2008

Where has summer gone???

We had so many plans for this week, getting the garden tidied, playing with Fin's new outdoor toys, day trip to the seaside and a day trip to Alton Towers.
The weather however is not complying. If you are listening mr weather man please send some sunshine our way we are fed up of all of this drizzle.

Finley however is quite happy wearing his new rainmac!!

Monday 4 August 2008

A great weekend!!!!

Once again we spent the weekend at the caravan. We were joined this week by our friends Jim and Val and their family. It was a fantastic weekend.

It began when we arrived at the caravan and in the distance i spotted Elvis Presley coming towards me. No im not mad, it was the owner of the site, Chris, dressed in an Elvis outfit complete with the wig. He had bought one for CB and one for Jim too!!!
So Saturday night arrived and out came the Elvis costumes. I may not have mentioned that CB and Jim are both Elvis mad.
We had a bbq and then 'M' and 'A' decided that they wanted to have a 'try on'. (M is 19 and A is 17).
Half an hour later they were in full character and been around the campsite meeting and greeting fellow campers in the style of Elvis!!!! They kept those outfits on for most of the night and they were great Elvises or is that Elvi??

We then made our way to the bar for karaoke. Everyone singing Elvis of course. A fantastic time was had by all. Lots of singing, dancing, laughing and enjoyment.


Finley also joined in with the action. He has perfected his Elvis dance.


The party then continued at the caravan. We had a great time and i have not laughed so much for ages.

A really lovely weekend. Thanks guys. x x x x

Talking of Elvis, we are very much looking forward to going to Bolton on Saturday night to see http://www.elitetributes.com also with Jim and Val.

Have got my outfit sorted- fifties inspired of course, and now i cant wait!!

Take care Happy Thrifting x x x

Friday 1 August 2008

Busy Busy Busy!!!!

A long time no blog!!!

Firstly i need to say thanks to the lovely Elaine (Bloomin Myrtle http://bloominmyrtle.blogspot.com/ who has given me my first award.
So someone does read my ramblings!!


These past couple of weeks have been so hectic.

My little man turned two!! I cant believe that my baby is two. Time goes so fast.

We decided to celebrate the occasion with a small party. The numbers soon escalated and in total around 55 people came!! The party started with a steady stream of people from 2pm and at half past midnight the birthday boy was still going!!

We filled the living room with balloons the night before whilst he was in bed and this was him first thing birthday morning

The party was great and luckily my two days of frantic shopping paid off with all of the extra mouths to feed. We had typical party food. Sandwiches; cut into triangles of course, Jelly, pink wafer biscuits, iced gems and snowballs. Of course all served on vintage tableware!!


One of the highlights of the party was the pinata. For those of you who dont know about these ingenious inventions, its a paper/ cardboard horse that you fill with treats and toys, hang it up, give the children a big stick and let them take it in turns to bash it until it explodes and the treats fly everywhere. The scramble then follows as the children try and grab the toys.
I can highly recommend this for a party. Fun for all!!




An excellent day spent with friends and family. Love you Finley Happy Birthday x x x


Do you all remember my WIP dresser?? Well its finally finished, i say finished, just needs two handles fitting on, a job for you CB.


And here it is in all its glory full to brimming with my favourite vintage treasures









Im really pleased with how it has turned out and theres lots of storage for my pyrex!


We spent a long weekend at the caravan last week Friday until Monday. It was fantastic. Glorious sunshine all weekend. Its amazing when the sun shines you can sit doing nothing all day, just reading, playing and chatting. We could have been a million miles away, but were just 20 mins from home! Daytimes spent relaxing and karaoke at night, Elvis of course!!

On the thrifting front, not had any good finds recently, just a couple of bits and bobs.


My other news is that i have passed my theory driving test at long last!! I have been learning on and off for the past 6 years. This time i am going to pass. I must. My urge to drive has become stronger since finding these.

What other car could a girl possibly drive! Not quite sure whether i prefer the duck egg blue or the pastel pink!!


So please excuse my lack of blogging but we are sure making the most of the summer!! Hope you are too.
Happy thrifting x x