Tuesday 31st March 09

Spring means spring-cleaning. When I was a child my mum used to lift all the carpets and rugs and take them outside, hang them over the line and give them a jolly good beating. Then they would be placed face down on the dewy grass and dragged over the lawn, turned over and left to dry. I just get a man with a machine to clean mine. Much easier!

Monday 30th March 09

It wasn't until I started reading this book last night that I realised I had read it before. I don't usually read a book twice as I always think that there are loads of books that I will never have the time to read and I want to read as many as I can, but this is a really good read and a second airing will do no harm.

Sunday 29th March 09

At school now we are only allowed to use insulated mugs with lids on if we move out of the staff room or are on playground duty. The school has got a supply of them, but the problem is that they always smell of coffee and I only drink black tea, which means my tea tastes awful. So I've been on the lookout for one of my own. I didn't want a boring silver one as all the school ones are like that. I had my mind set on a pink one, but I saw this one today in Asda and fell in love!

Saturday 28th March 09

I thought that this bit of topiary was the perfect tree for a scrapbooker. Unfortunately, the price tag of £420 meant it stayed in the garden centre!

Friday 27th March 09

It hasn't rained here for all of the day, just every time I got out of the car

to go anywhere.

Thursday 26th March 09

I love the contrast of colours here, the spring green of the fresh new leaves, and the dark green of the ivy behind.

Wednesday 25th March 09

Isn't it funny how subliminal auto-suggestion works. As I was leaving school today I walked into a classroom and all the children were eating oranges after a day trip out. The aroma was staggering! When I got home I just had to have one. Of course I had to take a photo of it first so I cut it open to look pretty. And then made a complete mess as I tried to peel and eat it!

Tuesday 24th March 09

I've just done this LO before I have my tea. It shows the footpath at the back of my house on one of the two days of snow we had last month. This is for Wk 12 Scrap Like You Mean It challenge - use the sketch.

Monday 23rd March 09

Reading other people's blogs gives me all sorts of ideas. Kerry knits the most wonderful socks and ever since I came across her blog I've had an insane desire to knit a pair. Here's the start of my effort.

Sunday 22nd March 09

Mothering Sunday. My girls always treat me well on Mothering Sunday. Catherine always goes out of her way to make sure she gets me a card that says Mothering Sunday, which it is, and not Mother's Day, which is an import from America. She also took me out to lunch and we had a lovely time wondering around the pretty little town of Petersfield in the sunshine. Sarah bought me a peony to go in my garden. It's a white one and will go nicely in my border which is mainly shades of pink, purple and white.

Saturday 21st March 09

I've been waiting for this bank of daffs to come into bloom before I could do my daff photo for the Spring. About 20 years ago the local council got all the schoolchildren to plant hundreds of thousands bulbs around the borough. This bank, near my home, is about 150metres long and is absolutely packed with daffs. I always make sure I drive round that way at this time of the year just to see them. A truly wonderful "host of golden daffodils."

Friday 20th March 09

Today is the 40th anniversary of the publication of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so to celebrate we had a Very Hungry Caterpillar day in my class. All the maths and English came from the book. This was my daughter's favourite book over 30 years ago.

Thursday 19th March 09

My latest book from the library. They didn't have any books that were on my reading list so picked this one up from the New Book shelf. It's a bit lightweight but it'll do until my reserved books come through.

Wednesday 18th March 09

The gorgeous warm sunshine has brought all the trees out in blossom. From a distance they look as if they are covered in snow!

Tuesday 17th March

I'm not a great fan of Altered Art, but last weekend at my club our leader did a class to make this mirror. It started life as a 99p black framed mirror from Ikea, and in the space of an afternoon turned into this wonderful, decorated work of art. We used crackle glaze, paint, stamping, and embossing together with a couple of rub-ons and some Stickles. When I got home I added some dots of Glossy Accents between the squares just to finish it off.
I haven't yet worked out how to take a photo of a mirror without getting the camera in it!

Monday 16th March 09

A bulb blew in my dining room last night and fused all the downstairs lights, so I had to repair it today. I must get round to getting a more modern trip-switch fuse box installed instead of these out-dated ones that have to be re-wired.

Sunday 15th March 09

I've been wanting to take this picture for ages, but every time I've passed it I haven't been able to stop, The road's been too busy, or the weather has been miserable. Today was just perfect. An empty road and lovely sunshine. This is a photo of the clock tower of Stoneham Church, with it's one-handed clock.

Saturday 14th March 09

My daughter took this for me on my camera as I had left it at her house last night. It shows my grandchildren at breakfast time today.

Friday 13th March 09

Red Nose Day, and one of our pupil's sent in this cake which was raffled amongst the children and 16 of them won a slice each.

Thursday 12th March 09

I caught my arm on the door handle the other day. The bruise is maturing nicely.

Wednesday 11th March 09

I've been wanting a new trolley to cart my stuff around in to my various crops for ages, but I wanted a pink one and never seemed to see one. I decided to use google and found this one in an e-bay shop. It's a bit more pink than I thought it would be, but I still love it.

Tuesday 10th March 09

This is my latest read. I haven't been to the library since before Christmas as I was given some books and tokens as presents, but now I'm back to library books. I looked in the bookshop but decided that I could save money by going to the library and notch up another credit-crunch saving. I hadn't reserved any books, but luckily, this was on my list of must-read books and was on the shelves. I've read this author's other book "Half of a Yellow Sun" which was so good, so can't wait to read this one.

Monday 9th March 09

My favourite shoes. They are the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned. They are two years old and I wear them all the time, alternating with a charcoal coloured pair in the same style, but I love the red ones best! The sole and heel are very deep and look like slabs of toffee!
They are made by a Spanish company called El Natura Lista, and one of the best things about them is that they never need cleaning, just a quick wipe over with a spot of olive oil now and again. I've done it twice in two years!

Sunday 8th March 09

I wish you could smell these! I have them in my hallway and their wonderful, heady fragrance fills the house.

Saturday 7th March 09

A friend's daughter, Ella, with another friend's 5 mth old standard poodle, Marty. They have the same hairstyle!

Friday 6th March 09

Frost on the wheelie bin this morning. It was really glistening in the sunshine but it hasn't come out so well in the photo.

Thursday 5th March 09

To celebrate World BookDay a photo of some books on one of my bookshelves.

Wednesday 4th March 09

I love sewing on layouts and get through a lot of thread, so when I saw these at 35p a skein I just had to get some. I'll get a selection of blues next time.

Tuesday 3rd March 09

This little chap welcomed me home from work today. It was a reminder that my grandchildren had been over yesterday to play. This teddy belongs to my daughter and it was so sweet to see her young daughter carrying him about under her arm, just the way her mother did over thirty years ago.

Monday 2nd March 09

A lovely sunny day today so the washing went out on the line for the first time this year. Another credit-crunch saver as I would normally have put it in the tumble dryer.

Sunday 1st March 09

The first of the month means a photo of my garden. Last month I tidied up the border and planted a few coloured primroses