If you are in need of a simple preschool craft, then take a sharpie everywhere. It's amazing the things you can put a smile on: … [Read more...]
How to fill a large wall space
I briefly mentioned the dining room when talking about our resident seagull a few days ago. Keith inhabits one wall of the room, which has changed quite a lot in the past few months: the alcove shelving has been built, the walls have been painted (Farrow and Ball Chinese Blue in case you are curious) and I was given a beautiful French Dresser in February for our fifth wedding anniversary, which traditionally is represented by a gift in … [Read more...]
The Best Coffee Icing in the world
I am an excellent wife. Actually that’s not true all of the time but on this particular occasion I excelled. I have been noticing that DH is not as keen on chocolate cake as he once was. It turns out that bought cake never lives up to my home-made cakes [insert smug grin here], and that his cake of choice when outside the perimeter of DG Manor is coffee and walnut. Naturally I waited until he went to work after sharing this piece of … [Read more...]
How to make a Weather Chart
If your house is anything like mine it is littered with bits and pieces of art crafted by children relentlessly. Some of it is fabulous and different and makes its way onto the Breakfast Room wall, the best pieces of which eventually find their way into a scrapbook. Some pieces are 'distributed' to Grandparents who dutifully display it on their fridges when we come to visit, but that still leaves a lot of work that I feel I can't throw … [Read more...]
Ten signs you have become Middle-aged
For the last few years, I've still somehow felt that I was pretending to be a grown-up. Sure, we got married, but we were still too young to have children. Yes, we had a dog, but that was for health reasons. OK, so we've got a mortgage, but we can always sell the house and go off round the world whenever we choose. Thus the path of denial into parenthood. Yet even at playgroups and Doctor's surgeries, whenever I've had conversations with other … [Read more...]
10 ways to play: pasta
I know that if I had my time over I’d ban all toys that require batteries. Particularly ones made by large American toy companies that have irritating yet catchy tunes that you find yourself singing long after you’ve bestowed said toy upon the nearest frenemy, or charity shop. Entertaining your children doesn’t have to involve masses of mass-produced garishly-coloured toys. Take pasta, for example. It’s inexpensive, easy to find, and a great … [Read more...]
10 alternative uses for a Pashmina
When the Pashmina craze hit a thousand years ago, I threw away my customary silk neck ties and upgraded as soon as I had the money. I just loved the way it made my employer look so casually elegant, thrown over her shoulders on a summer evening, or wrapped round her neck on winter days. Wonderfully versatile, I thought, and they have been part of my wardrobe ever since. Never have I been more glad of a Pashmina (or cotton-based-copy which I … [Read more...]
