Things I Love Thursday

© The Sawdust Secret – This was a book I loved a kid. Something about a boy who lives with this aunt and uncle or visits their lumber yard a lot. He calls the aunt’s friends ‘The Gingerbread Ladies’ because they are always giving him delicious home cooked cakes, biscuits and gingerbread. Things start to go missing and it turns out that enterprising thief is hiding the stuff in the sawdust bins. I’ve thought about it a lot of the years but just couldn’t recall what it was called. Google searches were no help until now. I’m so pleased that I have found the details of this again. It’s also reminded me that (a) just because it isn’t on the Internet yet doesn’t mean it will never be and (b) keep looking and trying for what you want. One day you might get it.

© Gifts where the thought really does count - I had so many really thoughtful gifts over the festive period. Ones where it is clear that the giver really knows you and has taken the time to organise something very appropriate. A very dear friend arrived at my house with a cute green bag. When I admired it she said it was a present for me. Looking inside I found a laptop lunchbox. She knew that I had wanted on for ages but would not buy one for myself. And she got the green bag for it made just for me! My sister bought me a load of sewing odds and ends including green trimmings(I love anything green) and cupcake shaped pincushion. My parents bought me two Icing t-shirts for my birthday and then made it a theme with a cupcake badge (handmade), charm and card. And big mention to Dear Heart who bought me an adjustable dress form so that I don’t have to keep trying to pin stuff around myself when sewing. I want to alter then necklines on the Icing t-shirts so they will probably be my first project with my new aid. I need to give the form a name and I’m thinking ‘Miss something’. The question is Miss what?

© Getting back into a routine - I didn’t party as much in the approach to Christmas as usual because (a) I am older and more sensible and (b) I was ill with horrible cold that robbed me of my appetite and the urge to anything except hide under a fleece on the sofa. However that’s not to say I didn’t do any celebrating at all over the festive period. When I wasn’t partying I seemed to fall into a state of hibernation. Hence I am thrilled to be feeling much more awake and getting on top of the organised chaos that is my house, my routine and my life. It also means that I’m back to blogging.

© Sequinned green berets – Dear Heart’s family bought me this fabulous knitted beret with sequins. I’m quite taken with wearing it around the house to (a) ward off the arctic temperatures we have been suffering and (b) because it makes doing anything much more fab.

© Lilies – Another present related one. Dear Heart’s mother sent me flowers for my birthday. They have been opening and look gorgeous. There was a stem of closed white lilies which have been slowly opening. They smell amazing – just the thing for January.

Abstinence

January is proving so far to be a month where my mind is busy (the combined result of a new year and no booze). I just can’t stop thinking of lists I need to make, emails, letters and phone calls I should make, concepts that need to be put into action (or at least noted down for further attention) and cupboards and boxes that need clearing out.

However it is satisfying when I look around the room I rather grandly label my study to note that piles of stuff are moving. It’s also rather satisfying to note that a large number of tasks have been crossed off my job list.

It’s all a bit like clothes really. You think you have the perfect wardrobe and then what you see people wearing changes (so subtlety you don’t really notice) and then one day you decide that you have nothing to wear! Hence I thought my study was probably as sorted as it was going get and that various half started project would be completed one day and suddenly I am moving things around and putting up pictures. Clearly the day has come!

An important lesson is to remember that nothing lasts forever or is as sorted as expected. No doubt this burst of energy will die out and I’ll be back on the sofa with my nose stuck in a book soon. In the meantime I’m making the most of it!