My Handsome Boy ....

I haven't got much to show you so thought I'd post a few pictures of Sir Archibald - he's grown so much !




What a handsome fellow he is ... don't be fooled by that 'butter wouldn't melt' look. He can fart for England and is a real food thief.
He's a joy to take out (so far) and compared to my previous Springer, I don't have panic attacks waiting for him to run off into the distance.

We ummed and arred about getting a dog but we are soooooo glad we have him. Being an RSPCA rescue makes him all the more worthwhile.

But please Archie, can you go out of the room when you want to fart ????

Tea Leaves & All Change in Garden ....

Whoo-hoo, I've finished my first tea-cosy commission of 2009. I really love making these and had quite a free reign on the design of this one. I'm really chuffed how it's turned out and I love the combo of pistachio green, cream and gold. It's a big bugger and easily fits over my lovely big Emma Bridgewater Teapot.

If anyone is interested in one, just drop me an email ....

Onto the garden now. When we moved in nearly 5 years ago we inherited a pretty horrible sort of decking thingy. We call it 'The Play Pen' as it had a ballustrade around the outside. It was all wonky, was on a slope and got all slippery when wet. It was also just plonked in the lawn.
So, we eventually decided to get rid and are in the process of having anew patio area laid with a pergola built around the outside.
Our chap doing the work has a young Parson Terrier, funnily enough called Boo, and she and Archie have great fun play fighting & running around the garden at 100 mph.


Just stopping to drink the rainwater ... then, off we go again !


Big ole's in the garden ... Brrr, look at that frosty ground, good job they have their thermal knickers on eh ?


Yuk, the old play pen area. More piccies to follow as things progress.

Bring Me Sunshine ....

I know it's January and January is supposed to be dark, dank and miserable, but per-lease ....
Does it have to be quite so dark, dank and miserable ? Why can't it just snow or at least just be really cold? All this dampness is playing havoc with my joints .... grumble, grumble!


Still, we've been having some lovely muddy walks in the woods with Sir Archibald and this is generally what he ends up looking like. He gets a lovely tidemark doesn't he.


Can't see me ...

Ooh I just love this reward based training. Yum! Yum!


"And after all that exercise it's nice to come home and have a rummage in my mums sewing bin"

Another milestone ... first 'baby' tooth gone. Boo lost the wobbler while eating a giant chocolate cookie. I'm afraid we couldn't retrieve said tooth - if you see what I mean, it's gone to the great U Bend in the sky ... and no I wasn't prepared to roll up my sleeves and salvedge it.
I wrote a note to the fairies explaining the situation and they still kindly left a few pennies. What lovely fairies we have !

Jordon finds her new dressage horse ... in my living room

Yes, it's absolutely true ! I came in from the kitchen to find Jordon sat on my mantlepiece on a beautiful black horse. She'd have to have a good 'seat' though to stay on with those puny little sticks for legs ... and that shade of green for boots was soooo last year 'dahling' !
And she seems to have gone 'au naturel' on the hair front. Maybe she's brushed it with the dandy brush.


Boo loves her ponies and up until recently has been very happy playing with just her 'My Little Ponies'. But after a trip to a friends, she's wanted to play with more realistic Gee Gee's. I bought the horse and dog for the bargain price of £12.99 and it's been a big hit.


Archibald on his new 'Dog' bed because ...


He's had a tendency to want to snuggle up on the beanbag.

We took the little man to his first puppy class this morning and we all went as a family because it's good for Boo to be involved too. Well, that was the plan anyhow. Trouble was Boo got bored and so Mr Boo took her off to get a doughnut instead.
He did very well, having 10 puppies of varying ages all in the same room is quite an experience. We have 5 more weeks to go and then hopefully we'll move on to obedience training.

Onto work now ....
That's a simple one, I haven't done any since the Christmas festivities (slaps wrists and wags finger at self in the mirror). But, I am slowly getting back into it and have an exciting project in the pipeline. I really need to sort out my workroom as it's such a tip at the moment. I've lost my new pedometre and I'm sure it's buried in there somewhere !

January is not my favourite month but the recent cold & frosty weather has added a tad of interest to an otherwise dark, damp & miserable month. It would have been nice to have had some proper snow but as long as we don't have that pathetic, what I call mizzy rain, then I'm happy :)

First Hello of 2009

Well that's the time warp of the Christmas & New Year break well and truly finished then and it's back to normality. The school run, working, housework, gardening and all the other bits of everyday life that seem to get put on hold. I don't know about you but I even lost track of what day it was.
It's all been a bit of a whirlwind but good fun, what with family & friends visiting and Archie the new pup (boy is he full on) and now we have the tree and decorations to sort out today. Yuk ! I hate that bit.
Anyway, we took Boo & Archie to a local lake and woodland at the weekend because it was cold & frosty and we thought it'd blow the cobwebs away. Plus it's a great place to continue the little man's socialisation of all things scary like other dogs, swans, geese, children, grown ups, wind, buggies, bikes - basically most things !


The lake was frozen solid, the ground was frozen solid and our noses, chins and fingers were frozen solid. Boo ran and skipped around non-stop (walking is just not an option for her) and Archie had loads of fun play fighting with a Cocker Spaniel pup.

Although Archie was an RSPCA pup we are sure that he comes from working stock, purely from his behaviour and character. Some things are just instinctive. He's got a huge spring and works his way around the garden springing blackbirds, squirrels and pigeons. I've asked the RSPCA inspector if she can let me know as she has Archie's dad's papers. We had two working Springers some time ago and it's be really interesting to see if there is any relationship.


However, he's really crap in the car. Literally ! I took him out a couple of days ago and he howled, yowled, barked and cried ... and pooed !
So, on this occasion Boo wore her hear muffs to muffle the high pitched screeching in her ear. Can you see Archie howling in the background?

The only poo we came across on this trip was all over my boots whilst walking back to the car ! Now, some of you know I have a 'thing' about dog owners not clearing up after their dogs and once again I have to have a rant. If you are in the middle of nowhere and it's not a public place, fair enough, let your dog(s) poo and the rain will probably wash it away with no risk to a child or adult tromping in it. But, why oh why do people go out, let their dog(s) crap all over a pathway in a public place and not pick it up. I'm telling you it was disgusting! It was orange and stinky and I walked it into my car !!!!!
I was absolutely livid I can tell you. Good job we had some wipes in the car, we must have used a packet load.


Cheeky Miss Boo and her pink sparkly dress. She does pull some funny faces bless her. She's really into doing 'shows' for us at the moment whereby she has to turn off ALL the lights and then she prances about singing ...


She's actually got her first loose tooth now and she's torn between feeling 'a bit worried' (as she puts it) to 'very excited' (because she knows she'll get something from the tooth fairy).
It's her very first tooth that she 'grew' that's loose and I feel quite sad as it's yet another milestone of my little munchie growing up.

I hope today is better than yesterday. We had ..
1. Boo's loose tooth shock (it needed some soft chocolate to pacify her)
2. The drain was blocked outside and Mr Boo spent most of the afternoon up to his elbows in stinky yuk
3. My back has flared up again and I've been in agony and snapping at everyone (please don't let me have to have more Prolotherapy injections. I'd rather have a baby with NO pain relief)
4. We found a roundworm in Archies poo
5. Archie spent most of the day howling, screeching and barking at either the snow flurries, at absolutely nothing or whenever either Mr Boo or I went out to room. He was in a very strange mood.

I tell you I very nearly lost the plot ...
I shall be mostly eating 'Anti inflammatory' sweeties today. Hope you all have a good day.