BRAVING THE COLD!

Well it looks like November is going out with a roar ! of COLD weather... Today has been crisp and cold! Although if you managed to stand in some sun it was warm.. but only where the sun was hitting you!
But I did managed to get two of the girls, who have changed into their winter clothes, to nip outside for a very quick photo shoot!

So above is the sweet Sansa , already for December and the start of winter and the lead up to Christmas..

A close up of the poor cold child!

She was joined by Belle, who at least had her hat and scarf to help keep her a little warmer!

They tell me they are wearing their thermal underwear! which is a relief !

They were very interested in all the plants standing about waiting to be potted up for a nice bit of winter colour!

" Sansa would you like a hat and scarf? " I asked when she shivered
" No thanks , just get a move on please" was her reply!

"Of course " I said quickly stepping back to get in a long shot.

" Is that your teeth chattering? " Belle whispers to Sansa
" Y y y es " she chattered.. " I'm not wear rring thermals, I forrr got "

" Just a couple more " I call

Going in for a close up I suddenly notice something.... " Sansa !  are your lips going blue?.... Quick girls inside now! I told you to put a coat on.   come along hurry "

COLD BUT BRIGHT SUNDAY

December is about to come knocking on the door and it's sent in a cold winter chill so we know she's? coming! Gorgeous bright days with a bite in the air!

Which unfortunately for us means we are having to slowly freeze while we try to finish most of the outside jobs before winter sets in.

So Paul and myself have been outside over the weekend trying to get those jobs done. I've been staining five fence panels. One black and the others dark brown. I managed to get the black one and a three of the dark brown ones done but it just got too cold to start on that last one, so that will have to wait until later this week.

We've been trying to finish up the area surrounding the new patio. We just have two small sections of wall to paint. Then the door frames and the pond can all wait until the spring as it's now getting just too cold for any paintwork to dry quickly outside.

So it's gone from this ... to

We decided last weekend that we'd paint the two walls black and get a new fence panel for the left hand side , stain that black and it would pull all the different pieces together. So here it is all painted or stained. We have also decided to paint the lower half of the house black to complete the look.

Paul painted this section today so we could get the water butt back in place.

Our head of Neptune is back in pride of place and the black makes him standout. So we still have that far piece of wall to paint, I used up what was left in the pot which is why it looks a bit odd, and the section between the doors to do. I'm hoping it will look good because if not it will have to wait until spring before it gets repainted!


Also finally we have INTERNET!!!! It was connected by the new supplier on Thursday and it's been so nice to just go on and wander the net without worrying you are using up all the allowance!
The connection time is also much quicker which is also great.

So I've been trying to get the Sasha's changed into their winter clothing and at present have five redressed but awaiting their shoes or boots and poor Ginny whose arm string broke! So she is half dressed and waiting for her arms to be redone before getting the rest of her clothes on.
I was hoping to have managed the boots at least so that I could get some photos done but time got away from me!

However I needed to use Magda for a photo shoot for a Doll and Bear photo Challenge I am in, so I can at least share a few of those photos.

She's been outside inspecting the ivy!

Yes Magda it does just grow everywhere !

Pardon? you don't think this is the right ivy for Christmas?

I see... it's not Christmas Ivy?  Well I'm sure there's more elsewhere around the garden.. perhaps you could go hunt it out... you being an expert....... sorry? ... it's too cold and your going in for a mug of hot chocolate and shortcake biscuit!


So as we head towards December at the end of the week , I hope that the week brings you love, fun and laughter and some warmth!!


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BACK AT THE CHAT N SNAP

Back during the Chat n Snap I told you that although I'd not bought much on the day I'd landed up getting two none Sasha dolls just after.

I introduced the first my lovely Winter Kathe Kruse girl and now here is the second doll I landed up getting from having had a chat with a great friend. They'd not taken to her and I'd said that should they decide they wanted to put her up for adoption I would love to have her.

This is Clementine a Schoenhut doll with carved hair.

She has had a little work done on her face, her skin tone much more natural that the original dolls.

The back of her carved head with it's ribbon bow.

When I agreed to buy her I thought she'd be a great twin for Clara  who is the same sculpt and style as this girl but when she arrived and I introduced them I had a pleasant surprise!

She is taller than Clara! Clara is 14 inches and Clemmie is 16 inches, so instead of a twin Clara now as a big sister. Which is lovely , it's always nice to have a same but different doll.

a closer look.

Well tomorrow we should be back with proper internet! I have a pile of clothes just waiting for me to change the dolls into and a Christmas story beginning to start brewing in my head.....



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SUNDAY SO SOON!

Well that week whizzed by! It will soon be December at this rate and Winter will have arrived.
Plenty still happening around the garden here, which is unusual as by now we would have stopped anything garden related having put it all to bed for the winter and gone back inside to carry on with those job that need doing.

But I am so pleased to say that the patio is finished! In the spring we will need to coat the stones with a sealant but until then it's done.

so here are a couple of before photos..

The ugly broken old red and yellow paving from the eighties with the old outhouse.

The outhouse too close to the french doors.

the bricked path full of grass and weeds.


and now !

No ugly paving and no outhouse spoiling the view!

The view out from the doorway now.

No more brick and grass!

We have put the table back but changed the position and will see how we feel about the change as time passes.

We still have some clearing and cleaning up to do with a trip to the recycling site planned. Plus now the paving's looking new we need to sort out about all the paintwork that needs refreshing !

Until we know whats happening with the wall we are going to put some grey slate down to tidy the edge.

We have ordered a new fence panel to replace the old cut down one on the left of the wall and will dig out and put in the foundation for the future wall and then put the new fence panel in place. The walls need repainting and the doors, how much will get done before it's too cold to carry on , we don't know. So the rest will have to wait until the spring.


On the Sasha front I bought a new outfit from Ruth Hartley's winter range.

Show here on Wren.

I do love red on the brunette girls.

Seeing Wren outside with the cyclamen gave me the idea I needed for my Christmas challenge, which is an extension of the doll and bear alphabet challenge I did over 26 weeks of this year.

I'm up to R, so this will be R is for RED !

I'm feeling the need to search out the red clothing for the clan, so that's something I'll add to my list.

Well the internet should be back on Thursday......with the new provider, they have already sent the new hub, so I am hopeful!

So the sun's out and things need doing, so I'm off, speak again soon....



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MAGDA GOES OUTSIDE

Magda finally got changed into some lovely warm clothes yesterday, so insisted on inspecting the work being done in the garden!

The cheeky minx asked me when we'd be planting the grass between the paving! and she managed to keep a straight face!

But you can just see that twinkle in her eye!

"Are they coming back on Monday to finish? " Magda asks
" They are coming today to clear up more of the rubbish so I can get my car back on the drive and under cover " I tell her

" and then they'll be finished? "
" No" I reply " they still have to lay the paving round by the side gate and then fill in between all the paving so we don't get grass " she giggled so I gave her my mum look , she ignored it and grinned! I continued ignoring her " and then clear up the last of their tools and then they'll be finished "

"Being serious now mum " says Magda " it's really lovely of you and Dad to have this new playground laid right outside the house for us! It's going to be ace for riding our bikes , playing tag etc"
"it's not going to be left empty , it will have the patio table and some pots on it"
"that's okay " smiles Magda " our patio table and pots won't take up much room if you tuck them in the corner " before I could tell her it was our big patio table and Dad's pots , she was off to tell the others she'd checked out the new patio !
Maybe I'll leave telling them for a while , they'll still be lots of space for them to play !


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A little catch up! This is a view from the garden back towards the house. I love that I can now see all of the back and not have part missing behind the old outhouse.

Like with anything new that you do, it shows up all the old weathered items so the back of the house will need repainting.

You can see where the trellis used to be for the rose we removed between the doors. The doors and framework have long needed repainting which we will do in the spring as it's now too cold and damp.
At some stage on our list of jobs needing doing in and around the house will be replacing them but for now a lick of paint will make all the difference.
The pond needs a new top edge and a coat of black stain to tidy it up as well.

I don't know about you but whenever we have work done it inspires us to get on with other things that need doing around the house, so plans are being made and lists drawn up as to want needs doing first etc.
The hallway needs to be finished but when we first moved in we got permission to make the window in the stairwell longer. So we'll be looking to get that done first, while we finish removing the old wall paper and settle on the new one and the paint colour.

We still have no internet but thankfully the dongle we bought can be used until it's back on. So I'll be back with more news of the goings on in the Sasha Village. There are still lots of Sasha's etc that need to be dressed for winter!


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IT'S ALL HAPPENING!

Well the new patio is but not the internet! Our new provider was going to set us up for the 17th but no, BT won't hand the line over until the 23rd!!
So even though they are not fixing our internet they'll not let us get it elsewhere until it's been a full MONTH!!!!  BAD service!

Anyway we have bought a dongle so have some access but I need to be careful not to use too much at once as it's now got to last until the 23rd!

So a quick report on the patio!

We are having a grey brick edge around the paving, the wall at the side runs out, so we've had the line set back to allow us to dig out for footings once we get the wall rebuilt but need to see when or if our neighbour is going to remove his outhouse. So this was on Tuesday.

and this was this morning , Friday. It was raining so you can see the various colours

Today he was on his own but he got a good few more stones laid and is even coming back tomorrow, Saturday to get more down.

he's even done the step up into the garden area.

Saturday he wants to get this area laid up to the brick edge.

I have to say it's looking so much better already!

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished result , it's so nice to finally be having this done.



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