MOTHERING SUNDAY

It's mothering Sunday and also the last day of March and to top it all, the clocks went forward by one hour to what's called British summer time.
So a very happening Sunday to finish the month!

My mothers day started early last week because one of my daughters was going to be away for the weekend, so I came home to this lovely bunch of flowers mid week. Along with a box of chocolates!

Then Saturday I came home from work to find this basket of flowers had arrive, also with chocolates from another of my daughters!

I could get used to this,  arriving home every few days to flowers and chocolates! spoilt or what!


So catching up. It's been a busy week with me working both Friday and Saturday but it's also been a good week, with work going well and mostly smoothly. Which as you all know can make a big difference.

On the home front again due to working, the kitchen's had to wait but Paul's put up the single cupboard unit to cover in the electric board.

Because of the large concrete block in the corner, before we've filled in the space to hide it but this time we've moved the large wall unit over which has made enough space to get in a very narrow wall unit. Unfortunately they didn't make the unit in the same height as the other two but we'll resolve this by making the door long enough to match with an infill panel on the unit at the top.

So we are gaining a little more usable cupboard space. At present we are just putting things into the cupboards as they are changed but we'll get more organised once we've finished putting in all the cupboards.

From this photo you can see the tall extra cupboards we have gained on the left of the range. Before we had just a base unit there but last year moved that so the space was empty for a long while, now we have gained a nice tall slim row of units and the extra storage.

 The piece of wood standing on the range is one of the bottom cupboard doors that Rufus broke off when he decided to get up just as Paul opened it! So I asked Paul today to put some of the paint in the corner, so I could see the colour !

When Paul opened the tin it was so bright! But thankfully it's calmed down while it's dried. It's now looking much deeper thank goodness. Because I've been looking at fabrics and other things to go along with the deeper darker blue I want.
I've found it really hard not to jump ahead of myself and start buying those things for the finishing touches!
The 'new' kitchen is evolving as we work on it, today we decided to replace a base drawer unit and the cut down glass cupboard above for a tall larder unit. We'll adapt it to how we want, putting drawers in the bottom half, leaving a place in the middle for the mircowave and then have a cupboard above. Feeling really excited about the new design, I checked online to see if they ahd stock in the local diy store only to find you had to order it in, so okay I'd order it , we'd have to wait a few day but no problem.
However when we went on to order it, it's out of stock! We even tried tweaking our plans to use a slightly smaller larder unit but no that was unavailable too! Arghhh ! They will let us know when they are available again but no estimate as to when that will be!
It's not like we've not got loads to carry on with but it would have been nice to have it or have it on it's way !.

So the kitchen is a work in progress with plenty to do!

This is one of the fabric's I was looking at for the kitchen blind but then I've also found this one...

  Both have a touch of yellow in them which would work if we go for a soft yellow on the top cupboards. I'm still looking at fabrics because I just love fabric shopping!..


I'm still being good on the doll front , so I went off to find a Sasha to dress in the new outfit I'd got from Petrana the other month but then I decided I loved the Sasha in what she was wearing, so had to go find another.

So Mary got to wear the new clothes and go outside the front door to see if the coat kept her warm.

She was very happy to get outside for a breath of fresh air after being stuck indoors for the winter.

But it had started to turn quite cold after such a nice sunny day , so she was also happy to get back inside in the warm.


Well tomorrow's the 1st of April , all fools day and then it will soon be the fifth and doll shelf, photo day. So please send in your photos.

Have a great week enjoying whatever takes your fancy.

Dee

SPRING SUNSHINE

The sun is shining and two more villagers are talking with Mr Albert!

It's Violet and Sapphire !

" Hello Mr Albert " says Violet and Sapphire together
" Why hello girls "
" We were wondering if it's time to start planting out our seedling? " asks Violet... or was it Sapphire...

" Well " says Mr Albert " I think it may be best to wait another week or maybe two "
" Really  but it's so sunny "
" Yes it is sunny but it's still very cold of a night " Mr Albert sighs " cold enough to get a frost which as you know could kill your little seedlings"

 Violet looks at Sapphire , who looks at Violet " It's been very cold at night!"
" I had to ask Mum for an extra cover last night "
" I agree with Mr Albert the seedlings need to stay in the greenhouse for longer !"
" Yes at least another week or two "
" yes "

" But we could look at the seed packets and decide what else to start growing ? "
" and we need to start some weeding "
" Yes and clearing all the old rubbish "
" yes and we can look in Dad's garden books for new ideas!"

Turning back to Mr Albert , who'd been listening to the girls discussion with interest, Violet .. or it could have been Sapphire says  " Thank you so much for your help , we'd have been  so sad if our seedlings had died because we put them outside too soon "
" Yes Thank you "
" No need to thank me, I'm more than happy to talk about the weather and gardening, after all I spend all my time outside in both of them "

The girls leave Mr Albert happily discussing which job to do first, while Mr Albert puffs away on his pipe enjoying the sun on his face and wondering just whose going to visit next? It's turning out to be a very busy spring!




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RUMOUR HAS IT

There is a rumour going round the village..

That Mr Albert the new garden resident knows everything !

Which could be why the village children seem to be lining up to speak with him!

Margo and Ashley are waiting in line... " then if he knows just where I left my other sock I'll be able to wear them and Mum will stop complaining that I'm not wearing any ! " Margo finishes.
" That will be good if he knows !" exclaims Ashley " I just want to know if I should dye my hair pink "
"Pink? " Margo says studying Ashley " Could look good... will you cut it too? a short bob in pink would be fabulous "
" I'm not sure about cutting it " Ashley says a little stunned " I'll wait to see what Mr Albert says "

Meanwhile at the front of the line Zak and Toby are talking to Mr Albert
" Well young Zak I think you could be anything you chose to be, if you work hard at school and get all your exams correct "
" And what about me? " asks Toby looking over Zak's shoulder
" Now you young Toby I see as an adventurer or owning one of those parks where people zip down long wires from the top of trees "
" ACE !" laughs Toby " No more school for me Hurrah!"
Mr Albert says sternly " I did not say anything about no more school ! You'll need to know geography, map reading, health and safety , first aid.... "
"WHAT! " Toby exclaims cutting off Mr Albert " Map reading? first aid ? to go adventuring! Tarzan didn't do map reading and first aid and geography !"
" Tarzan is a fictional character from a book, who was found as a baby and raised by apes "
" Come on Zak " says Toby in disgust " Tarzan a fixed character in a book! really! ......whispering.. I don't think Mr Albert knows just who Tarzan is!"

Zak says goodbye to Mr Albert before hurrying after Toby ....

Mr Albert looks down the line at the next person.. wondering why he's suddenly getting lots of visitors asking him questions about all sorts of things! But he'll do his best to help them and it's nice to spend time chatting to all these new neighbours.


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SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY...

SUNDAY... yes it's the fourth Sunday in March ! there are five in total.

Some beautiful tulips to set us up for the day .many thanks to Gill and Tony our dinner guests yesterday amid the chaos that is our kitchen at present!


I think I mentioned that I'd been buying some 1930's china last week. It's been arriving however one of the sellers, sent a plate in a flat cardboard , almost envelope style , wrapping and inside wrapped in lots of tissue paper with one small very thin piece of bubble wrap! and in truth to call it bubble wrap was to be generous !
I removed the tissue wrapped plate from the cardboard and could feel and hear the cracked china even before I started cutting through the wrapping.

I started taking photos, so I could send them to the seller.

Such a shame that it should have lasted all these years just to be destroyed by poor wrapping.

Why do people think covering the whole thing in parcel tape will protect what's inside more? The seller refunded me but I cannot bring myself to throw the plate away yet ! I wish I was one of those people who'd keep it and use it sometime to makes some sort of mosaic ..


So we have continued to remove old kitchen wall cupboards,

We have to work round this piece of concrete and brickwork that's tied into the corner by some metal work. There used to be a chimney in the bedroom above and we think this was some sort of support.

We did try taking it out before but when we saw the metal rods running through it we decided it was best to leave it in place. Which is what we'll do this time too.
So the new top cupboards are going in slightly higher than the old one's to line up with the new cupboards on the other side of the range.
Which means the blue back board you can see above will also have to come out, which means we'll now have to decide to we just replace it with the same or do we go for tiles? or something else ? all these extra decisions that now need to be made !

One of the new wall cupboards is up and the smaller one that will cover the circuit board, so needs a hole cut into the back, will go up once the cement drys that was needed to level the wall at the top. Then it will be a case of trying to remove the trim round the lower cupboards so new wood can be purchases for all the new doors ! But of course we'll need to strip off the back wood, sand down the walls, paint all of that before we can get to painting the doors!
But of course I'm already thinking about fabric for a new blind and place mats etc which will take sometime.

On the doll front , no dolls items have arrived this week , I am still managing to be good but slipping down the book and decorating front instead.

Today's been a very lazy day as Paul went to visit his 97 year old Dad while I stayed home with the dogs. I read the Sunday paper from cover to cover, enjoyed looking at some home style magazines, cruised the internet looking for fabric for the kitchen blind and dozed in front of an episode of Mid Summer Murders ! Bliss !

I do have a blog post ready and waiting to go on for the coming week, so I did have a little doll play.

The weather today's been lovely and warm once the sun dispatched the cool morning chill and so the doors have been open allowing the dogs free reign and the heating turned off. The spring plants are starting to flower , so I'll need to take a trip down the garden when I'm off Tuesday and take some photos and see how everything is doing.

So have a lovely week ahead, I'm off to read by new book on the perfect English farmhouse to be inspired and to drool of the beautiful rooms and furnishings.

Dee

IT IS NOW OFFICIALLY SPRING !

Seems odd to me that you have to wait until March is almost over before it's officially spring but there you go!

Magda went into the garden to check if the plants knew it was now official !

She found that the buds on the Magnolia have started to open and that the weeds are growing along with the plants!

She stopped to talk to Mr Albert "Hello Young Magda "
" Hello Mr Albert " smiles Magda " do you know why spring is not staring until the 20th March this year? "
" Why yes ! It's always the first day of spring ,in the northern hemisphere, when the day is in equal length to the night, the spring Equinox. "

" What's an equinox? " asks Magda confused
" It Latin for equal night " replies Mr Albert " so since on the 20th it was equal night to day, it's called the spring equinox from ancient times "
" You do know such amazing things!" says Magda in awe " I've never heard of equinox's before and I always thought that spring sprung on the 1st March ! "
Blushing a deeper shade of rust Mr Albert coughs " I think everyone wants spring to start once March arrives because they are tired of winter "
" Why I think you are right ! " Magda is even more impressed by Mr Albert " well I'm off back inside to tell everyone why springs only just started officially, I'll be sure to tell them that you told me "

Magda rushes off wanting to give everyone the benefit of her new found knowledge and tell them that Mr Albert, the recently arrived garden rabbit knows the answer to everything!


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SUNDAY ALREADY...

Well that week shot past at an amazing rate! I'd love to say that I changed a dozen dolls and took lots of photos but I'd be lying!

However what did happen was our usual one thing leading to another and going off into a totally different direction that was originally planned! We were going to go and sort out finally decorating the bedroom but then we bought paint for the kitchen.

So I hear you say a couple of weekends, fitting and repainting the kitchen cabinet doors and walls and hey presto and nice refreshed kitchen.
But with us one thing leads to another, so lets repaint walls say I, I'll do that says Paul, oh lets look at paint for cabinets say I , lets buy paint we both say.

Well on Sunday afternoon and evening that conversation's gone from just replacing bottom cabinet doors and painting them and walls to removing extractor housing above range and totally revamping that side of the kitchen !

I took this quick photo showing the housing above the range cooker. Paul built it including all the upper wall cabinets about ten years ago when we re did the kitchen, after we moved in.
So now we are going to take down all the top cupboards along with the housing and totally redo the kitchen !
It's no good saying what about the hallway and the bedroom because we have already started !
The housing is gone, and new wall cupboards have been ordered and should arrive on Thursday after we found we could only order the tall wall cupboards online.

So now even more of the house looks like a building site! but no worries we only have friends coming to dinner next Saturday ! Luckily they are extremely good old friends and are used to how we work! I almost considered getting new doors from the diy store but nothing suited , everything appears to come in only grey , white or wood these days , so if you need a splash of colour you are on your own!

We are working on a very tight budget for this refit, since it's happening about a year earlier than planned but it will be great to finally have it done. So no work elsewhere until it's finished.... she says....

At least re doing the kitchen has made yet more cupboards get looked at while being emptied and yet more things are heading off to the charity shops or have been binned.

It's also made us realise we don't actually have a lot of kitchen cupboards, so we're putting in a narrow but full height unit on the left hand side of the cooker, where until we changed the fridge freezer the other year we had just a base unit.

a very rough sketch of the working part of the kitchen, thought it may help you to understand what we're doing.

So yet again not a lot of doll play, well none in fact, although the ideas are rumbling round my head I just need to spend the time making them appear. But today, Sunday's been a day of bright sunshine and rain showers complete with hail ! But it is feeling like spring, so I will be getting my act together this week, now it's brighter and getting some doll things underway!.

I've not bought anything for the dolls but I have bought some lovely 1930's china , which is heading my way along with cupboards etc.

So I'll have to add some old photo's of my Sasha's from last year , here's Mary back in February 2018.

Christy with some snowdrops

and Saffron back in Feb 2018.


Wishing you all a healthy happy doll filled week ahead.

Dee

SUNDAY RAMBLING

Now if you read /visit this blog you will know that I do go rambling all the time onto things non Sasha doll related.

I was wondering if I should keep these ramblings elsewhere, on a mini blog kept in my links at the side or just carry on as I do? answers on a post card please... no just joking , but I would be interested as to whether I have wandered too far from the dolls.

But today you'll get my ramblings.... It's Spring! spring has Sprung! Yes I know you all know this but for me there is a trigger that tells me springs arrived despite the obvious. It's that fact that my mind turns to cleaning everywhere and noticing that certain things are now looking sad and past their sell by date!
All those things I've seen but ignored are now being taken note of and starting to set off that itch to do something about them.

It started yesterday, when the dogs crates were moved and the floor cleaned, the 'new' old fashioned sofa moved from it's place in the kitchen doorway to where the dogs crates had been and the crates moved over to where the sofa had been.

Casper is now old enough not to need his crate , so we are going to leave them open of a night and see how it goes. If all's well, we'll remove one and leave one for when one's out on his walk and the other's waiting. But hopefully by May when Rufus is a year old they can both be taken away.

The magazines feed on our spring cleaning/decorating/renewing energy by dazzling our eyes with photos of gorgeous rooms,wallpaper, fabric etc.

photos like this from Morris and Co makes us start to dream..

or Laura Ashley

Even Tubby Tubs that fit in the tiniest of spaces appear to beguile us ! ( I did try to convince Paul we needed a Tubby tub in our bathroom when we moved it but i'd need a step ladder to not only climb in but also climb out! But I still love how deep and small they are..

and lets not forget Emma Bridgewater is trying to tempt me to add more to my collection.

These are just the tip of the iceberg that comes to brighten us and make us dream and make plans of things to do  !

This is the time of year that Paul wishes he was in the forces, as he'd be shipped overseas and would get a rest from me and my plans! A house is a little like the Forth bridge in Scotland, once you finish painting it , it's time to start again!

When we moved here 14 years ago this month, the main bedroom was painted ORANGE !!! yes ORANGE..admittedly a soft orange but still ORANGE so naturally within a week or so of waking up to those walls , I'd stripped the wallpaper and painted the walls , yes ME ! not Paul, in Mocha , the first room I'd ever painted completely myself... shows you how much I had to get rid of that ORANGE!

This was supposed to be a temporary arrangement, until we got round to putting up a gorgeous wallpaper I'd then bought , which is very traditional with a cream background and a aqua/mint green floral pattern. Yes fourteen years later it's all still waiting in it's wrapping!
So now we have decided that the bedroom must be completed and a new carpet laid before we can finish the hall, stairs and landing as we don't want a carpet fitter dragging a carpet up the newly decorated stairway!.

But now I'm seeing that the kitchen also need replacing! Well in truth I haven't just noticed that , I've known it needs doing for a couple of years but this year it's rapping it's fist on my head insisting I look into doing something! But kitchens are a big ticket item, one that needs lots of thinking about, do we change style completely.. go ultra modern ? go traditional? use wood? painted? change the layout? change our range cooker for an integrated oven ? so that sort of decision  will have to wait until much later in the year plus the bedroom and hallway will be much less work... she says..however I do feel the need to buy paint for the kitchen and paint the walls to keep it quiet until I have time to listen!

So that's where I'm at, making decisions about what needs doing and in what sort of order, what needs keeping and what can go, just before lunch I decided that two trays I've had for years but are never used can go off to the charity shop !

On the doll front

 I bought this American girl set which will come in handy with all the posers and adventurers in this village clan.

I also received this lovely outfit by Petrana, that I ordered before the H&G event in February but had to wait because Petrana was busy making things for the event.
Now I need to have a big redressing session with my Sasha's and Gregor's to get them into spring clothing.



Now I write this blog post over the course of the weekend, starting either on Saturday evening or Sunday morning, then saving what I've written , then returning over the weekend or day until I'm ready to post. Today I went out after writing about the kitchen , to B&Q , a DIY store to get some tongue and grove boarding with Paul, to replace the ones he removed from the stairs , when he was repairing them.

I decided I would look for some paint for the kitchen walls, so mentioned this to Paul, which got us to speaking about the kitchen and how if we replaced the doors on the bottom units and repainted them it would freshen them up.

We then got onto how I have wanted the bottom cupboards painted a darker blue for a few years , which led to us discussing painting walls in a yellow , which then went to the top cupboards, at present cream, being painted yellow and the walls white!

So we came home with a massive tin of white paint for the walls and ceiling etc and Fingal's Cave for the bottom cupboard units! I'd like to say this will result in a beautifully painted kitchen in a couple of weekends BUT there is talk of removing the cooker hood and tiles behind the cooker and making good which leads to other things plus the doors need cutting and replacing.... ... It looks like that bedroom wallpaper could reach the grand old age of fifteen before it sees the light of day!

Enjoy the week ahead, I'll be redressing some dolls so will share some photos in the week.



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MARCH THE FIFTH... DOLL PHOTO DAY

Well  March ! already !

First up this month we have Carol from Canada's boy s practicing their sounds for the spring dance, looking warm and snug in this spring's fashion of sweaters and shorts with the long socks.

The girls at  Gregoropolis are looking pretty in pink , hoping to encourage spring to arrive and warm the place up!

Elsewhere at Gregoropolis , theses lads are worried... they are sure another girl's sneaked in while they were off at school ! They just hope she doesn't like purple like them or they'll have wrestle her and not just each other for the purple clothing!

In the village some of the boys escaped the cupboard to meet up with Valentine and Christian. Ragnor lost his shoes and socks and had to get the others to help him look for them !

Erik waited around to ask some of the girls if they had seen Ragnor's shoes and socks. Saffron was convinced he'd not bothered to put any on, while Jenni thought she'd seen some down the side of the sofa in the studio living room!  Hattie just rolled her eyes in disbelief that Ragnor had no idea where he'd left them!

From Cow Creek we have Bronson, Bryn, Finn and Ferris , having a getting to know you session with their new brother Bryn and his new puppy.

From Chris we have this little one waiting in the hallway to greet her as soon as she gets home.

Also at Chris's is this little darling girl standing with her doll getting ready to go play with her sisters.

From Jenni in Wales we have Iona out in the garden with her doll.

Aletta is doing her impression of a sprite !

While Petey's out in the poly tunnel helping with the veg growing.

Thank you to everyone who has sent in photos. There is still time to have your's added if you've not sent one yet.



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