Wet and Windy Cornwall

I'm not a big fan of dark winter nights. Although I love lighting the fire and snuggling up on the sofa and I absolutely LOVE hearty warming casseroles and soups, I do prefer the light nights of summer, less gloomy and I seem to get more accomplished when it's light outside ...... weird I know! There is nothing more depressing than getting home from work and immediately having to close the curtains. I also don't like getting up when it's dark, somehow it feels like it's still the middle of the night and my body tells me that I should just turn over and go back to sleep ....... oh how I wish I could. 

It's been dank, dreary and blustery here in Cornwall for the last couple of days and I have been trudging through ever deepening mud on my way to do the animal chores. The llamas have now been moved into side of the field where the field shelter is and they will stay there now, probably until spring. In the nice spring and summer months they don't use the field shelter at all and they potter about in the field and eat the luscious grass. In winter, they usually only use the field shelter when it snows or the rain is torrential, otherwise, they usually just hang out under the trees. Still, it's there for them if they want to use it. Also, from now until spring, the field shelter gets a nice thick layer of hay for them to sleep on and net full of hay for them to munch on, along a daily bucket-full of llama food.

The chickens are recovering nicely from the rat infestation trauma. They still aren't laying and haven't been for a very long time but they are much happier now and are almost back to normal. Hopefully they will produce an egg or two for me at some point but I don't really mind if they don't I shall just keep on spoiling them. They're just so cute.

The cats, on the other hand, are behaving atrociously. For some bizarre reason, there is a lot of fighting going on at the moment. I can't figure it out. Nothing has changed. No new additions to the household. No new routines. No new cat food .......... No idea what's going on!! Hopefully, things will calm down and sort themselves out. I might invest in one of those cat calming diffusers, see if that helps.

Looking at these cute little fluff balls it's hard to believe they could be such growling snarling beasts as they have been this week :-)

In the meantime, I seem to be going into hibernation mode. At this time if the year I get the overwhelming urge to stock up the freezer, buy a whole pile of logs and coal and settle in for the winter. Tine to get the chimney swept.

Cutest Pancakes EVER!!!!!

A quick post today before I dash off to work for a long shift. 

A few weeks ago, I ordered a very cute pancake pan from my daughter's Avon catalogue and this morning I finally had a chance to use it.

It took a while to get the hang of them but I have to say, even without the adorable pictures on the bottom of the pan, the little pancakes were very cute. 

They were totally delicious and the pan is non-stick too so it was really easy to clean. 

Chores

I have to say, this working for a living lark really throws a spanner in the works with regard to the old free time stuff. My "little part-time job" is now not so little and not really very part-time any more and as a result, on my day off, I seem to spend the whole day running around like a loon trying to get things done before the work malarkey sucks up all my spare time again. Today I have cleaned out the chickens and moved their run to a nice fresh bit of grass, dumped a whole pile of hay in the field shelter for the llamas, given the dogs a nice long run in the field, done 3 loads of washing, 1 huge load of dish-washing, changed the sheets on my bed and hoovered the house ...... and that was all before lunchtime! I even managed to fit in a bowl of scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast, although I did lose a large chunk of egg to a sneaky cat that pinched it out of my bowl when I went to answer the door to the postman. I hardly used to notice doing the housework and the animal jobs when I had my stall at the market because I used to do them bit by bit throughout the week, fitting them in around my sewing. Now, I feel the need to get everything done on my day off so that when I get home from work in the evening I don't actually have very much to do. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't find the money extremely useful, I do, but I liked the pottering around the house and the relaxed nature of sewing when I felt like it and cleaning when I felt like it. It was a nice, genteel sort-of way of earning a bit of extra money. Sadly though, financially, it became all too apparent that I needed a regular income rather than the sporadic, seasonally driven income I got from the stall, which is why I made the decision to find a job. Eventually I would still really like a job that I could do from home again. That is the ultimate goal for me and hopefully one day I will successfully manage to do just that but until then, I will carry on being a whirling dervish with a duster :-)

On a happier note, the postman delivered a rather heavy padded envelope this morning. I had no idea what it was so was rather excited to have a peek. It turned out to be 4 samples of stone flooring. I am assuming they were ordered by a certain person who is still tearing his hair out because of my ever-changing floor tile wavering. I have to say I do love them but will need to see what they look like once they have been sealed. They need to be sealed on all sides before they are cemented into place and I'm assuming they will be a bit darker once they have been.

Now all I have to do is try and make a decision ........ time for a cuppa methinks :-)

Tile Tetris!!!

I mentioned in my last post that I have plans to tile the hall and downstairs loo and was having great difficulty in choosing what tiles I want. I have changed my mind so often it's driving a certain person a bit bonkers because he's trying to come up with a plan to lay the tiles in an original and "random" pattern so it looks natural and not regimented and I keep changing my mind about the tiles. As you know, tiles come in all shapes, sizes colours, patterns ..... so many tiles ..... so many ideas ...... well you can see the problem. Last week, I just happened to mention that I liked a certain tile. They are very, very lovely, look very natural and are neutral enough to accommodate my fickle and ever changing tastes which means I can change curtains and lamp shades and such without having to re-tile the floor each time (very important!!).

A couple of hours later, up pops an email with what can only be described as a game of Tetris .... with floor tiles!! 

Methinks someone has a bit too much time on their hands at weekends lol. 

Apparently, this one is the hallway?!

And this one the downtairs loo?!

I'm Still Here ..... Is There Anyone Still Out There??

Hi there, wow it's been a while since I posted. Things have been very busy, mainly because, as I mentioned in my last post, for financial reasons, I have had to give up my attempt at starting a little sewing/crafty business for now and get an actual job. That's not to say that I won't be attempting to give it another go early next year, I am definitely still planning to go ahead and do it, but it just means that it will take a bit longer to get off the ground. And I'm sorry, but things have been so hectic that I haven't sorted out a giveaway yet, I just haven't had the time. My little part-time job, that was supposed to bring in a few extra pounds to help with setting up the sewing venture has turned into more and more hours each week until I'm practically working full-time. Not what I wanted but for now, I am grateful to be earning some money, especially just before Christmas, a time of year that is always so expensive. 

Apart from work, I haven't really been up to much else. I have managed to do a few things around the house. I finally finished off grouting the walls in the downstairs loo, painted the ceiling and beams and skirting board and everything is now just waiting for the floor in the loo and the hall to be tiled. This will happen when 

a) I have made enough money to buy the tiles and 

b) more importantly,  when I have decided what tiles I want. 

I change my mind at least twice a week so, for now, I'm just looking online for inspiration and spending way to much time on Pinterest ...... my new favourite guilty pleasure :-)

I have also waged war on the rats that took up residence in my front garden. One of my neighbours dug up a nearby bank to make a car parking space, where I think the rats had been living and as a result, she disturbed them and they moved house. Unfortunately, when they moved house, they moved into my garden!! There were hundreds of them ..... well that might be a slight exaggeration but there were a lot. And they were all happily frolicking in the sunshine on the lawn in the middle of the day and were terrorising my poor chickens. I really didn't want to kill them, If I could have found a way to co-exist with them I would have done but my poor chickens were terrified of them and they were also starting to get very close to my front door so something had to be done. Three days of rat bait mixed with a hefty dollop of peanut butter and hey presto, no more rats. I have to say I was amazed. I haven't seen a rat for almost a week now. It's a huge relief actually ...... believe me, it's scary when you go to shut up the chickens at night and a rat runs across your foot!!! 

Anyway, hopefully I will now be back posting on a regular basis. The clocks went back this weekend and the nights are going to be long and dark so I will have plenty of time, whilst sitting in front of the fire, to think of things to write. Hopefully there are still some people out there who will read what I post. 

Bye for now :-)