Things that are making me smile.....

Well, dear readers, (if indeed you exist beyond the one or two lovely people who leave a comment now and then..and a very grateful thank you for that - nice to know I'm not alone).....Er....sorry.....where was I?

Ah yes, well...... today I battled with the shovel and dug out the car which had been buried blissfully for two weeks, found enough gloves, hats deemed cool enough to be actually worn, scarves, wellies, shoes, extra socks, and coats for all 4 kids, then avoided the mad drivers who hurtled along towards us where there was really only room for one car at a time.

I dropped the big boys at their school, then parked in a very icy car park to walk Floss up to her school (horrid steep hill with even madder drivers).

She, like her mother, has a awful fear of being late, so we walked a little quicker than her mother would have liked. Still it was good for the old heart!!

Then, alone, I recovered the car, only to be stuck behind a large van sliding backwards towards me when it couldn't get a grip! Eventually, we both did. Get a grip that is, and I arrived back home, never more pleased to be back and kind of threw the car back into the snow edged space waiting for it.

At half past two, it all happens again, but in reverse. Until then, I have four and a bit hours, which after a bit of a tidy, have already shrunk to three hours. What is it with child-free time - is it on a different time scale, why does it always fly by?

As I pottered about this morning, enjoying the peace of our house after a snow-extended Christmas holiday where the children have had an extra 6 days, I took some photos of some of the things that made me smile.

Since it's cold, we'll start outside and be quick about it....look, we had a bit of an icicle sculpture going on near our front door....
I particularly liked this weird ice plant....and the light fit for an ice palace.There, now quick let's get inside - that's better, oh yes, despite loving the beautiful peace and quiet, I did feel a bit sad when I saw the place where Floss has hung out a lot recently, her cushion now empty. (For those of you new to the blog, Floss is my daughter, not our cat. Just thought it could have been misconstrued!)

Made to miss her even more when I downloaded the photos for this post and found one she'd taken of her teddy, Maxie, and the lovely sweater she made him. How sweet is that!!!

For those of you wondering, yes, I do miss my boys too - but being boys, they don't talk much, they emerge for food, but they go off into their fab imaginary worlds and I don't see much of them really. (They are happy though, I've checked.)

But Floss, being the only girl, and the youngest, spends a lot of time near me, reading, playing, but she likes to be around. And I like it too. I know it won't last.

As I unloaded the dishwasher, just thought how pretty my vintage plates looked all together.

And it was very satisfying tidying the kitchen knowing it won't be messed up for at least four hours!!

This brilliant poster was from here and was a present to me from me for Christmas. Well sometimes, you have to, don't you? And I love it.As part of having 12 people for Christmas dinner, we had a bit of a switch around in the kitchen, the units above were in the middle of the room, and now the table is. I also got a bit tired of getting splinters from the old top, so gave it a new one.

We all liked the table in the middle, so that has stayed. I also really liked the mini bunting I made last Christmas, and since its not really Christmassy, I decided to keep it.

Let's hope so, eh? xx