It's funny how you can sometimes read something that just rings so true that you wonder why you didn't realise it before. A eureka moment. In this case I'm talking about this blog post by Nancy, who I had the pleasure of meeting whilst staying with CompostWoman this last weekend. The principle she talks about is that to be truly happy people should look to have a livelihood rather than a job. Putting it into simple term, what this means is finding your niche in life and finding a way to use your skills to provide something useful for those around you. A livelihood is ... read more
Putting faces to names
We've arrived home this evening after a wonderful weekend staying with CompostWoman and her family at their small holding in Herefordshire. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet them (and various other HML forum people) and also get to finally see "Compost Mansions" and in particular their wood. Their hospitality was fantastic (definitely a five star establishment) and I've come back feeling very recharged and determined to make things happen here.Little Miss C loved having new surroundings to look at and different people's faces to study. She seems exhausted ... read more
Getting back to “normal”
Little Miss C is eight weeks old today. Eight weeks! Where has the time gone. From a small baby who came into the house and did little more than sleep, eat and fill her nappy, I am instead looking down at a bigger baby playing on her play mat, making noises, hitting the toys hung above her and occasionally breaking into a smile too. The transformation has been amazing and it seems that every day there is some small change that we can marvel over.Now that we're both getting used to each other we're learning to live with each other pretty well. I'm incredibly lucky as she's not a ... read more
Tired and weary…
It's amazing how tired and weary you can feel after a day in which I struggle to list what I have actually achieved. This is so different though to the tiredness that I used to feel after a day at work. More emotionally and physically draining, but at the same time satisfying. At the end of it all Little Miss C smiles and suddenly the screaming and tears, dirty nappies, endless feeding and hours pushing the pram are forgotten. The aching weariness is a bit harder to shift though... ... read more
Life with Little Miss C
This adorable little lady seems to take up most of my time at the moment, but I'm certainly not complaining about that! It is funny though how whole days can just vanish now without me realising it. Still I'm amazed already when looking back at photos of when she was born as to how much she has changed in just three and a half weeks. Making the most of her therefore is my priority so again please forgive me if the blog takes a bit of a back seat. ... read more
Introducing Little Miss C…
She's here! Baby C arrived last Thursday morning in the form of completely adorable Little Miss C. I realised I'm biased etc, but she's just completely scrumptious as far as I'm concerned. The less said about the birth itself the better. Not quite how I planned things, but I'm still very happy with the end result.The last five days have been a steep learning curve for both us and her, but we're getting there and even planning our first little trip out later today. I'll try and keep you updated on here with progress, but until I master one-handed typing whilst ... read more
The joys of pregnancy…
I thought I knew what to expect from pregnancy. I'd heard about morning sickness and feeling tired all the time. I knew that by this last month I'd feel rather fat and be looking forward to the prospect of one day regaining a waist and wearing "normal" clothes again.What I wasn't expecting was the physical pain involved in putting my own socks on or the continuous discomfort of pregnancy induced carpal tunnel syndrome. For the last couple of weeks I've struggled to do so many things which should be so simple. Typing is painful and my laptop has therefore been ... read more
A chocolate filled Easter
It's been an Easter weekend that I think I'm going to remember most for the variety of chocolate consumed whilst doing a million and one other things! There was only time for one bit of baking though which was an opportunity to try out a new seasonal recipe. I've had the card for Waitrose's Chocolate Nest Cakes for years (possibly since 2001 looking at the date on it!) and have only just got round to trying these, although as I needed to transport them to a friend's house in the car I made them into Easter cupcakes rather than nests so that they went in a tin ... read more
Easter jobs
Somehow we are already half way through the long Easter weekend. I'm not too sure how that has happened. Lots has been done both in planning for Baby C's arrival and in the garden (when the rain has held off). Time with my laptop has therefore been lacking. Photos will follow, just as soon as I locate the camera in amongst all the DIY stuff! ... read more
A couple of days in Hastings
A few days away in Hastings to celebrate our wedding anniversary means that I've been doing lots of things that I want to blog about, but I haven't had the time to do so! Look out therefore over the next week for news of visits to Chartwell, RSPB Dungeness and Bodiam Castle. There was also time for a wander round Old Hastings, an fantastic art purchase and I also seem to have come home with more books that I left with (but don't tell Mr C that as I don't think he's realised yet!) There's also another discussion of the NTTVBG tomorrow - luckily I'm ahead ... read more