Chimneys and Beermats

Image by GreekVicar

Today we had our chimney swept, again. After we rudely removed their lofty abode from our chimney last December, our pet Jackdaws decided it was time to recommence their fortifications. Over the last week or so, it's been raining down our chimney: Large amount of twigs, scrap paper, rusty pipes, large shards of glass, bits of stale bread. Lovely. (The sound of the glass shards dropping onto the ceramic tiles at 7am certainly got the adrenalin going.)

The friendly neighbourhood chimney sweep informed us that when you see the brush sticking out of the top of the chimney, you can make a wish. So once he had gotten through all of the bits of nest, he summoned us outside, where we shone torches at the chimney and made a wish.

Tomorrow he is fitting a bird guard over the chimney pot, so we will be bird free from now on! If we had waited a few weeks longer we would have had to leave the jackdaws to their home, in case they had laid eggs)

As if my free chimney-wish wasn't enough good luck for one day, I also stumbled across these on ebay today (and won the auction):

I was actually looking for a ceramic coaster for my desk at work and completely fell in love with the 1950's cardboard coasters. Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. Any suggestions? (Also - I still haven't found a decent ceramic coaster!)

I'm currently trying to figure out if the chimney wish & the ebay win weigh up the fact that our chimney antics have been quite costly, and that my car's gear box has decided to break.

Also, thanks to everyone who has been commenting recently - I'm sorry for being a tardy blogger. I'm still adjusting to my new routine, and will hopefully be back in action soon. The new job is going well, thank you for your well wishes.

Kitchen Tables

We've been looking for a kitchen table for quite some time. The space it needs to fit is a bit small, so it needs to be a particular size. This one won't fit, but I wish it did! Available on ebay here.

Peony Necklace

Isn't this just stunning! I'm really enjoying pretty, lady-like jewellery at the moment.
Peony Flower Tiered Necklace by Precious Elements

Tagged: 6 Random Things

The lovely Biba of Inspiration Bubble tagged me to share 6 random facts about myself. I've been trying to think of 6 interesting facts, but haven't got very far. Inspired by Biba, who shared a picture of herself as part of her '6 facts' post, here is one of Anthony and me:
This is picture is just over a year old. Back in those days I still believed in sunbeds. Oh how I wish they weren't so dangerous. I'd get one installed at home. Here goes with my more or less random facts:


1. I grew up in a really beautiful town called Lindau, in the south of Germany. I speak German fluently, and really enjoyed my time there and visit my family in Germany as often as possible.


2. As part of growing up so close to the alps I learnt to ski when I was 5. Whilst I'm not a sporty person at all, I really enjoy skiing, and am not actually too bad at it. Picture belows show me, on the left, and my lovely stepsister Anna on the right.

And here are my brother Williams and I trying to chose a drink in a mountain top restaurant/chalet type affair. As you can see we are taking this task very seriously. This picture was taken about 2 years ago. William now has a full beard.

3. I have two brothers, and two stepsisters. We are all between the ages of 20 and 25, and we have a lot of fun. (I'm the oldest. boohoo.)

4. I used to be really into online gaming. It ended up being too time consuming, but I met some really awesome people, and we had a lot of fun (hazy memories of fun holidays in Sweden and Denmark, involving A LOT of Tuborg).

5. I am trying to learn to play golf. Anthony is a very patient coach, but I get pretty stroppy if I'm having a bad day with it. Most notably, when I was conned into playing a whole round of golf on a proper course. I'm looking forward to when the weather gets better so we can resume my learning. (I'm not much better at mini golf!)


6. I have watched every single episode of Grey's Anatomy. And Friends, and Sex and the City. And America's Next Top Model. It's really quite sad. Whilst I know that the shows are pretty hollow, I still really enjoy watching them. Guilty pleasure I guess.



I would like to tag the following Ladies to share 6 random facts about themselves:

Kristin of Kristin Made Simple. (Although she is a pretty busy lady at the moment. You're making me feel bad with all that gym going!:)

Alison of Banjolele. (I discovered Alison's blog recently through a comment she left here, and I really like her taste!)

Michelle of Sofluid. (Michelle and I are quasi-related, and her blog is really inspiring. A virtual kick up the backside - in a good way!)

Feeling Shiny

This evening we went on a little impromptu shopping trip to TKMaxx, and I purchased this bag. Mine is exactly the same shape as this one, but minus the python-style embossing. (You can see it here). It's covered canvas, and it's lovely and shiny. It's also large enough to fit A4 folders and my shiny work laptop. (At the moment I'm juggling it all around in various canvas bags - messy).

Image via Macy's.

Happy Valentine's Day

Image by Richard Holden

Gainful Employment

Tomorrow I'm starting a new job. It's a proper job, and a great opportunity. (A 'big girl job' as Kristin over at Kristin Made Simple called hers). I'm really looking forward to starting(and am also quite nervous!).

It may or may not mean that I'll be blogging a little less in the future. I'm planning just to go with the flow. I've really enjoyed blogging since I began in September, and I'm sure I'll be able to integrate it in my new routine.

Tablecloth?

I picked this up from Oxfam yesterday for £3.99. (I spied it in the shop window, charged in there and grabbed it out of the window display. I don't think they were too impressed)

It's a fantastic retro tablecloth, made of some really heavyweight material. Apart from a small pollen stain it's in pristine condition. (Hopefully that stain will come out in the wash - any tips? it's on the white part, so I figure I'll just bleach it).

As lovely as the tablecloth is (even in its un-ironed condition), as you can see from the picture, it doesn't fit the table.

I'm pondering which option I should take.

a) pretend it fits the table and get on with it
b) turn it into some placemats or napkins (with random portions of the pattern)
c) turn it into a bag (or two).




The dining room is the only room that will realistically work with the colours, otherwise could perhaps have turned it into cushion covers. What do you think?

Snow, snow and more snow

Like lots of other people around the country, we've had a lot of snow in the last few days. At first it was fun to be snowed in, but after 5 days stuck on top of a **** mountain, we're starting to get major cabin fever! My Dad has offered to send us some proper winter tyres from Germany (where they are vastly better equipped to deal with this white seasonal hazard). Here are a few pictures with descriptions: (lots of photos - sorry if loading is slow!)

This is the pathway that leads from our house to the main road. It's paved in beautifully coloured slate. Children have been using it as a toboggan run all week, which gives me the heebee jeebies, because the main road is just at the bottom. (DANGER!)

This is our back 'garden'. If you're wondering what on earth that cast iron thing is, join the club! I found it in the coal shed of our house. It's a solid cast iron Candle holder thingy. It must have originally come from a church. I tried to use it as a decorative Christmas feature, but it just made our dining room look like Dracula's lair, so it's been banned to the back yard.

This is picture is evidence of Anthony depositing snow into our house. I quote: 'It doesn't matter, the radiator will dry it really quick'. It didn't dry it quick enough to stop me getting wet socks when I took my boots off. Tsk tsk :)


Picture of the golf course (Anthony's place of work). Unsurprisingly the course is closed. The mountain/large hill you see in the background is the Blorenge. We live just the other side of the peak. (If you ever need a word that rhymes with orange, you have one! You'll thank me one day.)

So today it rained most of the day, and we were hopeful that some of the snow would be washed away, and we could actually park on our street, and drive places and stuff. However, the rain just turned into snow. We've already had 1 inch, and the BBC weather promises us up to 6 inches over night. Hoorah.

Orla Kiely Wottle

I've been jabbering on about getting a re-usable water bottle for a while now, and am a little shocked that I didn't know this beauty was available. This Wottle is made by BRITA and has Orla Kiely's signature stem print, and as an added bonus, is made from recycled materials.

You can buy it here for £7.99, with free postage & packaging. (Hoorah!) If, unlike me, you live close to civilisation, you can also pop into Heals to buy one for £8.00.