Ooh, it's been a long week...

... and it's fat fighters weigh in tomorrow (commonly referred to as the 'walk of shame') BUT I've managed to stay off the wine and the chocolate all week!!! Can only usually manage to give up one or the other.

Dr Green is cracking on with the kitchen. Hopefully, will get all the new doors and cupboards in situ this weekend. That just leaves the tiling and the floor. (How is it when one room is undergoing works the whole house is trashed?)

I've dusted off the sewing machine and made some tea cozies with matching hearts. Am now chomping at the bit to create more stock.

Only Tuesday...

...and Dr Green has been working from home today. The chickens have been outside for a bit, after we patched up the fence AGAIN. Had a mad escapee last week - Esmeralda managed to get into nextdoor's garden and it took a good 15 minutes of arm waving to direct her back through the hole in the fence into our garden.

It's been quite a productive day. Have painted a shelving unit for Mimi's bedroom. The plan is that she will display some of her 'treasure' purchases from Battlesbridge (antique centre). Have also made some more stock for summer fares/the website. Will post some photos soon.

Dr Green has started on the kitchen. In an effort to tart it up a bit and get some more cupboard space, we are changing the doors, tiles and floor and replacing some of the shelves with storage cupboards. Will post a photo once it's all looking gorgeous. Have also been baking cookies and making monster scotch eggs (think canon balls) for my hubby. Feeling rather virtuous now so will join Dr Green on the sofa to watch the footie and tuck into a large G&T!

RIP Tommy the Hamster

Oh dear, Tommy the hamster finally popped his clogs last night. Broke the news to a very upset Mimi this afternoon AFTER she'd spotted the empty hamster cage in the garden. (Not particularly subtle!)

On a more positive note, I have patched up all the holes in the fence so that the chickens can roam free in the garden. It's been a cracking day weatherwise so I've enjoyed having the chooks keeping me company whilst tidying the garden. Will crack on with sorting out the vegetable planters this week and get some seeds going in the propagator.

Roll on the Spring!!

A very beautiful Tiger Lily

Here's a lovely photo of Mimi all decked out for a 'book character dress up' at school today. This little outfit was knocked up in an hour and was sourced from stuff we had to hand. Even the large seagull feather!

(She had originally decided to go as a witch - this would have been sooo much easier as we already own various bits of witchie attire. But, as usual, nothing's that simple with my daughter.)

PS: have been to fat fighters, oops sorry, Weight Watchers this morning. Will be grouchy old bag whilst on the diet so best avoided!!

Frozen chickens

OMG, sooo much snow today. It looks wonderful - abit like Narnia - but my poor chooks look frozen. Am tempted to bring them, huddle them up in a blanket and put them next to the radiator. However, the other chick blogs tell me that they can quite comfortably handle this weather.

Dr Green home from work at midday as London is at a standstill under 3 inches of snow??!! Can't wait to pick the kids up from school so they can chuck some snow around and make a snowman (Jake Frost #2!).

Chickens!!

We are now the proud of owners of a rather spectacular chicken house and, mostly importantly, three gorgeous egg-laying chickens. Went to a really good chicken farm near East Hanningfield where the chap was particularly helpful. We've gone for a clear Sussex (Ezmeralda), a chocolate Peking (Tallulah) and a mid-brown hen (Cecilia). They seem to be settling in nicely.

Dr Green nearly had kittens this afternoon when he spotted an egg in the nesting box. It'll be fritattas for breakfast, tea and dinner! Only kidding, we plan to use the eggs for baking mainly. But with the chooks producing around 20 eggs per week I need to see what egg-citing recipes Nigella has on offer.