Ireland break part two.

Sorry it's been a while getting back to you with the other part of our Irish break. You all know how it is. The weeks just run into one another.

Anyway here we are after going off on one of Ben's brown sign trips.

We spotted this tower in the distance and wanted to know what it was. So Mum and I popped into their local library and found out all about it and off we went.

The story is that a very nasty wealthy man is buried inside it upside down on his head and he built the tower so everyone would have to look up to him after he'd passed away. The same way they had to look up to him when he was alive. (Not a nice man). He thought that if he was buried upside down when the world ended it would spin around and he would be standing the right way up for his next life. Very odd don't you think. Jade and Ben sneaked right up to the tower like a couple of pirates coming in off their ships on to land hehe!

Your only really aloud to visit it on special tours. But nobody saw them or shouted "Get off my land" lol And Mum and I watched on from the car, laughing at them ducking and running across the field. Wish I'd taped that lol

Up here where this sign was it felt like we where on top of the world. All you could hear was the wind not even a bird singing. And the view was a full 360 degrees, it was amazing. You could smell the freshen. We walked up to this cross (no photos just yet they need moving round the right way) anyway it's a memorial to a priest that went up there to say a Christmas mass and was killed for doing so (not very nice). In that day and age they weren't aloud to do mass anywhere. Not even in the middle of nowhere. It was well worth the visit the sites where breath taking.

And the girls enjoyed running around and chasing their Nana, while she tried to keep them from going on the boggy land and sticking in it hehe!

More signs lend us to this tomb where the cat fairy's live lol I know it sounds crazy and it is probably a load of old rubbish, but it was fun just finding it in the middle of nowhere. If you click on the photo it tells you all about it.

One afternoon we drove up to the wind turbines for Jade so she could get close to one of them and have her photo taken. They are huge and make a funny sound. But in this photo this one looks small, it's just the angle of the photo. I don't understand why people moan about them, they don't look ugly to me. Lets make the world a greener place is what I say.

So after a party, yummy birthday meal for Mum, days in the park playing and lots of brown sign trips. Ben and I had the last evening to ourselves. The little ones tucked up safe in bed, Jade just home from pony riding with her best Irish friend Ashley and Mum and Dad happy to babysit (if you can call it that when they're fast asleep lol).

We set off for a bit of ghost hunting. Armed with the camera, some sweets and juice we drove off into the unknown. Oooow!

This old church was in the middle of nowhere Ben got out and walked up to it. I was more of a chicken and stayed in the car with the doors locked. I just didn't fancy it and it was very cold. There is something about churches at night, the mind just works over time on all the odd noises. Cool photos and brave Ben.

We came across this very scary looking deserted house. When we where looking for the real ghost house. I wouldn't want to stay there on my own. Eerie isn't it?

Driving around the lovely Irish country side at dusk is so very different to the bright sunny day time. And after going up and down lots of curvy roads, we stopped at another field with an old house in it and was going to get a snap of it when a young farmer on his tractor drove over and asked if we where alright. "Yes thanks we're just out looking for the ghost house" oh right he said it's just up the road a bit. You're see a break in the trees like a track. So off we went and here it is. The entrance to the Coonian Ghost house.

As you can see it was getting a little to dark to go right in and explore, so Ben just jumped across a ditch to the path that leads up to it. He took this photo and on the top left corner there is an orb. I really didn't like the feeling of the place at all and felt a little sickie. We only discovered this orb when looking through the photos in bed that night. And it freaked me out. We would never of been silly enough to try and find the house in the dark not even with a big torch and 2 burly Irish blokes by our sides lol Very scary looking place. Maybe next time we're come back in the day light, that's if I'm brave enough lol

If you want to find out more about the house just Google it. There are a few stories from people that have been there and experienced things. I myself had a huge sore bump come up on my right leg the following day. It got worse as the week went on and I had to take antihistamines for it. When I told my Mum about it the first thing she said was "you didn't up to that ghost house did you?" so maybe there is something in it. I'm all better now but it did make me think there is something not right about that place even now after all these years. Ooow! lol or maybe I just got bit by something.

Anyway we all made it home in one piece to England and enjoyed our trip to Ireland. It holds lots of memories to keep with me when I want to think of Mum and Dad.

Thank you both for having us all and our noise lol

Have a great weekend everyone, we're off to the Kent County Fair, lets hope it doesn't rain or we're be muddy ducklings lol

Ta ta for now.

Hugs.

Catherine x

13 years together. Happy Anniversary x

Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad.
13 happy years together, they met in London and lived only two doors away from one another.
They'd said hello to one another in passing but really hit it off when Dad came round to fix Mum's shower. And bless them now 13 years later, they're both retired living in Ireland where Dad comes from and their lives are full of friends popping round, days out, yummy meals, card making and their church. They are so very happy and we are happy for them.

Enjoy your special day and have a lovely meal together.

Lots of love x

Hugs.

Catherine x

When will I, will I be famous?

Well Ben didn't have to wait very long lol he was working up in his works London office on Monday and on popping out for lunch, came face to face with the crazy haired Boris Johnson, who was out and about doing his bit running for the Mayoral Elections.
If you forward it to 6.44 Min's and look behind the lady confronting Boris there's our Ben looking very cool in his suit. We just rolled around laughing last night when we saw it on the Channel 4 news and taped it from the hour later show on 4+1.
I was chuffed to find it on the website this morning and just had to share it with you all.
http://www.channel4.com/player/v2/player.jsp?showId=11867 Ben's couple of seconds of fame lol. I love the way he ducks out of the way hehe!

So here he is my gorgeous man. Loved so very much by Molly and Daisy. He's proud and devoted father.
Always clowning around and making everyone laugh and smile. Peek-a-boo!
And he gives endless love and tlc when his little ones are feeling sickie. Ready with big snuggles and kisses.
We love you Ben so very much and I wouldn't change my life for anything. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.

And want to shout it at the top of my lungs I love you Benjamin Short now and always. x

Enjoy this post everyone, I'm sure all of you have that someone special in your lifes that makes you feel all yummy inside. I just wanted to share mine with you and thank him for everything he does.

Hugs.

Catherine x

Irish Break Part One. Happy Birthday Mum.

After leaving Gatwick having been asked all the normal questions,"did you pack the bags yourself"? and "has anyone interfered with them"? or "have you left them unattended"? Yes! to the first and No! to second two. On to the departure bit and poor Molly was very upset about having to look at the woman trying to get our photos. She wouldn't look at her and we had to hold her head up by force. People must of thought we were trying to steal her. Not the best start to our journey. And then anything and everything has to come off for the x-ray machine. So off came belts, coats and shoes. And all bags, keys, paperwork and lose change went into the little red boxes. And met us on the other side. Thankfully it seemed to be very quite and we got ourselves together in no time.
Only to be told by all the screens to relax and shop until our gate number appeared. lol
A short and peaceful flight we arrived in Belfast, bags collected and car signed for off we set towards Mum and Dad's. Stopping only for a yummy Subway and a much needed coffee for me.
We settled in at Mum and Dad's and popped out to the hall on Friday to hang the bunting, balloons, sort the food tables and chairs for Mum's birthday party on Saturday.
Here's the beautiful birthday cake made by one of Mum's friends, Hazel. A big thank you to her for making it and yes it tastes as look as it looks. Soft sponge, jam and butter icing inside.

Here's the birthday lady herself cutting it. The whole party went very well about 55 of her friends turned out and Hazel the cake lady sorted out a couple of party games. The funniest one was pass the parcel with a twist. A load of plastic bags where thrown on the floor and a piece pf fabric was pasted around the room. When the music stopped who ever was holding it had to pick up a bag. Which had a funny item of clothing inside. By the end of the game the room was filled with people of all ages dressed in bras, knickers, hats, clown trousers, nighties, tights and lots of other funny looking items. I think Mum said the oldest lady who got the clown trousers was about 88 lol it was something I won't forget in a long time hehe! Jade and her friend Ashley found the whole thing funny and creepy (their teenagers). And as for Ben and I well being 30 somethings we kept right out of it and hid at the back lol I know party poopers! sorry Mum
I did say the hello, welcome and thank you all for coming speech at the beginning of the evening and most of the guests I'd never met in my life. Ben said I was very brave. Thanks sweetie x
The evening was a great success and Mum really enjoyed it. Good food, good friends and family and yummy cake. We all fell into bed about midnight the little ones where tuckered all out then.

We didn't get any other photos of the party just due to getting all court up in flow of things. So sorry no cute pictures of the girls in there party outfits, or Ben and I in ours. Or of any of the other goings on. I forgot to put the music on in the hall too lol But nobody seemed to notice.

Ben did set his new toy up (yes he got himself a shiny new camera before we left). And he took this lovely photo of all of us. (Please don't look at my belly, that's to much birthday cake, oh the shame) Back to calorie waiting tomorrow, honest wink wink!

I'll leave this post with three photos of all mu Mum's birthday cards, wow how many can one woman get lol I don't think I've ever had that many. It was lovely to see her face every time she opened a new one and she seemed so proud to tell me who each and everyone came from. Bless her.

Glad you had a special birthday Mum, it was great to be with you for it.

Back with part two of our Irish trip, with brown sign trips, birthday dinners and ghost hunting stories.

Hugs for now.

Catherine x

Hello we're back from our break.

Well hello there!

We're back from our family break in Ireland will lots to tell you all. That's Jade in the photo on top of a field her and Ben climbed up.

Just need a day to get back into things first.

Many thanks for all the lovely comments left on my post while I was away. It's good to be back and I've popped in on a few of you already. It's funny but I get withdrawal symptoms from you all if I don't have my daily fix of blog lol

I can't be the only one that suffers from this hehe!

Back soon with all the news and fun in Ireland.

Kisses.

Catherine x

Bon Voyage.

See you all very soon with lots of news from my short break. Missing you already :(

I'll leave you with a couple lovely items.
The first photo is one of my new little projects. Two brooches in pretty fabrics. £4.50 if any ones interested please just email me for all the details.

The second item is a cute Easter card my clever Mummy made for the girls. This is one of my favourites. She always makes us cards and does lots of craft days at her local WI meetings.

Thanks Mum it's so sweet. x
And lastly look what gorgeous pink item came for me from the fabulous Alison over at Vintage Amethyst.

Her beautiful new website is open for business, so hop on over and have a look. It's full of lovely hand painted signs and vintage goodies. Just follow the link http://www.vintageamethyst.co.uk/

Many thanks Alison, I love it and will be back for another look very soon. X

So that's it from me for a while now, I'll be back in a week or so with lots of news.

I will be checking in on you all from time to time. When I can get to the computer at my Mum's lol

Big hugs.

Catherine x

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Look what we woke up to this morning, yeay! snow!

Bundling on coats, hats, gloves and scarfs, we went out in our little garden and enjoyed some snowball fun. Daisy didn't like it very much and wouldn't walk on the grass lol
Jade had a big smile on her face when she saw it all and came out and joined in the fun.
Snowballs thrown, numb fingers and wet toes lol we came back in for a hot cuppa and workout whether to pop out to the shops or not. For milk, bread (salt lol) no, no salt, why does everybody go mad and by up all the salt when we get a little snow. By the time they get it home it's all melted hehe!
All warm and dry we get ready to face the cold again, as you see Molly takes keeping warm very seriously lol toasty little cookie.
Off we go, luckily the roads are clear and the food shops aren't full of crazed people, so milk, bread and a few other bits and bobs later. We end up here at a country park for some real thick snow. Isn't it beautiful?

I love the way it clings to the trees, like someones come along and flocked it all in soft white fluffiness. Lovely just lovely.
Molly and Jade loved it and ran off into the woods where it was nice and deep. They could make big snowballs in there. Poor Ben got one right in the face lol (no photo) But he got his own back and Jade had some down her back hehe!
Daisy and I stayed well out of it all, she wouldn't let anyone put her down. Crying if we tried. I guess it all just looked very scary covering everything and making funny noises as we walked. It must be a 2 year old thing.

Another quick pose and it's back t the car for us all before the cold really sets in. Yes I know the pink umbrella looks very funny but I just couldn't find my flaming hat and I've just had my hair cut again. The wet, damp and snow don't mix it just makes me go all frizzy lol So I came up with this idea to keep nice and dry. Daisy liked it too, all safe and snug under it with Mummy.

I spotted this on walking through the path. It's like a umbrella with fingers holding hand fulls of snow in the air. Oww a arty moment for me lol

Back at the car, we left our foot prints in the snow. Far left Molly, middle Jade and just to the right me. Don't we have small feet.

All at home safe and warm. Hot drinks all round and a cake or two ;) A fun but cold family day. Wish we had a sledge, that would of been great fun. Just like when I was a girl and the snow was so thick, it came up to your knees. And you didn't feel the cold until your fingers went pink. Good days. Remember thoses days?

I hope you all enjoyed the snowy weather as much as we did and it didn't course you any troubles. Just lots of fun together. And that your all safe and cosy, snuggled up in doors now.

Back soon with a few new treats in the post and news of a trip coming very soon.

Big cosy hugs.

Catherine x

Meme! and thank you's.

A while ago the fabulous Tracy over at Cupcakes at home sent me a meme to do. So here goes honey, sorry it's taken so long. You know my mad house lol





Question 1 name 4 films I watch over and over.


1) Chocolat - you can never have enough chocolate and Mr Depp together


2) Love Actually





3) Truly Madly Deeply





4) Chicken Run - I know it's a kids film but we've had to have it on everyday since I taped it off the telly lol and if we get chicken one day I'm gonna call 2 of them Babs and Bunty hehe!

4 Places I've lived.

1) Maidstone in Kent

2) East Malling in Kent

3) Tonbridge in Kent

4) And now Chatham you guessed it in Kent lol

I did live for 2 weeks in London Kensington with my Mum when she moved there after my 18th birthday, so I will pop that on too.

4 TV shows I watch.





1) Ashes to Ashes - I was totally hooked on this fabulous program and can't wait for the new series next year. I would just love to be Alex swanning around in all those cool 80's clothes and flirting with DCI Gene Hunt. And catching all those bad guys. This will be one to buy when it comes out on DVD (on my wish list already hehe!)



2) Holby City - I'd love to talk like Connie Beauchamp, she has such a wonderful presents about her. You wouldn't want to mess with her and would trust you life in her hands.





3) Shameless - I know it's trashy and loud but I just have to watch it. It's so naughty.





4) Location, location location - this ones a love, hate thing really, I love to see all the gorgeous houses but hate the people that are looking for them. They just drive me mad and I scream at the telly "you flaming fussy lot, you don't know how lucky you are". Good old Kristy when she gives them a piece of her mind lol (you go girl).

4 Places I've been.





1) The beautiful Amsterdam - family holidays as a child.





2) The Le mans 24hrs race - I was 15 and with my Dad and 8 firemen, good times.





3) Ireland - where my Mum and Dad now live.





4) And Florida - less said about this one the better.





4 Things I love to eat.





1) Cupcakes - you would never of guessed that one lol


2) Eggs - cooked anyway you can think of scrambled, boiled or fried, they are so yummy. Free range only or organic, "chicken out" as Hugh would say lol

3) Quarter pounder's with salad and burger sauce - not the healthiest but so tasty. I crave them on a Friday night.

4) Gypsy tart and a big cup of Mocha. Hmmm just heaven. My poor teeth.

4 People who email me.

1) My lovely Mum.

2) The fabulous Tracy from Cupcakes at home.

3) The sweetie Claire from Made in Pixieland.

4) And the gorgeous Sam - Ben's sister. x

4 Places I'd rather be.

1) Living in Cheltenham - but I'd have to move my oldest daugther and little Granny too.

2) Broadstairs or Whitstable - in a lovely pink house by the sea.

3) In a home of our own with a sage green door, playroom, big kitchen, studio for me and chickens in the garden.

4) Snuggled up in bed with Ben, a hot chocolate and a good book.

The last question is 4 things to look forward to this year.

1) Spending time with my Mum and Dad in Ireland and enjoying her 60th birthday party while we're there.

2) Our 5 years together anniversary.

3) Having a holiday to one of the Featherdown farms. Lots of walks, playing, family and crafting time.

4) Doing another open day at the Luddesdown farm and hoping to make some money. And get new business out of it.

Well there you all go a little bit more about me. I'm not going to pass it on to anyone else, as after having a read through a lot of your posts. It must the time of year for tagging and lots of you have already been asked.



I have a couple of thank yous. This ones for the very sweet Alison over at Vintage Amethyst who gave me this one in a million friend award. You are very kind honey.

Pop on over and have a look at her blog she has also just opened her gorgeous website, full of pretty things. x

And this thank you is for Kitty over at Kitty's bloggy bits, your very sweet. thanks hun.x
Wow that was a long winded post, hoe you're all still here with me lol and haven't gone to sleep zzzz.

I'd never be able to pick a few of you for these awards so they go to all of you that I know as you are all one in a million and very crafty ladies.

Hugs.

Catherine x