Second random act of kindness!

On the way back from picking the children up from school on Thursday we passed on older lady walking on the verge by the A30. The lorrys and cars were passing her so fast and we could see when we drove past she wasn't managing well! We couldn't stop on the main road but the Tregadillet lay-by was in site so we stopped in there and waited, watching the lady walk beside the busy main road and even into the road when she had to pass a road sign!!! It was quite horrible to watch and Samuel and Tamsyn were quite concerned about her. I have massive issues about people walking on the A30 road as two of my friends have died crossing it! It panics me now and i felt I had to stop to help her.
When she came close I got out and asked her if she wanted a lift back into Launceston or home? She was really pleased and said that she had been to visit someone in Lewannick and had missed the bus back home so had decided to walk. She was probably about 75 ish and had been walking along the road, in the wind for about two hours. Her feet were soaking as she had been walking along the wet verge and she said that she was a bit worried that she wouldn't get home before dark as she was only half way (another two hours to go!!). We dropped her in the town square as she said that she lived very close to the church. We all felt quite glad that we had stopped for her and helped her. The children said that they were pleased that she was safe. Two random car journeys in two days!!

On Thursday I also went to see Samuel's pantomime, Jack and the Three Buccaneers. Wow what can I say hehe very local I think the word is hehe. Samuel had lots of fun and was good and the other children I mean adults in the panto were funny (!!far too much belly on show at times.....)



Random act of kindness

One of my new year tasks that I am loving is that of the random acts of kindness. Yesterday as I left work there was a lady hitch hiker across the road from the hospital entrance waiting. The sky was really dark and it was starting to rain so I thought I would stop and ask if i could help her get somewhere. I have never picked up a hitch hiker before as normally I've got the children in the car and you hear such weird stories about picking strangers up that I've always been worried. Yesterday however I thought I would. Sadly I was on the way to school to pick the children up and she wanted to go to lady cross - the other direction but she said that she need to get into town first to get some money for the bus. So I gave her a lift into town and as she stood in the bus stop it started to rain. Bless her she was lovely and told me that she would ask the angels to look out for me and look after me. How fabulous, she was go happy not to have got wet and walk with her really heavy bags and I had given her a hand .... a win/win situation. My random act of kindness made me feel really good

The daffodils are here to cheer us up xx



Yeah the daffodils are coming out. One of my favourite flowers.

I love walking the dog 'around the block' this time of year, as we walk past all the banks of daffs, they look fantastic. The weather has been so mild though that they have all come out a little early and I'm quite concerned that they will all be killed off by the frost that is getting worse each day!



I think my dresser need a good sort out but I love the mix/match of everything. It seems to change every week with things being added and things being used and put back somewhere else!

Samuel is in the village panto again tonight - it started yesterday and he's already tired but he said that he had a really good night. Granny Rosa and Tamsyn went to see it last night. Ben and Emily are seeing it tonight and Granny Dolly and Myself are seeing it tomorrow night. Mum was suposed to come with us but she has been really poorly for the last two weeks with a flu bug! Poor thing, we are going to go down to see her in a sec with some milk and some oranges! I'll have to get some sneaky photos of Sam like last year all dressed up. He will be so pleased ...............!

The A to Z of me :-)

A - Apples and my brother Andrew
B - Benjamin, Baking and Boden
C - my Children, Christmas, Cake decorations, Country Chic, Cowslip (local quilting shop/cafe/ my retreat)
D - Decorating the house for christmas, easter, valentines, birthdays, parties....!)
E - Elephants
F - Fairys and my Family
G - Get togethers with family and friends - lots of food and Gin
H - my Hair.... brown and long
I - Irregular choice shoes
J - Jet the dog, spotty jugs
K - Kirsty allsop and my name Karen
L - Launceston, my fab home town
M - Mugs :-) emma bridgewater and brixton pottery
N - Nieces and Nephews
O - Oranges, especially satsumas
P - Parties, Patchwork quilting
Q - the Queen, her speech and anything royal
R - Rain but only when your indoors looking out at it
S - being Special hehe
T - Tv watching what I have recorded very late at night, all things Twee
U - things Unusual
V - Vintage (furniture, clothes, kitchen things)
W - Wine, red or bubbly
X - eXtreemly great friends
Y - Yummy cakes
Z - .................................!

I feel all inspired all of a sudden

It's probably because it's the start of the year and it was Alice's first day at work today but I'm feeling like this year is going to be a good one. I have managed four days of non-smoking (Ben has just had a cigarette which I am not too pleased about but four days is still good doing it the 'cold turkey' way so now he has had his fix he says he'll be alright again!).
Hopefully the issue of our disorganised admin system at work will be sorted out this month and that's another thing that has been bothering me. Another thing to tick off the list of things to do.
I was looking on line about peoples opinions of new years resolutions and how we start of with all good intentions but generally have made too many and they are not achievable. One lady in her blog suggested that we instead should write a list of things we would like to do every day or week and goals for the longer term but make them positive and not cutting out things from your life..... whoops ......that's what I did !
I thought that this might be quite good fun so here is my list of achievable goals.

Every day
Spend some individual time with each of my children
Make them laugh :-)
Do something nice for Benjamin
A random act of kindness
Try to only say nice things about people - even if they are mean!!

Every week
Speak to a good friend - either in person or on the phone. Don't loose touch with people.
Cook a fantastic tea
Bake a really nice treat
Spend some time just Ben and I
Pick a much needed job to be done in the house and complete it!!!
Go somewhere nice or different with the children and the dog

In three months time
Have completed Amy's patchwork quilt and maybe even another
Have put up on the walls all my quilts/painting/pictures of the children - especially in the hallway
To have my friends over for a 'big meal'
Organise get togethers with friends I don't see very much
To decorate my bedroom

Before next year
Buy a sewing machine and learn how to use it
Loose a stone in weight so I can fit into all my fabulous clothes (alright it's cutting things out but so badly needs to be done... and putting a positive slant on it)
Find a fabulous pair of jeans - the search continues - but not until I loose the weight
Plan very cool birthday party's for each of my children, Benjamin and myself.


Cool lists hey? I think if I was to achieve these things I would be a very happy bunny.
This year I'm sure will be a good one. I'm going to be a grown up as I'll be 35 in July!!!! London is holding the Olympics and it's the fabulous Queens diamond jubilee, so many happy things and reasons to celebrate and get together with my gorgeous family and clinically insane friends hehe

Emma had landed!!!!

The pain pleasure theory has been quite evident in my life today! However the pleasure has far outweighed the pain thank goodness.
My new boss started work today so I now have a department of two which is exciting however we decided to tackle the pile of archiving still to do......! oh my gosh, such a lot!! I was getting a little bit flustered but help in on it's way now, in the form of proper admin support. An admin lady is turning up on Monday but I think I might sneak into work before this and get a head start! It was awful pulling it all out of the files and realising how much was there! Not a fantastic start to working with Alice, but she had been warned, and luckily I have worked with her before, so we had a good joke about it. Teresa was in as well so we had in the end quite a good if not busy day.
When I got home though the pleasure increased ten fold :-) My massive Christmas Emma Bridgewater parcel turned up - two of them!!!! I am now the proud owner of lots of bowls, side plates and more dinner plates. I also bought a couple more mugs for me and a couple of mugs as presents. The best item though was a six pint jug (I already have flowers in it!) The jug is a second and has a slight smudge on one of the spots on the inside rim which is not fabulous but with the flowers in you cant see it at all - I will just always have to have flowers on the table, such a shame :-) Its already had a wash and is in the cupboards. Its looks amazing and I am in love with it!!!! Once I get Samuel's camera some new batteries or my phone synced with my new computer I will put up some photos. Needless to say I can't wait for breakfast. I'm sure it will taste so much better.
The other fab thing I did today was dye my hair for the first time - only a 28 wash thing and only in chocolate which is near enough my hair colour anyway but I just wanted shinny hair and have tried all sorts and this seems to be the most successful. It has a little hint of red in it that I didn't really want but looks quite nice, and quite shinny.
Poor Emily was the only one to have to go to school this morning. Ben had the day off and when I got home he and Samuel and Tamsyn still had their pyjama's on. They had a really relaxing day watching films and TV and making Samuel's Lego tecnics set he had for Christmas. It's so rare for Ben to have the time to do this and I know that Samuel really loved spending time with him, especially something kind of engineering.
They in the end had to get dressed and have gone off for rugby practise. They have moved the practise to the leisure centre courts as the rugby pitch is full of water due to the horrific weather we have had over the last few days.
I am now going to have to get Tamsyn and Samuel's things ready for school tomorrow and hope we can find everything! Samuel has already told my that he does not have any trainers that fit him!!! Even though we were in the shoe shop yesterday and he didn't mention it! Foolish child ..........



The children are laughing as in 'outnumbered' one of our favourite programs the girl in it is called Karen and she has her 'special bowl' which is just the same - The more we watch it the more similarities between the outnumbered family and our family we make............ some good some not so good hehe very funny though.

Home, early but not :-)

I have spent the evening at Liz's house wanting a cigarette! Samuel and Tamsyn went Granny Rosa's house for a sleepover after pantomime practise. Emily and I went to Liz's to see her Mum whilst she is down and we ended up staying for tea and eventually Emily for a sleepover! I am home and it's only 1:36 am which for my normal visits to see Liz is very very early. I have come home early as whilst she has been talking to me about giving up smoking she has been SMOKING!!!!! I decided to leave before I crumbled on only the second day hehe.

A New Year Begins xx

YEAH xx We all made it into 2012!! Ben's in work today poor thing. The children and I are home but haven't moved to far at all. We have to go out to walk the dog in a minute but none of us are too keen to move fast. The low after the high of Christmas and New Years!
We had a fantastic party at our house on new years eve. All the usual suspects came over (Andi, Tanya, Dan, Lucy, Penny, Kate, Emma, Adam, Lizard, Stew, Lucy deg and Mum) we had lots to eat and drink and sang and danced lots. My house was destroyed in the process :-) When I came down in the morning there were bottles and glasses everywhere - a sign of a fab night!!
We were quite lucky as On new years day we went to Rosa's and Rogers for lunch and met up with Amy, Neil and Emma. Again we ate far too much....I actually made a point of eating all the things I wanted as I knew that as of today I would be back to eating sensibly and striving to get thin again!
And that brings me very nicely to my New Years Resolutions!!!!!!! Oh dear, my head is saying...why oh why!
1)    I have decided in my infinite wisdom to give up smoking!!!!! Sadly I'm not even sure I want to but my head and the constant nagging of my children are telling me that this is a good thing to do. I have managed one and a half days so far and it's beginning to bug me...! Ben is trying as well and he's at work for 12 hours today - even harder for him. Although some of the people he works with are trying as well so I'm hoping he will be inspired.
2)   To loose a stone in weight before my birthday! I cannot be 35 and overweight!! Not sure if I should be doing this whilst giving up smoking but I cannot possibly put on more weight than I have already so it has to be done at the same time.
3)   To organise my washing and ironing routine........... this may even be the hardest of them all hehe but the one thing that makes living in a tiny house the most difficult. When I look around my house and think its untidy most of what I see are clothes in various stages of the washing cycle!
4)  Keep a tidy house..... once the clothes are sorted the rest should be really easy :-)
5)  Do more with the children. Try to get them out the house and enjoying what we have around us. Walking the dog more and investigating random places in Cornwall and Devon.

Emily has just told me that she does not need to make any new years resolutions as she is like Marry Poppins and is practically perfect in every way!!!!

I think my list is quite long and I'm not sure about the fist one! but I'm going to try my very best. The thing I was going to put on the list but left off at the last moment (one step at a time and all!) was not to buy so much pottery, namely Emma Bridgewater but I feel that too many things on the list will be overwhelming hehe and I'll never manage.
I asked for money for Christmas from my Mum and Ben's Mum so that I could indulge myself in the post Christmas sale - oh and I did so well ....! I was also a very lucky girl and won some on line vouchers in a Emma Bridgewater competition so I had £35 free money as well. I was a little naughty though as I bought some really lovely 'hearts' coffee mugs with saucers and a fabulous plate to match, for the table on Valentines day (I know it's not for another 6 weeks but you have to plan ahead) Tamsyn said that we will have to make some heart shortbread to put on the plate as a treat. I will have to put some photos up when all my sale pieces arrive (I can't wait - I keep checking the site but it hasn't even been dispatched yet!!!!!).