Candy Goodies ...

The other week I was having a chat with Anna about , of all things, Candy Corn. Now Candy Corn is something I keep seeing around Blogland at this time of year and have always wondered what it actually tastes like as we don't get it here in the UK.



Now I don't have to wonder anymore as Anna very kindly sent us a little Halloween Goody Bag, isn't she a star ?



I have to say Hub was just as excited to see them as we were .



And they taste just as yummy as I imagined -- thank you Anna .

A Labour Of Love..

I actually finished Milo's blanket a couple of weeks ago but I'm going to give it a post of it's own instead of including it in the monthly round up just because I love it..



I think in the end I bought three balls of yarn but all the rest was from my stash.



There are 62 stripes in total and as I said previously each stripe took about an hour to do, sometimes I felt like it was never going to be finished, especially when my wrist started to ache,



and sometimes I thought Milos choice of colours were a bit eurgh.



but it was all worth it to be told " I don't just like it mammy - I LOVE IT " ........



A big thank you has to go to Lucy for providing such a lovely and easy pattern.

It Had To Happen Sooner Or Later...

School half term holidays don't officially start until the 26th but Milo's school had a teacher training day today so he has got an extra day off. It is also the first day this week when we haven't had rain or drizzle, in fact it was quite bright and sunny, so armed with our bread we headed off to the park to feed the ducks. Alas it wasn't to be ...



all the park gates were locked , we knew this day was coming but it's a bit sad that we didn't get a last walk before it actually shut.



So unable to feed the ducks we walked a bit further where we found a pretty tree to play under instead.













As nice as the tree was -- Roll on Spring ...

Drizzle...

We didn't really get up to much this weekend as not only was Milo a bit off colour but the weather wasn't too good either. For most of the time we had a very fine drizzle, the type that soaks you . It was the type of weekend where you just want to curl up with nice warm blankies and drink hot chocolate .
Unfortunately with my two boys you can't always do this, if they don't get out of the house to let off steam all hell breaks loose , they literally go stir crazy and end up either fighting and yelling at each other or constantly moaning and crying.
So during a short respite in the drizzle we climbed a hill ,, Tunstall Hill to be precise. It's only a 10 minute drive from our house so not too far if we needed to get back to the bathroom!!

This photo looks black and white it is actually colour and in the distance you can see the sea.





and if you look extra closely you might just see flying geese.





There was a race to the top and then the need to rest for a few minutes to admire the view.





It was quite a climb to get to the top and once again the sea is in the distance .



This is a view of our little city , I just wish the light had been better so my apologies for the pics. I also noticed that there is also an overgrown allotment at the bottom left - I might have to enquire about that!!

These next few pics are just random ones I took last week.



Whilst I was on my hands and knees crawling amongst the undergrowth to get this one Gabe was playing with some pine cones just behind me . Anyway I heard this mans voice talking to him so I turned round quickly and this poor man jumped about 10ft in the air, he hadn't seen me and thought Gabe had been abandoned. Luckily it was a man we see in the park all the time walking his dog and often chat to.





And this last one I took this morning on the way back from taking Milo to school, I just thought the colours were gorgeous , and it's still drizzling.

Sunday, Sunday...

Regular readers of my Blog may or may not have noticed that on the first of every month I've been changing my header picture ? The pictures I use are usually taken sometime during the last week of the previous month and must have that - time of the year feeling. Does that make sense? Anyway this month I had such a hard time finding the right picture, I had the conker pictures and the berry pictures but they just didn't suit . Today I found the exact picture so if you are wondering why my header has changed again this month, now you know.



Hub went out with his workmates last night so was feeling a bit tender this morning, it wasn't a hangover though, he just felt a bit queasy and had a bad head.... So I decided to take the boys out and give him a bit of quiet time to recover . When I asked where they'd like to go Milo said he wanted to go on a train , so on a train we jumped and headed off to Newcastle. I remembered that years ago there used to be a Sunday market on the Quayside so that's where we headed. Down the very steep bank to the River Tyne and there it was .



There wasn't as many stalls as I remembered but they were a lot nicer and not as " junkified " with bits of plastic rubbish.



Our favourite stall was this one , with the biggest pumpkins we have ever seen. I had a chat with the stall owner while I was getting some hyacinth bulbs to plant up for Christmas and he said he had grown all the pumpkins and that it had been a very good year for them. I asked Milo to stand behind them just so you could gauge the actual size.



Apparantly there are ten different types of bridges very close together at this part of the River Tyne. The second most recent one to be built is the Millenium Bridge which was opened to the public in September 2001 .







This is the first time we've ever walked across this bridge and I did start to feel just the tiniest bit seasick as it moved ever so slightly. You can just see the back of the market stalls on the right bank .



We were heading across to this building, it used to be the Baltic Flour Mill but is now a centre for contemporary art . As we entered members of staff were apologising for the lack of exhibitions on at present but we still had a little look round and Gabe had great fun just playing in this boat.



Next we headed off to the Castle Keep which I think dates back to 1080 . At this point I should be showing you a photo of the extra steep bank we climbed to get to it but I was so out of breath by the time we got to the top I forgot ....











So after doing a bit of exploring we went off into the town centre where we found Milo the last in his collection of Ben 10 toys and I resisted all the lovely yarn in John Lewis then we jumped back on the train and headed for home.



How pleased were the boys that we managed to get the very front seat so they could " drive the train" ?

Getting There ...

You know when sometimes you start to do a dozen things at once and then think will I ever get them finished? Well that's how I feel at the minute, but you know what I don't care, honestly I don't .
Milo's blanket is closer to being finished than started which I'm quite pleased about, when you consider it takes about an hour to do just one stripe and there are 51 stripes so far. The yarn is slowly disappearing and seeing as how I'm not buying anymore for this blanket , no more yarn means blanket finished.



I just wished I'd sewn the ends in as I went along, that's going to be a job in itself.



Now, one blog I love to read and just look at the pictures is Mias Landliv, so when I saw these I just had to start one. There are some very similar covers in this months Country Homes and Interiors Magazine and they are about £50 each -- sheesh. I've never done any kind of cabling before as I thought it was quite hard -- well this pattern is really easy and is coming along quite nicely.



A while ago I was asked to make 2 bunnies , a girl and a boy and they were to look like farmers . The boy bunny is finished but I've got a couple more bits and pieces to do to go with him and then I'll start on his sister.



What else -- oh yes.. I've also managed a couple of cuties for my C.......s shop -- is it too soon to say the C word yet?
This is Elaina and Edward ( think I've been watching too many vampire shows .) Ooh is anyone else watching Vampire Diaries -- I'm hooked?





Speaking of the C word , I bought this yarn to make some scarfs for presents - if you can call it yarn anyway. I think this will be a test .



And finally I couldn't resist this softness, can you guess what it's for?



So by the end of the month I'm aiming for Milo's blanket being finished, the cushion cover finished, the girl bunny at least half way done and maybe another little cutie. Have you started on any C presents yet?

Windy Saturday

This morning we woke to howling winds, we've watched numerous carrier bags flying past our front window and swirls of leaves and dust outside the front gate. Not really a day to go outside but it got to a point this afternoon where the boys were going stir crazy being cooped up inside so we wrapped up and ventured off down to the park .

We knew it was windy but we didn't expect to see this !














3 broken trees !!!