Preparations Inside And Out

Morning all.

Today I am having a Social Media-free day so have already got a lot done by 10am! Hubby and boys off for the day, bread is proving, had breakfast, boys' rooms dusted, run half a mile on the treadmill, chooks fed and had a chat to our Airbnb guests who, excitedly, are house hunting in the area. I told them they couldn't have picked a better spot!

This week I have re-discovered my gardening mojo a little enough to do some garden prep. With being do busy in the summer I neglected things a little as I think I have mentioned before. However, I manged to get outside on a couple of my favourite Autumnal days where it was dry and bright, if a little cool.

On Saturday I finished mulching all the six big tyres, 

oh and the bed behind the poly house is now covered. I have kept the frame on because it is quite handy for leaning against.

Then yesterday it was sooo very lovely that I would have felt very guilty indeed if I had not gone outside and done something! I gave the strawberry plants a haircut, still have a couple of other pots to do, 

mulched and covered the two massive tyres 

and prepared bed 2 for mulching by clearing all the leaves from it. 

That corner of the garden has about four trees in it and I'm looking forward to Jon cutting a couple of them down to reduce the leaf drop in the Autumn but to also open up a little more light in that area during the growing season.

The other thing I did was to cut all the loose polythene off the poly house where it has been battered by the wind. This happened last year and we are definitely using the roof from the conservatory, when that is refurbished,to cover it this time and not bothering with polythene again. I will HAVE to utilise the conservatory in the early sowing period until that job is done; there is always something to be done on our little homestead.

So that is preparations outside, now for indoors.

I know for some people it is a little too early to talk about the festive season. However, if anybody knows me well they will know I LOVE the preparations leading up to Christmas and luckily all four of us feel the same way!

The cake is made using Gluehwein and has been fed twice already with lovely spiced rum...

and is currently sitting in the cupboard wrapped up in grease proof paper, cling film and foil. I've made the required additions to this week's shopping list as I need to make the pudding, a request from Jon, and the mincemeat for the enormous amount of pies we get through during December! I have also decide to make a little hamper of edible goodies for some friends we are visiting just down the road on the weekend the boys and Jon break up. I used to make a lot of hampers, here are some I created in the past for raffle prizes or gifts, then whilst looking for the hamper photos I found photos of the craft fayres I used to take part in.

 

Right I'd better get on with something else.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

And So It Begins!

Yes, the weeks are flying by and with outside jobs dwindling there is lots to do, prepare, get on with indoors and, ultimately, enjoy come the big day. YES, I'm getting ready for the Big Ho HO, already my favourite Christmas CD is on a loop and I love the preparation as much as the result to which it leads. I LOVE Christmas; my aim is to make it as yummy a cosy, family time for me and my men as I can. Bring on the snow as we all love the idea of having to stay home by the fire!

Therefore I'm starting off in red as I'm in really in full festive swing because yesterday the decorations started to go up. I normally wait until today but the weekends fall a bit skew this year, plus we have guests to stay next weekend and I want to be totally tinsel central by the time they arrive. Eeeek! I can't wait to get a pan of Gluhwein, cranberries, orange and cinnamon bubbling away so I have a lovely festive smell in the back ground, too. I'm about done apart from a few table decorations. I like to have some of those around but this year I'm trying to make it easier to dust things by the decorations being easy to move if you understand me.

As you may have seen on an earlier post my preparations began about three weeks ago, I think, when I ordered a few craft items as I normally do at this time of the year. I began, as usual, by making some new tags; these are given as gifts, for decorations for people or to go around the house. I have to say I'm totally addicted to making these; I definitely have my own style when it comes to these and this year I've used some fab vintage paper I found last year. A couple of things have come out beautifully including this fab card and then I'm very pleased with the tags. 

When Jon had gone to work and the boys were away to school I began with the paper chains in the living room as these go corner to corner and need to be in place before the tree is brought into the house; I think the tree will be here on Tuesday. Then with the festive tunes blasting out I was bobbing between the kitchen and the living room putting the other decorations up.These are the perpetual advent calendars, the 1-24 garland on the sideboard above the drinks tray, mmmm. and my mantle piece items which include more paper chains and decorated jars. In the kitchen I have the paper chains Alf and I made from some more of the vintage paper. I LOVE the dresser now as I made the banner, too, and I always have a couple of the cards on there which the boys made when they were tiny.

I really enjoy bringing the greenery into the house and always like to have it sit in a bucket for a few days to give it a good drink. This year I'll be decorating with some for our visitors but doing the main lot a little earlier, too, due to us going away for a couple of days between Christmas and New Year. (We have an Airbnb booking for NYE so will be back in time for that.) It is just a gorgeous thing to have in the house and on Boxing Day when we have a little get together with the neighbours I love draping the table with holly, twisted willow and ivy from the garden plus pin lights, of course, between the tasty goodies. Can never have enough pin lights!

A couple of new additions this year will be a pompom wreath and a rag-and-pin-light garland. (There they are again!) The wreath is for the TV room, which has a purple wall along with Marvel and DC comic pictures, and can take something a little less traditional as you see by the colours I'll be using! I began making the pompoms when we lived at our previous house! They were meant for a rug but.... so I'm giving this project a go using a glue gun so will hopefully last a few years. I'm also interested in making some pompom bookmarks as gifts. 

The garland is something I've wanted to have a go at for ages.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and for once I have something on the banister.

Christmas cake and mincemeat are made, sloe gin is sitting in the cellar brewing nicely (I'm sure that isn't the right word) and I'll hopefully make the first mince pies this afternoon. I've decided on the teacher presents to make this year - some seasonal biscuits and rum truffles - and the calendar is already filling up with school activities. 

Lists and my planner are helping remind me that we pretty much know what we are having on Christmas Day and Boxing Day...

and we're having our mini Christmas this coming weekend full of tasty treats, including mince pies, of course. The boys have their Christmas jumpers, Jon needs a new one and I have festive leggings!

As I sit at the kitchen table I can see this at the window and I feel very festive. Fav word!

Ok. Time to get the brekky sorted, boys out of bed and then later this morning I'm out at our village Winter Fayre which is always a fun thing - Alf love the bottle stall and I get a cuppa and maybe a mince pie.

Lou.

Update - Inside And Out.

Overwintering sowing and growing, but first the weather. 

We've had bouts of biblical rain recently along with some terrific wind. However, today we have ish-blue sky with a light breeze hence I had a wander around my little patch of paradise today. There may be rain later... Anyhow here's what I found.

Shallots, garlic and onions were planted out by October 22 and the first two are showing nicely.

With the onions I have some interlopers in the form of peas left over from the summer so hope that I might get a cheeky harvest!

Garlic not doing as well as these two just now but hope it picks up soon.

In the poly house the carrots and kale are peeking through and the meteor dwarf beans in the troughs are doing very well. 

The meteor beans in the greenhouse were sown a little later than the others and think I might plant them in the empty bed in there when they are all ready.

A little surprised at how well the hardy sweet peas are coming on to be honest; I need to check when they can be planted out!

In the greenhouse the beetroot seems to be growing well but there are more leaves than anything else; not sure how that is going to turn out...

A quick look at the cabbages seem to suggest they have not been nibbled by anything recently, after I removed the netting.

Have to say I'm quite chuffed that I seem to have some growing happening so just hope that they turn into edibles!

Garden prep has seen chicken poo, compost and covering put on the corner veg patch. All that needs covering now is where the few leeks and swede are in the main patch.

Inside now. 

First Christmas present is wrapped and a number have been ordered so must wrap them as they arrive.

The turkey has been ordered so can forget about that until the day before Christmas Eve.

The sloe gin is being given a shake once a week now. 

Christmas cake was made at the beginning of the month; I'll feed it some booze this week.

Ordered, as usual, a few crating bits for the festive season and have so far made this tag on the left which can be used as a decoration or given as a gift. The piece on the left is something I love making; this will be used as a back drop on a decorated table or shelf but could also be framed as a gift.

Christmas is now just six weeks away. Eeeek! Lots of planning to be done soon but not quite yet.

Deck the Halls....

I brought in my greenery from the garden on Wednesday and gave it a good soaking in whatever I could find in the cellar. 

Today I brought them up to the kitchen and set to work.

I love having a dresser in the kitchen I can decorate; I had already put some fake kind of greenery on top but needed a lot more. I had taken some lower branches off an evergreen tree and added some holly.

I also put some leaves on the centre light fitting.

In the living room I always have to put something on top of the bookcase as there is a dip and things just disappear! With the help of a couple of logs I managed to get it looking as I wanted; I just love how the greenery looks against the paper chains. (The one in the photo actually came down so had to re-fix that at the same time!)

I have holly over mirrors and picture frames and on shelves, too, of course.

I decorated our cake yesterday; I went for a simple design including a barmy red snowflake!

Sometimes I don't like bright red and green on cake decorations so went for subtlety.

I also decorated one for Jon and his pals at the sawmill and had good feedback on the taste; hope our supper guests on Boxing Day will like it, too.

And finally I made a little flower decoration with some festive blooms Jon came home with from his Dad's last weekend.

So I think I am now DONE with the decs! I don't think I'll be tweaking anything else.

Do you like to bring in greenery to decorate indoors?

Right, I'm having a celebratory beer, just because I can, as Jon is out on his work's jolly and the boys are back from youth club.

Bye for now. 

Lou.xx