We went to look at our new house again last evening and to measure spaces to decide where our furniture will go. I took this photo on the way home. I have a friend who will be living just around the corner from us and she and her husband always take a stroll down to the beach after their evening meal and before coffee. I thought that would be a nice habit to get into.

Tom dropped a bombshell on us by announcing he won't be coming to live in our new house as he now feels he wants to leave home and share a flat with two friends. I feel very sad at this, I know it's inevitable that our offspring flee the nest but I hadn't imagined he would be going just yet! How strange it will be just hubby and me again.

I think I have a lot on my mind. Has anyone else done the stupid thing I did this week. I went to a car boot I don't usually frequent quite a way from here, bought three items from a stall, asked the man to look after them then only realised I hadn't gone back for them before coming home! I will have to return next week to see if he is there again, I hope so.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. mine will be spent packing, packing, packing ........

And the good news is....

The good news is we have finally exchanged contracts and move into our new house on 21st April! Busy times ahead. I have elected to do the packing myself so collected the 15 boxes from the removal company. Well that should do one room! Think I may have to go back for more.

It's all feeling a bit scary especially as we have this house just as we want it and are now set to embark on more diy, builders, no spare cash, few spare weekends etc etc but we keep telling ourselves that we are not insane and as the new house has POTENTIAL we will eventually have that looking just as we like it too.

This is our local beach just down from our new house at Lee on the Solent. Hubby was rather cold and battling against the wind on Saturday.

This will only be our fifth house that we have owned which isn't bad going in 30 years and we also lived in two married quarters. The first house we bought was £10,150; this one is a little more!

I had a lovely surprise from http://randomjottings.typepad.com/ who kindly sent me the book Death and the Maidens about Fanny Wollstenecraft and the Shelley Circle. I had commented on her blog that I would like to read it one day and she sent it to me. Thankyou so much Elaine. This lady is amazing, not only does she read avidly she also manages to write a post every day and I thoroughly enjoy reading her reviews of books. Our reader's group is reading The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney for our next meeting. At the moment I am ploughing my way through 1000 pages of Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. I also picked up Toast by Nigel Slater at a car boot this week. I've wanted to read it for a while as several friends have recommended it. I am always interested to know what other people are reading.

I went to see 'The Other Boleyn Girl' at the cinema last night. It was ok but I wouldn't recommend it. The actor who played Henry VIII was totally unconvincing. I hadn't realised they had hair straighteners in those days! When Mary Boleyn was summoned to Henry's bed chamber in between disrobing and lying on his bed she had managed to straighten her beautiful long wavy hair. So, you see GHDs are not new! Actually I used to iron my hair in the 60s. My long hair was thick and wavy and I longed to have straight thin hair so I used to lie it on the ironing board and run the iron over it! Did anyone else do this?

Isn't it wonderful to have the lighter evenings? I went for a lovely long walk yesterday, it was so sunny and warm. I passed fields of rhubarb, daffodils and polythene covered strawberry plants.

I have done another make-over on a directors chair. You will probably recognise the material as I have used it on several projects.

Barbados

I have been on holiday for just over a week and am amazed at how many posts I need to catch up on, you've all been posting like mad in my absence!

Someone once said that other people's holidays, diets and children should be avoided as topics of conversation as they are boring to other people so I will now break all the rules. We have been to Barbados and what a lovely place, I just want to go back. Here is where we stayed and I can thoroughly recommend it http://www.mangobaybarbados.com/. It was all inclusive so after buffet breakfasts, three course lunches and dinners, afternoon tea and unlimited drinks I am now back on my diet. The food was superb and I tried so many new and lovely cocktails. The weather was hot (of course) and I just can't get warm since our return.

Enough of that, here are some pics.

We took the kids with us so here they are.

Hope I haven't bored you! I will try to catch up on leaving comments but we are in the middle of packing for our house move so life is a little busy right now.

Happy Easter to everyone.

Distressed Dresser

Life is a bit busy at the moment. Whilst I am reluctant to tempt fate and actually start packing in case the house sale falls through I have been sorting through the vast amount of things we seem to accumulate. Living by William Morris's maxim to 'Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful' is just too difficult but I am trying very hard to de-clutter and I do actually enjoy disposing of things I just do not need anymore and which may be of use to someone else. All very cathartic.

As a little light relief (!) I have been painting. We bought this dresser when we were first married and I no longer liked it. It was either spend about £1500 on a new white dresser I had seen and liked or paint the old one so here it is before and after.

I also painted a wooden chandelier that a friend didn't want anymore.

I know just the place this is going to go in our new home (fingers crossed!).

Fair Isle Knits

There is an article in this month's Country Living in which a lady 'believes that everyone should be made to wear a Fair isle knit at some point in their life'. Reading this prompted me to dig out a couple of items I made members of my family wear. I knitted this for my husband back in the late 70s. He did wear it but how could he not after I had knitted so much love into every stitch!

I knitted this Fair Isle coat and hat for Rosie when she was about two in 1986.

She did look gorgeous in it but she was always trying to pull the bonnet off, I guess now it may have been itchy as it is pure wool.

I'm going to try very hard not to mention anything about our new house until we have seen the structural survey and know it is definitely going to be ours. I keep feeling so excited and restless and have to control myself just in case.... though that doesn't bear thinking about. I have already started to sort through things and have several piles to be disposed of - papers to be burnt or shredded, bedding to be donated to the RSPCA just down the road, things to be put on the Freecycle website, charity shop donations etc. etc. These are all jobs that can be done regardless but I daren't let myself get carried away; every time I look at a magazine I am imagining what I am going to do to our new home. As soon as I know definitely it is going to be ours I will post some photos.

There is a Wednesday car boot about 15 miles away which keeps going all winter and as it was such a lovely morning I got up early and went along with Jane.

It was strange because you couldn't see any horizon; the sky and sea blended into each other.

I managed to find three more director's chairs to paint and re-upholster and a lovely old wooden crate. Next we went to a salvage yard near Chichester where we bought some nice cast iron shelf brackets. Then we drove to a nearby packaging supplies where we bought a vast amount of bubble wrap, it would hardly go into the car. Lastly we visited Kate Forman's studio near Alfresford. I didn't buy anything but got a sample of the material with which I want to re-upholster the painted chair I recently posted on here.

After all that I am exhausted!

Sold!

What an exciting weekend! On Saturday we had some new viewers for our house. They walked around and barely made any comments but within 10 minutes of them leaving they had made an offer, we accepted and as they have nowhere to sell they want to be in asap! Fortunately the house we have wanted for ages was still for sale and there is no chain above them either! I am so thrilled! The house we are buying is much older than this house, about 1900 and only a couple of miles away at Lee on the Solent. It's also about 2 minutes walk from the sea which will be lovely. I'm too excited and restless to write any more.......