Mother's Day ideas.

I love "The Pink Whisk" blog by Ruth Clemens(runner up in the Great British Bake off) and she has come up with an amazing idea for Mother's Day- Cupcake bouquets! I shall definitely be trying this for mother's Day and may even tweak her idea a bit and do something just with cupcakes for my business!
I lov novel ideas and think for mOther's day home made gifts are brilliant because they show you have put a bit of extra effort into it.
Here is a picture of Ruth's cupcake bouquet:

Visit her blog at www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk

Spring has Sprung!

The clocks have gone forward which means lighter evenings! HOORAH!

A busy weekend in London saw us attending the "March for The Alternative"- really good event. B was photographing it for her A level photography and took over 600 pics! My husband, B and her boyfriend joined the march and had a great time - peaceful protest by the people who are really being affected by the Govt cuts-NHS workers, teachers, students like my daughter hoping to go to Uni.... as always there are a small minority who have to just create mess and violence but they ARE the minority and the estimated 400,000 who marched were there to get their message across and did so in a peaceful yet direct manner.

G, E and I left the march and hit the shops(yes, the irony is not lost on me!) 4 yr olds don't tend to find marches very entertaining- Harrods' Toy dept was a much better option! A wander round my favourite bit of London- Covent Garden- made me happy and even though I actually did not buy one thing for myself, it was great to just have a wander and look at things.

It's the little things in life that can make you smile the most: the sun shining all day so you can get all your laundry done in a day, your little one playing outside with a bucket of water for hours, being able to scooter to pre-school and a post dinner coffee sat out in the garden as the sun starts to go down. I love Spring!

Spring cleaning and Gardening

Ok I cheat when it comes to Spring cleaning and have help in the form of Nico- a human whirlwind when it comes to cleaning, she can make shower doors sparkle like no-one else!
Around this time of year I get the urge to dust off the spade and fork and roll out the lawn mower and tidy up the garden. Its too cold to plant but the snow we had (for weeks) this winter has really taken its toll on the garden. To be frank, its a mess out there!

But I am determined to whip it into shape and have repeat success with some veggies. I have an added incentive this year- E is somewhat obsessed with the Cbeebies show- "Mr Bloom's Nursery", with its array of "Veggies": Raymond the Squash, Joan the Fennel, Colin the Runner bean, Sebastian the singing Aubergine and Margaret the Cabbage! So E now wants us to grow our own Joan, Raymond, Sebastian, Margaret and Colin!!

As there is an area of the garden that is really..erm... trashed- dogs, snow and my lack of care- I am thinking of placing raised beds on this bit and growing my veg there.
Have sourced some reasonable priced raised beds that even I can assemble myself so now just to find out decent priced compost(yes I know I'm supposed to make my own- it never works for me- its just slimy sludge!).


So watch this space for Before and (hopefully) After pics!! My potatoes were a reasonable success last year but needed 3 times as many!!
Tomatoes were in abundance- which is fine, except its only me that eats them, so will do only 2 plants this year!! Must try cucumbers too as E eats them like they are going out of fashion!

Let's just hope the weather warms up soon!