Joy Pockets (260911)

Yet another busy one for us, but we've had some lovely times in between the exhausting ones.

• Finding out that I will be able to do the higher GCSE in Maths as a blended, independent learning class alongside the foundation class that is part of my Access course. I'm extremely happy with this, as it will give me one of my first English educational certificates.
• The Saturday morning kiddy show at the cinema. According to the Imp, we were watching 'blue quails', and she really liked them (we went to see "Rio", which is about a blue macaw). We followed it with a bit of retail therapy and lunch, and with all the rush around me being in college and her in nursery, it was nice spending time outside of being home.
• I now have all of the bits that I need for our planned homemade Yule and Christmas gifts.
• Being told by the Imp that biscuits make her tummy feel all better. She was a bit poorly yesterday, and didn't eat more than a slice of toast and a couple of prawn crackers. I figured that she actually was feeling better this morning, but she was afraid to eat, so her stomach didn't appreciate it. I phoned a friend to bring her some digestive biscuits, and she's now back to being all smiles and chattering away. We don't have them in the house, because I can't have them, but they seem to be doing a better job than my poor attempt at making her toast yesterday (we don't own a toaster, because we don't need one).

So, what are your Joy Pockets for the week?

Joy Pockets 120911

I apologise that it's been a fortnight since I've done my Joy Pockets, but it has been so super busy with getting back to college, and last Monday was a particularly rough day for us. But, here we go. I hope to be back to my normal posting self within the next week or two, once I'm into a better routine.

• The hints of autumn arriving. The leaves just starting to change, the arrival of blustery winds, and the chance that the weather isn't likely to go over-warm again for a while.
• Tied in to the weather, the excuse to make beef stew today...nom. I'll post the recipe later this week.
• The Imp being so excited to be able to return to nursery. It's three, super-long days for her, but she adapted straight away.
• Succeeding in sorting out my budget spreadsheets up to June. Ok, this probably sounds really sad, but I actually enjoy doing it because I'm really proud of my spreadsheets.
• Starting back at college, and the excitement of getting into a routine, and having work that makes me think. Oh, you will probably see me posting about my frustration on papers and assignments, but I honestly do enjoy it.

Mel

Cross Stitch: Wheel of the Year - Restart

I'm not going to bother posting a photo today, but I've actually managed to get a couple of hours of stitching this week! It's been a busy week, still, with getting ready to start college (Induction was today), and the Imp...well, the Threenager has seriously struck over the past week and a half (part of the reason that there was no Joy Pockets post this week...on top of me being absolutely wiped out lately).

Tomorrow, my classes aren't going ahead, but the Imp still has a place at nursery. So, after dropping her off at 8am, I will be returning home, doing a quick tidy, putting on my multiple episodes of "Torchwood", and sitting and stitching all day. :)

As for the Imp and nursery, today was the longest that we've been apart since she was born. I was busy today, but tomorrow, I think will be a complete culture shock for me. She's 3 2/3ish, and more than ready to be independent. She loved being there all day, and is looking forward to tomorrow...so much so that she's just brought me her night time nappy without being asked, at 7:15pm. Her hair is in her 'night night braids' (so we don't have to fight with it to brush it in the morning), and she's gone and put her own pyjamas on. I guess that's a hint for me to tuck her in.

Mel

Joy Pockets (300811)

OK, I am a day late, but I was sidetracked last night with snuggling with Witchy Kitty's Cub. For being a stay at home mum, I feel like I've been super busy lately, but I struggle to figure out why. But, here are my Joy Pockets for the past week (don't forget to check them out at Bohemian Twilight).

• Still having Yule and Christmas on the brain, I was rather pleased with myself for coming up with the perfect gift ideas for the Imp's grandparents...all handmade and within my pathetic budget. I've felt bad for the past several years that I haven't been able to send anything at all to my family, and to find something perfect is exceptional.
• Having fantastic neighbours. I have one neighbour that takes my bins out every week because I'm dreadful at waking up on Monday morning. Yesterday, the neighbour behind me made an exuberant search and managed to capture one of my delinquent quails that boldly jumped out of the hutch while I was sorting them out and made a mad dash for it. She was found, safe and sound, next to his bins after a half hour/45 minutes.
• A girly night that didn't wind down until 2am. It was a fantastic Friday night.
• Sharing a meal with friends, and my attempts at gluten free chicken gravy turning out amazing on top of cheesy mashed potatoes and stir fried chicken and red onion.
• Waking up for one of my normal stirrings to find both cats in bed with me. Loki has always slept with me, and was by my hand. I moved my foot to find that I kicked Florence and she didn't shift. Florence joined us in December of last year, and she's never slept with me before...she normally sleeps on the Welsh dresser downstairs. She's been extremely cuddly since the rearrangement of my bedroom.
• My family in Maryland and North Carolina being safe and sound after the hurricane. My cousin and his wife lost a few roof tiles, and my brother lost a couple of trees...one that missed the house and landed in the woods instead.

So, what has brought joy and a smile to your face this week?

Mel

Joy Pockets (220811)

It's actually been a busy one for us this week, so not a lot of cross stitching done, but a lot of giggling and laughing.

• The arrival of our fluff babies! Five gorgeous quails, four girls and a boy (in two separate hutches...poor George has to wait until the next batch to get some company). I've posted a couple of photos at the bottom.
• The Imps ecstatic giggling when bouncing on the harnessed trampolines in town. One of the best £3 I've spent, just to hear her giggling like that.
• Finally winning the battle of my downstairs, and getting it to a point that it now fairly easy to keep up the tidy. 
• Being able to appease my need to rearrange furniture (there will be a post around this tomorrow or Wednesday!)
• Barbecuing on Saturday with friends. Being able to introduce people and everybody getting along together like a house on fire. We're already planning Yule, and at least one other meal before then. There was a lot of laughing going on, and I think we finally finished at around 1am.

Harriet

Gertie and Gertrude

Bounce!

Mel

Joy Pockets (150811)

• We're now in the home stretch for the arrival of our quails, and I'm stupidly excited. We're just waiting for the arrival of the food and feeders, which I expect either tomorrow or Wednesday, and the birds will be arriving on Saturday.
• The hilarity of wet cats. I needed to bath my cats to give me a fresh start to sort their skin out. My boy, Loki, is absolutely loopy and loves water, so he didn't mind being dumped into the bathroom sink full of warm water and baby shampoo (and after a generous dollup of body butter for extra dry skin rubbed into his fur, his neck is almost healed). Florence didn't enjoy it at all, but she was funny because her fur soaks up water like a sponge...on top of leaving a huge puddle in the bathroom carpet, she looked so pathetic it was difficult not to laugh (her neck is improved, but was a lot worse than Loki's in the first place).
• The first Christmas gifts are now hiding in the cupboard under the stairs. It's a joint gift for the Imp and I from her Grumpy, and we managed to get a really good deal, so shopped early. I already have Yule and Christmas on the brain, and have for the past month or two. I've already forewarned Angela at The Pagan Mom Blog that my excitement for this year is likely to start creeping into my posts pretty soon. I think the reason that I've got it into my head to start preplanning is because since I started this college course before, I know what's coming, and I want to have everything superbly organised so it's very little effort when the time comes.
• The Imp's current fascination with chickens. When we visited a friend who has some recently, we hardly saw her in the house because she was out chattering to her rapt audience and feeding them the grass that had been growing between the flagstones in the path.

The Imp and her audience

The Imp and her audience

Mel

Joy Pockets (080811)

It's been another quiet one for us this week, though with the Imp it feels like something is always going on.  Here are my Joy Pockets for the week. Don't forget to visit Monica at Bohemian Twilight if you're interested in joining in with this fantastic meme.

• Having the opportunity to spend lots of time in the woods, and making me brave enough to explore our little woods near us. Our day at Lincolnshire Forest School on Saturday really made me see that the Imp is ready for that extended exploration, and she's fantastic at it. On Sunday, we wandered to Boultham Woods, and I let her take the lead. 
• The Imp telling me, spontaneously during our walk yesterday, "I'm really having fun, mummy!", as she searched for 'sweeties' (blackberries...which aren't quite ready except the occasional bitter one).
• Being caught up with my paperwork. Ok, this one might seem strange, but I hate paperwork. But I managed to get all of my financial forms into college as soon as I received them, because I had all of my evidence in order before they arrived. 
• Being able to find a reasonably priced replacement for the power switch that I broke on my netbook (when replacing the wireless card). Now to figure out how to get it installed tomorrow, with the assistance of a friend.
• The arrival of our new hutch for the soon-to-be arriving quail, and the reality that hit when I got it put together on Saturday evening.
• A fantastic friend that I met in college last year moving just a bit down the road from me.
• Continuing to watch things grow in our garden. Our pumpkin is starting to go orange, some of the sunflowers are bigger than my head, and the smaller ones have loads of gorgeous flowers on one plant, and it's so heavy I'm going to have to stake it tomorrow.

Joy Pockets (010811)

It's been a quiet one for us this week, but there's always positive things for us.

• Spending loads of time with the Imp, even if it's just watching her play with her cars while I work on my cross stitch (though she is absolutely fascinated with it, so I really must find a kiddie-friendly alternative...maybe for her 4th birthday in January).
• Our sunflowers starting to open this week, and how much they brighten up our drab back garden.
• Weeding in the garden taking less time as the proper plants take over.
• Having a new 'project' to do research to start up, and the reality hitting that it's going to happen really soon, with the Imp's grandfather buying us a double hutch off eBay, that will be housing our soon to arrive quails
• Getting to meet a friend's menagerie, and having a first look at what will be the new additions to our family (start of our menagerie :P )
• The letters arriving from the college with my September schedule, and the excitement that it's all going to start properly this time. Last year, I had been called up off the waiting list and started a fortnight late and couldn't get childcare funding. This year, my funding paperwork is all sorted, I'll be starting on time, and I have a clue as to what to expect.

Joy Pockets (250711)

I have a few Joy Pockets from this last week.

• Yet more leaps in the Imp's speech. She's gone from being a very quiet child to chattering almost non-stop. And the more that comes out, the funnier and cheekier she is. I had to walk away from her and her Grumpy in a shop on Saturday, because she essentially 'zinged' him. She shouldn't be so much of a smart aleck to her grandfather, but unfortunately I couldn't help but split a side laughing, so had to walk away so she couldn't see me laughing so hard about it.
• Day out to Rand Farm Park. Nevermind the hayfever after-affect, watching the Imp glued to a woman milking a cow, getting over her nerves of feeding the goats and donkeys, and being so enthralled and gentle with the rabbits was lovely. It was also a shock when we went so she could pet the bunnies that she immediately spotted the girl guide troop there that had been told to sit in a row on a bench to take their turn, and she squidged her bum right in the middle of them, and sat as good as gold (they were older, and I think she sat even better than they did).

The Imp with the Bunny

• The summer flowers. I think I actually enjoy them more than spring flowers.

Purple wildflowers on our way to the park

Japanese-breed sunflower in our back garden

• The Imp starting to appreciate then environment around her, and actually enjoying a short trip through the nearby woods.

Walking on a path through the woods

• Friends that checked on me after injuring myself on Wednesday.
• Friday Night Girly Night! We had such a fantastic giggle that I've not had for a while. 
• Being gifted veg, eggs, and quail's eggs fresh from a friend's allotment. We go through loads of veg and eggs, so it's highly appreciated. And we had never tried quails' eggs before, and I think the Imp is now hooked. It was the first time that I've let her peel her own boiled eggs, and she was amazingly quick (and doing a better job than I was).

Our rather pretty quails' eggs

Mel

Joy Pockets (180711)

This week has had it's moments, and it's quite nice to be able to stop and contemplate on some positives after hearing of some appalling news from a few friends. It truly makes me count my blessings.

• Mummy Fail turning into a positive. The imp loved dressing up as a pirate and saying 'Yo Ho Ho', and even asked to have her 'pirate put back on her head' on Saturday and Sunday.
• Role Playing with friends. We had a fab game of D&D Eberron yesterday, and I'm starting to pick up on things more and more.
• A carpet washer on sale being bought for us. The house now smells rather fluffy and floral, and there's a drastic improvement in how the floor looks
• Freecycle, and my dining table getting removed out of my way in under two hours of being posted. For those of you that have never done Freecycle, go to www.freecycle.org . There you can find the site for your local area.
• The gorgeousness of this week's full moon, and the weather in Lincoln clearing in the evenings so it was visible.

A bit of a slow one the last week on my posting, but I do plan on doing more this week. I have a couple of posts in mind, as well as I'll post at least a couple of recipes :)
Mel

Joy Pockets (110711)

I've been contemplating a proper post all day, but nothing has been springing up. I'm getting frustrated, because I feel the need to write. Hmm...I never thought I'd say that. I've regularly discussed with The Witchy Kitty that I'm an editor (or, in her words, Wicked Widdy Witch) not a writer. But I'm finding that the more that I blog, the more of a desire that I have to write.

Witchy Kitty regularly posts her Joy Pockets, that are inspired by Monica at Holistic Mama and Bohemian Twilight, and I think that I'll start posting them myself. It's suggested that it's done on Friday or Saturday, but Monday feels just right for me. It gives me the weekend to mull over my previous week and get it into some words.

So, here are my Joy Pockets for the Week :)

Florence 'helping' me tweet

• My gorgeous little Imp, and being amazed at how she's gone from behind with her speech to being a proper conversationalist, and how much easier it is on our relationship now that she can communicate with me.
• My lovely two brats...oops, I mean Cats. Loki, who is regularly meowing at me, and Florence, who graces me with a little squeak about once every two months. Last week I was lucky enough to get two of those squeaks.
• Gluten Free Cupcakes. I will be making 30 for the Imp's end of term Pirate Party at nursery, and there will be six leftover. Did I ever mention that I enjoy my own cooking?
• Lughnassadh. My favourite Sabbat is coming up soon, and I'm starting to get ideas to actually write a ritual out for it, to share.
• The calm and relaxation inspired by my crafting, which is currently my Wheel of the Year cross stitch project.
• Hearing that my mom has managed to talk to my boys, and she forwarded a new pic of them.

Don't forget to have a look at The Pagan Mom Blog tomorrow for my guest blog post in her "31 Days of Deities" series :D
Mel