And so it is another one of those days when life feels so deliciously chaotic, I have no choice but to try to gather my thoughts at the beginning of a new month, so I can get a grip on where I’m at and you can share a little more of life here at
Today I am…
Creating cane tripods for my beans to carry on growing so magnificently. Missing the dog because he has had to be sent to the kennels because the garden is being sprayed with a nasty weedkiller in an on-going bid to keep the very persistent weeds from taking over and one day uprooting the entire bungalow. Packing for a weekend vintage-shopping at Helen’s house. Giving myself a pedicure because my feet are turning in to the pig’s trotters they always become in Summer.
Feeling…
Proud after a lovely day around the Liverpool art galleries with my best little buddy Finn proved him to be the intelligent, thoughtful, philosophical young man I always knew he would be. Stressed! Estate agents should issue Valium to each and every person mad enough to want to sell their house. Slightly chaotic because I have been working so hard here at
Reading…
The first few chapters of the novels I began many years ago when life didn’t seem so very complicated and my head was full of romantic notions…
“I want to tell you what I know. But first, you must promise me this: If I tell you stories of ghosts and fairies and goblins, suspend your disbelief and seek only the truth in my tale. If however, I speak of the more mundane, if I whisper words as old as the hills: of pain and passion, unrequited love and adultery, look not for truth, but for lies. Do not let me patronize you with my silly little fibs. Instead, drag me up in front of a court of women who will demand the truth. Women who know what I am and will no longer abide by the awful lies with which I will try to line their floral coffins.”
And Facebook. Oh yes, she who long resented the intrusion of Facebook into her life and everyone else’s now cannot tear herself away. The Living Room Facebook Group (our wonderful members-only space) is absolutely thriving and there has been an immediacy to the friendships formed that I could not have predicted as domestic discoveries are made and daily inspiration provided. It’s so lovely and the very essence of what I always wanted
Eating…
Hello Fresh meals because they really have changed the way we shop and eat during the week (Get 25 off when you use my code VQ88UU). Fry’s chocolate creams. Because this is a passion that might just never die. Copius amounts of gluten-free cupcakes as Finley bakes them one batch after another in an effort to perfect his recipe.
Planning…
What this house could like when the sale finally goes through on my little cottage and I can have my own furniture here. The Salon: it is taking longer than I expected to manifest and I know I am behind with various other obligations but I am firming up my vision of what it will be and how I can provide the best of value for those who care about
Dreaming of…
Writing a proper
Coveting…
Peace and quiet. I come undone during the school holidays. All of a fluster and occasionally the kind of shouty Mum I never imagined I would be. So flustered do I feel right now, my whole being is longing for time alone in a pretty hotel room somewhere. Just me. And a
Wishing…
Time away. But that is both naughty and futile. We cannot spirit ourselves in to the future and so each and every time I find myself wishing myself in to a time when life feels secure again I stop and remind myself that right here in this moment, I am quite safe and there is nothing at all to be scared of. This relentless anxiety though is a new friend of mine and I have to tell you I don’t particularly like her.
Working On…
Coping with an irrational fear of the moths that flood into this hothouse of ours when we open the windows on warm evenings and I appall Ste by jumping around in utter panic that these papery little blighters will set up home in my frizzy hair. I’m not scared of them as such: I just cannot help thinking they would like my hair.
Celebrating…
Securing a much coveted space to sell our vintage-ware in Chipping Norton’s prestigious Station Mill. We simply couldn’t be more excited. Champagne all round methinks!
Grateful For…
Ste. So very, very grateful for Ste. He is both stoic and reassuring. My silliest, most wonderful best friend. And a man who despite everything that has changed in the time we have been together, the worries we have endured in combining our respective families and the drama, Little Miss Rent-A-Worry here brings to the table, has never failed to make me laugh. Even when I’m knee deep in tears. Actually he is more than wonderful. He’s a proper pain in the bum too – given to dragging our boys up great big hills and roaming around with the dog at his heels for hours on end. I love him so very much.
And finally tomorrow I will be…
Heading to Oxford with Ste to spend a couple of days right there in the bosom of the family I miss so very much. I just cannot wait.
On my to-do list this month?
* Getting the Salon completed and the Better ME program in progress again.
* Weeding the front garden. And adoring the conversations I have with my new lovely old lady neighbor Win, as I weed.
* Getting the sideboard in the dining room painted cream and bringing it back to life.
* Holding another car boot sale to get rid of the last few remnants of nonsense we seem to be hoarding.
* And please, oh please, oh please exchanging contracts on the house so we can truly step into our new life together…
Happy June Housekeepers!
The Brocante Round-Up! 
The Brocante Round-Up! 
The Autumn House 
Notes From Isolation