This weekend, I took the girls for a bright but icy walk to the park. I got to sit down (for a few minutes!) with a book and some Lady Grey tea. I was surprised how much the playground resembled a skating rink when the ice had mostly melted elsewhere. But it didn’t seem to stop the girls playing anyway and the fresh air did my soul good.
My friend Lina from https://www.amistykindofblue.com/ sent us a lovely surprise craft pack with my favourite earrings included 🙂 It contained a wall hanging craft kit and it was such a soothing activity 🙂 It filled several hours. (You can get it on her website under the shop – craft kits bit.) First, we painted lolly sticks with different bright patterns and painted the top and bottom of the card to stick them onto. There were holes punched in the card to add string to hang the wall hanging up and at the bottom to thread tassels through. I loved the tassel making part. Clear instructions came with the kit so I didn’t have to figure them out by myself 🙂 There were different kinds of string, yarn, beads and some glittery thread to make different kinds of tassels. I found it so therapeutic making them. It slows everything down because you have to focus solely on what you’re doing and it empties your mind 🙂 I might take up tassel-making as a new hobby – although I don’t know what I’d do with all of them afterwards 🙂 When the girls were in bed, I finished making them and watched some videos about tiny houses and simple living 🙂
I ordered a candle-making kit for myself from Etsy. I’ve always wanted to try it but was a bit daunted by it because I thought it would be complicated. The one I got was straightforward and just a bit messy with the wax 🙂 I made two candles in tins with a wood sage and sea salt scent. There was some leftover wax, so I just put it into moulds to make a couple of wax melts too 🙂 I would try it again, but I would buy kitchen equipment specifically for that purpose so I didn’t have to go through cleaning wax-coated pans and jugs again 🙂 I like the idea of experimenting with different scent combinations and I think after learning the basics, I could buy the components separately and do it myself, so it was worth getting 🙂
This morning, the girls were delighted to find out it had snowed. I was well into my second cup of coffee before I realised that it had and revealed it to them 🙂 We got ready early and went out into the garden to make a snowman. We ended up making a snow-cat instead and it was a miniature one (our garden doesn’t hold a huge volume of snow :)) His face was so small we used almonds as the eyes and nose and added spaghetti whiskers. My daughter dressed it in her scarf and hat and named it Snowy. I’m worried they’re going to be devastated when it melts because it has become like another member of the family 🙂
We went on our little weekly walk to The Lamppost Cafe for hot chocolate. The girls seemed even more eager than usual to go this week because they wanted to trudge through the snow 🙂 They spent most of the walk throwing snowballs at me and hiding them on my bag and in each other’s hoods 
When we got home, we finished the wall hangings. We outlined the parts we had painted yesterday in black marker and glued them together, finishing them with the tassels 🙂 I found some places to display them in the house and thought they turned out pretty well for something homemade 🙂
By then, I needed to do something peaceful, so I tried a new cake recipe. The original recipe contained rhubarb, but I used apples and blueberries instead. It turned out like more of a fruit pudding than a cake, but I loved it 🙂 Funnily enough, the girls don’t like it, so more for me 🙂 It said it was the writer’s great-grandmother’s cake and it did seem like an older wartime type of dessert, which I think is perfect for a cold winter’s day 🙂
The girls and I had a little tea party for lunch. (It was their idea.) They got all dressed up in their princess dresses, complete with blue blusher and I made them berry tea in a tea pot with little vintage cups I got ages ago that they like to use 🙂 We had some of our homemade bagels toasted with ham and cheese (which might be my favourite lunch at the minute.) The idea was that the cake would follow the bagel, but both girls took one bite and declared their dislike of it. They played in the snow and I took some time to organise the kitchen and read. I feel the need for headspace more than ever this weekend, so I’ve decided to reclaim it whenever I can 🙂
The Funky Thrifter 