When does Jack Frost arrive?

After a weekend of mist, fog, wind, rain and more rain, I'd like to know when the weather will dry up and get cooler! I don't like this persistent mild wet weather, I hope the frosty but sunny days arrive soon.

Sadly the weather meant Jack couldn't get finished with his shed building, so instead we've almost finished the coving in the main bedroom. Just the tricky chimney breast to do (with 'inny' and 'outy' corners) and then it'll be over to me to caulk and paint the new coving. Our main bedroom will then be complete in terms of decorating. I'm going to buy a curtain pole (and curtains) this week, I'm getting a bit sick of our makeshift curtain (a big duvet cover pinned up!) but until we had finished the painting and decorating I didn't want to put some nice new curtains up. I did buy a book on curtain making as I'd like to give it a go, but I think I'll choose a smaller window instead of our huge bedroom ones (not sure I'll be that good!). We then need to finish furnishing the main bedroom; at the moment we're making do with two clothes rails, a few plastic tubs as bedside tables and a workmate as a TV stand!

I had a much needed hair cut on Saturday after god knows how long neglecting to find a hair dressers. I've had my hair cut by the same lovely lady for so many years that when I moved to Newbury almost 3 years ago it was really tough to find somewhere new (I instead opted to book a hair cut every so often when we went back to Cambridge to delay having to find somewhere new). I have however now found a lovely salon with very friendly staff members. The lady who cut my hair was lovely and it was a relief I have to tell you that they actually listened to what you're after. Hair cuts really aren't cheap anymore though hence why I don't go as often as I should. Jack's so lucky to be able to pop to the Barbers in the next village and have his hair cut for £5 but then it probably takes them less than 5 minutes to do it! Though the hair dresser blow-dried my hair beautifully (something I can never seem to do), it was totally wasted when I left the salon, scarpering to the car as quickly as possible in the driving wind and rain! Jack (ever the gentleman) told me how lovely my (bedraggled and now frizzy) hair looked nonetheless. We then rewarded ourselves with my favourite kind of weekend breakfast; sausage, egg and bacon bap!

I am nicknamed the Bacon Queen!

Other than venturing out to the farm shop on Sunday morning, the rest of the weekend was spent indoors (in the warm). We did brave the weather a few times to walk the dog but even he didn't enjoy the wind much! I finally managed to get my latest crochet project finished; I've made a scarf for my best friend for Christmas in a beautifully soft part-Alpaca wool. I can't post photos of the scarf yet in case she spots it on my blog! I'm very pleased with it anyway and after quite a few hours, it's given me a lot of practice with lots of different crochet stitches. I've been busy crocheting holly leaves and mini-wreaths too that I can either make into a sort of bunting or just hang in various places around the house - photos to follow once they're finished. I have also nearly finished our big crochet blanket for the bed, it's probably at double-bed size now and our bed is a king so just a few more rounds to do. I can't wait to snuggle up in it!

Jack's work colleagues love my baking so I made a giant fruit loaf yesterday which was probably all gone by 9am this morning! I always make mine quite boozy and leave the dried fruit soaking in white wine and brandy for at least a few hours before they go into the mixture so I hope they're not drunk now..

Making Fruit Cake

I didn't get any photos of the big fruit loaf but I did also make some mini fruit loaves, they're so cute! I love everything in miniature! Good things come in small packages, that was what I was always told :-)

Have a good week!