Mousy Brown's House-Creating, crafting and collecting. Enjoying Life.

Spooky goings on....

Pumpkins are carved, decorations are up, scary movies have been chosen and sausages and popcorn are on the menu....hope your evening is full of good things and family fun where ever in the world you may be!

Our new favourite breakfast.

Another benefit of having no plans or appointments, nowhere to be at any given time this week, is that I am getting to try a few of the recipes I have copied out and never had a chance to make.  This one is a keeper and even though it says you can freeze them for up to a month, I am not sure I will ever be able to make enough to have some left over...great with maple syrup, chocolate spread, crispy bacon and eggs (not altogether!) or my favourite so far.....

....homemade apricot jam!

Thank you for a thank you!

I wish I could share the amazing smell of Lavender that emerged from the package above when I opened it this morning...it immediately took me back to summer days and the buss of bees, wonderful!  Anne has so kindly sent me these beautiful handmade coasters as a thank you for my recent swap and I wanted to share that thanks with all of you and say a big thank you to all of you who took part...your generosity and creativity has as always surpassed all my expectations.

Anne shared a glimpse into the package she received from her partner here and I will be back soon with pictures of what I sent and was gifted as soon as the packages make it across the sea....

...half-term is going well and I am enjoying being able to catch up on things that have been on my mind, spending time just being with my boys and a bit of time catching breath and finding solid ground (this post is proving helpful) !  I hope your week is going well and feeding your soul, whether you are on holiday or not....now I am off to carve some pumpkins with the boys, some we grew ourselves and others bought from here, pictures of our efforts will follow shortly!

Shh...don't tell anyone a mouse popped by...

...to say "hello!" and suggest you take a look at the wonderful package which is heading south from Anne as part of my Second Celebration Swap....

Half-term beckons.

Autumn leaves and dark evenings are hinting at the change in seasons but the temperature is lagging behind and desires for warm scarves (hand-knitted of course!) and a open fire are having to wait for the time being.

Half-term is starting at the end of next week and before that we have to fit in Harvest celebrations at school, training for a new position at work, visits to yarn stores (ok that is a WANT to fit in not strictly a HAVE to fit in!) with friends, digging and planting up a pond at school, a mountain boarding party, friends to play, work itself and hopefully a bit more bathroom....

# This is just a teaser - I'll be back with more once the light is better! #

So I have decided to be kind and cut myself some slack....and things will probably be a bit quiet around here until the end of the month.

For those of you taking part in my Second Celebration Swap, please remember that 22nd October is the last day for sending packages.  Any problems at all just email me (mousy browns house at googlemail dot com) and even if my presence is not obvious here, I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.  In the mean time you can enjoy looking at the wonderful contents of the package Tracey sent to Dawn here and read Tracey's post about Dawn's parcel here.

While following the link to Tracey's post I read her very touching comments about JJ at Little Cotton Rabbits and I would urge you to read what JJ has to say about the difficulties of Mothering an Autistic son in a world where 'different' is seen as dangerous.  I would like to encourage you to spread the word to others as it is only by explaining and educating that we can dispel the ignorance and fear and hopefully come to a place where those who need our understanding and compassion won't experience the behaviour that caused JJ to write this post in the first place.

On a lighter note I would also encourage you to check out Annie's next issue of Alphabet Glue,  it is jam packed with wonderful projects (like the story bunting above - photo thanks to Annie) and will be playing an important part in our half-term activities here.  It is consistently full of inspiring ideas, interesting reads and fantastic crafting opportunities and at only $4 a copy I think it is amazing value for money!  A fuller list of contents is in the image below and hopefully by the magic of the internet if you click on it, it should whisk you away to a place where you can buy a copy of Issue 3 (or either of the previous copies if you missed seeing them).

As always, if you want to check up on me in my absence I can still be found posting a photo a day over at Flickr....255 days and counting....

Swap making.

I am making things like crazy here but I can't show you any of them as they are all for my swap partner and as such have to stay secret!

We have also started demolishing our bathroom....it's only taken 10 years planning....

So I am going to leave you with Dawn's swap making here and here, which I am allowed to show you and a link to the Flickr group that is starting to show some action.

I'll be back as soon as I get my package in the post and you never know I may even show you some before pictures of the 70's Swedish sauna which has masqueraded as our bathroom up to now!

Shadow Shot Sunday.

A little late inclusion in Shadow Shot Sunday....the others already appeared here.

A busy day...

This little fellow was just one of the unexpected events that hijacked my day earlier this week.  I had plans with a friend to take a walk in the sun but before we could set off a phone call from school necessitated a quick change of plan and a dash to pick up a rather green looking Jack.

He made it home before the inevitable happened and I was distracted enough, by clearing up the resulting mess and getting him safely tucked up in bed, not to notice a little robin deciding to pay a visit inside the house.  By the time I was back downstairs the little bird had panicked quite a bit and unfortunately that resulted in another mess to clear up once I managed to persuade him outside.

At that point Snap discovered a rather large yellow and black striped frog and was intent on trying to bring him into visit us too!  Enough was enough and frog rescue complete I sat down to enjoy a coffee before starting all the jobs I already had planned for that day.

A trip to the compost bin with the coffee grounds half an hour later led to the discovery of the rather scruffy (but very cute!) fledgling above.  I know it is best to leave them alone but after four hours of him sitting like a pudding at the end of the garden, I was beginning to worry about what I should do if he was still there at bed time!  A quick call to a local vet and then to a RSPCA wildlife hospital left me with the advice to leave him alone a bit longer and a phone number to call if he was still there at 5pm and needed collection. 

Inevitably he was still sitting in position at 5pm and I phoned the number I was given (secretly hoping they would let me keep him....we had become quite good friends after a day together!) only to be put on hold (with VERY annoying music and messages) for 48 minutes!  At that point I have to admit I gave up and made up my mind to call a local pigeon keeper in the village instead.  I took one more trip to the compost bin to check on my ugly duckling.....only to find he had disappeared....thank goodness I didn't keep holding any longer!

As a happy ending to the story, today I saw this pair on the phone line with a rather fluffy companion....Mummy, Daddy and Ugly Duckling??

Autumn Gifts...

I found this tiny acorn while I was out walking today and brought it back as a gift for the children.  At the moment my little metal mouse by the front door is protecting it for me....she looks rather pleased with it so maybe I will leave it as a gift for her...

Talking of gifts, all of you who have signed up for my Celebration Swap should have received your partners details by now, remember you have until 22nd October to make and gather your gifts and send your envelope.  I have set up a Flickr group, that any of you are welcome to join, which can be used to post photos, not only of this swap, but of anything you have made using my tutorials or inspired by things you have seen me writing about here.  I would really love to see what all you creative souls have been up to, so please do come and join me!

I will leave you with another mousy gift that I received recently.  My Husband was staying in Greenville, South Carolina with work last month and discovered the intriguing Mice on Main project.  He couldn't resist buying me a little Maggie Mouse figure as a reminder and she now sits opposite the one above, this really is becoming a very Mousy house!

Pictures of the words...

Thank you to everyone who left comments on my last post, your wise and helpful words have been absorbed and the comfort of knowing I am in good company has calmed my panic!

Last week I shared an early morning walk in words, today I can show you in pictures...does it look as you imagined it would?