Dream Country Chat

THIS YEAR

It is new years eve (and only 10am so am improving on the blogging-back-to-almost-normal-time-front), l know this without looking at the calendar, just by walking within 3 feet of the Christmas tree causing major needle rush to flor and imminent baldness, tells me that the annual festive festivities are almost over for another year. So it is that day that we look back and ponder on what has happened ver the past 12 months. Oh dear do you really want to read this.......

On the minus side and in date order;

Entire greenhuse with all incumbant plants is smashed to pieces in storm, add 12 large trees to equasion and you get picture of mess.

Marriage over, house divided and have now become 1970s sit com characher 'my wife nextdoor'.

Followed everywhere by black dog, what can l say.

Martha (dog but not black) loses leg in stupid accident caused by me and door.

4 sheep die.

Stress levels out of richter scale by now.

All chickens (well there were only 3 of them) killed by fox.

Martha run over and killed.

Mouse infestation wipes out stock, supplies and fabrics in HQ. HQ now gutted and closed till further notice as signs always say.

Now on the plus side;

Still here and so is Idgy.

Lost almost 4 stone in weight.

Took up running and after 8 months l think l may actually start to enjoy it sometime, but not quite yet.

Found and old friend and new friends both live and cyber.

Dream Acres was featured in Country Living, brought in lots of business, pity l was 4 stone heavier in the photos tho.

Discovered that l love to blog and in doing said blog rekindled love of photography. Blog also connects to the friends bit listed above, you are wonderful.

Just wait till tomorrow when l can bore you to death with my hopes, dreams and ever-so-slightly unrealistic plans for 2009.

Bet you can't wait....................

Karon x

TRAINS, SHARING AND WONKY TV

You are getting another evening post here, promise l will get back to 'normal' soon. Still flued up and keeping wierd hours and sleeping at all the wrong times. flat out in front of tv is all very well if said tv is spouting forth something of interest, not being a big fan of Swiss family Robinson, The Simpsons, Muppet Movie and other such delights, it has been pretty boring.

Add to this the fact that the tv channels keep leaping about all over the place. Now l know we are in the middle of nowhere and on top of a hill and digital signal can be a tad dodgy, but these last few days the damn thing has been going wild. After one particularly bad break-up and blurr-out session l only just managed to stop myself throwing the remote out of the window. Anyway Idgy was upstairs playing with her train set (yes we have no sexual stereotypes in this house!) as l dragged my less than healthy self off the sofa and up to loft to twiddle with the booster, and asked what all the fuss was about. Squeeked (still have croaky minnie mouse voice which goes so well with my rudolph red nose) that the tv was being hateful again and couldn't understand why. Next time it happened my clever ten year old popped downstairs and said she had the answer. The train set. Every time she set her train off on its journey round the track it somehow interfered with the tv signal. Mystery solved. We have now reached a compromise. When she uses the train set l have no tv on (can do dvd tho) and we have to have a time scale on this thing and do a bit of time share.

So buying that vintage (a nice term for lots of old bits and pieces of track and train, houses and animals etc that a friend of mine managed to put together for me last week) train set has not only proved to be a well liked prezzie, she is learning a valuable life lesson as well - share and share alike. Actually she is doing far better at the sharing bit than l am with loss of tv on my side. One of us is slightly more childish than the other and l am ashamed to admit that it is me.

So here l sit, laptop on knee, glass of wine in hand and dvd in front of me (Message in a bottle - having a Kevin Costner evening!), the gentle whir of the train set can be heard floating down from upstairs. We are both happy............

Karon  x

ITS SALE TIME

Apologies for strange blogging times of late. I am a tad under the weather, having finally succumbed to the dreaded flu-bug that is doing the rounds. If one more person tells me l sound like minnie mouse l shall scream, or try to! We were meant to visit my Mum and brother today for a 'Christmas lunch', but no way was l going to inflict this on them. The belated festive feasting will have to wait till next week.

Anyway l am just here to tell you that l have reopened the web site (www.dreamacres.co.uk) and started my official 'clear the decks' sale. As my blog readers will know, l plan on bringing out a whole new line next month so want to clear out everything and start afresh. Great time to grab a bargain.

Time to have a hot toddie..............

Karon  x

A HAPPY CHRISTMAS

The jolly old man in the big red coat brought us something fabulous for Christmas - ferret poo! Yes our little man seems to be on the mend and firing on all cylinders. After another day of vet visits and force feeding we really feared the worse. But yesterday morning Harry was up and about  and into the presents and paper and just his usual self. Still a wee bit shaky but that little guy is a star.

The first pic shows santa in his sleigh (tractor pulled trailer) in the village on Christmas eve. We all gather and wander round the village inflicting our singing on anyone who is unfortunate enough not to have sought refuge elsewhere. By the time we had made it back to the village hall for mice pies and mulled wine, there was a merry band of about 30 of us. More people had turned up at the hall and we had more carol singing and a rather interesting display of line dancing by a local ladies group. Not really sure how that fitted into the festive theme, but they were enjoying themselves and a lot of the kids got up and joined in.

Christmas day was the usual blur of presents and paper, food and vino. This pic shows a rather bemused Berti surrounded by paper and Harry underneith it out of sight but certainly not out of mind.

I have to say a HUGE   T H A N K S for your comments and support re Harry. I did feel a bit of a fool for being so upset about it all, so it's good to know that l am not the only animal nutter out there.

Hope everyone is enjoying the festivities and not too stuffed and tired. Relax, all the hoopla is over with for another year.
Karon  x

MY SANTA WISH

We are distraught, our little pal is ill. Poor Harry is fighting to stay with us. I just can't beleive this is happening and especially just now. Seems our wee friend has eaten something he shouldn't and is all blocked up inside. He can't eat or drink and is fading. I took him to the vet's yesterday and he has been pumped full of antibiotics etc, have been force feeding the poor little guy every hour since then.

Does this sound silly to be so upset over a ferret, yes l suppose it does. But you see this little guy means the world to us. Other people love their dogs or cats, while we love Hank and Berti (cats) it is little Harry who holds our hearts in his tiny paws. His 2 years have not been without incident. When he was six months old my ex left the door open and Harry escaped. He 'lived rough' for 5 months. Nobody thought he could have survived, but he did. That summer a neighbour (1/2 mile down lane) rang and said she thought she had seen Harry in her garden. I fairly sprinted down the road, and sure enough there he was. He even came when l called him and l carried him home in joy. He was in a dreadful state, had been badly bitten (fox possibly) and lost most of his fur. We nursed him back to health and he has been our happy little house mate ever since.

So Christmas eve finds me back at the vet's again and with only one wish to santa - please fix our little ferret freind.

Karon  x

SWEET TEMPTATION

Yesterday Idgy and l went to the local coffee shop in Stewarton called Candy Chase. This is always a treat. Not only do they do a mean cappucino for me,

they also do a seriously good hot chocolate for Idgy.

It is a real old fashioned style sweety shop with a wall full of jars of every kind of sticky confection just longing to tempt you to try.

These jars sometimes end up in my HQ. In fact l have been lucky enough to be given them on quite a regular basis. They are made from plastic which makes them light to carry around, and they are less likely to knock you out if they fall off the shelf! I remove the labels (never as easy as everyone says it will be) and then use them to store stock. Since the mouse uotbreak they will be even more important for storing just about everything. We came home yesterday with 4 such jars, l am thrilled.

Eventually they will end up like these guys. Just now l am wrestling with the labels.

Have a nice day, santa coming soon.................
Karon  x

ps  I am trying out a different look for the blog. What do you think?

INKHEART

Aha, bet yu thought l had joined the ranks of the 'No time to blog', no such luck dear reader, l am still here.

Reason for no blog on Sayurday - weather. Yep, that horrible rain l mentioned on Friday got worse and worse. It was having such a nice time that it brought its friend the wind along as well. Between the two of them Friday night was kind of wild to say the least. It was a bit like being in Kansas and clutching Harry instead of Toto. All that was missing was the 'twister' and the ruby slippers. Enough to say that the telephone line and storm not happy bed fellows, something had to give - the phone line.

Anyway back to 'normal' now and l can tell you about the weekend. Clutch that coffee cup and read on........

Idgy and l had a last minute gift to buy (there is always someone who pops up at this time of year saying they have a gift for your offspring and will be round on Christmas Eve. It is at this point that you curse the fact that they have three offspring (they always do) and you have one. How to find a prezzie that will do for all three of their children and not be a sugar laden tin of sweets. A trip into town was called for. I did warn Idgy that as it was last Saturday before Christmas it would be mayhem. 'Look for a parking space, this will be stressy'. Even l had to admit that parking was easy - car park half full. Shops, well quite a few people about but no major queue to pay. So much for all the dire warnings on the radio this morning that it would be the busiest day of the year in the shops.

We decided to make a day of it and went for pizza and then onwards to the cinema to see INKHEART. If you are looking for a family friendly action and adventure movie this Christmas then go see this one. It was wonderful. The fact that there is a ferret (called Gwin who has horns - and yes of course we have already tried that on Harry but it didn't work) with a big part is neither here nor there. Actually it had the best part we have seen for a ferret. Lets face it, the one in Golden Compass wasn't real and the one in Harry Potter was very active (what a dancer) but not a big part. This little guy was a hero, he stole keys, tripped up baddies, all in all more of a star than your average A-lister.

It was a good fun film and one adults can enjoy as well as children. I do love it when you take kids to the cinema and find that the entertainment is actually geared towards you (the payer) as well as the child. So much better than sitting rigid for two hurs as some meaningless and badly drawn cartoon character runs around gleefully on film knowing it has just pocketed all your cash to watch it.

Anyway, after the cinema we popped into Iceland. I'm sorry but all those adverts on TV finally got to me and we had to buy some of those party nibbles. Actually as part of our 'It's Christmas lets treat ourselves' day, we bought ourselves a box of American Party Treats and scoffed them in front f the fire while watching Titanic on dvd. I cried buckets at the end as usual and Idgy took advantage and stole my mini hotdog.

It was a nice day.

Karon  x

WET 'N'WINDY

Yuck, this is the field outside the house yesterday. Everywhere is flooded. Fool that l am, l still went for my run round to Wendy's first thing in the morning. The wind was blowing me backwards all the way and l arrived in true drowned rat style carrying more water on me than your average sponge. My only consolation was that the wind would be behind me blowing me home on the way back.

I am bereft, l am shineless, l have lost my nice new shiny phone toy. Actually l handed it back to Tescos as l only realised yesterday that it hadn't come with USB cable or softwear for camera. Have been told that this is LG (and many others) marketing. You have to go online and buy the 'extras' (like you could use the MP3 or camera without these bits) later. Hmmmmm,oh no you don't. Took my shiny little pal back to Tesco and met a lovely sales assistant who really knew her stuff.  This woman obviously recognised a phonephobe at 40 paces and knew exactly how to deal with one. She pointed me in the directon of a Samsung phone that is apparently far easier to use and even has all its bits and pieces as part of the price.

Back home to spend another afternoon with little instruction booklet, pot of tea, mince pie and now sticky phone. Guess what, l can even manage the radio! This is a first for me. I shall try it out when l run this morning.

Harry was very impressed by all the comments he caused yesterday. To celebrate his newfound fame he polished off the rest of his Christmas cookie last night. He then passed out on the sofa while l moved the other cookies further up the tree.

Karon  x

CHRISTMAS COOKIES AND THE FESTIVE FERRET

Yesterday Idgy and l made these pretty Christmas cookies. We couldn't wait to eat them, but no, they were for hanging on the tree.

Now in any other blog (and sometimes mine) you would have a recipe here and some helpful photos to guide you thrugh the intricacies of the baking business. Well sorry guys, this is Dream Acres, could anything ever be simple like that..........

We hung our cookies on the tree, admired our handiwork and settled down to watch the Royal Variety Performance on TV. Picture the scene if you will, the fire is roaring in the stove, the christmas lights are twinkling and we are snuggled up in our jammies clutching hot chocolate and mulled wine respectively and enjoying the TV.

Enter Harry the ferret stage left. Now for all you non-ferret-fans l have to tell you that ferrets have a sense of smell way, way stronger than your average dog (they also smell a bit different, but thats another story) and our hero had smelled the gingerbread cookies from his lair upstairs. He leaps on to the sofa, does a daring dive over the armchair and slides gracelessly to a halt on a small table (all this very much in the style of Tm Cruise in Mission Impossible, only Harry is taller).

It is at this point that l will hand you over to the photos, and in the manner of all good news reporters l shall warn you that this is flash photography.

We really need the Mission Impossible music here for full effect, you will have to hum it to yourself................

The Festive Ferret enjoys his ill-gotten-gains.

 

By this time Idgy and l were falling about laughing and we decided to rehang the half eaten cookie, so that he can entertain us again tomorrow night.

Don't you just love animals.................

Karon x

COMFY CATS AND PHONEPHOBE

Here are my boys Berti (brown one) and Hank. This is a very special photo as they are both in the basket together. Normally there is a bit of fistycuffs when one or other tries to get into the basket when his pal is already in there. Idgy and l call this their handbag fights. They always look as if they are mincing about and swinging a handbag at eachother in a somewhat camp way. Far to much posing and dancing to be a serious fight.

'Okay Mum what gives?' The peaceful cat nap is over, time to step back and put the camera away before they get up and spoil the moment.

PHONEPHOBE  someone who is utterly hopeless with mobile phones and really shouldn't be allowed anywhere near them.

I admit it, l am that 'phonephobe'. I am so completely useless that on Sunday l lost the plot with my mobile completely and threw it accross the kitchen. Not content with that l then stamped on it. Ok l was having a bit of a tantrum and the damn phone wouldn't work. Things just got out of hand - well the phone certainly left my hand swiftly! I am not condoning my behavour, far from it. It was childish and stupid, as was pointed out by Idgy who is ten.

The phone was broken (obviously) and l had to go and buy a new one. Yesterday l headed for Tesco and looked at their lovely sellection of nasty little ringing gadgets called phones. They mocked me in their cheerful display with easy to read symbols showing off their prowess in bluetooth (their dentistry is of no interest to me), MP3 playing, networks and cameras. I glared at them. All l wanted was something completely idiot-proof that wouldn't switch itself on when it felt like a bit of company. I spotted one at the bottom of the display with no gadgets and fancy symbols, in fact it said 'easy to use handset' - thats the man for me! The fact that it was only £30 was even better. I carried it to the cash desk in triumph. It is at this point that l overhear the sales lady telling another customer that is they spend £25 on their food shopping they get £25 off any mobile over £50. Hmmmm a bargain. I trot off and do the shopping and return with a groaning trolly. I then spend a further half hour looking at the phones again to find a better one that l can get the discount on. All thoughts of the cheapo idiot proof phone are now gone, l am overcome with lust for something better. Like a magpie my eye is drawn to the shiny one on the top row. 'Is it simple to use' l ask the sales lady. What a stupid question Karon, of course she said yes. But at this point l have fallen in love with the LG Shine and l have to have it. I get said phone for the same price as my original idiot-proof cheapo. I carry it from the shop in triumph.

You will have guessed that l have forgotten by now that l am a phonephobe, yes it has slipped my mind. I am all wrapped up in the shiny glow of my new toy. I get it home and Idgy practically groans when she sees it, 'try not to break it' she says. I spend the entire evening playing with my phone, l even manage to make my first call to Tesco to register it. Actually l am having to phone them to ask where the number is as l don't have a clue where to look. 'Try the box' said the chap on the other end - hhhhmmmmmm what a stupid place to put a phone number. I have even tried to use the camera on it, had to give that up as it took me 20 minutes to switch it off again. I will learn about that later (heard that before) in meantime l have put in some phone numbers and realised l lost most in the loss of phone the other day. Ho hum, so if you usually hear from me by phone/text and don't (Jacky) phone me at home and give me your number again.

My shiny new phone will look pretty and shiny and make a few calls and very probably never have to divulge the secrets of its MP3 player or other such delicate and personal details. As long as it does what it is told and doesn't switch itself on when it feels like it, l feel we will get along fine.

I live in hope..........
Karon x