Tea Towels, Reunions and Christmas preparations...yes really!

Oh Blog...how I have neglected you of late...even allowing the errant Long Suffering Husband to hijack you and worse still not come back in a timely manner to respond!

Still, he was funny and he did actually make me cry with laughter.

Anyway...enough of the fluffing and on to the point....tea towels!

When LSH, and I took ourselves and our son off to New Zealand to live I was surprised by the huge amount of pride the Kiwis have in being Kiwis...it was something that was missing from the UK. To the point that during all of the years I was travelling and the four years in NZ every time I was asked where I was from I almost felt apologetic to say I was British. But in the past few years there has suddenly been a renewed sense of pride for being British and proudly displaying the history of our heritage in our homes. The funny thing is that when we moved to Wellington I had this sudden desire to display everything that was from the UK...even importing a bus blind from the UK of my old bus route (I know, I know), it's now in our loft as I feel a bit silly putting up the Selsdon 357 route in my Southampton home!

Anyway...I digress (again)! I found the most fabulous tea towels and just had to send them out to New Zealand to my friends, Pip and Paula. They were blatantly British and blatantly quirky with the things that make you smile. Did I find them on Not On The High Street, or hand printed from Folksy, Cath Kidston or Lasso The Moon....no....I found them in Primark...they are absolutely fabulous, I'm only sorry I didn't photograph all of them for you!

Now, I have never said to people that I am English, I have always said British, and this is partly because for a long time, because of travelling, I never really knew where I felt I belonged. Returning back to England made me embrace the UK, when LSH and I returned we knew the negative bits of our homeland but we finally appreciated the great things that are here. After the history and traditions, the truly phenomenal landmarks (that are for the most part overlooked by the rest of the world) and too many things that are boring to everyone else the best thing was meeting up with friends and being with family.

Now on a selfish note coming back to the UK has meant I no longer miss out on weddings for the people who are so important to me. I had missed my mum getting married, I had missed one of my closest friend's wedding, Ellen, but last weekend I was able to see my friend Dawn get married. It was great...lots of friends from my cruise ship days, a truly amazing venue at Comlongon Castle and the most wonderful couple to get married who literally laughed the whole day long.

Ooh...and the day after we returned from the wedding I passed my driving test...HOORAY!

Of course now I have recovered from the celebrations of the wedding...and of course passing my driving test and I no have to re-programme my mind into sewing. I have the New Milton Christmas Fair next weekend, the Winchester Art and Design Market on the 20th, the Hampshire Made Christmas Fair on the 26th, and the list goes on til the run upto Christmas.

Life with Funky Sprogs is ridiculously busy, my children are learning the important art of finding things to entertain themselves, LSH is finding  me slightly more frazzled than normal when he returns home in the evenings, I keep meaning to dig up the bloody carrots and onions which at this rate could well have decomposed, but I wouldn't change it for the world!