Back in Blogland!

Cherub bust
Hooray, hooray, hooray! My blog is working once again... a technical gremlin got into my blog system about 10 days ago and it got progressively more difficult to upload pictures and finally it just ground to a halt a few days ago. Dave has finally managed to sort it out, but I now have to do something hideously complex to put images onto my blog. Do I care at about the added complexities? ... no siree, it is great to be back in the world of chatter once again.

Thanks to Jayne over at Country Cottage Chic for letting people know that I was having difficulties and if you haven't discovered Jayne's blog yet, it is well worth a read. She is jolly creative and has loads of energy so is regularly out and about doing things.

Today has been an endless task of uploading images to the website and creating adverts for items (this is not the most interesting, fun or stimulating part of my job, but it is an essential one, so I won't moan too much) and after almost 10 hours of it, I finished for the day and am delighted to be able to blog for a little bit.

Parisienne house tidy
Last week was totally different to my usual routine, I spent two days doing local deliveries, well actually not so local, two of them were over 100 miles away, but that's almost local when you consider that the 'local' Sainsburys is 50 miles from home! Unfortunately, one was 100 miles north and the other 100 miles south, but I did get to rent a huge van to drive, which was good fun!
One of our suppliers usually delivers to us on a Thursday or Friday, but last week they arrived on Monday afternoon (which was great because we were able to get people's orders out to them earlier than usual).
A friend has hurt her back, so I helped out in her shop a little towards the tail end of last week, it was nice to be able to help her out a bit as she has always been so supportive to me.
We had friends to stay with us over the weekend and although I couldn't spend very much time with them, it was lovely to see them. But all in all, my usual gentle routine was sent to ruin, so this week I am looking forward to getting back into my usual work rhythm and domestic routine.
Country chic spongeware mug

And as usual, my tea mug is empty, so it must be time to put the kettle on, chat soon, Liz
All images and text copyright Pretty Practicals 2006 - 2008 except where stated.

Hampton Oak

Hmm... there is something up with my blogger system at the moment and I am unable to publish blog entries, so here I am writing a blog that I know no one will be able to read for a little while. But here goes...
Hampton solid oak sleigh bed
I have been having great fun over the last week or so sourcing a couple of new ranges of furniture that will give you even more choice. These lovely new ranges have a distinctively country feel, but I think I will introduce them one at a time.

The Hampton collection is made from solid oak with a dark oak finish. The bedroom collection includes a sleigh bed, a choice of 4 wardrobe sizes, chests of drawers, dressing table set and bedside tables.

I have started listing this collection on the website and have completed the bedroom furniture and over the next few days will finish adding all the dining room furniture.

Hampton solid oak extending dining table

Well, I'm off to do a bit more listing, chat soon, Liz

All images and text copyright Pretty Practicals 2006 - 2008 except where stated.

There's no business like snow busyness

BRRR! Today's weather watch reports that it is jolly chilly here in Rhayader, so cold that Dave quietly commented that even snowmen would die of hypothermia. It almost snowed today, there were a few teeny weeny snowflakes, but they obviously decided it was too cold to stay and moved on.

Here at home, we are doing our best to keep warm, the central heating has been switched on a little earlier than usual, doors to all the rooms are closed to contain the heat and we are curled up under quilts and wearing scarves until the heating system has done its job. In another hour or so the house will be toasty warm again.

I am never sure whether it is better to leave the central heating running all day, so that the house stays warm and it only has to do a gentle top up every now and then or whether the heating should just come on mornings and evenings, but currently we do the latter. I expect that it all depends on the efficiency of the insulation, age of heating system etc etc.

It's been busy at work again this week and although I like Christmas, I am rather pleased to get back into the routine of things once it is over. Dave and I have been developing our ideas for some specialist websites to sit along side our Pretty Practicals site and to that end we hope that by the end of February we will be able to launch additional sites that concentrate on patchwork quilts, vintage chic interiors, cream French furniture and country style homes. I'll tell more when we get a bit further in our planning.
Chat soon, Liz

Ooh, chatting again sooner than I thought I would, it's now just after 11pm and our house is fantastically warm, in fact it's almost hot in here ~ hooray!

I have spent a lovely evening browsing some of my favourite blogs. I have only recently discovered that there is a whole world out there of women, who just like me run a business and home and (unlike me) also find the time to be incredibly creative and make some beautiful things, like cards, bags, gifts etc and who write great blogs about their comings and goings. When I work out how to, I will put links to their blogs on this one.

I have read through an essay that Cecily has written for university and (hopefully) tactfully pointed out a few grammatical errors; please don't read my blog for an example of good grammer. I dug out a few essays that I wrote at uni, in the hope that they may have some info that would be of use to her. Good grief, I wrote a lot of twaddle ~ I can't believe that I wrote so passionately about a Marxist-feminist view of macro-economics! Actually I am quietly impressed with the standard of work that I produced, given that I started university (as a mature student), when Alec was aged 5 and Cecily was just 6 weeks old.

Dave has wandered into the drawing room to watch a bit of Star Trek (TNG), so I will join him. Chat soon (again), Liz