Memory Lane Mondays

Thank you for all the birthday wishes you sent to me. I had a lovely day with no housework, and because my birthday fell during half term and I was running the kids here, there and everywhere, I didn't do much cleaning for the rest of the week either. My house now looks as though one of those terrifying Facebook parties has taken place in it. I've made a start, but as Joan Rivers once observed:

'The trouble with housework is, you do it and then six months later you have to do it all again'.

Here we are at another Memory Lane Monday hosted by Donna at Brynwood Needleworks and keeping on the topic of housework I present here a photo of me, taken probably somewhere around 1963:

I am standing on a chair to clean the sink in my nan and granddad's flat. Funny how kids love to clean the sink, isn't it? Equally funny how quickly they grow out of it!

Nan and Granddad were moved into the flat when the row of terraced houses where they lived was demolished. This was the 60's and the beginning of the 'stack 'em high' way of living.

I think the wallpaper was plastic or vinyl, and look at those tall taps:

No problems getting a large saucepan under those.

We cleaned the sink with Vim. I believe it's still sold but not as I remember it. It was harsh powder sold in a tube with holes in the top to shake out the powder. We used this for years until some bright spark at a marketing agency somewhere came up with the idea of 'cream cleaner' which didn't scratch ('Flash cleans baths without scratching' - who was that Scottish actress?).

I couldn't find an advert for Vim, but here's a link for a 60's one about Flash that's quite fun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTQ6zTVr3qA


Thanks for taking a stroll with me down Memory Lane.

Blessings,
Andi xx

I Can't Give You Anything But Love

I am feeling very UP today.

Which is fantastic because today is my birthday!

How lucky that the 'glad to be alive, in love with everyone' feeling happened to come along today. I've been waiting long enough!

Amongst the goodies I've received for my birthday I heard I was one of the luckiest girls in blogland. I'd won the giveaway from Carolyn over at Love Stitching Red. Carolyn has a wonderful talent of creativity and for quite a while I've been in awe of the things she has shown us on her blog. To find out I'd won was just...WOW!

All wrapped beautifully...

With such a sweet label...

Was a red heart. And I love it. This is something special that will go on display somewhere very prominent so that any visitor will see and admire it...

Thank you Carolyn for such a special giveaway (and for picking my name out).

My birthday treat this year was a theatre trip to see this show...

If any of you are Garland fans and you're near enough, I urge you NOT to miss this show.

Tracie Bennett is phenomenal! She is the nearest you will ever get to seeing Judy performing live. Her performance is so powerful I can't imagine how she summons up the energy every evening and she well deserved the standing ovation we gave her.

She is supported by Hilton McRae who gives an almost heartbreaking performance as her gay pianist.

This is a show that will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you for reading, and in the spirit of my 'come on world, show me what you've got' state of mind today...

I love you all!

Blessings,

Andi

xx

Teddy With a Tale

Today I am contributing to Melody's Teddy Bears' Picnic. I'm a day late but I think you know me well enough by now to realise that's par for the course.



This teddy has a tale to tell which hopefully will warm your heart.

He doesn't have a name. He's about eighteen years old and for the first few years of his life he sat in my baby son's bedroom along with lots of other stuffed toys, neither loved nor played with.

He was just a gift-shop bear that someone had given my son when he was born and basically was used just to help decorate the baby's room.

Then, in 1995, my Nan died. Remembering she'd once told us that, growing up, she'd always wanted a teddy bear but never had one, I looked around the house for a bear to sleep with her in eternal rest. The unloved, unnamed bear was taken down from the shelf and his destiny was sealed...or so I thought.

My mum suddenly announced that she'd had the exact same thought as me and had bought an anonymous bear from a card shop.

Our bear was reprieved!

Now this unnamed, unloved bear had a special meaning for me and for years sat on my bedside table until, one day, my then five year old daughter came home from school very excited and announced there was to be a Teddy Bears' Picnic the very next day and they were all to take in a Teddy to join in the fun.

Guess which bear she picked out of all the bears in the house?

So this unloved, unnamed bear was suddenly elevated to 'very special, very lucky' bear and spent a day in the sun at a Teddy Bears' Picnic.

Whenever I look at him now and think of where he could have been, I can't help but give him a hug.

The end.

Blessings,

Andi xx