Jumble Sale Heaven

A thoroughly bargain full weekend which started off on Friday when I bought this magazine rack from a charity shop (£1.99).



It did look fine as it was but rather too much in the way of brass for my taste. So forked out some more money for some white paint and Bob's your uncle, here it is in its full shabby chic glory:



I bought said mag rack to replace our old one which had been lying in a collapsed heap (yes, literally) in the corner of our living room for some months. However, a bit of hammering later and it was as good as nearly new:



So this one will stay in the living room and the new one will live by my bed and the one that was there already (blimey, this is complicated) is now in Junior J and P's room.

Saturday's jumble was really jumble sale heaven. Take a look at this lovely lot:

A plethora of pillow slips (well, 3 anyway):







A pale pink candlewick bed spread:



A beautiful tea cosy complete with pompom:



A seventies bed spread (I'm very partial to a bit of seventies tat):





A satchel (virtually brand new) for Mr J and P:



Sandals for J and P Junior:



A ladybird book to add to the collection:



The collection:


A fabulous folksy apron affair.



Glorious isn't it? Every home should have one.

Top buy this week has to be this little beauty which was sitting forlornly amongst the dregs on the bric-a-brac stall which I chanced upon just as we were leaving.



"What on earth is it?" I hear you cry. All shall be revealed.....





A little mirror! A design classic methinks and only 20p.

Sunday started started off very creatively on Little J and P's part with this lovely water colour of a lioness.



Then for a walk in Hertfordshire - around the pretty village of Much Hadham. We saw lots of horses including this one that Junior took a piccy of with its rather snazzy plaited mane.



Hope you had a good weekend and that your week is going well so far. That's about it for this post, although I just wanted to say: ONLY 11 GRANNY SQUARES TO GO AND I'VE FINISHED MY CUSHION COVER!!! I'm sooooooooooo excited. Today, I found in a charity shop a rather shrunken woollen blanket which I'm hoping to make into the cushion backing. Will reveal all shortly......

My weekend

Weather-wise the weekend was definitely the best we've had this year. I even got sunburnt for goodness sake! Saturday morning went to a car boot sale. It was utter rubbish - tat city. Junior Jumbles and Pompoms managed to get loads of books. I got 2 LPs and I only got those because the stall holder was a parent from the school and I felt almost obliged to buy something. Mind you, his record collection was very good and very reminiscent of mine! Fancy selling his records though. I couldn't do that, they're part of my very being(!). I bought The Cramps "Psychedelic Jungle" which I had on cassette and It's the Monkees.

Saturday afternoon, we went for a long walk in a local country park followed by a rip roaring and rather rawcus evening at some friends. Needless to say Mr Jumbles and Pompoms and myself were feeling somewhat jaded on Sunday but we all managed to do a number of useful things around the house. Mr J and P put together the waterbutt (at long last I say, I mean "Hoorah! you clever man."). Just look at this piccy of him studying the instructions (this, may I add, is a rare happening, dear readers, Mr J and P NEVER reads instructions).



Another very rare event is the cleaning of the car - the outside this time (see previous post on cleaning the car). I promise not to document every time we clean the car but this, too, is another first in the J and P household. Here is Junior spongeing away merrily.



As for me, I flitted about tidying window boxes, washing down window sills and glueing broken plant pots together. No pics of me (thank goodness) - everyone far too busy.

Other homely events this weekend included the making of the rhubarb wine - it's fermenting beautifully in its bucket at the mo. This year, Mr J and P has already made blackberry and sloe wine, blackberry and elderberry and redcurrant wine. Crikey chaps, we're going to be awash with homemade booze.

Our first crop of mint for the year has also been picked. It always looks so lovely, green and bushy at this time of year and it smells heavenly (as opposed to later in the year when it gets a bit brown and spindly).



Well, ttfn.

STOP PRESS: Rhubarb jam and chutters (that's chutney, my dears) have also been made in the J and P household since the weekend. I think that's quite enough activity for now don't you?

The car

Now, I suggest that you'd better not read this post if you have a delicate nature or suffer from a cleanliness obsession. Yesterday, the dearly beloveds senior and junior cleaned the car... It's a never-before occurrence (or at least an occurrence that has rarely taken place since we bought the car 10 years ago). So now you see why I just had to record this momentous event. The thing is we see the car as being something which takes us from A to B, we can't be bothered to clean the damn thing as well. So, gone are the layers of dust, cobwebs, general debris and colony of ants that graced the car. Back in the day, I remember giving a lift to one of our daughter's little friends. They were playing "I Spy" in the back and the friend had spied something beginning with R. "It's inside the car but can be outside as well." she said. The answer? "Rubbish" she declared. Blooming cheek! Yet - strangely accurate.

We do still have the bumps, dents and scratches on the outside though. The last time we went on holiday, we parked the car at a carpark outside the airport. The woman checking us in had to mark on a diagram any bumps or dents on the car. Unfortunately, we had to abandon the exercise as we have so many. It's good that we're not over precious about our possessions n'est pas? (note to family: this doesn't include the sofa, stair carpet and anything I lovingly craft).

Well, pop pickers, that's enough about our slovenly habits. I can assure you that our sloppiness is limited only to the car and we are pristine and tidy in every other way possible (er hem).

Happy Easter.

Oops, forgot to mention: cleaning the car was a money making operation apparently. Beloved Junior found a total of £3!! Note to self: must clean the car more often.