Not long now.

Really chuffed with the way the lion has turned out. :)
Our "new" dining table is getting plenty of use - it's just so nice to sit at the table with the little 'un and eat our meals - and have room to properly set the table too.
Mmm, that was a mighty fine loaf - humongous; but really tasty with a lovely soft crumb. We had the last of it today as toast as it was starting to get a bit stale - so lasted well as I made it on Monday.

First signs of spring, crocuses poking through the ground; rather appropriate with Imbolc at the beggining of Feb. Its not normally a festival I would mark, being that I'm not Wiccan; recently though I've come to the conclusion it doesn't matter whether these are bonafide agricultural/pagan ancestors' festivals or not - of course Imbolc is a celtic fire festival, although the debate rages red hot (pardon the pun) in scholarly circles as to it's true nature and even down to what "Imbolc" means - most pagan sites will quote "ewe's milk" or "in the belly" - all that matters is the intent and, actually, its a really nice way to introduce the little 'one to nature and to help me keep connected as mundane life can sometimes get in the way.
I've packed away the winter/yule season table decorations. The spring table is rather sparse, I thought it would be nice to do some arts and crafts with the little 'un, maybe go down to the pebble beach and collect some stones etc.

Last pictures are of our garden. At the mo, it's an expanse of lawn with boarders that need weeding. I keep toying with using some of the garden as a veg patch; but I've not made my mind up yet; plus I'm not overly green fingered so perhaps container veg plot would be best this year to see how I get on; plus easy to move out of the way of any children I may be minding.

Writing of minding, its really not that long now. Rather pleased that work has agreed to me working 2 full days one week and 3 full days the next week rather than 2.5 days each week. The half day is rather expensive in terms of train fares and this way it will save me a bit of money and, more importantly, allow me to take the little 'un along to the toddler group that "Nice" (tl'u's way of saying my CM's name) takes him too on a Thursday. He apparently loves it, and I rarely have the opportunity to see him play with other children, looking forward to that.

May manage a visit to Kids Planet during my days off this week - I've discovered its not that far to walk from here (well according to Google anyway) and again "Nice" has taken him there with her other minded children and by all accounts loves it. Rather depends on my tendons - the copious extra weight I'm carrying is putting a lot of strain on my heels and because I do so much more walking these days than I did my heels are incredibly painful. First thing on a morning, or when I've been sat down for a while, I hobble and grimace a lot until the stiffness fades a bit. On the up side, it really is very painful and so encouraging me to finally get my head into gear to get a couple of stone (at least) off to ease the pressure on my heels. The daft thing is I can easily loose that amount in about 3 to 4 weeks (without doing anything drastic) and just 2 stone would make such a difference. Sure, I would still have a vast amount of weight to get rid off to be slim; but I'm not really fussed about getting down to a size 10 or 12 or a set weight - I want to loose enough to feel comfortable and not to be restricted by the weight as I am now.

Wow, enough rambling, I need bed, only had a few hours kip the past few nights (own fault, staying up too late and then needing to be up around half five for work) and boy am I feeling it now. I could quite snuggle back into my arm chair and just go to sleep - except I would stiffen up horribly and then be in agony.