My Week ~ Things that made me Happy...

Thank you so much for the wonderful messages of support on my last Disability Journey post.  The series of posts have been incredibly challenging to write - to not dwell in anger and resentment but to show that whilst overall I can see the positives in life - this is still a journey with ups and downs.  I guess I'd just like to state the obvious in that we are all dealing with 'stuff' - just varying degrees.  Life can be good.  But my goodness it can be hard - so cut yourself and your neighbour some slack!!  I am planning to delay the final post until I've had time to give it a more considered response and to let the mood of my blog posts resettle a bit during my birthday month!

Sooo on to things that brought me happiness last week:

::  Mother's Day loveliness.  Homemade cards and presents - the best kind.  Little Man made this felt flower at school - in the pocket is a little heart with lots of drawings on both sides 'of all the things you [me] like': our family, loving, baking, cake decorating, TV, milk choc chip cookies, puppies, french bread pizza, flowers, chocolate, squirrels?!  It's lovely to see his drawings of all the things he perceives me to love.

Little lady made me the gorgeous coaster at her Brownie club and it now takes pride of place on my bedside table.

::  Brownies badges  - tried, tested and achieved.  Such a happy Little Lady.  We're going to tackle the Star Gazing badge while visiting Granny next week "As the stars are so much clearer at her house".



:: Little Man's Easter hat.  Fully designed and created by himself.  They had a mufti day today to raise funds for the local children's hospice.

::  These generous giveaway goodies arrived this week from the wonderful Wendy of September Violets.  This was a giveaway as part of the Grow Your Blog event.  I do so love getting a parcel in the post!  Thank you Wendy - you made my day!

Lots of colour in that past week.  Many moments of happy.  I'm tired though - looking forward to a break from the school routine as term ends.  We are all ready for a rest!

Amongst resting, we're out and about over the next couple of weeks so my time here will be more sporadic. If you have a moment - go and check out the fabulous giveaway that Mary Jane's Tea Room is having.  Such a gorgeous collection of goodies this generous lady is gifting to some lucky person!!

Happy Easter to you all - may your days be full of sunshine and laughter.

Enjoy!
J9 x

Linking up with The Week That Was: Captured

Drum Roll Please...

The time has come to announce the winner of my Grow Your Blog Giveaway!  I have been delighted to be part of this fabulous Bloggy party and look forward to getting to know all the new readers of my blog.

Here's a little reminder about the things that were included in the Giveaway - 

a jolly little bundle I think you agree!!

Well, many of you did as I had a good number of entries and so I tried to do something more official than pulling names out of a hat like I have done to announce previous Giveaway Winners.  I entered 35 names into the List Randomizer (although some of this number were double entries as a result of comments on the original GYB post and the Giveaway post meaning those people were entitled to two entries).

So without further delay, the selected number is:

List Randomizer

There were 35 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Sowing Stitches

Sorry I couldn't get this to appear as a funky widget - I had to do a straight copy and paste after many failed attempts to edit HTML (certainly not a strength)!

The winner is the creative Carol of Sowing Stitches.  Carol has a lovely blog which I have discovered through the GYB party so it is very evident that the party has been successful in introducing us to a wonderful diversity of Blogs! 

Congratulations Carol - I shall send you an email very shortly!

Apologies to all for my absence from Blogland recently.  Both littlies have been very poorly and off school.  Once they recovered, I went down with the nasty germs so time management has not been in my favour!!  Hope to catch up with you all over the next week!! 

J9 x

My GYB Giveaway!

As promised dear readers, this is a blog post in homage to my Gifty Giveaway!  I had an enjoyable time yesterday having a mooch around a store to select the items to compile in this parcel of goodiness.  My mission was to try to find some pretty things; something not too big, not too heavy, something that won't be an issue at customs (I had considered some pretty scissors) something that may appeal to the readers of this blog.  Hmmm... lots to think about!

I settled on some items that may help with general tasks at home - all with one thing in common.  I think they are very Pretty!!

Included in the giveaway is:

A pretty floral pen, a red spotty retracting tape measure, a little jar of buttons, a lovely little clipboard, pad and pen, a couple of pretty envelopes and floral stickers and some muffin cases.

Ah yes, that's a nice little selection.  ANYONE is welcome to join in and if you win you'll have this parcel winging its way to your part of the world. 

Simply leave me a comment below before 13th February 2014. 

Winners will be announced on 15th February (or if time fails me as close after that date as possible!)

Follow along if you'd like but no pressure!  This giveaway is open to anyone who leaves a comment on this blog post OR on the Grow Your Blog post - whether you have a blog or not.  It is also open to those living in the UK or overseas.  Those that have left a comment on the GYB post and on this post will be entered into the draw twice.

Good luck!!  Welcome to my new followers and readers who have found me through the Grow Your Blog party.  I'm gradually making my way back to those bloggers who have visited me - I will pop back it's just my time online is sporadic at best!!  I hope you'll come back and visit my bit of cyber space soon!  Happy Weekend folks!

J9 x

And the Winners Are....

I apologise for the length of time it has taken me to blog about the names that got pulled out of our fateful hat...  the winners were chosen in that very simple way.  Names written on pieces of paper, folded into four and then one pulled out by each of my children.

As you may know, here I posted about my Giveaway (in homage to the anniversary of my first ever blog post) and my Carry it Forward (due to being fantastically fortunate to win goodies from Hen back in February).

And the Winners are:

 

Jann from a Have a Daily Cup of Mrs Olson

 

Giveaway Goodies were won by Jann

AND 

Jennifer from Thistlebear

 

The Carry it Forward Goodies were won by Jennifer!

Well done to both of you!! 

A big thank you to the other two of you that entered.  If I'm completely honest, I was a little disappointed by the number of entries - but it was good for those of you who did enter to have fewer numbers to compete with!!  My little blog is only read by a select and highly valued few (yes... YOU!).  I think I'll finally be sharing it with my friends and family later this year - it's funny how I started blogging to strangers before making my wider family aware.  Although I would say I feel like some of you have become friends over this year - one of the best things about my blogging journey.

I really would like to thank you ALL for entering - and indeed for being my regular 'bloggy friends' here at Simple Things.

Happy Monday Friends,
J9 x

Blogiversary and Carry It Forward

My first blog post was a little over a year ago.  It somehow feels like I've been blogging for much longer - strange but I guess that this is because I've followed so many blogs for a good few years, so my own little bit of cyber space feels like a natural extension of this.

By way of celebration I'm offering an Owl themed giveaway.  There are two sets of goodies on offer.  One to celebrate the anniversary of my blog...

 

Blog Anniversary Giveaway Goodies

...and the other...to do my bit in the Carry It Forward (CIF) - I apologise immensely for it taking 5 months for me to get around to doing this!  My goodness, time just flies.  If you don't remember my excitement at winning handmade goodies made by the very talented Hen of Henhouse you can see her original post showing the fabulous things she crafted here.

I've crocheted the owls myself using Bunny Mummy's fantastic tutorial and there are a couple of crochet flower brooches I've made too using Lucy's May Roses pattern which can be found here.  Plus I've added these cute wooden owls to the parcel, two white cotton scented tea lights and some pretty little pegs! 

Craft it Forward Goodies to be won!

All you have to do to enter is to leave me a comment below saying what your favourite Simple Thing is.  You can get a second entry if you mention the CIF on your blog and link it back to this post (just drop me another comment letting me know that you've done this!).

If you like my blog I'd love it if you'd consider following along for the journey - it'd be great to meet more of the lovely people that are reading Simple Things.

Finally, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to read my bit of cyber space and to those of you who leave such lovely comments - a sincere THANK YOU for your support and encouragement over the past few months.  I've met some lovely people due to those comments and visited a variety of 'new to me' blogs as a result - meeting some likeminded people is an unexpected pleasure of blogging.

This giveaway is open internationally and the closing date is 19th July.  Anyone can enter the anniversary giveaway but you will need a blog and be willing to craft something to do your bit in the "Carry it Forward" concept.  I will announce the winners shortly after the closing date and request further details at that point from the lucky winners so I can get posting off your goodies!!

Good luck!
J9 x

Today I'm sharing in these fab parties!

Share your Cup Thursday

Show and Tell Friday

Simple & Sweet Friday
From the Farm Blog Hop