a country mouse finally blocks that blooming scarf

Little R, Daddy Mouse and I went to the local bonfire night on Friday and came home absolutely clarted in mud. Today I was forced to accept that I now have no sartorial standards whatsoever when Little R pointed out to me (in the middle of Marks and Spencers food hall) that I had mud all over the front of my jacket. So I did, great big dauds of it, from her muddy boots when she was sitting on my shoulders at the fireworks. Is this old age? When I am old I shall wear purple? Or maybe I should start looking in a mirror occasionally. Or (much more country mouse's style) just get a scarf and cover it up.
And squeaking of scarves, here is the pile of raggy old flowers I crocheted for my sister's scarf a VERY long time ago. It sat reproachfully in my crochet bag waiting for the ends to be sewn in until yesterday afternoon, when I could stand it no longer and finally picked up the needle. Wait till you see the miracle worked by blocking.

You plunge your precious handiwork into a basin of cool water with a little bit of very mild detergent, such as a baby soap powder, then squish and soak it until every fibre has been thoroughly wetted. Then remove, carefully wring out and rinse twice in clear cool water. Squeeze out the excess water then lay on a folded towel and push and pull it into the exact shape you want it to dry into. You can pin it if you want to be extra precise. Leave it for a day or two until it is completely dry, then, ta da. Despite having done this before and witnessed the miracle of blocking, I must admit I was quailing a bit as the flowers looked so very twisted and scrappy when they were wet, but look, it turned out fine after all:

The flowers look a bit crumpled here but that's only because of the way they are draped around Scotland's Next Top Model. I will wrap it up in some pretty paper and give it to my poor wee sister before she freezes on these cold winter mornings.

And finally, here is an oil painting I bought this afternoon in the charity shop for the rather hefty sum (on my charity shopping scale) of £7. I felt able to splurge because my kind sister and brother and their families gave me a very generous amount of money for my 40th to be spent on a painting. There's even a couple of bob left. In this photo you can see the lovely carpet we've got in the study at the moment. Yes, that's right - 22mm chipboard, neatly edged in gripper rod. The aquarium leaked all over the carpet a couple of months ago while we were out and both the aquarium and the carpet had to go to the dump. One of these days we will get a replacement I suppose but there are so many things I'd rather spend money on and then there are all the things I have to spend money on such as car tax and car servicing and other dull things like that. I tell you, this stay at home mum bit is not so much fun when it comes to being utterly skint. I am fed up being skint. I want to go somewhere posh and SPEND LOTS AND LOTS OF MONEY!!!!