Hello 2011

Hi there. Well not a lot has been going on here at Boo's Cottage. We went away for a well needed rest to Centre Parcs at Longleat and had a lovely stay there in the snow. It was a winter wonderland. When we arrived home, however, we found that our heating was not working. It had actually been so cold that the operations on the LPG gas bottles (there is no mains gas in our village) in the garden had frozen. Thankfully, my very clever and persistent husband managed to get it working because it was going to be 3 days before our heating people could come out! Since then, the gremlins have definitely moved in. My washing machine gave up the fight in the New Year and so did my 30 year old Kenwood mixer (it was my mum's). Thankfully the Kenwood has been repaired and I'm told that it should last me at least another 20 years (they don't make them like that anymore!).
Did anyone seen the February issue of Country Living? I was blown away to see one of my favourite bloggers featured: Jane and the Happy Crow, with some lovely photos of her adorable Jack Russell, Midge. Please do check out the article and her blog. There are such talented women out there.
Finally, we're tentatively gearing up the finances for our extension this year. Given the current climate, I'm actually really quite nervous. But the ancient flat roof on our tiny kitchen has really suffered in the snow and was leaking only a few days ago in the heavy rain so..... . here we go.

I created this blog what seems like an age ago and, immediately, writer's block descended on me. Well, here goes ...... . A lot has been going on here at Boo's Cottage including a new addition to our family, 1 year old Muffin, a crazy jack russell terrier from a rescue centre. Both our other jack russell's (Boo an Noggin) died within a year of each other (devastating) and we took some time out to miss them terribly. But in April we were ready to fill our home with four-legged crazy antics once again. Welcome to our home Muffin. You've already stolen our hearts.

On the renovation front, we are gearing up for a kitchen extension in spring next year. I couldn't swing Muffin in my current kitchen (not that I'd want to!). I currently have a sink unit, ancient fridge and freezer which I use as worktops also and an Ikea butcher's block. All other storage is in a dresser we found on Ebay. As I hate the all the mess of building, I'll probably be venting here on a more regular basis in order to maintain my sanity :). Hopefully by then I'll have worked out the technical bits of uploading some pictures.

Finally, any advice on hens from all you countryphiles out there would be much appreciate. We have two lovely girls in our garden who provide us with fresh eggs every day. They have been losing their feathers down their chests and the skin underneath is quite red and raw looking. Tried diatomaceous earth (? spelling) and anti pecking spray just in case to no avail. Help!

I'm off to check out my fellow cottager at Clover Cottage.

Hello World!

I'm finally jumping in with both feet and starting my own blog. There are so many inspiring blogs out there that I've been following over the past year. I'll be talking about shabby chic and vintage, gardening and growing your own, hen keeping and recipes. So please, stop on by and say hello if you're out there lurking.