Kelly Marks, Your Country Needs You!

I have had a couple of very busy, but productive days. I have ordered the book 'Perfect Manners' by Kelly Marks. Lots of people say it's really good and it really helped their relationship with their horse, so I am going to read it and see what I can do about Max. If I sell him I could be selling a better behaved horse, if it works, and if it transforms him, I'll keep him! So I win either way. I have loitered by the letterbox, like a faithful spaniel, but it hasn't arrived yet. I can't wait to start reading it.
I've nearly finished my cross stitch for the Christening. It's very sweet. I am tempted to show you now, but I think I'd better wait and show you the finished item. I am having a mental block making the christening card. I want it to be silver and white and pink, but I'm playing around with lots of pieces before I commit to anything.
The significance of this is that Abby rang me last week and asked me if I would make all the invitations, place cards etc for her wedding in July. I am thrilled. My first commission! And the point is, she wants pink, silver and white for her colour scheme. I must tell you, that at the moment, I'm not very keen on it, but I need to go to Hobbycraft again and see what they've got and I'm sure I'll be inspired. I just need a piece of silver card or paper to finish this christening card off, then I'll be happy.
I did the ironing yesterday and remembered to look for the crafting TV channel and found it on Sky. I stood there, absolutely riveted by this woman demonstrating card making. It's a bit like QVC though, and I tried not to laugh, but I was very inspired by the cards she made. Before I knew it I'd been ironing for an hour and a half and had done every single thing, so it must have been good. It's thrilling to see other people who want to stroke bits of paper every bit as much as I do! I am not alone with my affliction.
I made another cake with my new tins. This time I went for broke and used five eggs and all the corresponding ingredients, and out came the most enormous sponge cake I've ever seen. I think I must have always over estimated the capability of the ingredients and thought that even if you put in very little of everything, a big cake should come out. Why does no one explain that if you want a whopping great cake, you have to put in loads of ingredients? It's so simple. I didn't have any jam, so I had to make icing and put that in the middle. It was so tall it wouldn't fit in my cake tin, so I have had to put it in the bread container instead! Yummy.
(Watch this space for lemon meringue pie, coming soon!)
I sat in my kitchen, sewing away, while the cake did its thing in the oven, and was overwhelmed by a sense of peace and 'rightness' and 'all is well with the world', even though it had started snowing. I felt very at home in this little cottage in the middle of nowhere.
And, the most thrilling thing of all, I was reading Fiona's lovely blog over at Marmalade Rose where I was supposed to be looking at a sofa, which I did, but my eyes kept straying to her beautiful pink and white polka dot tablecloth. It's in oilcloth, which I am desperate for. I left a message asking where she'd bought it and she left me the website. I was perusing there yesterday, to be honest, a little taken aback at the variety. You know some shops you go in and you want to buy one of everything? This was like that. I have narrowed it down to a beige table cloth with dots, and am about to go back and order it, having gone over the measurements with Mr O last night, who knows about these things. He can look at an object and tell you what it measures to within an inch - extraordinary.
And once again we have snow. Only about an inch, but it hasn't stopped since lunchtime, so we'll see what we've got in the morning.
I turned Barnaby out this morning, who fortunately walked forward to a pile of haylage in the field, as I found to my consternation, that the string of the electric fence was trapped in the ice, so I couldn't hook the gate closed. I ran to the metal gate, and found that too had been buried in ice, and it took a great deal of frantic stamping about at the base of the gate before I could release it and close it before Barnaby decided to go for a stroll round the farm. Phew. I must tell you as well, that on Sunday when we went to get the horses in, Mr O had Barnaby and I had Max, with the intention of going back for Zak, who had no such intentions at all, and leapt gracefully over the electric fence and walked in with us! Oh well.