Better To Have Loved and Lost

For some time now I have had it in my mind to buy a welsh dresser, and have glanced in various shops, just casually looking. I had one years ago, and gave it to Daughter 1. Why? Why? I've regretted it ever since (no disrespect to Daughter 1!) There is a limited amount of space in this teeny tiny cottage, and I particularly want a pine dresser for a kitchen, not a dresser for a dining room, with any kind of glass doors.

So imagine my joy when we found the perfect dresser this morning in a shop in Chesterfield. The only drawback was that it was quite wide, but it was lovely. The price was right, too. I stroked it affectionately and assured it that it would soon be mine. We decided to do the sensible thing and go home and measure the space in the kitchen to make sure it would fit. Sure enough, there would be the perfect amount of space without having to complicate things by moving the fridge. Mr O rang up to say we were on our way to pay for the dresser, and what did the shop owner say? "Oh, I'm sorry, I've just sold it." D'oh!

I sat down, struck dumb, and let the waves of disappointment wash over me. It had been love at first sight - what was I to do? To assuage his guilt ("I knew it would fit!") Mr O offered to take me into Clay Cross to check out the shops there. I thought it was a bit pointless, but decided to humour him and go along for the ride, it wouldn't do any harm.

We went into a couple of shops, but there was nothing crying out to be bought. Then suddenly, in Pop's Attic (where we bought our table and chairs) there it was, the dresser of my dreams. It didn't have a price (always a bad sign) so I went to the desk to ask. Let's just say it was a third of the one we'd seen in the morning! I think I may have said, "We'll take it!" before the words were properly out of her mouth into the public domain. I nearly went to sit on it. I was prepared to sleep next to it until it's delivery day (Tuesday). I can't wait until it comes to grace our tiny home. As soon as it's here, you'll be the first to know.

The other success is that I have bought my outfit for Daughter 2's wedding in July. We saw it last week. If I tell you it was in the Co-Op you'll think I'm a bit barking, but our Co-Op is a big department store like Debenhams. Basically it's an off-white silk, sleeveless dress, that falls to just below the knee. It has big blue spots on it. I also bought a matching dark blue jacket, and what I suppose is a cross between a fascinator and a hat. I just hope it doesn't look like a saucer on the side of my head, but I can live with that. It's a beautiful outfit, something one could wear to Ascot. All I need now is some blue strappy shoes to go with it. I will take a photo of me in it when I've got some shoes, so it'll look a little disappointing that it's me in it but at least you'll see what the dress looks like. Honestly, I felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, you know, in the shopping scene. And I can seriously say that the shop assistant did in fact have obscene amounts of sucking up to do, especially when she accidentally pressed the wrong button on the till and brought the total to six thousand, four hundred and thirty-two pounds! I did mention that she might want to check that and it turned out she'd typed in the item code and not the price, thank goodness. It was worth it to see the look on Mr O's face, though.

I bought this a little while ago from a very sweet gift shop in Chesterfield. It actually says, 'Bless Our Home with love and laughter.' It's the sort of shop where you want to buy one of everything, and it's not expensive, either. Expect to see regular additions from now on, especially after the welsh dresser has made itself at home.

This is going on my wardrobe door. I saw it today and couldn't resist it. To be honest, there isn't much room in the tiny cottage to have many ornaments, but I've realised I've got lots of places where I can hang things up, and this is perfect. I love the colour and the buttons.

And finally, I've been meaning to show you this since my birthday, as Missis bought it for me as a present. It holds six eggs at the bottom, and you unlock a catch across its back and it opens out, to hold the two eggs shown. It's metal, and it fascinates me as an object. This may have pride of place on the dresser, I haven't decided yet.

Well I'm off to throw some ingredients in the breadmaker.

Blessings, everyone!