Mid winter break's over

I'm feeling revived after having a break from work. It's been very busy although not so productive on the craft or garden front. I've been visiting friends which always revives me. Everybody has their fires burning as we've had bitterly cold weather. It's quite alot colder than last winter. I had another frightening power bill which inspired me to put pots on top of our poxy woodburner in an effort to save some money. The water doesn't boil but it's hot enough to do the dishes in or warm up the bath or put in the kids hotties. If I won lotto this winter I'd put in a wetback fire or solar panels. Batts in the roof would probably help too. I can forget saving for it this year though as I need to visit the dentist tomorrow, I have a killer toothache! I've been sewing but only bags and booties which are my sure sellers. I'm dying to develop some new stock but feel like I havn't got time to sew things then change my mind, adjust patterns, rip seams etc. So I've stuck to things I can do in my sleep so to speak. For a couple of days my tooth was too sore for me to do anything other than feel sorry for myself, I read blogs those days and am delighted some bloggers who were having breaks are back on the scene.
My baby turned 2. The Red Head celebrated his birthday with his Granny fresh back from holiday in Australia. His volcabulary is really coming along now with his favorite phrase being " no I don't want to" and he's suddenly very intereseed in potty training, Yay.
I survived the first Aid course, no hairy fishermen or forestry workers which was actually a bit of a let down, after all I'd talked myself into it. The best part of the weekend was a visit to the fabric shop after the course and scoring a whole lot of fabric for $1 a metre.

The last few frosty fine days have been spent spreading a bit of hay. I was given enough to feed a horse but it had got wet and soggy so the horse's loss is my garden's gain! Willow is looking for mice under the compost cover. They pretty safe as long as they stay in the middle and she'll be amused for ages.