The working from home thing

I'm not having a good working week, which has prompted me to think / write about the whole working from home thing.

Generally I love it and am very, very grateful that Cottontails is what I do. And it's fair to say there are loads of positives to working from home, just off the top of my head:

- I don't have to get up early (not a morning person)
- I can work in my nightie if I want to
- I can have Humphrey at work with me
- Friends and my mum can pop in
- I'm here to take deliveries and things at home

But a lot of these positives have another side:

- Not having to get up early means, well, that I don't... and am often a lazy article
- I miss having to put a bit of make up on and wear nice clothes
- People pop in, I pop out. Discipline is lacking
- I get distracted by household chores - washing up, watering the garden
- I miss having someone to talk to about worky stuff (apart from Humphrey)
- I don't have set working hours... i.e. here I am writing this in the evening

It's a funny thing when work and life are as mashed up as mine are. Mainly I love it, but just sometimes I miss the structure of working elsewhere, the sense of 'coming home' in the evening, the proper 'switching off'.

Right now it's 7.30pm and having had a really lackluster couple of days I am still out here in the office, kind of half-working. Feeling guilty that I've been lazy for a couple of days. Feeling like I don't deserve an evening off because I haven't really had a day 'on'.

Must try harder.

But, I wouldn't swap it. And when all else fails, I just look at my long eared colleague sleeping under the desk and can't fail to be grateful.

Motorbikes and Maileg bunnies

My other half has recently bought a vintage motorbike which he claims is a thing of beauty. Art, he says. Somehow it has taken up residence in our hall-kitchen area. He says it's nice because 'it matches the cooker'. I question the fact that the motorbike is even anywhere near the cooker.

Anyway, dressed with a Maileg rabbit, it looks better.


Maileg Woodstock girl bunny is available to buy at Cottontails.
Motorbike not for sale. Yet.

Bunnies and beetroot

Malo rabbit: Psssst... Humphrey!

Humphrey: What? Can't you see I'm having my afternoon nap..? And where have you been all day anyway?

Malo rabbit: Wait til I tell you what she's growing for us in the veggie patch...

Maileg rabbits make Elderflower Cordial!

I am so excited because I have just made a little film!

It is called 'The Maileg Rabbits make Elderflower Cordial' and is the story of what happened when a few of our lovely cotton rabbits decided to try their hand (paws) at making Elderflower cordial.


It all began when they found a simple little article in Country Living magazine.



They did a spot of online research and came across this lovely blog by Ellie Tennant (the lady behind shopping ideas at Ideal Home). It's a really good place to start if you are a beginner at cordial making, like the bunnies.

Ellie recommended a fantastic online shop for supplies called The Jam Jar Shop. I ordered the necessary muslin and citric acid, and the bunnies talked me into buying some very pretty glass bottles. (Incidentally, I was so delighted with their things I have already placed a second order for jam jars - pickling and jam-making, here I come!)

Anyway, have a look at our film and let us know what you think.. click here

Now I'm off to have a glass of the yummy cordial!

And the winner is.........

Well done Abby Harris for correctly identifying the three characters painted by Isobel as Jeanne (goose), Mimosa (cat) and Louna (bee).

Isobel wrote out the correct entrants names on Saturday evening and we assembled the three characters to supervise the draw. You can see Louna bee holding the winning name in the photos.



Well done Abby and please email me your address so I can send you something nice - charlotte@cottontailsbaby.co.uk.

Have a look at Abby's lovely blog over at Mutterings from the Moor - she has a lovely creative blog header which I was talking about today in my creative textiles course!

Last chance to enter competition...

Just a little reminder that we'll be drawing a winner of our competition (see last post) this evening so still time to enter this afternoon if you would like... All and any entries welcome, even from friends as the draw will be completely random anyway. In fact, I may enter myself!!?
xx

Competition - need entries!!!

Whilst bored during a football match at the weekend (imagine that!) I put up a little competition on the Cottontails facebook page but alas have had no entries... clearly the facebook page is not yet as vibrant and interactive as I hoped it would be!

So I thought I would pop the competition on here. It's quite easy and as I have yet to have any entries the odds of winning must be quite high!

During half term while she was staying with us, Mike's daughter Isobel (aged 9) lined up a few of her favourite Cottontails toys and painted some lovely pictures.

The competition is simple: Can you identify any of the characters? I know you are probably thinking 'I haven't a clue' but it would be ever so easy to find them on the website - just have a look at Moulin Roty's Grand Family toys and Moulin Roty's range of bee and insect toys!

And if you win I will send you a mystery something nice by Moulin Roty :-)


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ps - If you would like to enter twice and thus double your already quite good chances of winning (!) you could leave a comment on the Facebook page too - click here

pps - Oh dear. As the lovely MutteringsFromTheMoor has gently pointed out, there is a bit of a flaw in proceedings as folks can just copy earlier entries... Ah yes. Of course. Hadn't thought of that.

Never mind... press on!

Please enter anyway and I'll give the next competition a bit more thought!

ppps Despite discovering this unfortunate hitch, I am thrilled that putting the competition on the blog has created a bit of interest and a few entries. THANK YOU!

pppps Draw will be Saturday evening (19th) so keep entering up til about 6pm at which point me and Isobel will try and find a hat to draw names from

Mouse travels globe and builds stylish nest

As the fabric mouse population continues to expand across the globe, news has just come in of a new colony establishing itself in the US...

Showing considerable nest building skills, this little chap has even constructed his own comfortable matchbox bed:


Have a read of this lovely blog for more details or visit Cottontails if you can offer a home to these increasingly industrious creatures...

Cottontails Kitchen Garden - going well!

Sorry to be a bit quiet for a few days, but as you can see I have been fairly busy watering, weeding and generally tending to the burgeoning Cottontails garden...


I am quite frankly staggered by how much is growing (mainly from seeds) and am spending quite a lot of time just wandering around grinning.


Meanwhile Humphrey is on the sidelines twitching his nose and licking his lips...