Before...

This is going to be like one of those 'before and after' magazine photo shoots - trouble is, there is no 'after' as yet

This is the horrific state of my office this morning, following several days of unpacking boxes in a hurry and pulling out stock to photograph and describe, and not tidying up as I went along.

This is my visitor's chair. Good job I don't have any...


This is my packing table - lots of room for packing, as you can see.



And worst of all, this is my desk. Words fail me.



Even Humphrey's area is in a mess. This photo looks a bit staged but honestly, this is the state of the floor after a frantic search through my children's books to find a suitable backdrop picture for some photography yesterday.


Incidentally, this is the book / picture I ended up using:


So, as you can see the website and all the new products are things of beauty, but my office is most definitely not.

So I have bin bags, a hoover, one hour of spare time and a lot of determination - and I will be back later with the 'after' pictures.

Ernest's last day at Cottontails

Well my week with Ernest is just about up and before I send him on his way I decided to throw him a little tea party in the garden. A whole host of friends came along - including Ernest's new lady friend, Felicie Hen. And of course Humphrey turned up - not like him to miss anything involving cake.


The sun was shining and we had a lovely picnic using some of my new Oskar and Ellen play food.

I even served up a bottle of Mike's cider - well, with a name like Henney's it seemed inevitable - but only a thimble full for the little ones of course. Hic!


Humphrey gave a speech saying how much he is going to miss Ernest...


...But nevertheless the time has come for him to move on....

....So, I had a little draw and am delighted to announce that Ernests's next port of call will be....... over at Pomona's place: http://littlecottagecomforts.blogspot.com. I think he's going to love it there as apparently there are some real life hens for him to meet! (Pomona - please can you email me your address, then I will send Ernest on an overnight delivery).

Well we'll be sad to see him go, but it's been great fun having him to stay.


It's just you and me again Humph!

Ernest - the date!

As a thank you to Ernest for all his... ahem... 'help' at Cottontails over the last couple of days, I decided to arrange a treat for him tonight - a dinner date with a lovely young lady hen called Felicie.

They were a little shy with one another to begin with...



But by the time the food arrived - a delicious dish of finest porridge oats - they were getting along very well...




When I last popped in to see them Ernest was regaling Felicie with tales of his journey so far (she was particularly impressed to hear that he had been learning to sew over at Mutterings from the Moor)


Meanwhile, not too far away Humphrey was tucking into his own supper...



He was particularly hungry tonight after a valiant attempt at unpacking some stock this afternoon.



I honestly don't know where I'd be without Ernest and Humphrey to help out...!

Ernest goes to work

I decided it was time to put Ernest to work and enlist his help with some parcel packing.

Here he is surveying today's sales and preparing himself for the job at hand...



At first he was more than helpful...


But it wasn't too long before he began to get up to mischief...


...And before I knew it he had landed himself in a spot of bother with the parcel tape.



Having decided that parcel packing is perhaps not his forte, I thought he could help with sorting out the new gardening stock. There is quite a lot of it and I haven't been able to face it all on my own. Perhaps Ernest would make all the difference?



But then he spotted the 'Hip Hop Bird Stop' and took it rather literally. He has barely moved since.



Ah well. He tried.

Big night for Ernest tonight. He is going on a blind date with Felicie hen (do have a look at her - what a stunner!) I'll let you know how they get on...

(And for anyone reading this who doesn't have a clue what I am on about, Ernest is a little soft toy rooster traveling around on his 'gap year' staying with various host families... He set off from his home at The Hen House about a month ago and Cottontails is is fourth port of call. If you would like him to come to you next, just leave a comment on this blog post - or any other Ernest blog post - saying that you'd like him to visit, and I will draw names out of a hat at the end of his stay with me.)

Ernest & Isobel bake a cake

Ernest has had a most enjoyable weekend, the highlight of which being a cake baking session with Mike's daughter, Isobel - she comes to stay every weekend and was very pleased to help entertain our feathered friend!

He helped assemble the ingredients (fortunately I caught him trying to eat the chocolate before too much had gone...)



There was some nibbling of cake mix however...



Slightly tense moment when Ernest looked like he was going to dive into the bowl of chocolate icing...


He sampled the first slice himself and seemed to quite enjoy it :-) He is now a fan of Jane Asher.



Other than the baking he had a very relaxed weekend, hanging out with Isobel and Humphrey, but I decided it was time to put him to work at Cottontails today and will share something of what happened when Ernest got himself into a bit of a pickle with the parcel tape in my next post...

(And for anyone reading this who doesn't have a clue what I am on about, Ernest is a little soft toy rooster traveling around on his 'gap year' staying with various host families... He set off from his home at The Hen House about a month ago and Cottontails is is fourth port of call. If you would like him to come to you next, just leave a comment on this blog post - or any other Ernest blog post - saying that you'd like him to visit, and I will draw names out of a hat at the end of his stay with me.)

Ernest and Humphrey - day one

At first Humphrey was a little shy and tried to hide behind Ernest...


But it wasn't long before they were the best of friends....



A few rounds of Moulin Roty's Memory Game together...


...and Humphrey even offered Ernest a nibble of his corn on the cob. Now THAT'S bunny friendship.


They're supposed to have settled down for the night now but I'm sure I can hear shenanigans upstairs.

Not sure yet what we'll be up to tomorrow. I'm off to the hairdressers in the morning and am tempted to take Ernest with me, but I've not been there before and there's the outside possibility that they might think I'm a bit mad if I turn up with a rooster...?

(And for anyone reading this who doesn't have a clue what I am on about, Ernest is a little soft toy rooster traveling around on his 'gap year' staying with various host families... He set off from his home at The Hen House about a month ago and Cottontails is is fourth port of call. If you would like him to come to you next, just leave a comment on this blog post - or any other Ernest blog post - saying that you'd like him to visit, and I will draw names out of a hat at the end of his stay with me.)

Guess who has arrived at Cottontails!

He came in a special delivery box....

...packed in a lovely cream traveling case....


...He peeped out his beak....


It's Ernest! He's here!


Well it didn't take him long to make himself at home and ask for a cup of tea (in MY chicken mug, I might add)



Meanwhile, in a bedroom not too far away, Humphrey and his little friend Sylvain have no idea who has just entered the building.




I'll let you know what happens when they meet in the morning....

(And for anyone reading this who doesn't have a clue what I am on about, Ernest is a little soft toy rooster traveling around on his 'gap year' staying with various host families... He set off from his home at The Hen House about a month ago and Cottontails is is fourth port. If you would like him to come to you next, just leave a comment on this blog post - or any other Ernest blog post - and I will draw names out of a hat at the end of his stay with me.)