Mrs W is 40.. and is going to become officially MRS W..

So it was my birthday weekend and to say I had fun was an understatement, the run up wasn't too bad either, the previous weekend we had a day with Mr W's Big son and his lovely partner and I have been treated to a day working as a gardener at the EDEN PROJECT!!! WOW.. well if I can't learn how to garden from these guys I have no hope so that was a fabulous way to kick of my B'day.. made even more betterer by the fact that on our day trip I also consumed a few cocktails :-)
So I need to bash on and book that in the new year.. I am excited apparently I get to play in the tropical garden, the Mediterranean garden and potentially go up in the balloon to do some pruning.. amazing.

The spoiling of Mrs W then continued when my amazing family descended on Waen on Friday.. on coming into the house I found this amazing bouquet from the WI group.. what amazing ladies they are

My treat on Saturday was that we went basket weaving... myself, Mr W, my sister, mam, dad and niece all left with a basket and meanwhile my nephew was a one man Christmas decoration factory and so we were all treated to home made wicker Christmas trees to hang up too  :-)

MR and Mrs Waen's baskets are here; I HATE to admit that mine is the more ropey looking one on the right.. but its a complicated process so I am not too worried.. was funny to see my family all weaving and looking like we belonged to some sort of institution  :-)

On the evening we all chilled out (more about evening events in a mo) and admired our handy work whilst drinking copious amounts of pink champagne and then on Sunday off we trotted to a lovely national trust house who were having a Christmas market.. carol singers, reindeer and mulled wine.. YUM!

When we got back I was then treated to the best best food ever.. when I was a tiny person my favourite tea was what we called in our house the wedding tea.. its basically a buffet but NO-ONE can do this like my Mam and on this occasion with help from my lovely sister  :-) and here it is.. please bear in mind there were 7 of us not 77  :-)

As another surprise my sister had a replica of the birthday cakes that we had when we were small made.. how fabulous.. memories memories .. we each had the same one each year (why can't my niece and nephew do this?) and they were the BEST cakes!

So if that wasn't enough fun, nostalgia and bonding time I was then taken into our lounge to find a suitcase of 40 presents waiting for me.. one for each year.. and these weren't even my big pressies these were things that the family and Mr W had brought, found, produced from the archives of time, made etc. that reminded them of me.. queue the hysterical tears, laughter and joy .. and so in no particular order this is how it went; 

My Mam and Dad.. 

This was the major tear jerker and I am beyond astonishment at the things they have kept .. so I got; 

• a framed Michael Jackson glove with 4 of his singles (I was a big fan when small)
• A photo of me and my sister with my grandma.. queue the tears. 
• A ribbon that i used to wear in my hair when tiny... now this was not just any ribbon this was THE ribbon that I had in my hair on the photo of my sister with my Grandma.. now lease how do you do that?
• A copy of MY Playhour comic from December 1977 including a page that i had attempted to colour in (I was not good at the sticking between the lines bit)
• A painting set.. this was a dig at the time when, I was about 7 and  I spilt nail varnish on my duvet cover.. removed it with bleach .. realised that I had taken the pattern off.. (rats) and so then re-painted the pattern using my paint by numbers set.. would have worked too if I had remembered that people wash bedding. 
• A picture of Redcar with tickets and a giant Yellow top ice cream in the middle (we did like a lemon top) 
• The mister man book Mr messy with Mr crossed out and Miss written in.. I can't imagine what they mean. 
• A bag of S.R flour (I went to catering college) 
• Knitting needles (obvious) 
• and my old strawberry shortcake, blueberry muffin and cookie dough dollies from when I was small.. I saved up my pennies to buy them
  how cool was that .. but it didn't stop there.. 

My Sister; 

So from my sister I got; 

• A Christmas Bird wreath .. I feed the birds  :-)
• a book called Nip and Tuck.. perhaps time to consider in earnest 
• A book called Sister .. (aww)
• a TOPSY AND TIM book.. I LOVED these when small
• Purple rain on DVD  -  another childhood hero was Prince
• The smiths  -  heaven knows I am miserable now.. I was a gothic child and my sister a happy one.. sharing a room with me cannot have been cool
• Purple rain -  the single.. Joy of Joys bring on the dancette 
• A jelly straining bag.. Sis watched me farting around straining crab apples of some such a thing through my rubbish bag in the summer.. this was in the BIZ. 
• Onion glasses.. you pop them on when chopping onions (i chop a lot) to stop you crying.. hahahahahahahaha
• A candle house.. I love candles
  
  amazing.. spoilt and ruined but NO it didn't stop there.. 

My Niece; 

I was treated to; 

• a mug which says Keep Digging.. No explanation required 
• a book called The Pig.. they wanted to get me the pig of my dreams but Mr W he say no!
• Egg Cups  - for my girls eggs
• a purse with my name on SPELT CORRECTLY!! both niece and I can never find such things 
• A hand painted stone saying 'Waen'.

My Nephew; 

and from this little chap I got; 

• a Cat Chrtmas decoration   - I like cats and Christmas 
• a shoe Christmas decoration   -  i like shoes and Christmas 
• a pig mug - still no living pig (mean Mr W)
• a beetle car (small version) .. My fave. 
• a book on fruit gardening  -  I need this .. my yields were weak this year. 

Mr W 

So from the man himself I got; 

• a sheep dog mug (for my sheepdogs) 
• a camper van apron  -  I am a messy cook and like camper vans
• Plant sticks  -  to name the veg 
• button earrings.. nice
• Bingo -  I love a family game 
• White chocolates  -  my fave 
• welsh chocolate (an attempt to convert me) 
• Buttons made of slate -  I love to sew
• a case for needles (sewing ones that is) 

BUT if you think it stopped there think again.. Given the fact I LOVE to craft I was then treated to a craft from each of my family.. there is some serious crafting genius here.. 

Mr W made me a new sign for the house  -  ours got wrecked by the brush cutter man. 

My Mam knitted this and then felted it with a big flower

My nephew made a picture of me and a brooch out of Crisp packets 

check out my quaver face 

My niece made Christmas decorations out of stale bread! who knew?? 

My dad made me a model worm bus.. the story is that when I was small and went to his allotment I used to gather the worms up and put them on the potting table (bus) and drive them around.. I think I used to throw some off at each stop.. so here I am the ginger at the front of my bus of worms.. this is better than the real one 'cause my bus didn't have seats 

And my NON crafting sister (she saves lives for a living instead) made me a Christmas scene from something known as pop and slot! hahahahaha.. not a crafter but a good fake it xxxxxx

Well you would think this is enough for any woman eh? NO it wasn't .. I also received an amazing Pandora bracelet from Mam and dad.. A day with Mr W to learn how to keep pigs from my sister.. I reckon if they keep going with the hints it may pan out.. and also i got beautiful espresso cups with birds on and Mr W got me a trip for My Mam and I to go to New York.. with spending beans AND new suitcases!!

BUT There is still more... I recall somewhere at the start of this post that I said we had a chilled out Saturday night.. well it wasn't without excitement.. I am now an ENGAGED 40 year old woman.. with a beautiful Celtic, Diamond and Emerald ring .. standby for wedding stress .. 

I was also ruined by my lovely friends, work chums, people in the village, and Mr W's amazing family.. all in all.. I reckon 40 isn't too bad  :-) I am a spoilt and happy lady and am loving all concerned  :-)