I'm bursting to tell the world. I'm getting married! :D
I was completely taken by surprise on the weekend. I was sat on the bow of the boat in the glorious sunshine when Mr TS asked simply, 'Do you love me?'
I replied, 'Very much.'
He followed by asking, 'Will you be my wife?'
I couldn't speak. My brain was screaming, 'Yes!' but my mouth just flapped about producing incomprehensible sounds. Mr TS just smiled and said, 'I thought that would be your response. So is that a yes?'
With my mouth still flapping all I could do was nod. It's not often I'm speechless but I really couldn't say anything, I was bursting! It's a wonder I didn't fall overboard!
It took quite a while to sink in and I'm still processing it now to be honest. I was glad that L'il Miss TS was away for the weekend as it gave us time to digest the news ourselves before announcing it.
Mr TS had the idea then of holding a bbq on the Monday afternoon after school. We managed to get all the family and some friends around under the pretence of having a bbq before the weather turned.
About an hour into the bbq Mr TS called everyone to the garden and asked L'il Miss TS to come over. He got down on one knee, presented her with a jewellery box with a pendant in it and asked her, 'Would you please do me the honour of being my step-daughter because I would like to marry your mummy?'
I'm not sure she knew what was going on and with everyone realising what he was asking there were lots of whispers. She got nervous and said, 'No.'
We all started laughing. Suddenly it all felt very real to me as I sat there watching my Dad with a big grin on his face.
The next morning L'il Miss TS had been thinking about everything and changed her answer to, 'Maybe'. By last night she was asking if she could pick her dress and telling us what colour she wanted. I asked L'il Miss TS if she would give me away and walk down the aisle holding my hand. She agreed so long as she didn't have to say anything. It was lovely to cuddle up on the sofa with my new family making plans. This will be a new beginning for all of us.
Cathy
from Ty Siriol Ceramics & Crafts
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TySiriolCeramics
www.facebook.com/TySiriolCeramicsandCrafts
Many of you probably don't know, but I have Coeliac's Disease meaning that I cannot eat foods containing gluten. Gluten is in wheat flour, barley (malt) and rye so you can imagine, or worse still know first hand, just how difficult this is to cater for.
I am still fairly new to this diagnosis but after 2 years I feel that I'm starting to get to grips with it at home and I am very grateful to my mother who taught me to cook as a child. That said, I do still find eating out a real challenge and I often make mistakes or there is contamination from the kitchens. So you can imagine the panic I was in at the thought of a family holiday, I mean I'd be away from my own kitchen ... for a week!
Recently we went to Devon for a week and as a compromise we stayed in self-catering. At least this way I could guarantee at least being able to eat one meal a day, right? So off we went.
We quickly discovered that there was no where on the site where I would be able to eat and I really didn't want to risk being ill for 3-4 days as a result of one meal. I started to feel really guilty about this as my partner and daughter were faced with either going without as well or eating while watching me with just a coffee. This disease really does impact the whole family.
After a couple of days Matt, my better half, found the Coeliac UK website. On their site they have a section where fellow Coeliacs can recommend places to eat out. Check it out if you know someone who has Coeliacs or gluten intolerance.
coeliac.org.uk/
We found a place near where we were staying called The Smuggler's Inn. We had in fact driven past it and I had commented what a beautiful view over the sea they had from their dining room. I was delighted that we would be able to eat out as a family as it had become a less frequent event in recent years so off we went. Here's their website complete with a menu of top quality foods.
http://www.thesmugglersinn.net/
Well, I cannot praise The Smuggler's Inn enough. As well as having knock out views they were extremely helpful when I said I had Coealiacs. The chef came out and chatted with me about the menu and took me through what would be safe and what wasn't. (I also have other food allergies that they were more than happy to advise about.) I was amazed that about two thirds of the menu was available to me! That has never happened before. Usually I am left with one or maybe two options if anything at all. I was blown away and had some difficulty making a decision what to have. I had options!!
I chose the gluten free carvery as I have really missed carverys. I always get so annoyed because it is so easy to adapt a roast dinner to gluten free by replacing the wheat flour in the gravy and Yorkshire puddings with an alternative. I would even go without the Yorkshires if I had to! Well, it was delicious. I really couldn't have had better (and the prices were very reasonable as well).
I had a chat with another member of staff and they told me that one of the owners has Coeliac's so they were all taught about it. They made one simple change to their kitchen. Everything they made used the Dove's Farm flour blend (that I also use) instead of wheat. I asked about the cost to them and even though the flour is a bit more expensive they had a lot more regular customers as a result who not only ate there themselves but who brought with them friends and family. No wonder the place was packed. It just goes to show that one simple change can open up a whole new market. Even better, because they didn't have wheat flour, there was no contamination and nearly all the menu was now available to me.
So for those of you who find yourself in Dawlish, Devon, go and check out The Smuggler's Inn. Great (allergy friendly) food, beautiful decor, fantastic service, amazing views and finally a treasure chest of goodies for the children who eat all their dinner. ;-)
I'll leave you with a photo I took of the view from the dining room.
Cathy
from Ty Siriol Ceramics & Crafts
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TySiriolCeramics
www.facebook.com/TySiriolCeramicsandCrafts
At first it sounds wonderful to work from home, and yes, there are many advantages. For instance, I'm here when my daughter comes home from school and available to get her if she's ill without getting into trouble with the boss. :) I like that one. ;)
That said, I am finding that there are more cons than pros to working from home. It is very difficult to turn on and off the 'work mode' that you need to be in. I particularly find it hard to turn off in the evenings and am constantly drawn back to the laptop to answer a few emails etc. It also works the other as well, during the the daytime I'm also juggling the housework. I'll go to the kitchen to make a cuppa (as afterall everyone is entitled to coffee breaks during the day) and while I'm there waiting for the kettle to boil I'll sort the breakfast dishes or think it's a good idea to quickly mop the floors. Once I've finished I then need to boil the kettle again!!
I also do a lot of my work on my dining table as that's the only place where I can easily clean up my craft mess. (Hard table and hardwood floors, so wipe-able.) My dining room is also where all the laundry gets sorted not to mention meal times. In this house I'm strict about eating as a family at the table. So really the dining room is any everything room in this house. I spend more time clearing my dining room between different activities than anything else. More of that in another blog I think, if I remember.
Back to my main reason for starting this post, my partner Mr Ty Siriol. Well, last week he went and severed his finger. Ouch! He's ok and thankfully after reattaching it it looks like they've saved it. Of course, this means that he will be off work for some time and that he needs a fair bit of help doing the most basic of things. Firstly, I certainly don't begrudge him. Afterall, it was an accident. Who in there right mind would deliberately cut off their finger? It is very lucky that I do work from home so that I am able to take time off work to go to the hospital with him and take him back and forth for appointments. Again, I have a very compassionate boss! Also, now that he's home from hospital I am around most of the time to help him. He can't open his tablets one handed for example and I would never allow someone to be stuck in a position where they are in lots of pain and can't get their painkillers out of those ridiculous blister packs. Then there are the more mundane things like cooking meals and helping him bathe etc. Yes, it's boring but for now he does need some help. Try cooking a meal with your arm in a sling and see how dependent you are on having 2 hands. It's amazing. So all these reasons mean that it's a good thing I'm home in the day.
On to the downside. If I don't make sales I don't get paid. That means that I have to have stock and be able to work on custom pieces. I also need to keep in touch with my wonderful customers and do my networking and marketing. There is a lot more to working for yourself than might appear. I'm a one-woman-band business and there's no one to step in to help. I'm craftsperson, photographer, photo-editor, web manager, marketing manager, customer liaison, accountant, dispatch not to mention cleaner and post run. (My skills set is widening though.) So with all these positions to fill things have slowed down somewhat. New stock has stopped being made at the moment so I can focus on the rest and it will probably stay this way for several weeks. I am considering showing Mr TS the web side of things though so he can make himself useful. It'll be slow but he can type one handed. When I mentioned it he didn't seem phased so that's a good sign. In fact he's always been very supportive so I'm not surprised.
So for now things are going to be a bit unsettled and I accept that. I'm thankful that it's a quieter time of year though. My number one job will always be mother and partner but that wouldn't be any different even if I went out to work for someone else. I love my family and they will always come first.
I've finally taken the plunge and am diving deep into the world of blogs. It seems that to be cool and hip these days I've got to keep up with technology and have a blog.
As far as my relationship with tech goes I think I might be in danger of turning into a dinosaur. Would you believe that once upon a time I would embrace tech and was always the first in work to dive in a give it a test run. Nowadays I am somewhat more reluctant but am finding that I have to keep up or be left behind, and I'm not ready to give up just yet.
So a bit about me. This is the bit I hate. I feel all exposed!
I'm Cathy and the owner of Ty Siriol Ceramics & Crafts. Ty Siriol is Welsh for Cheerful House and incidentally is the name of my parents farm. I hand make ceramics and crocheted crafts and then sell them in various places, such as Etsy and Folksy. I'll try to remember to put a list at the bottom.
I've been making crafts, painting etc since I was a child and have gone through many phases throughout my life where they have come and gone. Somehow though I always found myself drawn back to my crafts when time allowed, usually during an illness when I wasn't allowed to do my day job. Well, 4 years ago I was medically retired and there was a huge void in my life that I was desperate to fill. So naturally I turned back to crafts. I started out making things for me... and then family... then friends... and then, oh wait, there was no one left! My house was filling up more each month and the costs of materials was becoming an issue, not to mention that my yarn stash needed its own postcode!! I needed to either find somewhere for all these lovelies that I was so fond of or stop making any more. This is how Ty Siriol Ceramics & Crafts came about.
A friend of mine told me about Etsy and said I should give it a go.Well, I had a look and felt intimidated. My parents were on hand though and gave me a kick up the behind. It became a family venture and we opened our first shop on Etsy. It was steep learning curve and the hardest thing was learning to value my work. I was now stepping outside the realm of hobbyist and was putting a price on my pieces. This is still something I find hard today. From here is has slowly grown. I now have a Folksy and Misi shop too, and of course, my facebook page has been highly successful. It is a steep learning curve but I know feel that I have something to focus on again and that makes me happy. It is also lovely to hear the really positive comments I get from my customers and that really makes my day. So for now, I have every intention of carrying on and to keep learning as much as I can and to carry on meeting you wonderful people.
Finally, I should post a few links so you can find me. :-)
Cathy xx
www.etsy.com/shop/TySiriolCeramics
http://folksy.com/shops/TySiriol
http://www.misi.co.uk/shop_info.php?domain=tysiriol
www.facebook.com/TySiriolCeramicsandCrafts
