A few of my favourite things . . .

In the spirit of the much loved Sound of Music song, My Favourite Things, I thought it would be fun today to show you a few of my favourite things.

Lovely little treasures that I have been collecting and that I love. They are none of them worth that much, but many of them have sentiments attached and they mean the world to me.




First there is my Salt and Pepper Collection. These are only a few of the ones I have collected through the years, but these are my absolute favourites of them all! The Garden Bunnies, I received in a Salt and Pepper Swap. I fell in love with the Flower Basket Bunnies one day when I saw them on E-Bay. Likewise the polka dot chickens. I saw these in a local charity shop one morning and knew that they had to be mine. Those pretty colourful chickens were a gift from a much loved friend and are a beautiful reminder of a special trip to Idaho last year. Likewise the Blue Tits are a reminder of another much loved friend, who gave them to me as a special reminder just recently. I can never look at these precious things without thinking of the special women that I call friends. The goose set is another set I found on E-Bay. Likewise the Apples. I am so terrible. I was participating in a Salt and Pepper Swap and instead of finding salt and pepper shakers to send to others . . . I kept finding ones that I wanted myself. I know! What am I like!!



I've only recently discovered a passion for little cream jugs. Oh, I've always loved cream and sugar sets, and I have a few of those, but this passion for little Cream jugs started with the Fab Flowers one that one of my dear friends gave me a few weeks back and then yesterday I found the little polka dot one and the berry one in a local charity shop and just had to have them! I just fell in love with them. Sadly the bluebird one . . . one half of them got broken a few months back when Todd knocked it off the shelf with the Vacuum Cleaner wand and then I noticed the little beak was chipped on the remaining piece after we arrived here. I still have it in my craft room to hold pins and things though . . . would dearly love to find a replacement, but I fear it is irreplaceable. The retro fifties set I bought at a yard sale a long time ago. I just fell in love with the retro feel of it!



My Passions don't just stop there though . . . I also have a passion for Fairies and I have collected quite a few now. They sit all along the window sill up in our bedroom at the present and a few are scattered in other various places in our home. Then there are the Teddy Bears. Oh I do love me some bear . . . stuffed and fluffy ones only though . . . the real things can stay far away from me please! I also enjoy a love affair with unsual lanterns. They can have wicks or hold candles, I love them just the same. I love my letter holders. They are a fun way of putting your important post aside until you can deal with it, and of course I have a HUGE collection of cookie cutters! I just added a couple of more this week, with a tea pot, a beehive and bee, a running gingerbread man and a cute little snail taking up residence with me this past week. (You got one free if you bought 4! What can I say?) I also love Catherine Kidston Lemon and Geranium soaps, which sadly have become very difficult to find these days, but I do love them so . . . why do things have to change and disappear? And as for my M and chicken wall plaque. I have been in love with the Letter M since I was a teen and fell in love with Mary Tyler Moore's apartment. She had a wooden M and when I saw this wooden M in a shop up in Cumbria a number of years back, I just had to have one of my own! The chickens, well . . . I love chickens too and have quite a collection of them which I'll show you another time!



I do have other fetishes like egg cups (aren't the ones above just darling) and, of course, cookery books. They are not diamonds and pearls, but they are just as precious to me, these little treasures of mine. Most have a special memory and a message attached . . . those types of things are things that just can't be replaced can they? Oh yes, I am a dreamer and I am very sentimental . . . and I wouldn't change a thing.



I hope you've enjoyed this little show and tell of mine today as much as I have enjoyed putting it together. At the end of the day things are only things though and not a one of them is worth as much as a good friend or loved one. Those are the real treasures in life!

Since I am showing you my favourite things I also thought it would be fun to show you what I have for breakfast most mornings! I like to think it's a very healthy breakfast, and it too is one of my favourites. After all Oats are very good for your heart and I am getting a double dose of them here, not to mention some fruit and dairy! It makes me feel very virtuous eating this and let me tell you . . . it keeps me full up and fueled right into the afternoon!!



*Breakfast Oats*
Serves one, but is easily multiplied
Printable Recipe

The breakfast of champions! Takes a sachet of instant oats from the ordinary into something special!

1 sachet of instant oats (I like the golden syrup variety)
1 sachet of milk
a small handful of dried cherries
a small handful of granola containing nuts and fruit
a couple of TBS of plain yoghurt



Take the oats and empty it into a bowl. Add the milk and cherries, and then heat in the microwave for two minutes. Remove from the microwave and stir. Stir in the granola and plain yoghurt. Take a spoon and eat and think to yourself . . . I'm eating healthy!



And allow me to share one final, once in a blue moon, favourite indulgence. Yes . . . it's Rocky Road, showing today, over on The English Kitchen.