I made it. Now I'll lie in it.

B is for...

Bed.

Our ginormous, new six foot bed is simply gorgeous.  It would be better if the kitties didn't come in and wake me up by jumping on it from 5.30 am (no door locks and latches yet - long story) and it's lucky that I know how to make a bed properly - after a summer long ago working here - because it's a slightly odd size and so I had to get sheets that are quite a bit wider than the mattress.  But gloriously comfortable.  My mother gave me two vintage hand-embroidered pillowcases which now are occupying pride of place in the boudoir, and which my DH was daft enough to deride when he first came home.

           

I admit it... I pulled the 'My mother gave us those' line.  It worked a treat.  He looked suitably abashed and the pillowcases are staying.

B is also for great blogs.  Maybe some of these are well known and maybe some are hidden gems. Either way...

Ticky Tacky  Check out her Flickr stuff, inspiring. 

I'm a longtime reader of Petulant Feminine.  And I admire any woman who makes an apron from purple satin.

This lady is indeed a Creative Little Daisy.

More than a yarnstorm in a teacup.

And this girlie is probably right when she says 'My house is cuter than yours'.

And finally, B is for Big Bro's Birthday.  He's 34 today.  Happy Birthday, Slap.  He's a luddite so won't ever read this - but he's also very cool.  Bizarrely, he shares his birthday with Martha Stewart - I can safely say that's all they have in common apart from my ardent admiration of both.  And on this day in 1963 Allan Sherman released 'Hello Muddah Hello Faddah', snippets of which my mother still sings to me on occasion (as well as frequently quoting the 'Don worry, Matha is heya' bit from another song of the era - wish I knew the title - or indeed could find it on iTunes.  It's about a mother who I think answers the phone to a distraught daughter who's enduring all sorts of disasters, and repeatedly drawls - 'don't worry, Mother is here' until it's revealed that it's a wrong number... there's a pause and a little voice says 'Does that mean you're not coming?'  That makes me laugh over the phone - unfortunately Mother isn't heya, she's a sea away - boooo.) 

Both those ditties remind me of happy times listening to the radio on Saturday mornings, to the kids club stuff on RTE.  It's a long way from the Cartoon Network, let me tell you.  The other musical gems were the Danny Kaye one about the Ugly Duckling and the Mouse on the Stairs...