Whee! home at last, I have been at a Christmas Fair today and we left home early with all my paraphanalia, two dogs and a big shopping list. When we left it was -6.5 and didn't warm up much all day and I know because I was in a tent! I had to go into Inverness afterwards and I have to say that there didn't seem too be many credit crunch problems, the shops were heaving. It has just reinforced for me why I prefer to shop on the internet from the comfort of home.

Good news anyway on ethical consumer spending which is set to survive the economic downturn so says The Co-op Bank’s ninth annual Ethical Consumerism Report which shows that, despite the first tremors of the downturn being felt towards the end of last year, the overall ethical market in the UK was worth £35.5 billion in 2007, up 15 per cent from £31 billion in the previous 12 months.

The bank cites the impact of green legislation and choice editing as key factors that ...

It's been one of those perfect winters days today with blue skies and a crisp frost with a smattering of snow. I had to go and get some new tyres for the car and took the dogs with me to go for a walk while they were fitted. We went to Loch Migdale and I wish i had taken my camera the loch looked like a scene from a visit beautiful Scotland advertisement. I have spent the rest of the day packing everything for another craft show tomorrow. No peace for the wicked!

Peter is kindly coming with me and loading and unloading the car which I am not able to do with my frozen shoulder. I have also just sent off an order for some new basics for babies so am looking forward to getting them into the shop.

One a rather more serious note I found a very interesting piece in the Guardian about the whys and wherefores of animal testing here is the link.Using ani ...

My blog has become a little less regular since I started working part time as a smoking cessation advisor but I am still out there looking for interesting news to bring you. I received my regular newsletter from Greenfinder today who you can find at www,greenfinder .co.uk today and there were some interesting tips re Christmas.

I have noticed that Christmas lights are starting to appear festooned all over houses already but personally I don't think its a very eco friendly thing to do. Kate at Greenfinder  has this to say - Christmas can be a hectic and manic time so what better way to unwind at the weekend than to go for a winter's walk in the countryside or your local park. Forage for pine cones, holly, leaves and berries and either lay them in the middle of your table or on the top of your fireplace to create a natural and biodegradable centre piece. What a lovely idea and very much in keeping with the countr ...

I have had a tradgedy today, the feathered houdini's are no more! When I went down to let them out this morning something had chewed through a wired ventilation space and got in and killed all of them. I couldn't believe it when I opened the door and found all their poor little bodies piled up, no attempt had been made to eat any of them just wantonly killed. We think it was a pine marten I shall never think of them as pretty little creatures again. I have decided to wait until the Spring before I buy any more chickens, the empty hen house looks very forlorn down there somehow. It doesn't seem like only a few days ago that they were charging around in the snow.

On a happier note Christmas is just around the corner now and I expect you have been racking your brains about what to buy everybody so I thought I would make a few suggestions.-

For Mum what about some fabulous Cebra

After all the beautiful snow of a couple of days ago we are now having a very soggy time of it after a bright morning when thankfully I took the dogs out its now pouring.

I have been in the shop this morning and reduced a number of things in time for Christmas so if it's Christmas presents you want look no further!

This charming tunic top is now priced at £8.50 and the lovely frilled bootleg trousers that go with it are also reduced.

For the boys I have reduced the

Its snowing big white flakes not so much drifting down as being blown in all directions.The feathered houdini's had not seen snow as deep before and were very unsure about venturing outside the dogs however love it. I took some pictures this morning while I was sorting the chickens out.

Minnie being a typical terrier wants to see whats underneath but Shula just wants to play.

As you ...

Another day in the saltmines of smoking cessation! It is great though seriously to see people giving up the dread weed. I was looking for a subject to discuss tonight and came across an informative blog about cutting down on paper useage. This seemed quite appropriate given that the season of gift wrapping is just around the corner!

One tip I saw the other day about gift wrapping for babies and small children was to use something useful to actually wrap the present perhaps an organic cotton towel or cot sheet, I'm sure you get the idea and there are lots of other useable things.

Anyway how about cancelling the daily paper? most of the news is available online and on the television so that could save an enormous amount. I'm not too sure about this one for one thing I think persuading my husband to forgo his paper would be difficult and for another we use the old papers for fire lighting and I was thinking about buying a gadget to make bricks of paper to burn on ...

I'm here at last! Yesterday was a bit hectic I had to go to Thurso in Caithness which is a lenghty but scenic drive it took me two hours and in that time I didn't encounter a single car going the same way. The most hazardous objects around where dozy sheep that have acres of hills to roam but prefer to be in the road. On the way home a car burst into flames ahead of me and the road was closed so there was a very long wait for the fire engine to attend to it and put out the flames. But such is life in the wilderness!

I have been at home today but don't seem to have quite got to grips with all the jobs I had to do. One thing I have done is put some new ring rattles and a sneeky rattle into the gift s ...

What a wet and dreich day it is here! It was crisp and frosty first thing but degenerated fairly quickly. I have just ordered some more ratles and comforters from the KeptinJr range as they seem to be very popular for Christmas presents. Here is a new Sneeky rattle he is rather cute I think!Sneeky is made in Organic cotton and filled with wool.

I have an offer on for Green Baby pyjama's at the moment and they are proving very popular so if you would like to buy some don't delay because sizes are running out fast.

Anyway after my bit of advertising what is happening at Sones on a more sombre note. People who do not value human rights ...

What it is to be a responsible dog owner! I took the dogs out this morning and as we were getting out of the car it pelted with rain and blew a gale I was soaked before we even set off. Needless to say they both enjoyed it. We walked for about two hours and had intermittent sunshine and blue sky and heavy showers and rainbows, very typical Highland weather.

My Son and family finally arrived in Devon 26 hours after they set off and are all exhausted! I'm missing them already and have to get used to them not being close at hand. It has been a very stressful week for me so when I got home yesterday and  my husband had bought a huge bouquet of flowers and arranged to take me out tonight I thought he was trying to cheer me up. But no it was our wedding anniversary and I had completely forgotten. He went off to work this morning and there was a card for me on the table and that was my first inkling. Oh dear, the worst of it is that had the boot been on the other foot I would ha ...