It didn’t stay long

I’m sure I’m not the only one who was excited when the weather forecast was proved to be accurate and we had quite a covering of snow the weekend before last.

I think I would have been less keen if I’d needed to drive into QVC for work, but as it was, I was sitting at my writing desk in my loft room with the snow gradually gathering on the Velux windows – it’s surprising how much light it blocked out! There I was, typing away when there was a thud against the aforementioned window, which I initially thought was a bird crashing into it. Fortunately, I was wrong; it was my son, Dan throwing snowballs, which is pretty impressive considering I was two stories up! He and his girlfriend, Katie were outside building a snowman, which, as you can see from the photo, was also pretty impressive!

I posted a photo on my Instagram, @juliagroberts, if you’re interested in following my life in pictures on there, and most of the comments made reference to either the mask or the eyebrows!!! It was the eyebrows that made me laugh the most – I’m not sure I’ve seen a snowman with eyebrows before, but it really worked! We had a fair amount of snow, so ‘the kids’ were able to make him quite tall, definitely over five foot, but sadly, three days later, all that was left of him was a mound of snow and a trail of carrots!

Actually, mentioning Instagram, that is where I saw the recipe for this broccoli and stilton soup that my husband, Chris made. It’s on Katy Pullinger’s picture grid (there is a short video to follow) and I have to say it was absolutely delicious – much better than shop bought ones. Chris used frozen spinach rather than fresh and of course we stuck to veggie stock as we’re vegetarians. I love a warming bowl of soup in the winter and if you do too, I can highly recommend this one.

Of course, there are other ways to keep warm, particularly if you are a cat! I haven’t posted a photo of Wilfie lately, so thought you might enjoy this one of him lying on the radiator while Dan and Katie were outside in the snow.

Mind you, he’d had a busy morning watching all the birds who are still clamouring around the Grumpy Gardener fat balls!!!

They were the gardening Pick of the Month for January, but we are now in February and the new Pick of the Month is 718186, a collection of summer bedding plants from Plants2Gardens, which are on advanced order for delivery week commencing 10th May.

There are 48 plants in total, a dozen each of Begonia Sempervirens, Geranium Palladium, Impatiens Imara and Petunia Double Pirouette… all are in a mix of colours and will be ready to plant out directly into your garden or planters on receipt. By the way, with advanced orders, we don’t take any money until they are dispatched, but it’s just something ticked off your summer gardening list… and mine!!!

If you’re a keen gardener, you’ll be pleased to hear that the gardening shows are back with a vengeance this weekend on QVC. There is a gardening event on Saturday, through until 5pm with lots of fabulous themed hours and the Grumpy Gardener Multi-Headed Rake Broom Today’s Special Value, then more gardening at 9am on Sunday morning and a 3 hour gardening show with guest Mark Lane on Tuesday morning from 10am.

The Today’s Special Value on Sunday is from beauty brand Korres and if you want to know more about Liz Folce, she is the subject of this week’s QVC podcast hosted by Will Gowing.

Two more beauty Today’s Special Values to be looking out for are Tuesday’s 6 piece Turn Up the Volume Collection from Percy & Reed, which has gone on pre-sell today, (I so enjoyed my recent show with Paul Percival) and on Valentine’s Day, it is the Elemis 3 piece Pro-Collagen Powerhouse Collection, which goes on pre-sell on the 9th of February. Both of these will also be available on Auto Delivery if you’re a big fan of either brand.

I’m not actually back in at QVC before Valentine’s Day, so I’m wishing you a ‘lovely’ one in advance. Once again, I’m on annual leave and busily working on writing my next book following Publication Day for my latest book, My Mother’s Secret, last week. It was a busy day with cards, flowers and this fabulous cake that Chris had made by a local small company to celebrate the occasion. It tasted as good as it looked, and we made it last for four days between the four of us!

It made up for us not being able to raise a glass of fizz to toast the new arrival as we’ve all been doing ‘Dry January’. We did however chink glasses with a cheeky red on Monday evening when I got home from work. I hope you enjoyed the Facebook Live party I hosted on the evening of Publication Day if you joined in.

I’m pretty sure the winner of this little giveaway did, because she bought me some flowers as a thank you – Gillian is also an avid QVC viewer. And I think I know what you’re thinking… am I mad giving away a Yankee Candle large jar in Snow in Love? It’s okay, I stocked up with them when I thought the fragrance was being retired, as it’s my favourite ‘writing’ candle.

So, another book baby out in the world and another on the way later in the year – it’s a good job I like keeping busy! That said, I need to get back to my writing desk. Kathryn Goldsmith is holding the reins for Fashion on Friday today and next week it will be hosted by Katy Pullinger. I believe it is Kim & Co with Jenny Blackhurst… I wonder if we’ll have invested in some Huggable Hangers for her to use on air by then??? – it only makes sense if you saw the show on Monday where an open cardigan in a host of colours refused to stay on the hangers – sorry for laughing, Jenny, but it was very comical!

So, I’ll next see you on air on QVC on the 16th February. Until then, stay safe and warm.
Much love,
Julia xx