Victoria Sandwich

Happy Mother's Day

2010-03-14T23:48:00.000Z

Hope everyone has had a lovely day? It's been very low key here as both me and the ToddlerBoy have been struck down with a horrible cold. He kept us up most of last night, poor thing was running a temperature. I've been struggling to stay awake and have ended up sneaking off back to bed a couple of times. I was hoping that there would be an end to all the illness this winter.

I wasn't expecting anything for Mother's Day as, let's face it, my husband is a bit pants where presents are concerned and the kids don't have their own source of income beyond claiming coins from down the back of the sofa. However he did take the kids out to choose something. I ended up having it on Saturday, Girl just couldn't wait. I had a couple of these plants in funky felt holders. They will last longer than flowers and I have taken the felt thingies off to use as storage for something.

I knew Boy had made me something in his after school craft club because he kept telling me. Another one who can't hold a secret!

He did well to choose my favourite colours. I can see where the teacher started him off and he has carried on. It's very true when people say it's the thought that counts.

Things aren't always lemonade and cream buns around here but I am very lucky to have all three of them.

TTFN

Homemade photo lightbox fun

2010-02-22T00:55:00.001Z

I made it my task this weekend to try and get my yarn stash sorted out. I have bits and pieces all over the house, squirreled away under beds, in cupboards, in bags and in drawers. When I joined Ravelry I made a half-hearted attempt to get it all listed on my stash page. I didn't realise then how useful it is to have a reminder of what I actually own on the screen in front of me. Especially when I'm browsing yarn shops!

So where to put it all was the first problem. I have some under-bed storage boxes but they really don't hold much at all. For cheapness I found these Frakta zipped trunk bags in Ikea for a bargainous £1.99. I took Boy for a late evening trip and he talked me into buying chips and cake even though we'd already eaten dinner. Not that I needed much persuasion.

Not surprisingly my yarn stash doesn't fit in just one. I bought 3 to be on the safe side but I think 2 will do it. As for taking pics of it all I knew it would be a huge job but I find the 'no featured photo' stash page blankness depressing and couldn't just leave it. My photography skills aren't up to much but I do try. I've always fancied a DSLR but at the moment just have a basic point and shoot with a long zoom. Zooming is good for people with messy houses! Also my house is always so dark it an be hard to get any sort of focus on small objects. I just tended to zoom in as far as possible from a distance and then crop out any background. I've always admired the photo's on Eskimimi's blog and project page, they are so clean and simple and the colours are so vibrant. Mine will never be in that league but I thought I'd have a go at making a lightbox to try and show things off a bit better.

I found this web page that shows how to make one for practically no cost. I couldn't wait to get started and had the house to myself for once so no interruptions. I have numerous cardboard boxes lying around the place so it wasn't hard to sacrifice one and used some Lidl greaseproof paper which is handily white and not brown like they usually are to stick to the sides and top of the box. A few bits of sticky tape and a piece of white card and I was done. Really quick and easy, took me around 10 minutes to make and just using things I already had. I have a couple of marble lamps I bought for £1 still waiting for me to supply them with shades that I used to light the outside of the box. The lamps were a bit too tall so I had to place the lightbox on a huge packet of Cheerios to get it to the right height.

So now my pics have gone from this

to this

And this

to this

Not bad for something free! My kids came home and of course wondered what on earth I was doing, it must have looked like some sort of yarn shrine. They are already used to seeing me taking pictures of inanimate objects. Girl decided it was a stage and put her toys in to play. Not quite sure what sort of story involves a winged purple pony and a dinosaur skeleton.

Plus they saw ALL my stash and think they are storing it up for next time I tell they they have too many toys.......
(I do have some under the heading of 'What was I thinking?' that I will be donating to the school!)

Hope everyone in blogland is well. I have been trying to comment more on other peoples but sometimes keeping up with my Google Reader is a job in itself.

TTYL

Cheese and crackers

2010-01-19T13:44:00.000Z

Thank you for your kind comments, I'm feeling a bit better, though still sleeping a lot which often means I'm in bed before the children are. My friend Sharon took the above picture in my honour for her Flickr 365 project. Made me smile!

The Dr's appointment went well. He didn't try to talk me into anything and is happy for me to be medication free for now. ToddlerBoy is still being fed by me and I'd prefer not to take anything for the moment.

I will be back to post something (hopefully) more interesting once I stop sleeping like a 3 year old.

TTYL

Breaking the silence

2010-01-15T03:12:00.001Z

The longer you leave something the harder it is to do.

I think that can apply to most things in life, and most certainly to blogging. I have written numerous posts before now only to delete them. Too dull, too late, too personal, too whiny. Before I know it the months have slipped by and nothing at all to say. Until now.

I am depressed. Not right in the head. The cheese has fallen off my cracker.

There, I have said it. Phew. Can I come back now?

It's not all been doom and gloom, but mostly, so I haven't been very inspired to come and post. This year has got of to a bit of a bumpy start and most of November and December was riddled with colds and flu and of course my rapidly waning sanity but less said about that the better.

Some nice things that have happened, we took Boy to his first concert to see the big man. No, not Santa - Marilyn Manson. Yeah I know he's rude and all that but Boy is very sensible and to his credit he never swears. He danced all the way through it almost whacking the head of the man in front a couple of times!

I went to see Girl in her nativity play. She was a sheep and her costume involved wrestling a fleece pet bed bought from the bargain shop through the sewing machine, something I don't wish to repeat again in a hurry! Boy went to see her rehearsal and said she had been told off for excessive 'baa-ing' which is just like her, she does like to get into character. On the day she was just prodding the child next to her and saying loudly 'Look, there's my MOM!'

And BoyBaby, well he's a year old now and had turned into......... ToddlerBoy! He took his first steps just after Christmas. He's not in any hurry to use his new skills as crawling still remains the quickest method of getting about.

I had some nice Christmas presents. Man bought me some Knitpro Interchangeable needles (Nova and Symfonie) and some metal sock dpn's. I bought some bargain sock yarn from Kemps Wool Shop and hopefully will learn how to make socks sometime this year. Kemps is a great yarn shop, they have some fab deals on. They had 500g of mystery Rowan for £5 before Christmas. I got some great stuff to boost my Ravelry stash and a couple of bit's I'm not sure about. I can't knit or crochet at the moment unfortunately, pushing the pushchair in the snow has done my wrists in. My car is broken at the moment after getting stuck in the snow so we're having to walk. Sometimes Good Samaritans can be bad for you! I'm hoping that the feeling in my arms will come back soon and this snow will give up and melt.

The house is still falling to bits around us, definitely on the shabby more than chic side. Something else to add to the list for this year. I'd better sign off now and see if I can get some sleep, I have a Dr's appointment tomorrow, see if they can help me out with the cheese/cracker thing.

TTYL

A mixed bag

2009-07-11T23:31:00.006+01:00

It's been raining, raining, raining today so no chance of going to a car boot. I didn't mind too much and decided to take the opportunity to dash to a few shops instead. End of term is looming and I want to get the kids teachers something nice and non-teachery. I took Boy with me, I don't often get to spend any time with him by himself lately but now BabyBoy is older he can be left with Man for a short while. Boy had transferred his Headteacher's Award sticker that he earned on Friday (for writing a good story) from his uniform to his t-shirt today and was very unsubtly indicating that he had done well for himself and quite fancied a reward! I'm a complete pushover where the kids are concerned (don't tell them that though) and we stopped off for hot chocolate (him), latte (me) and cake even though we had just bought these lovelies from the Farmers Market.Aren't they beautiful? I couldn't resist! They are made by Sweet Annalise and they tasted absolutely fantastic. I got a vanilla buttercream one for Girl, chocolate with Cointreau for me and Boy and Man had white chocolate and strawberry. Once it came to serving them up Girl was quite adamant that she wanted a chocolate one so I had to haggle with her about sharing mine and I share hers. I know there was only a teeny amount of alcohol in the icing but she went totally loopy and was on about being able to 'smell ponies'. Oops.

Despite me thinking there were no longer any toyshops in Stafford I found the Co-op Department Store had a toy section upstairs where he managed to wheedle a Lego set out of me and I got Girl a couple of dinosaurs to add to her precious collection. All of them are called 'Triceratop-tops' and 'T-rex' whether they are one or not. She was even trying to get me to breastfeed her T-Rex the other day in the bath. Er, definitely not with those teeth!

Speaking of teeth BoyBaby has gained his first two this week, he's been a slight bit grumpy but otherwise has managed really well. He has also managed to sit up unaided a couple of times and looks a very grown up boy at the moment. Because of this his time in his crib is on a tight limit if we want to avoid any more baby-meets-floor type situations. To get his big cot set up it means taking down our stupid and ugly fitted wardrobes which are crammed full of stuff, most of which I had forgotten I had. Man's idea of getting the job done was to empty all the things onto our bed then proceed to take the wardrobe apart. In the true style of the DIY bodgers who lived here before us it was held together with almost nothing and some of it fell on Man's head. We then ran out of time, the kids needed to go to bed, and all the things have now been dumped back where the wardrobe was but without the luxury of being able to shut the doors on it. I have mentioned before my tendency towards clutter and any mass amount of moving the clutter about stresses me out like nobody's business. I just don't know what to do with it all, I really don't.Lastly, a pic I took of my little cat. This week she has been bringing in poor half dead creatures for us and I really wish she wouldn't! One bird even had to be taken to the vet as I didn't know what else to do. It was in a bad way but I'm not brave enough to end their suffering myself. She is such a lovely cat though. As much as I pretend she is mine she really likes Girl the most. She has the loudest miaow ever and even though she is tiny compared to the other cats in the street they are terrified of her! She came in soaking wet this evening. It's like she forgets to go and find somewhere to shelter if there is something more interesting to look at. I think i will have to reserve her a towel, she loved being wrapped up and dried. Oh and she also has lost the fancy collar I got for her.

TTYL

Week of Happy - Thursday......

2009-07-05T16:54:00.008+01:00

.........Friday, Saturday and erm, Sunday! Well the daily post thing didn't go too well did it?! Blimey it's been hot, I haven't felt like doing anything except lying about complaining about the heat, having lots of showers and changing my clothes every 5 minutes. I'm not one of those people who can waft around, glowing delicately in the sun. BoyBaby doesn't fare well in it either, poor thing.

There have still been things to make me happy though. The kids have had their school reports and I'm so proud of them. Boy is doing ok, just a little slack on the presentation side of things and Girl has come on leaps and bounds. It was lovely to read that they have enjoyed having her in nursery just as much as she has loved going. It won't be too long till she is in school all day, she hardly seems big enough! She certainly has the energy though.
The weather finally calmed down a bit today and we headed out to a car boot, a different one to usual as it seems to be the same sellers every week at the regular place and I fancied a change. Oh how I wish we hadn't bothered, it was scary to be honest. The place just seemed to have a very funny atmosphere and the things were very poor quality and overpriced. I did find one stall where everything seemed to be 5p and I picked up a crochet granny square tea cosy. Can't argue for that price and especially after someones hard work has gone into it. I also got a couple of pieces of material, £1 each. We called it a day and went back to our usual place even though it had gone 10am. It was still nice and busy and I found a few more things to buy. I got a wooden box (no pic yet) that needs a little work, for £2 . I've put the shoes in it for now as I'm tired of falling over them. I got the tin in the picture for 50p too.
I also got this fab bedside table to go on Man's side of the bed. The stallholder was asking £10 but i managed to get him down to £5. I also bought some spray paint to go over the gold bits, I'm not overly keen on them. I got on with getting it painted this afternoon but should have bought a second can of paint, they are very small and it wasn't quite enough to get it done. The paint seller will be there next week so I can stock up then, I just hope they have the same colour. I got a pair of marble lamp bases for £1 that just need shades.

I also added a couple more bevelled mirrors to my collection. Man doesn't even comment on them now! He knows it's pointless. I have given up asking about the endless computers he brings home. All in all a successful day!
And this is my freebie vintage wastepaper basket from the other week. It was grubby but I have given it a very good clean and i just totally love it.

Week of Happy - Wednesday

2009-07-02T10:48:00.004+01:00

I didn't get the chance to update yesterday, I was busy baking for the second meeting of our new knitting group. We have gone from four of us last time to a fab ELEVEN this week. Great stuff. We have a blog - Cannock Crafties which I have made nice and colourful!

My yarn arrived in time, fab service from McA Direct especially with the postage being free with orders over £10. I'll definitely use them again.

Far, far too hot yesterday so I'm having a lazy day today and I'm not going to feel guilty about it!

Week of Happy - Tuesday

2009-06-30T21:19:00.005+01:00

Today I have bought yarn! I saw this pattern a couple of weeks ago in the new kids online knit mag Petite Purls and knew I just had to make BoyBaby a Pembroke. I was slightly disappointed to say the least when the yarn I wanted (the Dream in Color Classy used in the pattern) sold out and I couldn't find any more anywhere and it took me ages to find something else I'd be happy with. I decided on some Rowan Pure Wool Aran in the colour in the pic, which I ordered today from McADirect. It has been dispatched already so with a little bit of luck and postman dust it will be here in time for knitting group tomorrow. Of course it took me ages to choose, as usual! I wasn't born knowing how to make up my mind. BoyBaby is fair with blonde hair and blue eyes and my usual bold colour choices don't suit him as much as they suited Boy and Girl. I'm begrudgingly admitting he looks good in pale blue and buying him a few things in that colour.

Ah yes, knitting group. We have a few new recruits and I'm relly looking forward to tomorrows meet! We're in the process of making a blog and some posters to splash about the place to attract more people in.

TTYL

Week of happy - Monday

2009-06-29T22:00:00.004+01:00

I've been a horrible, horrible bad tempered person these past few days (poor Man!) so I'm going to play the Pollyanna Glad Game and focus on the nicer things and see if I can get a post done every day and snap myself out of it.

So for today, the postman bought me this

which I think will become my new knitting bag. It's really lovely. Man sort of spluttered when I told him I got it for £15 off, said he couldn't believe it was worth more than £15 in the first place! To be honest I don't think it is worth it at full price but in the sales it's fine.

I made some fab fairy cakes with cherries in, made using this recipe but halved and they were delicious! I should have been making baby food but I really couldn't be bothered. I will have to get onto that tomorrow.

TTYL

I've had better weeks

2009-06-28T00:45:00.002+01:00

This week has been awful. It started so well, last weekend I went to a couple of really good boot sales. The one we arrived at pretty late and I missed out on seeing all of it. Boybaby was very grizzly and I ended up sat in the car with him. I did however get this lovely bedside table for the bargainous price of £4. The lady said had she painted it she would have been asking a lot more but I'm glad she didn't, I really like it the colour it is. It will need redoing sometime in the future but for now I'm happy to clean it up and use it.
Last Sundays boot sale got me some green pinstripe wallpaper for 25p that is just right to line the inside of the cupboard where it is a bit grubby. I also got a very fab vintage wastepaper basket for free, it was left in the place people take all their unsold things to be burnt and I spotted it as we were leaving. I haven't got a pic but will take one.

Then once we got home is when my week took a turn for the worse. My poor little baby had an accident and we ended up in hospital for a couple of days, he is fine it was just a little bump but I think with some of the stories in the press that they have to make sure that nothing is amiss. I felt terrible enough as it was but having my parenting scrutinised in such restrictive circumstances was truly stressful. I missed my other kids so much and was desperate to come home. I've been in a bit of a daze the rest of the week and haven't prepared properly for the couple of special occasions that we've had. Yesterday was our 9th wedding anniversary and today was Man's birthday. I feel awful that I didn't have chance to get the things I wanted to. I did make him a cake but I wasn't overjoyed with it.

Oh well onwards and upwards.

TTYL

I've done a Kirstie

2009-06-14T23:28:00.005+01:00

and found myself a mirror out of a skip! I saw a lady clearing away her unsold items at the car boot today and swooped in and got it back out once she had gone. It's not a particularly exciting mirror admittedly but I'm sure something can be done with it.
Here is a pic of my recent car boot buys. I didn't get them all today as I mainly got things for the kids that are too boring to photograph though I did get the Woman's Weekly cut and sew dolls. I have some of these already kindly sent to me on a giveaway but there is a male one that I haven't seen before, he's very funky. The little jug at the front is so cute, I love the design. I was so taken with it I failed to realise the handle has a crack all the way through. I don't seem to have much luck with crockery at the moment! It will have to be for decoration only.

The enamel teapot is my favourite colour. Girl is very taken with it as we have recently created a game with it. She is very attached to her toys. See her dinosaur there at the front? She insisted that 'Terrydactil' had to have his picture taken too. She has a very strange taste in toys, her My Little Ponies are often to be found in The Mystery Machine alongside Scooby and his friends or riding around in the Batmobile. I think that's what comes of having a brother. Anyway she tries to sneak her toys into nursery where they aren't supposed to be taken so one day in desperation I asked her to put them in my 'magic' teapot. Before she got home I put a sweet in there and she was so happy to get something back that she readily puts her toys in there now.

I couldn't decide if I wanted the picture of the cat. I spotted it on my first look around but wasn't sure if the cat was cuddling the tiny bunny between it's paws or was ready to eat it! I explained my dilemma to the seller and we had a good banter about how a picture can be interpreted in different ways. As a very squeamish vegetarian I wasn't keen on the idea of bunny murder. We decided that the cat was giving him a love and I handed over my 50p. I do enjoy having a chat with the sellers, I think it adds to the experience of collecting new things. I thought the worst thing about being a cat owner is them bringing dead stuff in. I was wrong, it's worse when they bring in things that are still alive and are still battering them around. I had a very feisty mouse bouncing around my kitchen this evening. It was trying it's hardest to get away and I was doing my best to assist, much to the disgust of my youngest cat. I hope it managed to get far enough away from her.

X marks the spot

2009-06-04T12:22:00.003+01:00

Use your vote today, ladies! You know it makes sense.

Half term hiatus

2009-06-01T22:24:00.014+01:00

Hi all

Half term has meant a lack of blogging action on my part. It wasn't such hard work this time around as my sister in law very kindly took Boy and Girl to Legoland Windsor for two days which broke the week up nicely. They had a wonderful time, though I admit I am a little jealous it wasn't me that got to take them. I seem to spend a lot of time sitting on the sidelines since having BoyBaby. I suppose it can't be helped having an age gap between them. They will have had a better time with their Auntie and friends rather than me and a tiny baby who needs feeding all the while anyway. We have also just booked Girl's birthday surprise to see Dinosaur Live, where the tickets are just a flat rate and no concessions so it would have been an extra £70 for me and BoyBaby and to be honest at his young age he'd quite probably be terrified. So I'll be left out, again. Sorry for the whinging. I promise I'll stop it in time for my next post! I'm just feeling a bit, dare I say it, lonely at the moment.

Though absent kiddies means - more room in the car for Ebay pick-ups! I have wanted a pine blanket box for ages. This one needs a bit of a clean and wax but I'm looking forward to doing it, though I'm not sure how best to clean it up, sanding it or otherwise. The seller was another very interesting person, I seem to be meeting lots through buying things on Ebay! He had a wonderful house and the most gorgeous dresser laden with Cornish ware.

The batteries for my scales arrived and I was able to finally make the Nigella Malteser Cake, recipe courtesy of the lovely Ang over at A Spoonful of Sugar. It is such a great cake and I'll definitely be making it again if only to use the rest of the jar of Horlicks I had to buy.

Also I have my first award, many thanks to Heavenly Housewife over at From Donuts to Delirium. I know I am supposed to pass it on but as I'm new to blogging all the blogs I know have it already! I am trying to get a blogroll sorted in my sidebar but I haven't been able to add anything to my layout for ages. Either it is broken or Blogger doesn't like me. I can get the layout page but the option for adding page elements just isn't there. Really frustrating.

This post is very brown isn't it? Brown boxes, brown cake. Need more colour!

Booty fatigue

2009-05-24T14:03:00.004+01:00

As much as I love a good car boot sale (hadn't you noticed? really?) I find Bank Holiday weekends are such heavy going. Having sales on Saturday, Sunday and the Monday and getting up even earlier than I have to for the school run as well, urgh!! Today I had to take a rain check though, my knackered body didn't want to get up. Man is completely addicted to boot sales, he keeps picking up manky old computers that he brings home to disembowel on the table while I am trying to do other things. So he was up bright and early and kept coming in to try and wake me up. Funnily enough 'Wake up darling, I've cleaned out the litter trays' wasn't enough to stir me into wakefulness and he took the kids and my Mom leaving me and BoyBaby to be big lazy bedslugs until 11:00. The weather is fabulous today but i am one of those awkward people who really hates to get too hot and we're off out later, a long day in the sun is my idea of hell. I have to spend a portion of it hiding indoors. Oh and I have absoloutly nothing to wear either! Some clothes shopping is in order, as it is I think I'm going to have to wear a maternity top today. Hopefully no-one will notice as I carry BoyBaby around most of the time anyway.

I must admit though the thought of the bargains I am missing by not going out drives me potty! They have come back armed with toys and bits and bobs and I'm soooo jealous! Sigh,

So yes I went to the car boot yesterday. I got a fantastic puppet theatre for the kids and they have been entertaining me by putting on shows. Though I don't think 'Hey red riding hood, I'm going to bite you on the bum' was in the original script of Little Red Riding Hood. And there weren't guitar playing My Little Pony either.

I love it when you see something that just looks like it has been sitting there waiting for just you to come and buy it. Look what I got yesterday.

It's 'new' and sooo bright and lovely. I'm not keen on the fringe so that will be replaced with something else. I have no idea what I will use it for, a tablecloth maybe. I love it!

I'm off out to a barbecue, armed with cheesecake. I was supposed to be making another cake as well but the batteries in my scales conked out and I couldn't finish it. I'm lost without my scales! Have now ordered batteries plus spares to save it happening again. Hope everyone else is having a lovely weekend. Look forward to seeing what other bloggers have been up to.

Hexcitement

2009-05-21T23:58:00.008+01:00

Yeah, yeah I know. But it's late and I couldn't think of a title!I've seen a lot of hexagon patchwork on other blogs lately, crochet ones, fabric ones and knitted ones and it's made me even more eager to get my act together and join in! If I see something I like out there in the blogsphere I tend to bookmark it to come back to later, but as you have guessed I now have hundreds of them (Man rolls his eyes every time he has to back them all up) and they aren't in any particular order either so I can never find them again afterwards. So I will put them to the back of my mind for now and focus on one project.

It's been in my mind to make a patchwork quilt for years now, I had a great book that I unfortunately lent to someone and then never saw it again. I found another patchwork book in the charity shop today. Nowhere near as detailed as the other one was but for 80p it will do for now. My travels around the internet also took me to some patchwork and quilting sites. Goodness, it can be an expensive pastime! I am trying to keep my project on the cheap as possible side and have been harvesting shirts to cut up. I have some from Man, a couple from my dad and some excellent ones from the cheap charity shop for £1 each. I really can't wait to get started. I thought I would need templates and cutters and things but that's just me getting distracted as usual.
Speaking of distracted I also noticed this patchwork pattern. Lovely isn't it? I think that one will have to go on the list next as I have no idea how it is put together. Does anyone know? The only patterns I can find have some of the smaller squares split into quarters but they don't appear to be on this pic.

TTYL

Making and baking

2009-05-15T22:29:00.009+01:00

Hello all. I'm all over the place at the moment. I have so many things going through my head. Things to make, to do, to talk about, that when it comes to blogging about it I find the moment has passed and something else has come along in its place. So I thought I'd show you what I have made lately, be it two weeks ago or today. I often feel like I don't manage to do enough and forget to have a 'yay' for the things I have done and am pleased with.

I was thinking about it while cooking the other day. Despite having a dad who is good at woodwork and DIY and a gran who could knit extremely well, everything I know I have had to find out pretty much on my own. How I wish I had learned sooner! I just haven't got the confidence to try sometimes. I hate failing so tend to stick to tried and tested methods and there is a whole range of things out there I am missing out on! As unlikely a source of advice the My Little Pony Movie is, there is a line that goes 'If you only did the things you were good at, how can you make yourself better?'which even coming from a blue cartoon pony with green hair is very true.

So here we have my making and some baking.

Today was a very rainy day. Both Boy and Girl have been off school sick so I made up a few batches of play dough which is so easy and quite fun too. All you do is put half a cup of plain flour, a quarter cup of salt, a tablespoon of cream of tartar and 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil into a pan. Measure out half a cup of water and before you add it to the pan you add food colouring and any fragrance, which is entirely optional. I added lemon to the yellow, lavender to the purple, tea tree to the green and vanilla to the pink. If you think your kids might be at risk of eating it if it smells too nice then you will have to skip that bit! Put the pan on a medium heat and stir constantly until the mixture forms a ball. You'll know when it's ready trust me! Allow it to cool and knead it a little. If it's a bit dry and cracked put a small amount of the vegetable oil in your hand and work it into the dough and that should sort it. If you store it in an airtight container or plastic bag it should last a good while and you'll never need to buy the shop bought kind again!
Next we have a pair of dolly trousers. Girl bought the doll at a car boot. I don't really like dolls but felt sorry for this one having nothing to wear. I was all ready to do a dress buy apparently dolly is a boy and needed stripy clothes like BoyBaby's. I spent an age looking for patterns but nothing came up so I decided to have a go at making it up as I went. The waist is a bit high but not bad for a first effort. I even put in some short rows to accommodate dolly's ample bum. Just need to make a top next.I've been on the search of a holy grail carrot cake recipe for a long while and this may be it. The cake is pretty huge so I halved the amount and cut down the cooking time. I also only added the orange rind and substituted pecans for the walnuts. I left out the pineapple too, I wasn't too sure whether I'd like it.
And last of all are these Banana Brownies which are more like a traybake than a brownie but completely gorgeous. It's made in a roasting tray and have the ability to wipe out 6 bananas in one go and are freezable too. I can see this becoming very useful to add to my growing collection of banana disposal recipes.

I was also going to blog about what is inspiring me at the moment but time has beaten me again. I may have chance to do that over the weekend as illness and bad weather will keep us in. I was hoping to head to Birmingham for Veggie Pride UK . It's a shame, I really would have liked to have gone.

TTYL

Bank Holiday. BBQ, baking and bargains

2009-05-05T23:24:00.006+01:00

I hope everyone had a good Bank Holiday, weather was a little on the unpredictable side wasn't it? I spent most of Saturday baking. I made a Baileys and White Chocolate cheesecake, it really is one of the best things I have ever tasted. It's the sort of recipe you have once and then you find yourself craving it a few months down the line and nothing else will do! Even though I have made it numerous times before without a hitch, this time it did go hideously wrong. When I was melting the chocolate it separated into one horrible big lump and a load of liquid which cued the worst cooking tantrum since the Butternut Squash risotto incident of 2005, (my big saucepan still bears the dent and the lid no longer fits properly) After protesting loudly about the waste of a good bar of chocolate I got everything under control again and put it into the fridge for the 24 hours of chilling before my sister in law's barbecue. She doesn't 'do' cooking, her cooker is the cleanest I have ever seen in my life and when she opens her cupboards no random things fall out, there is actual space in them. As she was having Boy and Girl overnight it was the least I could do to bake a few things for the evening. I made some Peanut Butter Brownies, a new to me recipe. Oh my goodness they are gorgeous! Definitely making those again. I also made a lemon drizzle cake and some chocolate brownies for the guests with peanut allergies. I think I owe her a few more cakes as her garden gnomes got mysteriously decapitated and Girl was the most obvious culprit. Oops.

So with the kids nicely out of the way I took the opportunity to get out not-so-bright and early to the car boot. It is so much easier just to get myself and the baby ready. The weather was really not looking good at all, I managed to get around in about half an hour and by about 9 some of the sellers were giving up and going home. It didn't look like it was going to pick up so we decided to move on to another car boot which was also very quiet so on we went to yet another which was huge and combined with a market that I couldn't be bothered with, as well as the ubiquitous pirate dvd sellers who always seem to attract hordes of people to them. I bypassed all that to get to the genuine car booters and wasn't disappointed. We got rained on some more then went off for a lovely pot of tea and cooked veggie breakfast to warm up before picking up the kids again.
Oh you want to know what I bought? This pic is a few things I have picked up over the last few weeks from charity shops as well. With the camera problems I hadn't been taking many pics so I gathered everything together to get it in all at once. The plate rack was £4, tapestry frame £2, tin 30p, wool winder £1, egg holder (which i will paint) 30p, Laura Ashley fabric I can't actually remember how much it was as I was too busy talking to the lady. She also sold me the tea set at the bottom of the pic. There are 12 cups and the saucers are plain blue. The colours on it remind me of my gran. The glass cake stands were £1 and 50p and the french salt container was harvested from my Mom's as she was getting rid of it. The wooden lid was broken but I have put a couple of new screws in and it's fine now. I also have a sewing box that needs some new hinges and the varnish removing. I think I need a vat of paint stripper the amount I'm getting through.

I've also been buying furniture on Ebay again, no pics yet as it's at that stage where I'm not sure if it's going to be nice or hideous until I have finished.

Car booty

2009-04-24T21:29:00.009+01:00

It's taken me ages to get around to posting about last weekends car boot trip. I hadn't been to one in years and if I'm honest 7am on a Sunday morning is a time unknown to me. But spurred on with the promise of a bargain I was up and showered and we arrived nice and early. I had forgotten how cold it is before the sun comes up and I was freezing (guess who didn't take a coat?) At least BoyBaby was snug and asleep in his pushchair for a good couple of hours to leave me to get on with hunting. Car boots are a nightmare for the jealous and also the indecisive. There is nothing worse than walking around and seeing people carrying pretty things that you would have snapped up had you got there first. Man was so annoyed to overhear some people talking about the computer technical twaddly bits they had purchased for the bargain price of £2 he didn't stop grumbling about it all day. Then there is deciding what to buy and what to leave behind. I am still kicking myself about leaving a few things. I'm just not good with snap decisions at all. Or haggling. I just haven't got the knack for it. I ask the price of something and they tell me, I either say 'OK' or 'No thank you' which leaves some sellers with very puzzled expressions. I'm a simple girl and can't be doing with all these mind games, nor am I David Dickinson. I think if I finally get around to selling some things I will have to price everything up beforehand, or leave all the haggling to someone else. I'm having camera problems at the moment so will take some pics of what I did buy once I know I can upload them.Work on my dressing table is coming along well. I started to strip one drawer and it was much easier than I thought. The second one took a bit more effort and then I found my job had been taken over by my Dad. I keep going outside and finding he has let himself in to the back yard and helped himself to the wire wool and another drawer. He's recently retired so he's still settling into how to fill his time I think. I wanted to do all the work myself but I guess if it is done sooner with a bit of help I can't complain. All that needs doing now is the main frame and the mirror which I'm waiting for a nice weather day where I can drag it outside and get it all done at once. Not this weekend though, I'm off to the car boot sale again!

Grab a pew!

2009-04-16T22:54:00.005+01:00

The problem with buying nice big things on Ebay is arranging a way to collect them. We had to hire a small van to get the dressing table and I thought while we had it I was going to make the most of it! Since we changed the car we haven't been able to take the kids' bikes to the forest, they used to fit in the boot of our old (pre-evil) car but not in the current one. Girl was not used to the bike and kept trying to pedal backwards then eventually lost patience, preferring to run instead leaving her dad to carry it the rest of the way.

When we got in I had a pew/storage bench on my Ebay watch list. The price had been creeping up all day. It was located not far from us so I put in a very late and final bid and.......................the page went blank! I had a minor hissyfit and managed to get the page back up again and I had put the bid in with 6 seconds to spare and won it. I emailed the seller straight away and explained the van/timing situation and she kindly said we could pick it up the same evening. Here it is
It's very solid and rustic looking, though as I suspected it has very little history. I found the original price label while I was cleaning it. It reminded me of the Friends episode where Rachael lies to Phoebe about where her table has come from because she doesn't like mass produced things. Well I won't tell anyone where it came from originally, it can be a secret. I have found a place online that can cut a seat pad to size then I can get on with making a cover for it. I'm not sure what sort of fabric to use yet. I'll probably have to make a couple as we're using it at the table at the moment and it will get dirty quickly.

The next day was dressing table collecting day and it was manic. Man had to get the two older kids over to his sisters' as she was taking them out for the day and I had arranged the collection for between 11 and 12. When it was obvious we wouldn't be able to make that time I had to text the lady and say we'd be there later than that. I don't like to mess people about but the traffic was busy with the Bank holiday and we got delayed. When we got there it was well worth it, the lady was just the nicest person you could ever wish for. I get a little nervous buying things in case there are problems or the seller is difficult but there was nothing to worry about this time. The dressing table had been owned by her mum who had sadly passed away, she had had it from quite a young age. It does need work doing to it. The finish is a bit flaky and two of the handles are broken and I need to try and find suitable alternatives. To replace them all will cost about £70 as I have only been able to find similar ones on one website. I don't know where I could get the original ones fixed. I feel a responsibility to keep it as near to original as possible even though I have no intention of parting with it so any improvements will only be for my benefit. Changing it too much would be doing it a great disservice. I know totally bog-all about old furniture and hope I don't make a mess of it! This book was recommended to me so I got a copy on Ebay (where else?) I'm quite fond of beards and the men on the cover do look reassuringly knowledgeable.With the day being so hectic I hadn't eaten or had anything to drink all day so on the way back we stopped at Amerton Farm. There wasn't time to see any of the animals but we did have some lovely fresh baked vegetable pasties and an ice cream each. I was a bit disappointed as last time we were there they sold yarn but they don't anymore. After dropping the van off we popped to TK Maxx where I picked up a Thermos flask. I have been meaning to get one for ages to take on walks. With us I mean, not like a pet or anything. That would be silly.

I have been banned from Ebay by the husband for the time being. But there are some things on my watch list ending very soon. We'll see.

TTYL

Good Friday

2009-04-10T22:28:00.004+01:00

I have had a good Good Friday today. After the first week of the holidays, which quite frankly was horrendous, I am glad that Man had some time off so I had a bit of back-up. Girl is being a bit of a pest lately. Following on from the burst beanbag we have also had shredded story cassettes, drawing on walls, a dismantled biro in the plughole and a touch of modern art in the bathroom in the form of a whole packet of pantyliners with the backing removed and slapped in an attractive arrangement on the wall. She's not a bad girl really, more that she has too much energy at her disposal and can't leave anything alone and I quite simply don't have eyes in the back of my head. She has a knack of knowing just when I'm busy cooking dinner or feeding the baby to wander off and carry out her mischievous deeds. Anyway by today I was a bit of a basket case and in need of a treat. I managed to grab a hair appointment, it hadn't been done since October. I had planned to go in just before I had the baby in December but after a check up from the midwife I was carted off to hospital instead and missed my chance. Man took BoyBaby for a walk while I was getting my hair coloured and about 4 inches lopped off it. It was pouring with rain when I got out but I didn't really mind as I just wanted to go home and Bad Things happen to my hair in my sleep so it will need washing tomorrow anyway.

I made the above cake, recipe was from the Culinary (Mis) adventures blog but I did mine as one whole cake instead of cupcakes. In retrospect I'm not loving the sprinkles. I had an 'Aaaaargh' moment while I was decorating the cake, there was an Ebay item ending this evening that I'd been watching and I thought I'd missed it. I abandoned the cake and found I had just got to the computer in time and managed to win this for £21

I am very excited! I have been dying for a dressing table for, oooh the past 25 years. Since I surrendered my chest of drawers to the baby to keep his clothes in, my make up and hair stuff has been stashed in a sad plastic box under the bed. It's a mess and I can never find anything. I'm looking forward to getting it, there is room for my stripy socks too!

Due to basketcasedness my chucking out a bag a day of stuff has fallen by the wayside but hopefully I can catch up tomorrow to be back on target. I hope everyone (whoever is reading!) has a nice Easter.

TTYL

Make-room Monday

2009-04-06T22:15:00.002+01:00

First day of the Easter holidays today, didn't go quite as expected I must say. I think the complete withdrawal of any sort of routine (not that I like routine myself, I mean the fact that they have to be awake by X time and school is at Y time, lunch is at Z) has left Boy and Girl with far too much time of their hands for making a mess. It was because I was busy tidying up one thing (spilled cat food) that gave girl the opportunity to burst open a beanbag in her room. No, I don't know quite what possessed her either.

One benefit of the mess was that I got to have a proper go with my new hoover. That's her there, Hetty. As mentioned before I am prone to flights of fancy and impulsiveness and I will hold my hands up and say no, I didn't strictly need a new hoover. I have a Dyson. It was a replacement for the Franken-dyson, our old one that had many spares on it in different colours, hence the name. The new Dyson I just couldn't get on with, it lacked the robustness of the previous one and was a pain to store with the pipe sticking up in the air all the time. As with most things I am usually blissfully unaware that they exist until someone I know 'from the internet' buys one and then I have to have one. So easily led aren't I? I had heard of a Henry but had no idea they had pink ones too!

I did try to resist, I read reviews, some said they weren't so good with pet hair which wouldn't be any good for here with all my kitties but when Homebase has 15% off everything I suddenly found myself scootling off there to buy one. And am I glad I did! She is fantastic! I had always been under the impression, well from the ads at least (easily led, remember?) that bagless = good and bags = not good but the suction on this is much better than the Dyson for sure. Last year I bought some very cheap carpet for Girl's room and it attracts any stray bit of fluff that I just couldn't get rid of and today, all gone! And of course she is very, very cute. The kids like her. I should have seen it coming when I let them play with it hoovering each others feet. I ended up having to retrieve a sock from inside. That is one downside to bags vs bagless. I will have to be more careful in future what I let her eat.

I have made it my goal to get rid of at least one bag of either rubbish, rags, charity shop donations or recyling per day this holiday and have my bag for today in the shed outside. Someone thought it a great idea to close the tip two days a week so I can't chuck it yet, but I will!

Rainbows

2009-04-04T20:38:00.005+01:00

I adore stripy things, but even more so if the stripes are multicoloured ones. This jumper I bought on a whim one day in Primark. It doesn't even fit me. Maybe one day it will (she says doubtfully while eating chocolate) but in the meantime I just like having it to look at when I open the wardrobe. I'd probably look like some sort of kids tv presenter in it anyway. When I spotted some lovely rainbow socks on Attic24's blog this week, I had to have them. I already have 5 pairs, but well, these are different, ok? I couldn't see where they had come from and put out a plea via Twitter and my fave ladies forum and it paid off and I was directed to Tesco where I was even more overjoyed to find they were 2 for £1.50. 2 pairs that is, as socks do tend to be a bit useless on their own. Unless they are black ones, and black ones though practical don't make me happy.

I like real rainbows too. When I was growing up I was always excited if i could see a whole one arcing across the sky. I took this picture in September 07. I had been walking back from taking Boy to school, I was feeling very down, looking at the ground and having a bit of a cry. We'd been trying for a baby for a good while and another mum had just had a little girl. I remembered thinking when she announced her pregnancy 'That will be me soon' but it wasn't to be. I looked up and saw this lovely rainbow. I know it sounds completely bananas and trust me I'm not prone to hearing voices (yes really) but 'someone' told me that my baby was coming soon and it would be a boy. And sure enough here he is today, covered in socks.
I love him to bits. Not that I don't love Boy and Girl, of course I do but he is just the most placid little soul, so smiley and an absoloute joy to look after.

Second chance

2009-03-30T00:33:00.004+01:00

I have a confession to make. I am a bad, bad gardener. I love seeing plants around the place but I am really rubbish at looking after them, or not looking after them, evidently. These two plants live in my front porch. I don't go in there very much except to answer the door and as I don't get a huge amount of visitors that's not very often. One of them got knocked out of it's pot by a cat and I'm ashamed to say I just hastily shoved it back in then left them on the window ledge and they haven't been watered since last July (the shame!) I had presumed they had died as some leaves shrivelled up and fell off and the potless one had had it's roots exposed for months on end. On Friday I noticed that the money tree had a tiny new leaf even though the 'trunk' was very dry and had wrinkled and I thought if it had gone to the effort of trying to grow even in the face of my neglect then the least I could do was make it up to them. After just 24 hours of being repotted and watered they were green and as good as new again. Amazing.

Man came in from work and said 'Oh, you got some new plants'

Happy Mothers' Day

2009-03-22T17:55:00.003Z

I snapped this pic on my phone earlier in the week as I just love the bunting. I might have to make some of my own one day once my sewing machine is unearthed from the chaos. I also have an overlocker I had for last years birthday that is still in it's box. I got as far as seeing how much thread was and that was it! One thing i didn't get on the pic was the lovely knitted tea cosies at the bottom, I wasn't sure if anyone in the shop was watching and I didn't want to appear a total loony! Knitting a tea cosy is also on my list of things to do, just need to decide on colours which is always a problem as I like so many.

I did some work on my chest of drawers this weekend. Mr quite likes them the colour they are but the varnish is thick and sticky and has quite easily sanded off. I'm not sure whether the wood underneath is attractive enough to just wax so it may end up painted, though there are a lot of crude repair jobs on it that need undoing and redoing properly. It's very much a handmade piece with a lot of wonky edges and interesting joins and great big nails hammered in.

Hope everyone has had a nice Mothers' Day. If it weren't for my mom I wouldn't have had anything. Girl spilled the beans yesterday telling me 'Grandma bought you chocolates!' I asked what sort of chocolates and she said 'Lemon and meat.' Er, yummy. Luckily she was wrong! Boy hand drew me a card with a picture of the family on and addressed the envelope to 'Mom, age 30' then the first line of our address which made me smile.

Mirrors and egg cups

2009-03-18T23:27:00.007Z

Don't you find that when you have bought something then no sooner is it paid for then you go to another shop and find another one you like as much, if not more? I already have the curse of being both indecisive and impulsive and can never seem to strike the right balance. I either come home empty handed, missing out on a bargain or blow the budget completely and have to try and justify the spend in my own mind. Either that or I come back with something that I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with and it's a tremendous relief when I find a use for it! Earlier in the week I ended up buying two sets of egg cups. We don't eat boiled eggs. It's not some weird vegetarian thing, just no-one likes them except me and I quite often can't be bothered making them just for myself. So I was most pleased when I found a use for the second set, the first were pretty so were exempt from having to prove their worth. I made up some pancakes and the egg cups came in very handy for filling with individual amounts of butter and syrup to put on the table. Now they have at least one use I can stack them in the cupboard happily. I have also bought two mirrors this week, one was nice and cheap but the second was £20. I had just bought a mirror so I walked away without it. My impulsive side won in the end and I went back for it on Monday. I felt even more justified when I popped into Past Times to grab a Union Jack mug (as seen on Little Gem's blog) and I saw a modern beveled mirror for £40. Anyway here they are. I'm very pleased with them.

I took some pics of a couple of the cats while I was waiting for BabyBoy to wake up today, he often falls asleep on the 10 minute journey home and I feel mean for moving him when he's only just dropped off. The ginger one isn't mine, he just comes to ours for his dinner (and lunch and breakfast too) Poor thing hasn't got a home, he's filthy. I wouldn't mind him coming to live here but my cats don't get on with him so he never gets past the doorway. Plus he bites! He does have lovely manners otherwise.

Check out my drawers

2009-03-15T23:20:00.006Z

These are they, and I had a bit of a bidding war on my hands to get them! Had I not seen them in the 'flesh' I wouldn't have been so determined but they are lovely (I use that word too much, pass the thesaurus) The four drawers at the top are just right for knitting needles. It's no wonder my house is in such disarray, the only drawers in the whole downstairs are 3 of them in the kitchen and the cutlery and tea towels have first dibs on those. All the pens, sellotape etc are strewn on the desk and every other available flat surface. That is until my mom comes along and 'tidies' them. She has a habit of reusing food packaging to store things in, I'm never surprised to see my letters in a cat food box or my pens in a mushroom punnet. I've given up commenting!

Today I stripped the top of the filing cabinet, I have taken pics and will hopefully have a tutorial to post once it looks lovely. It will look lovely, or I will never hear the end of it from Mr and my dad who popped by to see what we were up to. Mr did a huge tip run as well and cleared some space in the shed outside.

It was my kittens' first time she was allowed out this weekend, she has been spayed and had her stitches out so we could leave the door open for her to come and go. I tried picking her up to take her out but she isn't very trusting of me at the moment and she got startled, I keep taking her to the big nasty vets after all, and she has walloped me round the face. Oooh it stings!

And isn't this better?

An abundant week

2009-03-14T23:24:00.012Z

I have lots to post about, might have to be done in a few goes as my memory isn't great after concentrating on typing with one hand, it takes so long I keep missing things out that I only remember once I press the post button. The BoyBaby is the reason I never have any hands free and as excessively lovely as he is he doesn't give me a minutes peace, he's either sleeping on me or feeding so when I finally do manage a few seconds away my arms are as dead as a doornail. I have just sent him off to play on the floor with Mr so I'd better get on with it!

Right, firstly we have new sofas! I spotted these on Ebay and we got both for the starting price of £70. The place they were at is a self storage warehouse. What happens is if you don't pay the bill they take the goods out to sell to recoup the cost and vultures like me swoop in! As warned in the listing they did need a clean, they had black smudges all over. I found a makers label inside and Googled to see if I could find any washing instructions and it turned out that as new these had been very expensive, over a grand each! On the downside I found that I really wasn't supposed to wash the covers but it was too late as I'd done some already. They haven't suffered any adverse effects so I think they will be ok, plus I think dry cleaning them would have bankrupted us! There was also listed a chest of drawers I wanted but it didn't end for a few days after. I asked for a Buy it Now but they couldn't do it which is a shame as we had hired a van and it would have been a lot simpler to take them there and then. More on that later.

Also found on Ebay was this, erm, well loved filing cabinet. I have always been a fan of filing cabinets. No idea why as I am the most disorganised person you could ever meet. I had seen some filing cabinets online that had been stripped and polished and they look lovely. They are also a lovely price so for the bargain price of £10.99 I'm going to give this one a go. I have bought some cheapo Tesco toothpaste for 17p as it was suggested as a good polish, we shall see! I'm quite excited about this, I have spent ages researching how to remove paint from metal without scratching it. I even had my dad round to ask advice and show him what I was trying to acheive but all I got from him was 'I ay got nothing that will tek tharrof' which is Black Country for 'You're on your own with that, love' My wool for the Union Jack cushion arrived. This is what happens when someone as impulsive as me gets started on something without preparing properly. I didn't even get to the end of the row before getting in a mess and making a mistake so I have now unravelled and started again using bobbins to wind the different colours around. I have decided to have a knitted back on it as well so need to order more yarn, will do that when I have an idea of how much I need.

For Red Nose Day I made these tiny cherry bakewells. They were fiddly but looked so cute. I made them in a mini muffin tin and ended up putting in the almond sponge filling using a spare medicine syringe to save getting mixture everywhere. There were a lot of kids dressed up for school on Friday, wearing inside out clothes and pyjamas. Boy just went in jeans and a tshirt as he really hates to dress up. He was having a major hissyfit about even wearing 'normal' clothes to school instead of uniform. Girl was looking forward to dressing up as her brother for nursery but she was quite unwell inthe night and was very off colour the next day so we kept her at home. Good job really as she spent the day asleep on the sofa which for my busy girl is very unusual. She had another long sleep again today, I hope she is back up to full strength soon.

I went looking for Cath Kidston goodies in TK Maxx today as lots of other bloggers seem to be finding things. Sadly not me though. Where is it all hiding?

Union Jack Cushions

2009-03-09T14:25:00.007Z

I have a bee in my bonnet about having a Union Jack cushion on my new sofa. I have seen lots of fabric ones on peoples blogs which I will attempt at a later date but this one will be knitted. Looking around the www for inspiration I found these

£60

This one has the chart and yarn for £40 which is the nearest to what I would like

and this is £10.99, totally not what is required!

So instead I found a chart online here. At first glance it looks ok but it isn't, the diagonal stripes are wrong so I ended up completely recharting it myself plus I wanted it the right size for the rectangular cushion pads which I bought today. Yarn is all ordered, pure wool £1.95 for 50g. I got 2 of each colour as I wasn't sure how much it would need. I'm not sure what to use for the back, maybe I can find something to recycle. I can't wait to start!

£3.22

2009-03-08T12:18:00.003Z

got me all this. What credit crunch? I fancied a good look around some charity shops yesterday so we headed to a little town near my in laws where I hadn't been for years. I used to go to a fantastic little shop, a bit on the grubby side but it was full of things to look through and it had winding wooden stairs with 3 levels. I kind of prefer that kind of charity shop the 'chain' ones can be a bit too bright and showy and only seem to want to sell new things and have no charm whatsoever. I like to work for my bargains. I had high hopes of finding some treasures so we set off, the older two wanted to stay with granny (secret yay!) so it was just the little one which I carried in his sling, just the right level for cooing at everyone and catching a crafty nap. Sadly the little charity shop is no longer there, neither was the yarn shop I was hoping to have a look in. There does seem to be an infinite amount of hairdressers in their place. I'm still trying to find a 'style' of things that I want in the house so for now I am just going for things that appeal to me. I've never been a very pastelly person, my favourite colour is orange so I already have a lot of things that I need to work around colour wise such as my lovely Kitchen Aid mixer. I'm also trying to break the mindset that tells me everything should be matching. Even when I was a child I used to refuse my dinner unless my cutlery was from the same set.

The kids are very curious about all the new items appearing in the house. Boy asked me why I was changing everything and I was struggling a bit to explain the concept of shabby chic so I said I wanted to have more 'old' things with character. He looked really horrified! He was worried I was going to do away with the tv and the Wii and his MP3 player. I must add he is very (very!) materialistic. Hopefully now his mind is at rest he will like to help me search for bargains.

While we were out and about I had set up an Ebay snipe for some sofas and when I got in we had won. A lot of moving around to do to make them fit in so I will update on that later!

The Cat Sat on the Mat (x2)

2009-03-02T23:58:00.004Z

You wouldn't think that they aren't usually friends would you? I was looking about for some nice cat beds on Saturday and nothing really jumped out at me so I ended up buying a few of these 'lap protectors' as I figured they sleep on the furniture anyway and would be easier to move about and throw in the washing machine. Though evidently I didn't buy enough of them!

Holidays and shopping days

2009-03-01T21:28:00.000Z

I haven't been very good at this blogging so far have I? It doesn't help that it takes me all day to make a post as my hands are full of baby. He is 12 weeks this weekend, it's flown by! I've also had a change of layout and made a new banner.

Over half term we went to see my sister for a few days. I really love seeing her and her family but I detest the distance. The journey down is never that bad, it's the return that seems 3 times as long. It was so bad this time we didn't get home till really late and the kids had to have an extra day off school, I'm sure they didn't mind too much.

While I was there I went to a lovely little junk shop, I could have bought a lot more had we had more room in the car, they had loads of nice things. The car has plenty of space for people but a tiny weeny little boot. I immediately grabbed the enamel flour bin as soon as I saw it, especially when the man said it was £2! Unfortunately though before I had chance to pay he said he'd made a mistake and it was £5. Boo! I also saw a sewing box on legs and didn't get it but it played on my mind overnight so we went back to get it the next day. I had to take the legs off to make it fit in the car along with all our luggage. The legs were uneven anyway and I need to figure out how to make it balance. The screws haven't been moved so I'm guessing it was assembled wrongly in the first place. The bloke said he thought it was a bread bin. Do you get bread bins on legs? I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet, the varnish needs to come off as it's very flaky. I don't know if the roll top would be easy to paint.This weekend I decided I was off out shopping. I haven't had a good look around since well before Christmas, I couldn't walk very well towards the end of my pregnancy. I'd been putting off any big shopping trips since as I'd have to stop all the while for nappy changes and feeding but decided just to go for it and take my time. He was as good as gold and enjoyed looking at people from the sling. I bought some pillowcases, Cath Kidston hand cream, a tea cosy and some curtains which were only £3. I will make them into something else.
As a huge fan of stripy socks I was very excited by these. I always buy lots of the ones I really like so I have less chance of losing them plus they don't wear out as quickly. I also got myself a new top and 3 cat beds for the girls so maybe there will be more room for me on the sofa.
Just remembered I didn't take a pic of my bargain cake stand from Homebase.

Sadness - Part 1

2009-01-17T19:33:00.000Z

Somebody somewhere is enjoying having a good old tinkle on my parade and trying to shrug it off isn't working. I feel sad. Sad on the outside and right through my middle. Had an awful day yesterday, it was meant to be fantastic as we were to be finally rid of the nightmare car, which during the week had started to let in water through the dashboard and made the electrics crackle and flash on and off while I was driving it - nearly cacked myself! Managed to get the interior all dried up ready for the exchange. I was so terrified we'd get there and the deal would be off. All the reading I have done about our car on the internet it seems that nobody wants to touch them with a bargepole and I don't blame them. So off we go to the garage, it's about 30 miles away, the satnav doesn't quite understand the road layout and kept trying to send us down bus lanes and into supermarket car parks. Good job I wasn't driving. Man had taken a day off as I hate to drive to places I don't know, gives me the heebies. The exchange went well and the relief of not having to worry about the car breaking down on us or locking me out of the boot was immense. BabyBoy was crying so we went off to stop at Ikea for something to eat and so i could feed him. I love Ikea! We had to leave as we had an appointment to finally register the birth. We were running out of time as he is 6 weeks already. Going down the motorway I was so happy, loving the new car. Even though it is old it is very 'me' much more than the old one. That was a very blokey car, I must have been mad when I was choosing it. I think it was more desperation.

My happiness was very short lived I'm afraid to say. We stopped to fill up with petrol and next thing I know Man is yelling at me to get out of the car and there is a river of fuel running under the car! I was sent to wait inside while the AA were called with only minutes to go till our appointment. It turned out to be a hole in the fuel pipe and still safe to drive so we carried on to the registry office which we couldn't find. I had to go in on my own while Man stayed with the car. The AA man had followed us so he could carry on working on the car. BoyBaby screamed his head off in the overly hot room and I could barely hear the disinterested woman who obviously wanted to start her weekend and not be kept behind by us and our lateness. I had a total brain freeze and couldn't remember where Man was born and I'm just hoping that everything is spelled correctly. I did check but I don't trust my brain right now. Still it's a far cry from registering Boy and Girl. We made a nice day of it and all went out for lunch after on both occasions. I feel a bit cheated this time really after a low key Christmas. It seems everything is overtaken by the mundane and everyday hassle so much that things that are meant to be special aren't so special anymore.

I have to spend the week gingerly driving my nice new (old) car around and hoping it doesn't wee unleaded on every street corner. It will take another day off to get it all sorted out. Sigh.

Car trouble

2009-01-06T23:33:00.000Z

I have had a horrible day! My car, for want of a better word, is shit. We've only had it since October but it has been nothing but trouble ever since. It has been to the garage 4 times to be fixed (thankfully mostly still under warranty) I have had someone bump into me and I have scraped the door and driven into a post. After years of unblemished driving that annoys me! It randomly locks us out of the boot, we ended up having to pile the Christmas food shop into the back seats because horrible automated car computer lady (not as nice as satnav lady) informed us that the 'loading area' had been left open. How it can it be left open when we can't open it? Before that it was randomly letting air out of the tyres leaving me with a flat tyre two days before BoyBaby was due. It has also refused to start on at least 3 occasions meaning I had to walk Boy to school.

In between us and the school is a hill, a very big one. And in the style of 'Going on a bear hunt' you either have to go around it which takes 40 minutes on foot or go over it which takes about half the time but is scarily steep and impossible to wheel a pushchair over as it's so bumpy. It also is very tiring. So this morning is back to school after the Christmas holidays, it's been snowy for two days so of course my motorised nemesis decides not to start. No worries, call the breakdown people and they can sort it out. Not so. The bonnet was frozen shut and an hour of poking and prising did nothing to shift it. He couldn't tow it as it's parked on a slope so it's just sat there in all it's horrible crappy car-ness, covered in snow. Grrrrrr!

So off I go over the big scary hill which is made even scarier by being slippy and icy as well. I could have gone the long road way but I'd had to leave BoyBaby at home with my mom and keep my fingers crossed he didn't want feeding. I managed to get Boy to school ok, it was just on the way back my pelvis and hips decided to cause me huge amounts of pain, I think they are stuck in pregnancy mode still. Now I can't even get up the stairs or into bed without it hurting so I'm thoroughly miserable.

The car has to go, I can't cope with it anymore! Trouble is it's going to cost money we don't have.

Small steps

2009-01-05T23:13:00.000Z

Most households have a lost sock bag, right? Mine started out as just having a few strays lurking in a carrier bag and ended up as a massive Ikea shopper full to the brim with practically every sock in the house that had to be rifled through for anyone to actually have any to wear that managed to travel from one bedroom to another and never get any smaller. Needless to say pairing them hasn't been high on my agenda. My method is to only ever buy brightly coloured ones for myself to make them easier to spot. I have a major weakness where striped socks are concerned, I can't go in Peacocks or Primark without leaving with a pair or six.

As one little job at a time is all I can manage right now I thought I'd go in for a bit of multi-tasking and feed the BoyBaby (who is making small steps of his own after being weighed today and has actually put some ounces on and my milk isn't as useless as I'd wound myself up into believing) while sorting the vast mountain of socks while trying to be vaguely educational and teach my daughter her colours and how to make pairs while preventing her from gleefully scattering them around the room. She was more interested in burying her toy tiger (strangely called 'Jaguar') and then finding him again. Most of the socks at the bottom of the bag were either (very) musty, worn out or too small so I was able to bin a load straight off. Now everyone has full sock drawers plus I think there is a little room for some more cheap striped sock shopping as a reward.

If I were a rich girl

2009-01-04T22:08:00.000Z

na na na na na na na na na na na na na naaaaa!

Yep, money. As you can imagine with three kids and only one of us working (husband, not the kids. Unfortunately they are too little to send out to work) there isn't much cash to splash. If there were then it would be a bit easier to make the transformation from cluttered messy life to shiny, shiny, neat and tidy. I could just put everything in the bin and buy everything new, job done. I'm not a materialistic person. I used to be once upon a time, especially as a child. I had a list of wants as long as my arm! Then once I was earning money of my own I went a bit crazy and spent it all on clothes and drinking and have nothing at all to show for it. My parents were always very secretive about finances, any questions I had were met with a sharp 'None of your business', even after seeing an ad on tv for mortgages I wanted to know what one was and they wouldn't tell me! Madness. Took me years to find out. So needless to say I haven't really ever had a firm grip on my purse strings, something that will have to change along with everything else.

I do have some nice things but they are overshadowed by all the clutter and rubbish or put away for 'best' so they don't get ruined in the chaos. Some things have slipped through the net and been neglected which is a great shame.

So the challenge is to spend as little as possible on as much as possible. Bring it on!

From the mundane to the marvellous....

2009-01-03T15:17:00.000Z

....and everything in between.

It has taken me a long time to get this blog going. A year and 2 days in fact. It was meant to start, as a lot of things do, on New Years Day but I didn't quite manage it last year. I did do a couple of posts about dreading being 30 but it got a bit maudlin and depressing and I was even annoying myself so out it went. Even this attempt is a couple of days over as I was tinkering with the colour scheme. I'm easily distracted. Anyhow good news is I've done the whole 30 thing and it wasn't all that bad really. I haven't morphed into a mass of fine lines and wrinkles in fact someone thought I was 24 the other day which I was quite pleased about. They could have been lying but I'm not picky.

I am however ready to make some changes. A lot of things have come to an end recently. My job for one and my body clock, while others are just starting to tick, has run out of batteries. Just last month I welcomed my third and final child. While it is tempting to add to the brood in a Waltons-in-dungarees kind of way I really don't think it would be a good idea in the long run, my undercarriage may suddenly drop off like a rusty exhaust pipe. I'm not expecting an overnight change as lets face it, there is a lot to be done. I have no career, an intense dislike of my house and car and I am very very untidy and disorganised. I'm going for the softly-softly approach of gradually bringing in the lovely and weeding out the lousy and see where we get. Less shouty and stressy, more flouncy and fluffy.

Oh and my name isn't Victoria, but if that daft bint Mariah Carey can have a pseudonym then so can I. And I won't screech at you or boil your pet rabbit.