Summer holidays part 1

 

It's been a busy first week of Summer. 

We've started taking our puppy out on his first adventures. He's still very nervous of everything but hopefully his big brother will lend him some confidence. 

We've enjoyed a trip to our favourite Ice cream parlour, Carlos. They do fresh flavours each day and we managed to catch a while they had Mint Choc chip in stock. 

We foraged some elderberries locally which we then made into syrup and froze as ice cubes to battle coughs and colds in the winter. 

I'm hoping to find more elsewhere as the patch we discovered wasn't very large and I didn't want to deplete it. 

French Apple Cake was our first bake of Summer. We made two large cakes to enjoy as desserts and snacks. 

I've started a new book, a new knitting project (winter socks) and been munching on as many fresh cherries as I can get my fingers on. 

We've been to the library to enjoy some free crafts and do their always popular scavenger trail around the shelves. 

And We've been to the local park almost every day to play and stretch and let of steam. Mostly we have been going in the late afternoons when the weather cools off a little. It also helps tire small bodies out ready for bedtime nicely. 

I can't wait to see what week 2 holds for us.

X x x

A little peace and quiet

The children officially finish school tomorrow afternoon. Although the eldest finished a few weeks ago after completing her GCSE exams. 

I'm taking the time to enjoy the peace and quiet.

I recently started a new hobby where you make 3d scenes using stickers. I saw someone doing them on TikTok and it caught my eye. 

The idea is that you follow a guide picture and layer the stickers carefully over a plain background to copy it. Quite often the layers interact or overlap so it's not always as easy at it seems.

The kits to make them cost just a few pounds on Amazon so they make for some cheap and cute entertainment. 

 There's something about building the scene and arranging all the contents that scratches an itch in my brain. 

 Have you seen them before? Have you ever tried completing one?

 

Plastic pegs everywhere

 

 It's been such a long time since I posted! So much has happened I don't even know where to start 🤣

  So I'm going to start with a complaint about pegs. With all the beautiful and hot weather we've been having I've been washing anything I think will fit in my washing machine. I'd probably rip up the carpets and put them on a daily wash if I thought I'd get away with it. 🤣

  I did notice however my pegs were severely depleted and I needed more. That was even after I made new pegs from the graveyard of peg parts at the bottom of the peg bag. That's the great thing about wooden pegs. They are a standard size and shape so you can frankenstein spare pieces together to make new pegs. 

  It is really difficult to buy wooden pegs any more. I tried numerous local shops that I thought would carry clothes pegs only to find them all sold plastic ones 😡

 Plastic pegs are rubbish. They go brittle in the heat and cold. They snap in ways you can't repair. They are all slightly different shapes and styles so repair is even harder.  Give me a simple wooden peg any day! 

 That's not to mention the carbon footprint they must have from production, plus they don't breakdown like wooden ones do. I throw snapped wooden pieces into the compost bin. 

 

  Not having much success I even looked on Amazon for wooden pegs and found plenty but only at extortionate prices. Eventually I found some in a chemist. £1 for a packet of 36 pegs. Perfect. I bought 5 packets. 2 will be topping up the peg bag and 3 will be stored in the pantry for later. 

 Has anyone else noticed wooden pegs slowly disappearing from the shops? Next time you go have a peek and let me know if you find any.

X x X

Monday 2nd February

 January ended with the black dog finding me again. I lost myself for a while under a sea of endless bad news headlines and wet grey weather. I'm determined to make Febuary a little bit happier. 

 Today's cleaning job was to deep clean the stairs and hallways ready for the gas man to visit on Wednesday. I used my spot cleaner for any marks on the carpet. I need to go over the whole lot as the water came up quite black with dirt. When I cleaned the laminate floors before Christmas they actually changed colour ! So I'm not surprised the carpets are in a similar state. 

 

 Today's bakes are simple shortbread style biscuits. Miss C requested some biscuits to decorate this morning so she can decorate the stars with as many mini marshmallows and sprinkles as she likes. Dinner is a nice and easy macaroni cheese with a pizza for Miss D who can't stand the sight of pasta currently. 

 This month's knitting challenge for N.H.A.P are devestatingly tiny hats and booties for angel babies. I can knit a set up very quickly so I should have plenty to post later in the month. Annoyingly I've lost my yarn needle so I'm leaving the sewing up for now. I might regret that if I leave it to long 😬.

 If I can find a sneaky half hour somewhere I want to start a new book. I didn't really read much in January and I think it's one of those things that really help my mental health so I'm going to push myself to make more time for it. 

X x X 

Thursday 15th January

 

 I seem to be in something of a hermit era at the moment. With all this relentless rain and bad weather I just haven't been going anywhere other than the school runs or the local supermarket. So there really hasn't been anything much to blog about or share with you. 

I have been watching reruns of Call the Midwife to catch up with the storyline and history for the new series that's just started. I've also been knitting a lot as I like to keep my hands busy. 

This month the charity I knit for NHAP has asked for bunny ear hats so I've knitted 5 of them along with a few other little bits they always seem to need. I posted them yesterday so hopefully they arrive shortly and won't get soggy in transit. 

 Last night we went Miller and Carter for date night. My parents kindly gifted us a voucher for a meal out at Christmas and an evenings babysitting so we could use it. 

 We had a lovely time. DH had a lovely ribeye steak that he said was very good. I had the half chicken with a delicious bourbon sauce. 

 I'm really hoping that this weather clears up soon and I have more exciting things to share with you. Our poor dog is desperate for a lovely long walk somewhere like the lakes or the woods instead of a quick soggy trot around the block. Being so small and low to the ground the poor love just gets to soggy and cold at the moment.  I think we are all longing for some spring sunshine.

X x x 

Wednesday 8th January

 

We enjoyed a cheeky Wetherspoons breakfast this morning as a little January treat. Some of the deals and offers are great value. A breakfast muffin and an unlimited hot drink is just £2.99 so I had a nice breakfast, 2 cups of tea and got to sit by a roaring open fireplace for less than £3. That's a bargain in my book. 

 After breakfast we had to pop to the Job Centre Plus. We assumed we were called in for a review of our universal credits but that wasn't the case. Imagine our suprise when they offered us help to find a new job 🤣

It turned out to be a misunderstanding thanks to the pay department logging his wages later that usual due to Christmas. So on paper he looked like he hadn't been paid so they assumed he was unemployed.

Apparently this is a common problem for people paid on the last working day on the month. You'd have thought someone would have done something about it but that would involve being logical and having common sense. 

So our income is going to be fluctuating each month by a fair margin, however now we know about it we can plan ahead and cope with it. Its a lot of faff though for something that seems easy enough to fix.

X x x

Monday 5th january

 

 Usually the first day back to school is a bit of  hard graft. Everyone is slow to wake up and get ready for the return to the daily mundane. However with a bit of snow added, I couldn't get them ready and outside fast enough. 

 We only had a small dusting of snow but it was enough to entertain everyone for the morning. 

I also picked up some tasty looking sponge puddings on the afternoon school run. I've found 2.30pm is about the right time to get some reduced goodies in co op. Lately I've been buying the girls a reduced price sandwich to share on the way home for 60p or so. 

Maybe with the cold weather keeping everyone indoors I'll find a few more bargains over the course of the week. 

I hope you are all keeping warm today.

X x x