Frugal Food Shopping

 

I have planned my menu for the week and on Sunday went to Aldi to stock up. I mainly stuck to the list but did buy a couple of extras for the freezer such as peas and sweetcorn. Below is the receipt, £49.46 and then I had the five pound voucher from the newspaper bringing it down to a rather respectable £44.46 for a family of two adults and two hungry teenagers. 

Tonight we had shepherds pie which was prepared on Sunday to save time this evening. Whilst boiling the potatoes for the topping I made a few more to make a corned beef and potato pie for dinner tomorrow night, just like Mamma used to make .

 

We are been frugal in this house right now.

Recent Makes

Hi, I just thought I'd pop by and show you some recent makes, these were actually Christmas presents for loved ones.

 

 

It was so hard to part with the above cushion, the colours strangely match the colours of my home perfectly. They also match Mama and Dads so it was wrapped up and taken for my Dad's Christmas present. The above is the front,

 

And the above here is the back.

 

 

Little Owlie here was knitted up for our Daughter, apparently been a teenager is no excuse not to cover your bed in cuddly toys.

 

 

Foxy loxy scarf was another knit for her, its a short scarf but perfect for keeping you warm.

Apart from a couple of crochet dishcloths that's about everything in the home made category.

I hope that your keeping warm in this cold weather, thanks for reading x.

 



Hello

Hi there to anyone who happens to pass by and read this (hi Mam.)
Its been an awful long time since my last post but I think I ran out of things to say to be honest. Anyway I've found my crafting mojo so there will be photos to follow on my next post but I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year in 2015.

Garden Breakfast

 

As I write I'm sat in my favourite garden spot at breakfast time, this is where the early morning sun warms the dealing outside the back door. It is here that you can contemplate the world as the sun slowly warms you up ready for the day. It makes a change from yesterdays thunderstorms and general darkness, however I'm sure that the garden enjoyed the drink.

 The greenhouse is full of life, with the heavenly scent of the sweet peas close by. I must remember to take some indoors.

 There beautiful scent and colours are a welcome addition to our home, even the teen" ogres" approve of them.

 As I said not many tomatoes this year, however this is out accidental tomato plant. We had never planted it, it just appeared in a pot with something else and its been the best plant we have had this year.

 If you look closely here you might just be able to spot the chilli hanging there. Hubby and son are chilli lovers. My daughter is not so keen and I put that down to the pregnancy craving I had for curry all those years ago.

 Moving on to one of the beds, the Begonias, violas and sweetcorn you can just see in the back are coming along nicely.

 why this picture has decided to load this way I can not tell you, my excuse ? I'm using my tablet and I haven't got used to it just yet 😁

Yummy apples are plenty on the apple tree.

And another lovely spot as you walk past on your way back to breakfast. I hope that the sun is shining wherever you are and that you have a glorious weekend. I'm off now to "supervise" some decorating.



Drying in the sunshine.

There is nothing like drying clothes out in the sunshine, it is of course a much cheaper alternative to the tumble drier. I have become all too reliant on the drier and most of the washing gets dried this way, in a bid to save money I got Hubby to put up a new line and here it is.

Like many families I am cutting back on the outgoings, care to share your money saving tips ?

Lurvely Bag

I just thought that i would show you a picture of a bag that I have recently made, and of course a crochet Rose which I gave as a gift to my Mam for Mothers Day.

As the weather warms

We are super busy planting up the garden right now.  I cant remember everything we have growing in the poly tunnel right now but there are tomatoes, chillies, peas and other things.  We both find it quite exciting to see how things are growing and changing day by day. Hopefully everything will continue to grow and we will be eating tomatoes (blech) and chillies (yummy) over the summer.

I live in a city and whilst it has a strong mining history that the locals are proud of but  I feel that it lacks anything new these days. So I'm on a quest to either find some local events that are actually interesting or make my own. A random comment I know but when you look at other blogs there seems to be lots of interesting things happening, like May Day Festivals and other such stuff. Im kind of thinking that "Up north" people are not really interested in these things and just dont get me started on my way of living, Im constantly met with raised eye brows when people find out we grow some food in our garden, I knit, we brew, bake bread and so on.  Its quite funny really ! I feel like a square peg in a round hole, but thats ok.

Picnics in the sunshine and foraging.

Last week in a true spur of the moment I took my dear son for a picnic. Sadly as Old Mother Hubbard seems to have taken over the kitchen we stopped off and bought sandwiches on the way. The sun was shining and it was truly beautiful.

We just sat together munching our food and watching the world go past. I very very rarely buy a magazine as they are far too expensive for my pocket but as a small treat we bought one each. My son bought one on aeroplanes (as any 12 year old would?) and mine was the latest copy of The Lady magazine. 

 We went here to Finchale Priory,  it is free to visit the property but you pay £3 for the car park. It is incredibly beautiful and well worth the visit.

 The picture above was the view from our picnic spot.

 We crossed the river to go for a walk in the woods.

 Magical !

 It was so hot that even I was tempted to dip my toes, although I passed.

 This tree seemed to go on for ever and ever.

We have also been foraging recently. Now we are not fortunate enough to live in the countryside but there are still plenty of foraging opportunities in the city.

 The above are Mirabelle Plums been made into wine. The smell of these are delicious, good enough to eat.

 Damsons !

What else would you make with damsons other than Damson Gin. I know I could have made jam but I honestly have so much jam in the cupboards that we made from strawberries in the summer that I will still be eating it next year.

I haver my eyes on the blackberries but they are not quite ready for picking just yet. 

All busy here !

Hi I hope that you had a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend. We spent the entire weekend in the back garden trying to transform it from a tip to a lovely place where we can relax. Sadly the weather had other ideas on Saturday and we had to battle through the rain at times until we were soaking and had to retreat indoors.  However is it so nearly transformed and almost ready for plants. 

I have also been finishing off some long overdue craft projects. I bought the seat below a few years ago and although it is lovely, it has never been right.

 I bought some dotty fabric and foam padding a few weeks back and set to and made a cushion for it. It looks better but will need a smaller decorative cushion made to go with it. Perhaps a knitted or crochet one, I can't decide.  Anyway its looking much better already.

Here is another project I have been working on too. In the winter I like to have my bedroom cold, and by that I mean no heating and the big window wide open to allow the air to circulate. Without this I feel like I am suffocating. This means that my poor hubby freezes, he he ! So I thought that I would crochet a lovely blanket to snuggle up with on the bed. I am just crocheting rows of double crochet and only doing two rows before changing the colour, this means that it is growing slowly and perhaps would have been better in Treble crochet to make it grow quicker. Either way its a lovely way to spend the evenings, have you seen how dark its getting now ? It was completely dark here the other night by half past eight !

Here is a sneaky peek at the delicious apples we have growing in the back garden right now.

Yummy !

Bye for now,

Blessings

X

Stop Dreaming, Start Living

The title of this post came about from a conversation I was having with my Mam yesterday. We were talking about her poorly laptop and what she wanted to be able to use it for, I said that I mainly use my laptop to find craft projects (that I never do) and read the many lovely blogs out there. The problem with this is that I find craft projects and blogs and the following happens,

"I could never do that, it will be too difficult"

"I wish I could do that"

"If only my home was like that"

"I wish my life was ......... "

You get the picture?

 I said to my Mam that I needed to start living the dreams I have and stop making thousands of excuses as to why I will never be able to do so and that only other people can do these things.
Is this making any sense ?
Well there you go, perhaps that was the motivation I needed to get back into blogging.

ACCOUNTABILITY !

I know from talking to other people that I am not alone in feeling this way so perhaps you might like to join in (if anyone still reads this ) and start living out your dreams.  I'd love to hear from you.

Blessings

X

There organised them chickens !

Can you guess the film from the above quote ?

I have been itching to get back to blogging recently and have had so many ideas floating around me head.

I have projects to be done around the house, for the family and others just for me. Projects like organisation, crafts, cooking and spending time with my not so little ones. 

I'll be back in the next couple of days to share some more.

Oh yes, click here to see which film it was.

Hi There !

Hi, I am trying to start afresh with this blog. I thought about not blogging at all or maybe starting a new one but for now Im just going to see how it goes. I know its been a while but rather than try and catch up I thought I'd just start from here.

 Like many people we have been enjoying much snow. Its lovely and beautiful but I am kind of hoping that we have seen the last of it for now, although looking at the forecast for the week ahead more may be on its way. I took this picture whilst out walking the dog, its only about a ten or fifteen minute walk from the house but the snow was so deep it took forever to actually get anywhere. I had to walk across the field to the right and the snow was so deep it was above my welly tops.

 Craft wise I have been making these little beauties, courtesy of a pattern from here . Pop over and have a look at this lovely blog. Please excuse the bad photograph, how difficult is it to take a picture of your own arm ? Good Grief! They are currently been packed up and winging their way as a gift.

I decided at the weekend that rather than pop out and buy more craft things that will never get used I would work my way through the countless kits and patterns and make something out of what I have already bought. It was hard today I can tell you, walking past the wool shop and seeing all of the lovely colours ! Im currently working on a cross stitch that I bought a couple of years ago. I havent done any cross stitching for ages, I'll post a picture later.
Anyway, if your still out there reading this then thank you for reading and I hope that I will have another post up in the next couple of days.

GOD Bless

Well it has been ages since I last posted, however I am trying to get back into blogging and must admit that I have missed been here. 

Anyway I am taking part in a 31 Day Fall Challenge which is been hosted by Courtney over at Women Living Well . Every Monday during the month of November Courtney is going to set a task to Make Our Homes a Haven. Right now this is certainly what I am needing and I am looking forward to taking part. 

The sun shines !

Its been glorious weather here recently, we have had a couple of down pours and a HUGE thunderstorm but the sun is shining and it is still warm and here in this little house we are making the most of it. Today we packed our swim suits and went here, the children swam and spent most of the time jumping from the diving board trying to give Tom Daley a run for his money and I sat in the sun eventually going in for a quick ten laps. 

Here in England we need to make the most of the weather when the sun shines and today we really did.
Is the sun shining where you are ?

Its finally here !

 Its here ! The event that London has been waiting for ! Yes my dear friends I am so excited that today the countdown is finally over and we can watch the Olympic Games.

 When I was flicking through the above magazine I came across a familiar face. Oh how I longed to be like Olga Korbut when I was a child (or Nadia for that matter), so graceful and elegant and the most wonderful Gymnasts ever ! I must add however that this photograph was taken at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, three years before I was born, bt that didnt matter to me when I was a little gymnast. Naturally I plan on watching LOTS of gymnastics over the next couple of weeks and entertain my family with stories of ,

"I could do that"

"I used to be like that"

and so on ! You get the picture? Although the reality was not quite the same

I know where my daughter gets her ever so competative spirit from, I was continuing with my sort out the other day and came across a packet with all of my dance and gymnastics certificates and medals. In amongst them was a silver medal won for my gymnastics, at the time I was DEVASTATED for winning such a disgrace as a silver medal and threw it away. Spoilt brat , moi?

I obviously fished it from the bin when I had calmed down a bit. How my parents didnt strangle me with the medal I will never know. I am glad that my children may be competative but not in the same awful way their mother was (and no longer is I might add), they just strive to be the best they can and dont get competative with other people.



Anyway now I support our own Teams and will be following the Team GB Gymnastics Team.

What will you be watching?

Sorting out !

This is what I was faced with this morning, today was a designated clear out of the Boys room. As we are due to start the secondary school so very soon it was the ideal opportunity to encourage him that he no longer needed all the toys that were stuffed in there. He so badly wants daddy to decorate it , however, Daddy (rightly so) will not do such a task when it looks like the above. I coulend even get into the room to show you the shot the other way round.

After afew hours here is what we now have. Where did it all go you ask? Well currently everything that is to go is in bin bags stuffed in his sisters room. part of me would like to do a car boot sale but I expect that it will be donated to the local charity shop.  It better stay this tidy.

Now I just have the rest of the house to clear out !!!!!!

Feeling Frumpy !

I have recently been having my own little pity party for one and have been feeling a little on the frumpy side.  Like Mothers the world over I dont prioritise "Me time" and I have been feeling a little neglected and ... well..... Frumpy !

This has eventually drove my poor hubby nuts with my constant moaning so I have bought afew treats which naturally make me feel guilty but hey ho ! Whatever !

 Do you remember those ever so lovely Love Heart Sweets ? Well after popping into Superdrug I spotted these Lip Balms which look just like them.

 They dont really smell of anything which is a shame as I am used to minty lip balms but they are OK. They dont look as bright when you apply them just a nice shiny pink. 

 A little pink eyeshadow and lip gloss. Can you believe that the Love Heart Lip Balms were £2 each, I cant remember the price of the eyeshadow but it was only a few pounds and the lip gloss was £1. 

I also recently signed myself up to try GlossyBox . Basically you pay a monthly subscription of £12 and receive a box of "High End" sample size goodies each month.  This is how it came and below is what I received. 

Inside it was,

* DUWOP Lip Gloss

* DR BRONNER Liquid soap/ shower gel

* PAUL MITCHELL  Hair Curl Definer

*BM Mineral eyeshadow

* COMO SHAMBHALA Body Lotion

It was Ok, the body lotion is lovely as it smells of essential oils and the shower gel has organic essential oils in it, so again I like this. However the rest I am a bit Blah about, they are nice and I will keep . Will I get another one ? I dont know, its nice to receive a little treat each month but I think that I would prefer to pick out what I would like.  If I get could get my rear into gear I like to make my own lotions and potions and have plenty of books on the subject but I just never seem to get the time to make any. Do you make any of your own beauty supplies? 

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

I am joining in with Soulemama this week for the Friday Ritual.

Have a peaceful, blessed weekend. x

Having a clear out !

I have been busy clearing out STUFF ! You see, around my house there are various places which have the purpose of storing craft gear.  I have been doing different craft type things for years and have built up quite a collection from card making to sewing to knitting and more recently crochet.  I am guilty as charged for buying things that I love, storing them away and keeping them for a rainy day Well in my quest for decluttering I started with some of my craft stash. 

 Here is where the paper craft things are kept and I forgot to photograph all of the stuff stashed beside this seat. However when I took it all out it looked something like this ,

 Words escape me right now about all this STUFF !

 Anyway here is the after shot. Everything that you see in the above photograph has been sorted through and placed back inside here or the recycling bin apart from the purple bag thing you see in the background on the above picture. 

 Here is another after shot. Out of sight out of mind. 

 I didnt take a before shot of this cute little ottoman that my Hubby bought me a few years back. Inside here I keep my fabrics and patterns. Its all been sorted and you can actually sut the top now. 

 Another job jobbed ! Inside of here are some of the knitting patterns that belonged to my Grandmother, she would be tickled pink if she knew that I was sharing them with you on the world wide web. I can remember some of these as a child, she was always knitting something or other from toys to jumpers and cardigans. 

 It shows how old these are, just look at the lovely clothes that Sindy is wearing. Do you remember Sindy ? Gosh we had loads of them with four girls in the house, I think that we probably had just about every Sindy item you could buy at the time and to think that people collect them now. Anyway moving on.......

 I used to love CareBears, did you ?  I dont remember having a knitted out though, I think I used to have some of the small plastic ones. I might have to make my very own CareBear, he he !

 This is copyrighted in the early 70's

And here is my very own knitted Scarecrow made by my Grans fair hands. I am guessing here but I think it is probably 23 years old.

Anyhow, I have been busy creating here but have yet to take some photographs to share with you. I have been doing some crochet  and enjoying cups of hot tea with the lovely Melanie. She very kindly has been teaching me some new tricks with the crochet so I can move on from the Granny Squares. Thanks Melanie.  Not only is it nice to learn something new but its nice to have things around the home that I have made myself. 

Right, I am off now as we are watching The Magicians on tv and I need to see to the fire. 

Have a lovely weekend.