Slow down.... you move too fast!

I seem to have missed something......April!  There has been so much going on here I can't believe that it's now May.
Hubby finally got his early retirement and so we thought we'd go away for a few days. But first we travelled down to Wiltshire to see our daughter and family. Hopefully they'll be coming up to spend a few days with us soon. Then we went off to York for a midweek break. We even managed a day in Whitby....

......I got to try out my new camera, which I'd had for my birthday........

........maybe one day I'll get a perfect shot......

.....but I'm in no hurry, I just love  experimenting ( playing), just to see what it can do.

As the weather is now warming up (well, almost) it's nice to get into the garden.....

.....there's been a lot more growing since I took this shot last week, and Mick's repainted all the fencing. I did keep the tea and cake coming whilst he was doing it! The next step is to do a spot of reorganising in it. But that will be an ongoing project throughout the year.

Last Thursday we went up to Ilam Hall, from there we walked to Milldale  stopped for our packed lunch and tea and then back through Dovedale and back to Ilam.  It was a glorious day....

..... far too nice to be at home doing housework......

...... this little chap came to see what we were up to......

....no, I think he was looking to see if we had anything to eat. Sorry, it's all gone!

Oh well, I'll save you some, next time we're there!

It's all in the maths....isn't it?

Sometimes, you  notice things which make you think " Are people crazy!"

The cost of living is going up daily, no one is getting a pay increase, and bills just keep soaring. So why is it, that some people still seem to have money to burn? Do they have no idea what they spend, or is it a case of "when it's gone , it's gone?"

Whenever I need to buy anything I look for the best value. I don't mean the cheapest, because that can be false economy. I also want things to last.

Over the last week or so there have been a few instances which have amazed me.

I was sitting having a well earned cuppa  and I switched on the telly to "channel hop" for a few minutes. There was a "Superscrimpers" programme on and  someone was telling us all how to "frugally" clean our toilet. I watched in amazement as she proceeded to shake about half a tub of bicarb all over the toilet basin, then she added about one third of a bottle of white vinegar, and then to top it off used essential oil.

Sorry, that is not frugal.Modern flush toilets don't require much cleaning solutions if they are flushed and brushed regularly.  Ordinary brown malt vinegar can be used for any cleaning job, and is cheaper that white. The smell evaporates quickly and does just as good a job. I wouldn't waste essential oil in a toilet, I don't see the point!

Anyway, back to the channel hopping.  I noticed that these were being sold in a pack of three....

.....sticky pens, to pick up tiny beads etc. These were being sold  for £8.99 for the pack of three plus £2.99 postage and packing. WHAT!!!!

These pens are used for nail art. They pick up your tiny embellishment with the sticky end.  These particular ones are similar to the chinagraph markers, where you pull the thread instead of sharpening with a pencil sharpener.

I bought two of these pencils (mine are the ones which you have top sharpen) and it cost me 99p for the two, with free p and p. I bought mine for craft use, on cards and boxes.

I was totally amazed as the presenter said that the item was "flying out of the door".  By this time I was doing my Victor Meldrew impression!

Enough, turn it off and carry on doing what I was doing.

I'm always looking to increase my Sizzix die collection. But they have to be ones which have multiple uses and not "fashionable"  ones. Well what really amazes me is when second hand dies sell for extortionate amounts. For example I saw one of the Tim Holtz bigz dies (used) and it sold on EBay for over £28, people were putting bids on like crazy, plus the p and p was £3.50!.I bought the same die, brand new, from a craft shop via the web for £10.00 and it was free p and p!  Why don't people shop around, don't they want to save money?

it's all in the maths... isn't it?

Fast Forward.....

Well, here we are again, at the end of another month. This year we seem to be going in fast forward mode. I wouldn't mind a freeze frame for a while.  But once we get into March then we know that spring is truly on it's way, no matter what the weather. We've had some dull and dreary weather, and no doubt we'll have some more. But at least the gardens are once more bursting into life. I did manage to get out into the back garden and get all my trays, pots and other gardening paraphenalia sorted ready for the new growing season, and this weekend I will be seed sowing, in doors of course!
We have several large empty pots and this weekend we'll be taking a trip to the local nursery which is just a couple of miles from home, and treating ourselves to some glorious spring flowering plants. ( I've got my eye on some gorgeous plants.
 Anyway, this last month I've been sorting, cleaning and clearing. My little craft room had been done from top to toe. Eventually it will be decorated and have vinyl floor covering put in, but that will be later this year, once the living room has been decorated. It's still looking much better though, here's a glimpse of my little creative space.... ...as you can see, it'd very small, but I now have everything to hand but neatly stored away. The Ikea shelving unit was perfect for the space. The top holds my Slice, Big Shot, and my A4 printer. The other unit,, which I was given, hold my A3 printer and paper file, and underneath is stored all my paper, card etc. .... ..... ...the shelves above hold my Sizzix dies on one side and my paints on the other... .... ....behind the door is the over stairs storage space. This hold boxes of fabrics, lace, ribbons and threads. There's also boxes of stamps too. .... ...that end of my big desk, which Mick built in holds my paper projects files. Yes, they're old " Ground Force" ring binders. They are going to get a makeover with some fabric. So too, is the Ikea small wooden file. This holds ink pads and embossing powders. ( I've only had it two years, but this is the year it will be repainted! Yes, there are two empty milk cartons on my desk, these have many uses, especially if you cut them up! .... ....I have my Ott Lite and ipod on this side of my desk, with Norman ready and waiting! ........ ....under my desk sits both my sewing machines and my embellisher. I will move these into the spare bedroom once I've reorganised that too. Also under here are my boxes of stamps. There's still plenty of leg room. So all in all I'm very pleased how my small room is now organised. All I've got to do now is keep it tidy. (I can hear laughing in my head!!!) If your'e wondering what I'm going to do with the empty milk cartons, then all will be revealed on my craft blog, in the next post.

30 days later....

Well, that's January gone and this is my first post of the year! I had planned to post a couple of weeks ago, but I just didn't get around to it. I always begin sorting and moving things in January, and it's this which has kept me busy (along with hubby having a weeks holiday too) and I've managed to get through quite a lot. No cupboard, wardrobe, shelf, box or container will be left unturned. I started with my little craft room.It wasalready tidy and everything stored, but the accessability to everything was a bit difficult. So I now have some Ikea storage in there and it's looking good. I shall post pictures when I have everything in it's rightful place. Hopefully I'll have it completed tomorrow, just the last couple of boxes to go through. I have no pictures of the snow because I didn't take any. However we did take a trip up to Ilam on Sunday. There was still quite a bit of snow around, and a lot of flooding in the area too. I took these pictures of the river Manifold and you can see how high it was.....

.....it was flowing very fast......

...the wildlife didn't seem to be worried though.....

I've also managed to get some of my knitting projects finished whilst the weather was rough. But I've posted about them on my craft blog. It was nice to spend a couple of days just cooking and baking to fill the freezer up again, (another job crossed of the list) it's nice to have meals ready made, it saves a lot of time for the days we're out. They'll be a lot more soon, I hope! I've notice the green shoots appearing in the garden, so if the weather stays mild for the next couple of days, I could well be spending some time outside and cleaning and sorting out pots and planters for the new growing season. The evenings are already getting lighter, have you noticed? I have, roll on spring!

2013 here we come!

It only seems like a couple of years ago, that we were looking forward to the new millenium. Now here we are, on the eve of 2013! Time really does fly. Have you made any resolutions? I don't really make them, but I do tell myself that I will try to do certain things differently or more efficiently. I don't look back, that's not the way I'm going. I hope the New Year has some wonderful things in store for all of us! All I want is to be happy and healthy, and I wish everyone of you the same too!

Here's to 2013!!!

Happy Holidays to One and All!

In my own time!

It will be two years this month that I had to give up my job. After working for almost 40 years in the retail and banking industries , both full and part time, it made quite a difference to me being at home all the time. It wasn't something which was planned. I'd had a fall on my way home, and had damaged my knee. I ended up using these....

...until they could decide on my treatment. Well, two years down the line my knee is better than it was, but I still have problems. But I'm working on it, slowly. It was because of this accident which led me down the path I now take, and I wouldn't change it for the world. Don't get me wrong, I have loved every job which I've had,(and that's not something which everyone can say) and whilst the children were small I always believed I had the best of both worlds, because I managed to have a part time job which fitted in with Mick's full time one. So apart from the few occasions where there was a clash of hours, my lovely mum and dad stepped in to keep the children occupied. Once the children got older I managed more hours and longer days and still had my precious home time to cook, sew, make and play. But now I'm at home all the time, and it's wonderful! I do have one or two friends who would find themselves at a loose end, as they wouldn't know what to do with themselves all day. Well I can say quite honestly, that I can fill my days quite easily and still have enough left over to fill some more! I still don't have enough hours in the days, but one thing I do have is my own "time zone".....

...What I mean by this, is that I do what I want, whenever I want, unless, of course, there is somewhere to go on a specific day or time. But usually it's all as and when. This suits me down to the ground. because if I decide that I want to stay up until three in the morning to work on a project, well I can. In the new year ( hopefully) Mick will be taking early retirement and so he too will be governed by his own time zone. Exciting times for us! I recently saw someone who I hadn't seen for quite a few years, ( our children were at primary school together) and when I told her I was at home, her answer to me was " aren't you the lucky one! Mind you, you do still live in your old house don't you!" What she meant by this, is that we have lived in our house for over 36 years, and that we didn't chose to move to something larger ( like she did) because everyone was buying bigger at the time. We have always been happy here so why move? She and her family have in fact moved about seven times in about twenty years, each time, something bigger with more space ( and a lot more money to pay back) and now she complains because she's "probably still be working at 70 to pay for it"!! Well, it's all down to choice, isn't it! Do I miss the rushing around all day, the queueing up for the bus, the crowded streets...

..especially this time of the year..... no, I certainly don't. I still have contact with my lovely friends and workmates. But everything else I don't miss at all. I loved it and enjoyed it for almost forty years, but now I'll stick my own time zone, very happy and very contented!