Practical Stuff

I have had a busy few days decorating so no new makes to show at the moment. The hall, stairs and landing have been painted and today I did the ceilings. It all needed a good few coats as I changed the colour. The next job is doing all the doors cupboards and frames tomorrow, then I will need to choose a new stair carpet.  We have pulled up the laminate in the hall downstairs and bought tiles, my husband is going to lay those.  I am glad I got this started as I have always kept on top of the decorating of all the other rooms but the hallway has been left because I always feel we just pass through it. That said is also the first thing you see as you enter the house so a makeover was well over due.  This is a peak of the floor tiles...

I like the busyness of them as the rest of the décor is  plain, I will post some update photographs when it is all finished.  When I was working on the stairs my husband made me a platform that stretched between the ladder and the decorating bench at the top, it even had notches so that it fit into the rungs on the ladder and wouldn't move.  He was not thrilled about me working on it while he was at work but I really didn't want to get anyone in to do painting that I an do myself.  I also feel that it is a good use of my time when I have the summer off school so I always fit decorating jobs into school holidays.

Our water pump to the shower has decided to pack up, we have only had that one three years and now we are having to put up with slow trickle showers until a new one is sourced and fitted.  It turns out it may have been the wrong sort originally so that is why it didn't last, we replaced like for like with the original from when we moved in.  So who ever did the job in the first place must have installed the wrong pump.   There is always something around the house that needs replacing and that makes me think what hard work it must be for the people who own the holiday rentals like the one we just stayed in.  To keep things looking good with a constant stream of families passing through surely must mean a never ending list of repairs  and replacement items.

To keep me entertained while I have been busy I have been listening to more podcasts, the time just passes so easily. Maybe that makes decorating a flow activity though I am not sure I would want to do it five days a week,  just a thought.

My latest book is Other Words for Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin, it was on the new books shelf at the library.  It is a YA book but I'll give it a go, I was drawn in by the bright cover.

Bye for now.

August...ing

I thought I would do a post like this early on in the month instead of leaving it until the last minute so here goes.

Making mainly bags at the moment, I have decided to set a certain amount to stock on each online shop then stop, leave them on for a fixed time then if nothing is really happening after a reasonable amount of time they will be used or gifted.  Here is yesterdays bag, which is more of a revamp as I made this one a while ago but it has been improved.

Baking gluten free, vegan scones for the second time this week, I just know they would taste so much better with regular flour as the GF stuff has a certain taste to it but I have to look after my tummy.

Watching  Keeping Faith, I have pretty much binge watched this, this week and I have really enjoyed it. The scenery is lovely and I found the story very engaging even if I did wonder what the hell she was doing standing by her sad husband, if you have been watching you will understand!

Reading currently Night Road by Kristin Hannah, now I am half way through this and it is not really my thing but a friend passed it on and said it was amazing.  Well I am not feeling it and my husband keeps on saying why are you still reading that book you don't like? Well I feel I should see it through as she enjoyed it and books are a very personal thing.  Who knows the last few chapters  may blow me away, fingers crossed.

Growing  more lovely flowers in the garden, quite a few of what have come up have been a surprise as I planted some mixed colour seeds.  It would be nice if they had specified what they all were as I am now finding I like certain ones but have no idea of the names.

Enjoying the summer break but wondering why it always leaves me uncertain if I am in the right job. Maybe it is having more time to think but I am just not sure if I want to do the same thing for the rest of my working years but have no clear plan what path to take. 

Listening to  more Rich Roll podcasts, the latest one was an interview with Dan Buettner founder of Blue zones you can have a look at the website here . He has travelled the world studying the longest lived citizens of various communities and what they have in common, it is really interesting and of course a lot of common sense.  Both the website and the podcast are worth look/listen.

Wondering what to grow next in my greenhouse or garden for late summer, any tips for autumn colour as I would really love to keep the colours going for as long as possible.  Budget plants being the theme, I have no time for expensive plants that give a week of colour and then they are gone, especially with our British weather.  A week of bad weather could see us inside all week with blooms been and gone, no I want to grow or plant value giving varieties to keep the garden looking well a little longer.

That's all for now have a good weekend. 

Making and Sorting

Do you ever start something and then wonder how  a simple job could have taken you so long? Well that is how I am feeling today.  I have a big folder with all sorts of house stuff in it, you know the kind where everyone puts things they don't want to lose. Well I am on my third folder and it had broke again so I have decided everyone is going to have their own as clearly we are trying to cram too much into one large one.  So I set about getting rid of papers no longer needed, organising and so on. Then I couldn't find my breakdown cover, I called them and it turns out that has expired and I was going to call to change the car details too. So another job of finding new  breakdown cover had pooped up!  It is all done now but I did notice the overhead cupboards are a bit untidy  so that is a job for tomorrow.

That aside, over on Minerva crafts today you can see the full post for my mock jumpsuit here . It has had a lot of wear already as it is really comfy and washes well.

This morning I completed another little bag, it would go really nice with my swan skirt but I have listed it.  The idea being I am supposed to be making them to stock etsy and folksy shops but I always like them. The real annoying thing for me is making things and then putting them away in cupboards to just wait around for the possibility of someone wanting them when I could be using them.  I have a feeling I would be a dreadful actual shop owner, the sight of full shelves with items fading but never used would make me sad.

While we were away last week I finished reading The familiars by Stacey Halls it was excellent. I like the fact that she used real people from history to build her story around and it was good to get stuck into a book after a few false starts. After I finished it I watched a little documentary about the Pendle witch trials as this was the central theme to the story.  Unfortunately I have since started 'Circe' and didn't like that, Enchantee, but that was my fault as it is YA fiction and I didn't realise when I ordered it and finally The Meryl Streep Movie club. The last one was in the holiday rental and I did persevere but it really wasn't for me.  Any suggestions for my next read are greatly appreciated.