Keep it Vegan (Scrummy food from this book)

This past few weeks have been a blur of getting back into that routine of work, home, cook etc. after the lovely summer break.  I always feel that the time between getting home and putting tea on the table goes through some incredible time fast forward! I have been trying extra hard to make new foods with my vegan cook books it's just a shame there isn't such a good audience for it all around here.  Oldest son is vegetarian and will try some new stuff but he also incredibly picky and often out, my husband and younger son are very much a 'what are we having with the meat?' duo,  so I have to just be my own chef.

So despite  the clock going into fast forward as soon as I walk through the  front door I have managed to make some of the recipes in my new book 'Keep it Vegan'.

  Today I made the stuffed mushrooms to have with our Sunday lunch and these did go down well.

Friday I made the red lentil and spinach lasagne, this was also appreciated by older son so maybe he is getting less fussy.  There was enough left for me to have another portion for tea yesterday.

Yes this is a photo from the book, we ate it before I thought of taking a picture again.

I have also tried the macaro-no cheese, but I added notes to that page as I felt it needed onions or garlic, there just wasn't enough flavour.

The cashew cheese was also a hit and there are so many variations on this if you look online I think I will have to keep experimenting.  I also made a walnut cheese this week (not from the book) I found the recipe here (Vegan Walnut Cheese)

This has got to be my favourite, I would say it's more of a nut butter but I made two pots and I have had it with everything, on cucumber, at the side of salad, on toast for breakfast and on leftovers to cheer them up.  If you like nut spreads then try this because it is so good.

Anyway getting back to the book, this week I am going to try the carrot cake bites, black bean chilli, the Indian spiced tacos and the mango salsa.  I went through a phase of getting cook books from the library and only making one thing from them, well I bought this book so I am making sure I work though it.  I know I probably won't like everything but at least I will have given all the recipes a go.  ( I would just like to add that this is just a book I saw and purchased, all views are my own and I am not affiliated with it.)

The days are really starting to shorten now and it is a little bit sad to be getting up in the gloom, I have decided to embrace this however and find the good in it. Yesterday I popped outside to take a photograph of the sun coming up behind the trees.

It felt very quiet, the horses were already out in the opposite field.

As I am very much a summer person I have decided I am going to focus on all the positives of the coming seasons and dark nights.  I will try to remember to post them here and if you have any ideas to contribute about what you love about Autumn and Winter please share.  Ooh I've thought of one already- Poldark,  for the time being anyway.

My sewing has been of the practical nature this past two weeks rather than creative.  I have had three blouses to shorten sleeves on for a friend along with a replacement zip, a large cushion cover and two shirts for my husband.  I am going to start a dress for myself later in the week and it will get done because I have written it down.  This is weird but I have found that if I write it down I will get to it, it's as though I'm letting myself down if I don't.

Books

This post was inspired by Christina from A colourful Life thank you Christina.  I always intend to write something about the books I read if only  to keep track myself.  Time moves on however and I'm onto the next book so prompted by Christina's post I'm making a start.  I did photograph some of them  last month so the intention was there!
The first book I read last month was 'David and Goliath' by Malcolm Gladwell.

I really enjoyed this book and if you have read any of his other work this one doesn't disappoint.  This is a non-fiction book and discusses the relationship between adversity and success.  How come some people seem to create triumph out of the most difficult of circumstances whereas others appear to have every opportunity and yet fail to thrive.  Also some really interesting points on how over priveledged children do not always succeed in the way you would expect given their educational and material opportunities. That in fact the struggle that many face to reach their goals is in fact important.  I've heard the phrase 'character  building' before, this book gives examples of how this can be so. 

The next book I read 'How to live on 24 hours a day, is very old and some of the politically incorrect comments in this book will make you wince!  This is another non fiction book.  There is a lot of wisdom there, in realtion to how we use our time and the excuses people make as to why they can't get things done.   I read this one in a day and also laughed a few times at the old fashioned language used but also wanted to throw it across the room a few times in relation to the  remarks about women and people of other cultures.  It's worth a read to pick out the wisdom that is there.

Moving onto 'The quest for Mary Magdalene'  I started off really well with this and super interested but halfway through I lost my way and didn't continue.  I think it was possibly just too text bookish.

El misterio de la llave is in Spanish and is ongoing as I am using it to learn, I'm not allowing myself to move on until I know each page well so it is taking forever!

Next I moved onto a fiction book 'The Elegance of the Hedgehog' recomended on another site. here

While this book did take a bit of getting into and gets  bit high brow in places, I loved it.  Renée is a concierge in an apartment block for wealthy people but there is more to her than the narrow minded residents can grasp.  Lots of little glimpses into her mind and that of one of the residents, a young girl who feels there is no point to life.  I had to stop and have a little think many times throughout this book, it is not one you can whiz through but I did enjoy the characters.

When I finished that one we went off on holiday and 'Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and his years of pilgrimage' went with me.  I felt this was slow to start, I know the author has been translated into so many languages but I just plodded on with it.  Halfway through I started to get into it and wanted to know the outcome, but I needn't have bothered as the ending was poor.   The story is about a young man who has four close friends, he moves out of town for his first year of university, the rest stay behind.  At some point during that year his friends decide they never want to speak to him again, giving no explanaition.  The story moves on from this, I may try another by Murakami at some point, but not just yet.

Finally I read 'We are all completely beside ourselves'  I bought this one from a charity shop a few months ago and it sat on the shelf after just reading a bit of it.  When I returned to it this time I loved it.

  Rosemary had a sister when she was young who suddenly disappeared from her life.  The family refused to talk about where she had gone and her older brother Lowell was left with resentment towards his parents and eventually he too leaves the family home in his teens.   There is a really good twist in this story so if you are going to read it don't skip on and read a bit from the middle as I know some people do when buying books.  You will spoil it for yourself,  a lot of the issues raised I found very interesting and in some cases upsetting.  This book makes you laugh and cry my, definite favourite of the month.

I shared this image before when I bought the book.

Charity Shop Bargains and Resizing a T-shirt

While we were away on holiday I had a look in  a couple of charity shops mainly to see if there was anything I could use for the fabric.  Fabric is now so expensive, I try to use recycled when I can but it is nice to buy exactly what you want sometimes.  I often find I don't buy it though when it can be well over ten pound per metre, thanks Sewing Bee!  When I first started sewing in my teens I would go the market and come back with something fabulous for a few pounds every week thrilled that I could recreate whatever I had seen in the catalogue for next to nothing. (Catalogue, or club book we used to call it)

I rarely have such finds in an actual fabric shop these days ( with the exception of the fabric I found in John Lewis at Christmas, I still have some left!) but I do sometimes find items I can use in charity shops the only trouble is you have to work around what you have.  I can't just decide on  a style first because when you deconstruct clothes you often have weird shaped bits left.

Anyhow I didn't find any wow fabric on garments but I did find two lovely T-shirts for a pound each, and what is even better about this is that I was looking at a T-shirt in a shop a few days before exactly the same as one them in style (different colour) in River island and it was nine pounds.  Now nine pounds isn't bad I know but it was either a washed out pink or black, pale pink doesn't suit me and I have enough black.  The charity shop one is purple, perfect!   The other T-shirt is way too big but that's not a problem.

I like this style because when you wear jeans that are low you have that extra bit of cover at the back for when you have to bend down, I always feel like I'm pulling those low jeans up! This one is size 8 so perfect as it is.

This top is a size 14 so needs some work.  I had been looking at cotton jersey in grey but like I said the price is just silly so this was a lucky find.

It didn't take very long to make it fit, I just pulled one of my tops from the wardrobe (this is sometimes quicker than trying on and pinning) and then I placed it on top of the grey T-shirt. Then I just cut around my own top allowing a small seam allowance, when I had done that I also cut around the armholes to take a little out there otherwise it would be too big on the shoulders as well. If you are only resizing by just one or possibly two sizes you may not need to do this step but as I was going down three sizes it was needed.

As you can see sides and arm holes need adjusting.

Here I just trimmed about a cm from the shoulder and around the sleeve, I didn't bother unpicking I just cut but if you are resizing only a small amount it's better to unpick.

I pinned the sleeve back in place and stitched it in place then folded the garment over, pinned all down the side then stitched all the way down starting from the sleeve.

Much better

Vegan GF Stuffing and Apricot and Apple Spiced Loaf

Recently I have been using catch up TV to watch a couple of shows that I had missed out on, one of them was 'Eat Well for Less' now I don't k now about you but I have been amazed at how much some people spend on food.  What's even more surprising is how shocked some of them are when they are told what it equates to over the course of a year.  The most recent episode I watched featured a man who was celiac and the presenters were helping the family to come up with more meals they could all eat together. During the show home made stuffing was prepared and that inspired me to make some of mine own to accompany yesterdays lunch.

Stuffing
1 white onion
100g of GF breadcrumbs
1 tbsp. chopped thyme
Vegan egg replacer equivalent to 1 egg
1 tbsp. vegan spread
1 tbsp. olive oil
sprinkle of garlic salt
sprinkle of pepper
1/2 tsp vegan cheese sauce powder

I blitzed the breadcrumbs in the food processor set aside then blitzed the onion.  Chop the thyme or remove leaves (that's what I did I think it's a bit woody) Mix up the egg replacer.
Fry the onion in the spread and oil, when soft add the breadcrumbs, thyme and seasoning.  Remove from heat then stir in the egg replacer, next take small amounts in your hands and form into balls.

Now these are uncooked, I forgot to take a photo once cooked.

I cooked them with a little oil in the tray for half an hour on 200 fan oven.  I will make these again and fussy son ate them so that is a plus.

Another thing I made this week was an apricot and apple spiced loaf.  I didn't have self raising GF flour so I used plain and added baking powder but it didn't rise much.  It tastes really nice though so I'm not too concerned I will just use the correct flour next time.  It was from my book Vegan and Gluten Free Baking which I have used quite a bit now.

It didn't last long so definitely one to make again.

Lovely Lake District

We have just returned from a wonderful week in Cumbria, a bit of a change from my holidays of recent years in the caravan but I was really impressed.  I didn't know if the accommodation would live up to the fantastic images on the website but I needn't have worried it outdid my expectations.  The cottage was so well stocked with every gadget you could need including all cleaning supplies, washer, dryer you name it, they even provided cling film (which I didn't need, but it was there!)
I booked it through Sally's Cottages and I will be using them again, it really felt like a home.

This is the cottage and garden, the building you can see behind is one of the other two cottages which are joined to it.  Those two were bigger, our cottage was two bedroom and although it looks big from the photo it was small but beautifully done.  One open living space downstairs with  spiral staircase in the middle, a downstairs bathroom and two bedrooms, one twin upstairs.

When we arrived on Friday it was raining heavily so we just settled in and ate, Saturday morning saw more of the same so I was relieved we weren't on a camp site having to trudge across a field to the toilet.  We did venture to Keswick on Saturday but it was such bad weather we had to go back as we were so drenched.  My newly waterproofed raincoat did not hold out and it went straight through to my skin!

The weather gradually improved and we managed to see a fair bit of the area, we returned to Keswick and had a walk around Derwentwater Lake.

It was quite grey again but still very beautiful.

That's not us.

This was a fantastic walk towards and then past Loweswater, we had a bit of an uphill climb in places which gave lovely views and we were out about five hours (but that did include a drink and lunch at a pub halfway).

We visited other nearby towns also, Cockermouth, Workington, Maryport and Whitehaven. There were also lovely walks around our accommodation.

It was nice and secure for the dogs with a walled garden and a solid gate.  The floors were wood so we wiped the dogs  as they came in on a towel. We had taken our own dog pens which they slept in at night.

The dogs exploring the garden.

This was during the first few days when the weather was wet, it had cleared a little so we walked down the lane. I didn't know my husband had taken this photo of me watching the cows.

It was quite sad packing up, we had all got into a little routine there and of course it's good to spend more time with my two boys who normally don't want to go out for walks with us now that they are older. I'm sure we will see it again sometime.

Ironing Board Cover Recycle

A while ago I bought a duvet set from the charity shop and made these pyjamas.  I was wondering what to do with the remainder of the set and my ironing board cover was looking a bit sad, so I thought it could be put to good use there.

I removed the existing cover but kept it as the padded bit underneath is fine, I used that to cut around and stitched the new fabric to the top.

The elastic around the edge has gone a bit too so I added elastic to go across widthways to fit it to the ironing board.

Now it's not perfect but it fits snug and it didn't cost me a penny to replace it today and have a clean cover.  I have seen some fabulous pictures of some that people have made complete with built in pin cushion and tool pockets for sewing equipment.  This was just a quick fix!

We went for a fantastic walk yesterday to Damflask and I forgot to take my camera, my husband had his phone but its not the same to keep asking 'ooh take a photo of that' is it?  We will be going again how often do we miss things that are right on our door step or at least a short drive away.  I have been before with a friend for a run but that was a good few years ago and I don't know why it has taken me so long to return. 

Yorkshire water have lots of ideas for walks around reservoirs so I must use their website more, I'm sure it's the same in other regions with local providers having this information on their websites.

Sundress to Blouse Refashion

During my declutter I have come a cross a few things I had forgotten about. Some of it has been bits from charity shops bought for fabric very cheap and I have to say I have put some of these items back in the bag to go back as I will likely never use them.  However one dress I pulled out and wondered why I had never finished it.  It is a sundress and originally it had gold trim around the bodice and waist about 3cm deep, very bling, very tacky.  I remember carefully unpicking all of it so I could save the dress.

Well I might as well have not bothered as yesterday after staring at it for a while and concluding that I really want to do something different with it I decided on a blouse.  Now I didn't want a button through as the fabric is too busy for that, also it could have resembled a Hawaiian shirt. 

  

                             

A couple of months ago I made a long sleeved blouse that tied at the front and I have had lots of wear out of that one so far.  I chose to make a short sleeve version and although this fabric is a cotton I still think it works.

I had a little of this lace so I used it on the shoulders as a detail.

I cut around an existing  t-shirt for the basic shape but quite a bit bigger as it had to slide over my head, then I took it in as far as I comfortably could while still being able to pull it over my head without the need for any fastenings.

I had to cut some strips and face all the way around the neck and arms as the lace opens up really easily.  This was a bit of trial and error as I used a thin soft black ribbon at first but that rippled at the shoulder due to difference in stretchiness between the ribbon and the lace.  So I unpicked that folded strips of the cotton and did it that way.

I don't know if you can quite see in the picture above but I also had to add a little diagonal dart at each side of the neckline.  It wasn't quite sitting flat before but that seems to have done the trick.

I'm very happy with it and that is another new from old item saved from the worlds rubbish heap! I didn't have to buy any notions and it is completely pattern free.

              

Spicy Chickpea Stew (Vegan, GF)

Well today I was faced with what to have for lunch and as I looked in the fridge I noticed I had half a tin of chickpeas and half a tin of tomatoes that needed using up, well I say tin they had been transferred to plastic containers because you are not supposed to leave them in the tin once opened.

I had a look on my pinterest board and there was a recipe for Spanish chickpea stew but every time I tried to go the page my computer kept freezing.  So the page was called Lazy cat recipes if you want to find the original.  I could remember the ingredients but didn't  have all of them so I had to improvise a bit (which I think you should rather than buying spices you may never use again). 

So I didn't have any onions left instead I used a green peeper chopped and fried, I added the tin tomatoes, cooked for a few minutes then added 2 garlic cloves chopped.
  Once the pepper softened a bit I added the chickpeas along with one tsp mild chilli powder, one tsp oregano, one tbsp tomato puree.

  Then it was looking a little dry so two tbsp. water along with two small fresh tomatoes chopped.
I let that simmer for about five minutes then added two handfuls of chopped spinach, salt and pepper.

Few minutes more and it was done.

I decided to have it in a gluten free wrap, although I'm not a massive fan of these they are ok with something that has a good amount of moisture in it like this.

It didn't take that long, everything I used I had in the fridge, it's vegan, gluten free and healthy. Furthermore my youngest son had some in a wrap with leftover chicken and there is one full portion left which will either be frozen or consumed by oldest son later.

Coat Pocket Repairs (Tutorial)

A bit of repair work was needed today on my raincoat.  I had washed it as after a school trip a couple of weeks ago it was a bit muddy but this must have been one wash too many and whatever was holding the fabric around the zip pockets has started to come away.

Now I know a lot of these coats say dry clean only but this has been washed a number of times and it is only just having issues.  So as going to the dry cleaners is expensive and inconvenient I will continue to wash my coats.

So the best way to tackle this is to go in on the inside by making a hole in the lining seam by unpicking it a bit.

 So the space you make in the side doesn't have to be very big, just big enough to get your hand inside and manipulate the fabric.  I chose to remove the labels at this point also.

Once you have your opening place the pocket to be repaired under

the machine making sure you can feel the gap is stretched open underneath so you are not catching it, I chose to just topstitch down the side that had come away.  When you get so far you will have to lift the zip and move it behind before continuing stitching.

Now when you have finished close the original side seam, I continued in pink cotton but you could change to an exact colour match if it would bother you.

A bit of pink stitching doesn't bother me, also I don't like wasting the thread on the bobbin.

Here it is finished, now I just need to get a can of that spray on waterproof as this jacket lost it's waterproof properties a while ago, it's ok unless it really rains heavy which it has done a few times.

If you are repairing a side seam you can go in exactly the same way but obviously it's easier to open the lining seam closest to the one that is damaged.  Then you would pull the side seam of the outer jacket through the hole and repair on the wrong side, then close the lining seam as above.

Flow, Books, TED Talks and Stretching

That is quite a title for a post I know but I just didn't know where to start. You know how sometimes you find yourself saying that you haven't been up the much when people ask.  Not that you haven't done anything but rather that you feel you haven't been anywhere noteworthy, so people will  not be interested. 

Often when I am asked at work if I've done anything at the weekend I have said no, nothing much, when really I have been out walking with the dogs a number of times, done all the house related stuff, read a book or two, made a new dress, cooked all out meals (sometimes a new recipe) listened to music, sometimes practiced Spanish or guitar and perhaps any list of other things that may vary from week to week.  However because I have not been anywhere I feel compelled to say 'nothing much' I am very happy being around home and I do like to go out too, I think I need to look at my self talk in that area perhaps.

So this week the book I have loved the most is Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.  Fantastic and thought provoking I thought and I have the strange feeling I have read some if not all of it before (must be getting old!).

So if you haven't read the book flow is the state you are in when you are completely absorbed in a task and don't notice the passing of time, therefore you are in a state of contentment.  This is a rather simplified description so you will have to read the book to get the full picture, but basically we have all been in that state at some point.  For some it could be washing the dishes but for others making music, art, playing with the children, it doesn't matter the activity as it is different for everyone.  It does state later on in the book that improving activities give the greatest scope for this feeling and that if there is a certain amount of difficulty to overcome the pleasure is greater.

I found it interesting but not surprising that difficulty in an activity is better than say watching T.V, because although we all enjoy T.V sometimes it probably doesn't add to lasting memories or a sense of achievement.  It also relates well to something we have been discussing in school which is the growth mindset.  The book Mindset by Carol Dweck is a good one to read on that if you are interested.

I have also nearly finished A brief history of tractors in Ukranian.  This book I have been  dipping in and out of so more on that later.  I read a post by Nina Sankovitch the other day who vowed to read a book every day for her blog for year, you can find her blog here, go take a look I am inspired to up my game in reading more.

While still on the subject of books, a really good talk I saw on TED was again titled Why I read a book a day by Tai Lopez.  He explains how he got lots of advice as a young man in search of direction from reading the ideas of great people  who had succeeded in various fields, he goes on to state that this information is there for all of us, so we should use it to our advantage.

There have been quite a few TED talks watched this week and not while sitting passively either.  I got it into my head that I am not flexible enough, well it's not just in my head I'm not! So I have set myself a target to do some stretching exercises everyday, I do some when I get up then some later in the day. The ones I do later in the day I have found are an ideal partner to watching a TED talk while I am on the rug trying to hold a position.  I think exercising alone can  be dull so this is the perfect use of my time.

Anyway it is that time of day so I am off to do some of that stretching now.

The Best Dhal

Today I tried another recipe from Naturally Sassy and I have to say it is one of the best dishes I have made in ages.  I really love spicy food so I regularly make a korma with any variation of  veg and nuts in it, I have to say though I have generally bought dhal.  I am now thinking why? I know how to cook lentils and I put them in all sorts of things so why has it taken me so long to make a dhal.

I saw this recipe this morning as soon as I went to look on the Naturally Sassy blog and decided to make it today for lunch. It is really colourful, which is always a good sign and smells amazing.  It does state it serves four but I had a second helping however there are two portions left which are now in the fridge.

If you haven't looked at the blog before do so now, this lady is amazing, she is a ballet dancer, cook with her own book not to mention she runs lunch events.  I would love to attend but I am a bit out of the way up here in the North.  It certainly gets you thinking when you see what some people achieve, but mostly I admire her positive attitude towards food.  So as I mentioned before go take a look now, if you follow the link Naturally Sassy it will take you straight to the page with recipe for the dish above.

Something that is very satisfying about cooking more things from scratch is that you don't have that moment where you are reading the ingredients on some container thinking 'now what on earth is that?' I like knowing exactly what is in my food and that it is all there for a purpose and. not just as a filler which is what many ingredients in pre-packed foods are.

I hope at least a few of you take a peek and find something scrummy to make, I'm sure I have probably mentioned the blog before.

Summer Declutter

The decluttering goes on and I am beginning to wonder how we ever get to this point with so many items in our homes and cupboards.  I met my friends the other day for lunch and dropped off two bags at the charity shop on the way, yesterday I  sorted some more and then dropped off a further six bags of clothing!  I am not finished by a long way, there are still more of my sons outgrown clothes to go through, plus games, books etc.

I have read a few articles on this that suggest that it is better for your well being to let go of items however my nature has always swayed towards saving things for projects that may come in handy.  While I will always keep a box with craft items such as papers, card and fabrics in, my days of saving fabric passed on from others are over.  With each bag of unwanted items that leaves the house I feel a little lighter and even though they were out of sight in cupboards, it just goes to show that there is a weight associated with our possessions.

So I will continue by doing a little each day getting rid of the bulk of the outgrown items and then beyond that I will continue to get rid of one thing each day that I,  or we don't need or use.  I read somewhere of someone who did this  while going minimalist. Now I know I won't be taking it that far (I have trouble even travelling light!) but I will try it until it becomes impossible.

It has been amazing weather this week but it has also completely wiped the dogs out so walks have been in the evening. Today was a little cooler so we managed to get out for a walk at teatime.

My other two dogs are with my husband who was taking the photo.

When the weather is this good who needs to travel.

Also I sat outside to eat, you have to make the most of these lovely days.

Gadget Pouch for Upper Arm with Dog Bag Pocket

These warm days have presented me with a problem, now while they are lovely and I'm not knocking them  I do usually have to wear either jeans, a jacket or both when out walking in this country.  So this usually means I always have somewhere for dog bags and my mp3 if I take it.

Summer dresses however do not have the necessary pockets so I have been finding that I sometimes have to take a bag, a bag with three dogs in tow is not very practical, I just feel too overloaded so tonight before we went out I quickly stitched this little pouch to go on my arm.

I know you can buy them but it is just a pocket with a strap after all so I just recycled a bit of denim and it was ready in about fifteen minutes.

It is nothing fancy but it serves the purpose and I can fit the dog bags in the front and tuck the excess wire down the side of the gadget.  A couple of bits of Velcro to make it stay put and it didn't fall off so success.

The good thing about making it myself is that it is exactly the right size for my mp3 (creative Zen x-fi, I have had it about five years, amazing sound) just fold and place on where you need to stitch.

There we have have it, I didn't set out to make anything today but things you need in a hurry are always the most satisfying however rough around the edges, if it does the job that's what matters.

Charity Shop Finds and Cruelty Free Hair Care

I have had quite an absence here again with the main reason  being I haven't really had any new makes to share. There have been a few new recipes tried out but in the teatime rush they have been whipped up and consumed before any snaps have been taken and before you know it,  it's a new day!

So now the summer is here I hope to be a bit more organised and not leave so long between posts. On the topic of being organised I began to declutter yesterday, I have taken two large bags full of clothes to the charity shop and there is still more to follow.  I bought the two items I am about to share with you a few weeks ago but even then I had in the back of my mind that quite a few things needed to go.

I don't like waste so I always try to get a lot of wear out of my items or modify them but there does come a time when some things are no longer looking their best or you just shove them to the back of the wardrobe all the time.  When this happens as it did to me, a big sort out is in order.

Quite a few of the items came from the charity shop to begin with or were handmade, there was a time when I couldn't let handmade stuff go but I had to get over this or have no hanging room.

Here are the two dresses I picked up for £4 a piece...

I like this as I have another floral one and they do not require an iron.

Now this one will need tweaking as you can see how it hangs on my mannequin, the sides need taking in, shoulders taking up and some adjustment under arm but then it will be fabulous.

So really when I keep finding super items like these I don't have much of a need to make anything just resize. This is something I have been doing for a few people recently and in particular with maxi dresses I don't where all the giants are that these things are supposed to fit!

Moving on, I have been doing a lot of research this week on trying to find a hair colour that has not been tested on animals.  You would think that would be fairly straight forward but it appears that unless you want to dye your hair violet, electric blue or green there is not a lot to go on as all articles direct you to these sorts of items.  That is great if that is what you are after but I just wanted a blonde shade.  I did find some good reports about Naturtint (available from Holland and Barrett) but then I read as many bad reviews and that put me off.

Well after seeing a comment that Boots do a lot of cruelty free as do Superdrug I had an aha moment as I already use the naturals make up from Boots and I knew that was ok and the body lotion from superdrug.  So I went off in person to see what I could find.

Here is what I came back with...

I will let you know how I get on with the colour, it is £3 pound cheaper than my usual as well and it may not lift as well and I will do a patch skin test first.  I also found Daniel Field are cruelty free and have really good reviews but you cannot lighten only add colour with those, worth remembering or one to try when I have more grey. The superdrug shampoo I bought is half price at the moment also.

It was a whirlwind visit to Meadowhall to get these items as I can't spend too long in there, back now so I really should do some more sorting. Now I saw a little video by Marie Kondo who said if I don't feel joy when I hold an item it has to go!  Well I don't know about that, because some days we would be throwing the whole contents of our wardrobe out wouldn't we?  I have not read her book has anyone else? I would love to hear your thoughts on it.   I am certainly trying to make more of a conscious effort to control the contents of the house, items just seem to breed don't they?