Making Good Use

Little Things

I must have been feeling better on Saturday as I had a sudden urge to go out (despite the arctic feel to the weather) and have a good look round the local junk shop and charity shops.  The junk shop is a fairly new discovery for me (it was recommended by my lovely next-door neighbours who are people who love a good bargain, and a good boot sale.)  The junk shop is in one of the back streets so I'd never have come across it by chance.  They have a ton of stuff jammed into a little shop, and their prices are good too.  There are shelves of bric a brac, china, racks of clothes, shoes, bedding, toys, DVDs, CDs - you name it, they've probably got it somewhere.  They also have shelf upon shelf of books - which are the main attraction for me.  At only 40p each, I was happy to buy four paperbacks on Saturday - one of which was, amazingly, good for re-sale on Amazon, two have been put on Greenmetropolis and one 'Cooking in a Bedsitter' by Katharine Whitehorn, I'll have a leaf through and then pass on to the charity shop.

 
In the one charity shop that was open Saturday afternoon I found this teeny weeny little wooden mushroom house.  It's only about an inch tall and was in a basket with assorted china thimbles.  At 25p I've brought it home and added it to my small mushroom collection.

 
This vintage sewing pattern was lurking in amongst a pile of uber-naff 80s sewing patterns.  I love the purple highlights in the illustrations - just by chance, does anybody know when sewing pattern illustrations gave way to the much-less-artistic photographs which are now on the pattern envelopes?  The pattern was 50p and will be destined for ebay once I've checked that all the pattern pieces are in the packet.

Off to See the Quack

Like my father, I don't have much faith in the medical profession and tend to avoid them at all costs.  However, after having had another agonising episode on Tuesday, another pretty much sleepless night because of the pain, and feeling really under the weather - yet again - on Wednesday, I felt it was perhaps time to consult the quack. 

Despite having lived in Essex for seven years, I've never signed on with a GP here and officially I was still registered with a Health Centre in Bristol.  After much persuading by P I finally phoned the nearest GP's practice (handily placed just around the corner) to ask if I could sign on with them and see a doctor asap as I was feeling really rather unwell.  I swear they breed GPs' receptionisits to be particularly unpleasant and unhelpful - I've had some nasty run-ins with them in the past - and this one was cut from the exact same mould.  She snootily informed me that I would have to go round, collect a form, complete it, bring it back, allow 48 hours for the doctor to decide if I was good enough for him to accept, make an appointment to see the practice nurse, and then, after all that, an appointment to see the doctor.  I was not impressed when I asked how long all this was likely to take and was told a week!!  A flippin' week, I'm feeling totally cr*p right here, right now!!

So, long story short, they were open until 8.00 pm that evening so P went and collected the form for me, I filled it in immediately and he took it back round.  I phoned at 11.30 yesterday morning to find out if I was an acceptable candidate for the GP to take on, was told I was indeed acceptable, asked for the next available appointment to see the nurse - which was in an hour's time - hastily accepted that.  Saw the nurse, who was lovely and who told me my blood pressure was perfect (something that always seems to amaze medical folks as they see this lumbering great fat woman arrive and must be expecting my blood pressure to be off the chart - and it never is.  Thank goodness some part of me isn't cracking up!!)  Anyhoo, I have an appointment with the quack at 9.40 am today.

I think my Mum (who used to be a nurse and is ace at making diagnoses, even over the phone) was quite correct when she said it was my gall bladder that was the problem.  P looked things up on t'internet for me and it seems the gall bladder processes the fat we eat.  That makes perfect sense, as although I don't eat fatty meats, deep-fried foods or a lot of junk food, I do (or should I say did) eat humungous quantities of butter, cheese and cream.  I think we need to look no further for the problem.  Needless to say, my intake of dairy products has become non-existent these last couple of days - and me and my gall bladder are feeling much better for it.  I'm still interested to hear what the quack has to say but am pretty sure my Mum's diagnosis was spot on.  Who knows, with my new fat-reduced diet I may even manage to lose some weight!!

And the Winner is ....

 
The first name out of the hat was Briget, who wins the Cupcake Tea Cosy.  Briget, I've sent you an e-mail.  Thank you to everyone who took part.  Must dash, the lovely dry and blustery weather forecast for East Anglia today has turned distinctly rainy - and I've got two loads of washing on the line.  Tsk, that Met Office is useless!!

Bit Better, Thank You

When my nephew was younger, and couldn't talk very much, his stock reply to enquiries about his health was always 'bit better, thank you.'  Today, I'm very relieved to report that I do feel a bit better, thank you.  Thanks for the kind comments left on yesterday's post - they made me feel a bit better immediately - and the offer of chicken soup from French Knots was lovely.  I could really have enjoyed a bowl of that for my tea!!

So this morning I gingerly, and in quite a fragile state, set off for the High Street.  I had to do a major food shop but whilst I was there had a good look around the 'Coffee and Jumble' at the local church and in the two charity shops.  I came home with quite a haul.  There was an Ann Harvey short-sleeved top at £2.50 - not my size or my style - but should be a good seller on ebay when the weather warms up. 

 
A really pretty 70% silk cardigan by Sigrid Olsen which just shouted 'quality' when I saw it hanging on the rack.  I bought it to sell on ebay but it has one or two pulls to the knit so I'm now wondering if my sister would like it instead.  (S, let me know if it's any good for you.)  It was £2.75 but is so pretty and such a lovely soft knit that I thought it was a fair price.

 
In the other charity shop I saw something else that also shouted 'quality' immediately - a pure cotton Laura Ashley Oxford-style pillowcase printed with beautiful hydrangeas.  Somehow, in the huge pile of well-washed well-used polycotton pillowcases, this one immediately caught my eye.  After my success with the Laura Ashley curtains (£55.00 profit - I was extremely pleased,) I'm keeping an eye out for anything Laura Ashley that I might find.  The pillowcase was 50p.

 
For myself, I found a couple of nice toiletry items - Badedas Body Wash (75p) and Neutrogena Summer Glow Moisturiser (£1.00.)  I'm looking so washed-out and wan at the moment that I definitely need to give my face a summer boost asap!

 
There were a couple of other items bought for re-sale which look to have been good finds and there was also this rather nice vintage book.  It's got some great ideas in it for things little boys would enjoy making.  Pity it was rubbish on Amazon.  Perhaps I'll keep it for my nephew.

I haven't forgotten about the giveaway and will do the draw tomorrow (if anyone else wants to add their name this evening, go right ahead.)

Under the Weather

I've been feeling rather unwell, and extremely sorry for myself, these past couple of days.  It all started late on Thursday evening when I realised I had a terrible pain in the right-side of my ribs.  Later on this migrated to my stomach seemingly being on fire!!  I passed a totally sleepless and very uncomfortable night and eventually had to ask my lovely next-door neighbours to fetch me in some Gaviscon (no way could I have managed to walk to the High Street). 

The Gaviscon seems to have done the trick for my stomach but I've still got VERY tender ribs and seem to be unable to keep awake for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.  I've felt so mickey (as my Mum would say) that I've not even bothered to switch the computer on - and that's almost unheard of for me!!  I'm blaming an overdose of tomato-ey type foods last week as I've been told by a nutritionist to keep off them and I somewhat overdid the tomato soup / pasta sauce type combos for a few days.  Tell you what, it'll be an extremely long time before I go near anything tomato-ey again!!

Keeping Track

A few posts ago I mentioned that I was going to start spending a bit more flamboyantly when it came to finding things for re-sale (as the old adage goes 'you've got to speculate to accumulate,) plus I wanted to keep a record this year of what I bought, how much it cost, and what it then sold for.  I was jotting down my buys in an old notebook with the idea of transferring it all to a cheap 2011 diary, but had a comment from Angela that mentioned keeping a spreadsheet on the computer and thought that sounded a very good idea indeed.

Not having anything as fancy as Excel on this computer (not that I ever got on very well with Excel when I've used it in previous jobs,) I've just cobbled together a very basic table in Windows.  Columns for a description of what I bought, where I bought it, how much I paid for it and how much it sold for (if, indeed it ends up for sale.)  Of course, not being an Excel document means it doesn't automatically add up column totals or anything posh like that so I have to resort to the calculator to tot it all up.  So far, in only two weeks, I've spent £19.76 on items in various charity shops - some specifically for re-sale, some for my own use, and some which have turned out to be totally useless all round and which have already been re-donated.

Now, I know it's very early days with keeping this tally, but I was surprised to find I've spent an average of £10 per week in charity shops so far - will that be the average figure over the year I wonder?  If so, that's over £500 per year!  Astonishing!  Having said that, I've already sold the Laura Ashley curtains for a nice profit (although I'm not cashing in the Paypal money just yet as I've a feeling the person who bought them might be a bit of a difficult customer,) so I'm wondering how much profit I will make over the course of 12 months.  Also, I decided to be totally honest with myself and also include the second-hand items I buy for me - only books, some wool, some embroidery thread, and a small pot of unused moisturiser so far.

I'm finding it an interesting experiment at the moment but am not too sure how well I'll manage to keep things up-to-date when the car boot sale season starts again and I end up with a bag full of unpriced items and only a vague recollection of what I've paid for each of them.   Ah, thats when the fun'll begin.

 

Pick, Cook and Brew

 
I came across what might turn out to be a very useful book this morning.  It was on top of the pile in the 20p box in the charity shop.  There are all sorts of unusual recipes in it, all made from plants and flowers you can find in the countryside.  I love the idea of making cowslip mead or honeysuckle wine, they sound the type of thing Fairies or Pixies would drink.  Or making my own crystallised violets or a violet souffle - how lovely does that sound?

There are instructions and recipes for herb teas, wine making, fruit syrups, bottling fruit, jam making, salads, soups, sauces and mayonaise, and all from ingredients that are growing wild in the UK.  It was originally published in 1973 so I suspect it might have been written on the wave of self-sufficiency, back-to-nature, and 'The Good Life' that was around in those days.  Even if I never cook a single thing from it, the book was well worth 20p for the unusual recipes and happy foraging ideas it gives me.

Cupcake Tea Cosy Giveaway

 
Using some of the pink wool I thrifted on Friday (which, fortuitously, was the same brand and thickness as some cream wool I'd thrifted ages ago), I knitted up this cupcake tea cosy that evening (very quick to knit on size 10mm needles) but only got round to sewing it up this morning.  Plus I had to make the little felted cherry to go on the top today as well.  I based it very loosely on a vintage knitting pattern I've got for tea cosies and although I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out there are a few things I'm going to tweak before I knit a few more (with hopes of being able to sell them.)  So, as this is a bit of a test piece - and I haven't had a giveaway for absolutely ages - I thought I'd offer it as a prize. 

If you'd like to win the tea cosy - which fits a standard 4-cup tea pot - leave a comment on this post and I'll draw a name at the weekend.  I'm happy to post anywhere in the world.

I've linked this post to Apron Thrift Girl's Make Share.

Thrifted Craft Finds

So, a necessary trip down to Basildon this morning resulted in a quick perusal of the charity shops whilst I was passing.  There wasn't much that took my fancy but I did come away with a few useful craft items.

 
Three skeins of embroidery thread and a small wooden embroidery hoop for 50p (I never pass up embroidery thread in any colour as you never know when it will come in useful,) plus three balls of really chunky wool for 49p each.  As luck would have it, I've already got three balls of this exact same wool in white so I feel a couple of Cupcake Tea Cosies like the one in this post coming on.

 

Up To My Old Tricks Again

I've been doing my favourite trick of making stubby deodorant sticks (you know the sort - as soon as you try to use it the 'stick' part falls off the base onto the floor because you've wound it up too far in order to get as much out of it as you can, plus the plastic holder bit is beginning to scratch the skin) into one re-usable deodorant again.

 
These three too-short-for-use sticks were turned into

 
This very usable one that should last me a couple more months.  I've blogged about this 'trick' several times before and this post has full 'how to' instructions if anyone is interested.