Making Good Use

A Splendid Thrifting Weekend

I had a really good (if rather hot and sticky) weekend for thrifting. 

It started off on Saturday afternoon with a visit to a lovely traditional church fete where I found a gorgeous Ann Harvey skirt for £1.00 and a couple of books for re-sale (50p each).  Even P managed to find himself something - a Cotton Traders fleecy rugby shirt - for £1.00.  It's so thick and warm that I think he'd probably expire in a ball of grease if he tried wearing it at the moment but, no doubt, its time will come next winter!  I also bought a courgette plant for £1.50.

The church is in a lovely position surrounded by fields and, most unusually for this area, is quite high up so there was a good view over the surrounding countryside. 

I think you can probably tell from this photo that the afternoon sunshine eventually degenerated into a loud thunderstorm, although there was very little rain in our area.  A few hours later another storm blew up from a different direction and that one produced plenty of rain - so, no need for me to water the garden Saturday evening.

Sunday morning was the usual car boot sale where I found somebody selling lots of clothes in my size for 50p each. I bought nine items and only two of them didn't suit when I tried them on, so I was really pleased and have got practically a new wardrobe for £4.50.  They're all hanging out on the washing line as we speak.  I also found a long-sleeved T-shirt (20p), a pair of pyjama bottoms (10p) and a short-sleeved T-shirt (50p) for my nephew.  It was well worth venturing out into the scalding sun but I did feel a bit faint when I got home so if this really hot weather continues I think I'll have to give up the car boot sales until it gets cooler.

This morning I was out and about very early (well, very early for me anyway) to avoid the sun and as  the 'Coffee and Jumble' was already open I popped in there and came home with

a large metal saucepan (possibly an old jam pan) for 50p which I intend to use as a planter for the courgette plant, once I've drilled a few holes in the bottom.

And I got this rather splendid vintage Jacobs biscuit tin too, also 50p.  Yup, a very satisfactory thrifting weekend indeed.

Thank you all very much for your kind birthday wishes too - I had a lovely day, followed by a lovely weekend, just what a birthday 'girl' needs.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today's my birthday and, so far, I've had a lovely day, although it has rained at times in epic proportions.  At lunchtime, being inside the house was like being trapped inside a waterfall (not that I've ever been trapped inside a waterfall!!)

As usual, I've been thorougly spoilt with presents.  There was a gorgeous Cath Kidston bath towel and a CK pink paisley case for my iPod.  A new thriller to get my teeth in to.  A very posh pair of hair straighteners.  A luxurious new bathroom mat in wonderful stripey colours.  And two feather cushion pads so that I can make a couple more patchwork cushion covers.

For which these two lovely sets of fat eigths will be ideal.  I love both lots and can't decide which ones to use first - they're from Sunflower Fabrics.

The cards were pretty nice too, especially the one from my Mum which we chose together at the Vintage and Handmade Fair.  Mum recognised the pattern as one she'd used to make me a pinafore dress when I was little.  I well remember that dress, which was a midnight blue with dark green holly leaves all over it, I really loved it.

Lily, as usual, sent a self-portrait on her card.  Well, she is very pretty.

Finally, what every good Auntie needs for her birthday, a handmade-and-handpainted-by-her-nephew 'Shake and Make' Ben 10 figure.  He's now got pride of place on my bedside table.

So, that's me entering my fifth decade.  Next year will be the half century - gulp!!

Six Unimportant Things I Love

Sharie from View To The Hill tagged me for 'Six Unimportant Things I Love.'  So, in no particular order, here are six unimportant things I love right now.

1. My salad leaf seedlings are starting to sprout.  I planted these about 10 days ago with very little hope that they'd do anything at all as the seeds were a few years old but I thought I might as well try.  I'm delighted they've come to life and I've got plans to plant a few more pots of these every couple of weeks so that I can just nip out to the garden whenever I want fresh salad leaves and, hopefully, I'll have a reasonable supply all summer.

2. Being able to eat al fresco.  I love eating out of doors, there is something quite thrilling about it all - probably because the al fresco eating season is fairly short in the UK.  No matter how many evenings we can eat outdoors it never loses it's appeal for me.

3. Wearing summer sandals.  I have quite bad oedema in my feet and ankles and during the winter I'm reduced to wearing shoes from 'Cosy Feet' whose primary customer is probably an octogenarian - they're not pretty shoes by any means.  In the summer I can join the rest of the female population and wear sandals - usually Birkenstock Madrids.  If I had loads of money I'd buy the Birkentstock Madrid in every colour-way they make.  Sadly, as I don't have loads of money I've got to content myself with what I have got (five pairs, quite a few of which need to be re-soled) and am pretty pleased with these Tesco Birkenstock-style sandals that I bought in the charity shop in Chipping Sodbury a few weeks ago (when Mum and I went to the Vintage and Handmade Fair.)  For non-Birkenstock sandals they're really comfy, and they only cost me £3.50.

4. My iPod which I had as a surprise from P for Christmas.  It is the best present he's ever bought me and I love it to bits.

5. A good thriller to read.  This is the pile on the bedside table, there's at least three similar piles by the side of the bed.  Unfortunately, I've read all these books at least once and many of them four or five times.  Very ocassionally I branch out and read something that's not a thriller but I always end up going back to them in the end.

6. BBC iPlayer - what a wonderful invention.  Since our video no longer works to record programmes the BBC iPlayer has become a bit of a must for me.

I'm a terrible wuss when it comes to passing on tags so if you'd like to join in please feel free.  And, Sharie, thanks for tagging me, that was great fun to do.

A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit

Yesterday I met up with my sister and my nephew for a lovely day out in London.  We started off with a return visit to the animatroic T Rex at the Natural History Museum (please note 'cuddly' Pterodactyl toy tucked under DN's arm).  We arrived shortly after the museum opened thereby having the dinosaur exhibition almost to ourselves.  DN spent ages carefully studying the huge moving T Rex  and then whispered to me 'Is he real?'  I had to admit that he wasn't real but merely a large and very impressive robot-type thingy.  DN then wanted to know how it worked - well, I had to admit defeat here and say I had no idea, but it was very clever.   That seemed to satisfy his curiosity and he was still mightily impressed with T Rex. After a trip to the Earth Zone and a go in the moving mock-up of a Japanese supermarket during an earthquake it was on to the Science Museum for the Wallace and Gromit exhibition.  I can highly recommend it.

The whole thing was incredibly interactive and appealed not only to the six-year-old of the party but also to the two forty-somethings with him.  You could design your own wallpaper, and project it on to the wall.

DN's was much better than mine - with a rather Andy Warhol'ish effect.

Mine ended up too plain - more is obviously better for this particular game.

There was a large area where you could make your own plasticene models, my dinosaur head was laughed at uproariously!!  A huge bath through which children (and some Mummys) could slide down the plug hole.  A karaoke shower where you couldn't see yourself but everyone else could via a TV screen.  A throw the balls through the hole game, get three hits and light up the space-ships in Wallace and Gromit's living room, then get a fourth ball through and get to move the TV about by remote control.   It was all jolly good fun.

They also had some of the original sets from 'Curse of the Wererabbit', and they were so small and so detailed, the work that must go into them is just amazing.

Finally, just to prove that Nick Parks and Aardman Animation are also Bristol-based, I took a photo of a rather amusing poster at the start of the exhibition. 

 

For anyone outside of the UK, us lot from the West Country are supposed to say 'Ooh Arrrr' A LOT! 

Dad

As today is Father's Day here in the UK I've been thinking more than usual about my Dad.

My dear Dad died nearly seven years ago.  He was 77 and astonishingly fit for his age, being a keen swimmer and cyclist, but - unbeknownst to him or anyone else - many years before he'd been exposed to asbestos fibres.  One of them had pitched in the lining of his lung and that was what eventually caused his death.

He was a man who didn't suffer fools gladly, never made a fuss - even when told he was dying, was a true sun-worshipper - loved the summer, hated the winter, a staunch trade union man and was very very careful with his money.  In many ways I am my Father's daughter. 

He hated sport but had a real love of swimming and would happily watch ice dancing or snooker on TV for hours.  He had a fascination for space exploration (oh the hours spent watching grainy black and white images of space walks on TV as a child), had several flights in hot air balloons and once in an airship.  He loved the power and beauty of Concorde but never got to travel on it.

He never believed in any sort of organised religion nor any form of after-life, he always said people live on through their children and in the memories of others.  I find that so true these days - often, when I'm speaking to my nephew (or even telling him off), I hear my Father's words come tumbling out of my mouth.  It's completely without thought and it often surprises even me to hear myself repeating things just as Dad used to say them to me as a child.

It's very fitting that Father's Day this year should fall on the summer solstice - the day on which every year my Father would pronounce in a sombre tone 'it's all downhill to Christmas now!'  And, yes Dad, I feel exactly the same.

I Do Like A Nice Bit of Floral Oil Cloth

Yup, I'm a sucker for anything that's floral oil cloth.

Especially when it has a lovely red polka dot lining too.  Even if it is a slightly weird shape for a cosmetics / toiletries bag - this baby measures approx. 12 x 9 inches with the zip along one of the shorter edges!  50p from the car boot sale this morning.  No idea what I'll do with it but as I say I do like a nice bit of floral oil cloth.

Bird Buffet

Any bits of stale bread, cooked pasta, grated cheese etc I've been chopping up and putting out for the birds rather than dumping it in the bin.  This female blackbird is often to be found chowing down at the bird buffet along with the male bird, gaggles of irrepressible starlings, a robin or two, and the inevitable collared dove or two or three.

It's lovely to look out of the kitchen window and see wildlife so close by, and to think they are saving little bits and bobs of food from ending up in landfill too.  As long as they keep a weather eye open for the 'lean mean killing machine' cat next door.  I spotted him yesterday evening leaping over the fence with something small and feathered dangling from his chops.

All meaty offcuts also end up in the garden, this time for the fox.  He's often to be spotted streaking along the road when I'm drawing my curtains at bedtime.  Thinking about it, I do hope it's Mr Foxy Loxy who's getting the meaty bits and not next door's cat!  Ah well, at least something is eating it up and saving it from the black sack.

Best Before?

There was a piece on the BBC news the other day about a proposal to stop having Best Before dates on food stuffs as they are encouraging people to throw away food which is still good to eat even if it is past its Best Before date.  I have to say that I've pretty much given up on Best Before dates in the last year or so (although Use By dates are something else entirely), and have recently been using wholemeal rice which is two months past its date (it tastes just the same as usual) and this lunchtime had a bag of Ready Salted crisps which are nearly five months past their Best Before date (I would say they're actually tastier than usual, and I'm not really a great fan of Ready Salted.)

With so much food ending up in landfill it seems ridiculous to me to have Best Before dates on foodstuffs that are really not going to do you any harm if you eat them when they're a bit past their best (unlike the Use By dates on some perishables).  The UK government have started the Love Food Hate Waste website to try and counteract the problem.  There are storage tips, recipes and general information about how to use up food that's gone a bit past it. 

Judging from my own experience, reading the storage information on labels helps too.  It's only quite recently (after using the stuff for five years) that I read on the back of some dried yeast that it should be kept refrigerated once opened.  Well, whad d'ya know, keeping it in the fridge has certainly helped keep the yeast much more efficient than just keeping it on a kitchen shelf.  That'll learn me to read instructions properly.

By trial and error I've also discovered that keeping potatoes in a black cotton bag prolongs their life amazingly.  Last night we had jacket potatoes that I bought at least a month ago and they had no sign of green or shoots and all because they'd been kept out of the light.  No doubt, everyone else knew this trick a long time ago but somtimes I've VERY SLOW on the uptake.  Like actually peeling bananas that have gone black to check how manky they are inside before binning them.  (And even if they are manky using them up in banana tea bread.)  I was about to chuck some wrinkly apples in the bin yesterday when I thought, hang on a mo, I'll cut them up first and see if they can be stewed.  I found they were fine inside and now we've got some stewed apple in the fridge for pudding later this week (after we've eaten up the heavily-reduced and a little battered strawberries I got in Somerfield yesterday.)  Today I've made a soup from the leftover Sunday veggies, plus a bit of the wonderful Marigold Bouillon, which we'll have as a starter this evening.

Any good tips that don't involve freezing (no freezer chez Making Good Use) for using up foods or storing them for longer?  Also, I'd love to hear what's the longest you've eaten stuff past its Best Before date with no ill effects?  My personal best was some HP sauce which was three years out of date.  Tasted fine if a little bland.

Hot, But Worth It

It was a very hot and sticky car boot sale this morning and I don't think I've ever seen so many sellers at that particular sale.  I bought so much stuff that I was desperatly searching for P so that he could take the particularly heavy bag back to the car for me.  Eventually I spied him in the distance and using my best foghorn voice managed to attratct his attention.  Ahh, things were a lot easier when my ten-ton bag had been put back in the car.

For 50p I got a large pot of Body Shop Rich Plum Body Butter.  I spent 20p on the handbag sized tube of hemp hand protector, also Body Shop (and the hemp hand protector is fantastic to use as well as smelling divine.)  Again for 20p was the small Paco Rabanne Ultraviolet Man shower gel.  The Tea Tree facial wash, Dove hair conditioner and Molton Brown liquid soap were all 50p each.  Also 50p was a Lego Bionicles for DN (I was assured all the pieces were there) and again for DN was a small amount of Duplo lego pieces - 20p.  The three cottage ware pieces are all damaged in some way but as I have a small collection anyway I didn't mind adding these three for only 50p the lot.  Also 50p each were the lovely suede-covered notebook (not sure what I'll do with this but it's way too nice not to have bought it) and a clip-on bird Christmas decoration with frou-frou tail feathers.  At the princely sum of £3.00 was a brand-new Marks and Spencer bra which I hope is the correct size for my sister.  It's all resting on a zingy spot-pattern double duvet cover which was £1.00.

Also purchased were two good books for Amazon and three more tomato plants at 25p each.  Phew, what a brilliant haul, I was well pleased even if my arms are now considerably longer!

That Charity Shop Programme

Has anybody else been watching Mary Queen of Charity Shops?  I was asked if I'd been watching it, and what I thought, in the comments yesterday.  I have to say I don't really know what to think of it all.

I feel that Mary Portas, wonderful though she is, is trying to make charity shops into something they just aren't.  She keeps banging on that people don't really want to shop in them as they are at the moment - hmm, well excuse me, but this person most certainly does want to shop in them, and the bigger a mess they are the more I love 'em.  I, for one, don't want to see all charity shops turned into faux boutiques with laminate flooring, wooden hangers and sky-high prices.  Give me a few boxes to dig about in, or racks of old linens to check out and I'm as happy as the proverbial pig in muck. 

Also, it seems to me, that when charity shops have a 'make-over' they never seem to have as much stock as they used to.  There's one in Billericay which is now positively empty since it had it's re-fit compared to how it was before.  The same thing has happened to the Salvation Army shop near my Mum's house too.  What is it with that?

I was astonished by some of the absolutely disgusting articles that these poor volunteers have to dig through whilst trying to find something that can be sold.  Dirty nappies, stinking rugby boots, ripped and paint-spattered T-shirts are ridiculous donations and really shouldn't be anywhere but in people's own bins.  It has made me think hard about what I give to charity shops as I certainly wouldn't want to make those sorters' lives any more difficult. 

Although there is room for improvement with some of the stuff that makes it out on to the shelves too. I recently bought a shirt for P in a local hospice charity shop which when I got it home I found the collar and cuffs were totally threadbare.  I was annoyed with myself at the time for not checking more thoroughly but it all had a happy ending as I used the fabric as the backing for my Patchwork Cushion.  Earlier this week I heard someone in the local Oxfam shop returning a pair of trousers she had bought as the hems had been cut off and were all raggedy.  I've rarely taken anything back to a charity shop myself (although I do recall taking back a duvet cover some years ago as when I opened it out to wash it it was covered in a bleach-like stain all over one side), but if charity shops are going to up their prices then a lot more people will be returning items if they're not fully satisfied.

Nice idea to stock charity shops with high-class items but who is really going to donate such things?  Perhaps the chattering classes will but I don't see many people donating Jimmy Choo or Mulberry handbags to their local charity shop.  Mary Portas keeps reiterating that we're in a serious recession - well, yes, quite, so do you really expect people to give away such expensive items?  Having said that, I did notice a leather Hobbs jacket hanging behind the till in a charity shop in Billericay yesterday with a £150 charity shop label hanging off it.  I have no idea how much such an item would cost new but I know Hobbs are a very expensive shop so, presumably, £150 is a good deal - although it was in a rather acid shade of yellow!

Finally, I thought the make-over of Mary's shop made it look lovely but also feel that the £15,000 (what the - that's a lot of money) could have been put to better use by the charity.  And I personally feel that she is very patronising to the (mainly elderly) volunteers who (wo)man the shop - or is that just me?

I'd love to hear your views on this.