Making Good Use

Now We Are Six

A certain very special young man has just had his sixth birthday celebrations.  For his birthday treat he decided he wanted to go to St Werburghs City Farm in Bristol.  What a brilliant choice it was as we all had a really lovely day out.

First up were the gorgeous animals at the farm - including this magnificent sheep.

A very large germolene-pink pig - soaking up the lovely sunshine.

A cockrel with attitude.

Then it was on to the pub next door - appropriately named 'The Farm' - for a rather delicious lunch al fresco.

It's no wonder Banksy comes from Bristol when this is the level of building art in the city.

Then on to a wander around the area, including looking at this self-build eco-friendly housing estate.

 

Where there are front doors that look like hobbits should live behind them.

 

And door bells recycled from old bus bells - what an inspired idea, I want one of those.

And wandering walks down what should be country lanes but are really deep within inner-city Bristol.  It was a wonderful, magical day and very fitting for the best little boy in the whole world's sixth birthday.  Happy birthday, darling D.

I've Had Some Nice Finds Lately

Just lately I've had some very nice finds at the local charity shops and / or car boot sales.  There have been useful items like some shortie pyjamas for DN - Action Man ones, very appropriate for him as he NEVER sits still, and YET more nice bits of toiletries for me - shower gel and soap, that sort of thing.

Monday morning (always a good time to check out the local charity shops as they seem to have re-stocked over the weekend) I found a large sandwich box full of Lego bricks for DN for £2.00.  It's nigh on impossible to get hold of the simple Lego bricks any more - everything Lego seems to be as part of a kit to build a specific item - so I was very pleased to find these.

I've had a good run on finding books that are worth re-selling on Amazon too, although I do tend to be uber cautious these days and usually jot down the ISBN numbers of any I see in charity shops so that I can check them out before I actually go back and buy them.  This is not just because I'm a total tightwad but also because if I end up with loads of books that are no good I've also got to try and get rid of them again and it can be months before a charity sack comes through the letterbox that will accept books. I won't bore you with a photo of them as they are fairly non-descript looking things with interesting titles like 'Libya under the Second Ottoman Occupation'.  Not my idea of bed-time reading but a good find nonetheless. I've even managed to sell a few lately on Amazon too which is nice, and a useful boost to my finances.

What was a wonderful find last week was this bea-u-tiful piece of Liberty Tana Lawn material.  There was a whole 4 1/4 yards of it and I only paid £1.00.  I had spotted it in a box of material pieces a few days before but wasn't 100 per cent sure that it was Liberty.  I spent ages on the internet trying to work out if it was or wasn't Liberty and in the end thought to hell with it, I'll buy it anyway.  Once I'd got it back home I miraculously found the exact same pattern but a different colourway being sold on ebay as vintage Liberty.  Lovely though it was, and much as I would have liked to keep hold of it, I put it up on ebay with a buy-it-now price and it sold that afternoon to somebody in Japan who collects vintage Liberty to make quilts from.  Yup, that was a very nice find indeed, and one I'm unlikely to replicate any time soon.

It's That Time of Year Again

Yup, it's the time of year when I gather up the old deodorant sticks from the past 12 months (judiciously kept just for this very reason), chip out what is left into a small glass dish and nuke it in the microwave for a few seconds to make as much of a 'new' deodorant stick as I can.

This year I had two lots of stick deodorant to salvage - my 'Tom's of Maine' one and P's 'Arm & Hammer Advance'.  I had more of mine left over so could make a larger 'new' stick whereas poor old P had really used as much as he possibly could of the Arm & Hammer stuff so I couldn't dig so much out of the old pots.  P really loves this deodorant and it very much suits his (somewhat allergic) skin too, he bought a lot of it when he was in Hong Kong last year but if anyone knows where we could get hold of it in the UK we'd be very grateful as the tiny amount I managed to salvage is all he has left!  And the summer's coming!! 

If anyone is interested in doing this here are the original instructions I gave on the blog two years ago 'The tip in The Tightwad Gazette suggested scraping out all the old deodorant from a few used sticks, putting them in a glass bowl and zapping it in the microwave (I'd do this for a few seconds at a time and keep on checking how liquid it has become).  Once the deodorant is liquid again tip it back into one of the empty deodorant sticks, wait for it to cool and harden and it can be reused.'

Ant Advice?

Late yesterday evening I remembered that I hadn't cut P's sandwiches for work as yet, so I wandered out into the kitchen to make them, only to be confronted by what seemed like a moving black mat of ants all over the kitchen side.  I must have shouted 'ants' a lot louder than I realised because P was out into the kitchen lickety-spit.  After a fair bit of shouting (on my part) and calm suggestions (on P's part) we decided that first of all that evening's washing up should be done (yes, I know, I'm very slovenly and really should wash up straight after the meal!!) 

So, at 11.30 pm, we started on a mammoth washing-up task with me washing and P drying and putting everything away.  All the while I'm moaning and complaining that this bl**dy house is like a wild-life park and no sooner have we got rid of one pest (Maurice the mouse), then we're struck by a plague of ants.  By the time we'd done everything the number of ants seemed to have diminished and I couild only see three or four of the little swines scuttling about on the kitchen worktop. After all that I decided at midnight that I had to have a shower as I swear I could feel ants crawling all over me.

After a very restless night, imagining the kitchen being overtaken by whole colonies of ants as we slept, I took myself off to the high street early this morning to buy Ant Bait (smells unbelievably toxic to me) and some Nippon Ant Gel (I'll leave P to deal with that little gem!)  When I checked back in the kitchen just now the Ant Bait seemed to be heaving with ants (I'm presuming that's good) with only one or two strays wandering around elsewhere.

The whole episode has led to a massive clean-up of the kitchen this morning (probably not a bad thing).  I've even put the pan of stewed plums that I cooked this morning into the oven to keep it out of reach of the ants, although my Mum (who REALLY doesn't like ants at all) feels that they are far too intelligent for their own good and could, with a fair wind behind them, even make it into the oven - I do hope not.

So, anyone got any good tips for getting rid of ants or, even better, how to stop the little devils getting in in the first place?  All suggestions very gratefully received.

Sunday Sewing

As rain stopped play for the car boot sale yesterday morning, I decided to use my time doing something else useful - sewing up three more pillowcase totes.

This is one of a pair of unused vintage pillowcases that I got at the fabulous jumble sale three weeks ago. 

Another single pillowcase from the same jumble sale - very 'Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady'.

Finally, the second of a pair of unused vintage pillowcases bought quite a while ago in a charity shop in Billericay, decorated a la Tiny Happy with a vintage hand-crocheted piece.

I think that takes the total of bags to try at the art shop near my Mum's house to about nine.  If anyone is interested in buying one before they're put in my suitcase on Friday let me know.  The bags are £4.95 each plus £1.25 for P&P in the UK.

If I Wanna Sell 'Em, I'll Have to Sew 'Em

I had no idea that at some point I'd cut out so many pillowcases to make up into bags, they've been draped over the back of one of the dining room chairs for a-g-e-s.  This morning I thought I'd just whip up a few bags before my trip to Bristol at the end of next week (where I'm hoping the local art shop might stock a few).  Somehow it has been very slow going - although in fairness to myself there have been a lot of interruptions and distractions today.  In the end I only completed two of them, although they are two of my favourite prints.

 

White doillie shapes on an ecru background.

 

And a nicely vibrant summer print in shades of lemon.

Crumbs, That's (Potentially) a Lot of Plums

Bloomin' heck, the plum trees are looking incredibly well laden this year.  If all this lot fatten up and ripen then I'll certainly have my work cut out using them all.  Good job I've been putting away all the empty jam jars since Christmas!  I've never attempted to make jam before but thought I might give it a go this summer - both P and I enjoy plum jam and it would be a good way to preserve the fruit long after summer is gone (especially as we are sans a freezer in this house).  Seeing how many plums there are I'm really wishing I'd bought the unused large jam pan which was only £3.50 at a Christmas Bazaar last winter - what a twit!

Two years ago we had so many plums we didn't know what to do with them all and gave carrier bags full away to the neighbours as well as having a lot simply rot on the trees (there is a limit to how many evenings you can stomach stewed plums for dessert!)  Last year the crop was dreadful.  I think I had half a dozen or so lots of stewed plums myself and let next door have a very small bag of plums too.  Fingers crossed, this year will end up being a bumper harvest again.

The 'I Really Can't be A*sed to go to the Shops' Evening Meal

I could try kidding myself that our evening meal today has been put together with the idea of using up lots of leftover bits and pieces of food in a very frugal and organised manner.  However, that would definitely be telling 'porkies' as it has been devised from what was knocking about in the kitchen purely to save me from walking to the shops yet again. 

We'll be starting off with sweet potato and sweetcorn soup (oddly enough there always seems to be a sweet potato sitting forlornly alone on the shelf - luckily they don't seem to go off quickly), followed by stuffed tomatoes (an old favourite which I haven't made in yonks) with a rice salad (rice leftover from yesterday's evening meal with tinned tuna, the rest of the sweetcorn, some mayonnaise and a handful of dried raisins thrown in).  For pudding there will be the rest of yesterday's 'banana bread (not eaten before it went a bit dry), custard, fresh banana and a splash of Malibu' trifle - very yummy and deliciously decadent as a means of using up leftovers.  Tomorrow I really will have to get my a*se in gear and go shopping again as I've now run out of a) leftovers to use up and b) creative cookery ideas.

One way and another I never got round to showing the photo of some bread bags I made for my Mum a few weeks ago.

They were cut from the same embroidered tablecloth that I made this laundry bag from.  I was really pleased how all the bags turned out and I'll be keeping my eyes open for more embroidered linens that I wouldn't feel bad about cutting up.  The tablecloth was quite badly stained in places so I didn't mind attacking it with a pair of scissors. 

The Social Event of the Year

When you're hosting the social event of the year it is always difficult knowing what to wear.  Doubly so when you're going to be six and the event is being held at the local junior gym.  Obviously something comfortable yet stylish will be needed so that you can throw yourself around on the gym equipment with suitable gusto, yet you also need to ensure that everyone knows you are the birthday boy, indeed you are 'king for the day.'

Surely the answer to all your sartorial problems is a handmade birthday crown, in your favourite colour - purple.  (Being modelled here by a large desk lamp, crowns are difficult little devils to photograph easily.)

And when you will be hosting not one but two birthday events you, of course, need a second crown - this time in two-tone blue.  After all, one simply can't be seen in the same outfit twice.

 

Purple Haze

The wisteria is out and looking totally gorgeous at the moment and, sitting under it all on the newly-moved garden bench, I'm realising for the first time that it is actually scented too.

This is the view from the bench.  I just wish wisteria lasted a little longer as I could happily look at that beautiful sight all summer long.

Don't be fooled by the lovely sunshine, it is pretty nippy outside today with a very strong N/N Easterly blowing.  A good day for drying the washing but not so good for enjoying the wisteria.