Making Good Use

Love / Hate

I have a bit of a love / hate relationship with Billericay - I love going over for the morning to search through the charity shops and buy a few tasty treats in Waitrose, but I absolutely hated living there. 

I think a lot of the problem was to do with the fact that we had a VERY unpleasant, if not somewhat deranged, next-door neighbour.  He was a man of limited stature and, very unkindly, I started referring to him as The Hobbitt.  The poor man was rather hard of hearing so always had his television at full blast - so loud in fact that we didn't have to bother having the sound on in our house if we happend to be watching the same programme!  Obviously he couldn't help being a bit deaf, but the blasting telly was not the only nuisance factor from him.  He appeared to have a collection of metal ladders which he used to get out of the garage and polish every weekend - I kid you not.  He was often to be found up a ladder too, tinkering with something or other on his house - usually right next to our windows - at some God-foresaken time on Saturdays or Sundays.  He was also a demon grass cutter and would tool-up (don knee pads, tool belt - sometimes two at a time, ear protectors, and a French Foreign Legion-style hat) on a ludicrously frequent basis and proceed to cut everybody's front lawns in the row of houses (they had open-plan style gardens), whether you wanted him outside your living room window or not.  When the spirit moved him, he would also proceed to cut the field grass on the patch of wasteland opposite the houses!!!!  Yes, an odd ball to say the least.  I was not at all upset when the landlord said he wanted us to move out as he was moving back in - rather him than me was what I thought!  We subsequently moved to the next town down the line and have been as happy as pigs in muck ever since.  Especially as now we've got the nicest next-door neighbours in the world.

Anyhoo, to cut a long story short, I had my fortnightly morning-out in Billericay today and thoroughly enjoyed myself as always (although I still tend to keep a weather-eye out in case I should encounter my ex next-door neighbour.)  Today I managed to find two large pieces of material which should make up into some nice spring / summer book bags.

They're certainly very 'loud and proud' prints, both in shades of mauve.  One piece was 65p and the other 45p.

I also found this charming little chap to add to my collection of Scottie dogs.  One day, when we're in a bigger house, I'll be able to get all of them out again.  I've even got a nice set of shelves to display them all on but that, and the majority of the Scotties, is packed away in the loft.

Billericay - you're such a nice little town, as long as I don't have to live there!!

Spring-Time (Knitted) Flowers

About this time last year, Samantha at Plump Pudding kindly offered some space on her stall at the Country Living Fair to other crafters.  I was very lucky in that she agreed to take some of my knitted corsages with her.

I was thrilled to actually sell a few at the CL Fair and it was a great buzz to see them displayed on Samantha's beautifully presented stall when I went along to visit.  When I got the rest back I neatly put them away and forgot all about them until today when I stumbled across them again.

The corsages are hand knitted using Noro Kureyon yarn which gives lovely shading to the various colours.  Each corsage is then trimmed with one or two pure wool felt leaves and finished off with a vintage button in the centre. 

I picked out the most spring-like colours and have decided to put them up for sale on ebay at the special price of £4.95 each (plus a little extra for postage).  If you're at all interested, either check them out on ebay.co.uk (there's a link on my sidebar to my ebay sales) or send me an email ([email protected]).  I'm happy to post anywhere in the world. 

Coffee and Jumble

The local Methodist church holds a 'Coffee and Jumble' sale every Monday morning.  I only discovered this little gem just before Christmas when I was desperate for a loo and saw a sign saying the church was serving coffee, so in I dashed to make use of their 'facilities', (our public loos being out of action then as some 'delightful little soul' had seen fit to set fire to them!!).  I didn't realise jumble was on offer as well as the sign nearest the road only mentioned coffee - you've got to be right by the church door before the jumble is also sign posted.  Anyway, in I strolled and picked up a couple of bargains, and I've been going back every Monday since.  Today was particularly fruitful.

When I first spotted this lovely paisley material under a pile of other bits and bobs, I thought it might be a genuine old eiderdown but, in fact, it's a very nice pure-cotton double duvet cover and four pillowcases.  Although it is from Ikea there is something very Cath Kidston-esque about it and I was delighted to find it for the bargain price of £2.00 for the lot.  The other duvet cover I've got in pastel shades has definitely seen better days with the fabric having got very worn and thin and even gone into hole in places.  Also, the old one I've been using is poly/cotton which is nowhere near as nice to sleep under as pure cotton.  All in all, I was well pleased with this purchase.  At the same jumble I also picked up a couple of thrillers for me to read for the princely sum of 25p each, and at the charity shop up the road I got these bamboo knitting needles - also only 25p per pair.

I've never knitted with bamboo needles and I'll have to see how I get on.  As the lady in the shop pointed out - they are rather bendy!!  Still, at that price I thought it was worth a punt.

Mellow Yellow

I couldn't resist these cheery British daffodils this morning, they bring a real breath of spring into the house, and I'm looking forward to seeing them unfurl their buds in the next few days.  Despite the arctic winds which are blowing across the UK today (although, thankfully, it looks like here in the far south we'll escape the worst of the snowfall), even the daffs in the garden are beginning to come into bud.  Now we've got the long dark days of January behind us it seems as if spring is just waiting round the corner.

More yellowy goodness with a stack of pancakes freshly made this morning.

I know I'm a bit 'previous' for Pancake Day, but I had a lot of eggs that needed using up.  Some of these will be eaten as a main course - stuffed with cottage cheese and baked in a spicy tomato sauce - some will be eaten as a dessert by P with lots and lots of apricot jam, and some will be eaten by me in the 'traditional' way with a good dredging of sugar and a nice squeeze of fresh lemon juice - YUM (as DN would say!)

A Delish Swiss Dish

Yesterday P and I decided to have fondue for our evening meal.  We don't have this very often (I think the last occasion was over a year ago), and it all depends whether we have any of the genuine Swiss fondue cheese in the house.  I know my local Waitrose does sell fondue cheese (at an extortionate price!), but P and I much prefer the original Swiss stuff.

Anyway, I was fondly imagining the wonderful photo opportunities this would give me, I was hoping for something artfully arranged like Posy Gets Cosie or Yarnstorm always seem to produce - softly bubbling cheese in the lovely black fondue pan I've got, with a chunk of bread poised to dip into it (P had already volunteered to be the 'hand model'), all delightfully arranged on top of the genuine Swiss 'rechaud' which keeps the cheese hot.  Oh yes, we've got all the correct kit - being Swiss P takes his fondues VERY seriously.

The best laid plans etc etc - it was not to be.  We couldn't get the wick on the 'rechaud' to stay alight despite many attempts, liberal sloshing around of methalated spirits, and A LOT of swearing.  Eventually we had to admit defeat and eat our fondue whilst huddled around the gas cooker in the kitchen.  Not quite the atmosphere we were hoping for but delicious nonetheless.  Needless to say, no photos were taken.

Finally, Some Decent Thrifting

A quick trip to the Post Office this morning turned into quite a satisfactory thrifting experience.  As I was, for once, unencumbered by the shopping trolley I thought I'd give the charity shops a visit.  I don't know about you, but the charity shops here have been very disappointing recently - the same tired old items seem to have been lurking on the rails for months now.  Perhaps people don't donate as much this time of year, or perhaps they are hanging on to things for the start of the car boot season, whatever the reason bargains have been very thin on the ground since Christmas.  Today, however, was a great exception.

A lovely vintage wooden coat rack with these very jolly little gnomes dancing along it.

This was only £1.99, and, amazingly for that price, was from Oxfam.

Three vintage doll's faces which will probably be destined for ebay, although I am quite tempted to keep the cloth one as I think it would look good appliqued to the front of a plain T-shirt.  These were £1 for the three.

Four balls of black Jaeger pure wool double knitting yarn - 50p a ball.  I'm hoping to be able to get a hat for P knitted before his birthday at the beginning of March using some of this, and if there is enough left over I might do myself a plain black beanie - although that may be a bit too 'Howard and Hilda'?

There was also a very nice pure cotton Marks and Sparks short-sleeved work shirt for P for the summer - £2.50, and three books for resale at 25p each.

So, all in all, I'm well pleased, and am hoping that the thrifting gods will continue to smile.

I Can See Clearly ....

.... now I've cleaned the windows.

The trouble with a bright winter's sun is that it doesn't half show up the smears and streaks on your windows.  This morning I'd had enough of staring out through a misty haze and decided to give the windows a darned good clean.  This is no problem downstairs as pretty much all the windows are easy to reach both inside and out.  Upstairs, however, is a different ball game entirely.  The cleaning of the outside of those windows involves much balancing on a small pair of step ladders and a great deal of reaching and stretching at unnatural angles to try and get the whole of each outside pane clean.  I have to admit that I just can't do the outside of the landing window or the bathroom window, and neither of those have been cleaned for almost three years (and that's to my knowledge!)

These days I use the squirty clear Windolene stuff.  Years ago I always used the pink, chalky, original Windolene.  Me and that cleaner always had a very fraught relationship because every time I removed the lid the contents would throw themselves, hari-kari like, everywhere.  And I do mean everywhere.  Cleaning the windows meant liberally sprinkling the windowsills, walls, furniture, carpets, and me, with the lurid pink liquid.  I don't know what my problem with it was but I just couldn't control the stuff.  Thank goodness for the technology that invented clear Windolene in a squirty bottle.  I'm sure there are probably much 'greener' ways to clean windows - probably involving vinegar and scrunched-up newspaper, which I think Dad always used - but I'm just grateful that I have finally found something which doesn't coat it's immediate surroundings with pink gunk.

I do like to use a nice bit of soft cotton cloth on the windows.  The somewhat grubby ball of fabric in the picture above used to be a pair of Bridget Jones-style knickers (they were washed before being used as a duster!), but anything beyond wearing that is made from pure cotton gets cut up for dusters eventually, especially well worn and washed old T-shirts or pyjamas.  They don't scratch the glass, and don't leave bits of fluff behind like those hideous yellow dusters you can buy in the shops, and I don't feel guilty when they get so filthy they have to be binned.

It would be nice to be able to employ a window cleaner again but I never seem to come across them where I live.  The first window cleaner I employed regularly was when P and I lived in Nottingham.  The 'relationship' didn't start off very well as the morning I managed to nab the chap to clean our windows P was still snoozing in bed.  I saw him putting his ladders up to clean the upstairs windows first and thought I'd better dash up and explain to P that there would be a window cleaner outside the bedroom window any second.  Somehow I got distracted and before I could get upstairs there came the sound of a terrible fracas breaking out - P was trying to knock the window cleaner off his ladder as he had assumed he was a burglar and the window cleaner was trying to explain that he was only doing his job!!  After much apology and explanation it transpired that they don't have window cleaners in Switzerland (where P is from originally) so he had automatically assumed a man up a ladder at the bedroom window could only be up to no good!! 

Anyway, my windows are sparkly and clean now - it was probably just as well I cleaned them when I did as snow is forecast for the weekend - yikes!! 

Home Alone

This weekend, for the first time in nearly a year, P was away.  I had such great plans for what I was going to achieve whilst I had the house to myself - the sewing machine was going to be set up, and all the annoying little jobs about the place sorted out and crossed off my list.  Did any of this happen? - hell no. 

There was copious amounts of TV and video watching - including thoroughly enjoying Forrest Gump again on TV Saturday evening, and 'having the time of my life' watching Dirty Dancing on video (a recent 20p from the charity shop acquisition - money very well spent!)  A lazy few hours reading the rest of the previous weekend's 'The Times', and several other newspapers still lying around from the past week.  Making good inroads in a Peter Robinson novel which I have read before but can't remember what happens (dug out of a pile whilst sorting through books that are listed on Greenmetropolis.)  Sleeping obscenely long hours on both Saturday and Sunday morning, and not feeling any guilt at all that I should be doing something more useful.  And an outrageous amount of time spent just surfing blogs, ebay, etsy and any other websites that took my fancy.

I did manage several machine loads of washing as the weather was just perfect - sunny, warm and with a nice bit of a breeze.  And I also took down, soaked, and scrubbed the hideously manky mouldy shower curtain.  A few hours soaking in a hot bath of soapy water and it came up as good as new - which was most gratifying as I had seriously thought of bining the horrible article and buying a new one.  I also spent  A LOT of time knitting dishcloths for the order I've got.

The order is for ten 12 x 14 inch plain dishcloths - which is a lot of knitting.  Although it's amazing how much you can achieve with your feet up, a cup of tea to hand, and watching a film, when it's just plain old stocking stitch you're doing.

Man of the Match

DN has just started football training and this week he received a Man of the Match certificate for his skill, concentration and aptitude.  Bearing in mind that he is still only four years old we are all very proud of this achievement.

When I came across this Soccer Assoc. T-shirt in a charity shop this morning I thought it would be most appropriate for him.  I also came across this 'Tub o' Dinosaurs' which I hope he'll like too.

Nobody else in our family has ever shown the slightest interest in sport.  Mum and I quite enjoy Wimbledon and Dad used to sometimes watch the snooker, but that was pretty much the extent of our sports interest.  None of us ever had any interest in taking part in organised sports at all.  I dreaded the compulsory sports day events.  The only thing I was ever any good at was throwing things - javelins, discuses etc.  I once came third in the discus competition - the pinnacle of my sporting achievement.

Dad, my sister and I were pretty keen swimmers though.  At the hospital where Dad worked, the social club had a lovely heated outdoor swimming pool.  My sister and I spent hours and hours in that pool when we were children.  We'd stay in so long that our eyes would fog over from the chlorine and our fingertips would go all wrinkly and prune-like.  I have such happy memories of floating about in the water looking up at the bright sun and the blue sky (why is it memories of childhood summers all seem to be of hot sunny days!)  Sadly, the outdoor pool ruined any other form of swimming for me, I really dislike indoor swimming pools which I find very noisy, smelly and claustrophobic. 

I had no idea that many other countries don't heat their outdoor swimming pools until I jumped into a particularly inviting-looking pool in Spain and found that the water was so cold that I couldn't breathe - and this was on a day when the temperatures were well in the 80s.  It was a great joy to me to discover that the outdoor pools in Iceland are beautifully warm and if you don't mind the smell of suphur from the geothermally heated water - which I don't - then you are in clover swimming there.

Anyhoo, back to the Man of the Match.  We have great hopes for DN's ability to kick a ball about - even if we don't understand the attaction.  If he doesn't end up being a future Beckham then perhaps he'll be a future Jonny Wilkinson.  Whatever happens, I foresee many hours shivering on the sidelines of a sports pitch in the future whilst we all cheer him on.

Appley Dappley

I'm really chuffed to be able to say that the 'experiment' to store the apples in the shed over winter has worked a treat.

I fetched in a dozen apples this morning to make some stewed apple for pudding this evening.  It's not the first time I've used the stored apples, but it is the first time for a while.  Eleven out of the twelve apples were absolutely perfect - one showed distinct signs of having been gnawed at by some little rodent git!! 

The apples are still firm and juicy and look as if they were picked yesterday.  I'm really pleased - and a little surprised that this has worked so well.  I don't really know why I'm so surprised as I remember my grandparents storing apples in their box bedroom each autumn - if I remember correctly there were proper wooden boxes for storage and lilac-coloured tissue paper to wrap each apple in.  But in my case a cardboard banana box and bits of newspaper have worked just as well.  Yup, I'm well pleased with myself!!