According to the meteorological calendar yesterday was the first day of Spring! I had it on my calendar as March 20, but that apparently is according to the astronomical calendar!
Very pleased about that I must say as considering we have had snow today, again, I need to brighten up the house with my Spring decorations.
On a recent trip out I bought some of those strong paper/cardboard letters to spell out SPRING and they are for covering, painting or however you want to decorate them. Will have to get a wiggle on with them now!
Out shopping in an hour or so with the help of hubs' and his 4x4 as I got scared on the way back from the school run when the skidding tyre light came on!
Hoping to catch up with some emails to people today who I used to talk to on Twitter; still keeping in touch with a few. Plus other paperwork including checking when Jake's pet insurance runs out and reading the meters.
Must dash as need to get a couple of jobs done before the shopping.
I would really LOVE for you to tell me about your Spring decorations and o feel free to link to your blogs with pictures of the new season.
Louise.xx
I have just been catching up with last night's programme of The Great British Sewing Bee.
I was Googling about the patterns they use then ended up asking Tilly and the Buttons if she knew which ones they use. (You may remember Tilly was a contestant on the very first series of The Bee.) Whilst doing this I decided to link her blog to mine as she has written a fab post about the up-coming book linked to The Bee.
Here is the link to Tilly's blog about the new book which helps you to sew Fashion With Fabric.
Just a quick post for today but hope you enjoy and find it useful.x
Hi! Just a reminder that if you are new to my blog, or not, you can sign up for it to be sent to your email box or you could always book mark it. I am not on Twitter or Facebook but would love people to keep in touch. Hope you do.xxx
Well, it has taken me a while to get back here but never mind.Hope you are happy to be reading a little about what I've been up to recently?
I purchased some pom pom makers and have begun a project to make a rug for the house we finally move to! I am not counting how many I have made so far, but the boys like emptying the bag to see where I'm up to - I have some way to go yet as you can see.
I have also begun sewing a pair of jimmers for myself. Inspired again by The Great British Sewing Bee of course. The fabric is yellow gingham winceyette kind of and cost me £1.50 from a charity shop - it's actually a cot blanket. I'm doing my best to take the pattern off a pair I already have so wish me luck as I have it cut out and hope to get them sewn some time this week. Photo of the finished item to follow later.
On Monday as part of my home organisation I decided to plan the boys' breakfasts as well as already planning their tea meals. Therefore yesterday morning I got up, had a bath in our bedroom bath which I really should do more often, then came down and made the batter for American style pancakes. I cannot do the crepe type so these work really well for us at breakfast or any time, soooo easy! Today was easy too, porridge and yoghurt tube for Alfie and peanut butter on Tiger bread for Harry also with a yoghurt tube.
I love baking, as you know, and I absolutely love having fresh things baked for breakfast so I am just about to make Lemon muffins to go with fruit salad for tomorrow morning. I've decided to just make half recipes of biscuits, cakes and bakes then I can regularly indulge my passion, things don't go to waste and the boys, and hubs, get a selection of yummy eats and treats!
We recently went to the dentist during half term and Alfie unfortunately has a tiny hole in one of his teeth. I was mortified but then pleased in a wierd way that it is caused by him eating so much fruit. The idea of planning the breakfasts along with other meals is so I can keep a handle on the amount he eats instead of him just diving into the fruit bowl at any time of the day, which seems to be the problem. Here are the job charts for the boys and my expanded meal planning sheet.
The boys went back to school on Monday and so I am getting back into my usual routine, just about. They have been asking for pocket money recently so we now have job charts on the fridge for tasks such as feeding Jake, helping with taking out the recycling, plus the usual like keeping rooms tidy. They are keen to earn some spending money now and for when we go away in the Summer holidays.
Corned beef hash for the boys' tea tonight; quick meal as we are going climbing I think. However last night we went to the first of two Judo sessions this week for extra practise in readiness for their next level belt grading on Sunday so they may pull a sickie and I can't say I would mind!
That's all for now so catch ya later!xxx
Hello!
Okay, January is properly back in full swing. My boys have just started their third week back at school, we are now into after school activities having gone back to both climbing and Judo plus I've attended my first Weight Watchers meetings of the year and have managed to lose 3lbs fo far. I'd like to give you a cooking tip about the fantastic Lasagne I make using a yummy white sauce of Quark - don't knock it 'till you've tried it - and fat freee fromage frais. Check out the result of my efforts!
This is such a versatile sauce as can be used for lots of things including said Lasagne plus Mousakka and fish pie.
My post Christmas home organisation/de-cluttering of various places and rooms and so far I am happy with what I have achieved. I have sorted, tidied and cleaned out under the kitchen sink, the baking tin/jar cupboard, the place I keep miscellaneous things like plastic and lunch boxes, flasks and spare ice cube trays, the shelves down to the cellar (cellar itself is a blue job for Jon!), crafting supplies and both the boys' rooms! Phew! January is such a cleansing month and one to seriously for looking forward and planning ahead.
On January 14 I cancelled my Twitter account and I'm more than happy about that. I really am done with too much technology; I am tired of contstantly looking down! I know this means I will be out of the loop with some things but if I was that bothered I wouldn'thave cancelled it.Some friends think we are crazy, saying we live in a soial media world, but our point is that you don't have to! The same day I was baking some blueberry and chocolate muffins. These are great for snacks and even for breakfast as there is only a little chocolate in them!
We have been to the theatre to see Spamalot and we had a fantastic meal at a fantastic Tapas bar in Manchester and I also had a nice girly lunch out which was lovely.
I am now caught up with my Post Circle and just yesterday have bought an ink pen, something I've been meaning to do for ages, to make my letters look a little more special!
I think I am all caught up now and look forward to seeing what the next few weeks bring us!
I look forward to any comments or contributions you might have to my ramblings!
Catch you later.xxx
Good morning!
I am typing this post at my kitchen table on our new laptop which we treated ourselves to at Christmas. It is lovely to be downstairs typing where I can keep an eye on people coming to the door, but most importantly be near the coffee pot!
Hands up those who don't love the beginning of a new year?
I absolutely love it because of the chance, second or maybe third, to make a fresh start. I love the optimism, positivity and energy of the new year.
Here, we are working through the house de-clutter and home organisaion and it is going really well. The charity shop has benefitted from Harry's room getting a tidy up in readiness for a new bed and school has received three good bags full of books. We still have Alfie's room to do later today and my craft things have been thinned out as I really do not do as much as I used to.
On a personal note I've begun a Journal of Gratitude combined with a daily journal. I'm enjoying this as I could never manage a full on Project Life, would not have the time, but this way I can be thankful for what I have and keep a few memories, even if it is just when the boys make me laugh, like the other morning when they were singing to a song from Despicable Me! I have also made the decision to return to Weight Watchers. I love my baking and cooking so much but it needs to take a bit of a back seat for a while, apart from making things for the boys.
I
have just finished catching up on most of my backlog of #Postcircle
letters - only two to go now. I am looking forward to sending and
receiving more letters this year. This
will be quite important to me as I plan to cancel my Twitter account
soon. I have come to the conclusion, as I did with Facebook, that my life
does not need social media to the extent to which it interferes with my
life. Don't get me wrong, I talk to some lovely poeple on Twitter but I
hope I can maintain some relaionships by post or other means, maybe even
face to face, you never know, it does happen they tell me!!! Anyhow, I
hope you will continue reading this blog and look out for when I decide to
start new one which may be in the summer. I'll let you know herewhen this happens.
That is all for now as I have a lasagne to make for tea tonight so we are ready for the boys to start back to Judo for the first time since we finished at Christmas.
I would love to hear about your plans for January and beyond and if you arein a positive mood like me.
Hope you stop by soon.xxx
This IS a little late, however......
