Rowney Warren - So Peaceful

My little family and I went to Rowney Warren near Chicksands last week for a picnic. It is so tranquil there it is unreal. I took lots of photographs and I wanted to share some of them.

Woo-hoo! DeCluttering = Cash!

I washed and ironed a few bits 'n' pieces and put them on a facebook group for people wanting to buy and sell in my area, and I made £20 in a weekend. AND, there was so little effort on my part. Upload photos, say how much I want, JOB DONE.

DeCluttering = Cash!

The best thing is, selling this way, I know it's local, a lot of the time I can drop stuff off on the school run or exchange my goods for cash in the playground (somewhere both myself and my buyer have to be anyway), so I'm reducing my carbon footprint and someone else gets the benefit of things I no longer require. Bonus! Beyond that, no advertising fees, no paypal fees, no eBay final value fees, no working out how much it's going to cost to post something. Yay!

Shamefully Excited Over A Vacuum Cleaner

For my birthday I wanted a new vacuum cleaner, and we were hoping that the 10+ year old Dyson we had would last just a little while longer. Unfortunately, that was not the case. My beloved and much abused Dyson DC03 could take no more. On Friday morning I was attempting to vacuum the lounge with just the hose (and even then I had to hold my hand over the hole that was in it). It would not pick up at the front as the spinny-brush thing would spin no more.

We wanted to replace the Dyson with a newer version of itself, however, finances would not allow such a thing, so on Saturday I got me a new Vax Mach 8 (for a fraction of the ££££). Boy am I impressed! That thing is amazing. The suction is off the chain. It practically pulls the carpet off the ground.

I never thought that I'd be excited about a vacuum cleaner, especially as I only consider housework and I to be acquaintances, not friends, but I am wholly impressed and would even venture to recommend this particular vacuum cleaner to people.

It even has a smiley face. (Photo to follow).

De-Clutter to De-Crazy Myself

I've had enough of not being able to find things, and I can't stand it when my OH just buys a replacement of something because we can't find the old one and so I'm going to de-clutter like crazy. I have an ENORMOUS plastic laundry bag in the lounge and it's beng filled with things I think we no longer need. I've started with all of Monkey Nut's littlest clothes and I've added a fair few things that I didn't really want to get rid. You know the things; the perhaps-one-day-I'll-squeeze-my-englarged-behind-in-it-again things and the perhaps-one-day-it'll-be-back-in-style things.

I'm using up the crafty bits and pieces that have been lying around. Not to make pretty stuff, but to make practical things that may (or may not) help with the clearing process. I've recycle some old coffee jars and jam pots, by covering them with crocheted sleeves. (Check Ravelry.com for ideas for these, there's plenty out there). I've recovered the dining chair seat pads with some old curtain material and I've started to make cushion covers out of old sheets that were 'waiting for a project to come along'.

Now to convince my prolific hoarder husband that he needs a little rehab of the cluttering kind and we might move forward.

Maybe one day, I won't have to greet guests with 'Hello' and then follow it immediately with 'Please Excuse The Mess'.

Maybe one day, I'll be able to change the title of my blog.

Thoroughly disappointed

I've been so sick the last week, and I still am. I really shouldn't be out of bed. Whenever I lean forward, I'm sick, it's that simple. I know I have a family that loves me, but in truth. I'm really disappointed in how little has been done while I've been ill.

• bins have not been emptied,
• plates and bowls have been left to stagnate (at one point we completely ran out of bowls)
• the floor has not been hoovered
• the laundry has not been done
• rubbish has been left on the floor
• toys/books/paperwork has not been put away
• food has been left out of surfaces

It's disgusting, and I'm finally seeing how much I'm taken for granted.

Stash Busting Christmas Presents

Christmas presents??? In July??? Well, yes. In fact, I started purchasing my presents in the January sales. I buy a little something every month and then when December hits and everyone else is running around in a blind panic and digging deep holes of debt, I sit back and concentrate on the mess that's my home, readying it for the flock of family and uninvited guests that will drop in.

This year I want to make more gifts because it means that I can combine two things I love. Crafting and gift-giving. That and the fact that my husband went in the loft ad came down down exasperated at the amount of crafting goods I've got up there. It's time to de-stash and make use of what I've accumulated. It might even clear some of the mess around here too.

Thus far I've crocheted two scarves, and made two cowls by tunisian crochet (a craft that was quick to learn, but also quick to get quite boring), I'm knitting a cowl (http://www.madelinetosh.com/patterns-honey-cowl.html) and I'm also working on some bunting for one of my new niece's bedrooms and a cushion both from http://attic24.typepad.com/.

I'll add pics in the near future. It's just at the minute, I'm in a mess.

My Food Buddy

Over the years, it has been increasingly difficult to feed my husband and my daughter. Both are fussy eaters and they seem to like and dislike the same sorts of things:

• cheese (the stinkier the better)
• burgers
• bacon
• funky pickles and sauces, etc.

They don't particularly like many things that I like, including, but not limited to:

• fish
• chicken
• carrots
• brown or seeded breads
• asparagus
• rice
• potatoes
• quiche
• deep pan pizza

The list goes on and on and on and on. I have however, noticed that my toddler son does like all these things are more besides. He's a great eater. Everything I enjoy he's happy to partake in. I have a food buddy. So now, it's two types of bread bought in with the groceries. We get pasta AND rice, green beans AND asparagus. So many good things are to come, and I have someone to enjoy them with. Up until now, I've just not bothered because I didn't want to cook separately just for myself. Now I don't have to. I'm so pleased.