More playing around with colours!

 

I finally cleared and tidied my sideboard.  It's been a dumping area for 'stuff' since I moved in. It's old and been in the family (my Welsh side) for many years but isn't valuable at all.  In my old house I didn't have the top bit on it.  There was actually a middle piece too with shelves and a mirror but it was really badly damaged.  I didn't know if it would fit in my wee living room but brought it with me just in case.  I've toyed with painting it many times as it's very battered and scratched.  But now I love it just as it is and it holds it's own amongst all the colour!  However, it was proving difficult to find artwork to go above it.

After many different combinations of pictures, mirrors and lamps ( I kept sending photos to my DIL for her input!) I finally settled on the above.  I moved the painting from above the radiator (got a different plan for that wall now although the radiator will still be colourful!) and it all fell into place.  The lamps had different shades so I changed them to 2 orange ones (more stuff I brought with me 'just in case')  All 3 prints are by the same artist Gerry Baptist.  I just love his use of bright bold colours.  They came with the showhouse we (ex husband and I) bought in 2003 so they've moved with me in 3 house moves now.  The one on the left is called Olive Grove Orange and the middle one is called Le Chateau.  I haven't tracked down the one on the right yet. It has a beautiful blue and pink sky which matches my pink sofa and ties all the colours in the room together!

I unpacked the box that contained my rainbow of gin bottles.  They're all empty except for the orange one.  They're sitting on top of the yellow corner unit I bought on impulse during lockdown at hugely discounted price.  The brown wall will be painted Natural Calico next week so the colours will pop a bit more (I hope!)

Thanks for all the suggestions on what to put on my Harry Potter shelf.  At some point I'll indulge in something a bit unique.  For now I've put a special bottle of gin up there as I thought the shape was perfect and it has a wax seal.  It's a limited edition 2021 Stirling gin called OlypmiGIN, info HERE.  It has gold flakes in it.  My youngest son gifted me it when he moved out.  It's still unopened.  Not sure if I'll ever open it now.  The Niffler looks like he's trying to get the gold which if you know about Nifflers is very appropriate!!! 😂

Final push!

 

I finally got the craft room finished today.  Mainly by putting all my crafting materials into 3 large packing boxes and dumping them in the garage!!

Before and after reminder!

It's looking very tidy and a bit sparse!  I put away all my colourful boxes and kept out the black and grey ones to match the fridge freezer.  I did buy a white roller blind to put at this window but I've decided to not put it up.  I'll be able to use in either my next house or my son's flat.

I kept the colourful floor rug for a wee splash of colour.  But it all looks lovely.  Shame I'll never get to actually craft in there.

I also split my peace lily (retirement gift from school) and re potted it.  I got 3 free plants to put around the house.

I'm trying to do the final push this week as I want to get the house on the market ASAP!  A 2 bedroom bungalow went on the market today in exactly the area I want.  It's under budget and needs a bit of modernising but not too much.  So I'm asking everyone to send me positive vibes to get this house sold quickly and let me buy this bungalow! 🤞

Settling in

 

Don't be fooled by the sweet photo!  Someone's feisty personality is starting to show and I'm being very strict with myself to not keep giving cuddles to get her to nap.  Or to constantly play with her as she is soooo cute!  She wants to play fight with Emma all the time but she is just too old and grumpy to put up with it for long.  Cue lots of barking and growling 🙄 She's mostly using the puppy pads indoors and loves being outside already.  Yep, safe to say Luna has made herself at home.  However, the lack of continuous sleep for me and early starts is a killer! 😴

Since I'm mostly confined to the kitchen area for now I cleaned out a few cupboards.  Even though I think I'm really good at watching dates on opened stuff, there were a few things that had escaped me.  The pretty gin bottle is my homemade vanilla essence.  It will last years!

This cupboard is for my 'big' jars with things like lentils and flour.  I gave it a good clear out too.  There's something very satisfying about washing out big storage jars.  I usually write the BBE date on the jars if I've emptied a packet but again there were a few dates that had slipped through.  One was even 2021, oops! 😳

I strained out the dehydrated rasps I had put in apple cider vinegar.  Tastes blooming lovely and will go nicely on salad.  I swithered about pushing the rasps through the sieve to add to it.

In the end I just froze them and will decide what to do with them later.  Maybe make some sort of savoury sauce/jelly to serve with meat?  I'm sure Pinterest will help me out!

I've got a Sainsbury's delivery coming this afternoon.  I've just had a text to tell me it's coming between 2.26pm and 3,26pm.  Very precise.  I booked a saver slot which gave me a 4 hour window but since I'll be here any way it didn't matter.  Then I've got some food/meal prep to get on with.  The freezer is filling up nicely with home grown produce too 😊

May Day/April Spending

 

I spent the morning on the plot on this fine May Day.  Well, it was fine for a wee while then it rained!  I managed to clear the long strip by the path of weeds, planted my red and brown onion sets, planted my wee blackcurrant bushes beside the originals and discovered that my echinacea survived the rabbit mauling in the tub.  I finally found where rabbits are getting in.  My gate has been nibbled and the wire pulled back.  Hopefully I can fix that next time I'm there.  We should be past the last frost date now but I'll wait another week or 2 before risking direct sowing seeds.  There was a frost last week and some of my potato shoots were damaged.  They'll bounce back though.

As yesterday was the end of the month, I did my end of months totals.  Bit of a mixed bag.

Food/supermarket spending was £161.74 which is lower than last month and I still have loads of food in the freezer.

Pet spending was even higher as I had to take Emma to the vet again for further tests and more drugs.  She's starting to become incontinent yet another sign of her old age 😢 She now takes 10 tablets throughout the day.  I always said I wouldn't keep a dog alive just for me and I fear the dreaded day is looming closer.  She seems happy enough although she is in some discomfort with arthritis.  Total for the month for dog and chicken £196.74.

I bought a few items on Amazon last month.  A couple of things for the allotment (inc hot spot tape for my polytunnel!) and I needed a cover for my new phone.  Total £85.24 for the month which is less than March.

In Other spending I needed petrol, I bought seed compost (although my Lovely Mum gave me cash for birthday to buy compost), I paid for my brown bin collection permit, we had a take away for my birthday tea, I bought a wee greenhouse and I had a dentist check up.  Total £263.45

Plus I paid £250 cash for the skip hire.

I'd like to get my spending down even more before I retire which is why I'm buying a few extra things here and there in preparation while I'm still getting a regular salary.

The huge declutter of the back room has begun.  My son and DIL managed to put all their boxes into the eaves and cupboards upstairs.  My friend took 3 full bags of stuff for school.  I've filled many other bags with books and textiles to be recycled or donated.  I've filled 3 black bags full of unrecyclable stuff and sorted out a ton of 'stuff' that seems to have multiplied since I brought it out of the upstairs cupboards.  It's getting harder to to dump/recycle things as there was a change in the law recently that I didn't know about.  It's taking me much longer than I hoped as it all needs to sorted/taken apart and taken to the right place!

I've set myself a deadline of the above room being empty by Friday!!! 😱

Tough Week

 

I'm not gonna lie, it's been a tough week thanks to the effects of school Halloween events on my 4 and 5 yos 👻 and the total changes at home.  I love my son and DIL dearly but ooft, it's going to take a lot more work than I thought to get some kind of order and routines established.

Despite doing 2 tip runs myself and paying a small fortune to my 'man with a van' (who had a FULL stuffed to the doors vanload) I'm still overflowing with STUFF!!!  My craft room was pretty much cleared but this is how it looks again this morning 🙄  I know we'll get there eventually but it feels a bit never ending.  

They both have chronic health conditions so their sleep patterns are opposite to mine.  My alarm goes off at 6.30am for work so I'm in bed by 10pm.  They stay in bed until about lunch time so don't go to bed until after midnight.  And meal times are just not in sync at all.   Aaaaaargh!!!!

Ok, sorry for the wee rant.  It's only been a week so far.  I've learned that maybe I'm not as easy going as I thought I was!! 😂  I've learned that I really like my solitude and own space at night after a crappy day at work.  So I'm prioritising getting the family room (first photo) cleared and set up as a sitting room space for them.  I've also gone ahead with turning my utility room into a mini kitchen.  Work starts on 9th January. 

I'm hoping that by documenting it here we can look back one day and 'fondly' remember the start of this way of living 😱😂

A new way of living

 

Here are some before and after pics of the bedroom.  That yucky mustard was finally covered with white and the carpet is down.  And I finally built the day bed I've had since March!

The lemon coloured end is looking good too!  I'm waiting for the electrician to confirm a date to replace the white sockets with some lovely brushed chrome ones.  The wee green chair is a child sized Lloyd Loom that's been in our family for years.  I'm planning on painting it white.  More on Lloyd Loom HERE

The bathroom window scrubbed up nicely with the new handle striker plates and the wood work was re stained.  We might add a grey or pink blind at some point.

And finally, the wallpaper is up!! This was the first (half) wall.  The whole bathroom took me a full day as there were lots of fiddly bits on the other side as it's a sloping eave.

I was rather chuffed with my cutting skills around the shaver socket! 😊

I still need to lay the floor tiles and put the new door handle on.  I ran out of time as my youngest son had a plumbing emergency that needed my help.  My eldest and his wife moved in this morning so I didn't get a chance to do a final photo of it all finished.  But you get the idea.

The whole house is in chaos but our target is to have it all de cluttered by the end of November.  Totally doable if we're ruthless and I follow my own de cluttering advice from Wednesday!!!

We're determined to make multi generational living a success!

Good advice!

With just 1 day left before my son and his wife move in and just 4 days left of  my October break, this is good advice!!

I'm off to do some wallpapering now 😊
 

On the mend!

I'm definitely on the mend at last!!  After 4 days in bed I managed to stay up all day yesterday 🙌  Still got a bit of a cough and my ears are whooshing 🙄  Thank goodness the school October break has begun!

I still don't have an appetite but knew I had to eat something.  So on Saturday night I defrosted some mashed potatoes (the Cara ones from the plot) and made a beany volcano!  I used to make this for my youngest son when he was a wee boy!  He likes the potatoes to have cheese in them too 😋

Yesterday I made a caramel sauce to have with some bananas since bananas are healthy! 😉 No recipe, just chucked some brown sugar in a pan with a large knob of goat's butter.  Melted it a bit and added some Alpro cream when it was bubbling.  Took 5 mins.  It was absolutely delicious!! I'll be making that again 😋😋😋

Since I was feeling much better I got started on the Big Declutter.  I've filled a few black bags with un-recyclable stuff and several bags for life with 'stuff' for the reuse hub.  I'm getting carpets fitted on the 19th and my son and his wife move in on 21st.  I've also arranged to have some of the bigger pieces of furniture removed on the same day.  I've got 2 rooms and a hall landing to paint before then.  Just my usual silk white emulsion and satinwood.  Totally doable, right?? 😱

Long weekend

 

Brrrr!!  It was a chilly start to my long weekend, 5 degrees C here.  Very autumnal!  I was woken up by next door's builders tipping a lorry load of tarmac onto their new driveway at 7.20am.  I'm hoping the (illegal) early start means they'll be finished sooner 🙄

First thing on my agenda today is to practise the best way for cooking/keeping bacon warm using my Crockpot.  I'm in charge of making bacon butties for our morning break at school.  We only get 15 mins so I need to perfect a way of cooking it (oven first?) then keeping it warm (or cooking it?) in the crockpot so everyone can get a hot bacon roll in time.  If anyone's ever done it please leave your tips in the comments.  There's no cooker in the staffroom hence the need for cooking in advance then keeping it warm.  Lidl are currently selling these large packs of 24 rashers for £3.29 😋

Other plans for the weekend include pickling beetroot.  Sadly my own haven't grown much but I picked up several bunches in Lidl for 99p a bunch.  It'll be messy but I'll wear gloves! 😂

I've knitted a few more sock blanket squares this week so I'll be stitching them together and adding them to my blanket.  I'll try to get a decent photo of the blanket when I'm done.

I picked up a bag of tulips (30 for £4.99 in Lidl) and I'll be planting these on the allotment at some point.  The weather is to stay dry all weekend so I'm hoping to get a good tidy up session done.  Might even have some things to harvest!

But the biggest job this weekend will be to clear my craft room of all the 'stuff' that came out of the upstairs bedroom!  And that's just 1 room.  The family room next to it is equally full!!  But I'll settle for at least 1 clear room by Monday night! 

Of Kings and Queens

 

I'm absolutely not a royalist but I've found the last few days interesting and actually quite moving.  From a historical viewpoint the accession and proclamations have been fascinating.  Thanks to modern technology we have been able to see the whole process that has taken place behind closed doors for centuries.  There seems to be universal praise for the Queen and a growing respect for our new King who I hope will modernise and slim down the monarchy.  I'm rather enjoying watching the ceremonies and traditions across the 4 nations of the UK and I'm glad that the transition is seamless.

Over the weekend my lovely mum finished stripping off the wallpaper in my back bedroom which used to be my youngest son's room.  I've emptied the cupboards of "stuff" (which I have to say was only about 50% mine!!) so it's all ready to paint now.  It's a north facing room so painting it my usual (cheap) brilliant white will brighten it up.

Now I just need to decide whether to get a skip for all the "stuff" or do multiple runs in the car to the recycling centre!!

Living room tetris

 

I decided to remove my TV for good (I never watch it!) so took the chance to move the furniture around.  My lovely mum wanted the old Singer sewing machine so that freed up a bit more space.

The armchair on the left has survived a few house moves and Emma used to sleep on it when she was younger.  It's wrecked but really comfy.  I've thrown a blanket over it for now but my plan is to get it reupholstered.  Won't be cheap but still not as expensive as a new armchair!

I've moved Stanley (my ram painting) from the bookcase to where the TV was and I'm loving him there! 🐏

I've not put the rugs back down yet, might just leave them off.  But so far, it's a frugal decorating project.  It's cost me nothing except for wrecking my poor back!!

Rainbow colours

 

I spent yesterday and today sorting out some paperwork.  Actually, quite a lot of paperwork!!  The 2 boxes on the right were full plus a few trays and baskets.  I filled 3 black bags of shredded documents! 😲  I'll add some to my compost and use the rest to make paper bricks for the woodburner. 

Throughout my 24 years of married life,  my ex took care of all the paperwork.  I've mentioned before he was an accountant by trade.  He firmly believed in keeping EVERYTHING for 7 years "just in case it was needed."  It's a habit I sort of continued but totally without a system.  I even have an office sized metal filing cabinet!!  It was ridiculous and it was starting to bother me.  So I made a start on clearing out my own paperwork and some of my sons' paperwork I had lurking.

I've reduced it all to just 4 box files in lovely rainbow colours.  In fact, I'm going to order a blue and a purple/violet box to complete the set! 🌈 If I have to have something boring and practical it might as well be pretty!

The box files will sit in the bottom of my living room bookcase which has books sorted by colour (the red, orange and violet ones are just out of sight.)  My (empty!) gin bottle collection is also rainbow themed.  I have been gifted a red bottle but will have to wait until it's owner has finished the gin!! 🍸

The last few days

So these last few days of my holiday have been spent decluttering my huge kitchen cupboard.  For ages I've wanted to move my every day dishes into it but I'd been putting it off as it would mean completely stirring my kitchen.

I emptied the cupboard and started making piles of all the stuff I wanted to sort out.  I ended up with a large box for the charity shop (new students will be arriving in town soon) and I ruthlessly binned all the chipped and cracked stuff.   I took all the opened packets and put the contents into glass jars.  I binned some out of date stuff.  There wasn't much this time I'm happy to say!!

It looks so much better and my plates are easier to get to now.  Looking at it makes me happy although OH couldn't see the difference!!!  Pah!

I gave the fronts a good clean.  Although I don't like the rough finish of the technique I used with the chalk paint it does clean nicely.  I'm glad I spent the time applying the wax properly.

After 3 years I finally added a hook to hang my aprons.  It needed to be on the left so it doesn't bang into the cupboard when the door is opened.

See!

I've also been sanding and stripping in my utility room.  The woodwork was varnished with a very shiny varnish so it's all been sanded off.  I don't do anything shiny!! It will be painted in a satin finish white.  I've started stripping the paint of the door into my downstairs wet room.  I love using the heat gun!! Doesn't look great atm but the bit I've sanded as well is very smooth so should be good to paint over.  It'll be purple, same as my kitchen door 💜

I've added my new rug and curtains to my family room/den and written a long blog post on My upcycled home. Do have a look HERE.  I'm going to do a detailed post about all the rooms in my house as I complete them.  Let me know what you think.

I now have just 1 day left of my holiday.  I still haven't popped into school as planned this week but I'm not stressing about it.  I am determined this year to keep a close eye on my workload and set an example for the younger teachers by not doing excessive hours.  That said I am going in tomorrow just to see what needs to be done.  8 of out 12 teachers were moving into new rooms and the resource room was relocated so the school was in quite a state on the last day of term. Hopefully it will be ok by Monday when the kids are back.  Eeeeek!!

Day 1: Cook, Clean, Clear and Create

For the next 2 weeks I'm challenging myself to do these 4 things every day.  I'm going to cook something for the freezer. I'm going to deep clean something that isn't part of my normal weekly cleaning routines.  I'm going to clear a cupboard/drawer/box and declutter.  And I'm going to create something from the crafty resources I already have so no cost is involved.

So I started by cooking 1kg of steak mince and made 4 portions of meatballs and 4 portions of bolagnais sauce for the freezer.

I cleaned all the kitchen cabinet doors and kickboards.  Goodness knows what DS cooked when he once here but he's definitely inherited my messy cook genes!!

I cleared these 2 boxes of plastic ware and matched lids to boxes. A few lidless boxes will be used for a clearing project tomorrow.  I now have a single clean box containing 6 soup mugs and a few small containers.  Everything else is gone.

I took this damaged canvas painting and added bits to it to create a usable picture to hang in my family room. 

I've also (finally!) updated My upcycled home blog and added this project to it.  Have a look HERE 

I really need to get cracking on all the unfinished projects in this house and get some new ones started.  This wee challenge will give me the kick I needed!! 

Plodding on

I'm still painting my utility room *sighs*  I'm now on the third coat of paint.   I think the end may be in sight.  In between the paint drying (and my enthusiasm flagging!) I've been decluttering and organising other areas in the house.  I'm trying to get as much done as I can before school goes back.  My kitchen still isn't finished *rolls eyes* but I upcycled a tree mug by painting the red base in the purple colour I used on the door and radiator.  Quick, easy and free!!

I tackled my study.  It was the dumping ground for everything.  It's a through passage to The Teenager's den/family room so you can just see the floor is cleared enough to squeeze through!  A lot of this stuff was put there 'out of the way' to be dealt with at a later date, which of course never comes!  Some of it is school stuff to be taken to my new classroom.

 The view from the other end of the room

Ta da!! The after shot!  You can see the rugs again!!

And from the other end 

I currently have 3 book cases (this was my downsized collection after moving) but I'm aiming to get rid of one more.  If you notice the bookcase on the right is sloping (wonky floor!) and has a missing base plate.  This one will be Freecycled along with the books.  Then I'll put Emma's smaller bed in that place instead of in front of the radiator.  She prefers the small bed now so I'll Freecycle the big one she shared with Lucy.

The Teenager has been cooking some new dishes to get ready for uni.  This is his version of the  Versatile Vegetable Stew from the BBC show Eat Well For Less?  There's a new series on atm and already I've picked up a few new recipes from it.  Some folk like to knock it and make fun of the families featured but I think people just get in a rut when they're busy and running a family.  I could easily have been on it a few years ago.

It was actually very nice although we didn't have any paprika so used chipotle flakes instead.  He would make it again so big success!  Tonight he's going to try baked veggie enchiladas like the ones he ate in a Beefeater restaurant.

I made a big slow cooker lamb stew (Irish Stew) with some yellow stickered packs of lamb I'd picked up over the last few weeks.  Really simple, just carrots, onions, potatoes and lamb chucked in plus some veg stock.  I cooked it on high for 1 hour then low for 5 hours.  I read somewhere that lamb is a very good meat to have if you have food intolerances as sheep cannot be intensively reared like chickens, pigs and cows.  So it's not been mucked about by man over the years.  OH won't eat it as he thinks it's fatty but if you use lean cuts and skim off the fat after it's cooled it's fine (I think!)

It's already been portioned up and frozen, some for me and some for my eldest DS.  He does love a good homemade stew!

I also made him some buttery mash to have with it.  I've not frozen mash before but Sue over at Our New Life in the Country did a recent post on it so I'm giving it a try!