Time to say a fond farewell

I have been debating with myself about the future of my blog and I have come to the conclusion that it has run it's course. 

I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read and commented on the blog during its life time I really did appreciate it x

I am not closing it down so the content will still be available should you feel a sudden urge to pop in, but this will be my last post.

Good luck to you all in your future endeavors.

Love Sandra x

Can I manage a NO SPEND WEEKEND?

There is a certain point towards the end of January where the funds have dwindled,  the luxury items of our Christmas feasts have faded away and the reality is that the end of the month aka pay day is further away than I would really like.




picture source via Pinterest


Hubby is working this weekend and rather than following my default setting to go sniffing round the end of the sales for an amazing bargain I decided to stay at home and have a no spend weekend. So I drew up a few ideas to keep me occupied

• Meal plan the weekend and try and use up something exotic or new that you brought on the spur of the moment and has since hidden in a corner waiting to be rediscovered.
• Treat yourself to a lie in, if you have meal planned you should have a lovely breakfast to look forward to.
• Go for a walk (well away from any shops!) take a photo of a tree and come back through out the year to record the changes to the tree. this should provide good motivation to keep up the walking. 
• Watch a movie recorded over Christmas, curl up on the sofa with a mug of tea, if you light a candle while doing it you can call it Hygge.
• Read your favorite book
• Paint your toe nails and fingers in different colours
• Write a letter to someone who you exchanged Christmas cards with but haven't seen in a while
• Pick 6 songs to play that are inspired by the weather on the day and sing your head off
• Have a soak in the bath and think about all the good thing that have happened to you in the last week
• Clean your car out and give it a wash (weather permitting!) 
• Bake a cake and invite a friend over to share it
• Check the local press and Facebook to see if there any free activities going on in the area. Remember to take a drink and a snack with you to save the pennies
• Pick up a project you have already started, if you decide it is not for you sell it on or donate it.
• Research a trip ready for when you have the time and money.
• Visit the local library, they are a great source of information for events and clubs taking place in your area
• Set yourself a small goal to be completed within the coming week
• Start a new board on Pinterest for your 2018 plans
• Take your camera for a walk indoors or outdoors and try and improve your snaps
• Look on the internet for free samples or money off coupons
• Become aware of the amount of plastic in your life and make plans to reduce it
• Catch up with the blogs you follow and maybe add a new one or two

Wow 21 ideas, I very much doubt I will get through all of them but I now have a bank of thoughts to come back to should I find myself at a loose end.   The majority of them seem to be indoors based but I guess that reflects the time of year and my current status of recovery.

What are your plans for the weekend? I hope you enjoy them :)

January decorating the blues

Every year January presents me with the same problem, how do you "dress" the house once the vibrancy of the Christmas decorations have been taken down? Surfaces that a week ago were full of colour, shape and texture (not to mention sparkle!) now look empty. bare and flat.






Picture source via Pinterest

This year this was not a problem thanks to Santa's generosity.  I am a big fan of the pottery made by Danish company Greengate, I love the vintage patterns and the simple shapes, unfortunately my pockets are not deep enough to have a lot of it and I must confess to using it to display on my Welsh dresser rather than using to eat my breakfast off.




Picture source via Pinterest



During my recovery period I had a lot of time on my hands so poking around the internet looking for lovely things to add to my Christmas wish list was one of my chief occupations. While trying to find some reduced Greengate pottery I found the Fine Nordic site which not only had Greengate items in their sale it also introduced me to another Danish brand that produces equally lovely pots called Krasilnikoff.





Picture source via Pinterest



Needless to say that a nice box of goodies were delivered to my home before Christmas and I have added Fine Nordic to my bookmarks!




Picture source via Pinterest


No pictures of my lovely treasures this time as the light at the moment is so poor it is difficult to get a decent shot but I will try and remember to take something even if it is just a phone piccy that I pos to Instagram!

Have a good weekend peeps x


Please note I have not received an incentive from any of the companies mentioned in this post.

Calendars, journals and planners ... or just a book?

I have seen a few articles pop up in my Pinterest feed about journals and planners as it is "that time of the year" I wondered if they had anything to offer.




picture source

I currently have a kitchen calendar that gets holidays, birthdays, appointments etc written on. I also keep a note book which I write down ideas about all sorts of things as and when they come to me, sometimes I meal plan in it, I list the chores that need to be done and often aren't!, blog ideas, there is  a list of plants that I would like to include in my garden etc etc. It can be slightly chaotic but it generally makes some kind of sense to me.




picture source

The journals seem to cover everything from well being, religion, health, gratitude, doodles, chores, life goals, spending, saving, appointments, to do lists, how many glasses of water you drink, what you wore on the day etc etc in fact you could spend the whole day filling in your journal and not actually get anything done!




picture source

The planners were more about setting goals over the year or tracking events that recurred throughout the year. Budget and meal planners seemed to be quite popular.



picture source

So am I about to bin the book and start a journal? not in the short term but I am going to steal some of the things I liked



picture source

• Give each Month a "front page" with some doodles and possible some seasonal pics from magazines or flyers. I will mark the page with a tab made from washi tape and then I can refer back to things within the particular month.

• Set myself a goal of the month which can be as big or as small as my time allows

• List the events and appointments that we have booked in for that month

• Give myself 3 mini goals for the day and write down a reward to give myself once completed. I thought this was quite clever as satisfaction and reward contribute to personal well being. Currently this would be something like 

1. complete daily chores
2. walk X amount of steps
3. put the Christmas decorations away
4. REWARD = Mug of milky hot chocolate

• Limit the number of daily chores I write down to 4, I think this is achievable and I get the satisfaction of having completed my list. My current light duties are

1. washing in and out
2. wipe down kitchen surfaces
3. dishwasher and pot
4. wipe down bathroom surfaces

• Put my ideas at the back of the book so they are separate from my "daily page". I like that this will provide a little bit of structure but still allows me to go off at a tangent without causing complete chaos!

I would love to hear if you have any other tips about journals and planning.

Happy January everyone :)

2018 has snuck in!

Well my best laid plans didn't come to fruition and December vanished without me making any posts at all!  Quite a contrast to last years flurry of activity

It is now a little over 10 weeks since my op and I ventured into work for a couple of hours today. I got a fabulous reception from everyone and it was lovely to be back with my work "family".

The Christmas decorations are coming down tomorrow and I have a few plans to fill the blank spaces to avoid that emptiness that always seem to follow the excess. I will try and get some photos to put up but the lighting at this time of year is so poor I won't make any promises.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year, we were lucky enough to see in the New Year at St Ives. They close off the streets, everyone dresses up in fancy dress and there are fireworks on the beach, it is tremendous fun for all ages.  We dressed up as a family of "where's Wally" including baby Esme complete with stripey tights and a body suit x

Life in the slow lane

Hi All,

Just over 5 weeks since I had my ops and there are moments when I am starting to get back to normal.  I keep a little note book next to my bed and in the initial period I used it to keep a note of when I took my medication and to comment on my twinge,s aches and pains.  This is now used to record all the tiny steps forward that I take like being able to get back into my jeans......if only for about 5 minutes at a time!

Progress is expectedly slow and I am trying not push myself although sometimes I forget and go to do something only for my body to go NO! not yet.

I have managed a couple of small craft projects that I will photograph and put up at some point.  Pinterest is doing a good job of absorbing some of my time and I have earmarked a few projects already for next year.

I hope you are all busy with lots of exciting projects in the run up to Christmas please leave a comment to let me know what you are up to x

And finally don't forget to keep doing those pelvic floor exercises xx

I am back

Just a quick update, I had my ops yesterday. Hysterectomy, and front and back pelvic floor repairs (so classed as 3 ops).  I spent one night in hospital and was discharged at lunch time today.

I have been signed off work for 2 months but have been advised by the consultant that the recovery period will be 2 and a half to 3 months! I was told 12 weeks when I agreed to the op but thought that once I could drive (6 to 8 weeks) I would be back at work.

I can't lift anything heavier than a kilo for the first few weeks so even if I am feeling OK I have to resist getting involved with the likes of vacuuming, pushing the trolley round the supermarket, hauling washing in and out of the machine etc. Luckily hubby is on hand to pick up all these tasks, although we have agreed that he doesn't have to do any ironing and I am prepared to go with the flow in the short term.

I am feeling fine so far but I am ready for my painkillers when the time comes round.  I didn't sleep to well last night but I think that was down to the amount of sleep I had had during the afternoon. I am starting to get swelly belly due to the gas that is used as part of the op, I am drinking peppermint tea and sucking mint sweeties in the hope of moving it!

I will keep you updated on my recovery but in the mean time don't forget to do your pelvic floor exercises it may prevent you going through this xx

Things that don't go to plan

Hi All,

It has been a while since I posted anything and there is a reason for that.  I had scheduled a post about a weekend away we were taking down to St Ives, our usual trip on the sleeper train, pottering about, taking a few snaps, enjoying a cream tea etc etc. However, my body decided that this was all too boring and it wanted to add some drama to the event and I had a prolapse!  My exact words to my hubby were "my insides are falling out!"

After the initial shock I called 111 for advice, I was told this is a common occurrence! (according to the NHS website 1 in 10 women suffer from prolapse). A Doctor called me back explained that many women just live with this, he said I could go to Penzance that evening if I wanted to go to a walk-in centre but I would be OK to just take it easy and not lift anything.  As we were 7 miles away and didn't have a car I decided that I would wait and see my GP when I got home.

My GP confirmed the over the phone diagnosis and arranged an appointment with a consultant gynecologist. At the appointment I was offered either a pessary (a ring that sits inside and holds things up) that needed to be changed every 6 months or surgery.  I have opted for surgery, it will be three ops in one, anterior and posterior pelvic floor repairs and hysterectomy.  I am scheduled in for 24th October, I am going in as a private patient using hubbys BUPA package.  There is a recovery period of about 12 weeks! I fear that after the initial pain has calmed down boredom might be my biggest enemy.

So ladies what ever your age please do your pelvic floor exercises every day, they may prevent this from happening to you and if it does happen the stronger your pelvic floor muscles are the better you will be able to deal with it. I have just downloaded an app from TENA that has a guide on how to do them and a reminder to add to your phone to give you a nudge so you don't forget to do them.

I will let you know how it all goes but in the mean time keep up those pelvic floor exercises x

Whats going on in the garden?

After a week away in the sun I was a little bit apprehensive about what may have been going on in my garden.

We have invested in some new planting for this year moving the focus away from vegetables and moving towards a cottage garden style.  As we have already invested a lot of cash into the summer house I have been trying to pick up plants without paying too much for them.

I lost 4 Lupin plants to the slugs, I was in a dilemma as to weather of not I should buy some little blue pellets to kill the little blighters off but I know they are harmful to the eco system as they are taking food away from birds and hedgehogs so I decided to sacrifice the Lupins on this occasion but I will give it another go next year and I try to grow them in a pot and see if I get better results.

I have tried to select plants that will either come back again or will shed seeds.  There are some bedding plants that have added colour in the short term and they can be replenished next year or replaced with something different.

  I think that it will be at least 3 years before the garden will start to look something like my long term vision and as it is a garden it will continue to evolve.

I am a self confessed haphazard gardener and like Mother Nature to have a hand in my garden so I am looking forward to seeing what survives and what perishes along the way.

What have you been up to in your garden this Summer? and do you have any tips on dealing with the slugs?

Summer house

We have had a major change in our garden this year, we have filled in our garden pond. With baby Esme on the scene it seemed like a good idea, also the lining had been split for a while and it would have needed time and money to sort it.  Out of the blue we decided that a small summerhouse would be perfect to fill the space so savings were counted, a base was laid and a giant "airfix" kit was delivered. We used a company called Garden Sheds they were significantly cheaper than anyone else for the same product, this is their photo of the style of summerhouse we have brought.  I can't get a decent pic at the moment as we are still working on that area of the garden.







I painted the outside in Cuprinol Garden Shades, Dusky Gem, I thought it was grey but it sometimes looks blue and other times takes on a purple haze!  The interior was painted using Cuprinol Garden Shades in White daisy, it is designed so that the grain of the wood shows through, however the light colour also showed all the mish mash of brush strokes that I had made, so three coats later they are less visible but so is the wood grain.  I do like it even if it is not exactly what I had in my head.

It was tempting to go for a beach hut theme but I felt that this lends its self more to the apex roof type summerhouses.  I wanted it to be more of an extension to the garden so I opted for the white interior with green and pink bunting, there will be cushions to follow once we sort out a couple of cane armchairs.  The colour scheme was inspired by the apple blossom on our old Bramley apple tree and I might sort out a sign for it saying apple blossom or apple bough.

We have added some insulation to the roof in the hope that we can extend the amount of use we can get from it and I fully intend to make it into a Christmas grotto and go down and drink mulled apple juice or wine in there or maybe even a "winter Pimms"

I got a cracking bargain with this metal light fitting from dotcomgiftshop,, it was only £12.95 in the sale and comes compete with a vintage style brown covered flex.  It strikes the perfect balance between utility and style and the soft sage green is just what I wanted.  I finished it off with an old fashioned style bulb from Wilko for three quid so less at 20 pounds all in I was very happy.

.
I am trying not to fill it with too many nik naks and treasures and there is a huge temptation to just go on ebay and Amazon and buy loads of cute stuff that would look great in there, but it is far more fun to potter round charity shops and such like so I am holding back....for now

I did downloaded these free botanical prints from The Grapics Fairy  there are loads on there and I intend to print new ones off and change them to reflect what is happening in the garden.


All we need now is for the sun to come back out so we can fully test it out or should we just resign ourselves that this is the English summer and so we will be squelching down there to go and sit and look at the rain drops dripping down the window panes

Baby Esme's quiet book

Well its safe to say that the photo challenge went by the wayside as my real life took over!

I did find myself a little bit of creative time and started to put together this little felt book for my granddaughter.  She has got a recent fascination for untying shoe laces and I thought I would do a page with some ribbons or laces on that she could undo to her hearts content or as often as her Mum will retie them!   Once I looked on Pinterest I saw so many great ideas for quiet books that I found it hard to limit myself!

I am currently working out what I can sandwich in the pages to give them a bit of noise when she plays with them.  To "bind" the book together I am planning to include a couple of loops of tape or ribbon on the edge of the page and then tie them together with a double knot and hope she can't undo them!

We have a friends wedding next weekend and I am hoping this is going to live up to it's name and keep her quiet for at least 5 minutes.

She loves twiddling with labels so I thought these mini bunting flags might work for her.

I stuffed the apple tree with off cuts and scraps of the felt I had accumulated, I thought this would give a bit of texture when  she is handling and bashing the book about,

Glad to say this didn't challenge my zip sewing phobia!

She is too young at the moment to understand the concept of putting something into the envelope but she will love the button and the lift up flap.  If it survives I will make a little something later that can be slipped in there for more fun and games.

I know she will enjoy tugging and pulling these loops of ribbon around, she already has toys with short strips of ribbon and she love grabbing them, usually followed by trying to eat them! well she is 8 months old.

Last but not least a couple of shoe laces which were the catalyst for this project.

I like the idea of the book being tied together so we can remove pages that are no longer relevant and replace them with whatever new and exciting thing that entertains and educates her.  There are some superb examples on Pinterest and I look forward to bringing my take to some of them in the future.

Any advice or ideas for future pages would be very welcome.

July photo challenge - part one

Hi

Here is the round up of the first few photos I posted on Instagram as part of my July photo challenge


CLOSE

 

WOOD

SHADOW

TOOLS

CLOUDS

If you follow me on Instagram you will notice that there were a couple of other photos published that I have not included.  I have got a small technical hitch that I am working on and I will include these in my next post.

The challenge started very well with me posting daily, however, this week I haven't posted at all, as usual real life got in the way.  Knowing me I will meet the challenge of posting 31 pics in the month with a flurry of activity at the end of the month!

Have a good weekend

July Photo Challenge

I am still shilly shallying about if I should continue to blog so I have come up with a mini project. I intend to post 31 pictures on Instagram over the month of July and I will do a weekly round up on here, I will be using the camera on my phone so that I can snap things as and when I see them.

This is the list, I will do them in no particular order so that I can interpret them as and when an opportunity arises, until I get near the end and panic!

• Tea cup or mug
• Something blue
• Bunting
• Cutlery
• Light
• Cotton reels
• Fruit
• Glass
• The number 7
• Close
• Distant
• Flower
• Something white
• Leaves
• Door furniture
• The weather
• Car
• Shadow
• Stacked up
• Tools
• Clouds
• Buttons
• Wood or wooden
• Path
• Water
• Architecture
• Stripes
• A sign
• Dandelion
• Gate
• Something I have made

Wish me luck you can find me on Instagram classicmini66 if you want to keep on eye on my progress or pop in here for the round up.

I would love to hear what you are up to, do you have any projects on the go or are you chilling out and enjoying the summer?

In a quandary

Hi All,


I am in a quandary about my blog, the observant among you will have noticed that there haven't been any posts for a while.

I am finding that I have had less free time to do my little makes and anything I have made I haven't even thought about photographing it or making any notes.  I do enjoy the blogging process and am always really thrilled when anyone takes the time to leave a comment, however, I have also felt liberated from my self imposed blogging schedule.

So do I close my blog down or do I keep it open in the belief  that I will pick it up again?

In the short term I am going to leave it open and if I haven't made any useful posts in the next few weeks I think that will answer my own question.

thanks for dropping by :)

Pom Pom garland for Easter

Woo hoo I have completed my first make to take away with us for our Easter break.

I hasten to add this will be my first and only make this Easter, I had a miserable cold last week so I am playing catch up this week.  It was simple and quick to make and is very suitable for getting the children involved with.

I made about a dozen pom poms using orange and yellow cotton yarn, that I have had for quite a while, they came from Lidl about 3 years ago when they had a sale day, a bit of a bargain at only 50p for 4 balls of yarn!   A combination of single shades and some mixed colours along with a few different sized in pom poms stops it being too uniform.  I left long strings when I tied the pom poms off and then tied these together to make the string I tried adding tassels over the joining knots but it just looked a little bit odd so I decided to embrace the honesty of them and let them show.  I will see what it looks like in situ and adjust the spacings accordingly.

I used a pom pom making kit like this one from Hobbycraft. I know how easy it is to cut out a couple of circles out of a cornflake box and do it the old fashioned way but this kit really does help to make it fast and they are reusable.  There is also a method on Pinterest using a fork that I have not tried yet.

Although it is fairly short ( I plan to hang it on the mantlepiece providing it doesn't cause a fire hazard) it is incredibly easy to get tangled up on itself so I have utilised my Mothers day card to wind it round and secured each end with a dob of washi tape.

I am happy with the end result and think it will add a  nice splash of Easter colour to our rented holiday apartment.

I wondered if anyone has tried making pom poms using "the fork method"? or are you a fan of the pom pom making kits?


Happy Easter to you all I hope you get lots of treats and remember they have no calories if you eat them in your PJs :)

Making plans for Easter

Gosh we are at the end of the first quarter of 2017 and it seems to have passed by in the blink of an eye.  As you have probably guessed by the level of activity on my blog I have not been very creative over the past few months.  We are still helping my daughter and her OH with the renovations/extension to their house so every weekend we are over with them. This of course means I am forced to spend loads of time with my lovely Granddaughter, she is such a joy and each week seems to have developed some new trick like holding something in each hand or has a new facial expression, which has us giggling away.  So my crafty time has been rather limited and this of course means I don't have anything new to share.

Spring Flowers

We have booked an apartment in Whitby for Easter (thanks to a heavy discount courtesy of Tesco clubcard points) and I am planning a couple of small makes to take with us to add my own touch to the decor. Fingers crossed they will be completed before we go and I won't be finishing things off in the car on the way up there!

I hope you are all busy creating lots of lovely things, please leave a comment to let me know what you have been making or what your Easter plans are.

5 Quick makes for Mothers day

Mother's day in the UK is 24th March this year, as we have a new Mummy in our little family most of our day will be spent over at her house.

I pulled together 5 quick makes that I think would make nice gifts

1)  In this digital age where photos and videos are shared amongst families on a daily basis why not go old school and print out a photo and put it in a frame. There are plenty of budget frames around from places like W ilko and Tiger Stores etc or check out your local charity shops. If you are watching the pennies print out the photo, stick it on some card (back of cereal box will do) and use it as a card.



2)  I love my felt flower brooch and they are so simple to make here is the link from my 50 makes for Christmas adventure.



3) These memo pegs are incredibly quick to make, they are another on from my 50 makes of Christmas link here



4) Everyone loves a bit of pampering and this hand and foot scrub I made would be ideal as a gift on its own or as part of a Spa gift set along with a nice sponge or loofah some bubble bath or shower gel, heck you know what your Mum would like to be in it.

5) If you are really skint and can't afford to buy her anything, why not give her a coupon for something like breakfast in bed, take you out for dinner when I have cash, do the laundry etc.  Here a few links to site I have found on Pinterest

pennypinchinmom.com

blog.partydelights.co.uk

intheplayroom.co.uk


Please note that ALL Mothers day gifts homemade or shop brought should be delivered with a HUG, a KISS and ALL the LOVE in the WORLD x

Boats, beach huts and bark

Monday morning and we had to vacate our holiday cottage by 10 o'clock, we loaded up the car (I always bring everything including the kitchen sink!) and headed out for breakfast.  It was the sunniest day of the weekend so we decided to head back down to the beach at Wells next the sea.  

I somehow managed to change a setting on my little camera and it resulted in some cropped photos with some interesting effects, I hope you enjoy them.

These snaps of the boats in the harbour have a lovely vintage feel to them

The beach huts got a variety of treatments, I particularly like the "sketch"

And we had a ramble round the woods at the back of the beach, I was fascinated by the pieces of tree that laying around in various states of decay

We headed home, batteries recharged, cobwebs blown away, ready to face the week ahead. We were incredibly lucky with the weather and certainly tried to make the most of it.

We love a little weekend away but do always seem to come back here to North Norfolk or head South to St Ives, we are located in the middle of the country so I am open to suggestions for new locations.