No more words needed.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
House owners for 1 year
Nice how the estate agents remembered... perhaps they want to remind us they are there and ready to sell our house should we wish to upgrade.
Looking back we have done a lot to this house in the last year... still not finished but it is looking better - I think :)
Looking back we have done a lot to this house in the last year... still not finished but it is looking better - I think :)
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Crafts
The arrival of Freya Grace - niece numero uno - has been an excuse for various crafts! I never seem to have enough time to do these things... but was inspired by some of Ant's friends to create a "taggy blanket"... the idea being that the baby has fun rubbing the different bits of ribbon around the edge, something that small babies can do before they develop bigger hands/ grabbing abilities. It was really easy to make, and I was pleased how it turned out!
I also made one for Sophie with some different bits of ribbon given to me by my groosome (grannie). Hopefully she will also be able to enjoy the different textures.
The Geer joined me in the 2nd craft activity. Creation of a nappy cake for Freya. Nappy cakes seem to me to be a random idea, but Hils and I got roped into making one for a friend at work, and they are quite entertaining to make, so we thought we would make one for the new niece. The whole thing is very amereeeekan, and a rather alien concept to us Brits. I was amused by a colleague from across the pond who said they made "great baby shower centre pieces". I don't think baby showers have totally caught on here... and having "centre pieces" for such things seems slightly OTT to say the least... I guess the whole idea is all a bit too over consumeristic for my liking.
Anyway, I shall explain "nappy cakes" for those who have not experienced such wonders: You put some nice baby lotion/ bubbles in the middle of a board and then role up lots of nappies (fastening with elastic bands) and arrange them around the central bottles, pulling them tightly together with some pretty ribbon. You then tuck in different gifts like bibs, rattles, taggy blankets, colour changing bath ducks, and of course, the obligatory "I love Ware Bib" - a must for every Ware-ish baby. Not sure how much Freya will enjoy wearing it, but Anthony is amused that it matches his "I love Ware" t-shirt... and I am just generally amused by his love for his home-town! So a fun thing to make... but only really useful if you are not using washable nappies.
PS - Freya is of course very lovely, very cute and very small, but she isn't an online baby... so no photos :O(
I also made one for Sophie with some different bits of ribbon given to me by my groosome (grannie). Hopefully she will also be able to enjoy the different textures.
The Geer joined me in the 2nd craft activity. Creation of a nappy cake for Freya. Nappy cakes seem to me to be a random idea, but Hils and I got roped into making one for a friend at work, and they are quite entertaining to make, so we thought we would make one for the new niece. The whole thing is very amereeeekan, and a rather alien concept to us Brits. I was amused by a colleague from across the pond who said they made "great baby shower centre pieces". I don't think baby showers have totally caught on here... and having "centre pieces" for such things seems slightly OTT to say the least... I guess the whole idea is all a bit too over consumeristic for my liking.
Anyway, I shall explain "nappy cakes" for those who have not experienced such wonders: You put some nice baby lotion/ bubbles in the middle of a board and then role up lots of nappies (fastening with elastic bands) and arrange them around the central bottles, pulling them tightly together with some pretty ribbon. You then tuck in different gifts like bibs, rattles, taggy blankets, colour changing bath ducks, and of course, the obligatory "I love Ware Bib" - a must for every Ware-ish baby. Not sure how much Freya will enjoy wearing it, but Anthony is amused that it matches his "I love Ware" t-shirt... and I am just generally amused by his love for his home-town! So a fun thing to make... but only really useful if you are not using washable nappies.
PS - Freya is of course very lovely, very cute and very small, but she isn't an online baby... so no photos :O(
Monday, November 01, 2010
books
I love books... and I have quite a few, although alas there is never enough time to read them all! Indeed I have a small library when compared to my husband, who basically seems to own a few FACT books, a couple of novels, quite a few books relating to learning how to fly, and more bibles than me (and he's the atheist round here). However, it should be noted that I have considerably fewer books than some people in my family - Clari that would be you... and the rest of your family too :)
So our books have been sitting on the floor in the lounge for about 6 months... since we moved them out of the spare bedroom so my auntie and cousin could sleep in it in the summer. The pile looked like this... and was becoming more precarious by the day
A couple of weeks ago we ordered some wood from a timber yard (an enlightening experience... they knew their wood... and their page 3 girls). We took delivery on Friday, so we now have a garage full of wood for a dining table that we plan to make at some point... and the shelves. So on Sunday, whilst Ant set to in constructing these shelves (clearly a manly job), I got to work on a cupboard to go under the shelves.
Small aside about the cupboard:
We live near an "Age" (formally known as "age concern") furniture warehouse. We go there reasonably often in search of a great bargain. Normally we fail to find anything remotely nice. We do however have some friends that seem to have stylishly furnished most of their house from there... clearly they have more luck than us. Anyway we needed to go and see these friends so thought perhaps if we went to Age before hand we would get lucky... and we did to a certain extent... the pine cupboard below cost £40 which I think is a leeetle overpriced, but then you can't really bargain with a charity for grannies... it would just be wrong. Note the space above the cupboard... all ready for Ant's shelves.
So yes... after a weekend of shelf putting up and cupboard renovating we came up with 4 nice shelves and a cupboard that with a few coats of paint and some cheap wooden Homebase handles looks really quite nice (I am of course biased on this one).
I was happy dappy dooo da. Ant was slightly distressed, because we were left with a reasonable pile of books that don't fit on the shelves - even with optimal stacking of books in piles and putting them on the shelves 2 deep (some would say this is a crime in itself... it was a big concession on my part - particularly as it makes access to the Anne of Green Gables series difficult... and who knows when I might need to refer to what Anne and Gilbert did in Avonlea?) Such was his distress that he uttered terrible, sacrilegious words - "you have to get rid of some books". How could he say such a thing about my lovely lovely books? I was in shock... and refused point blank to get rid of any... and called him illiterate several times... which is possibly an over statement... but is reflective of my strength of feeling about my books. Anyway all is not lost as we have the wood to construct more shelves on the other side of the chimney so all will be well and I am sure I will be able to add to the collection. Disobedient wife that I am - I have been given a moratorium on all amazon purchases until I can say I have read every single book I own.
No room on the shelves for these books... and bizarrely a gong. nice. Please note that their location close to the fire does not in any way indicate that they shall be burnt.
So our books have been sitting on the floor in the lounge for about 6 months... since we moved them out of the spare bedroom so my auntie and cousin could sleep in it in the summer. The pile looked like this... and was becoming more precarious by the day
A couple of weeks ago we ordered some wood from a timber yard (an enlightening experience... they knew their wood... and their page 3 girls). We took delivery on Friday, so we now have a garage full of wood for a dining table that we plan to make at some point... and the shelves. So on Sunday, whilst Ant set to in constructing these shelves (clearly a manly job), I got to work on a cupboard to go under the shelves.
Small aside about the cupboard:
We live near an "Age" (formally known as "age concern") furniture warehouse. We go there reasonably often in search of a great bargain. Normally we fail to find anything remotely nice. We do however have some friends that seem to have stylishly furnished most of their house from there... clearly they have more luck than us. Anyway we needed to go and see these friends so thought perhaps if we went to Age before hand we would get lucky... and we did to a certain extent... the pine cupboard below cost £40 which I think is a leeetle overpriced, but then you can't really bargain with a charity for grannies... it would just be wrong. Note the space above the cupboard... all ready for Ant's shelves.
So yes... after a weekend of shelf putting up and cupboard renovating we came up with 4 nice shelves and a cupboard that with a few coats of paint and some cheap wooden Homebase handles looks really quite nice (I am of course biased on this one).
I was happy dappy dooo da. Ant was slightly distressed, because we were left with a reasonable pile of books that don't fit on the shelves - even with optimal stacking of books in piles and putting them on the shelves 2 deep (some would say this is a crime in itself... it was a big concession on my part - particularly as it makes access to the Anne of Green Gables series difficult... and who knows when I might need to refer to what Anne and Gilbert did in Avonlea?) Such was his distress that he uttered terrible, sacrilegious words - "you have to get rid of some books". How could he say such a thing about my lovely lovely books? I was in shock... and refused point blank to get rid of any... and called him illiterate several times... which is possibly an over statement... but is reflective of my strength of feeling about my books. Anyway all is not lost as we have the wood to construct more shelves on the other side of the chimney so all will be well and I am sure I will be able to add to the collection. Disobedient wife that I am - I have been given a moratorium on all amazon purchases until I can say I have read every single book I own.
No room on the shelves for these books... and bizarrely a gong. nice. Please note that their location close to the fire does not in any way indicate that they shall be burnt.
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