Saturday 3 September 2016

My Winter is Coming

For me Winter is defined by how many daylight hours we get in a period of 24 hours. At the minute I get up when it's dark, I walk to work when it's dark and when I finish work it's only just beginning to lighten up - the joys of working from 6-9am in the morning. That being said I do seem to get some extremely beautiful sunrises to sneak a snap of on my phone. 



I digress. Going back to the meaning of my post. It's not that I hate Winter but I hate being uncomfortable, so cold or wet and wind stricken. I hate it. We have French sliding doors at home in our living room and last year I loved sitting with a hot chocolate staring at the awful weather outside thinking to myself, "I'm glad I'm not out in that". This year though, I have to go out in it. In fact I don't think my employers would be very grateful if I decided not to go in anymore; which wouldn't happen by the way because I like my job and the people I work with - I know shock horror. 

So, at the minute I'm sort of stocked up on hot chocolate. I have enough crochet projects to keep me going until I get money in to finish the ones I've already started and I have chocolate supplies that should last me two *coughcough* one *coughcough* days or so. I am sort of stocked up on my own little pharmacy of lemsip and cough medicine, annoyingly enough though, today is my day off and last night I started with a sore throat, this morning I woke up to a worse sore throat, a stuffed and blocked up nose, oh and let's not forget the sneezing. I always know what a cold is coming because I can't stop sneezing. Sigh. So supplies for winter:-

Chocolate
Hot drinks
Lemsip/ medicines/ tissues
Crochet projects 

Oh and let's not forget a good thick warm WATERPROOF coat! But I suppose being in Britain has its uses because even in late August/ September a beautiful sunny day likes to creep up on us and we get to see the magic of the seaside. 


Hubby's legs. Not mine ;) 

Friday 26 August 2016

BuJo Boo!

My mum sent me a BuJo journal and now my brain is brimming with too many ideas and not enough pages. My problem is, the pages are too small and my brain is too OCD for pretty pretty things so I end up pulling a page out if it has the smallest scribble wrong on it.... 

So what is a BuJo?

BuJo stands for Bullet Journal :) and they are far too complicated to explain but they're basically like a diary/journal/day planner all mixed in one but there's also other things like weight loss goals, lifetime goals, habit achievements, budgeting, books to read etc etc anything you want can go in and I've never seen a single BuJo the same as another. They're brilliant! 

If you're creative, or even if you're not you should definitely have a Pinterest or Google of Bullet Journals and see what you can find! 

Friday 6 May 2016

FREE CROCHET WORK IN PROGRESS PRINTABLES

I'm on an amazing group on Facebook that is brilliant inspiration for new crochet projects. The unfortunate side of this is that you can lose track of all the work you've started on and end up finding a bag of them down the back of the sofa when you're clearing out the cubby area. I asked the lovely ladies on the group I'm on if they had any ideas or places I could find a free printable 'work in progress' cards that I could use, as you can imagine trying to Google that sorta' thing wasn't coming up with anything useful. But the lovely ladies gave me some fabulous ideas. Such as:

Sheri Goad's Work in Progress Template from Frogging Along :

But, me being me, I like to put my own spin on things, I liked bits from one printable and bits from another, then I thought they looked a little, 'not-me'. So I got my graphics brain out and came up with these. They're only black because I printed them on different coloured papers - blue, orange, yellow and green - let me just tell you, they look BRILLIANT printed. I love them. I've used personal only fonts from the inta-webs and due to me getting inspiration from the lovely links above there's no way I could have SOLD these on, so I'm giving them free, in hopes that others like them too xx

Work in Progress - Small Projects

Work in Progress Small Projects PDF


Work in Progress - Large Projects

Work in Progress Large Projects PDF



Enjoy!!

Thursday 17 March 2016

One Round a Time

Now that I've posted it to my mum I can blog about it! 

A while ago when I first started crocheting I went into the Church Temple and on one of the tables was the most detailed crochet/lace table cloth/doilie I had ever seen. At that time I'd only just started crocheting, probably hadn't even started at that point actually come to think of it, and I thought to myself, "there's no way on earth I would ever be able to make anything as beautiful and as detailed as this". It was honestly so delicate and pretty.

But. That was over 2 years ago now and as time has gone by and I've become a lot more developed in my crochet skills, although not perfect, although who ever is, I decided that now was the right time to try my hand at a doilie. I was looking on my obsession - Pinterest - for one that was probably a little easy and every single one I saw I thought, "there's no way I can do this", but, as I read the diagrams and read the stitches needed I realised that I could in fact do them! 


It helped that I stopped looking at the bigger picture and just focused on one round at a time. I realised that if I did exactly as the pattern told me that it would all work out like the picture. And this, is what I ended up with. 


Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and to a seasoned crocheter they'll be able to see the faults and floors. However, for my first doilie, first time using crochet thread and first time reading an intricate diagram I think I did pretty well. Even my mum was impressed. I had to iron it so many times and place it flat between two cardboard pieces to make sure it didn't get bent on the post :D 

I can't wait to start on my next one now! Unfortunately I may have a bit of a problem....


Tuesday 8 March 2016

Crochet Craziness

It's been hard to post for a while because I've been questioning whether I have anything of worth to say, but I've decided that I don't type this for you, although it's nice that you're here and reading, so hello! But rather I type this for myself and to put down online a record of what I get up to, I also think it helps to write things down.

I'm still going to write certain things on specific days and see how I go. Tuesday is crochet day. I have a lot of crochet things going on at the moment a mermaid tail, two temperature blankets, a cushion cover and two ideas for a tunic top for me and a long sleeved bolero for me that I can just chuck on when I'm cold in the evening. I like tops that have very long arms that cover my wrists and go part way down my hands. It makes me feel all cosy and warm! I'll post updates as and when I can.

Current year, low temps mini blocks, high temps big blocks
5th June 2013 - 30th June 2013, low temps in centre, high outer

Recently though, I've been really unwell. The whole house seems to have come down with a bug at the moment. Hubby seems to have the worst of it so I'm sending him off to the doctors tomorrow whilst I go get weighed in at Slimming World. I'm not placing any bets on losing weight this week. I've not had much of an appetite for anything remotely healthy and with everyone being unwell there hasn't been much cooking except dragging myself to the cooker to make food for Ava. Even then her requests have been more and more unhealthy as the week has gone on. Today was a request for cake, chocolate and biscuits, so this kind of gives you a bit of an idea of the diet we've had in our house this week!
An apple a day won't keep this doctor away!

Friday 15 January 2016

Crochet WIP's

Works in progress. 

Oh my goodness, it feels like it's taken forever for Friday to come around! I have so many ideas and projects and things to show you that I've been taking photos of everything. 

I've been making cushions and a hat but also I'm carrying on with my temperature blanket AND I've done the research for my little girls temperature blanket. Oh and I've been commissioned to make the ever so popular at the moment mermaid tail blankets! So lots going on here at the moment and plenty to show you! 

One cushion cover I've been making. 


The other cushion cover I've been making. I've totally fallen in love with the even moss stitch. If you can do HDC and a SS (slip stitch) then you can make this beautiful pattern with no problem what so ever. There is a fantastic step by step on how to make it on this website: 


Take a look at all the other stitches on this website too because they're really easy to follow. 

I have a detailed guide to the temperatures of 2013 from June 5th to the same day in 2014. It has taken me forever to decide the right colours and the temperatures included in each colour. But I think I've figured it out now. I'll be posting a photo once I get on my laptop. 

A while ago I saw a really awesome stitch called the crocodile stitch and I tried it a few times but couldn't get the hang of it but last night I decided I was definitely going to try it and here are my efforts:


Tada!!! I finally did it! I credit this wonderful website for helping me with a really basic how to do that I followed easily! 


More pics soon! 

Thursday 14 January 2016

House Organisation Tips

The Fly Lady website has some good ideas on what to do and Pinterest is chokka full of loads of age appropriate ideas of chores for younger ones. Ava was brilliant at tidying up today and I'm even going to slowly put her toys back in her bedroom as they seem to have leaked their way into my living room again! 

Our hallway looks like a clothes bomb went off. The more clothes we have the less we wash them which is silly. Half the clothes I have don't even fit me anymore because of all the weightloss which is obviously a good thing but on the other hand, it's not a great idea to just take off the clothes that don't fit and put them on the floor, I need to do something else with them. Our wardrobe is full of baby clothes in bags so I'm either going to make t-shirt yarn out of really big tops or I'm just going to get rid of them. More on the t-shirt yarn tomorrow and the other projects I'm working on. 

So, before bed, I AM going to put the dishwasher on.  I am. Honest. Just really getting lazy with it at the moment. Ava is out tomorrow night to stay with the in laws so I can blitz the house. Fun fun! 

Wednesday 13 January 2016

Slowly Down I Go

Checking In

So today was weigh-in day again. At least this time I hadn't put on weight! I have lost 3.5lbs this week. I know for a fact I could have done better but little me was in the hospital on Monday and Tuesday and the stress just got to me too much. I was eating with my eyes and not my stomach and bought far too much junk food instead of healthy stuff. I did eat a concoction of fruit but it wasn't as good as it could have been. I really need to restrain myself a little when it comes to junk food.

A couple of women in the group today mentioned that they had been stuck on getting their body to work properly, mainly in the bowel movements area. I think it is a problem we all come across every now and again, particularly it seems when we have had a couple of bad weeks and our bodies are trying to get back into rhythm of the good week we are having. Obviously natural bowel movers are the first thing we should be trying to get everything dancing again, laxatives should only be used under consultation from a Doctor or Pharmacist :) just to be on the safe. However, here are some natural/organic bowel movers that are sure to help you at least a little!

Apples
Legumes and Beans (yes that includes baked beans)
Beetroots (which I love, I could eat by the jar full!)
Water, Water, Water - can't be said enough can it?!
Prunes
Flax seeds, walnuts & cashews
Tomatoes
Coconut Water
Cabbage
Aloe Vera

(source: www.skinnywithfiber.org )

Out of the above I probably eat the beetroots, tomatoes and cabbage more than anything else. But I am certainly going to try and eating beans, apples and try coconut water more often! I have tonnes of baked beans and other sorts of beans in my cupboard that I really should use. Apples are another one I have loads of. I think, "yeah I'm going to eat them this time" but then I never do!

So far I've lost 2st 2.5lb on Slimming World, and I need to lost abother 5lb to get back on track after the holiday period. I am hoping to push for losing 4lb by next week. Not impossible if I stick to plan!

Friday 8 January 2016

Cleaning Conundrum

Is it just me or do I seem to be going round in circles? 

How do you stop your cleaning schedule from becoming monotonous and boring? 

I have a 2 yr old. She creates mess. Lots of mess. My house will never be sparkly clean until she is about 20 or something haha. I clean one mess then turn around and she's making another. 

I've decided that the telephone was a bad invention because in years gone by people would clean their houses all the time because they'd never know when someone would be dropping by so you'd have no choice but to keep everything shiny, nowadays though we know when someone is popping by so some people don't clean their houses all shiny shiny because it's their space and they'll do it when they want. Phones made people lazy I reckon. Me included. I tidy, mainly because Ava needs somewhere to plays and because I need space to walk. I'm not a perfect mother and an even less perfect housewife but I just hate the going round in circles clearing the same mess. 



My mum was here over the holidays and was telling me what she used to do to keep our house tidy when we were kids so I'm going to follow two pieces of her advice. Yes, that's right mother. You heard me correct. At night before bed I'm going to either set the dishwasher off or fill it with things used from the day and I'm going to set the washer off with one light and one dark wash. Let's see how I go. 

Wednesday 6 January 2016

Post Holiday Judgement Day

So I went to Slimming World today. First weigh in since the holidays so I knew it was going to be a big one! I gained 9lbs in 2 weeks. But that's done, over with, time to put the past behind me. I'm hoping to be back on track by the beginning of February. First there is my birthday to get out of the way though! 

Slimming World Cooking Tips! 
Cauliflower rice, mushy pea gravy & swede - cooked without peeling!! 

Cauliflower Rice 

Chop cauliflower into chunks and put into food processor, or, grate with grater. 
Put in microwaveable bowl and cover with cling film. 
Set the timer for 7 minutes then take out. Voila. Finished. Serve instead of rice. 
Always put in more cauliflower than you think you might need as it shrinks when cooked. 

OR 

You could buy the pre packed whizzed cauliflower rice from places like Asda and Sainsburys. You can usually find them on the fresh veg isle or the microwaveable rice area. 




Mushy Pea Gravy

Empty mushy peas into blender. 
Fill empty tin with water and add to blender. 
Add 4 oxo to the blender then give it a good WHIZZ. 
Place in a pan and heat until slightly bubbling. Voila 

Turnip/Swede cooked without peeling!! 

Put into the microwave for 10 minutes. 
Turn it over and put on for another 15 minutes. 
It SHOULD be cooked and you'll know because when you take it out of the microwave it'll feel squishy on the inside. If it's not completely finished put it in for another 5 minutes. 
Take it out and chop the top off, the scoop out with a spoon and ENJOY.  

Now don't mind me whilst I go find some new recipes for my amazing Actifryer! 





Tuesday 5 January 2016

Organisation of Me

So I don't seem to be writing as much as I wanted to and I think it's because I like to be organised, with my paperwork at least. I was thinking about how I could incorporate the things that make me into me into my blog and I've come up with an idea.

Wednesday's and Saturday's will be about Slimming World, whether it is about my weigh in or a new recipe, or idea that I've found from going to group, maybe even the food I've been eating to keep up with Slimming World, it'll be posted on these days.

Sunday will obviously be a Church and gospel related day, for me it is important to really keep Christ in my life and most of the week it is hard to do that. However, this is what Sunday's are specifically designed for so that's what I'll keep a focus on,

Monday and Thursday I'll post about mummy stuff, house stuff, organisational stuff, mainly because I'm always trying to find new crafty things to do with Ava or new ideas to keep her entertained WHILST trying to keep my house tidy... doesn't always work though! But I shall try my best :D

This will leave Tuesdays and Fridays as my crochet project days! I am always doing something. Maybe even some times these things might merge on some days if I am doing something that I want you all to see but for now this is how my week will go!

Today is crochet day! I'm doing a temperature blanket for this year! Or rather two, because if I do one it'll be about 3.5m long! So I'm doing a nice lap blanket. Temperature blankets are apparently a really massive thing in America and I'm only just cottoning on to them now. But basically you take a colour of wool to a corresponding temperature and crochet a row in that colour. For now I have chosen a light blue for my 1 - 6 degrees CELSIUS, not Fahrenheit and I have 3 light blue stripes. My white will indicate a new month and days with an important birthday on them with have a sparkly stripe incorporated! I cannot wait to see what the finished product will look like! I'll take some photos and post them later!

I'm also working on a scarf for my Niece, late birthday present, but it is the 'daisy' or star stitch in a funky rainbow colour wool! I shall post pictures later on of the scarf and the temperature blanket idea. I need to work out my other colours first though!