It's the first full week back to work and school so it's been rather busy. I'm finding it hard work getting going in the morning, and I'm not the only one. But we've been booking house exchanges for later in the year so we have lots to look forward to. The work has started on the first part of our build: skip number three is in the driveway and we hope to have foundations laid in the early part of the coming week. It's astonishing to think that … [Read more...]
How to make a new year wreath from a calendar
For a fun last minute gift for your lovely next door neighbour who invited you in for New Year drinks, find yourself two small children, a pair of scissors, a stick of glue and a cheap calendar. Take your (in)expensive calendar and tear it apart page by page. Cut a rectangle out of the centre of the back-board so that you have a frame. Slice the top of each page off so that you are left with the twelve months. Stick these to the … [Read more...]
Why you should swap houses
Here's why you should swap houses! When we told people that we were doing a House Exchange, the first reaction was one of surprise. "Aren't you worried that they will steal things?" "Don't you worry about other people rummaging through your things?" "I don't know how you could have someone stay in your home: they won't put things back where they found them." Of course, DH and I would have reacted in the same way had we been in their shoes, but … [Read more...]
Simple Chicken Chop Suey
DH tells the story of when he first went to university clutching a copy of Grub on a Grant, not knowing how to cook. University suited him well, as did the cooking: his divine peanut chicken thing won me over on our first Valentine's together and I always get quite sentimental when he cooks it. But it is the Simple Chicken Chop Suey recipe that he first mastered, primarily I presume because one of the ingredients is his condiment-of-choice: … [Read more...]
Puppy Love
This week's Gallery prompt is phone photos. I like snapping things with my phone so this suited me. I have also just downloaded a new app to my phone so that I can edit it, which has given me some wonderful results. Here's the very first one I did: Editing has really added something both to the photos I have taken and the photos I want to take. I love that you can focus on a … [Read more...]
How to make a pine cone Christmas Tree
Red Ted Art has toilet roll fetish when it comes to craft. Nurture Store is a mahoosive fan of playdough. I have a (very) soft spot for crafting with corks. What's not to like? At the very least they give me a reason to regularly open a bottle of wine. And not just at home either. Whenever we go out to events or restaurants, even the Parents' Drinks at LBG's school, I have been known to sidle up to the bar staff and flutter my eyelashes in … [Read more...]
Project 366: week 1
About six months ago I started following The Boy and Me, drawn in by her Project 365, and the wonderfully daily photos that she was publishing of her Boy. It occurred to me that this was a brilliant idea and I determined to follow her lead at the beginning of 2012. It seems I was not the only one: my G Reader is filled with the most wonderful #366 posts at the moment, and I love them all. Because I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants blogger, … [Read more...]
