Thimbleina

There are those days when things just don't go right

 

Today was one of those days. These were meant to be chocolate chip cookies but something somewhere went wrong and I don't know quite why when I came to take them out the oven they were a lacy mass on the baking tray - must have put too much of something in or missed something out??? But as you can see from the top right that did not deter them from snaffling them immediately.

We also had one nose bleed and cut lip and several bruises when one little man decided to shoot out the door with his sister's brand new welly perched on top of a bean cane that he had purloined out of the veg patch, but said sister was just coming past the door on her bike at speed and he toppled over the back wheel pulling the bike to the ground.

The new bell bought for Master T's bike in the excitement of having a new bell got broken before we even got it on the bike, but I managed to salvage an old bell off of an old trike and take the picture off of the new one and voila a bell that works and he is pleased with. Well perhaps he can now warn people that a 3 year old driving a bike like a drunk on his way home is coming their way and that perhaps it might be wise to evacuate the error of about several hundred yards of where he is cycling especially in case he wants to stop and talk as he is liable to throw the bike to the ground to get off it as he hasn't yet mastered the fine art of stopping and getting off yet!!

Also that same little man thought he would investigate the plumbing in the downstairs toilet, luckily for us it was the waste pipe of the sink and not the toilet ( there is a silver lining in every tale). This though now appears after flooding to be fixed.

Ahhh nearly time for bed to obtain more energy for tomorrow

The late summer scarf

After seeing lots of lovely cotton scarves for children (all quite expensive for the amount it will be worn) and seeing lots of tutorials on the fraying and creasing of such scarves I thought I would go through my stash of fabric and see if I had some suitable material for the job. Yesterday I set about fraying the edges to make it look scarfey.

 

There it is a little lady's scarf for that inbetween seasons wardrobe.

Refashioning of the shrunken

 

At last I had to admit that one of my favourite jumpers was never going to be the same shape again after I think (although being very careful when washing it) I may have shrunk it. I think this as it is no longer as long in the body (I don't think I have grown taller!??) and it was starting to stop the circulation in my arms as I think the sleeves had become less wide and stopping the circulation in your arms is a slight inconvenience when you are trying to get things done during the day. So although I have washed it and attempted to stretch it back into shape I think after two years of convincing myself it was alright - it actually isn't!! So what to do with it? well I can't just put such a lovely coloured jumper into the charity bag can I and it is a colour that Lady A loves, but with having a scoop neck it wasn't going to be a jumper for her, so I decided to cut into it and make a cardigan.

I cut straight down the middle on the front and chopped the ends off of the sleeves. Those ends I then opened out and made the little rose and ribbons to put over the large press stud that I sewed onto the top voila! another cardigan for her which she seems to adore as I made this almost a week ago now and she has worn it nearly every day and it does look quite good and I am so pleased that that jumper is still with us and getting use without stopping circulation.

The preserving season

 

We went blackberry picking this morning in the local woods and we got loads. We then came home and made blackberry jam, cobbler and melting moments with blackberry jam (yum, yum). Not many melting moments left now!

I plan to do some more preserving, but top of the list is preserving my sanity, so we will see what gets done on the preserving list of things to do.

A camping we have been!

 

We are back from camping and what a great time was had by all. We had lovely weather, we had a lovely campsite with lots of friendly people to talk to and lots of kids for the kids to play with. We also got good recommendations for a lovely little non commercialised beach

 

We saw seals, a windmill, a 16th century thatched barn, saw lots of constellations in the sky and a shooting star, boats, ate local food and nobody wanted to leave at the end of it. I would say that was a good holiday and not much was spent having that fun and having all those memories to take home with us.

Look what came in the post

 

Look I won something on Erin's blog, Bluebirdbaby. You know how I made a few veggie bags to put things in at the supermarket instead of plastic well these are handmade by Wonder Thunder and are made just for the job. 

As you can see I have put my salad leaves in the big one, I am trying it out in the fridge to see if it keeps the leaves fresh, so far so good. Lady A was also very pleased as she bagged the little green Wonder Thunder badge that came with it.

Have a great weekend come rain or shine  

Going without

 

Not the best photo, but it was the best shot I could get of my hair. Last year I decided to go without shampoo, but I went cold turkey and it went very lank and greasy and I couldn't go out the house feeling very confident in myself, so after about 3 weeks I think it was I gave it up as a bad job.

This summer I thought I would try again as I appear to be getting a very itchy patch at the back in my hairline (no I don't have nits!!) So after re-readind Angry Chicken's no poo posts I got out the bicarb and the Apple Cider vinegar and started again. To start with I wasn't using the bicarb correctly and needed to use it as a paste rather than totally liquid and comb in through and sometimes I need to miss out the vinegar, but after 3 weeks I think I have the hang of it and my head is much less scratchy and my hair feels lovely and soft.  So if I can do it anyone can. 

Help make a difference

Websites that may inspire you to go out there and make a difference:

howies clothing - Quality clothing that is built to last, alot of organic fabrics used and thought is put into the whole process. Also a cool catalogue to download with information as well as the products, take a look and use your pennies wisely when you shop.

fixya.com - As per a link from the howie's catalogue why don't you see if this website has the answer to how to fix that broken item rather than throw it and buy a new one? I shall be looking to see if my iron can be salvaged as I am fed up with them having such a short life and I would so much rather have it repaired

The Do lectures - These lectures will inspire you to get out there and do something to make a difference, take a look at some of last years lectures on the site to get inspired

 Supernaturale.com  - Check out their patterns for revamping clothes, especially Compai's tutorial on how to reinvent an old boring white t-shirt. It is amazing what you can do with what you already own rather than going out and buying more

Hope you have a great weekend   

Windy Miller

 

It is amazing what you can find on your doorstep if you look. I new of one windmill in the area but it is quite near a big city and not easy to get to. But today while we were out visiting a local ice cream maker Thaymar Ice Cream (There were so many flavours it took ages for the kids to decide what they were going to have - I think they based their decisions on the colour of the ice cream rather than the description and I didn't like to further complicate matters and tell them there were quite a few different cones that they could have chosen from as well or a tub!) we discovered on our travels a windmill in the countryside that is a working mill and you can see them grind the grain right there. We went up the windmill while the sails were turning and the stones were grinding and you could feel the movement of the sails I can tell you in a very mild wind - I'd hate to be there when they are at full pelt! So as this was so local we brought some flour home to try, I think we may be buying more in the future as it is made alot closer to home than most flours and the tearoom had a lovely aroma of oats and freshly baked bread, what a find and a good day out for the kids as they had ice cream and a ginger bread man made from the flour. 

More junk re-use

 

Master T has his last day at his forest/playschool tomorrow so he wanted to take some cookies in for the kids which we have made. Now for the container part so that we don't have to remember to bring one back with us in the midst of all the excitement.

I bake most of our bread in a bread machine each day and those of you that do will know that this requires dried skimmed milk powder of which we go through quite a bit. So what to do with all those containers that it comes in, as I hate putting them in the bin as they can't be put in our recycling. So apart from making into stilts, pen pots and holders for coconuts on the coconut shy I have found a use for them. When we bake for people as gifts we use them and cover them in wrapping paper or brown paper then draw things on them and the make ideal cookie containers when you are giving as gifts