What I've been making

I finally got around to loading the pictures from the camera to my computer.

This is the bag my sister's birthday presents went in. I actually made it for another occasion but some pomegranate juice intervened. It washed out well though. The outer fabric is a napkin which lacked matching companions and I really liked the design woven into the fabric.

This is a dress I made from an old skirt belonging to my Mum. The waist was too tiny to fit me. I removed the broken zip and the waist band, cut into three of the side seams to make arm holes and the V-neck. I then machined sheering elastic around the waist to give it some shape. Very happy with this and it looks great over jeans.

More as soon as I clear the clutter I referred to yesterday.

Visiting my past

My house is currently looking extremely cluttered. This is not my fault. Honestly.

My Grandfather died a few weeks ago. This mean that the contents of his house (which have been in storage for some months) had to be dealt with. Additionally my parent’s are moving house after 35 years. It would appear that they kept all of my childhood toys (the place was groaning with care bears, my little ponies, sweet secrets and more) I also seem to have gotten in on the hoarding thing myself. They uncovered boxes in their loft that I had packed between my first and second year at university.

The end result is that a large number of boxes and some pieces of furniture have arrived at my house for sorting. It’s been interesting sorting through them. I had several scrapbooks and folders devoted to Bros. Additionally, I also collected information on Jason Donovan, Tommy Page and Twin Peaks. Clearly, My vocation should have been a role in a press cuttings agency.

Having so much extra stuff to deal has made me consider clutter that I was already hoarding. Some of it is stuff that I packed away in January (but somehow no longer want). Much of it consists of items given to me as gifts that I feel morally obliged to hang onto.

Today I took a stash of old earrings into work and was thrilled when people picked out some of my old favourites to keep. It’s so nice to see something that you once loved but no longer use gain a fresh lease of life.

Much is going to a charity shops but I will try some items on ebay. I wonder if there is a market a signed Jason Donovan 12”? Or a Bros Christmas box?

It’s been fun revisiting my past but I’ll be glad when it’s taken care of so that I can get on with the future.

P.S. Anyone interested in a wardrobe or a dressing table?

Fabric stash

A dear friend is getting married in August and for her hen party we are going to a Great Gatsby Party in the gardens of Easton Lodge. It's a 1920s theme night with a jazz band.

I intended to make a simple dress, adorn it with trimming, wear during evening and then remove trimming and have a pretty summer dress to wear.

With this in mind, I headed off to the fabric shop at lunchtime, with the vouchers Dear Heart gave me for Christmas. I had a hard time choosing between all the different fabrics on offer. I kept having to restrain myself from selecting something that I wouldn't be able to wear on a regular basis after. Happily I managed to find some fabric I liked in the quantity I needed in the remnants bin. I also found some pale green spotty fabric which will make a lovely summer dress. And I picked up some fabric dye to dye my rather tired looking once-cream espadrilles.

I left the store thinking about which fabric I would use first when I realised that I have perfectly nice green and gold dress at home that would do for the party. It has a tiered skirt with a very low waist. It will look excellent with a green and gold headband.

Now all I can think about is what other patterns I might use my fabric to make up. I'm rather busy over the next few days and the weekend which is rather frustrating because I just want to get sewing.

Out of sync

I'm feeling a little disconnected.

I've lost the plot on menu planning. Usually I'm full of ideas for delicious lunches. Right now it looks like it will be peanut butter sandwiches for lunch tomorrow.

I was initally thrilled to get my summer clothes out. However, the weather isn't as warm as it could be. Nothing fits. It's all too big (which is better than too small). I don't know what pieces to put together or which shoes to wear.

I should be making use of my time to work on some of my projects. But I don't feel like doing anything.

In short I feel like I've lost the plot and don't feel very inclined to get it back.

Perhaps I need to spend a few days reading quality chick lit and eating chocolates?

The curse of the roller disco

I fully intended to post an entry about celebrating my sister’s 30th birthday the day after. However, we spent the evening at a roller disco. Roller skates and alcohol are a dangerous combination (particularly when you have no natural sense of balance). I came off better than my Brother-in-law (looking forward to signing the plaster cast on his wrist).

My sprained elbow is improving. However, I find myself reaching further than it will allow me at times. Over the last couple of days I’ve replaced a book on a head height shelf, found I couldn’t raise me arm high enough to get the book on, but neither could I bring my arm down. Solution? Use my head to head butt the volume into place.

My behind is also rather bruised and clearly needs to have more fat on it (hello vegan cupcakes).

What else have I been up to?

• I’m up to book 12 of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. A big thank you to the lovely friend who made me read them when I wasn’t sure.
• I’ve discovered Facebook.
• I wore the dress I made my Mum’s old skirt. I’ll post a picture here soon.
• I changed my summer clothes over on Saturday, slightly earlier than last year. It was just as well I did as I certainly couldn’t lift a suitcase off a wardrobe at present. Alas when I tried to dress for work this morning I discovered that all linen trousers needed ironing (never a talent of mine even without a sprained elbow). Having located a pair of trousers with a patterned weave (excellent for hiding creases) I then discovered they are enormous around the waist. Clearly I need dessert more often.

I think I’m in something of an energy slump so I’m going to go with the flow for the next week or so and assume that high levels of energy will return as my bruises fade…

I walked the walk

Well, today I’m finally recovered enough to actually post about the Moonwalk. It’s interesting to note how much space is devoted to preparing for a marathon while what to do after tends to get skipped.

I made it round in less than 7 hours. I can’t recall if I feel better than I did last year or not. The weather was better; just fresh rather than cold and wet.

My sister was a total star. Not only did she make it round in less than 6 hours, but she had spent all day Saturday at college!

I’d also like to award a star to her lovely husband who allowed himself to be woken up at 4 a.m. in order to come and pick up at 6 a.m. Thank you, Mr T.

Also a big thank you to Dear Heart, who has been looking after me all week. I’m quite keen to get back in the kitchen.

I don’t think I’ll be walking again. Trying for a faster time every year doesn’t really interest me. However, I intend to keep walking every weekend and I think I might volunteer to be crew next year.

My Mother’s Wedding Dress

I’ve just finished reading My mother’s Wedding Dress by Justine Picardi. It wasn’t quite what I expected. I’d read a magazine article had written about the book. It featured lots of pictures of clothes she had worn in the past and her reminiscing about how she felt when wearing them, why she bought them and how she felt about them now. I expected the book to be more of the same.

Instead the book was both angry and bewildered in tone. Picardi was clearly affected deeply by her sister’s death (and who wouldn’t be) and this theme of loss is one that runs throughout the book. She also seems to be rather obsessed with feathers.

However I intend to use what I expected the book to be about as inspiration for future blog entries. It made me think about clothes in books I read as a child. My favourite Enid Blyton story was The Enchanted Cloak (from Tales after Tea). I had a purple crocheted cloak (where is it now?) that I called by the name and used in endless games.

I remember the Fossil sisters in Ballet Shoes (Noel Stratfield) needing dresses for auditions. I remember Pagan, in Lace, taking her dead father’s clothes from the attic and finding a use for them and Maxim’s wonderful French style. I think Lace was the book that made me wear black and white for years because it claimed it was the best way to stand out I newspaper photographs (for maximum impact, wear stripes!). This was clearly before newspapers all had colour photographs. In fact, I’m sure I would of embraced a catalogue that came with my copy of Easy Living this month. All the clothes in it were black or white. I doubt I would have actually bought anything but I would have kept it next to my bed as a style bible.

A golf themed gift

I though I'd share the present bag I made for Dear Heart's Dad's birthday with you.

He's a keen golfer so I made this bage with a picture of a golf ball bouncing towards the hole. It held a 'Jobs to do before Golf' notepad.

Monthly updates

Have not been abandoned - I'm just trying not to be so hard on myself while training for the Moonwalk (sponsor me at www.bmycharity.com/v2/babeinabra).

Additionally I appear to have hit a couple of snags with meeting some of the other targets. See, I need a pan of some kind to put my t-shirts in in order to dye them. I've been unable to locate one so far and can't see any point in buying a new pan just to dye things in. My parent's are moving house so I've out them in the alert for any suitable receptacles that they may be binning.

The 'not buying' is becoming much more of a habit. I've been buying more food from the market and shopping for small quantities of food when we actually need it rather than doing a huge shop once a week at Tesco. I still count my blessings everyday.

Come the start of June my moonwalk obligations will be out of the way and I intend to revise my targets and post the new list here.

Leafy greens

I went to the Vitality Show at the end of March. I was delighted to find a stand selling laptop lunch boxes. I resisted the urge to purchase one (Dear Heart would faint if I added any more containers to my fantastic plastic drawer). However, I did buy the Vegan Lunchbox book. It is every bit as good as expected and I’ve made a number of the recipes, most notably Veggie Wellington. I didn’t think it was available anywhere in the UK so this was really good to find it.

I’ve been really working on the eating seasonally thing and have also been to trying to buy from outlets other than supermarkets. I love the covered market near where I work. Recently I’ve been purchasing Spinach, Watercress (so divine in a sandwich for breakfast) and Kale. Buying what is in season is giving new value to my cookbook collection as I try to find the best to way to cook vegetables that I’ve never really tried before. I think my tastes are changing as well.

I find it hard to believe that I’ve never eaten Kale before. I tried out Emira’s speedy gourmet Kale and Tofu delight (picture below), from Dolce Vegan and was so impressed. I had to resist not eating the whole pan at once instead of packing it up for lunch. Dear Heart said it looked so good I had to take a picture (although he doesn't seem keen on eating it).

I really want to try Jennifer’s recipe for Asian Spinach but, keep getting distracted by the delights of mixing spinach with green lentils. I've also made watercress pesto (so easy, so quick and so delicious).

I’m looking forward to the first tomatoes of the season but quite frankly am very happy with spinach, kale and watercress for the time being.

Post yoga

Just in case anyone is wondering , I survived and am now feeling pleasantly stretched and sleepy. After wandering into the plant room by accident I found the 'sports hall'. It was very warm which means I won't need a jumper and two pairs of socks next week.

I was able to keep up. Some of the moves I knew (but some by a different name). Some I knew bits of and some I had done but had no idea they had a proper name. It's different to my old class but changes are good and must be embraced (even when we don't want to). The next few months look like they will be full of change but they will be interesting!

Yoga

I've been without a yoga class to attend for the last month or so. Happily there is lunchtime class that takes place an extremely short distance from my desk so at lunchtime I'm off to give it a try.

I'm excited by the prospect of doing yoga again. My attempts to practise at home (even aiming for just one exercise a day) have tailed off.

However, as I found myself putting together the kit I needed for today it began to dawn on me that this will probably be slightly different to my experiences of yoga so far. It won't be in a church hall where the temperature plummets in the winter (even with the heating on). I think there are proper changing rooms. It seems unlikely that the tutor will be a wonderfully eccentric art tutor who throws in exercises from other traditions if he thinks they will be valuable.

However it will be lovely to stretch my body again. Walk training has been keeping me fit but possibly not flexible.

Serendipity

I think I recently experienced serendipity. I was visiting Bury St Edmunds. One my last visit there I attempted to find the town centre without following directions. IT was interesting but I think I walked a long way out of my way. On this occasion I decided to follow the directions the first of which was to cross the road at the railway bridge. Alas the traffic was very heavy, but in the distance I could see a crossing point! Grumbling slightly I headed towards it and was rewarded when I had to pass the site of St Saviours Hospital as a result.

The remaining ruins were amazing. I also liked that the site had been planted with rosemary (for remembrance?). Have a look here and you can find out more and see some pictures http://www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/sebc/visit/St-Saviours-Hospital.cfm

It really made my morning to discover such a fascinating site on my way to somewhere else. This is definitely one of the benefits of public transport. You get to see things that you miss if you are in a car going straight from A to B.

I was even more thrilled when I got to the town centre to find the ruins of Bury Abbey. I spent a big chunk of childhood holidays wandering around ruined castles and loving every minute. Hence this was right up my street! This site has some marvellous pictures of the bits of ruins that are still standing. http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/buryabbey.html

I liked it so much I went back at lunch time for a further wander!

In a similar vein was recently asked for directions to The Flitch Way as past of it runs near where I live. Well despite living here for 5 years I’ve never gotten around to exploring it. Having given directions I felt I simply had to check they were correct. Dear Heart and I got the bikes out on Sunday and had a look. It was simply amazing. So close to the town, but so quiet and hidden away. It was like discovering a secret valley. I think that once the Moonwalk is out of the way I’ll be visiting this a lot more.

Mother's Day

I was a creative little bunny for mother's day this year. My original plan to cook dinner from my Mum at my house was out. My Grandmother was visiting near where my parent's live and was going to drop by.

Following a chat with my sister and my Dad we moved the cooking to my parent's kitchen with input from sister, Dad, me and Dear Heart.

I made this card for my mum making use of some magazines I was about to throw out. I just love the 'Mum' spelt in jeans on the back.

I made couple of present bags this week. One with a present for my grandmother in it (bath bombs) and one for Dear Heart's sisters birthday. I find that I'm really busy as the moment. Particularly as a result of all the time I'm spending on Moonwalk training. I think I might have to reconsider the targets I am setting myself while I'm spending time on training. I also need to sort out in my head all the books I've read about not spending, how evil supermarkets are, how cheap proper food can be and quality of life. I'm sure they all tie together but I'm getting bit tangled up in all the principles at present. Anyway, here are the bags. Enjoy the cute green signature hearts on the backs (reminds me of the care bears!).

I'm off to try and wind up my ever growing job list, eat more carbs (lots of walking means I now have to wear a belt with my jeans to get them to stay up to a decent point!) and get my head together!

P.S. I cannot believe that 2 weeks have passed since my last entry. I will try harder to blog at least once a week, particularly during busy (and therefore interesting) times.

Pride comes before...

...your boot falls apart!

Let me start at the beginning. I headed off to a meeting this morning feeling rather smug. I've taken to wearing leggings (so much warmer and so, so much more comfortable than tights) and long in the winter. Alas the leggings were a little worn (i.e. ripped to the knee) after 2 winters but a few minutes with the sewing machine sorted them out. Any lining my boots might have had had also worn away but I made some lovely inner soles to stop my getting sore and keep them warm.

As I'd arrived early for my meeting and congratulating myself on my thriftiness I went to a coffee shop to enjoy a large cup of Earl Grey. As I sipped I read a little more of Not buying it. the time came when I finished my tea and exited the coffee shop. However as I did so I lost my balance. Righting myself and hoping that I didn't look too stupid I then realised there was something odd going on with my boot. The sole was hanging off.

Admittedly I noticed the sole was a little loose in places the other day, but I thought it would last me until the end of the winter. It became clear almost immediately that I was going to have to take some action. Should I buy some blue tack to hold it in place? Would chewing gum work? I shuffled into New Look who, of course, aren't stocking boots at this time of year. I tried all the charity shops in the area. They either had no long boots, the boots were leather, too small or had skyscraper heels. I then decided the answer was to buy pair of tights to replace the leggings and some colourful flat shoes.

Unfortunately I bought the tights before I realised that all the shoes available were too boring to spend money on, over priced, open toed or way too high to walk in. I was also cutting it rather fine for my networking meeting.

Working on the belief that people don't tend to notice flaws unless you point them out I tied sole to the top of the boot and went to the meeting. Once there I stayed seated (with my bag practically on top of my boot) for as much of the time as possible and left at the earliest opportunity. I couldn't concentrate anyway and spent part of the time making a list of all the shoes and boots that are currently sitting in my porch waiting to be worn. They'll be seeing a lot more action over the next few weeks and I will be buying new, good quality boots next autumn.

Time for a rest

I'm training for the Playtex Moonwalk once again. I did 8 miles on Sunday and got totally drenched. I only realised how wet I had gotten when the clothes were still wet yesterday. I took advantage of the better, although windy weather yesterday to enjoy a number of hours working on my allotment. The planting season will be here soon. I'm still finding potatoes from last year's crop as I dig the ground over. These are very welcome as the pantry at present only contains those too small to bother peeling.

I also did lots of cooking (and therefore washing up). I redyed my hair for the first time since I had it cut short (dyeing with Kool aid doesn't really count). I'm used to having a large porous surface (i.e. lots of hair) to soak up the dye so yesterday it was going everywhere. I looked like I something form a disaster movie. Hence the bathroom then needed lots of cleaning.

Anyway as a result of all that physical exertion I began to ache all over yesterday evening. Therefore I'm planning on a nice quiet evening with a book on the sofa. I've just finished World War Z : an oral history of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. It's an amazing book, but one that does tend to stay on your mind (paranoid? me?).

Tonight therefore I will be reading Not buying it: my year without shopping by Judith Levine. I imagine that this will have no mention of zombies. I'm hoping it may provide further inspiration for my frugal quest. Additionally I've heard very mixed reviews. I read an extract in one of the weekend papers last year and I must of enjoyed what I read because I wrote down the title to check on the library catalogue.

I'll report back later this week (hopefully) on if Not buying it was worth the wait.

Loyalty points

I have about £30 worth of Boots points. This would keep me in hair dye for a year. Yet what do I do when I need dye to cover the grey? I pay for dye with actual money. Why am I saving these points? They won't gain interest (unlike real money). The last time I saved them up I kept thinking that I'd buy myself a treat but I ended up using them to buy a present for someone else.

Time to save few pennies and get to Boots with my Advantage card rather than my Switch card.

My monthly update

Managing to do this post in timely manner is definitely a good start. So here is my progress for this month and my to-do's for March.

Use what I have

• Still no clothes purchases
• Resisting buying excess food
• Utilised an old laptop bag to make a portable craft bag (all the little pockets come in really handy)
• I am still not buying glossy magazines and I do think this has made me want less. I started to keep a list of things that I wanted to buy in January and some of them would have been very easy to justify. Of course, vacuum storage bags would be a good thing to buy. A big bag would make carting all possessions around much easier. But as time as gone on I abandoned the list because I didn't seem to be generating the same wants. I'm currently reading (borrowed from my local library) The New Spend Less Revolution by Rebecca Ash.

EBay/ Freecycle at least one item per month

• 5 items sold on EBay this month. It is so nice to be freeing up space in my study.

Count my blessings

• Still loving this one. I have so much to be grateful for.

Be more mysterious

• Trying to keep quieter but I've found an urge to share the joys of positive thought. Perhaps I'm denying my true (non-mysterious) nature?

My to-do’s for February

• Post at least one picture on this blog completed - no excuses now for not adding more http://prettylittleblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/my-gift-bags.html
• Redesign my home page Completed - I'll try and make a few changes every month http://www.prettylittleparcels.co.uk/
• Post target update at the end of the month completed - this is it!

My to-dos for March

• Dye two t-shirts that I have in my projects to do bag. I have the dye I just need to find a vessel to put it in. This project has been waiting ages to be done.
• Make 4 gift bags and tags to photograph and sell.
• Scan 25 photographs from the old family photo album.

Have a great March!

I resisted!

I've always liked things in shops that have been marked down from their full price. When Racing Green still existed I filled my wardrobe with cut price garments from their website. I linger around the reduced shelves in Boots picking up hair dye in odd colours (although they all look much the same once on my hair). I always look at the reduced produce section in supermarkets.

Yesterday I popped out to the Co-op to buy a loaf of bread. It was the only thing we needed. When I go there I discovered lots of marked down things. Happily the bread was reduced, but so were lots of other goodies. I was about to go and get a basket so that I could indulge in this bargains when I questioned if I really needed some blueberries from Peru or Strawberries (in February!) from Chile.

I'd done the usual round of food shopping on Friday. I'd planned my menus for the week and purchased the necessary ingredients. I'd even been to the market to buy fruit and vegetables in brown paper bags. Did I really need to buy lots more food in plastic wrappings?

I left the store several minutes later having bought just the loaf of bread required. A lesson learnt. Just because you can buy it doesn't mean you should.

My gift bags

I said ages ago that I would post some pictures of the gift bags I made. So this weekend I got the camera out to take some pictures for EBay and did a couple of the gift bags while I was at it. these are bags that I made for Christmas 2005. The reason that they are currently in my possession is that they were reused this Christmas to give a gift to me. Isn't recycling a wonderful thing! I made this one for Dear Heart's sister and it had a DIY book, muffin tin and a muffin recipe in it. It was bulging with Benefit make-up and other goodies when it came back. The ribbon definitely needs an iron before I reuse it this year.


I made this one for my Grandfather and to my shame I can't remember what I put in it! It doesn't show up very well in the picture but the net around the candle flame is orange.


I hope to have a profile photograph soon so watch this space!

Planet Organic

I recently ran out of nutritional yeast. Nutritional Yeast unfortunately doesn't not seem to be something that can be picked up easily in any old health food shop (Holland and Barrett take note!). I love visiting the kind of places that sell it (like the Natural Way) and browsing all the marvellous things on sale. Alas I knew that I was not going to be near a branch of the Natural Way and was trying to work out if I should arrange a trip and when I might be able to fit it in.

Yesterday I had to go to London for a meeting so I decided to see if there were any health food shops near where it was taking place. I was just thrilled to discover that there was a branch of Planet Organic just two streets away.

Oh and what an experience. It was so much larger than I expected with so many more things. The staff must have thought that I was a bit strange or was about to start shoplifting because I just couldn't decide what to buy. Alas I hadn't taken a cool bag so I couldn't buy any frozen food (but next time I will). I had to restrain myself from buying a vegan calzone, spinach wrap, rice ball or sushi to eat immediately (when I had sensibly packed my own lunch).

What I did buy was Larabars (Kenny has talked about them so much), a Nana's cookie (which could almost actually be good for you), some kind of chewy seitan and hemp bar (very chewy and very tasty), squirty soya cream and the nutritional yeast (imagine if they hadn't had any).

I then began to worry about how much stuff was imported and wrapped in plastic. Hence I'm trying to see the products I bought as inspiration rather than things that are about to become regular additions to my diet! It's just so good to go somewhere where vegan food is normal. I now really understand the phrase about children in sweet shops. Being vegetarian/vegan restricts your choices. If you go out to eat or buy a snack or lunch there will probably be only 2 things on the menu that you can eat. They will also probably be really worthy stuff (a salad when your pals are overloading in fat and carbs), foods that you would never have chosen to eat (I have only ever eaten Mushroom stroganoff in a restaurant) or really boring food (tomato sauce and pasta).

So being somewhere where there are dozens of choices is difficult. I'm not used to having to make such decisions. I'm out of practice!

P.s. Unlike some other shops they immediately understood that I wanted to use my own bag.

February here I come

Here’s my update of the changes for 2007 that I posted a few weeks back

Use what I have
I think I have conquered my glossy magazine addiction. Other good things to report are:
· I have not bought any clothes.
· have been taking lunch (and on occasion breakfast) to work.
· made my dad a birthday card and some fudge and popcorn to go with his birthday present.
· Sorted through the fabric and half finished sewing projects lurking in my study. Hemmed a skirt, finished turning an old pair of trousers into a skirt and made some spare curtain fabric into napkins.

EBay/ Freecycle at least one item per month
I listed 3 items on eBay in January. I sold one, didn’t sell one and the auction on the third is still open. I also sold my Mum on the joys of Freecycle.

Count my blessings
I so enjoy doing this one. It also ties in well with this amazing book on positive thinking I’ve been reading called Excuse me, your life is waiting. Written by Lynn Grabhorn, this is well worth a read, so get to your local library.

Be more mysterious
Not really sure how I’m doing on this one. I think it’s probably also about listening to other people more.

My to-do’s for February

Post at least one picture on this blog

Redesign my home page. It really needs re-doing and I've been learning a bit more about HTML at this marvellous site http://www.w3schools.com/

Post target update a the end of the month (unlike this month)

Those aren't many targets for February, but better to set small targets and exceed them than aim too high and lose heart.

Resolutions update...

I promise to do one tomorrow!

Today has been horribly hectic (despite my best attempts to be marvellously organised).

Not a very good start. I'll have to set myself lines if I don't pull my socks up.

Kenny's back!

I'm so thrilled. Kenny at http://veganlunchcast.blogspot.com/has returned. I still have him listed on my favourites, but had stopped checking his site on a regular basis because I thought he was gone forever.

This morning I clicked on it by accident and discovered that not only is he back, he has been for almost the whole month. That meant that I had several weeks of yummy looking lunches to catch up on. He's such an inspiration. I've recently gotten into the habit of making something (like fake tuna salad) and eating it over the course of a week. I need to make my lunches more varied.

I also discovered 2 new sites through looking at Kenny's links. Flippantly Vague Musings of a Quirky Vegan looks like one that I will be reading everyday. I also liked this recipe site http://www.pakupaku.info/

Talking of recipes I had a go at making vegan sweets at the weekend, using recipes from La Dolce Vegan. My truffles were a bit of a disaster. I couldn't get either the Carob-almond or the Chocolate-Walnut to set. I'm sure I'll find another use for them as even unset they are delicious.

However my mint chocolate fudge (minus the mint essence) did set and tastes amazing. I've never been able to manage fudge before. This time I used my Grandmother's cooking thermometer and so actually boiled the stuff for long enough (rather than getting scared when it foamed up).

I've been doing lots of walking (managed at least 4 session last week in excess of 30 minutes) so I deserve all this sweet stuff! Well, some anyway!

Making it different in 2007

These are the things I want to start or change in 2007 following my observations during the first few weeks of 2007.

Use what I have
I have enough. I don’t need to buy more. I should enjoy the things I have (things I choose for myself in the first place). So I’m going to try and make this the year I buy as little as possible. The stuff I have (and have been taking with me every time I have moved house) is amazing and I need to use it up before I buy anything else. For example, I dug out last night some purple embroidery thread. I bought on a school trip to France in 1987! I’ve got stacks of postcards, writing paper and notepads. I’ve got enough clothes. I can take lunch to work every single day. Working towards this will be good for my purse and good for the planet. If I really need it (and can’t find a substitute) I’m going to get it second hand or make it before buying new.

Ebay/Freecycle at least one item a month
This is a kind of follow on from the above. I’ve got lots of things that I no longer really need but someone else might enjoy them. This is less about making a profit and more about clearing space.

Count my blessings
I’ve already been trying to do this. If I wake up before the alarm or can’t get to sleep I think about all the things I have to grateful for (a warm bed, fantastic boyfriend, my cute cat, and so on). If sleep right to the alarm then I count blessings while I shower (hot water, nice smelling shower gel, animal friendly shampoo). It proved an effective way of blocking my worries about work, life and the universe in general.

Be more mysterious
This might seem a strange thing to put on a blog, but in RL I’m certain that I go into too much detail and give people far more than they need. Let me restrain myself a little and let them wonder.

My monthly targets will begin in February and I’ll try to update regularly how I’m getting onwith making my life different.

The truth about hairdressers

Having gone for the big chop on Monday what I always suspected about hairdressers has been proved true. Yes, they really want to cut loads of it off. My very lovely hairdresser was perfectly nice when I arrived at the salon but she became really lively when I announced that I was going much, much shorter.

Still I suppose it must be quite boring just trimming tiny amounts off hair all day and I've very happy with my new style. I realise that I just don't look like me when I look in the mirror now.

I still haven't posted my resolutions but I hope to do so over the next few days. I've been having a huge clear out at home and am getting through job lists at a fantastic rate so I haven't been taking it easy and letting myself go!

A marvellous organisational tip

When I had to wear a suit to work it was very easy to get dressed (if rather boring). I had 5 outfits (more or less - the end of the week could be a struggle) and I knew what I would put on everyday.

Lately I've been finding myself standing in front of my wardrobe (a lovely piece of furniture formerly owned by a distant cousin I always called Auntie) and pondering over what to wear. Yes, pondering. Something I don't really have time for at 6.15 a.m.

Then I read a marvellous tip in Easy Living (February edition - must check which nice person suggested this - think they were something to do with handbags). Now every week I plan food for the following week; I work out what we are likely to be eating for dinner and what I will be eating for lunch so that I know what food to buy and can try and make preparation as straightforward as possible. Imagine how much simpler mornings would be if I planned my clothes at the same time. I could ensure that I wasn't selecting items hiding at the bottom of the wash bin far enough in advance to do something about it. I shall see how it goes but I do very much like the sound of this.

Abstinence

January is proving so far to be a month where my mind is busy (the combined result of a new year and no booze). I just can’t stop thinking of lists I need to make, emails, letters and phone calls I should make, concepts that need to be put into action (or at least noted down for further attention) and cupboards and boxes that need clearing out.

However it is satisfying when I look around the room I rather grandly label my study to note that piles of stuff are moving. It’s also rather satisfying to note that a large number of tasks have been crossed off my job list.

It’s all a bit like clothes really. You think you have the perfect wardrobe and then what you see people wearing changes (so subtlety you don’t really notice) and then one day you decide that you have nothing to wear! Hence I thought my study was probably as sorted as it was going get and that various half started project would be completed one day and suddenly I am moving things around and putting up pictures. Clearly the day has come!

An important lesson is to remember that nothing lasts forever or is as sorted as expected. No doubt this burst of energy will die out and I’ll be back on the sofa with my nose stuck in a book soon. In the meantime I’m making the most of it!

I resolve….

This year rather than making resolutions either before New Year (while feeling bloated from excess) or immediately after New Year (still hung over, tired and emotional), I’m taking a slightly different approach.

As I start the year feeling refreshed I’m thinking about habits I have that I would like to break as they crop up in my life. One I’ve identified so far is buying glossy magazines. It started when I was buying snacks and magazines all the time to get change for the bus. I’m also thinking about things I want to achieve but never seem to get round to.

I’m hoping to have a list by the end of next week. I’ll review my progress on both resolutions and targets at the end each month. If I’ve made real progress I might even have to think up some new targets!

The only exception to the above is swearing off the demon drink for the whole of January (post birthday anyway). I’ll appreciate a glass of wine so much more when I’ve had to wait a whole month for it.

I am blessed

I sat on New Year’s Day in my front room, curled on the sofa with Dear Heart drinking wine and eating biscuits. The fire was warming the room. We’d been out for a walk earlier and I’d changed into pyjamas on my return. I took a pause from reading my book and thought how utterly blessed I am. I’d like to keep that feeling of warmth generated by family, friends and home with me all year.

Santa visited my house!

I had a splendid Christmas curled up at home with Dear Heart. He did home-made pizza for Christmas dinner served with champagne.

So many people bought me thoughtful presents. Dear Heart bought me (among other delights) some vouchers for a local sewing shop. I’m so exciting by the prospect of buying patterns and fabrics!

I also had some lovely gardening themed presents including slate markers, stuff to scrub my hands with (and boy do I normally need it after a session on my allotment) and then make the nails all nice and a welly airer (no more wet wellies).

A feast of Sudoku puzzles with an enormous pack of pencils. I was thrilled to solve a ‘killer’ (where you have to make the number equal the total in dotted line box) for the first time ever.

My birthday is just after Christmas, so I was showered with presents once again. My sister bought me a totally genius card with fuzzy felt front (see http://www.fuzzyfelt.com/ if you have no idea what I’m talking about). It showed a birthday cake and I’ve made loads of different pictures since. That’s definitely going on my desk to play with when I’m stressed or need to be creative.

I got loads of Benefit products. I was really excited to have so many different products. Some of them were things that I would never buy brand named (such as make-up remover) so it rather nice to give them a go even if I never buy them again. I’ve had a play with some of them over the festive period but have decided that I’m going to put some of them away and open them in June so I can really appreciate this kind of abundance.

I’m really touched that so many people bought me such lovely things and have taken the time to think about my interests and what I might like (anything green rocks).

Feeling vile

With a week to go until Christmas I'm feeling horribly under the weather. I'm all shivery and snuffly and poorly. One of my glands has managed to enlarge itself enough to distort the bottom of my face and make it look like some creature is going to burst out at any second.

So I'm trying to divert my mind to think of nice cheerful things like open fires and hot toddys. Like the divinely wrapped Christmas present I received from one of my best friends with baubles decorating it. I keep wondering what's inside the wrapping (I'll know in 7 days!).

I picked up load of stuff my my grandad's house yesterday (alas the house is having to be sold to pay for the care he needs). I got 2 huge tin trunks with lots of goodies. Included in my haul was a load of fabric, my first pair of baby shoes and an old Noddy book.

I also rescued a jar of these busy blocks http://www.tupperdiva.com/toys/pages/busyblocks.html
They are so cool; each block has a letter on it and inside has a figure for the letter (e.g. a unicorn for U). I also found a Ladybird book about Elizabeth the first. I loved this book as a small child and pestered my Grandma to take me to Westminster Abbey so that I could see where she is buried.

Ah, there's nothing like a good bout of nostalgia to make me feel better.

A possible solution?

Naturally I still haven't found time to have a good look through my wardrobe and find something for Saturday night. However I have spent a lot of time finishing my fabric bags to wrap Christmas presents in.

These are made from whatever I happen to have in my fabric cupboard (suppliemented with a few metres of specially purchased fabric). I was sewing a piece of jersey (a rather streaky wine red with dark grey flowers) when I realised that I had made a dress fom the fabric a few years ago with the intention of wearig it to a wedding. The weather then turned out better than I expected so I wore something else.

Hence I have never worn this dress. It's too formal to dress down, looks awful over jeans and really would only be suitable for a party! I'm not certain that the quality of construction is brilliant (it being one of my earlier efforts), but as long as it holds together all should be well. At the very least I know that no one else will be wearing it and I can claim that I made it myself!

What shall I wear to the ball?

Oh I’m in a bit of dilemma. There I am trotting along enjoying wearing over and over the small number of lovely items that is my winter wardrobe. And then, KERPOW!, party season hits and I find myself in a regular old pickle.

I’m Ok for the drinks party at the home of some pals this weekend. I can do restaurant casual for dinner to celebrate my mother’s birthday next week. However I’m bit stuck as far as a knees- up at in the ballroom of pub/hotel. I fear that I have spent fat too much time making my summer wardrobe lovely and rather neglected winter wear. I suppose I’m far less likely to go out in the winter when I could be snuggled by the fire.

Usually I’d dash to Primark or somewhere similar. However I read another article this morning about poor conditions for the workers who make ‘value’ clothing and so feel a bit uncomfortable doing so. I guess I’ll have to have a really good rummage through my wardrobe (there might be something I’ve forgotten!) and if not visit a charity shop.

I could run something up but due to manufacture of Christmas bags I’m a bit short on time. Even if I went with something a la Yeah I made it myself I’d probably have to buy some fabric (more ethical dilemmas, what type of fabric to choose, what would I wear with it, would it stay together?).

Watch this space for an update and do tell me what you’re wearing to party at present to inspire me.

Dita - How dare you!

Oh Dita – how could you let us down? There we were relying on you to guide us in the ways of glamour. To act an inspiration to our sometimes grey lives. But there is nothing glamorous about wearing FUR! Slaughtering something just so that you can wear its skin is just unnecessary.
Have a look at this piece and fur ceases to have any glitz.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2016136.ece

I was interested to note that Mrs Beckham, usually grumbled about relentlessly for a whole list of fashion sins, is currently being praised for wearing a fake fur coat. Who would have imagined that Mrs B would lead the anti-fur brigade? Still seems to wear quite a bit of leather though….

One of my favourite fur and leather free sites is www.bboheme.co.uk (hint! hint! Dear Heart if you’re reading this). Do check it out if you are still doing your Christmas shopping, and if anyone has any splendid ideas for a quite groovy grandad I'm all ears.

Experiementing with grey

I must confess that my hair has been going grey for many, many years. Normally because it is dyed some vibrant colour no one would ever guess that I am dying it just to cover the grey. I mean let's face it no one has hair the colour mine normally is naturally!

However I've become concerned about the environmental effects of both the dye itself and the containers it come in. Hence I am experimenting with more natural alternatives. Henna is great and I intend to use Caca from Lush to get gorgeous coloured tints. However I've also read good things about sage.

So over the weekend I made a very strong infusion of sage and popped it in a little spray bottle. I tend to spray my grey with it every night and see if it works as those on line claim it does. Watch this space....

A rod for my own back

Last year I attempted to start my own Christmas tradition. I've become concerned by the amount of waste that Christmas generated. So I decided to make drawstring bags (with cute little designs on them) for presents to go in. I used old curtains and all kinds of bits and pieces from my sewing cupboard. They looked absolutely gorgeous. I really wish I had taken a picture. I'd even done fabric gift tags with initials on them so they could be used as a glass charm after.

My big , forward thinking idea was that these would be used year after year for presents instead of paper. I put my initials, the date and 'please reuse me' on the back. I imagined looking back in years to come and remembering who had made various present bags and when they had first been introduced. I rather hope that some other family members might have come up with their own versions for this year (or re-use the ones I made last year).

However this means that I have got to produce around 20 bags for this year's gifts to go in. I'm going to make bags that fold over at the top this year with little ties rather than drawstrings. I suppose I'd better get to work on them tonight or I shall be burning the midnight oil and sewing when I should be enjoying mulled wine by the fire!

Pants!

I was alarmed to read recently that apparently the average life of a pair of knickers is 3 months! As I have some that are celebrating a decade of so (albeit in a rather greying tatty state) I began to wonder what this 3 month life span is based upon. I suppose if you only had say 8 pairs and were endlessly washing them they might well wear out after 3 months. Isuppose it also depends on your definition of worn out!

Is this a call them for the capsule underwear wardrobe? Just enough pairs, in neutral shades with a few brights for nights out?

The snag is you need different colours and type of underwear to go under different outfits and for different situations. Although I have (during my 'wear only black' decade) gotten away with one colour and minimal bras things have changed. Dear Heart's Mother bought me some adorable green lace knickers for Christmas and since then I been buying and wearing all kinds of colours!

Just in case anyone is wondering I did finally get a trouser suit from New Look. It was in the sale so I was able to justify buying 2 pairs of trousers to go with the jacket. I'm not sure why it was so reduced as it also seemd to be on sale at full price elsewhere in the store. And Ok it wasn't grey, it was black with a sort of stripe pattern thing. But it just shows that the wardrobe fairy is watching. Mimi - take heart - you will find your perfect bridesmaids dresses, just maybe not in the form you expect.

I did buy a blouse but had been thinking about the glamour of Dita Von Teese when I was browsing so it turned out to be less suitable then I imagined at the time. I'm sure it will be good with a coloured vest underneath to cover my pride.

I find shirts under a suit jacket are a real pain. They are just so fussy. Happily when I tried on my green galaxy top it looked fabulous and much sleeker. I can't believe that I've always bought skirts suits before (not even sure why). A trouser suit is so comfortable and easy to wear. I think I may need a to acquire a few more at the January sales...

A new suit

Somehow I've managed to pick completely the wrong day to buy a new suit. I though that the shops were always full of suits. Well today they seem to be full of Christmas party wear. I used to wear black for a preference but now it seems a little harsh. Given the shops are supposed to be full of grey I didn't think it would be a problem. Alas there is very little grey indeed and anything that is non-black suddenly turns out, on closer inspection, to have glitter strips or something else making it unsuitable for the workplace.

There also seem to be a tendency for shops to lure you in when you spot some nice looking trousers and there discover that there are no matching jackets. Am I doomed to a life in separates?

It must be the time of year

It seems so long since my last post and although there's been a bit of upheaval in my life jobwise in the last week that doesn't really excuse the week before that. What have I been doing with myself? How did it get to be November? Mimi at Little sips of tea is back so I guess it's time I was too.

Well I enjoyed a few divine days at Henlow Grange. I'd like to say relaxing but I was rather taken with the variety of classes on offer. During my short stay I managed to fit in Aqua mitt (good fun), Sinatra Swing (hard to hear ol' blue eyes for the pounding of feet), Aqua body conditioning (circuit training in the water and I was the only person mad enough to show up for the class), Aqua fit (almost as much fun as Aqua mitt) and Wake up work out (guess who was always out of step?). I just loved being able to wear my dressing gown for most the day. The food was absolutely marvellous.

On the subject of food I've become rather taken with home made soup. I only have the tiniest of blenders so all the soups I've made recently have been chunky. I was kicked started by my approximation of Cauliflower and red lentil from Dolce Vegan. It was so good that at the supermarket I purchased the missing ingredients that should have been in it (such as fresh ginger) and the following week made a broccoli and green lentil version. This week it's tomato and cabbage. It's so good, the soup cooks while I sort out the recycling and before I go to yoga on a Thursday night. I have a portion after yoga and take the rest for lunch the next day. There was quite a bit of the broccoli and green lentil (added rather a lot of lentils and Quinoa) so I took some to work for a Monday morning breakfast. Total yum! It doesn't even need bread.

I've also been enjoyed a renewed burst of energy and enthusiasm in my allotment. Determined to clear all the patched that are over grown and keep the edges neat.

Guess the next thing I need to start thinking about is Yule. What can I buy everyone? I probably shouldn't speculate to much here. I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise.

There is someone out there

How exciting - I found an email in my inbox today telling me I was one of 100 bloggers invited to take part in a blogger survey. This is part of some research being carried out at Robert Gordon University.

The academic undertaking the research is Dr Sarah Pedersen and she blogs about her research (but, of course) here http://Sarah-validation.blogspot.com/

How exciting to be able to contribute such research.

Also today I've been trying to work out exactly what I need to take to Henlow Grange with me. Apparently most people forget to take gym kit and a swimsuit and pack far too much stuff that they don't need. I've always thought that I was an efficient packer so I do hope that I can live up to that. One of the most useful sites I found was www.spaaah.com - check it out. I particularly liked the spa virgin section. Spas are quite terrifyingly smart places after all.

Summer's over

Last night I packed up my summer clothes and got out my winter ones. As a result I am snuggled in pair of gray flannel type trousers today. It's rather pleasing to find that I already have so much grey in my wardrobe. I never imagined that I'd come anywhere close to having my finger on a style pulse.

Yet it seems like only yesterday I was telling you all how last night I packed up my winter clothes and got out my summer clothes. If I recall correctly the weather than wasn't all that different to today. However, at least I am properly dressed for rain today.

One the subject of clothes I found the most darling site the other day www.myvirtualcloset.com
I had a peek at sample wardrobes and was so impressed. I just can't imagine finding the time to take pictures of all my clothes, but I do like the thought of being able to view what I have online. Imagine if you were stuck for what to wear (as I often am and have to ask my style guru sister to tell me what on earth I should wear). Rather than people making suggestions in a vague sort of way, they could say wear this item and this item.

Sometimes I think the Internet is a work of breathtaking genius.

The biggest blog in history?

Blogging will provide for future historians a fantastic record of what 'ordinary' life is really like. Their only problem may be too much material. I've always enjoyed finding out about so-called ordinary life in the past. I suspect much of the time it was hard and we don't really know how lucky we are. But nonetheless the small details remain fascinating.

Inspired by the rather wonderful Mass Observation studies October 17th has been nominated as the day for the biggest blog in history! Log on to www.historymatters.org.uk and upload a blog entry for the day. Apparently the day has been chosen because it is totally insignificant and 'normal' day.

I'll be uploading an entry but as I'm going to Henlow Grange for a few days (I've never been to a spa before) it won't be anything like a normal Tuesday (e.g up really early, struggle with buses, lunch leaks over bag, frustrating day at work, buses late on way home due to volume of people who prefer to drive and roadworks that have been going on forever, finally catch up on Sunday's washing-up, go to bed far too early/late).

Isn't it funny that the spellchecker doesn't recognise the word 'blog'?

Eve - feel the Benefit of Happy, Easy Living, New Woman

I seem to have bought a number of glossy magazines recently. I normally try to resist if I just want to buy it for the free gift (I haven't worn a bikini in years so I didn't really need to buy Elle this summer). Another guilt inducing factor is that the magazine and gift are usually wrapped in a plastic bag and this type cannot be recycled in my area.

I was quite delighted with my purchase of Eve. I only really bought it because I needed some change and wasn't that bothered about the free clutch bag. I then realised that it was the perfect size to fit all the bits that usually hang around at the bottom of my bag (datasticks, work keys, mini first aid kit, spare phone battery, name badge, Enchinacea tea bags). Some are indeed already in cute little pouches but it feels so smart to have them in a bag of their own.

In fact the bag the bag I was using (free with Happy) looked rather smart with the Eve clutch and Easy Living make-up bag (Kath Kidson from sometime earlier in the year). I won't even start on the free scarf, umbrella and flip flops that also make up part of my kit.

I then bought New Woman (soon to be just NW) simply because I wanted the 2 Benefit make-up bags. I was thrilled to find a lovely brochure for their products inside (which I'll be passing in Dear Heart's direction as Yule approaches) but rather disappointed with the magazine itself. There was rather a lack of recipes. Then I realised that the diet plan was actually considered to fill the space a recipe might have taken. I think that I am probably not the market the NW is aimed at.

On the subject of Benefit I was travelling to an area to a different area for work when I spotted a Benefit shop! I was just so excited. I resisted the urge to venture inside as I am saving my pennies and Benefit purchases for a girly shopping trip at the weekend but I may have to return in the future.

From one Sunday to the next

Dear Heart and I were lying in bed yesterday morning thinking about getting up (well he was, I was nursing a headache as a result of not drinking enough water during the day and drinking too much red wine) and we ended up talking about the wedding. The strange thing was that it was really one of those conversations that we should have been having the Sunday before. We were talking about people that weren't there that we usually run into at family events. Rather sensibly the bride and groom only invited people they really liked and their partners so the atmosphere was fantastic (just like being back at university really). I started asking Dear Heart if he liked my hair and make-up. I had my hair curled at the hairdressers . I was a bit alarmed when it was first done as I had these really tight curls (flashback to 80's perm), but when the curls dropped a bit was so glamourous. I had my make-up to be done by Jenny Sherman from Perfect Creations www.perfect-creation.com and it was so fabulous. I felt like a movie star! It also stayed on all day even after I had my weep during my lovely sister's speech. I just can't wait to see the photos.

We also found ourselves discussing the flowers (done by the very nice Katie at The Flower Bar http://the-flower-bar.co.uk - her husband assures me he will put some content on her site soon). We all had these wrist corsages which looked great and meant you didn't have to hold flowers or find somewhere to put them. Additionally you simply couldn't wear a watch with it so no keeping an eye on the time (a curse of modern life I fear), instead one just went with the organic flow of things. We decided that the mysterious yellow substance that I managed to cover myself in was probably pollen (I kept my wrist corsage on the whole thing and alas it looked rather battered with wine stained ribbons by the end).

And the flowers decorating the mantlepieces had lots of picture of the bride and groom and their friends and family at various points in their life. It was great fun trying to identify who was in the photo.

And the dancing was such fun. The DJ played lots of really good cheesy dancing. I couldn't believe it when the lights came on.

Despite the headache and frequent rain showers the rest of Sunday turned out to be rather nice. I attacked the brambles on my allotment a little more and then came home and enjoyed a glass of red wine with Dear Heart. I went to bed unusually relaxed for a Sunday.

Let's hope the rest of the week is as stress free.

The party is over...

Well it's taken me about 4 days to get around to posting after the wedding. I sometimes find it really hard to talk about big events. As if by committing the memories to words, the memories themselves are somehow lost.

Despite the slight hitch with the flower girl dresses, things went relatively smoothly before the wedding. The Canadians didn't starve as a result of my hospitality. I managed to make some small alterations to my sister's second wedding dress without a hitch. I cooked her a nice simple dinner on Friday night (and was even organised enough to make the salad and herb butter in advance!).

My sister looked beautiful. Just totally lovely. She just kept grinning and snogging her new hubby. He seemed pretty chuffed with the whole thing too. Her speech was lovely (particularly the bit where she said that I was her best friend as well as her sister).

The thing is I really miss her now. She's away on honeymoon having a lovely time with her very nice husband and I selfishly want her back to talk about make up and clothes. I was amazed when they started out handing out thank you presents at the reception and I got 3! She'd already given a very pretty bracelet of green flowers to wear with my bridesmaid dress. There was a bridesmaid mug, a pair of rather fab knickers (from http://www.damato-bridal.co.uk/home.htm - there isn't pic on the site but let me say that they don't have much of a back but have a big ribbon tie instead, and a elegant gold bracelet from CK. But the cards that went with them made me cry and they continue to do so everytime I dare peek at them.

I was thrilled when she sent me a text just before leaving for her honeymoon (I didn't want to send her one in case I intruded on the time her and her hubby deserve to enjoy together)

Who would imagine that my sister would find a husband and I'd find a new friend?

Enjoy your honeymoon, Sis, and come and drink wine and do non-wedding shopping with me soon.

Just when you think you're ahead...

Yesterday evening I dived in and cleaned out the pantry. It looks so good now. Everything is in place. I can see what I have so I won't be purchasing duplicates (not for a few weeks anyway when everything will be in chaos again).

Rather annoyingly I'm having a few problems with my pretty little parcels website. The paypal link is just refusing to work and take people's money and details. I spent ages working on it, did the buttons again and still no joy. I've put a post on the community board and I hope that someone can help me.

Today is my last day at work before the wedding. I'm tyeing up loose ends and have a small job list to work through this evening.

And now - disaster! Apparently the flower girl dresses that I've spend most of my recent days off working on don't fit! The bride to be seems calm so we just need to put a solution in place. I'm mystified - if anything I though they'd be too big!

And just to keep you busy while I'm away check out www.realsimple.com I picked up the magazine in Smiths (I'm a sucker for anything featuring capsule wardrobes) and there's lots of nice content. Enjoy!

Just like Prince Charming...

Yesterday I decided to tackle a rather over grown area on my allotment. The grass had grown long and worse, there was an enormous blackberry bush with lots of branches coming off it (and hiding in the grass). Feeling rather like I was off to rescue Sleeping Beauty, I took some shears to the allotment. With my shears I began to snip and was thrilled to discover the dug boundary of the plot.

I was doing really well as I approached the bush itself. I noticed that there were a lot of bees around. However, I reasoned that this is quite normal. Bees buzz around flowers, don't they? Well they do if there are actually any flowers to buzz around... I then realised that the low humming that I thought was a strimmer was actually the sounds of bees - lots of them!

I retreated back to hack my way through another area (and boy do I ache today). When I got home, I looked up bees in a wildlife book. They do indeed make nests in long grass. I guess that the prickly brambles are good at keeping predators at bay.

Hmm, I suppose my plan to cut the bush right back will have to be changed, at least for the present. Probably just as well as all my muscles are stiffening up today as a result of all that hard manual labour yesterday.

Regular readers will be aware that I enjoy the wit and glamour of Jilly Cooper novels. Last week I needed something fun and a little bit trashy so I decided to read Octavia. I was amazed by the similarities with Louise Bagshawe's Venus Envy (still one of my favourites). Then I read Louise Bagshawe's Sparkles over the weekend. One of the characters actually talks about reading Octavia! What's going on? Will Louise turn out to be Jilly's great-niece or something?

More when my fingers stop aching too much to type...

Traffic, lists and vegan firefighters

Yesterday I wrote a job list to carry out when I got home. I love writing lists and them doing the things on them. It always makes me feel energised. As I've been trying to get to work for 8 a.m. (I get so much more done first thing), I decided that I would leave at 4 p.m. so that I could get home for 6 p.m. and do the tasks on my list.

However traffic was horrible and it took two hours for a part of the journey that normally takes an hour or so. Consequently I still arrived home at my usual time. This seems to be a bit of theme this week. Monday was the birthday of Dearly beloved. I wanted to make him a birthday cake so I got home for 5 p.m. to do so. Alas I didn't have my keys, so I had to sit in the garden and wait. I've been complaining that I wanted some time to sit in the garden and do nothing. It just goes to show - be careful what you wish for....

I did manage to make a bit of a dent in my job list but just didn't have time to do all of it. I got lots of reading done on the bus, but I so wanted to make a start on tidying the pantry. It's great to find an ingredient that needs using up and then think of a creative way of doing this.

On this note do have a look at this marvellous site featuring vegan firefighters! I found the link through another blog (but I didn't note which one it was - I'll try and find it again). The recipes are quite good. Hopefully they'll prove inspiration when I go to the supermarket tonight to shop for next week and the arrival of my relatives.

A whirl of activity

I can't believe nearly a month has gone by since my last post. The wedding is now less then 10 days away and it seems as if I am coming to the end of some of the tasks I needed to undertake for it.

So, the hen night is out of the way (it was a lovely day/evening - I'll try and remember to post about it soon). The flower girls dresses (and darling little capes) are complete (I just hope they fit OK).

However, I still need to:
Buy a wedding present
Make the tiniest of alterations to one flower girls dress
Dye my hair
Finish writing my chief bridesmaid speech

Additionally I have some of my favourite relatives from Canada staying with me for the three days prior to the wedding. I haven't seen them for some years and am a little nervous about my hostess abilities. Food is proving to be the thing that worries me most. I live in a small charming town so there's lots of historic atmosphere and rolling countryside for them to enjoy.

But what to feed them? Dearly beloved and I are eating an increasingly health diet. I make a lot of food from scratch and the closest we come to eating a ready meal is using pre-made pasta sauce. I had a look around my pantry and it's got lots of dry ingredients, seasoning and a few cans but not very much else.

I'm not even sure what to buy. I refuse to rush out and buy meat and cheese. Perhaps some tubs of dip in the fridge and lots of toast will fill the gap?

I'm also in a bit of quandary about where to take them for a lunch. We had planned on a dinner the Thursday before the wedding with me, dearly beloved, my sister and her intended and my parents.

But the intended needs one last night drinking with his mates (and is pleasingly sensible enough not to want to do it the night before the wedding). So the Thursday lunch time has been selected as I am taking them shopping in the nearest large town. But where to take them? Would they be happy to visit a Wetherspoons or Edwards (the sort of place that I normally have lunch with friends and family, even thought the Wetherspoons certainly isn't the most salubrious of joints)? Or to a genuine old pub? Friends have suggested 2 and I visited one on Tuesday. The food was excellent (as was the company).

I've even emailed my Dad who is still on his diet and asked which would fit in best with his diet (thankfully most place have an online menu these days). No reply as of yet...

So dear readers, forgive my absence and give me your suggestions regarding the important issue of food.

No rest for the wicked

I have been so busy the past few weeks that I simply haven't found myself next to a computer with the time to think about blogging.

My job is really busy at present and I'm finding it quite hard to switch off at the end of the day. My sister's hen night is only a few weeks away so I'm busy finalising arrangements and chasing up money. Had a horrible cold moment earlier where I thought that I'd missed someone off the hotel list. The wedding (of the century!) is just over a month away and I'm still making dresses although those will be sorted soon (and some adorable shoulder capes based on the pattern in Yeah I made it myself). Reading Yeah I made it myself was quite distracting as it made me think about all the bits of fabric I have awaiting something to do with them. I was so inspired I had to clear out and re organise my fabric cupboard.

I've been busy making up and sending out my dear little parcels and really need some time to source products for later in the year.

And the potatoes on my allotment all need harvesting.

Being busy certainly beats being bored!

Happy shopper

So yesterday lunch time I trotted off to Primark to buy a linen skirt. Sadly everything was either really wide, a strange colour or ruined with bizarre decorations. While wandering around I spotted a grey pencil skirt and remembered seeing a grey fitted dress in the window of another branch. Yet another circuit of the store failed to reveal where the dresses were.

I then spotted a woman carrying one and had to resist an overwhelming urge to grab her and ask her where she got the dress from. I finally located one at the 'waiting to go back on the shelf' area of the changing rooms. Alas both the skirt and the dress were way too big around my waist.
I then tried New Look (also spurred on by rumours of a £5 shoe sale). Alas nothing caught my eye. I headed on to M&S. Making a purchase on the grounds that they were green and reduced, I bought a vest and a galaxy top. I then crawled back to work and began to panic about what on earth I was going to wear for the rest of the summer and wondered what had possessed me to buy two tops. Channeling Honey Blennerhesket (or should that be Melissa Romney-Jones) I tried to think of three positive outcomes.

1. Better that there weren't lots of lovely things in Primark (or elsewhere) as avoided spending lots of money.
2. If Primark had had what I wanted wouldn't have found green tops in M&S.

I got a bit stuck on 3 until I went home and discovered that the galaxy top goes with so much of my wardrobe I am at a loss to know what to wear it with first!

Currently working on wardrobe alternatives to long linen skirts. Cropped trousers have been suggested and I feel that my A line skirts could play a fuller role than they already do.

Any suggestions, dear reader?

Losing my appetite?

A big part of my summer wardrobe are my linen skirts. They are long, slim and are elegant yet comfortable. I have them in black, pale beige and khaki. They are ideal for work and play. I've recently purchased a sand coloured jacket to go with them on chillier or more formal summer days.

However, I've had them for years. the beige and the black came from Racing Green when they still had shops and a website (possibly c. 2000?). The khaki was s lightly more recent purchase (i.e. 2003).

However the black and the beige are both wearing thin from repeated wear and really were due for repalcement sometime soon. As a result I've been wearing the khaki a lot (the colour was my fav anyway). Yesterday I arrived home to discover it has a rip in the back. The fabric seems to have just worn away. Leaving aside the embarrassment of walking around with my knickers on show I am now faced with having to replace all three.

My pink linen skirt is still doing OK, but it's only knee length.

I'd like to just make new versions of all the skirts but with dresses to make for my sweet sister's wedding, and some other sewing queuing for the autum, that's not really an option. Maybe I could do one (if I can find the fabric) but I need the skirts now!

I should be thrilled at the prospect of having to buy new clothes. How often do we have to buy clothes for the genuine reason that they have actually been worn until they feel apart? However I don't seem to have an appetite to do so. I suppose I'll go to Primark, look on the boden website and browse in the sales but I'm not really excited about doing so.

Has my appetite for consumer goods been altered? Perhaps I should put off buying the skirts for a while and see if any other part of my wardrobe fills the gap in the interim?

Before I go

Very soon I'll have to get on to a hot bus and hope my litre of water lasts me all the way home.

I feel much to hot to want to do anything. I finished a mock up of the flower girl dresses for my sister's wedding yesterday. It took so much longer than it should because I couldn't concentrate in the heat. After I'd finished I longed to do something utterly frivolous, but didn't know what. I wasn't hungry. With dinner to prepare and work the folllowing day a G&T probably wasn't my top option.

Happily today Mimi has sent me her copy of Little Lady Big Apple by Hester Browne. I'm so looking forward to losing myself in it on the journey home.

Tonight I'm going to make some courgette kofta. I managed to get a mix of yellow and green from the market on Friday.

And on the subject of food, a couple more things. Firstly does anyone ele crave salty foods like utterly yummy Marmite in hot weather?

Secondly I'd like to say well done to my Dad for managed to lose some weight and being so restrained when we had lunch at Wetherspoons on Friday. You are looking really good Dad! One of the things I like about Wetherspoons is that you can go to their website, follow the nutritional information link, select the type of diet you are following and it will tell you which menu items are Ok for you. Isn't that cool? It will also calculate the nutritional value of a meal.

And an update, I emailed Kenny at veganlunchcast and said I hoped he'd be posting again soon. No reply yet. Gorgeous vegan is back and sent a lovely reply to my email. Also remembered another 'lost' site - that of Chic Simple. One of the best bits was the questionnaire where their staff would tellyou which 10 items of clothng they would buy if an airline lost their luggage. I've planned many wardrobes over the years based on this. What would you buy?

I think I might be breaking my own little and often rule.

Come back soon - we miss you!

Isn't it awful when you find something you like only for it to disappear? I have been a perfume widow on occasion (Anyone remember Evermore by Avon). Magazines cease publication (Princess comic c.1981?). Favourite shops vanish (Racing Green is on the return I believe). Tesco ceases to sell greaseproof paper bags and greengrocers almost everywhere (the ones that haven't already vanished) no longer use brown paper bags.

And then there are blogs and websites. I am really starting to appreciate how hard it is keep a blog or a website up to date. I've recently found a couple I've really enjoyed reading, only for activity to cease in some cases (such as www.gorgeousvegan.co.uk) there is an explanation (nasty, difficult examinations) but the lovely Kenny at www.veganlunchcast.blogspot.com seems to have stopped posting and hasn't told us why.

Is it polite to send an email to bloggers and ask them if there is a hope that they might resume their activities?

The luck of the devil

Amazingly my white linen trousers are still white! Dearly beloved despite washing them with a whole variety of colours has managed to bring them out sparkling and clear!

I feel I should explain the white linen trousers a little further. I wouldn't want to give the impression the tI ma some kind of Elizabeth Hurley type who wear white all the time. In fact I rarely wear white (and certainly not on my lower half).

However a few months a go I saw a woman in New Look who was wearing white linen trousers with a red and white dress over the top. It looked fabulous and got round the underwear problems (nude underwear looks like you haven't got any on and any other colour is too obviously on display).

So I purchased a pair at Primark a a kind of experiment and I now have a number of dresses I wear over them or jeans. I feel (and hopefully look) fab.

The suspense is killing me

Dearly beloved put a load of washing the machine before he left for work this morning. I then noticed that the load included colours and my white linen trousers! I couldn't get the machine to stop so I'll have to wait and see what kind of colour they are when I get home tonight. Feeling extremely stressed today in any case.

I'm just hoping the items he put them with are more colour fast than previously imagined. Otherwise I'll have to get the dye out and go back to Primark.

Just how far can (and should) one go?

Blog writing is very much like diary writing in that one wants to document day-to-day life. How else can one remember the small successes and failures of life? I keep a paper diary where I record my daily doings, my thoughts and am currently using to set myself monthly targets. It's also an excellent place to store things like programmes and menus. Then when I look back in times still to come I can experience once again the atmosphere, colours and tastes. Some times it's a good place to let rip if I'm angry or upset about something. It's a good way of sharing without having to confide my petty jealousies to another person.

Maybe they'll be read when I'm not longer here. I like to imagine that they'll provide a wonderful resource for historian's of the future.

However the blog writing differs in that it is designed to be read now. Not at some distant point in the future. Hence how much should be shared?

Would it be OK to saythat I was anxious at the weekend as a result of a family situation? This might cause family members who read this to think that I was referring to them. And complaints about my work could be problematic. You are never as anonymous as you think you are.

So dear readers, I will save my anguish for my paper diary (some things are best kept private) and remember that what I post here is for anyone to read. In any case I'm certain that other people's misery is boring - you've much rather hear good, uplifting things about my small triumphs.

And so I'll leave you there for the time being. I'm off to pack my latest round of parcels.

Has it been so long?

This week has just flown past. I was still feeling a bit tired at the start but I think my energy levels may be returning.

Last weekend was good. Saturday I got to visit my favourite health food shop The Natural Way. I just love having a look at all the different products. I really wanted some Tempah as I'd cooked some following a Cooking with PETA recipe. It was so fabulous that I was determined to buy 2 packs so I could eat it all week!

Alas they didn't have any but they did have Better than sour cream, which I keep reading about on American blogs. It did indeed live up to it's name on some nachos later. They also had vegan cola bottles and pineapple chews.

I was even more thrilled when I went to pick up some more shopping at Waitrose and they had vegan sour gummi bears. In a NORMAL supermarket!

Sunday we watched the England game in a local bar. We sat just on the edge of the terrace and could see inside for the game but still enjoy our red wine in the sun.

I hope this weekend is nice. I'm already thinking about food to make. I'm going to have another go at Seitan.

Looks like another busy week ahead. My sister's wedding gets a little closer. Lots to do on my allotment. I'm so pleased that I feeling more zingy!

Tired

I'm currently feeling very tired and dearly beloved says he thinks I've been stressed at work of late. I have nasty aches in my shoulders (must get back to daily yoga practice) and an overwhelming urge to go to bed pretty much as soon as I get home from work.

However dearly beloved and I were discussing this over dinner the other night and have agreed in a concept we refer to as energy cycles. Essentially we have noted that sometimes we have boundless energy, rush around doing housework and other activities after our money earning work is over and don't want to go to bed. On other occasions heating a can of soup is a bother and slumping on the sofa with a book is too much effort.

Basically we agreed that like every thing else in life energy must come in cycles and that one should go with the rhythm of life rather than fight against it. Hence we shall be tucked up early in bed with a mug of tea and book every single night this week.

Oh I need to think pretty thoughts and count my blessings. Next thing you know I'll be feeling sorry for myself....

A change in the weather

Well if you want to blame anyone for today being a bit overcast you can probably blame me! Last night I could take the heat no longer so I closed the copy of Jilly Cooper's Wicked! which the lovely Mimi loaned me. I didn't even have to ask Mimi if I could borrow it - she just turned up with it because she knows that I adore the wit and glamour of Jilly.

Anyway I headed up to my bedroom where my wardrobe was bursting open with a surplus of both summer and winter clothes. Not trusting the weather to stay I have been slipping out bits of summer clothing from the suitcase on top of my wardrobe! HoweverI took the plunge and tucked all of my winter clothing away. I feel that I should write a list of items so I can judge if my wardrobe is expanding each season. There were a few pieces I dug out that this is the 'make or break' season for. If I haven't worn them by September they will have to go. Some of them are in excellent condition so maybe they can go on ebay!

What I'd really like to find is a blog where someone lists what they are wearing that day, where it came from and what it cost. Just like they used to in Just Seventeen. Can anyone out there direct me to one? If not I'll have to start my own!

Oh, and in case anyone wondering I went with fruit sherbets as this month's 'something delicious'. Their colours looked so pretty and who can resist sherbet on a hot day!

Cheese!

A huge breakthrough on my vegan quest. Dearly beloved has agreed that we don't have to buy cheese anymore. I pointed out I that I had pretty much stopped eating it. However, he hasn't been eating it with meals that we used to eat it with like pasta and hasn't really missed it. He said the turning point was my vegan sloppy Joe. Apparently it was so rich in taste (must have been the tomatoes) that it didn't require cheese.

What I think has also helped has been that I been using a lot less salt in cooking over the last year and preparing more things from scratch. Hence tastes have changed we no longer require such a salty taste!

I still haven't changed my wardrobe over althoug the weather today is stunning.

Feeling hot, hot, hot....

The hot weather has taken me somewhat by surprise. I don't really trust and feel certain that at any moment the sky will cloud over and we will be returned to a state of grey chilliness. This has made me extremely reluctant to life the heavy suitacase down from the top of the wordrobe which contains my summer clothes. I am sure that if I pack up my heavy trousers, skirts and boots I will regret it.

As a compromise I've lifted the suitcase onto the floor and rumage in it every morning. However piles of clothes are starting to build up! It's quite nice to rediscover old friends among the summer clothes and even nicer to find that it all still fits (in some cases better than last year). All that walking must be paying off.

The change in weather has also caught my business planning unaware. I've been happily plannning chocolates to go in my summer parcels, but am now worried that they will melt. Such a dilemma over the alternative though. Sometimes its easy and somehting delicious and non melting will suggest iteslf because it fits in with the theme of the parcel or the colours work. I rather like wrapped Roses or Quality Street because they sprinkle themselves among the tissue and the other goodies in their pretty colours.

So what shall it be? Fudge? Coconut ice? shortbread biscuits? I'll have tothink quickly I've orders to fill!

And I'm back

Clearly the Moonwalk was more taxing then I imagined to distract me from blogging just as I was getting into the swing of things. And there has been so much else going on in various spheres of my world. Additionally Dearly beloved has been enjoying a week off work and he's so lovely that's he's very distracting!

I has a very busy but delightful weekend. Saturday I took my sister shopping to buy her wedding underwear as a birthday present. The girl is so sweet. I offered designer bras and she said no. I fact I ended up spending far, far less than I expected. We also went to buy fabric for the flower girl dresses which I am making. We only needed four metres of fabric but alas there were only two left on the roll. I'll have to try again at the end of the week.

We then met my parents for drinks and dinner. I was very pleased to see that the menu offered a vegan option.

Sunday saw the latest round of brunch club with a delicious meal. The friend who was hosting was rather worried he might give us all food poisoning but in the event the food was all delicious and everyone is good health.

Also noteable this weekend - I got to wear my white linen trousers from Primark. And unusually for me managed to wear them for two days without spilling things all over them. It can't last!

What surprises will this week hold, dear reader? I will make my best efforts to keep you posted.