No pictures

I want to post pictures.  Pictures of what I’m using during the Frugal Frump challenge – SEE HERE – pictures of the animals, the garden, the kitchen and most importantly, my crafts.  I had a camera which took great photos, but it died.  So I started using another camera which I couldn’t get on with at all, the photos were a bit blurry but I thought it’d do.  That one’s died too, gggrrrrr.  My daughter has a cheap camera from Argos, I was suprised at how well the photos turned out so I’ll buy one for myself.

I’ve found a local stationery supplier PROACTIVE BUSINESS SUPPLIES and I put my first order in on monday – a heavy duty stapler, so now I can get on with making matchbook notepads that are thicker than 15 pages.   They delivered on tuesday and included a free Nestle selection pack full of mini smarties, fruit pastilles, aeros and  milky bar buttons.  That’s me happy for a few days!

The painting is almost done.  Can’t wait to get back to normal, the house feels very cluttered at the moment.

 

Can’t keep up………

………….with anything

There’s too many eggs and too much veg!  We’ve sold some of the eggs and frozen some veg but there’s so much of them.  Course, if a certain someone didn’t keep buying rubbish processed food, I’d have more freezer space

We’ve started painting the hall, stairs and landing.  I say we, what I mean is I’ve done a bit and he’s done a lot, lol.  The watered-down first coat is on, we he can get on with the ‘proper’ coats now.  He’s also been painting the woodwork, that was a pain because the stain kept seeping through the new white paint, even with primer on.

We were both off work last week.  We visited Fairford (to watch the planes fly out), Axminster, West Bay and Weston-Super-Mare.

I’ve still been looking after me, though it was a bit rushed because we were out so much.  I treated myself to some new make-up, and bought a 200ml tub of Morrison’s shea butter (£2.99) – it’s wonderful for feet.

When the work is finished on the house, I can get back to crafting.  I’ve hidden it all away for now, dust and paint splashes are NOT going to ruin my work.

 

 

Almost there………..

I’ve got all sorts of bits and pieces to put on the kitchen shelves.  I can’t decide where to put what, and when I eventually do, I’ll probably rearrange them about 50 times……..

When we planned the kitchen, we had a 600mm wide oven.  After we bought the units, we bought a range cooker (fantastic planning, don’t you think?!).  One of the units was now way too big for the remaining space (thank you Ikea, for your 90 day return policy if you change your mind), which is too small for even the narrowest  unit.  So I thought – shelves with skinny baskets.  I searched and searched and finally found the baskets in Trago Mills yesterday, 16cm wide which is the perfect size.  Just need to build the shelf unit now.  When I find the camera batteries, I’ll post some pics.

Fudge Chick has adapted really well to only having one eye, she was quiet for a while and kept away from the other girls most of the time – I think she was scared of getting hurt in the rush for corn, etc – but now she’s running around with them again and has reclaimed her place in the pecking order.

Happy Birthday to me!

40 today!

I had some great pressies – money, lots of chocolate, shower scrubs, face masks, wine, body butter, gardening gloves and a kneeling pad.

I’m having the afternoon off!

The carpet is down in the kitchen and a couple of the shelves are up.  We’ve moved the sink slightly, it didn’t quite sit right before.  Tomorrow I’ll put some shelves up in the kitchen and paint them.  Then I can move most of the mess that’s cluttering up corners of other rooms.

Edited -

Just had another pressie, I’ll post a pic later.  I’m drinking coffee out of it at the moment!

Here we go -

 

Back of mug – bit blurry, sorry!

Getting there – a bit faster

The walls are painted, but the shelves still aren’t up.  Son said he’d do it, but the wood is still leaning against the wall in the hall.

The carpets are being fitted in the lounge and kitchen tomorrow, so I’ll be moving everything today.  Not sure where I’m going to put it all though………..

Getting there slowly

The kitchen is making progress!

One of the walls has two recesses.  One of them was a floor to ceiling larder cupboard, the other was bricked up and had units in front of it.  We discovered the second completely by accident, when we were removing the render.  Who bricks up a space like that then puts cupboards in front of it?  Madness.  We bought extra doors and built units in each recess then put worktop on.  I must admit, I’ll really miss having a larder but we’ve ended up with a bigger kitchen (without having to extend) and more storage space.

Tonight we’ll be putting shelves up, the painting will be done by the weekend and I can finally move the cookery books, scales and other bits out of the lounge – can’t wait!

 

A big mess….

….. and I’m sick of it!

Last year, we started to chip off the artex in the kitchen.  The intention was to get the walls skimmed.  But big chunks of render started falling off – the previous owners hadn’t prepared the walls properly.  We ended up with bare brick walls, well not quite bare, the bricks were painted a disgusting shade of green.  So we had to have them rendered and plastered.  We needed a couple more electric sockets, but the electrician kept letting us down.  We lived with the disgusting walls for months!  In the end, a couple of friends came to the rescue and put in some new sockets.  The plastering was done by a couple of other friends and the new kitchen was fitted just after Christmas.  We still need to paint, tile and put the carpet down (all paid for and waiting to be done).

We thought it would be a good idea to make a start on other rooms while we’re waiting.  But we were wrong, ha ha ha!  The hall has been stripped (bye bye to the icky woodchip) but has old flaking paint on the walls.  We need to sand them down, but we have guinea pigs living in the house.  We need a nice warm day to put them outside so they don’t breathe in any nasties.  So that’s on hold too.  At least the walls in the lounge can painted without any fuss!

I’ve been moving things from one room to another, there’s not much that is in it’s proper place at the moment.  Still, it’s a good excuse not to do housework, ha ha!

The chickens (all nine of them) have been laying for England lately, we’ve sold most the eggs and have some lovely profit.