Another award

Another award, this time from Heather at Little Tin Bird.

So more facts - this thinking up facts is such hard work!

1. I can do 32 full-body press-ups in one minute. 

2. Every weekday morning my husband brings me a cup of green tea. ♥

3. The question I most dread being asked is 'When are you going back to work?'. I always wonder why being at home looking after someone else's children is considered to be work, whereas staying at home looking after your own is considered a cop-out.  


4. I am not a hoarder. In fact, I like nothing better than clearing out all our unnecessary stuff. Too much clutter makes me feel uneasy and out of control. I am a neat freak.


5. The books in my house have to be arranged on the shelves according to height. 


6. While we're on the subject of control-freakishness, I can not bear to be late.

7. I could read before I started school.

8. Despite the promising start to academia everyone, myself included, thought I was going to fail all my A' levels. Much to everyone's surprise I passed all 4 although my highest grade was a B. It's a good job that in 1989 B grades were considered quite acceptable. These days I wouldn't get onto the same course at the same university as I did then. 

9. As a child I was an incredibly fussy eater. My Mother, very sensibly, refused to pander to my fussiness. 'I'm not running a cafe', she'd say and I had to make do with what everyone else was eating. Now I'll eat almost anything.


10. I tried one of my Mum's other lines out on my daughter the other day, telling her that if she didn't eat her fish I'd give it her again for breakfast. She just laughed at me. :0) 




Now, I think I'd better make an effort this time to pass it on...


Penelope at L is for Love
Allison at Field Wonderful
Angie at Le Monde du Sucrette
Erica at Erica's hook and yarn
Ali at Cupcakes and Biscuits
Victoria at Ribbons Undone
Fee at Chipper Nelly
Elaine at Northern Hi-lights
Cuckoo at Tales from Cuckoo Land
Anna at Annaboo's House

Off the hook :: 5 little doilies

It's been ages since I wrote a post about crochet. I'm not very motivated to crochet at the moment I must confess. I don't know why. Too many other things going on I guess what with bathroom renovations and pesky children demanding attention.  I do have a number of projects on the go but I'm just not loving any of them enough to actually work on them.  

I did make 5 little doilies/coasters recently...

I don't really know what to do with them. Maybe string them together and hang them in my new pink bathroom? 

Hook :: 2mm

Yarn :: Patons 100% cotton 4ply 

Pattern :: I crocheted what I saw from this photo

The cure(s) for the night before...

Toast and marmite...

and cake. Chocolate, cherry and coconut cake...

I can't remember the last time I stayed out as late as I did last night. Such fun! I've spent the day feeling a little bit jaded and with carbohydrates and cake on my mind. After a walk home from school that involved a huge strop and someone refusing to walk any further (because, you know, she's had her legs for 6 years now and they are getting rather tired and worn out) the urge to bake a quick and easy cake won over. 


Chocolate, cherry & coconut cake


3oz soft butter
1 egg
2oz self-raising flour
2oz desiccated coconut
2tbsp* milk 
3oz caster sugar
2oz glace cherries, quartered
2oz plain chocolate, chopped


Grease and line a 7" square tin.
Beat all the ingredients together and spoon into the tin. Bake at 180℃ / 160℃ fan / gas Mark 4 for about 40 minutes.

*1tbsp = 15ml

Pinks

One of my little helpers got a bit carried away with the deadheading...

Pink is also the colour I've chosen to paint the bathroom which is due to be finished tomorrow, thank goodness. One day last week we had to wash the children in the preserving pan after they came home from next door covered in paint. Ideally I'd have used a washing up bowl only I couldn't find one.  Being bathed in a giant pan on the kitchen floor will probably be something that stays with them for life.  They seemed to enjoy it at least.

Awards and stuff

Ok, so maybe I didn't have the worst bathroom in the world. Some of the comments regarding coloured bathroom suites reminded me of the bathroom in our old house. Avocado suite, pink floral tiles and a black ceiling. At least the one in this house was white.  Everything is covered in dust at the moment and I'm not really attempting to clean it up. They'll only make more.  Of course, when the plumber started knocking the old tiles off the whole bathroom fell apart back to the brick. Not very sturdy brick at that - if you touch the wall between the bathroom and the back bedroom it wobbles alarmingly.  *makes mental note not to put #2's bed against that wall*  I am doing my best not to spend too much time at home.

I have been given both the Stylish and Versatile blogger awards recently (and not so recently) and have been shockingly bad at saying thank you.  So thank you to Elaine at Northern Hi-lights, Penelope at L is for Love, Carina at Carina@home, and Tracy at Mad about bags.  


I am supposed to write 7 interesting things about myself.  Finding 7 things has been a bit of a struggle...

I nearly always read the end of a book when I'm only halfway through it.   I remember having a conversation with my MiL about 'We need to talk about Kevin'...'wasn't it a shock?' she said about the fate of one of the characters.  Errrmmm, no, not really.

I have been crocheting for so long that I don't even remember learning.  My Mum, Granny and Great-Granny were all crocheters too.

I have curly hair but straightened it for years. I started wearing it curly after getting sick of people asking me where #1 got her curls from. 'Me', I'd say and they'd look at me like I was stupid. I like it better curly now. Curly hair is all about the right hair product.


I am frightened of spiders. 


If I could live anywhere in the world I'd choose Melbourne, Australia. 


I managed to put off getting a 'proper' job until I was 27.  By proper I mean office based.

My hair started going grey when I was in my early 20's. I dye it.

There you go. Fascinating isn't it?  I would pass the awards on, but I think just about everyone has had them by now. If you haven't, take it and say you were awarded it from me!  Please do as I quite like to read these '7 interesting facts' posts. x

The worst bathroom in the world. Possibly.

My bathroom is being ripped out today. An event that I am welcoming and dreading in equal measure.  I'm sure it'll be worth it in the end, but 2 weeks without a bathroom (we only have the one) with 2 young children is not something to look forward to. It was in desperate need of a makeover though. Do you want to see?  It is embarrassingly awful, but here you go...

Hideous toilet with bizarre eye level cistern.  It's broken twice recently.  It's got to go...

The 'temporary' sink, with missing tiles behind it.  The old sink developed a crack and this one has been its temporary replacement for 3 years now. Oh dear...

Rubbish shower with exposed pipes and loose tiles. Yuck...

Horrible cork tile floor with some broken pieces that double as a jigsaw puzzle for the children and a door that opens the wrong way so that there's even less room to swing a cat in this teeny tiny room...

Go on, be honest. It's the most horrible bathroom you've ever seen isn't it? Even if you include the ones in the house you lived in as a student.  Although, it might be a bit cleaner than that I suppose.

Sometimes I wonder what we saw in this house.  Once this is done there won't be a single room that hasn't been completely made over.  Wish me luck for the next couple of very grubby weeks.  I think I'll need it.  xx

In which we discover what the Easter chicks get up to out of season

No, they're not under a bed inside a plastic bag... we've spent a happy hour or two making them somewhere much nicer to live...

Thanks to Jane at 'Teawagon Tales' for the inspiration.

I finished my embroidery yesterday and, whilst it wouldn't win any prizes, I don't think it's too bad for a first attempt.  I am hoping you'll be able to tell what initial I've used. All will be revealed soon.  

Trying my hand

at something different.

Remember the little piece of embroidered linen I found in the charity shop?  There were areas where the existing embroidery needed securing and I need to fill in some bits that are missing. I also have plans to embroider #1's initial in the centre using one of the flowered monogram templates from needlenthread.com.

I braved my not-so-friendly LYS this morning and bought some matching embroidery threads...

and this afternoon I'm going to sit down and see if I'm capable of embroidery.  I haven't tried for years, but I did make this many moons ago (I suspect I may have had help)...

Edited to add: LYS = local yarn shop

Turquoise summer dress

Here's the dress I made last week for my #1...

It's from Simplicity pattern 2377, which is the same one that I used to make the Hallowe'en dress.  It's a very easy pattern and I like this style where the top of the sleeves is incorporated into the elasticated neckline.  

Practically the first thing #1 did when she got home from the Lakes was to change into her new dress.  Practically the second thing she did was to get pizza and chocolate mousse all over it. Anyway, here it is being modelled by someone who appears to have a Frisbee for a head...

Edited to add: the fabric is Amy Butler, from the Daisy Chain range