Monday 26 October 2015

Me on a Monday

What a lovely autumn we're having ... I can't quite believe its November at the end of this week. 

So today finds me doing something that combines two of the things that I absolutely adore ... yup, Christmas and baking. 

I've been soaking the fruit overnight and will be putting the rest together shortly. 
Its been a wonderful weekend. Simon came home on Friday with flowers and chocolates for me, and two new toys for certain pair of bears. I know, noisy, but it didn't last that long ... within the hour, both balls had been well and truly chewed and in bits, so into the bin. But they had so much fun. 

 Then over the weekend we went to a Terrier walk in Brighton and had the most amazing time. 99 dogs in total and 9 of those were Lakelands. So we had a little Lakie party on the beach.
It was then a charge back home, as we had an evening wedding reception to attend. 

Yesterday, was a chilling and comfort food sort of day. 
Bliss 

Ok, better get working on putting the cake together ... hope you all have a lovely week, and once again, waving a big thank you to the lovely Sian for this great blogging idea. 


Friday 23 October 2015

Project Life ... January!

To say I'm behind, would be the understate of the year.

I was doing well until the bears arrived, and then it all stopped.  So a few weeks months ago, I gave myself a talking to, and picked up my album again.  I first, decided to print out all the photos I'd need and put them, without embellishing or cards, into the pockets.  I then promptly didn't do anything else!

So after another talking to; I have decided to work backwards and catch up at the same time, otherwise come 2016 I'll still be so behind.

Also while writing this post, I've realised that the only PL pages I've shared on here this year, was week one! ... ok, I'm slow and behind on PL, but I promise I have done more than that (not a lot, but more)

I'm hoping to be able to show you more recent weeks and also my catch up pages, but this might not always be the case. Anyway, here goes;  First up, January

I was incredibly lucky, that I actually got to visit the bears each week, before they came home.  So, that's what was happening most of the month; also, in week 2 we joined slimming world and I started my clear out plan (hence the full fire of receipts).

Week 3 saw more puppy visiting, puppy proofing and also checking out a class for them.  I also painted our fireplace ... by the way, of all the chalk paints I've used, Ronseal was the one I least liked.

Week 4 .. we actually had a burns night dinner to attend. It was magical for sure. This time we also took a quick trip to puppy proof the little house, and also we had to have some damp fixed.


Week 5 it all happened!.... yup, the bears came home.  This of course meant a double page spread, and also a half page, as I wanted to include a card, tags from Maria, and also some bigger pictures.

Goodness, I've forgotten how tiny they were.

Ok, more up to date.
The week saw another hospital visit, summer clothes going away, the first fire of the year. Rain wear for all of us and I finally got my engagement ring repaired.

I'll hope to show you February next time, and again, some more recent weeks.


Monday 19 October 2015

Me On a Monday

This Monday, you'll find me a bit disheveled after a long play at the park with the bears. Simon has today off, so we took them earlier for a good run about, and it was lovely, we almost had the whole place to ourselves.  The bears still have selective hearing when called, so they stay on a training lead, but I think soon, we'll try them off.  Scary stuff.
We had such a lovely weekend, but different from the one we had planned, but isn't that always the case. Friday night saw us having our friends over for dinner. I'm incredibly lucky to be living right next door to one of my closest friends.  We had a wonderful evening
Then Saturday, instead of going to the little house, we took a quick trip into Dorking, and I bought some lovely fabric at a sale for my project to cover our chairs with patchwork remnants. I also may have bought a couple of extra mugs to add to my Emma Bridgewater collection. And my Christmas jumper arrived (well, only 67 days to go, you know).
Sunday saw me moving our dining room back to an actual dining room.  For a long time now, it's had the puppy play pen in it (well after it was a trial office and craft room). But now the bears sleep in the kitchen, I can reclaim my home again.
By the way, I'm thinking of dying each of the chair covers, different colours .... what do you think? They're white at the moment (and really that doesn't work in this house lol)

The evening was finished off watching strictly with the bears asleep and a box of Matchmakers ... bliss.

So there you have it. Oh and where is a photo of me this Monday. Actually shock horror! Simon took one of me trying to have a coffee and reading a magazine after our walk.  Well, I did say disheveled, didn't I?
Wishing you all a lovely week; I'm a bit behind in my blog reading, so hoping to catch up this week.

Wednesday 14 October 2015

My Creative Challenge

I've actually been feeling much more creative recently. I think that has an awful lot to do with the bears settling down a bit more and finding a routine for them, but also I'm an autumn and winter girl at heart. So I always think this is when I feel comfortable in me, so that pushes me into my creative mode.

Anyhow, I set myself a little challenge at the start of the month ... nothing too big or anything, just to do something creative each day, and so far, so good.

I've made a Christmas card (or two), worked on my hexies, decorated my planner, done a fair bit of baking and even managed two layouts.  I'm better if I set myself a goal for sure.

Anyway, here are a few of the pretty creative things I've been doing these past few weeks
I will share in more detail in later posts, but the autumn picture was done using my Silhouette Cameo, and is all part of bringing autumn into our home.

I did a similar one for valentine last year, and am already planning my Christmas one.

Monday 12 October 2015

Me on a Monday

Maybe I should change the titles of these posts, as I rarely post an actual photo of me taken on the Monday, normally its one from the weekend. Which this one is too.


So here I am Monday morning, joining in with the lovely Sian, on one of her many clever ideas, I've just got back from meeting my friend Emma for our usual Monday coffee, or R&D as we like to call it, and thought I'd write this post.

It's been a lovely weekend, and one that was actually quite lazy for us. We had planned on going to the little house, but a change of plans were called for, as Simon saw the consultant on Friday about his feet.  She wants to postpone surgery for as long as possible, as she is worried about his mobility after, as its all to do with fusing his bones together. In the mean time she wants to try the orthopedic route first. So it was shoe shopping for us;

We then came home and while out read that it was national curry week ... so of course had to make one.
The weather, although dry has certainly turned chilly, so we had the first fire alight of the winter ... bliss.
I also started the mamouth task of sorting out my wardrobe and putting away summer and bringing out winter.
And finally, my idea of bliss .... The bears slept, while I actually managed some patchwork. They were so tired from their park walk, my sewing box didn't actually interest them, and nothing was pulled out.
Hope you all have a good week. I've got a lovely one planned and its packed full of catching up with friends.

Monday 5 October 2015

80 days of Decluttering & Organising

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that checks out Pinterest for decluttering and organisation ideas. As I've said in a previous post, decluttering was my main goal for this year, and I actually did really well with the Marie Kondo method, but then the building work started and well, that all went to pot!

It meant that I couldn't let the bears run around freely, they were confined to either their pen or the kitchen, which in turn meant I couldn't move around and get on with things as easily.  All good excuses, I know, but enough is enough.  The builder is gone! and time to kick myself into gear.

Now, all those lists that I've pinned on my boards, are well and good, but so many of them ... in fact pretty much most of them, don't relate to me. I neither have a basement or childrens rooms to sort through.  So the other night I came up with my own list of things to organise and declutter.  We've 88 days left of this year! ... I know, scary huh.  Anyway, with that in mind, I've given myself an 80 day list. Now some of these will take only an hour or so, others .. well, I daren't think about how long, but this way, if I have time, I can check off more than one, or if one it runs into a few days, its no biggie.

I know this doesn't take into account our loft! But trust me, that's a whole other job, and will require a skip and Simon to be on holiday for at least two weeks.

So here you are ... lets get this show on the road.

80 Days of organisation and decluttering 

  1. Bathroom cabinet
  2. Medicine Draws & cabinet
  3. Simon's bedside unit
  4. My bedside unit
  5. Bathroom cleaning draw
  6. Bathroom shelves
  7. Back bedroom wardrobe
  8. Back bedroom chest of draws
  9. Make up
  10. Sort through jewelry
  11. My underwear draw
  12. Simon's underwear/sock draw
  13. Small top draws in our chest of draws
  14. Bottom big draw of our chest of draws
  15. My wardrobe (hanging side)
  16. Simon's wardrobe (hanging side)
  17. Wardrobe shelves
  18. Draw one in wardrobe
  19. Draw two in wardrobe
  20. Draw three in wardrobe
  21. Draw four in wardrobe
  22. Kitchen dresser cupboard - drinks
  23. Kitchen dresser cupboard - Vase
  24. Kitchen dresser cupboard - Seasonal
  25. Kitchen dresser (3 of the spice size draws)
  26. Kitchen dresser (3 of the spice size draws)
  27. White unit in living room
  28. Shelf behind sofa
  29. CD unit
  30. Window seat
  31. Utility room
  32. Cleaning cupboard in utility room
  33. Under sink
  34. Tea Towel draw
  35. My shoes
  36. Simon's shoes
  37. Coat cupboard
  38. Cupboard with cake decorating bits
  39. Baking tin cupboard
  40. Baking cupboard
  41. Kitchen baking unit
  42. Cookery books
  43. Garage
  44. Q5
  45. Mini
  46. Fabric chest
  47. Household desk
  48. Home binder
  49. Scrapbook papers
  50. Craft room - Embellishment draw one
  51. Craft room - Embellishment draw two
  52. Craft room - Embellishment draw three
  53. Draws under bed
  54. Under bed in back bedroom
  55. Freezer
  56. Dressing table
  57. Canned food cupboard
  58. Jars/Pickles cupboard
  59. Veg cupboard
  60. Bears cupboard
  61. Pan Draws
  62. Cup cupboard
  63. Spice draw
  64. A-Z manual file
  65. Filing cabinet - draw 1
  66. Filing cabinet - draw 2
  67. Filing cabinet - draw 3
  68. Filing cabinet - draw 4
  69. Wrapping papers and supplies
  70. Books
  71. Simon's office
  72. Christmas crafting box
  73. F&M Hamper in hallway
  74. F&M Hamper in dining room
  75. Party box in back bedroom
  76. Back bedroom bedside tables
  77. Dining room sideboard
  78. Cutlery draws
  79. Living room coffee table and draws
  80. Broom cupboard in Utility room
There ... that's it; its a jumbled up list, as I'm not doing it day by day in order. I will pick and choose which one to tackle each day. So now, to get to work on it.  So fingers crossed doing something everyday, will get me back on track and our home organised and decluttered for a fresh start next year.  Maybe I should warn the charity shops I'm on my way.

If you're interested, I have pinned a few good ideas, on my declutter and organisation board; and some lists from others are on here as well. Here's a link to my board.

If anyone else has an either a decluttering or organisation board, please let me know, I'd love to see it.