Kitchen re-vamp continued.....

Way back in January I decided to tidy up the kitchen and paint a few cupboard doors, well it sort of developed a bit and have done a lot of work.  Still not quite ready for the grand Ta Da, but just wanted to show you my new, well re-vamped notice board

 It was a pine edged cork notice board.  I have painted the edge grey to match the dresser, covered the cork in a beige spotty material that I had in the fabric bag.  Then neatened the edges with some of the green gross grain ribbon that I bought back from Hong Kong. 

 Into each corner I stuck a drawing pin, but not any old drawing pin

 For my birthday a few weeks ago, my very good friend Gill gave me this little jar and inside were

Lots of drawing pins.  AND she had hand painted each one and added spots and hearts- wonderful!!! 

EASTER

I have so been looking forward to this Bank Holiday weekend.  4 whole days off work, it has been a long time since Christmas.  I know that I have been on holiday, but that is not the same as having time at home.  Time to cook, time to catch up on jobs, time in the garden and at the allotment.  

 

Started the weekend off with decorating this corner of my home.  

 

Hung my owls and paper eggs on the twigs.  Added a jug of daffodils and these hyacinth candles.

Easter Bunny!  A quick crochet project that I found over at Attic 24
The pattern comes from Janette at the Greendragon fly Thank you so much for such an easy to follow tutorial and pattern.

 

 Yesterday I got stuck into some cooking

A batch of granary rolls, to go with 

 Carrot and orange soup, which apparently "as far as your soup goes this one isn't too bad"!!!!!!!!!!!!  

After a comment like that I wonder if I should have cooked him a ham.  This went down well, unlike the baking tray which the glaze welded itself to and I had to tackle it with a paint scraper!!

Hot cross buns, toasted with butter mmmmmmmmmmm...  Made without peel, as someone is not keen!
Also managed to get lots of seeds planted in the greenhouse this morning and some more kitchen cupboard doors painted and we are only half way through the weekend.
 

 

 

1ST JANUARY

Well!  it's 2013, never been too keen on New Years and all the celebrations and fuss.  Not really understood what it is all about.  Sometimes I find it a bit sad to see the end of a year, if it has been particularly good.  But anyway, here we go............

Firstly big problem.  I haven't got a new calender.  It doesn't feel quite right, perhaps I can get one in the sales.  Last years was a free one with Good Food Magazine which was good.  I do object to paying £10 for one from Calender Club.  

Just found a photo scavenger hunt over at Made with Love  thought I might have a go.  You have to take some photos that link to the list for the month and post them on your blog (not sure what happens next!)  I think it will be fun looking for some things and will make some interesting pictures.
This months list includes:  Cold, Warm, mailbox, blue and door, there are 12 all together.

New Year Resolutions???  Have I got any?  Well I might have.

I have one aim and that is grow a carrot that is perfect!  Not nibbled by carrot flies, or slugs or birds.  Long and straight and most importantly EDIBLE

Ok, my resolution, well to find some exercise class that fits in with me, that I like and that I can stick to.  

A big old tree on the field where we go for walks.  These could be my first photo for the scavenger hunt - A VIEW

A Gift

Yesterday my sister gave birth to her first baby, my nephew.   Far away in Hong Kong.  I have seen photos, he looks beautiful. My sister looks worn out!  He has been named Arlo.

I knitted him a blanket, I don't think he will need such a warm blanket there as it is so hot, but I didn't know he would be born there when I started it. 

I also made him a hat, it's probably too warm for that too

But I am sure that he will need them both when he comes to visit in January.  I can't wait to meet him.   

 

TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE........

 Yesterday Alice left home to go and work in Russia!  She is going to a city called Novosibirsk (hope I have spelt that correctly!) in Siberia.  I think she likes a nice cold winter, having spent the last one in Austria working a ski season and two years before in Hamburg.

Here we are at the bus station waiting for the coach to take us to Heathrow.  She is wearing 3 scarfs, two belts, 3 cardigans, 1 hoody and all her jewelry!!!  it meant that the weight of the suitcase came in on target!

 Terminal 5 at Heathrow.  Checked in the suitcase, her visa had to be checked by someone who could read Russian, it was fine and she could travel. We had dinner in a restaurant, just a light burger and chips for Alice.  I don't know how she can eat so much just before flying, but she is not worried, unlike me.

The best bit of news I found out was that you CAN now take your knitting needles on a flight - oh joy!

I left Alice to go through security with a very quick goodbye.   See you soon, have a wonderful time and learn to speak fluent Russian soon.

Home late after the bus had to take a detour as a road was closed.  She posted a photo on Facebook this afternoon, she had arrived safely.  Looking forward to lots of blog posts to hear all about her latest adventure.

And as for me after 2 months of having dinner cooked every night, I have to reaquaint myself with the oven........

My porch

This is my old porch from the inside. It looks fine, but look a little closer and you will see that the door does not fit quite right and the walls are damp. It makes my house cold and draughty in the winter. It will have to go


Here it is from the outside, it looks quite smart but ohh white doors are not easy to keep clean, one shower of rain and it has dirty marks all over.
So after much thinking and talking plans were drawn up and submitted for approval, agreed and then we made a start.......

More tomorrow!

Marmalade and driving

Well look who's passed his driving test!

Yes, this morning Jared passed first time. I don't think that I am going to see much of my car for a bit!

January is Marmalade time. I spotted some Seville oranges in Hall Farm Shop when we went in the week and bought a kilo. Last night these were scrubbed, juiced and the white cut off the peel. The peel was then shredded and added to the juice, with the juice of a lemon too. The pips and white stuff and lemon peel was tied up in a bit of muslin and put in the juice. This was left over night.
Today, I simmered the juice, with the muslin bag in it for one hour. Then all the goo from the bag was squeezed out and added to the juice. The contents of the muslin are the put in the compost bin. 2KG of sugar is added to the pan, dissolved and then boil for 20 minutes and then another 20 minutes until the marmalade reaches setting point.
Then poured into jars and left to cool, later I will label it and then try some for breakfast.
Marmalade making is a lovely way to spend a cold wet winter Saturday!

Changes

I have been trying to change the way I live for a couple of years now, maybe more for somethings. I think I have been taking glass bottles to the bottle bank for nearly 20 years.

It all started when I watched a tv programme about the amount of chemicals in cosmetics and what they could do to you. The said that some women could use around 40 different products in the morning just getting ready to go out to work.

This got me thinking and researching a bit. I think what I found was although most of these chemicals are probably safe, but there have been no tests on the cocktail of different things that we use each day.

So from then on I decided to try and replace everything I use. I could not afford just to throw everything away and buy new all in one go, so I decided to find a replacement as each thing ran out.

Other changes we have made are recyling, composting, saving electric and trying to find "green" cleaners. This is all work in progress, trying out new products, seeing what works for me and what doesn't. Still can't find a good mascara, but have changed toothpaste. We now use Kingfisher fennel toothpaste. When we ran out we used some "normal" aquafresh or something that was lurking in the back of the cupboard and it was dreadful, stung my gums and tasted so strong that I couldn't use it. I now keep stocked up on Kingfisher. I am trying out all sorts of cleaning products using borax and vinigar, will put the recipies on here when I get them sorted out.