Writers are advised to always leave something for a week before going back and checking it over. Bugger that. Here's a poem I rattled out literally five minutes ago. I don't know whether it shows or not, but it is here, if you are interested. Be warned, it is a little dark.
By the way, if anyone feels like helping me out, I would be interested to see whether you think the poem is from the point of view of a man or a woman.
I feel much better now!
Monday, 4 January 2016
Start as You Mean to Go On
I'm scared of my sewing machine but I really, really, really want to sew. Today I saw a part work (I know) in the newsagents called 'Quilting Made Easy'. I thought it was the answer to my prayers. I love part works, I really do, and love getting the bits and sorting them out. Part works call to me. They are notoriously bad value for money, but I asked the nice lady at the Newsagent to save for me.
I thought I would get stuck in straight away. It comes with fabric, but I thought it would be a good idea to try with the bits of material I had in so I could practice. I am not confident that I can cut accurately, sew accurately or press accurately. The magazine is based by you making a quilt from the bits you get and they all sew together at the end. This means that they all need to be the same size at the end. This means I need to get it right which means I have to practice.
The first thing to do was to cut out the templates and stick them to thin card. I managed to fail. It all looks very odd, the glue seems to have stretched the paper and it isn't good. I don't think I can rescue them. I wondered if they were a standard size so I could get plastic ones on eBay. They are not a standard size. I am going to have to spend another 99p to get another copy of the dratted thing to get the templates. I am not confident I could measure accurately without them.
I may have a go tomorrow with some material I already have and see how the measuring comes out. I am also concerned as the seam allowance is tiny and I am not sure if it is okay. But I really, really, really want to get started soon.
I guess I am starting 2016 in the same way as I ended 2015.
I thought I would get stuck in straight away. It comes with fabric, but I thought it would be a good idea to try with the bits of material I had in so I could practice. I am not confident that I can cut accurately, sew accurately or press accurately. The magazine is based by you making a quilt from the bits you get and they all sew together at the end. This means that they all need to be the same size at the end. This means I need to get it right which means I have to practice.
The first thing to do was to cut out the templates and stick them to thin card. I managed to fail. It all looks very odd, the glue seems to have stretched the paper and it isn't good. I don't think I can rescue them. I wondered if they were a standard size so I could get plastic ones on eBay. They are not a standard size. I am going to have to spend another 99p to get another copy of the dratted thing to get the templates. I am not confident I could measure accurately without them.
I may have a go tomorrow with some material I already have and see how the measuring comes out. I am also concerned as the seam allowance is tiny and I am not sure if it is okay. But I really, really, really want to get started soon.
I guess I am starting 2016 in the same way as I ended 2015.
Just About Made It!
Yesterday there was panic. I could not find bear's swim kit anywhere. I spent most of yesterday prodded cupboards, drawers, lifting throws (we have a very layered house) and looking behind things. It should have been in one of two places. It wasn't. It was after midnight before I unearthed it. The dratted thing had slipped down between two boxes that had held Christmas presents and then got caught in the general shifting of things when I was digging the gifts out a few weeks ago.
I also had to scrape together bear's PE kit that was washed on the day it came home and then forgotten. I also remembered his lunch money, which was a miracle, and I had kept his book bag in sight for the whole of the Christmas break.
It feels very, very quiet now. Bear is at school, DH is at work, and there is no sound from the neighbours. The house looks like it has been under direct attack from the mess goblins, so I need to make a start. I'll make it slowly, my leg is v bad still.
I also had to scrape together bear's PE kit that was washed on the day it came home and then forgotten. I also remembered his lunch money, which was a miracle, and I had kept his book bag in sight for the whole of the Christmas break.
It feels very, very quiet now. Bear is at school, DH is at work, and there is no sound from the neighbours. The house looks like it has been under direct attack from the mess goblins, so I need to make a start. I'll make it slowly, my leg is v bad still.
Sunday, 3 January 2016
Not a Win, but Not Really a Fail
It's 'make your own diffuser' time.
First fail - I got the wrong reeds. The reeds are really short compared to the bottle. Darn. I could, of course, use a different container but the whole idea was that the bottles were too nice to not reuse.
I stuffed each bottle with three Tesco carrier bags. That added 30p to the overall cost.
After I finished stuffing I realised that I was never getting those bags out again. When these bottles need cleaning then I can see me having to throw them out instead. This goes against my instincts as I hate that sort of waste. On the other hand, I will need another Merlyn bottle or two. I really love this stuff, much more than Baileys, so it would be no hardship getting spare bottles. For those interested, here is a bottle of Merlyn with the picture taken from a proper site.
T
And here is the link to their homepage. I wish I hadn't looked. They do very nice looking Welsh alcohol and I don't want to be too much my father's daughter.
Apparently there is a lot of science to the whole diffuser thingy. It is to do with the absorption and evaporation of oils and I feel outwitted. There are a lot of different recipes on the internet, but I decided to follow the Treehugger one as it looked lovely and clear - link is here.
The recipes I looked at for the diffuser all suggested a carrier oil 'like safflower or sweet almond'. Tesco don't sell either, and they looked expensive on eBay. I checked with Wikipedia, and they also include rapeseed or canola oil, which I cook with, link here. I also already had the cheap vodka.
In the end I decided to go with the vodka/water/essential oil mix. It is supposed to evaporate quicker, but I knew that I would have a foul job trying to clean the bottles and I thought they would get grim at a slower pace without the oil. Here is the kit here - cheap vodka, essential oil and a mixing jug.
And here is the finished diffuser.
I get two lovely looking diffusers. I used most of the bottle of vodka and goodness knows how much essential oil as the carrier bags didn't take up as much room as I expected. The cost for two is sort of...
One bottle of vodka - cheapest currently at Tesco is £10
Essential oil (if I had to buy and didn't have it in) I can pick it up for £1.60 (I used bergamot which I love!)
The reeds, which were the wrong size and apparently I could use bamboo skewers instead, were £2.49, but in my defence I have fifty left.
And not forgetting the carrier bags - 30p
Diffusers at Tesco, including Clementine Spice which sounds amazingly refreshing are £4 each, or two for £8 to compare to my costing, expected to last six weeks. Mind you, they include (4-Isopropenyl-1-methylcyclohexene; 2-Benzylideneoctanal; 2-Benzylideneheptanal; 3, 7-Dimethylocta-2, 6-dien-1-ol), May produce an allergic reaction - something I copied and pasted because there was no way I was going to be able to type that lot out.
I think that once the Merlyn bottle diffusers have run out I shall make up a couple of diffusers in smaller, pretty bottles that do not need complicated stuffing and actually I think the £14.09 will go a lot further than the Tesco ones. It is a learning curve. After all, I used most of the vodka (left over mixture stored in the vodka bottle) but there is plenty of essential oil left and enough reeds for ten more.
So not an entire win, but not really a fail.
First fail - I got the wrong reeds. The reeds are really short compared to the bottle. Darn. I could, of course, use a different container but the whole idea was that the bottles were too nice to not reuse.
I stuffed each bottle with three Tesco carrier bags. That added 30p to the overall cost.
After I finished stuffing I realised that I was never getting those bags out again. When these bottles need cleaning then I can see me having to throw them out instead. This goes against my instincts as I hate that sort of waste. On the other hand, I will need another Merlyn bottle or two. I really love this stuff, much more than Baileys, so it would be no hardship getting spare bottles. For those interested, here is a bottle of Merlyn with the picture taken from a proper site.
TApparently there is a lot of science to the whole diffuser thingy. It is to do with the absorption and evaporation of oils and I feel outwitted. There are a lot of different recipes on the internet, but I decided to follow the Treehugger one as it looked lovely and clear - link is here.
The recipes I looked at for the diffuser all suggested a carrier oil 'like safflower or sweet almond'. Tesco don't sell either, and they looked expensive on eBay. I checked with Wikipedia, and they also include rapeseed or canola oil, which I cook with, link here. I also already had the cheap vodka.
In the end I decided to go with the vodka/water/essential oil mix. It is supposed to evaporate quicker, but I knew that I would have a foul job trying to clean the bottles and I thought they would get grim at a slower pace without the oil. Here is the kit here - cheap vodka, essential oil and a mixing jug.
And here is the finished diffuser.
I get two lovely looking diffusers. I used most of the bottle of vodka and goodness knows how much essential oil as the carrier bags didn't take up as much room as I expected. The cost for two is sort of...
One bottle of vodka - cheapest currently at Tesco is £10
Essential oil (if I had to buy and didn't have it in) I can pick it up for £1.60 (I used bergamot which I love!)
The reeds, which were the wrong size and apparently I could use bamboo skewers instead, were £2.49, but in my defence I have fifty left.
And not forgetting the carrier bags - 30p
Diffusers at Tesco, including Clementine Spice which sounds amazingly refreshing are £4 each, or two for £8 to compare to my costing, expected to last six weeks. Mind you, they include (4-Isopropenyl-1-methylcyclohexene; 2-Benzylideneoctanal; 2-Benzylideneheptanal; 3, 7-Dimethylocta-2, 6-dien-1-ol), May produce an allergic reaction - something I copied and pasted because there was no way I was going to be able to type that lot out.
I think that once the Merlyn bottle diffusers have run out I shall make up a couple of diffusers in smaller, pretty bottles that do not need complicated stuffing and actually I think the £14.09 will go a lot further than the Tesco ones. It is a learning curve. After all, I used most of the vodka (left over mixture stored in the vodka bottle) but there is plenty of essential oil left and enough reeds for ten more.
So not an entire win, but not really a fail.
Saturday, 2 January 2016
Shopping the Sales
I have just watched a programme about extreme couponers in the sales. There is nothing like the coupons that the USA enjoy here (darn it to heck) but I adore watching the shows. This programme was more about the reduction in the after-Christmas sales.
There were some useful tactics. I think most of the people featured saved around 70% which came to hundreds of dollars saved on things that were needed, really wanted or, in once case, donated to a children's hospital. But, but, but...
As someone who falls into this trap again and again and again, can I just say from bitter experience, it isn't worth buying just because it is reduced. If it is something that you need, great. You can save a fortune by saving, planning, researching and then getting there at daft o'clock and spending seventeen hours on the shopping spree, as one of the featured extreme couponers did. She saved hundreds of dollars so was probably on a good wage if you look at the savings as money earned per hour. It wouldn't be worth it if it was for something that wasn't going to be used or appreciated.
These days there are great deals around all the time. You can do your research, check the web and then get a really great deal all year round. In my opinion it is worth checking stuff out if you need it, but at this time of year the best deals are for wrapping paper (still have loads), Christmas cards (still have seriously loads) and the little gifty type things are designed to be given for gifts so you can pick up the gift sets of soaps, candles, the quirky things that you can keep in a stash until suddenly you are faced with an unexpected house warming or a sudden birthday that you hadn't expected to buy for. I plan to cruise eBay for those.
Something else I have learned from bitter experience. Before you buy it, make sure you have somewhere to put it. Especially job lots of ties. They cascade everywhere.
There were some useful tactics. I think most of the people featured saved around 70% which came to hundreds of dollars saved on things that were needed, really wanted or, in once case, donated to a children's hospital. But, but, but...
As someone who falls into this trap again and again and again, can I just say from bitter experience, it isn't worth buying just because it is reduced. If it is something that you need, great. You can save a fortune by saving, planning, researching and then getting there at daft o'clock and spending seventeen hours on the shopping spree, as one of the featured extreme couponers did. She saved hundreds of dollars so was probably on a good wage if you look at the savings as money earned per hour. It wouldn't be worth it if it was for something that wasn't going to be used or appreciated.
These days there are great deals around all the time. You can do your research, check the web and then get a really great deal all year round. In my opinion it is worth checking stuff out if you need it, but at this time of year the best deals are for wrapping paper (still have loads), Christmas cards (still have seriously loads) and the little gifty type things are designed to be given for gifts so you can pick up the gift sets of soaps, candles, the quirky things that you can keep in a stash until suddenly you are faced with an unexpected house warming or a sudden birthday that you hadn't expected to buy for. I plan to cruise eBay for those.
Something else I have learned from bitter experience. Before you buy it, make sure you have somewhere to put it. Especially job lots of ties. They cascade everywhere.
Bear is So Advanced
Bear is so advanced. He has only just turned nine and is slamming the door like a teenager after we had the absolute gall to ask him to close the door to keep down drafts. The slam sounded like a thorough explosion.
To be honest, I am seriously considering googling how to reinforce a door frame. The door is one which will be prone to slamming as it is between the living room, where DH and I hang out, and the study, where bear's computer is. It is an odd part of the wall, just barely wide enough to take the door and sandwiched between the stairs and the outside wall and I am worried it won't take the strain.
Of course bear got called back and had to apologise. I don't expect it made much impact. I have read about people taking doors off hinges to deal with serious door slammers, but it wouldn't work the same here.
I hope it will be a while before this becomes a regular feature.
To be honest, I am seriously considering googling how to reinforce a door frame. The door is one which will be prone to slamming as it is between the living room, where DH and I hang out, and the study, where bear's computer is. It is an odd part of the wall, just barely wide enough to take the door and sandwiched between the stairs and the outside wall and I am worried it won't take the strain.
Of course bear got called back and had to apologise. I don't expect it made much impact. I have read about people taking doors off hinges to deal with serious door slammers, but it wouldn't work the same here.
I hope it will be a while before this becomes a regular feature.
Friday, 1 January 2016
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