Scampi & Lemon NikNaks

Just don't taste the same as they used to...  Where is the overwhelming fishyness of them?  The only thing that's overwhelming about them now is the fake lemon flavour...
Scampi's never been anywhere near the flaming things...  They do contain lemon oil (albeit the second lowest on the ingredients list - there was clearly a drip, as opposed to the waving over of the spice jar from the lowest ingredient) so I suppose that technically they can claim that lemons were involved in the making of them...

sigh.  I'm so disappointed.

My bathroom - finished at last!!

Well, I say finished - there's still a couple of teeny bits to do.  We'll be replacing the doors soon, so I haven't painted the doorframes & there's a little bit of sealing to do.  (oh & the lights could do with replacing with nicer ones)  Other than that it's good to go!!

Here's what it looked like before...

Look at the nasty wallpaper...

 And the horrible floor...

Oh look - more of that wallpaper, and as for the toilet.....

Sooo, we stripped off the wallpaper - to discover that underneath the horrid yellow painted blown vinyl it was pink - with a layer of mould....

And underneath the sink, we discovered this...

So at some point in the past, the bathrooms been a fetching shade of orange.  With the distinct possibility that it was black as well.  We also found scraps of a dark blue flowery wallpaper...  tasteful!!

So, a lot of wallpaper/mould removal; tiling & painting later (oh & toilet replacement!)  May I present...

Waddya think?

Dishcloths

Mabu multi cloths to be precise.



These cloths are made from 100% biodegradable WOOD - yep, it's true.  But as the packaging says, once the starch has been rinsed out, it's hard to believe that this lovely soft, thick dishcloth is made from wood.

I bought some a few months ago from Waitrose, moved house & promptly forgot about them (you know what it's like when you move house - everything is in boxes & things get lost!)  I've rediscovered them & you know what?  I'm never using another make of dishcloth again!!  They do what it says on the packaging & rinse clean - they don't smell, even after washing up the smelliest of dishes & they are highly absorbent. 

There are many many uses on the website for them, including bathing babies or as a make-up removing cloth & yep, I'd happily use them for both those purposes, they are that soft!

I highly recommend them - they are soooo good!

As I already said, you can get them from Waitrose, but for those of us nowhere near a Waitrose (I'm one - we were in Newark visiting family at the time) you can also get them from Lakeland.

Try them - they're fantastic!

Organising tips

So in the spirit of trying to be less complete slattern & more Domestic Goddess (like that's EVER going to happen!!)  I've borrowed a whole load of organising tips from the lovely Damsels....

1) Divide the day into hourly slots.  (use a diary!) slot in the important stuff (work, appointments etc) then use the remaining time slots to book in the housework.

2) Meal plan & do grocery shopping online.
     -have a list of what's in the freezer/cupboards
     - list meals that get eaten regularly (including recipe info if necessary)
     - have a list of "future" shopping to write things as they get low.

3) Wash up after every meal (guess I need to go wash the dishes now!!)

4) Set up present/card file - wrapping paper, sellotape, cards, stamps etc... (use the Ikea carrier bag recycling container...) 

5) Deal with paperwork as it comes in (although another tip is to put all post in file & deal with it once a week - I'll try both & see which one works best for me)

6) Leave the washing out on the line till it's dry.  (although how that's going to work in winter I'm not sure...)  Another washing tip was to just do it all once a week, although I think that's one that would only work if you had a dryer, which I don't...)

7) Premake sandwiches for lunch & freeze.  Take out night before.

Soooo, I'm hoping that these tips will help me.  Of course I've also got my babysteps written in my diary to be added every 3 weeks.  I WILL get this place under control!!!

November already....

The year is rushing rapidly past me!!  I really don't know where the past month has gone, I really don't...

Well, last time I was here I was aiming to get the bathroom decorated, the dining room decluttered & start planning for Christmas...

I guess 1.5 out of 3 ain't bad???  The bathroom is finally decorated (just about - a couple of finishing touches to do - mainly sealing & putting the blinds up...)  I'll post pics when I get round to taking them.

The Christmas planning?  Well, I've got 1 present bought & 1 half-made, so at least I've started THINKING about it, even if I haven't actually started planning properly...

As for the dining room - I'm going to hang my head in shame, for not only have I STILL not got round to decluttering, I swear it actually looks worse than it did to start with.....

Housework really isn't my thing!

OK - November goals...

Yep - the dreaded dining room
Decorate the big boys' bedroom
Finalise the Christmas planning & have most of the presents bought...

In which I rant about driving....

Other people's driving that is...

In particular, people driving at 30mph in a 60mph zone - aaaarrrggghhh!!!  Either these people NEVER use their rear-view mirrors (& I don't look in mine that often but I know if there's anyone behind me.  I have to admit actually that I mainly use mine for seeing what the kids are up to but I still know roughly how many people are behind me!)

So yes, either the slow-pokes never use their mirrors or they are extremely arrogant & don't care that they have a queue of extremely frustrated drivers behind them..... 

And before anyone says that the speed limit is the maximum speed that you can drive at & that you should drive at a speed that you feel comfortable at as long as you don't exceed that limit (this argument comes around fairly regularly on a forum I frequent...) driving too slowly & therefore holding up traffic does actually count as a minor on a driving test (I should know, I picked one up on my first driving test) & you can be pulled over by the police for driving too slowly as you are creating a hazard & people start to be tempted to overtake you in less than safe places.....

And my other gripe for this evening - roundabouts.....  why can't people use them properly?  Check for traffic from your right people!!!  If there's nothing coming, then go!!!


And breathe!!!


OK - update on my September goals which were:
1) finish decorating the bathroom
2) declutter the dining room
3) start planning for Christmas

Well, I don't seem to have made headway with any of them (oops) although I have made a start on deccorating  the big boys bedroom & have started knitting a toy elephant for the baby...

So guess what my goals for October are? (and how is it October already?)

Ah well....

So, how much stuff CAN you fit in a zafira?

So on Sunday, I took a trip up to Scotland, to go & collect some furniture from my Mam.  Did I hire a van to do this?  Nope, I took the childseats out of the car & folded the seats flat...

Now, I know I have a Zafira but I was still mildly surprised to see just how much I could actually get in...

1 double wardrobe (dismantled); 1 bookcase (dismantled); a chest of drawers (assembled) a kitchen table (dismantled) 4 chairs; a set of dishes for chinese meals; 2 small wooden boxes; 2 mirrors (1 full length, 1 large to fit on the chimney breast); 1 small corner shelf unit; 2 single duvets & a TON of bedding; a heap of vinyl records and lots of books.....  phew 

and here it all is in my living room (I forgot to take a pic whilst it was still in the car tho...)

So that pic shows some of it, here's another view, just to show the height of the wardrobe.... ignore the bookcases that you can see & the telly - they're not part of my haul. Oh & neither is the racing track you can see!

Here's the final pic, even tho I don't think it shows much to be honest...



phew...

Tell you what tho, the journey back was insane... (although of course, if you know me from elsewhere, you've probably already read this next bit, so feel free to ignore!!)

 I'm so glad I didn't have the kids in the back of the car cos on the M6, the language coming out of my mouth was disgraceful . I was fighting the wind every step of the way till I got to Wales where it wasn't so bad but feck me, the wind was desperate to blow me out of my lane....

Mind you I've never seen a motorway where everyone was happy to crawl along & there was no traffic in the inside lanes before!!!   And no pressure when I was overtaking & doing so at a measly 60mph either!!!

Ah well, I made it back in one piece!

Now to get all this furniture put back together....