Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts

Sunday, 29 June 2014

Weekend Roundup

Thought I'd do a little post to sum up my weekend, I've seen a few other blogs with similar posts on so thought I would give it a go. The post I put up yesterday was actually finished Friday evening but finished very late and I decided I wanted another proof read before I posted it on Saturday morning. This was following my first day back at work! I was on an 11am-8pm shift which most people agree is the worst shift to work but I was just so happy to get out of the house and see other people! We got home and Dave had his friend round playing computer games so I jumped into blogging and re-doing my template and before I knew it, it was technically Saturday!

My weekends are usually split into 2 types. The ones I work and the ones I get to have a life haha. When I work I don't tend to do much except come home afterwards and chill but on our weekends off (me and Dave have the same after much effort) we follow pretty much the same routine. On a Saturday morning, Dave gets up early (leaving me in bed) and goes for his horse riding lesson with his sister. I normally get up when he gets home around 10 and we spend the day doing things around the house and having a bit of a relax. What this actually means is that Dave relaxes and usually at some point naps while I have a whole list of things to do including making sure all the work clothes are washed and sorting out meals and shopping lists for the following week. Since being off sick my organisation has gone to pot and it really frustrates me. Dave was very confused the other day when I threw a stop and stomped round the house because something in the fridge that could have been frozen had gone past its "use by" date (crazy I know!). So to stop any future strops and as I am back at work I am jumping back on the food organising horse.


What I cook each week depends a lot on what shifts we're working. If I'm not getting home until 8:30 at night I don't want something that's going to take 40 minutes to prepare. The weekly planner that's in the photo I absolutely love! Its like a big notepad where each page is a week so you can plan in everything you need to do. Once I've filled it in it gets blu tacked to my kitchen door for easy viewing.

I always tend to put things like this and the calenders where Dave can see them but I really don't think he pays any attention at all.

I also did some more work on the dinosaur pattern. The pattern I made form enlarging someone else's pattern really wasn't working, it just didn't look right so I have gone back to the drawing board and started my own pattern from scratch. I'll keep you guys posted on how it turns out.

Yesterday evening was spent how we spend a lot of our Saturday nights - round my parents. We all get along really well so its not a chore to go round and see them haha. We only live about a 5 minute drive away from my parents because we live in the same town so we see quite a lot of them. We had fish and chips for tea which was really good as mum and dad have an amazing chippy near their house (its won awards and everything!). My dad spent part of his evening in the garden putting up the outdoor wall clock we got him for his birthday on Monday. He loves his garden and he loves clocks so seemed like the perfect present. 
We then fired up Netflix and watched "Jackie Brown" me and Dave watched it not too long ago but its a good film so we didn't mind it being on again. Dad and Dave tried to keep a tally on how often Samuel L Jackson said "mother f*cker" but I think they lost count because its a lot. Dave loves Samuel L Jackson and there are 2 canvases of him up in our house!

I was bored yesterday afternoon so decided to put my hair up into a beehive (as you do). When I asked Dave what I thought about it, he said he preferred it down. Dave actually likes my hair its natural colour (really dark brown), long and straight. I think its really boring! I personally liked the beehive and it may be making an appearance at work, I tend to wear my hair up because I wear a headset and have a problems with hair being pressed over my ears.


My mum gave me a lipstick while I was there saying that she liked it when she had bought it but now thought it was dark. When she first gave it to me I thought she was crazy. My mum has much darker skin than me because she is Greek (I guess this makes me 1/2 Greek but you wouldn't know by how pale I am) and my initial thought was that if it was too dark for her then there was no way it would suit me. I tried it on and it actually looks quite nice. Its No.7 Moisture Drench in Plum Beautiful. I normally stick to red and pick lipstick, so may have to branch out into more purple tones.


I also returned with this little guy, some of you might remember him from a previous blog.


I've got him back to add some custom touches including a button and the initial of the person he belongs to, just to make him extra special.


On Sundays that we don't work Dave has 2 band practises. One very early in the morning with his Dad and then one in the evening with some friends he went to school with. He again leaves before I'm properly awake and then I potter round the house doing bits and pieces, today this meant re-organising my medicine box, because I have so many tablets (I've mentioned before that I'm not very well) and if they aren't all put in properly I can't get the lid on.


As I had a bit more time, I decided to do the cutting out for my next sewing project. The sewing machine I have borrowed has been sat doing nothing for far too long. I really want to make clothes but I'm not feeling brave enough yet so have decided to make a mole teddy. I bought a Minicraft kit ages ago and hand sewed the original teddy. Before I did it I made a template of the pieces so I could make another one. I'm using an old pair of trousers just to get some practise in with the machine. 



Sunday Afternoons of weekends off are spent at the in-laws house in Sandbach, a small village about 6 miles away where Dave grew up and where we met. I refer to them as my in-laws even though me and Dave aren't married because they mean a lot to me and if I refer to them as "Dave's parents" it feels like I'm trying to emphasise the point that they are his a not mine.

We have Sunday tea with them and then I stay while Dave goes off to his other band practise in Sandbach. I'm lucky that I get on really well with my mother and sister in law so just sit and chat with them for a few hours before Dave comes back and we go home. Sometimes I help Leanne out with her homework, she's 14 and I have technically done it all before but sometimes I have to really sit and think about it! On days when she has done her homework we crochet, its nice to have someone else that I see who can do it too, although she's far to judgemental of her own work (I feel I may be being a bit hypocritical here!).

This afternoon I got to play with this lovely little kitten. She's getting so big and mischievous! 


Now I'm home and to round off my weekend a lovely soak in the bath with my favourite bubblebath


Have a lovely week xx








Thursday, 19 June 2014

World Cup Crafting

So my lovely twitter and blog friend Jenny () has set herself a challenge to finish her crafty project of knitting a cardigan by the end of the world cup, and has invited others to join in. I figured that this would be a perfect opportunity to challenge myself to finish my embroidery project. Its to be given as a gift and should have been finished quite a while ago. 

As I've mentioned before I can't post details on what the project actually is as the person receiving it has been known to peruse my blog and I don't want to ruin the surprise. I will be posting bits that slyly skim over what the overall result will be and am taking photos as I go along to post in a lovely blog post when it's finished.

I finally got my bum in gear with starting everything today, and surprisingly its all because boyfriend decided to upset me. One comment about how much dirty washing there is in the laundry basket and I found myself sat and the downstairs table with my project purposely avoiding any form of housework! Regretting it now because it still needs to be done before I can go bed.

The gift I am making is an embroidered cushion and the design I have chosen is something that has to be copied as exactly as I can rather than it being something I can draw freehand. Straight away this makes it a bit more difficult. The first thing I did was mark out where to lay the pattern on the cushion, so I could make sure that every time I was using it, it was being put in the same place. 


I used tailors transfer pattern to get the pattern onto the material. First time I used a white piece and then realised that it wasn't showing up on the cushion. I then took a red piece which worked but it was still a bit faint so I went over the whole pattern with my fabric pen. The only problem I can foresee is that the material of the cushion seems to not hold the ink for very long so I may have to redraw parts the pattern as I'm going along.

I started with a back stitch but decided I didn't like it:


So I changed to a split stitch and think it looks much better:


The pattern is quite large but certain parts have been picked out to be in the colours I picked in my last blog and the rest of the pattern will be in silver. This will all make so much more sense when I can tell you all what it is! 

I managed to get a good part of one of the focal (coloured) parts done during the England/Uruguay match this evening but it did mean that I didn't pay too much attention to the football haha. I have an electrician coming in the morning and my plan is just to sit and sew with a cup of tea while he works as to not get in his way!

I guess I should get on and clean my kitchen :(
If anyone fancies joining me and Jenny we are using the hashtag #worldcupcraft on twitter or give her a comment on her blog or twitter (@riley_jl ). We'd love to see what other people are up to!

Have a lovely day x


P.S. I made a Victoria Sponge yesterday :)