July 1st 2015 - Defrosting the freezer
It has got to the point where my freezer drawers dont open easily or close once open. This is mostly due to the kids leaving it open for 5minutes whilst they decide which ice lolly they want, not all 3 of them together but each 1 on own once its been shut!!!
It's time to defrost the freezer(S). I have 2 to do but as the towels I had stuck in the bottom of the 1st one and on the floor are soaking wet I think I will have to wait to do number 2.
Me and my trusty hair dryer got the job done in half hr, its now dry and switched back on. Give it 10mins and I will put the drawers and food back in - some of it was rammed into the other freezer, some of it is in the cool box with freezer blocks.
At least its a lovely hot day so I didn't mind getting the odd splash of ice or drop of cold water on my arm as reached in to take chunks of ice out!
Wednesday, 1 July 2015
Tuesday, 30 June 2015
June 30th 2015 - Making an Indoor campfire
June 30th 2015 - Making an Indoor campfire
We are hoping to run a day camp during the summer holidays for St John Ambulance, but as it will be in a building we can't have a real fire. So whilst I was looking for camp ideas over the past few weeks I found this very basic indoor campfire. Although it would work I set about how I could make a better one.
I knew I had brown curtains (think 1970's and your on the right lines) in the airing cupboard that had previously been used on the doors (they are now nice teal colour that matches walls). So I went and got 1 and started cutting rectangles (as you do) without a template or plan or exactly what I was doing. I then stitched them as tubes and at 1 end, stuffed them with an old pillow and made logs and twigs. And I came up with these:
They will make the twigs and logs for my campfire.
I had some red organza in my material box left over from last years pirate party and thought I could use i as part of the flames, but would need yellow and orange as well - I ordered some chair ribbons like you have at weddings in 2 shades of orange and a bright yellow. I was now ready to make my flames! The next pic shows the oranges and yellow but not red:
The chair ribbons were a nice width to use as flames and the bonus was the edges had been hemmed so they were less likely to fray. I cut across the organza in about 2.5-3" pieces, 1 of each of the 4 colours:
I stitched them together with the red at bottom, dark orange next, light orange and then yellow at top and cut the yellow to look like flames. See pic below:
Once they were stitched together and the flame shape cut I started to add thin wire to them so that the flames would stay upright rather than just fall over. I stitched the bottom of the red to the thinner of the logs/twigs I had made - 2 per log 1 each side. All of the flames are different as they haven't been measured i've just cut and stitched and the same with the yellow flame shapes i've just cut. But I think this adds to the effect. Here is 1 log with flames on it:
I've not quite finished it all, but I think it looks really good and i'm pleased with how its turned out. I have fake t-light candles (battery operated) that are an orange colour and flicker, i'm looking for some white flickering ones as well and these are all going amongst the logs so it looks like the fire is flickering.
We are hoping to run a day camp during the summer holidays for St John Ambulance, but as it will be in a building we can't have a real fire. So whilst I was looking for camp ideas over the past few weeks I found this very basic indoor campfire. Although it would work I set about how I could make a better one.
I knew I had brown curtains (think 1970's and your on the right lines) in the airing cupboard that had previously been used on the doors (they are now nice teal colour that matches walls). So I went and got 1 and started cutting rectangles (as you do) without a template or plan or exactly what I was doing. I then stitched them as tubes and at 1 end, stuffed them with an old pillow and made logs and twigs. And I came up with these:
I had some red organza in my material box left over from last years pirate party and thought I could use i as part of the flames, but would need yellow and orange as well - I ordered some chair ribbons like you have at weddings in 2 shades of orange and a bright yellow. I was now ready to make my flames! The next pic shows the oranges and yellow but not red:
The chair ribbons were a nice width to use as flames and the bonus was the edges had been hemmed so they were less likely to fray. I cut across the organza in about 2.5-3" pieces, 1 of each of the 4 colours:
I stitched them together with the red at bottom, dark orange next, light orange and then yellow at top and cut the yellow to look like flames. See pic below:
Once they were stitched together and the flame shape cut I started to add thin wire to them so that the flames would stay upright rather than just fall over. I stitched the bottom of the red to the thinner of the logs/twigs I had made - 2 per log 1 each side. All of the flames are different as they haven't been measured i've just cut and stitched and the same with the yellow flame shapes i've just cut. But I think this adds to the effect. Here is 1 log with flames on it:
I've not quite finished it all, but I think it looks really good and i'm pleased with how its turned out. I have fake t-light candles (battery operated) that are an orange colour and flicker, i'm looking for some white flickering ones as well and these are all going amongst the logs so it looks like the fire is flickering.
Monday, 29 June 2015
June 29th 2015 - Party planning
June 29th 2015 - Party planning
As daft as it may sound I am planning my sons birthday party that is in 2months time (yesterday). But there is a method to my madness, I have loads happening over the next few weeks and I won't even be holding the party at my house but my sons godmothers house over 5hrs drive away!
Therefore I am unable to stick loads of stuff on walls etc like I do at home and go OTT for the party. Don't get me wrong it will be good but wont have stuff everywhere like I usually do.
I was looking online for Thomas the Tank party banners and bunting and realised very quickly how expensive they actually are. The 2 images linked to the pins above gave me a good idea. I started hunting the net for images of thomas trains with their names on them, there are loads that were made as jigsaw puzzles. I added these to w word document, flipped them over and added next to it so that I can double side them. Only thing I didn't thing about was the name is now backwards on the reverse, but never mind! It's better than plain white paper.
Here are some of them:
Once they were all printed I cut them out, doubled them up and then laminated them all. I am going to put a hole in each one and a few pieces of curling ribbon so they can hang from door frames.
I also copied the design of the above link and edited it to my sons name and age, and have printed loads and laminated them as well to go around the table edge.
I also printed food labels linked to the trains and have printed wheels to go on the food tubs as cargo cars behind some of sons trains that I will be taking with us.
Watch this space for more updates on the Thomas Tank party.
As daft as it may sound I am planning my sons birthday party that is in 2months time (yesterday). But there is a method to my madness, I have loads happening over the next few weeks and I won't even be holding the party at my house but my sons godmothers house over 5hrs drive away!
Therefore I am unable to stick loads of stuff on walls etc like I do at home and go OTT for the party. Don't get me wrong it will be good but wont have stuff everywhere like I usually do.
I was looking online for Thomas the Tank party banners and bunting and realised very quickly how expensive they actually are. The 2 images linked to the pins above gave me a good idea. I started hunting the net for images of thomas trains with their names on them, there are loads that were made as jigsaw puzzles. I added these to w word document, flipped them over and added next to it so that I can double side them. Only thing I didn't thing about was the name is now backwards on the reverse, but never mind! It's better than plain white paper.
Here are some of them:
I also copied the design of the above link and edited it to my sons name and age, and have printed loads and laminated them as well to go around the table edge.
I also printed food labels linked to the trains and have printed wheels to go on the food tubs as cargo cars behind some of sons trains that I will be taking with us.
Watch this space for more updates on the Thomas Tank party.
June 28th 2015 - Butterfly cakes
June 28th 2015 - Butterfly cakes
A couple of days ago lil man saw that we had cake icing in the cupboard and asked if we could make some cakes, sadly it wasn't long before he was going to bed so I said would have to be at the weekend. Saturday when he asked my knee was hurting too much to stand and do them so I said we would make them Sunday after we had our roast dinner.
We made the mix up and added purple colouring to it as thats what lil man wanted. We put them in the oven and I told him IF we could get them to rise enough we would make butterfly cakes. He didn't know what I meant so I had to explain. Well some of the cakes formed a peak (like mountains as he said) but not all of them. I said we would give it a try anyway.
So I set about cutting out the top and cutting it in half to make the wings. Lil man then helped to fill the holes with buttercream and stuck the wings in. We then added a glitter sparkle icing to them all. They looked really good, and tasted good as well.
A couple of days ago lil man saw that we had cake icing in the cupboard and asked if we could make some cakes, sadly it wasn't long before he was going to bed so I said would have to be at the weekend. Saturday when he asked my knee was hurting too much to stand and do them so I said we would make them Sunday after we had our roast dinner.
We made the mix up and added purple colouring to it as thats what lil man wanted. We put them in the oven and I told him IF we could get them to rise enough we would make butterfly cakes. He didn't know what I meant so I had to explain. Well some of the cakes formed a peak (like mountains as he said) but not all of them. I said we would give it a try anyway.
So I set about cutting out the top and cutting it in half to make the wings. Lil man then helped to fill the holes with buttercream and stuck the wings in. We then added a glitter sparkle icing to them all. They looked really good, and tasted good as well.
Saturday, 27 June 2015
June 27th 2015 - Then & Now
June 27th 2015 - Then & Now
Today's pin is a bit of a boasting one on my part. It is a Jungle vs Garden/Then vs Now.
When we bought the house in 2013 the garden hadn't been touched in about 7years, it had 6ft high weeds, nettles, brambles, dead trees and god knows how much rubbish and junk. This took us a while to clear but we did it. We also started to scatter some grass seed in the hope that it would give us a base to work with. A year on and you could see big changes and the grass took really well, so we just added more seed (79p from home bargains nothing flash or fancy!) and again it took well and filled the patches. Move forward to June 2015 (10days later than we moved in 2years ago but was too wet to take pics and lawn needed cutting) and there is a HUGE difference in the garden!
People we don't even know have stopped us when we've been out there and said how much better it looks and what a difference we have made to it etc. Which is really nice, at least we know our hard work is paying off. There is still along to go until it is fully how I want it, but as they say "Rome wasn't built in a day". Fair enough if I had the money to pay a gardener/landscaper etc then yes it would be done in a very short time, but I don't have this option. Therefore It gets done as and when we have saved a few £ to buy the next materials etc. I still want a fence to go round my decking, the back fence made higher than the 3ft it is and a 1ft trellis fence between us and next door as people from the street can see straight in. I also want to make some planters to go along the back fence to put loads of purple and pretty plants in, but I cant do these until the fence is made higher as I dn't want the plants stolen.
We have the grass pretty much established now, bar a few patches. The fairy garden is in and we are adding to it as we find things. Lil man has a planter for vegetables which are growing well, the composters are working as they should be and we have loads of nice plants and flowers growing, some of which were 50p a plant in a sale as damaged and may not grow! I have part of garden as patio and part as decking (i've got to be the only person that buys a house on a slope and then wants flat patio and decking lol!)
Well here's some of the pics:
yellow rose was 50p damaged plant, red "remembrance" rose was also 50p damaged plant
This pink rose bush was in garden, we have just trailed it along fence. It has sooooo many buds on it.
This "blue moon" rose was my late mums, I dug it from her garden after she died. It was planted in the garden at my old house and then put in a pot so we could move. It only has this 1 big flower on it at the moment.
Today's pin is a bit of a boasting one on my part. It is a Jungle vs Garden/Then vs Now.
When we bought the house in 2013 the garden hadn't been touched in about 7years, it had 6ft high weeds, nettles, brambles, dead trees and god knows how much rubbish and junk. This took us a while to clear but we did it. We also started to scatter some grass seed in the hope that it would give us a base to work with. A year on and you could see big changes and the grass took really well, so we just added more seed (79p from home bargains nothing flash or fancy!) and again it took well and filled the patches. Move forward to June 2015 (10days later than we moved in 2years ago but was too wet to take pics and lawn needed cutting) and there is a HUGE difference in the garden!
People we don't even know have stopped us when we've been out there and said how much better it looks and what a difference we have made to it etc. Which is really nice, at least we know our hard work is paying off. There is still along to go until it is fully how I want it, but as they say "Rome wasn't built in a day". Fair enough if I had the money to pay a gardener/landscaper etc then yes it would be done in a very short time, but I don't have this option. Therefore It gets done as and when we have saved a few £ to buy the next materials etc. I still want a fence to go round my decking, the back fence made higher than the 3ft it is and a 1ft trellis fence between us and next door as people from the street can see straight in. I also want to make some planters to go along the back fence to put loads of purple and pretty plants in, but I cant do these until the fence is made higher as I dn't want the plants stolen.
We have the grass pretty much established now, bar a few patches. The fairy garden is in and we are adding to it as we find things. Lil man has a planter for vegetables which are growing well, the composters are working as they should be and we have loads of nice plants and flowers growing, some of which were 50p a plant in a sale as damaged and may not grow! I have part of garden as patio and part as decking (i've got to be the only person that buys a house on a slope and then wants flat patio and decking lol!)
Well here's some of the pics:
yellow rose was 50p damaged plant, red "remembrance" rose was also 50p damaged plant
This pink rose bush was in garden, we have just trailed it along fence. It has sooooo many buds on it.
Friday, 26 June 2015
June 26th 2015 - Just Giving
June 26th 2015 - Just Giving
Just Giving is a website where you can set up an online sponsor form for any event you are doing and for almost any charity. Just giving don't share your personal details and its very safe to use.
My eldest son is doing a sponsored silence in aid of St John Ambulance, of which he is a member at the local cadet unit. Although he has a paper sponsor form, alot of our family and friends don't live near us so setting up the online option as well is a good idea. He wanted to raise £50 and as of today and typing he so far has £54 and £2.50 gift aid from it.
A sponsored silence may not seem too hard a task to do, especially as its only for 1hour. BUT this is a big thing for my son, he is always in trouble at school, St John Ambulance and at home for talking when he shouldn't, but he is under the local hospital having tests for the austistic spectrum as it is believed he has "signs of" them and they are trying to work out what. I believe that because he has beaten his target and many people have said they don't think he will do it that HE WILL, just to prove them wrong as he is a very strong boy when it comes to things like this.
If anyone else would like to donate to him please click on the link: https://www.justgiving.com/Jarred-Watson1 many thanks if you do.
Since he has joined St John Ambulance he has calmed down a lot. He joins in and enjoys going, he has passed his first aid and enjoys going out to events with the Adult members. He wants to be a vet when he is older so this is a great start forhim.
Just Giving is a website where you can set up an online sponsor form for any event you are doing and for almost any charity. Just giving don't share your personal details and its very safe to use.
My eldest son is doing a sponsored silence in aid of St John Ambulance, of which he is a member at the local cadet unit. Although he has a paper sponsor form, alot of our family and friends don't live near us so setting up the online option as well is a good idea. He wanted to raise £50 and as of today and typing he so far has £54 and £2.50 gift aid from it.
A sponsored silence may not seem too hard a task to do, especially as its only for 1hour. BUT this is a big thing for my son, he is always in trouble at school, St John Ambulance and at home for talking when he shouldn't, but he is under the local hospital having tests for the austistic spectrum as it is believed he has "signs of" them and they are trying to work out what. I believe that because he has beaten his target and many people have said they don't think he will do it that HE WILL, just to prove them wrong as he is a very strong boy when it comes to things like this.
If anyone else would like to donate to him please click on the link: https://www.justgiving.com/Jarred-Watson1 many thanks if you do.
Since he has joined St John Ambulance he has calmed down a lot. He joins in and enjoys going, he has passed his first aid and enjoys going out to events with the Adult members. He wants to be a vet when he is older so this is a great start forhim.
Thursday, 25 June 2015
June 25th 2015 - 2015 reading challenge update
June 25th 2015 - 2015 reading challenge up date
Back on 9th January 2015 I posted a pin about a reading challenge for the year. A few of the books I had initially put on the list have been altered to a different book that fits the category. There were 50 books on the list (52 if you count the other 2 from the trilogy), I have 23 so far (and that is including the extra 2 of the trilogy).
There is 1 I wont be reading on the list and that is something that scares you as I don't do scary!! Despite only having read 23 off the list I have read 29books in total this year - some proper paper books others on the kindle.
I do plan to try and read more off the list the problem is that I need to buy them as kindle or books
Back on 9th January 2015 I posted a pin about a reading challenge for the year. A few of the books I had initially put on the list have been altered to a different book that fits the category. There were 50 books on the list (52 if you count the other 2 from the trilogy), I have 23 so far (and that is including the extra 2 of the trilogy).
There is 1 I wont be reading on the list and that is something that scares you as I don't do scary!! Despite only having read 23 off the list I have read 29books in total this year - some proper paper books others on the kindle.
I do plan to try and read more off the list the problem is that I need to buy them as kindle or books
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