As you may have figured out from my sporadic blogging of late, I’ve been a wee bit busy. Cramming in ALL THE WORK before Christmas so that I can have a proper holiday; trying to get kids in the right place at the right time for nativities and dinners and parties and this, that and […]
Category: Home & Garden
DIY, decorating and de-cluttering; home improvements and recipes: anything vaguely home or garden related gets chucked in here.
Spiders
I’ve just seen this tweet on twitter (obvious statement is obvious): https://twitter.com/tattooed_mummy/status/646050199220146176 which got me thinking about spiders, as you do (and also wondering where that little guy’s other leg got to?) They’re a hot topic in our house at the moment as it’s that time of year where they seem to appear on every […]
Recipe: Eton Mess Cake
Yesterday was Gaz‘s birthday and in true birthday tradition (AKA any excuse for cake) I decided to bake, with the “help” of the kids. Normally for this sort of occasion I would find a recipe weeks in advance and fail attempt to make something spectacular. However, with work and kids to contend with, time was […]
Rachael Hill: Britain’s Best Allotment
After blogging at the beginning of the month about my belief in autonomous parenting and independent play, a big part of which involves chucking the kids in the garden and letting them get on with it… The kids are taking it in turns to "rescue" each other off the climbing frame. Taking bets on who […]
My Ideal Home
With at least two of my friends in the process of buying a house at the minute, and my place full to bursting with accumulated STUFF since Gaz moved in, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking lately about what I’d like out of a home. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not moving any […]
Juneathon Day 7 and the “home gym”
I wrote this last week but have been a tad busy – oops! Juneathon day 7 saw me take another slightly unorthodox activity day. No, not more vacuuming (although there was plenty of that), but the second Sunday spent totally gutting my home ‘utility’ (that is, brick lean-to outside the back door). The utility is […]
Laptop Limbo (and some news)
As I count down the days til I’m back at my desk at home, I feel like I’m in sort of “work limbo” right now. I’m actively seeking and quoting for freelance opportunities — some of which are looking more positive than others — but I still have a huge amount of work on at […]
Living room redecoration: take 2
In a recent post I mentioned the fact that I was finally going to finish decorating my living room. Karl and I started this back in 2012, but a combination of small children, full time work and laziness got in the way so it was never finished. However, now the house is “mine” I have […]
Project £20k: Completed!
Despite my best intentions, it was inevitable that raising £20,000 to buy my ex out of our joint mortgage was an optimistic endeavour at best. Right from the beginning I had to factor in a more realistic plan: remortgaging the house for the value of the outstanding mortgage with our joint provider plus the £20k […]
In defence of neglect
After Flymo pretty much demolished the majority of my seedlings earlier on the year, my enthusiasm for the garden waned somewhat. I lost interest in the daily maintenance required to keep the beds free of dandelions, grass pathways free of nettles etc and the continued (mostly) good weather has given everything a massive boost. I’ve […]