DIY on the weekends

Lately, we have been DIY-ing quite a bit. I have to confess that Builders Warehouse is my new Waltons.

My better half made lampshades out of old cups and saucers. I really love that this was an "up-cycle" of old, crazed teacups that we weren't using. I provided moral support and inaccurate advice.

Utterly cute!

I've actually been looking for decent bookends for some time (while jars of marbles act as stand-ins). Today by chance I saw this from Fred & Pickles and it is just too cute.

Skipping through the daisies!

Well, we were able to get a lot of clearing up done over the long weekend. Our house had accumulated the detritus of 30 years of "it might come in useful" and we decided at long last to just be done with it. The amount of space that has been revealed is phenomenal - all that remains is a large amount of dust to be swept up.

Thank you to my husband for the heavy lifting (and the daisy pics).

Don't let the cat out the bag!

I love this pic because he's my cat, the photo reminds me of laughter (though of course cats hate being laughed at) and it's a photo of a cat in a bag.

Cable spaghetti

I'm sure I've mentioned in previous posts that clutter is not exactly on my "happy place" list. Well yesterday we bought a new laptop and because it's all fresh and new (like the day after a big celebration when all the streamers still have to be swept up), we have a cable spaghetti situation that looks like this: 

I remember a Douglas Adams essay on the subject of computer cables and connectors and I have to say that I am wholly in agreement with him. He was of the opinion that there should be greater compatibility between cables and connectors so that we didn't have to keep track of so many of them with each new device.

I feel however that I should claim full responsibility for the hairdryer and its cable. Leaving it lying around is my weakness and it is only on the floor because there is no room on the dressing table (which has been temporarily reassigned as a second desk).

Poor Toby bear

It's less than two months to Christmas (altogether now: aaaaarggh!) and nearly a month since my last post and this picture image illustrates just how I've been feeling. 

Nevertheless, I keep reminding myself of the self-help catchphrases that my father taught me. Firstly CYB - Count Your Blessings - and secondly PMA - Positive Mental Attitude.

My other self-help technique is to keep myself busy (a.k.a. distracted). 

It seems that some sort of synchronicity occurred resulting in poor Toby lying face-downward staring at the carpet as though all the cares of the world were weighing him down. When I found him there I knew just exactly how he was feeling and I cuddled him until he felt a little better.

W.I.P. - Work In Progress

This one is practically a "guess what it is" not so much because it's a bad photo (I console myself) but because it's a photo of a door painted black. It's my new kitchen blackboard.

I have so many many "projects" begun and ideas streaming through my head that I'm now wantonly starting new projects before completing old ones. I still have the bedroom door panels to paint but that requires copious stirring of the paint and a fair amount of surface preparation (so dull). So instead I'm doing an easier and more enjoyable quickie in the shape of creating a blackboard on my cleaning cupboard. Today is the day for coat number two. Keep your fingers crossed that I don't get completely covered in paint this time around because I have a lunch date to keep with my husband.

In other news, I've just found out that my oldest friend (from nursery school days) is finally on Facebook. Hooray for the internet for keeping me up to date with the people in my world. 

Make do and mend

Ever since I was given my first cross stitch kit, I've loved sitting quietly and stitching. I bought this kit at Hampton Court Palace where the Royal School of Needlework (who did the lace for Catherine Middleton's wedding dress) is located. 

I'm itching to get started on the kit but first I had to do a little bit of housework. Because I love stitching, I don't mind patching things that need to be given a little extra lease on life. My stitching is very mediocre but I do enjoy it. I have to be very careful darning socks though because I tend to make a lump in the sock that is worse than having the hole!

An old friend once told me that she enjoyed making bead necklaces because she found it relaxing. So on the strength of that I bought my own beading kit but found that it wasn't so relaxing for me. Doing cross stitch or mending does hit the right spot for relaxation for me so I guess it's different strokes for different folks.

These are my stitching housework bits and bobs. I had to patch two bags (left, and below left) and while I was away I had to add some extra velcro onto my bag (right) to keep it closed more easily.

Back at home (and so glad to be here).

Well, we are back at home and I am so relieved to be here. There really is (as Dorothy said) "no place like home". We had a truly wonderful holiday but to be back in my own bedroom and my own kitchen with familiar possessions and kitchen utensils is like a holiday in itself. The sense of comfort from what is familiar is impossible to achieve anywhere else but at home. 

Sometimes the simplest things cheer me up

Today I got home feeling tired and decided to make a cup of tea after I had unloaded my groceries. Washing my hands at the sink, I saw my bottle of bubbles which made me smile (I don't have kids of my own but the bubbles are for my inner child). I decided to use my ridiculously huge "Friends"-style tea cup (to get the most enjoyment possible out of one teabag) and our kettle boils in the loveliest way, so by the time the tea was made and the groceries were away, I was feeling much chirpier.

White horses

Could not drag me away from you....

Apologies for the mis-quote. I always seem to remember only tiny bits of song lyrics. This one is from Gino Vanelli's "Wild Horses" but I was thinking of the white horses on the sea because it has been a very windy day. Regrettably you can't see the white horses in my little photo.

A few of my favourite things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens and some new stuff that brings a smile to my face.

The view {update}

Our weather is currently as changeable as the weather in the UK. These are pics of my view from yesterday and the day before that.

Change in the home

I like to follow blogs about de-cluttering (see my post here) and the latest that I've fallen in love with is called Small Notebook - For a simple home. Reading Rachel's post "Are you making Your To Do List Too Hard" was just as though she had seen right into my mind and then, like Mary Poppins, had whisked everything into shape.

It was wonderfully appropriate because I'm looking forward to doing some tidying and reorganizing this weekend (pictures on Monday if all goes well). We've bought some beautiful second-hand furniture and I've been thinking all week about what should go where and whether my ideas will work when the time comes.