Busy Bees...

Buzzzzzzzz! 

We have been very busily buzzing here for the last 2 days. After the purchase of new furniture I was so excited I couldn't contain myself.

I looked around and I could see ALL that needed doing, RIGHT NOW!!!

The man rolled his eyes and I made a list.

2 new shelves for the kitchen(not included today as they are still drying)

The bookcase painted...Well whilst the paint is out we may as well re-paint the dresser?!? Makes sense right? This led to more eye rolling, this time followed by a sigh...

Oh definitely all white with the bookcase...3 coats later...No, the shelves would look better light grey...

Hmmmmm well where are we going to put the old bookcase? I know, you can haul ass it up the stairs and somehow make it fit into a space that is a fraction too small...you can do that right?

No eye rolling just a slow turn, shake of head and walk out of the room.

The man can be sooo dramatic at times!!!

Anyway even with all the dramatics from the man we managed to accomplish quite a lot.

The new table. We are not touching it atm. It goes nicely with the chairs and I want to be certain about what I want before we change it.

It is a bit battered and unloved but that will change. I love that it has a handy cupboard running through the centre :) It is perfect for all those floating things that somehow accumulate in the lounge.

The tight squeeze. I could hardly get a picture because our hallway isn't much wider than this! There are a few books at the bottom but I really think I am going to have to think of more suitable names for things. This is a Yarncase!

 This is the new addition. You can just see the contrast of the light grey. It looks so much better than what we had before and it is so bright. All the colours now look so cheerful and lovely. 

This is a Craftcase hehe!

Beautiful bright colours. I can't wait to add a finishing touch to this case. I think these colours are a little inspirational.

The two darker chairs are my bargain buys. Now, I did think I had a red tablecloth with white spots but it turns out it got binned somewhere along the line. I was a bit reluctant to use this green one as, at first it looked a little garish, but as I wiped it down and added the place mats, stepped back and looked, then looked again I changed my mind on it. I have to say I love its retro theme it is bringing. I was zoomed back in time to my Grandparents house of the 80s.

This is my dresser. Bought a few years ago. Started off like this. Just bare wood.

Then a little transformation later...

This green looked better in the old house in front of magnolia walls, but I got very tired of it and felt it most definitely needed another transformation. So whilst the paint was out...

TA DAH!

Phew! You can see our efforts have been well worth it. I couldn't be happier right now...Well maybe if I had a different home and everywhere was gleaming, but with children flying around the home and the 2 kitties using everything(including us!) as a scratch post that is a dream.

Happy Thursday xx

March Money Savi....

...Yeah, so I couldn't finish the title as basically I haven't done very well so far.

Thank you all for your lovely comments and tips. Most were about food, I deffo do OK with food, I spend no more than £200 a month on food and household palava which for a family of 5 I think is pretty good, but I am definitely going to try a lot of the tips and see if I can get it lower. 

I have however, been turning off TVs, lights and chargers a lot more. I have had a word with the children about excess toilet paper use. I have started up a food share scheme with friends and neighbours and I have sat down and worked to the penny what is coming in and what needs to go out and what's left etc.

So doing great yeah? Well errrrrrrrrrm...

I have bought some things that I was planning on waiting to buy but once I get the bug! 

I am still happy though as my purchases were savvy(can't spell it!)

I bought a 1930s art deco drop leaf table which is in pretty good condition for £15

Two windsor style dining chairs for £10

and a painted pine bookcase(that I am re-painting) for £45

I don't think that is tooo bad, I will just have to snip it off the budget somewhere else. Maybe swap the loo roll for newspaper(then maybe the kids would appreciate toilet paper more and be a little more careful with it!)

I would have pictures but I can't find my camera and I am a little doped up on painkillers as I have really hurt my hand(I think it is broken!) 

I will be reading all your blogs as soon as I have this house back to normal and I am a little more with it.

Happy Wednesday xx

Talented Friend...

When it comes to family I definitely pulled the short straw. I won't go into details but lets just say it is not a harmonious, loving group of people, But, when it comes to friends I have pulled every long straw there is. 

I have so many people that I call friends, and they are. We are all there for each other and we have happy and sad times together. I have too many acquaintances to count, but you know what else I have? Best Friends! Yep! I said it. I took you all back to school and playing with your girlfriends and whispering to each other that today, "You're my best friend really, not Sheila!"

But I have them. I am 31 and I have 6 best friends. What makes them best? They are my family, not by blood but by friendship. ALWAYS there. Always making life so much better. I can only hope that in some small way I do the same for them.

One of these very special people is Hazel. Hazel is a creative force that has gone above and beyond friend duties.

Last year my eldest was due to start high school, because we had moved and I wasn't happy with the catchment school for a number of reasons I had to wait months for an appeal(we lost the appeal but magically one of the best schools in the area managed to find him a place...nothing to do with his high academic achievements!) during these months Hazel and her husband drove miles every Friday after being in work all day to tutor Jacob. Hazel is a dab hand at French, Spanish and was excellent at English Lit, lang and history! Her husband Edward is training to be a science teacher in secondary school. How lucky am I???

On Christmas night I ended up having to go to hospital for a crappy episode with the bipolar. This has been the worse episode in years. I had to go and stay with my brother in Manchester a lot, I was sleeping all the time, drugged up and feeling useless. Not able to do anything for myself.

Guess what this lady did?

No! She didn't rub my shoulder and say everything would get better, she didn't avoid me so she could avoid an awkward conversation. She came over one night, unannounced I might add, and with her she bought a MOUNTAIN of home cooked food! Days of work and effort cooking and baking for my little family! My freezer and fridge were filled. Homemade curries, pies, fruit crumbles, naan bread, shepherds pie. So much awesomeness! I also had a pile of goodies just to cheer me up(including her AMAZING mince pies with her own mince meat)

Awesome!!!

This lady is also incredibly talented. If you haven't had a chance to have a gander at her blog go say hi :)

For my Birthday a few years ago she made me this

ALL by hand I might add.

For my 30th I got this

and these

even creating a cake recipe and naming it Emmatines after me!!!

For my last birthday I also got something so cool and very needed.

A few years ago Hazel bought me a recipe journal so I could write and store my recipes. The man decided that it was fine to clean around it and getting it wet...it got ruined long story short lol.

So Haze made me this...

All her own art!

Photographs of her kitchen and mine. 

Look at the detail. So, so talented. I am always in awe of her drawings and art work

Because I enjoy a good tipple ;)

I finally managed to start sorting and adding to it yesterday and it made me so happy.

I feel blessed to have this unique lady in my life and I am so unbelievably lucky to be able to call her my friend. My best friend hehe!

Love you Lady xxx

Mini Post...

I know I have posted today but I have a few more things that didn't fit in with the last post.

Firstly I would like to say a HUGE 

THANK YOU!

For all your lovely comments on my last few posts. I love reading your comments and it always a relief to know you are not just babbling to yourself. I don't always get time to reply to comments but each and everyone brings a smile and I appreciate that you take the time to read my ramblings x

Secondly I am on a mission. M is for March and Management and Money.

Put them together and you have

MONEY MANAGEMENT MARCH!

I am going to spend March doing all I can to spend as little as possible and start managing all my money a lot better. I don't know about anyone else but I have good months and bad months. Thankfully good months outweigh the bad but when I do have a bad month it leaves me chasing my tale a little.

So pay all bills, buy everything as cheaply as possible and save!

Please wish me luck and please send me any tips you may have on extreme thrifting...

xxx

St. Davids Day Awesomeness...

A belated Happy St. Davids Day to you all.

We had a fantastic day. We went to one of my all time favourite places. The museum of Welsh life, better known as St. Fagans.

It is just on the outskirts of Cardiff and it is a place filled to bursting with everything you need to see and know about Welsh life through the years.

The place itself is a collection of buildings from all over Wales that have been painstakingly dismantled brick by brick, each brick logged and numbered and then re-erected in St. Fagans. Many of these incredible buildings would have been demolished and lost forever if it wasn't for this great place.

We met up with our awesome friends. The wonderful Hazel from Little Welsh House, her husband and her two fabulous rescue dogs Millie and George. 

#NOTE: PHOTO HEAVY BLOG ABOUT TO COMMENCE... 

Awesome trees that have been trimmed back making them look like Whomping Willows(Harry Potter)

Beautiful part of the castle gardens

Signs of Spring

Bara Brith...I will share recipe. It is DELICIOUS!

A few hundred year old farm house. They were painted red to keep away evil spirits.

Gorgeous Hazel with the bugs and the dogs. Doesn't George have the best photo smile???

Sheep bum!

Welsh cake making in a traditional farmhouse kitchen. Welsh cakes are yummy(like drop scones) and smell divine.

(we had already enjoyed some of Hazels welsh cakes at our picnic nom nom)

Sitting room in Farmhouse. I love the fireguard. It is so intricate and beautiful.

Dream House!

Where bakes are made in a traditional way

This street of Miners Cottages is one of my favourite parts of the museum. I will take you along on the journey through time.

First home is 1805. Look how sparse it is. To think that these were built for families is incredible. There is a lounge with a stove for cooking and a table for eating. This back bedroom and one bedroom upstairs. They are so small.

1855 There are more decorative items building rather than just the essentials. 

1895. This is already so incredible how the designs and rooms change and become so much more homely and vibrant.

1925. Photographs on the wall are a symbol of the effects of progression and scientific advancement. Reminders of the Great War on the mantle.

1955. Awesome original roller skates. Imagine the fun the child(or adult) that wore these had whizzing around laughing and screaming with joy.

These pictures are from the out building, some of these were made from old air raid shelters. Talk about making use of space. I would love this in my back yard. It is absolutely gorgeous. I could quite happily move in tomorrow.

The house of 1955. Times have definitely changed dramatically. These were no longer just somewhere to live, they were homes that could show off the disposable income that people were now acquiring.

1985 Have you noticed the even more extreme changes? Modern times require modern layouts...including a bath! OK it is in the kitchen but it is a bath. I think this house just shows how small these cottages really are and how ingenious the people living in them were to make the most of the space throughout time. Always adapting to the needs of the time.

 The next group of photos is my second favourite part. This is a prefab. Prefab stands for prefabricated. They sprung up everywhere throughout Britain after the war. They were cheap and more importantly quick to erect. They were essential as so many families had lost their homes in the bombings of the war. Left homeless these buildings were so needed and appreciated.

Originally built as a temporary measure many of the families they were built for spent the rest of their days in them and many still stand today as family homes.

How gorgeous is this room? The stunning furniture, the quilts, even the knitted horse on the bed.

Not too sure about the curtains but I am definitely in love with everything else. Look at the detail on the floor...don't you just love the hat and scarf too(I like how even back then it was clear that the bedroom is the womans room...dresser for her, wherever there is space for him!)

That tablecloth! I think I need to go a hunting!

I think there a few of you that have just fallen for this kitchen! 

I appreciate how much effort goes into the detail of all the properties at this magical place.

Each part and each building is a trip back in time. You can imagine the people, the faces the work.

We took so many more photos and there is a fair I want to share with you but I think this post has come a long way and taken you through enough year hehe.

I hope you have enjoyed our little tour together. I have enjoyed making you a part of our day. 

Happy Sunday x