Just rambling

So, Saturday evening, another week gone by! Has someone wound the clocks extra fast?? Miss E, my bambino, is 14 in a few weeks and today I was wondering where exactly those 14 years have gone?? How did that happen? How did so much life pass by with barely a glance?? I've really enjoyed being 40, I'm 41 a few days after Miss E's birthday, and I'm not so sure I want to go there! Being 40 has been special but the prospect of turning 41 doesn't make me feel special at all! There's so much more kernal but I can't crack the damn nut! The search continues for the right pair of nutcrackers I guess! :oD Time to move topics though....

So, my Eco Balls arrived this morning! :oD I've done two loads with them this evening and am impressed so far. They're big beasts though, I didn't realise they'd be that big! They crash about a bit and the dog keeps casting an eye at the washing machine!

One of my fave customers came in at work today which brightened my morning. He always makes me laugh and today was no exception. Little pleasures in life. :o)

This evening I watched What's Eating Gilbert Grape? with Miss E. It stars Johnny Depp, who she has developed an obsession for! Mind you, I know where she's coming from although I'm rather more partial to Captain Jack Sparrow! :oD It did bring a tear or two to my eye with the plight of Gilbert's mother but overall it was ok entertainment.

Refashioning!

Hey ho, I have an hour to wait for the breadmaker to finish doing it's stuff before I can retire to my boudoir so here I am with a little refashion chat! So, I lurk about on this blog alot: http://www.nikkishell.typepad.com/wardroberefashion/. Despite the fact that I have very limited sewing skills (in fact, using the word "skills" is a bit high falutin'!) I so want to have a crack at this! I just love the ethos of recycling, reusing, repurposing, refashioning! I haven't taken the bonafide pledge on the blog (but when the next round starts I might do) but I'm going to have a go anyway. So, I've been mooching about the charity shops looking for likely candidates that I might be able to have a tinker about with. :oD Today I found a blokie T shirt that I have plans for! Yesterday I got a huge piece of fabric from the junk shop for £1.50, part of which I think I'm going to try and make a wrap skirt with. One of the considerations that has made me want to try this refashioning thing is the fact that now I'm shrinking in size my wardobe, such that it was, is shrinking too! I have very little that fits very well at the moment! I have several skirts that are too big but I hope I might be able to take them in sufficiently well to give them a bit more shelf life. I'm struggling with tops though, I have very few anyway and alot of what I do have all seem to have attracted paint/glue/gesso etc, not an attractive look! This afternoon I came upon two size 20 Next tops which I snapped up even though I wasn't sure a Next 20 was the same as a Maz 20! I've got some size 20 things that I've been able to wear this last week or so but I wasn't sure whether they were just big 20s or I'd really got to being a size 20! However, the tops both fit and I love them! I haven't been in a size 20 in a goodly while and so it was a very happy face smiling back at me in the mirror! Apart from what I've already mentioned, I also have a pair of jeans that I decided to turn into a skirt a while ago. I chopped them up but now I think they'll be too big anyway as they were a generous size 22! They may become something else now but quite what I'm not sure! Anyone out there a refashioner with lots of tips to share perchance??

If you learn your scales and your arpeggios....

Eeeeek, yesterday I got my date for my piano exam! And when is it?? On my birthday!! Ooh, it's scary and exciting all at the same time!

TV

So, who watched Dispatches last night? On the subject of my favourite company?? I rather think I know what I'm giving up for Lent now! :oD

Choices, choices...

So, a little update on the food challenge I set myself after Christmas. During the period from 24th December to 31st of January I spent a total of just under £85 on household shopping. ;oD Considering that I was spending a minium of £60 - £80 and probably more like £100 a week I was pretty pleased with that. I'm still managing to keep well under £60 a week although I have been spending more since the advent of my McKeithesque eating plan. Balancing healthy eating, ethical shopping and a budget is an entertaining pastime I have to say!! On that note, I was in the Devil's Supermarket this evening and got a bit disgruntled in the fruit and veg department, like I do! If I want to eat a wide variety of fruit and veg then there is no way I can shop ethically and certainly not there. There was a pitiful amount of British produce and even less British organic produce. Just what is the point of me buying organic apples from the USA? Or broccoli from Spain? Or Israeli celery? To my mind, the air miles they've travelled negates why I'm buying them in the first place, doesn't it? So, I don't. All I managed to buy was non organic UK parsnips, cress and cabbage and organic UK mushrooms. Oh, and then I broke all my rules and bought a Spanish cucumber. :o( I know it must seem really trivial but I hate having to compromise myself and that's just what I did. ;o( Today is one of those days when I wonder if my tiny steps towards ethical living are worth the effort when for every one of me leaving the supermarket there are 30 others with excess carrier bags stuffed with food that they don't give a flying f*ck about the origin of or how far it's travelled to grace their plates. But then again, I have to live with my conscience, not theirs, and I want to do what I can towards taking a lighter step on the earth.

Life rolls on...

Good Lord, a twelfth of the year has already slipped by! How did that happen?? So much to do, so little time!

On the way home from the school bus run this morning, I was peering at something in the road ahead of me and thought someone's cat had got run over but it wasn't a cat. It was an OTTER! Couldn't believe my eyes! M thought he saw an otter in the river a couple of years ago but this is proof, which is fabulous, although I'd much rather have seen him frolicking in the river than dead in the middle of the tarmac. :o( I've spoken to the Environment Agency and they are passing the details onto Cardiff University who have an ongoing research programme on otters. Someone is coming to collect the body for a post mortem. Otters are such beautiful animals, I'm sad this one had to die but I'm thrilled to know they're living in such close proximity to us.

Has anyone else seen that silly Hovis advert advertising crust free bread?? I've seen it all now! Are there really people holed up somewhere coming up with these stupid ideas and then convincing us that we need to buy them for an inflated price?? At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old woman (again!), I'd like to nominate this product for the Biggest Waste of Money Consumer Award. And a close runner up would be a product I saw in the Devil's Supermarket recently - garden furniture wipes!! Never heard of a wet rag?? Grrrrrrrr

New Experiences

I had two new experiences yesterday. :o) The first one was a mooch about the Chinese Supermarket in Peterborough. I've long wanted to go in there but have always felt I'd be a bit out of place (daft, I know!) but bolstered by my friend, Becky's company, we ventured in. It was so interesting, so many new things to see and learn about, so many things I'd never heard of. We had a lovely time. :o) I bought some Nori strips which I rather like, they taste a bit like the sea! LOL We also got some underworld money to use for arty purposes. :o)

My new health regime made it difficult to find anything to eat for lunch but I plumped for some M & S sushi, something I'd never tried before, new experience no 2! I hadn't realised until fairly recently that sushi is NOT all about raw fish, I think lots of folk must labour under that impression. One of the rolls in my pack included tuna but it wasn't raw tuna, and the others were veggie. To my surprise, I really enjoyed them all! I think I'll even have a go at making it myself as I really think it's something I could incorporate successfully into my new way of eating.

Happy day! :o)