Birthday!

(image from calendars-birthdays.com)

Today the YFG turns 16!  It is hard to believe that my "baby" is that old, but she is, and she has grown up into a lovely young lady of whom I am very proud!

She's still snoozing as I am typing, but there are breakfast pancakes on the menu and then we are off to see my dad for lunch.  

Life is busy and I am enjoying my week off work - we are getting so much done!  The YFG painted the bathroom yesterday when we returned  home from the dentist [Sorry, Sue in Suffolk!].

My furniture renovations continue, and I also scrubbed the kitchen floor as I have not scrubbed it for a long time - it is sparkling this morning!

Been a bit busy!

I've been rather busy in the real world and had a bit of a break from technology again!

The shower over the bath has been installed.

Lots of beans have come to maturity in the garden

so I picked them all today and will be having a processing session tomorrow!

I've finished putting another coat of Cuprinol on the old chicken shed. It has been just the weather to do it this weekend.

I found a great recipe for a gluten free chocolate courgette brownie. It was a a flat failure the first time round so I tweaked the recipe and this time it came out rather well!

And my first adventure with chalk paint turned out quite well. These are some drawers in the EFG's room - she is pleased with them, and so am I!

Just plugging away

Nothing too exciting today to report - just getting on and getting "stuff" done:

washing and ironing

four hours on the phone

searching through sales on various websites for new trousers for the new job [jeans won't "do"]

cooking supper

the occasional text from the YFG in Northumberland - a walk, a castle visit and a row up a river today!

BUT tonight was a wee bit special as I was invited to go to the presentation evening of a local village show, where the FH had been a honey judge for a couple of years.  One of our friends, who was a fellow beekeeper,  had bought a winner's cup and instituted the FH's Honey Prize!  I went along and made the award tonight, which was quite special.  

UJ also came over tonight with a tray of early Rivers plums, so they must be processed for the freezer in the morning....

Best head off up the hill to Bedfordshire!

Karate Kid paintwork

I have been wielding a paintbrush quite a lot these past two days, and I have thought several times of Ralph Macchio in the original Karate Kid film, where the instructor has him doing lots of jobs around the place, painting the fence and things like that - and then reveals that the work has been strengthening him for the real task of karate.

(image from imdb.com)

Well, I have to say, being outside and being busy has helped me cope with the boredom of the phone job a lot more easily this week.  People are on holiday, and for every person I speak to, about another ten phones go unanswered.  And it is just a tad b-o-r-i-n-g counting rings again and again!

Yesterday I cut the three lawns that I didn't manage on Sunday, and then I painted the end of the verandah which had never been treated with wood stain.  Looks a lot better now!  With the stain left in the pail, I did another section of the chicken shed - that is nearly finished now.

And today, I have done four hours on the phone, and had a new adventure in Painting.  Chalk paint seems to be fashionable, and I was looking through the old posts on Mortgage Free in Three for the chalk paint recipe which Elaine uses at the weekend.  Then a new post popped up as she is redecorating her eldest's room, and using the paint to revamp his furniture.  I needed to do something with two small bedside chests of drawers for the EF girls, to make their room more attractive.  The drawers are probably about 15 years old, still good structurally, but rather orangey pine now!  I decided I had nothing to lose.......

And I have had a lovely afternoon painting them - but more to come on that when I have photos to share of the finished article.  The only thing I will say now is that I didn't use Elaine's recipe for the paint as I had no powdered tile grout mix, so I went on Pinterest and found another one - which may even be a better one [sorry, Elaine!] because Elaine says hers seizes up, but the one I have found has been usable for over six hours today - and I have been well pleased with the result.  All will be revealed later in the week!

Amazon UK discount TODAY

Quick note that there is £10 off any qualifying order at Amazon UK today, when you spend £50. There is a code to enter at the checkout which is displayed when you visit the website today.  It only applies to purchased fulfilled by Amazon themselves, though, not to other merchants.

(image from en.wikipedia.org)

If, like me, you have a bit of a wish list on there, it might be time to have a look and see if today is the day to make the purchases, as a 20% discount is not to be sniffed at.  I have been saving up for some bible study books, and was planning to use the Rewards from my Shop and Scan account, so I am going to see if I can make that work later on, when I have had a chance to really consider which books I want.

I realise that not everyone has a spare £40 at short notice, but hopefully it will help someone.

PS- It worked!  £40 of Shop&Scan vouchers and the Amazon discount, so I have ordered 5 books and a CD and actually paid out 12p - result!

Ta-ra, chuck!

(image from itv.com)

The news that one of Liverpool's greatest stars has died over the weekend has come as a shock to many.  The glorious Cilla was an entertainment legend, and the shows she presented such as Surprise, Surprise! and Blind Date were the memories of my childhood Saturday nights.

She was a really lovely lady, by all accounts, and the news this morning is full of warm tributes from fellow entertainers and friends.  She will be much missed, I am sure.

Not helpful

Something came up in my Facebook news feed this morning which has become typical of the current social media mentality - "25 Ways to save a fiver with the Cash Queens" from the Mirror website.

Unfortunately, there are no great moneysaving ideas there at all - just a list of various things you can now purchase which are £5 cheaper than they used to be.....not helpful to folk with limited resources to get through the summer holidays!

Thank goodness for some really good bloggers who do give us ideas about serious money saving and thrifty ideas - look back at the Queens post of the other day, and check out my sidebar of blogs that I love!