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A review of the new Dyson V8 Absolute cordless vacuum cleaner – Is it worth it?

October 29, 2016

Chris has been asking me for a cordless Dyson for a couple of years. I always agree until I see the price, and then I decide that a broom and a dustpan and brush will do just fine. Then the other day he just came out and told me he was getting one. If it takes a snazzy expensive gadget to get him to even think about cleaning, then maybe it’s worth it!….

Painting my gong copper

October 27, 2016

You probably won’t find another blog post with the same title as this one! But that’s literally what this post is about. I have childhood memories of a place called Foxlease in the New Forest where we’d sometimes have a little holiday. It was something to do with the fact that my Mum was a Guide leader. Anyway, it was a big old stately home and they had a huge dinner gong to tell everyone staying there that dinner was ready. Every evening they would take in turns letting the kids bang the gong. It never was my turn….

Bedroom renovating part 1 – Making a reclaimed rustic wooden headboard

October 22, 2016

I watched back the September Favourites You Tube video I made, and I don’t think my tone of voice was sarcastic enough when I said that next time I’d be in the bedroom with a white headboard with fairy-lights and a vase of flowers and candle in the background! (This seems to be the setting of 99% of monthly favourites You Tube videos.) When I made that video we had no headboard at all; flaky plaster; holes in the ceiling and a lot of mess. Last weekend though, we got busy in the bedroom(!)…..

What it’s like to be an Introvert

October 20, 2016

Move over anxiety; being an introvert is the new fashionable difficulty! I am of course, being slightly tongue-in-cheek, but I when I recently started getting into You Tube, I couldn’t believe how many people are giving their videos titles such as, ‘Coping with anxiety,’ and ‘My depression story.’ I couldn’t help but be a little cynical. Could this many people really be dealing with mental health issues, or has it just become a little fashionable? Then I considered two things…..

How to host an afternoon tea party

October 18, 2016

Yes I know it’s not exactly the weather for this in the garden any more, but it can still be done inside! My daughter didn’t want to go out on the piss for her eighteenth birthday last month – partly because she’s the first of her friends to turn legal in pubs, so it wouldn’t be much fun getting drunk on her own – and partly because that’s not really her sort of thing anyway. For now at least! So it was her idea to have afternoon tea in the garden with a nod to an Alice in Wonderland theme….

Anti-reflective coating on your glasses – is it worth it?

October 9, 2016

Whenever I’m recording a You Tube video in my work-room, all I seem to do is spin round in circles trying not to have massive white rectangles on my glasses. They somehow even manage to appear with my back to the window! When Chris is taking photos for my Weekly Wardrobe posts, we’ve more-or-less given up with glasses, so I stumble about blind for the sake of not having glaring white blobs in the middle of my face. (Hashtag blogger problems.) I am so short-sighted, I cannot see a thing without them, and I hate that feeling so much. So finally, even though there was nothing particularly wrong with my glasses, I decided to splash out and buy a new pair with anti-reflective coating….

My Cornwall photo on canvas! Printed by Printerpix

October 6, 2016

Chris and I are very fussy about art for our walls, and we don’t always have the same taste. We compromise by never ending up getting anything! However, when the opportunity came up to have one of my photographs blown up and printed onto canvas, I was really excited by it. I have a massive 60% discount code at Printerpix for you at the end of this post. I chose a picture I took during our recent campervan trip to Cornwall. The old disused mine is easy to find on the North coast road near Morvah. It’s a popular spot for rock-climbers and hundreds passed us on the footpath towards the cliffs, lugging their gear with them. It was fairly early in the morning when we went photo-spotting, and I turned away from the sea and looked back at this ruined mine building….

Burlesque Wonderland – Alice through the Martini glass at The Fleece in Bristol

October 5, 2016

From blackberries yesterday to burlesque today! And why not? Rain didn’t really know what to do to celebrate her twenty-first birthday. She had originally planned a day of wand-making (yes really) with her two best friends, followed by films and a sleepover. Then Jude spotted this event in Bristol just a couple of days beforehand and we all decided that we’d quite like to go. So the wand-making stopped early for everyone to change into their Alice in Wonderland Costumes….

Blackberry picking

October 4, 2016

At this time of year, throughout our childhood, my sister and I would go to Nanny Up-the-road’s house (Or Nanna Sharland to my cousins) and then we would venture off to Woodland’s Walk with washed empty ice-cream tubs ready to fill with autumn fruit. I used to look forward to it so much. Proof that you don’t need expensive toys and gadgets to have fun – just nature and family time. This is a gentle post about memories and blackberries….

What to do with your leftover rhubarb

September 28, 2016

Rhubarb is virtually indestructible and is about the only fruit or vegetable I can rely on in the garden! My rhubarb was inherited from previous owners of our old house and moved with us to this one, so is at least seventeen years old. It just keeps on and on growing from March until the first hard frost. If you’re the same and still have some left and are bored of rhubarb crumble and thinking, What shall I do with my rhubarb? then here’s a couple of suggestions: Rhubarb streusels and rhubarb muffins. Both these recipes have been adapted from magazines, and you’ll need plenty of paper cupcake cases. The streusels especially, are a hit in the family…..

New and old items for our Living Room

September 21, 2016

Following on from my last home blog post about moving the living room around, we needed some things to fit the new configuration. Preferably I’d have some antique furniture that would not only be beautiful, but also serve as a handy prop for Oshun photoshoots. Unfortunately our budget doesn’t run to that, but we found some really good alternatives…..

3 days in Oxford – Day 1. The story of the photographs

September 16, 2016

I was so excited about this little mini-break to Oxford. I love my family to bits, but sometimes it’s nice to be alone and have a little headspace all to yourself! I also find it difficult to relax at home because there’s always so much to do there. I don’t think it helps that I work from home either, so no matter if it’s the evening or weekend, I still always feel I should either be working or doing something towards fixing the house. I was also a little bit nervous because I’m not great at driving and get flustered easily, but the journey was good; I didn’t get lost once and made it to the park and ride with no problems following the sat nav!….