Blog Archives

Adulting: A series of things I should’ve learned by now – Keeping receipts

October 13, 2016

I always have the best intentions of keeping receipts. In fact, I gasp in horror when people throw away a receipt before they’ve even tried on the item of clothing; or plugged in the toaster – let alone keeping them for a year at least! Like everything in my house, I struggle to throw anything anyway in case it comes in useful one day. Keeping the receipts isn’t the problem – it’s keeping them in an orderly manner that is. As you can see from the photo, I currently stuff all receipts in the same cupboard that I keep the ketchup and honey. Why I do this? That’s anyone’s guess….

Welcome to Blogtober!

October 2, 2016

What is Blogtober?I have set myself a blogging challenge to upload a post every single day in October. I noticed several people doing Vlogtober on You Tube, but as I already have Vlogmas planned for December, I decided to stick to writing and photographs for this month. Yes, I know I’m starting a day late. That’s because Friday’s post was delayed by a day, so that’s pushed everything up a bit. This is also quite a brief one because this weekend has been all about my eldest daughter’s twenty-first birthday, which has kept me rather busy. So, the reasons I’m doing Blogtober are to see if I can keep it up because maybe I’ll try writing shorter posts, but add them daily even after October if it goes down well. Also, I love blogging, but it is encroaching on my Oshun business time because I am a slow writer. At the moment I spend about an hour and half writing a post; an hour taking, editing and adding photos and half an hour to three-quarters adding links into the it. My goal in daily blogging is to make the process much faster without compromising on the quality. I’m hoping the daily practice will help a lot, but if it doesn’t, at the end of the month I’ll probably go back to three times a week. We’ll just have to see how it goes! The last reason is that I have a notebook where I write all my ideas for blog posts, and I have so many, at the rate I’ve previously been going, I’ll never catch up with all of them, so I’m looking forward to writing all the things I’ve had in my head for a while. Wish me luck!

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!….

Willow blossom and fedge update

(A fedge by the way is a cross between a fence and a hedge, in case you were wondering.) You may remember (though you probably don’t) that several years ago I had the dilemma about what to plant in the lower garden in order to provide some privacy quickly. If you want a quick catch-up, the post is HERE; and then please read on for an update…

halloween short story

A Halloween Romance

November 5, 2011

Competition time again at our writers’ group. We were challenged to write a short story with a ghost/supernatural theme. This was my go… A Hallowe’en Romance It was a cold clear night as a witch, a devil and Frankenstein’s monster made their way down the High Street towards Susan. The witch’s head was far too big for her body and she parted her black wig in order to be able to see from the eye sockets. The monster’s cloak had inadvertently wrapped around the devil’s trident and it nearly tripped them both up. The trio whispered to each other as they approached Susan, and just when it looked like they were going to pass her, they suddenly turned, with their hands up in the air and yelled in her face. She’d been expecting something, but none-the-less it made her jump and she let out a little scream. As the kids ran off laughing, she called after them, ‘Your costumes are rubbish.’