Morning!!

Hello there,
I've just returned from the daily power walk to and from taking my son to school.
 which is just a 5 minute walk away from our house.
Its such a pleasure to be able to walk to school rather than drive for 10 minutes to the previous school 
What I am also enjoying is on the walk, every time we pass someone we are greeted with a cheering "Morning!" greeting, which is new to us.
At the previous school in town we got a weak smile or grimace if we said 'Hello' or 'morning' to anyone.




Lately I have been trying really hard to keep up with my housekeeping. anyone that knows me knows I have good intentions but get very distracted easily and so housework is always a real challenge for me!!

I'd really love to be one of these domestic goddesses, or like a 1950's housewife. this picture really appeals to me for some reason. its like a deep yearning within me to be in a dress and pinny and happily maintaining my house with a smile on my face....and i am trying!
For starters, I have been wearing dresses and skirts more!! ahaahahaahaha! that's my first step! and second step, wearing an apron (pinny) every time i clean and do cook!! yay! less tops with stains on them!!
although i do seem to be failing in the '..with a smile' part!


I have picked up some brilliant tips that I would like to share...


#1 : after cleaning and disinfecting your bin, and every subsequent time you empty the liner, wipe around the inside and out quickly with a few drops of tea tree oil on a piece of paper towel and then pop it in the liner.
It leaves the bin fresh smelling and clean for days.
Tea tree oil is anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-septic and anti-viral. and it has quite a nice fresh (although a bit pungent and almost medicinal) scent to it. and its nice that every time some thing goes in the bin and fresh clean scent wafts out to you!!


#2 : Put a few drops of bleach in a little pot and mix with Bicarbonate of Soda to form a paste and with a toothbrush, scrub your tile grouting and it comes up lovely and clean and white again.I did this to my shower tiles and it got rid of all the orangey colour and black bits of mildew.


#3 Mix into a spray bottle half and half of water and white vinegar, and clean your windows and mirrors with it, and finish with a buffing of scrunched up old newspaper. The shine is wonderful.
I also use newspaper to buff up my kitchen sink after I've cleaned it and its an amazing sparkle (to a stainless steel sink might I add!!)


 #4 : Put one cup (microwave safe one) of vinegar in the microwave and put it on for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the cup as it'll be hot and simply wipe inside the microwave with a damp clean cloth and the specks and splatters will simple wipe off, No scrubbing and rubbing!! amazing! 
I've always dreaded cleaning the microwave as its such an awkward thing to clean, but with this method, the steam does the work for you! Love it!


So they are my favourite top tips at the moment. I have to make sure I leave the home well ventilated after cleaning with vinegar as Hubby complains about the smell!! But I love the results after using it.
And one of my favourite product to use is Homecare's "Bar Keepers Friend". I use it on my ceramic hob and my sink and it has a amazing shine after. 

Do you have any top tips for cleaning? any favourite products. esp eco-friendly ones? 
Please share them with me, I'd love to hear them. 


We went away last weekend in our little caravan, Ellie. I love caravanning!!
I have been wanting to renovate it, or spruce it up a bit from the dull beige, terracotta and green colour scheme. I have been looking for inspiration, but i have a tiny budget and boys, so anything too pretty is out of the question!! 
Hubby started painting the inside walls, with left over paint he has in the shed, an off/ creamy white and I searched for the perfect fabric to replace the curtains with. 
at first we were going to go for a light blue and white colour scheme, but the sofa's are a pale green, and I haven't the skill or funds to reupholster them, and the big crochet blanket I made is Far Too big...anway, i found a delightful pale sage green polka dot fabric, and so finding it on Ebay half the price than my local stockist ( Love Ebay!) I ordered it. It came promptly last Thursday and on Friday, after quickly packing for the weekend, I set to making the curtains. 
I only intended to make the front curtains but i got in the zone and did them all!!! 
hubby was most amazed and impressed!
I love my sewing machine, although it feels strange calling it 'My' sewing machine, when it was my Mum's. She replaced it years ago with a new Brother machine, and this almost 30 year old machine (correct me if I'm wrong on the age Mum! only i think you had it when you made my younger sister's crib, am I right?) 
anyway, it went to my older sister's, only for it to sit abandoned as "something was wrong with the tension". and she carried on using her ancient Singer that she sits and winds by hand!! 
So, I managed to eventually get my hands on it,(esp since i needed a sewing machine, my cheap one had given up, and i discovered that Mum's old one was a good, reliable make) and it sat waiting in my utility, unused, for well over a year, waiting to have the time, money and memory to take it to be serviced. 


Anyway, in desperation, I dragged the machine out, dusted and cleaned it, turned it on. frowned. looked around and over it. sighed. and went online to find any info I could on it. I found a manual. downloaded it, and discovered that my sister had been threading it up wrong! The tension was fine and off I set to work!
Its a lovely machine, ok, she doesn't like going backwards, and occasionally like to unthread herself, naughty girl isn't she!! but we seem to have a mutual understanding now! 
She's a Frister + Rossmann Beaver, and oh my does she beaver away at the work! She sounds a little clunky but its just her own tune really! 
Together we did a marvellous job of the curtains and I'm hoping this is the start of a beautiful new relationship, working together to create lovely things! Heehee!! 
I haven't any photo's yet of them up in the caravan as I want Hubby to finish painting, and i need to make a replacement divider curtain, and some tie-backs and some cushion covers... i did start making one (see previous post) but it doesn't actually got with the colours now. it didn't look right in there. 
I am also making a new granny square blanket/throw for the sofa's, in the right colours, and found the exact colours I needed all quite cheaply. Using Stylecraft's Special DK yarn, which I love as I made my big blanket from the same yarn. 
I've been wanting to make a granny squares blanket for ages,and now i finally am! I love it, I now know the joy of happy little stacks!! 


Here's my stack, and bits I've done so far...

The floral fabric is for the cushion covers and dividing curtain. I think it will satisfy my need for feminine, prettiness!

I think its been one of my most satisfying and prettiest projects ever!

I am just in love with these colours right now!!

Also, as promised, Here's is my son's blanket I made for him. I used Sirdir's snuggly baby wool and King Cole baby wool, so its immensely soft and snuggly, he absolutely loves it! 

I love this cute bobble stitch edging

                                      Its about the size of a single bed cover

As I said we went away for a little weekend break, (Gosh this is going to be a long post!!)

it was one of the most enjoyable times away in the caravan we've ever had. We went visited Sheringham in Norfolk, and to Cromer too. 

We visited the steam train station

here's me doing the obligatory 'standing in front of train' pose!

I love all the old suitcases and vintage sign's there

and what do little boys do when they see a big stack of old suitcases??

Have a peek inside of course!!

We visited 'Pete's Bookshop' too, which is my all time favourite bookshop. It has over 20,000 books in this one little house converted to a bookshop! I did take one sneaky little pic! I daren't take more in case I was told off! hee hee! I always feel naughty taking photo's in shops!! not that I've ever been caught or told off!! haha!

I found one of my favourite childhood books too, Dogger. 

On the Sunday we went to the beach as we had planned, sadly it was an overcast and windy day, still we had fun...

What more could you want?!! 

Well, I wish I'd taken my crochet with me, but Hubby had convinced me it would get all sandy! So I spent a lot of time searching for pebbles and nice stones! 

my boys trundling off down to the sea edge

it looks really stormy here!!

and trundling back again ladened with bucket full of seawater!

Since then I have been so busy with housework and laundry. Also we have my step-son staying with us for a few weeks as Uni has ended for the summer. He is sleeping in the caravan on the drive, so we haven't been able to get in there and carry on painting and fixing...I am trying to get him to not turn it into student-y digs! 

Although I am itching to get crafting again. I have lots of projects I want to get on with...oh and this Saturday I have a last minute gig! Eeeekk! Its a 'country music' gig, which is not my favourite genre of music but its paying so well that its paid for all the fabric and wool for the caravan and some spare too!! (yes I spent the gig money before I got it!! so naughty!!) So I have rehursals for that. 

Its a late night gig 9pm-12am. Dunno how I'm gonna last!! Esp singing sleep-inducing mellow country ballads mainly!! haha!

 Phew, will I be glad when this week is over!! 

Have a good weekend whatever you're doing

Please feel free to leave a comment, I love hearing from my readers, 

even if its just a 'Hi, I read your blog!' !! 

Take Care

Xx