Progress on the garden front

So my garden is coming along brilliantly, we've already easten pea pods, radishes and strawberries and i've just harvested a bucket of potatoes the other day. Just to remind you where it started here is a picture I took about 2 months ago

and here's the garden now

So 3 become 5!!!

So forgive me for being gone a while, we have lots to talk about. One being about our last post, we got 3 guinea pigs which was only meant to be two, but we couldn't leave one little girl guinea pig on her own...anyways so pip, my daughters favourite seemed to be getting, well, fat! Much googling later and a trip to the pet shop and the vets and yes she was pregnant. The pet shop assured us she was pregnant before they got her so nothing much could be done. So one morning when i went into the cage to check and there were two baby guinepigs all clean and fully furred trying to hobble round the bed area. Well done pip...they are about 4 weeks now and little lass is very attached to them so looks like we'll be keeping them! Here they are with their 3 mothers

Our new additions

Introducing our newest additions to the family...pip, squeal and lucky.

My son is taking pictures of our three new guinea pigs in this photo. We only went for two but lucky was the last female of the family, so it would mean she would be left on her own. So we got her too...hence the name...lucky. Their hutch is big enough for three and they don't cost a lot to keep so we now have three!

This is my allotment...

Our little allotment is coming along great. At the front it's looking quite professional. We have spring onions, garlic, shallots and onions, and red onions. Theyare all doing well. As are the potatoes, radishes and beetroot. Since taking the photo above we've transplanted more carrots. The cucumbers are doing ok in the pots. My tomatoes are looking great

And my peas have pods on...I don't want to put these outside incase they get beaten by the bad weather so for now they'll stay in the porch.

Down the bottom of the garden we have strawberries, blackberries, rhubarb and raspberries. Here's the strawberries, fruit is appearing already...

Yet another idea I found on pinterest. We collected some rocks from the beach and have made markers for the vegetables in our garden. Just need to varnish them. I think they came out quite well and were absolutely free to make.

These are my 2 yr olds attempts. The kids liked drawing on the rocks too.

www.zooacademy.co.uk

If you're anywhere near south shields in the north east of england then you have to book the zoo academy. Their website is www.zooacademy.co.uk. My 7 year old daughter is obsessed with animals, she wants to be a vet so we booked the zoo academy for her birthday party. They were brilliant. They were organised, knowledgeable and the owner was super friendly, had the patience of a saint and adapted the party appropriately to the age of the children there. The kids loved petting the various animals from snakes, to giant millipedes to rats and rabbits. I was sooo proud of my daughter holding the snake, never held one before but held it with no fear at all. It all made for a really unique experience, will definitely be having the zoo academy again. Both the kids and the adults enjoyed the party.

We really enjoyed the theme of the party too. These are the party boxes we got for the packed lunches. They were of wild animals and zoo animals.

We also had snake balloons, animal print party bags, jelly snakes and a hedgehog cake. Loads of fun.

Making things in may

So a friend had twin boys this month and I wanted to make her a card. I found a cute cartoon picture of two peas in a pod, so I drew it, then I coloured it in with my pro markers. This will be mounted onto card with backing paper and embellishments. Then my hubby decided my pod wasn't right, so I made two more attempts. I still kind of like the first one I did, What do you all think?

So I heard some news this month about a lady from one of the play groups I go to, well her daughter is very ill in hospital. Her dad had asked anyone with kids to make her cards or pictures and that she would really respond to stuff like that. So I thought it was about time for a service project. My husband is a dab hand at modelling balloons so we ordered some from ebay and he made her a lovely bunch of flowers. I hope she liked them. I think they turned out quite nice.

I had also seen this idea on pinterest, its a 'little box of sunshine'. So I made this for the mam of the girl. The box is filled with all yellow items, i put in lemon boiled sweets, quavers, flakes, tutti frutti gum, jelly tots, yellow pop and sherbet dippers. All the yellow together looks fab. Hope it brightened their day a little.

Oh and I've been doing really well on slimming world and have made some lovely recipes. How gorgeous does this look...quorn peppered steaks with baked potatoes, with onions, peppers and mushrooms...yum yum x

I won....

I never win anything. Now I have though...so i'd just like to say thanks to debbie for my brilliant prize. i won the hunger games trilogy of books. I read and loved the first book of the trilogy but couldn't afford to buy the next two. Off I went to the library to try and get them, but they were out on loan :( so then i entered a competition to win a book off this blog i have been reading for quite some time now. Its a great blog, her name is debbie, she makes some amazing things and loves to cook. Everything she makes is soooo good, and she does brill tutorials too. So I won, the exact books that I wanted to read, so thanks again debbie...her blog is definitely worth following, you can find her here: http://countryheartandhome.blogspot.co.uk/

Waste not want not

What can you do when you have a fruit bowl full of wilting fruit?

With the help of your beautiful daughter and her peeling skills



You can make a juice.



Yummmmmmm, and sooooooo healthy.

I'll beat the supermarkets...the veggie plot saga

Who else is going gaga at the prices of food nowadays? A year ago I could do a weeks shopping for 50 pound a week, these days with the recession and all that I am usually hitting 100 a week. So enough is enough i thought "I'll grow my own and become self-sufficient." Its not only about saving a bit of money though, I actually get a great deal of satistfaction from growing stuff. I get sooo excited when the shoots actually appear through the soil, and the kids share this excitement too. So anyhoo, I have a plot of earth at the front of the garden, so its been weeded, sieved, my hubby put a wood surround round it and we filled it with compost. There is a drain in the middle so we cordoned that off and are using it for pots and bags, etc.


So heres a photo of it after it was built




and here it is after filling with compost and after adding the courgettes and corn that I had growing in pots on my windowsill in my kitchen. With the make shift cloches due to the cold weather of course.

OOh infact heres a picture of the courgettes and corn taking off...I have peas, carrots, lettuce, beetroot and carrots all growing on the window sill at the moment.

Oh and look what I bought from wilkinsons...my fruit I have to plant down the other end of the garden, i already have blackberries so want to add the rhubarb and raspberries, and hopefully strawberries, plums and pears, perhaps, a crab apple tree as well maybes if I have room!



Oh and of course I have been doing a lot of reading up on the internet but i also found a great allotment book in the charity shop for the grand price of 1.50. I love a bargain x

getting organised...slowly but surely

So i have this space in my kitchen where i decided to have a little organisation centre going on.



I wanted to have a weeks menus up, a cleaning rota, a pin board and a calender.
What I did:
1. I found an old picture frame with a glass front. I used one of my fave scrapbook papers to jazz up the frame and i did a cleaning rota and a weeks menu plan behind the glass so that I could use a wipeable pen to change the menu plan for the week and tick off the boxes on the housework plan, etc;
2. I bought a 50p calender from wilkinsons
3. I also bought a cheap cork and wipeable board, anything i need to deal with can be pinned to the cork board. Messages or things i need to buy can go on the wipeable board.



And the end result is...





I am slowly becoming more organised. I await the day when someone comments on how organised I am...its one of my ambitions in life to have people say that about me...i have a bit of work to do first though, I think (Ha Ha a lot of work).

It starts with one...

Today my motto is one person can make a difference...someone on facebook shared this video with me...i watched, i shared it. Then i googled kony, i signed kony2012's pledge and am sharing this on my blog now. We live in a new world now, facebook and the power of social media is amazing...and it all starts with one person, one click, so please watch this video and then share it. Just imagine if it was your child kidnapped, maimed, killed...if it happened in our country, actually scratch that this just wouldn't happen in our country. Lets help change the world, click by click, piece by piece xxx

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

Charity shop shopping

Everyone out there, i cannot stress enough how great charity shops are. If u don't like the thought of buying clothes how about looking at the other nik naks you can get. Books, homeware, dvds, games.

This week I found junior cluedo and disney trivial pursuit dvd and board game. They were only a pound each, all intact and in great condition. We spent half the afternoon playing disney with the kids so a pound well spent me thinks. I can see dd wanting to play this a lot too.

Set yourself a challenge perhaps to find something you need but just can't afford to pay full price for. Maybe you could try to fimd something to help with a current project. Whatever it is you will save a fortune, just got to keep your eyes peeled.

Just wait til car boot season starts as well.....:D

I love felt

I love working with felt, i find it easy to work with and always turns out so well. I've been making things i've seen on pinterest so here's a couple of pictures.

Tooth fairy pillow, the tooth is a pouch where you put the tooth then replace it with money...I love the smily face on the tooth.


These are felt fractions I did for my daughter. These are fab as they are a tactile and fun way for her to learn and remember fractions.


This owl is an ipod cover i made for my niece. I've since made a monster face, a penguin, a bear and am working on a jack skellington one for hubbys bday next month

A little bit of blogging and setting the world to rights.

I have promised to blog more often. I like blogging even though i'm pretty sure only two people are reading this. I feel like a weight is lifted when i've recorded my thoughts and goals here. Its a place to set myself right and to plan how i'm going to move forward.

Frugalness is on the cards today:

I just can't believe the cost of food right now. I made a menu plan last week and went shopping at asda, did about a weeks shopping including a few treats for the kids and a bkx of nappies and it came to £110 and that was 'after' putting a few things back. I feel lately like setting a budget is useless as there is no way i can stick to it just because the prices of stuff. This recession has a lot to answer for.

However, i will try and cut down cost of meals somehow. www.moneysavingexpert.co.uk forums have a lot of good ideas. I normally just use them for cheap meal ideas but i think i should visit the site and keep an eye on the groceries boards, the ones that tell you when certain supermarkets have stuff on offer. I asked some girl friends last week what cheap meals they all cook...didn't realise how big a laugh that would turn into...one lovely lady does hot dogs and baked beans mixed into pasta...my sis in law nearly split her seams laughing at that one, hence i don't think she fancied it...what can i say - different strokes for different folks (hee hee)

We've had the birth of a new cousin this weekend and there are loads more babies due so i need to work on sewing some gifts to save some money. I have all the supplies to make a rag quilt and i found a tutorial on pinterest. Just need some batting and some time to sit at the sewing machine to see if i can still use it.

My next post will be some stuff i've made lately. I promise xxx