My name's Leah, and I'm a candleaholic

Last night I was sorting through some cleaning supplies and came across one or two candles and air fresheners... I think I might have a problem!

Bathroom refit- check!

Ta da! Here it is, pictures of our very new and definitely improved bathroom. The IT guy has done such a good job and my Dad's help was really appreciated! For us it was all about adding a bath and updating the overall look of the bathroom, whilst still trying to maximise on space.

We (the royal 'we' of course- my only contribution was to keep the workers well fed and watered!) took out the shower unit and installed a new compact bath. It's only 20cm smaller than a standard bath but in a small bathroom it really makes a difference!

The floor and wall tiles were both courtesy of B&Q and my Dad's trade discount card and I think the white tiles really help to give the illusion of space.

We were able to move the far wall back by about 12cm so that was great for adding more space. The previous owner had done some very odd DIY in there so it turned out to be as much about fixing all of his little oddities as well as modernising.

We're really pleased with the new sink- partly because it's not enclosed in a chunky, ugly cabinet and partly because it's not made of plastic!

The tall cabinet was one of our best ideas I think. We didn't have much space for storage so we thought a tall, skinny cabinet was the way to go. This one from Ikea is great, it's only about 20cm wide but it's 6ft high so we can fit lots in it.

Blooper- The IT guy put the mirror a little too high for me so I can only see the top half of my face in it. Never mind, that's what tippy toes are for!

As with any good DIY project, we went a little over budget and a little over schedule but it was all worth it in the end.

And finally, you may be interested (and grossed out) to learn that I had a sickness bug at the beginning of the week, so I have well and truly 'christened' our new bathroom!

A very jolly holiday

I felt Christmassy in November, but it slowly ebbed away with every DIY noise that could be heard from our bathroom. We've gone 7 days over the schedule that we devised but at last, the final day has arrived. Can I get a hurray?
Jobs left to do- seal the bath side panel, screw the blind back up at the window, screw the toilet roll holder back onto the wall and grout the last few tiles behind the sink. Ta dah!
I'll post some pictures when it's all done- hopefully I'll be able to take them tonight!

I'm trying to feel Christmassy again, because the big day is only 9 days away, so I thought I'd share with you some snaps of our decorated house.

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!

I had to leave out a few of the lower branches so that it would fit nicely into a corner, but it's worked real well. Do you like our snowflake star? It was so tricky finding a pure white tree topper that we liked!

These were our favourite additions to the tree ornaments this year- a his and hers gingerbread couple!

The IT guy chose this pretty angel in the shop when we were picking out our decorations 

I've had this gingerbread house for a few years now, I bought it from Woolworths (which doesn't even exist anymore) when I was younger and I've got it out every Christmas since

These were printables that I found online and I framed them using plain silver frames from the pound shop. I love how they help me remember what's really important about Christmas- carols, being merry and joyful and the birth of Jesus

Our advent calendars.
This year the IT guy has filled mine with slips of paper telling the Christmas story in daily installments. I've filled his with yummy chocolates and some activities like 'tonight we will watch a Chrsitmas movie and enjoy a lovely hot chocolate'

Well what do you know? It worked and I feel Chrsitmassy again!
Merry Christmas everyone!

We are family!

A month or so ago we had a studio session to get some up-to-date family photographs. The last time we did this was about six years ago so the family has changed a lot since then! We've gained two babies, lost an other-half and gained two other-halves!
Here are a few of the proofs, they still need touching up of course!

Everyone

The kids 'beating up' their Uncle Marc 

Mr and Mrs IT guy 

I'm quite pleased with the photo's that we got out of the session, though in true female style there were only a few pictures of myself that I didn't cringe over!

"The fellow who owns his own home is always just coming out of a hardware store"

The guy who said this was called Frank McKinney (Kin) Hubbard and he was born in 1868. I don't really know what life was like in the 1800's, but I certainly know that this is true now! There's always some project or another that needs doing around the home or garden.


This week we've turned our house upside down for a much anticipated bathroom refit. After quite a few months collecting taps, a sink and other bathroom bits in our garage, the time had come for them to make their way into the house. Cue a talented Dad and a willing husband!

Before I was born my parents would move from house to house doing home improvements (often living in rubble for several months) and selling the properties for a small profit. After they'd done this 13 times in 15 years they moved to the house I've known since childhood, and by this time my Dad had acquired a lot of experience and expertise in all things DIY.

The tiles came off the walls (goodbye 80's tiles!) and the shower cubicle was dismantled (so long leaky shower!) The cabinet came off the wall (laters caravan cabinet!) and the sink came out of it's chunky cupboard home (hello extra space!)
This is the point where I switch to the future tense, because everything else is still in progress!

We've taken delivery of a shiny new 1500mm bath (standard sized baths are 1700mm) and an extending screen so we can have both a bath and a shower. We also have a new sink and pedestal and a set of mixer taps for the sink and bath (the IT guy doesn't like that I leave both the hot and cold water running while I'm washing my face and feels that mixer taps are the way to address my temperature preference issues) =)
I just couldn't resist buying this celebratory decoration for the new bathroom... we've never had a bath before!



So yes, the dust may be driving me up the wall and yes, the protective sheeting on the carpets is tripping me up a few times a day and yes, using the shower at my office is pretty much THE most inconvenient thing ever- but the bathroom is coming along really nicely and it's going to look great!
Grand reveal pictures soon!

Recharging my batteries

Yesterday I had a very cheeky, very lovely day off work. A few weeks ago I was feeling a little overwhelmed by work and a few other things so I booked a midweek break for the next convenient opportunity.

You might think that I did as little as possible on my extra day off- not so my friends! Visiting teaching in the morning, wrapped the IT guy's Christmas presents, a spot of laundry, decorating some of my homemade jams to give at Christmas and a quick clean around the house (and when I say quick, I mean quick, because next week we're having a new bathroom fitted complete with new floor and wall tiles so I can imagine that it's going to get a bit messy!)

Not bad huh! And I had dinner on the table a mere 10 minutes after the IT guy got home from work- thanks to my trusty slowcooker. I'm ready for my housewife pinny now.



This might all sound like a day of work to some, but to me, utter bliss. I felt rejuvenated and ready to face the world once more.
My one regret is that I didn't get chance to make a pie in my pretty new pie dish. Don't you just love it?
Maybe one day I'll choose a piece of kitchen or homeware that isn't green, just to feel daring.


Can anyone reccommend a good recipe for a savoury pie that I could attempt?

Giving thanks

Thanksgiving is primarily an American holiday and isn't celebrated here in the UK, but we have some family in the USA and a lot of American friends so I don't feel like too much of a hijacker by celebrating it each year. In fact, I think we'll make it a family tradition to always celebrate Thanksgiving. Thinking about our blessings and all of the things that we're grateful for seems to me to be one of the best reasons for a celebration.

Here are a few things I'm grateful for...

 

The IT guy- he works so hard for our family

Extended family- everyone's so different and yet I think we fit together quite nicely =)

My slow cooker- anyone who has one will understand completely!

Cheese- I have a dairy intolerance so I can't have it very often, but oh how I adore cheese!

My home- ok, so this isn't a picture of my home, but I love having somewhere I can go at the end of each day that is peaceful and all mine

Good friends- does anyone else have friends that you don't see for weeks or months but when you meet up again it's just the same?

Living in a free country- the news is full of stories about opression, tragedy and unrest. I'm grateful to live in a country where people can work, worship and spend their lives as they choose

Christmas- I'm so grateful for Christmas. I love the way that everyone seems happier and more kind-hearted than usual. I love that it's a time for family, and a time to remember the things that are important in life

What are you grateful for?

Visits from family

Today I'm excited because this weekend my Dad and stepmother are coming to visit. We hardly ever get visitors! (which makes me seriously consider abandoning the guestroom half of the guestroom slash craft room) Hmm, I feel another project coming on =)

They met about two years ago, fell in love and married last June. They're so happy together, and I'm so happy for them! I just adore love stories.

Speaking about love stories, I seriously enjoyed this clip, give it a chance and I think you'll like it too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJWlavnM6b0&feature=related

So my Saturday comprises of a mini lay-in (anything is a lay-in when you wake up at 6.30am every weekday), a cooked breakfast for everyone and probably a leisurely browse around the charity shops in the afternoon. Here's to hoping there are some vintage finds and beautiful craft/recipe books for me to buy!!

Happies

People spend a lot of time pursuing happiness in their lives don’t they? Whether it’s hobbies, careers, holidays, families or anything else, I think we’re doing those things to try to make ourselves happy.

I learnt today that I only need one thing to make me happy.

Picture this. It’s a cold, windy day in November and you’re walking through the town centre on your lunch break. You thought thick tights and a skirt would be just as warm as trousers (you were wrong) You’ve been sat in your office alone all morning, and out of the inevitable ‘hand-boredom’, ate your sandwiches much too early. You walk past a well-known fried chicken take away restaurant that you pass almost every day without any temptation and… you practically float away on the aroma like Shaggy in Scooby Doo.

The slightly spicy yet beautifully mellow taste of the popcorn chicken floods your memory, and you don’t even try to resist. Deep. Fried. Poetry.

This is what made me happy today. Popcorn chicken. Delicious popcorn chicken, thank you for your mood enhancing properties, today was a good day for you to land in my stomach. You were the best £4.39 I ever spent. We don’t encounter each other very often, but nonetheless I hope today was as special for you as it was for me.

Wedding stationery

One of my biggest craft projects to date is preparing the stationery and various decorative elements for mine and the IT guy's wedding. There were the invitations, the centre pieces, the the favors, the decorative bunting and some other things. I really wanted to put a personal touch on our special day.

I chose a colour scheme of a pale sage and other autumnal colours. Here are a few pictures...

I made about 80 metres of bunting in five different country-style fabrics...

The centre pieces...

The name places...

And the favors.

It was a bit of a challenge creating everything for 140 people but I had quite a few months to prepare and I managed to rope the IT guy in to help sometimes! It was wonderful to have the opportunity to able to craft on a large scale and work with an entire theme and colour scheme, rather than one individual card, scrapbook layout or gift.

A few words on cooking

I enjoy to bake, and I like to think I'm pretty good at it. I can make a cheese sauce from scratch (which I'm led to believe isn't the easiest thing in the world to do) I can throw herbs and spices into things and it's always a good combination. I can make biscuits and cakes that look like the picture on the recipe.

Until they don't. And I don't take this very well.

I know it's irrational, but when a recipe doesn't go right, it really bothers me.
I feel like being able to cook is an inherent female talent, that everyone has, and if other people can do it then I MUST be able to do it. When I can't I get annoyed with myself and (don't tell anyone) I've been known to shed a few tears.

Tonight I made the most delicious pumpkin tray bake cake. You know those cake's where you think that the cake can't possibly taste any better than the uncooked mixture? Well this was one of those. When it had baked to golden perfection and smelt divine I took it out of the oven and admired my creation. I left it to cool for 5 minutes as the recipe instructed, and tried to take it out of the tin. It was stuck. No matter, I have the tools for such a quandary as this. Out comes the pallet knife and soon it's looser. I turn it over onto the cooling rack and get the oven glove caught underneath the cake. Next thing I know the cake I spent all evening making, is in four pieces and looks like an cracked paving slab. Here's what came into my mind (and out of my mouth)

'That's it. I give up. I can't cook. Why do I even bother trying? What a waste of an evening and ingredients.'
And then I sat on the sofa and watched television for an hour whilst the IT guy made what is bound to be a delicious pumpkin pie.

Perhaps I don't like failure. Perhaps I'm just in a family of pretty awesome cooks that I'm trying to live up to. Perhaps I'd like cooking to be 'my thing' and I just haven't had enough practice. Whatever the reason, I think I need to learn that it's alright for a recipe not to work out or for me to make a mistake. It's not making a statement about my role as a woman and wife, and it's probably not something to still be thinking about (and blogging about!) a few hours after the event.

Maybe if I got some cats, then that could be my thing? What do you think?

 

Money saving antics

You may or may not know that I'm a bit of a bargain hunter. I often have coupons to use when I'm doing my weekly shop, I sign up for free samples of things and get quite excited when there's something good in the reduced section in the supermarket that is 'suitable for home freezing.'
That's not to say that I don't spend money (because I do!), I just like to think that I'm saving money on some things so that I can spend it on something more fun!

As part of this mantra that I live by, I don't buy magazine's. I think they're expensive and I can buy a new book for about the same price. Though I have to admit, there is something very posh feeling about buying a magazine and feeling posh whilst reading it ("oh yes, I can waste nearly five pounds on this magazine, because I'm so exceedingly successful")

Yesterday I broke my rule about not buying magazines and spent no less than £12 on the suckers. Sounds like a lot right? But let me tell you a little about it before you judge me by my own yardstick

• The next three issues of 'BBC Good Food' for £1
• The next five issues of 'Quick Cards Made Easy' for £5. Each issue comes with a free gift and some papers
• The next six issues of 'Glamour' for £6 (does each issue of Glamour come with a free gift too?) They're also going to send me a free Dove haircare set for taking up the offer

Not bad huh? Fourteen magazines, five free gifts and a lovely shampoo set to seal the deal- all for £12- and all delivered to my house.

Almost as exciting as the time the IT guy found a huge New York style cheesecake in the reduced section for £1.
Almost... =)

Christmas cards (only 55 days to go!)

Crafting brings me a lot of joy, but it's doubled when I can share it with others.

Would anyone like a few simple and elegant handmade Christmas cards for this year? I have already made my own quota and still have lots of supplies left!

Leave me a comment below and I'd be happy to make some for you to give to your friends and family!

The craft room of loveliness

Some lucky people have their own hobby room, where they can do anything that they please. Scrapbooking, sewing, maybe a little model railway if that what floats your boat. Me, well, I have half a room. Our spare room is our guestroom slash my craft room- and I love it.

I tried to keep one end of the room as the guest room- with a bed and some furniture for people that stay at hotel Leah, and the other end of the room for my craft desk and bounteous supplies. But it hasn't really worked out that way. The bed has boxes of fabric underneath, the wardrobe is full of wrapping paper, ribbon and gift bags, and the chest of drawers currently houses all of the Christmas cards I've made for this year (and, I might add, the stamps that I'll need to send them)

Until recently we had a dear friend living with us, and when she left I took the opportunity to give my craft room a revamp. I planned the new bits of furniture and baskets/boxes I'd need, sketched designs of what it looked like- then threw all of these plans away because during all of my 'Grand Designs' planning, I forgot that the space I had to work with was only about 12' by 7'!

I love my new set up and how much easier if is for me to work on my projects. 

The fab bookcase was 99p from Ebay and the IT guy painted it for me in this lovely Farrow and Ball off-white. The desk is actually a computer desk and I really love that there's lots of cubby holes and storage compartments

I like being able to see my rubber stamps properly and now I can more easily choose which one I need for a particular card or project

Gift wrap central

Where I sew all of my own clothes (not!)

And finally, my two motto's in life...

Also, these are both notebooks- does that say something else about me?

Call me Lehi

It's not uncommon for me to have pretty vivid dreams, I apparently have a very active imagination. On Wednesday night however, I had a particularly disturbing one, though I don't remember it in too much detail now.
Here's what I remember- there was a national crisis of some variety, and the IT guy and I were fleeing the country with my sister and her family (in their big wagon of a car) We had all been taken by surprise so we hadn't taken anything with us and I think we all had pyjamas on too. Not exactly the vision of emergency preparedness. Some strange people were chasing us in the dream too, though I think this is where my dream blurs into some sort of sci-fi movie, again, not uncommon.

As a result of this night time episode, I woke from my 'vision' with an overwhelming urge to prepare 72 hour packs for myself and the IT guy. After all, Dennis Quaid could show up at any moment and I want to be one of those people hanging out on top of a sky scraper waiting for him, not dead in the snow.
I set to work that very day.

I had a spurt of righteousness a few months ago and visited a local camping shop to buy folding saucepans, compasses that I don't know how to read, and the like- so I knew that we had most of the necessary pack contents around the house. All that was left was to sew a couple of small towels and get some miniature shower gel's from the bathroom cupboard (there's no need for hygiene to go out of the window just because you're trekking to Missouri!), pack my Twilight book and raid the kitchen cupboards for food that could be prepared over a small fire.

Result! Two hiking backpacks that we would have no hope of being able to carry for more than about five miles and a list on the noticeboard of items to grab if ever we had to leave the house at short notice.

Earthquakes, avalanches and floods- we're ready for you!

Life as I know it

My life as I know it now began here, on 11th September 2010.

Lots of things changed that day

• Renouncing my old name and taking on one that's only fractionally less common than 'Jones'
• Accepting that I was now supposed to be an adult. I had a 'Mrs' in front of my name AND a mortgage
• Beginning to think about things like whether the ironing was up to date, how clean the fridge was and when the IT guy's next dentist appointment is

But what really changed for me was entwining my life with someone elses, and having a comrade to travel with through life's journey.

So even though I had been alive for 22 years when I got married, I feel like this is where it all began. 

A place for my ponderings

I told myself that I was much too busy to blog. I told myself that blogging is for other people, and not for me. But blogland persevered, and here I am, blogging.

It all began when someone mentioned a friends blog to me and I thought I should probably take a look ('because that's what good friends do', I told myself) Behold, a compulsion was born. Now I find myself slightly addicted to the blogs of friends and other bakers, organisers and crafters both near and far! The ideas, the photographs, the insight- it's like a feast for the mind!

My intention is that this blog will be my a place for my ponderings (which may well interest only myself!), projects (realised, unrealised and somewhere inbetween) and plans (of which there are many).

Welcome to my world.