Sweet Peas, Buttons and Charity Shops

Well hello friends. Thank you to Jane and Louise who tried to help with my two (of many, many) problems. Jane - I fear my sweet peas might be past the pinching out stage. What say you?

Some of the stalks are pretty thick - I'll know next year I guess, and what I do have smell divine. Louise - I think I'm going to have to wait until I get the new Blogger dashboard. Mine is old-stylee. I'm sure there must be some way of adding the HTML code but I'll wait and do it the dork-friendly way!

I got a couple nice useful bits from a charity shop in the city centre on Wednesday. I try to buy things I can make a profit on or that I know I'll use. Having said that I've bought lots of stuff for Red and Mr Charming in the past that I thought would be great for them, only to find it thrown in a corner of their respective rooms. I won't do it any more now.....hope I've learned my lesson. So anyway, I'll show you what I bought.

Two rolls of Spiderman wrapping paper for 99p and two rolls of Cat in the Hat wrapping paper, also 99p. My nephew Little Baby Jack loves Spiderman whilst Carb Addict likes the Cat. The rolls are nearly 3' wide and are 5' long so I thought they were a good buy. Then I got something to use when baking.

It's a volume measure, for dry goods. At the risk of telling you all what you already know, rather than weighing flour, sugar, rice or whatever out you just pour it into this cup, which has handy 'weight' measures for a variety of different stuffs. Does that make sense? I should've photographed the inside to make it really clear. I have a lot of baking to do this weekend so it will be getting  some use. It's brand new and I paid £1.99. We are celebrating July 4 at work so I am making brownies, cupcakes, scones, apple tart, lemon meringue pie and muffins (yep, I know.....I try too hard). I also found a recipe for Red Velvet Cheesecake that sounds delish so I'm going to make that too. Nom nom nom. Then I bought this Jenga knock-off for £1.99.

I bought it for the old people I work with. Their current favourite is Connect Four but I thought they might like this, and I'll get reimbursed for it so it's all good. Finally I spotted this and paid £2.99. It's also brand new, originally from Lakeland. I have bought a couple of these in the past for Babcia - usually Brown Bag Cookie Molds  - so I picked this up for her Christmas stocking.

 What do you think of my buys? I also bought something yesterday for my swap partner's parcel but I'm not going to post that in case she sees it. Did anybody else find that they have bought things for Lakota's swap then keep seeing things that you thing your swap buddy might like more? I've been doing that for a month so far....  :(  I suppose I'll be happy with what I've got at some stage.

Plenty of other stuff has been happening but I'll save it for a couple more posts. It looks like Red's landlord problems have been somewhat sorted out but it has cost us the best part of £700 and I'm a bit gutted to be honest. Our emergency cushion has been severely deflated but....o well, that's what parents are for, right?

As well as my baking sesh I am hoping to go car booting on Sunday before I go into work - don't usually do Sundays but I've arranged a little party for the tennis finals and I need to go and supervise the strawberries and cream. Though whether the residents'll be interested now Murray is out is debatable!

What are your plans for the weekend?

Home Again, Home Again Jiggity-Jig..

Well, I'm back from my Welsh sojourn and I have to say it was a great holiday, short as it was. The weather was more or less great, the scenery was stunning and I have to say that, despite the Welsh once being my most disliked and feared race (following a very disturbing and frankly bizarre incident at the B&I ferry terminal in Holyhead), I am now a fully fledged fan of Wales. Sorry Lakota, Jane and Lucy by the way.. :S

If you've never tried a Daily Mail holiday you really should because they're awfully good value - we stayed at Brynowen near Borth, which is close to Aberystwyth. If you've never been try to visit. The views are incredible and it's just such a beautiful country. I think you can travel all over the world and still be amazed by what we have here in the UK.

I won't bore you with lots of photos because if you're Welsh or you love Wales then you know what it looks like; and if you haven't ever been...get yourself over there and don't waste time looking at second-hand pictures!!

I'm not sure what this fantastic Gothic-y place is on Aberystwyth seafront...a lady passing by said that it belongs to the University but was once an hotel. If only it still was!!! I'd pay an arm and a leg to stay there. It's like the house from 'The Haunting' with the vibe of the Overlook Hotel in 'The Shining'. Very disappointing to peep in the windows and just see boring files.

What was this place? The carvings and architectural details are incredible but like I said, I won't bore you with any more pics of it, not least because I'm saving one or two for the monthly photo scavenger hunt over here. Oh alright, one more.

My pic is a bit overexposed - this place is so incredible...

Just nearby is a set of mosaic murals that show different events in Welsh/Aberystwythian history. My interest in the macabre was piqued by this one...



We kept intending to go on the funicular but didn't get round to it...maybe next time.

We went for a ride on the Vale of Rheidol railway....more lovely scenery.

Probably our favourite place was Aberaeron. We had a lovely walk along the harbour; a gorgeous honey ice cream from The Hive; and a really nice river walk.

Look at the colour of that sky.....heavenly place

And naturally, since I am taking part in this....

I did plenty of this......

Not that many good bits to be had though I did get one or two. Plenty of Welsh themed souvenirs obviously but as my swap partner Lucy is from Wales it'd be a bit like taking coals to Newcastle if I bought her anything with 'A Present from Cymru' on it. Mind you, having seen how gorgeous and cool Lucy is I'm worried that she'll take one look at her swaps and decide I'm barking mad. Hmmmm.....might need a rethink :(

....and on the fifth day we came home, via Hay-on Wye. Being a massive book fan I had wanted to visit here since first I heard about the Literary Festival years ago. It's certainly full of bookshops!!! There's also a brilliant indoor Antiques Market, full of individual units and cases. I saw the most fabulous vintage wedding dress, white satin with a nipped-in waist, Peter Pan collar and masses of little satin-covered buttons up the front. There was the head dress too, a kind of white satin tiara, plus the white shoes to go with it. It dated from the 1940s and was only about £75. If you wanted something totally unique for your wedding day it would be just perfect. The prices in general were very reasonable and there were sooooo many things I would've loved to buy.

So, there you have it. Four nights in Aberystwyth. Nice food (but sorry genethod, Welsh Cakes and Bara Brith....double yuck :S), lovely weather, stunning scenery, great people. When can I go back?

Trip To York

Big Man and I had a really lovely time in York - I didn't want to come home! I was surprised by the size of it - we kept finding more and more places to look around. I liked the Shambles, though Big Man was a bit disappointed with it.

Little shrine to Blessed Margaret Clitherow at The Shambles - so peaceful

I don't think I could be disappointed with any part of York. Of course we did the touristy bits; the Jorvik Centre, where I made the mistake of listening to 'Jorvik's' narration in the little car, rather than the sensible, informative narration; and the York Dungeon where one of us (alright, it was me) was pulled out of the group to be put in the dock in the courtroom. I had to sing, dance and call on Beelzebub. On the basis that I will never see any of the other people again I threw myself into it, in a way that anybody who sees me regularly would have been amazed at. What can I say? I was on holiday.

There was some fantastic architecture to be seen, a lot of it high up.

And of course the Minster was incredible. It's hard to believe that this carving is still all done by hand. But great that it is - at least mechanisation hasn't completely taken over. See the contrast between the new carving and the eroded old carvings?



We saw some geese with their goslings just near the Castle. As soon as you went near the mothers set up such a hissing and were really aggressive, showing that mothers are the same whatever their species!

I know I said that nothing about York was a disappointment to me but in fact I was very let down by the charity shops. If you remember I'd printed off my list specially but there was nothing much to interest me. They certainly know how to price up there too! I got a couple of bits but nothing with the wow factor. We drove through Big Man's old stomping ground, Nottingham, on the way home and I saw some tasty looking charity shops around Hyson Green but he refused to stop, much to my annoyance. Maybe it was for the best....I'd spent quite enough. A lot less than I would have done this time last year. But enough.

York. It's corking!





I Has New Pyrex!!!

For a long time I've been collecting Pyrex. At one stage you could make quite a bit of money from it on eBay but the bottom seems to have dropped out of the market a bit lately. Trends seem to come and go - for a while buyers paid a premium for Carnaby/Tempo pattern, then it was Chelsea. Chelsea still does okay - Autumn Gold/Autumn Glory had a flurry, but now it looks like June Rose and Cottage Rose are in the ascent. However, I don't go for any of those patterns. My favourites, as used by Babcia many years ago, are the Fruits/Vegetables/Fish variety. Not quite so commonplace but a bit funkier than the rest.

I bought this lovely oblong dish in a charity shop the other day. At £3.50 it was a bit more than I usually pay but I had to have it.

Look at that splendid lobster! This dish is about 10" by 7" I suppose and a good size for a Shepherd's Pie or stuff like that. The only problem is that I have one just the same, with lid, in June Rose....and I don't need two. So I'll be eBaying the Rose one when I stop procrastinating and start listing again. Soon, my darlings....soon.

Any other Pyrex fans out there? I also love Gooseberry and Clover and have some beautiful big mixing bowls in those designs. There is a pretty good website here if you have any unidentified Pyrex lurking in your cupboards. I'm not a collector as such but I like using cool old stuff plus it reminds me of growing up. That's good, right?

PS  Sad clown face tonight....Mr Charming is en route back to Cornwall and won't be home for five weeks. Only Big Man and Carb Addict left here now.

Oh, How Times Change!

I have a confession. I am a charity shop addict and I want to stand up and be counted. After a mystery shop this afternoon (that I was forced to abandon half-way through, but that's another, highly embarrassing story) I had a quick skeg in the nearby charity shops. As part of the 'New Frugality' that has hit Keshling Towers I'd made a vague resolution to avoid buying unneccesary items from charity shops but I saw this item and at 25p it was just too good and useful a bargain to pass up.

Sam Costa was a singer back in the day, wartime years I guess, who became a radio presenter on Luxemburg and Radio 2, latterly with a kind of 'Housewives Choice' show. This book is full of hints (587 of 'em) from his listeners. It was published in 1970 and it really shows how times have changed. Some of them are timeless;
340. Gas Burners..Never light the front burners on the gas stove before the back ones, or your sleeve or blouse may catch alight.
279. Carpets..Coffee stains can be removed from carpets by using a solution of sodium bicarbonate in warm water.
Others are slightly less relevant, shall we say;
416. Unwanted Woollens..Unwanted woollen jumpers and cardigans can be cut down for children, providing the cut edges are then crocheted or blanket-stitched.
Hmmmm....and there's this one;
565. Notes for Tradesmen..Notes for tradesmen, kept in an old photo frame hung on the outside wall, will not get wet or blow away. That'll be notes like 'collect my rubbish you lazy sods' would it?
My favourite, and the one which caused Mr Charming some degree of puzzlement, was;
386. Darning Socks..Use an old electric lightbulb for darning socks. 'What's darning?' asked Mr Charming (18 yrs 9 mths). Before too long we'll be saying 'What's an electric bulb?'
Oh, how times change!

PS. I see eBay has a copy of 'Sam Costa's Handy Hints' priced at £6.27....