£1 well spent

Hello. Thought I would show you what you get in a £1 pack of  seeds and bulbs. I planted them in five storage boxes, I had already drilled the holes in the bottom because I've been using them for growing veg. There are lots of little pink flowers with two colour leaves, and some pink flowers on long stalks. Quite a good show for £1, think I will get some more next year. 

Can you talk among yourselves while I pop out, won't be long. Turn the light out when you leave.
Toodle pip

Hey big spender !

Hello, back again. Oh Lordy, I've spent some money today, stocked up on pet food mainly. Heidi will only eat the small pouches of Sheba, six for £1.50. Bugsy has taken a liking to Gourmet Gold, three small tins for £1. Mayze likes her sliced chicken or turkey or ham, around a pound a packet. All the cats like the Ultima dried food, can get it from the £1 shop. And Rocky likes the Chicken Jerky and the Frolics. Me, what do I get? Anything that's reduced from Tesco, or cheap from the cash and carry. 

Here's the breakdown of spends.

Wilco £4.10. cat and dog food.

Poundland £10. Ultima dried and cooked meats. 

B & M discount store £9.93. Sheba cat food, deli dog treats.

Home Bargains £11.05. jerky fillets, vinegar, bleach, body lotion, Nivea soft.

Poundworld £5. Gourmet Gold cat food, chicken dog treats.

Cash and Carry £8. Tripe dog treats, wet dog food, muesli, linseeds, malt loaf. 

Market £4. Frolics and dog treats.

Tesco £9.81. Cat litter, cat food, milk, bread, pasta salad, salad leaves, yogurts. 

Tesco filling station £40.31. Petrol fill up. 

Good grief, £82.20. 

Ooops, nearly forgot, add one more pound to that for this skirt from Age UK charity shop. It would look lovely on someone of a more senior disposition, 75 or 80 perhaps. Lovely fabric and it looks brand new. Fabulous vibrant colours, not for me to wear, I can see cushion covers. 

Time to clock off. Thanks for popping in and thanks for all the teef stories, seems I am not the only one who was scared out of her pants at the school dentist. At some point I will be doing a disappearing act, but do not despair, I will be back with lots of pics. Catch you tomorrow. Toodle pip

For those with a sweet toof

Hello. Here's something to be going on with while I get on with house and holiday prepping stuff. I really must get off my backside and get some practicalities done, so to keep you amused for a few hours have a look at this. If you love sweets it will make your mouth water, if you love colour you will instantly feel refreshed and happy, and if you love innovation and ideas you will feel inspired. See what you think.

Candy Anatomy, Delicious Diagrams

Catch you later.

A stitch in time saves loads of money

Hello. This post is for all shoppers in England. Are you ready for the new carrier bag charge that will come in on October 5th? All retailers who have more than 250 employees must charge a minimum of 5p for every single use plastic carrier bag they hand over to a customer. So, if you don't want to pay for your bags what are the options? 

You can purchase a bag for life, they are plastic and around 10p. When they are worn out you take them back to the shop and they exchange it for a new one free of charge. You can buy thick heavy duty bags that supermarkets sell from around £1 and upwards, or you can make your own, like these. I ran them up in a couple of hours on the machine this afternoon. They are made from heavy blackout curtain fabric which I got from the Scrapstore. You could use any curtain fabric you have.   

If you want to have a go, here are the links to a couple of pages I wrote about how to make them.
Make your own shopping bag, from October 2013.
Shopping bags and food, from February 2015

If anyone wants to know more about the new rules, here is an article on the Gov.uk web site.

There's only a month to go, but you can start preparing now. It's a good idea to get into the habit of putting your shopping bags back in the car as soon as you have emptied them, that way you won't forget them next time you need them. If you don't go shopping by car, maybe a bus, or bicycle, or walk, find a place to keep your bags close to the front door, so you remember to pick them up before you go. Have you got a cupboard or a shelf, or hang them on the coat rack by the handles. What you could also do is stick a post it note on the inside of your front door to remind you to take them, until you get into the routine of always picking them up before you leave.

You might want to have a few different types of bags for different types of shopping. If you take a handbag to work you could have a thin nylon bag which folds up very small and fits into your handbag. You could have different sizes of bags, the smaller ones fitting inside the largest bag so you only have one to carry to the shop. A mesh type bag would be useful to carry your veg in then if it has any dirt on it won't contaminate any of your other shopping. You might need a smaller box type bag which is very strong to take the weight of the tinned food. Or a large lightweight bag for the cereal boxes and bread.

Start collecting your bags now so you are ready, and get in the habit of always taking them with you. Then you will never be caught out and have to pay for carrier bags.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip

Thumbs up for the teef ;o)

Hello. Good news on the toothy peg front, me gnashers are good, don't need any treatment, £18.80 paid for checkup, don't need to go for another year. Brushing and flossing is good for teeth, it saves you money, and pain. Clean teeth every morning and every night. Don't go to bed with dirty teeth, even if you are dead tired. Don't have a mug of cocoa in bed then go to sleep. Get up and go to the bathroom and brush. Don't drink that first cuppa of the day before you have brushed your teeth. Get up and brush first, then go downstairs and make a drink. Or get someone else to make it for you. These are the rules ;o)

My dentist is very nice, she is called Emma. She gives me a thorough check up around my whole mouth, sticks her fingers in, put your tongue to the left, and to the right, stick your tongue out. She prods and pokes about. Today she didn't have to say anything to her assistant who takes the notes, there was nothing to write down.

I had a terrible fear of dentists as a child. I remember going to the school dentist when I was at junior school. A big man came to the school once in a while, we all had to go and see him. It was an old building, there was a coal fire in the grate, and his sausage dog lay next to it. There wasn't a chair to sit in, you had to stand in front of the dentist with your mouth wide open. I remember having a tooth out, he dabbed some foul tasting brown liquid on it with cotton wool, then took a pair of pliers and yanked it out. He was horrible, I hated it.

When I was a bit older mum took me to a dentist in town, he worked from home, it was a big house and his front room was his surgery. His name was Mr Brown, everyone called him Butcher Brown. Another horrible man, more bad experiences.I was scared to death of him. Mum only took us if we were in pain, we never had regular check ups because my mum was scared of dentists herself. Eventually when I left school and started working, I found another dentist, Mr Stone in New Street was much better, though I only went when I had to.

When I went to live in Blackpool I went with my friend to the dentist, she was happy to go. I remember I had toothache on one particular occasion and she said come in with me and see the dentist. I said no, and stood outside waiting for her. I was in agony but wouldn't go in. Then some children came and happily skipped in through the door. I felt ashamed that I was too much of a coward to go in. Eventually the pain got so bad, and I thought of the children going in, and thought if they can do it I can do it. So I plucked up courage to go, and after that went more regularly. After three years living in Blackpool I went back home, and picked up with Mr Stone again. I stayed with him for many years until I moved away again.

When I came to live here I went to a dentist that someone recommended. I didn't like him though, he didn't say much and I like to be kept informed about what is going to happen. I don't like surprises, I want them to be nice to me. I mentioned it to my next door neighbour, who luckily enough was a dentist practice manager. She said come to our surgery, ring up and make an appointment, so I did. And that's how I met Emma. I will stick with her. Everyone at the practice is nice as well, the receptionists, and assistants, it's even nice sitting in the waiting room. It's a bit further for me to drive there, as it's the other side of town, but worth it so I'll keep going.

Anyway, that's my teef, now share your teef stories.

Tomorrow I will start getting a few things together for the holiday. Looking forward to that. Three blog readers have said they might be able to meet up, if they can spare the time. That would be nice, but if you can't ladies, don't worry. I don't expect people to drop what they are doing if you have commitments elsewhere. I have added an extra day to the holiday, a friend who used to live here in the village now lives near Great Yarmouth, so I'm going over there to visit. That will be nice.

Off to bed now. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip

A very useful hippy bag

Hello, as promised, the latest bag. It's a sort of multi purpose, patchwork type colourful hippy bag. It's got loads of room and can be used as a work bag, with the option of picking a few items up at the supermarket on the way home. It could be a beach bag, or a day out bag, or an overnight bag. It's strong and sturdy, some machine stitching and mostly hand stitching. 

The handles are attached onto the outside with cross stitch, and are long enough to go over the shoulder. 

It's quite thick, each side has four layers, an inside and an outside and two layers of hessian in the middle. 

The back is just one piece of colourful fabric. I love the vibrancy of this, and I have plenty more left.

This close up pic makes it look slightly pink, but it is more red, as above.

The lining is plain red cotton.

I'm chuffed with it. It was a bit of an experiment after I did the book cover in a similar style, I wanted to make something bigger.

Kitty news....a pregnant mum came into the rescue and she has given birth to three adorable kittens. Mum is grey short haired and so are the kittens. She lived before with an elderly gentleman who went into care and the family couldn't take her in.

A letter has arrived from the NHS, my poo test is clear, says she heaving a sigh of relief  :o))  Dentist annual check up tomorrow, wish me luck. There will be extra scrubbing and flossing of teeth tonight and tomorrow morning.

The car is booked in for it's MOT. If anyone is looking for a cheapie place to take their car, check out the Halfords Autocentre web site. An MOT costs £30 if you book online. They also do deals on servicing as well. Worth a look if you don't already have your own local reliable garage services.

The sun has come out and I am off outside for an hour or two, so I'll say tatty byes and toodle pip. Catch you soon.

A stitch in time, takes all day

Hello. I'm a bit late tonight. I have been sewing like crazy all day, working on the bag of many colours. I was hoping to put the pics on here tonight, the bag is finished, but the photo's do not take well with a flash, so I'll have to take more tomorrow in the daylight. I took it with me to Crafty Club and worked on it, then sat all day at the computer watching catch up while I stitched. 

There were some interesting programmes on iplayer. First Dragons Den which I like, some crazy business ideas are pitched in the hope that the Dragons will back them. One woman was offered the full amount by Peter Jones but he wanted 30% of her posh drinks business. She wouldn't go more that 25% so the silly woman turned him down. Big mistake, she had a good product and he could have done wonders with getting it out there in the stores. Then I watched a documentary about Anthony Hopkins, what a nice man, and very talented, and another about Omar Sharif. After that I watched two episodes of the Bake Off programme, not the whole programme but the Extra Slice follow up programme. I like Jo Brand, she makes me laugh. And after that I watched a documentary about Frank Sinatra, I never knew he sang a duet with Elvis Presley, then followed by a Doris Day documentary. I stopped that half way through it because that was when I finished the bag, and had to make a phone call. Next I have to clean Heidi's litter box out, and walk Rocky, and feed Bugsy, then maybe I will go to bed. 

A house is not a home without a cat. This is Mayze waiting for me to come home. She is a sweetheart mostly, but she has bullied Heidi in the past. I wondered if that was what made Heidi poorly. Heidi is much happier now she has her own territory in the living room, and Mayze is keeping out of her way. 

We've had some smashing sunsets over the last few days. As usual I rushed to the back of the church to take some snaps overlooking the river.

Love the reflections in the river. There are some houses which overlook this view, wish I could afford one, they are much more expensive than mine. Wouldn't it be lovely to be able to sit on a balcony and watch the sun go down.

Walking back up the street, I turned to see if it was still there, and it was.

Got lots to do this week, dog walks, dentist, and getting ready for the holiday, and cleaning house for the cat sitter. Rocky is by my side, tail wagging, he wants to go out, so I'll say toodle pip for now. Thanks for popping in.