Generally Gemma

Pancake Day!

Happy Pancake Day to one and all! A little photo montage to show the progress of Pancake Day in the Gemma household. (And yes Pancake Day does indeed require capitalisation!)

                          

Although all of those pictures show chocolate spread I hasten to add that I did also have the traditional lemon and sugar on most of them!

The wool for my hat arrived, a sort of pale lilacy colour which I am quite pleased with. Now, if only my beads would arrive I could get started. I think they have been lost in the post, surely it shouldn't take from Thursday till gone today for a small packet of first class post to arrive? Anyway, I have sent a polite email asking when I should begin to panic, so we will see!

Domesticity

Time for a bit of a recap I think, I've been a bit lazy about updating the last week and not given Bro something new to read every morning, so I will give him a treat on Monday morning by having a marathon post to read.

First of all, sending my books away to charity. Surely not all of them I hear you exclaim! No not all of them but there are only sooo many books a girl can have in the house and I sadly reached my limit. I have one big bookshelf in the lounge, which is two deep in books, one in G's room with a couple of shelves full, a load in the bedroom and a lot lying around in random places like the kitchen, my handbag, the bathroom. So, I made a decision to get rid of some, not my old friends that I read over and over but some that never really made it to the reread area and didn't really grab me as a keeper. I can't throw them away, because well books are  people/friends and you don't do that to them, even the ones you don't love. So, there were six carrier bags after the clear out to take to the charity shop. Which considering we don't drive was a bit of a mammoth task. But just in the nick of time a huge charity collection bin bag arrive which I stacked full and now I only have one plastic bag left. Impressive huh?

The weekend I had cleared to start my new knitting project, the Odessa hat, then one the beads I ordered didn't arrive and the knitting shop in the village, well, what a waste of time that was. I do try and support the small local shops but when she tries to foist things upon me that I really don't want and tells me what colour I really want my hat in, I want lilac not a sludge green! Well, then I start to take offense. Thank goodness for internet shopping is all I can say. So that should all arrive next week instead. But, Sunday, I was bored. The papers weren't helping to occupy me, I cleaned the kitchen out and it was only 11:00! What to do!

                               

So I baked, now bearing in mind that I am not eating these, well not all of them. They are for G to take into school for the staff room and I might take a few into work seeing as my Boss has been bemoaning the dearth of biscuits in the tin!

Then after being inspired by Yarnstorm's blog, I took advantage of the lovely sunlight and took some cookies outside to photograph with my snowdrops!

                        

I wish I hadn't paid any attention to the planting guidelines on the packet as they haven't really clumped as I had hoped they would and neither have my daffs and corcuses in the border. Ho hum, I will know for next time. I had visions of shoals of snow drops and a host of golden daffodils, but it is not to be.

As for my future thinking of plans. A quilt perhaps, a new departure for me, finding these new blogs to stalk is going to play havoc with my time! Also in the Guardian supplement there was an article on British Bluebells and where to buy plants from, I have a picture in my minds eye of a purple carpet at the end of the garden around the tree. Hmmm.

Oh, and the first strawberries of the season! Yummy.

      

A change is as good as a rest

Thought I'd change the layout. What do you think?

It can go back if you all hate it! That means you G!

Knitting

Well after having got off to a raring start with my knitting learning before Christmas, a scarf for me, a scarf for G and a scarf and hat for the Bro, I came screeching to a halt after Christmas due to the nasty, nasty wool that I choose for my next project.  Yes in the shop it may have looked pretty and fluffy and glittery but it was horrid to knit with. I had chosen another scarf, I am not to be concerned by the amount of scarves I have knitted all beginners knit a lot of scarves, apparently! The fluffy bits kept getting caught in the knitting so you couldn't tell what was knitting and what was fluff, so I dropped stacks of stitches, the glittery threads got caught up and had to be painstakingly teased out. Horrid, horrid, horrid. I had bought enough to a bag too, but that idea has been shelved until I forget how horrid this has been.

But I finally finished the scarf and can move onto something else. Here is the scarf itself in all it's lengthly fluffy glory draped over my tres chic radiator! It is quite long which is what I wanted really, and it is more of an accessory than a warmth thing. But it is fluffy and soft and lovely so it was not for nothing, but oh the pain of creation!

So then I had to find something else to knit. It was the weekend, G was away and I was bored so I found some wool that I had bought by mistake for Bro's Christmas scarf and hat and cast on for a hat for me. I deviated away slightly from the pattern though, as it was a bit big for me, so a bit experimental but if I do say so myself it turned out rather nicely. I didn't get any further than casting on at the weekend as I feel asleep, but I finished it yesterday and wore it today. Very warm it is too, stops my hair from flying around and blinding me and keeps my ears warm into the bargain. Excuse the cheesy/nasty/ugly self portrait, it was late last night and G refused to leave his marking of the school books to help me so I struggled along in my yellow and black (bleurgh) bathroom alone.

So, now I need something new. I was thinking about this. Another hat, but this one is knit, in the round, on needles that are joined with a bit of flex, so it would be something new for me, it also has little beads knitted into it, I'm not sure if you can see those in the picture, it also only uses one ball of wool, so it would be economical too and hopefully wouldn't take me too long so I wouldn't get bored with it! I have no patience! Not sure what colour I would do it in. I might have to go and visit my knitting shop and see if they have the wool so I can stroke it and see.

I have also been contemplating a slightly more ambitious project! An actual item of clothing. I found this freebie in a magazine that I bought and it looks pretty simple and I can substitute the wool for something cheaper. I also wouldn't knit it in these colours I don't think. Pistachio and raspberry together aren't really me. I have asked someone who does knitting if she thought this would be suitable for a sort of beginner and she seemed to think it wouldn't be too difficult, a challenge, yes but not impossible. So I was thinking I could have the hat as a confidence builder and knit the cardigan as a sort of moving my experience along a bit. After all I can't scarves forever! G is already making noises that I may have too many already!

Pictures of Purchases

The new bedside table I bought at Ikea. I also bought the basket to go on the bottom level as the old table had a drawer for all of the rubbish you seem to accumulate. The bowl on one of the shelves has a load of shells from home in it and some pink stones that I've collected. The other shelf, well that is a picture of me and G that is too soppy for public consumption in the living room! I've also hung all, well I say all, some of my scarves on the other side. Saves them being all scrumpled up in the bottom of a wardrobe somewhere! The tissues aren't normally there they are there because I am still recovering from the snuffles. I really need to think of something else to put on that shelf eventually, before it gets cluttered up with rubbish that is!

These things here are my little treasures. Some things that I've had since I was little that go with me where ever I go. Even when I first went to college! They are my night light from when I was a kid, a money box and my violin playing girl. Recentish additions are a silver teapot from my bro and silver fairy that G gave me for Christmas. Oh and a little gold wine glass that my Mummy made out of cigarette paper years ago!

Excuse the pictures, the light is really bad in there, very relaxing but not really conducive to decent picture taking! I know, I know, I should have sacraficed some sleep and taken them at the weekend!

Ikea and stuff

Apologies to my baby brother who apparently has built checking my blog out every morning into his morning routine. Yes, I know I've been crap and haven't updated in a week but I have had other priorities you know. Preparing the house for an inspection for most of last week and well, sleeping for most of the weekend. The shame of it all.

So travel way back into the mists of time to last week ...

G was on half term last week so I took Tuesday, Valentines Day off work and we spent the day together. I went to visit his classroom in the morning and order his classroom library for him. (I have taken pictures of him sitting at his desk but I will do a picture update later.) I met his other class teacher at last, which was nice to finally have a face to put to the name. She is a proper grown-up and doesn't attend the Friday afternoon booze up at the pub!

Then later on we went to Ikea, this has become a bit of a tradition with us. The idea of paying three times the price for a rubbish set meal on Valentines Day seems a bit of a rip off. So, we go to Ikea, I get a set amount to spend on a present and we have meatballs and chips in the restaurant there. Quality time together on a budget and some stuff! Can't go wrong really.

So this is what I got! I have been wanting to replace our bedside tables for a while now, but haven't really found anything I like. This isn't in the catalogue and was tucked away in a corner of one of the room sets. It has two metal shelves at the bottom, then a glass shelf and then three more glass shelves that are half depth. A steal at £24.95! I will post a picture of it later in situ as it were. They also do a half size one which I want to get for G's side of the bed. He is nearest the door so the tall one would look a bit odd there. We also bought a couple of new rugs, £1.99 each, a basket for my unit, some boxes for G's classroom and a toilet brush! Who said romance was dead!

The week after that was spent panic tidying and cleaning the house for the inspection by the landlady and the agent. Thank goodness G was on half term as most of it went on his chore list! Although boys never do tidy properly so I spent the evenings doing a final polish, putting away and arranging. I also managed to get to the bottom of the washing basket at last which was a bit of a relief. Radiators are a blessing that I will never do without again. The house now looks beyotifool and I am going to make, yet another, attempt to try and keep it that way. The inspection was passed and she isn't going to put it up for sale so we are safe for another year! The idea of having to leave my lovely little abode made me feel quite panicy.

Then G went to his Mum's for the weekend. I had planned to blog, take pictures and do some much needed hand washing and mending and did none of it! I went to the supermarket Saturday morning for supplies of a fishy nature, (G doesn't eat fish so when he goes away I indulge myself!) Came home had lunch and made tea thinking I will drink this and start and then next thing I knew it was 5:00 and my Mummy was on the phone! I had been asleep! So that was the end of my plans. I finally finished my last scarf on Sunday, I really need to move on to knitting something that isn't scarf! (I will post pictures of that later too!)

So that was that really, and now here we are Monday morning again!

Flowers for my Mummy

This post is really for my Mummy, so that she can see the flowers that I planted a couple of weeks ago. These ones are in a planter by my front door. There are five plants there and I have planted some lily of the valley at the back of the planter, but they have appeared yet. The other flowers there I think are going to be yellow and blue, but we will have to wait and see. (Found some new photoshop brushes!)

These are at the front of my house, there is a tree and as you can see I have planted them around the base. The tree isn't in the middle of the dug area though so I have just planted them in one side. The side that you see as you walk up to the house. Primroses and polyanthus again of varying colours. I bought a mixed tray of both, couldn't be doing with the whole colour co-ordinated thing!

These are my snowdrops. You will have to excuse the quality of the picture, G took all of these for me and I don't think he has quite bonded with his new camera yet! Although he has done really well. These are in a stone bowl at the back of the house on the terrace, there were lots of them planted in there, but the dreadful squirrels ate a load of the bulbs. Something I was not best pleased about I can tell you. They don't seem to have discovered a taste for daffodil and crocus bulbs though! They are all creeping up slowly but surely, just a lot of greenery at the moment, but some of them look as though they are about to burst out! Hopefully they will either do it tomorrow or wait to the weekend so that I can actually see them!

I've still got some lily of the valley and some freesias to plant but I'm not too sure where I am going to put those yet. I do have some more big pots I could plant them in, but then I would need to buy some dirt. Which means an expedition and pleading with G to carry them home for me. Which after tomorrows extravaganza to Ikea he might not be to keen on!

Yes folks for Valentines Day G and I are going to Ikea, to shop and for dinner! Meatballs and chips, yummy. We came to a mutual decision for the second year in a row that we are not going to pay the extortionate rates charged to go out for dinner on Valentines Day, where the menu is cut in half and you are rushed in and out. Far better to go to Ikea when it is empty!  I've taken the day off work as G is on half-term too, but we are going to go into school in the morning. I haven't seen his classroom since it officially became his so that should be nice. Oh the romance of it all!

Weekend antics

Well, I am still snotty and now officially have tissue nose. See below for a description, that according to my brother is far too much information for his needs. So apologies, I didn't mean to disgust anyone. :-)

So on to the news round up. Saturday I braved the weather with my snotty nose to see my brother and my cousin. We sat and drunk coffee and juice and gossiped about this that and the other. And then went for crepes!! My brother of for some strange reason has decided he is all about the savoury these days! Strange for the boy that used to "sleep" eat a bar of chocolate, not sure if I believe it. Anyway he had a cheese and ham crepe. If you look closely at the picture you may well see the stretching of the cheese betwixt mouth and crepe. G an I of course had chocolate, but then we are little greedlings!

My cousin though is a good girl, she declined the offer of a crepe and went straight for the dried fruit stall opposite! Where she didn't grab all the bananas and raisins she could find and stick them in her mouth as quickly as possible. (Who would do such a thing, <blush>?) Instead she sensibly picked three or four pieces and ate them delicately as a young lady should instead of troughing down chocolate crepe in the street. Although I hasten to add I didn't get any down me this time! An achievement indeed! 

As you can see, the novelty of photoshop brushes still hasn't worn off! I am sure it will eventually though.

The rest of the weekend, was spent in a cold induced blur of tidying, the rental agent and the land lady have decided they want to inspect the property. Who knows what for! I mean did G and I really look the sort that would have ritual sacrifices every full moon and a menagerie installed in the spare room? At least I hope we didn't! Anyway, they are coming on Thursday, G is on half term all week so I don't have to take a day off, my precious holiday is safe!

Disclaimer: The objects of my photos this week were unaware that I was taking photos and this is why in their eyes they may not look as they wish! I assure you they are beyootifool people!

Hypochondriac

As my family and friends will know I seem to always have something wrong with me, almost as if I enjoy being ill! Which I can assure you I don't. But public transport twice a day and G teaching snotty little children means I am exposed to more than my fair share of germs.

My normal course of action would be to take to my bed and have G bring me drugs and lots of tea and sympathy however, he isn't well either and has parents evening all week so is exhausted. So, I am struggling on, with the aid of cold medicine and hundreds of ultra balm tissues to try and stop tissue nose. You know when you nose goes all red and flaky from blowing and wiping it so much. Such an attractive look, only beaten by the smearing of Vaseline all over your chops to help stop it.

I must be well by the weekend though because my baby brother has decided to grace me with his presence for a few hours on Saturday, think it might have more to do with the crepes on offer in Wimbledon though!

The sun'll come out tomorrow

Or even today!! The first properly bright day we've had for ages, and it makes such a difference!

Today I discovered, finally, how to install custom brushes into photoshop. As you can see from my banner, I am playing with them to my hearts content! There might be something to this digital scrapping phenomena after all. :-)