Ok, so this is a post of two halves cos I took some photos of the food and dining room on our housewarming evening and then I took some in daylight hours as it is with normal times. (I know that sentence is weak!)
Ok, here's the room in normalness.
What do you think of all the wood? I'm not overly keen on it although I understand it's beautiful etc. It just doesn't look as nice and fresh.
Samantha
At home with Mrs H
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| Bunting cos it was a party. Available in my etsy shop here |
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| The buffet. The only thing left at the end was a mound of pasta and almost all of the clementines! |
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| Sausages on sticks. It wouldn't be a party without them! |
Ok, here's the room in normalness.
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| This room is a bit of a corridor as the kitchen and bathroom are through the right door and the hallway, stairs and everything else through the left door. |
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| View from the hallway door. Valentine's flowers on the table :) Patio chairs still waiting to go into the shed :( |
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| The bookshelves. I've got my organising/prettifying sights set on you two! |
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| Door back out to the hallway. The fronds on the left here are our spider plant on the mantlepiece. |
What do you think of all the wood? I'm not overly keen on it although I understand it's beautiful etc. It just doesn't look as nice and fresh.
Samantha
At home with Mrs H
Let's recap.
Here's how I looked last Wednesday.
Then Taryn came, saw and conquered my barnet.
Then I looked like this.
Ok, so here's your warning. If you're thinking about having your hair cut short, don't expect to look good when you wake up.
p.s. I have no idea what's going on with my goooglie eyeballs, they're cute ain't they!
Samantha xx
At home with Mrs H
Here's how I looked last Wednesday.
Then Taryn came, saw and conquered my barnet.
Then I looked like this.
Ok, so here's your warning. If you're thinking about having your hair cut short, don't expect to look good when you wake up.
Samantha xx
At home with Mrs H
Sorry about the mess in the background, we've yet to get stuck into our garden. It was super sunny yesterday too, really bright.
It was so beautifully bright and sunny that I was able to wear this tunic that was put away ready for summer.
I'm definitely not complaining.
Samantha xx
At home with Mrs H
I'm definitely not complaining.
Samantha xx
At home with Mrs H
Some people call them batter puddings, I call them yorkshire puddings. One thing's for sure, you simple CANNOT have a beef roast dinner without them, it's just not right.
Actually, thinking about it, that may just be another British thing. Anyway, let's get going.
First up turn your oven onto 200C (390F) and pop in a bun tin with some oil, lard or dripping in the outside 10 holes. Don't put anything into the middle two.
Next begin to mix your batter.
Measure out 300ml (10fl oz) of milk and crack 5 eggs into it. Yes, 5!!
Add 260g (9oz) of plain flour and a pinch of salt.
Whizz it all up with a hand mixer for a few minutes until there are no lumps.
When you take the mixer out you should be left with many, many little bubbles all over the surface, that's when you know you've mixed it enough.
Pull your bun tin out and pour enough batter in to come about halfway up each tin. Don't pour any mix into the middle two holes. There should be enough mix for about 20 puddings.
Return it to the oven for about 20 - 25 minutes and DON'T open the door for at least 15 of those.
Serve with your roast dinner for a happy family.
Actually, thinking about it, that may just be another British thing. Anyway, let's get going.
First up turn your oven onto 200C (390F) and pop in a bun tin with some oil, lard or dripping in the outside 10 holes. Don't put anything into the middle two.
Next begin to mix your batter.
Measure out 300ml (10fl oz) of milk and crack 5 eggs into it. Yes, 5!!
Add 260g (9oz) of plain flour and a pinch of salt.
Whizz it all up with a hand mixer for a few minutes until there are no lumps.
When you take the mixer out you should be left with many, many little bubbles all over the surface, that's when you know you've mixed it enough.
Pull your bun tin out and pour enough batter in to come about halfway up each tin. Don't pour any mix into the middle two holes. There should be enough mix for about 20 puddings.
Return it to the oven for about 20 - 25 minutes and DON'T open the door for at least 15 of those.
Serve with your roast dinner for a happy family.
Ok lovelies, here's our bedroom. It's a lot smaller than our last room and our furniture doesn't all fit. We've squeezed in our bed, one bedside table, a chest of drawers and our triple wardrobe. The best thing would be to buy new smaller furniture but seeing as this was all given to us when we were married and we can't afford to it's make do and mend. :)
That's a full 360 tour of our bedroom. We're lucky that we have really high ceilings, it makes the rooms feel bigger. I only wish British houses were built with walk in closets. *sigh* one for the house we build when we're millionaires.
I have big plans for our furniture seeing as we've lived with them as 'rustic pine' for a couple of years now. I hate pine!!
Anyway, more house tour to follow!
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| The view from the door as you enter. It's a bit tight! |
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| The sun comes in this side of the house so it's super bright in the mornings. |
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| Our hulk of a wardrobe. (plus junk on top) |
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| Junk on top the wardrobe again, it's a good look people! |
I have big plans for our furniture seeing as we've lived with them as 'rustic pine' for a couple of years now. I hate pine!!
Anyway, more house tour to follow!
There is no front view because I pulled a grawpy face. Yes, I did just make up a word. No, I don't mind if you use it and claim it for your own.
Anyhoo.....I gots me a pixie cut! My absolutely wonderful hairdresser Taryn squealed when I asked her to cut it for me this morning. I did tell her that if she advised me not to then I wouldn't force her to cut it short but she went through the pros and cons with me and then we agreed maturely (ok, I jumped a bit) that we would go ahead and chop, chop, chop.
Seriously ladies, if you're near Merthyr, Aberdare etc and you need a haircut...give Taryn a call. She charges £17.50 for a ladies cut and blow dry, comes to the house, and I trust her so much as I've never had a bad cut. You know, we've all had the bad cuts from the salons etc. I've never in 2 years had a bad cut from her. Also, because she comes to your house it's so much more comfortable for people like me who get anxious leaving the house.
Check out her wedding hair portfolio here. I've never seen so many beautiful brides! I had Taryn do my wedding hair and she only charged £40, and it was amazing, better than I could have imagined!
Anyway, so, moving on from Taryn my amazing hairdresser...I got a pixie cut, what do you think?
First stop on our house-warming tour is the living room.
So I know my furniture is all a bit of a mish mash, we did have a purple/turquoise thing going on at the old house but this house has brown carpets and it just doesn't look right. I'm not keen on brown...any ideas?
Samantha xx
At home with Mrs H
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| Coming through the door |
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| DVD's, painting, telly...the usual 'stuff' |
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| As you can see I tidied up nicely for the photos... |
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| The other side of the room with yet more stuff. One day I'll make these chairs less granny. |
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| My craft fair bestie Leigh gave me these flowers....THREE weeks ago! They're still beautiful and going well. If I could arrange them nicely it would be good but I am a plonker. :) |
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| These are the flowers Dusband got me on valentine's day. The roses are almost dead before the lily has opened. He should have got me carnations like Leigh! |
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| My map hearts are living on the window sill for the moment. |
Samantha xx
At home with Mrs H
Ok, so I can't believe that no one other than us Brits seems to celebrate house-warmings. Especially the Americans....you celebrate everything else!!
I went looking for some cute printables for our house-warming and there were none so there were no nice printed things for our house-warming. Oh well.
So to start with as you come into our house you're in the hallway. Directly in front of you is the staircase and to the right is the living room and then the dining room.
I suspect that the main purpose of house-warmings are to satisfy our British curiosity surrounding how people live. I know whenever I go to one I want to have a look round so I thought I'd make it easy for people to feel that they could go have a look without feeling awkward.
What do you think? Would you have the courage to go and 'tour' our house?
Also, just out of interest, is it just a British thing to be curious? My pastor and his wife and our elder went to Atlanta last month and one of the ex-pats out there showed them around his house because he knew they'd want the whole tour. Maybe it is just us Brits?
p.s. don't worry, the rest of the house pics are coming over the next few days, you haven't missed out on your tour!
I went looking for some cute printables for our house-warming and there were none so there were no nice printed things for our house-warming. Oh well.
So to start with as you come into our house you're in the hallway. Directly in front of you is the staircase and to the right is the living room and then the dining room.
I suspect that the main purpose of house-warmings are to satisfy our British curiosity surrounding how people live. I know whenever I go to one I want to have a look round so I thought I'd make it easy for people to feel that they could go have a look without feeling awkward.
What do you think? Would you have the courage to go and 'tour' our house?
Also, just out of interest, is it just a British thing to be curious? My pastor and his wife and our elder went to Atlanta last month and one of the ex-pats out there showed them around his house because he knew they'd want the whole tour. Maybe it is just us Brits?
p.s. don't worry, the rest of the house pics are coming over the next few days, you haven't missed out on your tour!
Fat Tuesday, Mardi gras, pancake day...call it what you will, it's this week.
Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. Traditionally celebrated as the day before Lent begins, Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent. I'm not sure who decides what is or not allowed during Lent.
Growing up I thought that Shrove Tuesday was the day when you remember the Jews preparing to go into exile but I can't find any reference to that so I may have made it up.
Anyway, we Brits celebrate Shrove Tuesday by making pancakes. Not the fluffy fat pancakes like Americans have for breakfast but proper thin pancakes.
So...here's my pancake recipe so that we can spread the Pancake day love across the pond.
Start by measuring 200ml of milk and 75ml of water into a large jug. Crack 2 eggs into it and a pinch of salt. Sift 110g of plain flour into the jug and mix well. I use a hand mixer because I'm lazy. Dusband uses a hand whisk cos he's...well, a man.
Once your mix is ready heat your frying pan to a really super hot temperature and then reduce that down to a medium heat. If you're using a tefal pan like we use you won't need any butter or oil but if not you'll need to make sure there's a thin coating to stop the pancakes sticking to the pan.
Using a ladle I dollop one spoonful into the pan and tilt it until the mix is evenly distributed in the pan.
Leave the pancake to cook until it starts to curl up at the edges and then you can try your flipping skills. (Dusband calls them his skillzor).
I can't flip so I use a spatula to turn them over. They cook super quickly on the back so careful you don't over cook.
You can either serve them immediately or layer them up on a plate in a warm oven to keep and eat together.
Serve with chunks of fresh lemon and caster sugar.
I always roll mine up and eat with a fork and a spoon but today I realised that a knife and fork would make more sense so why do I eat them with a spoon? Anyone?!
Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. Traditionally celebrated as the day before Lent begins, Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent. I'm not sure who decides what is or not allowed during Lent.
Growing up I thought that Shrove Tuesday was the day when you remember the Jews preparing to go into exile but I can't find any reference to that so I may have made it up.
Anyway, we Brits celebrate Shrove Tuesday by making pancakes. Not the fluffy fat pancakes like Americans have for breakfast but proper thin pancakes.
So...here's my pancake recipe so that we can spread the Pancake day love across the pond.
Start by measuring 200ml of milk and 75ml of water into a large jug. Crack 2 eggs into it and a pinch of salt. Sift 110g of plain flour into the jug and mix well. I use a hand mixer because I'm lazy. Dusband uses a hand whisk cos he's...well, a man.
Once your mix is ready heat your frying pan to a really super hot temperature and then reduce that down to a medium heat. If you're using a tefal pan like we use you won't need any butter or oil but if not you'll need to make sure there's a thin coating to stop the pancakes sticking to the pan.
Using a ladle I dollop one spoonful into the pan and tilt it until the mix is evenly distributed in the pan.
Leave the pancake to cook until it starts to curl up at the edges and then you can try your flipping skills. (Dusband calls them his skillzor).
I can't flip so I use a spatula to turn them over. They cook super quickly on the back so careful you don't over cook.
You can either serve them immediately or layer them up on a plate in a warm oven to keep and eat together.
Serve with chunks of fresh lemon and caster sugar.
I always roll mine up and eat with a fork and a spoon but today I realised that a knife and fork would make more sense so why do I eat them with a spoon? Anyone?!
Check out the gorgeous fabric I'm using for one of my sample bags.
Ok, it's not really fabric, well I guess it is. It's a pillowcase actually. 25p from Too good to waste. Bargain!
Given a good wash and steam iron it's perfect for my bag lining. Only a bit of lightweight interfacing needed to give it the stability I need. Plus it's good for the environment.
Ok, it's not really fabric, well I guess it is. It's a pillowcase actually. 25p from Too good to waste. Bargain!
Given a good wash and steam iron it's perfect for my bag lining. Only a bit of lightweight interfacing needed to give it the stability I need. Plus it's good for the environment.
Ok yar so I have a million cool blog posts ready, in my head just waiting to be translated into actual posts by my rather slender and attractive fingers. But you know how it is, life gets in the way and I have spent all week with 'write blog posts' on my to do list and I haven't done it yet.
So I thought I'd entertain you all with some things I don't like. I find that whenever you're in danger of people forgetting you it's a good idea to try to annoy them so they remember who you are. Ok? So if you're not annoyed by this post you are allowed to just forget me, or be called my bestie. I may well have 8 valid full time besties already but who cares, I love my besties!
Especially my Floridan (?!) bestie who thought about sending me a chocolate alligator but didn't cos her husband rained on the parade (boo!) and my Californian bestie who just has to tell me what she's making for dinner for me to drool all over my unironed t shirt with stretched cuffs. (Am trying to make you feel sorry for me, is it working?)
I won't mention my best English friend or my best photographer friend or my actual best best friend.
Right, onto things that annoy me.
In no particular order.
- people who comment on a blog post and ask you to go follow them back. I'm fed up of my reader/bloglovin feed/inbox being cluttered up with blogs that I don't enjoy reading. If I want to follow your blog I'll follow it, no matter whether you ask me to or not.
- people who spend all day dressing their homes and then blog about it. Surely there's more to life than your house looking like a florist has spent 12 hours there with a wagon full of fake flowers?
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| {Via} |
- Husbands who eat all the cherry liqueur chocolates even though you only ate two when you first opened them (yes, ok, at 11am).
- Husbands who don't buy you anything for your anniversary and then say 'well we'll buy you something when we go out today' but you haven't had time to decide what you want so you end up coming home with nothing.
- Rugs that act like velcro to bits of fluff and dust and stuff. Purple rug in the living room....your time is drawing to an end.....
- A certain supermarket who happens to be part of the Walmart group who puts baskets of chocolate bars and snack bars everywhere possible with big red £1 labels on them so that you come out spending a fortune with no actual food to show for it.
- Teenagers.
- People who gripe about their life/weight/job/boredom but don't do anything about changing it. Everything is about choices when it comes down to it, make the choice now and soon enough what you're griping about will change. Maybe I should have taken that advice before starting to write this post. Hmm.
- People who repin using the first person's comment. Come on people, don't be so lazy, make it personal!
- Shoes all being wide fit. It's not my fault that I have regular width feet and they're all too wide for me, I guess that's part of a growing population. Growing....ha!
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| Moccasins from New Look (only £17.99!!) |
Ok, here are some things I like
- Chocolate. Of course
- Watching supernanny. It makes me feel smug that my children are not naughty like the ones on there. Ok, I don't have children but that's besides the point
- The difference we see in the teenagers we work with
- The incredible friendships I've made over the internet. Who could ever have imagined that you can read a blog, get chatting and become actual real friends.
- Husbands who do the washing up EACH and EVERY single day!
- This view.
ok, who have I annoyed so far then? Or maybe you want to be my bestie, that would be cool. To be a bestie, please apply below with details on what particular benefits accompany friendship with you.
Samantha xx
At home with Mrs H
p.s. I think I've got a cold coming which may explain my griping, I'm fairly well natured usually!
So, Pinterest. We all love it right?
I hated the idea of it at first and only signed up so that I could send an invitation to my sister. But then I found it useful for 'pinning' things I saw on other blogs that I wanted to remember or have a go at myself.
This year I've been trying to work through my 'to do' list as I've found it's very easy for us seamstresses and crafters to get excited by all of the ideas out there but never get around to actually making anything.
This is what I pinned.
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| {Via} |
My Bible has been getting progressively scruffier and scruffier as time goes on as the cover is faux leather so instead of getting softer and more supple it's been wearing away and flaking off in my bag. Nice, attractive AND practical. :)
Ok, step one, get your beaten up Bible (or other book you'd like to cover) and a few chocolates. They don't need to be Ikea chocolates, they're just what I had handy.
Next you need to measure around your book to see how big you want the flaps that will hold your cover in place. Take your tape measure and see how far you want it to overlap and then wrap it around the book fully to the other cover.
I added 4cm onto each end for my seam allowance and a bit of wiggle room.
Measure from the top of your book to the bottom and add 2cm on to the top and bottom.
Ok, now it's time to start gathering your fabrics. I chose pinks, whites and green. No wait, go back and eat your chocolates before your husband realises you brought some upstairs!
Ok, now you can admire your pretty fabrics.
I took all the fabrics out of my scraps basket but don't worry, it's still over flowing!!
This is where I make life complicated. I decided I wanted the finished squares to be 4cm so made a template 6cm x 6cm which allowing for my seam allowance of 1cm would end up being 4cm. Still with me?
Then I divided my width of my Bible by 4cm to get 11 squares and then my height of my Bible to get 5 squares. Ok, so I needed 55 squares. Yes? No...me either. Maths isn't my strong point.
Anyway, I cut 55 squares and laid them out until I was happy with my 'random' pattern. Anyone who knows me will know I have issues with 'random'.
I piled each row up in order and sewed the 11 squares together. I ended up with 5 rows of squares.
I ironed the seams open and then sewed the 5 rows together. I referred back to my lay out photo more than once during this process!
Then I laid the patchwork piece out on some grey felt (cheaper than batting) and pressed it. The felt kinda fuses to the cotton meaning there's no need for basting.
Using the inside gap of my walking foot I quilted up and down the rows and columns on my machine.
If anyone comments on how often I proclaim to hate making patchwork and hate quilting then I won't send you a Christmas card this year :)
Try not to be too accurate with your stitching, you don't want your friends to think you're better than them and find other friends.
It's around about now that you can start wishing you'd rationed your chocolates instead of eating them all at the start.
Ok, so now lay your backing fabric out on top of your patchwork and cut your patchwork down to size. I told you I'm not good at maths, I thought they'd both be the same size but evidently not. Oops again!
Maybe I should have brazened that out and pretending I'd meant it. Oh well.
Anyway, if you're going to use some ric rac trim on the inside edges now is the time to sew it on. Don't forget your seam allowance like me, pin it where you're going to be sewing your seam. I forgot so did it right along the very edge.
Now pin your backing fabric and patchwork fabric right sides together and sew along all 4 edges leaving a good sized turning gap. If you want to put a ribbon bookmark in or an elastic for a button closure, now is the time for that. I made mine simple :)
Don't forget to trim your edges to help your corners stay sharp.
Turn it right side out and press well.
I turned over the flaps and pressed those in place too.
Using a whipstitch I stitched the flaps to the main cover. You can see here about halfway along I stitched through the flap layer and both of the lining layers. This is to close the turning gap. On the other 3 ends you will only need to stitch through the two lining layers.
Insert your Bible and you're ready to rock and roll! Or read and praise, one of the two :)
How many books do you want to cover now then lovelies?
Samantha xx
At home with Mrs H
