I WANT I WANT I WANT!

I wanted a maternity pillow.

Nah, don't be daft. I'm not expecting! (Never!) But I wanted a maternity pillow. Fancied one for ages but just never got around to getting one. They cost a few quid!

I have been doing some tidying, decorating and trowing out recently and I had a load of pillows and cushions that I no longer needed. SO I washed them, took them all apart and made my my massive pillow with a dress lining fabric remnant, and I made 2 covers for it with my favourite print cotton remnant.

Et voila! A lovely maternity pillow for those with a bit of a sore back and a love of comfort! That's me. Especially happy as it cost no money. I like that!

And I want curtains! Since we moved into this house 2 1/4 years ago we've never had curtains on the back window. When we decorated the dining room though, I decided I might like to put some up there. But me being me, I'm not just going to go out and buy some curtains. Where's the fun in that?!

I was in Ikea when I saw the fabric and LOVED it. I love the bright colours and European graphic design. I then noticed it was reduced to just £1 per metre - so I bought 4 metres. I could have easily bought more, but I reasoned with myself and just came away with the 4.

I already had some curtain tape from some old curtains, so I didn't have to buy that either.

My beloved machine has recently been serviced by Pontypool Sewing Machines - and it's now like a flying machine!

SO again, a bit of measuring, a bit of creative thought and I have the funkiest most colourful dining room curtains for £3 - I had a metre left over! Now what to do with that?!

I just love these - the happiest curtains in the world! 

Shattered.

Where has all my energy gone? I should really be doing the ironing at the moment, but I'm shattered.

I've been quite productive in the last few days, cooking, baking, that sort of thing. I got my next box of tomatoes from the fruit and veg co-op and learned a valuable lesson. Make tomato sauce in the tomato season. Even from the co-op, a box of tomatoes (all be it lovely ripe vine tomatoes) cost me £11. Bloomin' expensive sauce this time around, but, with inspiration from the lovely Sophie Dahl, and a few adaptations, I made the best sauce so far. Barely any chopping, no blanching or peeling and no stirring or simmering.

The result was a vat of rich, chunky, tasty, healthy, Syn free sauce that is actually a splendid soup also. Jars of it. The best ever.

Yesterday afternoon was spent in my very good friend Helen's garden, chatting, putting the world to rights and generally catching up. Of course, when expending that amount of energy, one needs sustenance, so Hels provided the jam and ever-so-naughty clotted cream, I made the scones, and I'm pleased to say, they were delightful. And my special secret ingredient worked a treat. We had BOTH saved up our Syns for that, teachers! But I'll definitely get a F- for getting sunburned. My arms are rather red, to say the least. Made me think that I need to look at some decent sun cream for this year. I will invest in one good bottle, instead of several cheap ones.

Our neighbour who has the birds and I were talking yesterday (I'd taken a couple of scones out for Hubby to try and he happened to be in the right place at the right time!) and we arranged a swap. He had a surplus of eggs, I had a surplus of ripe bananas. So today I baked a couple of banana cakes, I daren't just make the one, and we swapped. Now I have eggs up the yin-yang (I'll be sharing with my Step-Mother) and Chris has a yummy still warm banana cake. Hubby has already eaten half of his, and I think the teenager has just been in the tin too.

I also had a surplus of carrots. We'd bought a couple of bags from Aldi for Madame, presuming she'd troff them like no one's business. She does like them, but there's an awful lot she likes more. So I used up some of my supplies that I froze a few months ago and the veggies I had a surplus of and I made a lovely carrot, leek and celery soup. It's REALLY tasty. Syn free also. An I'm going to sterilise it in my big kilner jars for the cupboard. Money's pretty tight at the moment, so I'm pushing the boundaries of usefulness even further than usual.

Hubby's been out on the mountain putting in the hours on the mountain, but today he has been doing something different. He has fashioned an insect/bat box for the side of the goat house, hopefully to keep insects out of Madame's way. Really he just wants Bats, though, and I can't say I blame him. I'd quite like a few more Bat boxes if it works. I think they like eating slugs too, don't they? Photos to follow!

I've got a backlog of stuff I should be doing at the moment ...need energy and more hours in the day please. Can anyone help with that?

Lack of Connectivity Creates Connectedness. Fact.

Managing to save myself another £7 per month today was a great thing. Managing to do it without changing from my existing ISP is even better, but it does make you think. If you have to threaten to leave their services in order to get the best deal, why can't they give you that deal in the first place. Crap. Now I sound like that old Alliance and Leicester advert. It is annoying though.

So the existing ISP is taking over the role of the current TSP (if it's ever called that) and sending me a free wireless modem for my troubles. Fabulous, as a new one to buy was £50. They promised that it would be posted out to me today. But I must be honest, I can't help but feel a little sad about it

The thing is, since we've had limited Internet capabilities, I seem to have a lot less to do on a daily basis. To add to that, the Teenager is hanging around us more, instead of engrossed in Facebook/Myspace/Bebo/MSN which is really kinda nice. Every time I want to speak to her, I just ask her, instead of texting her (she's also been sans mobile credit at the same time. I know. EVIL MUM!) or hollering up the stairs to her.

I know it comes as no surprise to realise how much connection is lost when you introduce a TV to the living room, but I must admit the amount of Teenager contact improvement without the Internet was unprecedented.

I've topped up her phone a bit now, which means she has contact with her friends now through text and Facebook. Haven't seen her since.