Wednesday 30 April 2014

Eclectic Decorating

I really loathe decorating , im a great believer in lots of emulsion paint , not in white . White is my mothers addiction , i always thing its cold or maybe i just associate it with her..lol
Now by know most people will have realised that i collect Victorian , prints , china , books the list is endless , but i also like vintage and retro . So i thought id show you a few of the weirder decorative items that have stayed as guests .  If you have a scooter nut in the family you should always clothe his ornaments with Lego Men and my current favourite McDonalds Minions .


No home is complete without a couple of 3ft garden gnomes in the living room , I love these but in the garden theyre light enough to be stolen and as they are Mothers Day gifts from the munchkin, inside they must stay , they scare anybody walking down the path , new postmen being a favourite , Mr Bah Humbug has threatened to install red glowing eyes


Something that has been lurking near the front door at a number of houses meet George , he has recently been fetchingly improved with the addition of a Mike the Knight helmet courtesy of the munchkin .
So is the definition of eclectic decorating just adding things that make you smile ? or just not pleasing anyone but yourself


 Sharing with     www.wecallitjunkin.com

Sunday 27 April 2014

Car Boot Sunday

The sun was shining the birds were singing so I sneaked off this morning to Banovallum School car boot sale at Horncastle . Today had been predicted thunder and heavy rain so the field was only half full , this car boot can be a monster if the weathers good and the dates are listed on the schools PTA website.  There was lots to choose from and what do i spend ? A whole £1.50  on 2 bits , I think its just that im getting picky and with the ever robbing ebay fees its better to sell a single £20 item than a couple of dozen 99p auctions you just might get lucky on.
The  latest returns policies are going to be a nightmare for clothes sellers,  14 working days to ask to return and you can now return due to buyer remorse..mmmm  I can see where that is going , buy clothes to wear for an occasion then decide you dont like them because of buyer remorse after youve worn them . A recent experience may be the reason im so jaded, having sold a shirt   , only to have it returned filthy and stinking of aftershave .  Little point in complaining to ebay , because with the new ratings policy buyers can pretty much do as they like and you just have to smile nicely and agree . ...rant over



Anyway while buying dollies the other day , I had to spend a further 50p because they didnt have any change , rummaged in a pile of bits of china and found a selection of Shelley , Royal Albert, Hammersley and the pretty unusual green edged Aynsley  side plates and saucers , havent a clue what to do with them ...lol
These unusual green Irish Stoneware dinner plates were included in the 50p,  Brendan Bouquet Erin Stone , 3 of ,they may just go to be used when my rubbish dishwashers have chipped and broken a few of the current ones . this week ive managed to tick a single item off my wish list a Tupperware bacon box bought from a church sale up the road , im so easily pleased

Friday 25 April 2014

Unidentified dolls

I should be banned from even driving past the Christian tiny thrift shop in the next village , once again I had to screech to a halt as i spotted more dolls sat looking lonely in the window , so meet the new batch of girlies who have perched up on this filthy wet day next to my keyboard . Now even I recognise Sindys slutty sister Barbie , but this is her 1970 Skipper little sister , she will be going onto ebay once shes had her face washed .
Now here are my mystery girlies ,  A Tressy clone or family member complete with a rather nice Faery Glen coat and a spotty dress marked Patch so not her original outfit . Thirdly the white haired girlie who ive taken a shine to , she just has such a nice face , made in Hong Kong but she seems rather good quality . Imput welcome on this one , who are my two mystery girlies .


Tuesday 22 April 2014

A Crafty Easter

Ive had a thoroughly inactive Easter, I had a whole list of car boot sales i wanted to attend over the Easter Holidays ...lol.. You guessed it rain for a change . the menfolk toddled of on a fishing trip then a scooter trip , so ive had a lot of me time . I managed another one of my vintage jigsaws to go onto ebay , got to the end and there was a single piece missing , cue deranged grumpy granny episode . Get up next morning and the bit has mysteriously appeared after i had broken the thing up...grrr ...



Meanwhile months ago I paid a whole 50p for this and ive spent most of the last couple of days covering it with Britain and  Commonwealth stamps.  I really am that much of a packrat  that ive been saving stamps in a box since i was a kid , its busy drying . so it gives plenty of time for £1 shop varnish to be bought and me to sell something on ebay and fund the fabric from China ive seen, that i want to line it with . theres something about stamps theyre all little mini works of art.  Come on is it weird that its took 40+ years to find a use for them ?  Also please dont tell me if ive stuck something highly valuable into one of my projects


Sharing at  www.wecallitjunkin.com 

Friday 18 April 2014

Sindy Tressy & Tablecloths

Its strange the things that jump out of a charty shop window at you , screeched to a halt outside the local church shop on spotting these lovely ladies who wernt there the day before . Yes its vintage Red haired  Sindy , sindy Clone? and a Tressy  theyve all come to live with me and have a bath and scrub up . Well played with, but they have all their fingers and toes . The dresses are Grubby but they will wash ,Tressy is modelling vintage Faerie Glen . They even have their little shoes and boots ,can you tell I'd like these to stay ?  I may list them once theyre cleaned up . Truly lousy photo its just settled in to blowing a gale and raining typical Bank Holiday weather .


I feel the start of a collection coming on whats not to love about this shabby Australian tablecloth , it has parrots its lime green , ive now got 3 location tablecloths !!

Wednesday 16 April 2014

Girl Guides

Once upon a time my mothers middle class aspirations forced me to join the girl guides . Back in the 60s it was practically compulsory if you were going to get on in the world . It was all a bit Stepford wives then, flower arranging badges , Cake Baking and a bit of First Aid . The annual camping trip with the Scouts where you wernt allowed to even speak to a boy . I quickly realised that I didnt fit in , im not the slightest bit sporty and never have been , i was always the last to be picked , I cant hit a ball or catch a ball , i was banned from hockey for being to aggressive.


The flower arranging went well , I just dont grasp it at all., I still just grab a vase and ram them in , i think they gave me my one and only badge out of pity . I was eventually asked to leave after an incident with a Scout . But when you look at these 1920s images it looks kind of fun. When you look at the stuff they do know it looks fun...if your sporty , otherwise its like a visit to a coal mine in your wedding frock  . My daughter has just informed she was a deprived child because i didnt let her join the Brownies !!

Sharing at   www.wecallitjunkin.com

Monday 14 April 2014

In praise of daughters


did you really think id manage 2 car boot sales and not come back with something for the Home for Rescued Volumes ?   1923 dilapidated Scholgirls Own Annual  , flicked this one open in a box of 50p volumes and home it was going . Guess what lured me ? I opened it and it was full of Bessie Bunter , one of my mothers favourite derogatory names for me, I guess she once had this book even though it was before her time , but as the plain fat bookish tomboy that i was , i always was such a disappointment to her .




Lifes sort of funny that way, my ultra glamour puss mummy was given a lumpy boring child,  meanwhile i got a stunningly beautiful twiglet daughter who thinks shes a failure because she cant read as fast as i can ..lol.. The look of horror on her face when people point out that you always end up like your mother is priceless . No love you wont get fat  . Yes you are turning into me , you lose everything and your parking is appalling but you will get the hang of cooking one day

Sunday 13 April 2014

Car Boot Sunday

So im up early and dragged a protesting daughter and munchkin , to a drafty field in the next village  , A real car boot and you never quite know what you will find , so here laugh at what I found . Sharing with  http://sirthriftalot.blogspot.co.uk/ because I have no idea what made me buy them..lol
Yes its vintage paper Santa napkins

Kurt Hammer Tankard with pewter top , serious blue & white 60s, lovely but into http://stores.ebay.co.uk/katiesrecycle this must go , not very popular in the UK so if it doesnt sell it can guest a while.
On an interesting note ive just found out that Surface Mail still exists, they have now  rechristened it Economy Mail , so if people can wait forever for stuff to arrive it makes postage to the States , Australia and New Zealand bearable

Thursday 10 April 2014

Mini Car Boot

Im very stressed at the moment and the best therapy I know is a walk round Torksey carboot sale . so i toddled off with daughter and the munchkin in tow, somewhat to my amazement they let me walk for miles on my own , more because of my tendency to look at stuff they find embarrassing and the fact that they always have a domestic half way round..lol
Its the school holidays so you were tripping over little people everywhere , couldnt look at anything for all  the pushchairs and the dealers were out in force .
I just struggled to find anything amazing , I so need amazing at the moment everything seems so samey, lots of blingy handbags and bad taste shoes , toys and  more toys  , overpriced "antiques " and vintage made in China circa 2010  .
Finally found a dealer i see around , hes a strange little bloke, he'd done one of the big antique fairs and  fetched all the stuff that didnt sell to the carboot so laugh at his chuckouts that I bought .
Jug with a little chip and a tiny crack just because i liked the colours

dinky JAJ Pyrex carafe with shamrocks that somebody might like?  a half a parian ware shrimp that just said pincushion to me


Vintage sliderule ..WHY  , strangest of the lot jadeite green little nail brush with a 50s bovver boot top


Finally gorgeous crinoline lady sandwich plate ...which i wil need to find a center for





Monday 7 April 2014

Cauldron Cookery

Now the big kids view the cauldron ..aka the slow cooker, with real trepidation. Todays cheap and cheerful menu is a really bad cookery effort but its filling . 5 adults and some for tomorrow  .
Read this and be gobsmacked , 3 jars of tikka sauce slightly out of date but they were 6 for £1 , 2 tins of vegetable curry that were declared inedible by the boys , courtesy of the tin shop at Cleethorpes . Add £2 pack of chicken chunks from Heron Frozen Foods , these are probably Taiwanese Seagull chunks , do i care? Then its Sainsburys basics rice .
Now this is not healthy, its probably riddled with E numbers , but the one thing you realize with menfolk is that you really can hide anything in a curry , Indians devised it to hide the rancid meat they were cooking , but its cheap filling and they wont die from eating it .
We also have the arrival of  the big brown box from Approved Foods , 3kg of pasta 99p folks , a week out of date , err dried pasta go off ?
Pancake mix 3 for £1 , dumpling mix 6 for £1 , dried spicy casserole mix ? well it can go in the cauldron with something im sure . Approved food can be a bit heavy on the cakes and biscuits and pop , but its cheap and what theyre selling changes from day to day .
Now ive bored all my overseas readers to death , but in the UK food prices have soared and wages dropped like a stone , although the supermarkets are competing with their value ranges , most of which are perfectly edible , its still possible to shop even cheaper if your not to obsessed with brand names and sell by dates .

So heres some pretty 1962 book illustrations to take your mind off my bad cookery course




Sunday 6 April 2014

Floral Sunday

I needed something bright and cheerful to look at today , as i grump about the wretched weather yet again. Sunday day of carboots and mellow wanderings , so I get up and the winds howling and its raining for a change ..lol
 Its day of sewing and a good book , mixed in with contemplating the cauldron and what the hell i can slow cook for tomorrow .
 Im in disgrace for scrambling dried egg for breakfast , it was a bit weird the colours not right, it goes a bit rubbery, but it tastes just the same as real eggs. It was an Approved Foods purchase that ive been hiding in quiches and cakes for a few weeks and nobody has noticed ....till now
So today its something bright and cheery from the Home For Rescued Volumes, printed in the year i was born and a whole 10p rescue mission , ive bought an awful lot of childrens books that ive not got round to showing in the last few weeks ,theyre so easy to hide around the house !




Im just a total sucker for early 60s graphics. Cant you tell ?

Wednesday 2 April 2014

LLoyds Bank ...GGGRRRRRRRRRRR

Now that ive reached that grumpy old woman time of life , hot flushes no sleep etc etc etc , I seem to get a bee in my bonnet over such silly things .
 I received a letter from Lloyds TSB relating to a PPI from many moons ago , opened it, read it, then nearly had my head explode as i realize they had addressed this to me and my EX husband at this address. Now I do not bank with Lloyds and havent since my divorce over 8 years ago and that was three addresses ago ,  . He has never lived at this address  ever .  So I ring them and get India , to inform them he is not at this address , there response is that he must ring them and tell them his new address to be removed from my address . Now I know he lives in Scotland thats about all and the kids are in touch with him , I also know that the world and its wife are looking for him for money he owes . I do not want his name associated with this address at all!!!!
Today i rang the financial services authority , who explained how to register a formal complaint and gave me the UK number for complaints . Ring complaints only to be told that they cant register a complaint because im not a customer , they give me another number for PPI complaints , its India again and theyre reading from the same screen again , so I still cant get anywhere . Ring FSA , I must now write a letter of complaint and wait 8 weeks for a response , meanwhile my ex is back ruining my credit rating at this address .As soon as the knocks at the door start i will be logging every one and seeking compensation from Lloyds

Now for a translation for those overseas . Once upon  time we all believed that banks were honest caring institutions that made the City of London a great place , they all sold us insurance if you borrowed in any shape or form , what they didnt tell us is that these policies were pretty much useless if you tried to claim on them and for pennies you could get the insurance from elsewhere . Eventually someone twigged and it turned into a big scandal , they were instructed to give the money back for the policies , which if you sent the relevant forms off most did , with a few noteable exceptions , Lloyds being one of them , now they have been instructed that they must give the money back by August of this year .