Sunday Car Boot + Jumble Sale

My escape from reality started yesterday, I packed up work at lunch time and did a crafty trip to the Washingborough  Bowls Club Jumble Sale , I love these , they practically give stuff away . so what did I buy ..... Pink Pyrex divided dish,couple of small scratches so i may force myself to keep it ...lol ..i never seem to find the lids for these, somewhere there must be a thrift shop full of them, but do i really need the lids?  i was thinking more of twin pies one heavy on the meat for Mr Bah Humbug one heavy on the veg for me , for the rare occasions when its just the two of us. It was a whole 30p

Stack of 10p tatty ladybird fairytales good enough for the munchkin to illtreat till he tires of them then i can cut them up...lol


And from last Sundays carboot i finally got around to unpacking these great 60s wooden kids jigsaws , not big on value but the graphics are gorgeous .Plus another bestway dolly knitting pattern to build a new stack for ebay

More Mugs , always a good xmas seller , Brownie Guide and a great Pyrex coronation mug plus a 70s pot that i have a use for .
What have i managed not to buy , well the Salvation Army did have a huge box of 70s maps of the US and Switzerland for a whole £3 . popular for crafting but i know i would never get round to it .
The jumble sale was infested with Pyrex and Corning so I did really well buying just one bit ..lol Plus this morning i spent a whole 70p at Metheringham car boot on a really exciting box of wooden floor underlay bits and yet another Edwardian ribbon plate looking lonely

Not sure how but the camera has decided to get stuck on macro , i will have to ask the technologically advanced household members for advice when they get home , usually you cant get it to do macro for love or money , so today we have bad photos even by my standards

Asda Wins the Vile Foodstuff Award !

Having worked a ridiculous amount of hours this week , been hounded and persecuted to the point where i just turn off  my phone between uses and also having lost the will to live .
The final straw was the lunch i managed to grab as i took a toilet break in the otherwise none stop day , my excuse was that it was cheap  and theres bog all for packup left in the fridge .
So i purchased a Chicken Sweetcorn & Pasta Salad tub from Asda , i thought half today finish it tomorrow , how wrong could I be , this was a tub of stunning vileness , apparently it had a tasty herby mayonaise dressing . not sure if id describe it like that more like the foulest cheap salt and vinegar crisp flavoured sticky gloop , so sour your mouth puckered.  You struggled to get this unappetizing lump apart , there was some sweetcorn in there but the chicken had no taste at all, came in tiny cubes and it took some finding, i dont think there was even a spoonful in it . this must be the first time ive had to chuck a food item in the bin because it was far to disgusting to eat . Come on Asda you can do a whole lot better .
I would have took the damned thing back but its not worth a 30 mile round trip .

Its the Scarecrow festival at dunston Saturday sunday and they dont tell you , but last year there were loads of yard sales as well 

Running for the hills

No I've not run away from the Blogiverse, I'm still here sort of.  My real world colleague decided to run for the hills , so I'm lumbered working my usual three days plus covering his five days as those who are good at maths may have realised that adds up to working eight days a week.  That's supposed to be 8 till 8. As well!
Now I have school runs daily to fit in among this. A bunch of useless tossers at home moaning there sock draw is empty and there tea isn't cooked.  So patience isn't my strong point at the moment.
Having spat my dummy yesterday somewhat spectacularly with work and threatening to throw the towel in , they've managed to throw me a pay rise and they're honestly going to advertise my colleagues job this week...mmmmm
They just do not grasp that I prefer quality of life to quantity of money.
It's been so bad that I haven't even unpacked my bag from the car boot on Sunday and even my knicker drawer is empty.
I suppose if I can hack this for a whole month it will fill the oil tank for the winter but if I don't survive just chuck me on the compost heap when I run out of knickers

Scotland & Independence

Well the Scots decided to stay , very surprised . But then maybe there just wasnt enough trueborn Scots up there to swing the vote .  How david Cameron managed to keep a straight face is beyond me , hes really gutted because the Labour party hasnt died yet . Im just gutted because my ex husband isnt going to be walled in up there .
 Scotland I would have missed you , the crazy experience that is all night Asda aka Walmart in Edinburgh  , where they just pop the drunks into shopping trolley and stick them by the tills .  Stirling services with its bouncers on the door .  Playing dodge the deer belting up the A9 in the middle of the night . Edinburgh Castle best concert venue in the world . The highlands where nothing can repel the midges in a summer . Wild Camping without irate farmers . Glenmorangie , Runrig and haggis .

Then theres the other side of the story what would i have done with all the tartan fabric ive being amassing for a yet to be decided project . would Robbie Burns have been banned in the UK. Would we have to drink all the Buckfast fortified wine ourselves . Would i never have seen a fit bloke in a kilt again .

bit of dougal porn for us older ladies 

Scotland for once you made a decision with you heads not with your hearts , now lets concentrate on declaring our independence from self serving , conniving career politicians .

Bithday Giveaway

Birthday Giveaway winner no 2 is Bryony Cater i need an address please

Birthday giveaway results

Marta chan.....is the winner.....24 hrs for an address please

In the meantime I've got a truly fascinating work course tomorrow, vulnerability and the energy industry........let's hope there's some decent charity shops in Thetford to kill my lunch hour  , my work colleagues are a pretty riveting bunch , if you chat football and have a hairy chest!!!

Gathering Nuts in September

Im really a bit of a sad case sometimes, i got all excited yesterday because i gathered my first cob nut  crop aka hazel nuts. My  scrawny little 3 year old bushes that i planted in my bid to grow a native fence have given me a litre or so of nuts . I suppose once they get bigger and the squirrels spot them i will never see a nut , although the cat has tried squirrel wrestling before he really didnt win that one . We did crack a couple open and tried them , very tasty , so theyre now drying in the sunshine on a window ledge till xmas or until i need some for baking .
These have been a great idea, nice bushes lots of weird caterpillers for the munchkin to study , really low maintenance , you can take a crop of branches for garden use , you get catkins in February just when everything else is sad and dead and if the squirrels dont spot them 3 years later you have a crop of nuts , i cant understand why more people dont use them as hedging

Best of all were the weird bugs I had to look up on the internet , shield bugs great little things about the size of an adult fingernail ,harmless sap suckers , that are eaten in some countries as a canape . the look of horror all round when i said they were edible was worth it ..lol

image stolen from somewhere 

Thrift Shops and Poverty

Budget crisis at the house of nettle knickers this month we have squandered every penny on weekends away ,trips to London and graduation . In fact weve done 6 weeks of wreckless squandering , sod the budget...lol
Back to reality time as the first of the threatening letters arrived today . Ive not loaded ebay for a month and work is the usual sporadic pleasure , so tomorrow if the weather is remotely like, i need to do a car boot just for fuel money for the week . Mr Bah Humbug chimes up helpfully with do you fancy going to Whitby for goth weekend ..bless him ., i think this is to make up for not doing the Steampunk event at Lincoln Castle this weekend due to household endemic poverty .
Ive had my first trips to the seaside thrift shops this week and ive hardly broke the bank , just a few bits for pennies , nice cross stitch linen tablecloth with a tea stain im sure a bit of bleach will cure, groovy 70s Family Circle craft book , a single vintage pillowcase and a couple of strange egyptian pattern napkins . I left behind loads of yellow rose phoenix pyrex mixing bowls and serving platters , Saint Andrews Hospice at Sutton on Sea is currently infested with 50s Fire King , JAJ Pyrex and
more. Great if you do the vintage fairs .

A Little pile of reading material , a toilet reading book for the boys , Mees very tatty Lincolnshire a read and cut up i think and of course a really good edition of Farmhouse Fare , best vintage cookbook of the lot, i have a wartime edition and this is a 70s reprint full of handwritten little notes and receipts.

Finally just because they needed a good home theres a Fireking Mug , i always buy them then list them when  get to six , plus theres this gorgeous 1907 Edwardian beauty ribbon plate by Phillip Boileau , designer of images for postcards that i havent a clue what i will do with, nobody seems to like the turn of the century anymore and i keep picking up bits for pennies

Graduation day

Im a very proud mummy today , it was graduation day at Lincoln Cathedral , quite a venue complete with big screens because the inconsiderate medieval builders put all these pillars in the way .

Glorious sunny day , all her hard work and effort has finally paid off and i hope both her and her little man go on to great things

A Belated Birthday Giveaway

Ive just realised ive been blogging for a year , somehow ive maintained my motivation so despite a busy graduation week , plus the creative marrow challenge , i will make the effort to fill a box and give it away to the universe , it will be a crafty fabric sort of  box, plus whatever else ive pack ratted of a crafty nature giveaway even
Xmas items .....why when i dont do xmas?
 This will be an anywhere in the world giveaway but to keep costs down it will be sent by the dreaded surface mail , we're still good for xmas posting dates , just ! winner will be picked via munchkin and pillowcase at 6pm on the 16th barring major disaster .

Now heres the really hard bit . to enter you have to speak to me , go on you can do it . all you need is to speak up in the comments to get an entry , I know some of you are shy and i seem to get readers from the farthest flung corners of the world , plus my usual gang of vocal locals, anyone can enter , you get 24hrs to send your address once picked, if not we pick again . ive had neary 20000 viewers so some of you may still be there . Heres a bad photo off some of the stuff ive found in the last half an hour. Big bit of red holly leaf fabric , sheet of fabric xmas tags, 2 fabric kitty cushion fronts , vintage bag handels, xmas ribbon, aida  , dimensions chart and charms , sparkly silver floss, vintage needle keeper , knitted beanie book , pile of vivid red triangle lace inserts that i never got round into making into bunting , I will keep adding to the little lucky dip box as I find more strange items after all i would need to live into my hundreds to ever use the stash i have amassed

Outlander

so what do you do when most of your technology is dead? You sit down and trawl the pirate tv sites of course .
Twenty odd years ago, when I was vastly pregnant and stuck on bed rest with my eldest , I requested reading material and my other half came back with the first book through the door of the bookshop . somehow it was something good , very good..It was Cross Stitch by Diane Gabaldon . A time travel Jacobite romance, it stayed on my shelf for years until I sold what turned out to be a  first edition,  for a huge amount of money. I never realised it had been issued in the states as Outlander and had a huge cult following plus there was lots more volumes in the series.
But now they have made an excellent TV version and I'm hooked, only available on pirate tv in the UK.  The costumes and  the man flesh  are outstanding , lots of big hairy blokes in kilts , what more could a girl ask for , there's something about a highland accent. I'd show you the pictures but I'm still stuck on this wretched I pad

Grumpy Bird and Technology

Sometimes I wish I was as good with technology as my kids but I'm not , plus I'm mean as well. so on Saturday my monitor developed a fizz , even I know this is a leaky capacitor and a sign of imminent death.
Conversation went like this
Son 1....theres a cheap one in Argos £79
Me....I don't have £79
Son  2 ...we get our Jobseekers Friday we could donate
Me ..you have to order and collect so that will be another week, I will have a look on eBay
find cheap Buyer collect monitor on eBay go and collect
Me ... Can you set this up
SOn1....of course we can , errrrr the leads don't fit
Me ....you said this would fit
Son1....mmmmmmmm

I  plan to stuff there heads in the slow cooker later just for fun, I've ordered the correct leads the moral is never listen to your sons , they may be the technological generation but a simple thing like a power lead is beyond them.
so I'm picture less due to having to use this wretched iPad thingy of Mr Bah Humbugs , and putterless due to the sad demise of my monitor
but the one thing that is driving me mad is the simple fact you can't just pop to a shop when you need something anymore , nobody carries any stock everything has to be ordered online...ggggggrrrrr

Custom cars and Vintage

Mr Bah Humbug twisted my arm and dragged me off to Spalding Yesterday's for my Sunday vintage fix. Custom Culture 2014 Brilliant sunshine and a brilliant event. I was drowned in a sea of Rock n Roll and 50s Americana.

The music was great , the stalls were amazing so much vintage clothing and accessories, tattooists working away , I am so sad sometimes that my lousy skin won't allow tattoos.  Jive displays , air brush displays, wood carving , burlesque dancers and a body art section .

 Mr Bah humbug was moaning that his sunroof is now so big he can't have a flat top anymore and getting all drooly over the vehicles. It was well worth the trip , I just wish I had a bottomless pit for a purse