What a bargain.

Yay for the last day of April.

This year is zooming by, but I have to say I am looking forward to May.

Lots of nice things planned and hopefully some brighter weather, since our glorious few days of Sun its been gloomy and wet. But the Daff's looked pretty with raindrops.

The weekend didn't go as planned, no 2 son went out all day and night on Friday, not getting home till just before 3am, so when I called him at 6.30 am to set off to Plymouth, he was none too keen ! I do have to say that this is a one off, he rarely goes out at night, I was a tad worried, but they missed the last bus and ended walking back to the cinema and tried to call a cab, luckily he had the foresight to call me and let me know, but I was sat worrying till he got home. The joys of motherhood eh !

The positive to this change of plan was that I didn't have any other plans so decided to sit and knit as hubs was at a beer festival with his friends, and I was blooming knackered after spending most of the night awake waiting for him to come home. I finally managed to pick up my carbeth cardigan , joined the sleeves to the body and am now knitting up a storm. I will try and get some pics to share.

Sunday, hubs and I went off in search of a picture and radiator cover for the downstairs office which he has just finished painting. The colour is a bit of a bold statement,

In real life its a more deeper teal emerald, I love it. We have painted all the walls this colour ! luckily it does get a lot of light through its little window and its a reasonable sized room. Its brightened up with accessories and actually feels quite warm and snug. Very pleased with it.

We didn't manage to find a picture, I was after a large colourful Buddha, so dragged hubby to B&M as they have pictures so thought it worth a try,. They had loads but not what I was after, but I did find the bargain of the year

11 rolls of wallpaper at 10p a roll !! yep, you heard right, even the cashier looked amazed.

This is destined for the hallway, we are slowly redecorating and freshening up the house, but as we are planning on selling up next year don't want to spend a fortune.

[I know what you are thinking why  on earth did they paint a full room in dark green when they are planning to sell?, well we still have to live here, and it may take ages to sell up.]

Anyway, back to the wallpaper, its not what I would have chosen had I gone out to buy wallpaper, but actually its quite sweet. We have a dado rail in the hallway so it will be on the top half of the walls and am just contemplating whether to paint the lower part of the walls a silver grey like the branches, or the deep magenta colour in the centre of the flower. I'm thinking probably the more subtle grey ! then maybe a grey fleck carpet for the stairs?  In all honesty I would love the magenta !

Midway.

I do love getting to the end of Wednesday. It means my work week is almost done and I can start thinking about the weekend.

Yesterday no 1 son turned 20 ! how did that happen so quickly, can't believe I only have 1 teenager now. I woke up yesterday feeling very bloated and without being too graphic was full of wind. I think I have been over doing the beans and pulses. So as it was no 1's  birthday and he had chosen to spend the evening with us, a pizza and a movie, I decided to participate and ate 2 slices of pizza and had a couple of glasses of red ! It was blooming lovely, but this morning I woke up feeling bloated from eating pizza and drinking red wine, cant win ! Back on the wagon now. Its only 4 weeks until we set off for a break on Lundy and I need to get somewhat fitter for all the walking we will be doing,  or shall I just sit and read !

This coming weekend we are off down to Plymouth uni open day, no 2 son is having a look around , they have a couple of courses he's interested in, then we have another 2 open days booked. I really don't know if he knows what he wants to do to be honest ! I feel really sorry for him, he's got an AS exam next month and then his mock A' levels, all on top of having to make choices for uni courses and start navigating the UCAS system, which I know nothing about. In all honesty I know nothing about any of his chosen subjects so feel somewhat useless supporting him. I am typing this blog post sat next to him at the dining table as this is the only way I know to make him do his math revision !

Craft wise I have done absolutely nothing, zilch, zip, nought ! not a creative mojo in me this week .

I don't really seem to have done much at all. I think I need to surf some creative blogs and get that mojo back, I have loads of projects on the go. Maybe I should just close my eyes and pick one out of the WIP box !

Check out the school house tunic I made a few weeks back, pretty impressed with it for a first attempt, the fabric was from fabric land £3.99 pr metre and I love it. Thinking it will look great with my jeans. This has been hung on the door in my little pink den just waiting for the ends to be snipped off ! I really need to get my craft mojo back, I have puffin fabric to make a school house tunic for Lundy ! is that sad?

Faffing.

Just spent some time faffing with my blog template again, wish I hadn't bothered. I have basically gone back to what I had previously as didn't like the layouts of most of them.

I really want to use my blogger 'about me', but I cant get it to switch from the google+  one. Anyone have any ideas how to do this? I had one ages ago, but cant fathom how to switch back from Google+

In amongst all the madness of blog templates and layouts I also lost the list of blogs I read ..... Grrrrrrr Its taken me ages to try and fine them again and get them back into a list. Pretty sure I have lost some, but the sun is shining and I really need to get back outside, I have an olive tree that needs pruning.. 

In case anyone's interested here is my cheap 

'hot weather' work wear from good old Asda, that I purchased yesterday.

Reduced to £7, light weight sort of chiffony?

 £8 Short t-shirt style dress, will wear with some 3/4 black leggings, my legs just are acceptable for public viewing !

 £10, these are so comfortable, I have blank and blue ones for work and these were just so pretty

£14 I have had my eye on this shirt for a while, love it

£16, just because I have an inner hidden hippy, this will be fab with my jeans out of work as well.

Then because they were so darned cheap and such pretty colours, and as I have got bigger [fatter]  thought I needed to get some larger Bra's..

Bra's £4 each.

Then I picked up this lovely smelling body spray, I was actually looking for some natural deodorant, they didn't have any, so I bought this instead. 

'So' Maui Waves, I just loved the smell, reminded me of holidays.

Right I am off to prune a tree ! hope you are all having gorgeous weather too.

Life and health.

Life's ticking over, and I seem to have got into a gentle rhythm. I think this lovely weather is helping my mood. How lovely is it to be able to step outside and spend time in the garden. Sadly happiness has also come from being able to hang washing on the line ! I can't tell you how much I love putting washing on the line. Is that an age thing?

Hubs has been out sorting the garden on his days off, I actually have flowers, flowers that have not been used as a urinal for the hound, or dug up. Our lawn is now looking much improved and the days of it looking like the hounds race track seem to have disappeared. There are no longer craters every where , nor are there scenes of carnage and destruction  left after one of his digging and shredding sessions. Boy do I miss that dog !

The sunny weather has also bought its own problems, namely a summer wardrobe for work. Last weekend I had a wake up call, stepped onto the scales and had to step off and back on gain.Shocked , yes, but in all honesty I knew it was coming. I am the HEAVIEST weight I have ever been.Those that have read my blog for a while will remember me on and off diets, trying to shed the weight, all to no avail. Add to that no hound to walk and a 100 % desk job and  this is where I have ended up, overweight and minus a wearable summer wardrobe !

Enough,aside from looking like the back end of a bus, the red sweaty puffed face is not desirable and I feel darned uncomfortable. So last weekend I had to think long and hard about how to tackle this little problem. Another diet is just not going to work, it never has, just don't stick to them, tell me I cant eat it and I then have to eat it. Sow what to do?. A little change of lifestyle rather than dieting.

Years ago , before number 1 son was born I had been vegetarian for years, my craving whilst expecting him was meat ! seriously I couldn't get enough of it. Almost 20 years down the line I am still eating meat. Picky, but still eating it. Recently I have been thinking about returning to vegetarianism, so rather than think about it, last weekend I went Veggie !

It has been easier than I thought and I have really enjoyed my food. All home cooked, loads of pulses and fresh foods.  I treated my self to a couple of vegan books to get some ideas which have helped immensely. I have stuck to 3 meals per day and tried not to pick. Patting myself on the back I have managed the whole week. I am not craving meat at all.

As I am desk bound at work with a 45 minute drive each way, I have tried to get my self up and out for a 30 minute walk each day, trying to hit that magical 10k steps per day. I am not setting targets, not gearing my self up for failures, just see it as a new way of life.

I have up graded my Fitbit to a Fitbit Alta HR, being grossly overweigh I was getting a tad paranoid about having a heart attack, seriously !. I  went for the blue steel colourway and love it. I love the detail it gives on your sleep patterns and heart rate.I also like that it acts as a watch, I haven't worn a watch for as long as I can remember, but as I am trying to walk in my lunch breaks, I really need to keep an eye on the time.

And that's what I have been doing this week, eating healthy and walking more, and guess what, I lost 4lbs... and half an inch off my waist. I still don't fit into my summer clothes mind, planning a quick trip to Asda this morning after I drop number  1 son to work. Planning on grabbing a few cheap and cheerful cool tops for work. Lets hope the sun continues to shine, shame hubs is working else I might of headed off to the coast.

Out and about.

Despite the rain last week we did manage to get a few dry spots to get out and about.

Bristol Harbourside.

Burnham on sea.

driving back through Cheddar Gorge

Clevedon Pier.

Kingsweston House