Three more trash bags of clothing culled from the wardrobe with Dee​’s help. She even offered to be a love & take it away with her (for offering to friends in similar size ranges & eventual deposit into clothing recycling location of her choice).

Now I just need to be Thoughtful about all future incoming clothing purchases.

Plus, I have about ( Read more... )

I’ve had vague plans for a bread for some time, and attempted same today.

Standard white dough mix - 300ml milk, 1 egg, four cups flour, 4 tsp bread-improver-yeast-mix, 2 tbsp oil, 2 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt - added a cup of mozz & some cracked pepper while the dough was kneaded (breadmaker FTW).

Broke the dough into small chunks, dunked each in ( Read more... )

The study has been problematic for a long time. A year or so back, we evicted all the cardboard boxes that used to house parts we no longer own (as my beloved is a member of the school “don’t throw ANYTHING away in case it’s useful”.

Yesterday, he woke up with the LET’S CLEAN THE STUDY bug.

Three trash bags of misc.stuff later…

• The desks have ( Read more... )

I’m endlessly fascinated when I’m teaching. I look around the room, and there’s however many people there, doing something they might never have done before. We’re using a strange alchemy of words and movements and attempts at explanation - and hoping it will somehow translate, across the barrier of someone else’s brain into someone else’s body, ( Read more... )

It’s well established that my mother doesn’t cook. It’s not that she can’t - she’s a functional adult and perfectly capable of putting meals together. Just that where possible, she avoids it.

As such, my cooking instruction as a child extended to the basics of “how not to hurt yourself in a kitchen”, being pointed at the recipe books, given stern ( Read more... )

Just after we got back to work in January, I decided I wanted more time off. I booked the second week of Feb on the basis that I wasn’t on call that week and no-one else was on leave.

As it turns out, that’s the week that Toby started a new contract. Although I have to climb out of bed in the mornings, so that he actually gets OUT THE DOOR in ( Read more... )

Michele Collier - found here.
I want to give nothing
of myself today
and make a holy day
out of my sadness
and say no
to all requests
and wrap my heart
in warmth and comfort
and layered in blankets
I want to give nothing
of myself today
I want to be safe
alone and away
from the world
and all that it asks
and demands of me
I want to give nothing
of ( Read more... )

I’m SO BAD at uncluttering my wardrobe. I have great intentions, but then do the inevitable “but what if I get rid of X then NEEED it?”

Especially if I’ve been reining in my spending, because then it’s compounded by “what if I neeeed it and can’t buyyy it???”

The answer of course is “you have about forty thousand other options, suck it up and ( Read more... )

Because it needs to be captured off Facebook and available for posterity.

We’re dealing with a complex issue at work. It turns out probably not to be our ISP’s fault, but I started there as it appeared to be a bizarre network issue.
I am colossally unimpressed with the ‘technician’ that it was my ill fortune to get on the phone some hour+ ago - ( Read more... )

Amaaaaazing cheesecake completely from scratch. I baked cookies for the base, beat them into crumbs, added the melted butter… It’s a no-bake cheesecake. The topping is mixed fruits - blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries cooked gently and a little gelatin added.

I’m very proud and it’s DELICIOUS.
( Read more... )