Domestic Goddess

Let's start with a LO I've just done this afternoon with some of the contents of my fabulous Quirky Kit.
I am not and don't suppose I will ever be a domestic goddess if being such requires me to clean, clean and clean some more. I can do the whole home cooking, home baking Nigella-esk domestic godessness but cleaning leaves me cold.
I grew up with a mother who lived to clean, she never enjoyed it (or so she claims) but still religously scrubbed and swept her way through the same tasks day after day. She still does and to be honest I have never really been able to see what she does achieve, ok she can say she's done it but isn't it so much more satsifying when you can really see what you've done?
That's one of the things that's got me pleased with myself today. This morning I gave our bedroom a really good clean of the move all the furniture and hoover underneath them variety. It was hard work but when it was done I could see that I had made a difference. You might think that perhaps if i did it more often then it wouldn't have been such hard work. Maybe, but since I'm certain that domestic goddesses like Nigella and perfect housewives like Anthea Turner have cleaners to do the hard work I'm going to keep feeling smug.

Actually I did more than just the bedroom (including changing the king-size duvet single-handed), I also cleaned the ensuite and hoovered all through. I have done loads of washing and am thinking that tomorrow I am going to have a me day and go out for the day.

Right on to my latest SLYMI LO

The challenge was to scrap in blue and green and I think I managed that quite well with these pictures from the brewery meet back in April.

And finally it is Wednesday which means WOYWW!
When I took this picture I had just got the stuff out to have a go at my domestic goddess LO, there are also some bits for other projects on there too but not much because I've been crafting a lot on the floor downstairs so there is a pile of half finished stuff down there!

71 Flowers!

Remeber the clematis I mentioned a while back?
Well it has finally finished flowering and today I finished deadheading it and can report that it produced a total of 71 flowers. How cool is that. Sadly now instead of being a mass of pink that bit of the garden is back to being green but the purple clematis on the other side of the garden is just starting to come into flower and I reckon has even more buds.

You know how sometimes things make you stop and think, little things that normally wouldn't get a second glance. I had one of those moments this afternoon when I suddenly decided to wonder why I have so many white tops. I rarely wear white because i am a dirt magnet; I craft, I garden, I hang about in old land rovers, you get the picture? I might stick a white vest under something else once in a while but I don't go out in a nice crisp bright white top. But still I own a pile of them, basic white tees, the sort that come in multi-packs from mail order catalogues, and every time I clear out my wardrobe I look at them all bright and unworn and back they go until the next time I am in the mood to chuck stuff out. Perhaps next time I need to be more ruthless.

Nothing crafty to share with you today because i have been making ATCs all weekend and since they are for swaps it wouldn't be right to share them before the people they are for have seen them.

WOYWW

Or to give it it's full title What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. I spotted this on Julia's blog last week and decided that I would give it a go. So here it is my desk this morning and remarkably you can actually see my craft mat! It is actually rather tidy at the moment because I had a big blitz in here the other day and haven't done anything too messy since.

Truthfully though the real story of today is in what's not on my desk. It should be covered in the requisite parts of the two father's day cards that I have got to get made today and the belated birthday card that I learnt last night was required. But i have no idea what I am going to do so my desk remains clearish. Instead there are a couple of covered post-it note thingys that I am going to try and sell for charity later in the summer, some interesting papers and lots of tools.
Oh and in case you know me and think that the clear desk is at the cost of the floor I am pleased to report that the carpet is still visible!

Trains, Land Rovers and a Lovely LO

What a difference a week makes. After last weekend's rain this weekend was fabulously sunny. And just as well as we had a packed weekend of Landy based fun.

Saturday saw us on a run with the Land Rover series one club. We had a great time in the lanes around the Stiperstones. Of course you know who ended up doing some running repairs in the pub car park during a stop but the old girl went really well (more than can be said for you know who; he ended up suffering really bad with hayfever and that's usually my trick!) Some of the lanes we had driven before but some of them were new to us but it was a beautiful route and I got some great photos.

Sunday was an early start and off to Highley Station for Landy's on the Line an event organised by the SVL at the stations of the Severn Valley Railway. We took the two oldest in the collection or as I sometimes call them beauty and the beast. It was a gorgeous morning and the rest of the day didn't disappoint, it was a day to sit back and watch the world and the steam trains go by. Again I got some good photos but they haven't made it onto the computer yet so I'll have to share them another time.

And now to the LO. I actually completed this one the middle of last week but I am so pleased with it that I have to share it. It was done to complete two challenges, the SLYMI challenge to scrap a self-portrait and the weekly challenge over on UKS which included a sketch (that I altered), to use at least three papers and three techniques and to include a number in the title all of which worked well on this quite upbeat LO. Oh and the photo was taken before my recent haircut if you couldn't tell!

New Hair Do

Last Week I took the plunge and had my hair cut off, well most of it! The photo isn't a great one because it was a hot day and within minutes of leaving the salon it has lost that just styled edge. I am really loving it though not least because I can get up in the morning run my fingers through it and go. Saving loads of shampoo too!

Sadly the hot weather is behind us. Last weekend saw our annual jaunt to Shrewsbury for the vintage machinery rally and it rained. Not quite as badly as it rained at Anglesey a few weeks ago but enough to put a dampener on proceedings. A shame really because it is all done for charity and the organisers work really hard.

The weekend's weather got me down and so pretty much all i have done since is craft, it's therapy honest. I've completed a couple of LOs and would get on with more if my printer hadn't suddenly decided to be a complete PIA preventing me from printing my photos in the sizes I want. Think I might have to kick it, It won't do much for the printer but will make me feel better LOL