I'm not as talented as some people, but I do like to be creative. Some of you may have seen this photo or a similar one on my page on multiply. One of my friends had bought two antique chairs which were in very good condition at an auction. Shortly before I'd seen a tutorial on how to make decorative round cushions, and, when I saw these chairs, I thought they needed some 'dressing up'. To make the decorative cushion is very easy if you have a round cushion, which I didn't and didn't find any in the shops around, so I made my own. Then you take a largish piece of material (my pieces were square) and gather it round the cushion like a bag that you're going to close, tie it with a rubber band and cut off the excess material so that it looks like a pretty flower (more or less). The rickrack (think it's called) was her idea, which I like a lot. I'm going to try to make a couple for one of my sisters from some material she gave me last summer. She loves green and hers will be green. I'm going to try and add some lace or something. If anyone has any other suggestions, I'd appreciate them. These cushions are really pretty if you use shiny material.
Yesterday I arrived home exhausted. Some of you may know that I worked in a language school, one that was well-known, until it closed in 2004. Some of the workers wanted to continue. With the money, we got from the sale of the only building we had left, they used the money they got to continue with a slightly different name and in a rented building. Now the person who was the Head of Studies and one other shareholder have decided they want to close. My friend Chris definitely wants to continue and has found people who are interested in re-starting the business with her. She's one of those people who have lots of useful contacts. Anyway, I was helping to pack up material, take down propaganda, etc. What I will never understand is why if these two people want to leave, why don't they just do that. I know they're hoping to get some money out of it. However, other people who went in as shareholders and who no longer work there didn't get any money for leaving. People are so selfish, only thinking of their own personal gains! I'll have a busy week but will help as much as possible. Please if you pray, add my friends to your list. They're also ex-colleagues which means something to me. Chris is a very positive person and she works hard.
Have a good week everyone. Happy 4th of July whenever you celebrate it if you do.
Since yesterday I got most of the 'heavy' stuff I do at the weekends like the shopping, cleaning the floors, the laundry, etc. done, I thought I could sleep in today. At the moment everything is silent at lunchtime, but I woke up to the sound of someone gutting out a flat upstairs, on the third floor I imagine. Bang! Bang! Bang! Just one of the numerous disadvantages of living in an apartment block.
I also decided yesterday would be one of the last days I could comfortably do some baking. I think summer has come after another week of abnormally chilly weather. At least it hasn't rained on my clean windows yet. We'll wait for a possible summer storm to do that. Anyway, today I'm going to tackle a chore that I abhor: paper shredding. I'm always putting that off. Better shred while the paper bin is empty!
Not much is going on with me unless I complain about something, which I prefer not to do. We finally met up at the Chinese with one of our friends who hasn't been able to join us for quite a while as she's been involved in giving Cambridge exams. This week she's taken off to go to the beach. She'll come back brown, and I'll be the only paleface!
Before I was reading another blog with photos from a farmers' market showing some delicious-looking tomatoes. On Tuesday I happened to meet one of my former students, who is now teaching at the university level, outside an organic shop. He said it was cheaper than the one I mentioned. I went in to buy some tomatoes, but alas the delivery truck hadn't arrived. Hopefully the next time I go, they'll have some.
As you can see these are the Pringles I like. What is your favourite flavour if you like Pringles? Hope everyone has a week that is bursting with good things. I can't believe it's the last week of June.
We've got a plague of moths that have stopped to rest in Spain before continuing their journey to cooler countries in the North. One of my friends said last week that they'd been eating holes in her clothes that she'd hung out to dry, so when one flew in the other night, I chased it around until I finally killed it against my lamp shade. I was so afraid that it would leave a nasty mark. Fortunately, it didn't. I'm so happy the lamp shade has lived up to what the salesman said about being stain-resistant. TV journalists have, however, said the moths we're seeing aren't the kind that eat your clothes. I'll let you know if they are, because one woke me up flitting around. I haven't seen it yet today.
I recently tried a home remedy I saw posted on facebook for repairing wood and decided to try it. I call it salad dressing because you measure out 3/4 cup canola oil (I used sunflower seed oil) and 1/4 cup white or apple vinegar, mix and rub onto your damaged wood. I've had this chest of drawers for at least 30 years and it came to me secondhand. This is the chest of drawers, all shiny, with one of my fans perched on top. It's one of the few pieces of furniture that I had in my old flat that belonged to me since it was a mostly-furnished flat. If you try this 'recipe' let me know how it comes out for you. For me the surface is a bit sticky. I tried another remedy which boasted the cleanest windows ever also using vinegar as one of the ingredients. I got only the streakiest windows ever.
At the moment my windows are streak free, but next week the temperature is supposed to go down and there's a possibility of rain. If I were to make a guess, I'd say the possibility that my windows get spotted are very high. I was wearing winter PJ's until Wednesday. Really! Today it's supposed to be about 35º C (95ºF). I won't go out this afternoon unless it's absolutely necessary.
Happy Father's Day in the US. Hope everyone has a wonderful week whatever the weather.
If you're on facebook, please don't give away the answer to the question I posted about this photo. The question was: what do you think this really is? Naturally I'm hoping at least someone will say it's cheese, and it very well could be as I've placed it on a cheese board. Too bad I didn't include the cheese knife in the photo. It's something our grandmothers, their ancestors, and even some of our mothers (mine did) used to make. This chunk that I have is between 15-20 years old I also wrote on facebook. It's lye soap, which in my opinion is as good, if not better, than Oxyclean or Vanish or whatever you use to help clean your clothes. I like to do my washing by hand with it. We have a similar mass-produced soap in Spain that goes by the brand name Lagarto (lizard) soap. It's also good and, like lye soap, is non-irritating.
Anyway, I have an ulterior motive in posting this photo. I'd like to invite you to participate in a Father's Day giveaway hosted by my friend Kathy (from Multiply too) and a friend of hers. Kathy makes lovely soaps, body butters, you name it from all-natural ingredients. When you see what they're giving away, you'll want to participate, so here's the link:
http://kathyinozarks.blogspot.com.es/2013/06/fathers-day-giveaway.html
Would you believe I'm still wearing my winter PJ's! I'm thinking of going out a bit later when all the bullfighting fans and tourists are settled into the bullring. I think this is the last week in which there are fights every day. I won't stay out too long, because the only thing I got done yesterday was the housecleaning (I had to), the shopping and a bit of cooking. The telephone company was here over two hours yesterday installing fiber optics internet for me. Okay so they cleaned up fairly well after themselves, but I still had to clean up the bits, like the dust from drilling, various lost screws, wire tiers. I even found a piece of fiber optic,plus I had to mop because it just had to rain. and, since they were in and out, the floors were dirty. With my luck, it'll rain while I'm out. I really love the navigation speed though there are a couple of things I'm not happy with. One of them that I think is essential - not all my ports are registering 'stealth' so if I can't figure out how to fix that I'll have to call a tech.
That's about all I've got to say for this week. Hope everyone's week is good, and don't forget to join the Father's Day giveaway.
After a not so good last weekend, I was hoping for a bit of peace during this one. Canal + Television telemarketers have called me numerous times already during the week and today at about 2.30 p.m., which is lunchtime for many families. I usually eat a bit earlier than that unless I go to a restaurant, so I wasn't eating lunch then. How many times do I have to tell them I'm not interested, and, if I were, there's a shop near my house where I can get the kit to install Canal +.
I can only imagine how unpleasant and frustrating their job must be, so I try and politely dissuade them from calling again. However, it doesn't always work or work for long. These calls seem to come in spates. Maybe this week they won't call? Oh no, they've just called! I'm not answering!
Yesterday we had our monthly lunch and hen party. There were only 5 of us as one of our friends is still in the States and another two couldn't make it. We were happy to welcome back a new member who we hadn't seen in over 9 months. She broke her left heel falling off a ladder and has suffered the consequences of the accident ever since. In fact,
she's still going through treatment. She says it only hurts now that she's started to walk on it. Not being mobile is one of the worst things I can think of.
My photo today is what I did with some CD jewel cases. I printed a full-size photo of two of my great- nieces and cut each one into two and put them in the case. I'm a real magician! I decided to put my CD's in order, especially the ones I have for the computer, those with photos, recipes, etc. and a few music ones. I got a set of 4 CD albums from Amazon, which look like a small version of the big office files. This way I have them separated and can find the CD I want more easily. As for this idea for photo frames, I found it on the internet. Where else? If anyone has any more cool ideas as to what I can do with the empty cases (I have quite a few), please let me know.
I'm going to do a few chores now and hope everyone has a good week with no horrible storms or other difficulties.
