A Fantasy Job

Another random blog from me - but I'm guessing you might be getting used to it by now :-) So anyway in a light hearted conversation with Spurs boy over what jobs we would do if we didn't have our current ones, it turns out I would like a job as a food critic!

They Did It

Over ten years we've been waiting for our friends to get married. This weekend they finally got married!

It was a truly beautiful day, the sunshine came out for the much needed photos and it didn't rain. Friends that we haven't seen for ages made the journey for the weekend and everyone remarked on how well they had done on such a small budget.

Sarah Loves... Lakeland

Just put in another order with Lakeland, it's becoming another addiction. After our iRobot buy that I blogged about here and then last week we started looking through and seeing what things we needed wanted. On the website you can also read what other people thought about their purchase which can offer you more insight into whether you feel it would be best for you.

ALREADY BOUGHT Grand Remoska Electric Cooker

We've only used the oven 3 times since we bought this three weeks ago. It's cheaper to run and it makes gorgeous sponge cakes.

ALREADY BOUGHT Remote Control Tidy

We just had too many remotes and it seemed "my" place to put them was always different to where Spurs boy wanted them to go. So now we have no excuses...

ALREADY BOUGHT 'Empty Your Pockets' Organiser

Spurs boy bought this to prove he can leave his "stuff" in one place. He did challenge me to get one so I would be able to empty my bag every day! My answer "I'd need a much bigger one!" :-P

ORDERED Heated Towel Rail

We seem to run our tumble dryer loads recently and we're getting very aware of our carbon footprint in recent weeks and this seems a good way to cut down in the home.

ORDERED Mini Make-Up Caddy

I suppose this is actually my version of the 'Empty Your Pockets' Organiser as I'm hoping this will make me cut down on make-up splurges! I doubt it though, although the thought is there :-P

ORDERED Cupcake Cake Pan

I have a real sweet tooth and love cakes. This seems like the ideal purchase for me

ORDERED Lakeland Paella Pan

Spurs boy and I are big fans of paella and this is only £9.99 and they say you need to have a paella pan to make the perfect paella. Nom nom nom!

 

ALREADY BOUGHT AND RE-ORDERED Chef's Candle

We have an open plan kitchen, dining and lounge so kitchen smells can linger for some time and this is great for eliminating those smells. A definite must!

 ALREADY BOUGHT Tomato Compost Crock

Living in a second floor apartment isn't very easy to take out your kitchen scraps and this clever little pot is handy to have as we can then take them out to our bin later on. Has a carbon filter inside to neutralise odours for a couple of months. Also it's red!

Are you a fan? What was your favourite purchase?

So what have I been up to since I last posted...

Well the other blog is coming along day by day, don't want to rush it. I have managed to do a lot of planning for my story, which has really helped gain more focus about where it might be going.

I went to see Transformers (I found out the Transformer I had as a child was one of the Decepticons, the evil ones - says a lot really) Revenge of the Fallen which was amazing and could be pushing it's way into my top 10. Major criticism though was it was about 45 mins too long but the action scenes were truly spectacular. This has led me to sign up to Flixster, I haven't actually managed to write any reviews on it just yet but will hopefully do so this week.

The fish are well, have just bought some food tablets that stick to the inside of the aquarium as my oranda fish seem to dislike flake foods, my danio's love it though. Typical! Peas are a favourite enjoyed by all. All of them now come to see you when you look in on them, although they associate that with food is coming so they are left disappointed a lot!

Baking last week we made little chocolate fudge cakes, this week Button Cookies are on the agenda. I have a cupcake book arriving some time this week which will I'm sure bring new ideas for next week.

This week The Guardian ends and I will just have a once weekly fix of the lovely Simon Baker in the Mentalist! The 3rd series of the Wire is also coming to an end and will finish next Monday. Series 4 will take us further into the mayoral race from Series 3 and into the school system and a closer look at Stanfield's drug gang.
Everything in the garden is going well, tomatoes are nearly ready to turn red and be ready for picking/eating. Have put a tray of nasturtiums next to my lettuces and another big nasturtium next to my beans and peas to keep the blackfly away. Seems to be working, worked amazingly well last year. My Love In A Mist flowers have just started flowering; I have a mixture of white, blue and pink ones. I thought my poppy had died but got another 4 poppies over the weekend, I'm waiting for the poppy heads to go brown so I can de-seed them and plant again.
I have a programme clash this week where I'm glad for sky+ as Dragons Den is back and so is Who Do You Think You Are which follows Davina McCall in its season opener.
I also spotted a Small Copper butterfly in the garden at the weekend, hopefully will see some more in the next few weeks. Jonathan has seen a Small White butterfly in the front garden. In the next few weeks we will be visiting Butterfly World which looks amazing!

That's all for now

Sarah

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Weekend Update

My fish tank is now clean(ish) and I'm pleased to report that all the new fish have been getting on well with each other and of course our first fish Luke. He however is definitely the tank bully still, chasing the little ones out of his way and for gobbling up the most food! They have been introduced to spinach, grapes and peas; the latter is definitely the favourite as I had to fish (ha ha) out the other uneaten choices! Cleaning out the tank was quite easy and although it took me some time to work out the siphon cleaner we got there eventually. Tested the water tank about 5 hours later and it was perfect! So relieved.

Caught up on more TV recordings, the wonders of Sky+ Although everything seems to come nowhere near the finale of the fifth season of Greys Anatomy from Thursday night-totally hooked throughout the two hours! Cannot wait for season six, must find out who lives...Season six of One Tree Hill starts in July, can't wait to find out who Lucas rung and asked to marry him at the end if season five, Lindsay? Brooke? Peyton? It has to be Peyton right?

And then there's The Unit that has just started, ER (the final series - weep!), Dexter, Lie To Me, The Mentalist, House, Brothers and Sisters and The Guardian. Just a few programmes to keep me entertained! I have really enjoyed The TV adaptation of Martina Cole's The Take which finishes this week, she really likes to put a lot of violence in her books doesn't she? Fantastic though all the same!

Cupcake making is pencilled in my diary for this Wednesday, have ordered some individual silicone bakeware cases, such a geek I know! Also been researching different toppings and sprinkles for cakes, terrible thing is I research cake making and then I make myself hungry and have to eat, not a great way for me at moment as I try to get fit! Speaking of fitness I did a thoroughly exhausting boxing workout on the wii the other day, my arms were sore for at least 48 hours! Might do it again this week...I emphasis the word 'might'.

Had woken up deaf Sunday morning but am now pleased due to the next door neighbour's cat scaring me whilst collecting tomatoes from the garden that I can now hear again fine. Speaking of the garden, tomatoes are doing very well I just need to re-pot one plant into a bigger pot. Lettuces, peas and runner beans are also coming along nicely. I am particularly proud of my little gerbera daisy seedlings, I have had several unsuccessful attempts at trying to grow them and finally I have little leaves coming up.

Will write again soon

Sarah
x

So...

I have started to plan out my story, it's taking quite a lot of time
but I have realised when it's all done it will make writing the story
so much easier. I haven't thought of a title or anything for it yet.
I'm struggling to name characters at the moment, anyone got any ideas?

Because of planning the story I have fallen short on research for
cupcakes. Hopefully in the next few days I will be able to get some
ideas.

Today hopefully there will be a new addition to our fish tank. Already
we have a orange and black oranda called Luke (named after Lucas from
One Tree Hill) and we are getting another oranda called Katie.
Hopefully we'll be getting some zebra danio's too. Not sure how we'll
name those as they all look the same!

I will leave this entry with a little thing I found out. The man who
invented the Nike logo got paid just $35 for the design!

Sarah
x

Cupcakes!

Having had a look around some other blog pages, mainly the food ones to be honest, I have found a sudden urge to make cupcakes!

Not just any kind of cupcake but big iced delicious ones! Having looked at and currently following some blogs my desire is even more.

I need to do some more research obviously and currently bidding on a few books on eBay to help. But I will be sure to keep my blog updated on the wonderful world of cupcakes and how I get on making them!

Sarah

x

Thinking about writing something serious

I have had an idea for ages about writing a story. I now think it might be time to put it all down and start a (dare I say it!) book!

I've read a few articles about starting writing with some clever folk saying "Once upon a time" is a good place to start! Haha very funny!

But along with my cupcake research I am going to start planning out the story, chapter by chapter.

It's quite weird but I don't have an ending for the story, I'm thinking writing it will help and then the ending will just occur.

And before you ask it's not a cupcake book....yet anyway.... I might write one in the future!

Sarah

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