What Makes You Happy?

Hi honeys
I hope you're having a great week and seeing lots of sunshine.  On Friday I talked about pet peeves or annoyances and today I thought, just to address the balance, we should talk about happiness :)

Everyone wants to be happy and everyone seems to have different ideas of what happiness actually is, or what's needed to achieve it.  Obviously I can't speak for anyone but myself but for what it's worth honeys here is what makes me happy, how many do you agree with?

What's your pet peeve?

Hi honeys
Is there something that bugs you?  We all have something that can spoil an otherwise perfect day and sometimes it's incredibly difficult to just shrug it off as we should.  OK today we need to feel better, stop smiling through gritted teeth and get it off our chest.

Mine is without a doubt plain old "don't care about anyone else" rudeness.  There, I said it.  I'm not saying we should all walk around on eggshells all day long, fearful of causing the slightest offence.  I dislike all forms of political correctness, surely there should only be correctness?  Treat others as you'd like to be treated yourself? Be kind, just because you can?

What I mean here is people who just seem to exist (or so it feels) for the sole purpose of spoiling someone else's day.  I've experienced a few examples of this recently myself and I've seen lovely people being treated badly.  Oddly enough I find it so much easier to stand up for others than for myself.  I often wonder if the people guilty of such selfishness, because that's surely what it is,  are even aware of how their behaviour is affecting others. 

I know everyone has "off days" where we don't feel like Mr/Ms sunshine & being sociable is just not going to happen but that's no excuse for being downright rude, especially when the people you're being rude to have no choice but to accept & put up with it.

I was chatting to a taxi driver recently and he was telling me about a customer who'd been incredibly rude to him.  He said that working in the service industry he was used to tolerating behaviour during his work day, such as being sworn at or other verbal abuse, that he simply wouldn't tolerate in his time off. Unfortunately, as we chatted I recognised completely his point having experienced it myself many times.
              
I know we can't completely control our environments, things happening throughout our day, but we can control how we react to them.  I smile. A lot. Seriously, even on bad days when I'm in pain, or finding it difficult to cope for whatever reason, I smile. A really lot.  Especially when someone is being outrageously rude to me because 1. I won't allow someone to take away my good day that easily & 2. I don't know what struggles that person is facing.

So, there it is honeys, my pet peeve is people who treat others badly just because they can.  There really is no excuse for it.  The fabulous thing about smiling a lot is that it's infectious, people smile back :)  What's your pet peeve?  What creams your corn? What sets your teeth on edge?

Have a fabulous weekend dear ones, till next time, sending heaps of hugs xx     

The Sheer Joy Of Books

Disclaimer: I have not been paid, or given products to promote any bookstore.  I am a life long book worm and just wanted to share my latest purchases.  Books make me smile :)


Hi honeys
Picture this.  Early last Saturday morning there was a tremendous din at our front door, seriously honeys, someone banged not knocked our door so hard it sounded like the door would come in.  Hubby opens the front door to see a rapidly leaving delivery driver, and a brown cardboard box which had been left on our doorstep :)  Er, thank you delivery driver, you have a good day too :)

A mystery!  Well, as it turns out not such a mystery after all :) it was a delivery from my latest happy place (sorry Ikea, don't feel jealous, I still adore you too!) Years ago, while at college, I used to just about haunt a shop called "Bargain Books" It was a fabulous place where there was just no telling what you'd find.  I spent many a happy hour there, and in lots of little second hand book shops around campus.  I digress, as is usual for me :)

The very heavy brown box contained an order I'd placed with a shop called "The Works."  Much like Bargain Books, The Works is a discount book store.  They don't just sell books though, they sell arts & crafts supplies, CDs & DVDs too and all at a great discount.

Well, it turns out they have an online store now and since I don't go anywhere near the city centre, too busy, too far away, too noisy, too scary, well it's as if I can still wander in and browse around and they'll even deliver!  Even if it is a very scary delivery person who just about breaks the door down and then runs away :)

OMG!! I Found Something Wonderful!

Disclaimer: I haven't been paid to write this post, I just found Yummly through a pin on Pinterest while looking for ideas on what to make for dinner and got so excited I wanted to share :)

Hi Honeys
I'm very excited! OK, as you know I love to cook :) When I'm not cooking, I'm reading recipe books or pinning recipes or thinking about recipes... You get the idea :)

Well I just discovered a great site called Yummly! Why haven't I been here already?  Why has the Universe been hiding it from me? This fabulous site is packed, and I do mean packed honeys, with so, so many incredible recipes!

I've been trying to cook a little healthier, cutting out (unhealthy) fats & cutting down on the meat we (Hubby that is, I'm so NOT a red meat girl) eat each week.  I'm the one who decides "what's for dinner, honey?" around here so I really do try to make each meal as healthy as I can. 

Buttercup, Pretty Buttercup & A Pretty Printable.

Hi honeys,

There was a surprise waiting for me in the garden and it so made me smile, so I wanted to share :-)

There she was, hidden among the Peonies.........

Tiny and all on her own, this tiny buttercup is every bit as beautiful as the Peonies she's keeping company :)

I'm so glad I noticed this tiny buttercup, not only because she made me smile, but also because it gave me an excuse (not that one was needed) to snap another few photos of the Peonies. I so adore them :)  

Their colour is just breath taking this year.  Every time I open our kitchen door they smile at me :) Now though they have a teeny tiny friend who is making me smile too :)

Isn't she beautiful? Beauty really is all around us honeys, we only have to look for it. Fluffy clouds, daisies peeking out of the grass to say hello, and teeny tiny buttercups :)

I wanted to share this wee smile so I've uploaded a large version of this image for you honeys. You can download a copy of the photo above here and I so hope it makes you smile as much as I did.  I hope you're having a fabulous week dear ones, till next time, hugs always xx

Organizing A Stationery Cupboard & Why You Should Have One...

Hi honeys
I hope you're well and having a great week.  I thought I'd share our latest organizing project, which is far from finished, but I'm actually rather excited about it :)

If you look around your room right now you'll probably see pens? notebooks? A stray pair of scissors that normally live in the kitchen drawer because... well, where else would they go?

What about a designated stationery cupboard? Or a cubby or shelf or box, whatever suits your needs honeys, but somewhere to keep pens, paper, craft supplies and all of those bits and pieces that sit on surfaces around your home causing clutter.  

Rosie's Kitchen Cabinet Hack & Re-Organization

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to promote any products, just sharing our latest project and how we've accomplished it :) Also, this is a long post, better to fetch a cuppa & maybe a biscuit :) hugs xx

Hi  honeys
Yay! Summer has finally arrived! Sunny days! Laundry! Lovely, warm, sunny days with temperatures in the low 20s! Fun with our furbaby Jade in the garden (even though I can't throw her ball for her for taffy :) downside though.... haven't been able to breathe properly for the past couple of nights because the house has been so humid even with the windows open.  Counting blessings here though honeys, doesn't matter, we've waited too long to not enjoy it, so yay Summer :)

Do you remember our budget kitchen makeover a few months ago? There are no words for how differently (and better) our kitchen works now, or for how much I adore that new unit Hubby fitted :)

Wonderful as it is though, I knew it could work better.  In particular, the newly fitted double cabinet Hubby had fitted under the new worktop.  I'll explain.  

Ikea BRÖDMIX FLERKORN Multigrain Bread Baking Mix

Disclaimer: I have not been paid to promote any products, I bought this mix myself on our last shopping trip because I was curious and thought I'd share 😊

Hi Honeys
Is there anything better than the smell of freshly baked bread wafting through from the kitchen? I haven't baked my own bread in what feels like ages, and when I do I use a good strong (unbleached & usually wholegrain or multigrain) bread flour, yeast and my trusty little hand mixer with the dough hooks,  so far it's always turned out really well :)

During our last trip to Ikea (my happy place) I spotted a new (new to me anyway) product that claims to be a mix to make a multigrain bread and only requires the addition of warm water, which you add to the carton and shake!  No kneading! Just add hot water and shake carton for 45 seconds it says on the pack. I was intrigued :)

Given the choice I'd rather make things from scratch but the photo on the box looked lovely, I love multigrain/wholegrain anything so I thought, why not give it a try?

First I'd like to say that I didn't think this through.  I really have no strength in my hands/arms and painful shoulders, so the shaking of the carton was going to be a problem but I did try honeys. 

Beautiful Smiles In The Garden :-)

Hi honeys
Well here we are almost at the weekend again :) Yesterday Jade and I had some fun in the garden, I threw her ball for her, I'm hopeless at throwing (more dropping really) but she doesn't seem to mind, bless her :) I also took some photos of the peonies to share. It was raining, off and on, not terribly heavily but when I was looking at the photos, I loved that you can see the raindrops :)

The photos so made me smile honeys, and I wanted to share them with you :) Every weekend should start with smiles don't you think?

I've been custodian of these beautiful Peonies for quite a few years now. We've moved home, taken them with us (they live in a huge planter) and still every year they wake up and smile for me :) 

How To Open An OXO Without Getting Coated Fingers!

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to promote these tiny stock cubes or anything else, just sharing a little hack I've used for so many years that helps me to avoid sticky, icky hands x

Hi Honeys
Do you hate getting your fingers icky? I do. I mean I really, really do.  I remember back in Secondary School (in my case this was the 1970s Scots version of High School) at the tender age of 12 being literally screamed at because we were being taught how to make shortcrust pastry in Home Economics class and I couldn't bring myself to put my hands into the bowl to combine the butter and flour with my fingers <shudder> The horror!

You see I loved, even then, to bake. At home though, it was understood how I felt about getting sticky, dirty or grubby and I'd been bought a little mixer for these icky tasks.  I could also beat ingredients together with a wooden spoon like you wouldn't believe :)  For my Home Ecc teacher though this was shocking.  No true cook behaved in such a fashion, well maybe not but I physically couldn't bear getting my hands icky!

Over the years I've developed my own methods to avoid such ickiness and today I thought I'd share one of them.  I know I'm odd (in a good way I hope) but I can't be the only person who doesn't like icky hands honeys, can I?

OXO cubes are a good example of this ickiness. It sounds simple doesn't it honeys? Just tear the foil wrapper off and crumble the stock cube between your fingers? ewwww! I mean, seriously just ewwww! If I were to even attempt this I would just end up chucking the whole cube in the general direction of the jug or saucepan and rush over to the sink to throw my hands under hot water to get them clean <shudder> ick! Just ick!

Also, as any cook knows, if your hands are in the least bit damp (does everyone else wash dishes as they go along when cooking?) then you'll end up with about three grains of OXO in the pot and the rest will form an OXO mitten on your hand! So, honeys, this is how I get around the ickiness of using my favourite little stock cube :) It might seem odd, but it works :)

New Weekly Dinner Menu & Free Printables 😊

Hi Honeys
I hope you've had a wonderful weekend and that you're seeing better weather than we are.  It's raining here honeys, it's been raining, off and on, for days and it's so depressing.  Today is the second of June and I swear it feels more like October.  I'm in need of cheering up dear ones, so I've been working on something to hang in our hallway. I like it so much I wanted to share it with you 😊

Do you remember a menu printable I made a while ago? I've been using it happily to plan our weekly dinners and I thought it was time for an update :) I like the design of it, I like using it but I wanted a change.  Since Summer is definitely not being very summery I decided I'd change the colours of the menu to at least remind me it's supposed to be summer 😊

The menu on the left hand side of the image (in red & blue) is the original printable I'd made, and the other menu, in pastel shades on the right hand side of the image is the new one.  I've already changed the printable in our frame in the hallway and I'm loving the change, it's quite cheered the hallway 😊