Blogtober Day 31: Happy Halloween 🎃 Easiest Ever Gingerbread Cookies & Free Printable 🎃

Happy Halloween Honeys 🎃

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend and a fabulous Halloween.💖  Can you believe we've reached the last day of Blogtober already?  This month has flown past and been such a lot of fun and it really has done what I wanted it to do.  Remind me how much fun blogging is.💖  

Speaking of fun, for the last post of this years Blogtober I thought I'd share the recipe (and a link to a downloadable printable version) for the easiest ever gingerbread cookie dough...  

How much fun are cookies to make? 😊  This is such an easy recipe to make and all you need are some cookie cutters in assorted shapes and lots of icing and tiny humans will love decorating them.💖  Let's get started then honeys...

Gingerbread cookies

Ingredients:

85g brown sugar
125g unsalted butter
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
3 teaspoons of ground ginger
375g plain flour (sifted)
175 ml golden syrup

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180C/356F/gas mark 4.

2. Into your mixer (or large mixing bowl) place your brown sugar and butter. Beat together until combined and creamy.

3. Once your sugar and butter are well mixed, add to the bowl (or your mixer which if, like me, you have painful, arthritic wrists is definitely the way to go) your plain flour (sifted), ginger, bicarbonate of soda and your golden syrup.  Mix until very well combined.

4. Turn out your gingerbread dough and place it into a tub or sandwich bag and into the fridge for 15-20 minutes, more if you can.  This lets your dough "rest" as the more it's handled the stickier it becomes. The more chilled it is, the easier it is to roll out and work with.

5. Once chilled, cut two pieces of greaseproof paper and place your dough between the greaseproof paper sheets and roll out.  The less you can manage to touch the dough the better, since the heat from your hands will make it "greasy."  Use your favourite cookie cutters and have fun cutting out your cookies.

6. Bake your cookies for 8-10 minutes until a lovely golden brown. Remove (carefully) from the oven and gently remove and place onto a wire cooling rack. I use a silicone spatula to do this as the cookies are still very fragile when first removed from the oven.

7. I like to sift a little icing sugar over the top of my cookies but they're still delicious without it :)

8. Sit down, put your feet up with a lovely cuppa and enjoy!

A tip honeys, do you prefer your cookies to be slightly "chewy" or thinner and crispier?  To achieve either, simply adjust the thickness of your cookie dough when you roll it out.  The thicker the cookie, the chewier it will be, whereas a thinner cookie will be crispier.🍪

There is a (hopefully) fun printable I made, quite some time ago now (I'm getting old lol) and this recipe is just as yummy all year round.😋   So, why not Christmas cookies? New Years cookies? Making-them-cause-it's-Tuesday cookies? 😊💖   If you'd like to download the printable, you can find it here. Enjoy honeys.💖    

This cookie dough really is easy to make and you can even plan ahead by making up two or three batches at a time.💖  These cookies really are so good that maybe you'll want to do this anyway 😋  Or, you could make up the cookie dough, bake a batch to enjoy and store any (unused) dough ready to bake as needed.   

To store extra cookie dough, roll it up tightly in cling film/plastic wrap and store in the fridge for 2-3 days or you can freeze the raw cookie dough for up to 3 months.  When you want to use it, remove from the freezer and place into the fridge to defrost overnight then roll out and bake as usual.

I hope you have the best Halloween dear ones, till next time, stay warm and safe everybody,hugs always xx

 

Blogtober Day 30: Happy (Nearly) Halloween: Sharing Sweet Gifts From Hubby 💖

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to promote any shops or products, just wanted to share some wee gifts & smiles I was given by Hubby x

Hi Honeys,

Hope you're staying warm and dry today.  The rain is back again.☂ Not that it's ever far away, but all through last night it was so heavy, beating against the windows, so not a lot of sleep had by our furbaby Jade or myself.  Hubby slept fine lol.😊  Bless him,  he could sleep through a brass band marching through the house.😊💖

Jade is napping in her fluffy doughnut bed by the fire and I'm trying (really hard) not to fall asleep here on the sofa.  Hubby's sitting with his laptop and is the only one not nodding off. 😊💖

It's almost the end of Blogtober honeys.😊  It's been a lot of work and it's gone by so fast but it's also done what I'd hoped that it would.  It's reminded me how much I've missed blogging.💖

I have to re-join the world.  I will try.  A wonderful friend just phoned me again tonight (Thank you Ash, you're an awesome friend x) Maybe starting to blog again might be a start? 

Hubby brought me some Halloween treats that are beyond adorable and I thought I'd share a wee smile. 😊  My original plan for today was to share the last of Hubby's photos, taken when he attended the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust open day.  After sleeping less than two hours last night though, I just couldn't face the computer time needed to edit them. I know I'd end up with such a headache (I have migraines) and just can't face it.  I will share them very soon though, promise.💖 

My first wee surprise from Hubby was this hot chocolate ball.  I adore hot chocolate.😊💖 I don't have it very often anymore, so it really is saved as a treat and I haven't tried one of these little balls before.

  

For anyone, like me, who didn't know about these wee things until recently, I think you heat up your mug of milk and then drop the chocolate ball (which is hollow and is filled with some tiny marshmallows apparently) into the mug.  The wee chocolate ball will then melt and as you stir it, the marshmallows will be released into your now lovely chocolate-y milk.😋  I'm looking forward to trying it to see how it works, I think I'll wait till tomorrow night, till Halloween itself.🎃

Hubby also brought these little Halloween themed mallows...

I think they're supposed to be little pumpkins and they're supposed to be floated on top of a mug of hot chocolate.  There are six of them in the wee box.  Both of these chocolate & mallow treats were from Poundland honeys if you want to find them, but something similar can probably be found in most pound/dollar stores right now x 

Saving the best for last is this beautiful pumpkin shaped wax melt kit...  

It's fabulous honeys! 😍💖  It's quite large actually  (a little larger than the pumpkin mug Hubby brought me home from Poundland I think) it's a bright, vivid orange colour too. Hubby got it from Home Bargains.  I think I'll use it as decor (with one of my battery powered led tealights) and use the little wax melt that came with it in my other wee wax melt kit.  

The wax melt with this adorable wee set has such a gorgeous (and very strong) scent.  It's called spiced pumpkin and it is just amazing!  This is still sealed in its packaging as well.  Can you imagine how much stronger it'll be when i open it?  

I'm just loving these wee pumpkin treats.😍 (Thank you sweetheart💖) I hope you've had lots of lovely reasons to smile today too honeys.😚💖

Till tomorrow dear ones, stay warm and safe everybody, hugs always x

Blogtober Day 29: Halloween Baking & A Free Printable 🎃

Hi Honeys, 

Happy (nearly) Halloween 🎃  Yaaaaayy! It's my favourite holiday of the year!😊  This weekend is one for fun.💃 We have a dvd playlist (we're going to binge watch the Potter movies, starting that from tonight actually💖) we'll be making lovely homemade pizza for dinner tomorrow night and Hubby will be popping lots of popcorn.  

We'll be  making up lots of wee bags of treats for visiting small humans, in case there are any this year. Last years Halloween was cancelled due to lock-down and Halloween just isn't Halloween unless our living room resembles a sweet shop with Hubby & I busy filling little treat bags.😊  

This year will seem a little odd, although it's felt like oddness has been a frequent visitor this past year or so.😊  We'll be wearing latex gloves etc while making the wee bags up and (as we always have) we bought sweets that are all individually wrapped. 

Being a self confessed germophobe, especially where my hands are concerned, I find the constant reminders to be washing your hands very comforting but I'm starting to wonder how long it'll be till we're all wearing hazmat suits everywhere.  Going by the media, who seem determined to scare everybody, it'll be a week from Tuesday.😊 

Not sure if we'll be doing any baking this weekend but I thought I'd share a little printable just in case you'd like to honeys.💝  

The orange silicone baking mould (shown above) is one of my favourites to bake with, I love silicone to bake with anyway and this one I've had for quite a few years now.  I got it from one of the pound shops and I'm so chuffed (happy😊) there are so many different designs available now.  

I don't think I have any Christmas ones yet, oddly enough. Although with the speed that time appears to be scooting past at (how is it almost November already?) I'll need my Easter egg shaped one soon.😊  

The cakes in the photo above were made using the same basic sponge batter honeys.  This one...

 

The only difference I made was to pour it into the large silicone pumpkin moulds as well as the small Halloween paper cases.  I then used plain white icing to coat the small cakes and just sprinkled icing sugar over the top of the pumpkin cakes...

 

If you'd like to download a copy of the recipe sheet honeys, you can find it here.  Baking is such a fun activity for wee ones and it's even more fun to decorate the cakes.  Why not make up icing in different colours so your wee ones can be creative?  

Thank you for keeping me company today dear ones, till tomorrow, hugs x

Blogtober Day 28: Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust Open Day October 2021: (Part Two)

Hi Honeys, 

Hello again,  I hope you're having the best week and looking forward to a wonderful weekend.💖 Today's post is part two of our look at the vehicles included in this years open day organised by the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust.

All of these photos belong to my dear Hubby, it was really sweet of him to share them (thank you sweetheart x)  Hubby is a member of the GVVT and looks forward to these open days, even though it's quite a trip for him to get to the garage where they're held. 

Open day attendees are able to be picked up from the City centre and can travel by a specially laid on bus service, sometimes by vintage buses, to the open day or over to the Riverside Museum.  Hubby didn't go there this trip, I wish he had because it's beautiful over there and I would have liked to have shared it with you. 

If you ever have the chance to visit the Riverside Museum, I would highly recommend it honeys.  The Museum itself is a place to become lost in, there is so much to see there.  Highlights for me include the recreation of a cobbled Glasgow street, complete with shop fronts and even a cinema you can go into and sit and watch vintage film footage.  I think it was newsreels last time I was there, although it's been a wee while.  

There is also the beyond beautiful tall ship, The Glenlee, moored alongside the museum.  Visitors are able to explore the Glenlee and find out what a life at sea might have been like.  I last visited with two dear friends (missing you Francine and John xx) and I'm sure I was a wet blanket fun wise because I have no "sea legs" whatsoever.😊💖 Nope, this wee woman much prefers her feet to remain on terra firma, thank you!😊 

If you'd like to read a little more on both these wonderful places, I'll include links for you at the end of this post honeys x

Let's jump right in to today's post then, but before we do, why don't you go grab a cuppa and a cookie (or two) and Ill meet you back here after the page break for Hubby's lovely pics x 

Blogtober Day 27: True Stories To Make Your Heart Smile 💖😊

Hi Honeys, 

How has your day been today?  It's so chilly again and the rain has been pouring down most of the afternoon. Our furbaby Jade is napping in front of the fire in her furry doughnut shaped bed, bless her and I'm sitting on the sofa fighting a losing battle to stay awake too.😊  It seems to be the norm for me recently.  

To be fair, I'm not sleeping much.  Less than three hours of (broken) sleep again last night, and of course we're running into winter again.  Maybe it's the darker nights that make us all a little more sleepy (even if we can manage more than 3 hours a night?) 

I've been thinking about kindness most of today, about how much of a difference it can make.  A lovely friend phoned a few nights ago, just out of the blue.  I hadn't had a great day, and that phone call just made such a difference to my day! (Thank you Ash, you're such a great friend x)

I haven't been a part of the outside world for about a year or so now, and maybe it's time I was again.  I'm too good a hermit for my own good and it's too easy to become stuck in a self enforced solitude from the world.  The longer it goes on, the harder it gets to find your way back again.  Then a lovely friend phones and makes you miss the world a wee bit.💖😊

The world still seems quite scary right now.  I can't watch the news anymore, all they seem to talk about is the virus and infection rates, or the economy and it's all doom and gloom.  

Here's the thing though honeys, it's really not all doom and gloom.  There are still so many wonderful things going on in the world, being done by wonderful people, every single day.

Stories To Make Your Heart Smile...💖

Blether Boxes...

A lovely girl called Gaby lost her much loved father last year and to try to help her younger sister cope with their shared grief, she created "blether boxes."  Blether boxes are made up of toys, books and worksheets, all designed to help children work through their feelings after a bereavement.  

Gaby has turned her family's pain and loss into something that will not only help her baby sister but also many other children too.  You can readabout Gaby here  and here honeys, I think she's amazing. 

Henry (13) Saves His Dad's Life By Knowing CPR...

A wonderful boy named Henry has been given a Heart Hero Award by The British Heart Foundation for performing CPR on his Dad when they were out together on a run and his father collapsed.  Henry used his dad's phone to call 999 to ask for help and then performed CPR until he could ask a passerby to take over while he ran to a nearby Rugby club to fetch a defibrillator. 

Henry had been taught CPR at school and as a member of the Sea Cadets and really was a hero that day to stay so calm and be able to concentrate on helping his father.  It really does show how vital these skills are. Henry is only 13 and showed so much courage that day.  You can read about Henry and his Dad here.  

Student Completes London Marathon With Bone Marrow Donor Who Saved Her Life 

A young medical student, Vicky, this year completed the London Marathon with the man who saved her life by donating bone marrow in 2008 when she was only 8 years old. This month they ran and completed the marathon, delayed from earlier this year, together.  They ran to promote and raise funds for the Anthony Nolan register, a cancer charity through which  

You can read more about these amazing people here honeys and you can find The Anthony Nolan Register home page here.    

Time To Change Our Thinking (especially me)

These amazing people and happenings aren't rare honeys, there really are wonderful, inspirational people doing the most awesome things every single day but they're being drowned out by the cacophony of doom-sayers all hoping to convince us all that the world is ending in about 10 minutes.

We need lots of positive thinking and hope and plan making going on to change the atmosphere everywhere.  We need to recognise that there are still so many good things happening everywhere around us, we just have to look for them.  

Of course we have to be careful but we still have to live honeys, yes even me.😊 

It's Holiday Season

This weekend is my favourite holiday of the year and Hubby and I will be spending a couple of hours tomorrow night making up the cutest little Halloween treat bags for any trick or treaters who might visit.  Yes, we'll be wearing gloves etc and all of the sweets are individually wrapped.  I'm a complete germaphobe and have always done the individually wrapped thing. We have what feels like a mini sweet shop here and will watch a couple of favourite DVDs.  I'm thinking The Addams Family (original TV series of course.)

I'm hoping that Halloween is back "on" this year (it was cancelled last year) but if it isn't, Hubby will do what he did last year and take all of the treat bags into work and put them in the break room for co-workers.  

It will be the holidays soon and then we'll be into the new year and spring in no time!  Only 144 days till spring arrives (yes, I'm still counting 😊)

Till tomorrow then dear ones, when I'll be back with part two of Hubby's photos taken at the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust open day.  If you missed part one you can see it here. 

Stay warm and safe honeys, hugs always x

Edit: The Universe must be sending me a message to stop hiding away honeys, I have the loveliest friends because I had another phone call. Thank you Miriam💖 you're an angel, love you honey xx 

  

Blogtober Day 26: Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust Open Day - October 2021 (Part One)

Hi Honeys 

Do you remember that on day 10 of Blogtober I shared a few photos of vintage vehicles?  Today's post (and possibly two more... there are quite a few pics 😊) are thanks to my lovely Hubby (thank you sweetheart x) sharing his photos.   The photos were taken during his recent trip to the latest open day held by the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust. 

Hubby is a proud, card carrying member of the GVVT and he really does look forward to his visits to Bridgeton (pronounced Brig-ton by Glaswegians like Hubby & myself x) bus garage, even though it's quite a trip for him to get there.  The GVVT help those attending by laying on free buses from the City Centre who pick up attendees and scoot them over to the East end of the city to the garage. Open day attendees reach the garage and might possibly (depending on what's available) get to travel there on a vintage bus too.😊

Why Multiple Posts?

Well, on looking at the photos honeys, they seemed to naturally fall into three groups.  The first group are vintage cars - including the gorgeous taxi included in this post.  Does it count as a car? No idea but I love it so it's staying lol.😍  The remaining groups are buses and the not-cars-or-buses group. 

The not-cars-or-buses group is made up of... would they be called utility or service vehicles?  I'm talking about recovery trucks, the ones used to tow and service fun fairs etc. In addition, but there are also some beautiful fire engines too.  

The biggest group represented in Hubby's photos are, of course, buses.  Hubby is a huge fan of buses, an actual bus enthusiast extraordinaire.💖 

Today's Post

This post will include images of three vintage vehicles. There is a Plymouth Belvedere (1957) a Buick Skylark Custom (1968) and a Beardmore Mark VII taxi (1959) 

Why only three different vehicles Rosie?  Well, because there were only three vehicles included among Hubby's photos dear ones.  This isn't Hubby's fault either, I asked and he said there were in fact only those three there this time around.  

Enough waffling from me then honeys, why don't you go grab a cuppa and maybe a cookie (or two) and meet me after the page break for the photos.  See you in a few minutes honeys...

Blogtober Day 25: Sharing A Yummy Favourite Frittata Recipe💖

Hi Honeys, 

It's the start of a new week and the rain's stopped (for now anyway 😊) so i thought I'd share one of our favourite dinners.  Hubby likes it so much that he'll even have some next day for his lunch whenever we make it.💖  

We do change some of the ingredients sometimes, but no matter if it's spinach and peppers or three cheese and onion or this smokey bacon version, we still love it. 

What is it we love? A delicious, light and fluffy frittata.💗 

 

Hubby said that this one, with it's smokey bacon bits and it's combination of lots of gooey, yummy mozzarella cheese on the inside and fab Scottish cheddar as a topping, was just amazing!😋 

Why not go grab a cuppa and a cookie (or two) and meet me after the page break then, and I'll show you how it all went together and came out kinda awesome 😊 See you in a few minutes x

Blogtober Day 24: Halloween Home Decor Tweaks And Smiles...

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to recommend any products or shops, just sharing some smiles x

Hi Honeys,

How are you today?  We're back to rain, cold and general, all-round icky weather again.😒 Well, at least we haven't had snow yet I suppose.  Every year I say the same thing, I want to hibernate like a bear and every year I never get to do it.  I need a little cave for our furbaby Jade and I to hide away in, she doesn't like the cold icky weather either bless her.    

Smiles are always desperately needed at this time of year.  The clocks will change soon and then it will be almost continual darkness, with a tiny window of less than six hours of what is laughably called daylight (more like day-gloom) each day, till they change back in March.  

So, as I said honeys, smiles, even little ones, are desperately needed  and today Hubby brought me something home that led to this...

Can't help it, I'm smiling again 😊  This little shelf unit in our living room has become my wee "happy shelf."😊  It's an homage to Hogwarts.😍  My Harry Meerkat,in his little Gryfindor robes, was first of all joined by an adorable wee wizard gnome a couple of years ago (a gift from a dear friend, thank you Sarah xx) who (of course!) I named Albus. 

Then just recently, they were joined by a lovely little witch gnome (a gift from Hubby, thank you honey xx) and (again, of course!) I named her Minerva (after Professor McGonagall.) 

I already shared this little shelf of happy honeys, but I've tweaked it a wee bit and I'm so excited I just wanted to share.😊  There hasn't been a whole lot of happy around here for a while so I'm happy about my happy.😃 

Do you remember how the shelf was?  Both Minerva and Albus gnomes had a cauldron shaped mug sitting next to them, which are lovely but actual cauldrons are better, yes? Plus, those cauldron mugs should be full of lovely hot chocolate and marshmallows in this cold weather.😋

You might remember that Hubby brought me home this little ceramic dish in the shape of a cauldron...  

Well, today he brought me another one (thank you sweetheart x) and I had an idea...

Minerva suddenly had a proper cauldron instead of a mug...

 

Then Albus got a new cauldron too...

Hubby had already bought me a gorgeous little candle, caramel apple and violet scented, set in a perfect little ceramic cauldron.💖  I could burn the candle and then clean it out and re-use it as Harry's cauldron on his wee shelf.😊 

As you can see, Harry's cauldron has a teeny, tiny wicked witch of the west siting in front of it.  This tiny witch's green globe lights up and there is a sort of smoke that swirls around inside.  You can see it all lit up here honeys.  

Here it is then, my little shelf of happy.😊💖

What's making you happy right now honeys?  We need lots more happy in the world. If we all share our happy, imagine how many smiles we'll have?😊💖 

I hope you're had the best weekend dear ones, wishing you a wonderful week ahead and, till next time, sending a mountain of hugs x

 

Blogtober Day 23: We All Need A Wee Bit Of Help At Times...

Hi Honeys, 

How has your day been today?  It's so chilly again. Our furbaby Jade is napping in front of the fire in her furry doughnut shaped bed, bless her and her Dad is dropping off to sleep in his armchair while watching TV.💖  

Me, I'm sitting on the sofa fighting a losing battle to stay awake too.😊  It seems to be the norm for me recently.  To be fair, I'm not sleeping much (damp, cold weather + arthritis = ouchie.) We're running into winter honeys, maybe it's the darker nights that make us all a little more sleepy? 

Having wandered into the bathroom with some items that needed tidied away, I spotted this wee chap who was definitely not having his best day. 

Warning! If you're not a spider fan, look away now! (although he was only tiny and quite cute I thought)

He had somehow gotten himself trapped in the sink and kept trying to walk up the side to escape and would then slide back down into the sink again.  I felt for him, I've had whole days (and weeks) that felt like that.  So, I fetched some loo roll and lay it in the sink, then laying across the edge and down out of the sink onto the top of the lidded storage box at the side of the sink.  I then told the spider to use the paper to walk on and left him to it.  

I checked on him a little later and he was no where to be seen.  We all have our place in the scheme of things I think honeys and if we're given a chance to help another wee creature, well, how wonderful that we were chosen to be there at the right time?    

Our garden guests need help too 

The trees still have (some) leaves right now but it won't be long till it'll start to become more difficult for our garden guests to find food honeys.  That's why garden feeders are so vital. Winter is more difficult for them because not only is it much harder to find food but they also have to stay warm against the cold too.  This is why they'll try to eat as much as they can in the autumn months, to increase their weight to help insulate themselves against the cold.

I look forward to seeing our feathery (and furry) visitors every day around their feeders on the tree and in the spring of course we have babies visiting too.💖       

 

Our furbaby Jade is still determined to make friends with our visiting squirrel, bless her.  She just doesn't understand why the squirrel won't come down off the tree to play with her.💖  If you'd like to read about Jade's adventure with her squirrel friend (it's too adorable😍) you can read it here honeys. 

A really easy way to help your feathery garden guests is to make some DIY fat shapes...

They only have two ingredients honeys, and I use silicone baking moulds to set them in to make them pretty as well 💗  If you'd like to make some for your garden guests, you can find out how here. 

How has your week been honeys? Do you look forward to seeing your garden visitors?  I hope you're having the best weekend dear ones, till next time, hugs always x

Blogtober Day 22: Apologies...

Hi Honeys, 

Apologies for the short post today.  I had to go to the health centre yesterday to attend an appointment and I'm still feeling exhausted.  

Fellow Spoonies will be already nodding their heads while reading this (passes out very gentle hugs to fellow spoonies, hoping you're having a "spare spoons" kind of day, dear ones.💖 )  

For today's post then, I thought I'd share another image (or two) from Hubby's trip into the City to the latest open day of The Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust.   

This is a beautiful vintage 1959 Beardmore Mark VII taxi with gorgeous vintage luggage already aboard.

Hubby had a great time at the open day, as always, and took lots of photos.  I'm hoping to share them when I get a chance to sit and edit them (they're all huge, hi res images.)  There are so many buses (Hubby's a bus enthusiast extraordinaire💖) a couple of classic cars (who appear in the upcoming Indiana Jones movie) and lots of others too. Of all of the images though, this gorgeous taxi is definitely my favourite!  

I'm a vintage kinda gal honeys (have you seen my vintage board on Pinterest? It's a work in progress with over 5,000 pins, which I've been trying for a while now to get organised into folders.💗) I think the taxi is beyond beautiful and there is the Scottish connection too, given that the Beardmore company started out life on the Scottish shipyards. 

There is a page here, at Bonhams Auction House, for a similar vehicle (the one Hubby saw is privately owned) but the page has lots of interesting information about the Company's history.    

For today though, I hope you like the photos (and thanks to Hubby for sharing them💖) I really will share the others in an upcoming post, I promise.  I just have to find a day when I'm not running on empty as I have been recently.  

Till next time dear ones, stay warm and safe everybody, hugs always x  

Blogtober Day 21: Delicious Diced Chicken With Tomato & Spinach In A Creamy Cheesy Sauce 😋

 Hi Honeys,

How are you today?  It's such a beautiful, sunny day outside today and the rain's stopped! I know they say it's good for the garden but it's been miserable with the constant, icky, reminds-me-we're-running-into-winter days. 

Today, in order to battle the miserable weather I thought I'd share one of our favourite dinners and then, sure enough, the sun appears 😊  

This is such an easy dish to make, it takes no time at all to put together, but it's soooo good!😋  Why not go grab a cuppa ☕ (don't forget a cookie too🍪😊) and meet me back here after the page break (there are lots of photos) and I'll tell you all about it.💖  See you in a few minutes honeys x

Blogtober Day 20: Another Tiny Organising Project 😊

Disclaimer: I haven't been paid to promote any products or stores, just sharing a mini organising project that's made me smile x 

Hi Honeys,

Welcome, welcome, welcome.💗  How are you today?  All well, I hope and staying warm.  Our furbaby Jade is happily napping as I write this, in her wee fluffy doughnut bed, by the fire.💖 Hubby's working from home today, so he's upstairs in his den/office and I thought that while I have some time to myself I'd share another tiny organising project.  

After spending a few years (years! Good grief, you'd think we'd be all done and have a wonderfully organised home by now, wouldn't you?) battling the clutter store-room that is supposed to be our home, I've actually found out something... well.. odd.  

First, I've found out that over the past thirty years or so Hubby and I have collected (far) too much stuff (ya think, Rosie?😊) and second, we seem to have the most success in organising tiny spaces.  Rooms seem to just re-clutter themselves in spite of our efforts but if you go upstairs and open Hubby's sock or tee-shirt drawers (among my very first organising projects) they're still exactly as they were, better actually because we bought sets of those assorted sized Skubb drawer organisers for Hubby's socks/underwear drawer (and mine too actually.)  

It's a constant battle to stop clutter accumulating on our main counter in the kitchen but we still don't have a junk drawer in there, with all of the drawers impeccably organised.❤ So, I've decided honeys, what if, instead of trying to organise whole spaces, I see the rooms as lots of tiny spaces.  A collection of drawers and cupboard and shelf projects that will eventually become a room that's (hopefully😊) as beautifully organised as our (former) kitchen junk drawer (which you can see here.)   

With that in mind, and after the success of my last tiny organising project (using teeny tiny bamboo planters! You can see them here honeys) I thought today I'd share another (really) tiny project that took no time at all but I've been meaning to get around to for a while.. 

We recently invested in some new, air-tight, storage containers for the kitchen honeys and, even though I can see at a glance what's in them, we also bought some labels (complete with their own chalk pen, how clever is that?) 

While on Amazon, ordering our baby Jade's kibble and some treats for her (she is not spoiled, she's just loved a really, really lot.😍💖😊) well, while there I also ordered a pack of those sticky-on, business card holders (or pockets as it says on the packaging)... 

  

After our weekly shop was picked up by Hubby (thank you sweetheart x) I set about washing out the new containers and made a start on attaching the labels...

 

After doing that, I attached the sticky-on business card holders (or pockets) to the bottom of the containers, at the back.  I did this to avoid making the containers "look messy."  Why bother adding pretty labels if you're just going to add visual clutter and spoil them, I thought. 

If you look closely at the pocket (which on this container only contains a sell-by date label from the packaging) you'll see that they're quite large, certainly larger than I thought they'd be.  I think this will be quite useful though because for some products maybe I'll want to add the instructions from the original packaging, as well as when it's to be used by?

As I said, this little project took no time at all really, but it's made such a difference to our little pantry and it's making me smile.😊  Now I have to go look for another tiny organising project to do next and, you never know, if I keep going, someday I might end up with that organised-to-within-an-nth-degree house we'd love to have.😃  I'll keep you posted honeys.💖

Well, our baby Jade has woken up from her nap, bless her, so I'll go for now and fetch our baby her natural yogurt and start another load of laundry.  I hope you're having a fab day dear ones, stay warm and safe everybody and thank you for keeping me company today.💖  Till next time, hugs always x 

Blogtober Day 19: Halloween Decor Fun 🎃

Disclaimer: I haven't been paid to promote any products or shops honeys, just sharing my latest smiles x

Hi Honeys, 

How are you today?  Isn't it getting chilly in the mornings?  Our furbaby Jade wasn't keen on going out this morning at all, bless her.  She came straight back home and back to bed, snuggled under her blanket and back to sleep again.💖 

I'm still counting down to spring, as I do every year (it's 152 days till March 20th, the first day of spring in case you're curious😊) but I'm sure there are smiles to be found to pass the time till then.😊   

Speaking of smiles...  

How adorable is this little bowl honeys?  I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.💖  Hubby brought it home for me yesterday and it's still sitting in the middle of the coffee table because it's making me smile so much.😊  It's just perfect! 

It's ceramic, with a shiny glaze and, as you can see, says "spooky spells" across the front... 

The back of the little bowl is plain green, and is "held" on either side by skeletal fingers!

Hubby said it was available in black as well as green, he'd spotted it before on a previous visit (he spotted it in One Below) but when he went in to bring one home for me they only had the little green version left.  

You know, now that I'm typing this, it dawns on me it's a cauldron!  Of course it is, by the little lip shape at the top. How did I not see that before?  I love it even more now.😊

Two new cauldrons in a week! Did you see the other tiny cauldron Hubby brought me home a few days ago?  It's a caramel apple and violet scented candle and is the perfect shape for my Harry Meerkat gnome in his Gryffindor robes.  If you missed it, you can see the tiny cauldron (and Harry) here.😊  

I'm being spoiled honeys.💖  Hubby also brought me home this little silver tea light holder in the shape of a ghost... 

I think he's adorable and, being silver, makes him very "us" since Hubby and I have always both been huge sci fi fans.👽 It's how we met actually, in the queue outside the cinema.😊 

Halloween is, by far, my favourite holiday.🎃  I'm really looking forward to decorating our tiny entryway/mudroom again this year.  I had the best time when I last collected all of our Halloween decor and spent such a while picking out the perfect things to set out by the front door. I can't believe that was two years ago. 

It was the first time I'd tried decorating our little entryway/mudroom.  Of course, with Covid etc last years trick or treating was cancelled, and no-one seems to know what's happening this year yet.  

This hasn't been the best year honeys, so I'm choosing to believe that things will get better.  So, this week coming, I'll set about decorating our little entryway/mudroom again (if nothing else it might make the postman smile.😊)    

It's such a shame that Halloween falls on a Sunday this year, it's much more fun when it's on a Friday or Saturday because it has a "weekend party" feel already built in.  

Never mind, for the Saturday night we can choose some DVDs for a movie double (or triple) bill and I'll have some fun in the kitchen baking cinnamon apple crumble or gingerbread cookies, while Hubby can make some popcorn.😋  Jade loves popcorn.😊 No toppings on Jade's popcorn though, of course.  Just plain popped corn for furbabies, being careful to remove all of the un-popped kernals too.  Then Hubby, Jade and I can have a Halloween themed movie night.🎃  

We've already bought a huge supply of sweets, balloons and tiny toys so we can make up lots of treat bags as we always do.  When choosing which sweets to buy we made sure they were all individually wrapped (like the little bags of Haribo gummies etc) and now all we have to do is to spend a few hours making up all of the bags...   

Making up the treat bags for visiting tiny humans is one of my favourite parts of Halloween.🎃 

What are you looking forward to most about Halloween honeys?  Will you be having a movie night too?  Will you be baking?  Will there be trick or treating near you this year?  

Thank you for keeping me company today, stay warm and safe everybody, hugs always xx