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Welcome to my blog!


If you ask me what my very favourite thing is I would not hesitate to say my family. I came into motherhood quite late on, and was immediately overwhelmed with how amazing it is. Now I would like nothing more than to be a Domestic Goddess, and surround my family in love, good food, beautiful things and lots of happy memories. And like the majority of families these days, we need to do it on a budget!

I firmly believe we all have a little bit of the Domestic Goddess inside us, just waiting to break out. Whether that is knowing how to make a roast chicken feed a family of 4 for a week, being able to make, repair or recycle clothes, hunting down a bargain, or simply turning everyday, simple things into pretty or useful items, with a little bit of imagination we can all dip in to the Goddess inside and make our lives that little bit more interesting.



I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy sharing my (challenging) journey into Domestic Goddessness!



Thursday, August 23, 2012

Testing on Animals

No I've not gone mad! Today's blog post is a product review for monsterpetsupplies.co.uk

Anyone who knows me in 'real life' or who follows me on twitter/facebook will know that I love my cats. They were my babies before my real babies arrived and although I am not, and never will be, a crazy cat lady, (not sure my hubby would agree!)  they do pretty much rule the roost. For those who don't know, I am owned by a beautifully fluffy, chunky, vociferous silver tabby and white Norwegian Forest Cat (and for more about this remarkable breed see here  ) and an almost equally fluffy,equally noisy, tiny little black bundle who was rescued as a 6 month old, and whose parentage is questionable..(put simply a mog) and who has never really grown much in the 2 1/2 yrs that she has shared our home.  I am quite fortunate with my kitties, in that they are not especially neurotic, nor faddy eaters, though I do suspect this is luck rather than good management.

Reilly Thomas

Hazel Alice
        
I was asked by Charlotte at mymonsterpetsupplies.co.uk to write a product review on some of the pet supplies they stock. As I have said already, mine are not especially fussy eaters, so I didn't expect to meet with any complaints from them when faced with food they had not had before (in fact they are quite used to having a change now and then as my poor old mum's cats were the fussiest I have ever met, and my own kitties were often the grateful recipients of food they suddenly went off and refused to eat!) I was not disappointed.

The first product I tried them with was a cat treat. Felix Goody Bag  to be precise. They don't often get cat treats. Not that I am a mean moggy mummy or anything, but they tend to get little smackerels such as chicken skin, bits of tuna, ham you know what it's like when you are cooking and you have cats swirling round your feet. Needless to say they enjoyed them very much and are especially happy now that the youngest family member has figured out how to open the pet food cupboard and particularly likes to dole out the treats herself. We gave them the original flavour and found them to be not too strong smelling at all, as some can be. They are also not covered in 'dust' and don't make your hands smell which is always a bonus when using them to bribe tempt your cat to do something they are reluctant to do! I think the price is reasonable for the quality of the product, and given that it is an occasional treat. They are also much better than the cheaper varieties, which are often strong smelling. They are pretty much what I would expect from a big company such as Felix, and one I'm sure I will buy from time to time.

We also tried out some Go-cat  chicken, duck and rabbit kibble. My cats are quite fond of their kibble and I always ensure they have some available to graze on through the day. That is if they manage to get to it before the dog (who, it has to be said, is quite partial to a bit of cat kibble herself, greedy girl). We have had Go-Cat before, although tend to get other brands including shops own. The price is right for the quality, it is not too strong smelling, as some can be, and seems to go down quite well. I even caught the Littlest with her hands in the cat bowl this morning so it seems that this kibble is palatable for cats, dogs and humans! (although I'm not prepared to try that out for myself!)  There are different flavours available, and I note that they make a variety specially developed for indoor cats, which mine are. Whether that's a gimmick or not I don't know, but it's a great idea for those cats who are restricted and not able to find their own mice, birds, insects...you know those special presents that outdoor cats like to bring home and share with their families! My only complaint with this product, and it really is nit picking, is that the packaging is not really designed to keep the kibble fresh, I would prefer a 'resealable' pack, as some brands offer, but that really is just a niggle and wouldn't put me off buying it in the future.

The last product we tried was a completely new one for us. Gourmet perle ocean delicacies. This isn't the type of food I usually buy, in fact I rarely even look at it on the shelf in the supermarket. My cats have always been happy with cheaper options so I have never considered buying these, or similar more 'premium' cat foods. I was impressed with the flavours, which seemed interesting and as if they had been thought about, and not just normal plain chicken, or tuna that we usually buy. The food itself looks appetising as well and contains flakes of fish. The cats certainly enjoyed them, and I don't think they preferred one flavour over another, they seemed happy with all of them. They are slightly smaller than other pouches and contain about 15g less per pouch, so I did end up giving them more than I would usually do. Not really cost effective in this economic climate, but if I do find myself with a few extra pennies in my purse and think they deserve a treat then I might just buy them again. I would also consider getting them if either of the cats are unwell, or recovering from an op for instance as they seem to be easier to digest. My greedy tom sometime gobbles at his food so quickly he is sick afterwards, but I have noticed he hasn't done whilst eating these.

Just a word about the packaging in which I received my items. It was delivered quite quickly, within a few days, and was double boxed. A lot of care had obviously been taken when parceling up and sending out, which is a small detail but one that is very important if you ask me. It shows that the sender cares enough about their product and their customer to ensure it gets there in one piece and in good condition. Can't say that for every company I have dealt with recently unfortunately!

No makes this time, although things have been made, I promise! But I've been busy getting the family ready for a long awaited holiday. Normal service will resume when I'm back from my break. In the meantime don't forget to go over to see Wendy on Monday for Handmade Harbour, you know where to find the link!

Til next time

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Wedding wishes



I'm playing catch up this week as two 12 hour shifts on Sunday and Monday knocked me out of my stride. I usually write my blog on Sunday evening or Monday morning/afternoon but obviously being at that horrid work place put paid that and despite my best laid plans to write a midweek blog instead, it just never happened.

The Birthday Girl was very happy and very spoiled. She had two birthday cakes and two lots of fuss. Not sure she really knew what was going on but she made the most of it!

This weekend we celebrated my niece's wedding. The girls certainly had a good time (and those who are friends with me on Facebook will have seen the video of Caoimhe singing)  It goes without saying that the bride looked lovely. And of course I wish her and her new husband every happiness for the future. I obviously made her card, but after planning carefully what iI was going to do I realised that my embossing folders were at my mum's, and the congratulations stamp iI Iwas going to use was still in the shop. I'd bought another greeting stamp set instead which had a nicer baby greeting on it. No use remembering that at 9pm two days before the wedding though!  But I did have another lovely stamp to use which, in hindsight, I was happier with anyway. I hope they like it!

Don't forget to head over to  Hamdmade Harbour for Handmade Monday. I'm hoping to get round more of the blogs  this week as I was unable to get to many last week unfortunately.

Til next time!


Sunday, July 29, 2012

The Birthday Blog.

Well here's the start of another week, the last of July! This year is going so fast I'm sure it will be Christmas before we even know it. I hope you are enjoying the bit of sun we have had, and here's hoping it continues through August.
So August officially starts on Wednesday, and that means that on Thursday my little girl is one. It really does only seem like yesterday when I was sharing her first pictures with you, not almost 12 months ago. She's so different from her sister, a real feisty, strong willed little girl (and for those who know me in *real life* or follow me on Facebook, She Who Never Sleeps!) She is cheeky, and funny. and very loving, qualities which she does share with her older sister. I am still in shock that they are both 'mine' and as hard as being a mum can be sometimes, I would never change it for anything. I never thought for a minute I would ever be a mum, and I know how incredibly lucky I am to have my two beautiful little girls.



Having fun trying on hats at Portland Basin this week.


As you can see we went to Portland Basin museum again this week. The girls had a whale of a time exploring all the exhibits of life in Tameside through the ages. With it being a Jubilee year, there were various activities around that, and we had fun spotting where they had hidden pictures of the Queen in the different exhibits. They had provided bunting templates for the children to colour, cut out and string up on ribbon, and Caoimhe was very eager to take part in that particular activity!


It is a great day out, and free too, which is always a bonus! I can highly recommend it for a visit if you are in the area.

My own making has been quite limited this week, although I did manage to make use of the biggest bunch of asparagus I have ever seen, when I made an asparagus quiche.


I'm not a quiche maker, although I do love to eat it! And this was the first one I have ever made from scratch. It had a cheese pastry which went really well with the rest of the filling and was even better cold the next day. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be and I really don't know why I have never made one before. I will certainly make more in the future.

As it's Handmade Monday time again I will be linking up once again with Wendy over on her blog Handmade Harbour. Please have a wander over there and see what all the other crafty bloggers have been up to. There are some fantastic, inspiring blogs out there, so take a few minutes, grab a brew and have a read. You won't be disappointed.

I hope the weather is kind to you all this week!
Til next time!



Monday, July 23, 2012

School's out! (Well, nursery at least!)

Morning everyone. It's a sad one for me today, as it's the last day at private nursery for the Flop. She starts at her school nursery in October. That means that she is getting big! She will be 4 in November and it literally seems like yesterday when she was born. Not really sure where that time has gone to! She is very excited to start her new nursery and make new friends.
She has been at her nursery since October, and has really enjoyed it, so we decided to make a card to say thank you. I wanted to put her picture on it, so they would remember her!


I used my Craft Artist software again. It's getting a lot of use!

We had a big baking day in the week, too. First of all we made chocolate chip Herman pancakes, then homemade potato cakes for dinner and chicken pasties for tea. Caoimhe enjoyed helping me, especially with the pasties. She enjoyed eating them, too!


Note the new instagram app! That's getting a fair bit of use too!

I've been doing a bit of writing as well, and had an article published on the Herman the German Friendship Cake website. It includes a recipe for herman pancakes, so if you're interested, you can read it here.

So the summer holidays are upon us now. This is my 'first time' so I'm quite excited about all the fun things we can do together, once I've sorted out the nightmare that is school holiday childcare that is! What have you all got planned for your little ones for the next 6 weeks??

As usual I'm linking up with Wendy at Handmade Harbour for Handmade Monday, lots of lovely, inspiring blogs over there so take a look!

Off now to make sure I have tissues in my bag for Caoimhe's last day. Motherhood has really turned me into a wimp!

Til next time!

Monday, July 9, 2012

If you can't find it, make it.

It's Monday, and you know what that means, so once you've finished here, go and see what everyone else has been up to in the crafting world this week over on Handmade Harbour for Handmade Monday. You know you won't be disappointed!

This week we finally evicted Teaghan from our bedroom! She is almost one now (where has the time gone!) and we felt it was time she had a little bit of Independence from us. So she has moved into her big sister's room. Obviously before now the room was solely Caoimhe's. When she was born, we bought some ceramic letters from Hobbycraft to spell her name out on the wall (incidentally it worked really well, as she has been able to spell her name since she was 2, which is a lot more than her grandad can do!) We wanted to do the same for Teaghan, but have been unable to source any letters, at least none that we really liked. Same with her door plaque. We were lucky enough to have one given to us for Caoimhe but I didn't know where to start for Teaghan.

I thought it would be a lovely idea to get her door plaque made, so I looked around some of the lovely crafters whose blogs I follow. But I wasn't even sure what theme I wanted, or what style. Caoimhe's is a lovely, fairly plain plaque so I didn't want anything that stood out more than that does. (anyone with 2 or more children will know what I'm getting at here!)

So last week I had a good think about what I have at home, and what I thought I would be able to do myself.

First of all I loaded up my Craft Artist disc and chose some background papers, and letters that I liked. I  printed them off, and glued them onto Artist mount board before applying Mod Podge for a nice finish. When the letters were dry, I cut them out and stuck them onto the plaque, and tried out lots of embellishments, stars, buttons, flowers... but in the end I decided that Less is More and it looked fine as it was. I think it's bright and colourful and just right for a child's room.



I had some sticky foam strips, so I have used these to attach it to the door.



When it came to the lettering for the bedroom wall, I once again turned to the disc for a bit of inspiration (it's getting some serious hammering!) and saw that there was a template for party bunting. You just drag over your chosen background, add any embellishments etc and press print.. I wanted to add embellishments myself so I just chose two backgrounds in contrasting colours (I chose the same paper as I had used for the door plaque to continue the theme) and printed them out. I cut them out, stuck them to artist mounting board (and incidentally it's from the same bag of cut offs I bought months ago as regular readers might remember, so what a bargain quid that turned out to be!) and applied lots of Mod Podge again. . Then I chose the letters I wanted and printed those out, too. More mod podge and cutting out, left to dry for a few hours and I was ready to assemble it. I used buttons from my stash to embellish it, and strung it all up on a paper twine. I was quite pleased with the finished article!




I enjoyed making these, and they didn't take long to make really, drying time aside. I wish I had thought of making them sooner, rather than all that Internet browsing, although it did give me inspiration for other possible future projects.


Don't forget to have a wander over to Handmade Harbour, as I will be doing once the kids are in bed! Have a great week!

Til next time!




Sunday, July 1, 2012

And the Fairy Got Some!

It's quite scary how quickly the weeks are rolling by, and that it is now July already! This time last year I was just about to start my Maternity Leave, and now my little bugger angel is 11 months old! We are undecided about what to do for her first birthday, having the benefit of having gone through a first birthday before. Caoimhe was quite overwhelmed and I'm sure she didn't know what to make of all these people making a fuss of her, and in some way I would like to keep it small to avoid the same thing happening to Teaghan. Either way I have less than 5 weeks to decide!

Of course it's Handmade Monday again, which, if you don't know, is a bloghop hosted by the lovely Wendy of 1st Unique Gifts and gives crafters the chance to share their blogs with everyone. It is over on Handmade Harbour so go and have a look.

This week I shared my kitchen table with my mum, who has recently started to make cards. She definitely seems to have caught the bug, and most importantly she is enjoying herself. She made a lovely card for a freind who has been poorly. I found myself making a couple of ATC's for the ATC Trail over on UK Scrappers.



We've done a bit of baking this week, too. As regular readers will know I'm a Herman lover, and this week I decided to keep all the starters for myself instead of giving them away. Selfish, perhaps (you should share the Herman love!) but it was all in a good cause.
First of all it was sourdough pancakes



And then Herman bread


And finally Raisin and Oat Herman muffins. I didn't take a photograph of them, but we did share them with Daisy the Fairy, and she seemed to enjoy it!


If you want to know more about Herman cake, or maybe try out some of the recipes (and there are a lot!) then there is a great Herman website right here.

And that's it from me. I hope you all have a great week.
Til next time!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Come on England!

This may be a rather hurried post this week, as I am waiting for the England v Italy game to kick off. Are you enjoying the Euros? Must say I have been quite unimpressed so far overall, but there's time. I am not a betting girl, but my money would certainly not be on an  England win, as ashamed as I am to admit that. But I will still be cheering them on! (See, I am patriotic!)
If my arm was bent up my back and I had to say who I thought I would win, I think I would have to say Germany. It's a long time since 'The War' so I'm sure I won't get strung up for that!

Talking of Germany, it leads me nicely on to tell you about my week. Of course this wouldn't be my blog without a little mention of Herman, who is, you may remember, a German friendship cake. Well I have not baked any Herman so far this week, as he is not ready to cook with yet. However my interweb meanderings after inspiration about what to do with him led me to find a website and forum devoted to him. If any of you are interested in learning more about him or finding new recipes, or tips or advice, or other people's experiences, then you can find it here at the Herman website. And if you have a good look around the site you might find an article written by me! You might even recognise the photo!

I haven't had a lot of time this week to do much making. Although I did receive through the post a copy of Craft Artist Platinum edition and of course I have been having a little play. I'm enjoying the whole digital art 'thing' even though I prefer to get my hands dirty with paper crafting, and glue and glitter! But even so I thought it might be a nice way of making the thank you notes to send out to all our family and friends who came to the Christening last weekend. It took me quite a while to do, though I am sure with practice I will get the hang of it all. I didn't get the final effect I had wanted but was relatively pleased with what I did achieve, really.



There are some really nice digikits over on Daisy Trail so have a look!

As usual I'll be linking up with Wendy for Handmade Monday, over on Handmade Harbour, which, for those of you who perhaps don't know, is a link party for craft bloggers. There are some fab blogs linked there by some very creative, talented and inspirational crafters, so take a look! I will be doing as soon as the match is over!


All together now...Come on England!

Til next time!