30 Day Snap - Day 4

 

Toes and Kenkohs.

 

Ah, my beloved Kenkohs...I've had them longer than I've known Mr B and that's a long time! Made in Japan and bought from a Japanese store in South Kensington waaaaaay back in the 80s. The little nodules massage the soles of your feet and are meant to do you good! When you first wear them you are advised to only keep them on about 20 minutes; if you can bear it that long. They can take a bit of getting used to.

 

The nail varnish is quite old too! Maybelline New York Colorama (no 'U') in shade 22, (I think, it's more-or-less rubbed off!), but the name is Jellybean.

Love it!

 



 

The espadrilles are brand spanking new though!

By Merona, from Target, Mr B brought these back from the States for me. Yes, they were on 'The List'.

Z xx

30 Day Snap - Day 3

 

How to eke out a small chunk o' cheese and a couple of skanky scallions from the salad drawer!

 

 

Toast some granary bread, grate the cheese, chop up the onion, cut in 2, (diagonally, of course!) and enjoy!

Z xx

30 Day Snap - Day 2

 

One of my favourite all-time cakes, the Marlborough bun.

Must have a go at making these one day. I've never tried making yeast-based cakey-things, but if I can manage bread, I guess I can make these too!

 

Anyone have a recipe they can recommend?

Z xx

30 Day Snap - Day1

Found this single Iris in the front garden as I waved off Mr B on his journey to Brum.

 

 

It seems bizarre that we live slap bang between London, 'The Capital City' and Birmingham, known as 'The Second City', but if you need to start work at 8 o'clock on a Sunday morning in Birmingham then you need to travel up and stay overnight as it is impossible to get there by train in time!

 

Daft, or what?

Z xx



BEDM - Day 31, One Whole Month!



I didn't do quite as well as I had hoped...but good news...Elizabeth is thinking of organising BEDN; Blogging Every Day in November! Woop! Woop!

I believe a lot of people organised themselves and did scheduled posts, which is something that I have very rarely done; mainly if I have already posted once that day and want to put one on during the night for next day. Which, reading this out sounds a bit daft, seeing as a blog can be read any time of the day depending where the reader lives, but you probably know what I mean! (And if you do, can you explain it to me!!).

nature = ducklings

It's been a funny old week: Mr B has been at home all week as he has been really under the weather with some nasty viral infection. I know he wasn't well...he hasn't done any washing up this week! We did a walk to the Nature Reserve last Saturday, which seeing as I didn't have any of my photos to use on that post I took rather a lot, and celebrated my birthday on Tuesday, (thank you, Char!), but it just wasn't quite the week I had planned in my mind!

 

*****
Talking about jumping from the frying pan to the fire!



I am going to give this a go!

Link here
Louise, from Sprinkle of Glitter, (brilliant blogger and vlogger) is running this idea for the month of June. I think that being able to post "just" a photo, with or without text, may be more achievable for me and hopefully, hone my photo skills into the bargain!

So, here goes....
Have a great weekend!
Z xx

 

BEDM - Days 19 & 20, Favourite Tradition/Newsflash

Newsflash!

 

Pennyblossoms is dropping behind with this Blogging Every Day In May malarkey!

 

Will be playing catch-up this week.

 

And playing 'chase-my-tail' too, no doubt.

Z xx

BEDM - Day 18, Best Friends

Today, my best friend...

 

 

...has been...

 

 

...my iron!

Z xx



BEDM - Day 17, Walk to Work

Ummm, don't go out to work!

 

 

But we do have a glorious walk when the weather's good. (So, not that often, then!). About 10 minutes walk away we can get to the Nature Reserve and walk amongst the cows (occasionally) and horses (hurrah). And take delight in the dog walkers dogs (yippee).

 

 

It does have the railway line running adjacent to it; but then when you are on the train to Brum you can lookout for the ponies in coats. (I'm talking about the adorable Freddie, who really is a horse, if we're being technical. Sadly I don't have a photo of him.)

 

Eventually we get to a great pub, The King William, and reward ourselves with a g & t.

Lovely!

 

I can't find any photos downloaded onto my laptop, so these two are taken from The Wildlife Trust pages for the meadow.

 

Z xx

BEDM - Day 16, Pampering

So, who doesn't love a good pampering, then?

 

 

I love my Leighton Denny varnishes and nail care. Most of the varnishes I get from TKMaxx, but I have splashed out on QVC for some of his nail care.

One of the weird things about depression is the fact you can end up not taking care of yourself; daily ablutions-teeth cleaning, bathing, hair washing-all go to pot.

But through all that I have nearly always painted my nails! It's not that I even wear open-toed sandals that often. It just is!



 

Just a (bad) snapshot of three of the goodies Mr B brought back from Norfolk, VA for me. I had gone onto Target and set up a list (!) of things to look out for. The OPI Avoplex I first found in TKmaxx and haven't seen it on sale over here in the UK. I think it's just wonderful nail and hand cream, with a gorgeous smell which is a nice added bonus. The Burt's Bees coconut foot cream is something Mr B brought back on a prior trip, a few years back, having been encouraged to get a gift pack of their goodies by the Chief Electrician,  Johnny. This was before it was so widely available over here. But I have yet to see this item in Boots. But it is soooo much cheaper in the States, anyway.

 

The 'heavenly' is a Victoria Secrets body lotion. I have some of the perfume spray left from his last foray. I had used up the body lotion and shower gel, so he picked up some more for me.

(Stuff Victoria...Mr B is my secret angel!)

 

So, lovely smells and pretty toe nails.

That's me!

Z xx

BEDM - Day 15, Life's a Lesson

Saw the first two swallows of the year today. Only a week later than previous years, which is pretty good going, seeing how awful the weather has been! So, I think ...

 

 

"One swallow does not a summer make"

 

...is a suitable and apt saying for todays' topic!

 

Tying in with the 'Book Love' post the other day, and my love of informative books and with two weeks to my 53rd birthday, I hope I never lose the enjoyment of learning; whether it be a new recipe or new things on the computer, my brain likes to be used, stretched!

 

So, I might not be able to pick out some wonderful phrase to live by, but I do say be open to learning, from whatever source, and enjoy.

 

Spires of Oxford, a world renowned seat of learning, not that I went there though!

If things go wrong, learn from mistakes, but don't beat yourself up over regrets or whatever. I always try to aim for perfection at whatever I turn my hand to but hopefully I am not a 'perfectionist'; that's too destructive for me to cope with. I think a good lesson is to know your limits.

 

By all means reach for the stars, but maybe, just maybe, reach for the ones that are closest first! Just give it a whirl!

Zxx



BEDM - Day 14, Food Glorious Food

I've just popped over to Chars' blog and read her post on this topic.

 

I said the only cake I had baked since getting our new oven last summer was a Christmas cake. I've changed from all gas to a gas hob and electric fan oven. Even though I knew it would probably cook quicker than before, it still caught me out and I felt it over-cooked just a little bit! But, we took it round to our neighbours to celebrate and they all thought it was lovely! Probably me just being picky!

 

 

 

I don't like marzipan so I don't decorate it. It's lovely with a hunk of Cheddar cheese!

 

If anyone wants the recipe I can post it for you.

Z xx

BEDM - Day13, Go Green

One of the girls came back to school, from abroad, for the summer term. She had bleached her hair bright blonde. As it was the summer term we would travel to Honiton, by coach, to use the outdoor swimming pool there.

It turned her hair green! 

*****

Not what was meant by the title? OK, here goes.

 

Is this what they mean by a living roof? Lettuces growing atop the cat basket in the garden

My mum sent me away to school, in 1972, (the same school), with a little plastic bottle of squirty deodorant. It was absolutely useless...you squeezed it and a 'spray' of liquid would spurt out. My God, it really was rubbish, but in her infinite wisdom, my mum said I couldn't have a regular can of spray deodorant because it would destroy the ozone layer. And we ate brown bread too! How did she know about that sort of thing?

 

And what about those 'green' light bulbs? Aren't they totally useless for the job? Alright for subtle background lighting, but I can't see to sew by them on a dark evening. Pah! 

 

Maybe I should've fried these green tomatoes?

It is one of my guilty secret  joys of staying in Plymouth. As it is a holiday rental property, guests put all their rubbish into a bin bag and stick it in the bin. Simples! Might not be green, but is sure is easier!

 

It's almost like some sort of religion, sorting out all the waste into its' own bin. And I hate the fact that there seems to be 'bin police' keeping an eye on what we throw away. There is so much more to be concerned about, surely?

Z xx