NO LAPTOP :(

I'm writing this using my friend's computer, just to let you all know (incase you're wondering) that abt a week ago..my laptop crashed and cant be switched ON again, hubby tried to bring it to work to see if anyone could help repair it as we can't afford to buy a new one, so...i'm still waiting and gosh! i'm so miserable without it! just a short update to let you guys know...i hope someone could repair it though and will get online as soon as i'm able.

Hope everyone's doing well! xx

Breakfast Bowls

I was abit disappointed that we didn't have snow this year although I did see it on saturday night but it wasn't alot and it's gone in the morning and washed away by the heavy rain but they say there's a chance of snow on wednesday, so hopefully, i get a chance to see it this year!

Anyways, I've started my diet this month though hubby doesn't want me to and no dukan diet or any extreme diet kind of thing, he says...I'm going to just do a normal diet, which is to eat a smaller portions 3 times a day, healthy food which means veggies (which im not too keen but i have to) and basically eat sensibly and exercise. well easy to say! but wish me luck!

I tend to skip my breakfast which i didn't do it on purpose as i tend to forget when i do the house chores after hubby goes to work in the morning, by the time i finished it's almost lunch time, I didn't do it very often, only when i have chores that needed to be done :)

The bowl on the bottom one has a little crack line coz i accidentally knock it with other plate when i washed it, i don't have many breakfast bowls, just three ..oops four as my friend bought me another polka dot one last month.

I want to lose at least a stone before i'm going back to my hometown coz GOD knows i'll probably turned into a glutton once i'm there, I miss my mom's homemade food so much and she already promised me to cook all kinds of my fave Indonesian food when I arrived! :p

Have you had your breakfast today? what's your fave breakfast?

His Stuff

I finally finished with the spare bedroom ready for the guest, I shoved the boxes in every nook and cranny in the house til there's no more space and yet i have to deal with more boxes because hubby's parents decided to install a solar panel in their house and they decided to clear their attic and some of the boxes they found belong to hubby when he was still living with them and so they asked hubby to pick them up. So now i need to hide them somewhere but i took up some ladies' suggestions (thank you) to cover them with a throw or blanket :)

This Koala stuffed toy belongs to my husband when he was a toddler, clearly loved from the almost balding body it has, he told me that when he was a child, his dad was rarely at home coz he's working in a merchant ship and he sent this koala from Canada.

And also this vintage toy car is still in its box was given by his father too, I haven't got time to open all of the boxes but it should be fun when I have the time to sort the contents out.

But i took a peek at one other box but i think most of them are books and more books, so i'll post again about this when i found something else interesting :)

and OH! I would like to wish my blogging friend Bee Happy a Happy Birthday and Happy Blogaversary! she's having a giveaway on her blog to celebrate, do check it out!

Simple Tea

I'm not feeling well since yesterday, I got a cold and i blame it on the weather too, this post will be a short one as i want to take it easy and take alot of rest. My tea time is a simple one accompanied by a small sponge cake with custard.

A friend of mine gave me these chinese lantern flowers last week from her garden, i love the striking orange color and the shape of it, it reminds me of a pumpkin and halloween :)

I found the cat sleeping on top of my wools next to the fireplace, i didn't blame her for wanting abit of warmth when the wind blowing up a gale last nite and raining too, just had to take a pic of it.

Linking to:




Sweetology101

At a friend's House

Yesterday, a friend of mine picked me up to have lunch at her house, truth to tell that i've been eyeing her apple tree for awhile now to ask a few :) and saw lots of the apples have fallen to the ground in her back garden, some reds and some green but she said it's cooking apples and so glad she offered if i wanted to pick them since she has had enough of making apple crumbles and still there are more apples that it would be a waste to just let them fall down so armed with a ladder to reach the higher ones I picked some :)

I've been wanting to make an apple chutney and found a recipe from Jamie Oliver which I wanted to try and make it this saturday, wish me luck!

I also love her garden, with a small allotment where she grows carrots, tomatoes etc separately from the flower beds, she gave me some flower seeds as well to bring home, too bad the pear tree next to the apple tree only got a few pears on it but we picked one and it tasted yummy though i'm not too keen on pears :)

That's her with her daughter Natasha, the sweet little girl always love taking pics with my camera but thought i should take her pic for a change, it's nice to hang out with friends especially when she also cooked yummy lunch :)

another friend of ours dropped by as well with her little boy who loves playing bubbles and always smiles whenever i took his pics.

I've been busy looking for cheap sewing machine as hubby gave me a budget *boo* for my birthday gift and while we were browsing through catalogues in my friend's back garden, saw one at argos for just £60, so we'll see! off to check out my lovely ladies' blogs now! x

Take away and a Movie

Since hubby's toe is still paining him, the doc said to bathe it with TCP and ointment cream so we decided to stay indoor, the long walk at the museum the other day was making it worst (poor thing). besides, the weather wasn't exactly nice anyway yesterday. We ordered a chinese food take away and watched Harry Potter and the deathly hallows on cable pay per view :)

I did abit of craft with the free kit from the stiching magazine that i bought awhile back, a pin cushion.

and just browsing a new Cath Kidston Catalogue that arrived on the doorstep, drooling at everything in the catalogue.

seems like sunday is going to be bright, we're going to hubby's parents house for abit, then take a walk down town and lunch. Have a blessed Sunday! :)

Cheeky Weather

I know we shouldn't rely on weather forecast too much coz they said it wont be raining on Saturday, so Out into the garden hubby and I went to do a lil BBQ, he had spread out the charcoal on the pit when the rain started to fall! it was quite a downpour but lasted only for a minute then the sun came out, i already envisioned to set up the garden table with food for my photography so i told him, maybe it's just a bluff :) he relented and started again slowly...it was fine for at least half an hour, brought out the chicken satay and was going to do the marinated chicken when it starts to drizzle, hubby was cursing, so in the end, we ended up using the grill in the oven and had our meals inside :p

it's like being played by the rain, one minute it's raining, the next it's stopped again and again! hubby says we could try again next weekend. I made chicken satay with spicy peanut sauce for starters, Marinated chicken wings with potato salad that we made and fruits for desserts, I made a small quantity of Pimms with lemonade and fruits thrown in for drinks. in the end we spent the weekend indoor and I'm back with crocheting my granny squares accompanied with lots and lots of tea while watching midsomer murders.

Hope everyone's weekend is so much better than us! Till next time...Goodnite! :)

Bee Happy...is having ribbon giveaway

Cute ribbon giveaway at Bee Happy



Just a note to say that i'll be a busy bee for the next couple of days, cleaning up the house top to bottom, those mountain of clothes has line up to be ironed and the garden needs to be tended as the weeds are getting taller *sigh*.

I ♥ Fabrics

Just want to share that It's All About The Fabric is having a cute fabric giveaway, She's also have a new website where you can sell and buy all things fabric at The Fabric Market Place. Go and check it out!

I've been wanting to buy more fabrics as my stock is running out but i'll wait till hubby's pay day or who knows i'll win the giveaway at her blog :) anyways, just a short update from me, I got a cold today and runny nose (boohoo). A friend of mine was so kind as to take me to the Job Centre in town and was lucky enough to find a few vacancy near there so i popped in to ask for application form then went back and filled it in and she drove me back to submit the forms *fingers crossed*. It's been raining on and off, though i had my umbrella with me, I still got abit wet especially when hubby and I went for grocery shopping last nite at sainsburys and had to push the shopping cart to the car hence i got wet and now i have runny nose and headaches.

I'm feeling abit miserable but i was having so much fun playing with my friend's new house guest yesterday, his name is Dylan and he'll be staying at my friend's house for 3 weeks while his owners away for a holiday.

..and coz of that, the cat that often came to my house for food and fuss went sulking, she's probably smell the dog on me but only for a short time :)

a lil' birdie told me..

..that i've won a giveaway from Plum & Ivory via my dear blogger friend Lakota a few days ago and look how cute she is!

Thank you so much! it arrives today and I'm a happy birdie! she's got the perfect spot to perch too!

Glass Artworks on the doors and some windows in my house, possibly created by the previous owner of the house, can't get rid of them as i have to buy the whole new doors and windows in order to do so which i can't afford. So might as well enjoy them :)

Off to go weekly shopping.

Wet Weekend

It's been raining on and off since saturday, I've been forced to stay indoor, not that i'm complaining, i love rain :) and we dont have any plan to go out anyway, just cuddle up watching The Mentalist, new series of Camelot and the Sorcerer's apprentice on TV.

Everytime, i tried to sneak in to the computer room between adverts, hubby was quick to distract me and basically changed into a 5 year old who doesnt want to be left by himself *sigh* no peace of getting online on weekends for me. I did manage to make a second frame from paper to accompany the one that i made last week :)

The Jute twine around it was abit messy though as i was in a hurry and i used alphabet stamps for the words, aren't i sappy? hehe.

On another note, my mother in law never ceases to amaze me in her belief of me not killing another plants, she keeps giving me plants! I do hope I wont kill them this time but im pessimistic :) I hope everyone's weekends are more sunnier and more fun than me :)

I'll be sneaking again to visit other people's blogs on the next adverts, i have to type this very quickly! I miss everyone's posts *sobs*.

is it that time of the month already?

We went to Sainsburys for weekly grocery shopping yesterday and as usual, we picked up hubby's mom and helped her with her shopping as well. Finally I can wear summer dresses as the sun is shining and the weather is warming!

..what i didn't know was that my period came early *eeekss* so went to get the period pads in one of the isle and saw this!

I know i'm pathetic, they give a free tin box when you buy one pack of "Always" period pads wuahahahaha. okay serious now...I saw in my previous post that the twigs i painted last winter looks abit bare in the photo, so I decided to use transparent wrapping paper to make little cherry blossoms.

it looks nicer now that the twigs got little flowers on them, I'm happy with it :)

Hey June, Don't let me down

I can't believe it's June already! ... and I'm still broke and jobless *sinking in despair*. I was thinking of buying a gift for hubby for our 3rd wedding anniversay on the 6th of June but we can't even afford to go out for a meal to celebrate. I don't mind though as i have planned to make a cake and cook something delicious on Sunday for us at home but i feel bad that i still can't help our financial problem and he's one who doesn't like to use credit cards and prefers to pay everything from his saving eventhough it means that we dont have much left in the account *sigh*.

But, I must be optimistic and see the brighter side of this situation and keep on trying my best hahahaha *tragic laugh*, So! in a frustrated and angry state, I destroy one of the book that i bought in charity shop long time ago to make heart bunting! I feel much better already hehe.

I got the inspiration from the talented Craftberrybush, I painted the inside of the paper heart with red acrylic paint then hung it on top of my mantel.

I have a few canvas frames that I've been keeping for awhile now to practice painting but i already gave up on painting as i suck at it, i think i bought it for less than a pound, cant remember now. I decided to use it with my paper heart.

I slab modpodge glue on the canvas and put pieces of paper on it till it's all covered, i made a heart paper and burnt the edges with my lighter and used red acrylic paint again inside the heart and glue it in the middle of the frame, lastly i used jute twines for the edges of frame and glued it. Voila!

Easy and cheap crafts, I'll be doing more crafts with the left over paper as the book that i ripped out is quite thick. Until then....June, please don't let me down! :)

Full Report

...well sorta, anyway.

I've been taken ill, had cold and toothache, went to dentist and had fillings in my tooth but the dentist said one of my wisdom tooth had to be taken out *shudders* in another appointment. I also have allergy, i found out years ago that i'm allergic to pain killers, anything that contains paracetamol in it is a no-no for me, my face would swell up like a balloon or i'll get itchy all over my body, so yes i had to endure the pain if i had headaches but two years ago the doctor gave me another type of painkiller which contains no paracetamol, it's called codein, it's fine at first and i'm so grateful for that but last week i took it coz the toothache caused me so much agony and something happened, i got nauseated, dizziness and well...stomach cramp, so i stopped taking it, hence my 5 days of agony to endure all of those.

But i'm better now..I'm so touched by those who are so concerned and left me a sweet and lovely email and comment, thank you!

My husband's parents gave us two tickets a week ago to a theatre show called "The Spirit of Dance" and it was today and we almost didnt go as hubby was worried that i'm still fragile *his own words* and coz the weather is back to chilly and very windy but I told him that i'll be fine, besides it's a waste of the tickets that the in-laws have paid for £40 a pair!!

well, it's supposed to be our wedding anniversary gift from them anyways, so off we went to town at the sea front where the Dome theatre located, too bad it's not allowed to take pics inside, we enjoyed the irish dance performance and a mix of jazzy as well as ballet althought i did hinted at first i wanted to see the wizard of Oz show but i was too late, they dont perform in my town anymore, but i enjoyed seeing the dance and the singing.

I'm sorry i haven't been checking everyone's blogs and i do miss blogging! so I hope i'll be able to blog again as usual and visit other blogs tomorrow! off now to sleep.

C'est la vie

...and when I thought i've gotten over my moodiness, M.O.T's bill sunk me further into a well of sorrow, the car's suspension and tyres need to be replaced which costs over a thousand pounds, there goes my plan to visit my family in my hometown, Indonesia this summer which we have saved for a few years! i've been homesick these couple of years and tried my best to be patient and to find a job with no luck. Such is life!

on top of that, i've been trying not to get involved in a drama between my two indonesian friends here but somehow i was dragged in involuntarily just because i was in one of my friend's car at that time, really i dont need more drama in my life, i've got enough probs. I won't bore you with the details.

Anyways, I recieved this month's catalogue today from Cath Kidston which kinda distract me from thinking of my probs for a few moments.

I was planning also to buy a few stuff from CK this month but now i guess it will stay in my wish list and I don't know when I'll be able to buy them :(

I did however managed to do something that makes me calm, I decoupaged my little bird house using CK's paper. I bought the bird house last month from TK Maxx for £3 and you can see the post here

Okay, sorry about the ramblings but I just wanted to get it out of my chest and I'm glad that i have a blog to rant and rave :)

Linking to:

Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop!

I was thrilled to be asked to co-host this week's Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop by none other the host of this super fun party herself Homemaker on a Dime.

Thanks SJ

Just 2 Easy Rules:

1) link up whatever creative post you'd like to
share - can be a DIY project, decor, photography, crafts, recipes, poem, thrift finds, or that informative syndicated post that can make us laugh, or cry - in short, whatever you're proud of!

2) Then follow as many blogs as your heart desires, preferably starting first with
the one before you and after you, before branching out. (Following the host and co-host, too, will be very much appreciated, and we'll definitely follow back.)

You’re not required to include the party button, but if you’re so inclined to display it in your blog or your post, you’re very much welcome to do so :)

This is a combination of linky party (where we can show off our creations) and of blog hop (where we can follow as many excellent bloggers as we like), hence the name Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop.

Link opens up every Sunday at 5:00 pm, PST. So without further ado, Let's get this Party started!

Because we like something different, we're using the reverse
entry for inlinkz - so the most recent participant will show up as
number 1, thus giving every participant a chance to be on the top spot."

Here's the code to the party button that you need to include in the post:

<center><a href="http://www.homemakeronadime.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae194/homemakeronadime/creativeblogbuttonjpg.jpg" /></a></center>