Friday 30 November 2012

Tiling Pics

My hubby has done some of the kitchen tiling. He still needs to seal the edges. We are thinking whether to seal them with the white silicone or a wooden trim, we are thinking more the wood trim...what do you think?


Above, before tiling
 

Above, after tiling. We still need to seal along the tile and worktop

 
Above, showing a strip of trim along the wall and worktop. I think we are going for the wood trim.
 
I can put my dehydrator back on my worktop now. I have been craving dehydrated mushrooms and brocolli lately. Of course I will have to move things again when we come to fit the trim. My hubby still has two more area's of tiling to do in the kitchen which he is hoping to get on with over the weekend or next week.
 
I want to visit my Mother in hospital but I still have a lingering cold and I am worried incase I pass it onto my Mother and it hinders her recovery.
 
I will maybe get back later today so check back but if not I will be back tomorrow.

Thursday 29 November 2012

Further Forward

I know I haven't updated for a few days but I'm here now. My Mother had to have a big operation yesterday, we knew it was coming. She had to have a cancerous tumour removed from her bowels. She is doing GREAT! And thankfully the cancer was contained and was removed by keyhole surgery which we are all very happy about. She may be home at the weekend. If the surgeons hadn't been able to remove it by keyhole surgery then she would have had to stay in hospital for about 2 weeks as they would have had to open her tummy up.
As some of you know my Dad died January this year from colon cancer and now my Mam getting bowel/colon cancer.

My new chair arrived today, it has been a month or so since I ordered it, we knew it was going to be a good few weeks, it looks FAB! Worth the wait! And so much better that what we had, it all goes together now. My hubby took the old armchair to the amenities earlier so that has now gone.

My hubby and I have got through quite a bit more around the house, here is the revised list:
Here is my list with one or two more things crossed off..WooHoo

Chimney Removed
Loft Window Installed
James' Bedroom Walls
James' Underlay & bedroom Carpet
James New Lightshade
James' New Desk

James' Bedroom New Window Sill
Adams New Desk
Adams Bedroom New Window Sill
Adams Bedroom Walls
Adams New Bedroom Carpet (probably next year, he got a new carpet about 2 year ago)
Our bedroom Walls
Our Bedroom New Window Sill
Our Underlay & bedroom Carpet
Our New Lightshade
Tile Kitchen Floor
Tile Kitchen Under Cupboard Wall Tiles - Half done
Kitchen Under Cupboard Lights to be fitted and wired in - 1 left to do
Replace Back Garden Fence Post
Replace Front Garden Gate Posts
Paint Front Door
Paint 2 Little Windows
Paint Stairs, Hall and Landing
New Carpet Stairs and Landing (probably next year for this)
Insulate remaining Loft
Carpet Loft (probably next year)
Livingroom New Window Sill
Livingroom replacement chair

My hubby has done half the kitchen wall tiling. We need to buy another tub of tile cement/grout. It has taken a 6.6kg to do half of the tiling, we thought that large tub would have been more than enough to do the lot, we never go off what it states on the tub as to how much wall it will cover.
I have taken a before pic of the wall tiling that he has been doing so I will of course take an after pic and post them on here.

I am trying to incorporate lots of raw foods into my day but I haven't been very adventurous with my food as my kitchen isn't fully functional what with the wall tiling being done, although it is much easier than when the floor tiling was being done.

I still have a cold, infact, I am feeling quite bad today, this has been for over a week now.

We are going to watch TV in bed later and sip on a hot chocolate drink...YUM
Nighty Night

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Getting There....

Finally!!..YeeHaa

The kitchen flooring is completely finished and the kick boards are back on except where the dishwasher is, still need to fix that kick board back on. Our bedroom is now skimmed, sealed, coved and the glossing is done. Tomorrow my hubby is going to paint the ceiling, the next night paint the walls and then I am going to lay the new  underlay and carpet...yep! I'm rather good at carpet laying. After that is all done then all there is left to do before Christmas is to tile the kitchen walls, paint the stairs, landing and Adams bedroom and build up Adams desk, fit 4 new window sills and finish insulating the loft...THAT IS IT!
I bought James his new bedroom light shade and he loves it! It is a blue shade with the world map on it...gotta educate as much as!

Here is my list with one or two more things crossed off..WooHoo

Chimney Removed
Loft Window Installed
James' Bedroom Walls
James' Unerlay & Carpet
James New Lightshade
James' New Desk
James' Bedroom New Window Sill
Adams New Desk
Adams Bedroom New Window Sill
Adams Bedroom Walls
Adams New Bedroom Carpet (probably next year, he got a new carpet about 2 year ago)
Our bedroom Walls
Our Bedroom New Window Sill
Our bedroom Carpet
Our New Lightshade
Tile Kitchen Floor
Tile Kitchen Under Cupboard Wall Tiles
Kitchen Under Cupboard Lights - 1 left to do
Replace Back Garden Fence Post
Replace Front Garden Gate Posts
Paint Front Door
Paint 2 Little Windows
Paint Stairs, Hall and Landing
New Carpet Stairs and Landing (probably next year for this)
Insulate remaining Loft
Carpet Loft (probably next year)
Livingroom New Window Sill

We are all coming down with colds, James is the worst at the moment..poor little thing!

I am going to weigh in tomorrow and stick to my eating plans so I can lose some weight before Christmas is here, 5 weeks.

Friday 16 November 2012

A Few Days....

Have past but no matters.

I have just got back from driving my new car, it is so smooth and easy to drive, the gears are smoother than the Celica. The bonnet on the Celica was quite a long shaped bonnet but the new car, the bonnet seems so short, if I lower the seat I can't even see the bonnet compared to the Celica...heehee. This is the first time I have driven my new car since we got it on Wednesday. We have had to wait to get the changed insurance documents and tax on the new car which was all done this morning. The car tax is half the amount the Celica was for tax. The insurance, well that is about £10 cheaper per month and my new car is diesel whereas the Celica was petrol and we all know how costly it is running a petrol car compared to running a diesel car, diesel is much more economical...all good!

My husband has finished skimming our bedroom walls and we are going to try to get through a good few jobs over this weekend and get things sorted, the house is such a mess with all the work that we still have going on.

We are popping to Costco later today, I can't wait to get stocked up with fruit and veg!
My Mam and step Dad visited today, but having said that, they visit everyday....WE LOVE IT!! My Mam and step Dad are crackers and boy! Do they love each other, they are lost when the other one is out the house.

Well not a lot else to report at the moment so I will be back tomorrow even if just to ramble on about nothing:)

Monday 12 November 2012

Pics

I have managed to sort of give you an idea of my new kitchen floor. The picture below is a BEFORE picture. I took it just before we moved the fridge/freezer to be able to take the rest of the laminate flooring up.


The picture below is the AFTER picture. The tiles are layed and grouted. We still have some grouting to do yet. Big difference and better, what do you think?


I received a Raw Living order this morning...YUM!
Vanilla Snackaroon (macaroons)
Date & Cashew snacks
Cheesie Purple Kale Chips
Raw Velvet Cakelet
This is the first time I have bought and tried the Cakelet and it is SOOO YUMMY! I will buy those again. I have bought all these items except the cakelet before, some of them a couple of times.


I was suprised when I opened the cakelet to see how pretty it is! It was nicely wrapped also, you can see it in the green paper and ribbon above.


Here is the cakelet cut open, it had four layers.
Biscuit layer
Caramel layer
Chocolate mousse layer
Chocolate layer then topped with a raw heart chocolate and a few rose buds.

Notice I said it HAD four layers...teehee - yes, I scoffed it all today, but it was only a tiny little cakelet:)

 
Octavia Silverline
 
 
Other news. We are getting a new car this week. We have a Toyota Celica which I absolutely LOVE! We have had the Celica for 10 years and it is now time to get a new car, so we are getting the above, an Octavia. This is a picture of the actual car we are getting.
BELOW is a picture of the Celica. This isn't a pic of our actual car, ours is a tad tattier than this because our paint work was due a re-spray and our alloys are going a tad tatty also but our car is exactly the same as this, and colour.
 
 
My hubby is plastering our bedroom walls, he has one wall done up to now, I'm not sure if he is doing any more tonight.
 
 
 

Sunday 11 November 2012

Full House

The house is a total mess and hardly no room because we have things from the bedroom and kitchen here, there and anywhere there is a space and even more mess because myself and my hubby are busy putting the laundry washing machine and fridge/freezer back in place but then a knock at the door, Adam's friend, Ivan. They sit and have a chat, then another knock at the door, it's our GORGEOUS eldest son, Michael with his four children, our GORGEOUS grandchildren....even less room of what room there was. Another knock at the door, it's my Mam and step Dad...FULL HOUSE! And we LOVED IT!!

Okay, our machines are back in place, we had to do a little bit of woodwork also...all done.
I have a whole heap of laundry which I am trying to get through.
We still have the rest of the kitchen floor to grout and then start the wall tiling but for now my hubby is doing more work in our bedroom...I know, having two jobs going at once probably isn't the right way but whilst some of the floor tiles were drying my hubby took advantage of not being able to do anything else until those tiles had dried so he decided to strip the bedroom walls and now he can just get on with prepping the walls ready for skimming.

I can get a lot of things put back into the kitchen now which will give us some space but I have to remember that we still have to finish the floor grouting and the wall tiles need doing yet.
I want to get my fridge sorted and cleaned and I wanted the kitchen floor  finished or done enough to put the fridge/freezer back in place because I knew I was going to be doing a big grocery shop in a few days.

Okay that is the latest up to now for today but if there is anything else then I will come back later, but if not then I will be back tomorrow.

Saturday 10 November 2012

Popped Out

Yesterday: Not a lot to report for yesterday really. My hubby has finished laying the kitchen floor tiles so they just need grouting all over now, need to wait the 48 hours before we can grout the newly layed tiles.

Today: we went to JTF this morning and took my Mam and step Dad. We only bought my hubby a couple of tools, that was it. My Mam is still bearing up and is still happy enough at the moment but I feel she is still thinking a lot about things, but then she is bound to be. She has more tests on Tuesday.

My hubby is going to do more jobs in our bedroom tonight i.e. the walls.

Back later tonight maybe.

Thursday 8 November 2012

Again

As some of you know, my Dad passed away in January this year from colon cancer and yesterday I was telling you that my Mam had to have some unpleasant tests done yesterday, well, the doctors have found a blockage in my Mam's bowels and it is looking like cancer. I just can't quite take this in and I was very upset when my Mam told me. She has to have more tests etc next week. My Mam is an optimist which I am so pleased about and she is certainly looking on the bright side and that an operation to remove the bad part and she will be fine and that is what we are all looking at!

This confirms to me even more that I need to stick to raw and drink juices daily!!!! I am getting a new Breville juicer for Christmas.
I will be doing a small grocery shop on Saturday but I do have enough raw foods, fruit and veg in the fridge anyway and I have made a small Raw Living order for raw snacks because I am a snacker and I do like a snack and I would of course rather have a fruit or raw food snack. There has been more chocolates in the house these couple of weeks so at least when I have raw items to hand then instead of a processed snack I will grab a raw snack when the craving strikes.
I have told my sons that I am going to be buying them far less sugary processed snacks from now on and I will encourage them to eat raw snacks.

I didn't make another Shazzie Chocolate drink yesterday but if I do tonight then I will take a pic of just how frothy and appetising I make it.

My hubby is finishing off laying the kitchen floor tiles now, we didn't get them done yesterday because as you know we went to visit my Mam and step Dad last night but now as well as my fridge/freezer being out in the middle of the floor so is my laundry washing machine also. The floor should be pretty much complete, grouting and cleaning all done by the about Monday...PHEW!! But whilst the kitchen floor cement is drying my hubby is going to get on with more of our bedroom, makes sense to me!

I think that is all for today so I will be back tomorrow. Nighty Night.

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Another Day

It is really cold today!
We are going to get the dishwasher plumbed back in tonight and then pull out our laundry machine and tile the rest of the floor. When that is dry we just need to grout then push the laundry machine and fridge/freezer back and then grout the rest of the floor...can't wait! I'm done with the mess in the kitchen now....it is such pain trying to use my kitchen at the moment with all the mess BUT! Not forgetting that we still need to tile the walls but that wont be half as inconvenient or as long a job as the floor tiling....thank goodness!

I have just drank a mug of Shazzie's Raw Hot Chocolate drink and it is strong as raw cacao goes so I added, or rather I creamed together a touch of almond milk and 2 heaped teaspoons of raw chocolate powder first and then I added a touch of agave then the hot (not boiling) water and I have to say, it is DELICIOUS! Creamy and thick-ish! I recommend Shazzie's Raw Hot Chocolate. I may post a pic of the made chocolate drink later because no doubt I will be having another mug later.
Click on the link on the right of this post to check out Shazzie's Raw Hot Chocolate and other products.

I might be visiting my Mam tonight, she has been in hospital today for some unpleasant tests so if she feels up to a visit then we are going tonight.

That is me for now, so I will try to get back later tonight with a pic.

Tuesday 6 November 2012

Rain

It's raining this morning, nice!!
Back later.

Monday 5 November 2012

Guy Fawkes

I hope everyone is being sensible tonight! And having fun!
I can hear all the fireworks going off all over the area.
Kids are collecting wood from next door which he has put out for the kids to collect to build their bon (sp?) fires, not something I would condone because it is kids building these fires and setting them alight with no adult supervision but my next door neighbours don't seem to have a brain cell between them.
I can hear emergency service sirens belting down the main road at the top of my avenue, not something I like to hear!

My kitchen is even harder to use now what with the dishwasher in the middle of the floor and my fridge/freezer pulled out also, and not to step on certain tiles because they aren't set yet.
I have been emptying my bedroom today ready for revamping and it is now as good as empty and my hubby is busy stripping the walls. The house is such a mess but I know it will be GORGEOUS! And worth the mess when it is done! Shouldn't be too much longer!

Today all I have eaten is the rest of the Cheesie kale chips and a couple of raw bars, and for my evening meal I did have some cooked rice, and that is it! Not fully raw and by no means the best food day. I have washed a head of lettuce to make my husbands lunch sandwiches for tomorrow and hopefully there will be some left for my lunch tomorrow.

One of my cats is snoring away...heehee she always does.

Okay, I may get back later tonight but if not then I hope you have a good evening and stay safe!

Sunday 4 November 2012

Be Glad....

When my kitchen is back to normal, well, not normal, BETTER!! We have now pulled the fridge/freezer and washing machines out because we have decided to get on and try to get this floor finished, and then tile the walls. I have also been emptying my bedroom.

We got up to frost this morning, I LOVE IT!! All cozy in my warm house.
We planted a holly bush and some heather plants today, probably not the right time of year to plant them, I don't know but they are planted now. Holly bushes and Heather are quite hardy plants so hopefully they will take. Heather normally grows on the moors and is exposed to all sorts of really bad weather. I have had the Holly and Heather plants in their pots outside for the last month-ish and they have been fine so putting them into the ground shouldn't cause any problems...I hope!

I had some of the Cheesie and Purple Corn Kale Chips for a snack this afternoon and they are DELICOUS!! The best that I have eaten!! I would definitely recommend them!!


People were setting fireworks off last night, infact, you would think it was Guy Fawkes yesterday not tomorrow.

Well, we are going to have our evening meal and then my husband is going to lay another couple of rows of floor tiles and also tile under where the dishwasher goes, so I will sign off here and I will be back tomorrow.
Night Night

Saturday 3 November 2012

Pics Posted Friday

Just incase you didn't notice I have posted pics on Friday's post.
I am aiming to post everyday this month...one month at a time - even if I have nothing to post, I can but try anyway!!

I am emptying my bedroom ready to start the work. It is a long process just emptying my room...phew! I have all my beauty products in there. Good exercise emptying my room, gotta keep my body moving. I had a pulmonary embolism when I was 24 years old and recently I have been getting strange sort of pains in my chest so I have started to take aspirin daily again and I have to say, the pains have stopped so I really need to keep my body moving and keep the blood pumping round. I should have gone to see my GP about the chest pains especially because of my history. I was told many years ago to take aspirin daily but I stopped because aspirin makes the stomach bleed but I think I need to take them again now.

I sorted clothes from mine and my husbands wardrobe this morning and filled two huge bin bags of old clothes, I even had some clothes from the 80's in my wardrobe; bright yellow jackets, pink skirts etc...teehee but anyway, we can take old clothes to a local shop and they weigh and pay for your old clothes so we took them there and we got £10.50 - I do give to charity also by the way.

My Mam phoned and asked if I wanted to go to JTF Wholesalers this afternoon but I decided to stay home and clear my bedroom, so James and my husband has taken my Mam and step Dad.

Well, that is all for now so I may get back later today.

Friday 2 November 2012

A Few Pics

Finally...pics!

Here is a photo of my latest Raw Living order. I finally managed to buy 2 bottles of the White Chocolate Medicine Flower Potent Extract...WooHoo - it was out of stock for a good few weeks but as soon as it came back in stock I snaffled myself 2 bottles.


Lecithin
Kelp Noodles
2 Bags Cacao Powder
1 Bag Cacao Butter
1 Bag Lucuma
Multifloral Raw Honey
Raw Almond Butter
Shapeshifters
Cheesie Purple Corn Kale Chips
Tea's
Cheesie Salad Booster
Magic Mix
Date & Cashew Snackaroons (half eaten..YUM!)
2 Bottles White Chocolate Extract
2 bars Nut Pie Bars
2 Bars Peppermint Bars (I ate 1 bar already)
2 Packets Goji Berries (free sample)

Below is a photo of my latest wooden bowl and salad spoons. If you look here you can see the bowls I already bought. I am going to use this bowl as my fruit bowl...maybe.


Below is a photo of some baking tins I bought. I bought  2 x 8" tins because this is the size that Russell James uses in his Dessert course. I then spotted these 2 childrens cake tins which are 5" I think these will be good for other raw cakes, actually, I was thinking Ani Phyo's Ganache cake as this is a very rich yet small cake and so these childrens tins will be the perfect size. I decided to also buy the 24 cup muffin tin, again for raw cup cakes but these should be better because they aren't too big or small, I wouldn't call them mini as stated on the label, just smaller than the average....big enough!

 
I am sure there are more photo's I wanted to take and post but I can't think what of, it might come back to me and then I will post them.
 
We are still busy with the house, we still have a lot to do. Tomorrow we are going to empty our bedroom ready to re-vamp, then start tiling the kitchen walls under the wall cupboards. My husband has been doing some more loft insulating tonight, he is actually putting the silver foil insulation onto the roof rafters/joists.
Here is a list of things done and yet to do this year:
 
Chimney Removed
Loft Window Installed
James' Bedroom Walls
James' Carpet
James New Lightshade
James' New Desk
James' Bedroom New Window Sill
Adams New Desk
Adams Bedroom New Window Sill
Adams Bedroom Walls
Adams New Bedroom Carpet (probably next year, he got a new carpet about 2 year ago)
Our bedroom Walls
Our Bedroom New Window Sill
Our bedroom Carpet
Our New Lightshade
Tile Kitchen Floor
Tile Kitchen Under Cupboard Wall Tiles
Kitchen Under Cupboard Lights - 1 left to do
Replace Back Garden Fence Post
Replace Front Garden Gate Posts
Paint Front Door
Paint 2 Little Windows
Paint Stairs, Hall and Landing
New Carpet Stairs and Landing (probably next year for this)
Insulate Loft
Carpet Loft (probably next year)
Livingroom New Window Sill
 
Quite a list this year. Over the last few years we have been trying to accomplish so many jobs per year i.e. new bathroom, tile bathroom, new downstairs loo, flooring in living room, walls skimmed in the living room and around the house, back garden cleared etc etc etc and we have managed to do the jobs that we set out to do each year and now we are just left with the above list. 
 
Well, that is me for today so I will try to get back tomorrow. 
 

Thursday 1 November 2012

Happy November

WOW November 1st ALREADY!
Well, the kitchen floor is just over halfway tiled but because we are near the fridge/freezer, washing machine and dishwasher I want to leave the tiles to set strong before we move these machines, so I am happy to leave it about a week before we move these heavy machines to tile underneath them, but in the meantime there is plenty to be going at. I think my hubby is going to start the kitchen wall tiling next because that can be completely done now, nothing will disturb those tiles, so all that will be left for the kitchen will be to finish laying the floor tiles and grout the floor tiles - Oh! And to fix down the new door thresh.
We are then going to start our bedroom.
My hubby has started insulating his loft, that is a long job also.

I am sticking to raw food a lot better now because I can get to my fridge etc. I had grapes for breakfast and a raw bar mid afternoon, I haven't had anything else since...TUT TUT! I am going to prepare a lovely salad for my evening meal, I am craving a salad actually!
I am going to try to get some pics tonight of my latest raw living order and anything else that I feel to post pics of.

Back later tonight, probably with pics.