… just for a while so my Friday Favourites posts will not be appearing. I do have some posts in drafts so I'll schedule those for November. I will be reading your blogs and hope to be back in action soon. Thank you for all your comments recently and welcome to new commenters.
Looking at my old, junior school report, it seems my handwriting must have started off quite well but I've never really found it easy to produce neat writing.
My style could be described as messy and untidy or, as I like to think, 'highly creative'. Do you remember the first forays into writing with ink? Again, it was in the fourth year at junior school that we were allowed to write with a fountain pen. My goodness, did we think we were cool! The reality was the pens were a devil to fill from the Quink ink pot, resulting in very blobby blotting paper and/or work and permanent blue fingers. My favourite ink colour was bright blue as opposed to blue/black ink and didn't we welcome the coming of the cartridge pen where the ink was enclosed in a small tube that just slotted into the pen. We still had blue fingers, though, as we were forever squeezing the tubes to make the ink flow.
My choice of colour now is black and the design of pens has come a long way since I was in junior school. My favourite pen for writing is this Pilot B2P (bottle to pen). My writing flows beautifully (even though the end result is still untidy) with this roller ball.
Another pen, which is a favourite is the Pilot Frixion Ball - I've only just noticed that they are both Pilot pens! I hadn't the faintest idea what a friction pen was until just recently. The ink can be rubbed out with the end of the pen. I use this pen in my 'Bullet Journal' and rub out an awful lot. :)
For colour I've chosen …
… the Wilko Friendly Fairies glitter roller pens, only for the fact that they produce glittery, shiny pops of colour on a page.
And Staedtler triplus fineliners in 'Brilliant Colours'. I've chosen these, only for the fact that they produce 'brilliant colour' on my pages. :} (I also like taking them out of their slot and putting them back in - oh sadness!)
The next Friday Favourite will be a favourite plate for meals. I wonder if other people have favourites of the moment.
1. teddy
2. mug and/or cup
3. drinking glass
4. pen, pencil or writing or drawing implement
5. plate for meals
6. shoes and/or clothing suggested by (Mac and Janet)
- weighing and giving drinks to the mixed dried fruit for the Christmas cake. I hope to bake it sometime this week and the fruit is waiting whilst savouring gin, brandy and whiskey!
While I had the dried fruit out I mixed up a batch of Auntie Katie's Mincemeat - a recipe from my home recipe book.
Auntie Katie's Mincemeat
(I halved these quantities as it makes an enormous about.)
1 lb sultanas
1 lb currants
1 lb raisons
12 oz sugar
1 oz each of - mixed spice
- mace
- cinnamon
4 oz ground almonds
1 lb marmalade
1 lb grated apples
the rind and juice of 2 lemons
a tot of - whiskey
- ginger wine
- brandy
Mix together in the order given and keep cool.
I intend to start making mince pies for the freezer when the fancy takes me.
xx
PS Ain't the freezer lucky!
PPS I think the dried fruit that's sitting in a bowl on the worktop is lucky too with all that booze!
I have favourite glasses for different drinks. Here's the water glass, which I bought at a CB.
And the - oh of course you can see - glass, which again was a CB find.
This one is the beer glass of the moment which was found in a shop doorway in town. Always look down around the bustling streets. There's lots to be found. Not always a lot to pick up though!
One more favourite is the sherry glass and this one is just styled so very simply it's a pleasure to use.
The next Friday Favourite will be a pen, pencil or writing or growing implement. I wonder if other people have favourites of the moment.
1. teddy
2. mug and/or cup
3. drinking glass
4. pen, pencil or writing or drawing implement
5. plate for meals
6. shoes and/or clothing suggested by (Mac and Janet)
Take one wire coat hanger, not needed in the wardrobe plus one roll of orange ribbon bought for a song many years ago at a CB, plus a pair of scissors.
Decide to make a pumpkin wreath for Halloween.
Reject that idea and take some other autumnal shades of ribbon gleaned from presents, CBs and CSs.
Decide to make an autumnal wreath.
Can't find any browns so ...
Take some autumnal shades of wool collected from the usual places.
Make the wreath and then decide it needs more additions. These additions were free picked up on a quick walk down the road.
Add to the wreath with a further addition of a glitzy bow.
This notebook is not in my Filofax. It's a handy portable size that fits in my bum bag if needed. In it are just jottings to remind me what I would like to do on a particular day. If I have a sudden brilliant brainwave I can write that in too as well as places I need to go and people I am going to see. The jottings are in the form of a Bullet Journal - there's a whole new notebook world out there - just google Bullet Journal and you will see some of it! It appeared to me a good way of organising my scribbles so I'm having a go and so far it works a treat.
It basically is "... a customizable and forgiving organization system. It can be your to-do list, sketchbook, notebook, and diary, but most likely, it will be all of the above. It will teach you to do more with less."
The video below is a very quick overview of the system.
So far I've started my October pages and have decided on my bullet point key.
A few days have been logged and the notebook has been a very helpful source of information I've collected and things we've done and intend to do. As in some organiser 'traditions' I've tried my hand at decorating the pages with a few doodles. You can see how artistic I am!!! The bottom picture is suppose to be a tree which we saw that was full of crab apples.
the tree
the crab apples
Some of the information I'm logging may help in my Filofax home organisation. Here's a quick tour of Filofax 1.
My tabs in this organiser are:-
House
Action
Ideas
Information
Passwords
and
Addresses.
This organiser is simply a reference section for my daily diary.
The house section is divided into:-
Month
Week
Food
Rooms
Finance
The Monthly pages have sticky notes with my intentions for that particular month. These goals can be fed into my daily pages so I am motivated to 'get things done'.
In the Weekly pages is an overview of suggested tasks for the day which basically boils down to -
* necessary as and when tasks - vacuum, laundry, dishwasher stack and empty etc
* suggested daily tasks to clean one toilet, one sink and vacuum one room with a choice of either cleaning a shelf, cupboard, drawer, skirting board or picture rail (which I've called swing tasks). I also aim to focus on a very quick overview and tidy of one room each day. The theory is that I'll have sparkling loos and sinks all the time and over time all my cupboards and drawers will be sorted and kept in order. :}
The food pages are just a log of freezer and cupboards so I'll use everything I buy.
On the rooms pages I've listed parts of the room to clean and these can be ticked off when I've done them. Once they're all ticked I'll either add to the list or 'go round again'. These pages feed in to the weekly task routine.
The finance pages just keep a log of supermarket shops and cash expenditure.
On the action pages I've listed jobs that could be done under different headings e.g.. Garden, Christmas, Music, Miscellaneous. Again these tasks can be chosen to be done on different days as and when I have time and inclination. It's very satisfying to tick off a task. (Sad, sad)
Also in the Action pages is a list of birthdays and cards that need to be made along with ...
… further pages detailing the tasks for the run up to Christmas and pages for lists of presents and cards received and sent.
My Diary Filofax (number 2) contains a monthly page view where I mark in birthdays, anniversaries, important dates and notes plus '2 page' weekly spreads. On each day I have my Daily tasks listed plus one or more other tasks which will fit in with the day.
Here's an example of a week that I've made up. Daily tasks are done from Monday to Friday, appointments written in and any other relevant jottings added. I've also put a quote at the top and the rooms I should concentrate on to get tidy.
I've made a handy 'puller outer' on to which I am able to stick a shopping list which I'll then take on my next shop.
My bullet notebook has fed in well into my routine and so far all 3 organisers are working well with the house reasonably tidy and clean. I've been able to remember (or been reminded to remember) things and am able to capture thoughts and ideas as soon as they occur.
… because I like Christmas. It's been around a few years and is a little faded but it is one which I gravitate towards.
It used to be this one …
… because there's a puss cat on it. We have two of these and they are used as breakfast mugs.
I'm quite partial to this one because it is full of the joys of Spring but it is a little too big for everyday use.
Today's favourite I have posted about before here and it's still my favourite cup
At the moment!
The next Friday Favourite will be a drinking glass. I wonder if other people have favourites of the moment.
1. teddy
2. mug and/or cup
3. drinking glass
4. pen, pencil or writing or drawing implement
5. plate for meals
6. shoes and/or clothing suggested by (Mac and Janet)
7. hobby
8. place suggested by (Rachelradiostar)
9. self-indulgent treat suggested by (johnnyjumpsup) xx Welcome, welcome, welcome to my new follower. Thank you for following my simple life. (It's full of simple things as you can see from this post. It doesn't take a lot to make me happy. I'm very low maintenance.)
Now is he my favourite because he was my very first one?
Or perhaps it was because my dad gave him to me.
It may be because I feel he shouldn't be 'de-cluttered' because he has sentimental value …
… or because I'm sorry that I was sick all over him when I was 3 and he had to be washed in the washing machine - oh the guilt!
Is he my favourite because he may be 'worth a bit now' even though his squeak has gone and he's rather moth-eaten? I did save an Ebay write-up about a similar panda.
Here is a wonderful looking Panda teddy bear, made by Chiltern and dates from
the 1950's. He is a charming looking bear and comes in great condition. His coat
is made from black and white mohair, which has signs of play wear, but to be
expected with such a nice bear. There is obvious wear on his belly, around his
Growler. His eyes are made from amber and black glass. His nose and mouth have
been typically stitched into the Chiltern Shield. His head is filled with wood
wool, while his body is filled with sub. He has a great working tilt growler in
his belly. He also has a small tail too. He is unjointed but can sit and stand
easily. He sadly no longer bears his label, but the is no mistaking his
origins. He measures 38cm / 15in. He is a charming bear and he needs a new
home?
My panda's head seems to be stuffed with straw and his body with kapok. I don't know what 'sub' is and he can't stand up.
He's quite old now, doesn't need a new home and he's staying with me because -
he's my favourite bear.
At the moment!
Thank you for your thoughts on favourite things. I've added some of them to my list of Favourites on Friday.
