Neglect

I have definitely been neglecting this little corner of my internet life for some months now! I'll try and get together a real update soon - with pictures and everything. Pinky promise!!

Man Friday

Mark Webber

See that little chin cleft? I love that I do.

THE Worry - Part 1

 I worry a lot. When I say a lot, I mean can't-sleep-at-night-because-my-brain-will-not-shut-up worrying.

What causes it? Anything can set me off. At the moment I can't sleep at night because my microwave is broken and I can't afford a new one.

Yup.

That's right.

Ridiculous.

Soooo, it starts off as a worry that I can't make porridge for P (obviously I can on the hob but time is extremely limited on a week day morning!) Then I worry that she won't be happy which equals being a bad parent. But the worry is twofold, because at the same time as worrying about that I'll be worrying about why I can't afford a microwave. Why do I work if I feel tired all the time, stressed and irritable (and feel worried about being stressed, tired and irritable)? What's the point in all that if I can't afford a basic microwave. Which then leads back to the worry about being a bad parent. What type of parent can't afford a microwave??!

It's a frightening place in my head. This is just one of my worries. There is a list and they all take turns at being at the top and hijacking my sleep patterns.

Today I bought Kalms, a herbal stress remedy. Will it stop the microwave downward spiral - I don't know but I will try and find out.

I'll report back.


PS Can anyone lend me a microwave?

Monochrome madness

Quick outfit picture today:

This is an outfit I wore to work early last week. I'm loving the monochrome look - always have done and always will If it's done properly it can look classy and not too contrived.

The dress is from Dorothy Perkins and I snapped it up the other week when it had 25% off (love a bargain!) It is really light and summery which is why due to the "changeable conditions" of last week I wore it with a cardie and leggings. The cardigan is from Peacocks. You can't really see it in this picture but the front panels are interwoven with silver thread in the black - pretty!

By the way you can follow me on Instagram, my user name is meryl84

Recent Crochet projects

Back in January I decided I wanted to learn how to crochet. Mainly because my Bookkeeping course was coming to an end and I need something to keep me occupied in the evenings (something other than crap TV)

I have made a variety of things so far, all fairly basic but that is what I enjoy about crochet - once you get the hang of it is pretty easy but the finished items look more complicated to make than they actually are.

Here are two things I've finished recently:

Baby Blanket

Doily

The baby blanket is the first crochet item I've made for someone else (and the first thing I've ever made that I've gifted to someone). I always get nervous making stuff for others in case they don't like it or it isn't as good quality as they expect. However, I was really pleased with the blanket as I absolutely love these colours and I think it looks really lovely. I made this for a friends baby and due to the fact that baby decided to make an appearance seven weeks early I made this in about a week. Not bad for a novice. You can't see as it's folded but it is just about big enough to be used for a cot blanket.

I made this doily to go under my fruit bowl on my dining table however now it is finished I don't want to put it under anything so it is now on a table in my hallway. I made this on Saturday and it probably took me about five hours. I am pleased with it as I wasn't sure that the colours would work together however they do (the picture unfortunately doesn't show the colours accurately), the only thing I am disappointed about is that after blocking the doily I then pressed it and I think my iron might have been a little too hot as the stitches look a bit "blurred" now. Oh well! I am still happy with it.

Today I have been making a set of six coasters and getting exasperated at my tension (or lack of) resulting in different sizes. Grrr! I'll take a picture in better light tomorrow hopefully and blog them here soon. I also want to show off the bunting I recently made for my bedroom as I am in love with it.

Silent Sunday

No Love Lost

I'll be honest. I've fallen out of love with blogging. Or maybe I've fallen out of the way I blogged. I'm not sure. All I know is that aside from one or two great beauty/fashion blogs that I've read for a long time the majority of beauty bloggers leave me cold. Seeing fifty girls all blogging the same product in the same few weeks is not only intimidating it is actually kind of soul destroying.

I want to read good life style blogs from intelligent people, from funny people, from all shapes and sizes about things that I might not even be interested in - as long as it is well written. That isn't to say that beauty blogs can't be all these things (and more) but I think I inundated myself with too much pap. Too much filler. Too many people who right like dis.

I am trying to find my blogging "joie de vivre" but I don't know where to start?! Is my life interesting? Am I funny? What is my angle? How much can I swear here without people finding out how foul mouthed I really am?

**edit** I do love clothes though so you should expect pictures of clothes here if nothing else. And maybe nail polish.

First time Macaroon attempt

Macaroon's are something I've wanted to try baking for a long time but via numerous different outlets I'd consistently got the message that they were "tough" and temperamental to make. This put me off some what.

However, after mentioning on twitter that I was on the macaroon make someone sent me a link to a couple of really helpful articles/blogs to read first. I am so glad I took the time to go over this information as it not only calmed my nerves but helped me just get on with it instead of stressing over the nuances of macaroon making.

I think that part of the problem with macaroons is that there is so much information out there and differing opinions (Should you age your egg whites and if so for how long? Do you leave them to acquire a "skin" before putting in the oven or not?) that if you are a bit nervous of a first time recipe anyway it just adds extra doubt into your mind. Like anything, the more you worry the more likely you are to make a mistake or you end up being so uber-cautious it just takes the fun out of it.

If anyone out there is contemplating making macaroons (they do seem to be the "in" thing at the moment) then I definitely recommend immediately heading over to the Brave Tart's site and reading all her posts about macaroons especially the myth buster post which was honestly invaluable for a novice like me.

I just used a standard macaroon recipe, it was basically a mix of a few different ones I'd read but the one I had out whilst making for accurate measurements etc was from the new Stacie Stewart's Stacie Bakes recipe book (which I love). For flavouring I made a vanilla macaroon with a strawberry filling.

I was really pleased with how they turned out. Believe me, they were not perfect and there were a few funny shapes among them. Plus I've definitely pin pointed where the hot points in my oven are! Overall though, for a first attempt I was very pleased. They tasted great and had the prefect trade off in crunchiness/chewiness. 

The best compliment: a colleague at work telling me that they were better than the ones she had tried on a recent trip to Paris. 

A Clean Slate

I had been writing at my previous blog since 2009 and after a long, long think I decided to delete it and start again. Drastic? Maybe. I just felt that blog wasn't really 'me' any more - whatever that means.

So, here we are with a fresh start.

I like writing, reading, Formula 1, baking and cooking, making and sewing (I've recently learnt to crochet) and lots of other things. At the moment I predominantly see me blogging about craft projects and my experiments in the kitchen, but, we will see as I am interested in lots of things.

If you are reading this, then, thank you. I hope you like what you read.

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5797951/?claim=wr4m6rtjtyr">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>