bigbucketgirl

Toilet

toilet, originally uploaded by big_bucket_girl.

We needed a new toilet for downstairs...the simplest, most readily available, cheapest(!) one on the market. Dh went off dutifully to the diy store to search out some gleaming white ceramic...and look what he came back with. How simple. A toilet to go. With a push flush that the kids think is hilarious. Haven't worked out why yet!

So there you have it. Simple marketing...does what it says on the box!, and i'm using it as a bit of a reminder to myself that we are going. Leaving. Moving away. Soon. Which inturn reminds me that I really need a break from the computer and blogworld. Time really does get sucked away from me when i sit on here so i'm imposing a ban on myself until next saturday.
OK, i'm off to pack and sort.....fuelled by nutella and cava. See you in a week!

A box.

vintage writing paper, originally uploaded by big_bucket_girl.

I bought a box. Crazy some may say to pay 50p for an A4 size box with birds on. But..please let me explain that its not just a box! I didn't realise what it was until i'd grabbed it in my fist and wasn't letting go incase anyone grabbed it! but inside is an immaculate, beautiful, old fashioned writing set, all intact...paper, notecards and envelopes all tied up with ribbons. G.o.r.g.e.o.u.s.
(I will post photos later as my camera batteries have just died)

Who can I write to?
I'll stare at the box and gaze lovingly at the contents while i think...not a difficult job!

Guilt

Moving house etc. is taking its toll.

This was the result of a few minutes work for me and a big spoon. It didn't take long. It was over quite quickly and no children or animals were hurt in the process. So what do you think?

Should I berate myself for devouring an entire jar of Nutella? or just lick the spoon one last time, recycle the jar and remember to write it on the shopping list!

We're visiting prospective new schools tomorrow so this crime may well be replayed tomorrow evening! I'll buy a big jar incase you pop round with a spoon!!!

Mould. The fun kind!

A quick post to share the joy that the postman came and delivered marvellous wonders from Hong Kong. Rabbit and Bear. Moulds. Egg moulds. I know that i'm not re-inventing the wheel with my discovery of these delights but they are already firm family favourites and we are awaiting the arrival of their relations, car and fish!

I couldn't contain my excitement to control my camera and 3 kids around boiling the eggs but i think thats self explanatory!!!

Hot from the pan they were de-shelled and pressed into a mould. Snapped shut inside and dunked in cold water for an agonising 10minute wait. We wanted to be Oh so sure they were done!

Bear emerged unscathed and was promptly eaten by the 2yr old...his first ever boiled egg!

Rabbit on the other hand looked more like road-kill. He failed to make it out in one piece but tasted good mashed with a fork and mixed with cress and salt!

Check out my parallel life egg boiler for more pics!

Lunchbox.

After nearly drowning in tupperware containers, finding pots with no lids, discovering a selection of lids with no tub to fit, and surviving avalanche after avalanche of the blighters every time the cupboard under the sink was opened....we gave in. We looked for alternatives for making lunchboxes a little different and binned(donated elsewhere) the tubs. I found plenty of ideas and inspiration for this terms lunches stemming from a post I read on berlinswhimsy a while back. Amber spoke of a her lunchbox and I HAD to know more. My bank card was a little shocked when I racked up about £40 on 2 boxes but I got the kits and took a deep breath. It was painless! We tried them out for the last week of term before the holiday but its this term that we're going to get creative thanks to a Flickr pool dedicated to them!

1. "http://www.flickr.com/photos/lunchinabox/166339638/">Pesto

2. "http://www.flickr.com/photos/faerysequins/2537899535/in/pool-laptop_lunches">May 30

3. http://www.flickr.com/photos/faerysequins/2418295550/">April 15

4. "http://www.flickr.com/photos/berlinswhimsy/2259501518/in/set-72157603657333140/">Kids 2-11-08

5. http://www.flickr.com/photos/berlinswhimsy/2250317767/in/set-72157603657333140/">Kid (my daughter is sick) 2-8-08

6. "http://www.flickr.com/photos/berlinswhimsy/2242604586/in/set-72157603657333140/">Kids 2-4-08

Who'd have thought! Seeing what other people are eating has meant their charm has enticed my mother to buy one! The kids have even started adding their own Flickr favourites to photos they fancy on their weekly menu!

Exciting enough to make another mosaic!

Mosaic Madness

My creation, originally uploaded by big_bucket_girl.

I've been to bed and got back up because i thought i'd figured out how to add notes on the photos. Flickr will not beat me. TYpepad might but i'll save that fight for another day!

How i'm supposed to sleep when I've got Colin Firth on my mind is another matter.....I need a cold shower!

Game on.

On a night when i should be in bed early recovering from this, taking advantage of the fact that DH is out on the town, all three kids have been cherubic all evening and were all asleep by 8, it seems my dark side won and encouraged me to just have a peek at a few blogs before bed. Just a few.

It seems it took only ONE to keep me up til gone 2, (and an infuriatingly slow laptop), but I did eat a tin of cherry pie filling to sustain me!

Over at Ali's blog she was playing a game...and i joined in. Will you? With a glass of wine, bottle of wine, the cherry filling and Air Supply in the background(!) I ended up with this!

1. Mum and a pram, 2. Marmite, 3. go hardknocks, 4. GT.500, 5. Ladies love Colin Firth, 6. Raffles Hotel, 7. Raffles Hotel, 8. Green... and crunchy, 9. Suzy Homemaker Oven, 10. Raccoon Family, 11. Carousel - Harry., 12. chalk 5

I know I have 2 pictures the same. Not what i intended but the tag was the same! What I haven't worked out how to do is tell you the answers like clever people i know!

The Game is to:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Can't believe it took FOREVER to upload and i had to redo the post 33867 times until it would go in! Why when i open up to do a new post does half the editing things disappear? Aaaargh! Edited to add: Thought i should point out that DH returned well before midnight, fully upright, coherent and capable of rational thought. I meanwhile was being tormented by Flickr and so only then did i resort to the bottle of wine!

100 miles west

It seems we're on the move. Upping sticks and traipsing off west. Does anyone have a donkey and a couple of paniers? I'm planning to wear a long floaty gypsy dress, carry a picnic in my vintage basket, swinging it as we go, and the children and DH will each be carrying a vintage suitcase with their belongings. We shall have cucumber sandwiches and ginger beer. Lashings of it. The move will be simple, a piece of cake.

Oh yes and back in the real world i'm in stinking jeans covered in gloss, my hair is in a scarf and has been for 2 whole days, i'm eating cold beans out of the tin and i'm getting quotes from haulage firms. Removal firms don't think they'll cope with my 'stuff' so i think we're into haulage. Oh dear.

Things are getting thrown out right, left and centre in order to cut down the 'stuff' we take with us. It's very theraputic, cathartic and absolutely up-lifting BUT I wouldn't advise to try it over a half term holiday with 3 kids at home, in poor weather and when your partner/spouse etc is away on a business trip. Do i sound bitter if i say he's in a 5star hotel with fine dining and chocolates on his pillow at night?

Perhaps it would amuse you to hear that we have nowhere to go! We're not actually leaving, vacating here for about 6weeks but we have yet to find a house or school down west! Next week is the week. No pressure. Not that our house is on the market yet. That's another story! Surveyor type people coming next week. Do you think they'll look under the bed? On top of the fridge? 

So, blogworld is helping me stay sane. Going back through old posts from vintagepleasure makes me re-assess what my rooms might look like if i chuck another skip load of family-aquired tat!

OK, time for more lobbing. I love that word. Lob. To lob. Now, its the turn of the dvd's/videos under the telly. They have been warned and the dust blown off them in preparation to be lobbed, so they shouldn't feel too much pain and suffering.

Ok. Really time to go now. I'm talking to videos. Send help!

"Mumma, WHY ARE WE HAVING BRAINS FOR TEA?"

It was purple cabbage. Honestly!

A colourful minute.

The phone has been ringing a lot around here the last month or so. Ringing off the hook. Planning and sorting on the phone has never been my favourite thing to do, I much prefer to email! I feel far more comfortable typing it all down with a little thinking time than having to provide quick answers to people who i don't know and who don't know me. If i could walk to their offices and talk face to face that would be better, but not practical and I doubt they'd appreciate me turning up in my usual email attire. I would love to see their facial expressions as we chat so that i can witness them rolling their eyes, making rude hand signals at the handpiece or silently guffawing at my 'stupidity'.

Phone calls it is though, and when I have to left the 2yr old 'alone' in the living room while I walked to the other end of the same room to talk, admittedly turning my back on said 2yr old for 1minute 23 seconds (The call log told me)....should i expect any less than this!

This is the 7yr olds Van Gogh homework, lovingly arranged with some co-ordinating yarns and the obligatory wellington boot. Out of shot were some blue building blocks and bizarrely a blue playmobil hat. I think my boy's got a thing for colour, or he's feeling blue.

Big eyes met me as I came off the phone and said "I like it, I like it."

I agreed heartily, before running off to iron the creases out of DD's assignment!