Look what I found in my loft... fantastic 80s albums!

Hi

I've been sorting through the endless boxes of stuff stored in my loft over the past few days and I found my beloved 80s albums!

Wham 'Fantastic'! I absolutely loved wham and this album is very precious to me because it was a present from my grandmother. Shirlie Kemp has a beautiful blog which is well worth reading - I love her style. This album is my favourite.

A-Ha were another band I loved. 

Next is the Housemartins. I loved this band and went on to love The Beautiful South too.

I love Madonna's music, but only the older stuff - my ipod is full of it!

Scritti Politti weren't one of my original favourites, but I did love their music and still do.

No one could understand me liking Bronski Beat, but I went on to love The Communards. I saw them at the Oxford Apollo in 1987.

These are just a small snippet of my singles collection:

*Tina Turner*

*Band Aid*

*Bananarama*

*Thompson Twins* (reminds me of babysitting)

*Whitney Houston*

*Tears for Fears* (my friend bought me this for my 14th birthday)

*Frankie Goes to Hollywood*

*A-HA* (I played this song over and over again!)

*Wham*

The first single I ever owned was by Dollar 'Shooting Star' - sadly I have no idea what happened to my copy. It was a birthday present when I was about 6 or 7.

The first single that I bought with my own money was Nick Heyward 'Blue Hat for a Blue Day' I can actually remember going to buy this in High Wycombe.

The first album I owned is pictured above; Wham 'Fantastic'

The first album I bought myself was the a-ha one.

Sadly I don't have a record player :-(

So I store my records in the loft and look at them every now and then. They hold positive memories for me. Music has been and always will be very important to me.

What was your first single or album

Thanks for reading!

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Baking for the freezer, decluttering the loft and baby Daisy.

Hi

Just lately I've been doing a bit of baking. The problem is that everything seems to get eaten too quickly and then I have nothing left for the family pack-ups. So now I try to batch bake and put some bits aside to freeze. This has worked quite well and I've found that fruit cake freezes really well (I hate fruit cake!)

Today I have been really busy sorting out our loft, so it was handy being able to get a fruit cake out of the freezer for the others as I haven't had time to bake. I have found some really interesting things from my childhood - I am a dreadful hoarder! However, I have recently been inspired by reading other people's blogs to declutter properly. I obviously can't throw away items from my childhood because I have kept them this many years (I'm 41), but I have reduced the amount of birthday cards etc. I have been keeping them since I was 17 in 1988!!! Sadly there have been a lot of bad people in my life and I have felt so good to rid myself of them completely by throwing away those cards. These are people who only pretended to love and care about me and my family and now I have erased as much as I can. It may sound strange that I have thrown away my 18th birthday cards at this late stage, but the family I had then turned out to be pure evil (a strong word but a necessary description) and don't deserve to take up space in my loft or my memories, I still have numerous cards from my children and my husband, but that's about it. The loft sorting continues tomorrow...

On a happier note - my lovely daughter is having a baby and 2 days ago I felt her kick!!! We could see little flickers and feel tiny little kicks. She only weighs 2lb 10oz at the moment and has been predicted to weigh 5lb at most at birth. There have been many health problems along the way for Alice and the baby, but she is still growing and can stay cosy in her mummy's tummy for a while longer. Alice is being monitored every week by the hospital now and having growth scans fortnightly to check the weight gain and blood flow through the cord. We don't expect her to go full-term, but every week we get to is a bonus for the baby to be born healthy. I have bought some premature clothes ready and tiny little nappies for her. I'm so excited, it's just what my family needs, some happy news!

I had a bit of a 'use-up' from the freezer for tonight's tea:

Fish Pie

I took 3 portions of cod in butter,

(bought for Alice but she threw up one and now won't touch them again!)

and put them in a shallow oven dish.

Next I made up a packet of parsley sauce (approved food)

and poured over the fish (adding a little milk).

I sprinkled on some frozen peas and then

I boiled and mashed a large pan of potatoes and spread over the fish.

I made a pretty pattern with a fork and put it in the oven for 45 mins (180 oC)

I served it with carrots and broccoli.

(Alice had a chicken breast instead!)

My husband said it was really nice which I wasn't expecting because I was just using stuff up before it went out of date. I have a huge struggle trying to get my children to eat fish. No time to make pudding today, but this is what we had the other day:

A strawberry victoria sponge cake with fresh cream!!!

Thank you for reading and please follow me ;-)

Mandy xxx

What I bought at the carboot sale...

Hi,

A lovely little basket (you can never have too many) which I will fill with sewing stuff. It was 50p.

10 little vests, all 20p each.



This baby box was filthy! I scrubbed it clean and peeled off the ABC label as it was hanging off. It cost me £2.



These blankets cost me 50p each. We love the hand knitted and crocheted baby blankets. We have loads now, preparing for an Autumn baby. They are in excellent condition.

A pretty little dress, some pink spotty leggings, a heart sleepsuit and pink fleece jacket. All cost 20p each.

A little toy - 20p.

Avent bottle warmer, £2.50. Brand new.

Dvds

Great Uncle Bulgaria! I didn't need him, I just love the wombles. He was £2!!!

Cotton - yellow, bright pink, black and white (£1.40) I've got loads os sewing projects waiting, so I'm collecting different colours.

£1 a bag. I am knitting squares to make a blanket/throw for my sofas. I love these colours!

Brand new - £1 each. These books follow on from 'Call the Midwife'.

2 pretty little glass jars. I've been looking for these for so long. They cost me 20p each! I will fill them with cotton wool balls and cotton buds to go on my dressing table.

2 bras for Alice (new) costing £1 each. She's pregnant!!!





These sheets are brand new and cost me £1.

This wallpaper border cost me £5 for the 3. It is mamas and papas. This is going up in the baby's room this weekend!

6 little cardies, each beautifully knitted by someone much more talented than me! We have bought a couple of pink bits, but not much. all of these are different sizes, but the baby is predicted to be 5lb because she hasn't been growing properly. I am constantly looking out for tiny clothes. These cardies were 20p each - bargain!!!



Didn't we do well???!!!


Hopefully the nursery will be finished soon :-)




Mandy xxx

Ps: please leave a comment or follow me. I am unable to leave comments on my favourite blogs - don't know why???

Thank you for reading.



Happy Birthday Alice xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

HAPPY 17th BIRTHDAY ALICE!!!

My baby is 17 today and she's going to be a mummy herself soon. My baby is having a baby so I suppose that's it, she's all grown up now.

I'M GOING TO BE A GRANDMA!

;-)

I'm so excited about the new baby and have been buying gorgeous things. I'll have lots of pictures to share soon because the nursery is being decorated at the moment.

I hope you've had a lovely birthday Alice

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

My marriage of steel!!!

Hi

On Friday we celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. This year is represented by steel, which I think is appropriate for us because our marriage grows stronger everyday. We have been through an awful lot in the past year, but we help each other to keep on going, no matter what is thrown at us next.

Ashley bought us the dvd 'Call the Midwife'.

We went to Stow-on-the-Wold for the day, it was lovely! We love the Cotswolds and treated ourselves to a look around the shops and lunch in a tearoom.

I didn't take any photos, but I have some of the other things I've been up to lately:

Cheese scones

Lemon cake

Waving goodbye to our old car, making way for the Mitsubishi Warrior.

My 1st attempt at millionaire's shortbread

Rock cakes

Fruit scones



Plain scones

I did baking on Sunday too, but as usual, I forgot to take any photos. I made 2 victoria sandwiches, one with strawberry jam, the other with my homemade blackberry and apple jam, some individual coffee cakes and iced fairy cakes. The cake tins are full and I'm building up a stock in the freezer too.

A crafting afternoon ahead for tomorrow...

p.s: I can't leave comments on anybody's blogs and I don't know why and I don't know how to make it better :-(

Please help if you know how.

Mandy x







A little bit of baking...

Hi,

Today I decided to do a quick bit of baking while my jacket potatoes were in the oven. I cannot afford to waste electricity so I made a batch of cheese scones, really yummy fresh out of the oven with butter, and a lemon cake. This cake was a new recipe, where you pour dissolved sugar and lemon juice over the warm cake and allow to soak in. When the cake is cool, you ice it with lemon glace icing. I haven't tried it yet, but I think it will be really moist. I forgot to take a photo earlier, so hopefully I will remember tomorrow before it's all gone!

Blogger is still preventing me from leaving comments on my favourite blogs :-(

I'm off to learn some more thrifty tips off fellow money savers on you tube now.

Decluttering of my bedroom planned for tomorrow...

Mandy x

The weekend

Hi,

I'm still annoyed, but the weekend was good.

We did another carboot sale on Saturday and I took £70!!! That's a lot of stuff decluttered because I brought back 6 empty plastic boxes. I sold my stuff for 10p, 20p, 50p or £1. We were swarming with customers and a little hectic at times, but well worth it.

I have decided that I should only keep things that are beautiful or useful. I am a dreadful hoarder and keep things just-in-case they may be needed one day. Every piece of ribbon or buttons are saved, bubble wrap and envelopes, the list is endless, but I have to stop! I am keen to recycle and make things out of recycled materials, but I haven't got the space. My utility room is full of crates for carbooting and ebaying, sewing and crafting. My aim is to sell as much as possible so I can have my utility room back. What's the point in having a beautiful oak worktop (which my husband made) and a lovely belfast sink with smart cupboards and a quarry tiled floor, if I can't see any of it???

I've had a really bad headache today (which began yesterday) so I've pottered about, but I have organised my junk ready to sell again next week.

My daughter has handcrafted some lovely jewellery, but people just aren't interested at boot sales because they want everything for 10p!!! She also hand paints mugs which are beautiful. We want to sell at craft fairs one day, so I have encouraged her to increase her stock. I collect vintage items but want to part with most of it because I need to raise cash for my other daughter for when there will be a big event in September. This is our dream, it's just a question of how to put it into practice.

So I'm happy with the money I made for Alice and also I had my hair cut. Not very exciting to most people, but I haven't had it cut since December and now I actually have a hairstyle!

Tomorrow I plan to have shifted this horrible headache and get selling/crafting.

Mandy x