10 things I'm good at

1. Being a mum

Well I like to think so but others comment on how nice and polite the girls are so I think I'm doing a good job! My parenting technique is to let the girls be on their own a lot (it does wonders for boredom!) but to be there on hand if they need me. I'm definitely not a helicopter parent! P.S. Matt is a fab dad too but this post is about me :D

2. Reading

Well duh! If you read this blog often then you will now that I love books and often have at least one on the go all the time. If I'm not reading a book then I'm reading things online - blogs, news, opinion pieces etc. I'm fairly indiscriminate about the things I read too although if it's terrible then I have no qualms about getting rid of it once read. I think I've only ever given up on a book once and that was Little Women many years ago.

3. Remembering faces

This comes in handy when watching TV and you spot a face you recognise but can't remember where from. I'm normally the one saying 'Oh yes, he was in a crime thing and was chasing the policeman down an ally when a colleague shot the policeman in the back' From that, Matt normally has a good chance of remembering what it was and then remembering where we have seen him before.

I'm equally good with people in real life :)

4. Listening

Many times over the years I've been told I'm a good listener - I also like to think that I am good at giving advice too but only when asked for. I don't like those people who come along and say 'Well, what you need to do is......' when you haven't asked for their opinion!

5. Bargain hunting

Again regular readers of this blog won't be shocked by this admission! An example of this is my wedding dress costing me the grand total of 50p in a charity shop!

It did cost another £50 to have a hideous bow taken off the front and all of the roses sewn onto the bodice but still, it's a bargain!

6. Sleeping

I'm ace at sleeping :) I will fall asleep anywhere at any time. I also have cracking dreams too - very vivid and detailed and I tend to remember them for a good hour after I wake up.

7. Helping others

I've been told off in the past for taking too much care of others at the detriment to myself but I can't help it. I feel like I'm destined to help others in various ways - by listening, volunteering, suggesting ideas or just plain giving money/cups of tea/food.

8. Procrastinating

I'm very, very good at this :) If there is something to be done you'll find me doing something else! Although that doesn't extend to cleaning or ironing - I'm usually not that desperate to get out of doing something else!

9. Not caring what others think

Me with my 'new to me' geography teacher patches jacket! After years of being bullied/picked on/talked about for being different I have developed quite a thick skin when it comes to people talking about me/commenting about my clothes/hair etc. As I've got older this has developed into a 'don't give a damn what you are thinking about me' attitude :D

10. Gardening

I like experimenting in the garden to see what does and doesn't grow! We are having great fun with seeing what veggies and fruit take and which things like growing where. This photo was taken last year when I changed the garden from something that wasn't working to this. Hopefully there will be more photo's soon of the veggies that are growing - the raspberries plants have really taken over that front bed so fingers crossed they will all fruit!

Later in the week/month/year (!) there will be a 10 things I'm bad at post ;)

Allotment

Alas, not my own yet (last time I checked I was 100th on the waiting list!) but one that is run by Community Solutions North West as an addition to the food bank in Burnley. Basically I wanted to do some volunteering and decided that the food bank was the place I wanted to volunteer. CSNW run the food bank alongside lots of other good things for the community like befriending, street soccer and a fabulous thing called Repaint. When I heard that L (who runs the food bank side of it) was looking to set up allotments to provide fresh food for the food parcels, I was in like a shot!

We have some poly tunnels behind head office in Accrington which are pleasant to work in at the moment but that are going to be ridiculously hot in the summer! There is a lot growing in there already and we are using these to start off a lot of seeds ready to be transferred to the other allotment plots. Craig Heap (Olympic gymnast and Burnley resident) gave some land from his private allotments to the food bank so we also have some outdoor allotments to work on.

They were farmers fields so the soil underneath is going to be wonderful with all the manure on it but as you can see by the pile, there is a lot of grass to take off the top before we can start planting the potatoes out!

The view isn't too bad either and it's going to get much more pleasant as the weather warms up! I volunteer every Friday (possibly a bit more if I have time during the summer) and I've already asked L if the dog and girls can come and help during holidays and it's been approved!

Roll on summer :)

Whoot!!

This is really only a shout out for my Mum and Dad - they are finally online and have said that they will have a look at my blog so 'Hi, Mum and Dad!'

Harry dog says hello :)

Welcome 2015!

I'm only a bit late to the party but better late than never eh?

Now I'm not going to promise that I'm going to be here more and post x amounts of posts per week but I will promise that I'll try. 2015 is shaping up to be a fan-bloody-tastic year so far and hopefully I can share more of that over the next few weeks.

I'm keeping up with my reading challenge so expect posts about that, the hexipuff quilt is slowly growing and I'm slowly getting back into Swirlyarts stuff.

All exciting things to come!

Me digging on the allotment - more to come on that later :)

52 books completed for 2014

I have reached my 52 books target for 2014 with a few weeks still to go. You can see all the books I have read so far on my Pinterest board.

I crossed the line with this fabulous book I got out of the library - if you love medieval settings, folklore, witchcraft and some religion all wrapped together then you will love this book!

I'm hopefully not ending my quest here - I'm up to 55 books already and I'm hoping to get to 60 by then end of the year. We'll see :)

What are you reading at the moment? Love it/hate it? Do tell me in the comments!

Well, thank f**k for that!!

This was going to be a completely different post today but when I opened my blog to write I had a heart attack as all of my pictures had gone from my posts! They were all replaced with a grey and white 'no entry' sign that looks like this.

Naturally I panicked, Googled what was wrong and it turns out that your Google+ accounts and Blogspot are linked (if you don't have Google+ then it is linked to Picassa) A few weeks ago I decided to get rid of all of the photographs in my Google+ account as I kept getting annoying emails and messages on my phone about adding 'these photographs' to your Google+ account and I thought (stupidly!) that I don't need those photographs any more and if I do I can get them off my blog. Big Mistake!  Luckily, after panicking and swearing a lot, I had a live chat with John C from Google support who talked me through how to rectify it. I'd added the images to my trash bin, hadn't hard deleted them and (thank the photo Gods!) 60 days hadn't passed so they hadn't auto deleted either - phew! John wasn't sure whether they would automatically return to my blog or whether I'd have to manually add them all again (cue sobbing) but, thanking the Blogspot God's this time, they automatically returned to where they were meant to be.

Thank goodness for that otherwise you would miss out on such beauties like this image of me with a tea cosy on my head.

Joking aside - my top tip of the day is not to delete any photographs from Google+ if you have a Blogspot blog as they will disappear from your blog and induce much crying, swearing and cursing!

WIP

I do wonder how long this wip will take? I'm thinking at least a year, probably two!

posted from Bloggeroid

Which fabric?

I think I have narrowed my fabric choices down to three for the new lining of this sewing basket. The question is, which one?



This is what it looks like with its legs on.




This is a Liberty flower fabric that is gorgeous but it might be a bit thin.




I'm loving this one but I'm not sure if it is a bit 'bathroomy'




Or spots? Actually looking through these pictures I might have another rummage through my fabric stash!

posted from Bloggeroid

Bi visibility day :)

Ah, Bisexuality Day, when Freddie Mercury visits all the bisexuals who have been good the past year and gives them presents!

via gallopinggroundsloth

I'll be wearing a great deal of purple, my bi pride Converse (complete with rainbow laces) and possibly my 'Some people are Bi, Get over it' top from Stonewall.

I have my bisexuality permit ready :)

I bathed in the bisexual magical potion last night.

And if anyone spouts rubbish, I have some Space Invaders on my side :)

On a serious note, if you are wondering why there is a Bi Visibility Day once a year then read this article where bi people talk about their stories and the some misconceptions that surround bisexuality.

Hexipuff quilt progress

I am making progress with it but it may be hard to tell!



And yes, it does look a bit like a fish. That wasn't intentional!

posted from Bloggeroid

Garden update

This is the harvest from my garden today.


The tomatoes grew very well and had loads of flowers but only a few tomatoes appeared :( Next year they will go into the greenhouse! I think those are the last two raspberries but I said that a few weeks ago! And the one courgette plant I still have (the other 3 were attacked by slugs) is going great guns. The squash have a couple of flowers on and the cabbages seem to be going in the right direction. I've harvested one pot of potatoes which gave us two meals and will be doing the other pots I have over the next few weeks.

I have lots of dead tomato plants to dig up and then I need to see what I can plant in there next. All fun and learning!

posted from Bloggeroid

Calke Abbey

On the bank holiday weekend we went away with family to celebrate a 70th birthday. We met at Calke Abbey in Derbyshire. We were too late to get tickets to go round the house but could get tickets for the gardens. I really wanted to go around the house as it's been left as it was found, in a state of decline. Walls are damp, bits of ceiling have fallen off and the collections have been left where they are. I'll just have to go back one day!

The walled garden, which again has been left as it was found, had been turned into a child's playground with sticks and sheets to make dens, huge logs to climb, dens to make etc. It had also been yarn bombed!

There were cute critters in the trees and on the walls.

The orangery was beautiful and again had lots of creatures on the plants.

There was also a cute caterpillar with a sign saying 'Take a selfie' so we had to oblige!

More yarn bombing.

I'm not sure how long the yarn bombing is staying in the garden (maybe it's permanent?) but it's well worth a visit if you are nearby.

Bi Visibility Day

Every September 23rd is Bi Visibility Day - you are probably wondering why I'm telling you this. Well because I'm bisexual *fires pink, purple and blue glitter into the air* Some of you will already know this, some of you may have guessed and some of you may have had no clue at all. I'll start from the beginning shall I? This is a long post so you may want a cup of tea and a few biscuits to tide you over :)

When I was a teenager I thought I was gay and while I now know it's a common thing for teenagers to question their sexuality, as a hippy, already socially awkward 14 year old in a small town in North Yorkshire there were no visible gay people or any queer culture at all, which just added to my social unease. Also, this was before the internet (thank goodness for the internet now!) When I was 16 I went to work at a local theme park and there encountered my first lesbian couple but I didn't identify with them at all as they were quite butch and I was very feminine and had long blonde hair (Remember that at this time I was a bit like Jon Snow from Game of Thrones). I met my first boyfriend J there and I remember thinking, 'Oh, I'm obviously not gay any more' although I still continued to admire girls. I then went out with S, then S (both guys) and then I met Matt and we have been together since. I'd never heard the term bisexual before and didn't know what it meant although I was and have always been bisexual. The best definition of bisexual comes from Robyn Ochs and it resonates with me. The bisexual umbrella picture is also helpful.

So where does this fit with my life now? As I said I've always known I was bisexual and I've always admired other women as well as men and Matt has known this for a long time. However it's only been in the past few years that I have claimed the 'title' bisexual and thought of this as my identity. And it's only in the past few months that I have felt brave enough to tell other people and to be out as a bisexual woman. Part of this is down to a wonderful group in Manchester called Biphoria who offer a safe space to talk with fellow bisexuals and although nerve racking at first, it has turned out to be a blessing in disguise (the chips and friendly chatter in the pub afterwards help!) I am so much more confident in who I am now and this has had a huge impact on my depression too - I'm much healthier and happier now than I was 12 months ago.

So what does this mean for my life going forwards. Well essentially nothing has changed in my relationship with Matt. We are still in a loving monogamous relationship and that won't change - I chose him 20 years ago and I still choose him now. Society sees us as a straight couple but our family (and yes that includes the girls) know that we aren't.

This post was meant to wait until September 23rd but I've decided to share it now instead as it feels right. I'm pretty sure I will post more about bisexual activism and visibility on the day itself though.

I'm aware that I may be (for some of you anyway) the only out bisexual* you know so feel free to bombard me with questions and opinions although please do try to keep them polite :) I will literally answer anything so if you want to ask something but are shy then change to anonymous and I'll still answer them. Feel free to ask on facebook too or in real life. If you want a private answer then you can email me lynseysearle [at] gmail [dot] com.

And a big thank you must go to family and friends for accepting me as I am and to those people who I sent 'I'm feeling sorry for myself' emails. You know who you are.

*Out, white, monogamous, married to a man, cis(1) female bisexual - I can only answer questions from that perspective!

(1) identified as female at birth and still does. Opposite of cis is trans.

Book targets so far this year

I'm currently keeping a record of all the books I've read this year over on Pinterest (I also did it last year) It's interesting to me to see what I've read and it helps me keep a target in mind for how many books I would like to read in a year. The current aim is 52 books for the year (once each week) and I achieved that last year - whooo hooo! I'm on track for this year too as it is the 33rd week of 2014 and I've read 33 books!

During last year I also blogged each month about which books I'd read and a brief yay or nay quote about them but I couldn't be bothered to do that this year. Instead you will have to look at my Pinterest board :)

I will say though that if you ever spot Perfume by Patrick Suskind in a charity shop then grab it and read it. The writing is superb and the images it evokes are wonderful - well worth a read. Oh and I'm also going to watch the film version at some stage. It helps that Ben Whishaw is in it!

So Kenya was amazing!

We've just got back from Kenya (it was our big holiday as we have been married for 15 years) Thanks to wonderful grandparents we had two child free weeks while the girls were thoroughly spoiled! This is basically a picture dump post but be glad that we whittled the original 3,500 photos down to a much more manageable 600. These are the selected highlights of those 600! If you want to see more pictures (with captions of what they are then check out my albums on Facebook!)

Okey doke. Blogger is playing silly buggers so I can't seem to add more photos. Check them out on my Facebook.

Finishing off

Remember when I learnt a new craft back in July 2012? It was making toothbrush rugs and I learned how to make them from the lovely Christine. This is where I left off two years ago.

If I read back it had got to a magnificent 37cms!

I go to a monthly knit and natter group although as I have nothing to do with the dark art of yarn twiddling I do still go and take sewing/rug making along with me. The photo above is of how far I was on the 8th of this month.

This is Anya helping me in the park on the day of the teacher strike. Coincidently we met up with Christine and her daughters (as well as another friend *waves at Rachel*) so they were all helping out too.

And here is my other helper - he has claimed it as his rug! Luckily he is a small dog so he could sleep on it as I was making it and I could still turn it!

And this is it today! I'm using some techniques from the art of yarn twiddling to block this rug as it was starting to look more like a basket (useful for the dog but not so much for me!) I'm blocking it by wetting it thoroughly and then pinning it at intervals to the carpet so it stretches out into the shape it's meant to be. This is the second wetting and I just need it to dry overnight so that I can repin and get it in the proper shape tomorrow. I haven't measured it again so I don't know how big it is but I'm pleased with it for my first attempt :)

Anything crafty happening in your neck of the woods?

A book, a pretty little book

A very pretty book don't you agree? Lets have a look through the pages.

Ooooooh this page looks very interesting. Upcyced bubble mailers? Hang on a minute - lets have a closer look at the name at the top.....

Oh yes, that's me!! As you might have guessed from this long winded post, one of my tutorials has been featured in this book :)

See, a pretty picture too of my nursery rhyme bubble mailer.

The book was published in October last year and I forgot about it until I found the letter about it when I was tidying up the craft room recently - doh!!

So, how are you all?? I feel like I have been away from here for ages but it's been lass than a month!