gingerandgeorge

A meme is a terrible thing to waste

It's been a while since I've done one of these, but the sun is shining and I'm feeling rash. This particular A-Z has been doing the blog-rounds for ages, but I can't remember where I last saw it. If you've posted it recently, it was probably on your blog. Thanks for the inspo - you're a doll and a treasure.

So, here you go - 26 things you absolutely didn't need to know about me, arranged in pleasing alphabetical order. 

Awesome.

A is for Age: Guess (I dare you). 

B is for Bed Size: King. Changing the duvet's a bastard, but I love it.

C is for Chore you hate: Who likes chores? I am especially useless with a broom, though. 

D is for Dogs: ...and also dog-phobia. 

E is for Essential start to your day: Cereal, fruit and water. 

F is for Favorite Colour: (Nearly) all of them. 

G is for Gold or Silver: I'm not much of a jewellery-wearer, but probably silver.

H is for Height: A mostly-in-my-legs five-feet-seven-inches.

I is for Instruments you play: Piano, flute, violin - but none of them very well these days. 

J is for Job Title: Writer and Designer-Maker. 

K is for Kids: Two beautiful boys, borrowed as often as possible.

Lis for Live: (Very far) South East (but still just about) London 

M is for Mother's Name:  Mum. (Duh.)

N is for Nicknames: My nephews call me Flossie. Don't try it unless you are one of them. 

O is for Overnight hospital stays: Stubbornness and luck mean none so far, thankfully.

P is for Pet peeves: Rudeness, nail-biting, drivers who don't know how to turn right at a crossroads and too-short trousers (mine or anyone else's).

Q is for Quote from a movie: "It's not how long you wait, it's who you're waiting for." (Some Like It Hot)

 R is for Right or left handed: Right(ish)

S is for Siblings: One small, feisty, beautiful sister.  

T is for Time you wake up: 5.30 a.m. on weekdays, thankfully a little later at the weekend.  

U is for Underwear: Always.

V is for Vegetables you don't like: Potatoes, sweetcorn, sprouts, cabbage, onion, and although they're technically a fruit, the evil tomato.

W is for What makes you run late: Genetics. 

X is for X-Rays you've had: Teeth, eyes and lungs (good, feeble and permanently scarred).

Y is for Yummy food you make: Pizza-from-scratch, and borrowed-from-Sarah chocolate and raspberry brownies.

Z is for Zoo Animal favourites: Giraffes, although preferably not in zoos. 

 

There's no handing over of the meme baton to anyone in particular, but if you want to give it a shot on your own blog, do leave a comment below so I can come and have a look. Because, random fact number 27, I'm nosy like that.

x 

Stripemania

A celebration of bloggers wearing stripes? Not much chance I was going to resist that. 

If you want to play along, the (very easy) details are over at Decor8. 

Thanks, Holly and Igor!

x

Shopping at home

Although I try not to give in too often, I do like a good blog meme. As a reader, it's a marvellous opportunity to indulge my inner nosy-parker, and as a writer, makes for the perfect combination of an easy post subject and good excuse to be completely random. 

The one I'm going with today is from the blog for our 12Days class, and was dreamed up by the surprisingly tricksy Miss Julie. It's based around the class philosophy of ''use what you have', otherwise referred to as shopping at home. You can find Julie's super-cute map drawing, as well as a little more info over at her blog, Notes on Paper. She's also included her own answers to the questionnaire, although I sort of wish I hadn't read them before starting my own. How am I going to tell her that the one and only time I went into TKMaxx, I lasted all of thirty seconds before walking right back out again? Or that I don't own a single dress? 

Quick! Look at this pretty picture, Julie, and forget everything I've just said.

12DAYS SHOPPING AT HOME MEME

:: It would be amazing if my house really was a shop like Anthropologie. They have grass on the walls, for crying out loud, and more pretty things than I have ever seen in a high-street store. I'd also quite like Liberty as my garden shed, if that's not asking too much.

:: But at the moment it's probably more like Iceland. Because that's the coldest-sounding shop I can think of, and I'm being stingy with the central heating.

:: The best-stocked area of my house has got to be the fabric cupboard. As proved by how often things fall out of it.

:: But I'm not sure I would dare do a stock-take of my books - those in the living room, my office, the spare room, the kitchen, the garage, or the enormous unpacked box we still haven't found a home for since moving in eighteen months ago. 

:: I could actually open my doors right now and sell off most of my odd socks to passing monopeds and I'd still have plenty left.

:: If I could go shopping in someone else's house I'd choose Orla Kiely. Obvious, but true. (And by 'shopping' we do basically mean 'stealing' here, yes?) 

:: With the money I'll save by shopping at home for my supplies, I could buy Luxembourg.

:: During this class I hope I will get to 'buy' / revisit / finally use my stock of things saved 'just in case'. And failing that, to at least discover in case of what. 

:: The best thing about shopping at home will be no crowds, no exploding carrier bags, no Mariah Carey Christmas songs and no risk of wandering around for twenty minutes trying to remember where I parked the car. 

:: Shopping at home will mean I can get away with wearing reindeer ears.

If you fancy playing along (you don't have to be taking the class to join in with this), here you go with the questions. 

:: It would be amazing if my house really was a shop like . . .

:: But at the moment it's probably more like . . .

:: The best-stocked area of my house has got to be . . .

:: But I'm not sure I would dare do a stock-take of my . . .

:: I could actually open my doors right now and sell off most of my . . . and I'd still have plenty left.

:: If I could go shopping in someone else's house I'd choose . . .

:: With the money I'll save by shopping at home for my supplies, I could buy . . .

:: During this class I hope I will get to 'buy' / revisit / finally use my stock of . . .

:: The best thing about shopping at home will be . . .

:: Shopping at home will mean I can get away with wearing . . .

Don't forget to leave a link to your blog post if you do give it a go. I'd hate to miss out on the chance to have a good nosy.

x

Tomfoolery

  

Inspired by this post over at the splendid Coco Cricket’s Mama blog, and because it’s been a while since I’ve done one, a little meme for you today.

CURRENTLY...

listening: to Bleak House (again)

eating: breakfast-pudding, as invented by my 5-year-old nephew (who is clearly a genius)

drinking: water and lemon juice

wearing: black, from top to almost toes, which are red and blue stripy

feeling: like I should probably get a bit more done today than I did yesterday

weather: greyer than the weatherman promised

wanting: my newest venture to be a big fat success

needing: a new mattress so I can sleep for more than 6 hours without getting the random aches

thinking: about what to do in celebration of my 100th blog post later this week

enjoying: having Mr P at home because it’s the weekend

wondering: why flies exist.

How about you? In the interests of nosiness and living vicariously, I’d  to read your answers, too. Leave me a link below if you decide to play along.

x

A very good place to start

Knowing how to begin is always difficult. Do you dive right in and hope everyone keeps up, offer reams of dull-but-necessary exposition, or spend so long thinking about it you never get there at all?  Or, go for secret option number 4 - cheat? 

I've seen this one-word meme floating about for a while, on Posy Gets Cozy and Sweet Jessie  amongst others. It may not be especially original, but as beginnings go, at least it is one. 

With any luck, things will get easier from here on in.

Where is your mobile phone? charging

Where is your significant other? tubing

Your hair? everywhere

Your mother? caring

Your father? clever

Your favourite thing? daylight

Your dream last night? blurry

Your dream goal? serenity

The room you're in? breezy

Your church? conscience

Your fear? moths

Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy

Where were you last night? 1855

What you're not? lazy

One of your wish-list items? butler

Where you grew up? countryside

The last thing you did? hug

What are you wearing? black

Your TV? off

Your pets? missed

Your computer? Mac

Your mood? fidgety

Missing someone? yes

Your car? Picasso

Something you're not wearing? make-up

Favourite shop? Etsy

Your summer? eventful

Love someone? completely

Your favourite colour? impossible

When is the last time you laughed? lunch

When is the last time you cried? Tuesday