October break

Ladies and gentlemen, I cleaned Alistair's bedroom rug. He was on an Explorer Scout camp and the opportunity was just too good to miss. His room is a pigsty but not on the same scale as James'... his hoovering skills are in need for improvement, the rug was covered in pet hair and assorted unidentifiable crusty stuff. Maybe mummified cat sick. It is hard to tell. I removed as much debris off as I could, then spent a happy 45 minutes using my now well loved Vax upholstery/carpet cleaner. What a difference! We had previously paid £150 to have this rug cleaned professionally, which is more than the cost of the Vax device. 

Forgive me for boring you into oblivion, but I wanted to update you on my stick-on nails. My go-to brand is Glaize. The standard fit gels fit well but you can also send in photos of your nails for custom measured ones. I tried both but decided the standard fit is good enough for me. The customer service is also good, I got replacements for those nails that did not stick and also a replacement for an order that never arrived. The gels do not last two weeks, as advertised. Just about a week (on a good run). Maybe I have glue resistant nails? But I am fine with that. The colour palette is quite limited and if you fancy nail art and fancy patterns/glitter, you need to look elsewhere. Me, I like plain colours. I am wearing baby blue just now. I have tried the non-UV stick on gels by Holy Grail Nail, they were pretty rubbish and started peeling off within the hour. I also tried Lily&Fox, they are are a bit thin, a bit like a single layer normal nail varnish. Maniko gels (with UV lamp) didn't fit my nails and I passed these on. Maybe this saves you time and money if you want to have a go with sticky nails. On a different noted, I see many men now wearing nail polish, which I really like.

I realised that I did not share photos of my South African fabric haul, I am sorry. I wish I had taken more photographs in the shop but I don't have an influencer's confidence to shoot lots of photos in public places. It feels a bit voyeuristic to do that. 

I am on annual leave this week, and it is a school holiday. We made a lukewarm attempt to find somewhere warm to go but to be honest, I have no patience for looking for good last minute deals. Alistair will attend a holiday club for seniors at school, James will hang out with his girl friend and I'll potter around. I will also visit Annie in St. Andrews. I might even go ironing board shopping, the sheer excitement of it! James broke ours. Don't ask...

So that's that. It is good to be back to my predictable life. Thanks for visiting 😊