Tuesday 18 September 2012

Random Picture, Window in Bavaria


I love this photo of this little window opening into what look like a large loft space of an old house in Bavaria, Germany. What lies beyond? Why so small? Is it to keep out the heat or keep it in when the weather temperature drops to  -20 which it regularly does in this part of the country? The snow often holds people hostage in their homes when it piles up against their doors. My Sister-in-Law has a story that when she tried to enter her car one very cold winter day her key would not fit into the iced up lock, so she climbed in through the boot to get to the driving seat. A window so small as this, then, will certainly help prevent heat loss on these cold cold days and to keep in the warmth from the fire.

Would you like to see the rest of the roof from which this window peaks? Oh, go on then, here it is:



Thursday 13 September 2012

Our New Sink has made my Heart Sink


Pathetic, I know - both the pun and the sentiment.

But I am in fact disappointed in my new sink as it has proved to be so small. I was very much looking forward to my kitchen extension but there have needed to be so many compromises. For instance we won't have room for a large fridge freezer with added ice maker when the time comes to replace the one we have, there also won't be room for the dining table I envisioned for large family and friend meals, we will only have room for a tiny table to seat two or three people, so gone are the ideas of Christmas dinner sat cheerful and laughing altogether. Several other more minor compromises or losses have been experienced, and now I find my double sink, although classed as two full sized bowls are far smaller than the single I have now. I believe this is due to sinks being made smaller in general now as new houses and kitchens are being built so much smaller than they were and certain appliances are downsizing to fit, plus the use of dishwashers has risen so larger sinks are often generally not needed anyway. Personally I prefer to wash up myself, it's much quicker and you don't have those dirty dishes hanging around in the dishwasher for too long. But it won't be so easy to wash up my larger pots and pans now.

Yes, I know there are worse things to worry about or be-moan but I am allowed to feel sad that my dream kitchen will only be a kitchen now.

Tuesday 4 September 2012

Back to School

They've only been back since this morning and I'm missing them already. Yes, even their little tiffs. There's no grumpiness, no sitting in front of the TV and no having to repeat anything I say to their plugged-into-some-music-device ears, and I still find myself missing them. How strange.

At least the boys are still here to keep me company as they carry on working on the kitchen extension. Here is a photo of  our current mess for you to look at


Monday 3 September 2012

School Bags

                                           Superdry Alumni Bag                                         
School starts back tomorrow and so the last few days have been a time for uniform shopping, shoes, skirts and bags. Who would have thought it would be so hard to get the RIGHT bag. It has to be so big but not too big, the right style, the right colour etc. The last one daughter#2 had was like the one in the picture except it was red. As the zip broke at the end of last term we've been looking for the perfect replacement. We finally found one after much traipsing of shops, the new one is almost exactly the same as the last one after all that but this time from a different shop. I'm glad it wasn't Superdry, which seems to be the IN shop for teens at the moment, as you end up paying for the name - or in other words 'too much' especially when the zip breaks before it's time is out in my estimation.

                                                     
At least we got in a bit of coffee drinking and cake eating while shopping, one of my favourite pastimes. We shared a delicious Giotto in Patisserie Valerie, which is similar to their Tiramisu shown here. I guess that made up for my tired feet.