Anna Nielsen - New Beginnings

I went to visit my friend a few weeks ago for the first time since we've moved, and she bought us a beautiful house warming gift. It is a limited edition print by an artist based in Ireland, Anna Nielsen. She is known for her distinctive black and white, pen and ink drawings which are normally accompanied by a short story written below. 

The print my friend got us is 'New Beginnings'

Never having to leave after saying “Goodnight”   

“I’ll see you tomorrow” means waking up and you will be there 

Someone to be with - forever - together!

AWOL

A severely squashed finger from a DIY accident, work stress, illness and a couple of weekends away have resulted in not much DIY going on at home. 

I wouldnt recommend squashing the index finger on your dominant hand between two planks of wood. It'll hurt like hell and stop working for weeks. More than four weeks after the accident I still dont have full feeling or movement but we're going to crack on with painting this weekend as we cant stand not having a kitchen any more. 

I also took a lovely trip to Windsor with my family for a weekend

And a trip to Kerry to visit my friend 

Aldi Mini Oven

With our kitchen being ripped out this week and a couple of weeks wait before we get the new one we decided to try the Aldi Mini Oven which was on sale last week. Priced at only £19.99 I thought it was worth a try. 

We tried it out last night for the first time and it worked really well. The initial smell was rather off putting, as it smelt like burning plastic, but once we'd left it to run for 15 minutes with the oven door open, as the instructions suggested, it cooked dinner perfectly. 

Advertised as big enough for 4 slices of bread or a 9 inch pizza it isnt huge, but as it comes with a baking tray the correct size it means you can make maximum use of the space. It was plenty big enough to fit chicken & potatoes for two.

Having spoken to a friend who had a similar mini oven when their regular oven broke, I was worried that the food in the middle of the oven would cook much faster than the rest. However, the food cooked evenly throughout.

Once the kitchen is fitted we will have a hob but we wont have a cooker until the house has been rewired. I can see this little oven coming in really handy. 

Kitchen removal

This weekend we started to remove our current kitchen.

The woodchip is a nightmare! Once removed it became clear that the walls aren't in great condition. Im going to plough on and strip the rest of the kitchen before deciding what to do. Our thinking at the moment is to paint it as planned without worrying too much about the condition of the plaster, as only a minimal amount will be on display once the kitchen units are fitted and the walls tiled.  

Looking at the state of these walls, I almost prefer the green! 

The Office

We havnt done much with the office, as we had to get it set up and running as soon as we moved in. Its probably one of the least offensive of the rooms in the house if you dont look at the carpet. 

The walls are very pale green and the carpet is pillarbox red. 

The union jack cushions were a house warming gift, purchased in Homebase. 

We've got as far as putting a picture up on the wall. This canvas is of a photo Neil took on a road trip in America. Its the front of the Mustang Convertible we'd hired for the drive, taken in the desert. 

Microwave Blackberry Jam

Our garden is empty, apart from some blackberries. The bush is fairly well established, so produced enough for us to make some jam. As we only have half a kitchen at the moment I followed a recipe to make it in the microwave and it worked really well. As well as the blackberries in the garden we picked some locally and ended up making 11 jars! 

• 500g summer fruts

• 500g jam sugar

• Briefly blend the fruit and place in a large microwave-proof bowl with the sugar. Microwave on High for 3 mins, then stir well. Microwave for a further 3 mins on High, stirring after. Finish with a further 2 mins, then pour into warm sterilised jars. Once bottled and cool the jam is ready to eat. Will keep in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months. Keep in the fridge once opened.

Kitchen Update

The cupboards were put in place once the dust had been cleaned up. It has made such a difference with the wall down. The kitchen seems much brighter, and the dining area works much better for us. 

The rest of the wallpaper needs to come down, and the walls painted, ready for the new kitchen in a few weeks. We are also going to look in to moving the boiler, as its not in a great place where it is.