Challenge: Add 3rd coat of creocote to fence & bake simple sponge cake

Well, I know it is Saturday and I should be making a bigger challenge for myself BUT today is the day I practise more of the Goddess part.  I need to take off all my nail varnish (bitty nails varnish couldn't be tackier), chat to mother (this always eats up an hour; what can I say we are mother and daughter who are also great chums), meet great friend Lou Lou for coffee then onto lunch (despite seeing each other everyday of the working week there is an awful lot to chew over today.  Honest.)

Anyway, for the last 3 weekends - which you won't know about yet as I only started this on Sunday- I have been attempting to teach my self how to bake.  Baking is completely different to cooking.  I am a good cook.  No, I am a great cook (thanks to chef papa) - yes I rock at something!   BUT I cannot bake.  My sister bakes great cakes as does my mother (she obviously inheritated the baking gene, and the skinny naturally gene, and the domestic goddess gene too - nothing fazes my sister domestically.  Am in total envy; although I can challenge her at shopping - she is the best shopping buddy!)  I need baking in my life (not in MY tummy) but baking you can give as gifts and it cheers the soul a good piece of cake in all it's glistening glory with icing, or without icing but smeared in chocolate.....it also makes my husband more happy than he is normally.  That's important to me.  The last 3 weekends I cannot lie to you have not been that successful.  Take the cake I was attempting last Saturday: separate 6 eggs.  Done easy.  Into the egg yolk add the sugar, lemon rind and lemon juice.  No problem except damnit I added them to the egg whites.  We now have a huge amount of merangue that took 5 hours to cook stashed away in a tupperware box.  The week before; the recipe states 11oz caster sugar, I weigh it out and it's not until I need to make the topping do I realise it also says use only 9oz in the cake and the other 2oz for the topping.  Damnit.  Of course it made all the difference.  Now, whilst I am busy today I intend to make a simple vanilla sponge at some point.  Nothing fancy or showy.  I am of course building myself up to making French pastries to serve on Sunday mornings with fresh coffee and orange juice.  I aim high and why the hell not!  Except today... just a simple sponge!

Today I/we have:

 Today is a triumph.  Yes.  I feel pretty happy with myself, I managed to complete my challenge in the time frame suggested.  Actually not strictly true but the majority of it within the time frame, bar replenishing the flowers and the run.  My run came at 7pm instead of before but other than that (and the flowers) all done.  Thanking you very much am the Domestic Goddess with the Mostest.  Ok a pure fluke pull off but am smug because tomorrow I am having a girly day with Lou Lou and it means a dog walk in the morning followed by coffee and then lunch - all chilled out with nothing to worry about not having done (I say that but there's bed stripping, laundry and hoovering.  Bugger.)  Obviously I have swet myself to a daily challenge for a year and of course there will be one tomorrow but nothng massively housework heavy on top of that needs to be done.  So;

•  Made lunch for Henri (does anyone else struggle with this - it's like preapring dinner it takes forever!)
• Food shopped (I gleaned this beautiful piece of information on the glorious asparagus today~: when buying asparagus unless you are eating the little beauties that day you must store them in the fridge in an upright postion in water - this is the only way you can preserve the goodness)
• Put away food shopping (I am soooo innovative -some call it lazy - I used the wheelbarrow to get it all out of the car - one trip to the door!)
• Cleaned Kitchen - tis sparkly now
• Hoovered downstairs and stairway
• Dusted downstairs
• Cooked Seeded Haddock with green peas and mint, beans and asparagus for supper

 

And working on the Goddess in me; I have:

•  Ran 2.5km - the hill is still a bitch to me - will it ever get easier? (Running in the evening is a whole different kind of struggle to running in the morning - at least in the morning I go after 8 hours sleep and not a full working day, food shopping and cleaning!) 

And indulged:

• Oppsie, found myself getting another tan today .... promise to stop now... maybe
• Whoopsie, bought a replacement camera for the one that was stolen a week ago today (the joy of credit and it means I can add pics to this blog now)
• Soaked in suds - (Boy did I  deserve that soak)
• Sat in the garden on the patio with husband and suinking a glass of Rose and lazed about

 

What have you done today?.....writing it down gives you an odd sense of achievement - boasting if you like, and why not?....

Challenge: Split Saturday's housework by achieving some on Friday...

So as not to spend ALL flipping day on a Saturday doing housework I intend to do at least half of it tonight....(intend being the word of the day - often my good intentions fall to the curbside).  If I can get in a routine of doing this I can spend more time on a Saturday on the Goddess just bursting to be set free (ahem) and more time being a friend (these days as my loyal friends that are still there know I am so busy running around I don't see them even half as much as I'd like to - incidentally to those of you that remain I love you for your patience and loyal friendship) and I might even find a bit more time to spend learning the elusive (to me) art that is gardening!

My Challenge is this: Clean downstairs to include: putting away mess, hoovering, dusting (does anyone hate dusting as much as I do???? It's just so dull and er, dusty), clean the kitchen and replenish the flowers.  Now I do have to get petrol and do a food shop tonight too and I would like to go for a run as well ..... is this possible from 4pm until 7pm for when my gorgeous husband gets home????  I am optimistic.....I am also a fool but there you go ...

Today I/we have:

 OK. Challenge complete.  I recruited a not so entusiastic Henri and together we lay our newspaper on the patio table (seriously dirt everywhere - maybe I am learning - hurrah) and recovered the stashed pots from the last attempt, filled them with compost and started the painstaking task of gently lifting out each seedling one at a (*yawn) time - there were approximately 80 of the little darlings.  Ooooo how I forgot that it is literally back breaking work.  Leaning over them trying not to tear the roots.....all are now in pots and sat proudly in the conservatory watered and poised to grow.... well, admitedly they are not as pert as they were before the big transfer but we have tried.  As we worked Digby lay next to us in a blanket cute as button fast asleep exhausted from his op and oblivious to our efforts.  My big concern right now is not that they will die but that my beautifully self-manicured nails have not survived the process (selfish - must work on that.  O what am I on about I am 36 and am too set in my ways now change such selfish behaviour!!).  My memory loss of how much effort is all is to do is already almost forgotton as I am contemplating sowing chilli seeds on Sunday.....I am feeling hugely smug at having completed this challenge but it does remain to be seen as to whether they survive.  Watered and keeping normal house plants alive is one of my failures.....so we'll just see....

• Emptied bin (pet hate of mine- God knows why, maybe a bin attacked me when I was a nipper)

Yep that's all I've done in terms of housework today!  Whoopsie - standards are slipping!! Ahh what am I talking about - what standards!!!?!

And working on the Goddess in me; I have:

•  Ran 2.5K first thing this morning (I say ran; I mean jogged at a pace just with a little more action than a walk and it hurt so bad!  That last hill to the house will one day kill me!)
• Tried very quiffy hairstyle (jury is out still, Henri loves it - so that's a bonus but he's probably being kind!)

And indulged:

•  Shared a bottle of rose and an M&S deal supper in celebration of the completion of the challenge(I'd love to say successful but we'll see if they survive) seedlings to pots!

What have you done today?.....writing it down gives you an odd sense of achievement - boasting if you like, and why not?....

Challenge: Transfer Marigold seedlings to bigger pots

Every year I make the same mistake.  Every year I think growing from seed will be easy and frankly it's not but I seem to have constant annual memory loss of this fact.  This year I decided to plant out some marigold seeds - pretty and you get to eat them too - bonus!  Sowing them is a blast - how easy?  Fill a tray with soil, scatter seeds, cover with soil water them and stash them in a warm & light place - in our case the conservatory.  That was three weeks ago.  The seedlings are now an inch and a half high and it's time.  This part has never gone successfully for me.  Transfer the seedlings from comfy nesting tray nice and happy and perky to small pots to allow to grow bigger.  Easy right?  Wrong - usually I seem to in one foul swoop to wipe out the perfect young seedlings with heavy hands and they die within days (if not hours in protest of being handles badly I am sure).  And the mess, o god the mess ...... today my challenge is to transfer these little green beauties to pots with a degree of patience ..... wish the little darlings luck.....

Date Night is normally tonight but just for today it is postponed....Digby due out of his op later today and will need much cuddling and stroking (so instead of doing that to each other on Date Night we forego to look after our beloved pooch - a slightly twisted way of putting it but there you go and don't judge me please!!) 

Today I/we have:

Horrid, horrid day.  Bad mood city (poor Henri hasn't even had a hug today, I am a bad, bad wife).  Hardly any sleep (it's true what they say no sleep - no beauty, I look washed out and my eyes look like I could have gone at least two rounds with a boxer), alot of cramping that quite frankly had me seriously thinking most of the morning of ripping out my womb (apologies any male followers) and on the verge of tears most of the morning.  Thank God for a solid, well rounded PA. Really, not even two weeks in and she has to deal. She did.  Anyway work day and mood aside I have done the following in completing the challenge:

• Hung out the washing
• Unloaded the dishwasher
• Cleaned up from last night
• Cleaned the bathroom
• Hoovered upstairs & downstairs
• Taken the bins and the recycling down the lane for collection
• Made a steak and salad dinner
• Filing (oooooo yes!)
• Did a bit of card tarting (the only tarting i do these days!!!)

And working on the Goddess in me; I have:

• Got myself a cheeky tan at lunchtime today (this snapped me from my bad mood to an 'I'm coming round now' mood - feeling like you're in the sun is such a boost - yes i know I shouldn't be doing it and my skin might look like an old goat's when I am 50 but one session in ten years ain't bad!)

And indulged:

• Bought a beautiful vintage boudoir box from a little boutique I know for a bargain £5.99!!!

What have you done today?.....writing it down gives you an odd sense of achievement - boasting if you like, and why not?....

Challenge: the Mid Week clean

Ahhhh mid week -  I always find once this day is done it's a countdown to the weekend; starting with Date night Thursday, Chill out Friday and then it's here ..... but Saturdays no matter what am doing I can't avoid the big house clean.  So Wednesday nights I try and clean up mess and scrub the bathroom and dust upstairs as well as push the hoover round then come Saturday the clean isn't so time consuming.  What I'd love is to also add in filing to this Wednesday mix as then it's done every week and I don't have to tackle the very often 5 month pile of paperwork with dread and a heavy heart (and normally a packet of biscuits to cheer me up!)

So the challenge today is to add in the filing .... only the pile is 5 month's high.  On the up side no fence painting tonight ......!

Today I/we have:

Hurrah, hurrah ... many things have NOT been done today but in our defence it has been one of THOSE days..... Digby at the vet meant he came to work with me, got home and the Prime Minister went and resigned and it really is addictive tv and let's face it if one needs to be up on all the politics for my daily role at the Chamber (bottle of red not included) then a great old friend called and we chatted about serious issues (shoes weren't even mentioned once) then mother called, then the new Prime Minister was appointed by the Queen ......yes, yes excuses but I have:

• Made Henri's pack lunch
• Done final coat of creocote on the fence
• Put away half of Henri's ironing
• Remembered to put out 'green' recycling

And working on the Goddess in me; I have:

Erm  .....  done and learnt nothing about glamour today other than coordinating my green knitted tunic with green beads and green eyes .... too much green maybe?  See....I've learnt nothing!

And indulged:

• Ate carrott cake made by colleagues sister .... was devine, it would have been rude not too .....
•  Devoured a good bottle of red wine watching the politics unfold whilst cooking a fine Carbonara

What have you done today?.....writing it down gives you an odd sense of achievement - boasting if you like, and why not?....

Challenge: Continue with fence painting (*yawn)

Well, it just looks like we've 'treated' a blue and green fence not tried to change it's colour.  Admittedly it is darker but another coat needed tonight ....we've only done half of it.  So fence painting might be the challenge for the whole week.  I guess it could be something to with our laziness and maybe we should have sanded it down first .....well, ok we know we should have sanded it down first but how long would that have taken??? We are failing this challenge, aren't we? 

Today is tricky to get alot done anyway, Digby in at vets for possible op on his tooth and infection on his belly.  Supposed to be at a yoga class tonight too and as much as I do love it (honest), I've  missed two sessions in a row already if Digs has op I'll definately be at home but how much can I get done with a poorly pooch?...Excuses, excuses....

Ironing needs putting away, upstairs needs cleaning, downstairs dusting  AND the filing (o please - it's 3 months piled high)..... o the glamour, however I do find comfort in that thought that I am not alone we all have to do it....my question is you never complain and make it look easy ...how do you do that?  Combining looking after yourself and your husband and the house and garden, dog, cat and car with a smile and appearing not to break a sweat is really hard to learn.... what's your secret??????

Today I/we have:

• Changed the 3 trays of cat litter for the ancient cat (Chloe = 16 year old demanding cat)
• Hoovered downstairs and the stairs themselves (however since then I managed to walk in lots of mud which I've covered with as rug til tomorrow - tomorrow's another day right?)
• Loaded and unloaded dishwasher
• Made appointment for Digby for vet tomorrow
• Made the pack lunches (such a bore and not only that the salad was so dull I threw it away and went to M&S - opps!)
• Braved Tesco at peak timne for essentials
• Finally made the trip to B&Q
• Stripped half the large fence of ivy
• Creocoted that part of the fence (only you can still see the blue and green underneath-damn, requires 2nd coat!  Would take a photo but am struggling to remember where I've left the damn camera! )
• Made Salad Nicoise for supper
• Came home to H having done the majority of the mountain of ironing (Henri is nearer to domestic than I am right now as I refer you back to hiding the dry mud instead of cleaning it up!)

And working on the Goddess in me; I have:

• Learnt that I can use vintage lipstick tubes by buying fav lippy's and freezing them first before transferring them over (only the truth is I rarely wear lippy....must try harder to be glamorous!)

And indulged:

• Enjoyed a G&T with H in the garden trying to convince ourselves the fence DOES look different
• Wrote email to my bestest friend Tot
• Spent 30 mins over lunch looking at photos on FB of LJ in Thailand (it is great my ex PA is enjoying life so much not in the office with me *sour grapes) and of old school friends I generally have no interest anymore - that is to say the ones I am not 'friends' with on FB (call it being nosey, I'm down with that!!)

What have you done today?.....writing it down gives you an odd sense of achievement - boasting if you like, and why not?....

Challenge: Paint fence (take two)

Take Two.  We have set this challenge today as a) the sun is shining and it means a good dry evening(typical - it's Monday) and b) leave it any longer and we know we won't do it.  So at some point today I need to fight my way back through the traffic to B&Q; on top of stopping for kitchen essentials, getting the dry cleaning in and getting my dress to the menders readuy for a wedding in two weeks (I swear most domestic goddesses can sew - do I need to take a course in this too?)  Not to mention a long day in the office ........Any tips on painting fences most welcome.....

Today I/we have:

• Tidied from last night
• Walked Digby
• Folded 'some' washing
• Taken in the washing that was on the line (on the line for 5 days so; finally!)
• Cooked and devoured a yummy Roast Pork lunch
• Learnt that keeping tomatoes in the fridge takes away their flavour therefore I have placed ours in a decorative 1940's bowl on the kitchen top
• H has stained the post (one post = the dregs of a can of wood stain) with the hanging basket of srawberries on it
• H has also mown strimmed the lawn
• Loaded and unloaded the dishwasher twice ...

And working on the Goddess in me; I have:

• Painted my nails deep purple
• Dyed my hair chesnut brown
• Soaked in hot suds
• Shared a bottle of good red wine
• Spent quality time with my adorable husband
• Indulged in three episodes of Entourage s3

What have you done today.....writing it down gives you an odd sense of achievement .... come on share!

Challenge: Cut lawn and paint fence.....

So this morning we plan our day; breakfast, walk Digby, go to B&Q and buy wood stainer to paint gruesome fence (currently a vile blend of blue and green) come home and whilst I prepare a roast pork lunch Henri will cut lawn then we will together stain our large fence whilst yummy food cooks .... lending us the rest of the afternoon to watch a movie or play a game.... 

Not really worked out.  Digby walk was great, diverse chatter and plenty of laughter and we discovered a new dog walking route.  Fought through the traffic to B&Q only to realise we have left the wallet at home or more precisely on the bins (we did the recycling before coming out) - a small arguement ensued as to whose fault it was and then we calmed blaming no one as what is the point!  A|ll is not lost the lawn will be cut and we can do something else but I can't help feeling disappointed that again we won't really achieve one of the big things on our enormous list of things to do...... phew, as wallet found in next doors house, Henri starts the lawn and i prepare lunch.  All is well until I glimpse Henri outside using a strimnmer to cut the entire expanse of the lawn....taking him out a cuppa and piece of badly home baked cake he states it's broken - won't start.  Any petrol in it? Yes. Any oil in it? Yes. Ohh.  Stumped.  Ahhhh we've hit another wall.  You see, our car is tiny and cannot take a lawnmower to be fixed anywhere and we know that for call out it's not cheap so we've reached stalemate.  We have such a large lawn that we cannot not mow it but how do we get this damn thing fixed .....we'll think on it....(again; please any advice welcome)

Going back into the house I clock it is suddenly consumed by smoke from the sizzling fat on the pork in the oven, I open all the windows in every room and in doing so the wind knocks a treasured vase off it's base and it crashes to the floor spilling all it watery contents and the blooms everywhere. 

Was today the right day to start a domestic challenging blog? 

Am quite nervous as Henri has just been seen with nails and a hammer in his hand wondering past the kitchen windows...... am off to make sure no accidents happen .....

.....Why am I here blogging..?

My name is Loretta and I am 36 and a half - in other words; getting on a bit and hurtling towards 40!  Somehow, and it was terribly careless of me I lost my 20's, when my 30's came along my life began .... bought house number 2, fell deeply in love with my husband, bought our beautiful 1850's house for a small fortune and learnt about setting up and running a business, secured my job and went on a steep learning curve and brought up a puppy - we are now proud owners of a Goldie; Digby. 

As I am sure you will come to realise quite quickly we are not the luckiest of families but fight hard against this bad luck that trails us like a bad smell to make our lives happier than we are with each other.  We are in fact very happy; sickeningly so!  We have good jobs (ones that don't perhaps pay great but we love what we do - a life compromise!)  We have fabulous friends and supportive loving families.  What neither one of us have is knowledge of such things like DIY - even the basics.  House keeping eludes me.  How do you all do it?  Keep a job pinned, have a beautifully tidy and clean house, files in order, the fridge is full, meals are on time and delicious, your gardens are tidy, colourful and de-weeded, you even grow veg...... I'm willing to bet most of you have children too!

We are in a mess (and we are naturally messy).  We need to change.  We dream of running the house and garden seamlessly ....The luck thing for us is simply things going wrong, and the little things build into big things and then get erm left ..... example no.1: 3 weeks ago I planted two Spider Lilly bulbs in the conservatory as per the instructions and kept an eye on them as per the instructions.  They sprouted - hurrah!! Three days ago I noticed from nowhere they were being eaten by something, he leaves bending and parts of the shape missing ... on closer inspection I spy black bugs scurrying around the surface of the soil.  Now.  What do I do?  I don't know a solution, so what have I done?  Nothing.  That's right nothing because I don't have the first idea what steps to take, I am hoping they will disappear.......example no.2: Two weeks ago i cut the lawn with my father's loaned expensive lawnmower.  No problems. Today my husband wants to cut the lawn and it's stopped working.  It's full of petrol.  What do we do?  Put it back in the shed to 'try again next time'....(incidentally my husband is making his life hard now by trying to cut a huge lawn with a strimmer.)

See?  These things happen and domestic gods and goddeses that you are know the answers to solve these problems!

So today I start a blog to record our daily attempts at sorting out this house and garden.... I challenge us us to something domestic each day, to get on top of the mess, to educate ourselves to become DOMESTIC........!

PS Any advice MORE than welcome .....