Finding the chase and cutting to it

It’s difficult to think of it in that terms – if you’re an office worker (and I do count those students and teachers as being in that boat), it just feels like a stolen hour of sleep. This was not the original purpose. In 1784, Benjamin Franklin propose aligning “working time” with “available day light” […]

As you’re aware, I have been capturing my favourite recipes down in my wiki. I then use this as my reference for all this in the kitchen. It’s my most clicked on page. I do this for fun and to share what I love. I quite enjoy the rigor of writing down the tips and […]

So traditionally, children in service (that’s doing house work for money to you and me) went “home to their mother church” and away from their employers home (their place of work). There is so much that isn’t wholesome and savoury about those statements that it was one of the first traditions my family moved away […]

So what to do with a couple of days leave? I had a lot of leave, thanks to work allowing me to carry a lot over from last year, the only slight issue being: what to do with it? Being mum of an over 20 year old, some of the “getting to spend some time […]

I’m writing this while suffering from jet lag, so my body thinks it’s 6pm in the evening rather than 11pm… And that’s despite not having much sleep last night… Oh, this is going to be SO worthwhile! Shhh, bear with me. With this extra time I managed to screw up my contribution to the tado […]

I do not have it all. It’s a normalish Sunday here and I am enjoying a cup of tea in my Kitchen with my husband playing a game on his laptop which I am typing this out of mine. Sounds idyllic? In many ways, today it is. The house has had its vac and steam […]

As a keen home-automater, much to the chargrin of my family, one of my dreams is to have one place to do everything. Now the market is maturing, it has been interesting seeing the developments and share some of my experiences or a tale of the good, the bad, and the plain ugly. Thermostats and […]

Rebound effect cancels out home insulations impact on gas use study was not a headline I welcomed on Sunday, as a keen advocate of insulation. I read the article with interest, not least because I feared I’d led everyone reading this blog down a blind alley by encouraging increasing insulation. But wait, for us, a […]

I’m not a “natural cook”, food to me was for many years a means to an end, a way of ensuring my insulin was covered and I kept reasonably healthy. A working person, there were “emergency meals” kept in the fridge for during the week when either of us were too knackered to cook. After […]

I love the decorations and the meal. Having the family round, all now sadly adults, being together focused on a single goal, is amazing. It’s us and my mum this year, my closest relatives. Of course, nerves can take over but just now, I’m tired out of my little mind. The tree is decorated, the […]