Cleaning, cleaning cleaning Part 3

Well I had my home kitchen assessment today.  This is so I can bake cakes at home to take into the tea room.

All went well.  I got 4 stars.  I would have got 5 but I needed the official paperwork and not just my cleaning schedule.

I had spent much of yesterday evening cleaning and making sure every surface was spick and span.

I thought the inspector would go through every cupboard and check my oven etc.  But no.  He didn't even open the fridge -  I could have had a dead dog in there for all he knew! I almost felt a bit miffed that he didn't marvel at my beautiful cupboards!

Oh well, I am pleased with the outcome.

I shall go and gaze joyfully at my perfectly organised cupboards instead.

Little things please little minds.

Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning Part 2

After spending all day and much of the evening cleaning and scrubbing every surface and nook and cranny in the kitchen, and polishing the oven so it looked like new ready for the Environmental Health chappy to come round and assess my kitchen, I had a phone call an hour before his arrival -

'Sorry I can't make it'

Grrrrrrrrrr

Ho hum, at least I have a tidy kitchen and a spotless oven.

It is rescheduled for Wednesday morning.

I wonder if I can keep everyone out of the kitchen until then ;)

Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.

I had a call at lunchtime today from the Environmental Health to organise a home visit to assess my kitchen - I want to be able to bake cakes for work at home and have to have my kitchen certified.  I was expecting it would be in a couple of weeks, but no, he asked if he could come tomorrow!

My little brain was going 'say no, say no, delay it till next week'.

Mouth said 'Sure, tomorrow is fine'.

Arrghh

Cue manic cleaning of kitchen.

It is not that my kitchen is dirty, but if someone is going to be poking in every cupboard and draw and assessing my kitchen, it has got to be pretty darn clean.

I have spent all day cleaning - the room has been scrubbed and wiped, polished and buffed.  Just the floor to do which I will finish tomorrow after the munchkins have had breakfast.

Then it is just fingers crossed I haven't forgotten anything!

Dishwashers and this and that

Husband is still set on a dishwasher.  I am against.  I can't justify spending all that money.  I will see how long I can hold out.  Thank you so much for your comments on the last post - I like to hear what other people do!

We had a sunny day here today - hurrah!!! 

The rain has briefly stopped.

Part of my Tea Room flooded! 

So I managed to get down to the allotment for some much needed weeding.  The little plot has been doing us proud at the moment.  We are eating our own potatoes, peas, beans, kale and there are plenty of strawberries.  I gain so much pleasure from putting a meal on the table the consists of mainly our own produce.  Simple pleasures.

I haven't managed to work out how to get the photos off my phone, so here is a picture of last year pickings. 

Another thing which is making me happy, is that we have made our first repayment on our mortgage.  It is only a little step, but it feels good to have made that first step. 

I have been reading Rhonda's Down to Earth blog and this post really hit a chord.  She just makes so much sense.  I really must be more content with what I have and to appreciate every day - too often I find myself wishing away the time or getting angry at the children (this seems to happen far too often!).  

Simple pleasures are the most valuable. 

Dishwasher Dilemma

Last Thursday I merrily went to open the dishwasher to get out a knife to make a sandwich  - and the door wouldn't budge.  I gave it a couple of good tugs and nothing.  Then I got my husband to have a go - still nothing.  So we heaved and jiggled it, banged it and budged it - still nothing.  Then we thought we would leave it till the morning and perhaps it would sort itself out.

Every so often we would walk past and give it a sneaky tug, as if perhaps it was just playing with us and if we snuck up on it, it would be caught unawares.

Of course, the door remained firmly closed, with all our cutlery inside.

These were the only knives we had left.

A Tombilboo childrens knife or a cleaver - try eating with those!

We had to admit defeat and call in the repair man who had to break open the door.

So now I have a dilemma - to fix our dishwasher we need a new door which will cost £250+, or buy a new machine.

In theory we should fix ours, but it is old and not very good and probably uses loads of water (am I just trying to make myself feel better!).  A new one would be far more ecological.

But my main dilemma is do we really need a dishwasher at all?  Is it a luxury or a necessity?  Washing up is not that much of a chore and I am certain I could spend my money on something far more important. We hardly used the last one, so I don't really want to replace it.

I am happy to do without, but hubby is not so sure.

Do you do without?

A Magical Evening

My husband and I have begun a tradition of each year going to see Shakespeare at the open air theatre near Stamford.

This year was Twelfth Night.  I never studied Shakespeare at school and had never seen any plays, so I feel it is high time to make up for it, and it was just magical.

The theater is set at Tolethorpe Hall and they have built the open air stage amongst the trees (the audience have the luxury of having a covered seating area).

It is just beautiful and there is something quite magical about watching the play as dusk falls and it gradually turns to evening, all the while hearing birds and seeing them fly over head.  Even watching a play in the rain seems to add a unique spin on it.

I am already looking forward to seeing next years performance.

I am joining in with Astra's Happiness Revolution.  It is a lovely idea, each month you write down 10 things which are making you happy.  So here are mine this month. 

1. My husband's very good friend visiting us.  He and hubby lived together all through uni but moving has meant that we haven't seen him for a year - it makes me so happy to see that laughing and messing about together. 
2. Having my own business - my little Tea Room.
3. My flower beds are looking beautiful. 
4. Seeing the confidence of my son grow each time he gets on his bike (he has only been riding for a couple of weeks)
5. Sitting in the kitchen and looking out of our big windows and watching the sunset (which is what I am doing right now!)
6. Climbing Snowdon next week with my husband, sister and brother in law. 
7. Things growing on the allotment.  
8. Planning a camping trip.
9. A WEEKEND IN DUBLIN with no children - ok, so it is not until July, but I am so excited about it! 
10. Matt.