Everything Happens For A Reason

Everything Happens For A Reason

I am a great believer in that quote and events of today support my belief. I wasn't going to accept this new job that I have but in the end I did. The building that we occupy was previously used as a shop selling fireworks. Prior to that it was a cafe.

Today in a period of inactivity I had a nosey around the place and found a cellar. In the far corner of the cellar was a pile of rubbish and underneath it all was this old pop bottle crate. To most people its just an old crate, in fact my colleague looked at me gone out when I ran up the cellar steps screaming "LOOK WHAT I FOUND" To me, this is a thing of beauty and when dusted off will be even more beautiful. I have been looking for old crates for the past few weeks and now i have my first one.

Further foraging in the cupboards revealed bags and bags of styrofoam cups, dishes and trays, which had been earmarked for the wheelie bin. They are now in my shed waiting to be recycled into other things. I also found 4 picture frames, off cuts of wood which I can use for my indoor 'Window Ledge Greenhouse' and an assortment of cleaning solutions, so regardless of what decisions I make in the future about this job, I come out ahead.

I also got round to making some more hand scrub this morning before I went to work. I don't think that many things could be quite as simple.For the container I used old jam jars, the little ones that you can get from the supermarket for 19p.
Amazingly the mixture is absolutely perfect for this size of jar.

1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp olive Oil
1 drop of your favourite essential oil (I used Neroli)
Grate a little bit of Lime or Lemon peel into the mix, give it a good stir and spoon it into the jar. When you come to use it, just wash your hands with it as if it were soap and when you rinse it off under the tap, use the lemon or lime to rub over your hands to help cut through the oil. This size jar will give you 3 or 4 uses.
Last time I made it, I put Lime juice into the mix to try and get a nice colour, but when I used it, the mixture had split slightly and it kinda just washed straight off before the oil had chance to soak into my skin. This time I didn't add any juice at all and it was a bit too oily, so I will need to play with the mixture a little bit until I get it right. I will let you know how I get on with that.

Comments on my last post -

Anne- ha ha glad you enjoyed the read

Rainbowchild - I am reliably informed that doing a client my way is not as profitable

New Week - New Ideas

I stayed in the office for most of the day and didn't leave until 3pm in order to do a client. Tomorrow I shall be in there ALL day without escape due to one member of staff being away. It's not as bad as it sounds though because with just the two of there and not much passing trade we have planned to manufacture a batch of hand scrub and some moisturiser, so we should be able to pass the time.
I also designed some promotional literature today and am waiting for it to be printed so I can spend an hour or two tomorrow chatting with my colleague to see what else we can come up with to increase business in our favour. It would appear that I am not alone in my reservations about the quality of this employment.
Tomorrow will also be a little bit of a first for me because I have decided to catch the bus into work. I think I mentioned previously that the last time I got on a bus it cost me 2 pence for the journey. Luckily I have a free months travel pass. Well actually I have 3 of them so it seems a shame to waste them and as my fuel tank is nearly empty in the car, I can use the money that I would have spent on fuel and split it 50/50 between my sealed pot and Christmas goodies.

Reading back over that last paragraph I ought to mention that the term, 'Do a client' refers to on line tutoring as opposed to a quickie in travel lodge. Just thought I would clear that one up before we go any further.

I actually managed to get into a charity shop at lunchtime and nearly came out with a lovely Chinese tea pot, but left it on the shelf. There were also two gorgeous silk dresses but as is usually the case with Chinese silk dresses, they don't come in sizes above 8. Now if only they had been the same pattern, maybe I could have got them onto the sewing machine and done something funky with them. Or completely ruined them. We shall never know.

A couple of things caught my eye on TV this evening.
The return of It's a Knockout.
Jimmy's Grow Your Own Christmas.......and the ridiculous complaints (in my humble opinion) over the birth of a polar bear in a Dutch animal sanctuary which was supposedly filmed in the arctic.
I don't see as it matters where it was filmed, it was still in context with the program and showed a baby polar bear being born. Awwwwww, sweet.
Maybe the complainants would like to apply for film crew on the next shoot and they can be the one to go inside with Mummy bear to adjust the camera angle whilst she is giving birth. I suspect not.
To my knowledge, polar bears do not have the calming effects of gas and air during child birth and even if they did, we all know that even that chemical concoction is insufficient when it comes to keeping us calm as we get the little bugger out. An intrusion by some wally who wants to disturb her last ditch effort in the name of cinematic truth, is only going to get his head chewed off at the neck to give baby bear something to nibble on whilst Mummy sleeps it off.
Tomorrow they will be complaining that the veg grown on Jimmy's farm was harvested before the 12 days of Christmas and so does not accurately portray a Christmas lunch.

Dan - Don't be fooled or misled by my apparent skills on a sewing machine. Here's the door curtain that I threw together. It's purely functional, rather than beautifully stitched and lined. But it works a treat when it comes to keeping the draughts at bay. No hat, scarf and gloves required.

SFT - I still haven't ruled out going back for the piggy bank, I love it.

New Job

Why it took so long I just don't know, but my fear of losing control of my life were totally unfounded. I don't lose control of anything do I? I either choose to hand over control to someone else or I keep it.
Well, I have kept it. I accepted the job and made a decision over how to fit it in with my lifestyle rather than vice versa.
At present, I am working full time but in the new year I will be going part time or packing the job in. At the moment I haven't decided and the outcome depends to some extent on the response I get from my employer with regard to their methods. Anyway, enough of that.

Today I have been making door curtains to keep out the draught and another draught excluder for the dining room door.I can't believe just how much warmer it is in the house with the door curtain fitted. I have had to turn the thermostat down to make it comfy.
The open fire idea has been shoved to one side permanently after i remembered how much heat is lost through the chimney. I will bide my time until I find a log burner.

Hiding in the bushes along the side of the field is a pallet which I keep meaning to pick up and bring home. Yesterday I finally decided to drag it out of the bushes and drag it up the track into my garden, but when I lifted it I discovered that the kids around here are crafty. The pallet was obviously part of their den because they had it secured to a tree with a padlock and chain hee hee. I left it where it was, bless them.

When I was in Matalan last week I spotted this piggy bank and instantly thought "Yes! The perfect sealed pot" The problem was the price. It would have taken me a month to recover the purchase price before the coppers started to count.

You wouldn't think that Rhubarb was too hard to find would you? but I can't find anyone who has rhubarb growing in their garden so that I can get a root from them for my own garden.

My dogs have gone traitor on me. I came home on Friday lunchtime to do some work from home and whilst I was sat at the computer, the dogs both got up and headed for the back door. The key turned in the lock and my friend walked in dressed in her woollies and wellies, ready to take the dogs out for their lunchtime walk as she has been doing every day since I started this job.
The dogs were jumping up and down and as soon as the leads were on, they were out of the house without even a glance backwards at me to see if I was going too. It reminded me of a recent episode of wife swap that I saw on TV where one of the wives told the husband, "It was horrible when my kids called the nanny Mummy"
"Waaaaaahhhhhhhh"

Last night I opened a bottle of wine with the intention of having a single glass whilst I was laying in the bath with the candles burning and soothing music playing softly in the background. I finished the whole bottle and started to regret it at 11pm. I either need to drink more often or leave it well alone.
I haven't been in a charity shop for nearly a month now. I really must make the time or I will no doubt be missing all the bargains. Maybe I will visit tomorrow as I am out and about with work.

Hope you all had a great weekend and have a good week ahead.