On a Roll.

We we're back from the holidays and all the washing is done and ironing mountain has been climbed and conquered :-).  We just had a couple of minor repairs to do, one on hubbys suitcase, the baggage handlers broke the wheel! and my little pouch with travel cutlery items had just given up the ghost.  Hubby mended his case with a bit of Meccano, luckily we still have a box left over from when the kids were small, it still comes in handy for quick repairs :-) then today after finishing the ironing I made a slightly padded roll for the cutlery.

2 pieces of scrap fabric and ribbon and a bit of wadding, job done! Much better than the plastic one.

It's surprising how many times this gets used, we bought the blue corkscrew cum bottle opener in Spain €1:60, after I bought a bottle of wine I thought had a screw top....imagine my disappointment when I had to wait until the next day lol. We won't get caught out again :-)

Quite neat, don't you think and only cost pennies :-)

The gold coloured item at the end is a bottle opener :-)

Take care

Karen xxx

Andalucia

A quickie post with some photos for you.

Its raining today in Andalucia and as forecast it looks like its set for most of the day :-(  We can't complain as the sun has been shining for over a week and the temperature has been lovely and warm. We have done lots of walking and paddling, yesterday was a beautiful day, perfect for lazing in the sun and eating delicious Ice cream.

And for sipping cocktails at Happy Hour.

We all set off for a walk to Benalmedena Pueblo up in the mountains on Thursday, we didn't realise just how far it was to walk and all uphill!! The views were stunning and after a drink and a rest we felt it was worth the effort, needless to say we caught the bus back! 

Friday we took a trip to Gibraltar, what a fab day, I will blog that later when the photos have been sorted.

I think we will take a walk out this afternoon for a Pizza and a beer, just for the exercise :-) to a nice bar overlooking the beach run by 2 British guys, its called Palm 5 Beach Bar, excellent food and ice cold beer :-)

Back soon

Take care and stay warm.

Karen xxx

Costa del sol

Ola.  Thought I would do a quick catch up post now we have free wifi:-). 

Friday morning 4 am saw us at the airport waiting for our flight to Malaga, our friends had arrived at our house at about 3:30am and my hubby drove them to the airport, its only a couple of miles from our house. By the time he returned my daughter in law had arrived to take us, we had checked in online but still had to queue to get rid of our baggage, so that was no quicker! The flight left right on time, 6am, by this time the wind was whipping up and gusting straight across the runway so we knew we were in for a bumpy take off, goodness me it was rough! We continued to have turbulence for the first hour before it settled down, the rest of the flight went quite smoothly. We arrived at our hotel around 10:40am and after a quick unpack we had a nice walk to get our bearings and find some milk for a cuppa later on.  This is the view from our balcony, we are on the 5th floor.

It was very warm and very sunny so I couldn't get a brilliant shot.  

This is looking down over the pool area towards the sea.

The hotel is much better than we expected, outside it looks typical concrete block but inside is very nicely appointed and the rooms are very comfortable and very clean :-). Also the food is excellent with a good choice and as much as you like.  It was about 10:30pm when we finally went to sleep, I was shattered as I didnt go to sleep on Thursday night at all.

Saturday.......after a delicious breakfast we headed out for a bit of exploring, we had seen a signpost for a park at the back of the hotel, as we all like gardens we went and had a look......it was wonderful, we spent all morning in there, stopping now and again to sit in the warm sun and admire the views.

By 1:30 we were hungry and needing a long cold drink, so we headed back to the promanade where we had seen a lovely cafe serving Pizza chips and 2 beers for €9.95, it was yummy!

By the time we had eaten and walked down the beach back towards the hotel it was getting on for 4:30pm.  Time for a rest as 6:30 was Sangria time :-) and evening dinner 7pm, again it was delicious! We sat out on the balcony and had a cuppa and a natter until 9:30 then it was time to chill out in bed!

The weather forecast for the rest of the week is looking very good, I just wish I could send you some of this spanish sunshine....  I hope its not too cold or windy for you at home.

Back soon

Take care

Karen xxx

Charity Shop Bargains

This afternoon I collected my daughter in law and we drove to quite a posh area to the Oxfam shop these are my purchases :-)

2 very pretty glass dishes, perfect for a triffle or fruit salad, they were quite grotty, but with a good soapy scrub they are sparkling and ready to use, you cant read the receipt but they were £1:99 and 99p.  They will have been someone's pride and joy, sitting in a china cabinet to be admired by visitors and only used for 'best', now I get the pleasure of using them for special occasions :-)

This pretty crepe de chine top was £1:49 and its like brand new, I bet someone bought it to wear at a wedding and never wore it again, I have removed the label so it doesn't irritate me and given it a good hand wash, it will be perfect with my cream trousers as evening wear on my holidays.  My daughter in law bought 2 vintage style tops for under £4 so we both came away very pleased with our bargains.

Better get back to the ironing and packing.

As always thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my last post xx

Take care

Karen xxx

Flying start to the new Sealed Pot

Thank you all for your New Year Wishes, I hope we all have a really great year. Welcome to my new followers too, lovely of you to join in, it's much appreciated.

On New Years eve we opened last years Sealed Pot, I knew there wouldn't be much in it because it wasn't very heavy and also I hadn't made much of an effort during the year to save odd change, nevertheless it did have a nice surprise for us

Much better than I thought :-). The £2:30 was popped straight into the new pot along with £10 from my purse leftover from the Christmas food budget.  I am going to make more of an effort to put change into the pot this year.  The £70 will be changed into Euros for our holidays on Friday :-)

The decorations are down and back in the loft for next time, it was nice to have the house tidy again and give the surfaces a good dust.  The fridge is starting to look a bit bare, I think we will just about manage until Friday without buying anymore.  Laundry is all upto date, mostly dried in the dryer :-( ironed and put away.  It hasn't been fit to hang it outside, rain yesterday and a hard frost and freezing temperatures today, I think we are in for another very cold night tonight brrrr....

While I was at home doing my wifely duties lol hubby was out enjoying the clear skies over towards the Humber Bridge, I could have gone with him but decided against it, I will wait until Friday and fly in a proper size areoplane! Lol

                                                         Mobile phone photo.

Don't know how he managed to be pilot and photographer at the same time but this is what it looked like today, lots of standing water on the fields, hope it dries out a bit by the spring.

We have a busy week planned which will pass quickly starting tomorrow with a trip to the big shops, I need a couple of cardigans and hubby needs a new fleece, we did get money for Christmas so that will go towards them.  I'm going charity shop shopping in a posh area on Wednesday so I  might get a few bargains.....we'll see.

Back tomorrow 

Take care

Karen xxx