Investigative Blogging: more about making my own beauty bits

The other week I blogged about saving money and beauty stuff (and incidentally got some awesome tips. Thanks!). I briefly mentioned that I'd started making my own body scrubs, and that I was interested in making a coffee based scrub. I tried it on Thursday.

Dudes. I am so in love with this scrub.

On pay day I went to the health food store, bought some sweet almond massage oil and some geranium essential oil, rushed home to mix up the scrub and proceeded to lovingly smother myself in coffee grinds. I've been using it for about four days now, and my skin feels soft and smooth (oh my!). The caffeine in the scrub is supposed to encourage circulation and decrease the appearance of cellulite too. Not so sure about that, but I do feel peppy in the morning.

Since the complete and unprecedented success of my adventures in body scrubbing, I have developed something of a passion for making my own beauty bits. Firstly, this is because it is CHEAP. However, it's also  pretty awesome fun, and I love hearing Shannon sound like a grumpy old man while he complains about food in the shower (evil laugh).

This weekend, after much research, I infected Jo with my enthusiasm and convinced her to indulge in some Serious Sunday Night Fresh Food Facial Pampering. We drank some port and mixed up a bunch of different scrubs to see what was the most effective. Our conclusions were:

♥ Baking soda zit paste: Jo tried this. She wasn't sold, but agreed that it seemed to make the zit fractionally less red and sore.

♥ Sunflower seed exfoliant: The oil in the sunflower seeds came out with the water and made a lovely gentle, soft scrub. Very pro this exfoliant.

♥ Baking soda and oatmeal exfoliant: Ouch. Way too harsh, unless you are fourteen and desperate to strip your skin of any oils. I am now fearing a horrible horrible breakout of rosacea unhappiness. Never again. The term "burning" springs to mind. Maybe I used too much baking soda.

♥ Egg white face mask: It was universally agreed that egg white was the winner on the day. MMMM silky smooth facial parts!

Recipes for beauty bits mentioned in this post (because I care)

(These first two recipes come from a Sunday Star Times magazine article)

♥ Coffee Body Scrub: 1 cup coffee grinds (out of the pot is fine), 1/4  cup sugar, 1 Tbsp Sweet Almond oil. I've also been adding a couple of drops of Geranium for smelling yummy and for extra revitalising. WOO!

♥ Oat and Sugar Body Scrub: 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/2 cup honey and oil. (I used cooking oil the first time I made this. I strongly recommend you don't follow my lead because EW.)

(From my baking soda book: The Wonders of Baking Soda. I have no idea where this book came from originally, but my dad gave it to my mum and my mum gave it to me. The copy I have has no author or date of publication)

♥ Baking soda and oatmeal exfoliant: whiz a handful of uncooked oats, some water and a handful of baking soda in a blender. Probably best to keep in an airtight container if you want to use it for a while.

♥ Baking soda zit paste: mix up a paste of baking soda and water, roll into a ball and press balls on to spots and let them sit there as long as possible. This looks kind of freakish.

(From an awesome website that I'm in the process of properly investigating)

♥ Sunflower seed exfoliant: grind up 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds and mix into a paste with water. I've put a whole bunch of ground sunflower seeds in a jar and I'm just going to add water as I go. Also, I'm keen to try a couple of drops of chamomile or lavendar oil in the mix, as I hear that they are good for rosacea. Perhaps I could mix with cold chamomile tea?

♥ Egg white facial mask: whip egg white until it's foamy and paint on your face with a brush or your fingers (I used a clean foundation brush). Let it sit until it feels tight and wash it off with cool water.

At the end of this whole process I followed up with my Trilogy Rose Hip Oil, which I'm hoping like hell will calm down the baking soda harassed part of my face. PLEASE.

Sunday Awesome: OMFG. CherPumPle.

This speaks for itself. Really.

I'm tempted to try, but I hate the idea of packet cakes. Could I overcome my revulsion, just this once?

Twelve days until my Christchurch mini-break!

In Christchurch, I plan to ride on the ticky-tacky trams.
Photo is from this site, run through Tilt Shift Maker

The last time I went on holiday was Camp A Low Hum, back in January and that was less a holiday and more a long, drunken, rowdy, awesomely fun weekend. Thus, I am looking towards my Chch mini-break in twelve days time with GREAT anticipation.

The only other time I've been to Christchurch was on a road trip around the South Island with Andy and Lizzie, and that was something like six or seven years ago now. Also, I think we stayed just long enough to  complain about the coffee so I didn't really have a good look at anything in particular, just whinged and then jumped back in the hippie van we were travelling in. Maybe we looked at the Avon some and said something about it being pretty.

I'm staying with Shan-dawg, who is being sent down there to work. This means I get free accommodation and get to play house; spend all day wandering about by myself and all evening eating and drinking with my Boy. Heaven.

So far, most of my plans involve the Arts Centre. It's got a pretty amazing reputation, and there are craft and food markets held there! Also, apparently some kind of late night GHOST WALK. Shannon has already agreed to do this excessively geeky thing with me, but I will need to buy tickets for us. I'm really excited at the prospect of going on a fun history walk geek-out type thing with my boyfriend.

Food and bar-wise, I am planning on going to Dux de Lux. And that's about where my knowledge runs out.

Also, I want to hit some op-shops and vintage shops, and knitting/fabric shops. I had a quick look around the internets and have made a list of op-shops that look hopeful.

Anyhow, as much fun as it will be roaming aimlessly, I was hoping that someone would be able to help me out with the op shops and bars and stuff? I asked what I should do on Facebook and most people suggested that I either go and murder people or become murdered myself (which is a bad taste reference to Christchurch's reputation as a "crime capital", for those of you not in New Zealand). Lyttleton also looked popular.

Any more suggestions? Or should I get a phone book out and start looking for Bill Hammond?

And, lastly - does anybody want to have coffee with me?

Moments of Sunshiney Inspiration

Sunshine, I think, is my other boyfriend. On Monday I went for a long walk in the sun, and I felt enthused and inspired for the first time in ages. It was a wonderful feeling.

What did I feel inspired about? Mostly I felt inspired about my summer wardrobe. The sunshine made me think sunshiney things about dressing in pretty dresses and cardigans. Big plans for the summer wardrobe now include sewing some tunic-style tee shirts (I'm going to cut them off a bunch of 80s tee shirts I picked up in various op shops) and knitting a "That Girl" cardigan in black sparkly cotton. Also, I'd like to sew some more super Ultra Minis in weave (as oppose to stretch-knit) fabrics.

I made a lovely blouse in the weekend from some op shop voile and some vintage crochet lace I've had forever. I'm planning to make another with some linen voile floral fabric that's in my now overflowing stash container at home, but before I can start I'll need more lace trim. Such a hardship shopping for lace trim.

Two things I am undecided about: sheer stockings and clogs. To clarify: I've kind of developed a crush on the idea of clogs, but I'm not sure where the crush came from and if it's misguided. Bex has already shared her opinion (which is, succinctly: "No") but my mind keeps wandering back... specifically I am interested in these clogs via Trade Me. I think I'd like a red and a brown pair. What do you think - am I seriously misguided here? I need help.

Also: the sheer stockings. What do we think of white sheer stockings? With shorts? And boots, but probably NOT the clogs. Probably.

I've never been inside the caravan store called The Princess's Bedroom, but I was stoked to see that there is a cute little food caravan that's opened up next door. I think I shall head there for a sausage sizzle sometime soon.

I also like the Kreuzberg Summer Cafe, which is at the other end of Cuba Street. Roll on summer, and eating outside in front of cute little temporary stores!

On Sunday night I had a conversation with my flatmate where I offered Sensible Advice about money (specifically - about using a credit card to pay for travel). I am notoriously much better at giving advice than I am at taking it, so I'm trying to do a better job of listening to myself when I'm telling other people what to do with their lives.

I am proud of a couple of things I said. The first was "If you are prepared to get yourself in debt and spend years paying it off, then you should also be prepared to save the same amount of money". The second was "If you have to get yourself in debt to do it then it's not really an opportunity."

I am ready to follow both of those pieces of advice, and Oh So Ready to be debt free.

Last bit: I am getting myself a Filofax. This is a direct result of reading two other blogger's peans to their Filofaxes and my slight exasperation with my poorly chosen diary for this year. My flatmate's response was "Will you get some shoulder pads to go with it?" but I laugh (ha! ha!) because I have big plans to use some blue check Swandri fabric and a cute 70s felt transfer that Liz gave me years ago to give the Filofax some serious pizzaz.  I'm also quite in love with the idea of my increasingly epic organisation.

Wednesday List: Sublimely Silly

"...the day you stopped appreciating the sublimely silly things in life was the day you became a dried up old turd."

- Candace Bushnell, Lipstick Jungle

This book is driving me nuts (basically, it completely sucks), but this quote is stuck in my head. Can you believe I am lauding the exceptionally silly Ms Bushnell herself? I am confused too.

I love the concept of "sublimely silly", which I am choosing to identify as something so laughably OTT that it reaches a sort of apotheosis. To further define, I present a list of things that are, in my esteemed opinion, sublimely silly:

♥ Jilly Cooper books, Valley of the Dolls, Nancy Mitford's entire oeuvre. Agatha Christie's wonderfully awesome Hercule Poirot books. He always gets his man no matter how far fetched. Love.

♥  Foods cooked inside other foods - brownies inside cookies, pies inside cakes, turducken. Carpet-bag steak. Angels on horseback. All these things are good and exceptionally ridiculous.

♥  Early morning conversations with your lover. Example: conversation regarding the likelihood of Michael Moore coming to your house and wanting to come in, and not being able to because the door is locked; the original subject being "why we shouldn't lock the front door at night".

♥  Camp A Low Hum.

♥  Dancing in the kitchen to "Single Ladies", the Letters to Cleo cover of "I Want You to Want Me", "Non, je ne regrette rien" or the soundtrack to Cabaret.

♥ The Tudors. Vis:

AND here is the always Sublimely Silly Kate Beaton's take on the whole shamozzle:

♥ In a similar vein: Rome. Don't even bother putting your bodice on.

♥ New series: Sherlock. With that dude from The League of Gentlemen as Mycroft! Tumeke, e hoa, tumeke.

Ok lovelies: more suggestions for Sublimely Silly?

The Great Knicker-Making Mission, Part the First

I want to make my own knickers. It's like, an obsession. I can't tell you when exactly the urge to make knickers began, but I began sewing mid-July-ish. This is a little journal of what I've done so far. I'm strangely enjoying myself in this project, despite the amount of frustrations I've had so far, and I have big plans for redrafting patterns and trying other patterns and even *gasp* shopping for patterns. I am determined to make my own knickers. DAMN IT.

Tee Shirt Knickers - Mark I

My first attempt was making knickers out of tee-shirt fabric. Mixed results with this one, mostly a result of my iffy elastic sewing skills, and my lack of experience in drafting. I can make casings and thread knicker elastic through without any problems, but sewing on pretty lacy knicker elastic has been a dreadful mess. Thus:

I felt a little disappointed after these initial attempts and put everything aside for a few weeks. A lot later, I dug out a bunch of half finished tee-shirt knickers and took the advice on The Zen of Making; sewing elastic around the top opening only and leaving the legs holes merely overlocked. Better, but again my poor elastic sewing skills let me down. This particular attempt made some undies that are a wee bit big around the top. I shall unpick the elastic and sew some more on. Perhaps, in future, I will measure myself first? It's crazy, but it just might work.

I'm not yet done with this concept. I think the pattern needs more work, but.

French Knickers - Mark I

Weeks after the tiny crabbed knickers disaster, I spent an entire weekend working on The Perfect Pair of French Knickers. My drafting abilities seem to have improved since the original Tee Shirt Knicker attempt, so that's a blessing. Unfortunately, the patterns I've been working from are vintage patterns cadged from an infrequently kept website called Frilly Bits and I was kind of working in the dark when I was making my first pair. Pour example: the first pair I drafted had allowance for a placket, yet I had no idea what a placket was until I looked it up on Wikipedia. I kind of just bunged something in to make the placket worthwhile. The something I bunged in isn't awesome.

After making my first pair of French knickers I decided they while the pattern was pretty cool, the knickers weren't particularly practical (given the height of jeans etc). I tried drafting another pattern for a lower slung pair and almost cut myself in half!  So, back to the drawing board on this one. I think I'll try the other pattern referred to on the site and see how that works out.

Knitted Knickers - Mark the Only. I SWEAR.

The same weekend I started sewing I also began knitting some lacy French knickers but after knitting laboriously for three or four days I discovered that my lace knitting skillz haven't yet reached the heights needed to make these bad boys. So. NO TO KNITTED KNICKERS, unless, I suppose, my butt is really cold next year and I find a really good pattern that doesn't involve me losing my mind over complicated lace panels.

I'm having some serious fun with this, and I'm determined to get this right. The sewing machine/construction of garments will NOT get the better of me. I have not yet begun to show what I am capable of making.

There will be more, completed and epically awesome.

Or. There Will Be Blood.

Here is a list of underwear making references for yooooooooooou.

The Zen of Making (tee shirt undies)

Rachel, on Instructables (drafting your own pattern)

Belle and Burger (my original inspiration - tee shirt undies)

Supernaturale (which I've used most often - tee shirt undies)

Marmadaisy (string knickers)

One Hour Craft (smaller string knickers)

French Knickers (guide to a draft - with the mysterious "placket)

Haslam French Knickers (scanned instructions for drafting on Flickr, here and here)

Also, I've just found this list of patterns on Whip Up (some of which I've already listed).

Investigative Blogging: money and Other People

I know lots of interesting people (so lucky), and most of these people have and spend money in a completely different way to me. In an effort to keep me and other peeps enthused, I've started interviewing people about their attitudes towards money and how it is that they are able to keep doing the awesome things that they do!

Lizzie (L) and Me, extreme-close-up-and-three-years-ago Edition. 

This is an interview with the Lovely Lizzie, who I've known since high school (oh those days!). Amongst the other fascinating things that makes up her loveliness, Liz runs a second hand stall at Camden Passage in Angel, London, on Saturdays, and is planning to open a shop soon. If you're in London you should visit and benefit from her Amazing Eye for such things.

Liz has always impressed me with her ability to be apparently so relaxed with money - she's inspirational in that she Lives Within her Means. Also she's very funny.


Ginger: I’ve had savings accounts on and off since I was a kid, but until relatively recently I’ve been pretty crap at keeping on top of it. How about you - do you have a savings account? When did you first start saving?

Lizzie: Am also very very very bad at saving. The only times I’ve ever been able to do it is when I’m saving for something v specific, over a short and determined period of time. That said, extreme poverty upon arrival in London did force me into a quite nifty savings/current account arrangement. When I get paid I put all of my money immediately into a savings account. I then transfer a weekly budget each Monday. This seems to be the only way that I can resist spending my entire pay cheque in the first fortnight of a monthly (!) pay cycle. Although it has the downside of making me feel a bit like a ten year old with pocket money. Now that I’ve written that, maybe the pocket money thing is more of an upside.

What about a credit card? If yes, how do you use it (i.e. as oppose to a debit card, hardly at all and pay back immediately, or, like me, max it out and spend three years paying it back?)

No credit card at the moment – my bank won’t let me! But I generally have a large fear of credit. I used to have one with the BNZ. Started out at a $3000 limit which they arbitrarily extended to $10 000. This caused me to lie awake at night wondering if my card had been swiped from my purse without me noticing. I am pretty good with credit cards though – tended to only use it to buy things online and had such a deep dread of interest that I would pay it off within the month.

You run what I have no doubt at all is a pretty awesome second hand stall. How did you come up with the capital you needed to get it going? How are you finding managing the money and accounting side of your business? 

This question made me laugh with great joy. My stall is amazing, but its money and accounting sides are somewhat akin to a giant mock tudor mansion standing on stilt legs in the middle of a lake. Basically, when we started the stall we each put in around £100 to buy stock with. Since then, it’s been entirely self-funding but pays us pretty much nothing (aside from wine and salami sandwiches). We keep all of our money in a fetching black leatherette bumbag and don’t keep track of either out or ingoings. We know that we have had one too many free pub lunches when the bumbag runs dry, what follows is usually a couple of slightly desperate weeks when we actively sell things to people rather than just sitting a couple of metres away gossiping and drinking tea.

Despite this somewhat precarious financial situation, we are hoping to open a shop. This may sound rash. [In fact, writing it makes my heart race in an uncomfortable manner that has little to do with the four cups of coffee I’ve had this morning.] But our plans are essentially dependant on finding a shop with very cheap rent; being prepared to sell everything we own even the most cherished of secondhand possessions; both continuing to work essentially full-time at other places and each being alone in the shop for a couple of days a week [happy offshoot to this lone selling: a shop dog for company]; plus we have grand and exciting plans to use said shop’s windows as an exhibition space for funny designers. And, we would borrow around £3000 to get us started.

Exciting but exhausting. Will let you know how it goes.

How would you characterise your attitude towards money - would you describe yourself as a saver or a spender? And on the day to day - are you a hard core budgeter, or do you just take the money as it comes?

Definitely a spender. That said, relocation to England and student-based poverty has made me realise am not as much of a frivolous spender as I had previously imagined. I still buy lots of things that I don’t need, but most of my non-essential money is spent on having a fun life – going out for meals, drinks, buying coffees. [Also, I have an almost obsessive need to always have a bottle of wine and flowers in my house. This seems ridiculous, but no budgeting can ever make me stop.] What I haven’t done at all since moving here and being struck down with financial lack, is buy things. I haven’t bought any new clothes for about two years, and I never buy books or things for my house [only exception to this recently is an AMAZING 1930s children’s tea-set. It was irresistible to me].

Basically, I am excellent at spending all of the money that I have, but not living outside my means. This is generally a pretty good way to be, I think, apart from the brief moments of panic when I think about wanting to buy a house and the deep deep distance that my frittering of any penny puts me away from that point.

Finally, do you have anything that you want to add in terms of HOTT money tips?

Nope, not really. Except maybe that there is a whole world of wonder that can reached with a bag of potatoes in times of acute financial crisis?

Thanks Lizzie my love, I shall see you soon I hope. Good luck with everything!

Sunday Awesome

A little long winded - but the animation is cute and sentiment is sweet too.

Investigative Blogging: make up and other beauty crap

I have so much stuff. I periodically purge, but almost like magic I am promptly inundated with crap in record time (in this, I'm not unlike the garage of our flat. COINCIDENCE?) When I started thinking about my budget, I considered putting aside dollars for beauty bits (moisturiser, mascara et al) but I couldn't honestly think what on earth I would need to buy. To clarify: I'm not terribly high maintenance. I don't wear a hell of a lot of makeup, I've cut and dyed my own hair for the last two or three year, and I've spent years whittling any kind of beauty routine down to the bare essentials.

Apart from living my minimalist beauty routine I have also been:

Emptying the baskets. At the moment I am trying to work my way through two baskets of half-used up products, left over from the days when I fell in love with the concept of new products once a week or so. A lot of the using up is to do with repurposing the stuff that I have - I've been using some overly harsh facial exfoliants as body scrubs, and some cream cleansers as eye make up removers. Not perfect, but I swear I am not buying eye make up remover until I've got rid of it all.

Making my own body scrubs. Did you know you can make very effective body scrubs from household ingredients? Cheap! My favourite is made of brown sugar, oatmeal and sweet almond oil or honey. It's gentle and effective. Another one I want to try uses coffee grinds and almond oil. I have a big jar and I scoop out handfuls of the stuff as I go. I think the Boy is less than impressed with finding porridge on the floor of the shower though. 

Make up goes on the List of Want where I interrogate it. Thoroughly. Do I really need more primer? 

Reusable make up pads/wipes. I've blogged about these before, but now I truly see their beauty. I haven't bought cotton wool or make up pads for weeks, nay, months. J'ADORE.

Not a Product Princess. I like posh products, but not enough to bankrupt myself. Also, I've honed down the routine to include things that are long lasting and can be bought in bulk.

MMMMMMenstrual Cup. I love my menstrual cup. And I love it's one off investment-ness. I can't recommend this highly enough in general, and now I proudly put it on my list of money making ventures. Booyakasha.

Thursday. Arohanui time

 haven't been feeling the blogging mojo so much this week. But it's all good! All about enjoying the habit, isn't it?

So, anyhow (and if it isn't patently obvious), Arohanui is Things I Love Thursday by any other name - originating from Gala Darling, an opportunity to make a list of things I love and, thusly, be super enthused for the rest of the week.

In no particular order (and apparently involving a great deal of CAPS LOCK):

♥ Sleeping with the Boy. Gushy and kinda gross to share I know, but I adore sharing my bed. And I haven't been late to work one day this week, so I must have found a way to mediate this love of spooning with productivity?

♥ Yoga times. My favourite things at the moment are: shoulder stands and being stretched into position by my instructor, and THE SPACE. Choosing to go somewhere and do something solely for myself, by myself. It's the polar opposite of roller derby in terms of exercise, and there is no pressure to make attendance. I love not having to make attendance anywhere.

♥ The ongoing underwear making habit. I'm learning the fine art of Patience in Sewing, which is an excellent lesson indeed. My most recent prototype is Prototype 4 - I've drafted a pattern but I haven't yet sewn a pair of those bad boys. BUT I'M EXCITED TO TRY! Tonight is the night, verily.

♥ My new flatmate. She is fun and likes drinking wine and makes pie and other delicious foodstuffs, and isn't afraid to eat all the porky dumplings at yum cha. Also, it's fun to have another girl in the flat and talk about shoes in the kitchen. Apparently, the sound of cackling fills the house. Ah, cackling. Also also, I haven't tried yet but I suspect that she would DANCE IN THE LOUNGE to "Single Ladies" should I apply pressure at the right time.

♥ I'm in charge of my money! And I'm in love with the feeling. It is one of the best feelings ever to know where my money is at, how much I have to spend and how my debt repayments are going. I don't feel fear when I log in to online banking, I feel pride. It's a pretty fucking cool feeling. Tears baby, tears.

And now, for your time wasting pleasure:

Thinking this would be good to see at the cinema... Can't see a release date for NZ yet though. DRAMATIC.

Today is Tuesday, and I am attempting to make myself ENTHUSIASTIC and crap

ear people, today I am not very inspired at all. This is mostly to do with going to bed late last night which was very silly. Also, not very patient (quelle surprise). Also also, I suffered a budget fail over lunch time and overspent on fabric. I am getting straight back on that bandwagon though - I only have one thing that I'm committed to doing this week, and I will just have to keep my spending to the bare minimum. That's just the way it is, y'all.

via FFFFound

♥ Looking like: My look for today is Naughty Librarian - sensible, yet sexy (mrrowh). I'm wearing a brown and black checked mini skirt that I made myself and a black vintage tee-shirt with silver sequined leaves sewn on it. Heavy tights and black patent leather lace-up flats.

Also, my skin is pretty crappy at the moment (I rather thrashed it during the weekend) and I'm letting it effect my happiness a little. I think I'll go and do something wicked exciting to make myself feel more upbeat. Coffee, perhaps?

♥ Listening to: Stephen Fry read me Harry Potter audio books. Oh, yes please. Don't mind if I do experience Stephen whispering sweet audiobooks into my ears. Oh yes Stephen, you are my secret - and unlikely - lover.

Much as I love audiobooks and geeking about, I think that I would like to find some newish music to listen to soon ... I need to broaden my horizons. I think I'll get the Boy to recommend me some and thoroughly overhaul my iPod. Yeah! iPod purge is awesome good time fun!

♥ Fad a la Mode: Making my own knickers. I've been working on this for weeks. It's a bit stressful but mostly fun. I can't wait to succeed! I have plans to make a whole post about the mission, so watch this space for news and stuff. And endless ranting about PLACKETS and GUSSETS, two of the finest words in the English language, if I do say so.

♥ Watched this Week: The Tudors (awesome) and the third series of Underbelly. What do these two series have in common? Sex and death, people, sex and death (and BOOBS). The Tudors rocks my world.

♥ Reading: Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell. I'm reading it for book club (I think I've mentioned this) but I seriously cannot get excited about it. The style of writing is like that of Jilly Cooper; but while Jilly is awesome and rocks my world because the material she writes is dreadful and hilarious, I'm just not interested in the career woes of a bunch of unsympathetic uber super New York women like the main protagonists in Lipstick Jungle.

Anyways, we'll see. I'll probably fall in love with it by the fourth chapter or something and then be horribly embarrassed about liking something I've so openly panned.

♥ Webreading: I've been trying to keep myself enthusiastic about saving and have been reading a bunch of thrifting and saving and inspiration blogs. You should maybe look at Shopaholly and Thrifty Chick pour examplar. Also, I find Unclutterer can help to keep me on the straight and narrow. Oh, and I've really liked a bunch of posts on the Happiness Blog lately: 8 Tips for Boosting Your Energy Right Now and 5 Common Happiness Mistakes. Especially that bit about "treating yourself".

♥ Anticipation: Finally completing a good pair of undies; baking pie with my new flat mate tonight (boysenberry, rhubarb, apple); upcoming trip to Christchurch!

On Monday, I drink all the coffee.

Top to bottom: Ffffound, Bellen, Toothpaste for Dinner, Bellen again.

Also, did you hear? No more Bellen! *sad face*

Sunday Awesome: I love Poirot. And Poirot jokes.

Kinoko Fry

Investigative Blogging: money and the fine art of Not Frittering It Away on Food*

Dudes, I love food and I also love eating. Also, I like drinking coffee. Since I started working in the city again, buying lunch has been ridiculously expensive. So much choice! Insanely tasty filled baguettes! So much delicious coffee!

When I started dealing properly with my finances, I knew that one thing that was going to have to change was my expenditure on food and alcohol and coffee. I was going to have to take it in hand and learn the Way of the Budget. There are a couple of things that I've done that have definitely helped me out.

1. LeleleleleLEFTOVERS! Are usually delicious. Not always easy to remember to pack one's lunch however. Also, I share a flat and we share food, so I can't always rely on leftovers for lunch the next day. My second plan then is ...

2. Food at work. I usually keep the makings of toasted sandwiches, miso soup and fruit at work. Sometimes I go crazy and get something like a box of muesli bars or a packet of sante bars. The supermarket that is closest to my work specialises in gourmet bits so the toasted sandwiches are often filled with things like garlicky fromage stuff and extremely posh Italian salami, but nonetheless it works out considerably cheaper. And it keeps me away from the shops on Cuba Street which is always a good thing.

3. Prepaid Coffee Card. I am completely addicted to coffee, and espresso is one of my little life treats. When I started budgeting I worked out how much I spent weekly on espresso and while it's horrifying, I knew that I would be more likely to spend more if I didn't allow for it on my weekly expenditure. The cafe that is nicest and closest to my work is Milk Crate, who offer a discount for re-usable cups (I have one) and has a pre-paid coffee card that allows you to get eight coffees for the price of ten.**  This means that I spend $34 dollars for a fortnight's worth of soy flat white from Milk Crate. Technically this saves me about eight dollars from the cost price, but in actual fact it controls my expenditure more - I don't go around buying coffees willy nilly because I know that the allowance has already been allocated.

4. Take your food wherever you go. Over time, I've developed a wee "Everyday Food Kit" for carrying snacks and water around with me. It consists of a banana holder, a bottle of water (largish one) and a snack tube, which is made of three reasonably sized compartments that screw into one another in a stack. The plan is that where ever I go I take food with me, and am then less inclined to buy myself "a little snack" or "a little treat". Having the water is pretty awesome because I don't find myself buying revolting sickly sweet drinks that I don't really want, I am pretty consistently hydrated (get my eight glasses etc) and I'm not drinking out of one of those creepy plastic bottles that leach chemicals into whatever you're drinking. Banana holders sound ridiculous, HOWEVER; as we all know, there is no better snack in this world than a banana, but there is nothing worse to eat than a battered banana. Gross. Banana holder saves me from fear of battered banana consumption.

Not pictured here but definitely worth a mention is my Keep Cup, the praises of which cannot be sung high enough. Not only does it save me money (see above) and help save the planet (imagine how many coffee cups I haven't used since I've had it?) it also controls my coffee spending: when I don't have my cup with me and I don't have time to sit down and have my coffee, I am far less inclined to buy myself one. It removes the issue entirely. And it gives me space to decide whether or not I need to spend that extra four dollars.

5. Not going out for dinner as often as I used to. It's just self control and sometimes, it sucks. On the other hand, going out for dinner is more of a treat these days, and as a result I tend to enjoy it more. I've also stopped eating so much takeout food (ordering pizza), which is better for my health too - I tend to think carefully about what take out food I want if I'm going to get any at all. Also, I've discovered that I get a kind of masochistic pleasure from walking past all the cafes and take out places on the way home, toying with the idea of buying something, drinking in the smells and imagining the delicious spicy flavours, but ultimately cooking something with the ingredients in the house. Dude, it's SICK.

6. Eating at home - a budget and sharing expenses. I'm in the extremely lucky position of living in a flat where we share expenses and food at a set rate, shop pretty thoroughly and don't skimp on ingredients. I don't know if it would be as easy to live like this if I didn't have that luxury - but if you can instigate something like that, I strongly recommend it. In saying that, we visit the vege markets every Sunday and do the majority of the flat food shop there, which works out really cheap. We don't eat a hell of a lot of meat, and a big supermarket shop normally happens only once every fortnight or so. We don't buy pre-prepared foods or sauces or convenience foods, and I am lucky in that all of my flatmates like cooking and challenging themselves. All in all, we eat a really healthy, varied diet and don't spend crap loads of money to do so. Awesome.

While I'm on about money (because it happens so infrequently, lulz) here is my debt unicorn...

And, I'm keen as a bean to hear if you have any more suggestions!

*Pun Intended
**I think that it's also possible to pre-pay coffee at Mojo.

So. Much. Gah.

Yes. Another one of these days.
via Yasmine at A Print A Day

I have been sick for the last few days, hence my absence. Today, not only am I still feeling ill, but also I am stupid tired. And thus, stupid grumpy. Dudes, I don't even feel like eating toasted sandwiches.

So, because I am in a relentlessly grumpy mood I'm going to indulge myself and make a list of things that are bugging me today and OTHERWISE MAKING ME GRUMPY SO I HAVE TO WRITE IN CAPS.

• Everything disappearing - my address book, a list things I need to do for work, MY SCISSORS (although these don't disappear so much as get taken by someone in the office not naming any names. And to be frank I don't want to be the stationery Nazi so I never say anything. So I probably don't have a leg to stand on here)
• Messy bedroom waiting for me when I get home. BOO TO YOU, messy bedroom. It's moments like this that I wish I was a wizard or something. I used to dream about this when I was a kid too.
• Horribly faded hair. Time for redye. Before I vomit into the sink from looking at my faded hussiness.
• Being grumpy at good friends because of my all encompassing grumpiness. 
• This zit on my cheek: WHAT ARE YOU AND WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE?
• Not being able to taste anything because of this stupid cold. Stupid cold I stupid hate you. Stupid.
• Aches and pains: from fluey stuff, in my ankle, in my knee. Yesterday I swear the bottom of my lungs ached and I could feel them under my rib cage? I don't even know if that makes sense.
• My very sweet friend's relentless party spam. I have received two emails, a Facebook invite and a text message. Darling, I know you're having a party. I have RSVP'ed. Let's leave it alone now, ok?

And to conclude: this is what I wish I was doing.

I am going to get my Angry Walrus on and stand on all your BONES

The weekend and my lace knitting incompetencies.

On Saturday my main concern was avoiding Dave during his moving out process, so I stalked down to Deluxe with Shannon and drank coffee and then went over to the library. I raided the audio books for any Agatha Christie or Ngaio Marsh that I hadn't thrashed yet, and then went through the knitting magazines where, to my utter delight, I found a pattern that I'd seen on the internet and desperately wanted to make - Offering Mitts, by Nancy Bush. This is what they should look like:

Offering Mitts, Nancy Bush. TO DIE FOR.

I think that they're absolutely stunning, and I wanted to make them the moment I saw them. I rushed home from the library and cast on with some pale blue Touch Yarns merino fingering. Then I attempted to knit the cuff, unravelled what I'd knitted, got as far as the 19th row of the lace pattern, unravelled again, cast on again, knitted the cuff... At 4am I realised what the time was and finally packed up the knitting. This is easily the hardest thing I've ever knitted because of the level of concentration I need to devote to the lace pattern - the pattern is different for each row, and at the end of each row I have to stop and count the stitches to make sure that I haven't fucked up. It feels as though I've unravelled each row at least once. Shannon is impressed by what I've done so far; I'm just hoping that they won't look too gammy when I'm done. Blocking hides a multitude of evils??

Lace knitting is one of those things that I love the look of, but I wonder if I really have the level of concentration needed. Essentially, I don't think that I do. Over the last two years I've knitted maybe four lace items: two cowls from the same pattern, a scarf for my mum, and a pair of socks. All of these have mistakes in them, but I just didn't care that much before and the mistakes weren't very obvious. But on these mitts the lace is everything and there is no point working on them unless I concentrate really hard. Enter, The Age of Enthusiastic Lace Knitting. I can tell now that I won't get these finished until next winter.

The Book Club is preparing for something new and exciting for our next meeting - we will acquire Literary Society status for exactly one evening, and discuss the most highbrow of all literature, Chick Lit. Cutesy genre titles piss me off, BTW. I raided the bookshelves in our lounge that is full of abandoned books, cassettes, CDs, DVDs and videos, and found at least two possibilities. It looks as though I'm going to be reading Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell, and I fully expect to be shocked and horrified by how horrible it is. In fact, I think I'm looking forward to it.

Also on my "reading/to read shelf", Wedlock; How Georgian Britain's Worst Husband Met his Match by Wendy Moore, Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence, Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Unset, Intertwined; The Art of Handspun Yarn, Modern Patterns and Creative Spinnning by Lexi Boeger, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.

I cooked dinner for the flat on Sunday night, and made a caramelised onion, mushroom and feta tart and a marguerita pie for dessert. I was extremely pleased with my caramelised onion efforts as I added no sugar and only a splash of balsamic vinegar and still managed to get everything sweet and delicious - seriously long cooking. Adding mustard seeds was a pretty awesome decision too, if I do say so myself. The marguerita pie was the second attempt I've made at this recipe and I've discovered a bunch of stuff: it should be frozen for more like five or six hours rather than the four suggested; the cream should be whipped fairly stiffly; the base should use half a cup of butter instead of 3/4 of a cup and a good teaspoon of salt doesn't go amiss; a couple of dashes of tabasco lifts the filling no end. Also, you can get away with adding almost five tablespoons of tequila with no ill effect. I'll republish the recipe once I've tweaked it properly, and once I've worked out how much half a cup of butter actually weighs. Can't stand American measurements of butter by cups.

Fact: These two pies/tarts have the same sweet/salty flavour combination going on. I love sweet and salty together. It makes me happier than anything else.

I've begun working on my ten more things list, and am quite stoked with my progress so far. I've worn two things that I hardly ever wear, had two Buy Nothing days last week, spent a half hour working on the SCP archive, and have already organised my wardrobe for the Six Items or Less challenge. I haven't heard from the Six Items people yet though. Dudes, I'm totally hanging out here for the challenge to start. I've been looking at my accessories quite obsessively too... so many plans.

Finally, it's crazy freaking FREEZING today, easily the coldest it's been in weeks. The Metservice is telling me that the actual temperature is 6.9C, and it feels like 2C. I want to know where the snow is. If I'm putting up with ridiculously cold temperatures, I want something to show for it GODDAMN IT. Cold.

Sunday Awesome: DEAD.

Another week of making for Ms. Ginger Jane

I made some more things this week. I LOVE MAKING THINGS THE MOST. Sometimes, I feel as though I could spend all day everyday squirreled away at home making beautiful things and feeling terribly smug about how good I am at it. Although, then I think seriously about the quality of some of my sewing and that batch of biscuits that I burnt and I feel less smug generally. Whoops.

Triple Play Peanut Butter Cookies: WHY ARE YOU SO DAMN GOOD.

I forgot about a batch of these when I made them and they were burnt to a crisp. I'm glad I didn't burn the house down though, because that would have just been embarrassing. On the other hand, letting my flatmates see the charred remains of shame was just fine. They were like little black lumps of remorse.

It was only twelve though. The rest were freaking awesome. They come out crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle, which is pretty much the optimum texture for home baked biscuits in my opinion. I strongly recommend that you try the recipe.

Ultra Miniskirt TIMES FIVE!

Five skirts! My wardrobe is 5x revitalised. And yes - there are just three here. I couldn't be arsed pulling out the others for my craft evening photo shoot.

The skirts are made from a free pattern by Tina Sparkles and it was very easy to throw the skirts together, even with my lack of sewing skills. I used a bunch of fabric I've had around for ages (mostly thrifted and repurposed), and some pretty awesomely cool 80s fabric that I picked up for the purpose at the Opshop for $4. They're pretty much little bag skirts made in a square with elastic waists. Tina's instructions for constructing a pattern to your own measurements were really clear, and even my maths-challenged and impatient self was able to follow the instructions. Apparently she's releasing a book called Little Green Dresses. I think I want it.

Enormous satchel bag
This is from a book called One Piece of Fabric by Lena Santana. The book is filled with these adorable patterns made in beautiful floral prints and with bias edgings on pretty much everything, and when I bought it I fell in love with nearly everything in the book because it was all so insanely twee and cute and beautiful. I may have squeed while standing in Minerva. However, while I'm mostly pleased with my efforts, I feel that I really deserve a "must try harder". I used bias binding for the first time ever while making this bag and it's a little - haphazard, to say the least. I really am a horribly impatient seamstress.

The fabric is all thrifted, and is a sort of green-brown (can't see it very well above - my photography skills and camera combined = grrrRRAH). The best thing about the bag is completely invisible in this photo, and that's the really cute floral lining inside. Really cute! You'll have to trust me on this one.

More of the Boy's scarf
Behold: the worlds largest, and possibly lumpiest scarf.

This is just over half of the scarf (it's knitted in four panels). I tried to use a bunch of different yarns in my stash with a mixed result, to say the least. There is three different kinds of handspun in the scarf and I think it's my early spinning efforts that are really bringing the whole thing down. I've crocheted the bits together and around the edges in an effort to get it to lay flat... not working so awesomely well at the moment. I'm hoping like hell that it will block out well. The patterns suggests pressing, but I'm thinking I'm going to go for a full on wet block because at this point I HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE.

This weekend I'm planning to work some more on the scarf, maybe cast on for the second sock (booooring), make a marguerita pie and gussy up my pink tunic with some bias and a scalloped hem.