The view from my window

The view from my window
The view from my window

Saturday, 3 October 2020

Autumn's cancelled due to lack of interest!

2020 has been such a weird year I guess somebody forgot to mention to Mother Nature that autumn is supposed to come between summer and winter! But nope, it looks like we're heading straight into winter just for the hell of it! Or at least, that's what it looks like according to the weather forecast for the next two weeks. Rain, rain, and guess what, more rain! That being said, at the moment it isn't raining all day long. For instance I've been able to get out and work in the garden for about an hour each day so it's liveable, but in the evenings it pours down and right now the wind is howling! Oh well, there's nothing we can do about it is there!

Today I decided to take a run out and have a look at a few bathroom supply places, and to be honest I haven't been very impressed. The two I went to are the places that Max deals with with his company and while they're expensive I'm told they are quality suppliers. Hmm, I'm not so sure though! A bit too pricey and not appealing enough for my taste maybe! On the way home I thought I'd take a trip out to a big DIY place here called Leroy Merlin and then I had the inspired idea to maybe take a trip out to IKEA, Geneva, next week and have a wander round. I don't know about you but I really like IKEA. I think they have bright, fun and well-coordinated stuff and while I'm not too keen on their sofas, everything else seems to hit the spot for me, at far lower prices than the places I went to today. There's no rush but if I do find anything I like there, I would have to order it from IKEA, Grenoble (France) as I couldn't get the €€€€€ amount of stuff I would need to order through the border duty-free. Still, if I do go ahead with IKEA Grenoble I'll have them deliver it too! I did that when my husband moved out (he took our bedroom set) so I had them deliver it all and carry it upstairs for me. After that, it was assembly time (I did it all on my own). I was telling my old boss that I probably would have gotten it assembled quicker without the wine but he told me that IKEA and wine go hand in hand just like IKEA and meatballs (he's Danish, so he should know)! Still, I'm in no rush anyway, and once I narrow my selection down I might get Jordan to take a trip out there with me (I'm sure he'll be thrilled)!

In other news I've almost finished the "sunbonnet Sue" baby quilt I started a year ago! I guess it was wishful thinking, but I had wanted to make a baby quilt for ages so I downloaded three pictures off the internet, cut and quilted all the little individual pieces and really had fun doing it. I started sewing the border on it last Monday but wasn't happy with it, so what you see here is just tacked on, but that'll soon get done. I would also like to sew a photo of Jordan and Jen on the back of it, but I haven't got round to it yet!


You can't really see it from the picture but things like the skis, the leaping fish, the cow, the lollipop and the dog are like buttons that I sewed on, and if Jen decides to use it for the baby (rather than just for decoration), those will have to come off, but that will be up to Jen!

On another note, I saw in the newspaper today a story about a young woman (university student no less) who had had a few drinks with her mates when one of them bet her she wouldn't fit her bum in the dryer (as you do)! Yeah, that's what I was thinking too! So apparently she managed to get her legs and hips into the machine, crossed her legs at the knees and got stuck! I mean, who couldn't have seen that coming? So her mates ended up having to call the fire brigade out, and they spent 20 minutes freeing her from the dryer while her supportive mates filmed the whole episode. Now quite a few comments were of the type "she should be ashamed of herself, wasting their time like that" and so on, but the firemen were actually laughing and I got a good giggle out of the video too. Hell, if you don't do stuff like that when you're young, when do you do it? I'm sure it's a story she'll be able to dine out on for a good few years!




This young woman got her head stuck in a drying rack.
I don't think the fire brigade were needed this time though!

Which reminds me (of course it does, I couldn't let this one pass could I)? When I was 16 I went hiking/youth hostelling with my friends in Cornwall. It was a hot summer's night and my friends and I spotted a bunch of other young people sitting round a camp fire on the beach. They invited us to join them and someone offered me a glass of scrumpy which, little did I know, is pretty lethal Cornish cider. After a couple of glasses of that we all started packing our things up when I commented to one of the young lads that I was feeling rather hot. And that was when he pointed out that I was sitting on the embers of the camp fire that they'd just kicked sand over! So no more scrumpy for me then right! But oh to be young and foolish again!

22 comments:

  1. Well, your quilt is a beauty! I have suddenly realized that I need to make two "name" quilts. One for Maggie, one for August. When Hank and May were littles, for Christmas one year I made them pajamas and quilts of the same flannel fabric and the quilts had their names on them. Since then I have made name quilts for Jessie and Lily, Owen, and Gibson and now it is time to make quilts for A&M. I need to get started because there is handwork to be done on them and Christmas will be here before I know it.
    I'm sorry for going on about that. It's just been on my mind.
    I've never been to an Ikea but my daughter Jessie and her husband designed their kitchen with Ikea cabinets and drawers. I would live to visit one sometime.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha, you're going to make two quilts before Christmas and mine has taken me about 18 months all told. Ok it was put down and taken up again but still. I want to put my name, date of birth and the date it was made on the back too, plus a photo and name of the baby as and when it's born. Maybe I'll get back into it now the winter is here. As for IKEA, apart from the fact that you need a GPS to get out of there I absolutely love the place!

      Delete
  2. P.S. I would rather not discuss some of the foolish things I did when I was young. Some of them I look back on with a smile, some with horror!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll keep your secrets. I'm sure our parents would roll in their graves but then again I'm sure we don't know the half of what THEY did do we!

      Delete
  3. October is our driest month. We are currently enjoying high 70s and 80s. I do hope rain and winter holds off here. I'm glad you had someone there to tell you were sitting in live coals.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Early menopause would have been a possibility but I was only 16!

      Delete
  4. Back in the dark ages when Moms put their children in grocery cart seats without a protective layer of fabric between them and the cart seat (aside: it is taking everything in me to refrain from calling them buggies) I went to the grocery store and plopped my under two year old son directly on the seat. He was a wiggly child and a born climber, so it was not unusual for him to start to stand on the seat. Every other time I would grab his little body and plop him back in a seated position. This time though, he slipped and fell through the leg opening___until it came to his head which was hopelessly stuck. I held his body up while a store employee got a screwdriver and wrench and disassembled the seat. I still blame TheHub for those large noggin genetics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Eewww, I never heard of anyone putting protective fabric in the shopping carts, although I probably would now but only because of covid (as well as wipe all the handles down), but goodness, fancy getting stuck by his head!!! And I'm sure there were a few people tut tutting because THEY were perfect parents and would never have done such a thing! Jordan was a climber too and I remember him standing up in the seat when he was about two. I just dropped everything and ran and grabbed him. I have another story about André, a bike, and a small cliff, but I'll save that for another day!

      Delete
  5. That quilt looks really very cute. It surely has taken a lot of time but a lot more love I guess. As for IKEA for the bathrooms, that is what I did with the sink, the vanity and cabinets. I selected the tiles, the walk in shower cabin and base from a Leroy Merlin type store called the Bauhaus. I think, they are a part of a German chain. I bought the faucets and shower head from GROHE. I had a handyman to install all that. I even had the piping from my door step to the bathroom replaced so, it turned out to be a very messy job. However, I do not regret it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm definitely going to have a look at IKEA sometime soon just to get some ideas now I have an idea of the prices here at the specialist places. My son isn't thrilled - he says to get the cupboards etc from there but not the actual fittings but I'll see what it looks like. He has said he will do all the plumbing and installation and knows several people who can do the tiling. I'm not looking forward to the mess (it won't be anytime soon anyway) but it definitely needs doing!

      Delete
  6. Young and foolish can be fun. We all have those 'what was I thinking' moments, sometimes they're amusing and others frightening. You can get some really good looking, fairly inexpensive things at IKEA. Sadly, the closest one to me is near Philadelphia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh young and foolish was a lot of fun for me. I came to Switzerland when I was 21 and was suddenly earning an absolute fortune (to me), so those five years before I got married were an absolute blast! I'm glad to hear you give IKEA a fair thumbs up though since you're in the business anyway!

      Delete
  7. We are having some Fall around here and it's nice after a long hot self-quarantined summer.

    And your quilt is adorable. So talented!

    As for Dryer Bum Girl ... I did lots of dumb things when I was younger and perhaps liquored up, but I never needed a team of firemen to get me out of my predicaments, though, now that I think of it .....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the compliments on the quilt. There are TONS of mistakes in it but I can live with that. To my mind quilts are supposed to be "amateur" anyway! And I suspect alcohol has a lot to answer for with most of us, and while I never got my bum stuck in a dryer the thought of having handsome firemen come to my rescue is quite tempting isn't it!

      Delete
  8. The quilt is so sweet. I’m happy for you all. That’s a funny story in the dryer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the nice words Sam, and have a lovely break!

      Delete
  9. I imagine those firefighters had a great time pulling that pretty, young woman out of the dryer. They could use a good laugh about now with all of the horrible calls they've probably had in the past seven months.

    The quilt is beautiful. Now that the weather is getting cooler I'll start my grandson's quilt soon. It'll be flannel and easy to make.

    I enjoy Ikea for the organization but hate the crowds and it's always crowded. Good luck with your bathroom.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I imagine they got a good laugh out of getting her out of that dryer too. Just like doctors, they see some horrors but they must also see some really funny stuff too. I have to go into Geneva on Friday so I was thinking I might go straight after my appointment. Hopefully a working day before the lunch crowd I might be ok, although I'm not sure IKEA is ever truly uncrowded is it!

      Delete
  10. Just looking at the photos in this morning’s press of devastation on the France/Italy border caused by all your rain. Horrendous and puts our somewhat daylong shower on Saturday in Yorkshire into perspective. Hoping your weather is more ours than further south.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We've been having a lot of rain, and the wind's been blowin' a hoolie too, but we've been lucky enough to escape the devastation that some (often the same areas) get thankfully!

      Delete
  11. We're very much in autumn here. It's been not too bad lately with some cold days but quite a bit of sun too which has been lovely.
    I too love Ikea, although some of the furniture is just weird! It's kitchen units I need to look at soon so I'll have to organise a trip to Ikea soon too, I say that, it's only 20 minutes from my house, but its been very very busy since lockdown, queues right round the building type stuff!!
    Your quilt is lovely. I've threatened to make one several times and on several occasions I even cut out shapes etc, they all lie in a neat pile in a drawer waiting for me to get round to it! Story of my life!
    I wasn't a very adventurous teenager. Perhaps because I met my husband at school and married him at 20 but I tell you I wouldn't like to be young nowadays. Social media is making life much more difficult than it needs to be for teenagers I think. Too much pressure and it was bad enough in my day but at least the bullies could only torment in the playground then. 'Stepping off my soapbox now!!' xx

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think IKEA kitchens are lovely (and they install them for a price) so I'm quite excited to go and look for bathroom stuff, but if there are queues to get in I'll give it a miss. I don't want to go anywhere that much. And I wouldn't worry about not getting to your quilting. We've all got tons of UFOs (unfinished objects). I'm planning on not going to patchwork class this year just so I can get some of my UFOs finished. Oh so much to do, and so little time right!

    ReplyDelete