Nayu's Craft Time #173 Technological Updates & Friendship

This was a similar message to what I was met with this morning, only I started at 0%...

Given that I have limited energy each day, I was not best pleased today when upon starting my laptop decided do an update that took 1hr 15mins. There was nothing I could do to pause it or speed it up, so I did the next best thing and dealt with some emails on my tablet (Some had to wait), and gamed until my laptop finally settled itself. 

Because of that I have little time left for blogging. So today's is uber short, but I have something fun alongside the minor tech grumble! I visited family yesterday and a 7 year old made me this cute friendship bracelet! Please excuse the poor quality pictures - I don't have the time to keep taking them until they are good.

Apparently she taught herself how to do them using the plaiting method, and in the absence of her sister to hold the thread she was inventive & used a doorknob! I was touched to receive it and am happily wearing it - my skin is too white and blotchy to be shown on camera, hence the off the arm picture. 

It's easier to see the colours here: lilac, orangey yellow & blue

It's good timing as I'm giving her and her sister a book including how to make friendship bracelets for their next gift, so I know it will go down well! I remember making lots of friendship bracelets (mostly for myself as I didn't have lots of friends when I was younger - I was old enough to use a safety pin to secure the bracelet while I made it as I remember pinning it to my jeans.

I'll save the exciting place I went to with my family yesterday evening until tomorrow's post, until then I'd love to know if you've made a friendship bracelet and/or have received some!

Nayu's Craft Time #172 Sleepover, Cat & Crochet

Imagine sleeping here in a sleepover! It's nice & girly!!!! Sadly not my friend's house.

So this week is mostly a quiet one as I'm having dinner with family who live close by on Thursday night, and Saturday I'm sleeping over a friend's house, as she is moving to Devon in November. We meet every 2 weeks or so for coffee, so it's going to be a big change for both of us. Looking forward to it as I don't think we've had a sleepover since we were friends in uni! Which was 9 years or so ago. Super excited! 

A previous update image of my current wip

Been quite flakey so resting with gaming rather than crochet, and lots of dvds. I hope to crochet Thursday and Saturday as I'm not out until the evening and crochet is a good rest activity teamed with dvds. I want to finish my coffee & cream blanket! Will see how far I get by the end of the weekend. 

I did have more cat puke to clear up today, but this time my cat wasn't sick from eating food. I've no idea what she eat, but TMI ALERT there was definitely some plant leaf in it. She is now fast asleep, as usual at lunchtime. Time to go rest! 

Change cat for your favourite pet ^o^

Nayu's Craft Time #171 Trials of being a cat owner

She kind of looked like this the other night

Little beats going to bed and finding my medium sized fluffball sprawled across my bed, looking super cute before she settles herself on me at night. This is a privilege, because during the summer months Belle tends to prefer sleeping elsewhere: on the spare bed in various positions, on a chair in the kitchen, and who knows where else she goes. It occasionally can be my family's empty laundry basket. She is a cat who seems to walk through walls, disappearing to a place none of us know until she eventually comes out of hiding and down for some food. 

This morning she wasn't very well, so I had to clean up the warm mess. I always feel desperately sorry for her because puking is horrid, more so when the person/animal involved doesn't know what's going on. I opted not to feed her the same food for second breakfast, as it's a brand which can be problematic with her. This time there were no furballs, so the weekly brushing is working! 

Grossness aside, being ill means in my grocery shop today I'm going to try another brand of food. We have 3 in rotation, Felix, Whiskers (the one with the issues) & the Gourmet range. I'm hoping that Sainsbury's have some of their own brand in fish flavour - me & my family tend not to feed Belle meat other than chicken in the packet meals. I'll have to see - need to get a move on as my chemist closes at 1 & I need to pick up a prescription - bye! 

Nayu's Craft Time #170 Blissful craft day!

This enviably colourful crochet filled sofa with a bag of rainbow yarn is from crocheter Lucy of Attic 24! I recommend her blog, it's a fun read all about life which just happens to include a lot of colourful crochet!

Today I had plans to catch up with blog work, but feeling tired so opting for a quiet day filled with crochet and gaming. On the gaming side of things I'm in an online tournament thingy for Love Live School Idol Festival (available on android & iPads, although sadly I have to put up with the evil that is Apple since it's the only device which plays it well in my household), trying to rank high enough to get one of the higher prizes. With the way I've leveled up over the past 2 days I think this is maybe possible, so I'm going for it with all I've got! Can only play songs if I have enough energy (in the game, not my body this time) which takes time to replenish, so it's not a continuous game playing. 

How far will it grow today?

While waiting for the energy to fill up I'm going to be working on this blanket while watching my favourite season of Once Upon A Time, season 4. It has Ana & Elsa, what isn't there to like about Frozen characters being in this wonderfully crazy fairytale show? There's a tiny chance I may finish the blanket too! Very tiny, as I like season 4 and watch more fully than the other seasons. I will update you on the progress tomorrow! 

Nayu's Recipes #8 Speedy 3 veg stirfry

Sorry it's not the best picture, took it with my tablet camera.

With autumn most definitely on the way, I have plenty of meals prepared in the freezer since my body hates the cold & wet English weather so cooking is low on my agenda. Last week I needed to use up a home grown yellow courgette given to me by a family member, 

Yellow courgettes taste similar to green courgettes (at least they do to me), so green ones are good for this recipe too!

so I teamed it up with delicious aubergine and some peas to create a super speedy stirfry! 

Purple and delicious aubergine! Super yummy.

Ordinarily I like to start a stirfry by gently frying an onion, but I had none so didn't use it. I simple chopped the courgette and aubergine into quarters then sliced them. I added a bit of olive oil, and began cooking the veg. 

A smidge of olive oil goes a long way. You can use any oil, depending if you want a strong taste or a lighter taste.

The exact timing is unknown, since I did it to how cooked I like both veg. Part way through to help with the cooking I did add some water (instead of more oil) - water frying is super easy to do, and if you look it up online you'll find out all about it. I then added the peas, and let the 3 vegetables cook some more. 

Peas are super yummy, full of protein, and most people like them! I added mine straight from frozen but you can defrost them if you like

Once I was getting close to the veg being cooked to my taste I popped a microwave rice packet in the microwave, and crumbled 1 vegetable stock cube into my aubergine, courgette, and pea mix. I then added the rice once cooked, stirred it around and voila! My aubergine, courgette, and pea stirfry was ready! 

It tastes super yummy, and is an easy recipe to adapt to whatever vegetables you have. You don't have to use microwave rice, any rice will do, or if you want a change try some noodles. Whatever's in your store cupboard will be fine, and you can add whatever seasoning you fancy. Instead of a stock cube I sometimes use soy sauce and ginger, or I buy a stirfry sauce and add it. I'd love to hear what your go-to stirfry is!

I found a purple frying pan! Not mine (which is my family's and a boring black) but looks so cool! What colour would you have?

Nayu's Project Progress #31 Coffee and Cream Dreams

Worked on this today!

Today I've spent the day working on this blanket while chatting with a friend. She worked on a cross stitch kit which said it was advanced (the highest level), but it looked so simple. The only reason we can find for it being advanced is that the backstitch outline for the flowers is in colour on the same sheet as the main pattern (making it a bit tricky to see which of the underneath stitches need to be stitched in which colour (apologies if I don't make sense, I'm tired but wanted to update you on my blanket). 

The picture above is today's progress, with my phone for size comparision, and the picture below is the previous progress picture. I've done about 3-5 more rows. I should be able to manage a few more before the yarn runs out. Relaxing tonight and tomorrow - tonight will be without crochet, just some dvds and games. Tomorrow I'll have to see how my body feels after it's trip today! Hope you all have a good rest of the day! 

It was a lot smaller here - I can no longer photograph it on that point on my floor as it's too big.

Nayu's Craft Time #169 Horse fun & plant power!

Frequently whenever I hear about horses, I think about the wonderful Thellwell ponies I read about as a child.

No, I'm not riding! I love horses in fiction, I'm wary of them in real life. However, I'm going to visit a friend's horse this evening. He has recently been retired, and she is moving away from me to sunny Devon, and her horse will have to stay put as he's a bit too old to be traipsing across the country. So it's a quiet day of rest, conserving my energy for tonight! 

I thought you'd like a look at the plants on my window ledge. They frequently get neglected, but I got rid of all the dead leaves/stems this week and there are new flowers on 2 of them! This is incredible! The African violet (with the most leaves) is one I grew from a single leaf, and this is the first flower (hence the excitement). I've no clue what the pure white one is, apart from the fact it's the 2nd time it's flowered since I bought it. I'd love to hear if you're growing anything! 

Nayu's Craft Time #168 Where the week went

Me today on AC:NL beside an evergreen tree with a yellower peach tree beside it. Autumn is coming!

I both find it hard and easy to believe I haven't blogged for a week! Got a bit busy, then was randomly ill while waiting for a car service on Tuesday, so spent the next few days resting. I watched dvds, gamed a lot on Animal Crossing New Leaf where the trees are starting to go yellow since Autumn has begun, and read a lot too. That literally has been my week! Not a lot to note, other than my lovely cat being her crazy adorable self, running around in circles...in the bath!

Sadly not a bath like this one which I think is pretty cool, but she frequently forgets her tail is attached to herself. I'm sure many of you who are pet minders can understand that amusing dilemma! 

...in the bath!

Happy Friday!

Want to wish you all a happy Friday! I'll hopefully be back in a day or two.