Nayu's Craft Time #278 Upcoming post topics

Who doesn't like to start the day by looking at some cute kitties?

It's half way through the week so the weekend is in sight if you have a 'standard' working week. I'm half way through my recovery from mega strong meds, consisting of staying horizontal because moving really isn't a good idea if I don't want to feel weirder than I already do. This is a pre-scheduled post, but I'm almost out of time hence why it's a list of topics that will be appearing over the next few weeks. 

I will be talking about...

this hair accessory!

...hair scrunchies! I'm not saying what it's about, other than if you wear hair scrunchies or someone in your family does then stay tuned!

She knows how to relax!

...my cat! I love Belle, she occasionally loves me, and I have some cat care tips to share. 

This isn't mine, but it looks similar (mine isn't as runny as some are)

...Daal! However you spell it I recently made a batch of this nutrient rich lentil based meal which is easy to cook, requires very few ingredients or cooking skills, and is highly adaptable. 

That's it for now, thank you as always for reading my posts and stick around for many more! 

Nayu's Project Progress #35 Chocolate themed blankets

I wonder how many of you will have some chocolate by the end of this post!

 It's been far too long since I've done one of these (no I'm not telling you how many months...) but I want to share what I've been up to lately. I've been doing a bit of craft, some on a blanket which I'll show in another post that's already for someone, but the blankets featured in this post will be for sale soon (start of April for the finished one) when I reopen my shop (it needs a bit of tweaking after my mega meds which I'm currently recovering from). 

Here's a peek at what one looks like, with cream and two shades of brown.

Most people like chocolate, and it's all I've been thinking of while making these blankets - the yarn looks like all three types - white, milk, and dark chocolate! 

Here it is!

 I love making what are often called 'granny' squares and putting them together using a seamless method called 'join as you go'. They are easy, require no pattern, and it's fun watching the blanket grow over time. 

I thought you might like a comparison picture for the chocolate ^u^ I wanted a smaller blanket, so I started another using the same colours but this time in a different pattern. 

Now this one looks more like those chocolate buttons...

Going round and round has it's own charm, just like 'granny' squares (or medalians as some call them). Both are relaxing in their own way. I didn't sew in the ends of the previous blanket until the end, when I had loads to do. This time I'm doing the sewing in every 4 rows, so I get a bit of rhythm with the crochet, not stop-start at every row. 

I hope this inspires you to get creative - it doesn't have to be with yarn, it can be sewing, colouring in, gardening - whatever you love have fun!

Nayu's Craft Time #277 Snow has gone (again) & Spring cleaning

This picture says it perfectly!

I don't know how many of you had more snow this week (in England, but I guess anywhere in the world can have snow again!), but mine has all melted. I didn't make another snow angel or snow bunny - it probably wasn't the wisest of things to do the first time it snowed so I wisely stayed inside. 

Today is a rainy day, but I managed to coax my cat outside for a few minutes before both our breakfasts while it was dry. It takes quite a while to get her out, and she fled inside after a weird noise (to her). She spent the rest of the day snoozing on a bed! 

My wardrobe is a built in one, otherwise I'd love a pink one like this!

I've run errands and done laundry today (dull and not interesting) but tomorrow's activity is a little different. A friend is coming to help be my hands & energy to finish sorting my room from moving house. It means that I'll be a) able to get to my wardrobe easier & b) actually open my wardrobe without fear of what may fall it out from the various boxes and items stacked in it. Books will get on shelves-yay! 

Imagine having a wardrobe this big...or bigger! To be honest I'd rather use the space for books & toys...

It would have taken me at least a few months if I'd done it all myself, and while my family sweetly offered to help I asked my friend so that there's no chance of any disagreement while sorting through things. I've got some extra yummy cookies, tasty soup and rolls, and a choice of either bread & butter pudding or rice pudding to keep my friend going. What I can do in a day my friend will do probably in minutes, so her help is very much appreciated. 

Saturday I have an errand to run and then it's time for mega strong medicine again! Cue several days lying down with lots of gaming (or whatever I can handle). That means blogging will be sporadic but I'm pre-scheduling 2 posts so you'll have something to read! I'd love to hear if any of you are spring cleaning or sorting things after moving. It's the time of year for it and usually feels good afterwards - getting rid of items is extremely hard but most can be reused by others via charity shops which makes me feel somewhat better about saying goodbye to items. 

Nayu's Craft Time #276 The Perils of Technology

Randomly found on Google (not my desk)

I love technology because it makes life fun (gaming consoles & tablets), it makes life easier (internet shopping) and is usually fairly fast in working. I know almost everyone one of you have experienced a technology fail which is what this post is about. 

I use Hotmail for some of my email addresses - I have several for different purposes. I usually don't look at my hotmail email within a browser, my laptop opens all my emails in one place where it's easy to switch the accounts without reloading a variety of screens. Occasionally it plays up, and today I discover it had done that without me realising. For the past few weeks I thought it was odd that I hadn't had many emails on the account I use mostly for book reviews - I kept looking, but there were only a handful of new ones. 

Ever had an inbox glitch?

Today my laptop decided to let me view all the emails that I'd 'missed' because it threw an unnecessary tantrum: which lead to some emails from early February to be refound and hastily replied to. I wasn't the happiest with it but there was nothing I could do but thank God none of the emails were super urgent. I thankfully didn't miss out on being able to have two fun books for review which I was a bit worried about as they look such fun reads.

This has happened a few times in the past, it's annoying, and hopefully I'll remember to check in on the browser version from time to time (I probably will forget to do this). Computers can have a mind of their own! Sometimes they throw a hissy fit for no apparent reason, often when we have little time to deal with difficult machines, making us spend many minutes coaxing them to work, then work perfectly the next time we use them. I wouldn't ever want to be without a computer and the internet as it's a gateway to engaging with so many people that it's mindblowing. I don't have millions of blog viewers, yet each and everyone one of you is important and use technology to read every single post I write. 

It's time for lunch so I can let my laptop have a rest while I rest up with anime! Then it's book reading time - I'm reading Ruin by Samantha Towle for a review - the picture isn't going up as it's not entirely appropriate for the blog, but it's a great romance and I guessed a plot element before it happened (I like it when that happens). Whatever you're doing today I hope you have a great Monday! 

Nayu's Craft Time #275 #Cat Mayhem!

My sweet girl is adorable!!!!

For the last few weeks my cat has been stuck in the house because we moved house and want her to be settled. As a rescue cat she is very nervous about anyone new, and since we've needed various strangers to do some jobs around the house she has spent a fair bit of time under my bed. Thankfully she is mostly adjusted to the new house, and sleeps on my bed a lot, loves watching the world go by on bedroom window sills (not just mine although mine is popular) and most of all loves watching my two Zebra finches Tomoya and Hibiki flit about in their cage. Lately she has been thinking about attcking them - her body posture tells me she wanted to pounce on them. That is a sure sign she needs to go outside to let off steam by trying to catch the birds outside. 

I am playing with her toys when I remember and am well enough to do so, to help get rid of her mischievous energy. The good news is slowly we are letting her go outside.. The first time my family carried her around the enclosed garden, she then ran inside. On Wednesday morning at breakfast I opened the patio door to let her out. I went out to encourage  her, she just stood at the door sniffing for a while then retreated for her breakfast which I'd witheld to entice her back in if needed. She can take as long as she wants to go outside, there's no hurry.

So cute!!!!

The other day was hilarious. Belle is happy jumping up on the breakfast bar and walking along the counter. She has her meals in 2 sittings to reduce the possiblity of her puking - she used to be sick a lot because she gobbles her food down (probably from when she was on the street before being rescued and never knew when she could get a meal) Monday's meal was from a small tin and a sachet of cat soup (she adores it, I buy it when it's on offer as it's not that cheap, but these days I buy it when it's not on offer too because I can't resist her cute eyes). Usually I stick around in the kitchen while waiting to give her the second breakfast portion, but that day I needed stuff upstairs. While I was upstairs I thought she was playing from the noise I heard. I went down when my family noticed something was odd with the tinn. Belle had gone and helped herself!

The evidence - I take neat quarters for every meal - that is not a neat quarter at all!

 There was cat food on the work top, and the tin wasn't where I left it neatly but the container we keep her daily food in which had been neatly lined up. Belle then took advantage of me not feeling great - despite knowing what she had done I hadn't moved the food tin, so yes she helped herself to her 2nd breakfast when once again I went upstairs! Thankfully she didn't eat more than what I give her, the tin was yet again moved, and she was licking her paws. I don't know whether she just ate with her mouth, or if she dipped her paw in to get at the food - either way she had a breakfast buffet that morning! 

Since Belle loves sitting on the radiators in the new house I bought her a cat radiator bed which looks something like this. 

Just a random photo from Google, although the kitty looks like my old cat Tolly.

It arrived yesterday, and of course she hasn't gone on it, not even to jump on to get to the window sill - she deliberately ignores it! I'm leaving it up there in the hope she may one day use it, although if she doesn't it doesn't matter because it wasn't expensive. Cats are extremely fickle creatures and Belle is no exception! I've no doubt I'll have some more entertaining stories about her to share with you soon. 

That they do! (insert another animal if you aren't a cat love)

Nayu's Craft Time #274 Spring is coming!

The flowers on my window sill certainly think warmer weather is on the way (let's ignore the fact they do flower all year round when I remember to water them regularly - that's why leaves are brown! I'm always amazed they flower at all).

Apologies for it being much longer than expected before this blog post. The cold I had during my mega strong medicine dose the other week has lingered - thankfully I no longer need tissues, my throat isn't sore and I can breathe just fine. My body simply takes forever to get over germs - while gaming and watching dvds all day may sound fun, it can get frustrating at not being able to do anything other than food and bathroom breaks. So long as I take things slowly I think I can safely say I'm on the mend! 

The mega cold spell we had in England last week including the not so epic snowfall also made my body go on strike further. I love snow so much! But mostly because I don't have to go anywhere so can stay safely inside. We haven't had snow like this for a couple of years, so I was mega excited even though I wasn't feeling well. Unfortunately a friend had way more snow than me (over 30 cms...), we had a few centimetres which was enough for me to do...

You can sort of see it's an angel...look closely!

..a snow angel!!! Has to be done ^u^ If you aren't sure what a snow angel is, you carefully lie in the snow with legs straight, then do a scissor action with them to make a skirt, and do the same with your arms to make the wings. I didn't feel great when I did it (snow always makes me unwell) but I knew the snow was due to melt later that day (it did) so I took the opportunity to do it. I also made...

 ...a demented snow bunny! I say demented because it was harder than expected to make the right shape without the snow crumbling away. It took over 6 tries to put the eyes on (currants - some lucky bird had an extra yummy meall that day), but it looks fairly like the Japanese snow bunnies that I see a lot in anime (which exist in real life and are the equivalent of snow angels for Japanese children). 

This one is far better than mine - hence why mine is demented!

The excitement from those two activities were worth the effort! I'd love to hear if you had any snow, what you did in the snow, and if you have any snow traditions. I'd love to live in Canada near a maple farm and make 'sugar snow' from the syrup like they do in the Laura Ingalls book series including Little House in Big Woods, that sounds so tasty and great fun! ....and it's only now as I type this that I realise I could have done it because I have some authentic maple syrup!!! The link takes you to my post about this delicious better than honey treat. 

Did you know maple syrup is about 3 times sweeter than sugar (& possibly honey) so you need less to get the same sweet taste. I like it in milk!

The next few days will continue to be full of resting with gaming and some more crochet (I've done a bit over the last few weeks), I'm working towards going out maybe Friday for errands and groceries, and doing a few bits & bobs slowly so as not to over do it. I hope you have a good day and there should be another blog post in a few days! Thank you again for being patient with blog inactivity, I have zero control on both the weather and my body throwing tantrums.