Nayu's Craft Time #319 Random Online Grocery Info

Generic grocery bag

This is probably a random post, but then a lot of my posts are random so it doesn't matter! I want to talk about the online shopping. I have only used Sainsbury's, so my experience doesn't extend to other supermarkets/companies. I started using the service this summer when I was too ill to go shopping. It is super convenient, I love being able to pick a time that suits me and, on most occasions, pay less than £1.50 delivery charge, 50p if I am really lucky.

Photo source unknown

 Random observation #1

99% of the drivers are super friendly and helpful. I had one who was a bit odd, but I put it down to them having a bad day. The majority are more than happy to take my shopping to the kitchen which is a bit of a way from the front door. Some help unpack, some don't. I honestly don't mind either way. 

I have had all these Sainsbury's bags for life!

Random observation #2

If you don't like something you can send it back! This applies to any item, if it has too short a useby date, if it is bad, if it is damaged. Best part you then get an online coupon for money off your next shop! I used 2 coupons in my recent order because I had forgotten about them. I got some frozen strawberries for free because the bag had burst in transit. I still accepted it as they looked safe and I only had the one packet. Haven't got sick so it was the right decision! 

Every shop I pray my bread doesn't get substituted as I am very particular about it. Unless it is part-baked bread

Random observation #3

Having items switched to another of a similar type due to the original not being in stock doesn't happen that often. Once I had several items swapped, some I didn't keep as I had specifically wanted the original item. You will be notified of substitutions by email...although if like you me you don't always check your email you can then get a big surprise. Related to this is...

The yummy white stuff! All bottles are plastic though.

Random observation #4

Store brand milk allegedly isn't always in stock. This is a bit hard to believe, that Sainsbury's own milk is not available to order online. That was the case this week for the 1 pint organic whole milk. I ended up choosing a different brand that I had never had (but is delicious) and it was cheaper by volume too! I know which Sainsbury's my order gets chosen from, and I know they always have that milk. Maybe they have a set amount they have to keep in store, so say no to further online orders. 

Love!

Random observation #5

Favourites become your friend! Putting items you regularly buy into favourites is so useful, makes it rather quick to make a subsequent order with your usual yogurt/bread/frozen fruit already set aside so it doesn't have to be manually searched on. 

Those are all the observations I have for the moment! I am recovered from my 4 month summer illness, but I am still using Sainsbury's online shopping because it saves me going round a large store and carrying heavy items. While being ill all summer sucked, something positive came from it. I'd love to hear about your experience with online shopping!

No idea who the artist is but love this silhouette swing image!

Nayu's Craft Time #300 I'm being brave

Found this quote online (& cute picture) & it's very relevant to today's post.

For the first time in what I think is forever I'm actually being an idiot and going to a Boxing day sale because Boots has some cute Disney items that I hope get reduced. If they haven't sold out. I am only going to one shop, as I hate crowds with a passion so the experience needs to be as short as possible. I hope I can find something to make it worth while. If you sale shop, I wish you luck!!! (& yes I plan to rewatch Tangled very soon!)

No idea where I got this Rapunzel fan art, but it makes me feel like this is the attitude I need to have when facing the sale crowds!

Nayu's Product Review #10 Splatoon 2 keyring found in Aldi!

Please ignore the cat hairs!

Honestly this was the last thing I expected to see in Aldi. Aldi is known for having random items (some are branded, not that that matters to me) on the shelves, so I was shocked to find this Inkling in Squid form Splatoon 2 keyring. I'm enjoying the game a lot, more so now I'm finally doing the solo adventure portion instead of just Turf wars. That probably doesn't make sense to a lot of you: in a nutshell Splatoon 2 is an electronic version of paintball! Inklings have a human like form, 

This is the inkling girl amiibo (picture from online, I don't have any of the figurines)

and a squid form, exactly like the keyring. They are allegedly enemies of Octolings, who have a human form and who turn into an octopus.

This is the ocoling amiibo  I love the octoling girl so much! Their ink form is adorable (the pink octopus). Wish I could play as an Octoling permanently, but it's so far only available in the expansion pack (which I have).

  It is heaps of fun, I think it may be a Nintendo Switch exclusive, but don't quote me on that. 

I'm not going into detail about the game because that's a post more suited to my other blog, Nayu's Reading Corner, but I do want to chat about this keyring. I unfortunately don't have the packaging any more, but it was a blind bag gift, meaning I had no clue what the colour would be.

I was surprised at how good quality this is. The plastic is sturdy, it has the cute freckles on the 'legs' and features the suckers that are on them too. It feels a bit odd having the keyring in plastic which isn't the sturdiest, considering the chain is metal, but apart from that this is a high quality product which I'm very happy to have found in my supermarket. 

I love Aldi for it's random items that change frequently! Not so much when a food I like can't be found - I'm speaking to you, pink himalayan salt for £1 which hasn't been seen since I bought 1 pot! I'd love to hear what random products you find in your supermarket. 

Nayu's Craft Time #292 Why a coolbag isn't always cold enough

I've got all of these bags (not my photo) I use the wherever I go and I like them! The cool bag is the one I used later in this post.

Morning! It's a rainy day today, no heatwave either so it's mostly a rest day as my body doesn't take kindly to rain. I am positing this on my other blog, Nayu's Reading Corner simultaneously, and I get to the main title topic quite a bit further down in the post. 

I've been super quiet over this past week because last Thursday I had to go on an errand for something I'm not discussing yet in public. Where I went was within a shopping centre, so I did peek into a toy shop and picked up a new friend, who I showed on Twitter. 

She is really big, a great hugging size.

At first I wasn't sure whether Tulip was a llama or an alpaca, so now I think she is an alpaca. I got her in a bargain summer sale where I got this set of Disney Tsum Tsum toys for a crazy low price compared to the original. 

It must be noted this eraser set did include Pinoccio, who I absolutely hate so he went bye-bye in the bin. I dislike him that much! I didn't realise you can actually switch heads and bodies around, that's not something I enjoy as I like my Disney characters whole and in their own body thank you. 

Shared a moment similar when Stitch felt lost.

 Now I did almost lose my car in the shopping mall, I couldn't quite remember where it was, so I thought I'd start at one end of the several car parks and hope for the best. Went to the 5th floor, no joy. Thankfully the 4th floor was my stop as I was super tired by that point (that kind of going out even though I don't go far in the mall is an awful lot for my body). 

I knew I'd be resting for a few days after, but this was hampered a little bit by having younger family members to stay. It was fun but they are permanently on the go. I got to game several hours with them on Saturday morning when I wasn't feeling great to begin with. Being social that long is tiring, and add to the fact they couldn't sit still (as in constantly figiting (fi-git-ing (not fighting)) on the same sofa as me my body didn't take well to that either. 

My base! This is the 3rd level, one is a bedroom for a girl, another is a work room for a girl, and the blue and white structure is my room! Sadly the boys do wander around up here, but I like it as a girls only space!

I'm still playing Dragon Quest Builders, I'm on the 3rd chapter (still) which is hard but I'm starting to get better weapons and building materials so I'm hoping to get to chapter 4 soon. The honeymoon period was over for a little bit - I still love it but it's definitely not as easy as it was in the earlier chapters. 

This isn't my picture, and as far as I know I can't ride on the larger animals, but the character is similar to mine. I finally have a cute hairstyle (loopy braids) but I also just got a headscarf as an item and my character looks so cute! When I have more time I'll do a post on NRC about it - I'm trying to complete it before I write a review.

I've unexpectedly and happily got in Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles. My younger family members loved it, it was so much fun going around having them look for stuff for me including the 55 cats that need rescuing in the game. I'm now over 50% through the main story which makes me a bit sad. I heartily glad that I think I've built all the bridges I need to - getting enough stone was quite an issue! It involves making things with the materials that you collect around the world which is never dull, because the world feels quite large and for some reason I'm not able to remember where everything is so it always feels like a new area even when it isn't. 

That's all I've been gaming (mostly), although I must get back into Pokemon Sun because I want to finish the main story by the time the next Pokemon game comes out. 

Such a shame a pretty parasol can't make it easier to craft in heat.

Craft wise not much has happened because I haven't had the energy, and when I did it was too hot to handle metal: I hate the way metal feels in high temperatures, which is why it may be a few weeks before I can continue with my craft.

I have been reading a few good books that I'll be reviewing soon over on Nayu's Reading Corner, but I will link to a couple here in the right hand menu where I put my latest NRC post (when I can get online to do so). 

Thank you for being patient in my non-posting: I've some life stuff going on (nothing bad) which may affect my blogging from time to time over the next few months, but I'm doing my best to keep you updated when I can. My priority is to rest! 

the good white stuff! Which I get in a carton.

On that note I can finally get to this post's title topic. Usually when I go grocery shopping I'm able to put everything away straight away (the main storage fridge is in the garage which I can't access on my own). The last time I went I couldn't do that, so for some unknown reason I decided milk would be ok in a coolbag, with frozen food and a tray of ice cubes for a few hours. There wasn't  much room in the internal fridge so I thought it would be ok. 

While it was very cool, I don't think it was cool enough: every single pint of milk I'd bought then and used this week has gone off. I'm not sure why I realised it may be the cool bag thing (it's organic milk which my family pointed out may have shorter shelf life, I'm not sure) but that is the one thing I did differently to other milk. From now on no matter how tired I am I'm putting milk in the fridge as soon as I get home! Thankfully the flavoured milk is fine which suits me. Cool bags do keep food cool, but it's advisable to put perishables away promptly to avoid them spoiling and you temporarily being wary of using milk. 

Essential emails are almost done, this blog is ending and it's nearly time to go back to some gaming! I hope you have a good day whatever you are doing, and plan to put up the next post this weekend!

Searched for 'see you soon' picture, saw this one, thought it was adorable and then discovered I already had a copy ^u^

Nayu's Craft Time #268 Ebay incident

Internet shopping is fun, so long as it's done safely!

This is the last prescheduled (for now) post I've got, so hopefully I'll be over the initial side effects of my mega strongs meds which I had on Monday night. I wanted to share what happened on Ebay, just so you are aware of what can happen. I'm not against Ebay - I've used it since the incident, but this is more of a be careful post. It's a gaming themed post but because it deals with something that can happen with anything on Ebay it's here rather than on my other blog, Nayu's Reading Corner.

Not the bargain I expected

I've recently become rather interested in Pokemon, which is probably putting it mildly. Anyway, because of that I've been buying some guys - one from each generation. While a couple were a good price on Amazon, and Pokemon Yellow was on a digital copy, a few deals were on Ebay. The one in question was for a copy of Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon for £16. Total bargain because while not the newest Ultra versions, two games for that price is incredible. 

Yes Eeyore, I should have known better. I assumed it was on the way in the post to me, so a few days later I double checked to see when it should arrive. Unfortunately that's when the incident happened. Ebay emailed me to say they had stopped the sale, because a third party had hacked the seller's account that I was buying from, so the items probably didn't exist in the first place, and I wouldn't be getting them. My account mercifully wasn't hacked, although I feel really sorry for the seller because it sounds scary to have someone sell things in your name when they aren't yours. I don't blame the seller at all. It was just frustrating that such a good bargain didn't exist! I simply got Pokemon Sun in the end, because outside of that fictional offer it was ridiculous to pay for both games. 

The moral of the story is there are good bargains all over the internet including on Ebay, but do check the listing carefully. There are some areas in the world where pirate copies of games/dvds are common. I'm not listing them but I did avoid choosing a copy from them. Where possible I bought my games from individuals rather than a company (all safely on Ebay) because I felt they were more likely to be genuine. Please do  a search to update your knowledge on how to stay safe when shopping online - I purposefully haven't included any tips in this post, but there are many good sites explaining what to check for. 

Light, cute & fluffy end of post picture for you to counter the seriousness of this post.

Nayu's Craft Time #245 Not quite a cat post

Time does fly by sometimes

I know I promised the next post would be about my cat, but while I can show you how cute she's been on my bed this week, this post isn't all about her, no matter what she says! 

Sorry for having a 10 day break without posts, which sounds like forever, so let's say it's been a week and a bit. I'm still recovering from my trip to Norfolk (mega long trip for me ordinarily, plus went out while there & trip back = very much over extended my body's capabilities. Plus the trip to London,, and the routine pain appointment trip to London, which I couldn't reschedule as I'd already rescheduled once (for some appointments if you reschedule too many times you have to be re-referred which I do not want happening).

That trip was unexpectedly a bit stressful, which I may have already mentioned. I'm not going into details, but I do want to give the advice I was given that where medical issues are concerned you are always allowed to get a second opinion. Always. I knew that but had forgotten it. The issue is being sorted, and all should be fine for next year's appointment. 

I'm a proud kitty carer of this adorable fluffball! No one ever owns a cat, less so my family as technicaltly she still belongs to the rescue centre we got her from.

If you want the latest on what I'm up to I'm usually on Twitter several times a day as @Nayuleska , chatting about my adorable cat (who really does practice cute poses), I chat about books I'm reading, general other stuff, oh and l chat an awful lot about gaming.

This is You, got her special card this weekend!

FYI gaming talk will be reduced during Ramadan (starting next week, yay! I don't fast for health reasons but will do a post or 2 about what I do do) so if you aren't into Love Live School Idol Festival rhythm game, have no idea why an SSR card is special or why it can be transformed aka Idolized into a usually cuter version of the girl,  there is respite for 1 month! After that, no promises can be made.I love gaming!

Regardless of whether you want to know this, this is what the previous You card transforms into after certain criteria are met.  She's cute, which is saying something as she is one of my least favourite characters in Aqours team (9 girls, also 9 girls in Muse team).

This weekend I possibly had a virus as someone in my family had similar symptoms (extreme exhaustion & feeling bleh), which didn't help my recovery from my holiday. I've mostly been gaming as it's a great distraction for me, and requires little effort. Lying flat was a necessity, something my cat is a pro at, and she sometimes stayed with me. I read a bit too, which was also fun once I had the energy for it.

My bag won't be this full today, but I will have salad bits in it!

Yesterday I managed a short errand, today I'm doing another short-ish errand, slightly further. I'd wanted to do groceries today, but I'm still not 100%, so I'll pick up essentials today & do the rest on Saturday. Yes it means 2 trips to Sainsbury's, but I've got 2 unavoidable errands (picking up medicine and supplies for my birds) so I don't want to get all I need on my shopping list today as it is going to be too much. It's all about balance! 

Tomorrow will be a restful day, filled with reading and (hopefully & finally) some craft if I'm up for it. We'll see. I'm looking forward to being back to what equates to normality for me hopefully in a few weeks of taking things easy. Don't worry, I hope to blog every few days from now on! 

Anyway, time for quick rest before I head out on errands. I hope you're having a great week, and are making sure to balance out your life to your needs! 

Nayu's Project Progress #25 Mini patchwork quilts!

A set of fabric for a new project!

I'm back! Properly back, still easing into blogging but overall am almost fully better. I missed blogging, especially when I was on the mend but not up to doing anything strenuous. For those of you who follow me on Twitter (@Nayuleska) you'll know that I've managed some simple cutting out of fabric this week. Here are the pictures in case you missed them!

Fabric for the current project, involving lots of cake!

I've got a couple of projects involving patchwork in my head which I'm slowly trying out. I'm at the stage of cutting fabric into squares - I'll be using a few 9 patch blocks: 

Which will look like these (which aren't mine), only I'm using plain fabric for the set of 5 squares, with patterned squares as the other 4.

They will look like that with my chosen fabric, using white as the plain colour square. Measuring out the squares and cutting them out is simple, but takes way longer than I'd expected. I don't mind because the process is so much fun! It involves less mental work than using the sewing machine so is a perfect activity for now. 

Looks good enough to eat!

The above picture shows the size of the fabric piece, which is almost a square. With much measuring I'm able to get out 4x 5 inch squares from each piece of fabric, which will be enough for the project I have in mind.  I'm not doing any today because once I've finished blog work I'm going to get groceries, and will need to rest afterwards as it's so tiring.

Have a good one!

Nayu's Craft Time #132 I love summer!

This scenic photo looks a lot like the fields where I live

Sunny weather is back!!! It makes me super happy, as usually sunshine can mean heat in the summer. My internal body temperature is set low, so I need it over 20'C to feel warm and not need a heated blanket on me all day. It's nice feeling normal at last! Been a long winter. The downside is hayfever makes me feel like I'm combatting a virus, so my body still isn't happy, but least I mostly am ^o^ 

Also a summer scene!

Today I'm finishing some blog work before getting a very small grocery shop, returning to anime and a stack of books to read. 

Just like Roald Dahl's Matilda I love reading!

That's a perfect Friday afternoon activity! 

& a fantastic weekend!

Nayu's Craft Time #120 Fangirling over yogurt + Waitrose, & combatting headaches

In the absence of a photo this is a pic I use a lot to represent myself online. I sadly don't have green slash blue hair...

Afternoon everyone! I honestly hadn't expected to blog today, as I had a headache yesterday (more on that in a mo) and just got back from grocery shopping so am tired. However, all I wanted to do was share my weekend so this is what I'm doing! 

This isn't a sponsored announcement, more a personal recommendation as I love the product but Waitrose are doing 2 pots of the flavoured Yeo Valley yogurts for £2: I'm trying the new (to me) limited edition Banana and Custard!

I'm fussy with bananas (the fruit) but love banana flavour dairy products (banana milk = much love! Rarely have it)

and also having a firm favourite of Black Cherry!

If you didn't already know from this post about fromage frais I love yogurt! It's so tasty, and is my snack with my bedtime meds. Oh I also found a low fat yogurt that I actually like. Low fat yogurts tend to have a particular taste which I don't like. I am trying various ones, decided I didn't like the Yeo Valley 0% fat Vanilla yogurt and it was a struggle to eat the rest of the remaining yogurt. However, yay to Waitrose for producing a fat free yogurt which doesn't have a funny taste!!! 

Seriously delicious, couldn't find the image online so took photos. Yes the tub is on a blanket in my room - it's empty & all washed out, being a very sturdy tub to keep things in. Highly recommend it! 

I also recommend signing up for a My Waitrose card, because you can save quite a bit by having up to 10 items at 20% off (you have to choose them online and terms & conditions apply. See Waitrose website for details), and from time to time you get sent specially offers. Today I got an entire bottle of Waitrose essential laundry conditioner for FREE!!!! & that's with me not always using my card and never spending much on each shop. Well worth the minimal effort of signing up ^o^ I also had half-price for other laundry products, which isn't to be sniffed at. There's also a free newspaper, a free tea or coffee (if had in the cafe you must buy a cake...which is why I get cake when my parents go shopping there! The slices are ginormous!)

The good white stuff!

 I realise I may sound like an ad for Waitrose, but I love how well they treat their staff and customers, and all the offers available. Sometimes the organic food is cheaper than the 'normal' food - I noticed this for kiwis. At the moment I rarely get organic food, just once a month with an organic box scheme, I  always have organic milk, and sometimes organic yogurt. The downside of today's shop was there was no frozen sweetcorn at all. I could have broken up corn on the cob, but not a single bag full of deliciously sweet nuggets of goodness. No store is 100% perfect ^o^ I hope Sainsbury's has some the next time I go in (& frozen fruit, as theirs is cheaper than Waitrose). 

Mine looked a bit like this, only in triangles

Yesterday I had lunch with a friend which was good fun, but I wasn't feeling great. I'd woken with a headache - thankfully not a  migraine, but enough of a headache I tried to nap before I left to go out. I survived lunch with yummy garlic bread & very thick layered smoked salmon sandwiches (mega yum), naturally taking the leftovers home with me. Possibly an odd combination, (bread + bread) but I really fancied garlic bread, so I went for it.  

This would be such a cool bedroom - all pink & girly!

I felt rather bleh when I returned so headed back to bed & tried to sleep again. I didn't, at least I don't think so, and I then didn't sleep well last night, so I honestly didn't expect to be up for writing a blog post today. Like I said at the start of the post I just really wanted to write a post, so here it is! I'm all for the 'if you feel like it, do it' when you don't feel great. Within reason, of course. 

Time for me to go, but I'd love to hear of your supermarket experiences, what your favourite items are, and anything else you'd like to talk about! I was going to chat about today's sewing progress, but this post ended up rather long so will chat about it tomorrow.