Rain and Pantry talk

Well it is torrential rain today which has been hammering the windows all night.

Now I know there are jokes about Welsh weather but this is ridiculous. The River that runs through our village from the mountains is very high at the minute - thankfully we live on top of a mountain so it does affect us too much but our village is somewhat prone to weather damage.

It is in a valley with 3 available exit points. One road has a very steep hill to access it, over the river, and some may remember a few years back a couple had their Christmas ruined because a mudslide came through the back of their house? Yes that was from this road. It is subsiding rather badly despite our councils best attempts to re-inforce it.
The second exit way is the shortest to town but the road is prone to flooding and the valley wall is weak so there are regularly mudslides with too much rain - it is currently half closed at the minute.
The third is prone to mudslides but means you have a 40 minutes detour to get somewhere that usually takes 10 minutes.

That said I love my little welsh valley.

This is the view from my back door. We regularly see paragliders over the mountain and horses playing.

This is the same mountain but you can see somewhat further down the valley and my garden

My village by dusk when Im out walking Muttley.


Also I spent most my shift thinking about extra food storage yesterday - Im still stumped with the cupboard but was thinking about maybe boxes that I can store elsewhere in the house as sort of a mobile pantry - my nan use to have a little cupboard under the stairs that she'd use.
Sadly the only other available space I have like that is in our bedroom and its literally a box cupboard - its about 3ft square but full height which I could convert but it is also apparently a portal way to Narnia and I'm scared that if I go in to clear it out I may never be seen again.
So anyway whilst I was in work last night I found these boxes

and Im thinking I can fill them with cans/packets/non perishables and store them elsewhere in the house. We also have lots of the empty fruit and veg crates - little and large - that are stackable which I think might be a handy store system too - its just finding space now.

This sounds ridiculous too but our bed is broken. Its been broken since we moved to this house (2 years in May!) otherwise the larger crates would have been able to live under the bed with no problem at all and there boxes could have had little covers made and used as small bedside tables. I think that may be my first thing to try and save some money for or to try and find on freecycle - a new bed frame.

The one we have is lovely but my partner Ow is not very DIY savvy and would much rather go to his shed and play with his motorcross bike or sit playing on the computer than do any kind of work round the house. Hence the reason its been broken for 2 years and I have no idea how to fix it, although I can reuse the wood from it to hopefully make myself a veg planter and the slats if I save them will be turned into shelves. I think maybe I will make that my goal this year - to learn how to complete small DIY projects..........could do with a few shelves putting up

Right I had better get on and feed the kiddiwinks

x Sammy x

Windy in Wales.....and some thoughts for the day.

Wow its windy here in Wales tonight.....

Apparently its 6 degrees C and 24 mph winds..........which ordinarily I wouldn't mind but I live on top of the mountains so it sounds like its easily 50 and my full wheelie bin is walking itself round the garden.

I am hoping my poor bunnies are OK and not too cold. Just happy they all have plenty of bedding in their beds to keep them warm - I think I over compensated with it being Christmas but I have made sure they all have nice full tummies to see them through and I'm sure the coop will provide them with plenty of veggies tomorrow.

Kids are finally in bed, I did manage to get the dishes done and clear and rearrange Minnie's bedroom so she should be much snugglier now and happy all her Mi-Mi's (that's dolls to me and you) are now in her bedroom for her to play with. Now just to take the side off her cot,.....but I'm not that brave yet!

I do now however have a bag of DVDs, a bag of videos and a video player, 3 bags of toys from Benjie, 3 bags of toys from Minnie and a bag of old bedding etc that I can freecycle etc although I have realised that Ben has nearly every complete set of power rangers figures etc so I may be able to sell them as a small bundle on EBay to make a few pennies.

On more home based notes, I've decided to tackle my kitchen cupboards tomorrow. I have seven in total. That is it. Only two are wall mounted so my glasses/plates etc live in there. The one under it has all my tins, it is a double sized cupboard but only has one door and almost bends round the other cabinet if that makes sense. See the diagram below for a better explanation

 I need to try and work out some sort of storage technique for this cupboard. I'm only using about half of it because its all I can see! The double cupboard next to it is under the sink stuff. This again could do with a good restocking and getting a few bits and pieces in it. I don't tend to use many cleaners - only dettol spray, bicarb of soda, washing up liquid, comfort, and Flash multi purpose.
I then have two single cupboards which have two shelves, one has extra plates and a few Christmas bits in it, the other has pans, casserole dishes, ceramic bowls etc in it and a few bathroom extras I've picked up like girls products.
I'm thinking if I moved a few bits round or had a clear out I would be able to make one of these an extra storage cupboard - OK so not quite a pantry but it will help.


I'm also thinking I will join the local library. I do actually think I belong to the library but I had an overdue fee so I never went back, I think that needs rectifying. I quite like reading autobiographies, true stories, life stories etc but I will admit I don't think I have read some of the better known classics.....other than being in school.

So I suppose I have two musings for any followers who happen to read tonight..........Does anyone have any ideas on how I can maximise usage of the funny cupboard? and can they recommend me a book to add to my reading list?

Until then I will make sure to talk to you all tomorrow morning before I start with tackling the kitchen, Ow is off so he can watch the kiddiwinks and then I have a lovely 7 hour shift starting at 3pm which I'm hoping will be fairly peaceful and full of bargains.

I hope you all have a pleasant evening.

Sammy x x x