You just can't get the staff these days!

Running your own business is hard.So I am always interested in new Government schemes aimed at helping small businesses.Today they announced a new measures which will make it easier for employers to get rid of rubbish employees.I wondered how that might help me........

There is one member of staff here who is particularly troublesome.She is always late & regularly disappears throughout the day on shopping trips.She constantly drops everything & abandons the workroom to take care of her children or run errands for family & friends.

When she is at work,she is lazy & argumentative,often inappropriately dressed & sometimes in no fit state to work after late nights socialising.

Her approach to her work is often haphazard & she is slow,almost resistant to embrace new systems."when I learned this in the 1980s......" can often be heard.Her time management is non-existent & productivity is hard to measure.Apparently Facebook & Twitter is actually really working! 

Her musical taste is extremely suspect & the singing? Oh the singing.....& dancing too............Oh dear,oh dear!

A redeeming quality? Well the work's 'dos' would not be the same without her! 

But Most importantly,she is the ONLY member of staff in this company so I think I'll just put up with myself for a bit longer!

Rings & Recycling.

Lately,I've realised just how much I love rings!
They can be tiny works of art,only seen by special people you allow close enough or huge statement pieces that can turn heads from the other side of the street!
I have been playing with ideas for my own recycled denim ones.

You may know that I have a great appreciation for all things recycled & have come across some very clever designers/recyclers.People who make beautiful things from old glass,driftwood & cutlery.There is a lot of pretty button jewellery about but beware of the mass produced if you are trying to be green.If you buy handmade at markets or from Folksy & Etsy,the designer/maker will know where their materials have come from-don't be afraid to ask.
I hope you like this little collection of lovelies.

Firstly this Scrabble Tile  Ring by SeventeenNineteen on Folksy.

http://folksy.com/items/3340346-Scrabble-ring 

This pretty little Zipper ring by AngleAh on Etsy

http://www.etsy.com/listing/105624819/green-zipper-ring-made-with-repurposed 

I love these fabulous pool ball rings by Eleanor Salazar.

http://supermarkethq.com/product/rounded-numbered-rings 

Here is something from the fabulous Nat at Thrashion.

Recycled skateboard jewellery by Thrashion.co.uk

And finally this gorgeous one from When the music is over on Folksy.

http://folksy.com/items/3064754-Ring-Made-From-Recycled-Vintage-Record 

Do you use recycled materials for your jewellery?

Leave a comment & let me know!

School Uniform.....Aaaaaargh!!!

As if school uniform hadn't given me enough problems as a teenager.Now I have to deal with it as a parent.
This is my school uniform from the early 1980s.It's not pretty,I warn you.

The pale yellow summer dresses showed of our pastey teenage complexions so beautifully & the stunning deck chair striped blazers made us hard to miss anywhere!
There was only one place to buy said uniform,looks exciting doesn't it? You could even buy the yellow fabric by the metre for your mum to run up a little something!

The rules were not flexible & were strictly upheld.Even in the 1980s girls were slapped for having over the knee socks (perhaps the nuns had not heard that it was against the law?) & if you dared to wear jewellery,you could expect to have it ripped from your neck.
Perhaps the danger made it even more fun to adapt the uniform that we had.Rolling the waistband over to make the skirt shorter,blazer collar turned up & sleeves rolled up.
Accessorising was fun.I have a photo of myself in my summer dress wearing a baseball jacket & pixie boots (not sure how I got away with that!) And hiding was always exciting so you didn't get 'done'!

So forgive me now,when I have little sympathy when my daughter complains about her  school uniform.
The limits are wide.It just has to be black & not jeans.The compulsory logo sweatshirt is discreet (also black) & the only niggle that I have is that the shoes must be completely black & have no logos or contrast trims,which can be difficult to find in a stylish teen acceptable style.
I'm not sure if the Hi tops,miniskirt & skinny jeans will be acceptable  at school but at least she will be dressed & leave the house fairly happy (by the standards of a stroppy teenager) & go to school next week!

I am glad that things are not so strict.Lets face it,trying to force today's teenage girls into a strict old fashioned uniform can easily result in this!

Good Luck if you are shopping for grey skirts & knee highs & sending your lovelies off to someone elses daily care next week!
Is it to early for a Whoop Whoop?

Lion!...Oh no,its The Wizard of Oz!

How funny that last night's 'Lion loose in Essex' story reminded me of the cowardly lion & low & behold today we are watching The Wizard of Oz!

Perhaps I thought of him because of his resemblance to some of the female characters in TOWIE!

But anyhow......there is something rather comforting about this film,& others like it,being shown on a dull Bank Holiday.
You feel like it's ok for the whole family to sit & do nothing for 2 hours.
Even when some of the endearing characters are,on reflection,flipping scary.If this lot approached you today,you'd be reaching for the mace & dialling 999!

But Oh those ruby slippers.If someone dropped a house on my sister I'd probably want more than just some shoes to make up for it bit hey ho they were truly beautiful then & I wouldn't mind a pair now!

There's no place like home!

Do your kids know what your legs look like?

Yesterday,I realised that most of the time that I had spent with my daughter,I had been sitting down.Either sat at the computer,sat at my sewing machine or sat driving the car.

I remember my parents standing & walking a lot of the time.

I remember their legs!

My dad's legs wore suit trousers (except for 2 weeks of the year when they wore denim shorts on holiday!)

My mum's legs stood cooking in the kitchen,walked everywhere as she couldn't drive til we were older,or (my favourite) danced as she did the ironing on Sunday mornings to the Sweet Charity album!

these are not my legs! 

I hope my kids remember my legs!

What I've been doing.

recycled denim cushions.

Top Hat!

These are the things I have enjoyed making recently.