Category Archives: Life the Universe & Everything

#RAB2017 #TogetherWeCan Another appeal for help? Please help Emma achieve her Lands’ End – John O’Groats Challenge 2017 in support of The Prince’s Trust?

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Well, after number 1 son’s outstanding feat of endurance and determination, he completed his #RAB2016 cycle from Lands’ End to John O’Groats Challenge despite quite a serious leg injury.

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He has decided that he would like to do it again next year for the #RAB2017. It is unfortunate, that on that particular week, his girlfriend Emma Griffin will be celebrating her 21st birthday. So selfless and supportive is Emma, that she has taken the decision to enter the challenge herself, so that they can both celebrate her birthday and also complete the challenge together.

Both myself and Mr Mac, have a great deal of respect for this lovely young lady who we believe Bradley is very lucky to have found.

What sort of person is Emma you may ask? In our opinion, Emma is a very thoughtful and caring individual. When she was 17 years old, she travelled as a volunteer youth worker to help and assist aged and infirm people on their pilgrimage to Lourdes, an experience which she found very moving and fulfilling. Emma has researched in great depth just which charity she would like to support in her #RAB2017 challenge . She has decided to support The Prince’s Trust, because of all the wonderful opportunities and support that they offer young people.

We would like to support Emma as much as we can, and we have already donated to  her fundraising page. We respectfully request that you click this link to her fundraising page, and please donate to help Emma raise much needed funds for this wonderful cause?

 

Please, please, please donate and wish Emma as we do, a very happy 21st Birthday for the 14th September 2017?

Many thanks for taking the time to read this,

 

Regards

Nicola

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How I made £28,351 in one day! Read how for free below…….

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“£28, 351 in one day?” you may ask. “Get rich quick scheme!”, “Multi-level marketing!”, “Pyramid scheme!”, “Con!” you may think to yourself, and quite frankly I wouldn’t blame you. Tell me though, did the headline grab your attention? I hope so, because if you like me, live on the Lickhill Lodge Estate in Stourport-on-Severn, it is very likely that you could do exactly the same! Indeed, it is very possible that regardless of where you live in the United Kingdom, it would be very worth your while to read this post, and follow the procedure that I did.

 

“What’s in it for you?” you may ask, when embarking on writing this post, the honest answer was nothing! However on reflection, if you do live on the Lickhill Lodge Estate, and you do follow my procedure, it is more than possible that the value I have made will increase – (It was not my initial motivation for writing this, but as that well known supermarket say in their advertising, “Every little helps!”).

 

So, how did I do it? In July 2016, I happened across the website Zoopla and out of interest, I decided to see what the value of my home was. I was horrified! In 8 years, my home had only increased in value by £7,592.  On closer inspection, I noticed that my property was listed as a Terraced house, when in fact it is Link-detached. I went about trying to discover how my property was listed on other websites, they all had it listed incorrectly. As you can probably imagine, the value of a terraced house is significantly lower than that of a detached property, hence the poor prospective return on our original purchase price.

terraced value

With further research, I discovered that all the property valuation websites obtain their data from HM Land Registry. I checked my address on their website and true enough, they had it listed as a terraced property.  Understandably, I was flabbergasted that this was the case, I found a contact form on the site, and contacted the HM Land Registry direct informing them of my concerns that their listing would have a detrimental effect on the value of our property (This is because the data listed is used by Estate Agents and Surveyors, in order to calculate a property valuation)….

 

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land registry 1

The reply from HM Land Registry was more than satisfactory and I must say very efficient and helpful…….

land registry 3

 

Obviously, at time of writing 03/08/2016 this has not been updated as yet. However, I went back to Zoopla, and as the owner of the property, refined the estimate to the correct data. The difference in value is shown in the next image…….

link detached value

So what do you have to lose? Well, if you don’t follow this procedure, you could be losing tens of thousands of £s or more,  on property that you already own, unwittingly due to someone’s clerical error! The more people in your area that do this, the more (in theory) value could be attributed to your property.

 

Why not check YOUR property details on Zoopla and HM Land Registry ?

 

Please share this post with as many people, and as many social media’s as you can? In the current economic climate, the people of the United Kingdom, need all the money they can get!

 

Thank you for your time and patience in reading this.

 

Regards

 

Crafty Mrs Mac

#RAB2016 An appeal to help Brad achieve his Lands’ End – John O’Groats Challenge 2016

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My Stepson Bradley, decided a couple of years ago to take up cycling and has found himself getting keener and keener in his rides. Now he has decided to, and has been given the opportunity, to push his boundaries, and raise money for charity at the same time. Via his employers; DHL he has gained a place onto this year’s team to do the Lands’ End – John O’Groats Challenge, that’s 960 miles in 9 days.

He needs to raise £1500.00 to take part and is about 1/5th of the way there at the moment. If anyone would consider some sponsorship you can donate now at this link:

http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/BradMckenzie

and you can have a read all about the challenge from this link:

http://www.rideacrossbritain.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Event-Info-guide-Deloitte-RAB-20161.pdf

If you can help, then many thanks, if not, don’t worry about it but please consider sharing this post or and his sponsorship page on your social medias?

You can follow his progress and cheer him on from 10th September 2016.

Many thanks for reading this

Regards

Nicci x

#RAB2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Crafty Project – Work in Progress – Refurbishing and Up-cycling Vintage Suitcases – Part 1

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I can’t reveal why at the moment, but all will become more clear as this project progresses. I have recently purchased a number of “vintage suitcases” seven to be exact, and I intend to refurbish, and up-cycle them, again, it’s a little “hush hush” for now, but as this project develops and progresses, all will become clear.

This is suitcase no 1. The hinges, in fact all metal furnishings are incredibly rusted and tarnished.

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As you can probably see.

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There was a luggage label attached to it, which I carefully steamed off, and like any miser skinflint, stuck straight onto eBay.

Vintage luggage label – Messageries Maritimes -SS CAMBODGE – SS STELLA SOLARIS

My reasoning for this, was perhaps somebody collects these types of labels? Or even that someone would like them as an addition to their refurbished suitcase? Who knows? But it is of no use to me, unless it does not sell, so when eBay provide free listings, it would be quite foolish to look a gift horse in the mouth.

You’ll see in my listing, that I did a bit of research about the liner in question, and provided a Wiki link to an information page all about it.

There were a number of strange coincidences about these cases when I went to pick six of them up from one seller. We got chatting, and I explained, that one of the cases had caught my eye, because it was the exact same model of overnight case, that I had as a teenager in the 1980’s. we got talking more, as I recognised her, and I could not place from where. I discovered that this person was a florist, and it wasn’t until I was travelling home, that I realised that she was the florist that had arranged my flowers for my first wedding, which was spooky in itself. The spookiest thing is that there is a name on one of the suitcases, the name of a former work colleague from my first ever full time job in 1985.

If you start to read my blogs, you’ll discover that I digress frequently, but do get back to the point eventually, so it’s worth bearing with me and riding the digression out 🙂

Right so back to it…..

I have very sensitive skin, so I avoid harsh cleaning chemicals like the plague, and apart from anything else, to some respects, I want to refurbish these suitcases as sympathetically as I can to get them to the end result that I want. So quite a bit of research was in order.

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I read on The Kitchn’s site, that it is possible to remove rust with a potato, and baking soda. I found that bicarbonate of soda is the UK equivalent of baking soda, so used that instead. You slice the potato, and dip it in the bicarbonate of soda and this in theory dissolves the rust – result – Yes it does, but not significantly enough, and it is quite a messy method, so a little more research was in order.

I read on Wiki How to do anything, that a paste of bicarbonate of soda and water, applied with a toothbrush works also. So I have just applied the paste to the front of the suitcase fixings, and have left it to sit for an hour, then I intend to scrub the paste off with a slice of cut potato, then rinse away and buff. I will upload pictures of the results with the next enthralling episode.

Have a great day

Love from

Crafty Mrs Mac

Mrs Mac’s Gifts

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Many thanks for your support x

Self Harming Awareness Day 2013. You really can not make comedic material like this up!

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    Self Harming Awareness Day 1st March 2013

As per the title of this post,….Self Harming Awareness Day 2013. You really can not make comedic material like this up!

My thirteen year old daughter (AKA Minime) came downstairs for breakfast this morning, looking an absolute vision! Very smart in her school uniform, and she’d fashioned her waist length hair into an “Audrey Hepburn style” bun. She made and ate her breakfast (whilst I was preparing the lunch boxes) and proceeded to wash up her breakfast things. She had pushed the sleeves of her blazer up her forearms, in order to keep her clothes dry, and that is when I spotted it…..

    “KEEP FIGHTING”

ME: “What is that on your wrist?” I snapped

MINIME: “WHAT?” the retort.

ME: “We don’t say what Minime, we say pardon?” I admonished her.

MINIME: “PARRRRR—DUUUUUUUN?????” Was the reply

ME: “What is that on your wrist?” I asked again

MINIME: “WRI I I I TING” I was informed as if I was an idiot.

ME: “And why do you have writing on your wrist? And what does it say?” I asked again calmly.

MINIME: “It says KEEP FIGHTING, didn’t you know that it’s Self Harming Awareness Day today Mum?”

ME: “No darling I didn’t, I thought it was St David’s day today”. I replied slightly confused.

MINIME: “It is Mum, but it is also Self Harming Awareness Day today, and loads of people on Facebook are writing “KEEP FIGHTING” on their wrists in ink in order to spread awareness”

Now forgive me for interrupting this dialogue, but anyone who attended Christopher Whitehead School for Girls during the 1980’s with me, particularly in the same form as me, (3C), or top set for Music and RE, will be reminded of the cautionary tale we were frequently told by Mrs Cole and Miss Potts, of a former pupil, who had written on her skin with the ink provided in the ink wells on our desks, and had made herself very ill, and died of blood poisoning. Whether or not this story was true or not, it was sufficiently effective in deterring me from ever wanting to write on my own skin, preferring a rough jotter instead. This may also be at the root of my aversion to body art, but I digress.

ME: “OK Minime, so someone on Facebook has asked you to write in ink on your wrist…. “KEEP FIGHTING?’

MINIME: “Yes Mum, to highlight the fact that people self harm, and to raise awareness of their problems”

ME: “That’s ok, Minime, I was just trying to get things straight in my head. As you know, I find Self Harming a very serious subject, and having been a self harmer myself, at various times of my life, when events were out of my control, I heartily understand your desire to make the plight of these people known.”

MINIME: “That’s a relief Mum, I thought that you were going to tell me off for writing on myself, and make me wash it off!”

ME: “Sorry darling, I don’t know whether to tell you off, and make you wash it off, or wear it all day to show how gullible you are?”

MINIME: “What do you mean?”

ME: “The act of writing on yourself, is in itself a form of self-defacement/self-harm and in doing so, you are not helping to raise awareness at all, you are publicising to join the club of self harmers!” You really are a silly girl, kind hearted but silly, now go and scrub that ridiculous thing off your wrist”

She did, and stormed out of the house wordless. Kids! tut!