Landlocked Mermaid

Final Friday Top Five Board Games Ok - so this theme is not so watery, but has anyone else's board game play increased exponentially over lockdown? Mine certainly has. Thanks to Table Top Simulator and Board Game Arena I have not only been able to learn new games but stay in touch with fellow gamers. While the rest of the world may be chomping at the bit to return to "normal", I have actually quite enjoyed my time in lockdown. Sure, it has been difficult in some ways and the never ending anxiety fueled by death tolls has been terrifying. But having the chance to connect online and further my love of board games has been something I have cherished. Because of the online medium, some of the games I am choosing have not actually been played "in the flesh" but that has not diminished my love for them. So, without further waffle, here are my top five board games! (Just a note before I start: "board game" is being used as a general term for table top games...

We all know I am a massive advocate of the tote bag. They are a staple of my life and I'm sure of yours too. They are practical, hardy, and oftentimes pretty! I have covered a few pros and cons to tote bags on my podcast , but I figured I could go a little deeper on here. Crumpled = Well loved For my first point: They are reusable . Seems a little obvious, right? But these bags are designed to be used again and again and again. Think about it. Every food shop, you would have been grabbing 5+ bags every single time . That's twenty plastic bags every month, just going in the drawer or cupboard to be used as bin liners or some other single use. Speaking from experience, I never once reused the plastic bags I'd hoarded for shopping. When I moved out of my flat, I ended up chucking most of them. So much waste! With totes, however, I am completely bypassing that void of waste and bad habits. Purely because they are advertised as reusable. I'm not buying bags every food shop. ...

Anyone else been using lockdown and all this extra time at home as an excuse to get crafty for presents? I have. My big box of clothes too pretty to throw out is slowly dwindling! But that is a good thing. As is the fact that I have been doing a lot of sewing. I am slowly getting better, stitches getting straighter, and projects more adventurous! Seriously, I made a dinosaur tail belt. I may have forgotten how circles work in the process, but it actually looks like a dinosaur tail. This craft post is not about the tail though. Sorry, I genuinely have no idea how I managed to make it and very much used the shape of the trousers I made it from to my advantage! Instead, I am sharing how to made a cute dice bag. I only call it a "dice bag" because two of the three people who received these are likely to use them to hold their dice collections. Due to the nature of the fabrics I used, I ended up making these three different ways. But the core principles remained the same. Plus, fr...

Marine Creature of the Month Famous Fish Made on Canva Scuttle and The Walrus We have a draw! For the first time ever on MCotM, a draw! I figure it is only fair that you get a post covering both of them. Instead of an in-depth profile on both, I am going to throw some fun facts about both of them your way. Scuttle the Seagull Kingdom: Animalia Class: Aves Conservation Status: Certain species are endangered (EN), like the herring gull. Picture from Varment Guard Seagulls are one of the few creatures which can drink sea water. They can drink salt water because of the glands above the eyes which flush salt out of their system, via holes in their bills. While Scuttle may not know the names for human objects, seagulls are actually very intelligent. They display learned behaviours like stamping their feet on the ground to mimic the rain and trick worms out of the ground. Not only do they show such intelligence but they pass the knowledge on. The oldest known gull is forty-nine years old. I...

On the 15th, I gave you the mid-point breakdown of what I've been up for #30DaysWild. Well, here is the 16th to the 30th! June 16th: T-Rex Hunting Scary rain It rained pretty much all day on the sixteenth. In Shropshire, we even had thunderstorms. My partner and I got caught out in one, while in town picking up storage boxes for his business. While delightfully refreshing, we got soaked in the short walk from the shop to van. When we pulled into our drive and turned the engine off, the rain hitting the roof of the van reminded me of that scene in Jurassic Park when the T-Rex gets revealed for the first time. So we stayed in the van a little minute longer, just to make sure no T-Rexes burst onto our street. June 17th: Cricket Research Effective research With the persisting rain and sogginess, it occurred to me on our walk with the dog that I couldn't hear the crickets. Which made me wonder, where do they go when it rains? This lead to me doing some research when I got home. Tu...