Worm's World

More for my own benefit then anything else I'm going to round up my favourite go-to weeknight tofu recipes. This is different from my pinterest board which is full of things I haven't necessarily tried yet but look yummy. Vegan Tofu Taco Crumbles Vietnamese Fried Tofu w/ Tomato Sauce – Dau Sot Ca Chua  (I airfry the tofu for this one) I also like to slather it in BBQ sauce and bake it for about 40 mins with peppers and onions before adding it to wraps with some salad. I've also found it's a great substitute for paneer in things - it's not quite there but it's close oh, and if I do need to press it, and I haven't got time (which is almost always) I used the microwave method from this chirpy little video

We had  a bumper grape harvest from the two vines in the back garden this year - since last years attempt at wine is still bubbling away somewhere (it's probably vinegar by now, also useful) I thought I'd turn it into jam. I underestimated this as an undertaking I joked once about making jam during the time it took my students to makes games in a 48hr games jam - I haven't done that yet but I am trying to turn this haul of grapes from the into jam - I have not planned this well. I picked the grapes on Sunday - It took me significantly longer to prep and turn these grapes into juice to work from - but I got 5.7lt (10 pints) of grape juice in the end - luckily I had some large jugs left over from student cocktail making days to house it in. A shout out to Pete at this point who had to swing by Tesco on Tuesday night and buy all the jam sugar they had to hand after appropriately running a jam night - All hail 24hrs supermarkets. It took me until then to pick them a...

I've been trying to cut down on spending money in work (sorry lovely Squeezebox) so in an effort to break up the monotony of making cup'a'porridge every day - and also the fact that only Tesco's sell it - I've started down the pinterst-tastic overnight oats train - in mason jars because they turn out to be super cheap from home bargains Overnight oats breakfast meal prep for the next few days and I've finally found a use for the jam funnel @lottierouxel brought me ages ago (I'm fairly rubbish at making Jam it turns out) #mealprep #vintagekitchen #masonjars A post shared by Nia Wearn (@wormella83) on Aug 12, 2018 at 8:23am PDT Which also means I can now prep 5 day of breakfasts in one short Sunday night meal prep blitz (I'm making layerd salads in bulk too - not together, that would be weird) Anyway - I've got it down I think after a few weeks of experiments 1/4 cup of oats 1/4 cup of skimmed milk A tablespoon of chia seeds (...

Because everyone spends the first day of their holidays making a place to do all the work they haven't done yet right? On the basis we arn't really going away again one of my plans is to actually tidy up and sort out all the bits we've neglected over the last 5 years - the spare room / library / study / games room / fairy den / laundry dump is in a much better place then it was but since my desktop died, my actual desk was starting to look a bit sad - and since I brought a laptop a little while ago I've mainly been using it downstairs, on my lap - which is nice, but not that useful for actual writing. So task one - make a space for me to be able to write, in my study - tick!

It's nice to know I still have the ability to build a website, from scratch, on notepad in my lunch break. I'm rejigging my online presence a bit so I've decided to build my own boiler plate over at www.wormella.com - and then I can feel less guilty about not updating this (since what I am good at is Twitter & IG) I'd also forgotten how much fun coding something from scratch is - my summer plan is to try my hand at Twine game creation so it was nice to ease myself back into coding with a tiny project.

This years tree - choc full of lovely momentos and decorations (and in case anyone was keeping track this years theme is Stars) (and a bonus small boy, who isn't that small any more) Merry Christmas from Pete, Nia & Brit

Someone said the lights in the hallway Pete had put up made it look like something from Stranger Things

It is with sad news that we have to report the demise of our favorite festive decoration - the tasteless, weird fiber optic christmas tree with the strange baubles that made an odd grinding sound. It hailed from our days in Liverpool, in the flat, and it was neither attractive nor calming, but we loved it so. It was love at first sight when we saw it the Renshaw's hardware and it took us ages of stalking to finally get one. It has illuminated many a window in the years since - broadcasting to everyone we have little taste when ti comes to Christmas decorations. It probably lasted 10 years and I doubt anything like it's magnificence will ever be seen again in our home. Good bye you wonderful decorative item

10 years ago I married the very lovely @pistolpetewearn in a fun relaxed day at our then home of Liverpool - #happyanniversary #10yearsAgo #happydays #weddinganniversary #superlambbanana #liverpool #lego #cake #weddingcake #weddingdress A post shared by Nia Wearn (@wormella83) on May 26, 2017 at 2:20am PDT And since our wedding was in the early days of Facebook, back when photo albums had a limit of 60 photos to an album for the first time ever all of our photos are in one place  - we haven't actually gotten around to getting all of the physical photos in one place yet ;) A lot's happened in 10 years - and I'm looking forward to kicking back tonight and watch Rich Hall at the Gatehouse, picking up a pizza on the way home and enjoy it with a bottle of fizz as is our tradition - since that's how we were still partying at 3am on the evening of our wedding. This was before we got up the next morning, heading back to our flat and serving up breakfast to ever...

The garden has needed a tidy and some love for  while now, so since the kitchen and bathroom have both been done - and we've had some spare time over Easter with the boy in nursery we've cracked on with phase 1 - reclaiming land and lawn edging. Inspired by this Pinterest pin We've used wood gathered from various projects as lawn edging - we looked at the rolled wood stuff or the bamboo stuff and none of it seemed like us -and there's quite a bit of lawn to edge. So a bonus that it was free asides from a couple of tester pots to liven it up. I also wanted to sort out the seating a little bit - we do have quite a big table and chairs, but often that's a bit big for a glass of wine and some nibbles.   so the ever talented Mr. Wearn used some scaffolding planks left over from the kitchen bookshelf to make us a garden bench. and we've added an Asda bistro set to have a smaller set up in the area we've reclaimed from a giant bush, unus...

As the annual St. David's Day picture tradition is strong in school across Wales, but we don't live in Wales, I always make a point of taking a photo of Brit, in a relevant top (and it appears blue jeans) every year. This years photo Super handily for us the new Primark in town randomly had Welsh flag t-shirts in so I didn't have to scour the internet or hope Pete was gigging in Wales at some point before March the 1st. 2015, 2016 for comparison Awwwm look how he's grown xx

We're on the home straight now, walls are painted (with a few bits left to sort) and the brilliant white sets off the tiles fantastically - and the art from Quantum Prints looks fantastic Last bits of painting, the skirting, the shelves for the alcove (and Pete was so proud he only needed to buy one bit of wood, since his wood hoarding has paid off) and a cabinet to hold towels etc so Saturday hold a trip to IKEA on it's cards to buy either this one  or this one (if you have a preference let me know on twitter - I'm too tired to make any more decisions)

So, the fitters were all done and dusted just before Christmas - the bath & shower combo, sink and toilet are all in and working - and we've been getting used to the space a little bit more. We've plumped for two shower curtains and some of the excellent Croydex Press'N'Lock products to make it usable - the joy of having tiles everywhere is the suction pads work really well. They look smart too. So now we just need to paint it, add shelves into the alcove and add skirting boards and a linen cupboard of sorts but the difference in the space, and the feel of the room is amazing.

Merry Christmas everyone!! We've got a Pirate themed Christmas this year - so I hope everyone is eating as much chocolate coins and drink as much rum as we are!

The white grout makes them pop but none of the pictures do justice to the deep inky blue of the tiles. What's left to do is the floor (white tiles) - which should be done by the end of the day and the putting the bathroom pottery and the shower in place (Thursday's job I guess) and then the fitters from Wickes are done. Then, after Christmas we'll need to paint it (white) put up shelves in the alcove, find some baskets, and some storage and sort out bit and pieces and then it's done - and it will be so very nice to have a bathroom upstairs again. We're lucky to have a cloakroom downstairs, and lovely neighbors who've let us use their showers - but we brought a house with a upstairs bathroom for a reason. These last few weeks have cemented the idea that we made the right choice in this decision.

Wow! What a wonderful weekend! The kitchen was a success! The Party was a success and the cake looked amazing   New Train sets & Onesies were amazing... Thank you everyone who helped us celebrate our amazing son's 2nd birthday.

I assume naming tiles is not as exciting as naming paint but these really are a lovely shade of dark blue. It's just tiling and fitting to do now I think from the professionals...

Our amazing baby boy turns 2 today - there's a weekend of exciting things planned but he really has given us so much joy over the last 2 years. He's an absolute superstar. He has gone off, as is tradition, with a caterpillar cake for nursery, and has stage 1 of his birthday presents bonaza to open tonight when he comes home

That was quick... The plasterer arrives tomorrow but it seems we need a new floor?

So, working out the history of the bathroom over the years reminds me that I did do a bit of work on who used to live in our house. We know it was built around 1910 so the first port of call was the 1911 census. Even with 5 in the house it must have been fairly room and pleasant - to be in a brand new house but I was surprised she's there as a widow - so I did a bit more digging and she turns up on the 1901 census - married to an engineer called George and living on Newport Rd. Since it's not actually my family I'm not doing much more research but when the 1921 census comes out I'll be sure to have another look to see if she's still there - or if not her, then who.