Longer days

The sinking sun looked beautiful this evening

We're at the end of February and the days are noticeably longer.  It's getting lighter earlier in the morning, and the days are really stretching out.  It's still light at 5 o'clock and if it's been a bright day rather than overcast and grey, I don't look to pull the curtains before 5.30pm.  It makes such a difference and I'm sure everyone feels better having more daylight.


We had some good news yesterday - 2 of our extended 'brood' should be offered permanent employment tomorrow, so we are very happy about that.  A really positive bit of news that should alleviate quite a few financial problems!  The kids have proved themselves hard, willing workers, and they'll do well.

Today we had some news that reminded us (if we needed the reminder) just why buying and selling houses can be so fraught - the house we saw a couple of weeks ago is now under offer.  We couldn't make an offer ourselves as we don't have a buyer for our property.  *Sigh*  I guess that's the way it goes sometimes.  N and I both believe that if something is meant to be, then it will happen.  But it's a waiting game.

Anyway, lots of preparations today as we are off to visit N's dad 'up north'.

We're taking a jar of marmalade, and another date and walnut loaf (I will get around to baking a different sort of cake soon!), and we made our own granary rolls for lunch on the train tomorrow.  It'll be good to spend some time with G and the rest of N's family.

Rather than buying new books, I try to support the local library.  Here's the latest selection I have on my bedside table.  I love Agatha Christie, especially the Miss Marple books; the rather old-fashioned language evokes an era gone by.  The Hamish MacBeth series provide a good, quick read, and again I'm working my way through them.  The Rain Tree looks like an interesting autobiography, but the book I was really pleased to find was Walden, by Henry Thoreau.  I've seen it mentioned in several blogs and I am interested to find out if it's as fascinating as many people say.  I'm taking it away with me this weekend. 

 

Here's a sneak preview of the latest woodworking project.  It's in it's early stages, but looks set to be another triumph.  And if you think there's something familiar about the design, check out my profile photo ;)

 

Finally, I've been meaning to get a photo of this for a while.  Several weeks ago we bought a 25kg bag of potatoes from a feed merchant about a mile down the road.  I was delighted to find the spuds were from a very local farmer, in fact, I know exactly which field they were grown in!  OK, so the potatoes are not washed clean, they are not perfect - they have lumps of mud on them and some gouges in them.  They may not be 'pretty' but my goodness, we are so pleased to have found such a local supplier.  We feel this is one of our successful 'small steps', and will buy here again until our own potatoes are ready later this year.

We can't always get connection 'up north', so it may be a few days before I post again.

Thinking positively

I'm feeling in a much more positive frame of mind today.  I've done a lot of unpicking and cutting up of old clothes; had a brain-wave (in the middle of the night, no less!) about recycling a couple of N's old polo shirts; altered a pair of trousers for myself (the days of flared trousers are long-since gone), and we managed to get into the garden today to cut down the remains of a very old, gnarled clematis that had got way out of hand and was looking a mess.

This morning we had a really honest and useful talk about financing the house move, and finances in general, and I finally moved some money around that I needed to do but had been putting off.  Of course, now it's done, I don't know why I shied away from getting it sorted - I hadn't realised how much it was weighing on my mind.  I guess that's like so many problems, we spend so much time worrying about them instead of just dealing with them.  I am a fine one to talk (LOL) - I am a worrier!  And talking of problems, I have made progress with the very thorny problem that has been getting me down recently.  Having had several (more) sleepless nights over this, in the early hours of this morning a couple of things fell into place, and whilst the problem is not solved, I am able to look at it in a different way.  It will at least allow me to move forward with it a little, rather than allowing it to take over.  Small steps, I think.  But progress.

Lat night's meal deserved a picture, it was so delicious!  Salmon in hollandaise sauce, a selection of vegetables, and potato, leek and onion cakes with a little square of brie cheese hiding in the middle.  So tasty, and a fraction of what it would cost at a restaurant.  This, as I told N, is why we don't go out - we don't need to.  I am thankful every day for his way with food and the lovely meals he is able to produce for us.

We're doing really well with this month's budget for food.  We had a quick check this afternoon, and we have come in well under the figure we had allowed.  We've both bought into the idea of writing down what we spend, and we have been surprised that there is still money left over.  We certainly haven't gone without, or had to scrimp.  It's very encouraging. 

Finally, we were watching the magpies building their nest this morning.  We were amazed at the size of twigs they were flying around with - 2 or 3 times their body length at least.  At one point, this bird dropped his twig so had to fly down to the ground to retrieve it.  I managed to get a quick photo before he flew off again.  (I've enlarged the photo because I couldn't zoom in from such a distance.)

Catching up

Isn't it annoying when you're 'off kilter' and can't quite get back on track?  N and I have both been feeling like this for a couple of days; perhaps it's something to do with the uncertainty of putting the flat on the market, I'm not sure.  However, I thought I would try to focus on what we managed to do yesterday and today, rather than what we didn't!

Yesterday we both had a sort out of our wardrobes, and here's the first pile of clothes we will be donating to a charity shop.

 There's more waiting to be washed (I cannot hand dirty clothes over), so I'll wait until it's all ready before I take a trip into town.

I've kept a couple of t-shirts and tops that are really past their best, and they will be cut up for cloths.  I've also acquired a small pile of clothes that need altering/mending, and I shall work my way through these over the next couple of weeks.

This dress was first in line.  It originally had some gathering on one side, and I was never terribly happy with how it looked on - I have a feeling it was designed for someone about six inches taller than me, so the fullness draped in the wrong places.  I unpicked the side seam , removed the excess fabric, undid the neck edge, recut the crossover, and put it all back together again.  And I'm really pleased with the result.  This is now a dress I shall wear with confidence.

This afternoon, while N was engrossed in the 6-nations rugby matches (he's an ex-rugby player, and thoroughly enjoys watching internationals), I made a batch of Melting Moments (I think someone had made off with a few before I took a photo ;) )  These are a favourite of ours.  Here's the recipe:

4 oz margarine

3 oz castor sugar

4 oz SR flour

1 oz oats

1/2 beaten egg

cherries to decorate

Cream margarine and sugar together.  Add flour and egg and beat well.  Take about a teaspoonful of mixture and roll in oats (it's a bit messy here; I put the oats in a bowl, drop the mixture in and use a spoon to cover the dough with oats).  Place the covered dough balls on a greased baking tray, well spaced out as they will spread during cooking.  Pop half a glace cherry on each biscuit.  Bake at approx 150C until golden brown.  Cool on wire tray.

I mentioned I had bought some oxygen bleach (Astonish Oxy Bleach), and I tried it our on some tea towels.  Although the photo doesn't really show the difference, the yellow towel is brilliant white now in comparison with the pink one.  I was quite impressed and will certainly use it in future.  I'd certainly prefer this to using bleach.  BTW, I hung the tea-towels outside yesterday (it was very cold but quite windy) and when I came to get them off the line, they had frozen like cardboard!! 

Finally, some sky photos.  This was yesterday, about 5 in the afternoon.  The clouds were very dark and threatening (we'd had flurries of snow on and off), and against the blue of the sky, looked quite dramatic.

Where did that day go?

Why is it that some days just seem to disappear and you have to think hard if you've actually achieved anything?  

N and I started off today with a big discussion about financing our prospective house move.  We are very good at talking things through, and this is quite a 'biggie' so deserved to have some quality time spent on it.  We've obviously spent a fair amount of time discussing finances for this already, but it never hurts to mull things over again!  We often joke that no-one could ever accuse us of not looking at all aspects of a problem - we spend hours going over and over something, looking at all possibilities (and quite a few improbabilities, too!).  Later we had another phone call from the estate agent to tell us the people who had booked to view our flat have now cancelled :(.  Not so good, but it's early days and we need to be philosophic about the whole process.  It's not always easy being in a situation which you have little control over - we just have to sit tight and trust that if we are meant to move, then the right buyer will come along.  Sometimes easier said than done, but a good lesson in patience.

However, what have we achieved today?  Well, the kitchen walls are now all painted, and the paint is back in the shed.  The 3 chicken carcasses have been boiled up, the liquid saved for stock cubes, and the meat stripped from the bones (there was enough scraps to make 2 chicken and leek pies - we had one this evening and it was very tasty).  We took a walk into town, well wrapped up against the cold, and I bought some oxygen bleach to try out on the tea-towels.  I've also found somewhere I can get cotton yarn for dishcloths - that's a future project.  I made bread this morning, and used a silicone loaf tin our neighbour lent us to try out - it worked very well, no sticking to the sides.  It made a smaller loaf than I normally do, so I used the rest of the dough to make some rolls which we had for lunch.  Oh, and I managed to upload a photo on my Blogger profile (I know, a very small achievement, but it's a start!) 

Railfence quilt finished

I finally finished off the quilt today.  The last thing to do was remove all the washable marker pen I had used to mark the quilt design.  I just used a wet cloth and then left the quilt to dry in the sun on the dining room table.  

I'm pleased with how it's turned out, especially after the problems I had with the tension for the machine quilting.  It's spread over the back of the sofa in the lounge at present, and really adds a splash of vibrant colour.  And I smile when I see it, as it now not only reminds of the fact that my son M patiently stitched in together all those years ago on an old hand-cranked Singer sewing-machine, but that right now, he and J are enjoying their holiday as a newly-engaged couple!  I haven't stopped grinning to myself :)

We've had quite a busy day, providing transport for one of the brood who had a hospital appointment on the mainland, painting another wall in the kitchen, a trip to Tesco (where we got 3 free-range chickens greatly reduced in price on the 'cheapie shelf'), and getting an important letter sent off in the post.  And we have also had news from our estate agent ...  we await developments.

I finally got around to ordering a book about Google Blogger, as I sorely need help with customising this blog (there're things I would like to do with it but don't know how to at the moment), and it's now been sitting on the table waiting to be read for several days.  I need to set time aside to begin reading it and I'm hoping all things will become clear.

On a different subject completely, for some time N and I have been thinking about our ex-colleagues, following the announcement of the imminent closure of part of our old workplace.  We understand that a financial package is on offer, but we know that it will be a desperately difficult and stressful time for many.  Yet again, we are so thankful that we were both in a position to leave when we did.  We have proved to ourselves that we can live very well on a reduced income, and are content with our simple lifestyle.  We no longer need convincing that we made the right choice.

  

Completed woodwork project ... and some exciting news!

N has finished his latest project.  He has made me a miniature set of drawers, beautifully veneered and lined.  It sits on the chest of drawers in our bedroom, and is such a pleasure to look at.  All my make-up, handcream, hairbrush etc fits inside; everything tidy and in one place.  I'm chuffed to bits with it, and N is happy with his handiwork.

We've had the survey for the Energy Performance Certificate for the flat completed today; this has to be undertaken when a house is put on the market for sale.  There's not much N and I can do now, we just have to sit and wait, and hope that we get some viewings.  I know N is finding this quite difficult at the moment.  I started painting the kitchen walls today - I would have done it even if we had not been moving - and it's certainly freshened the room up a little.  

We had quite an eventful start to the day this morning, when we opened the bedroom curtains to find a fire-engine outside attending to a vehicle that had caught alight.  Thankfully, no injuries at all, and the fire was extinguished quickly.  It was interesting, and reassuring, to see how swiftly and competently the incident was dealt with, with firefighters, police and highways engineers all involved.  

And now for the exciting news!  My son M is currently on holiday in New Zealand with his girlfriend J.  I had a text from him this evening to say they're having an amazing time .... and that he has 'popped the question' to J!!!  Oh, I am so thrilled for them both, they are a lovely couple and clearly very happy together.  My daughter phoned shortly after to check I'd heard - she's excited, too!

Now, is a hat obligatory for the mother of the groom?!!

A walk in the woods

Yesterday was another beautiful day, bright sunshine albeit a bit cold.  Although we both had things to occupy us, N felt that we really shouldn't waste such a lovely day, so we wrapped up warm and drove to Firestone Copse, an expanse of woodland maintained by the Forestry Commission.  It's a very popular place for ramblers and dog-walkers, but as it was Sunday lunchtime, we had the place almost to ourselves.  It was a bit muddy in places, and very muddy in others :), but we had a lovely time, seeing signs of Spring and enjoying just being outdoors.

Wellies were definitely the best footwear!

Catkins shining in the sun

Furry willow buds just breaking

A wonderful 'staircase' of conifer roots

The sun piercing through the shade of the trees

The previous day (Saturday) we had considered going out for a belated Valentine's meal.  The first question, as always, was 'where?'  We used to enjoy going out for a meal, but over the last few months we've gone out less and less because, as we told ourselves yet again on Saturday, we eat better at home and for far, far less.  N cooked up a delicious prawn and mushroom linguine which went down very well with a bottle of bubbly.  Had we gone to a restaurant it would have cost us probably about £70 for a 3-course meal and bottle of wine.  Our meal at home cost a fraction of that, and we enjoyed it much more.  

We were talking about this again this evening, when N commented on just how little we actually spend now, compared to when we were at work, but we both agreed that we don't feel the need to spend, and to be honest, I'm not sure what I'd buy if I did want to spend money.  We have what we want, we have no desire to surround ourselves with 'stuff' and 'things', we don't feel the need to follow the latest trends (we wouldn't know what the latest trends are, truth be told!) and fortunately neither of us succumbs to the ad-man's temptations.  The horse-meat scandal that has hit the UK food industry over the past few days has brought home to us the benefit of cooking from scratch, of knowing exactly what is going into the food we eat, and has highlighted the concerns of convenience meals.  We acknowledge that we ourselves now have more time to prepare meals from scratch, but the scandal has made us realise how much we as a society have come to rely on everything being done for us.  It seems we have lost a degree of self-reliance and that's a bit scary.  If you'll pardon the pun, it's food for thought.

A beautiful day

It was such a lovely day today.  Bright blue sky, warm(ish) sun, and just a general good feeling in the air.  N spent quite a bit of time in his shed, with the door open, working away on his latest project. 

I had a really productive time with the quilt - at last I feel as though progress is being made.  Hopefully it will be bound and finished over the weekend.

This afternoon I finally got around to clearing out the hall cupboard.  It's not big by any stretch of the imagination, but we manage to fit all manner of bits and pieces into it - toolbox, spare towels, washing basket, iron, clothes-airer, brushes, medicine chest, spare light bulbs, old leads - you get the picture :)   Having cleared it out and removed the shelving, I then painted the inside walls with white emulsion to brighten it up.  N said he wasn't sure why I was bothering, but I would have painted it even if we weren't trying to sell the house and it didn't actually take me that long.  All the boxes have been sorted through, a few bits and pieces thrown away, batteries recharged and torches checked (and batteries found to go in them).  It's just one more job that can be ticked off the list.

We have a great view from our lounge window of the sun setting.  Here's the view late this afternoon, about an hour before sunset.  A little later the sky turned a wonderful mauve tinge, but I wasn't quick enough to get a photo.

  

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

After freezing yesterday, the sun came out and it was a lovely day - the washing dried on the line and N worked in the shed with the door open.  Lots more bulbs coming through - so looking forward to seeing them bloom.

Having felt a bit down yesterday, I decided today to take some time to write down all the small steps we're taking.  Here's the list, or at least what I came up with:

• we don't accept any more plastic bags, and we re-use the ones we have, always making sure we have a spare one in our pocket when we leave for town
• we recycle, and always have done.  Now it's been made even easier (and there really is no excuse for anyone not to do so) because the local county council provide recycling bags clearly labelled with everything that can be accepted.  All items not on the recycling list are collected alternate weeks, and food scraps are collected weekly.  Every household is provided with three  different storage bins; one small bin for kitchen food scraps, a larger version for outside use, and a much larger wheelie-type bin to store full rubbish bags in.  We also use our local civic amenity tip for garden waste, rubble, metal, wood etc.  We donate to local charity shops (and have picked up several bits and pieces from them, too).
• I mend and alter clothes rather than getting rid of them.
• as the main cook, N makes all our meals from scratch, and the savings have been amazing.  Also we now eat so well at home that we very rarely go out.
• I bake bread, biscuits and cakes rather than buy ready-made.  We have noticed that we don't eat as much bread now (we no longer have the convenience and temptation of a sliced loaf, and therefore a ready sandwich) and we have both lost weight, without even trying:)
• I am using up the cleaning products and cloths I already have.  I want to knit some dishcloths, and recycle some old towels for cleaning cloths.  I also want to look into replacing chemical cleaners with homemade ones.
• I am also slowly working my way through all the body-lotions and creams I have acquired, and again will not buy any more for the present.
• We have had several major de-cluttering sessions over the years (moving house 2 or 3 times has certainly helped).  Neither of us likes a lot of 'stuff' around and we are mindful how easy it is for possessions to take over.  We had a clear-out in the kitchen recently, and the bedroom (especially clothes etc) will be next in line.  I'm trying not to think about the loft!!
• We have grown our own vegetables in the past, although we're not sure how this year will pan our if we are moving.  N became very interested and keen on the veggie garden, and his hard work paid off in dividends; we were able to eat fresh home-grown produce all through the summer and autumn, and froze surplus for use through the winter.  This is something we definitely want to do again.
• We don't have a tumble drier so whenever possible the clothes are line-dried.
• We are trying to be mindful of the amount of water, gas and electricity we use.  The thermostat is kept low.  We shower alternate days and I always ensure the washing machine has a full load.
• We don't go out anywhere near as much as we used to.  It's not really been a conscious decision, it just seems to have happened.  We do still have a drink out once in a while, but certainly not the 3 or 4 times a week that it used to be.
• We are both taking huge pleasure from crafts; N with his woodwork and me from sewing and knitting.  We now have the time, and the inclination to really enjoy making things, both for ourselves and for others.

Just jotting down these few things makes me realise that we have already taken many 'small steps'.  We still spend money (but nothing like we used to), but we do not allow ourselves to be conned into a consumerist spending frenzy, being told that we must 'have it all' in order to be happy.  We do not 'have it all', nor do we want it all, and we are more content now than we have been for a long time.  An accumulation of stuff does not bring happiness.

I persevered with the machine quilting this morning, and rechecked the tension by doing a few practice pieces.  By varying the top and bottom tensions gradually, one at a time, I finally produced stitches that were just about OK.  As N said to me, we might call ourselves perfectionists, but not many people actually achieve perfection.  Sometimes we need to accept 'as good as I can make it', and not beat ourselves up over small imperfections.  This quilt is not for a judged competition, it is for snuggling up in at home, and when it is being used, I shall remember my son stitching it many years ago.  It is enough to work on it with love, enjoying the process, and doing the best I am able to. 

A bit of an iffy day ...

Such a cold day today, and another flurry of snow although it didn't settle at all.  I can't remember a year when we've had snow on and off for such a prolonged period of time.  Very often we don't get any snow at all this far south, but for the last 2 or 3 winters we've had several days of it.  

I had another session with the quilt, but I'm having real problems getting the tension right.  It's making me quite frustrated, to say the least.  It's also a little awkward working on the dining room table.  I did a couple more motifs, but then had to unpick one of them because the stitching was far from acceptable.  In the end I just left it and I'll have another go tomorrow when I've calmed down a little.  I am so keen to master this quilting technique, and I will keep persevering.

This is N's first attempt at veneering - it's very impressive!

The box is lined inside with felt

Here's the lovely wooden box N has recently finished.  The photo doesn't really do it justice; it is beautiful.  It is intended as a birthday gift for my son, who requested a wooden box to keep their newly-acquired cutlery set in.  I intend to purchase some dusters, and sew dividing lines for individual cutlery items.

One of 'our' children, having been laid off from their work over Christmas and New year, is having difficulties meeting their rent payment this month.  It brings home the importance of budgeting, so when funds are available you learn to set aside some money to cover the shortfall for the lean months.  I know it's tough when money is tight but that's all the more reason to be frugal and wise with the finances.  I can at least speak from experience - many years of going without, only being able to afford 'needs' rather than 'wants', and then often having to prioritise those too.  N and I hope that this time the lesson will be learned.  

Making progress

The flat is on the market.  We spent quite a bit of time today preparing the place for viewings (always optimists!).  The spare bedroom now has a bed in it, my sewing table is in hiding, bits and pieces have been found temporary homes.  N felt the spare bedroom would benefit from a net curtain, and he remembered we had kept the ones we took down from the lounge, so I've shortened one of those and put it up.  It certainly does make the room look a little more like a bedroom.

My son and his girlfriend J are off on a very special holiday at the end of the week.  They are flying to New Zealand, hiring a campervan for 10 days to tour the South Island, then spending some time with J's aunt and uncle in Aukland.  They have been planning this trip for about 18 months, and we are all so excited for them.  It will be a fantastic experience.  This afternoon I made a 'Bon Voyage' card to send them - I have a little stock of coloured card and holograph paper which I have collected over many years, so I was able to have a bit of fun cutting and sticking.  M has emailed me the proposed itinary, so I shall be able to follow their route.  I'm more than a little envious, but so thrilled for them both to be able to go on such a wonderful adventure.

A blackcap on the bird feeder this morning

Over morning coffee and gingernut biscuits (still going strong after several days), N and I spotted a blackcap on one of the bird feeders in the gardens.  I took several photos; this is the best but as it's taken through our lounge window, the focus is not perfect.  However, the plumage is clear enough for identification purposes.  N and I were mulling over our decision to market the flat - no-one can ever accuse us of not looking at a problem from all angles :) The bottom line is that unless we have a buyer for this property, we will not be in a position to make an offer on another one.  We just take one step at a time.  And this is the first step.

I've just realised that it's only 2 days to Valentine's Day.  N and I like to exchange cards, but I think this year I would like to make a small token rather than a card (I don't buy one as I like the idea of something handmade, and I do resent the price of shop cards).  I have something in mind, it's just a question of making it in secret!  I need N to spend some time veneering in the shed so I can do a bit of sewing.

A new week

Monday again.  And it snowed today!  Yesterday it rained (again - it's getting a bit boring now) and the gardens were flooded, images of paddy fields.  We're so thankful we haven't had to cope with the dreadful flooding that many parts of the country have been enduring for several months, but the land is now saturated - there's nowhere for the rain to go.  Some respite would be helpful.

We went to view the house again this morning (in the snow).  This afternoon, we put our flat on the market.  Without a buyer for our property, we are not in a strong position to make an offer on any other property.  We know that, and we have taken the leap of faith.  We believe that if something is meant to be, it will happen, so we will see what the response is to marketing our flat.  It's a bit scary, but we have to take the first step if we want this to happen.  

Consequently the  sewing room has been dismantled and converted back to a bedroom.  If I need to sew, it will have to be at the desk in our bedroom.  It's feasible, just a bit cramped, but it would be good to get the quilting completed on the railfence quilt.  N's woodwork project has been taken back to the shed and we must be attentive to clutter accumulating.  

On the birdwatching front, we have added collared dove and wren to our list, and this morning we both spied a flock of about a dozen little birds in one of the trees.  N is adamant he identified chaffinches and greenfinches - I had more difficulty in confirming the markings - but they've been included in our notebook.  I have no doubt we'll see some more and hopefully I can verify them too.

A little out of focus!  N's hot chilli jam

N was busy yesterday, making another batch of chilli jam.  He grew a variety of chillies last year, some of which he froze, and they were used to add a bit of heat to the basic recipe of orange peppers.  I'm not so keen on chilli, so N can make it as hot as he likes!

To move or not to move ...

We went to view a house today.  I wish I could say it wasn't suitable, but it was.  It ticked almost all the boxes for us.  The problem is we need to rethink our view on financing such a move.  This would take us outside our comfort zone.  How does this fit with trying to simplify our lives?  For a start, it comes with a much bigger garden for us to produce fruit and veg.  We would have more autonomy than we have at present.  A bigger kitchen would be so welcome.  A 'proper' spare bedroom for family to stay in comfort.  And a separate space for N and I to sew, woodwork and craft in.  Of course, it all comes at a price.  We know we can live within a tight and sensible budget.  It's just the initial purchasing outlay, and funds to do the immediate renovations.  We can see the potential the house has to offer, and we think it is somewhere we could be happy for many years.  We will ask to view the property again next week.  We need to have our 'sensible' hats on.

I can't believe it's Saturday already - where did that week go to?  I have to start making the most of each day, not allowing them to pass me by.  We don't get a second chance with time - once it's gone, there's no way to recapture it and have another go.  So another promise to myself, to live each day to the full.  

Railfence quilt spray-basted and pinned together ready for machine quilting

For my day away from the screen tomorrow, I will be stitching away on my quilt.  without any distractions, hopefully I can make some inroads into the machine quilting I've planned.  We will also visit the grandkids in the morning to catch up on their news.

I painted the kitchen ceiling this afternoon.  It was originally a matt off-white; now it's a shiny white silk finish.  Tomorrow I should be able to see if I've missed any patches!  

I've ordered a book on Blogger from The Book Depository (which was considerably cheaper than Amazon!).  I had hoped it would arrive today so I could have a read tomorrow, but never mind.  I need some help and information on getting to grips with this blog.  I know what I want to do with it, but don't know how to do it.  Hopefully the new book will help.  Setting up and running a blog myself was one of the challenges I set myself for this year.  I quite pleased that I've managed what I have, but there is so much more to do.

Making (hair)do

I wear my hair short.  It takes next to no time to wash, and it's usually almost dry before I've brushed it into some kind of style.  However, to keep it short requires a trip to the hairdresser about every 5 weeks.  I no longer bother with a cut and blow dry, but just have a dry trim; it costs me £13.50 plus tip.  

I started to go grey in my late 40s, and now, from the front, I am grey. I can't hide from the fact.  It doesn't matter that my hair is still dark brown at the back, it's the grey around my face that counts.  I have had my hair coloured on and off for a few years, the last time just before Christmas.  But I have decided that it will have been the last time.  At £50 a time, it no longer fits into my budget.  I simply have to learn to accept this as who I am now.  I know if I keep my hair short, I cope with the greyness much better.  However, in my quest to keep my personal spending to a minimum, I have looked for an alternative to a trip to the hairdresser.  Solution?  Cut my hair myself!  Having spent many hours sat facing a mirror watching a trained stylist defly wield scissors, I felt I had enough of an idea as to the basic technique, so yesterday I had a go, trimming about half an inch of hair off all around my face, and on top.  After I had showered this morning, and 'styled' it, it didn't really look any different to when I have it cut professionally.  I will have a persuasive word with N to see if he can trim the back for me, but I'm pretty pleased with the result, and so is my purse.  If I have a proper cut 4 times a year (£60), rather than 9 times a year (£135), I shall be saving a hefty £75 in hair cuts, not to mention £100 - £150 on colouring it.  It makes sense, but can I embrace the grey?  I keep promising myself I will, then succumb to the colour.  I just need to remember the financial cost, and the chemicals that are being used.  And N tells me he's perfectly OK with me being grey!  It's just me that needs persuading.

Update on the quilt - I had to add a patched strip to the backing as it wasn't big enough when I laid it out.  However, top, wadding and backing are all now basted and ready for machine quilting.


We had lunch with an old friend today who has been through a very rough patch but has thankfully emerged in one piece.  We were really pleased to have spent a very happy couple of hours with him.  We gifted him some homemade preserves - jam and marmalade - which we know he will appreciate.

And tomorrow we are going to look at a house for sale - more on that later.

Keeping an eye on the budget

At the beginning of the week, my dear OH (N), who keeps a very careful eye on the joint account, decided the time had come to reassess the TV package we subscribe to.  We had a BT package (phone, TV and broadband) which gave us access to some of the sports channels.  Although we don't watch a huge amount of television, N is really keen on his sport and gets a lot of enjoyment from watching golf, football, cricket and darts on the extra channels.  However, when he checked our latest statement online, he said that he just couldn't justify the cost of that sports package.  So, he got on the phone to BT to cancel it.  As usual, BT (just like any other provider, or so it seems to me) did us a 'deal' (faster broadband, free evening phone calls).  It always makes me wonder, and makes me more than a little peeved, that because a customer suggests they are considering changing providers, all of a sudden we get a better deal for less money.  Why couldn't we have always paid that price?  Anyway, our monthly bill has been reduced from £48 to £16 (minus those sports channels, which we can manage without, in all honesty), so we're feeling pretty pleased with the result.

We've also agreed to keep a closer eye on the gas and electricity meters, reading them at the beginning of each month.  Again, N checks our accounts with the energy providers online, but monitoring our usage regularly will give us a better idea of how we're doing.  Perhaps we should look at the water meter, too.  We are particularly careful and mindful of water usage because we are metered, and this year we have begun to shower alternate days rather than every day, at least during the winter.  I am also trying to remember not to run the tap when I clean my teeth etc.  It might only be a small change, but every litre of water I save is a litre we don't have to pay for.  I want to look into how much water the washing machine uses.  Our machine is only a couple of years' old, so is an efficient model, and I tend to use the 30 minute cycle quite often.  I need to see if I would be better off using a longer cycle which holds more washing.  We don't have a dishwasher - that would be me;) - but I try to restrict the number of times we do the washing-up during the day.

My DD returned home today.  It was lovely having her here for a few days, and although we didn't do out and about very much, she said she enjoyed just spending time quietly.  She is, as I mentioned, a demon at jigsaw puzzles, and we unearthed a couple in the loft.  She finished a 1000-piece puzzle in about 5 hours!  

This afternoon I have continued with another quilting project that has been waiting for me to have a few days to concentrate on it.  Many years ago I helped my son, who must have been about 10 or 11 at the time, make himself a small quilt, using railfence pattern blocks separated with plain blocks.  He did all the machining himself, and I helped put the quilt together.  It didn't have much quilting holding it together, so over the years it has got a bit baggy.  I decided some time ago to try to give it a new lease of life, and I unpicked the rather sparse quilting and washed the fabric and wadding, which almost fell to pieces.  It will have new wadding!  I decided to practice my machine quilting skills (still very much as a beginner) and drafted up a couple of designs which I thought would work in the plain blocks.  The railfence blocks I will just use the walking foot to add some lines to follow the strips.  I needed some kind of light-box to enable me to transfer the designs onto the fabric, but this is not the kind of quilting equipment I can justify spending my money on.  I explained to N what I was after, and he mooched around the flat looking for inspiration.  And he found it!  A bedside light, and stack of books, a plain glass table-protector - hey presto!  One very nifty light-box.  

The glass mat is balancing on top of the bedside lamp (the books were there to steady it), and I taped the paper with the design drawn onto it over the light source

Draping the quilt over the mat allowed me to see the design  illuminated by the light and I had a solid surface to trace on

Tomorrow I hope to spray baste the quilt together and then I shall be ready to start machine quilting.  My DD gave me some special gloves to stop my hands sliding over the fabric, so I shall be trying those out tomorrow as well. 

I must also take some photos of N's finished woodwork project - it's stunning.   

Signs of Spring

For the first time this year I have been able to put the washing outside on the line.    The line is in our garden, but being in a first floor flat means a bit of a trek to get there.  Also, during the winter months, the sun is very low in the sky, and never touches our little patch,  but for the last couple of days I've seen the sun finally creep into the garden.  

It was really quite windy today.  Blue sky in the photo but just  a few minutes later it was snowing!

There is something really satisfying about hanging washing outside.  It smells so much fresher, and seems somehow cleaner as well.  And it means we don't have damp washing festooning the flat - always a positive.  We don't have a tumble-drier (although I did have one many years ago when my children were small).  I did two machine loads this morning, managed to get it all dried outside (a surprise flurry of snow had me dashing up and down the stairs at one point!), and now I just need to iron a few items.

Crocus coming through in the rockery

  
While I was in the garden, I remembered to take some photos of the emerging bulbs.  Last autumn we planted quite a few narcissi, daffodils and crocus and we're hoping for a splash of colour in a few weeks time.  I've been wondering if all the rain we had earlier might have rotted the bulbs, but it's good to see at least some of them have made it through the winter.

I tried a new recipe from one of baking books I received for Christmas - Stem Gingernut Biscuits - and they've been very well received by OH and DD.  

I've finished off one of those projects I put together while DD is here.  It's a little Christmas hanging I made very quickly last year, and was never really happy about it.  I decided to unpick the machine quilting I originally did as a quick filler (it was very untidy), and instead I have done some straightforward hand quilting in gold metallic thread.  It looks so much better, less fussy and  more in keeping with the patchwork blocks.

The green fabric  is the same poly-cotton that I used to make the  little bag for the Christmas placemats

It's been so good to have my daughter with us for a few days.  We haven't really done anything particularly special, and very often the three of us are sitting in the lounge, reading (or in DD's case, doing jigsaw puzzles - she's a demon at them!) in companionable silence.  It's good, I think, to be content with quietness; all too often life is so noisy.  I've noticed that some people aren't at all comfortable with silence but I find it very relaxing.  It allows you the opportunity to listen to all the sounds that get blocked out by other noise.  It helps me slow down and appreciate the simple things around me.  I need to remember to be thankful for that.

A family get-together

I think I must be getting used to my day off from the laptop; I didn't miss it at all yesterday.  That might have been because we were preparing for a house-full for the evening meal.

OH and I have, between us, 4 children and 2 grandchildren.  Yesterday evening, we managed to get all OH's offspring, plus one of mine, in our little flat for dinner.  It's the first time we've managed it, and we had a wonderful time.  It was a little chaotic, with 9 of us around the table, but we all had such fun and everyone enjoyed themselves, and hopefully felt part of our extended family.  Seeing the various children/grandchildren (from 5 to 30) around our dining table, smiling, laughing, chatting, made me feel so happy and content.  

We so rarely manage to get this many family members together in one place and it was an evening to remember.   

Cherished memories

I spent yesterday morning cleaning the bathroom wall tiles.  I'd noticed that if the light caught one or two of them in a certain way, I could see marks on them.  Yesterday I finally got round to actually doing something about it.  The tiles that are affected by the shower will need a bit more attention, as our hard water has left limescale deposits which didn't some off first time around, so I'll give those another go tomorrow.

In the afternoon, I busied myself with a little sewing project I'd been putting together.  When my children were younger, and it was just the 3 of us and thriftiness was a necessary way of life, we made some Christmas quilted placemats together.  They were simple, fun and practical, and are used every year to brighten up our festive table.  The mats also bring back very happy memories of my children when they were small, of the 3 of us creating together, using scraps from my fabric stash.  The stitching is a bit wonky but that is part of the charm and the pleasure that I feel when I set the table with them.  

I had misplaced a couple of the smaller mats this past Christmas, but then found them a few days ago while clearing out a drawer.  I decided that it made sense to have all these special mats in one place, so I came up with a little fabric 'envelope' to keep them in.  I used bits from my stash (that is a recurring theme this year!), including a piece of poly-cotton I bought some time ago, which turned out to be much more poly than cotton, consequently not so good for quilting.  However, it did the job well enough for the little bag.  I lined it with some old work shirts I'd taken to pieces when we left work in 2011, and used some buttons off those work shirts to hold the ties in place.  I felt quite pleased with the result, and good that I had managed to recycle sewing bits into the bargain.  OH's comment was that it 'looked a bit fancy', but that's OK; those placemats and the associated cherished memories deserve to have something fancy to be kept in.

Whilst I was sewing away, OH was working on a little craft project of his own.  He's re-discovering his pleasure of woodcraft, and is creating a beautiful box - photos to follow.  

My daughter is coming to stay for a few days, so I have had to dismantle my sewing area in the spare bedroom so she has somewhere to sleep :).  But I have made sure I have a few small portable projects to work on.  I am happy she is visiting with us - I don't see her too often so the times she is here are special for me.  I have also remembered that it is 'computer-free Sunday' tomorrow (how quickly has that week gone?) and have successfully posted today in good time - no connection issues like last week.  

I am very aware this little blog is a bit boring visually, and I would like to learn to personalise it to make it a bit more interesting.  I have tried some of the on-line tutorials but ended up with a huge photo of a loaf of bread in the header, so I must be doing something wrong.  I may have to resort to buying a book to help me.  I shall have to do a bit of research so I spend my money wisely.

Financial stock-take

One thing I want to try to do this year is be more mindful of the money I spend from my own personal account.  I am not working at present (and that may well be a long-term situation) so I am living off my savings and interest earned from investments.  These sums are not large by any stretch of the imagination, so I need to make them work as hard as possible for me.  In the current economic climate, finding a decent interest rate for savings accounts seems to be as rare as hens' teeth.  When an investment matures, I know I will have to settle for a much lower rate wherever I decide to subsequently invest it again.  

That being the case, it seems to make sense to me to curb my spending.  So, as a starting point, I thought it would be a useful exercise to work out exactly how much I spent last year.  I've been putting it off, but yesterday evening I sat down and went through my bank account for last year and noted all my personal expenditure, month by month.  Then I added it all up.  Then I made a cup of tea!  Isn't it surprising how small amounts here and there add up?   Granted, last year I didn't really make too much of an effort to control my spending, and I don't think I spent thoughtlessly or lavishly, but even so .....  

This year I am being far more organised.  I have a little notebook in which I record all my expenditure, month by month.  I also make a note of what I spend my money on.  I think carefully before I part company with my cash, and make sure it's something I really need, not simply want.  I don't intend to be a scrooge about this, but I do think it will make me think twice before parting with my pennies.  I don't need any more quilting magazines, I don't need a bar of chocolate to get me home from town, and I really don't need any more fat-quarters to add to my stash, no matter how lovely the fabric is!  

It will be interesting to see how I do.

The other part of my financial stock-take was to keep a check of my savings.  Again, it's something I get a bit scared of, so it usually gets put off - indefinitely.  However, as yet another small step towards a simpler life, I decided to sit down and find the information out instead of just thinking that I should do it.  And as is so often the case, once I'd made the decision, the task wasn't anything like as difficult as I had thought it was going to be.  It was more a case of being organised - setting aside a specific time and day, and recording the balances in a particular place.  Simple, really.  Now I have the information to hand, it's up-to-date, and will help me in my budgeting.  

A quick update on the marmalade.  I managed to get another batch from the remaining oranges so we now have 12 jars.  I think it's a really good return for the initial cost and I really enjoyed making it, and it'll be lovely spread on some home-made bread.