Crocus in bloom, and false economies

Yesterday was a lovely day,  a bit chilly but glorious sunshine most of the day.  I finally remembered to get some photos of the crocuses we planted late last year, and which have flowered in the last few days.

Despite the fact that we bought a bag of mixed crocuses, they all seem to have come up purple!  Oh well, they do look so pretty.

Poor N has been suffering since he had 2 teeth out on Monday, and had to return to the dentist yesterday for advice.   It seems that one of the roots may have punctured his sinus (ouch!) and he was in quite a bit of pain and discomfort  :( .  He's now got some stronger painkillers, and hopefully it should heal in time.

We had a bit of a disaster with some soup the other day, but learned a valuable lesson from it.  A few weeks ago at the supermarket we bought 3 bags of root vegetables that were at their sell-by date and greatly reduced in price.  It seemed like a good buy, and we made soup from one pack that day.  No problems.  The other 2 packs we froze.  We made another batch of soup using one of those frozen bags, but when we came to taste it .... ugh! the vegies had gone 'sour'.  So we had to throw both remaining bags away (via the kitchen scraps bin, so all not completely wasted).  However, it did demonstrate that we're better off buying fresh produce where possible, or at least using sell-by-date bargains there and then.  

This got me thinking about other false economies I've fallen for.  I knitted up a quick hat for N earlier this year, and grabbed a ball of yarn more for it's colour and weight (and, if I'm honest, the price)  than for the type of yarn.  It was 100% acrylic, and although it knitted up well, and N says it's warm to wear (which was the main idea), the yarn has stretched but won't return to it's original size and shape.  That wouldn't have happened if I'd spent a little more on a wool, or wool-mix, yarn.  So that's another lesson learned - cheapest is not always the best.   There are bargains to be had, but it pays to check for false economies before parting with your money.

I've been working on a sewing project on and off most of the day - a lot of measuring and cutting, pinning and machining.   Another hour or so tomorrow and I should finish it.  I've also spent quite a long time filling in forms, and following up on some emails - I'm hopeful of a positive outcome to this time spent, and I've been thinking about an alternative direction if not.  That's a bit cryptic, I know, but I need to see how things turn out before committing them to a post.

It's obvious I'm new to this blogging lark.  I was interested to see if I could set up a blog (albeit ever so basic at the moment), and I'm enjoying writing a little about our ordinary lives through the year, more as a record for ourselves.  I find it really strange when I see that other people have 'visited', and from different countries around the world, even though I suppose that's the idea of blogging. 

It intrigues me how you found this little insignificant blog, but however you stumbled across it - 'hello'.