No Words, Just Prayers

 

Sue xx

Frosty World and Woolly Socks

Our little bit of the world is magical at the moment.

The heavy frosts of each day that don't have time to melt before the temperature plummets again for nightfall mean that layer upon layer of wonderfully sparkly frost is building up on the bushes and trees.

Yesterday the sun didn't show it's face at all and the heavy freezing mist hid the beauty of the day except for a brief glimpse during the afternoon.  When Lovely Hubby drove back onto the farm at the end of his working day the magic was illuminated in his headlights and he came in with a lovely big grin on his face.

Our very own Winter Wonderland.

It's not so good first thing when I make a mad dash to open up the henhouses and the Goose Hoose taking with me warm water for them to drink while I clean out the houses, a quick nip over early afternoon with a bowl of corn for them using the then empty bowl for me to collect the eggs, of which we are getting lots at the moment.   The chickens prefer this cold snap to the recent wet weather, and the extra food they eat to keep themselves warm usually means good laying.  In wet weather they huddle together in and under the houses, dashing over for food only when they are really hungry, so their little bodies go slow and produce less eggs.

The magic of  frost all over the electric fencing this morning.

I dash over even faster, wrapped up in many layers at dusk to close up the houses and lead the Geese to their own Hoose, they stand guard at the henhouse until I get there. By torchlight we wander to the Goose Hoose, Larry and Mo go in by themselves, trotting up the ramp with much honking and complaint but Harry likes me to pick her up ,and after a quick cuddle she is popped in to join her sisters, cosying down in the deep bedding for another night of darkness cuddled together.

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While the cold world outside does it's thing and the chickens go about daily life I have been taking time indoors this week to sort through my accumulated clothes.

And boy have they accumulated .... again!!

Finding out about Project 333 (see yesterdays post for more information), and making the decision to join in has come just at the right for me.  Next year is to be our Year of Less, and sorting out the wardrobes and drawers is an excellent place to start.

My first task was to completely empty ALL the wardrobes, cupboards, and drawers that contained my stuff, the only thing left untouched,for now, is my suitcase of Summer clothes, that will be tackled in three months time when the cycle starts again.

With everything out the wardrobes and drawers were wiped out and freshened up and then came the mammoth task of looking at everything. 

As I had a couple of interuptions, and obviously had to clear the bed ready for sleeping in, I completely ran out of time to finish the task in hand. But I made a really good start.

Piles were made ....

.. and clothes hung in sections.

A drawer of jumpers was suddenly remembered and quickly closed, that will be tackled today

Some things completely forgotten about were rediscovered hidden at the bottom of the sock drawer!!

Including these lovely warm beauties that I got from Frugal Mummy over at My Beautiful Life earlier this year. Now in pride of place at the top of the sock drawer.

A small selection of things went into the 'Going' pile with no hesitation whatsoever, then the rest of the 'Maybees' were hung back in the wardrobe and some piles placed on the spare bed restoring our bedroom to the usual peaceful haven Lovely Hubby sees when he gets home from work.

Today will see me going through these again choosing my 33 items that will then be hung neatly in my wardrobes.  Already just starting this process has made me feel good, I can see light at the end of a 'clutter tunnel' and it's looking bright.

Now off to get stuck in.  Have you ever done something similar?

Sue xx

Project 333

In preparation for next years main Blog Challenge I have signed up for this.

Project 333 is the brainchild of Courtney Carver, you can read all about it HERE on her brilliant Blog.  It seems very similar to something Gok Wan did a year or so ago on TV when he went through ladies wardrobes virtually jettisoning all their clothes and then built them a basic wardrobe of about 30 items.

 The basics for Project 333 are very simple.

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The Basics

■When:  Every three months (It’s never too late to start so join in anytime!)

■What:  33 items including clothing, accessories, jewelry, outerwear and shoes.

■What not:  these items are not counted as part of the 33 items – wedding ring or another sentimental piece of jewelry that you never take off, underwear, sleep wear, in-home lounge wear, and workout clothing (you can only wear your workout clothing to workout)

■How:  Choose your 33 items, box up the remainder of your fashion statement, seal it with tape and put it out of site.

■What else:  consider that you are creating a wardrobe that you can live, work and play in for three months. Remember that this is not a project in suffering. If your clothes don’t fit or are in poor condition, replace them.

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The first step is to assess ALL your clothes and go through them picking out the ones you love, the ones that are 'maybes' and the ones that you simply know can go straight away.

It sounds very do-able, and of course I'll let you know.  I honestly didn't think I had as much as I do have, how did all this stuff creep back into my life, I only sorted out at the start of last year and already it would seem I am almost back to square one.

At the moment ALL my clothes , shoes and accessories are out on my bed, so I have to keep this brief and get back to sorting otherwise  we'll have nowhere to sleep tonight!!

Sue xx

Venison for Christmas?

Now if you know me at all you will know straight away that the title of this post is not for real.  Well this gorgeous little creature will not be ending up on our table for sure, even if he has been eating his way through all the shrubs in the garden area at the back of the house.

Him and his little friends have even been nibbling at my veggie garden at the front of the house, cheeky little things.

But to my mind a hungry animal is just that something that needs feeding, and if they are brave enough to risk coming this close to the house they really must be hungry, so although I don't encourage them too close to the house on purpose because we do have dogs, and Rosy can catch these lovely creatures if they get tangled up on their escape from the garden, I do give them five minutes nibbling time if I spot them out there, then I knock on the back door before I open it to let the dogs out, to give them a head start back to the woods. 

Anyone visiting would think I'm daft, knocking on the door on the inside to go out into the garden!!

A final glance and then it was off for this handsome little chap, and for once no dogs on his tail as they were fast asleep in their beds after a frosty walk first thing this morning.

Sue xx

A Wonderful Weekend

We have had the most wonderful weekend.

We visited what is potentially our new home, our 'forever home'.  Of course we have to arrange our finances and get a mortgage organised and then make an offer, have it accepted and then go down the whole survey route, all the time keeping our fingers firmly crossed that no cash buyer jumps in and buys it from under our noses. 

But if it was simply a decision to be made, we would be buying it tomorrow.

It is a bungalow as you can see from the picture, with four bedrooms, one of which we would use as an office.  It has a wonderful kitchen/living/dining room, which we would do most of our living in, as well as a large lounge.  But the most important part for us is the outside, although it has only half an acre is it wonderfully planned out with stables, greenhouse, polytunnel, hen house, goathouse, brick built 'man shed' and lots of space for us to develop veggie beds. It has some mature fruit trees and bushes and a large Asparagus bed.  The best thing for Lovely Hubby is that it has two wood burners, one in each of the main rooms and already has solar powered electricty and solar heated hot water, two of the three things he wanted at our new place, so we would be pretty self sufficient in generating our own power .... and the best thing for me is that it has room for an Aga in the kitchen!!

As it is so far from where we live now in order to view it and not be completely shattered we had to stay overnight in the area.  We chose to stay in a Premier Inn in Boston, and I have to say it was the nicest place we have stayed in for a long time.  The building was lovely, as was the Brewers Fayre right next door for food, we had chosen the 'Meal Deal', so we had a three course evening meal with a glass of wine just after our arrival at 5.30pm and then the 'as much as you can eat breakfast' from the buffet the following morning.  A lovely touch was 'Santa' wandering round distributing selection boxes to all the children as they finished their breakfasts.  The staff in both the hotel and the restaurant were brilliant, answering our questions about the local area and generally being on hand to help any way they could.  I really cannot praise it highly enough.

Before leaving for home we had a quick peek at another property, just for comparisons sake and a wander around Boston itself, lots of good shops.  The whole area is somewhere we have never been to before and we were amazed at how flat this part of the country is.  The area is one of the largest growing regions of the UK for vegetables, so I should be right at home!

Now we just have to be patient and get the ball rolling on this potential purchase.

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If there are some of you out there who are used to me leaving comments on a regular basis on your Blog posts and I seem to be missing, I just want to let you know I am still reading daily or as often as you post, I am just not able to leave comments using Lovely Hubby's laptop in the kitchen.  I can only leave comments if I use the usual computer in the office and it's FREEZING in there ..... literally, even the computer has a cover over it to keep the worst of the cold off.  Now and then if I've been out with the chickens or walking the dogs I leave my coat and hat on (and even my gloves) and have a ten minutes session, trying to leave as many comments as I can before I need to get back into the warmth.

So please bear with me if you don't hear from me on quite such a regular basis, I am still reading all the Blogs on my sidebar and lots of the Blogs that I 'follow'.  We are thinking of updating the laptop and then I should be able to leave comments or even moving the whole computer package  from the office lock, stock and barrel into the kitchen for the rest of the Winter, perhaps this coming weekend if we can.

It's freezing here today but the sun is shining and it's wonderfully fresh out there. I have a package to post off from an Ebay sale this afternoon, so I am letting my car thaw out naturally while I read my way around Blogland with a lovely hot cup of coffee and a rather late bowl of porridge.

Keep cosy.

Sue xx

Christmas Tree and Votes

I wasn't going to buy a Christmas tree this year, but how could I resist this little beauty for just three pounds.  When I get out the rest of the decorations I'll tie a little red bow on the top.

And as it's on the kitchen window sill to keep it relatively cool, I get to feel all Christmassy every time I wash the pots.  I think Lovely Hubby should also be allowed to feel festive so I let him wash the pots whenever he's here..... gosh I'm so generous!!

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If you're feeling a little generous too and can spare a minute or two, you could use the link on the top of my right hand sidebar and cast a vote for me in the Dorset Blog Awards.  A lovely reader nominated me and  I've already got a couple of votes.  The exciting thing is as well as me possibly being in line to win a little prize and the coveted Little Blog Awards egg cup, every voter gets put in to a draw with the chance to win a whole case of Dorset cereals...yum, yum!

Have a lovely weekend, I'll let you know how the viewing goes on Monday.

Sue xx

Men in Orange

This is what was sat opposite me at the breakfast table at the crack of dawn this morning TWO men in orange. 

After the Blog post the other day when there were so many positive comments (and even emails) on Lovely Hubby's bright attire he is now convinced that my Blog readers are folk with impeccable taste and he loves his orange monstrosity even more!

But now he has a little friend also glad in this garish colour, meet Hamish McGonk the 2nd, the latest addition to our little family.  

He travelled here from deepest, darkest Elrig in Scotland and joined us yesterday after an amazing adventure by train and post van, resting up in our post box for a couple of hours after his tiring but exciting journey across the border and then he took up residence on the mantlepiece, safely away from cats and dogs that would love to make his acquaintance, but in the roughest of ways.  He's made a new friend already can you see Silver Cockerel whispering in his ear, bringing him up to date on the  residents and goings on in this madhouse ..... no wonder he looks so shocked!

If you would like to find out more about these adorable little pre-housetrained pets, that cost next to nothing to feed and clothe and stay exactly where you tell them to, the only thing they ask of you is a little love and the occasional friendly stroke visit Frugaldom, written by one of my lovely Blogging Buddies and learn all about them. 

McGonks also have their own developing website HERE and if that wasn't enough their very own Facebook page too SEE HERE.  I see world domination for Clan McGonk in the not too distant future.

Here's another link to todays' post for a brilliant frugal Shortbread, someone asked me for my recipe the other day and this is just the same, totally yummy and very cheap, (sorry I didn't get around to digging out mine).  The only drawback is it never lasts long in this house, I wonder why .....walks away whistling with hands in pockets and totally innocent look on her face!!

The lovely folk at Frugaldom are a few steps ahead of us, they already have they 'fixxy up' forever home, but the exciting thing is .....  insert drum roll here please .....we're off to view what could potentially be ours this weekend.... so much excitement in this house at the moment - who needs Santa!! 

(Okay I do but you get the drift!)

I've just found out that in development at the moment are Micro McGonks...now there's temptation for me!!  (Santa are you listening?)

Sue xx