It gave up the ghost ......

Way back in 2010 I was asked by a company to review some of their products, I was given free rein to choose anything I wanted from their website and chose two products that I really needed and one that I wanted.  See HERE for the original post.

Yesterday one of the items, my salad spinner gave up the ghost on me, well a bit of plastic flew out of the lid and it no longer spins ... not good for a salad spinner!!  Until I looked back on the blog I had no idea that this has been in regular use for the last six years.  Definitely a product I would recommend, now I just have to find a replacement that will hopefully last me as long,

I have a plan to use the main body of the spinner and the basket as a planter, maybe for herbs on the kitchen windowsill, but I can't think of anything that I can do with the broken lid, I can't even get it apart.  So I will put it in the recycling box and see if they can take this kind of plastic.

Something else that are still in daily use and going strong are the tea towels that we were sent, five years ago and posted about HERE it seems that some things are made to last.

Sue xx

Fathers Day is Coming Up

This time of year can be tough for those of us who have lost our dads.  I know the first couple of years after my Dad died it was so hard to see all the cards and gift ideas in the shops in the run up to the weekend that quite rightly is devoted to all those lovely dads out there.

But when I was sent one of these Brew Barrels as a trial thing for Lovely Hubby to have a go at brewing, my first thought was 'What a brilliant Father's Day present that would make' ... and it really would.

Due to us being so busy just recently with the ongoing work on the house and another venture that has just cropped up LH has yet to get his Brew Barrel going, but I am going to suggest that this weekend he takes a few minutes out from everything, read the simple instructions that came with it and get his beer brewing.  Just one week later he will be able to sample his wares and will no doubt be a very, very happy man.

To find out more about this product visit the Brew Barrel website, just click HERE.  There are lots of different beers and lagers to choose from and if all this is too late for Father's Day, then there are always birthdays. Christmas, special occasions .... or simply that you or the man in your life would like some home brewed beer in a week.

I'll let you know the results as soon as the beer is brewed and we have had the chance to give it a taste test :-)

Sue xx

The Sty's the Limit by Simon Dawson

I've just finished reading this book by Simon Dawson, it's sort of billed as the follow on to his other book Pigs in Clover, which I really enjoyed.

This book I didn't enjoy anywhere near as much, it seems to be more the story of his mid-life crisis rather than anything different about their small holding .... and if I want to watch someone have a mid-life crisis I'll just sit back and watch my Lovely Hubby  ;-)

I gave it a very generous, in my opinion 5/10 over on my reading list on the other blog.

Personally I think he rushed through it, in order to bring it out in time to cash in on the interest shown in them and their animals after the television programme Ben Fogle's - Lives in the Wild UK.  Which might have seemed like a good idea at the time.

Have you read it ... did you enjoy it?

Sue xx

An Anniversary Treat

Last week was our eighth wedding anniversary. as I had been lucky enough to be asked to review the new festive menu at The Bells of St Mary's in Prestatyn we asked if we could be booked in on our anniversary.

We were lucky and that's exactly when we went.

We were greeted warmly by the lovely chap behind the bar, we should have asked his name but he was busy and other people needed his help so we kept things brief.  He got our drinks, opened the tab and then invited us to choose a table to sit at.  The restaurant was quiet as we had chosen to go for a 6pm meal due to the distance we had to travel, but the folk that were there were lively and chatty and it was a brilliantly informal atmosphere.

We had a look at the offerings on the carvery table, had a chat with the cheerful chef and one of the other kitchen  lads and then sat with the menu and made our choices.

Lovely Hubby started with a Prawn Cocktail, a real blast from the past but he just fancied it.  I had the Roast Parsnip soup.  I'll let you into a secret .... I don't like parsnips, but this was the only veggie option on the starters ..... it was delicious, I am a convert!!

The only thing we both felt left the starters down was the cheap sliced bread, a small bread roll would have been much better and most likely not added much cost to the course.

The mains we chose were a two meat carvery selection for LH and I had a Sun Blush Tomato and Squash Kiev with a selection of vegetables from the carvery.  The vegetables were delicious, all steamingly fresh straight out of the kitchen and you could help yourself to as many Yorkshire Puddings, vegetables and as much stuffing as you wanted.  The gravy was all suitable for vegetarians which I thought was a nice touch.

The mains were delicious.

And I think this photo just shows how good the puddings were ... we got stuck in the minute they arrived and then remembered to take a photo!!

Lovely Hubby had the Profiteroles, and I chose the Apple Pie, which usually comes with custard or ice cream, but I had it plain .... deliciously so, it tasted completely homemade.

And the exceptional thing about this lovely three course anniversary treat was that  it was £8.79 a head!!  So with a glass of cider each on arrival and then another pint for LH and a sparkling water for me as I was driving, the whole bill came to less than £25.

Where else can you get good, wholesome food and two drinks each for this price, well I guess other Crown Carvery establishments .... we will have to look out for them on our travels.

The absolute stars of the night were the staff ....  everyone from the chap that greeted us and got our drinks, the chef that chatted about the food and explained how everything worked with the carvery system to the smiling girl that delivered each course and kept all the tables cleared as folk left the restaurant were lovely.  It was nice to go to such a friendly, relaxed place on our special day.

 I would like to thank Chloe at Spotty Dog Communications who offered us the opportunity to do this review, she was warned that I would say it exactly as I found it and I have.

A brilliant night, with good food and excellent company.

Happy Anniversary again my Lovely Hubby ... now where are you taking me next year  ;-)

Oh, and if you've not planned your Christmas dinner venue this year and you like eating out, .... the Christmas Day menu is just £35.99 for adults and £17.99 for children, and the Boxing Day and New Year's Eve menu a real bargain at just £11.99 for adults and £5.99 for children.

*** *** *** ***

Reverse Advent - Day 12

A book all about John Deere tractors, it didn't feature the one that Lovely Hubby restored so he's donated it ... he doesn't actually know yet .... ooops!!      ;-)

Sue xx

Hitting the Shelves Today

I've been lucky enough to be asked to review a brand new magazine, well brand new to the UK newsstands that is .... it's been available to folk in Germany for the last ten years and now we are lucky enough now to have our own version of it.

I love it, there is something in it for everyone, well in our house that's just the two of us, but you know what I mean.

Veggie recipes for me, there are meat ones too and instructions on how to roll and tie a joint of meat ... but I won't go into that!!  Those Chicory and Pear Tartlets made us both drool  :-)

A bit of gardening, Winter gardening at that so it's just right for now.

Lovely Hubby was very taken with this idea ....  turning old floorboards and reclaimed wood into benches and tables, and has asked me to save the magazine so he can copy these ideas .... as if it wouldn't be saved!!  

There is so much to read in the pages both relaxing reading and informative reading, and something that we both noticed and loved was the lack of advertising.  In the whole of the 130 pages and the covers there were only five pages of advertising and these were whole page adverts for tractors and a car, which are just Lovely Hubby's sort of adverts anyway so he was happy.

Of all the articles there was only one that didn't hold my interest and that was about 'The Queen of Musical Instruments .... organs.  The other one I thought I wouldn't 'get into' was this one about falcons, but it was brilliant and really sucked me in.

In complete and utter clarity I have to say that along with my magazine I also received this wonderful box of goodies.  I didn't know I was getting it until it arrived, I expected only a copy of the magazine, so I was amazed and delighted to unpack this little lot, it was like an early Christmas present.

I'm a very lucky girl :-)

And now down to the nitty gritty, would I buy it again - YES

It's got so much to read for women and men, although Lovely Hubby thought it veered a bit more towards a female readership, and in his opinion was 'country stuff for town folk', I think he wanted more smallholding type things, pigs, chickens etc,  but that is a market that in my opinion that is already well catered to.

Do I think it's worth the cover price of £4 - YES

Many monthly magazines are at this price point and higher, this has a lot to read and is the sort of publication you would keep to re-read in the future.  The lack of advertising cluttering up the pages makes it very good value at this price, I do hope they can keep future issues this free of advertising.

Was there anything I didn't like about it - YES 

The next copy isn't out until 22nd March 2016 .... how can they make me wait that long  :-(

Landlust is hitting the UK magazine shelves for the first time TODAY 5th November 2016.

If you do buy yourself a copy please let me know what you think about it, it would be very interesting to compare notes.  HERE is a link to their website where you can peek through a few more of the pages of the magazine and read more about it.

And HERE's the link to their Facebook page which makes for good reading too, you can nip over and be one of the very first to 'Like' it.

Thanks to all at Landlust UK, and especially Joe, for the chance to review this lovely publication and THANK YOU so much for the lovely box of goodies, no doubt the contents of which will be appearing on the blog in the not too distant future being put to very good use.

Sue xx

Review of the Year - Part Four

October

October was the month that excavations for the holes that would hold the steel beams for the conservatory were dug.  Has it really been almost three months of having mud and upheaval outside the back door - yes it has!!

It was also the month that we had Mavis spayed and her crooked teeth sorted out, both have had a good effect on our littlest lady (yes, she is lighter than Charley).

It was also the month I gave you this tip .... put a conker on your windowsills to keep away unwanted spiders.  It really does work, this is the first year I have done this and we have hardly had any spiders in the house.  Just a copy of those delicate little almost see through ones that live in the corners of your room.  No big, horrible monsters to get my heart racing and my mouth swearing.

November

This was the month the work really started on the conservatory, the roof was removed, the kitchen boarded up and it was here there and everywhere for the dogs.  The linked to post told the tale well.  I hate disruption and the previous post had seen me stamping my feet and having a blog post hissy fit.

This one saw me doing what I do best,  simply making the best of it and organising things to minimise disruption and make life bearable again.  It worked I got myself back on track.

This was also the month I got totally fed up with making cups of tea!!

December

Through out this month I have no doubt been boring lots of you senseless with photos of the developing conservatory (hence me not putting another photo of it here).  It's driven me to distraction and back.  Now it is almost finished, there is just the bench tops to do and the tarmacking outside which is bookmarked for February, so no longer do I have to record for posterity the developing work.

December also sees us always opening our Sealed Pot, something I think is really worth doing.  Just get yourself a pot seal it up tightly (as you can see from the post linked to under the photo I had a real struggle to get into ours) and feed it with your dribs and drabs of change throughout the year, opening it on a date of your choosing.  I usually use ours for a Challenge in the New Year, something I will be doing again starting next week. :-)

It was also the month I came across P333 for the kitchen which will be the Challenge I take up when the Sealed Pot money runs out.  I'm planning this long and slow and not rushing into it at all.

*** *** *** *** ***

So overall it's been a reasonably good year.  

Better for us than some recent ones, we've lost no members of our human family, we've gained, lost  and then re-gained members of our furry family.  There has been some illness, a marriage breakdown, mental health worries and financial ones in the wider family, but nothing that between us with the help and understanding of family, friends and some medical expertise we couldn't pull through.

The most important thing is we are all facing the New Year with roofs over our heads, food in our cupboards and in relatively good health which is more than can be said for some folk.

Now it is time to plan the coming year.  It holds the fresh promise of things to come.  New plans to be made, new goals to achieve and more to be learnt.  The one thing that shines through everything is that with family around you, hope in your head and love in your heart it is possible to face head on whatever life throws at you ... and face it with the certainty that you will come out the other side and you will be stronger for it.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a very Happy New Year.  

May the coming year be what you want it to be, and may it treat you with all the respect and love that you have earned and deserve.

All the very Best.

From Sue & Lovely Hubby

and 

 Rosy, Suky, Mavis, Charley, Ginger and Caldwell and his harem of 18 wives

 xx

Review of the Year - Part Three

July

July was the month a certain little madam arrived in a whirlwind of puppy energy.  She brought out the softer side of Rosy, the motherly side of Suky and the 'oh bl**dy hell not another dog' side of Ginger.

She was a lovely surprise gift to me from Lovely Hubby .... although if I'm totally honest that's not what I say when she empties the kindling basket all over the living room rug and has a good chewing session  ;-) 

August

August saw us planting fruit bushes, admiring the fruit growing on our already planted fruit trees and generally putting up fences and lining pathways with lots of lovely free wood chippings delivered to us by the guys cutting down trees around power lines in the area.

It saw lots of changes around the place including the polytunnel frames going up  and we discovered just how self sufficient we could be in the future with fruit and with nuts growing around the place when we discovered Cob Nuts growing in the hedgerows in a few places on our land.

September

September started with a really big shock.  On the first Monday morning of September a phone call came to say that Mavis hand been handed in to a vets in Peterborough.  I grabbed my bag and keys and hit the road to bring her home.  To read the full story click on the word September under the photo of her and you will be taken to the post in question.

To have her back with us has been hard work and chaotic at times.  Nursing a badly treated and delicate dog back to health at the same time as having a lively puppy in the house has been possibly one of the hardest things I have had to cope with this year ... but we have survived and I would not have it any other way.  Our family is once again complete.

(All the photos have links to the blog posts they are taken from.)

The final review will be tomorrow and then I will have to start thinking about the New Year and it's promises still to come.

Sue xx

Review of the Year - Part Two

April 

Looking back over the year I see the big thing for me in April was Live Below the Line.  Living on one pound a day for five days to highlight the terrible food poverty in this country and so many others.  It's scary to think that food poverty in the UK is rising so fast.  

Together we managed to raise the brilliant sum of £420 for my chosen charity, which this year was Send a Cow.  Sending cows donated by British farmers overseas to places where they can make a real difference and allow people to feed themselves, their families and then spread the good fortune of their gift to others in the form of the first female calf that is born to their cow.

May

One of my May posts was this about making Damson Gin and Damson Gin Jam, and it's highly appropriate that I choose this picture and link, because this morning for breakfast we had some of the jam on our toast .... and lurking deep in the back of the cupboard is the last of these bottles.  Waiting to be broken open and mixed with some Champagne to see in the New Year.

June

I'm enjoying this look back over the year (and I hope you are too), so much so that I find myself reading through all the posts as I decide which to choose as my 'picture and post of the month' , it's a time consuming but thoroughly enjoyable way to while away an hour.

  This one about our lovely chicken called Amber simply had to be the one for June.  I miss this lovely little lady, although one of the Skylines has almost taken her place as the one to come to the house and remind me if I am late with the corn.  It seems my flock of lovely ladies elects a spokesperson to keep me under control!!

Back tomorrow with more.

Se xx

Review of the Year - Part One

January

I don't always do a review of the year but this year both to refresh my memory of the year just gone, and to have a good excuse to go back and look at old Blog posts I have decided to go with the flow.

I apologise if you are one of the readers who is currently reading through the entire Blog from the very beginning to current day (and I really applaud your stamina),  there are quite a few of you at the moment if I check up on the Stats, no doubt some of you will just be reading what I am about to highlight about this year.

I've decided to simply choose my favourite photo, or the one I feel sums up the months best, from each month and I'll split the review over the next couple of posts.  You can go to the original post the picture is from simply by clicking on the month written underneath it.

*** *** *** *** ***

So to start us off the first photo is my favourite photo from January,  it is simply Mavis and Ginger cuddled in together on the sofa.  Mavis has come on so much this year, she has been to hell and back - twice, but now she is safe at home where she belongs.  To me this photo says so much but mainly that at last she felt she had a friend, a safe place to sleep and a home to call her own.

Her story started HERE a few days before this photo was taken..

February

This photo sums up February so well.

We were just getting used to the wetness of our corner of North Wales, jobs were started in sunshine and yet minutes later the heavens would open and gale force winds would appear from nowhere.  Occasionally we would down tools and head back to the house, but after so many jobs beginning this way we learned to just grit our teeth and work through it.



March

March saw us adding finishing touches to the house ... most of them green :-)

It was nice to be getting the rooms to how we wanted them to be after our three months of decorating and renovating before moving in.  It took actually living here properly to show us where the colour needed to be and how we wanted the rooms to really look.  And by March we were really beginning to feel at home here.

April. May and June will be tomorrow.

Sue xx

My New Favourite Jacket

 

Way back in March I was offered the chance of a lovely freebie, my choice of Jackets or Footwear from GO Outdoors.  Now usually I am very quick to say 'thanks but no thanks', this Blog is not for advertising purposes or to earn me money, it's my diary of our day to day lives, but on this occasion I thought a perusal of their website would be interesting.

 

 

And I found this lovely 3-in-one jacket, so I said 'yes please' and for the sake of a Blog post about something I really like I got a wonderful freebie.  (It's at a brilliant price at the moment too.)

 

Modelled brilliantly by Lovely Hubby's gorgeous sister Alison, in the top photo when she needed a waterproof coat for our drizzly day around Conwy.  Gosh I hope her modelling fees are low enough for me to afford, maybe another bottle of Port will suffice!! 

 

Talk about glamour on a grey day, and don't they look very matchy, matchy :-)

 

 

The inner fleece layer is a jacket in it's own right ....

 

...no struggling with the layers separating either as the sleeves attach firmly to the end of each other.

 

The zips that hold the two layers together become the zips of the fleece. 

 

 Am I just easily pleased or is this really ingenious!!

 

Back together this is how it looks.

 

And you can find this particular jacket HERE

 

 

Modelled not so well here by me in the bathroom, the only mirror that would show all the jacket.  I was thinking 'ooh look I've moved the plant to the other end of the windowsill since this picture was taken' ....... and then I realised .... mirror image ... duh!!

 

 

 

Currently the fleece is free from it's waterproof friend as in this warmer weather the two are brilliant apart.  A waterproof jacket that is not too bulky or warm and a lovely lightweight fleece to put on over a t shirt for that late night walk round the paddock with the dogs.

 

Many thanks to GO Outdoors for the opportunity to review this jacket. 

 

My opinions are all genuine (would you expect anything less from me) and if any other company wants to send me freebies they really do HAVE to be quality things that actually fit our lifestyle and ethos and be things that I do actually need and use.

 

Sue xx



 

 

 

2013 - What a Year!!

 

Happy New Year to all our family, friends, Blogging Buddies, Followers and readers, especially to those who have taken the time to comment over the last few days and who have helped lift my spirits just when I needed you most.

 

2013 was a special year, magical, busy, family orientated and full of hope for the future for all of us.  I've been through my photo archives and quickly pulled out a picture that I think sums up each month at a glance.

 

 

January saw us attempting to live on the contents on the Sealed Pot, we managed a total of £480 £2 coins and they lasted us for half the year before we had to hold our hands up and go back to regular shopping.

 

February was about getting down to a frugal lifestyle, saving every penny towards our forever home.  Knitted dishcloths from a 10p ball of wool from the charity shop, eating from the fridge, freezers and cupboards and just generally watching that the pennies stayed tucked away in the bank account.

 

March saw me hit a low and take off for some time alone with Suky the Pug.  As is the way when I am down I am comforted by a bird, it's usually a Robin although I think our little Robin was busy comforting Mum this month, so he sent a little helper in the form of this chap who perched each day on my wing mirror, singing to himself and making his presence felt.

 

Talking of birds these three lovely ladies joined us in April. 

Gorgeous Skylines who present us with blue eggs, when they feel the urge (not very prolific these particular girls!!).

 

In May we were eating from stores, planting out in the Veggie Patch in earnest and making the most of what we had, aided and abetted by photogenic Suky as usual!!

 

Returns were fast and furious and Radishes were the first crop to really give us a glut in June.

 

The cats basked in the sun in July and posed for shots knowing how beautiful they were.

 

Caldwell II took charge of the flock in August and has managed his ladies with a steady and reliable strength that even the largest birds recognise, not bad for a bird that is knee high to a grasshopper,.  He still has a love hate relationship with Lovely Hubby though and thinks it's great fun to chase him from Chicken World whenever possible!!

 

September was hot ..... much too hot for a certain little dog who had to flop in the Thames to cool down on a regular basis after doggie walks.  We bought our forever home and the keys were ours on the 13th.

 

  

October saw the new house start to take shape with little corners of home appearing from the chaos.

 

November was the moving date for many of the plants, they were potted up and loaded into the trailer.  This Rhubarb is now in it's final location .... I can almost here its sigh of relief as the roots stretch down firmly into Welsh soil wrapping protectively round our best boy.

 

Christmas came and went in a flurry of busyness, but little moments of lovely family visits, laughter and drink, chocolate and chat made the days seem wonderful.

 

All in all it was a good year  .... even if slightly too busy at times for me to cope with.  We lost our beloved boy on the last day of the year, the same day we gained a new car and most wonderfully of all we gained in a most unexpected way a new furry member of the family.  All will be revealed when I can get her to pose for a photograph, while she settles in with us she is a whirlwind of energy and life, something we badly needed at the end of a tiring year.

 

 

So I would like to wish you all, each and every one of you lovely folk, a wonderfully Happy New Year.   

 

Whatever you are up to and whatever you are planning may it work out in the way that YOU chose it too.   May your dreams be fulfilled or just simply started, and most of all I pray that each morning will be a fresh and hopeful start to an ever changing journey of hope and love.

 

Me ... well I intend to keep on doing what I do best .....

 

 

 

Sue xx