Thank You .... and Books

Firstly, thank you so much for all the birthday wishes yesterday.  

I had a lovely day, lunch out with my Mum and brother in Bents Garden Centre in Manchester, where I nearly broke my spending ban but then my lovely brother stepped in and paid for the fluted quiche baking tin and bottle opener that I was about to pay for, and said it was my birthday present off him ... aren't little brothers good  :-)

I got home to phone calls off my sons, messages from friends and family on Facebook and a lovely and even bigger row of cards on the mantelpiece.

Today it would have been back to normal with a bang, but the sun is out and everything seems fresh and gorgeous.  I have courgettes calling out to me in the polytunnel that need potting on, as they are quickly outgrowing their little toilet roll inner starter pots, so after this post I will be heading off to the warmth of the tunnel before the afternoon heat makes it too unbearable to work in.

The other day I was going through another of my cookbooks, and as you can see from this top view of the book I hadn't found many recipes that I really needed and I was mentally already adding it to the pile waiting to be sold at the car boot sale .... but then I hit the final chapter ..... lots of Scottish recipes, as I guess I would have expected earlier in a book written by Scotswoman Aggie MacKenzie

The little 'Post it' labels were coming out thick and fast then and I even fancy making this alternative scone recipe .....

.... this will get bigger if you click on it.

I've never heard of melting butter and syrup together to start off a scone recipe, but as I have a whole tin of syrup in the cupboard I may just give it a go.

When I got to the end of the book I neatened up the little 'stickies' so that all the yellow ones were together and all the green ones were at the back .... gosh I'm getting so OCD .....

.... I think somebody else thinks so too!!

Sue xx

Thank You, and Your Reward ....

First I just have to say THANK YOU for the amazing outpouring of support on yesterdays post, I am truly humbled .... and your reward ..... me getting straight back to normal and showing you the inside of my empty cupboard :-)

Nothing gets me down for long, and when you hit rock bottom the only way is up ... and if on the way you can clear out a cupboard and have a good sort out well so much the better.  I think I only let the constant drip, drip drip get to me because I have been pretty poorly all through the Christmas break and beyond with a stonking cough/cold/general yuckiness and I just hadn't given myself time to just rest.  I guess cleaning out the cupboards isn't resting, as my Mum will tell me, buts it's achieving something and that's as good for me.

So after a few months of slinging things in the cupboard willy nilly I decided enough was enough and that it was time to bring order to the chaos of my own making.  So I hoiked everything out, played that annoying game of putting little containers inside bigger ones (I hated tidying up the stacking pots when my boys were little and quickly taught them to do it themselves), wiped out the cupboard and got everything back in nice and tidily.

Well that was the top shelf done!!

(Oh .. if you're wondering what that long silver thing is, it's the insulation around the flue pipe for the Aga, which runs right through the cupboards to the vent on the outside wall.)

Then I emptied out the bottom shelf, lots of alcohol ....

... and a few other bits.

It was all put neatly back in with things I never use at the back ....

"WHAT" .... I suddenly asked myself "ARE YOU DOING"

'things you NEVER use at the back' !!

Out everything from the bottom shelf came again ...

... and the offending items were retrieved, photographed for posterity and now reside in the car boot sale box ready for later in the year.  I do love a bit of decluttering.  The ravioli maker makes ridiculously small ravioli ... far better, and easier, to use my smallest round biscuit cutter, and the Bento boxes were used by Lovely Hubby when he travelled to work from home each day to contain his lunch, not as much use when you commute weekly, and on days out we take tupperware and pack everything into a big 'cool bag'.

Back tomorrow with what I did next  :-)

Thanks again folks.

Sue xx

Thank You

Thank you for all the kisses for Charley, knowing you are all out there and knowing you care enough to do that means so much to us both.

*** *** ***

In my little 'Pug jug' on the kitchen windowsill are a few of the flowers I won in the draw at the Maenan Garden Club Winter meal on Monday night, the rest of them are with Charley in her final resting place, which is just to the right of the wooden trim you see in the photo.  The two larger clumps of Snowdrops on top of her were transplanted there by Lovely Hubby when he discovered them blooming unappreciated next to his wood store.

I can see where she lays, and the snowdrops that are blooming next to the stone we laid there to keep her safe, every time I am near the kitchen window.  Archie the cat is buried to the left of the birdbath, the rest of the bed contains rhubarb and strawberry plants, and now Charley is buried just outside it.  They never met in life because Archie died the day Mavis came to join our family, and months before Charley did, but knowing they were both so loved by us and are now together brings us some comfort.

The house is quiet and the dogs are subdued at the moment, they keep close to us when they can and snooze the days away in their beds when we are busy.  We have had to buy new mattress pads for the beds as Rosy would not sleep in them without Charley.  

You don't realise the life and vitality a puppy brings to a house until it is gone.  But there was some excitement for them on Wednesday when our son Jason came to visit and stayed over for a night, they love him to bits and he loves them right back.   A cold and windy dog walk on Llandudno promenade brought them round for a while, but now he has gone home and it's as though their batteries have run out.

Suky's face for once sums up how we all feel.  There's no hiding sadness in a Pug's face, they can look sad when they are happy, but when they are sad the light in their eyes goes out.

I will be back blogging on Monday, hopefully by then I will be able to get my mojo back .... at the moment I think it is lying on the hillside just outside the kitchen window.

Sue xx

Thanks for the Thanks

 

It's always nice to hear the thud of post through the letterbox isn't it, but all too often you get there and there is a bill from your phone provider, a circular extolling the virtues of a Stannah stair lift, regardless of the fact you may live in a bungalow, and then there's that regular envelope telling you that 'congratulations you have been accepted for the latest 'credit repair' credit card'.  HUH!!

 

But every now and then something wonderful arrives, as you approach the doormat a jewel coloured envelope peers up at you.  Oooh you think ... "it's not my birthday, what's this?"

 

In my case in the space of a few days I received two such joyously inviting envelopes, ripping into them they were both saying "thank you".  One from Kay who won the giveaway on the Blog the other week and one from a friend of my Mum who was on a day trip with Mum and a coach load of their club members to Llandudno a few weeks ago.  I drove in to meet them and we had lunch together and as Mum wanted to plant some new plants on Dad's Bed, Barbara came home with us.

 

 

They're still on the mantlepiece bringing a little bit of happiness into my days every time I pass them.

 

And so a little Challenge for you all ..... who can you send something to, who's day do you want to brighten up a little.  It could be a card, a tiny gift, a poem typed out on your computer and printed off, a book you've read and loved and want to pass it on to a person you know will enjoy it as much as you.  Popped in an envelope and addressed by hand and for the price of a stamp and a short walk to the post box or even drop it into the post box next time you're at the supermarket (they nearly all have post boxes now).

 

  And stamps aren't that expensive .... 62p for a letter and 93p for a 'large letter' (if you pop anything in your envelope it's best to put a large letter stamp on it).  I think that is such good value, after all if I gave you 62p and said "please take this to Scotland for me" would you ;-)

 

A smile on a loved ones face is always worth the price of a stamp.

 

Go on surprise someone :-)

 

And finally, Kay and Barbara if you're reading this .... Thanks for the Thanks.

 

Sue xx

Thank You

 

What can I say, after my 'Shameless Plea' of yesterday you were absolutely wonderful.  The votes poured in and this morning I am absolutely stunned by the number I have received.

 

 

Thank you seems so inadequate, but I'll say it anyway - THANK YOU :-)

 

Of course it's not all over until the end of the month, so I'll be nipping back to check my position, no doubt a lot more often than is actually healthy!!

 

 

It's been a long week this week without Lovely Hubby around and now he's home we are getting on with some more jobs about the place.  Outside jobs if, fingers crossed by any chance it's dry, if not we have things to do inside the house and inside the new shed to move things along.

 

We're also going to nip out and buy a mini polytunnel type thing to tide us over until we have the planning permission for the real thing.  I need somewhere to start things off and we have a secluded spot up on the edge of the woods that will not be too visible from the road, although there won't be much light there in Summer it will be ideal as a starter spot for seedlings while the trees are bare and the light can get through.

 

Thanks again for your magnificent support yesterday, fingers crossed I win some cereal, I must add that to the rules of my challenge.  I am allowed to enter competitions etc to win supplies, yes in fact I think I'll nip over and add that in now and start watching out for more things I can do to win food.

 

Have a good weekend.

 

Sue xx

 

 

What can I say .....

 

What can I say ..... to simply say thank you seems inadequate, but THANK YOU.

 

You all pulled me up and set me straight just when the doubts were creeping in. 

 

You're all absolutely right, maybe I just needed someone else to tell me, and boy did you tell me.  I snuck onto the computer for ten minutes last night while Lovely Hubby was in the shower to see if there were one or two replies and there were 41 comments all telling me in no uncertain terms what I needed to be told.  I lay in the bath that LH ran me after his shower, thinking over what I had just read, glowing in the warmth of your involvement and care for me and it straightened me out.  We have worked so hard for so long to get to this position, owning our own home, filling it with the things we want, the things that we have wanted and needed for so long.  If I don't lighten up and enjoy this moment I'll miss it forever, because this is our one and only burst of spending, our one chance to set ourselves up and get it right.  What we do now has to last forever and I have no right to tarnish it with negative and downright daft thoughts.

 

New page, fresh leaf, I will continue to show you what we do and what we buy and I WILL ENJOY DOING IT :-)

 

THANK YOU.

 

And thank you to Karan for my lovely cosy socks, a gift from a friend who started off as a Blog reader and who has turned into a confidante and true friend who comes for coffee, chats away and lets me into her life as much as I let her into mine.  They will be travelling with me in the morning and until the wood burner and the Aga are installed at least I know I will have cosy feet inside my boots.  Blogging brings such treasure and brings me into contact with so many truly lovely people.

 

It helped my head slightly yesterday afternoon too, I had taken off the summer weight duvet and replaced it on the bed with our old heavier weight one.  We have new duvets in both weights for the new house, so these will not be needed again.  Usually I air the one I have just removed, wash it if necessary and then store it away, but what to do with this one if it is not to be needed for a bed again?

 

And then I realised ... the dogs need another bed. 

 

 In our house the dogs (and cats) have lots of beds.  They have their main ones, the ones they sleep in at night, outside ones, living room ones, yes they still prefer the sofa like all pets do, but in our new house with our new sofa we have decided they will not be allowed up.  So we were going to buy them a super duper comfy long style bed that they could snuggle up on while we sit on the 'posh, animal banned from' sofa.

 

As I folded the summer weight duvet I realised  I could make it 'doggie sofa shaped', I lay it on the floor to check the 'comfiness' of it, the dogs immediately got the idea and came to test it out.

 

The verdict was obvious.    "Yes Mum ..... this is perfect, please can we have it ?"

I decided to stitch right through in a number of places to hold it together and then I will blanket stitch around the three open edges, when LH saw me doing the these stitches he said "so it's going to be a Chesterfield then" haha ....not quite ..... but it will be comfy and by the time I've finished it will look posh!!  I have a large fleece blanket that I can cut to size and make two covers for it so they can be popped in the washing machine when needed.  So the dogs have a new bed that smells of their favourite humans (not in a bad way I hasten to add) and this will bring them some comfort at bedtime during these weeks of upheaval, and I didn't have to spend a penny.

 

 

This has all made me realise ... well this and a lot of you telling me so, that it's these little things, the saving of money in what seems like incidental ways that has made it possible for us to save so quickly and get to where we are today.  Yes I could have rushed out and bought a super duper all performing top of the range doggy bed (the one in the photo is £42.99) but I thought things through and saved myself the cash ...... I'm back on track :-)

 

 

And as I told myself to 'lighten up' ......

 

I did ... literally, went to the hairdressers got it all virtually chopped off and then used half a box of lightener on it, other half saved for eight weeks down the line when it'll need doing again.

 

 

New head of hair, new balanced mind set, last box of dye from my start of the year stash.

 (See the page at the top of the Blog 'I Love Saving Money - 2013' for more details of my New Year stash).

 

I'm back on track and back on form - thank you.

 

Sue xx

Dorset Cereals - Little Blog of the Month

 

I did it!!

 

Thanks to you - my lovely Followers and readers who voted for me all through December I won the Dorset Cereals Little Blog of the Month Award, and I am so chuffed.

 

My prize is this lovely little egg cup with it's own egg cosy, complete with a certificate, which now has pride of place on the kitchen mantelpiece.  These arrived on Saturday, just a day after I had been notified that I had won and then yesterday ...

 

 

 

...a box arrived.

 

 

 

A rather special little box.

 

 

I loved the colours ...

 

 

 

...and the words.

 

 

 

But I love the contents even more.

 

 

 

Six full sized boxes of wonderful Dorset Cereals. 

 

I see quite a few very yummy breakfasts and suppers over the next few weeks.

 

 

 

So a massive thank you to all those of you who took the time to vote for me,

 and a big thank you to Dorset Cereals for my lovely prizes.

 

Sue xx

 

Celebrating 1000th Posts with a Thank You and a Giveaway

 

 

It all began HERE 1000 posts away,  Our New Life in the Country documented (when the Internet will allow me) on an almost daily basis. 

 

The original newspaper clipping that lead us to this way of living and is framed for posterity on the living room wall.  This Blog was to be a continuance of my 'Lavender's Blue...' Blog that talked about the day to day life in the 'smallest shop in Cumbria'.  I had truly caught the Blogging Bug and decided we would chart every step of our great big adventure as it unfolded before us.

 

The adventure that was switching from town life to country life, with the excitement of getting new gadgets and big boys toys to make that life easier.  The acquisition of more four footed and feathered family members, because, YES, all our animals and birds are members of this extended family.

 

And then one by one you started to follow our adventures, joining in with encouraging comments, asking questions that tested our new found knowledge (sometimes to the limits), but day by day, week by week with the help of family and friends and good Blogging buddies we have made this wonderful journey, and to celebrate the 1000th post I decided that there just had to be a giveaway.  I'm not even sure what you will get yet, there will be handmade soaps and cards for sure, something suitably chickeny and something that will be picked from the house that sums up our journey.

 

All you have to do to be in with a chance is to be a regular reader or Follower on this Blog, and leave a comment saying which was your favourite ever post, you have 1000 to choose from.  All of you who left us ideas for using up the Stew Packs will have your names included in the hat 3 times as Lovely Hubby liked ALL the suggestions, so we will be slowly using each and every recipe idea.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read each day and for being there with your words of help, encouragement, advice, commensense and expertise whenever we have needed it.  Thank you for supporting us through the tough times, through hardships and sadness, and thank you for being there when it all goes right and you tell us what clever little sods we are, or how well we have done something, we need all the encouragement we can get as we are now moving into the final stages of Our New Life in the Country ...

 

.....  we may have found our forever home!!

 

So hopefully even more exciting times ahead, which of course we hope you will continue to join us in.

Thank you.

Sue and Lovely Hubby xx