Back in Action

I got up bright and early yesterday all keen to Blog, to be online, to check this, to read that and found to my dismay, nay to my horror that those dreaded words were on the computer 'No Internet Access'....what!!

 

As it was our first 'Fast Day', (we are both starting the 5:2 way of eating), I wanted to be busy, to have my mind kept off food, so the dogs were walked for longer than usual, the chickens cleaned out more thoroughly then usual and then fed, (normal rations much to their disgust), and then I came in to have a cup of coffee (I drink it black so can have as many as I like....phew), whilst sat sitting with my coffee I put the tele on, see I was already missing my lit up rectangular screen, and what should be on but the daily omnibus edition of 'Come Dine with Me'....mmmm lovely a whole hour of watching food preparation and eating, I watched it all  sipping on yet another cup of coffee to keep those hunger pangs away, I was determined to have my breakfast as late as possible.  This programme is my new secret obsession, more for the food than the flippant remarks, but I love it.

 

Then I threw myself headlong into cleaning, the whole house was hoovered, not just the rugs, the whole house.  All floors, skirting boards, nooks crannies, walls corners, curtains, furniture ...... I even pulled the fridges out!!  Then everything was mopped, at this point the dogs were slinking around thinking their worst nightmare was happening .... and happening NOW.   First Mum with the hoover and then with the mop, why they hate the mop I have no idea, if someone from the RSPCA came round you would think I was a secret 'hit the dog with mop'per'.  They took to their beds, then when I arrived to clean their beds they took to the sofa, when I arrived to wipe down the sofa they gave up the will to live and went and sat by the back door, driven from their own homes by this whirling dervish that used to be their Mum.

 

I gave in and took them for another walk, this went down very well and doggy smiles returned.  When we came in they got a chew each and I got my longed for bowl of Oatbran Porridge, with another cup of coffee and another sit down in front of a 'Sky+'d edition of 'Come Dine with Me', I know how to torment myself  properly I do!  :-) 

 

I spent the afternoon finally sorting through the spare room and actually pricing things up as I put them into boxes ready for our first car boot sale of the season in a couple of months.  Lots more things to add to my page at the top of the Blog later, it made me happy and stopped me thinking about food.

 

Last night we finished our first 'fast day' with a lovely meal, one of our favourites although made with less oil than usual, Mediterranean Veggies with Salmon fillets.  I would have taken a picture but there wasn't time!!

 

 

 

Instead you can have a picture of these, veggies that Lovely Hubby found still in the soil when he turned two of the beds over for me last weekend.  Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth these were added to a big pan full of Beef Stew that has so far fed LH twice, with another portion nestled in the freezer for a rainy 'non-fast' day.  It all helps the £2 housekeeping  money last that little bit longer.

 

Today we both woke up feeling great, I mean really great, we had a brilliant nights sleep and feel so refreshed.   Today is a day of eating normally and then we do it all again tomorrow as we have decided that mostly we will do this on Tuesdays and Thursdays to leave the weekends free for the odd bit of chocolate, a sneaky bag of crisps and a bottle or two of home brew especially while the rugby is on.

 

It really is the kind of 'diet' that would suit most people as for five days out of every seven you are just eating whatever you want to eat, although if you are doing it for the weight loss side of things it is wise to be slightly cautious and not live on double cheeseburgers :-)

 

Today I'm taking it slightly easier and YES, as you can see the internet is back.  As soon as he got home from work LH nipped up into the loft and played with a few wires, unplugged and replugged the thingymajig in (technical term for a watcha macall it), and it all sprang back to life.   Next time he said this is what you do, explaining what to pull out and put in and then climbing down the ladder......yes that will be right, me climbing up the rickety ladder into a loft space full of spiders and cobwebs, or maybe I'll just wait for my hunky hero to come home from work and do it for me and in the meantime get on with some dog terrorising cleaning again.

 

It's surprising how much you can fit into the day when you are off line!!

 

Sue xx

Blogland ..... a wonderful place.

 

Blogland a wonderful place full of wonderful people, and sometimes some of them get together and do something truly lovely, something truly remarkable.

 

This morning I clicked onto Elaine's blog Ted and Bunny, drawn over by the picture of 'Love Me Ted', and was drawn into the saddest of moments, but the saddest of moments that were made that little bit better by peoples reactions to them and the love that is found in Blogland and the artistic community that dwells here.  Go to Elaine's now and read for yourself.

 

I won't tell the tale, I don't know the lovely lady it's about so I don't feel I have the right to, but knowing I have my soul mate safe and sound and that she has lost hers I can feel her pain, I can imagine the devastation in her life at the moment, and I can put myself in her shoes. Far better for you to visit her post at The Middle of Nowhere and read it for yourself.

 

Together in Blogland we can sometimes

 

 

 

and when we pull together it's truly magical.

 

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Linking also to the 'Funds for Gretel' raffle fundraising page, where you can buy your tickets and really help.

 

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The Blog post I was going to do today will be done tomorrow instead, this is so much more important.

 

Thank you for reading.

 

Sue xx

Reading and the 5:2 Diet

 

I've just finished reading the book at the top of my sidebar, The Joy of Less, it was a wonderful read, I was going to offer it on here as a little giveaway, but you will have to hold on a little bit as Lovely Hubby wants to have a read.  I think he wants to understand this mad woman that is turning out cupboards and going through the home with a fine toothcomb, jettisoning all manner of things.  Oh well it may rub off on him and help him sort out the 'ManShed' before our next move. 

 

Now I'm reading The 5:2 Diet Book  (I'll pop a link on the sidebar) to get a different opinion on The Fast Diet book by Michael Moseley that I was also reading last week, both books are so cheap at the moment, much less than I paid!  They are both really good reading, and in fact as I have decided to go back to the 5:2 way of eating, are proving a brilliant tool to help get me in the right mind set, once you start it's easy and very enjoyable, as usual for me it's the starting that's the difficult bit.  It seems to be everywhere at the moment, mentioned in magazines and newspaper and even on the television.  I watched the Horizon programme that highlighted this way of eating last August and trialed the diet then, although really it's more of a way of life than an actual 'diet', the health benefits are what most folk do it for and that includes us ......yes, LH has just decided that he is joining in too.

 

So with all this book loving I am reading way past my bedtime, Friday night saw me reading until 3.30am and last night it was 2am!!  So in the mornings if I had an alarm clock ...... 

 

 

 

... it would look something like this :-)

 

What are you reading at the moment?

 

Sue xx

The £2 Housekeeping Update - This Week's Spending

 

 

After using all my February allocation of money up last week on my mad splurge (see HERE), for the rest of the month I have decided to spend 'non cash' ...... vouchers, coupons and points.  This week it was the turn of the Nectar points, luckily we had managed to accumulate over £19 of these but for some reason I was only allowed to spend £17.50 of them, so I had to add an additional £2.48 of my £2 coin money to pay for the shopping.

 

So this weeks total spend on shopping is £19.98 but only the £2.48 came from the £10 that I have allocated to last me the rest of the month to try and keep the £2 Housekeeping Challenge money going for as long as possible, so now I have just £7.52 and my Tesco and M&S vouchers.

 

As you can see  there is no Radio Times in amongst this weeks shopping as I took note of the brilliant suggestion in my comments last week to take advantage of a special offer.  There was a card in last weeks copy that gives me eight copies for the amazing price of £1 if you take out a subscription, which you can cancel immediately after the offer if you so wish, so this is a real help with the budget this month (and next).  I may or may not cancel the subscription and direct debit when the offer runs out we'll see, you do get 15% off the cover price and free delivery if you have a subscription.  So while I'm getting my 12.5p copies I will monitor how much we actually use it and see if we would be getting value for money at the usual cover price.

 

Today we are off to the farm supply shop to pick up chicken food and go to our favourite garden centre on the way back to get some wild bird food and some seedling compost (yay...it's nearly time to start a planting) and we are going to make use of our loyalty card to claim our monthly two free coffees and our thrice yearly 'buy one meal get one free' deal.  So a nice trip out together for something really useful and then a drink and a meal each all for the price of one meal (usually around £4.99) ..... can't be bad.  It's nice to have a treat at the weekend.

 

Have a good weekend, whatever you're up to.

 

Sue xx

 

Wow...what a meal !!

 

While Lovely Hubby trawled the aisles of Sainsb*rys for inspiration, food and alcohol I set to and laid the table ready for my surprise meal.  Trying to second guess the menu I laid out starter, main course and dessert cutlery and a few little chocolatey nibbles in case there was still room in little tummies by the end.

 

 

 

Once he arrived home I was banished to the living room with strict instructions NOT to enter the kitchen.  A menu was typed out and then the sounds of manic chopping soon filled the air, realising how dark it was getting I applied for special dispensation to walk through the kitchen to get to the utility room to get my coat and wellies on to go and close up the henhouses for the night.  Eyes neatly averted I did my best not to peek although the urge was strong :-)

 

I tried my best not to notice that my kitchen was turning into a battleground and the veggies were most definitely coming off in second place. With the birds safely tucked up for the night and the dogs briefly walked for 'relief' purposes, I was immediately sent back to the living room and my new favourite programme, very appropriate under the circumstances 'Come Dine with Me' !!

 

After an hour or so of delicious relaxing I was summoned to the table and presented with the above menu.

 

 

 

There are no photos of the first course - the Sunshine Salad, to quote the menu, 'a delicious blend of textures, tastes and colours'.  And indeed it was, Lovely Hubby had managed to cover every colour spectrum in available vegetables and salad stuff all on one plate and what a large plateful that was, needless to say the majority of it now resides in tubs in the fridge ready to be transformed into many, many more meals :-)

 

The main course - Veggie Bake,  to quote the menu - 'Baked Veggies covered in Goat's Cheese' was wonderful, topped with his very own just made breadcrumbs, this man of mine had thought of everything. 

 

 

 

Deliciously lovely with soft, cooked to perfection vegetables and a lovely crispy topping. A masterpiece of a main course (he even remembered to check that the cheese was vegetarian friendly - lovely man).

 

Now on the menu the dessert was described as, 'Soft swirled icecream covered in lashings of caramel and chocolate', my mind raced and my taste buds could hardly wait for this masterpiece of a dessert, had he spent minutes, nay hours swirling arranging, designing and concocting a dish of icecream so heavenly soft that the experience would leave me in raptures of heavenly delight .....

 

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..... nope, he'd bought me a Magnum!!

 

Haha....delicious....but what a swizz!!

 

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It was a lovely evening with perhaps slightly too much wine being consumed on what was after all a 'school night', and in the true style of 'Come Dine with Me' tonight the tables are turned and it is my go to make a three course meal for the pair of us. One thing is sure I have no need to peruse the aisles of Sainsb*rys for my ingredients, I have a fridge full of leftovers at my disposal. 

 

A wonderful night - thank you to my Lovely Hubby and best of all - considering that he used just about every utensil, pot and pan in the house........he even did all the washing up.

 

What more can I ask of my own special Valentine.

 

Sue xx 

Stopped in my tracks......

 

I was going to de-clutter the mantlepiece today as part of my journey round the house clearing surfaces.  Taking the photo  the other day when I was talking about my favourite shade of green made me notice how it had filled up with things over the last couple of months.  Funny how you don't notice things on a day to day basis but can see things through fresh eyes in a photograph.

 

But it will have to wait, I've been stopped in my tracks this morning it has suddenly filled up even more ....... with Valentines cards.

 

My Lovely Hubby is cooking a meal tonight, what it is I have no idea, he's shopping on the way home from work,  he has been given special dispensation to shop outside of our £2 Housekeeping Challenge budget, just the once mind, I can't have him going mad.

 

So if you notice a slightly bewildered man in a very smart suit wandering aimlessly around Sainsb*rys with a basket over one arm late this afternoon, take pity on him he doesn't very often go into supermarkets unescorted by someone who knows their way around.

 

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Happy Valentines Day to my Lovely Hubby.

 

 

If I could grow you a tree it would be just like this one.

 

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My blogging buddy Karon, has done a wonderful post today.

 See HERE if you are spending Valentines Day alone, some really lovely tips.

 

Sue xx

A Whirlwind or a Meander

 

A whirlwind is spinning through our place, well a very leisurely slow spinning one so maybe it's more of a meander :-)

 

Yesterday I decided to tackle some corners of the living room, yes the spare room has plummeted to the bottom of the list, in fact it's filling with discarded things ready to be placed in our plastic box stash which is in the shed, I'll retrieve a couple of boxes today and start packing things away.

 

Sat watching television the other night I felt myself more drawn to watch the bookshelves, they weren't very entertaining just starting to annoy me.  Since moving in over a year ago I can honestly say not one book has been read off these shelves (although a couple have been added).  They are mostly fiction and I've simply not been reading fiction recently.

 

 

 

So I decided to start a slow and deliberate cull of the books. First I concentrated on the top shelf, making lots of space I moved some things over from the windowsill which has also gradually filled up.  I also did the bottom shelf and made more space for things to move down, in fact I made so much space all the books that were lying sideways on top of other books on our other large bookshelves were re-homed on these shelves.

 

 

 

The windowsill looking too full, I'm in love with surfaces now not stuff.

 

 

 

Much sparser, and easy on the eye (and also easier to dust).

 

 Also the cat can now sit on either end and look out of the window which he does anyway but usually knocking something off in the process.  Someone needs to explain relative space and size to him, he is the biggest, fluffiest cat ever and he still thinks he can fit in a matchbox or sit in the space where one has been!!

 

 

 

Then the top of the shelves caught my eye ....too much stuff.

 

 

 

Much better.

 

The jugs are reminders of nice things and are used for flowers, the leafy 'bowl' is a souvenir from a wonderful day out.

 

 

 

This jug, not so good memories, the candlesticks never used and the wooden trough, although I love it to bits, I have never found a good use for it, maybe someone else will so it's off to the car boot sale box.

 

 

 

Sorting through my books is always the hardest thing for me, I love books, really LOVE them, but last year I treated myself to a Kindle and now I am slowly and surely putting all the fiction I may want to read onto it.

 

 

 

I mean look at the size of it compared to even one book!

 

Also when I go anywhere where there will be waiting involved I can simply pop it in my bag and have a whole library of things to read at my fingertips.  Definitely one of my better purchases.

 

All these books are now in the car boot box, some of them are now on the Kindle, I'll watch out for the others being available cheaply in the future.  I'm going to sit and look through the Kindle store and see if any of my other books are available for pennies or free as they sometimes are on Amazon.

 

Today I'm tackling a little bit more of the kitchen, taking the cupboards one at a time, there's no rush to do this and I think that's what I'm enjoying, after the mad whirlwind of last year rushing through the house gathering all the obvious things we no longer wanted that were cluttering up our lives, this gentle meandering through surfaces and spaces is calming to the soul and as an added bonus while I go about all this sorting out I'm spring cleaning as I go in a rather nice and leisurely way.

 

Sue xx