I realise it's all a bit quiet around here since i vowed to try and write this blog again. This is mostly because my computer seems to be dead so I have to use the smartphone, which I don't really like. It is also just because I'm busy! Anyway, I shall keep trying. 

There hasn't been a lot to report on over the last couple of weeks anyway though.I'm working on knitting a cardigan that feels like it's taking rather a long time, but which I am determined to finish! I took the telly away after feeling like I was starting to resort to it to occupy ivy far too often. We still have it, but only being it out sometimes in the evening if we want to watch a film.

Our bread maker died which is pants, and I'm certainly not enjoying buying bread again. We are looking out for another.

We have bought a polytunnel, yes we have! We decided rather than wait until next year, take advantage of this unpopular polytunnel buying time of year and see if we could get one with a good discount, and we could! It is very big and should be arriving next week and I am very excited about it.

Peace and quiet

Well we did it, we bought another car. It was cheap, funny looking, and seems to run okay, and that's about all I can find to say about that! Despite not much liking the idea of being a two car family, it will be a big help.
For a good chunk of this week we have not done too much, being stuck indoors, hiding from the storms. Luckily we haven't been affected too badly in the village but it has been devastating elsewhere  and a harsh reminder of how quickly things can change.
But today the sun actually came out for a spell and we made the most of it  spending most of the day in the garden. We have sorted apples for storing, now all I have to do is prepare a vat of apple sauce with the not - so - perfects, planted garlic and broad beans outdoors, and (almost) dug over the two final beds that need sorting after summer.
I made a massive lentil cottage pie today  plus lots more of the mix for putting into freezer bags, and the second loaf of bread of the day is ticking away in the machine.
We are still trying to make some adjustments to our shopping habits as, ideally, I would like to half our budget. We have decided to start going shopping on a Friday afternoon after will finishes work so we can get it done quickly and be quite focused. We only really shop at lidl now as it is so much cheaper and the veg is better than tesco. Anything we need that lidl doesn't stock will can pick up from tesco in his lunch break, so we don't have any temptations while having to make an extra trip. We will see, but for the past couple of weeks our shop has been quite a few pounds less, a reassuring start.
I took the girls on a trip to the botanical Gardens again on Tuesday. We are members so the only expense was the petrol (and an ice cream for ivy). Then we went to Swansea on Wednesday to visit the free botanical Gardens there, though that was much less enjoyable as I find cities very stressful these days, and although we were in the middle of a park I could still always hear the traffic noise and found it very disturbing. The whole day felt like a big reminder of why we moved and I was even more grateful than usual to be back home in our little village.
That's all for this week!

 Ivy helping out

The extent of our storm damage

Doubling up

Good morning, another soggy dark day today, I think we've definitely had our last breath of summer now.

This week we have been considering doing something that, were I asked 6 months ago, I would have sworn we'd never do. That is getting a second car. I grew up in the city and neither of my parents could drive, one still doesn't, so to me it's never been a given that one has to drive. I passed my test this year when I was about 8 months pregnant as wanted to be able to get about if we needed to. I didn't realise how much it would improve our quality of life, and am still surprised by that. While he was still on paternity leave with Hazel will was offered a new job 20 minutes away, and although he cycles when he can, going into the winter months he will be able to do so less and less, so he'll be taking the car. So here we are now wondering if we should, and if at can afford to, get another small car so that I can run the weekly errands like shopping in as well as take the girls out on trips, which now that ivy is so much older  I think its essential. She gets so much from a change of scenery,  so do I.

That one is still something we're thinking about. 

A very real piece of machinery we have acquired this weekend is my very own wood chipper! It occurred to me that over the next year, and beyond, while our garden is still getting set up  we will be spending so much money on mulch and bark chip  and yet we have heaps of branches we were about to chuck into the woods out back and just forget about. We'll hurrah, after a little persuading will found me a second hand shredder for sale and we went to pick it up, and I have already started on my paths dividing the raised beds  I am sick of trying to shear the grass and keep the buttercups from creeping into the beds. Once the paths are done any other chippings with be added to our compost heap and we will try to get some hot compost going, exactly what we need to improve our clay soil. 

And lastly I'm feeling pretty happy after putting out a plea for anyone selling manure for less than I paid last year (we need so much more with all the new beds) a friend of mine in the village said I could help myself to her very well rotted heap for nothing. We popped up to her farm yesterday and took away two car loads in exchange for cupcakes and home made tea and preserves, and will hopefully make it up again next weekend for more. Hooray! 

How do you like them apples

This weekend saw us trying to work more on putting our garden to bed for the winter, but getting a wee bit distracted. A few months ago a branch of our apple tree split and was resting on the shed roof. We had intended to wee to it in winter, but with the rain starting it became a bit more pressing as the pressure was making the shed roof start to leak. So will got out his ladder and took off the split branch. Short and short is that there were a LOT of apples to collect from that branch. So that's what I spent most of my weekend doing!

I have wrapped two crates to store in the garage and would like to do more, but beyond that I don't know what to do with so many!give away as many as possible I think as I have already made all the jams and chutneys I intend to this year.
On the plus side ivy loves her new climbing frame! We will keep them and use to support squashes next year.

Which is the only other bit of news from the weekend. We've had a couple of frosts, and although not for yet I've brought my squashes in. I'm not taking any chances having nurtured them like babies. I planted them very late in the year which is why they're not ready yet, but there is a chance that they'll ripen in a warm house. They're now in our second bedroom, Tom and Barbara style.

Autumn jobs

It's been a nice but tiring and busy day today. Will has been off sick with a bug which isn't great, but did mean that I occasionally had an extra pair of hands to keep at least one child busy while I cracked on with a few winter jobs, and I'm feeling quite proud of how much I've ticked off.
I have cleared our little patio area to the side of the house. All pots with annuals emptied, compost reused elsewhere, shrubs put in the greenhouse for winter. Hanging baskets emptied and everywhere swept.in the garden I have picked the first crate of apples that I will store in the shed, mowed the lawn, planted Christmas potatoes in the greenhouse, potted on my herb cuttings and a few strawberry runners that had found their way out of the bed and into the lawn, cut the sunflower heads for drying, hard pruned the mint and lemon balm and cut back some of the woody herbs and hung to dry in the greenhouse. Collected more marigold and chamomile flowers to dry for tea, and started pulling up some of the annuals in the garden (well, just borage so far), and a tarp over the biggest veg patch. Phew! Now a well earned cuppa before falling into bed to start it all again tomorrow.

Stew and pumpkins

A day of not too much going on today. I had to drop the car off at the garage this morning after the hand brake went ducky and the back of the car started to make an unsettling clanking noise. After that new and the girls marched off to the village to the macmillan coffee morning. A girl turn out with lots of coffee, cake and Welsh speaking.
Ivy got a bit too tired out on the mile - walk home. Bad planning on my part, I had hoped that I could carry Hazel in the wrap home and ivy could just her pushchair, but ivy was adamant that it was hazels pushchair, not hers, so wouldn't get into it. We had a long lunchtime of tantrums before ivy had a good nap and came up smiling in the afternoon.
My lovely neighbours watched the girls while I went to pick up the car. Apparently a bit had dropped off it  Luckily the damage was only about £75. We could do without it, but it could be much worse!
A big pot of veg stew for dinner with beans from the garden this summer that u had frozen and homemade caraway bread. Mmm!
The main excitement of the day has been popping out into the garden this evening to have a look at my pumpkin patch. Five good sized pumpkins coming, three larger than footballs, but all still green. Come on babies! The spinach and chard patch is coming on licentiate and we should have plenty for winter.

Rearranging

That is what we seem to have spent the whole weekend doing. For ages will has wanted to take down a big wooden unit that we had in the lounge for our hi - fi and records etc. He built it years ago for another room in another house (scroll back far enough in this blog and you'll find it!) and he has never quite liked it in this house. A bit of jiggling and one wall - mounted shelf later and it was down. At the same time we also reorganised the big built in cupboards as the records had to go in there, and that had improved the room greatly. And finally wet have Will's church pew in here so when people visit we all have somewhere to sit !

I made a final batch of chutney yesterday; 15 jars of green tomato and apple, using up the last of the garden veg we had knocking around the kitchen  It's with some relief I call it a day on making jams and pickles for the year now,  we definitely have as much and more than we need. The jars can go back into the garage until next year.

It has been a busy morning today starting to pick up the fall out from our busy weekend, and baking cakes for the macmillan coffee morning at the library tomorrow. I believe they have made it Tuesday rather than last Friday as it will coincided the caffi cymraeg that they already run on a Tuesday. My mum is a cancer survivor and macmillan have given her incredible support over the last five years . They are one of few charities I can really get behind. I am baking vanilla cupcakes with a few different frosting. Hopefully there will be someone who is pleasantly surprised to find a vegan option, I know it always makes me do a happy dance!
That's all for now.

Hello!

Is this writing really big? 

I am going to really really try to update this blog now! I have found how to do it on my phone (I think) which realistically is the only way I am ever going to manage it as my laptop died some time ago. 

We are a family of four now, woohoo!! We welcomed another little girl, Hazel, in July. All goes well now settling into our new life and finding new routines. Will has also started a new job which is local and not based at home, yay! But it is also a couple less hours a week which amounts to about £200 less a month, so some economising is called for. Hopefully that is where this blog comes in. 

At the moment I'm just trying to spend as little as possible and find areas, particularly food shopping that we can just cut out. We have bought a breadmaker (£10 from bhf) and are baking all of our bread now. All of our jams and pickles are made for the year, from our own garden and the local hedgerows, so the plan is to stop buying any spreads, condiments, pickles etc. We also bought a blender from bhf as ours died last year so can make houmous from dried beans and peas for our lunches  Thankfully autumn and winter are seasons for one pot meals so there are a lot of soups, stews and caseroles on the horizon. Lately the garden has been our biggest expense as we are still getting set up for growing our own, though this year we managed to live off our own veg exclusively for two months over the summer. We have dug two more very large beds and will be buying a polytunnel in spring, so a large and expensive order of manure will be necessary before the end of the year  

Day to day we all live fairly cheaply. To be honest during the week me and the girls rarely leave the village, and at the weekend we prefer pottering about to spending money going places. We will just have to see how things go this month and will know by the end whether we need to come up with a more detailed plan of where to cut back.  

For the mean time, hello, happy to be back! 

These sunflowers were in our garden, casualties of the recent storms. 

Coming out of hibernation

The last couple of weeks between the snow, frost and rain we've actually managed to spend some time out doors. It's been an odd sort of week this week and a busy one as I've had just about all of my family making their annual visit. All is back to normal now, though I think Ivy will take some time to adjust to having attention only from me and Will, and not constantly!
We had a few daytrips and made it up to the black mountain one on especially dry day, which was a real treat for me as I have been feeling a little stuck down in the valley lately, with my expanding size making it difficult for me and Ivy to take good treks alone anymore.

I am doing an art stall this weekend for the opening event of a new community space in Brynamman. I nearly didn't sign up for it as I have hardly worked since Christmas, with one thing and another, but decided a tight deadline may be just the thing I needed to get me back in gear - and it worked! I have had a very productive couple of weeks and am looking forward to the stall. I hope there will be the opportunity to do similar things over summer.

We have had a busy week in the garden. I have finally (after a year!) sorted out our front garden and am feeling very pleased with myself. In a couple of years the shrubs should have filled in and we will have a very cute, low maintenance front space. It has certainly smartened up the front of the house, though when the weather is dryer we need to get out there with a stiff broom and clear away some of the gunk and gravel that has built up over winter.

We are a little short at the minute after paying for the car service and a petrol mower this month, so the front garden was sorted entirely on sweat, and about £25 of mostly reduce plants at B&Q, plus roses, bluebells and wild garlic salvaged from the neighbour's garden last year before they had it flattened for their extension.
Which reminds me, I promised to look in on their dogs today and I still haven't, so that is my cue to leave. toodleoo!

No work for the devil here

It'll just be a quick check-in today as I am running around like a mad thing this afternoon.
Well, that rotten snow has finally gone and we were all thrilled to see some sunshine today for the first time in what seems like an age. Ivy and I spent most of the morning out and about, first on foot (only a little sleep left me sluggish so went off to get some orange juice for a sugar high to jumpstart me), and then with the pram to the library to find some new books, and it seems everyone is out and about with their dogs and smiling.
It's been a busy old day today. Will is away at work for a few days, and to be honest I was a little worried about being bored - no chance! After our trip to the library where we found a few new books for Ivy, we came back, bumped into my neighbour who invited me over this afternoon, quickly baked a victoria sponge to take to said neighbour, made lunch (and dinner) - none of which Ivy actually ate - then immediately after that had a knock on the door from the other neighbour bringing back jam jars so invited her in to choose some more and have a coffee. As soon as she left I had a call from a friend in Swansea asking if she could come over this afternoon and use my garden to take some photos, so quickly took Ivy out in the pram again so she could fall asleep, finished off the cake and dropped it next door along with a jar of orange curd, just in case I now don't make it over later, and quickly whizzed around with a hoover - phew!!!
Without wanting to blow my own trumpet I rather feel that I am triumphing at Mumming/housing/neighbouring today.
Nothing much else has happened this week as the snow kept us relatively housebound. We got up to plenty of indoorsy things to keep Ivy's mind off of it including making collages from the scrap box which was great fun.
I am away the coming weekend (for the first time since Ivy was born) at a mind body spirit retreat, so am looking forward to that and just trying to get everything in the house in order before then.
That's all for now, I'm off to enjoy a well deserved cuppa!

Apocalypse nigh!!

Or so they're saying. Yes, apparently this blizzardy weather is due to hit even Sunny South Wales today. I for one am not that excited at the prospect of a snow day having sheets to wash and a toddler to entertain, and don't plan on doing either of those things outdoors in minus temperatures!
I continue with the 40 bags in 40 days challenge here. I'm actually a few behind as we went away for the weekend and then had my Mum to stay for the last couple of days, but I think I am up to 11 bags and feeling good. I'm starting to scratch around a little bit for things to get rid of, but I know there are still a few areas like the bureau that need definite attention and I'm just putting them off 'til last!
Last week, with Ivy's help, I started on a big problem area that is the corner of Will's office. Since we moved here I've had my sewing table there, but since I have not been doing a lot of sewing these past few months it has just become an area for collecting stuff. Add to that an enormous fixing pile, a big chunk of which was things we've since decided to replace rather than pair (e.g. Will's never ending pile of holey pants) and we had a bit of a task on our hands.
I have moved the sewing table downstairs to the dining room where it is more likely to see some action, and sorted through the fixing pile, which now includes only things we actually want to keep, and which can feasibly be fixed.

This is after I took away the sewing table!

Ivy repurposing Will's old pants. 

New sewing table, new fixing pile!

New corner - now bunged up with craft stuff - arrghh! The chair is due to go on freecycle soon as well.
Our plan for the dining room is to get a couple of small mid century arm chairs and make it into more of a living room that we can use in the evenings as well as just as a dining room, so hopefully this will put me in a better position for working on the fixing pile, and also perhaps making things again in the evening rather than just slobbing out on the sofa.
We are doing all we can to keep warm and entertained today. I have finished all of my post-guest jobs around the house - the things you don't keep up with while you have people to stay, as well as the extra linens/towels etc. I have made a little snack plate for me and Ivy and put the telly on, and this is how I intend to remain, waiting for the snow! I have baked two loaves of bread and there is cawl in the crockpot, so we'll be alright for tonight, and I even have the raisins soaking for the mandatory welsh cakes. Happy (cold) st Davids Day!

Little luxuries

I will never stop being grateful for all of the things that I have, and recently I have spent a little time with a few people who have reminded me of this - not just my home and the things that I fill it with, but mostly my family, our health, our values and our dreams for the future. I am also very thankful for the little things that make up my day, and make most days very happy.
So, today I am grateful for:

Homemade lemon curd on toast!

The daffodils on the windowsill starting to come out

More things to send off to charity! Add to this some of Ivy's old clothes and an air mattress that deflates itself for today's bag of 40.

Having the energy once again to take care of my home and the people in it and have clean surroundings again!

I am also grateful for the washing machine and tumble that on a grey grizzly day like today has allowed me to wash and dry all of our linens and towels. I am grateful for the slow cooker which is full of bubbling casserole, and the bread I'm about to bake for tonight's tea.
Ivy is sleeping but seems a lot better today. All is well. Today is a good day.
Wishing this much peace and happiness for everyone.

Another one gone

Another busy weekend has passed. We spent yesterday morning absolutely blitzing a couple of areas of the house that have been long neglected - the understair cupboard which, much to my disgust - has been clogged up for the last few weeks with God knows what (I blame Will, and quite rightly he has now reallocated a lot of things to his shed and just left behind Christmas decs and my hoover!), the kitchen counters which over winter where I've been unwell have collected allsorts and not even had a proper clean, and a couple of baskets of odds and sods from around the house that I scooped up some time in Autumn with the intention of sorting through that day... and never did. Feels good, and we sorted out a bag of stuff for the binman, mostly broken rubbish that we will never get around to fixing. I'm yet to scoop up a bag to get rid of today and the clock is ticking, think I'd better have a quick look over books in a bit.
Will had a few friends over yesterday for a pre-birthday celebration, and I had a birthday party to go to for a couple of Ivy's friends. A long night as Ivy's croup is back and neither of us got a spot of sleep, and a long day today with everyone crabbing and moaning.
Hopefully Ivy will be sleeping soon and will catch up on her Zzz's a little (won't hold my breath) and we can have another positive, productive week.
This weekend I started reading Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes by Virginia Nicholson. A really interesting look at the lives of wives and women in the 1950s - definitely biased towards the 'aren't things better now thank God' side of things, but a lot of thought provoking points.
We were meant to be going to a fun day a couple of villages away tomorrow, but with Ivy's cough it'll be a housey day instead. I have all of the linen from having people staying to take care of, so fingers crossed for a blowy day and they can go out on the line rather than the tumble.
That's all for now. We are going away on Friday, just for the weekend, but our first holiday together since 2014, so a few things to get sorted around the house before then.
Lovely week all!

40 bags in 40 days

Continuing in the never ending spirit of getting rid of more things I am taking on the 40 bags in 40 days challenge over the lent period. I like having something to work towards, and filling a carrier bag with stuff I don't want once a day seems an achievable goal, and will mean by Easter, and the start of spring, the house will have had a total reset ready to start a new year.
I have made myself a nifty little grid for the fridge and we have already gotten together two BINbags - wooah, slow down there! - of clothes for charity that we can drop off tomorrow after Will finishes work.
My expectation is that once we have tackled the obvious clothes, books etc, this will extend to corners of the house that gather stuff and remain largely ignored.

Although my desire to own less is nothing new - you've read my blog, right? - I have been thinking a lot lately about the role of the housewife and how that has changed. How the expectation was once that a house was spotless, regardless of whether you had children, and that it no longer is. It is my personal preference, but I would choose a spotless house any day, and haven't the desire or resources to pay someone to clean it for me. But in the past women somehow managed to achieve this. I think much of this was a combination of good organisation, and a lack of the distractions we have these days like T.V, smart phones... but I suspect a lot of it was also simply owning less, and therefore having less to pick up and clean. I have been working on the organisation element and have noticed a huge difference in how clean I'm able to keep my home in the time that I have. The areas that I am still dissatisfied with are those that simply have too much stuff in them.
In other news I think I am finally feeling better (!!) This has been helped by a morning of beautiful sunshine and a couple of days of Getting Things Done. I have been out in the garden this week and planted my tomato seeds. There will be nothing else for me to plant for a while, and since I am not meant to dig either, not a lot to do now until the spring.

Sunshine!

Will built a window and door for his shed. 

Other news in the house - one luxury and one bargain:
The luxury is that we bought a rug! Yes we did. It finishes off the lounge perfectly and will protect the carpet which is looking a little worse for wear.

And the bargain (but also a bit of a luxury) - I've been after another, larger, parlour palm to go in the lounge for ages, but as they are quite slow growing the big ones are expensive. Well my luck was in, I picked up a biggy in B&Q at the weekend reduced to £10. He was looking a little sad, but I think he just hasn't been watered enough as is perking up already.

Now, I need to get on with making lunch for Will. Just sweetcorn fritters and salad today, I can't get enough of my veg at the moment.

Walking Dead and Signs of Life

Walking dead - well, that's how I feel right now. After a winter packed with colds, coughs and other nasties we finally started to recover and Ivy has started teething again, so back to sleepless nights and difficult days.
Signs of life - they're everywhere! We spent a good part of yesterday afternoon pottering about in the garden (in the pouring rain) and started to get very excited about the spring and summer to come.
Ivy is sleeping so this if my brief chance for a rest, so forgive me, today I will just picture dump and then run away!

Things Growing

Bit puddles after a day of rain - makes a change from all the horrible snow

Looking a bit greener

Ivy helping to tidy the greenhouse ready to plant things

Taking shelter

A big ole raised bed that Will has made behind the greenhouse

We did have plans to go away this weekend which we've had to cancel, so that means we had a surprise free weekend (which we've filled up already) to do a few housey things that need doing. Will needs to build a new chest/shelving to store his clothes in the bedroom as he sold his old one a couple of weeks ago and his clothes are now in a big pile of floor. I'm hoping a trip to Swansea to B&Q is in store (!!). 

I am already getting quite a big belly and starting to feel uncomfortable with that, so it's working out what the new limitations are. I also feel a change in my diet is needed as haven't been feeling that well lately, I assume I've become a little more sensitive from the pregnancy, but I'm not quite sure what to do about that yet. Basically a weekend of Sorting Stuff Out ahead - yay!!!! (Not sarcastic!)

Scrubbing up

Continuing in the spirit of Getting Things Done and making our space tidier, cleaner, smarter and more comfortable we spent a lot of the last weekend doing a job that has been on the list for a while.

The largest bedroom in our house has been used jointly as Will's office, as he works from home, and my workspace for my art. I have a large 6ft desk and for a while was using this valuable space every day. However, since becoming pregnant I haven't had the time or energy to work on my art so this became a wasted space, and instead of being useful was just a 6ft platform for gathering Stuff.

On Saturday I cleared the desk and put it in the garage - it will be great for food if we have summer parties - , chucked out what could be chucked, gave away what could be given away, and made a good start at organising everything else. There is a lot that I don't want to get rid of as will continue with the art when the time is right, and I also have a lot of craft stuff that will be fun when the kiddies are a little older.

I wish I had a before picture as it was shocking! But here is the after, now a little play area for Ivy as we do spend a part of most days upstairs cleaning and keeping Will company.  

I cleared off the mantle in the lounge which had a lot of indoor bulbs that have been looking quite tatty because I didn't water them the whole time I was ill! I will give up on these and plant them in the garden, they will be beautiful next year. I bought a couple of candlestick holders from Lidl that were discounted to £2 because the packaging was damaged, and they have brightened up the space. 

This is long overdue, but I had to take a photo of the amazing quilt that Pam made for us for Christmas. It has been on our bed ever since with the matching cushion and I adore it! It is exactly my colours.

It is a grey and grizzly day today. I have to go out mid-morning as me and Ivy for for a walk every day so she can nap, and in the afternoon for baby group. Apart from that I intend to barricade us in against the elements, keep the tea flowing and do very little!