Week commencing 8th January 2024

 

It is hard to believe we are already a week into 2024 and I am back doing menu planning and household planning. This is all in an effort to get organised and stay on top of things. Having a written list of things to do helps me stay motivated as I get great pleasure it ticking them off and seeing how much I have accomplished.

So for this week

To Do

I am out Monday, Tuesday and Friday evenings so the list can not be as long as I would normally do if I was staying home in the evening and this is on top of my weekly cleaning.

-Wash all curtains downstairs (as the curtains are so wide and long they can only be done one curtain at a time)

- Declutter bedroom chest of drawers

- Make a note of due dates for insurances, MOT's etc

In my craft basket

I have 3 projects that I am determined to finish this month. The first is an EPP quilt that I have been making in my quilting group for many years. The top is now finished and I just have the quilting and binding to do. 

The second is a jumper I have been knitting. I an definitely a novice when it comes to knitting and reading patterns and I had put this down for a several months after I made a mistake that I could not figure out how. I eventually got to show the pattern and the piece to my Mum who figured out where I had made the mistake so I ended up undoing the piece and starting again.

The final project is a dress that I started last summer then somehow lost interest in (as I did a lot last year). 

I want to get these three completed so that I can concentrate on starting some new projects next month.

On the menu

As the weather has turned colder this week I have decided to make some comfort food recipes whilst sticking to Slimming World (for the majority of the time)

Monday - Beef and black bean chilli

Tuesday - Mac and Cheese Taco Bake

Wednesday- Don-Air Kebab ( a Slimming World recipe for Donner Kebab)

Thursday- Toasties

Friday - Lentil and Bacon Stew

Saturday - Curried Mince beef

Sunday - Cola Chicken

Looking forward to..

The first W.I. and Book Club meetings of the year. There is a speaker from The Christie Hospital at the W.I. meeting and we will be celebrating our 9th birthday. The book I have read for the book club was 'Lessons in Chemistry' by Bonnie Garmuss which I really enjoyed reading even if it wasn't quite as much about cooking as I was expecting. I have also got the TV series with Brie Larson to watch.

I hope you all have a good week.

Deborah

Word of the Year 2024 - ORGANISED

I hope you all have had a good Christmas and are ready to go for 2024 with resolutions, intentions, plans, changes or just carrying on with what you have been doing.

After a year where I have felt things have slipped I am determined to get back on top of everything hence the reason why Organised is my word for 2024. My motivation to do anything in 2023 was almost non-existent. I am not sure if it is the stage of life that I am going through or whether it was just general dissatisfaction that made me feel that way. Over the last few weeks however, I have felt more like my old self and wanting to get things done so I don’t leave them to the last minute and become stressed.

So how am I going to get organised? For me it is about planning and I have started to use my ring-bound planners again. I am going to use 2 planners. A personal size as a calendar/diary but also having a section where birthdays are listed, a to-do list, a section for passwords and a general notes section for writing down random thoughts or pieces of information that might be important. My A5 planner will be for things to do with the house and family. So at the moment this will include my Christmas planner, addresses & contact details for family and friends, a one stop shop for phone and account numbers for utilities, insurances etc; trackers for books read and films watched, holiday planning and room details such as size, paint colours; and a due date section for things like MOT’s insurances, routine appointments etc.

As well as using my planners I have also bought all the birthday cards that I will need for the coming year and they have been put into monthly sections in a card box and they will be written and addressed over the next few days. Christmas cards and wrapping supplies have also been purchased in the sales and put away In the usual place. I also intend to buy Christmas presents throughout the year and I have designated a place to store them until needed.

Menu planning is also going to come back into my routine this year as I need to focus on getting to my goal weight this year (I didn’t gain weight, I just didn’t lose any). It will also save  money as I can order the items on click and collect so I am not tempted to put any extras in or go browsing in the non-food areas.

A close contender for word of the year was ~Lagom’ which basically means ‘ not too much or too little, just right’. This word resonated with me as I am not into minimalism or maximalism within the house. I am going to spend this year de-cluttering the house and not allowing myself to buy that much to clutter up rooms therefore making them easier to keep clean and tidy. I am also going to use up my craft kits and read the books I have already purchased before I allow myself to buy anymore which will also help with the de-cluttering process as well as saving money.

I have not really made any other New Years resolutions as everything I want to achieve comes under the organisation umbrella. 

Do you have a word of the year or have made any resolutions for 2024? I would love to know what they are.

Visit to Keswick Pencil Museum

I absolutely love stationery and a few weeks ago I visited the Pencil Museum in Keswick. I heard about it when I watched the TV programme with Ralf Little and Ricky Tomlinson where they toured the North of England in a motorhome.

It is definitely not the biggest of museums, in fact I would say it is the smallest one I have been to. It was however, surprisingly the most interesting. I learnt how the phrase 'black market' came about (when graphite used to be stolen from mines and sold illegally) and also the real life person who inspired the character 'Q' in the James Bond films. There was also some miniscule carvings on pencils and the world's largest pencil. Even Craig who only came along to keep me happy enjoyed it.

The Pencil Museum is definitely worth a visit if you are in Keswick and it pretty reasonable in terms of admission costs (plus you do get a free pencil as well:) ) Keswick itself is also very nice to walk around, even on a wet miserable day, and there are plenty of places to eat and drink.

Starting to blog again

I cannot believe how much time has passed since I last posted here. It was never my intention to stop posting, life just got in the way and I completely lost my ‘mojo’ not only for blogging but for a lot of other things. Life is now settling down so I am hoping to be able to get back into the swing of things.

So what has been happening?

I have changed jobs. I am now working in a junior school office and absolutely love it. The staff and the kids are wonderful, the work is steady and not stressful and the bonus of the school holidays as well. The deputy head has also persuaded me to run an after school sewing group for a small number of pupils which I am thoroughly enjoying and the pupils are as well. I am hoping to be able to continue it after Christmas.

We went away to Orlando in April for the 50^th Anniversary of Disney World. It was not the first time we had been and there have been a lot of changes and not all of them for the better. I felt that everything was a lot more expensive than when we went last time and I preferred Universal Studios to Disney (even though that was just as extortionate). We did not do too many rides because I refused to pay for the fast pass and would not queue for more than 1 hour to go on a ride either. There were some good parts including seeing my nephew’s face when he found out he wasn’t going to London for a holiday but was going to Disney instead. I won’t however be rushing to go back any time soon.

Emma then stayed on for another 10 weeks with her boyfriend and travelled around America which she had been wanting to do for many years. She had an amazing time and one she will never forget. She is back working full time again in the job that she was doing before she left.

Matthew is now looking at universities. When I last posted he had just started at college. He has a favourite one which also has the bonus of being closest to home so he could travel there every day. I may make him do one year of living away so he gets that experience, but financially it is better for him and us if he stayed home.

Craig is still fully involved with his Masonic lodges and as the season has now started again, I rarely see him in the evenings.

I am still crafting and reading and attending the W.I. but I have stopped going to my second W.I as several incidents occurred and I felt they were not dealt with properly or with kindness.

Craig and I also managed a couple of weekends away without the kids. We went camping for a couple of days with a new tent, despite after the last camp I said I would not go camping again. We went to the Peak District near Buxton and walked to Thor’s Head. We also went to Lytham near Blackpool and went to Lytham Hall and saw a very funny amateur dramatics production that was in the Pavilion Theatre.

The rest of my life has just been ‘bobbing along’ as normal. I am starting to plan for Christmas and have several Christmas parties coming up. I am hoping to go and see a National Trust property decorated for Christmas but I will be starting the New Year with no definite plans for holidays or days out.

Hopefully, now I have started again I will find the momentum to continue and start reading other blogs again as well. I do enjoy reading what other people have been doing in their every day lives as that is real life not the edited highlights you find on vlogs or ‘reality’ tv shows.

See you soon

Deborah

What I have been doing in August

 

It has been a while since I have posted one of these types of posts. Even though I have been keeping lists I never got round to writing them up. But I guess now things are hopefully slowing down then I will be able to find the time to do more of these. 

Reading 

The book club choice was ‘The Girls’ by Lisa Jewell.

The Blurb

You live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people’s houses.
You’ve known your neighbours for years and you trust them. Implicitly.
You think your children are safe.
But are they really?
Midsummer night: a thirteen-year-old girl is found unconscious in a dark corner of the garden square. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?

 The last few books we have read at the Book Club have involved death and mysterious disappearances and I have been rather fed up with the gloomy themes. Although this book  I thought was going to be along the same lines it had lots of twists and turns and subplots that kept you guessing right up to the end as to what really happened. It had a happier outcome as well which stopped me from disliking it. I liked the fact that the story was told from 3 different perspectives. I can understand the reasoning behind what happened to the characters in the end but I wasn’t entirely happy as if it was my daughter that had been found unconscious would I have agreed with what happened to the culprit.

 Agatha Raisin and the Witches Tree by M C Beaton.

The Blurb

Toil and trouble in store for Agatha!

Cotswolds inhabitants are used to bad weather, but the night sky is especially foggy as Rory and Molly Harris, the new vicar and his wife, drive slowly home from a dinner party in their village of Sumpton Harcourt. They struggle to see the road ahead - but then screech to a halt. Right in front of them, aglow in the headlights of their car, a body hangs from a lightning-blasted tree at the edge of town. But it's not suicide; Margaret Darby, an elderly spinster of the parish, has been murdered - and the villagers are bewildered as to who would commit such a crime, and why.

Agatha Raisin rises to the occasion, delighted to have some excitement back in her life as if truth be told, she was getting bored of the long run of lost cats and divorces on the books. But Sumpton Harcourt is an isolated and unfriendly village, she finds a place that poses more questions than answers. And when two more murders follow the first, Agatha begins to fear for her reputation - and her life. That the village has its own coven of witches certainly doesn't make her feel any better...

 Not my favourite Agatha Raisin story as I felt it concentrated too much on what was going on in Agatha’s personal life rather than the murders. Light reading though for when you just want to lose yourself in a book without having to think

 Watching

Only Murders in the Building  Disney+

 This series caught my eye whilst we were on holiday and the second season was about to be released. I ending up binge watching both series over a couple of weeks. There are 10 episodes in each season. The first season covers the murder of a young man in the building who turns out to be connected to Mabel (Selena Gomez) who is one of the group investigating the murder for a podcast. rThe second series they have to prove that they did not murder the building manager by finding the real killer. The generational gap between Mabel and Charles (Steve Martin) and Oliver (Martin Short) somehow works probably better than it would in real life. In both seasons there are various twists, turns and surprises which keep you wanting to watch. In some of the scenes you have to suspend your belief as they simply would not happen (Everyone singing Sound of Silence in series 2 as an example) but it is billed as a comedy drama so I guess that covers that aspect.

I am Groot – Disney+

 Who can resist Baby Groot? This is a series of 'shorts' where Groot goes on different adventures. Each episode is less than 5 minutes but they cram in so much. We watched these as a family in one evening as we were going to watch 'She Hulk' but had got the release date wrong so ended up watching Groot.

Making

Time just seems to have flown by this month and I feel that I have been really busy yet also feel like I haven’t achieved a great deal in any area, crafting being the one I feel has suffered the most.

 Macrame Infinity bracelet

This was with the W.I craft club. It was quite simple to make once I got the hang of which way the cord needed to go. Everyone had issues about whether they had gone left or right for the knots which caused a great deal of amusement amongst the ladies but for us all it is more about the social aspect than producing a perfect finished item.

 

 Knitted Gryfinddor Hat

Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of this completed as Craig gave it to our nephew before I had chance to take a photo. It was from a kit that I had bought in the reduced section from ‘The Range’. I did realise that maybe I do need to do a gauge swatch for items going forward that need to be a specific size as the hat was meant for an adult but ended up being a little too snug. At least the scarf I am working on next won’t need one.

 

What Else

 Six The Musical

After it being cancelled 4 times previously Emma and I finally got to see ‘Six, The Musical’. The musical is a modern retelling of the stories of the 6 wives of Henry VIII who are in a battle to become the lead singer of the pop group. The winner would be the Queen who suffered most at Henry’s hands. It is in the form of a pop concert and it did have that feeling even though it was a play. You could even film the ‘concert’ at the end.  It was worth waiting for and the soundtrack is now a regular play on my Amazon music playlists.

 Highclere Castle

It has been 5 years since I expressed an interest in visiting Highclere Castle after being a fan of Downton Abbey since the first episode. I finally got to visit this month as an early birthday present. I will write a separate post on this visit otherwise it will just be too long.

 

#Project 365 21st August-3rd September

I was away for the weekend so missed posting for the week so I have decided to do two weeks in one post. 

Sunday 21st August

As yet we don't have a hosepipe ban yet, Craig decided to do the annual job of clearing out the gutters, especially as I had complained about the dripping from them onto the car waking me up last night whilst it was raining. Whilst he was up there he also discovered another load of wasps so he used more treatment and sealed up where they were getting in.

Monday 22nd August

My regular weekday breakfast at the moment, Greek yogurt, granola and raspberries. Yum.

Tuesday 23rd August

Decided to go foraging whilst taking Penny on her evening walk after seeing this delicious recipe.

Wednesday 24th August

My new knitting project- a scarf in the colours of Ravenclaw house from Harry Potter for Matthew. I will have to do one in yellow and black for Emma next.

Thursday 25th August

GCSE results day and Matthew passed everything easily

Friday 26th August

Whilst in Waterstones I found the perfect book for Emma. This will go along with her idea of visiting every Waterstones in the UK.

Saturday 27th August

The hotel room we stayed in near Newbury ready for our visit to Highclere the next day.

Sunday 28th August

After 5 years of waiting I finally got to walk up the path to 'Downton Abbey' Lady Deborah came for a visit :)

Monday 29th August

A quick visit to Henley on Thames before heading home. 

Tuesday 30th August

After getting Matthew enrolled in college this was our traditional holiday treat. For me that is a maple syrup latte and a Boston creme doughnut.

Wednesday 31st August

Penny decided to help me clear the area where we are going to put the new fire pit we bought in a sale. Once cleared I put a weed barrier and stones on top before putting the fire pit in the centre.

Thursday 1st September

This may be the last evening I can sit out in the garden as rain is forecast for the next couple of weeks and then we will be well into Autumn. I have also come up with a long list of ideas as to what I want to do with the garden over the next few years.

Friday 2nd August

The ceremonial burning of the schoolwork. Emma started the tradition when she left school. After the results were out then her and her friends arranged to have a bonfire to burn their school work and Matthew has been looking forward to doing the same. If we let them burn everything they would be there for hours. We will limit what they can burn as it is more the symbolism and then they can put the rest in the recycling bin.

Saturday 3rd September. 

I was in a creative mood but I was not able to work on anything where I needed to concentrate as I knew I would keep being disturbed. This was the compromise as it is the diamond art equivalent of paint by numbers.

Gratitude in August

 Inspired by Kim at Life as Kim I am going to list what I have been grateful for each month.  It is also to remind myself of the slower, simpler life that I want to lead. It has been proven by research that people who write down what they are grateful for feel more positive, relish good experiences and are more optimistic and happier with their lives. Isn't that something we all want?

So in August I have been grateful for

1^st- Cleaning videos on Tiktok to motivate me to get deep cleaning and organizing done.

2^nd- Ikea being open late so I don’t have to go at the weekend when it is too busy for me.

3^rd – finding my first tomato. I have tried in the past to grow them without success.

4^th – Time to trace and cut out the pattern pieces for my next sewing project.

5^th- Finally getting to see ‘Six, the Musical’ after it being cancelled four times previously.

6^th- 29 years of marriage to Craig.

7^th – Not having to cook lunch as we went out with some of Craig’s fellow Masons.

8^th -Emma for making brownies for me to take to the W.I meeting tomorrow.

9^th – Being able to go to W.I. meetings.

10^th – Emma helping me with setting up to get the best photograph for the competition one of my W.I.’s is running next month.

11^th- Time to relax at Craft club after a stressful day at work.

12^th – Being able to sit in the garden and enjoy the weather.

13^th – Losing  1 1/2lbs at Slimming World.

14^th – Catching up with friends who don’t live nearby.

15^th – The cooler weather ( I really don’t like it when the temperatures are too high ).

16^th-Having no problems with my teeth following check up at dentists.

17^th- Having a gardener to maintain the garden. If it were left to us then it would look like a jungle. He only mows the lawn, trims the hedges and when needed cuts plants back. I don't know what I will do when he retires as he has been looking after the garden for as long as we have been in the house.

18^th- Being able to knit without any interruptions which never happens normally.

19^th – A quiet stress free day in work, especially after the last few weeks preparing for an audit.

20^th -A lovely day at the seaside with friends and dogs and lots of fresh air and fish and chips.

21^st- Craig for clearing the guttering after the overflowing gutter kept me awake due to the rain.

22^nd – Being able to do click and collect for my food shop. It saves time and money as I am not tempted to put in extra goodies as I am walking around the store.

23^rd – Being able to pick blackberries on my walk with Penny.

24^th -  A peaceful and relaxing evening after a stressful day in work.

25^th- Matthew getting the GCSE results he needs to be able to do the courses he wants at college

26^th- A neighbour’s daughter coming round with free doughnuts and sandwiches which would have otherwise ended up in the bin. (She is working for Tim Hortons in a new store and it was part of her training)

27^th- Being able to visit friends before they move to Ireland.

28^th- Visiting Highclere Castle as an early birthday present. I have been able to tick this off my bucket list now.

29^th- Visiting a country craft fair and finding the salted caramel cheese I have been looking for since having some at a friends house a couple of years ago. They couldn't remember the name of the company as they also bought it at a Country Fair. I have got the details so that we can both order more.

30^th- Matthew enrolling in college without any delays. The college changed the enrolment process to appointments rather than having everyone turn up en masse after getting their GCSE results when we had to go with Emma.

31^st -Being able to sort out a new mortgage before the interest rates rise much further. At least in these uncertain times we know that the mortgage will not rise now for 2 years.