Grateful To So Many People

I felt much better as the morning went on yesterday and by the afternoon could get out and about as normal although I did feel very tired. I have been reading up about the side effects of the coronavirus vaccine (I probably should have done that before!) and interestingly it seems you are much more likely to get the sort of effects I had, after the second vaccine as the body now recognises this invading threat and fights extra hard against it.  There have also been reports that there is evidence the same thing happens and you are more likely to experience flu like symptoms if you have already had the virus. I find all this information so interesting, something I have never really paid any attention to before but now always watch the television interviews, I have even finally got my tounge around the words virologist and epidemiologist! What ever the causes of any of it, I am just grateful to the skill of the people who developed this vaccine and grateful to our NHS that I have been able to receive it. 

We worked hard yesterday afternoon and have put part of the new railings and gate up in the back garden. The little fence that was there before is mainly rotten and Tom has an appointment at the dump this morning, which is the new way of doing things. I am very pleased with the arch and gate and will take a photo when it is all completed. My only slight concern is if it is substantial enough to contain Layla our Springer Spaniel. 

The other success I have had over the weekend is fixing the lights in the little dolls house room made by my Dad. In the end it just needed a higher wattage fuse and the lights are shining brightly away now. 

Tom is off today. but youngest son and daughter are back at work after half term. It looks quite bright so I'm hopeful we can get the railings finished in the back garden. I'm also pre-empting Tom's phone money being paid in and ordering the new duck run. Hopefully we will be able to get all these big jobs done before the start of spring. They are going to be announcing later about relaxing lockdown restrictions in England which will hopefully mean we can plan for a bit more of a normal family life.  I hope everyone has a lovely day what ever you are doing and get a bit of positive information about the end of lockdown coming. xx

Keeping Warm And A Vegetable Crumble

 It was another really cold day yesterday, but the sun was shining which always makes me feel more productive, so I set about cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom. I cleaned all the cupboards, the fridge, the floor, the windows even the walls. It was gleaming when I finished. It certainly kept me warm. I had to turn off the heater and take off my cardigan. It reminded me of a story my Dad would tell us when we complained about the cold. Years ago, in the early 1960s, no one really had central heating, then one Welsh chap he worked with in the office had central heating fitted. The fact he was Welsh has no real bearing on the story other than the fact my Dad is very good at accents and always told the story in a Welsh one! He was impressing them all with tales of how wonderful central heating was as they all listened enviously. "Your wife must love it being warm all day." said my Dad "Oh no" said the man "I'm not keeping it on for her all day." "That's very mean." said my Dad and his Welsh colleague replied "It's better they are cold, keeps them on the move boyo!" When ever my Dad used to tell this tale we would all gasp at the unkindness of this man! If ever we complained about being cold Dad would tell us in a Welsh accent to "Keep on the move!" Looking back as an adult maybe the Welsh chap was worried about the cost of the heating and it may not have been quite so unkind as it sounded. Anyway as I cleaned today I thought of his wife and it certainly worked as despite freezing temperatures I felt quite warm most of the day! 

I'm starting to get into a routine filling the ducks pond and water with buckets. My family always laugh I could make a routine on a desert island and I think they may be right. I've worked out four buckets fill the aviary water, the ducks water bowl and pond and the bird bath. There are a few more cold days forecast and then things are set to warm up a bit so I'll have to adjust my routine again! 

Tom was working until nine yesterday evening so I made turkey burgers and chips for youngest son and daughter and used half of the vegetables that I cooked in the  slow cooker yesterday and saved for today for mine. I mixed them with some kidney beans in this small Masons dish, as I'm always very mindful my diet could be low in protein. I put a layer of breadcrumbs and grated cheese on the top and put it in the oven for 30 minutes. It was delicious and I couldn't resist some of the chips I had made for youngest son and daughter.

Several people have asked me to share some quick basic veggie recipes. I would love to, all the recipes I make are quick and basic as that is all I can do! I have several old recipe books from the 1930s to the 1970s and often adapt recipes from them. I'm also a bit of a nutrient nerd and am always checking I'm getting the right amount of nutrients which would be lovely to share with someone who is interested as my family definitely aren't! 

I am looking after Scarlett today so it will be busy but always fun. I hope everyone has a lovely day what ever you are doing. xx

Shopping During Lockdown

 During this lockdown we have started using Click And Collect from Morrisons. Unable to get home delivery slots anywhere and fed up with queuing in the rain outside local shops I decided to give it a try, You can order it the day before, choose your slot, then Tom drives to the car park to the pick up point to collect it. If you don't want to get out of the car they will even load it in for you but Tom says there is no way he could sit there watching a couple of young girls doing all the work! On the whole we have been very pleased with the shopping, Only a few substitutions and Morrison's food is nice quality. The only time I go shopping now is for my Dad once a week and that is to his local M&S Food so isn't really that crowded which is why going to B&Q yesterday almost felt like an adventure! 

We decided to go and look at the railings there to see if they would do for our garden plans. We were so pleased with them we bought some straight away. I have learned before in B&Q sometimes they just stop stocking something, usually the one thing I decided to go back and get a while later!  Tom used his new B&Q pensioners 15% discount card. He worked there years ago and now he has turned 60 gets a very small pension from them. As the young girl on the till, who must have been new, had never seen one before Tom explained what it was. "So there you are" I said "That's something to look forward to." She looked horrified! 

I managed to fit in a little bit more tidying in the garden yesterday, more to batten down the hatches before the bad weather really. One thing I am really pleased  about is this little tree that has appeared in a pot with a small oak tree in my Dad potted for me from his garden. I'm not sure what it is and if it has germinated from a seed from his garden or ours but I will put in it's own pot soon and add it to my tree collection. I will enjoy waiting to see if I can identify it as it grows. 

The promised snow has just started here, just a few a light flurries but it is freezing cold. It seems to be on it's way from Kent and I'm really hoping it's not too heavy as Tom and youngest son and daughter are all going out to work tomorrow.  I'm planning to be out early too, travelling over to my Dad's as he has a routine doctors appointment in the morning .I'll just have to wait and see what the rest of the day brings. Have a lovely day everyone and I hope you are keeping warm. xx

Big Ideas For The Spring

 It was a beautiful day here yesterday and I spent most of it out in the garden. It felt like spring out and about and the sun shone most of the day. I managed to clear lots of the winter rubbish away and do some cutting back that hadn't been finished last autumn. Bulbs are coming up everywhere, it was lovely. All the time when I was working a little robin followed me about singing away. All gardeners seem to have a friendly robin around and I think that is why we love them so much. I am selling a few bits on ebay that are just too valuable to send to a charity shop and am already spending the money in my head, on a new arch and some decorative railings around the flower bed the dogs always run across when they come out of the house. I can't seem to grow anything there and have had to move a few precious plants to further up the garden as since our neighbours have had an extension built it is really shady. That, coupled with the excited dog being let out problem, has turned it into a depressing mess. I have been looking through garden design books and my ideas are running away with me (as usual!). Beautiful ferns, water features. Victorian lanterns. Oh well I'll just have to see what it all sells for. 

It won't be long now until everything is coming into flower. and my lovely little statue Summer is surrounded by colour.

Apparently snow is on the way later today so I will be inside catching up with the pile of jobs there always seems to be. Hopefully it will mean I can finish off the caravan curtains and more sorting out with items for the charity saleroom. 

Finally I will leave you with a song from probably my favourite film ever The Sound of Music. One of the first films I ever saw as a child at the cinema. I doubt there was a year went by in her later life we didn't watch this film on the television with my Mum. We knew every song off by heart after a school concert when I was a child and I had the whole songbook.  I was one of the nuns in the chorus and Mum always laughed she sewed me so tightly into my costume I couldn't raise my arm to wave goodbye in the final scene! This is to remember Christopher Plummer who sadly died yesterday. Have a lovely day everyone and I hope you escape the worst of the weather. xx

Routine, Routine, Routine

I feel as though in the last week I have been running non stop. I have been running up the hill to the nearby station every day and running down the hill to home at the end of each day. I have been at the mercy of signal failures, faulty trains and even suicides. The week has been stressful and worrying but one of the hardest things has been the lack of routine, I love my routines. Routines come and go, and I adapt quite quickly to new ones but I like to have one. Scarlett has been coming to our house on a Monday for nearly two years. Sometimes she comes on other days but always on a Monday. We have our little routine and we have such fun. This week as I was going to the hospital Scarlett didn't come and my whole week has been thrown into confusion. I know I will be muddled about what day it is all week until she comes again.
  We are conditioned into routines from an early age. Double Maths and double French on a Tuesday morning. I remember that awful year at school when I dreaded Tuesday mornings but can still remember the weight that was taken off me when the lunchtime bell rang. It took me a long time to forget that low feeling on a Tuesday when I opened my eyes.
  There was another day of the week at school though I remember the routine just as clearly but for completely different reasons. I know exactly what I would have been doing on Thursday mornings. Reading a Jackie magazine. I loved Jackie as did all my friends. Thursdays were eagerly awaited and I remember our Biology lesson, which was first period on Thursday, was always ignored while we sat on the back science lab bench reading every word of it. We poured over every problem in the Cathy and Claire page, answered all the questions in the quizzes about such important matters as "Am I the right girl for him?" and memorised every beauty tip. I still quote hair care advice I read at the time to this day. Even the boys in the class joined in and we would read out their horoscopes whilst they listened seriously. It's no surprise to say I failed my Biology 'O' Level miserably.

   We loved the photo love stories and the latest news on pops stars such as David Cassidy and Donny Osmond. In an age of no internet or social networking I think it made young girls feel connected and not so alone. I know I look back with very fond memories of my experience with the magazine. It's just a shame about the Biology 'O' Level!
    I'm hoping I may get back into a bit of my routine now. Today, hopefully, I will be at home all day to catch up. A bit of work, answer my emails, the usual bits of housework and then a job or two I have been thinking about doing for a while. Home routines can be very reassuring when you have had a lot of upheaval and I am looking forward to it despite the fact it's raining again.
   I hope you have a lovely day what ever you are doing. xx

A Cosy Sort Of Day

Yesterday was a family Sunday. A day when we were all at home. The sort of day I love. The weather was wet and windy but it makes me look forward to evenings round the fire as winter approaches.I took the dogs for a walk in the morning and although there was a steady drizzle, wrapped up in a rain coat I don't really mind. At least the park was nice and empty, except for the usual dog walkers and one poor young woman trying to settle her screaming baby by pushing him round and round in his pram. I tried giving her a sympathetic smile as we passed but she ignored me, probably feeling too stressed. While I was there, there was a spectacular sight of a large flock of starlings flying in to land on the grass. The wet weather must have brought some kind of insects to the surface. I think it is called a murmuration when starlings fly like this and I waited hoping to catch them flying away but they were far to engrossed in whatever they were eating I'm afraid.

 The afternoon was spent dodging showers while I planted some pansies in the window boxes and trying to bake a chocolate cake for after Sunday evening tea. I use the word trying as it was only when I had got all the ingredients out I realised that I was missing cocoa and had to run to the Co-Op in the rain to buy some more. My raincoat was certainly getting some use yesterday!. I was starting to think the chocolate cake was not meant to be as when I got my Mum's old Magimix out to mix the ingredients it wouldn't start. I realised the power knob at the front was missing. The only way I could get it to work was to stick a screwdriver in the hole where the knob had been all the time praying I wouldn't get electrocuted. This is obviously my next mending project! All in all it was a nice productive day. The pansies look quite bright in the boxes even if it is far to wet to take a photo of them and the cake turned out not too bad considering.

We spent the evening chatting over a nice cup of tea and munching on chocolate cake while looking out at the hooley that was blowing outside. Yes quite a cosy sort of a day really. I'm hoping as I'm looking after Scarlett for the day today the weather might be a bit better. What ever your doing today I hope you get a bit of sunshine and your day goes well. xx

Solving Problems!

I have thought about my blog and all the dear people in blogland often over the past year. After a gap of blogging and a new computer I found I had somehow got locked out of this google account. Instead of sorting out the problem straight away I opened a new account and put that problem on a back burner as I often do. But a new me has been emerging in the last few months! One that fixes and mends! I suddenly decided that I will sort out so many irritating little problems. I have decluttered all the small outgoings on our bank account (How easy it is to hang on to a small house accident policy costing £5 a month for years as it takes precious time to sort it out) fixed broken items in cupboards which are now perfectly useable and have started to use other precious items I have put away, what am I waiting for I asked myself, life is too short to have unused items in cupboards.
  Over on instagram today I saw Marlene has started a new blog which looks right up my street The Secondhand And Savvy Shopper. That's it I thought I must sort this problem out so I settled down earlier today and went through all the steps to resolve the problem and that's it sorted! I can't tell you how pleased with myself I feel and how happy to see so many of my old favourites still going strong.
  I have found this problem solving is becoming a bit addictive. I had such a feeling of satisfaction when I cancelled one internet provider and returned to another saving myself £50 a month doing so. I had been putting it off over and over again thinking it would be hell, well to be honest it was a bit, but it is done and £50 is a lot of money to save. I wake in the morning thinking what problem can I solve or item can I mend today! If I'm not sure how to do it I look on youtube there is always someone telling you how to do it. "It looks very light in here tonight" my youngest son said as we settled down for our evening meal a few days ago. "That's because I have fixed a light that was put away in the cuboard and put it out" I said proudly! It was only a 50p car boot sale buy but I couldn't have been more pleased.

 So that's it today's problem solved. I'm off to read a few blogs and hopefully my new organised self will get round to writing a few posts too!

Wallace And Gromit Are My Style Icons

    My youngest son always jokes our house looks like Wallace and Gromits. A sort of homely 1940s influence with little quirky touches and I kind of know what he means. I bought this Wallace and Gromit clock radio a few weeks ago for £3. I know it would sell quite well but I love it. The whole little montage is so cosy and almost comforting. I have decided, much to youngest sons delight, I will keep it.

    Who could not love Wallace and Gromits cosy house. From the kitchen to the dining room it is just so retro. I'm sure Kirsty Allsopp get's some of her ideas from them.

I love a cosy retro Christmas and I'm sure anyone who loves retro style would have to agree with their choice of Christmas decorations!

   This has reminded me of an incident which happened when I was visiting The 1940s House at the Imperial War Museum with my two daughters. I was standing admiring the living room when my eldest daughter walked over to me and said "Getting decor ideas Mum?" An American tourist standing next to us roared with laughter and said "That's why I love you Brits you are always so funny." We laughed politely but when he walked away my eldest daughter said "I meant it." "I know you did" I replied "and I was getting ideas!" They know me so well.

Ideas For Our Front Door Way

   I am trying to think of some new ideas to brighten up our doorway. We don't know whether to open up the front garden or go more with the little path to the front door. We want it to look in keeping with our small Edwardian house. I have been looking around for inspiration whilst out walking Bud. I took him this evening to a road that has lots of large Edwardian houses which I love. Lots of them still have their original doorways.

   

    I think I'm being a bit ambitious as these houses are ten times the size of ours. Infact some of their garages are bigger than our whole house! As you can see from our house when it was decorated for the Queen's Jubilee I think maybe I better go and look for inspiration in some smaller style Edwardian homes.