Summer draws to a close

Leave a Comment
August Bank Holiday weekend is one of my favourites. This is because I love autumn, and I adore Christmas, and now I can start thinking about both.
After ten glorious days off work, I had to try to get back into the groove, so it was Lidl shopping, menu planning, kitchen , and just a bit of time in the garden.
The plan for today was to strip the polytunnel, but we got nowhere near.
We did however clear a space outside the greenhouse for seed trays - newly planted by my own fair hand with seeds for autumn and winter growth both in and out of the tunnel.

For a second inexplicable day, my lovely photos are refusing to fly from my phone to my laptop, I think Mr Google is out of synch!  But what a lovely day, pottering in the sun, planting seeds of hope, and dreaming of winter and Christmas!

Boo had her first driving lesson today, and, chalk and cheese as ever, absolutely loved it and feels she will be ready to take her test in about ten minutes. H is still arranging re take number three. :(

In the evening, after a late family dog walk in the dusk, we made a start on September's budget, paid bills, and tried to get our heads around the complications of the coming week.

I hope you're looking forward to going back to work, if indeed you are! Have  a great week!

The gentle rustle of a new leaf as it turns

Leave a Comment
For the first time in a decade, we went on a family holiday.
Boo left these shores for the first time ever and H for the first time she can remember.
We went back to beautiful Brittany.
There are photos, but I'm having a great deal of trouble uploading them.

To some extent, we lost our hearts all over again to Brittany, and spent lazy hours figuring how on earth we could relocate once the girls are through Uni - but at the moment, that's a pipe dream.

For now, it's back to real life and the very serious business of designing a way forward that is at once frugal, entrepreneurial, simple, faithful, and ... erm ... possible. That's the one I tend to forget!

After a week of profligate (by our own meagre standards) spending on food, and lashings of gorgeous Breton butter, with scant regard for Slimming World! I have to face the Bank Holiday Monday joy of menu planning and frugal grocery shopping once again, as well as trying to make an autumn veg garden a reality, and starting to think about ... yes, I'll say it, Christmas!

I have as yet resisted the temptation to stand on the scales.

Due to the infuriating inefficiency of the library's website, I am no doubt in debt to the tune of twenty odd pounds to the Library. I really do think I will give up. I always have the best intentions, but the website renewal process is very patchy, and when you try to renew at the machine it charges you vast amounts of money before it will let you renew. I wonder why they are saying they have to close Libraries when they rob you blind if you are unable to turn up in person to renew or return a book on its exact date, and have a website which says it has renewed books, but hasn't?

One more day to regroup, and then back into an absolute FRENZY!  Two really busy weeks at work, including three days away at a conference, and a trip up to Bucks for a family event, and then at two weeks today, my first baby flies the nest to go to Uni!

Taking deep breaths.

Still here

2 comments
Silence has prevailed while I have battled my time management demons.

For the first time in weeks I really took myself to task today and made myself come to terms with the facts.

Despite our increased income, we're STILL battling the month/money disconnect. We're STILL struggling to pay back debt and stay afloat.

The house had descended into the pit and we had become distracted by all manor of red herrings.

In just under two weeks time, we're due to go off on holiday and goodness alone knows how we'll do that, to be honest. But do it we must as we're now committed, but when we get back, oh boy we have to change what's going on around here.

Less than two weeks after we get back, H will be off to uni, so we will be a 'man' down.

My job becomes more and more involved, requires a certain amount of travel, and leaves me a bit pooped at the end of the day. I need to change how I cook, how I menu plan, how we do laundry, how we do housework. Lots of stuff has to change.

Looking forward to winter, we have a fair bit of prep to do. We want to cut back on livestock even more, and make what we do have more productive.

Today I've succeeded in cleaning a lot of the house, making a half decent Sunday lunch out of nothing but bits from the freezer and left overs, actually doing some sewing, and doing some bits of 'work' work.

I do need to come back here more often to record how I'm getting on both in reorganising and in my efforts in extreme frugality.

Sigh. Back to Work
Powered by Blogger.
Follow Me on Pinterest