Hourly check ins

7.30

Little bit of crochet to start the day.

8.30

Hoover and dust the hall, stairs and landings.

9.30

Make envelopes for homemade cards using magazine pages.

Made a template first from an old envelope, then decided that just a square was needed. Put the card on diagonally and fold the edges around the card. Simple.

They need a sticky label for the address.

Perhaps I'll put the sticky labels on the back so the front picture can be seen.

Production line set up and rolling along.

All envelopes done and box put away. Need to make some new cards.

10.30

Lights on the landings dusted.

11.30

Thick bacon piece put in the oven to cook.

12.30

Tomato soup for lunch.

1.30

Decided to make some new cards. What a mess.

2.30

Tidying up the mess and putting things away in this room, followed by a quick hoover.

3.30

Check To Do List and update.

4.30

Afternoon sit down with DH followed by preparations for tea and eating. 

5.30

Unexpected guests who arrived at 4.35 still here.

6.30

Just had a bath and am settling down in the loft room for the early evening - blogging, crocheting, Filofaxing and YT-ing.

7.30

Will be doing the above.

8.30

Will be playing a computer game before going downstairs to watch TV.

Nightie, nightie.

xx

Trip out

I had my first experience of a Grey Brigade coach trip yesterday. 

Great fun as we didn't know where we were going. We ended up at Barrowford, a small pretty village in which was the Pendle Heritage Centre.

A small stream meandered though the village and we walked along it through the park gardens,

ending up at a local hostelry for lunch, which was beautifully presented.

Onward we went in the afternoon, up and up, along very narrow roads, extremely narrow roads,

to Clitheroe. The first narrow road the coach went up was the wrong one so we backed up about a quarter of a mile and immediately proceeded to the next frightfully narrow road.

We said hello to the sheep on the hillside.

A tour of the main street of Clitheroe whiled away the afternoon along with an ice-cream and a trip to a CS!

Good company, good food and great scenery. Must do it again some time with the LWJ.

xx

Second pop in

Out and about

... with a walk along the prom at Heysham.

Look round - there's Morecambe Bay.

Down a lane I wander and peer through some railings.

Behind these railings is a Glebe garden belonging to the local church. Good to see there's a communal compost heap there!

Let's have a wander round.

By the garden is the church yard - what a great final resting place this is looking out over the bay.

I turn around to look at the pretty church.

More meandering leads me to this gateway. Shall we go through?

Out on to the headland and here's another intriguing entrance.

It's to an old ruined chapel on top of the cliffs.

Great views up here.

And look - there's a small inlet with its own sandy beach.

Just time to say hello to the sea.

I turn round to head back and spy ...

... another little gateway. (Look closely it's in there somewhere.)

Where will this one lead, I wonder?

It led to a woodland walk back to the church yard with a wilderness of wild flowers.

Lovely place, lovely views, lovely lunch at the village pub/hotel, lovely day out.

I'm full:-

with food,

with the scent of flowers,

with the smell of the fresh air by the sea,

with the beauty and peace of this part of the world,

xx

Knee jerk reaction

Apart from making meals and nipping out for some milk, I have just spent today cleaning white paint spots off millions of black floor tiles in the kitchen using a Brillo pad and hot soapy water. As well as that I have cleaned behind (yuck) and under (yuck) the oven which was rolled out of its position for the 'grand clean'. The hob has been dismantled and cleaned to within an inch of its life. I'm a dab hand with cleaning with a toothbrush in all those hard to get corners. 

I am never, ever going to use the deep fat fryer again, nor the oven or the hob. I will not make the bread on the work surface next to the oven so that flour can cascade between the small gap between the two. In fact it might be better if I never ever make bread again or even cook in the kitchen at all then no pans will boil over, no fat will spatter and no crumbs will lodge in crannies and cracks. The cat will have to go as cat hairs stick to fans at the back of ovens. Maybe we should live off takeaways - no that will involve washing up and staining the sink. Perhaps we'll never eat again - that would sort out the problem. Oh, and we should not walk on the kitchen floor lest we leave marks and dirt.

Well that's sorted then. :)

Maybe not - the parquet floor is being sanded tomorrow and guess what that means? Small particles will descend from the heavens on to every available surface.

At least I've got very clean nails and hands.

xx

9 to 5

8.00 - Late start today. It is Sunday after all and today began as each day always begins with breakfast in bed with a slice of toast (no butter, just Marmite) and a grand cup of tea. A discussion of the day ahead and then off we go.

9.00 - Tidying up the kitchen while DH gets on with the greenhouse renovation (big job this). Ingredients are gathered for a second Christmas cake and the bread is started. Today it is granary loaves. While this is going on I'm sweeping the kitchen floor, sorting out the rubbish, wiping down doors and under the sink.

10.00 - I'm washing my hair and cleaning the bathroom sink. Break for DH and he calls upstairs that he's made a cuppa. Tea for him and a hot lemon drink for me while we have a little sit discussing how cold it is outside and how the weather forecast had been correct with a shower this morning just as he was up the ladder. After this I'm here upstairs typing and then I shall finish off the bathroom and write a few more Christmas cards. I've a few things to look up on the computer and then I'm going to clean the brass.

11.00 - The brass has been cleaned, the last of the potatoes dug up from the garden - there were a few more hidden in the soil and the veg has been peeled for the roast later on. I'm going to make some soup with the left over chicken cacciatore, an onion and a stock cube. DH will need something warm when he comes in.

12.00 - It's din dins with the homemade soup and an apple for DH, fresh fruit salad for me while listening to the Sunday Politics. Afterwards I'll put the barbed-wire plant I bought from Lidl last week back into a pot as I've read that it is a tender plant. It will have to go inside over winter as I would hate it to be killed by a frost.

1.00 - I've just prepared all the ingredients ready to make the Christmas cake and am now sorting out my list for next week's shop. I don't need much particularly, just a top up of fruit and a few tins. Another Toblerone might fall into my trolley seeing as it's nearly, no-where near Christmas. I'm going to change my clothes (tut, tut, not got up yet) ready to receive a visitor/friend later on this afternoon. My cake should be smelling good by the time he arrives. The beef roast will go in later to be ready for tea. I've had to look up the constituent spices of mixed spice again as I've still not bought any.

2.00 - Christmas cake is made and now I'm just awaiting our visitor.

3.00 - Visitor has left so back to roast tea preparation. I went into the garden and dug up some leeks for a leek in cheese sauce dish and also picked what are definitely the last of the runner beans. Sauce made,  roasties peeled and beef ready to put in the oven.

4.00 - Break time here for a quick drink and sit reading a magazine before tea which has been scheduled for 5.00. The bread is kneaded again into loaves to rise once more in this next hour. It will go in the oven when the roast comes out.

5.00 - Tea time - roast beef, roast potatoes, leeks in cheese sauce, carrots, runner beans, gravy, horseradish, mustard and mint sauce followed by baked apples with boozy fruit (left over from the Christmas cake). We're full now.

4 diddy cakes and 2 medium

Granary bread this week

This evening is a bath and relax on the computer with a final hour of viewing the TV. Sunday done and dusted.

Alright, it was 8 to 5 not 9 to 5. Not to worry. Hope you had a wonderful day.

xx

Nine to Five

Today I -

tidied up the kitchen
As always each morning I make sure the dishwasher is loaded or emptied, tidy away the supper things and wipe down all work surfaces.

swept the kitchen floor

I do this each morning too as it is a black, tiled floor and shows every mark. About every other day I mop the floor on my hands and knees. It's a good work out.

helped saw and plane some wood for the greenhouse

It's a big job and some of the timbers are quite long and DH needs help feeding them through the circular saw or planer.

did some mending

The hem on one of my long dresses was down and had to be re-done plus there was a tear to mend. I've been putting it off for ages and have finally got round to doing it.

found the last, very, very large courgette in the garden

It's the very, very last large one but I also found a smaller one. The plants have now gone into the council recycling compost bin.

sorted out some presents for Christmas

I'm getting jittery and want to match presents with people. Some have to be sent abroad so the sooner I decide what everyone is having the better.

made some tomato and courgette soup

I had to, didn't I! The very, very large courgette is now blitzed. I also froze 2 tubs of cubed courgette for future use. The soup should last us for a while and I'm pondering over whether to make it a 'keep on going' soup by mixing in more leftovers and reinventing it a few more times.

watched a history video and one on crocheting a cat bed

Must keep the brain active and the cat bed will use up some of my stash.

crocheted a little

This was the base of the cat bed which is being crocheted with a 9mm hook and 5 lots of yarn.

whizzed up the soup

We at the soup for lunch while listening and watching the Sunday politics until we could stand it no longer and switched it off in disgust at the antics of politicians in general.

tidied up the kitchen
Again!

brewed up
This little phrase could be added in between all the others. Must keep hydrated!

helped saw some wood
I did it wrong this time so was banished to the garden. Actually I wasn't banished - just thought it better I leave the garage.

weeded half of the vegetable plot
The garden only has runner beans, parsnips and leeks left at one end. There may be some more potatoes hidden which I will dig up later this week.

hooked a bit of rug and supervised the cat in the garden
The cat wanted a walk so I watched her from the warmth of the garden room. She came back in to sit with me. I'll re-phrase that -
She came back in to sit on the rug so I could only work at it from one position. I can't disturb puss-cat, can I!

polished the brass on the front door
I hope my bloggy friend is still polishing with me! It shouldn't be such hard work doing it every week. It only takes 5 minutes or so if I keep on top of it.

brewed up
I remembered to put it in here. All is forgiven on the woodworking front.

sat with DH with sherry and beer
I had the sherry, he had the beer as he had need of it by late afternoon after sawing, planing, painting, dunking in preservative and climbing up and down the scaffold.

prepared tea
which was yesterday's spicy, hot chicken casserole and leftover rice for one of us, baked potato for the other.

post 5pm
I'm currently on the computer and nursing the cat after a lovely hot bubble bath.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable and productive day.

xx

Today I shall be mostly ...

enjoying.

The sun is shining.

xx

Now it's nearly 7 in the evening and I'm reporting back to say that so far I've enjoyed every minute - weeding the garden, pruning the fruit cordons, sweeping the path, picking tomatoes and grapes, eating the garden for dinner, dancing at the Tower, walking along the promenade, talking with friends, eating the garden again for tea, receiving a parcel in the post, discussing with DH, having a bath and now just chilling at the computer with crochet by my side (as well as the cat!) and novel tempting me, before watching TV, sitting with the cat and more crocheting. Happiness today for me but unfortunately not for everyone.

Made it

Filofax entry on the task list for the month of May:

Paint fences

Phew, I've made it. I kept writing in 'Paint fences' in the daily slots and finally, finally I've finished all of them. No more until next year. While painting these last few I've had a lot of practice at squats whilst dipping my brush in the paint bucket on the ground and reaching up to paint the top of the fences. It's a good job no-one was watching me.

Low down I was on my hunkers, peasant style squatting.

I also painted myself, while I was at it!

xx

Daily Routine

Each day - 

* do at least one good deed

*learn something new

*be grateful for something

*think of someone

* remember your manners

At the end of the day - 

*pose any problem you may have and ask your subconscious to solve it overnight

I think I've managed to tick off most of these today.

xx

Out exploring

Three new bus routes down our street means three new adventures travelling the routes. The first bus that turned up was going to St. Anne's via a circuitous route so I hopped on and found a very chatty driver who made part of the journey very entertaining until the next driver took over. The journey was not overly long and I spent the next couple of hours having a good old wander around.

First a trip down to say hello to the sea. It's out there somewhere and occasionally wanders in to surprise the residents.

I did a 'look up' tour around the main street ...

and had a bite to eat with DD as she works quite near. To finish off lunch I succumbed to sweeties and sat in the sunshine just people watching.

Wonderful weather, pleasant seating areas,

and bright street furniture.

Lunch time was spent feeding ourselves plus a few visitors.

I had to feed him as he'd just dive-bombed my sandwich!

He was treated to the last morsel.

xx