Chester

 We have been to visit Chester for a few days, I have been before way back in 90's, it was every bit lovely as I remembered. This view from a tiny porthole in a cafe on the wall near the main bridge, with the clock tower. 

The centre is exactly as I remembered the twin level shops and all the difference styles of architecture on the many different buildings, there was a lot of fake Tudor, but it did all look good together. We loved the different music sung by buskers through the day here at the centre, and with the great weather it all added to a fantastic atmosphere. 

We walked the walls every day, Tuesday evening we did just the once round, Wednesday and Thursday we spent each day up on the wall and down exploring everywhere else. So much to see along the river, a huge park, lots regarding the Romans, and so many beautiful arches.

Our hotel was inside the walls, so the car was parked the whole time, and we walked as you can see from my steps. On the drive home yesterday my knees and feet were so pleased to be resting.

Having 3 nights away was enough, we saw every thing we wanted, we learnt so much about the area, we sat and listened to lovely music, ate some lovely meals. We did not do any shopping, nothing required, the only shop we entered was M&S, for some sandwiches one afternoon.   

The weather was perfect, shorts and summer tops, sandals were worn, we did spend a couple hours every afternoon reading, allowing us to be rested for an evening outing.

The drive each way was 5 hours, we always make a couple of stops, but choosing midweek traveling helps as we avoid the weekend rush. Friday was busier coming home, but we left early as the main route south A34 is always busy on hot summer Fridays. We did pass a huge lorry fire on the opposite side of the duel carriage,  it looked very scary as the flames and black smoke poured from the lorry, we could feel the heat on our side if the road.

It's always brilliant to come home, our cats were well looked after, a neighbour and her children come in every day, we are so lucky to be able to go away without worry. The garden survived, a few pots were dryish, no plants were lost, I gave everywhere a good soak. Most of these photos were on my Instagram page, which is private, so I can add photos,  here it's open, so always best to post after we arrive home. I've not been able to comment on many post, using my phone when away has been a bit hit and miss.

Crafting

I have not done anything much on this cross stitch project, I did finish the plain colour in the top box, I find the plain colours hard, they show every mistake so I'm being careful not to twist, or pull to tight or too loose. I'm just glad I got it done, I have not brought it with me to daughters house, cross stitch and young ones don't mix.

I did bring my socks, I have finished the first sock, and in truth they won't be a favourite pair. I can't decide if I should give them away, I will make my decision once the pair is completed. I have used this brand before, it does wash well.

I love the shades, but I don't like the mixture with big and thin stripes, I wish it was just one or the other. The heels are knitted on a contrast yarn.

My steps are at the highest they have been for ages doing the school run is good for me, over 10 thousand each week day, weekend we did very little, I still want my daughter to rest. I will have to find a plan to stay walking, sadly Will's school is not close to our home, it would have been lovely to keep doing the drop off and pick up.

I'm on my second week of nana duties, my daughter is healing well, she is amazing, her 3 children are lovely, they all understand mummy can't do things and to ask nana. I forgot how much energy is needed for the school run every day, luckily I don't need to take the younger two with me every day, they happily play at home with mummy. Having 1 to 1 time with Will is fun, he is so interesting. I can rest once I'm back home, I am just happy to be able to help, daddy returns early next week, and can do all the school and nursery runs. Hubby has promised restful days with nothing to do. My brother Martin visited for a long weekend, he stayed at ours with hubby, they both had far too much fun without me, I love they get on so well together.

I'm feeling much better, I still have the dregs of a cough and cold and my voice is still not fully recovered, or maybe the younger ones have given me new bugs. I do have to book another blood test, I went to mine and after 3 attempts the nurse at our surgery did not take any blood, she does not fill me with confidence,  she struggled  last time I saw her, she also insisted I have a dressing on my hand, I'm allergic to the adhesive on plasters, but she insisted,  I removed it as soon as I left the room. I don't want to travel to our local hospital for a blood test, but if I see the same nurse again, I might have to ask to avoid her. It's not totally her, after my chemo treatment in 2010, my viens are tough and often moves, so it's never easy to get my blood. Our lovely nurse retired earlier this year, she was very experienced and always got what we needed, luckily I'm not bothered by needles.

Apparently its sober October, already failed had a glass of Presecco on Saturday 1st, Oh well. Our DIL ran the London marathon last Sunday, she finished in under 5 hours, we are immensely proud of her, it's a tough challenge.

August, where did that month go

Good low spending month was the comment I was going to have here, then I remembered to add the yarn purchase, opps not such a low spend. 

 I'm not sure if this is brave or stupid, below is the monthly totals for the last few years. 

Each year I was improving, until I finished work, more time for crafting at more cost, but I do get huge enjoyment from my crafts, and soon I should have an income form the bags I am making.  

I have added a tab at the top of my blog 'Made for selling', plus I have had some local interest.

My steps have dropped to such a poor level, I have stopped my early morning walk, for reasons I won't go into, so weight has not improved, but I have not put any extra pounds on.
Our plastic waste is still dropping, both hubby and I are always looking for a green solution, hubby has stopped buying bread and he is again making our own, another plastic wrapper stopped entering our home. We purchased some stretch plastic lids to replace stretch and seal, these are working so well, I'm looking to get more, they are plastic, but are reusable. It's little steps but they are working for us,  I have a couple more improvements, but I add them bit at a time, poor hubby gives me some strange looks every now and then.
Our water saving is OK, we are not big on this, but we have sorted more water storage in the garden, the hope is to eliminate the use of mains water for the garden. I have changes planned for my greenhouse, which will embrace low water use.

June summery

Much cheaper month

If I had not been naughty with wool my spending would be under £100, but Will has a new cot blanket and I can knit loads of socks.
I lost weight in June, but not to the level I wanted, the month started well, but 5 days away and last weekend, saw a few pounds go back on.
Steps I averaged over 9,000 steps per day, I only had three days where I did not reach the target of 8,000 and loads of day's over 10,000 steps.

I started another book, I am loving time to read, I do like to loose myself in a gripping story line. Not done any crafting, sorry but I’m too hot, there I said it.

May done

Opps, 

My spending is going up, I did say this year I would not make any savings, but so far on my garden I have doubled my normal spend, I have not purchased any wasteful stuff, it's all things helping me make the garden better. I have purchased loads of compost and manure, the soil has needed replenishment, and I have bark to go on top of the beds. The issues with the rats is still costing us money, we have three bait boxes on the go, our neighbours further down the street are also setting out poison, the cost on my list was replacing the plants they dug out. Plus a day out last weekend with my sister is always expensive.
It's been another month where I have not purchased any clothes, I am ignoring any sales and offers, and confident I can go a year without a huge spend on clothes.
My steps have been good again this month, I am pleased, still looking for the 10,000 steps each day, but happy with the progress.
I have missed my weight target for this month by 5lbs, with two bank holidays, a Royal Wedding and a trip home, maybe I was aiming a bit high. no problems I have the same target for the end of June. I am still happy to be wearing clothes which were too tight last year.
So for me May was mixed, but overall I am happy with all of the above. The only thing I am behind is my crafting, but this time of year is all about our garden. I really must get back to knitting my first pair of socks, but it's hard to think of warm things this time of year.

March roundup

I spent more than I intended, 

I had no plans to purchase yarn or fabrics,

 and again gardening was higher.

Hubby was sent a discount for an online order from Sainsbugs, we decided to use it, we did not require a huge shop and knew it would not come to the required £80, but we checked their red wine prices and found a liked brand on special offer, plus if you purchased 6 bottles they gave you 25% off. So our £85.10 was reduced by £8.63 and another £12, giving us savings of over £20. Loads of the other items were also on offer. We are stocked up on red wine for the next few months.

We have done loads of shopping this week, I was in Asda with our daughter and got a huge piece of beef on special, hubby cut the joint in 2 and froze both bits. We also popped to the local Aldi, a new store which opened really close to our house, we went for a leg of lamb for Sunday lunch, but also got pork and gammon, both a great prices. Our freezer in the garage is now full of meat, we won't require a shop for weeks. We also got a great step for the camper van on special at £9.99, it will help me this summer as the step to the van is high and it can be used as a small table.
My steps are lower than I hoped at 6236 average per day this month, but with bugs at the start and last week, plus the terrible weather, it's not a bad figure, could have been much lower. I am feeling much better, and I've started on my smaller portions, hoping to keep the weight lost from the tummy bug.
I had two comments on my post to pass the book Jo sent me on, both names were put in the hat, and Linda from Linda's Looking in New Direction was picked, perfect timing as Linda has just finished her job. Linda can you please email me your address, early next week I will pop it into the post to you.

Growing

It's growing

 Neat edges, with ends worked in as I go along

 50cm or 20 " long

 New blooms forming 

 Plus an Orchid, these I love 

I have rested my back loads, with plenty of time to crochet my ripple blanket, I am enjoying the pale colours, it's now 50cm long, so it really does feel like a blanket. It is wider than I expected, I have always knitted loose and so my crochet is the same. The design is simple and I am now not requiring to check notes, I just sit and hook, I even do it whilst watching TV. Still not decided what to use it for, I have done 4 rounds of each colour, and have enough to do another round before I use up my 1st ball of each colour, I have 2 balls of each colour left. I am thinking of a cot blanket, in which case I can make another granny square blanket in matching colours. I think if I use the pale colours for myself I am always going to be worried it will get dirty.
I watched The Miniaturist on BBC this week, I recorded in December, I did enjoy watching, but felt the second episode was not as good, the first built up tensions.
I have added all my steps for January, divided by 31 (days in the month) and have an average daily figure of 6,658 steps, I am pleased, the first week in January I did hardly any steps, so this is higher than I expected.
We are having a cold sunny morning, so it's a day at home, Will is coming over soon for the afternoon, hubby is home to help with him, I am avoiding picking him up, I can hold him OK.

January summery.

New year new start

I have no plans to save money, this is the 4th year I am keeping this list. Each year so far I have spent less than the year before, but last year I hardly purchased any cross stitch items. 

 This might be interesting

I do  not have a budget for any of these things, but I thought I would like to see how much I do spend on myself, I am hoping to keep it low, I have loads of clothes and shoes so it's not my plan to purchase much this year. The books purchased were both note books. Household is stuff I buy because I want the item, nothing personal, just things for around our home.

I have not told hubby about the second list, it's just for me, he's not interested in my blog, so won't read this. We do not used budgets, we have a the same amount each month after the bill money is set aside, we do not overspend on our income, and we try and save a small amount each month. This works for us and allows us to purchase items when on special, avoiding paying full price and loads of items. Our spending went crazy as hubby required a new tire for his motorbike (expensive) and my car had two new tire's ready for it's upcoming MOT, the motorbike cost were unexpected, but you can't put a price on safety.

Little ticks, went well for me last month, my steps are up, we did not use our bikes as much as we wanted, but that was due to the many days of rain we had and problems with my back. In February we are again looking at portion sizes, they have crept up again, I am terrible and won't leave food on my plate, so hubby is now calling me to serve my own meals. I wanted to do more but sense tells me to rest my back.
I did spring clean the downstairs rooms, which is a great job once done. Later in February I want to do our bedroom and bathroom, I am going to try once more to clean the shower tiles. They were bad when we moved in and I have scrubbed them often, this time we are going to try and replace the grout and the silicon seals, it could save us a lot of money.

We have been doing really well on plastics, we have focused on one use plastics, to be honest we have eliminated loads. We still have plastic items in our home, I can't see the point to replace containers, we will use them for years to come,  but anything new required will not be plastic. I saw on Pam's blog she has made cotton bread bags, good idea, I have cotton in my stash. We are trying to reduce our use of plastic bags and cling film, hubby loves both.
This post whilst not exciting, is my part of my record for this year, I will post on the above topics end of each month.

Yellow, Red and White

Lots of colour in our sitting room

 Love this vibrant red

 Still busy with my hook, 

Nothing much is happening here, it rained all day yesterday and again this morning it's grey and still raining. With all the different bad weather around the country I should not moan, but cold wet rain, it's horrible.
I'm really please with my inside bulbs they are cheering up all dullness of this time of year.
Saturday hubby wanted to go to the shops,
Dunelm, we need new quilt covers and I have to use 100% cotton, we looked and passed on everything in their sale. I will wait until I get a 25% off M&S, I have seen lovely white duvet set.
Halfords, he got the stand for his bike, and a couple of light sets.
Homebargains, just got the tissues, scourers and a pack of teabags (on offer)
B&Q, this is a dangerous shop for us both, had a wonder around, got the new floor strip which is what we went in for, nothing else. 
We went to our friends 50th anniversary do, we did not know many people and did not stay too late, we did enjoy the music played, it was 50's, 60's and 70's.
Sunday we spent time with Will, it was nice to be at his house with his toys. Mummy was on a boot camp weekend and daddy had a problem with work, he was working from his home office, so we kept Will happy. I have almost finished his blanket.
I have checked my steps for last week, I did a total of 56264, 8037 steps per day, I'm getting there, lost a couple of pounds as well, so not everything is bad here. 

Click click

I love these colours

 This is almost there

 It's just so pretty, I used up all the yarn, but still felt the blanket was a bit small, so I ordered another two balls, I have just one more set of three rows of random to add plus the final navy row. This was never going to be huge, I want to have it for Will to use in the garden this summer. 

 Will's blanket, using Drops 4 ply

 Lovely colours, neat rows

 Whilst waiting for the extra yarn to arrive ( it came again next day delivery) I started this blanket, just placing the colours in a typical design, the yarn feels lovely, this is going to be cot blanket.

Amaryllis is opening, because this was not in a box, 

I have no idea what the flower will look like. 

We had a wonderful evening on Saturday, it was more of a wine and Cheese party, as most of us had loads of cheese left over. For me it was a joy, hubby is allergic to cheese and can not eat any types,  I love cheese, but I only ever get one type at a time, so to have a mixture was pure pleasure, there were Pate's for hubby. We left just after 11pm, and walked around the block, it was a cold clear night, and was fun to be in our park in the dark.
Last week I did a total of 46,213 steps, which averaged to 6,601 steps per day, much better than before, but still some way to go, but as I said before this is about small targets, I am happy with the progress.
Yesterday I spent with daughter and Will, we popped to Southampton and then on to our local out of town, Whitley, where we had lunch at M&S. I purchased a note book and a couple things for Will's first birthday party, daughter drove, so a cheap day for me.
This morning is sign language, we have lunch together, so I will be back home early afternoon, in time for a lovely walk.
Tomorrow, I have to be home all day, we have a couple of things being delivered, so I plan to do the kitchen, I want to clean the top of the cupboards, this is the first kitchen where our cupboards do not go to the ceiling, a planning error on our part. It's been a while, so I am expecting a messy job, one of those jobs when you are happy when it's done.
On a final note, we spent the last of our points on our Co-op card on Monday, so the next shopping we need will cost us money. We are still only buying bread, milk, fruit and veg. 

Valencia

Train station and bullring

Cathedral from the back

Love this tree

City indoor market

We love these fruits. 

Lunch

Cakes

I love this city, it is busy, clean and so welcoming, we traveled by train to the city center, and had a perfect day just wondering around. The buildings are all very old, but well looked after.
We have many times visited the food market and always love the smells, colours of the stalls, the variety of things for sell on each stall was huge,  and all looks so fresh. Lunch had to be Paella, afternoon coffee had to have cakes, plus sitting in the sun people watching with a beer (hubby) and red wine for me. With the amount of walking we did averaging over 12,000 steps per day, we did not watch our diet at all.
We did not do much shopping, it was tempting as the prices in Spain are cheaper than here, we did bring back Spanish sweets and chocolate. They are not in Christmas mode as we are in UK, we were told they start closer to December, we only saw a few shops decorated, and we saw very few Christmas decorations for sale. I did buy some  sewing items, mainly because they are different from anything here in UK.
I read three books on my iPad, Sue Grafton books, I is for Innocent, J is for Judgement, K is for Killer.
We are now getting used to the cold again, every where feels so grey, I have lit my candles most evenings. I am happy to be getting up each morning at 8am, missing the worst of the early mornings.
Monday I went shopping with Su and Will, just a few stocking fillers, and a nice lunch.
The wonderful hello we got from Will was brilliant, he was so pleased to see us.
Yesterday I went for a walk around our local park, and later I had Will over, so mummy could do some jobs. We had a fun day inside, watching the birds in our garden and playing.
Today I had a friend here, we walked to Portchester castle, the tide was in so the water was flat calm, later we had home made carrot and coriander soup. A perfect day, but still I am totally tired,

Small starts

The seeds/plants on my desk are all doing well.

The Kiwi and Pomegranate both will be potted up

I have a plumb stone to try next 

My tiny spider plant I got last year has loads of babies

I will pot up some of these 

 The Bones of You was a fantastic read, I honestly could not put the book down

Missing Presumed was good. 

 Our Magnolia tree is in it's second full bloom of the year

 The whole back garden is pleasing to look at. 

I have done so very little since my last post, Saturday I did clean the house, but as we are outside or reading the place does not get very messy. I think the heat is slowing me down, I would rather sit and read, it's cooler.
We did enjoy the tennis, the Ladies final was a good match, I really felt for Cilic, who never really settled into the Gentleman's final, I was hoping for a really long and interesting game.
Other than tennis I have not watched much TV, I was pleased to see Jodie Whittaker as the new doctor, in Doctor Who she is a fantastic actress, I will start watching it again, I never found Peter Capaldi a likable doctor. I have loved Doctor Who all my life.
I have not done any cross stitch for ages, I am hoping in August I find being home will give me more craft time.
We did pop to M&S, for some undies on Sunday, we both decided we had arequirement, plus Next had a huge sale, so I got a couple of nice tops for my holiday in September.

My steps last week were lower, 84,522 for the week, averaging 12074 each day.

Another week.

I cut these from Win's garden, her nephew asked me to help myself

It's so sad to see her garden faded, but the roses and a few shrubs are blooming. 

 I finished the camper van cushions, the pattern matched along each cushion,

I was really pleased with the result 

and was given lovely roses, lillies and a bottle of bubbly.

These roses smell divine. 

 We did alot of this over our stay at home weekend

 Will who had his 1st sleep over at our's did alot of this

He was an angel, smiled most of the time

 and slept from 9.30pm until 7am Saturday night. 

To Close to Home was about a marriage breakdown and at the same time the daughter being bullied at school, I have not read a book dealing with bullying, it was interesting and really sad. 

Just started The Goodbye Gift 

I have been suffering with the heat, I spend most of the day and evening inside. I have done little in the garden except water, our poor flower pots can't hold enough water for them to stay looking good.
I have done a couple of small sewing jobs, just helping friends clothes fit a bit better, nothing too hard work, in fact most of it was hand sewing.
Just 3 weeks left to work, 14 days now, today went really quick, my replacement started today, so I'm happy to know she will be able to learn a simple role before I leave. Everyone has been told they will have role changes, my role is not one you would give to a new person, the retail customer I cover has a huge spend and expects a special service. I have already handed over part of my second role, so my work load has dropped.
No plans again this week, we are enjoying being lazy, which in this heat is an easy task, and hoping for the promised thunder storm.
Did not lose any weight last week, our weekend was rich and full of glasses of bubbly with BBQ's.

Last week I did 89,360 steps, an average of 12,765 per day, best week so far.