Ten things about me

Posted by louisa on Friday 17 June 2011 in meta | 1 comment

Woohoo! Jo from The Good Life has given me the Kreativ Blogger Award – which she received from Bluebell at At Home in the Country.

Apparently I’m supposed to tell you ten things about myself – it means this blog is a bit long and self-indulgent though so feel free to skip ;)

In case everyone does want to skip the following waffle, I’ll pass the award on now – I’ll pass it onto Rachel from Growing Things and Making Things, Alexis from the Hour of Scampering, and over in the US, Kate from Living the Frugal Life (who I need to email – sorry for the delay Kate!).

Ten Things About Me

1. I don’t like any fruit
At all. At least not in its raw state, as juice or as a pudding when it’s still identifiable as fruit. I think I had a bad experience with a horrible fruity pudding when I was four and now anything fruity makes me gip (I like the smell of some fruit but can’t stand the taste of it). It’s an annoying trait because it does limit what I can consume from growing my own/foraging – I grow/forage fruit for (my boyfriend) John to eat or to turn into jam/fruity chutneys (which I do like).

A few quick links to elsewhere

Posted by louisa on Wednesday 8 June 2011 in meta | 0 comments

Having a busy (and rainy) day today so no time for a proper post but just time for some links that might interest you a little self-promotion ;)

• After the brief discussion about composting teabags the other week, I did a bit of research about which brands/types contain synthetic fibres (polypropylene) and posted the results on Recycle This. In brief, stapled gusset ones are polypropylene-free but you might have to remove the staple/string. All the rest are heat-sealed and contain polypropylene – the teabags should break down and the synthetic fibres “disappear” into your compost, but it’s up to you whether you want it in there.
• I’ve very much enjoyed Rachel‘s recent tours of her village and garden, and planned to do my own of the awesome woods behind our house (and maybe beyond). But I forgot to take my camera when we’ve gone on long walks around the woods recently and since Lily sprained a leg last week, our recent walks have been shorter. On Friday, we just walked the “lower loop” as we call it, through the horses’ field. I did take pictures of that though so stage 1 of my tour: John & Lily in the horses’ field.
• And those who enjoyed the book pictures a few weeks ago may like my Venn Diagrams of my favourite books.

Mini goals for June

Posted by louisa on Friday 3 June 2011 in goals | 7 comments

Frugal/money

1. Transfer Cash ISA to new provider
Been meaning to do this for a little while. I love my current bank’s ethical policy but their interest rate is appalling. I’m going to try to find somewhere still reasonably hippy-friendly but a little more generous.

2. Transfer to new energy company
Our cheap offer tariff has come to an end so we’re being shifted onto standard – time to move! I’ve used a comparison site and every single option will cost us more – so I’m going to explore cashback options to offset the hike.

House

3. “Clean slate” tidy the bedroom
The bedroom has been an utter tip – even by my generally untidy standards – since we started refitting the bathroom in February. We still don’t have any cupboard space in the bathroom yet so all the things that usually live in there are strewn throughout the bedroom, on the landing and in the spare room. The bedroom stuff is the worst – not only is it cluttering it up, it’s stopping other stuff going where it should go and encouraging further clutter. The cupboards *should* be built in the next few days so once all that’s out, I think the bedroom needs some love.

4. Finish painting the bathroom
Like Laura, we keep putting this off – but when the cupboards are in, we’ll really have no excuse not to finish it all off! Once it’s painted, we can “finish” it off completely – refit the radiator, seal everywhere, put up mirrors/artwork — can’t wait!

Growing, eating, making and chickening

5. Fill all my planters with soil – and plants!
I’ve got a lot of empty planters at the moment – waiting until stuff is ready to be planted out. But frankly, if it doesn’t happen in June, it’s not going to happen. I think there will be more than enough plants to go around – but if there are any empties, more quick salad leaves are always useful.

6. Learn how to poach an egg
I have never done this successfully. I would like to be able to do this successfully. If only I had a steady supply of really fresh eggs… oh wait!

Have you got any mini goals for this month? Do you have a foolproof poached egg method? ;)

May – end of month review

Posted by louisa on Thursday 2 June 2011 in goals, meta | 5 comments

Another month that seems to have lasted ages but in a good way. Lots of long weekends too – but enough stuff going on to fill them with. I meant to write this post yesterday but was in the garden ’til past 10pm — so much to do!

Goals in 2011 progress

Things are still progressing in the garden – but slower than I thought in some areas. I only had my first fully homegrown salad last week – compared to regular salad from the garden in April last year. (I’m saying “fully homegrown” because we got two tubs of living salad from Lidl at the end of April and have cut-and-come-again from them several times – really been good value for money but not the same as growing from seed.) I’ve successfully taken cuttings from two perennial herbs too, so that’s another step – and I realised I should make that goal more measurable by coming up with a list of applicable plants/shrubs.

We’ve baked a good few times so are probably almost on track for the “once a week” goal, I’ve been making more stuff from wood so again improving those skills, and we went on a “learn to fly-fish” course while we were in the Lakes the weekend before last, which obviously isn’t the same as fishing in the North Sea but again, steps in the right direction. I like the idea of trying out the various different styles of fishing – see which one suits us/me best.

Not great goal progress but not bad :)

Mini goals

I set myself a few mini-goals this month – just a to-do list for myself really. Out of the five goals, I managed to complete one of them (pressure cleaning the coop) and half do two others (spent a lot of time looking at phone options and have decided I have to go see some in the flesh now; and, also I’ve sorted through nearly all of our kitchen cupboards). The other two things have been, um, forgotten. Will have to add them to my next to-do list…

Buy less than 12 items of clothing in 2011

I actually bought something this month! I bought three second-hand but BNWT bras on eBay – they are pretty but the focus is on functional, and they’re all replacements: I ripped one bra at the start of the month (not sure how), which spurred on my purchases, but earlier in the year had mentally retired two others because they were old and uncomfortable — so they’re on my exemption list.

Perhaps that purchase sated my previous “want new clothes” desires as I haven’t really been bothered about looking/thinking about buying anything else. Still no new clothes for six months now!

In my life

Posted by louisa on Thursday 26 May 2011 in meta | 1 comment

I’m not really one for memes but I do like these quick summary ones that Debbie does:

Outside my window the sky has been mostly grey but lower down, the vista is green, green, green.

I am thinking about what our younger drama group would enjoy doing for their summer showcase this year: something to challenge & stretch them as well as be fun. I’ve been looking for scripts and feeling half-inspired to write something myself (but not for performance this year – too short of a time frame!).

I am thankful for the rain – and John’s help getting the washing in when the showers started.

From the kitchen pate on toast for lunch, pasta with tuna & tons of veg for dinner. Surprisingly few snacks!

I am wearing my big green hoodie. Not flattering but warm and comfy.

I am creating some 3D room designs and working on some ideas for artwork for our soon-to-be new utility room. (We’re finally converting the coal hole we found last year – expensive but it should be very much worth it.)

I am going to bed very shortly as it’s nearly 11pm and

I am reading Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld – one of my favourite books. In a parallel universe, I am American and went to boarding school – and Sittenfeld stole my diary. Such attention to detail and wonderfully drawn characters.

I am hoping that I can write something half as good as that one day.

I am hearing the builders singing along to the radio and making jokes. (Well, that’s what I was hearing for most of the day, right now I’m hearing a cat meowing to get my attention.)

Around the house there is a lot of dust!

One of my favourite things an almost-dusk walk around the woods with Lily-dog. We met some ducks, the chocolate lab with the white splodge on his nose and a very excitable cocker spaniel. Two horses – one white, one brown – were in the field, contrasting to the yellow-speckled green blanket underfoot.

A few plans for the rest of the week I want to try to get into the garden to build something tomorrow and also pot on/plant out some more plants. I’d like to go to the Saltaire Arts Trail over the weekend if possible but I’m also aware that we have work to do here and at the house we’re finally (hopefully) selling. I would like curry to feature at some point in the forthcoming long weekend too. Mmm curry.

What’s going on in your life?

May’s mini goals

Posted by louisa on Friday 6 May 2011 in meta | 4 comments

I’ve noticed a few fantastic bloggers set themselves mini monthly goals in addition to their bigger year/multi-year ones and for the first time, I’ve got some tiny frugal/simple living goals I’d like to do too in addition to my 2011 ones. This is more of a to-do list for me than for anyone else really but advice/tips are always gratefully received :)

1. Clean & replace the sealant on the office windows & door. And check the opening window and door’s insulation is fine while I’m at it.

2. Pressure clean the chicken coop inside and out. Something I’ve been meaning to do for a while to get rid of the green-ness and other grime.

3. Sort through the kitchen cupboards. Been meaning to do this for a while but Shoestring Alley’s recent experience of doing it has spurred me on. I’m going to use my findings to influence near-future meal plans and a possible an “eat only from the pantry/garden” week next month.

4. Buy/find and fit a long (retractable) washing line. I’ve got one of those rotating ones which is great and I will continue to use most of the time, but a long straight line would be better for big bedding. I think I have some line somewhere from putting up our little line in the old house so will use that if I can find it. I’d like it to be retractable (either by design or manually wound around a hook) if possible too.

5. Get a better mobile phone deal My contract is up next month – it’s pretty cheap and is a decent deal already but I think I can get a better one. It’ll also be a chance to stretch out of my comfort zone by having to barter/negotiate with someone — I hate doing that.

Have you got any mini goals for this month?