Back To School/Back to Normal/Back to the Allotment

Today, Little Bird went back to school.  It was with mixed feelings that I dropped her off at the school gate in her new uniform.  It's the first time she's had to wear a uniform, so was a pretty big moment for her.  She looked older somehow.  I made sure I got a photo of her, looking very smart, before she headed off to school.

My feelings were mixed in that although I was sad to see her go back to school, as I do like having her around everyday in the holidays, I also relished getting back to having some time to do my own thing and not worrying about whether she was bored or not or wanted to go where I needed to go for whatever reason.  I'm sure that many parents feel exactly the same way at this time of the year.

To be honest, this summer seems to have gone by quicker than any in the past, save for the year we spent 3 weeks in Australia visiting my sister and her family.  I think the good weather has probably helped too.

Anyway, my first morning of freedom was spent in a leisurely fashion devising a couple more blog posts about our recent holiday in the US.  It was nice to take some time to remember it and look through the photos.  It seems so long ago now, even though it's only a couple of weeks.

The afternoon was reserved for another visit to the allotment.  I wanted to spend a bit of time tidying up a bit more and transplanting some of the lettuce plants.  It kept me away from the shops and spending money though, which is all good.

In the end I didn't transplant the lettuce as it was scorching hot and I was worried I might actually kill them by transplanting them on such a hot day so instead I concentrated on weeding the plot and cutting back the overgrown edges of the plot.  It looked a lot better by the time I'd finished and I remembered to take some photos this visit.

As you can see from the photo there's  a big gap in the middle of the plot where I'm going to transplant the lettuce and kale when the weather cools down.  The sweet peas to the left in the photo above are growing well now.  I managed to wind them around the wigwam as they had all been in a heap on the ground.  As you can see the lettuce are looking quite good.  I transplanted these from a living salad from the supermarket and it worked really well.  I might do it again sometime as you get quite a lot of lettuce from one box.  I got the idea from A New Life in the Country blog.

There's quite a few tomatoes yet to ripen (still not tied up properly), and small cucumbers to harvest in a week or so.  There's a few cobs of corn growing well too.

 

 

There were just a few tomatoes to harvest, a few carrots and beans too.

 

I was secretly pleased the following day when the there was a bit of rain, as it meant that everything would get a good water.

 

 

Holiday Post Part 3 - Following the Colorado River, Crossing the Desert and Palm Springs, Ca - My Favourite Day

As you may have noticed by now, I am posting about our holiday in the US once a week over the next few weeks.   I hope you find it interesting. 

Although I enjoyed every day we spent in our campervan, the second day of our road trip was probably my absolute favourite and summed up for me what I enjoyed most about our holiday in the US.  After starting our day by the lake and in the pool at Lake Havasu, we got back in the van and continued down the Colorado River, which was wonderfully picturesque as it wove it's way down the border between Arizona and California.  Part way down we cut across the California desert and headed down to Palm Springs in California.

We enjoyed this particulary drive, especially for the scenery.  I was surprised at the amount of shrubs that grew in the desert.  I had imagined just sand and not much else, but this was not actually the case. It was beautiful and remote and deserted though, which I did expect.  There were hardly any dwellings there at all, that were visible to the eye from the road.  We came by the odd gas station or shop, but otherwise it was just desert, dust storms, road, sky, mountains and country music on the radio.

 

 

If you look closely at this photo you can see the dust storms just below the mountains, that swept across the desert landscape.  I even saw road signs in some places to warn of where they cross the roads.  They looked like mini tornadoes and you couldn't help wondering what it would be like if they hit the van as you passed by.  It was the simple natural things like this that we found most interesting about our road trip.

The country music playing on the radio was a perfect background to this beautiful landscape and I must admit that I do have a secret love of this type of music, passed on to me by my father who played it often when I was growing up.   I had watched and enjoyed a couple of episodes of the series Nashville on the plane over, which had rekindled this love and put me in the mood for listening to it again.  Travelling along those desert roads with wide open space before and behind you, and the big expanse of sky above, I can start to understand where the music comes from.  It was my idea of bliss. 

I must admit in the back of our minds we were thinking 'I hope we don't break down out here' as waiting around in the searing heat for a breakdown van might have been a struggle, but fortunately Skylark took good care of us and gradually we started to drive out of the remote desert into areas that were slightly more populated with palm tree farms and other residences.

We stopped off at this store on the edge of the desert

 

 

and after 2 or 3 hours of desert driving it was good to get out of the van and treat ourselves to an ice cold drink and some lunch at a table outside, with a hot desert wind blowing all around us. OH treated himself to some beef jerky which was sweet and tasted of slow cooked beef stew.  It was very tasty.

 

Once we'd eaten, we headed off on our way to Palm Springs, California where we intended to stay for the night and on driving into town we were greeted by this amazing sight of a huge wind farm, bigger than anything we'd seen before.  It was good to see that they were harnessing the earth's natural resources in such an ecologically friendly way and on such a huge scale too.

 

 

We arrived in Palm Springs a little too late to catch the tourist office and had a stressful hour trying to figure out where we could find a campsite.  OH's phone couldn't make calls in the US and Little Bird's phone couldn't surf the internet and was almost out of charge.  In the end we parked up and utilised the Wifi in the Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf Café using OH's phone and found out about the Happy Traveller campsite which was just a couple of miles down the road and happy it was too.

 

We were greeted by a lovely friendly lady who booked us in.  She told us how they had had wild fires in the area a few weeks before and had woken up to a couple of inches of ash covering everywhere.  There was no sign of ash on our visit though.  The site was lovely.  We parked up and made some dinner, before once again settling down for the night.  We were too tired to walk into town, but had already stopped in the town for a coffee whilst trying to find the campsite, so we weren't too disappointed.  It was full of lots of lovely cafes, bars, restaurants and shops, so is well worth a visit.

 

Here's a photo of our van parked, with the mountains in the background.  It looks quite cosy there with the clipped hedges all around giving us some much appreciated privacy.

 

 

The swimming pool at the camp was open 24 hours, which was very unusual, but we didn't use it until the next morning when we spent a couple of hours there before heading off again towards the California coast.  It was a lovely pool, complete with hot tub, blinged up ghekkos, mirrored cactus and very roomy, clean showers.

 

 

You can just see Little Bird's head under the water I this photograph.

 

 

 



We had a very happy stay at the Happy Traveller, but the road beckoned and we set off again towards the west coast of the US and the Pacific Ocean.  In my next post, we reach Oceanside just north of San Diego and spend a couple of lovely days by the beach.

All Shopped Out

Monday this week was a mammoth shopping day, necessary things only might I add.  It started in the morning with my weekly food shop at Lidl.  As our cupboards were pretty empty, I stocked up amongst other things on a few old favourites whilst they were on offer, as they had 6 packs (not the muscle variety unfortunately) of Heinz baked beans and Heinz tomato soup (I don't make my own I'm afraid) which worked out at 50p per can or less.  I managed throw in some knee socks for Little Bird for school too, which saved me looking around for some.  In addition I managed to finish buying last month's food bank donation, which I was running a bit late with.

I have to say that I never tire of getting to the till in Lidl, with a trolley full of food (albeit a small one today) and finding I've only spent £50 or so.  If I'd been in any other supermarket it probably would have been twice that at least.

There were a few things I didn't manage to get and I had a vague idea that I had some vouchers in my purse for money off on a shop at Tesco, so in the afternoon I headed off with Little Bird this time, to a very large Tesco store a bit further out of London from where we live, in the hope of getting a few jobs done in one trip, namely; getting the remainder of my shopping, delivering the food bank donation, getting Little Bird another skirt for school and even maybe look for some shoes for school in a certain shoe store nearby.

In the end the food shopping got done, I managed to get two skirts for Little Bird that I actually liked, I delivered the food bank donation and we bought some footwear for both school and PE from said shoe shop.  Result.

My only disappointment was that when I got to the till in Tesco, my vouchers had unfortunately gone out of date, save for one giving me an extra 100 points.  What a waste.  The extra points will come in very handy though.

In addition to the day's shopping, when I got home later, my Approved Food order that I submitted on Friday had also arrived, which was super efficient of them, so I had another heap of things to unpack and find cupboard space for.  My cupboards are now bursting with food, I've got enough meat in the freezer to last a few weeks, enough dog food in the cupboard to last even longer, I've started collecting things together for this month's food bank donation and hopefully, I won't need to do another big food shop for at least a fortnight if not longer.

Subsequently, I have now planned our meals up until the end of September based on the food I bought on Monday and with just a few supplemental items to buy, we can comfortably eat for the entire month on approximately £100 plus top ups of fruit, vegetables, dairy products and bread weekly, and the purchase of a few more things for this month's food bank donation.  I have also subsequently reorganised all of my food cupboards so that I knew exactly what I had in them when it came to meal planning.

On subject of food banks, whilst in the US, I heard on the radio that approximately 1 in 4 children there are estimated to live in poverty and don't have enough food to eat.   Regular radio adverts encourage people to give to food banks there.  I'm surprised we don't have similar adverts here.  Maybe we do, but I just haven't heard them. 

I did see quite a few signs of poverty in the US, in particular quite a few people politely asking for money on the streets and at road junctions.  I'm sure we have a similar number of people here in such circumstances, but laws preventing begging on the streets probably hides this. As they don't  have a free public health service in the US  as we do here,  I dread to think what happens to people who fall ill and can't afford or don't qualify for health insurance.   It must be very scary for them.  Things like this did make me feel very grateful for what we do have here, although there were also lots of signs of incredible affluence in the US too.  It has, however, consolidated my views with regard to making regular donations to the food bank here.  Even if one only does something small, it can mean a lot to someone who has very little and is struggling on a daily basis to make ends meet.

Goodbye Adventure-Packed August and Hello Spend Less September

With holidays and the summer holidays having come to an end, it will be back to our normal routine towards the end of this week and back to normal monthly spending, thank goodness.   Well, almost.  Predictably perhaps, this month I am going to try to manage my budget with extra care (I've said this before I know), avoiding unnecessary spending on anything other than absolute essentials.  By doing this I'm hoping I can start snowballing my second credit card, as my first one has now been paid off.   I'm still using it occasionally to pay for Approved Food orders and internet purchases, but I am paying it off every month to avoid any charges. I'm hoping to pay a couple of hundred pounds off the second card this month, with a view to clearing it by the end of the year if not sooner.

In addition to this, I have started the new Household and Cleaning Product Challenge and I am still carrying on with the Beauty Challenge I joined in with a couple of months ago, to minimise spending in both these areas and use up items clogging up the cupboards and cluttering up the house.  I will also be carrying out a cull of my wardrobe this month, as many of the items in there I do not want to wear again and will be sending to the charity shop.  I won't be replacing them, for the time being anyway, as I do have quite a lot of  clothes and I'm hoping to wear the ones I have left more often.  I will also be getting out the winter clothes bag later in the month if it becomes cooler and sorting through that, sending anything I don't want to wear this autumn/winter to the charity shop too. 

I think that living simply in the campervan for 10 days helped me to realise how little I actually need to enjoy life, so I feel the urge to purge and will be looking into all areas of our home with this in mind.  OH will certainly not mind a bit as he is always complaining about how much stuff we have.  He will be more than happy to get rid of some of the excess that is cluttering up the house.   Talking of stuff, I seem to have almost completely curbed my charity shop spending recently, which should help, as I hopefully won't be accumulating any new things to bring into the house.   If I am looking for anything specific I may still venture into one and I do still enjoy a good rummage at a car boot or jumble sale from time to time, so I can't rule this out completely, but to be honest I rarely get the chance these days.

Spending wise I made it through the month of August, just.  I left some money in my account for our return from holiday which just about lasted.  My No Spend days currently total 56 so far this year and I am aiming for 75 for the year, but may need to revise this figure upwards again depending on progress.

My main priorities as we go into September will be:

1     Buying the rest of Little Bird's school uniform.  (I still need to get her some shoes, another skirt, some polo shirts and socks/tights, which we will be going out to buy this week before school starts.)

2     Spending some time working on my small business, which I need to do some serious work for, to make the most of forthcoming pre-Christmas trading.

3     Keeping up to scratch with the allotment and hopefully save money on food by using food I've grown instead of buying it. 

Plenty to keep me busy as always and if I get any spare time for my patchwork and making new clothes or other items from what I already have in my fabric collection, then that will be a bonus. Has anyone else got any plans this September?

Having A Wardrobe Moment

On returning from our holiday the other week, I had a bit of a wardrobe moment.  I looked in my wardrobe and thought UGH.  It all looked tired, unappealing, not the sort of clothes I want to wear anymore.  I felt like I'd shed a skin and turned into someone else whilst I'd been away.  Do you ever want to reinvent yourself?

I think perhaps the simplicity of life in the campervan, where what you wore was mostly comfort and weather orientated, I had got used to wearing shorts and a vest and having a very simple wardrobe.  Many of the clothes I took with me I just didn't wear, as trousers or leggings when it is 35 C plus, just didn't appeal.  Now I'm back in good old Blighty and we are nearing the end of the summer, I realise that shorts and vests are not going to get me through the winter, but still the feeling persists that there is something tired about many of the clothes in my wardrobe and I have a yearning to simplify things somewhat.  Stick with things I really love and get rid of everything else.

I think perhaps that a good cull of the clothes in there is on the cards.  Some of the clothes I have hardly worn, probably for good reason, but I just don't want to give them houseroom anymore.  Some of them I've worn and worn and worn and I just don't know if I want to ever wear them again.  I feel like I want to allow some new clothes in, ones that really suit me and help me make the absolute best of myself.  A feeling of out with the old and in with the new.

Don't worry though, I'm not intending to rush out and spend a whole lot of money on new clothes as I just can't afford it, but what I may do is whittle down what I have to some best loved favourites allowing some room for some new favourites to come my way, however that may happen.  It might inspire me to make some clothes again that actually fit me properly or just seek out some flattering and classic pieces that will last me the next few years.

Maybe it's the time of year.  September is always a time of new starts, new school year, new courses, new me, etc.  Maybe it's the restlessness I used to feel as a child, itching to get back to school in my new uniform and start a fresh academic year.  Not sure exactly, but I feel the need to do something.  I'll keep you posted with any developments.

This Weekend...

We spent our first weekend at home for over a month and it was lovely.  I'm not complaining, as we had a lovely holiday and it is always nice to go away for the weekend and visit relatives, but we really needed to spend some time at home and catch up with some jobs around the house, garden and allotment.

We all went to the allotment first thing on Saturday morning.   Other Half and Little Bird walked the dog in the park and went to the little café on the canal, whilst I tidied up the plot and harvested a month's worth of produce.

When we got home it was bacon sandwiches for lunch, the lawn got a trim and the garden tidied a little.

A couple of my subscription magazines arrived on Saturday morning, namely Grow It with free winter leaves seeds inside and Prima with a free pencil skirt pattern inside.  That was a nice treat.  I think these might be the last so I will have to tot up my clubcard points and see if I've got enough to renew my subscriptions for free next year.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent catching up with online bits and pieces, creating a few posts, reading others and just generally pottering and chilling out at home followed by a takeaway fish and chip supper as a treat.  Just our kind of day really.

Sunday, started in our favourite way with a trip to the gym.  Little Bird had her gymnastics training, OH a session in the gym and me a dance aerobics class.  We just need a doggy gym session that the puppy can attend and we're all catered for.

When we got back we wandered up to the local market at the top of our street.  It was great to just mooch around and have a coffee in one of the local cafes.  We've not done this for ages. 

I treated us to some almond and fruit slices.  They were a bit like bread pudding we were told, but made with leftover Danish pastry dough from the bakery.  Don't worry we didn't eat a whole one each, we cut them in half.  The were pretty tasty and at £1.50 each I thought quite reasonable.

I also treated myself to a wrap around grey bracelet for a few pounds from one of the stalls and then it was back home for a lovely salad and a read of the Sunday papers.

Later we made a quick trip to B&Q for some fencing and stone slabs to dog proof bits of the garden and put in a stone path where the lawn is being worn away, a roast dinner followed by a bit of patchwork whilst watching Vera on TV and that was our leisurely Sunday.

I almost feel ready for the school term to begin.  Just a bit of last minute shopping and we're there.  I'm determined to enjoy these last few days of freedom with Little Bird, before the school routine starts up again.  I did read in the paper this morning that certain cinemas are issuing ear plugs to parents taking their children to see the new One Direction movie which we are planning on going to see, on account of the screams to be heard.  At least I know what to expect now, I might take some just in case.

Hope you had a lovely weekend.

Allotment Corner

Saturday morning and I finally got myself to the allotment for the first time in a month.  I was desperate to get there, but just didn't seem to be able to negotiate the time this week as a few unexpected things happened which kept me close to home.

I was expecting it to be a bit overgrown and it was a little, but it was mostly a bit of a tangled mess as I hadn't tied up my tomato plants well enough and they were sprawling all over where they were planted.  It took a while to untangle them and reduce the foliage so that the sun could get to the fruit and they weren't competing for nutrients.  I'd lost quite a few tomatoes due to their becoming overripe and splitting which was a shame.

There were four huge marrows (large courgettes) to harvest, one from each plant which I expected to be honest.  I'm hoping now I've removed them that the plants will start growing more small fruit again.  Not sure what I'm going to do with these monsters, but I'll think of something.  Any suggestions welcome.  There were a couple of cucumbers, some tomatoes, quite a lot of rhubarb, and some beans to harvest too.
 
I was pleased to see that there were a few cobs of sweetcorn on my plants, lots of small cucumbers growing, and the living salad that I had planted before going away had established well and should give us lots of lovely curly salad in late summer/autumn.

In my rush to get there, I forgot to take my camera so I couldn't take any pictures save for these of the produce when I got home, but will be returning later this week and will take some then.

 

 

I also tided around a bit, removing any bindweed, nettles, comfrey and brambles that were starting to encroach again and gave most of the plot a good water.

Going away in August is really the worst time for any allotmenteer.  I have a friend whose husband will never go away in August for that reason and possibly because the airports are madly busy, but with it constituting most of the school holidays, we don't have a lot of room for maneouver.  Hopefully though there is still a month or so of warmish weather and growing time left to make up for it.