Stress-Free Sunday

This Sunday, I decided I was going to have a stress free day, as much as possible.

I woke early, I'm not sure why, but decided to get up at around 6 am, as I didn't think I could get back to sleep.

I cancelled my usual class at the gym, partly because it wouldn't be my usual instructor, who was on holiday, and also because I just fancied taking it easy and not having to rush out and get all sweaty.

Instead, I stayed in and got sweaty, by doing the mountain of ironing that was awaiting me and putting everything away, before having a shower, getting dressed and taking the dog for a slightly more leisurely walk, instead of the usual of dragging her around the park in time to get off to my class.

When I got back, I needed to take LB to her friend's house, so I took the opportunity whilst out and about, to visit a more local Lidl and do my weekly shop, which will save me time tomorrow.

In the afternoon, I set about making the natural beauty and household products that I'd run out of, namely natural deodorant (I made two sticks), bath bombs (I made four of these) and hand wash. (which is still in the process of being made, as I have to let it thicken over a 24 hour period)

Having done this, I proceeded to make OH some granola and also to make some yoghurt for the week ahead, in my Easiyo mini.  It was good to get these things done and replenish the products that we need and use regularly.

I didn't have any other plans for the day, so I just sat out in the garden with a magazine and enjoyed it for a change. After all, that's what it's there for. I find it quite hard just to sit still and do nothing of significance, but it's something I think we all benefit from, from time to time.

Hope you had a lovely Sunday.

Spot The Difference

Yes, you're right, we now have a usable washing line again.  The line was previously attached to the wall on the other side of the patio doors, but I managed to persuade OH to move it for me.

It is now much more central, and no longer gets tangled in the bushes on the right hand side of the garden. It's great to be able to hang washing out again after a couple of years' hiatus. It dries so much quicker outside in the sunshine and smells nicer too, as well as giving me an excuse to spend more time in the garden during the summer months.

I had to go to B&Q, however, to buy a new clothes line prop, as ours had broken in half, but it only cost £3, which was a steal.

The piece of wood we had previously been using was then used to attach storage fixings in the shed, to hang my most used garden tools from.  No waste here. Thanks OH for assisting.

The shed clearing is now for all intents and purposes finished.  I just need to clean the tools, a job I haven't done for a long time.

Here's the overall picture.

Once we get rid of the Flymo, I'll be able to access everything in it pretty easily.

I spent most of the afternoon on Saturday, clearing up the patio, and consolidating all of my clean pots into the green storage bag you can see here in the shed.  The dirty pots are now kept in a swing bin by the potting table, ready to be washed in the autumn.

Here's the bin I found in the street, which now houses tools I don't use so often and support canes. (Apologies for the blurry photograph).

The shelf at the back of the shed is much more organised too.

I also managed to take all the bits and pieces that needed disposing of to the tip on my way to B&Q, so I'm virtually on top of the garden. It feels very satisfying for once, instead of my feeling overwhelmed by the clutter.

Just as well really, as we have visitors next weekend.  I now need to focus on the house this week, to get it ready for our guests.   No rest for the wicked I guess.

Friday At Home

Friday, I managed to get my blood test done.  I arrived at the hospital at 7.45 am, expecting it not to be busy, but the waiting room was already almost full.

Luckily for me, a very kind gentleman, who couldn't wait any longer, gave me his ticket on the way out, so I didn't have to wait quite as long as I might have, although it was still a 30-40 minute wait. Fortunately, I'd had the foresight to take a book with me.

On the way out, I passed a black bin discarded on the street next to the waste bins.  I tipped the few contents into the waste bin and brought it home with me and washed it out.  It is perfect to store my gardening tools in the shed.  Just goes to prove that life has a way of providing what you need for free, if you just keep an eye out.

Finding the bin, inspired me to continue with the shed clear out when I got back from walking the dog. It took a couple of hours and the dust did irritate my eye a little more, but I eventually got it finished.  I just need to knock a few nails and hooks in, to hang a few things from the wall and it will be finished and as tidy as I can get it at the present.

I decided to re-purpose an old wormery into a dispenser for my comfrey tea fertiliser, as it conveniently has a tap on it, making it much easier to dispense into the watering can when I need it.

Quite a few things got put aside to donate to the next Give and Take, and a few other things to go to the tip. It feels good to get it done, as I now know exactly what I have in there to use for the garden, so I won't be buying any duplicates.

It's not exactly Pinterest worthy, as it's still got far too much in it, but at least everything is now reachable (just about) and much better organised. An added plus, is that I can now finally cross this task off my to do list.

This weekend, I'm going to finish the final small shed details and will post the final results.  I also want to tweak a few things in the garden this weekend, with OH's help, to tidy things up and make life a lot easier all round.  I'll post about these too, once completed.

On the eye front, it  didn't really get any better as the day wore on, in fact, it looked a bit worse, so egged on by OH I rang the doctor to see if I could get an appointment. I eventually managed to secure a cancellation for later the same afternoon.  At the appointment the doctor  thought it was a bite and prescribed some hydrocortisone cream and antihistamines, which I've taken and it does look a little less red and swollen, but is not yet back to normal.

When I got back, I had received an email from the allotment committee, to say that I had been given a neglected plot letter.  I must admit it was disappointing, as it has been difficult to get to the allotment this year with all the rain and I had started to take remedial action to clear it up.  I am currently in correspondence with them and I'll let you know the outcome.

Overall, it wasn't a great day, so I retired to bed feeling exhausted at 9pm and just about slept through until 8am this morning. Hopefully, today will be a better day.

Slow Progress

Since I started volunteering at the CS, home and garden projects have taken a bit of a back seat, due to lack of time and progress has been slow.  Having said this, progress is still being made, and I have made inroads into some jobs that I've been putting off for a long time, which is great.

I think the contrast of being out of the house two days a week or more and then spending time at home on the other days, has made me appreciate spending time at home more, and made me want to make my surroundings at home as simple and as pleasurable as possible.

Seeing how much 'stuff' comes through the shop, also keeps confirming to me, that I'm on the right track and that I don't actually need as much as I think I need, to live happily and simply.

Contrary to what I thought, I don't find myself tempted to buy much at all whilst I'm there either, although the odd small item does find it's way home with me.

The last couple of weeks have been all about getting up to scratch with the allotment and clearing out the garden shed, on the days when I'm not at the shop. I visited the allotment again yesterday and did some more clearing of weeds, so it's looking better, but there's still quite a bit to be done.

As well as doing some clearing, I managed to dig up a few plants for the garden at home whilst there, including a small blackcurrant bush, a comfrey plant, a couple of small crowns of rhubarb and a clump of chives.

There are also a few red gooseberry plants that have set down roots by layering themselves in the soil, so I intend to dig those up too and bring them home. I also cut some comfrey leaves to make comfrey tea and brought them home in a bucket to steep and use as plant food.

I was going to return there today, but unfortunately I seem to have handled a plant (possibly comfrey) and then I've touched my eye, or I've been bitten by something near my right eye and today it has swollen up pretty badly.  It's not a good look.  I look like I've been punched, but without the bruising.

The discomfort from the swelling woke me up at 4 am this morning and I eventually got up at 5 am and decided to go downstairs and apply an ice pack, rather than toss and turn in bed. I've taken some anti-inflammatories and it is feeling a little better, but I'll have to see how it goes. The allotment, however, can now wait for another week or so.

Today, I need to visit the hospital for a thyroid blood test, as I have a medication review appointment next week at my GP surgery. I tried to go on Tuesday, but at 9 am there was a roomful of people waiting and some outside of the room too, so I left it as I was on my way to the CS anyway and didn't want to be too late.

This visit, I'm going to go at 8 am when it opens and hope I fare better, then walk the dog when I get back, so getting up so early was probably not such a bad thing after all.  I  may have to wear sunglasses though, to cover my eye.

The rest of the day I'm spending at home.  I think I might tackle the mess on the table at the back of the shed and do a bit of re-organising, or alternatively make some home made beauty products, as I've run out of stick deodorant, hand wash and bath bombs.  If I get super productive, I might manage to do both jobs, which would be a bonus.

Wishing you all have a lovely weekend.

Shed Clearing - Part 2

After posting last night about my efforts to finally clear out the garden shed this weekend, thinking about it got me inspired to do a bit more work on Monday night.

As a reminder, this is what the shed looked like after I'd finished on Saturday.  Still very cluttered, but better than before.

I got started by pulling everything in the front out once more, sorted through it, untangled the hosepipes, making them neat and tidy and removed a few things for donation. I then pulled out everything from under the table at the back and after sweeping the cobwebs off the shed walls and brushing the floor, I stored all of the summer/winter sport and camping equipment neatly under the table.

Now, most of the non-gardening 'stuff' is tucked under there out of the way, save for the fire wood basket, fireguard and coal scuttle, which will come out of the shed come the autumn, when we start lighting the wood burner again.

(I am in any case thinking of getting a smaller log basket, as this particular one is very large and cumbersome and takes up too much room in the living room. I'll have to keep an eye out in the charity shops for one.)

The remainder of stuff to the front is now mostly gardening equipment and tools, which means I can now access it all.

Here's a picture of the shed after I'd finished for the day.

As you can see, some floor is actually now visible, which is a vast improvement and makes it a lot easier to actually get inside the shed.

There's still a way to go until it is back under control though, but the Flymo is no longer required, as we no longer have any grass to cut. We haven't actually yet decided what to do with it and may pass it on to a relative or neighbours, should they want it.

I'm thinking of hanging some of the garden tools from the shed walls, so they are more organised and easily accessible, but I need to think about how I'm going to do this.

In my next attempt at imposing some order, I will need to clear and sort through everything on the table top, which will mean pulling everything out again to get access, but I decided to save that for another day.

The more stuff I pull out and re-organise, re-home, dispose of or donate, the easier it is getting and I'm pretty sure that I will have it back in use very soon, which is quite exciting.

It feels very satisfying to finally tackle this job, as I have put it off for so long and it was one of the main remaining areas of clutter on the property that needed addressing.

I think there are definitely still more items in there that I can eventually get rid of one way or another, so I'm looking forward to doing that and then reclaiming the space for future use.

I'll post again, when I finally finish the job and do a final reveal.

Tackling A Long Avoided Job

Saturday evening, after watching various videos on YouTube, I very suddenly got inspiration to start to tackle a job that I've avoided for at least the last two years. Namely, clearing out the garden shed.

There are several reasons why I haven't tackled it, probably the main one being the huge spiders I've seen lurking in there.

Another, is that it was full to the brim with stuff, some of which is LB's baby paraphenalia and I knew that I'd find it tough to finally get rid of it.

However, one of the tasks on Courtney Carver's 21 day declutter challenge, was to tackle unseen clutter, and this job offered the perfect opportunity to complete this task.

I started at about 7 pm, which isn't really a good time to start a big job like that, but I had to be in the mood, and in the mood I was. I'm afraid as often is the case, I just got stuck in and forgot to photograph the 'before', so I'm afraid a little imagination is required here.

Armed with a small hand brush, I pulled things out, swept the cobwebs off and made loose piles around the shed area, according to whether the items were to be donated, tipped or placed back in the shed for more thorough sorting through later.

I was reasonably pleased with the progress I made in just an hour or two.  I pulled out all the baby gear, and took it into the house to sort through properly.

I removed a few items to be taken to the tip along with the bags of garden waste I'd filled the day before, and I retrieved a couple of spare garden chairs, that were tucked away at the back, for us to use now, as we were down to just one old chair in the garden.

Some things did get put back, namely camping gear, beach gear, winter sports gear and the fire basket, coal scuttle and fire companion set, but most of the rest was removed, so that I could move it on to a new home off the property.

I will sort through some of the items that I put back the next time I venture in there, and I'm sure there will be several things that can be donated amongst them.

In addition to what I pulled out on this occasion, there is still a whole heap of gardening items right at the back of the shed to sort through, namely lots of pots, irrigation systems, sieves, tools, wormery, garden canes, bird feeding paraphenalia, etc., etc.  I will get to these eventually, once I have tackled and minimised the 'stuff' in front.

Here's a picture of what it looked like after I'd finished for the day.

You'll just have to trust me when I say that it was a whole lot worse than this before I started, as the 'stuff' was stacked up to the roof.

I am now quite looking forward to hopefully using the shed for gardening purposes again, instead of the storage of junk.

I will probably still store some junk in here, but might be able to house most of it under the built in table at the back, out of the way.

We've had this shed since we got our first allotment about 12 years ago and although it's getting a little dilapidated and it's condition is definitely deteriorating, it is still going strong. Lets hope it lasts for a good few more years yet.

I'll post again on this project when I make more progress.

Gardening Dreams

Just  lately, since we've had the vegetable beds finished and since I've finally made the decision to let go of the allotment later this year, I've been spending quite a bit of time thinking about how I can make the absolute most of our garden at home, especially when it comes to growing food and making it more sustainable.

I didn't really give much thought to what I sowed and planted in it this year, as I just wanted to get going, but I did make sure that it was all food that we do like to eat, hence the sweet corn, salad, and green beans.  I am still hoping to put some courgettes in, as my seeds have germinated and I think there's probably still enough time left this growing season to get crops from them.

I've also decided that the strawberry plants I bought for 50p each tray the other week are going to go into my garden and not the allotment.  I've got a few ideas about where I want to put them, which I will reveal in another post.

In future years, I'm going to have to be a bit more organised and think about how much of everything we need to grow, as we currently have more salad crops than we can physically eat and I don't want to waste anything if I can help it.

In addition, I planted everything in very traditional neat rows, (although some of the seeds were dispersed by fox activity!) which isn't necessarily the best way to utilise the space, so I will be thinking more in terms of mixing lots of different crops in together, sowing and planting quite densely, to make the garden more productive in the future, if I can.

To get some inspiration, I've been watching some very interesting documentaries on YouTube about permaculture and sustainable gardening, and I very much feel that I want to go in this direction, as much as possible, taking into account our very limited space.

It will mean growing some things in pots and other containers, maybe removing some of the existing plants and replacing them with more productive food producing plants, which I think I might be happy to do at some point, plus finding more creative ways to grow some crops, such as vertically, but I am definitely looking forward to the challenge.

Although we spent quite a bit of money getting the garden just how we wanted it this year, i.e. £429 at last count, I am pretty confident that we can reap this money back in produce quite quickly, if we utilise the space well.  It would be good to eventually get to a place where gardening costs very little, if anything, and actually saves us lots of money on food.

I've got lots of ideas going around my head at the moment, but as soon as some of them become reality, I'll let you know.