Oh WOW!! ... Thank You

 

Oh wow ... really wow!!

Thank you so much for the responses to yesterdays post, I did not expect to receive so many immediate answers to my questions or such detailed ones, but they REALLY helped me and I thank you for taking the time to join in with what turned out to be a bit of a survey.

This morning over the cup of coffee you see me making in the photo above, I sat and read all the responses that came after the first two that I had replied to last night.   The photo was taken for a completely different reason but boy has it come in handy to head up this post.  I am now sitting writing this over a bowl of Weetabix ... a proper multi-tasker. 😄

It seems that we are indeed a community of like-minded people that dip in and out of each others lives, sometimes regularly and sometimes more intermittently, but that's just like real life isn't it, we see some people regularly day-in day-out and there's always that friend that we don't see for months or even years, that once we do get together again it's as though no time has passed at all.

This meme sums it up really well, blogging gives me and fellow bloggers a way of entering into peoples lives all over the world and and we find that borders, languages and ways of life do nothing to stop true genuine friendships developing ... and I will always write about everything that is 'good and true and real'.

Don't worry if you can't get into the new blog that is linked on the sidebar, I am currently tinkering with it's layout and 'pages' and while it is flashing around and changing it will remain private.  Once I start my rationing journey it will ... I have decided after reading all the responses to my questions ... be public and available for all to see and comment on and Follow. 😄

Something that came up in a few comments was the inability to see the sidebar when reading on a phone.  What I do to visit people's sidebars when I'm on my phone is scroll to the bottom of their post or page and click on 'View Web Version'.  This will bring up the same page but as though you were on a computer, hence everything will then be visible.  Hope that helps.

And now it's only fair that I answer my own questions, just so that you can see how I view things in blogland.

So, the questions:

1.  What makes you want to read a post on a blog?

A good title can grab my attention and if you are on my sidebar I tend to read your posts most days.

2.  What makes you decide to click on the Follower button?

I always Follow a blog that I read more than a couple of times if I like the content and want to visit regularly.  I see it as being like the Subscribe button on YouTube, it lets the person creating the content know that you are there and appreciating their efforts.

3.  What stops you from leaving a comment?

If the same answer I would have left has been said over and over, or if I have nothing nice to say.  I hope I would never say something that would upset someone.

4.  Do you prefer a blog that you can't comment on?

I don't 'prefer' it, I don't mind it, but it does surprise me sometimes if people don't want to engage with their readers.

5.  Do you like getting a response to your comment when you leave one?

I always check back to see if there's a reply and sometimes to see if my comment is still actually there.  Blogger is being strange these days, sometimes I have left comments on other peoples posts and they just vanish.  I always check my SPAM folder as comments on my blog that have previously published suddenly revert to there, even my replies to other peoples comments.  It's bloody annoying!!

6.  Does being a Follower and a Commenter on a blog help you to feel part of it's community?

Yes.  It shows me that I have found a blog or blogger that I can relate to.

7.  If you are a fellow blogger how do you see your Follower numbers, Comments and interaction with your readers?

Yes Joy I know HOW to check, but thank you!!  😉

I don't check my Stats very often, just occasionally out of interest and they are always surprising.  The statistics on my old blog Our New Life in the Country for example are amazing, it is still drawing visitors from all over the world and each post has now had millions of unique visits ... I had no idea.

It's nice to see Follower numbers rise as it means I must be doing something right to engage with more people, THANK YOU to everyone that joined our little community yesterday.

It's nice to see Comments under a post as it means people want to have a voice on something I have written, give an opinion, offer advice or something similar.  I think we all want to be heard and it's nice to hear other people too. I know I sometimes get stroppy with an reply to a comment, I try my best to be 'nice Sue' most of the time but occasionally 'what the heck Sue' bursts forth.  Those of you who have read way back (like Linda from 2008 and Lavender's Blue ... ) just get used to my at times unique ways and take no offence, others run for the hills and are never seen again.  And Karen ... hold your head up high and comment whenever you want to.

Interaction with readers is part and parcel of blogging and in my opinion is what keeps me and many other bloggers going, gives us inspiration and at times can even be vital for our well being.  It's a shame I have no click here if you've visited  button.  (I will check to see if there is something similar available.)  I remember the post I did when we lost our little dog Charley and I couldn't bear to hear of other losses or even read comments for a few days and I asked people to leave 'two kisses for Charley', that post had 307 comments and meant so much to me then and now.

So to round all this up before I set off to Mum's for the day, I just want to say once again a massive THANK YOU to each and everyone of you who took the time and answered my questions yesterday, it was a really useful exercise and I'm sure lots of other Bloggers will have read your answers and found them useful too.  I didn't realise how long it would take you all, sorry!  The post is still there if you didn't see it yesterday and would like to take part.

It's brilliant that we have such a wonderful community of like-minded souls to bolster each other up, laugh with and at each other on a regular basis and well, to just be friends.

Thank you. 🎕

Sue xx

Some Questions For You ...

 

If you don't mind, today I would like to ask a few questions.

I am in the process of setting up a new blog ... it's header is the photo above and it's link is on my sidebar ... for my new and ongoing challenge to eat more simply, and eat fresh and local using wartime rationing as my guide.  Back in the day foods had minimal ingredients we knew what we were eating and we ate simply but well.  It's a well known and proven fact that the population of the UK was at it's healthiest during the war years, and I want to tap into all that with the knowledge that I have picked up over the years.

The reason for starting this next month is to eat more healthily and even simpler than I have over the past few years and in a steady and reliable way, help me save money on my shopping, and to get ready for my retirement having as much money in the bank as possible so that I can retire a year early to coincide with Alan's retirement date.  I have felt just recently that all my previous Challenges have been practice runs for just this scenario.

I have been looking at the statistics for this blog A Smaller and Simpler Life and the figures make for fascinating reading.  I get over 1,000 unique hits each day but I have just a smidge over 300 followers, of the readers of each post recently only something like ten or so people leave Comments.  Over all the posts on this blog ... and there have been lots over the five years it has been running ... there has been an average of 17 comments per post, and considering that around a third of those would have been my responses that's quite low.

So, the questions:

1.  What makes you want to read a post on a blog?

2.  What makes you decide to click on the Follower button?

3.  What stops you from leaving a comment?

4.  Do you prefer a blog that you can't comment on?

5.  Do you like getting a response to your comment when you leave one?

6.  Does being a Follower and a Commenter on a blog help you to feel part of it's community?

7.  If you are a fellow blogger how do you see your Follower numbers, Comments and interaction with your readers?

*** *** ***

I ask because I tend to be a Follower of all the blogs that I read regularly, I leave comments (when Google and Blogger allows me to), and always check back to see if they have been replied to and love being involved in the blogging community.

There's no wrong or right answers to my questions, I am just asking as I am deciding whether to keep my new blog private for just myself, have a limited number of invited readers, or open it for public reading.  

Your answers could really help me reach this decision, thank you.  😀

Sue xx

No Ration Challenge ... But a Way of Helping Refugees

 

Any year when I am able to, I sign up for and take part in the Ration Challenge, and my family, friends and wonderful readers usually support me every step of the way.  It's a brilliant way of us all coming together and doing something really positive and helping some very deserving people in the process. 

 (Here's the very start of my journey last year.)

This year there is no Ration Challenge here in the UK, some real diehards signed up and took part in the Australian version, but I thought a year off would suit me better.  I am not always comfortable asking for sponsorship, and I really do believe that occasionally there can be simply too much begging for money especially online.

But when I get a comment like the one I got the other day from regular reader Alison, AKA Fat Dormouse asking for help for a charity that I knew absolutely nothing about, but one that also help refugees in a completely different way, I knew I would have to let my readers know about it to.

Rather than copy and pasting Alison's blog post I will share this LINK to take you directly to her blog entry which describes everything so much better than I could even begin too.  It also contains the links that you can donate through and helps you learn so much more about how this charity works.

I am sharing this today, as a generous individual has offered to double all the donations made over the course of this weekend up to a total of $10,000.  I'm off to donate right now, please could you give a small donation?

Sometimes it's good to raise money to feed people, sometimes it's good to raise money to enable them to contact their loved ones ... and feed their souls.

Thank you.

Sue xx

Do I Carry On ....

 

I've been wondering over the past few days if I want to carry on blogging.  😐

To be honest I am feeling that Blogland is on a downward turn, the negativity on quite a few of the blogs that I read and the downright nastiness of some commenters on a few of my blogging buddies posts leave me with a sour taste in my mouth.  

There's just no need for it.

I find if I read too many negative blog posts and their accompanying comments before I write a post on my own blog, all creativity and even the desire to write words of my own leaves me in a flash of sour coloured smoke.  

It's really frustrating.

I'm far from perfect myself and there have been times when I've been a bit of  Debby Downer myself (apologies to my readers, and especially to the two regular commenters called Debbie/Debby).  But hopefully that has been on only a few posts over the last fifteen years.  Maybe it's just me running out of steam that you are reading about right now.

We'll see!!

As for nasty comments on my blog, these are easily dealt with and rarely bother me if they pop up every now and then.  I deal with them either with a few words in print from my potty mouth or a sharp press of the 'Delete Forever' button. 😏

We are going to visit our Welsh flat over the weekend and have a chat with our letting agents in Llandudno.  We will be staying in a caravan in Rhyl for a few days, as obviously the flat is completely empty now that our tenant has moved out.  Hopefully this will give me some time to think about things and come up with a plan for life, the blog and just things in general ... I always find a change of scenery works wonders.

  The dogs will be coming with us, but Ginger will have the pleasure of my son's company.

Maybe I just need a break, we'll see.

Sue xx

To Love and to Startle

 

I love this ☝ꜛ

I love the simplicity of it and the message it carries

I love that it reminded me that I have never said I Love You to my readers.

Some of you have followed me for years, far too many years of waffle perhaps

 On different blogs of various topics containing posts that are short and concise or that ramble on for days.

You have been there in the written word, via comments, emails and Messenger

You have been there in person, chatting over our car-boot stalls, in our home over glasses of wine, dishes of curry ... and lots and lots of cups of coffee on the patio in Wales.

So just this once

I will say

I love you.

Was that startling?

Sue xx

Just a Girl ...

Just a girl, standing in the kitchen taking a photo ... that's NOT of food!!  😁

If you know the film, you know the film.

It's only when you change your diet, or limit your intake of food in any way that you realise just how much we are bombarded with food images, adverts on television, on social media ... and how much we talk about food.  

I've also discovered that the vast majority of the YouTubers and Instagrammers that I follow are foodies or food related. I sat eating my breakfast watching someone on a YouTube channel about food budgets make a pie and I just kept thinking ... PIE, PIE!!

I could of course go and sit and read a book, but the two books that I have on the go at the moment are Jack Monroe's latest Thrifty Kitchen and Home Economics by Jane Ashley.  So I'll go blog hopping and read some of my favourites that I missed while I was away yesterday  ... oh Sue.   I am loving your challenge though.  😀

 

Just one food pic from me ... proof that I have mastered flipping an omelette.  Yay ... it's only taken me about forty odd years!!

Sue xx

So, How Do I Think of a Subject for a Blog Post

So I was asked two questions, the first one 'How do you think of a subject for a blog post?' ... most likely the question came up because my posts are here, there and everywhere, bouncing off the walls with no steady theme.   I bet a lot of you wonder exactly what you are actually going to find when you get over here.

Foody, housey, garden-y, dogs, challenges, decorating ... chickens!!

Well usually something catches my attention the day before and I think 'I could write about that!!'  So the next day I do.  Sometimes I do admit to sitting at my computer and I really do not have a Scooby Do what I am going to say, on those days I go into my photo files and choose a photo ... and away I go.

So the other day in my Facebook Memories I had a wonderful selection of photos that I had shared on Facebook over the years on that particular date.  I though how random and what a good idea for a blog post.   And these photos are the ones.

The top photo shows my three Skyline chickens from back in the day when we lived on our second smallholding in Berkshire, it was from a Facebook entry announcing the death of ... and celebrating the life of ... Enid who was the last of them to die, she is at the front with her sisters Ethel and Dolly behind her.  Their names were picked by readers of my blog who each won a very unusual prize for having their choice of names chosen.  🥚🥚⚘

 

This was another photo that came up in the Memories, and I still feel that it's very true.

And one that I thought you would all love was a memory of Suky in the caravan, refusing to part with her hot water bottles or to get out of bed.  And looking that cosy who can possibly blame her. 💖

So this post was inspired by Facebook Memories and the photos that it threw up.

Other days  it can be day to day life, something I buy, something I see and I bet like all of you who are blogging buddies just something that captures my imagination.  I could never be simply a recipe blogger, or a gardening blogger or a minimalist blogger, I really do feel the need to jump here, there and everywhere between everything that encompasses my life.

So I guess the answer to question number one is, my subjects tend to choose themselves, I just have to be on the ball and notice things  ... and then remember them.

Question number two was 'Do you read other peoples blogs before you write yours or after?'

When I come onto the computer to do a blog post, first I check the previous couple of posts that I have done, reply to comments, answer any questions, check the Spam box, there are nearly always a few comments trapped in there, including some of my own previous replies that initially published and then seem to have migrated, it's all very strange at the moment.  

Next I do whatever blog post I have got on my mind to do ... and only when it is done, checked and set to publish do I go and read what my blogging buddies and other blog writers have written on their blogs.  I always feel that reading other blogs first may influence what I write and I would not want that to be the case at all.

I think the beauty of blogland is that we have all found a way of posting that suits us and we have all chosen what we are going to write about, be that one specific subject or a myriad of different subjects.

I hope you found that interesting, I have no idea what you may find here next .....

Sue xx

Blogging Buddies, Not all Nuts on the Same Day

 I couldn't resist sharing this, I feel it sums up our growing band of long-time bloggers so well.

We all have days when we ramble, some days when we ask for help or days when we offer help to others.  We all have fun days and down days, and luckily ... and happily ... we all have them at different times to each other.  And because of that we can take it in turns to cheer each other up, sympathise when needed, offer moral support, wise words or handy tips.  And sometimes just generally be there and be known to be there.

And of course it's best for us and our readers, if we're not all nuts on the same day. 😊

Sue xx

Betwixtmas Day Five - One of My Special Treasures

 

On Christmas Eve reader Debby asked me in the comments section about the little pitcher/jug/creamer in my current header photograph and I said I would talk about it for her.

This lovely little ... and yes, it is little ... jug was a present from long-time blogging buddy John Gray of Going Gently fame.  He gave it to me on one of our many visits to each other, I think on that particular day he brought this for me, and then when he went home he left clutching jam, marmalade and half a dozen just laid eggs.

We've swapped other gifts over the course of the years that we lived in Wales, homemade Scotch Eggs hung on his door knob when he was sleeping after a bad nightshift spring to mind.  Which I seem to remember he ate sat on his tiny lawn wearing just his boxers ... nice to think that I gave him such good content for a blog post as well as something tasty to eat!!

Anyway the jug, it is vintage, approximately four inches high and made from pressed glass.  It's held tiny flowers, candy canes, a candle and once tiny sticks of celery on a buffet table, where it glistened in the fairy lights along the back of the table in just the same way that it has helped bring sparkle to my festive shelf and my blog header for the month of December this year.

And it's one of my treasures.

As is John's now long-distance friendship.

Sue xx

Getting Ruthless ... I'm Eating the Ornaments

Well Halloween has been and gone and the little pumpkins have been sat in the kitchen waiting to be used.  I didn't get around to making the soup the other day, so I did it today instead.

It was a simple enough job to slice the pumpkins in half, remove the seeds ...

... and then chop them up a bit smaller and add them to the Remoska with a chopped onion, some celery and a couple of big fat garlic cloves.  With a sprinkle of salt and pepper and then a glug of oil they were then left to their own devices for an hour while I read my way around blogland with my morning coffee.

Puttering away while I enjoyed my coffee.

Once everything was lovely and soft, I tipped the vegetables into a pan added some boiling water and a teaspoon of stock powder and left it to cook on for another 10 minutes before whizzing up to a lovely thick consistency.

So my two tiny pumpkins and their veggie friends gave me two gloriously colourful bowls of soup.  One for lunch immediately and one for tomorrow ... if I can wait that long.

And my little Halloween display has changed for a while ...

... to this.

My painting, the one done by my son which is usually on the wall here is currently at the framers being framed, so I thought I could get away with a little blue-ish display for a while.  I'm making good use of your card Sue.  😀

Sue xx

Three Photos of Me!!

 

I sometimes wonder what photo Alan will choose to put on my little funeral menu card (order of service card ... if there is a service).  Will it be my most recognisable one to my friends on the internet.  Me and my beautiful pet cabbage.

He could always use the close-up version!! 

He could use this one and scare everyone.  😄

Or he could just go quite boring and serious, and share this one taken in August this year.

One of the few downsides to being a blogger is that the camera is usually in my hands and therefore I am rarely in the shot.  The poor man just doesn't have much choice does he.  😂

I dare ... indeed I double dare ... any of my readers with a blog of their own to share three photographs of themselves on their next post.

And I apologise if I have given you a shock with this very unusual post, calm down have a coffee and I promise normal service will soon be resumed!!

*If I had the choice, it would be the first photo. Just me in my normal attire of jeans and a t-shirt clutching a vegetable, what could be more Sue!

Sue xx

So, What Makes a Good Blog Post?

 

I've been a blogger for over fourteen years now and recently a family member asked how I found things to write about and what inspires me to do each post ... it really stumped me at first.  

I guess I am what you call a 'lifestyle blogger' ... someone who writes about the bits and pieces and the everyday aspects of their life and the people and places around them.  I've tried to pin myself down to specific things to write about with various new blogs over the years, but I always seem to bounce back to 'a little bit of this and a little bit of that'.

I guess my readers know to expect the unexpected from time to time ... like this post for instance!!

If I'm having a day when I really want to write a post, but I've done nothing that I think is interesting I will let a photo from that month's computer photo file inspire me.  The one at the top of this post for example, it's just Ginger and Mavis listening to the sounds coming through the open doors of Dad making their evening meal in his kitchen.  As the food hit the bowl Ginger's tail slowly made its way over to Mavis' as if he was letting her know that tea was nearly ready ... I quietly picked up my phone and just managed to get the shot before they both headed off for food.

I'm a blogger through and through and I always have either my phone or my camera to hand.  In fact, the camera now lives in the kitchen on the lower shelf ready to snap food and its preparation.  I got this shot because the minute I had slapped rather too much butter on this toast I suddenly had the realisation that this won't be happening in a week or so when rationing kicks in and excess butter might have the Ministry of Food or just my guilty conscience on my back.  😄

So random photos or a nice day out, a recipe that I have enjoyed making, a holiday, a washing line full of clothes blowing in the sunshine, all these sorts of things inspire me to write a post and occasionally take an extra photo to add to a post.  

But what inspires me to read a post written by others? 

 Usually, it is a catchy title, or a nice top photo, a mention of books, or maybe I am going by to see how something panned out for them.  I do know I prefer blog posts with photos, even just one that shows what the post is about.  When you click on to a post and there is just one huge paragraph of long writing it can be hard to concentrate, especially if like me you are reading on occasion at silly o'clock in the morning.

What inspires you to either read a blog post or write one?

Oh, and I do love a question that inspires me to write a blog post!!

Sue xx

Re-Thinking, Re-Jigging, Falling off the Sidebar ... and Rationing

A couple of you noticed a few differences in the blog the other day.  

I've been having a bit of a re-think, a re-jig and generally tidying up the right-hand sidebar.  It's nice to keep things the same but it's also nice to have a bit of a tidy up every now and then.

I changed the blog header picture a few weeks ago after our little narrowboat holiday and with my love of canal bridges coming to the fore I just had to have one headlining my blog for a while.  I just love old stone bridges and it's so lovely that I live so close to so many of them, a five minute walk in either direction and I see three of them, a couple minutes further and there are more.  

Well anyway ... stop rambling woman, stop rambling ... after changing the header I thought I would look at other aspects of the blog that needed updating.  It's a good job I did, a few of the blogs on my sidebar Blog List are just no more.  I do read some blogs regularly and comment most times I visit, some I just visit and quietly slip away and some I hadn't been over to for quite a while ... and some of them had gone.  How long have you been gone I wondered and pulled my sad face 😞 

So I knocked them off, I also knocked off a couple that have just turned into advertising opportunities, I don't need to be sold things, kept up to date with things yes, sold things, no thank you.  And when escaping the flashing adverts take up more time than reading a post does it gets to a point where I say 'no thank you' ... and quietly leave.

I'm currently working my way through my YouTube list of subscriptions too and deleting most of them.  One of my ex-favourite ones, a proper career YouTuber is now just a walking advert and it seems her only content is showing what she eats, what she wears and if I have to fast forward through her showing us how she washes and curls her hair once more I will literally go and shave it all off for her.  Then when she advertised for an 'editor and content creator' for her channel it was just too much.  Her career is 'content creator' if she is going to pay someone to do that for her and just carry on washing her hair live on camera ... well I have no words!!

Anyway I have to stop waffling and sounding like Victor Meldrew and get back to my neatening up of my own blog ... or maybe should I pay someone to do it for me?

I did find something on my Blog List that I thought I had already deleted and I was really pleased to find it there.  Back in December of 2020 I started a blog called A Year of Modern Rationing and I was all geared up to follow it through in the New Year, and then Covid. lockdown and life threw me a curveball and it was shelved as quickly as it was begun.  

Maybe it's something for me to think about once again.  What better way to keep food and fuel costs down than to go back to rationing, and non-wartime rationing is a lot safer than wartime rationing.

Something for me to think about for sure.  Is anyone else thinking of something like this or similar for the near future?

Sue xx

A Single Sausage ... and YouTube

 

I've been gradually eating my way through the contents of the fridge and freezer over the last week. 

 I Olio'd a few things that I knew I just didn't fancy eating anymore as I am trying to moving to a more 'real food/plant-based' diet but some of the things that don't really fall into that category I will still be eating from time to time, and Linda McCartney sausages are something I will always have a taste for. 

When I found an opened pack of the Rosemary and Onion ones in the freezer with three left in it I thought I might as well just cook them all, even though I knew that two sausages on a bun are plenty enough for me for a simple lunch.

So two of the sausages onto the bun and one into a container to cool down.

And while I was chomping my way through lunch I made myself a little list of what I could do with my one remaining sausage. 

 'Banger and Mash' sounds quite lonely doesn't it!! 😄

This morning while I drank my first coffee of the day I watched and listened to former blogging buddy of mine and now YouTuber Jane (AKA Frugal Queen) on her YouTube channel.  

This latest video was really interesting and as she listed all the 'Old Fashioned Frugal Living Tips' I mentally crossed them all off my list saying 'yep, I do that' over and over.  But this sort of thing is really needed at the moment for all the people who are suddenly realising that if they don't start saving money soon the sh*t really will hit the fan.

She has a really good channel, with her viewer and subscriber numbers rising rapidly as people are discovering it, and if you haven't been over there for a watch of her tips and tricks, meals of the week and cooking demonstrations you really should give it a try.

Anyway ... what would YOU do with one sausage?

Sue xx

Rationing ... and The 1940's Experiment

 

Carolyn over on The 1940's Experiment blog is doing a ration challenge of a different kind.  

I don't know if you visit her blog from my sidebar ... or indeed for fellow bloggers from your own sidebars ... but I thought I would give a shout out to her and all her readers that have decided to join in with her for this World War II rationing month.

She has also done a brilliant free download for anyone that is interested.

Of course you know that if I wasn't doing my own Ration Challenge I would have been the first to sign up for this one, and indeed I might still do it only a month later.  While I'll be tucking into rice and flatbreads Carolyn and her readers will be up to their eyes in potatoes and the National Loaf.  Sometimes it's good to challenge yourself and learn something in the process.

Her grand total for food for the first week works out at under £12, which is amazing and it does show what you can do with clever shopping, eating seasonal foods ... and rationing. 

Thinking back to when me and Alan both lived on WW2 rations for a month a few years ago we both really enjoyed it and felt all the better for not eating junk food and planning out our meals more carefully.

Rationing in it's many forms is on a lot of peoples minds at the moment isn't it.

Sue xx

The Best Birthday

 

Yesterday was the best birthday for a long time, and the best bits just kept on coming and coming.  Phone calls, texts, Facebook messages and cards from family and friends, flowers arriving that were just so beautiful and to top it all off a wonderful afternoon tea booked by Alan at The Barn in Scorton.

I don't know what Alan was saying here, but it could well have been 'Oooh look at all the goodies!'

There was just so much food that we and lots of other folk took home doggy bags of the food that we  couldn't manage to eat.  This is just my leftovers, Alan had put his in his fridge by the time I took this photo.

After we had eaten all we could and packed up what we couldn't, we went around the gift shop part of The Barn and Alan bought me this lovely large jug.  It was needed to hold the huge bunch of flowers bought for me by Simon and Emma.

Later I had some of my leftover afternoon tea for supper while watching Pretty Woman on the television.

And I have saved these two half-price Easter eggs picked up from Sainsbugs on the way home for another day.  You just knew I wouldn't go without a chocolate egg at Easter now didn't you.  😉 

Thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes yesterday, you helped to make it The Best Birthday.

Sue xx

Money Boxes and Savings

We were chatting in the comments on PP's Small Treasures blog a few days ago and I mentioned those long slim divided money boxes that used to be all the rage for managing your cash back in the day.  I remember my parents having one each and the labels being Rent, Electric, Gas, Rates, Spends etc

Anyway with a lull in work proceedings and over a cup of coffee I decided to look on eBay to see if they were still around, and they were ... at a price!!

The one above had a Buy it Now price of £19.99 so I kept looking ...

... then I found this one, just listed with a Buy it Now price of £3.99.

At that top price I don't think I would be tempted even if it wasn't my No Spend Challenge year, I'll stick with my little drawer, my box and my enamel teapot for now.

Oh and I also came across these, once given away completely free of charge if you opened an account for your child.  Now available to buy for £10 the pair ... I always wanted one of those cute little houses, but unfortunately I couldn't afford to open my sons a savings account when they were all the rage.

Sue xx

What a Lot of Weather!!

Warm soup on a cold, cold day just what is needed.

 But rather weirdly I'm just not in a soup mood much recently, so the last two portions of this weeks Vegetable Soup have been put into tubs and popped into the freezer, which luckily due to me eating a few meals from it over the course of this last week finally has some space for homemade things to go in.

We have thick snow falling outside at the moment, but I really don't think it will stick for long as the huge flakes dissolve so quickly if you catch one, and also the air temperature seems much warmer than the last few days.  Mavis doesn't like the snow at all, and after dashing out to go into Alan's patio doors on seeing them shut she immediately tippy-toed back into mine and settled herself back in bed.

I hate seeing huge old trees being uprooted and crashing to the ground, but I was especially sad to read on Facebook via my sons girlfriend that a gundogs kennels have suffered the loss of 13 of their dogs.  They were electrocuted when their kennel runs were electrified after being hit by a power line that was brought down by a falling tree.  Two Cockers and eleven black Labradors lost their lives so sad.

So much sadness, but also so much bravery being shown by so many people during all this bad weather ... and as for the three idiots that wanted to go in the sea for a swim and had to be ordered out by the Coastguard ... words fail me!!

I hope all my blogging buddies and readers are staying safe. 💗

Sue xx

The Last Mince Pie

 

Christmas is well and truly over ... I have just eaten the last mince pie!!

Until this year I have never really liked mince pies, but all the ones I have bought or had given to me this year have been delicious.  I wonder if it's because this years helpings were all vegan, but I can't see it making that much difference to be honest.  But anyway it seems that now I am a mince pie convert. 😀

 I do have a jar of mincemeat in the cupboard and a roll of pastry in the fridge so who knows I might make some for myself, or maybe they would be more special if I wait until this years Christmas season after all  the jar has a September date on it and it has brandy added so that would preserve it even more.  With my jar of Christmas Chutney in the cupboard as well it seems that I have the start of my Christmas shopping ... which might be very helpful if I've run out of housekeeping money by then.

There how many times did I just type the word Christmas in January!!

Lunch yesterday was the last portion of the homemade soup from last week.  The little garlic bread that I had with it was a huge disappointment.  It was a yellow sticker special offer from Booths sometime last year, a box with two in it and I'd already had one and really not enjoyed it, but by then I had already frozen this other one.  I had been debating throwing it away but in the mindset of waste nothing I thought it would be passible dunked in soup ... wrong!!

It was one of these.

I mean they look so tasty, it's a good example of try it once and then never again.

I finally got my 2021 roundup from my Sainsbury's shopping the other day and not to boast or anything  PP, Small Treasures, it would seem that I am the Number One buyer of Baby Bio Drip Feeders.  So I see your 4th place in the Tinned Pear league and raise you 1st in Baby Bios  😁

Oh and I was happy to see 398 portions of my fruit and veg came from good old Sainsbugs.

Sue xx