Making the Most of ANY Sunshine, Freebies and a Sulking Mavis

 

At the moment, like many people here in the UK, we are making the most of ANY nice weather. 

 It was a rainy and at times cold July, and to see it out in style, when there was a brief window of sunshine on Saturday morning we jumped in the car with the dogs and headed to Williamson Park in Lancaster.  

Just twenty minutes away it's a good place for dog walking and enjoying some wide open spaces ... and there's a good little café in the park that sells coffees and bacon butties.

I love big open skies and the view across Morecambe Bay from the café is amazing.

As the clouds started to gather again we headed back to the car, but in a brief flash of sunshine this lovely little park seating shed in it's own clearing amongst the trees and bushes looked magical ... and very hobbit-like.  I just had to stop for a photo or two.

I came home with some freebies in my bag, and we missed the rain completely as it didn't start properly until we were almost home, always a good outcome in my book.

Then Alan had to go away for work for a couple of days ...

... and Mavis sulked!!

She's a good little sulker and she's perfected her art well over the past couple of years.  If she's not sat facing the furniture or a corner, she's right up the end of my hall lying on the doormat, you know when Mavis is sulking!

Sue xx

Flowers, Good Deeds, Books, Seeds and Deliveries

I was gifted a lovely bunch of pink carnations three weeks ago as a thank you for a little good deed I did via our town Facebook group.  They were unexpected and lovely, and have just lasted and lasted.  No doubt they will be going over in the next few days but while they were here they added an unusual splash of pink to my living room shelf.

The shelf is looking a lot more cluttered than usual at the moment, with my overflow of books having taken up residence since our holiday.  But do you know what I really like it.  There is just enough colour co-ordination to keep it looking organised and not over-crowded.

Well that's my opinion.  😁

A close up of the books for all of you lovely book addicts.  💖

My August edition of Kitchen Garden arrived this week with it's free seeds, which reminded me ...

... I have not yet read the July edition, or sown the red lettuce seeds that I meant to.  I must remedy that over the weekend, and I definintely want to get some cabbage seeds sown in pots ready to fill gaps that will start to appear in the wooden beds soon.

Although it will be a while for gaps to appear if I keep picking my spring onions one at a time. 😄

 I love being able to pick exactly what I need from the garden and not having to buy a whole bunch of something and having to find a use for it all.  Just one of the many perks of growing my own even in a much smaller space than I used to have.

We are off to the Welsh flat tomorrow to start kitting it out ready for use.  Fingers crossed that the first delivery arrives on schedule, it's the bed ... without it we will be sleeping on the floor!!

If you would like to see the flat, I will try and make a small film, or at the very least take lots of photos of it before we put things in.  And then maybe again afterwards, I guess I wouldn't be a true blogger if I didn't now would I.  😀

Sue xx

The Garden in May

 

We will be winding down the bird table feeding over the next week or so.  The birds have made good use of it over the nesting period but now that everything else is blooming along the canal and in the fields beyond they will have plenty of food to keep them going and we can reclaim our garden back.

We have to do this at this time of year to dissuade them from visiting the garden for the Summer as I really don't want to share my new seedlings with them.   With less and then no actual bird food we will have less visiting birds and less mess, but don't worry come the end of Autumn Alan will be freshly stocked with food to see his feathery friends survive over the Winter months.

The apple tree is in full blossom at the moment and the compost bin is nicely doing it's thing quietly against the fence.  I was determined to find a small compost bin for all the household scraps and weeds that we produce, and this one ... found at the local garden centre in the half-price section ... does the job wonderfully, and looks nice too.

The daffodils have all gone now and the forget-me-nots are looking pretty alongside the primulas at the base of the apple tree.

Behind the newly planted large pot the vegetable planter is already filling up.  I have potatoes in the middle section, the raspberries on the righthand side with salad leaves planted in front of them, protected from the cold nights by their little plastic covers.

Around the corner by the shed we have radish, spring onion and carrots in the right-hand side of the smaller vegetable bed, covered at night by the Perspex piece from the cold frame that Ginger broke last year.  I'm glad that I took it apart as these panels are working brilliantly to keep things from the cold.

After taking this photo I planted two of my courgette plants in the little black  planter with the glass domes, they should be nice and snug in there while they establish themselves.

At the front of the lodge I have my herb bath, with lots of thyme, parsley, basil and sage,  all handy for snipping off when I am cooking a few feet away in the kitchen.

And here's a real blast from the past.  

One of my birthday presents was a years subscription to Kitchen Garden magazine, so I have a year of magazines and their free seeds to look forward to.  I am in no doubt that I will be able to squeeze a few more plants in if some interesting seeds should turn up.  😀

Sue xx

A New Challenge ... and the Birthday Month Offers

Over on my other blog there is the start of a brand new Challenge.  

Now, since that blog has lain dormant since April of 2021 that is going to surprise anyone who might still have it on their sidebar.  But hopefully it is a nice surprise. 😀

Anyway it is the first day and the introduction to The Eat for £3.50 a Week Challenge.

HERE's a link to the first day.
 

I've had some exciting post this week, seemingly my birthday is going to be all about cake this year. 🎂 

First I got a card and a reminder from Booths that I can claim a free slice of cake if I show my card and buy a cup of coffee on my birthday, or for up to six days after ... nice.

Then I got a letter from Dobbies to say that I can have two free coffees and two slices of cake or two scones so I can celebrate my birthday with a friend ...  and I think we all know who I'll choose.  Say scones and Alan will be there like a shot.  😄

It will be a good way to round off a cut price Challenge and a very good way to celebrate my birthday.

Sue xx

Early Morning Canal Side Walk, Breakfast Out and More Spending

 

The dogs and Alan were having a long lie in this morning. 

 Ginger had been over to me for his daily early morning treat of Aldi knock off  'Dreamies' and a cat stick, and then he decided to go back to bed at his Dad's.  It was looking to be a good start to the day with the sun peeking out every so often between the puffy greyish clouds, so I decided to go for a walk on my own.

I did what we call the 'reverse loop', along the road up to the canal bridge and then down the ancient stone steps to the tow path.  Without dogs stopping at every bush, post or unusual thing on the verge to either sniff at or wee on, the walk seemed more peaceful and somehow stiller.

This is the first time I have done this walk without at least one of the dogs by my side, and it's strange but I noticed different things for the first time.

The tree stump with the painted pebbles commemorating someone who had died recently, the fact that the tow path seemed clearer and neater than usual.  The sparrows flitting in and out of the hedge, chunnering at me as I passed.  The stillness of the water and the lovely reflections of the trees and bridges.

As I neared home I noticed the tiny narrowboat called My Newt had sold. 

20ft Narrowboat for Sale - Springer Waterbug | in Morecambe, Lancashire | Gumtree

Well I'm assuming that it has sold, there was a notice in its window the other day saying 'For Sale £14k' and a phone number.  I was briefly tempted but fought the temptation admirably.  😉

Just after I got back home Mavis' face appeared at the window and Alan called round to ask if I wanted to go out for breakfast.  Never one to not to look a free Sunday morning breakfast in the mouth, I of course said yes.  And once Alan had taken the dogs for a brisk walk to use up a little of their excess energy we all set off in his car for Daisy Clough garden centre and tearooms, and breakfast.

It was lovely, and very busy as it always is.  People round here can still afford to eat out it would seem.  I left an hour later clutching the sugar I hadn't used, the napkin Alan hadn't used (waste not want not) and a packet of Courgette seeds that I really needed.  

Another £1.90 spent.

Along with the £27.70 I spent yesterday, in readiness for something that I am starting tomorrow.

My spending challenge has really taken a battering this month, and it's time to add up everything that I have spent now that the end of February is looming.

Oh and I did my first BIG shop yesterday, I need to find my camera and download the photo and add that to my running total.  I'll show you what I bought on the next post.

Sue xx

Scrumping Bags

 

What's the one thing that dogs walkers always have on them everywhere they go whether the dogs are with them or not?  Poo bags, or as they are also known at this time of year ... Scrumping Bags.

I was walking the dogs around the park yesterday morning and I spotted quite a few apples of various types on the trees, so I helped myself to just a few.

I added them to the apples in the bowl that Alan had scrumped for me on Sunday morning when we walked the dogs around the garden centres paddock, but he was more clandestine than me and simply filled his pockets.  Well, we were going into the cafe, and you can't really pop a poo bag on or under your table without raising more than a few eyebrows.

Scrumping is very apt for My Modern Wartime Rationing, which is has now been live for a couple of days over on my other blog ... and luckily every time I go out I have a pocket full of 'scrumping bags' just in case.  😁

(You can also click onto my other blog by clicking on the photograph of me washing the pots right at the top of the sidebar.  😉)

Sue xx

 

Homegrown Food ... and Giving Food Away

 

We dug up our homegrown potatoes last week, well I say 'dug up' but what I really mean is tipped them from the Aldi bags for life that they were growing in.  I emptied the bags out straight into the new raised planter that you can see at the back of the photo, and it made it really easy to rummage around and find all the potatoes.

It was quite a good little haul really.

Splitting them into half for each of us meant this is what we got.  

Was it worth growing them?

Yes, is the resounding answer.  They didn't take much watering with all the rain we've had recently, they were tucked away out of sight of either of our houses just in front of the shed and most importantly of all ...  they taste delicious.

So much so that I am just about to put in some more potatoes that should be ready in time for Christmas.  This time I have got some posh new potato buckets to grow them in courtesy of a special offer from the gardening magazine that I posted about HERE.

I've been missing from my blog for a couple of days as I have been busy Olio-ing.

Sharing things that I no longer want with people who do want them or who can make use of them in any way that they choose.  I started with a bag of food that I just knew I would never get around to eating, and then because you can also give away non-food items I carried on by giving away all the things that I have been sorting out from my kitchen cupboards.

 I even had a good sort through of my stationery stash and gave lots of notebooks, pens and pencils to a young single Mum with two boys that needed some for now to keep them occupied during the school holidays and some more for going back to school with.

I still have other things listed and it's a good feeling to know that items I no longer need are going to a really good home.  And of course it immediately gives me more space in my small home instead of having items that I've recently sorted out just sitting around.

Have you ever used Olio?

Sue xx

Plastic Free July

 

It's been Plastic Free July for a whole month and I've not managed to mention it once ... yup, I admit it I am a bad blogger  😄

Most of you know me well enough by now to know that I recycle, I reuse, I most definintely re-purpose and I basically do the very best I can.  Hardly any of the plastic that I do get is single use plastic and the few things that I do get are recycled wherever possible to the correct place.

Something that I switched to at the start of last year when it became increasingly difficult to get washing powder tablets in cardboard boxes, was the smol range of products. 

 I started with a free trial of the washing capsules, which come through your letterbox in a sturdy cardboard box.  The trial proved to me that they did everything that I needed them to do and I signed up for a regular subscription after a week of using them.

The box is so childproof that it drove me to distraction, but if you have children this is a good thing.

There are instructions on how to open it and information on everything else that you need to know.

But I cheat, and for ease of use as soon as mine arrive I tip them into my little enamel pan ...

... and store them next to the little enamel bucket that holds the pegs.

A few months after starting with the washing capsules and when I had used up my supply of fabric conditioner I added bottles of the smol fabric conditioner to my order and trialled that.  It's very good and does exactly what it's supposed to but without leaving you scented like a pine forest or a rose garden.

You can choose how many laundry capsules you want to receive and also how often you want to receive them, ditto with the fabric conditioner and any of the other cleaning supplies that you might want to try.  There are also dishwasher tablets and surface sprays, (neither of which I use) so you could get all your cleaning supplies from one place and through the post

But the most important thing for me is that it gets the washing clean, smelling fresh and not synthetic and everything arrives just when I need it and if my needs change I can update how often I want to receive something.

If you would like a free trial like I did, just click HERE to go to the smol website and choose the item you would like to sample, and for just £1 towards the postage you will have enough of the product you choose to get a good idea of if it's right for you.

This is not in any way a sponsored post, just something that I use regularly and highly recommend.

Sue xx

Free Seeds Once Again

 

It felt a bit like a blast from the past moment the other day when I got back from the supermarket and unpacked my shopping.  I had treated myself to a copy of Grow Your Own magazine, which as usual came with lots of free seeds and various offers.

I used to buy both this magazine and Kitchen Garden magazine regularly and got a subscription once or twice to take advantage of the great offers they used to do with so many seeds to start you off that I had them coming out of my ears ... well not quite literally, but almost!  This particular edition came with five packs of seeds that I definintely wanted and could sow right now in my new long planter, so it seemed like a good purchase.  

But I definitely do not like Coriander so if anyone would like a free packet of seeds shout out in the comments below and I will post them off to you.

Sue xx

Remember When ...?

 

Remember when I got the last Booths voucher and decided to save it to spend on a treat for my birthday?  Well my birthday is nearly here, and the coupon date was almost up so I took it with me to Booths last week when I was picking up last weeks cardholder freebie.

Which made a nice treat for Alan when he got home from work . 

This weeks freebie is a dairy free chocolate bar which will be mine, all mine.  😊

And my nice birthday treat ... one of my favourite hand and body lotions, which along with the £5 coupon cost me just 60p.

Another 'Remember When ...'

Remember HERE when I bought the expensive tinned tomatoes and the cheap tinned tomatoes and decided to do a comparison taste test?  Well I did it, and the verdict is ... you do actually get what you pay for if you are eating them as they are straight from the can or want to make a lovely rich tomatoey sauce for your pasta dish. 

They are lovely rich and, as the can says 'finely chopped tomatoes' as fine as I have ever seen tomatoes chopped in fact and with hardly any watery juice.  BUT and yes it is a huge but when I make anything with chopped or any sort of tinned tomatoes I do tend to add salt, pepper, some dried herbs and sometimes some dried garlic powder and onion powder too, it's just what I'm used to doing.  Doing this made the cheap tomatoes taste better than the more expensive ones in my opinion.

I honestly think that I would buy the more expensive ones again if they were on a good special offer for those days when I just want to be able to open a can and pour them onto some freshly cooked spaghetti or straight onto a slice of toast for a tasty and nourishing breakfast.

So in my humble opinion you are not missing out at all by continuing to buy the cheaper version for day to day meals and sauces.  And of course the very best cooked tomatoes are the ones that you have in the fridge that have gone slightly too soft for slicing for sandwiches, so you quarter and roast them in the oven while you are cooking something else and then simply whizz them up into a sauce or soup.

To continue this theme of playing with my food, I have just bought another expensive and cheap version of something ... more about that another day.

Sue xx

Blogmas - Advent Day 7 - and an Offer

 

Ooh err ... socks with lovely little Robins and a little Vitamin C Serum thingy, one can only hope that these things work 😉

Every year since 2008 Alan has received a lovely Christmas food hamper from a company he works through, I say Alan as although it's a gift to a company owned by both of us the hamper rarely contains anything I can eat.  I think last year's one dairy or meat free option  was a packet of Chilli Kettle crisps ... and I don't like chilli crisps!!  So when I was on the Vegan Kind website on Saturday night and I spotted a vegan hamper bundle I just couldn't resist treating myself.

It came yesterday morning  😀

Lots of lovely goodies, all of which I can eat and some of which will make up my Christmas dinner.  Although I have never had a Yorkshire Pudding on my Christmas dinner before ... it seems to be a popular addition these days,  when I was growing up Yorkies were only served with Roast Beef.  One with our dinner filled with gravy and one for dessert sprinkled with sugar.

I've also never had this and really fancied trying it.

The ingredients don't seem too bad ...

... and it's got a lot of protein per serving.

I've also seen these vegan cheese gift packs advertised by a lot of the supermarkets and had decided that I would buy one, although I hadn't seen them in any of our local branches.  I was a bit shocked when I slid them out of the cardboard outer to put them in the fridge and saw how thin they were.

This is a block of the Applewood that I already had in my fridge ... it is twice the weight at 200g as the ones in the gift pack.  So be warned folks, unless you don't mind the smaller blocks it might work out better value gram for gram to buy four individual blocks of these cheeses instead of the pack of four.

Anyway while I was ordering my hamper I thought I might as well make a few additions, some of my favourite 'Crunchie' type bars, a couple of tins of Squirty cream ... I've not been able to find any at all around here ... and a bag of bacon flavoured crisps.  Something I can share with Alan while we watch a Christmas film.

Then I spied another treat.  

It's not really an offer as it worked out quite expensive.  But the one thing I have really missed since having to be dairy-free is buying a tin or two or three of Roses, Quality Street, Celebrations etc etc.  This is a fill-it-yourself selection of wrapped sweets and a nice Christmassy tin to put them in.

Normally I might have seen the idea and replicated it myself, buying a tin from a charity shop and then lots of wrapped sweeties from various shops, but this year I just cannot wander around the shops at all, as much as I would love to.  So this was a nice easy option and then next year, fingers crossed, I will be able to buy bargain packs of sweets from here, there and everywhere and do it myself.

While I was checking out and paying for all my goodies I noticed I had a £10 voucher available to redeem.  Seemingly last time I shared a link on my blog one of you lovely lot used it and got herself (or his self) £10 off their shopping - and that meant that I got it too.  Thank you whoever you were, it is very much appreciated.  

No sooner had I paid for my order than I got an email saying that if anyone of my Friends ... and yes you are all my Friends ... wanted £10 off a first order all they had to do was enter my name in the voucher code box as they checkout to get £10 off any order of £40 or more.

So if you were going to do a bit of dairy-free or vegan shopping this Christmas, and they have toiletries, gift sets and normal shopping items too, you could have a browse of The Vegan Kind Supermarket and if your order comes to more than £40 take advantage of the discount code Sue Hall. 

I've never been a discount code before!!

And if you're slightly more restrained than me and spend on or just around the £40 mark it means you are getting 25% off your shopping bill.

Sue xx 🎄