My Little Gummy Bear

 So my poor little fur baby went into the vets yesterday for a teeth clean up.  

It was due to be done just as the first lockdown hit us all with a vengeance last March, and then of course it was cancelled.  Not classed as an emergency.  Then when she had emergency treatment on an eye ulcer last year we were advised to book her straight in after that lockdown ended for the teeth cleaning ... and then of course the third lockdown happened almost immediately so it was put off again.  She'd been drooling and smacking her lips a lot recently so I knew something was up and last week I phoned the vets here and made an emergency appointment for her to be looked at.

She was and they booked her straight in for a good cleaning.  Well it all came too late, any teeth that might have been saved were now damaged beyond hope and yesterday Suky had all but 3 of her teeth taken out.  I don't blame anyone, it's all down to circumstance and we have all suffered in some way during these strange times, even our animals.

As she wasn't allowed anything to eat before her anaesthetic I didn't have any breakfast either, far too cruel to make her watch Mum eat when she couldn't have anything.  Big mistake ... I went onto the shops after dropping Suky off at 9.30am yesterday for a few bits and pieces that were missing from the cupboards.  I needed to keep myself occupied, after all last time I took a dog to the vets she didn't come home again and that stays with you ... always. 😑

I ended up with a right hotch potch of shopping including a pizza which screamed out at me from the freezer in Aldi 'YOU NEED  PIZZA FOR BREAKFAST' ... alright, alright I said I will then.

And I did.

It was going to be just half, but of course another cup of coffee half an hour later and the rest was gone too.

I bought a bottle of lemon juice while I was at Aldi.  

 I usually have a lemon sliced up in the freezer, I have a slice each morning in hot water first thing and then put it into a glass for topping up with water during the day.  It doesn't work here, I can't fit a glass in the fridge, so I thought to myself why not have a little dash of juice in my hot water instead.  And at just 33p for a bottle it will be interesting to see how long it lasts.  One lemon usually does me a week for a similar price, I dare say this is going to last a lot longer.

The best thing of all, and to set my Mum's mind at rest, Suky is so much better this morning.  

After an afternoon and evening of snuggling on the sofa with Mum yesterday, scrambled egg for tea, a good nights sleep and half of her usual amount of breakfast (dried food but moistened with water until it was soft) she is much brighter eyed now.

We had a short doggy walk before bed last night and another this morning, and although she is very tired, she is happier in herself.  Now her washing is sloshing around in the washer, she drooled a lot of blood yesterday ... and she is farting for England.

A Pug's revenge is absolutely deadly!! 

Sue xx

St David's Day ... and a Tantalising Glimpse

 Happy St David's Day and the last St David's Day that we will see living in Wales.

While I have actually lived in England since October of last year, Isfryn ... our house and smallholding in Wales ... has still in my mind been thought of as home.  However, I noticed last week that in my head I have at last made the switch, now I see my flat as home and my future home ... only a hop, skip and a jump away ... will be even more my home.

When the tractor is sold and gone you know for sure you are no longer going to be working the land.

So next it's on to the tiniest home I have ever had and one I am so looking forwards to living in.  Once again I will be living near water, only this time it's the canal ... and here's a tantalising glimpse of my new home.

I walked past my new place yesterday.

 I was taking a round about way to the shops to get my daily exercise by getting onto the canal towpath near where I live now and walking along until I came to the white bridge that I have featured before on this blog ... not knowing I would one day be living by it ... and when I left the towpath and walked past the house and annexe the current owners were busy moving all their stuff out.  I wanted to time my walk to the shops, it turns out it's just a ten minute normal paced walk to the door of Aldi or Booths, just perfect.

And in a strange twist of fate I now live almost exactly opposite the mooring of my favourite miniature canal boat.  I wonder if they would sell it to me?  A small home and a teeny tiny barge would go brilliantly well together.  I could cruise down the canal to the shops and when I got home with the shopping my house would feel soooo big.  😀

I'm not back to blogging regularly yet but I will be back occasionally to keep you updated over the next couple of weeks and don't worry you will not miss out on any of the house before and after photos.

Stay safe and enjoy the daffodils.

Sue xx

Thank You

 

Thank you for all the comments on my last post.

You are, always have been, and always will be good friends.

❤

To Be What Others Expect of You

 

Just one weekend 

Was all it took

It gave me time to be.  

Not to think ... to just be.

Minimal phone interaction

No blogging

No Facebook or Instagram

Some sorting through things

Numerous doggy walks

Reading

Much reading

Television

and 

Sitting

Sitting staring into space with an open, empty mind.  

Calming and soothing and a realisation followed.

I hadn't picked up my camera at all, I hadn't once thought ... 'oh I must get a photo of this for the blog' or 'this would make for a good post'.  I had the weekend for me and me alone ...and it carried on forward.

I dared to take more time away than I said I would and the emails and messages started.  

'Are you okay?'

'Why haven't you blogged?'

'You said you would be back after the weekend!'

Yes, it can be called concern, and to those of you that did out of a sense of concern I thank you for that.  For the couple that said 'you have let us down',  I say no I did not!!  (Oh, and I also said 'Oh fuck off ...' when I read your message ... but that's just me. 😎 )

 I warned you I was going and I went, that I dared to take longer than the weekend is tough, but I will not apologise for not supplying something that is not vital to your survival.  I am not and never have been a day in day out blogger, I have dipped in and dipped out at my will and being pressured to supply entertainment is the one sure thing to make me rebel.

But hey, that is not why I have come to a decision.

Now I am dipping out.

For longer than a weekend.

I may be back in the near or far future, when and if I have something I wish to share.  After all there is a move imminent, a house sold and a home bought, so much to do and much to be done.  A life to change and a new adventure to begin, that may or may not work out.

But for now I will live my life without a camera in my hand without a thought of what will or won't make a good blog post.  It's not that I have run out of things to say it's that I just don't want to say them to anyone but myself for a while.

Take care, stay safe and perhaps I'll see you again on here once again.

Sue xx

Oh, I meant to add the blog will remain on here for those of you who use it as a bouncing off point to get to others that you read, or in case you wish to read through old posts again.  But after a couple of days I will be switching off comments ... just to annoy the autobots and trolls  😉

Time for Some Calm

 

I feel it's time for some calm, so I am taking a weekend off from my computer and most of social media.  There will be dog walks ... no matter what the weather ... and much watching of calming films and series on Netflix, and reading, there will be lots of reading.

In my absence I leave you with some of my favourite YouTubers and their latest videos.  SO pull up a chair, grab yourself a nice hot drink and relax into the films.

The Cottage Fairy

So much glorious snow.  This is just the video to watch with a steaming mug of coffee in your hands.

 Apronful of Stones

Including the village of Eyam and it's story.

Fairyland Cottage

Because watching someone else clean always inspires me to do my own 😀

My Vintage Lifestyle

To keep me on track with my ration recipe cooking.

I hope you enjoyed watching these videos from just four of my favourite YouTubers.  Do you have some that you watch that are along these lines, I would love to find a few more.

Sue xx

Office Bag to Office Bureau

When I lived in the Van I used this bag as my 'office', storing all sorts of papers, pens and notebooks in there.  Now I'm here at the flat I have the luxury of my lovely bureau and lots of the day to day office stuff was moved over ... but lots of stuff remained in the bag and in the spare room.

So  yesterday I decided to have a good hoick out and see if I could declutter anything from in there, anything to add to the numbers, I am currently looking for 21 items for todays figure and the spare room, where this bag is kept was my room of choice.

I kept finding things related to Challenges that I had either done or had planned to do.

Looking at the paper in the top left of this photo I remember asking readers of my Challenge blog to vote on what the next three Challenges would be.  I did the winning Yellow Sticker Challenge, and then one of the joint second place choices which was Shopping Hauls, the Cook from One Cook Book joint second and the third place choice of spending only £3.50 for a weeks food were never completed.

But as you can see from this photo I did start to plan the '50p a Day Challenge'.

I only managed to declutter five items from the bag because I classed all the ripped out pages from the notebooks and bits and bobs of paper items as just one thing.  But I did get the same sense of satisfaction from knowing that I had whittled down the bag a bit and tidied things up that needed putting into the bureau that is my work space.  The bag now holds all my unused notebooks and some stationery items that will be used in the future ... and I know that I will not have to buy myself am A5 notebook for a long time.

I was reading through the already decluttered Asda mini magazine before I put it into the recycling, and I came across this page.  What a good deal!!

Seemingly if you save up £280 or more on the Asda Christmas Savings Card before 21st November they will then add an additional £15 to your card.  There's not many places you can get that sort of interest rate at the moment.  It's well worth thinking about if you have an Asda near you.

Sue xx

 

Another Seven Days of Decluttering

 

Eight - An assortment of magazines and supplements.

All into the recycling, with a clear conscience.

So here I am carrying on with the 31 Day Minimalist Decluttering Challenge for January that I started HERE last week.  Turning it into a bit of a game does seem to make it easier and really keeps me in the mindset to push on.  After the first seven days I had managed to get rid of twenty eight items, you'll see how much that number has gone up by when you get to the bottom of this post  😀

Nine - bits and bobs from the kitchen.

The lids don't stay on the little containers, the Xanthan Gum was bought for one recipe and never needed again and is now out of date, I have soooo many little jam jars now I might as well recycle these.  I just don't roast things that need bags and these have been in my drawer for far too long.  The coconut bowl ... well it leaks, very badly!!

Ten - Most of my jam making equipment.

Any batches made in future will be much smaller, and I just do not have the room to store such a lot of stuff in my new kitchen.  I sold this on Facebook Marketplace for £30.

Eleven - an assortment of glass and plastic containers and bottles.

These all went straight into the recycling bins, before I could change my mind.

Twelve - A random hotch potch of things from the kitchen cupboards.  

I just don't use any of them and I am determined that I will not be moving  with anything that will just sit in cupboards not being used

Thirteen - a random selection of things that I found on a quick ten minute sweep this morning ... as I had day 13 missing from my photos!!

Fourteen - Bits and Bobs from the kitchen in Wales.

So, with week two complete that was a grand total of  105  items that have gone from my life and that will not need moving with me to my new home ... and it really feels good.

Sue xx