Slow Living

Good morning peeps!

Slowing down, living mindfully, regaining balance and finding contentment doesn't happen overnight. It creeps up on you when you are least expecting it and starts invading your conscience. You begin to notice feelings of discontent - a 'what's it all for' feeling.
It's something like a 'lightbulb moment' - the moment you realise that needless buying of 'stuff' doesn't make you happy, having 'more' doesn't bring contentment and 'keeping up with the Jones' is only getting you further into debt.

I'm on a long journey getting back on my feet after a particularly bitter divorce, dealing with depression and debt and facing up to life with the chronic illness that is Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Taking baby steps towards a more simple life, de-cluttering and cutting out the dead wood is an ongoing process which I am finding so liberating.

I've now been chipping away at my debts for four years and little by little I am seeing them reduce. I am a whizz at budgeting now although sometimes it goes wrong and I have more month left than money! Thanks to careful stocking of the larder/freezers, the veg growing in the garden and eggs from my girlies I have always been able to put a meal on the table. It might not be a gourmet dinner but it fills a gap!

Retirement has helped enormously with the depression and the RA.

The biggest change in my life, however, has been getting in touch with the Seasons. I am very lucky to have a garden which backs onto farmland and forest and I have been able to watch the fields being ploughed, drilled and planted in the Autumn. Spring brings the tiny green shoots and early Summer sees the crop almost head-height and ripening in the sun. August sees the huge combines harvesting the crop and when 'all is safely gathered in' the whole process starts again. All the time, the sun and the moon watch over the Earth, sending warmth and light to nurture us ....

A new baby ....

Just a quick post today to introduce my new baby!

This was the day after we brought him home! It was all a bit much for him!
He's now four months old, creating havoc wherever he goes (usually with half of my garden in his mouth!)

Back in charge...

Life has been pretty full on these last few months.

I have slipped seamlessly into the joy that is retirement. No more alarm clock, no more office/school politics - in fact, no more clock watching.  Full stop!

The rheumatoid is being carefully controlled and monitored and being able to rest when I need is a blessing.

My garden is flourishing.

My vegetable beds are now complete and planted.

My spaniel pack has increased by one!

My daughter is coming to the end of A'levels

I have had cause, these past few weeks, to do a bit of 'personal stock-taking'. Re-assessing my priorities, deciding which bits of my life to keep and which to ditch.

All in all, I have never been happier or more content to face the future.

BRING IT ON......

My, oh my - where did that year go?

Oops - long time, no see. No excuses, no note from the parentals - simply couldn't 'get into' blogging.

Not that I didn't have anything useful to say - No Sirrreee.....

HOWEVER......

Big news is that I have been awarded early retirement on medical grounds. Long-time readers may remember that I have been teaching Food Technology in a primary school for the past five years.
Whilst I absolutely loved my job, it was becoming harder and harder to keep going, having been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis.  Back in January I started the long process of applying for an early retirement award and this was finally agreed in March.
My last day at school will be June 6th ..... watch this space!

I feel relieved that I can, at last, concentrate on this b****y disease and getting the pain under control. For those of you who have no knowledge of RA, it is an auto-immune disease whereby the body's immune system turns on itself and attacks previously healthy joints. Symptoms include swollen and painful joints, extreme fatigue and catching any and every cold/flu bug that's going!!
There is no cure - the meds I'm on can only slow down the progress of the destruction of the joints.

So, for now, I'm spending each day pottering in my kitchen and my garden, pacing myself and resting when my body tells me it needs to....

All of which gives me time to pick up my blog again! See, every cloud has a silver lining.....

Happy Father's Day!

Good morning peeps!

In the UK today it is Father's Day.

Those of us with old-fashioned values tend to call Mother's Day, the celebration of mothers,  'Mothering Sunday'. This originates from the sixteenth century when people returned to their 'Mother Church' for a special service. In later years it became the custom for those 'in service' (probably at 'the big house') to be given the day off to visit their own mothers.

However, 'Father's Day' was inaugurated in the 1920's in the United States to complement Mother's Day. A quick 'google' tells me that this is a 'commercial' festival - and that presents me with a huge problem ......

You will all be familiar by now with my hatred of shopping, advertising and commercialism. Since I cut those out of my life, I have been so much happier. So how could I honour my own father without resorting to buying those over-priced cards and  ridiculous presents that will only sit in a drawer?

Here's how......

Daddy,

In our family, we've never been ones to show much physical affection or tell each other 'I love you' but I just wanted to say, on this Father's Day, how lucky Jane and I are to have you as our daddy.

Thank you for all the times you have sat through dancing shows, school prize-giving, Sports Days and the time I got a medal for 'standing in a line on the stage'.

Thank you for all the times you have driven us hundreds of miles for dancing exams and competitions.

Thank you for picking us up from the school disco on the dot of 10 p.m.

Thank you for understanding when, at the age of 18, I announced that I was going off around the world on cruise ships to fulfil my dream.

Thank you for picking me up at ungodly hours from airports when I was on shore leave from said cruise ships!

Thank you for helping me decorate my first little tiny house.

Thank you for giving me my dream wedding. My only regret in life is that I couldn't keep my family together when you made such big sacrifices to keep yours intact.

Thank you for coming all the way to Holland to see your first grandson, even though there were more tubes and wires than baby!

Thank you for picking up the pieces when my marriage failed.

Thank you for being there when my beloved Samuel Spaniel was put to sleep.

Thank you for being 'Bank of mum and dad' in emergencies.

In short, thank you for everything - I love you.
xxxxxxxxxxxx

GGGrrrrrrr..........

Morning Peeps,

I am a cross bunny today! Want to know why? Read on...

I live by the mantra 'Reduce, Re-use, Recycle'

and  'Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without'.

So when I saw a garbage truck this morning with a HUGE poster on the side showing a pile of dirty plates with a mountain of food on and the tag line 'Too Much on Your Plate?' with the intention of reminding us to recycle our food waste into the little plastic tubs the local council has dished out, I saw RED.

For goodness sake, what is going on here?

 

If you find yourself with food left over on your plate I suggest the following:

 

1)  Don't cook so much in the first place! Result: save money, lose weight, zero waste

 

2)  If, by chance, you have cooked too much, can you serve it again tomorrow as part of another dish?

 

3)  Can you portion it up and freeze for another day?

 

 

4)  Can you put it in a plastic tub and take it to work to reheat the following day (thus saving having to buy expensive sandwiches)

 

5)  If you have dogs, they are the best waste disposal units ever (do not feed onions, leeks, chocolate or grapes)

 

6) Don't have dogs? Feed your back garden chickens.

 

7) Don't have chickens?  Find a neighbour who does and donate ( I often get home from work to find my neighbour has popped some fruit or bread in the chicken run!!)

 

8) Put it in your compost bin - uncooked food only otherwise you will be visited by rats)

 

9)  If the leftovers contain bones i.e. chicken bones, use them to make stock. Not enough to make stock? Stick them in the freezer until you have gathered enough!

 

10)  If none of the above apply, THEN AND ONLY THEN put it in the council food recycling bin.

 

Cor blimey! It's not rocket science.  I wonder how much the council spent getting the advertising people to design that poster, then printing it, then pasting it on the side of the truck etc. etc. etc.....

 

Over to you, dear Reader, any other food waste suggestions?

 



Long time, no see....

Sometimes, life has a habit of getting in the way doesn't it?

No excuses, just busy trying to keep body and soul together whilst on a Debt Management Plan. I still believe it was the best thing to have happened to me - having my credit cards taken away and finally facing up to the fact that I had financial problems.

A year on, and things are still plodding along steadily.  The debt continues to come down, I am managing to stick to my strict budget and the odd 'wallet wobbler' hasn't thrown me too much (thanks to the Bank of Mum and Dad helping out with an unexpected - and very sad - vet's bill).

My beloved Jessie, the middle springer, was put to sleep about a month ago. Age 10, she was suffering from kidney failure and in the later stages of heart failure so I had to make the incredibly painful decision to say goodbye.

At Springfield Cottage, I am busy sowing and growing - FINALLY, after a very cold and wet start to the growing season. My potatoes only went in two weeks ago - almost a month late - but they are already putting on strong growth. I have also planted chard, kale, leeks, pak choi, lettuce, french beans, red and white onions, cabbage and carrots. The greenhouse protects tomatoes, chilli peppers and sweet potatoes. If that lot all grow we should be OK for winter veg. The herb garden is also coming along a treat. I use a lot of herbs in my cooking and it saves a fortune by not buying imported herbs from the supermarket.

With a 16-year old teenager in the house, we are in the middle of GCSE's.  I can remember revising for my O'levels during a long, hot, drought-ridden 1977. The stress is just the same, just different topics!! All talk right now is about 'THE PROM' .... dresses, hair, make-up, nails, transport. We never even had a school disco! After my last exam, I walked down the school drive and out into my future and never saw any of my school friends again.

But that's because I went to work on cruise ships for the next 7 years - but I'll keep that story for another time!!!