From debt to freedom...

crazy_cat_lady

Congratulations to your DD, and what a fantastic sounding celebration. Your kids really sound amazing (apart from DS1 and his attitude), and I'm pleased that you're all rallying round each other. 
I have signed up for the Academoney course - did it ages ago but haven't started yet as my house project is taking all of my time.
As for your ex and his lying, manipulative behaviour -

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Janb5, Cherryfudge, SH and CCL.

The past weekend has been lovely. It’s been good to unwind from the past term and to get out for some decent walks. DD2 came to the allotment with me on Saturday and we started to tackle some of the weeds that have trying to take over! We got the third sowing of runner beans in, which will be a late crop, but better some than none.  We carefully wired the bed so hoping that these seedlings will escape the rabbits’ attention. The sweet peas are in full bloom which look and smell amazing. I’ve sown “Painted Lady” and “ Black Knight” , which is a deep purple colour. There are a couple of “ Purple pimpernel” which is my absolute favourite -  a 2 tone purple flower.  The calendula sown a few weeks ago has started to flower. It’s a vivid orange, great splash of colour!

Yesterdays walk was a circular 3 mile walk, taking a couple of public footpaths across the fields. There was a warm breeze which was most refreshing. The view was as breathtaking as ever, we could see for miles around. The fields that have maize growing in them are a darker green than the fields used for grazing. The cows are like black and white dots scattered across the far fields.  Other fields have bales at various intervals, where the grass has been cut, baled and wrapped and awaiting removal to a farmyard. It’s one of those views that you could never tire of. We saw a few early blackberries already so have resolved to always take a pot with us for the next few weeks to be able to pick as many blackberries as we can.

The blackcurrants are plentiful at the allotment so I’ve frozen quite a few and made blackcurrant torte for pudding last night. I’m really pleased that the plum tree that I planted a few years ago seems to have bearing its first proper crop, so waiting for them to change colour , ready to pick.


This week is a birthday week with one child starting the week and another child having a birthday on Friday. The birthday child on Friday has decided he wants a BBQ at the allotment so I have a little more weed clearance to do to create a space in the spot he wants! Today’s birthday child did want a day at the beach but the weather has been very mixed. I really don’t mind the beach in a fair amount of drizzle  but when it’s lashing down, it’s not quite such fun! Hoping for some dry weather later this afternoon.

It was a NSD yesterday but I don’t think today will be as DD has requested a takeaway for tea.  The cake is made and just needs to be iced.

Have a good day everyone!

Honeysucklelou2

Sweet peas, cornflowers and cerinthe from the allotment.

janb5

Hi HSl, we have blackberries near us ready for picking now so have already fast froze them and are in the the freezer. I made a practice now of writing down your plants to plagiarize you!  My cerinthe aren`t as well developed as yours but are making steady progress.
Your flowers are stunning!

sashybo

Beautiful flowers Honeysuckle, I just love sweet peas. 💕 I also have some calendula and they are lovely bright flowers, they germinated very quickly and have done well for me so will definitely grow more next year. 😀 

Good luck with the birthday week. 👍 

Cherryfudge

Thanks for the flowers  
They're exquisite.

crazy_cat_lady

What beautiful flowers they are. That makes me want to like gardening.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Janb5, Cherryfudge, Sashybo & CCL. I do love sweet peas and the fact that the more you pick, the more they bloom 🙂.

Yesterday was wet all day until about 8pm so to make the day feel like a birthday, I took the birthday child and the 3 of the children to the cinema. The older ones were all working.  I was impressed by the cinema’s organisation. It’s a small independently owned cinema, but they had utilised various doors to create a one way system in and out. We pre- booked and paid for the tickets online, so all I had to do was show the booking code on my phone when we got there. The website gave a small choice of seats that were available so  we knew exactly where we were going when we got there. Every other row was deliberately empty to allow for social distancing, so it felt safe. We very rarely go to the cinema so it was a birthday treat.

The birthday cake was iced on our return. The birthday child loves doughnuts, the iced and sprinkled ring doughnut kind, so I made the birthday cake as a sponge version of an iced  ring doughnut! DD1 found a brilliant idea for Friday’s birthday cake, although I think I’ll have to start it tomorrow in order to get it done for Friday 😄. She found a cake design in the shape of a Doritos packet. Since these are his snack of choice , it seems a fun design to try.

I’ve been up early to give myself some reading time and time for a run, so hoping to have a productive day at home and at the allotment.
Have a good day everyone!

Honeysucklelou2

Tuesday was definitely productive...after my run ( usually do evening runs, not morning runs, but think evening works better for me!) I popped to the Post Office to get money out to pay a bill, then delivered the payment. I obviously don’t get out mid morning during the week as I’m at work but it was amazing how many conversations I had with neighbours on my walk to the village. I had a couple of conversations about pigs - a debate I have with myself every few months. One neighbour helpfully gave me some tips about making pens and which breeds to avoid!  I still think it would be a good way to naturally rotovate the slightly wilder sections of the allotment. I will keep pondering...

I was very grateful for the dry and breezy weather and got at least 3 loads of washing washed and dried. DD3 folded most of it because she wanted to😳😀. It was a lovely surprise to find it folded .

I got outside for most of the afternoon, clearing the remaining nettles from the back garden. The back garden is not used to its full potential as my gardening focus tends to be on the larger front garden or the allotment. I thought I’d got the nettles out last year as I pulled out roots, but obviously not. I rediscovered the pyracantha I planted last summer,  which is doing well and the first flowers of the  anenome.  Tomorrow’s job, or rather today’s job, will be to trim the hedge back and tidy more. I need to measure an area to see what dimensions of shed/outdoor building we could get to be a studio space for DD1.

I do confess to spending some money at the garden centre. DD1 and I popped in so as to find out prices for sheds which we did, but the seed section proved the temptation. I bought some Swiss chard seeds, pumpkin as DS3 was very keen to grow them, some primula vialli seeds and some more echinacea. Having carefully nurtured the echinacea seeds to a point I could pot them on, slugs decimated them overnight😡, so I’m starting again with those. The cost of the seeds was still cheaper than a mature echinacea plant😏.

Cherryfudge

What a very productive day! I always like hearing about your gardening, and I'm glad I'm not the only one to rediscover last year's plantings. I've had problems with losing seedlings to slugs, too. At first I thought the herbs weren't germinating very well but now I'm not so sure.