From debt to freedom...

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you CCL & OBL.

OBL - Yes I did enjoy “The Salt Path”.   Parts of the book cover areas I know well, so it was interesting to read - I could visualise the places as she wrote about them. I remember reading the book “500 Mile Walkies” as a teenager, the book that inspired the Salt Path author to do the whole walk.

Yesterday was spent very simply but was restful and relaxing which is probably what we all needed after the ups and downs of last week.  I made some more simnel muffins and packed up a picnic and took the picnic and the Easter eggs to the allotment. I hide flags with names on around the allotment which the children have to find and swop for their chocolate egg. I usually dot a few smaller wrapped eggs around which they enjoy finding too. It was good to have time to stop and walk all around the allotment, the cultivated part and the wilder parts and just stop to think how best it can be utilised. The older DSs have done well over the winter months to clear quite a big area  which now begs to be used in some way.  After the Easter egg hunt we just enjoyed the space and had a picnic in the more cultivated area. Hopefully off to get some work done at the allotment today. Yesterday was just about resting and enjoying the space.

Cherryfudge

I'm glad you had a peaceful day after the difficulties of the week before.
I like your way of doing an egg hunt. Much more imaginative than my just handing them over!

Tara66

Been reading your diary over the last couple of days and can only say wow, what a lady x

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Cherryfudge and welcome Tara66 - Thank you for your kind words.

We had snow this morning. Snow is rare in this neck of the woods at the best of times but April?! Really?! I had been thinking of turning the central heating off now that we are in April but am glad I heard about the colder weather coming and left it on.

After a couple of swirling snow showers, the weather stayed dry and cloudy, so I got out for a run. I was quite slow but got it done. When I got back though I couldn’t get warm for quite a while 🥶. I was fine while I’d been running.

I ended up spending the day tackling inside household jobs rather than outside. About a dozen statements were found ( from the unopened envelopes I’d let pile up). These have gone into an envelope for the solicitor. I found some red sunflower seeds from last year, so they can be sown tomorrow. After an hour or 2 of sorting and tidying, half a bag of clothes are ready to go to the clothes recycling bin, a whole bag of cardboard recycling and half a bag of paper recycling. The bedroom looks much clearer than it did.

Tea was an interesting invention! The younger ones had macaroni cheese, the older ones had a sausage stir fry concoction which they all said was tasty. Basically chopped up some sausages and cooked them with chopped onion, peppers and grated carrots mixed in some  BBQ sauce and served with noodles. Certainly helped to use some food that needed to be used.

DS1 is not happy with me 😔. He asked if his new GF could come and I said she was very welcome but she would have to just be in the garden as per the law at the moment. I thought from what he’d said, she would be visiting one day over the Easter weekend. Instead he turned up with her one evening when I wasn’t expecting it and brought her into the house. I had to point out that it is against the law for anyone to go inside someone else’s house, even if both people have had 2 jabs. I reiterated the current rules to him...so frustrating as I visited my parents in the garden and didn’t go inside, so why is it so difficult for him to understand that the rules apply to him too? In the end I had to say I wasn’t going to be complicit with breaking the law. He still seems very annoyed with me *sigh*.

Honeysucklelou2

I was up bright and early today to take DD1 to work. I like these mornings, even though it’s a very early start, it means I can get more done. So far I’ve been able to read for a while, research more on mortgages, which has made me feel a little more hopeful and been for a short, circular walk with the elderly lurcher which was refreshing.   It doesn’t seem quite as cold as yesterday. The stitchwort is out in the hedgerow and the primroses are looking splendid! The huge foxgloves leaves have grown and are evident in the hedgerow greenery and the first of this year’s bluebells are out🙂.

Yesterday was just too cold to take everyone to the allotment but am hoping that today will be more favourable. 

Have a a great day everyone.

Spendless

Love the idea of different sections of your allotment, the cultivated part sounds ideal for picnics. Could DS girlfriend join you for one there? Take away the temptation of the house and putting you in an awkward position?

I did a variation on the sausage stir fry recently. I had sausage tray bake, basically same idea different veggies that needed using up, peppers, onions, celery, garlic cloves and chilli flakes drizzled with olive oil and baked in the oven with the sausages, some chopped tomatoes/passata added later to 'moisten' the dish but then had new potatoes instead of noodles. I did a meat and veggie version for our household. Really good for using up odds and ends into a meal.

 

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Spendless - that is a good idea. I did buy her an Easter egg with view to her joining in the Easter egg hunt but DS informed me that she doesn’t like getting muddy😳. Perhaps a picnic would be better for getting to know her. 
I like the traybake  version...will have to try that.

Today has been quite productive. 30 tomato plants have been potted  on, until I ran out of compost again. I’ve bought some more, so that I can carry on tomorrow. The red sunflowers have been sown as have a tray of chives. A friend has had some of the first sowing of tomatoes and calendulas. I did try to sell some today at the garden gate but unfortunately it was too windy and the plants got completely wrecked 🙁. It’s deceptive, the garden can be warm and sheltered but at the gate it is much less sheltered. 

savingholmes

Glad you got some time for you to just read. Sorry your DS is not playing ball. Hope the legal side of things sort soon too.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you SH.

I’ve had a busy couple of days in the garden🙂. During the tidying up this week, I discovered a packet of sweet peas (Gwendoline), so these have now been sown. Gwendoline is a fabulous  pink variety with incredibly long stems. I’ve sown some nasturtiums ( Milkmaid). Today I need to pot on the kale and could do with digging over a bed at the allotment in order to get some carrots and parsnips sown.

Money wise, I’ve paid another £40 off a debt. After the resoluteness of getting the first window loan gone, I’ve found it harder to be as motivated about the bigger debts so have decided to set myself an end of month mini goal of getting below the next hundred. For this month it will mean trying to pay an extra £40 to meet this goal.

DS1 came home on Wednesday and ranted at me about my stance regarding Covid laws. After he’d calmed down I was able to discuss it with him and tried to help think of it in terms of minimising risk to his GF - after all we are a larger than average family and we work / go to school in different places.  Thankfully when his GF visited yesterday she joined most of  us for a walk, which was much better 🙂.

We got a coast path walk in this week, which was refreshing. The sea was calm - a turquoise blue close to shore and a deep grey blue out to sea. Most of the gorse is in flower, rather than individual clumps, so the whole air was coconut scented from the collective fragrance of the gorse. 

I think it will be much busier next week in terms of people being out and about. Self contained accommodation is allowed to open from Monday and it sounds like lots of places are fully booked. I think this weekend I will try to get to my favourite beach and then from next week we’ll go back to our lockdown routine of going to beaches within the parish which are thankfully less busy.

Spendless

Glad DS eventually listened to your reasonings. Don't get me wrong I think it has been very tough on teens with regards to friendships and relationships at what is an important time in their development and who frequently struggle to see the bigger picture that adults do.

Yes self catering can open for hols but not hotels. I only came across this when trying to book somewhere so we can go and look at the place where daughter has a drama school offer. It's also still the Easter hols in some areas which will contribute to it being busier.

I'd never considered you becoming demotivated, but when I read your words it reminded me of a time when I dieted for a wedding, and though I still had more to lose after the day I struggled with it because the focus of my main aim had gone. A mini goal is a great idea. I know you put the scores on the doors up some pages ago but was there a small debt amongst them? I know you should pay the highest interest first back, but wondering if there's a small not hard to achieve paying off amount in there so you could consider doing that and if that would mean a mindset of 2 debts down, x to go.