From debt to freedom...

Spendless

Well done to DD3. You've certainly got them all flying through learning to drive. 

Good idea to go out and do something for yourself midweek when ex calls 

Can all his stuff lying around the garden, be condensed into one area? 

Plans for the garden sound good.  

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Spendless. Good question...the ex can be described as somewhat of a hoarder albeit with things like tools and wood, so there are boxes of wood that are soaking wet, so no use  to burn unless they have been thoroughly dried out. He also seems to have a collection of paving slabs 🤷‍♀️, not even textured or different coloured ones, just huge slabs of concrete.

Friday was busy, but I didn’t get done all that I had hoped. Quite a bit of the day was taken up with taxiing. I drove to the nearest big town 4 times to facilitate children’s work / social activities.

In-between journeys, I was able to get out for a longer walk with my friend. I took the youngest 2 with me. DS3 did really well given that it was a 4 mile walk. We started off walking down a lane that quickly changed to a stony track. The hedgerows were amazing, very high. I’m used to sizeable hedgerows, a feature of the area of the UK I live in, but these were higher than usual. The branches of the trees on either side met in the middle, giving the sense of walking through a tunnel. As the leaves aren’t yet  on the trees, it was quite light, but I imagine in the summer it will be a different experience! We followed the track for a mile or so, past ancient looking trees, some of which had interesting specimens of fungi growing out from branches. Some grew out from the branch like horizontal plates, in a rusty brown colour. I must get a fungi id book so 
I know more about the different types. The celandines and  dandelions were creating a near constant path of yellow beside the main track. On the ground we could see lots of  neatly nibbled, halved  hazelnut shells. The stony track eventually came to a lane from which we turned onto a public footpath across several fields. The moles were evident by the huge mounds of earth which always delights DS3. In one field, the landowner had helpfully mown a track to guide walkers. The public footpaths led to the local woods that are a favourite walk of ours, albeit from the opposite end of the woods than we are used to. It’s incredible the changes in just a couple of weeks since we last walked in the woods. Rather than brown earth, there is a carpet of vibrant green bluebell foliage. Some of the early bluebells were in flower. It’s another walk that begs to be done again in a couple of weeks, to be able to appreciate bluebells en masse. 

On the last trip into the nearest big town DS1 asked me to pick up some things he wanted - 2 boxes of breakfast cereal, one of which was an Oreo cereal. I was so shocked at the price -£3.99 for a smallish box - I had to ring him to check that I’d got the right product 😳! They looked just like the 99p Mr T’s own brand of chocolate hoops that I sometimes get as a treat for the little ones!

Honeysucklelou2

Last day of holiday before the new term starts. Yesterday was spent getting the rest of the prep done for the beginning of the term. It took more time than I thought so sadly didn’t get anywhere for a walk. I will make sure I do today! 

I ended up sowing seeds at dusk to try and catch up...2 different kinds of tomato, Gardener’s Delight & Sugar Gloss. Unfortunately I’ve lost a few of my first sowing of tomatoes. They were lovely healthy looking plants when I took them to the allotment greenhouse but I think the extremes of temperature between day and night killed them. Unusually for here, we are still having nightly frosts. Frosts are usually a rare occurrence after mid March, so this year’s frosts are  having an impact on growth and germination rates. Looking back to last year, I had sold a few plants at the garden gate whereas this year I haven’t.

Off to get some baking done for the week ahead.

Have a good Sunday everyone.

Kitten868

I know its silly but your post about catching the dog in the act made me laugh. I imagined her looking at you with shock and shame at being caught out. 

I'm glad you've had such lovely walks in your time off and totally agree about the weather being so odd for the time of year xxx

Honeysucklelou2

Kitten868 said:

I know its silly but your post about catching the dog in the act made me laugh. I imagined her looking at you with shock and shame at being caught out. 

I think the dog’s eardrums were ringing from my scream of shock and horror😂. It certainly brought DS2 running😳😂.

Honeysucklelou2

The sun was making the celandines seem almost luminous along the path that we walked on today.

Honeysucklelou2

Blackthorn blossom, so beautiful against the brilliance of the sky.

savingholmes

Beautiful photos - thanks for sharing.
Can you grow the tomatoes on the kitchen windowsill instead?

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you SH. My window sills are crammed with plants at the moment...bit reluctant to move them to the greenhouse until the frosts stop! Hopefully that will be soon!!

What a bizarre morning. I checked my bank balance, as I do most days, to check that a direct debit had gone and to my surprise I found my balance was £500 more than I expected it to be. When I checked the transactions it would appear that I’ve had something from HMRC and it’s titled C19 support. I’ve not heard of this and haven’t applied for anything so am completely mystified. Just hope that it doesn’t mean the tax credits will drop suddenly from next week🤷‍♀️. Please don’t think I’m ungrateful, far from it, just completely mystified.

Hoping to catch up at the allotment today before work starts again tomorrow.

Bluegreen143

@Honeysucklelou2 I thought I read something about a one-off £500 payment for households getting tax credits so I just looked it up for you https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-one-off-500-payment-for-working-households-receiving-tax-credits