Put away your purse & become debt-averse

wishingthemortgaheaway

Morning Foxgloves,

I love reading your tales of clothes purchasing. I have been saving for a few months to have a 'style day' colours, style and make up to suit my personality and colourings. My friend says she purchased only the 'right' clothes now so has saved money since her style experience.

Reading your tales of expensive wardrobe malfunctions is helping me stay in the straight and narrow of not buying any more clothes until I've been to see the consultant - I'm down to 3 pairs of jeans, 6 tops and 1 pair of 'everyday' shoes. A capsule wardrobe at its most minimalist......

However, once the sessions are done, I shall still need your steely, thrifty determination to not just go out and splurge because I 'think' it's the correct thing.

Thank you for sharing. Love your writing as always.

Wish.

foxgloves

Hi Wish, Oh yes, I know the kind of styling sessions of which you speak. I hope you enjoy that when it comes around. It will be expensive to go out & buy a whole wardrobe in your new colours & style, but I'm sure if you buy 2 or 3 new basics afterwards, you can replace things as you go along. Or perhaps you could ask for a gift card or a bit of clothes spending money for Christmas?
It's nice to hear you still enjoy reading my diary. I am gearing myself up to return to some of my creative writing projects this autumn & I'm really looking forward to that.
F x

wishingthemortgaheaway

That's the plan, I've got some money saved for the post consultation shop and money for Christmas is definitely on the cards.
I hope you get some time to write this autumn.

foxgloves

Oh my giddy aunt, I think I will soon turn into a pear. It's been pears, pears, pears all day, having sent Mr F up the ladder yesterday afternoon to pick the last of this year's crop.
I've sorted them into 'Best'.... for eating as they are (they're conference pears & are lovely & juicy), 'Not so good but sliceable' and 'shonky & weird'. I peeled, cored & sliced a big pan full for poaching in lemon juice. water, cinnamon, ginger & a bit of sugar. They will be yum on porridge. I'll freeze any that don't get eaten in the next couple of days. The 'shonky & weird' category were turned into pear bbq sauce - my own recipe - which Mr F really likes on just about everything. It didn't matter what the pears looked like for that, as everything's simmered until soft then blitzed with a hand blender, pressed through a sieve then bottled.
So just another kilo or so to eat our way through for our daily fruit, & that will be our pears done with for another year.
I did break off from pear-based activities to make my annual phone call to our insurance provider. Same every year. Renewal quote arrives. I phone to ask why my premium has increased by over 33% when I haven't made a claim & the current UK inflation rate is around 2%. They can't give me an answer, so I inform them I'm letting my policy lapse & going straight online to buy EXACTLY THE SAME policy at the new customer price. In fact, this time, I actually increased our cover & it STILL cost less than the figure I was quoted. What a silly, exploitative industry!
Ah well, I've moaned at them for another year.
Time for some intensive knitting now,
F x

foxgloves

I bet you're really looking forward to it, Wish. And great that you've saved for it, too.
Re the writing. Thanks, yes, I'm going to make time. I am going to finish the first draft, then I will be confident that the plot holds together. The next stage will be editing & re-writing and that's the bit I really enjoy. I was progressing quite well with it until everything with poor Mum last year, & I must prioritise getting back to it.
F x

HairyHandofDartmoor

Your disastrous coat purchase story made me laugh :rotfl:. I bought a leather jacket years ago and wore it once because it wasn't 'me'. That ended up at the charity shop .

Your pearfest sounds lovely and what a lot of things you've made with them .

foxgloves

I do get a lot of wear from my leather jacket, HHoD, but there is a jacket/wrap thing in my summer clothes ottoman which barely gets worn. It's quite unstructured, in a soft drapy Jersey fabric. It's very colourful, a sort of Eastern-looking paisley type design. I loved it when I saw it in the shop but not the price. A couple of months later, it appeared on the sale rail half price & I had a gift card so I bought it. It looks nice with jeans, but because of its very distinctive colours/pattern, it can only really go over a black top & I have nothing suitable, nor did I when I bought it. I assumed that finding a stylish but casual black tunic style top would be really easy, but three years on, I'm still looking! Without that, the jacket is unwearable. I've tried lots of charity shops too, but nothing all black in the style I require. If I don't find anything suitable by Spring, I think I will ask my sis if she can do a bit of clever sewing & turn it into a top.
So even though I paid a reduced price, it wasn't a bargain at all, because I never wear it. Grrrrr!
BTW, love your word 'Pearfest' - it has definitely been one of those in my kitchen this year!
F x

foxgloves

From the Pear House, Pear Street, Pearshire, Pearland, the Pearniverse.
That feels like it should be my new address.
I thought I would be moving on from pears after breakfast, when we had some of the very autumnal pear & cinnamon compote I cooked yesterday on top of our porridge.
But no, there was lots left, so I divided it into three decent-sized containers & froze it.
Then outside to tackle more garden border clearing. I have so many new (free) plants to put in, but I can't get on with that until the borders have been hacked back, weeded & generally assessed to see where the gaps are. Anyway, I really enjoyed it until I went indoors to switch the coffee machine on (we run on caffiene in this house) & walked something unspeakable-looking into the lobby. Closer inspection revealed it not to be something from the business end of our cat (thank goodness!) but the remains of a mushy decaying pear! I always leave some windfalls for the blackbirds to enjoy - I love seeing them tucking in - but they are terrible for starting one pear, then moving onto another, then another, so the first ones just sit & rot. The rain adds to the general squishiness, then the Head Gardener comes along & sticks her size 5s right in them. So more pear-based activity, as I decided to pick out the still decent windfalls for my feathery friends before scraping up the brown puree from all their pecked over rejects. As there were loads of leaves under the pear tree too, I fetched the grass rake & gathered up four trugs full for the garden wheelie bin. It's good exercise, raking. I could feel my calorie burning halo positively sparkling with virtue. Unfortunately now, several hours later, all I can feel is my aching muscles & knackered state, so I'm just going to have a coffee with Mr F who is home from work early today, then I intend to jump (probably more of a slow clamber....) in a hot bath to undo all the knots.
If you all lived nearer, you'd be finding pink primroses on your doorsteps! I'm busy dividing all my biggest ones & I've too many again, really, but never mind, they are just as useful for filling containers for free, as they are for early spring border colour.
Still nothing from the solicitors. I'd have thought they'd want to be finishing off all the final stuff asap so as to be able to present me with the bill!
Enjoy your evenings, all.
F x

foxgloves

Hello diary readers,
A generally pleasant & gently productive day today. I deliberately did less work out in the garden this morning. My hands felt quite sore last night & were stiff this morning - I have the beginnings of osteoarthritis in them according to the Dr's diagnosis a few months ago - so I knew I'd done too much of the same repetitive movements & needed to find more of a balance today. Anyway, I was still outside bright & early. I planted up a section of flower border I cleared & it was lovely to do that with some of the delphiniums & aquilegia I grew from an old pack of seed I found at Mum's house, the self-seeded foxgloves I've been potting up and some allium bulbs. I got some for £2.99 when I ordered some other bulbs recently. It was a special offer & I hadn't really expected to get 50 bulbs! I'm giving some to my sis & best friend & will be incorporating 6 groups of 5 in my own garden. They should look lovely..... such tiny bulbs, but so much promise!
I was enjoying the sunshine & birdsong, so stayed out to pick the last of the beans, compost the plants & dismantle the bean frame. Then a swift prune of the black elder & it was time for coffee. Its amazing how much can be achieved in just an hour or so.
Tried a different slow cooker recipe today - Chicken jalfrezi - so had plenty of me-time this afternoon to progress a few things. Enough for tomorrow too, so I'll only need to heat it up & remember to get some garlic flatbreads out of the freezer.
Absolutely nothing exciting to tell you & tonight will have to be a knit-fest if I'm to stand any chance of getting this present knitted by the end of October, which is my preferred target date. I don't mind a quiet time though. Today is the anniversary of my Mum's death. It was all so very busy, stressful & sad this time last year. I've felt alright on the whole. It's been a pensive sort of day, but I'm also realistic about the fact that there wasn't going to be an alternative ending & it was a relief when Mum found peace.
I can barely believe a whole year has passed. I think the first months just went by in a crazy flurry as there was so much to do & since then, I've been trying to catch up at home & just embrace normality.
And so to knit.... I think I left it at the point where I need to knit a row of green bobbles!
Love to all,
F x

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sorry about your Mum's anniversary. I always find anniversaries like that very difficult as they make me feel sad. I'm glad you don't feel too bad. It is important to know that they are at peace and not suffering any more.

You sound like you had a lovely time in the garden . I think I may be starting to get arthritis in my hands, so I know what you mean about over doing the repetitive movements.

I hope you enjoyed your curry and flatbreads, they sound yummy. I wish I was your next door neighbour because then you could hurl pears and primroses over the fence at me :rotfl:.