Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

OK, well it's Wednesday now & looks set to be an extremely hot day. Too hot for me at any rate, once it gets going & as for Mr F, well he is the definitive cave troll in hot weather & will doubtless be working indoors in the coolest room all day.
I was out of bed at 6 am, so I went round opening all the windows to get some air in before it reaches the forecast 27 degrees. I like temperatures in the low 20s as it is warm enough to enjoy the sun & do outdoor stuff, but not so hot that I wilt into a heap. So I've been out in the garden early this morning. Mr F made me some coffee & cheese on toast and I got straight down to the greenhouse, carried all my trays of lettuces & beans outside plus all the courgette & squash plants. I potted up all my pepper plants into their final containers & planted out some teddy bear sunflowers. If you have never grown these, do try them next year, as they are so attractive & are dwarf ones so you don't have to stake them like the huge ones....you can also snip off the seed heads & leave them on the ground for the sparrows to peck at. I visited a garden where the gardeners had done this & arranged all the seed heads around the edge of the beds in a pattern, so I copy this idea now & when the seeds have been yummed, they get added to the compost bins. I'm digressing again, aren't I? Next task was planting 3 geraniums out into big ceramic pots & arranging them on the patio. I have had all but one of my geraniums for years & just cut them back & bring them into the conservatory in October where they spend the winter. My red geranium however was a bit of a money saving gem. You know how garden centres often have a plant hospital shelf usually full of sad pots of this & that? Well, I was queuing in a garden centre last year  - I remember it well because it was August & they were building their Christmas grotto!!!!!???!!***!!!  Anyway, I spotted this geranium on the rejects shelf & I can't remember how much it was priced at, but very little. It seemed quite bushy so I investigated it & it looked as though there were actually three plants in there. I bought it & tipped the pot out at home. There were defo 3  plants so I potted them up individually, gave one to my sis, one to my best friend & kept one myself. There was no indication as to the colour or type of geranium, but it is now flowering its planty socks off & is bright scarlet. I've just potted it into a light dusky blue pottery tub for summer on the patio & felt glad I saved it & that it is now appreciated. Garden centres were a terrible temptation for me back in the Spendy Years. I went most weeks & they were a major source of budget leakage (or they would have been, if I'd had a budget back then which I never did). There are definitely bargains to be had there though & this geranium was one of them. Since the LBM, which was long overdue, I have relied much more on my gardening knowledge & skills & the crazy thing is that I think my garden looks better for it. You see, if you are dividing up plants you already have to make new ones for filling gaps, you inevitably end up with 4 or 5 plants which are repeated regularly throughout your whole garden & this results in a more homogeneous look & a 'cottagey' feel, which is what I like, as I will always be a cottage gardener in style, like my Mum was, as I like a relaxed tangle of colour & the hum of bees. 
It is now already too hot out there to do any more garden tasks until this evening. I've got a cool linen top & maxi skirt on today, so I could keep going a bit longer myself, but most of my priority jobs out there atm involve planting stuff out into borders & it is just too hot for new plants to endure that until later. So I am going to check for surveys......my Prolific points are mounting up quite nicely, then take my book & knitting out onto a shady bench.
Managed to get suncream onto cat's ears & nose (he has had skin cancer from sunburn ever since we adopted him - very white ears & nose) but he went straight out & licked every scrap of it off as he does every single time. At least he's indoors now, avidly watching the people over the road drilling up their old patio.......I think we must have started a trend!
Take care today.....plenty of water & sensible amounts of sun, please.
F xx

foxgloves

Hi Kantankrus me owd duck....yes, I was brave letting Mr F cut my hair, but even when my salon is allowed to open, it is absolutely tiny, just 3 chairs & I think I would prefer to avoid such a small space for a good while longer.....which meant I had to ask him to wield the scissors. I agree about the depressing nature of grey roots. My hair went grey early - I can't actually say when as I have coloured it for so long (even before began going grey). I used to have a salon colour back in the Spendy Years, but the much needed LBM & subsequent concentration on debt repayment, coupled with a growing allergic reaction to the dye they used led me to change to home colouring it myself & I'm fine with that. I am thinking I'd quite like to dye it a pale mauve shade, as I don't think the roots would be quite a visible with that (I'm not sure though, as I am dying it quite fair at the moment, which is my natural colour - mid to dark blonde). If I change brand, I have to be very strict over doing the skin test, as I have had a shocking allergic reaction in the past & although it was many years ago & hasn't happened since, I still avoid all varieties of that particular brand just in case & always do the skin test. But I do quite fancy lilac hair for summer.
Enjoy your allotment time today. 
F x

HairyHandofDartmoor

foxgloves said:

Chrystal - I've noticed that I definitely shed hair when I am under prolonged periods of stress. I first noticed it when I was about 30 & waiting for a big surgery. Then it was noticeable again when my Dad died & again when we had Mum in hospital & all the aftermath of her death. It isn't enough actually to notice looking in the mirror but it is always a shock to see how much comes out when I comb it. Then when the stressful times subsides, it stops & goes back to normal.
F x

The exact same thing happens to me. My hair gets thin around my parting and lots falls out when I comb and wash it, but only when I'm stressed. When I feel calmer it thickens up again. It makes my hair all different lengths!

foxgloves

That's exactly it, HHoD! I seemed to be having so much hair coming out when Dad died (he had the most horrible lung illness & had been poorly for a long time so the stress had been building for a while)..... when I went for a trim, I mentioned to my hairdresser that she would probably notice it being thinner. She said she didn't & said I had plenty of hair, but that's not what it felt like when it was coming out in my comb! I did wonder if it was maybe due to the menopause but it wasn't as it stops as soon as my stress levels start to revert back to normal.
F x

foxgloves

Didn't go back to my garden jobs, as it has barely cooled down at all this evening, but has got increasingly muggy. However, I finished reading my book, did next week's meal plans & wrote the grocery shopping list plus a short list of bits & pieces we shall need to get in town on Friday morning. I'm going to knit more of my jumper tonight, watch 'Sewing Bee' & moan about being too hot.
Mr F has to go into work tomorrow so I'm going to aim for an early start too, & get some planting done first thing before the temperatures heat up again.
F x

Pixiehouse55

Morning everyone. I've had a busy few days so not been on.
When my mum was alive but poorly her anxiety was really bad and she lost some of her hair, I brought her some shampoo from Boots which helped her hair grow back. It was a blue and red bottle, I cant remember what it was called but it worked.
Hurt my back the other day picking a pot up, so not done much apart from knitting washing and ironing. I did buy a new microwave for our kitchen, our old one was playing up. Hubby still tiling the kitchen, then paint the walls and then its finished.
Had a phone call on Monday, the company are back here next Wednesday to finish the rest of the work from the burst pipe. 
Brussel sprouts potted up and more cuttings taken from my fuchsias. No food shopping done since last Thursday I think it was. 
Hope you are all ok and enjoying the sunshine?   Our beach/town is packed. Lots of people saying home out the way of all the visitor's.  Blooming stupid!!,  there will be a second bout of the virus at this rate
Keep safe.  

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams,
Another early start, out of bed by 6.10 to fling open all the windows for some cool air. Managed to get sun cream on cat's ears before he'd come to his senses so that was at least a small victory, as he was too bothered about securing his breakfast to think about licking it all off, which is his usual M.O.
Mr F had to go into work today so I cracked on with tidying up & a few random jobs, including feeding my sourdough jar ready to make a loaf tomorrow. I have some yeast left, but am keeping it for baking bread rolls, so my loaves will pretty much all be sourdough ones until yeast re-appears in the shops.......although I can get fresh yeast on the local market if I get desperate.
Useful couple of hours in the garden - planted out a new little bed of lettuces - variety 'Lettony' - a nice reliable one, with no bitterness, I've grown it before. I moved my rocket tub into the shade as it is really lush atm & I don't want it to bolt in this hot weather. I also did a bit of weeding/clearing before planting out more verbena bonariensis, cosmos & echium blue bedder. I noticed a few self-sown borage plants had popped up, so I've moved those to a better spot - a lovely shade of blue & the bees like them. Free plants, what's not to love? Too hot to continue so came in, skyped my sister & then decided that with clothes shops not opening for a while yet & fitting rooms likely to remain closed even when they do, I needed to get online & sort out my summer clothes problem. I only intended to buy one black t-shirt & one pair of M&S cotton footless tights for this summer. Oh haha, what a crazy hope that was! So far since the hot weather arrived, I have had to put one of my favourite tunic tops in the bin as it had worn completely through to holes. I'd still got a similar style top from F*tface which I wear loads so I wasn't too fussed about buying a replacement. But last time I ironed it, I noticed that it too has holes developing in the back - not because I've caught it on anything, it has just simply worn out. Then this morning, well it was the final straw! I put my lovely linen top on & my fingers went straight through the material at the front where it had worn very thin. I had a bit of a strop about things not lasting, then Mr F said calmly 'Um, Babe, how long have you had that top?' Well, I remember exactly where I bought it, as it was in a hippyfied shop on a special birthday weekend away. I insisted on trying it on & there was no fitting room so I asked to try it on in their office! That was exactly 6 years & 3 weeks ago. I have worn that top regularly every summer since, so I guess it didn't owe me anything. So this afternoon, I've ordered two linen tunic tops & two pairs of cotton/lycra cropped leggings as it really is too hot atm for the vast majority of stuff left in my wardrobe. It was more money than I wanted to spend, but I received news of a surprise payment of money this week & I am grateful for this, as it will cover most of the cost, plus I can sub the rest in from our clothing savings pot. Fancy 3 tops carking it almost simultaneously! I do have a lovely boldly coloured summer dress I'd like to be wearing but it is uncomfortably tight around the waist atm so it will have to be a work in process.
Well m'dears, that was a bit of a ramble, wasn't it? Time for a cup of tea & as it hasn't yet cooled down enough for getting more plants in, I think I shall spend some time on the shady bench (we have 'shady' & 'pondy') & start reading my next book.
Take care all,
F x

HairyHandofDartmoor

Glad you got some new clothes Foxgloves, it sounds as if you needed them so enjoy them . 

Tescodealqueen

I feel your pain Foxgloves. I finally gave up.on my favourite light fleece cardigan this spring when it felt so rough and was see through in parts.  I was wearing it while looking through some old photographs and realised that I was wearing the same cardigan in the photo. That particular holiday was in 1996! It was still with reluctance that I let it go

foxgloves

I tend to be like that too, TescoDQ..... well, since the LBM, anyway. If I like a garment these days, I tend to wear it until it falls to pieces, as this week has demonstrated!
F