Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

I hear what you're saying, BaileysBabe & I do thoroughly sort the laundry & iron only what I consider requires it..... but I like natural fabrics... cottons, linen, etc, so they will always get ironed here because they look more scrumpled up than I am prepared to wear without it. I can't have it both ways! But I only iron once a week. If a garment isn't where it needs to be & misses my weekly laundry/ironing cycle, tough! It waits till the following week!
F x

Baileys_Babe

I too wear mainly natural fibres, cotton, linen, silk, cashmere. When doing the laundry I make sure not to overfill the machine and when drying it I make an effort to shake creases out before it is pegged, anything really to prevent me from needing to iron.

I brought up earlier @foxgloves as you always talk about it as if it's a burden.

foxgloves

I do find it a tedious task, BaileysBabe, there's no doubt about that, but there are worse jobs, so it's probably character building x

Baileys_Babe

Yes, character building 

foxgloves

Evening m'dears,
Well, it is bottom in chair time & I am primed with a seville orange gin & tonic at my side plus some butterscotch chocolate, just to ensure my blood sugar doesn't fall too low.......thus almost qualifying as medicinal.
Lots of activity today - I've sown the 2nd lot of beans - "Mamba", a french climbing variety which I haven't tried before. I've used big yoghurt pots again, as they give a nice deep root run & I put two beans in each. I also sowed another tray of lettuce "Lettony" and 3 packets of flower seed (more from Mum's neverending out of date understairs cupboard stash) - pansies, polyanthus & bellis daisies, all of which if they grow for me will be ready for autumn containers. I've also de-gunked the pond. I hadn't got very far before the water breached my rubber gloves, but I didn't care by then as I just wanted to get the job done. I removed heaps of an oxygenating plant which had got out of control plus loads of annoying duckweed. I also retrieved a pile of stones from the little 'hedgehog & bird' pebbly bit which had slipped down to the bottom of the pond. Finally I topped it up, which the 7 frogs in there at the time seemed to enjoy. Mr F has not been idle - He's dug over a bed which we left fallow last year & was consequently as hard as iron. I could barely get a spade into it & it would have made my hands too sore to tackle it, so he did that, with a good few breaks, as needs surgery (all routine appointments cancelled of course due to Covid) & is supposed to be behaving sensibly where physical exertion is concerned. He's knocked it into shape now & I think I will be able to fit all the sweetcorn plants plus 4 squash in there as planned. After that, he painted the black metal arch on our courtyard wall as it was looking rusty, peely & frankly a bit knackered. It has come up really well & I'm so glad I didn't get tempted to buy a new one, as a small tin of metal paint was much cheaper & there is plenty left for another project.
May & the first week of June are always mad for gardeners. Everything is getting hardened off & planted out and it takes a long time. I love it when everything is in place & I just need to concentrate on maintenance - weeding, watering, feeding & then my favourite bit.....going out with my basket & picking what's ready to eat!
I'm hoping to get more squash/courgettes planted out tomorrow and I also want to spend some time setting some goals for June.
Hope everyone is managing to stay well. 
F x

Baileys_Babe

Sounds like you have both achieved lots. We revived our gate with metal paint last year. It was a huge improvement and as you say the paint was so much cheaper than a new gate.

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams,
Just a quickie to check in. I have had a much gentler day today. I've skyped my sister, put a ham hock in the slow cooker for tonight's dinner plus leftovers for tomorrow & Tuesday, baked a sourdough loaf & written to my MP (one of the yes-men in cabinet). I've made tomorrow's packed lunch, changed the bed linen & set the washer on timer for an Economy 7 load in the early hours. Mr F has added another 4 sacks of pebbles to the border around our new patio. He can't finish it until after the main building work is finished as one of the jobs involves them accessing the back wall under the kitchen window, but he is going to make sure he buys in the extra sacks of pebbles needed for that, just in case they have sold out by September (work doesn't start until the last week of August). 
I was so cross with myself last night. I was just coming to the end of the current pattern panel on my big complicated jumper pattern & was mentally patting myself on the back for having just one more panel to complete before I can begin joining it together at the shoulders........when I suddenly spotted the most stupid basic mistake about 12 rows back. It is the sort of mistake I'd have made when I was learning to knit aged about 9, not something I'd do now. I must have been either yakking my ears off about something or other or watching something gripping on TV. It will really annoy me if I leave it in. The yarn was expensive & I received it as a lovely gift. There is no alternative but to painstakingly unpiggle it stitch by stitch, row by row. Grrrrrr, so that is what I will be doing this evening.
Well m'dears, it's the last day of May today and looking back, I think I have managed to have pretty much the productive month I'd hoped for. I still need to keep my productivity levels buoyant for June, but my main focus for the month ahead is going to be me! There are a few things I need to take in hand & I think that after several weeks of lockdown, it would be good to implement a month of self-care. That's the June plan, anyway!
F x

marionmgcars

Oh I feel your pain.  I am knitting a shawl pattern which has a lace panel.  After getting all my jobs done this morning I decided to have an afternoon knitting.  I must have made a mistake late last night and had to spend the first hour unpicking 3 rows,  but have corrected the mistake, and advanced a few rows.  I have also washed the wool from the cardigan I pulled out last week, so can get busy with another little cotton cardigan for the GS.  Enjoying pottering in the mini greenhouse and experimenting with seeds, hopefully have something to show for my hard work soon.  a self care month sounds like a great idea, especially as no-one will be going far on holiday yet.  I'm going to try and get out of bed a little earlier to do all my chores , and then have the afternoon for crafting with all the supplies in the house.  Great to read everyone's comments x  

foxgloves

Marionmgcars - I don't think there is any knitting that is worse to pull out than lace! It is just so difficult to end up with the correct no of stitches when pulling out any row containing lots of 'yrn', 'yo' & psso. Thankfully my current project doesn't involve any lace!
Good to hear your little greenhouse is coming on. 
F

marionmgcars

Hi, I decided to read this thread from the start, and was at page 40 and had to close computer down,   is there any easy way to get back to that page, rather than starting at page one and progressing a few at a time ?  thank you