Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Pixiehouse55 - Sounds like that soup maker is already earning its keep!
F

foxgloves

Hello Friday Friends,
I didn't get a post on yesterday - I just conked out! We went for a lovely long walk around a country park - it was so good to be out in the fresh air & to see all the wildlife. Then after lunch, I decided to do an hour of autumn garden clearing. I can really tell how much my fitness levels have dropped since the summer - I can hardly believe I did the month-long steps challenge in July with 10,000 steps a day for the last 8 days. We've decided to go back for another brisk lakeside walk next week & I'm sure resumption of garden clearing will also help.
Busy so far today - have cleaned the whole house, done the ironing, written a list for town tomorrow, taken delivery of 3 more parcels  - Christmas presents, so I shall have to start wrapping soon, before I disappear under all the stuff piled up in my HQ! I've done a Prolific survey which when paid, will put me above my target of cashing out £50 before Christmas. The grocery shopping was done yesterday - within budget, even though it included some pantry stock-up items from A*di as well as usual list - things like their posh rapeseed oil in glass bottles, mayo, baked beans (Mr F's bean of choice) & various other bits & bobs. 
It's not my cooking night - in fact my only contribution is having remembered to take the salmon out of the freezer - so I am intending to sit down with some big sheets of paper, a knitting book for ideas & plan my next project, which is to be a bedspread. It will be knitted in blanket squares, all from the same yarn (in several different colours) but I want each of the coloured squares to feature a different textured pattern. I have patterns for some of these, but will make the others up myself. The thing that will bring it all together is that it is all to be knitted in the same yarn (King Cole - 'Forest' which is a recycled yarn) & each square will have a moss stitch border. The colours are lovely, very muted & look well together. This will be a long ongoing project, so I can just knit a square when I feel like it on an evening while watching TV, but if I want to stop to knit something from my stash, that will be fine. 
Well, I'm looking around my HQ floor, & honestly, it is like a warehouse with all the boxes. If you don't hear by the middle of next week that I've definitely started wrapping things, you have my full permission to take me to task!
<Adds sellotape to tomorrow's list>..........
Bye,
F x

foxgloves

What a dreary day. Dark, raining & just an all-pervading air of sogginess. No gardening for me today. Can you tell I'm getting the moans out of the way first?
Morning m'dears, well I didn't go into town this morning. It was very wet & although it is indeed true that I'm not made of sugar, I just had a feeling that a parcel I was expecting on Mon or Tues would arrive today, so decided to stay home just in case. Mr F popped in for our fresh fruit & veg.... & my parcel did come, so that was something else squirrelled away to my HQ to join the wrapping pile.
I've tidied, fed the birds (who are too damply depressed to come out this morning) & made a shade card & list of the blanket square patterns I've chosen for my bedspread. There are ten colours & each one has been assigned a specific textured pattern. I've bookmarked all the relevant pages in my knitting book & feel I'm now able to progress with a clear plan in mind. Am intending a day of leisure today - I'd like to finish my library book, knit, watch the last two episodes of 'DNA' which are on TV tonight & drink coffee.
Hope you''re all doing ok. We just have to keep b*ggering on, don' t we......?
F xx

Four_Seasons

Hi, is the bedspread a long term project or a christmas present? it sounds lovely. FS

HairyHandofDartmoor

Your lakeside walk sounds good and I do think you benefit from getting outside at this time of year. It's easy to hibernate in the winter but getting outside into a bit of nature🌳🌲 always makes me feel better .

The bedspread sounds a lovely project. Our weather is similarly gloomly today after about five days of sunshine when I was at work , but it's a good day for indoor jobs and snuggling under blankets with a good book.
You sound very organised with your Christmas shopping 🎄. It's only six weeks until Christmas I think which is a scary thought as I haven't bought a single present yet 😱. 

I'm intrigued to know when/if T***p will concede the election 😂 and how his supporters will cope without him in power. It's a worrying thought that most of them have guns 😱.

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday  🙂.

Pixiehouse55

Morning all. Wet and miserable here today. Ironing to do, to do that I have to go out to my laundry room to get the ironing board...its raining!! Maybe later.  Knitting to do.  I took some smoked mackerel out the freezer to have with salad for today, it's raining so think we will have baby potatoes and veg instead, Gammon joint out ready for tomorrow with parsley sauce etc. Enough left for Monday. Pay day Tuesday so going to see if I can get a food shop delivered. Don't want to go out to any shops unless absolutely necessary!!  Happy Saturday to you all. Keep safe x

foxgloves

Hello FourSeasons - No, the bedspread isn't for a Christmas present, it's a longer term project for our bedroom which is slowly having a bit of a facelift. I have knitted 3 pairs of socks for presents though (3rd pair still on the needles but will most likely be finished over the coming week) & also a chunky throw for my best friend.
F

foxgloves

HHoD - Yes, I agree that simply being out in the fresh air & amongst green stuff is a definite boost. If the forecast is good on Mr F's day off this week, we are planning to go back there for another walk, as we did feel that there were good safety measures in place - a few idiots ignoring them, as there will always be, but it was easy to avoid them because we were outside in such a big space.
I also wonder about what will happen re the US election situation & agree with you that the gun laws provide an additional potential layer of problems. I worry about our democracy too, as it is so blatantly obvious that some very expensive contracts have been handed straight to friends & spouses of MPs & party donors without going out to tender. It wouldn't be allowed in any other publicly funded sector. I don't like to think where it will all end up. It feels like one big mess to me.
F x 

foxgloves

Pixiehouse55 - I love gammon with parsley sauce. I tend to buy a ham hock because they are so cheap, then just give it 8 hours in my slow cooker. I save some of the cooking liquid which sets to a jellied stock & it gives a good flavour boost when making lentil soups & gravy. 
What are you knitting at the moment? 
F x

foxgloves

Hello Sunday Savers,
A nice slow start to the day today, as firstly I didn't wake up until 6.40 & that is very late for me. Then Mr F brought me breakfast in bed. I don't know what I'd done to deserve it.....maybe he just fancied some peace & quiet! Then when I did get up a couple of hours later, having finished reading my book, I spend another hour & a half yakking with my sister on Skype. We discussed Christmas, amongst other things, & have decided that as we won't be meeting up this year for obvious reasons, there is no reason why we can't get presents boxed & posted as soon as we like. We live about 125 miles apart, so popping round to drop presents off outside the gate & a socially distanced chat just isn't viable. Well, I was feeling like a bit of a smuggins for having done almost all my Christmas present shopping, when my sister said she had too, & had wrapped hers!! Nothing like a bit of healthy sibling competition. It galvanised me into action & I've been up in my HQ all afternoon wrapping presents & feel I've really made inroads. Why does this job always take so long? It's not as though every gift I buy these days has to be gussied up to within an inch of its life with curling ribbon, bits of dried this & frosted that......they all look nice, but are pretty simple. 
I am trying to use up some cheapo rolls of paper I bought last year but it is like the Magic Porridge Pot story......the more I use, the more there seems to be left on the roll. I thought I had chosen a sensible option when I bought it last year because it was festive, but also something not so very Christmassy that I couldn't also use it for birthday gifts. As we all know, sometimes cheapo can be a fabmongous bargain......& sometimes it can be crud. This rotten paper tears if you wrap anything with corners & I am using twice as much as normal so that certain nephews can't read through it! Ah well, not a very great problem in the scheme of things, will aim to finish wrapping everything which will need to be posted & see if I can't use the damn stuff up once & for all!
It's not my cooking night.....Mr F is busy constructing pork on a bed of roast veg, including some of our celeriac from the garden, so I shall decide which of my library stash to read next & carry on with my bedspread - current square is pale pink with a textured heart in the centre & moss stitch border  - but I promise not to bore you with all 100+ of them!
Wishing you all a calm & productive week ahead.
F x