Struggling along as best I can

nannygladys

Thanks for the replies Moorviews and Pollie

Moorviews,  it's certainly been much warmer the last few days and the rain has held off so I have been in the garden tidying pots etc and getting it all ready for planting this year, I can't wait!

Pollie, I think your idea of graduated pots is a brilliant idea as I have many different sized pots, from 40 litre down to very small ones, so I'm going to have a go for some of the strawberries and if it works out ok, I'll make another one. It's nice to be able to recycle pots as I have collected them for years and it used some of them up as well. Thanks

nannygladys

Sorry for the break, life seemed to fill up quite a bit especially now the better weather has landed - just hoping it lasts for a while.
I have replaced an old raised bed with another one, and hopefully I'll be able to cobble another one together as well for extra growing space, I'm going to look out for some outdoor tomato plants this year so need to perhaps look for some protection for them as well, just not sure what yet! The painting is going well and the walls are nearly done, well I have finished the lower walls but still have above the rail to do, but I think that it will be easier as there's no plugs etc to paint around and I have a big bay window so that wall should be easy to do.
There's not a lot happening at the moment, other than reining in any unnecessary spending, I went food shopping the other day and I'm sure that in the every couple of weeks that I go the prices have gone up  There's only so much I can do now as my budget is down to the last penny and there's with no saving, except pennies that I put in an old money box. and I haven't heard yet how much my council tax is going up. The gvt want  three boroughs to join together in the area and I see in the local news that ours and the other rural one are against it as we are both solvent and the city one isn't - it isn't bankrupt but borrowing heavily from the gvt yet again this year, and the general consensus seems to be that our two borough's can bail them out!!! anyway we'll have to see but I don't suppose we'll have any say in the matter.  Ah well, we have to keep thinking of solutions for ourselves to survive now, so I think I'd better grow as much fruit and vegetables as I can and enjoy my time outside and hope we have a nice warm summer oh, I have been chopping and pruning trees and stacking a few logs in case I have to use the fire pit for cooking, shame I haven't a log stove or fire lol.
Right bedtime I think.
Nannyg

nannygladys

Hi everyone,
Things aren't getting any easier for anyone these days, including me so I have stopped watching the news etc its just so depressing all the time, why can't they broadcast some feel good stuff sometimes.
Anyway, I'm busy looking after myself now (and also family if/when I can) enjoying the painting - which is still ongoing, and making some more space in the garden for growing. I've planted some garlic, only three that needed rescuing from a pot, but they are doing really well, I know they wont go far but they will get used  I have been pruning a tree that is too sprawling and saving the wood, and its mounting up nicely, not sure if I will use it but if I don't eldest dd has a log burner so when its dried out perhaps she can use it. 
I'm slowly sorting cupboards and drawers as and when so it doesn't feel as if I'm actually doing it!
I'm still very careful with spending, have no debt and managing ok and the council tax rise isn't as bad I thought it would be, but It's still my biggest bill and takes a good chunk out of my money, ah well I'll just wait to see what the next bill is to go up.
My life seems to be very boring at the moment, but it's how I want it to be at this moment in time. I'll probably just post once a week for a while, unless something exciting happens 
Nannyg

Cherryfudge

Keep us up to date with the plants, @nannygladys, even if you take a rest on other subjects! Good to hear the garlic is doing well.

An uneventful life sounds like a good thing to me.

ladybird1106

There is a website called positive news that you can read. OH and I regularly read it on a Friday and it does make us feel a bit better about the world.
love 🐞

dreaming

Many (many!) years ago, when I was a teenager I complained to my boss that all the papers seemed to be full of bad news. He had been a journalist for many years and said to me that when good news is "news", that's when we ought to start worrying. That's always stuck with me and I see it in smaller ways every day. Since being ill I walk with a stick and have some mobility problems, but every time I go out people of all ages are very kind - giving up seats on the bus, holding doors for me, helping me reach things on shelves, etc. Yet all I hear/read about is how rude people are these days, how young people have no respect (tell that to the young man (about 13 I would say) who was laughing with his friend, but immediately stood up to let me sit down), etc., etc. All these small kindnesses get ignored (but mean so much) and the bad gets amplified in the global media world we have these days.

[Deleted User]

To be honest I have found (and I speak, as a senior person!) older people to be far ruder, impatient and disrespectful than most younger people or teenagers.
I have always said give me a stroppy teenager any day of the week rather than a belligerent oldie lol!

Makingabobor2

[Deleted User] said:

To be honest I have found (and I speak, as a senior person!) older people to be far ruder, impatient and disrespectful than most younger people or teenagers.
I have always said give me a stroppy teenager any day of the week rather than a belligerent oldie lol!

couldn't agree more

Moorviews

Life being just how you want it to be at the moment is great 😊 
Our local news generally has an item to make people smile. There are huge world issues though that we cannot influence so there is nothing wrong with putting that into the background and not focusing on it day to day. 
I agree with others about there still being plenty of kindness around and I come across plenty of helpful young people. 

nannygladys

Thought I'd better just let everyone know I'm ok and just living my life. There's not a lot I can do to change my circumstances or anyone else's so I'm just getting on with it and doing the best I can.

Not long now until most of our bills are shooting up  ,  on the tv they are calling it 'awful April' !!! and to make matters worse our local community shop has closed as it only had funding for three years. I haven't used it for quite a time but it was somewhere where I knew I could get a few free veg from if I hadn't budgeted right, not sure how some families will manage but I suppose we will just have to get by with it.

The garden is showing signs of growth now, I think the first crop will be of the salad variety!!! ie lettuce, but most of my seeds have been planted with just a few still waiting until it gets a little warmer and I'm still thinking of acquiring another small raised bed, made from spare wood from an old fence and bits and pieces that are lying around, it wont be pretty but if I get a couple of crops from it then it will have been worth it, mind you I'm not sure what/how I'm going to fill it with yet to grow them in!!!

So that's about it really. Later this week I am paid so I will be tweaking the budget somewhat to accommodate the new rises, luckily the big car expenses have already happened this year and after another letter from BT I'm hoping that is the end of that matter as I'm getting a very small refund from them, BUT I have received another notification of another bill payment already which I will ignore, but if another one comes I'll be writing to the person in charge of BT, I actually changed providers for  the internet last October and the changeover was November, so its been going on for some time! so I think its time I claimed harassment if it happens again 

Keep well and take care, if you are having difficulty paying any bills then please go to the CAB or elsewhere for help before the arrears build up. A long time ago I had to visit the CAB and they were brilliant and very helpful, I was in a situation where I was in trouble with bills and I was in tears waiting to see someone and hadn't been sleeping or eating properly for weeks beforehand, I went in and when I walked out of their offices I felt a huge black cloud had been lifted from my shoulders, it wasn't easy to admit to someone of the debt I had (and it wasn't any amount really but it was always there) but the relief was huge to share and take a positive path out of it. And I'm still here to tell the tale. I even went on to volunteer at CAB as well for a couple of years.
Nannyg