Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

~~~sneaks head round door~~~

~~~waves duster vaguely in the direction of the cobwebs~~~

~~~puts plate of freshly baked scones on the table~~~

~~~sneaks quietly back out~~~

MatyMoo

🥳🥳🥳🥳

welcome back, thanks for the scone 😃

Baileys_Babe

Great to have you back @Cheery_Daff thank you for the scones.

How was your month off?

themadvix

Oooh scones, how lovely! Thank you!

How are you?

Karmacat

Hi there!  Nice scone, very yummy, and yes, how you doing?

edwink

Thanks for the yummy scone Cheery.  Hope you are keeping well.

Edwink x

dawnybabes

Scones, yummy! Hope you’ve already got the clotted cream, apparently there’s a shortage ……. Can’t think why 🤣🤣🤣

beanielou

Good to see you 
Thanks for the scone 

CathT

Good to see you Cheery, you have  been missed. 

<takes a scone>

How was May? 

Cheery_Daff

Hello lovely people, and thank you for the welcome back! 

Well, what an interesting experiment May was! A whole month of no MSE forum, no social media, no online newspapers, no Wordle (I didn't even mean to give that up, I just forgot all about it ), and as little looking stuff up online as I could get away with. 

I didn't give up the internet altogether of course. I still checked email, still had WhatsApp and Messenger on my phone, still bought stuff online when necessary, checked directions etc, and anything that needed doing for work. I also kept on with the Happy Wheel. Oh, and I watched an awful lot of back episodes of Call the Midwife while I was doing other stuff So not eactly 'internet free', but certainly 'internet slimmed down substantially'. 

How was it? 

POSITIVES
Lots of positives! 

* I slept for longer - no messing about on the phone in bed before sleep, and if I woke at 6am, I went back to sleep until the alarm went off, rather than messing about on the internet. 

* Did an entire month of flylady routines for the first time in my life. Morning, afternoon and evening routines every day, including 15 mins in the zone of the week, AND an additional 15 mins decluttering the study. The study is now completely decluttered, all extra stuff to the charity shop or in the attic. I even managed to get most of the stuff off my desk, and collapsed it to its smaller self (it's an extendable table) so there's more room and I can reach the window. Everything is dusted and cleaned in there, and I am THRILLED - especially as I am sleeping in there with the dog all this week... 

* Made a concerted effort with exercise again - 15 mins a day of *something* (not every all through May, but I've been doing this for the second half), plus I've started the couch to 5k again this week (for the 856th time...)

* We've been having a bit of a frugal month, making a real effort not to pick up a sandwich here or a packet of quorn sausages there. It's worked really well, and we've even managed to add a bit to savings, despite me having some strike pay taken again this month. More time spent cooking and pottering in the kitchen has helped enormously. 

* I've done a lot of greenhouse pottering too - got all my seeds planted, some repotted, and while the garden isn't *quite* ready to receive them, it will be within a week or two when they'll be ready to go out. 

* I have felt SO much calmer without lots of details of other people's lives going round my head. This is perhaps the thing that surprised me most, although thinking about it, it shouldn't have done. I LOVE reading about everyone's lives, love the forum, and blogs, but I hadn't realised just how much room all that took in my head. I've had much more space for my own thoughts, and I've been FAR less overwhelmed by how many things there are to do - possibly also because I've actually got on and DONE some of them!!  

Going to post now as I've already lost this bit once - but I'll be back in a tick with some other thoughts...