Simple living in the country - back to basics

Four_Seasons

Oh Cheery love the look of your lamps so pretty x

EssexHebridean

That looks lovely - but then you two do have a way of just making things look lovely - I always love seeing photos of your house! 

I’m with you on needing a reminder sometimes to not see the stuff that’s not done, too. As much as I love the bits we HAVE done here, there is still an awful lot that hasn’t been sorted yet too - and there are definitely days that it’s the only thing we seem to be able to see! 

Fortune_Smiles

Looks wonderfully homely to me Cheery.  But I do understand how you feel about the season.  I am the same and have to consciously re-set to appreciate this time of year for the positives it brings.  I came across this piece some years ago and it always helps me to revisit it when winter approaches:

"The winter solstice time is no longer celebrated as it once was, with the understanding that this is a period of descent and rest, of going within our homes, within ourselves and taking in all that we have been through, all that has passed in this full year which is coming to a close... like nature and the animal kingdom around us, this time of hibernation is so necessary for our tired limbs, our burdened minds.

Our modern culture teaches avoidance at a max at this time; alcohol, lights, shopping, overworking, over spending, comfort food and consumerism.

And yet the natural tug to go inwards as nearly all creatures are doing is strong and the weather so bitter that people are left feeling that winter is hard, because for those of us without burning fires and big festive families, it can be lonely and isolating.

Whereas in actual fact winter is kind, she points us in her quiet soft way towards our inner self, towards this annual time of peace and reflection, embracing the darkness and forgiving, accepting and loving embracing goodbye the past year.

"Winter takes away the distractions, the buzz, and presents us with the perfect time to rest and withdraw into a womb like love, bringing fire & light to our hearth".

.. and then, just around the corner the new year will begin again, and like a seed planted deep in the earth, we will all rise with renewed energy once again to dance in the sunlight"

Brigit Anna McNeill

Maybe it's time to light the fire, pour yourself a warming tipple and remember all the progress you've made this year 😊

Fortune x

Cheery_Daff

Thank you all 😊😊

Fortune, that's lovely 😊 I do have a book that has lots of seasonal activities in which I do occasionally remember to appreciate - wonder where that is?? 🤔

I do definitely feel a pull to introspection over Christmas - I usually take a couple of weeks off work and hole up with a notebook for a load of plotting and scheming for the coming year, one of my favourite activities. This year I'm contemplating taking THREE WEEKS off! 😱😱 I really want a restful festive season this year. Last year for various reasons I only took the week that work was closed, the builders had only just left, and then Mr Cheery got covid, his dad got taken into hospital, we had to look after the dog etc etc 😂😂 Not the most restful time! Already planning how to do things differently this year.

And thank you Four Seasons and EH 😊 I love seeing pictures of our house too 😂😂😂😂 It reminds me to focus on the cheerful bits! 😁

More soup has been consumed, along with some bread and some of the endless supply of To Good To Go lemon and lime cheese, which is going to last well into next summer 😂😂

Production of the second blind is well underway, planning to finish tonight and maybe even get started on the first kitchen one!! 😁😁



Not sure how restful this evening is going to be. Did I tell you that somehow Mr Cheery has landed himself as the drummer in a punk band?! Set a drum kit up in the living room last night 😂 It's supposedly a 'quieter' one but I'm still glad our nearest neighbour is half a mile away 😂😂

Karmacat

Plotting and scheming for the coming year ... I just love it.  And a lovely long quote from Fortune, that's really something.  So is the pic of your craft station with the blind going gangbusters, very nice.

Cheery_Daff

Evening chums 😊

Well, today has been a funny one. We ran out of milk, and somehow that led to us going to a new-to-us cafe for breakfast. Nice enough but not one we'll head back to I don't think. Quite a distance and not that exciting. 

Had a walk along the canal, and ended up having a quick cuppa in a pub I spent a lot of time in 20 years ago, so that was nice but a bit odd 😂

Picked up some necessary ,stuff in town, quick charity shop trip where between us we got a few things we'd been looking out for, and a couple of extra useful things. 

Home now, and after a quiet evening - planning to get a bit more sewing done! 

Finally got round to checking the LPG tank - we're at about 62%. Need to login to the account and see where they're estimating us at if it's too high. I didn't really keep track last year - we got down to about 5% and was panicking when they filled it just before Christmas... not really been that cold yet though, we've not had the heating above 16 degrees and I've started timing my showers as I'd got into a very bad habit of long luxurious ones! 

Might check banks etc later too.

Oh, and I did the first thing from my Christmas planning list - remembered to buy some stamps while I was in the shop. Feels like a start at least!

Cheery_Daff

Just popping back in to say the first of the kitchen blinds is almost done - just need to create the pocket for the hanging rails. I'm delighted, it looks brilliant, and the process is a lot easier now I've got a proper system going 😁 Going to try and get the second one done tomorrow, and hopefully Mr Cheery will be able to fit the rails while I'm at work this week and I'll be able to show you some pictures in situ 😁

Hoping they'll make quite a difference to the temperature in the kitchen, as well as making it feel more homely. I'm sure a carpet would help even more but I'm not going down that road again 😂😂 (might throw down a rug at the dining table end - but then we know where my last attempt at 'throwing down a rug' ended... 😮😂😂

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, I know what else I was going to say! Finally got into positive figures for November on the Happy Wheel today! Only £47 for the month, but it's FINALLY tipped me over the £7k mark in what I've made from all forms of MB since I started a few years ago. Feels like quite an achievement! 😁😁

Also - I had the most bizarre dream about 5am today. Woke up in an absolute panic. I'd won £1million on a casino slot 😱😱 (in the dream, obviously 😂😂) and was having a right old panic - what if when I withdrew from the casino, the bank went bust while I still had more than the protected £85k in there?? How long would it take me to mess about all those new bank accounts so it was all protected?? Surely actual rich people don't have several hundred bank accounts, each with £85k in, so there must be another way, but I don't know any rich people to ask - how will I find out??

Good grief, the stress! And that was before I started trying to decide which members of my family I'd give to and how much 😱😱

Took me forever to go back to sleep, I was that wound up. Told Mr Cheery about it later, and he eventually asked me to stop as I was making him stressed too 😂😂

Feel like I need to work on my attitude else Agent Million is never going to ring!!

KajiKita

That dream has made me chuckle - I totally recognise that state and was in it myself on Friday night! A good session in the garden sorted ne out and grounded me again 😊

That fabric you are using for the blinds is gorgeous ❤️ Excited to see the finished result and it isn’t even my house! 😂 

That window corner is lovely - the characterful mix of objects and fabric makes it feel slightly opulent to me. Is that a rose I see through the window. If it were me, I would be scheming over Christmas (I do this too 😊) on how to further capitalise on the planting or ‘dressing’ of that area. 

You had both a short and tough Christmas last year! Here’s to this year’s being much nice for you!! 🤞

KK

SuperSecretSquirrel

The dream and the knock on adrenalin effects on your hypothetical situation are pretty funny looking in from the outside 🤣

To save any future distress, NS&I are 100% guaranteed, and they have an easy access account paying 1.8% on up to £2million. Problem solved.

I think I'd stick 25k into each of our current accounts and 950k in NS&I. We could go crazy with the 50k pocket money for a little while, then take some advice and work out how to handle the remainder once the initial high had subsided 😁