Holding On and Letting Go 🎈

beanielou

Well done 

savingholmes

Well done. Pretty 

VintageHistorian

What a lovely bunny, if you put some dried lavendar in the body it would make a lovely drawer scenter!

Merlin's_Beard

I think sometimes 5 year olds have the right idea - be proud of the things you can make, it's a skill!

ruby_eskimo

I've always had this dream of making my own clothes and I follow a few people on social media who do it and I'm so jealous.  I think my next big investment may indeed be a sewing machine.  Looking forward to seeing what else you manage to create!

Fortune_Smiles

ruby_eskimo said:

I've always had this dream of making my own clothes and I follow a few people on social media who do it and I'm so jealous.  I think my next big investment may indeed be a sewing machine.  Looking forward to seeing what else you manage to create!

I'm working my way up to some pyjama bottoms Ruby 😆

I wish now I'd bought a sewing machine earlier.  I'm loving being able to mend and create things.  And I have the lovely ladies of the WI to help me.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

30 a Week - The Results

By close of play on Friday we had eaten a whopping 43.5 varieties 😲  I am amazed.  But was it a typical week - yes and no.

Our meals are largely vegetarian with fish and meat maybe once each a week so that certainly helped.  And we get a veg box deivered most weeks usually containing seasonal British grown veg.  This often includes veg that I probably wouldn't buy if I was picking it off the supermarket shelves like Jerusalem Artichokes and kale 😆  We grow some of our own fruit and veg and have good freezer space.  Mixed packs are great - salads, nuts, seeds, berries, etc as they often include four or five varieties.  So, in that way, yes it was a normal week.

By focussing on 30 a week, I found I was making different food choices - a restaurant meal because it included chickpeas, more fruit from the freezer with breakfast, meal planning with a wider range of ingredients.  So in that way, no, it was not a normal week.

I'm not going to continue counting as I did this one week just out of interest but I do think it will encourage me to think about variety going forward.

I have the time and money to cook and eat in this way. I think it would be far harder if you were working, cooking for one or on a very tight budget.  I think it could work for batch cooking but only if you have a lot of freezer space and could cook a variety of meals, or vary accompaniments each time.

So, experiment complete!  Although Parsnip & Chestnut Soup and Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes have made their way on to the meal plan this week 😆

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Terrifying!

I did some more work on the wedding portrait on Sunday - I think it will only need a few more hours before it's finished 😁  I'll be glad when it's done as I've procrastinated over it and it seems to have taken forever.  Also, I have several WI projects in the queue now I need to make a start on.  Plus, of course, I have lots of plans for cosy afternoons with my sewing machine.

We had Chestnut, Bacon & Parsnip Soup for lunch on Sunday and I made Mr F steak with stilton sauce and chips, mushrooms and peas for supper (a cauliflower cheese grill for me).  I found the steak in the freezer leftover from when I had to feed him lots of meat 😆 The soup did us for lunch yesterday as well and we had Creamy Ham, Leek & Mushroom Spaghetti for supper... without the ham and with penne 😆  I was out for lunch today so Mr F had a cupboard lunch and I made Coconut & Kale Fish Curry for supper to use up the kale that came in last week's veg box.

Our stove installers were due yesterday but ran over on the previous job so started today.  It meant I could go to a County WI meeting I'd though I was going to miss out on.  There was tea and cake and a mini workshop on making paper flowers which was great fun.

I'm not good with work being done in the house - I hate the upheaval and mess and feel tense the whole time.  Even though our installers are calm and lovely and extremely tidy. I escaped for a couple of hours as I had to take FDawg for his bath at the groomers.  As you probably know, I take this once a month opportunity to have a solo date at the nearby pub and, this time, I took my book club read and a note book so I could prepare for the next meeting over lunch 😁

When I got back, the installers had discovered a horror story with our previous installation.  We knew it didn't meet the current regulations but it was actually quite dangerous.  It looks as though our predecessor either bought the stove and pipes second hand or the intallers used old stock because the set up didn't fit properly - it was too short.  This explains why we have a very short chimney and why the heat-resistant double-skinned pipe doesn't come down far enough toward the stove.  The brackets holding the whole thing up were the wrong size and other parts were wrong too.  The worst bit is that the pipes had been boxed in too tightly so they were too close to plasterboard and... the floorboards had been cut flush to the pipe and were in contact with the bit that wasn't double-skinned.  It's a wonder we haven't gone up in flames!  We only really use the fire when it's super cold or for a bit of atmosphere as it's not our primary heat source and thank goodness.  That's what has probably saved us.  Terrifying that someone could have done this work and endangered lives.  We should, of course, have seen a HETAS certificate for the work when we bought the house but it somehow got overlooked in the conveyancing.  At least we'll have a safe and properly fitted stove to use going forward.  Our installer has a family event to attend tomorrow but will be coming back Thursday to complete the work so we'll be cosy by the weekend 😁  Our old stove is going onto the patio for use as a garden heater 😆  Even more terrifying is the thought that I'll have to pay the bill this week 😲

I'm off for a hot bubble bath in a minute and tonight's laptop viewing is C£l£brity BakE 0ff - can't wait 😁

Hope you're week is off to a good start.

Fortune x

beanielou

Blimey, that is scarey indeed.

savingholmes

Good you got it resolved - but yes things like that are scary and leave you counting your blessings