La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life) - on a tiny budget.

Wednesday2000

I had a trip to Aldi and to Coop today. I was only supposed to be buying cat food (for my fussy cat) and some flowers from Aldi, but we ended up spending nearly £20 in there on mostly frozen bits! I bought two bunches of daffs and some lovely purple tulips.

We did some organising and decluttering in the house as well. I need to arrange a bulky waste collection tomorrow. I cannot be bothered to call up now. At least I got a lot of steps in. I'm almost at 10,000 steps now.

I bought some fresh bread from Coop so I will batch cook myself some lentil soup later to have with it.

I started watching Little Fires Everywhere on Prime yesterday so I am going to carry on watching that. It reminds me of Big Little Lies a bit and both shows star Reese Witherspoon. 

artistlifestyle

Thank  you everyone for your kind and lovely messages. Feel a tad better tonight and grateful as the AB’s must now be winning. 3 more cloths today and started a jigsaw. 

Have also been well enough to get the tape measure out and order a set of cheap storage cubes for under the stairs so that will be a task to look forward to and all part of my re organisation of the house and kitchen after living here 3.5 yrs. 
My daughter recommended big little lies so that’s next on my list. Watched Riptide today on My5. 

Night all. 

helensbiggestfan

Good Morning Lovely Ladies. 

Thrifty Thursday went down well. Did a quick review of my finances and they are not looking too bad,  I've had a few no spend days, saved myself some money by block booking my chiro treatments, and no unexpected major expenses. 🤞 I will have to pay to get my lawn mower fixed but it won't break the bank.  

Had to smile my energy bill is actually £0.28 in credit, 😂.  I think having the smart meter helps me keep me mindful of my energy usage, and of course this house is much warmer than my last home. The EPC rating is definitely something I will pay more attention to next time I buy a house.  

Fab Friday. 

Off to B&Q and Sainsbugs later.  Sunny but a cool wind so will dress warmly. Will wear my faux shearling coat, nice and cosy and quite glam.   Really looking forward to being able to start wearing lighter clothing soon. . It can be hard sometimes not to look like Michelin Woman when wearing layers.😂.  

One of my little quirks is that I use the time spent standing in queues, for example at the supermarket checkout, to do a posture check.  Am I slouching or am I standing straight and tall.  It's a good opportunity to check and only takes a few seconds,  

 Yesterday I realised my posture was much better, I am standing much straighter these days.  Really happy with that, the Orangutang stance is not a good look for a human. 😂🤣. The intensive chiro was hard going but worth it, a good investment of both time and money. Lower back pain is much better, still some shoulder pain but a much improved range of movement.  Now that the bones are in better alignment hopefully pilates will stretch and loosen the muscles and help with pain and flexibility. 

Small steps on my Fab journey.  Patience. !!  

artistlifestyle

@helensbiggestfan you’re doing great, I’m so glad all the work and commitment is paying off. 

So these cubes, see below, are built and under the stairs, revolutionising the space. Not expensive at all. Amazing German engineering, light as a feather and comes with its own mallet. Clearly made in China like so much else, but this item is really useful for me and it was so satisfying to build! A lucky pick from the reviews and the measurements of the space I had. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FVVPIVS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

The Stacey and Dilly programmes were great for ideas.

I’m taking my time to move things around in the whole kitchen and using it as part of my rehabilitation and getting strong again. 

I’ve stored things in the cube that are not used often, but are still used when family come etc. Tomorrow I’m sorting all the plastic bags into a manageable few to keep, although it’s amazing how sometimes now we all use bags for life that when we need a plastic one and find we haven’t got any. 😂😂😂😂 plus I need to keep smaller plastic bags to save the light plastic to take to recycling. 

I have a small set of shelves to build another day for some cookbooks to put in a small empty space. It’s amazing how everything in every cupboard in the kitchen is connected and now needs moving. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
So it’ll be fab when it’s down but I’m thinking it’ll get a lot worse before it’s done.  😂😂😂

I’ve also been designing some of the labels for my hand knitted Christmas presents. 
Latest evening box set started tonight is Redemption on ITVX while more Xmas knitting underway.
It’s been a cheaper month on housekeeping, I’ve been eating from the freezer, mainly soup, so that’s a plus while I am off work. Having a siege mentality and full cupboards can be useful.  

helensbiggestfan

Those cubes look really good, and a very cost effective way of building in extra storage,  

Wonderful Weekends. 

Not sure yet what my weekend will bring.  

I am having an "at home" day to day, plumber this Morning to fix yet another leak.  Glad it's not my responsibility. And currently waiting for my odd job guy to deliver my lawnmower duly fixed.  I wont be doing any lawn mowing today though, far too chilly.  

So just having a bit of catch up, tidying up, laundry and just generally pottering about.  

Clocks go forward tonight. Time to Spring Forwards.  😁

Wednesday2000

I sorted my carrier bags out the other day. I had so many of them!

I just read Never Go Broke: How to Make Money Out of Just about Anything as I saw it was reduced to 0.99p on Amazon. It had a few good tips. I was thinking of selling some things on ebay as my husband is finally getting rid of all his CD's and I was wondering if it would be worth selling them. I have some books and other various things that could be sold too. I put some free books on my kindle that are included in Amazon Prime reading. Oh yes, I wanted to look if I could get free podcasts too on Prime. Every extra penny helps us at the moment!:)

I am so glad the clocks are going forward. I dislike the winter months more and more as I get older. It was so nice to wear my trainers out a few days the past week instead of heavy boots all the time. I am going to book a chiropodist appointment as my feet feel quite battered after the cold weather.

I finished that series last night. I was just looking for something to watch later. We got a 4 month free trial of Netflix from Sky so hopefully there is a show or a film on there to watch.:)

SIRENS

Wonderful Weekend, well it's been very nice so far, spent the day making biscotti as my kids bought me a new coffee machine for Mother's Day last week, and coffee and biscotti are my very favourite. I'm also having a go at sourdough and have just finished making my starter and transferred him to a new jar, I have named him Jürgen! Unfortunately I don't have time to make any actual bread as I am going to a concert tomorrow with my kids (dd requested us go with her for her birthday treat), so will try my loaf next weekend. 

artistlifestyle

Here we are back to a Motivational Monday, I so love that idea, and I’m putting my best foot forward and returning to my kitchen sorting, a very little at a time, while I’m signed off work. The kitchen has now reached the worse before better stage, but living alone it doesn’t matter and the end result will be brilliant and so much better. 

This weekend saw me take a trip to minor injuries with now damaged/painful ribs from all the excessive coughing. You couldn’t make it up!  On the way home from the hospital I went to M and S and bought 3 days of ready meals/soups to get me over the worst and some bread. It’s helped a lot, as usually I make everything from scratch including bread. 

Redemption on ITVX is my latest box set, accompanied always by the current Christmas knitting projects. It’s very good, lots of tension.. 

The lawn is now waiting along with the seemingly 5000 sycamore seedlings that appear annually. I was going to put moss killer on the lawn and rake it, but sadly raking isn’t now possible!  I’m still really hoping to be back to work next week. 

My next bread I’m going to try a new way called Tangzong. It cooks a little of the flour first with milk, making a softer longer lasting loaf. I’ll probably do a variation on this as I add seeds too and let you know how I get on. 
examples:

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2018/10/10/tangzhong-beyond-white-bread
here’s another with seeds https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y6hXpHPwgkw6T9Efdj9osm2r52h5ZwZT/view

helensbiggestfan

Good Morning My Lovely Friends. 

So lovely to put the clocks forward and starts enjoying the lighter evenings. 

Magic Mondays

(Motivational Monday sounds good too)

For me it's the fact that it's a new week, all bright and shiny and full of optimism and hope.  An opportunity to put disappointments, failures etc behind you and start afresh, although  actually last week was pretty good, so in that case my fresh new week represents an opportunity to build on previous gains.  Putting the Compound Effect into practice.  

Artistlifestyle.... sorry to hear about your ribs.....the same thing happened to me through coughing.  They do heal in time.  There's not much you can do but just try not to strain them any more whilst they heal.  Sounds like you are making good steady progress in the kitchen. I'm sure you will feel great when it's all done.  

My odd job man delivered my repaired lawnmower and took pity on me, finishing off the half cut rear lawn that I had been unable to finish.  Given the state of my shoulder I asked if he would like to do it on a regular basis.  He said yes.!!!!   Wahoo 💃💃💃..  He is a very reliable and conscientious worker and doesn't overcharge. That is one task I will be delighted to offload so I can give my shoulder a better chance of healing.  The rear lawn is on a slope and is very hard work.  It will be a good investment.  

I am finally learning to curb my tendency to "Superwoman Syndrome". The mistaken and foolish belief that I have to do everything myself, so that I can be "worthy".   😂🤣

My husband used to have a saying "why have a dog and bark yourself".   My mum also used to tell me off for trying to do much, urging me to get some help, to stop trying to be "Wonder Woman". But I always felt guilty and ashamed and felt I had to do everything and be everything.  So many of us do the same don't we. We think we have to carry the world.  

They were both so wise, I should have listened and heeded their advice. If I had I wouldn't be in the state I'm in now.  Well I have finally  taken their words of wisdom on board. I shall continue to declutter, simplify and learn to let the metaphorical dog do the barking.  

It's interesting that you mention ready meals.  I have another tooth extraction tomorrow so I will go shopping today and stock up on some easy to cook and eat ready meals for a couple of days. 

Had a very productive visit to the chazzer the other day.  A pale pink summer weight cotton sweater, £2.25  a leopard print t shirt (50p). Not really my thing but at that price I can just wear it round the house.  And a lovely olive green leather jacket £10.  Starting to build up a reasonable "transition" wardrobe for spring.  

Have a great week y'all.  Put some magic into your day.  

Do something nice, just for you,  ❤️

helensbiggestfan

Transformation Tuesday. 

Hello my lovely friends,  

My contribution to Transformation Tuesday today was (another) trip to the dentist.  More prep work before I can have my implants.  It's a long road ahead......but hopefully by this time next year I will be the proud possessor of a gleaming Hollywood smile.  Lol
 
As I had to have a tooth extracted I have been ordered to rest this afternoon and eat lots of carbs.  So lots of naughty treats whilst I read and watch some nice films.  

As good a way as any to spend such a freezing cold, wet and miserable afternoon.  😂