Slow Living - Doing It Old Style!

Duchess2

Sorry @Wednesday2000 meant to say thinking of you today. Our pets mean so much to us. They don’t live long enough for us, but she will live on in your cherished memories and you know that you loved and cared for her and gave her a fantastic life. Take time and care for yourself. Hugs

Wednesday2000

Thanks. She is doing a bit better so I cancelled the vet appointment for today. She is eating much more, luckily.

Nelliegrace

I used to like the BBC Radio, Book at Bedtime, Saturday Night Theatre, dramatisations of novels, and some of the comedy series. I have just found a lot of them on Fourble

leftatthetrafficlights

Duchess2 said:

Wow @leftatthetrafficlights. You’ve been like a whirling dervish (as my DM used to say). So much for a slow life. Well done on all your achievements. You certainly deserve a rest tomorrow

It certainly was a busy day!! Lots of opportunities for being in the moment though - weighing all the grains and pulses was strangely therapeutic!! 

@Wednesday2000 - I'm so pleased to hear that your cat seems to be improving 😁 hopefully it was just a blip and she'll continue to improve. 🤞 

@Nelliegrace - I'm glad you've found the programmes you like - I've never heard of fourdle! 🤔 

I still haven't finished the inventories - I've done a few extra bits (open jars/bottles etc) but had other things to sort so will complete them tomorrow. 

Today has been a day of pottering and playing with my grandbaby - it was really cold standing at the school gates so I was very pleased to get home! I really don't like howling winds, they just cut through you 😳 it's also managed to destroy my patio heater which is annoying but considering the damage in flood areas, I can't complain...

Tonight's dinner was dark speckled lentils, harissa roasted cauliflower, rocket, broccoli sprouts, black grapes and pomegranate salad. It was really lovely and there's enough left for dh's lunch tomorrow. 


Have a fab slow evening 🐌 😁 

leftatthetrafficlights

Today I've completed the inventories and put them on the laptop. The freezers were reorganised and I also cleaned and reorganised the cupboard under the sink while I did the household inventory. I'm a bit tired now!! 

I've cooked dinner thankfully (I always do that first if I know I've got a busy day ahead!😉) so I'm just going to chillax for the rest of the day 😁 

I'm really pleased it's all finished - it was a mega job but I've set up the spreadsheets so that they keep track of what remains once I put in what I've used. I will update these daily as part of my evening admin jobs (budgets are also updated as part of evening admin so anything purchased will be added to the inventories). 

I am not including fresh fruit and veg in the inventories as they change too regularly and it would be a nightmare - I'm also only going to update open stuff once they are finished - other than beans and grains, I don't measure stuff when I'm cooking! 

Hopefully, all this work will mean that everything is utilised and I won't make unnecessary purchases - the duplicate household stuff is ridiculous but I bought most of it while I had a cleaner (so had no idea what was being used) and some of it has been there since my ds and dil lived with me and probably belonged to them!! 🙄🤦‍♀️😂 I don't think I'll need to buy much household stuff for months! 😳 

Tomorrow it's back to normal, I'm looking forward to just doing my daily routines and getting ready for the weekend 😁 

Have a fab slow day!! 🐌 😁 

leftatthetrafficlights

 Dinner tonight was an onion, carrot, cabbage, barberry and quinoa sautè served with purple sweet potato, lemon chickpeas (chickpeas cooked in stock, lemons, lemon verbena and thyme) and a rocket, broccoli sprouts, pomegranate and black grape salad. Ground longpepper on top instead of black pepper.

Brie

Had the gardeners here yesterday and they did their usual marvelous job in record time.  This included giving the rose arbour a trim.  Now this thing is 5 feet wide and about 15 feet long and covered with a rambler and a climber.  And is full of birds.  I asked that they didn't cut it back too much anticipating lots of nesting in a few months.

This morning I could see lots of the birds bobbing in and out of the coiffed greenery.  Adjusting nicely and not really that concerned I hope!

MissRikkiC

Hi @leftatthetrafficlights it’s been a while! I haven’t really been about much this last 12 months or so but having recently come back, I have just discovered this thread. I’m only on page 4 and obviously we’re nearing 12 months since you started it which I hope means there will be a new thread in about a months time for 2025! 

I’m reading along with interest and already know that this ‘way of life’ resonates with me so much.  It always surprises me; the motivation that being around like minded people brings. I know that this is how I want to live but often the practicalities make it more difficult. With that in mind, I’m also hoping that there are other people with similar lives to me here, trying to do the same. 

leftatthetrafficlights

@Brie - I'm glad the gardeners did a good job! 😁 I know what you mean about the worry for the wildlife though - we did some work on one of our oaks in the early spring and I was really anxious about the affect it may have on my squirrels; thankfully they were back as soon as we put out some more food 😉 

@MissRikkiC - lovely to have you here! 😁 I know that our contributors and lurkers have very disparate lifestyles and commitments but, for me, 'slow living' is more about being in the moment, valuing the small things that bring you joy, recognising the beauty in the mundane and taking even a few minutes a day to just breathe, so is open to everyone - I hope you'll find inspiration and support here 😁

Yesterday I had planned a few things but my ds and grandbaby came over for a couple of hours. It was lovely to see them so I'm always happy with that type of interruption!! I did clean the house though before they turned up which I'm happy with - doing all of the inventory stuff this week has been time consuming so I'd not done it for a couple of days which is not good for my head!! 🙄😂 I didn't cook anything yesterday as there were leftovers - dh had some of those at dinner time but as I'd had scrambled tofu on toast at around 3pm I wasn't hungry. 

Today I'll mainly be relaxing but I've got a few things to do still to prepare for the beginning of the second cycle of winter which starts tomorrow. I need to finalise the budgets from this first cycle, write a menu plan and decide on my solstice menu as that is going to be tricky. My dd and sil are easy - they'll pretty much eat anything- but my two grandbabies and my ds and dil have very limited palates so I need to think of things that will appeal to them too. I have asked for suggestions but nothing has been forthcoming 🙄🤦‍♀️ Oh well, there are worse things to do on a Saturday than trawling through food websites and you tube! 😉😁 

Dinner tonight will include spaghetti squash,  tomatoes and chickpeas as I have squash in the greenhouse, a few tomatoes that need using up and chickpeas that I cooked on Thursday. I'm hoping to make some beetroot, apple and pear 'rice' too if I can find any viable beetroot in the garden - I'll do some cavolo nero too as there's plenty of that available. I'm not sure yet how it will all be put together but that's half the fun!! 😁 

Anyway, chamomile tea is calling so I'll stop rambling now! 

Have a fab slow day! 🐌😁

leftatthetrafficlights

Happy New Moon!! 🌑😁 

Today is the start of the second cycle of winter and I'm feeling very positive about it. I had a slight change of plan yesterday and decided to re-jig my 'roadmap' with the tweaks I decided on over the first cycle. I've got all the inventories and budgets finalised and felt very prepared for this cycle by the time I went to bed. 

This morning I have done my exercise routine (I've increased the asana practice time for this cycle), my pranayama practice and a meditation practice. My garden work this morning was raking leaves - the second I got out there it started to rain which was actually very lovely! - and I have been for my walk. Dh lit me a fire while I was on my walk so I'm sitting in front of it, watching the flames and drinking a lemon verbena and hibiscus tea 😍 

Dinner tonight will be last night's planned food as I needed to use up the remaining tofu and dh made two big batches of soup for his work lunches and ended up eating some of that!! I  did find some beetroot though and also realised we have plenty of chillis ready too so I'm going to do a cavolo nero, chilli and tomato dish with chickpeas, spaghetti squash, beetroot apple and pear 'rice' and some calabrese that has appeared in the brassica bed!! 😁 

While dh is watching footie later I'm going to have a 'spa' shower, do face and hair masks and a long yoga nidra practice. Lush!! 😍😁

Have a fab slow day!! 🐌😁