Slow Living - Doing It Old Style!

dND

@Wednesday2000 Cat hugs from me too and thank you for posting the costs as well.  It meant that I got round to insuring both my cats last night.  As one is 15 yo, it's a bit expensive but not when compared to the costs you quoted.   

Not much real slow living going on here, just enforced as can't do much because waiting for deliveries or waiting for the plumber - who gets called off to do emergency work so doesn't turn up.  But hey ho, mine isn't an emergency and being retired I'm not taking time off work and if it was an emergency, I'd really appreciate being the top of the list.

I think that's one of the benefits of embracing slow living, it's not worth the effort to get worked up about things that don't warrant it and to try and look at things from another point of view.

I don't have much freezer space and nowhere at present to store veg but I'm planning on a stroll around Mr T, Saturday afternoon to see if there are any bargains.  If no then I won't be too disappointed this time round.  😁

Wednesday2000

Who did you go with dND? My older cat is the only one not covered and I thought there was a reason we couldn't get it for her. I will look into that.

Pet Plan have already paid out about £250 which is less than the cost but you have to take off the excess. My cat had her scan and there is a problem with one of her heart valves and so she has to be on medication for life. I can't remember if that was the same condition my other cat had.

It is rainy and horrible here. I have just had a shower and washed my hair so I have put the heating on. I'm going to make a big salad with olive oil and vinegar and have it with a vegan steak I bought from Tesco for a late lunch as we have to pick her up at 3. I hope the rain has stopped by then. I think I might make myself a fruit salad before then. I have mango, apple, banana and kiwi.

Moorviews

The weather is appalling here too, so far today, thunder, lightning, wind, heavy rain and large hailstones, with a little sunshine thrown in earlier. Last night it snowed! Apart from walking the dog, it will be a day spent indoors. 

Wednesday2000 - It’s a relief to hear that your cat can be helped with medication, although I realise how tying that is. Our pets are such a worry especially as they get older. 

Wednesday2000

I know Moorviews. I was just talking online about fostering. I might do that at some point as the charity takes care of the vet bills which would be a big weight off my mind.

Florafauna

Sending all the best to you and your dear cat @Wednesday2000. So awful when our pets are ill. It's like winter here, cold and hailing. Had a lovely coffee and Easter egg drop off with some dear friends tonight after a rainy swim. Then home for a Chinese takeaway which I ended up not eating as they made me chicken instead of mushroom chow me in. Ate the chips and some chocolate so v unhealthy.
Have switched off my alarm and planning some lossocking in bed tomorrow morning reading my book and drinking tea. 

leftatthetrafficlights

@Moorviews - thank you! I had an really lovely day on Wednesday, the puppies were just gorgeous and I managed to resist the temptation to take them home (but only just!! 😳😂), my catch up with my relative was nice and my grandbaby was fabulous as normal! 😍 I've never seen greengages at a supermarket - I'll look out for them this year! I don't know where you are located but assumed it is in the uk so shocked about the snow!!😳 

@Florafauna - congratulations on handing in your resignation!! 🥳😁 I know when I did mine I just couldn't wait to get out so I hope the next few months go by relatively quickly for you 🤞 I'm sorry they get your food order wrong - very disappointing when you're looking forward to it!! 

@Valli - a morning drink in bed is always a lovely start to the day! 😁 Dh always brings me a chamomile tea on weekdays and I love just listening to the birds as I drink it - it is very calming and sets me up for my day 😊 

@Smudgeismydog - there's just something magical about listening to waves crashing 😍 it sounds like you had a lovely time and I hope that feeling is still being carried with you 😊 

@Wednesday2000 - I'm so sorry about the stress you're having with your cat 😔 I'm pleased they have identified the problem and have a treatment option - hopefully she'll improve quickly 🤞 Fostering sounds like a good idea - I'd get far too attached and would worry about them too much when they moved on to their new home to do it but it's a really lovely thing to do 😁 

@dND - I'm glad you've sorted your pet insurance, vets are so shockingly expensive 😳 I always insured my dogs and with the illnesses they developed and the eye-watering costs that were incurred I was really glad I had! It still cost me a considerable amount but it would have bankrupted me had I not had the insurance covering the majority! I hope your plumber gets the jobs done - contractors can be a nightmare 🤦‍♀️ 

Yesterday was a very physically demanding day as I cleared many of the flower beds at the front of the house to turn into veg beds - I garden normally on a no-dig basis but had a lot of bulbs in the beds that needed to come out so lots of digging required! I am certainly aware of muscles that I didn't know existed previously!! 😳😵‍💫😂 I've got more garden stuff to get done today so I expect that by this evening I'll be capable of little else than collapsing with a book in bed - I just hope that the weather is kind as I don't think I could cope with being achey and soggy!! 😉 

I'm doing a dinner of a tomato and basil okara loaf with a pesto and olive sauce and sprouting broccoli - the loaf and sauce are in the freezer and the broccoli currently growing in the garden and needs harvesting so I don't need to do much other than get the steamer out and reheat the loaf and sauce - when I have busy days in the garden I like to eat things that need minimal work! 

I'm looking forward to this weekend dh is off and we have no plans other than garden stuff so it will be a really relaxing time 😍 

I hope you all have a fabulous long weekend! 😁

ETA: forgot to say that I spotted several newts in my pond yesterday - I haven't seen them for a while so it was very exciting!! 😍😁

dND

@Wednesday2000 I went for PetPlan as I've only heard good things about them.  I was, as I said, shocked by the prices.  In France scans or x-rays were €200 or less!  So a tripling of the price was not what I was expecting.
Like you, down the line I'm thinking about fostering because of the extortionate care costs here. DS1 is hoping to get a couple of cats and in his research he found a quote for having a cat of £1500 per cat per year!  Wouldn't be without mine though.

@leftatthetrafficlights Thank you - plumber didn't turn up but like I said, he was called out by the council to fix an emergency before the weekend.  He's coming next week 🤞🤞so I hope I'm earning brownie points. 🤣

I emptied about half a dozen packing boxes over the last couple of days.  A lot of the items are slowly making their way through the dishwasher/washing machine as appropriate.  The area to the side of the sink is nearly full of the hand washing items so that will be the next job once I've cleared the draining board by figuring out just where I'm going to store it.

I woke up to a layer of snow yesterday, which I wasn't expecting as being quite near the coast it's generally warmer.  But my house is higher than my DS1/DDiL1's house so maybe that's why I got some.  It wasn't long before the rain set in though and washed it all away.  I'm probably going to potter today as I'm suffering brain fatigue from all the decision making.  I usually say that and then get carried away with something and do twice as much. 🤣🤣

Valli

leftatthetrafficlights said:

ETA: forgot to say that I spotted several newts in my pond yesterday - I haven't seen them for a while so it was very exciting!! 😍😁

I get excited at newts...I still remember the thrill of seeing my first palmate and, later, great cresteds.  

Hope everyone has a peaceful, long slow weekend

Florafauna

V nice quiet day today, swimming, walking, sewing and then the arrival of DD and DSil for dinner and the rest of the weekend. Enjoyed some curry and a couple of Aperol Spritz for dinner. Planning a day off swimming tomorrow as I have an achy arm so will be sensible and rest it. Have worked on that I only have 12 working weeks till I retire. Flipping heck, that's really not long 

leftatthetrafficlights

Well yesterday didn't go according to plan! 🤔 while getting prepared to go into the garden I made the decision that I was in far too much pain from Thursday's gardening to do it again - I'm very good now at listening to my body and altering plans where necessary after spending a lot of last year incapacitated at times due to pushing on when I should have stopped! 🤦‍♀️ I had a lazy day instead, reading, watching TV and writing. Dh did some work in the garden though and I've improved enough today to get back out there so I'm looking forward to that. 

I'm up early again - since my visit to my relative I have been waking up at around 4am each morning and despite it being lovely to listen to the birds at that time, I'd really like to sleep! 😳 I did have my first chamomile tea while watching the deer munching it's breakfast in my garden though so the sleep deprivation has it's rewards 😁 

We ended up just eating leftovers yesterday- I hadn't realised that we had enough left so that was a bonus! We'll have the okara loaf tonight instead. There's enough of it for a couple of days so tomorrow I'll use it as a part of a 'Sunday lunch' with homegrown sprouting broccoli and cabbage along with carrots, swede and horseradish mash 😋 

I need to do the menu plan for the week today - Monday I'll be doing bubble and squeak with any leftovers from this weekend and I'll probably shop on Wednesday as grandbaby is away at the moment so I won't be having him this week.

It's going to be a really quiet week ahead as I won't be seeing my dd or grandbaby so I'm going to make sure that I make the most of the solitude and increase my meditation time - at the moment I'm doing around 10 - 15 minutes once a day (plus a bit of ad-hoc time when I wake early or go to bed) so I'm going to bump it up to 30 minutes and possibly add a more intentional session when I go to bed 🤔 It's so calming and centering that I really want to build as much of it as possible into my day and next week will be an ideal time to play around with the timings 😁 

@dND - well done on clearing more packing boxes! 🙌 fingers crossed for the plumber next week 😉 

@Valli - I'm pleased I'm not the only one who gets excited about newts!! 😁 I'm so impressed with mine, the pond will only be two years old in May and we first saw them last year - I'm always worried about things surviving winter etc so it's an amazing feeling seeing them again 😍 

@Florafauna - I hope you have a fab time with dd and dsil 😁 12 weeks isn't long at all and it's so exciting!! You're within touching distance of being the sole architect of your life and having a real sense of freedom 🙌😁 It will be wonderful 🥳 

Anyway, I want another chamomile tea so I'm off to grab one and perhaps take it into the garden...have a fab slow Saturday!! 😁