Slow Living - Doing It Old Style!

Valli

ooh Cherryfudge i like food shopping abroad too… i came back with. huge bag of dried oregano once…looked suspicious lol

cureently working on Sunday dinner.  DS and dil aren’t coming, dil is i’ll, so it’ll be DD and the aged peas.  At least, now, i only need to make 1 dessert and it’s trifle, so i started tha5 yesterday.  i use lidl xxl sized savoiarde sponges, they are, imo, a great standby 

nannygladys

Just came in from the garden, no work done unless you call knitting, drinking coffee, sitting on the garden swing 'work' . Id still be there but it's started spotting with rain😏

Moorviews

How lovely @Cherryfudge! Glad that you had a good time in Rome and an opportunity for a break. I have only been to Rome once but absolutely loved the experience. 

Going food shopping abroad is one of my favourite things to do and I don’t tend to do any other type of shopping on holiday. There’s nothing quite like buying fresh produce from a market and indeed having a good nosy around a supermarket. Even at home I enjoy attempting the cooking of other countries, although I realise they aren’t authentic of course! My paternal grandmother was like this and I learned a lot from her about food and cooking. When I look back I feel very privileged to have spent a lot of time with my lovely grandparents. They were mostly retired and did all the growing of home produce, cooking from scratch, making homemade wine, home and car repairs, woodworking and knitting. It was slow living in the most natural and unforced of ways. 

I’m craving a bit of slowness and routine at the moment. I intend to make a plan today for what I can realistically accomplish. 

I hope everyone is having a good long weekend 😊

leftatthetrafficlights

@Cherryfudge - your Rome trip sounds wonderful!! 😁 I've been twice and absolutely adored it - it's the only foreign city that I've visited more than once and I'd happily go again! 

@Valli - I hope your Sunday dinner went well and that dil recovers quickly 🤞

@nannygladys - of course its 'work' - it's working on your mental health! 😉 I'm glad you got to enjoy some time in the garden 😊 

@Moorviews - your grandparents sound like they were amazing! My grandbaby had the first of the peas on Thurs that he sowed earlier in the year - the delight and pride on his little face was magical 😍 I  hope you managed to get sorted! 

I've had a very quiet couple of days - the weather was basically rubbish all weekend (had a couple of decent hours yesterday) and now that the BH is over it's beautifully sunny! 🤦‍♀️😂 Today I'm going into the city with dd and my grandbaby - she has an appointment then we'll have a mooch around and a bit of lunch. It will be nice to spend some time with them - now that she works full time I don't get to see much of her and I miss her! We'll only be out for a couple of hours but it will be nice to do and I can get a few bits that I need from the shops. 

Tomorrow I'm going to do a bit of cleaning and hopefully potter around the garden doing a bit of weeding - I've barely been out there over the past couple of weeks and I miss the tranquility...

Have a lovely slow day 😁

leftatthetrafficlights

I had a wonderful day yesterday with dd and grandbaby 😍 we did a little bit of shopping, stopped for lunch, went for a wander around the cathedral, had a drink in the cathedral cafe then came home 😁 We were out a lot longer than anticipated though - about 6 hours in total!! 😳 

Today, I'm having a quiet one - I was going to do some cleaning and gardening but I am aching and my knee is hurting - I'm still recovering from the fall (despite it being over two weeks ago now) and probably overdid it a bit yesterday 🤦‍♀️ 

Food wise, we're finishing off leftovers still so I just need to think about food for Thursday and Friday and finish off my grocery budget for the month. I think I've gone slightly over this month due to being unable to cook for a little while and dh buying stuff in that we didn't really need but I'm okay with that - I'm hoping to have a really good June as dh is away for a week and I'm away for a few days too. 

Finance wise I've had a bit of a shift in focus over the past few days. I'd become very complacent about spending - we're fortunately not struggling and not saving for anything in particular so I've taken my eye off the ball. I had a conversation with dh the other day after I had ordered deer food and a bin to keep it in (despite them being perfectly happy with the seeds and peanuts I put out several times a day!) and realised that I've become blasé about our money 🤦‍♀️

I don't want to fall into that trap again so I'm taking control before I lose the plot!! I want to get a firm grip on all our spending - we both have a persie spends fund every month so there's no excuse for not keeping a tight conrol on the rest of the budgeting pots.

I did a money shuffle and moved some of my regular bills account buffer into savings - the interest rates are poop in the bill account bank and my buffer was too high really so I may as well make a little extra on the interest! I've set targets for myself on two savings accounts and will try to achieve them as soon as possible - I need to keep myself accountable for all my spending!  

I worked out the number of portions of grains and pulses/lentils we have in stock at the weekend - suffice to say that we will not need to buy any more for a substantial period of time! 😳 It will help me with meal planning and with monitoring our storecupboard so should help reduce our grocery spends in the long run.The garden veg is currently growing well too so within the next couple of months we shouldn't need to buy much fresh veg at all 🤞 

Anyway, time for a chamomile tea - have a lovely slow day 😁

Wednesday2000

I should do a financial check too. My husband got paid today and he only has one more paycheck until he retires next month! Eek. I have wanted this for a long time, but now it seems scary as it has happened so fast. I'm sure we will be fine. We have drawn up a list of criteria that we want in our new home when we move.

I keep mentioning this on here, but my two local vegan restaurants are on Come Dine With Me - Professionals tomorrow. Channel 4 at 5. I think that is definitely the right date as I asked the owner the other day and he actually got the date wrong, lol.

I am about to have a hot bath with lavender and then get dressed. I want to use my mini trampoline today as it does seem to make me feel less achy afterwards. I read the other day that it works every cell in your body. In fact I will do it for 5 minutes before my bath.

leftatthetrafficlights

@Wednesday2000 - I'm sure that you'll be fine when he retires! I must admit that when I first made the decision to leave the workforce, I felt a bit wobbly in my last week at work due to the massive income drop I was facing but I knew that I'd made the right decision and have never regretted it. I've set the record button on come dine with me episode tonight in case I miss it 😉 

I spent most of yesterday finalising my financial plans, refreshing spreadsheets and updating my food inventory. I feel much more in control now which is lovely 🙌 I find it a lot easier to relax when things are in order - I used to thrive on chaos in my professional life but I've never been okay with it in my personal life! 

I've had a lovely morning so far, I've done some reading, a bit of writing and a yoga nidra practice. I've currently got a 'black screen sleep music' on via YouTube and I'm feeling very chilled out. My only plans today are to do a bit of housework and a bit of cooking - that will take about an hour of my day so I'll start those in the next hour or so then I'm going have a long hot shower and do some meditation. 

Dinner tonight is going to be spiced red lentil patties, vegetable balti, mango and coconut potatoes, naan bread, raita and chutneys. I haven't made the lentil patties for years so I'm looking forward to those 😁 

Have a lovely slow day 😁 

leftatthetrafficlights

Well the weather is ridiculously rubbish again today - it's been raining pretty much none stop since last week and now we've got high winds to go with it 🤦‍♀️😔 I miss sunshine!!! We've got my grandbaby this weekend so I'm really hoping it perks up a bit! 🤞

Last night's dinner was lovely and there's enough leftover for a repeat performance today which is good 😁 I've got a bit of laundry to do today but other than that I'll just be passing the time until my grandbaby arrives - I'll do a bit more reading and may have a youtube surf! 

Have a lovely slow day! 😁 

ETA: @Wednesday2000 - I watched the come dine with me - I was quite impressed with the winners menu, thought the runners up put on a decent show and was very underwhelmed by the losing restaurant!! 

ETA (again!): 
The deer food and bins turned up yesterday so I now have a bit of a creature feeding station in the kitchen - 4 bins containing bird seed, peanuts, deer food and duck food 😂 add that to my 4 recycling bins, my general waste bin and my compost bin and I'm starting to feel like I should have shares in a bin manufacturers!! 🤦‍♀️😂 

Valli

Hello slowies

Lovely day yesterday, train to the smoke (takes about 2 hours), Tapas lunch in Covent Garden listening to a string quartet, off to The Alwych to see the Tina Turner musical matinee which was excellent, and back home by about 9:30.  Luckily we had booked train seats.  Trains were full both ways.  I was with DD.

DiL is better, thanks for asking.

This week i’ve also knitted a baby cardi, just needs the band, making up and buttons.  Saw a young couple who drop in at work (I work in the charities sector), so they’ll be getting my next baby knit for their baby due the day after my birthday.  I’ve got a list of admin jobs to do is hope to get round to some of those today.

Hope everyone has a lovely Friday.

Wednesday2000

leftatthetrafficlights said:

ETA: @Wednesday2000 - I watched the come dine with me - I was quite impressed with the winners menu, thought the runners up put on a decent show and was very underwhelmed by the losing restaurant!! 

Ironically the losing one is our favourite restaurant around here! We have been there loads of times since we moved here.

 I wasn't impressed by any of the desserts the three made. It was quite entertaining to see places I go to being on TV and there were a few funny moments. I hope being on the show gives them more business.