Away From The Madding Crowd

bluenose1

Enjoying your weekly updates Humboldt and love your menu.
I am really getting into meditation, do between 10 - 40 minutes most mornings, get a real sense of relaxation. Took me a while to appreciate how it calms me down.

Glad  you enjoyed your visit from family, sounds like a good time was had by all. I love mine visiting but also quite enjoy the peace when they go, plus I wait on them hand and foot so nice to relax. My mum, mother in law and gran all did this for us when we were adults and like my kids we just expected it….
I love listening to podcasts while doing jobs around the house, mostly motivational, retirement and health ones.  The Diary of a CEO and Feel Better Live More podcasts have interesting guests on that make me reflect on how to improve my mental or physical health, plus just interesting to hear the discussions they have.

uralmaid

Sounds like you have been having a lovely time @Humbolt

Humboldt

Morning all

@bluenose1 it can be full on when family visit, but I now try to 'cut myself some slack' by getting us a takeaway, eating out (usually at one of the chain pubs that have offers), or cooking a large curry in the slow cooker.  If they are here for a few days or more in the summer, we enjoy relaxed BBQ's (using reduced meat from the freezer and homemade sides), homemade picnics, or an afternoon tea (scones, cakes, etc baked in advance and frozen).  It helps reduce the pressure on me and the budgets. Whilst we enjoy their visits, we too embrace the peace when they leave.  (Just a little reminder for those who may not be aware, I do not include the cost of takeaways and eating out in our monthly grocery budget).

Hopefully others will try meditation if we promote it enough! It takes a while, but when it finally 'clicks', it so works. I started to listen to The Mel R0bbins Podcast yesterday on Sp0tify.  It was 'The Neuroscientist: After Listening to This, Your Brain Will Not be the Same'.  I remain sceptical, but could relate to some of what was being discussed, so it was interesting. 

@uralmaid we did very much enjoy the family visit.  I hope that you and your DH are now enjoying some 'down time'.  We had hail this morning, so no gardening again today.  My vegetable seedlings will need potting on in a week or so.  Let us hope the weather improves soon. 

Today's simple pleasure - The hedgerows are now filled with the flowering blackthorn.  The delicate white flowers are such a contrast to its dark, spiky stems. 

Katiehound

Humboldt said:

 

Today's simple pleasure - The hedgerows are now filled with the flowering blackthorn.  The delicate white flowers are such a contrast to its dark, spiky stems. 

So with any luck there will be loads of sloes to make delicious sloe gin, sloe vodka, or whatever in the autumn!

Humboldt

Morning all.

Hi @Katiehound sloe gin is very nice. The recipe looks simple enough, but I have never tried making it.  I recently came across a recipe for dandelion honey.  Again, a simple recipe, and one that appears to have been lost in time.

Today's simple pleasure - Mr Blackbird joined me for breakfast.  Me at the kitchen table with my cuppa and overnight oats, him with his feed on the bird table.

Katiehound

Sloe gin/vodka is very simple to  make. Just buy the cheapest gin or vodka that you can find. probably the hardest thing will be collecting the sloes or not getting caught on the thorns!

Another drink to make- non alcoholic- is elderflower cordial. Absolutely delicious & so easy. Flowers are around May / June.
https://veganonboard.com/the-best-homemade-elderflower-cordial/

Humboldt

Morning all.

Hi @Katiehound I too enjoy making the most of what each season has to offer. We have recently enjoyed locally grown rhubarb, and next week we will be eating our first Jersey Royal potatoes with homemade mint sauce.  There is a lovely line in The River C0ttage Year recipe book  'Seasonality leads us not just to fresher, less travel-weary produce but also to better-tasting varieties of our home-grown favourites'.

Today's simple pleasure - The tulips that I planted in pots are now at their very best, and add a welcome pop of colour to the garden on this very grey, rainy morning.

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

Motivational quote of the week

Laughter is timeless.  Imagination has no age. And dreams are forever – Walt Disney

Money Saving

Our monthly grocery budget for me and my DH is £250.  Week 4 spend for April was £53.61. Total spend for April was £227.44 (£22.56 under budget).  For calculations purposes Week 1 for May will begin Monday 29 April. 

I have a loyalty card for the hairdressers and have enough ‘stamps’ for a £10 discount this week.  

This week I received an email from S@insbury’s detailing how much I had saved since they launched Nect@r Prices a year ago.  Considering I only bought products that I thought to be good value for money, and that I needed, I was surprised to find that I had saved £168.19. For those who do not know, to be eligible for Nect@r Prices you will need to register digitally on the Nect@r app or via nectar.com.  You will then need to scan or swipe your Nect@r card or app at the checkout. Just wanted to repeat that I buy the bulk of our groceries from Ald!, and do not have any allegiance to a particular shop, bank, or business, etc.  They all must work hard to get me to part with our hard-earned cash.

This week’s main menu

Monday – Tuna pasta bake (G0od Food recipe) with salad.  This recipe serves 6 so I will adjust the ingredients to serve 4, and we will have the leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch.  I will use half-fat cheddar cheese and add broccoli, as well as the sweetcorn. We like M@S own brand tuna in spring water, which I think is good quality and value at £3.25 for 4 x 160g tins.

Tuesday – Chicken with stuffing, carrot & swede mash, spring greens, new potatoes, and gravy. I will cook the chicken in the slow cooker.

Wednesday – Ping Meal – As per yesterday (cook once eat twice, saves time and energy costs).

Thursday – Easy chicken fajitas (G0od Food recipe) with salad.  I will use leftover chicken, add extra vegetables and half a tin of mixed beans (the other half will be added to tomorrows soup).  

Friday – Cajun bean soup (P!nch of Nom recipe) with a chunk of wholemeal bread. Spring onions homegrown. I will use less stock and cook in the slow cooker.

Saturday – Cauliflower and chickpea curry (R!ver Cottage Veg recipe), onion bhajis and flatbreads (Jam!e Oliver recipe).     

Sunday – Ping Meal

Breakfasts continue to be mainly oat based; we will include some fresh blueberries which are on offer in Ald!’s this week for £1.  Lunches will include homemade soups from the freezer.

Healthier lifestyle

Completed 1 free workout via Get F!t with Rick on Y0uTube. Stepping to the Be£ Gee’s is a great way to start the day.

Step count last week was 49,147.

Completed 4 free meditations.

Simple pleasures

Books read 7/2024 – Ferney by James Long (a free book from the community book swap). A real page turner that gripped me from start to finish.  James Long is the author of both historical fiction and thrillers, and this is the first of his books that I have read.  The historical element was reminiscent of Kate Mosse books that I have enjoyed.

I made a batch of flapjacks whilst the oven was on yesterday.  There is something so comforting about baking on a cold, rainy, day.  We enjoyed one with a cuppa, then I froze the rest to be enjoyed over the coming weeks.

The clematis on the obelisk and garden fence are both covered in buds.  Not long now before they are a mass of primrose yellow flowers.

Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to read my diary.

Katiehound

Today's free treat: just seen holly blue butterflies in the garden.

(oh, and found a brand new china teapot  and cup & saucer in a litter bin complete with their cardboard 'wrappers' in a gift bag. when cleaned they will be off to a charity shop!)

Humboldt

Morning all.

@Katiehound I had to google 'holly blue butterfly'.  You have a such wonderful knowledge and appreciation of nature. Thank you for sharing it.

Fancy finding a brand new china teapot and cup/saucer in a litter bin! Sad to think that someone would just throw away such a gift, and so kind of you to donate it to a charity shop.

Today's simple pleasure - first cuppa of the day.