Away From The Madding Crowd

mark55man

I'm glad you have found this a pleasant place to sit and chat with random (at least in my case) people from the internet.

I love reading your meal plans - that is something I am hoping to get better at - maybe when I get into the swing of my time off.

Winter sun cruises sounds lovely and actually pretty frugal as well when all your discounts and complaint money is taken into account.  My FIL gave us a cruise for our silver anniversary and the balcony was the best bit (after the interesting stops) - very secluded in quite a large ship

My simple pleasure today (and most days) - having a coffee sat in my armchair (hopefully soon out on the patio (me not the armchair)) and reading these diaries

bluenose1

Thanks for your weekly up date, agree with marksman reading your diary and the others on here are definitely one  of my simple pleasures in life, nice not to have the conflict and nastiness that is often on social media.
Love your motivational quote this week and going to send to my sister as she is having the wobbles about a new job she has been offered. 

I am such a copycat, you will now have me looking for cruises and holidays for 2025, actually not like me not to have looked yet.
Just spent 30 minutes doing flexibility stretches, an hour polishing and enjoying  my coffee and read as feel I have deserved it.

uralmaid

Ooh Humboldt - get you! Booking a cruise.  I am sure it will be wonderful. I like the idea but as I hate water I won't be booking.  Years ago I was offered the chance of being booked to sing on cruises but turned it down as I would be on edge thinking it might sink.  I could have been as successful as Jane Macdonald (another who originally hails from Wakefield) - but we will never know. lol.  I enjoy reading your musings and admire your moneysaving exploits so please keep posting.  Here the grass is growing quickly - but trying to hold off cutting it for a while cos once you start that's it.  Todays efforts have been doing some washing and drying and a small pile of ironing.  Can't wait for warmer weather to get out in the garden all day.

Dizee123

I really enjoy your meal plans Humboldt and have decided to try and be a bit more adventurous on our weekly eats.  My partner really likes to eat the same very plain food every night of the week (e.g. chicken on Monday, sausages on Thursday etc.).  He is also very happy if the majority of meals come with some form of potato and baked beans .
I am trying to move to a Tuesday night 'surprise' night when it could be anything.  I will try and post my successes.....or the lack of them!

uralmaid

Today we are having fresh seabass with home made watercress sauce and lemon, new potatoes, tenderstem broccoli and asparagus. And I have a banana loaf currently in the oven baking.  Just call me Nigella!

Humboldt

@mark55man how wonderful to be gifted a cruise. Our holidays fall into two categories; full on touring or a cruise for some downtime. 

Thank you for your kind comment about my meal plans. I am no expert, but I am happy to share a few ideas which may help you get started (please forgive me if I am teaching you to suck eggs). Initially it might be useful to make a list of your favourite meals.  For a varied weekly diet, I try to choose meals that include one or more of the following: - pasta, vegetables, fish, meat, dairy, grains, pulses, etc.  To reduce wastage (and cost) I choose recipes that make full use of ingredients i.e. if I buy celery, I will plan a couple of meals that require it. When planning our meals I also factor in our budget and our need to make healthier choices.  I also find it useful to consider our commitments for the week when putting my plan together.  At first it takes a bit of effort, but it does get easier. If you have not done so already, check out the Old Style MoneySaving thread which provides lots of meal planning inspiration.  

@bluenose sending congratulations to your sister on her new job.  I love a motivational quote. There are currently some good offers available on cruises, fingers crossed you find one that you like.

@uralmaid or should I say Nigella? I hope that you were making eyes at the camera when cooking that seabass and banana loaf! Perhaps cruising is not for you if you are going to be thinking that it might sink lol.

@Dizee123 I am very lucky in that my OH is happy to eat most things.  That said, he does like a good portion, so a salad must be accompanied with something substantial. Let me know how the Tuesday night 'surprise' goes!

Today's simple pleasure - in the words of William Wordsworth 'a host, of golden daffodils' in the local park.

 

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

Motivational quote of the week

“What do you think is the biggest waste of time?” asked the boy.  “Comparing yourself to others,” said the mole.  From the book ‘The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse’ by Charlie Mackesy.

Money Saving

Our monthly grocery budget for me and my DH is now £250. Week 5 spend for March was £46.48. Total spend for March was £248.89. 

Checked our March gas/electric bill. We are £43.25 in credit and saved £1.36 via Power Move Plus.  We are pleased to have remained in credit throughout the winter. Due to the energy price cap change from today, our provider has informed us that our estimated annual saving will be £96.65. Would be nice, but I will believe it when I see it.

The total amount of interest added to our various savings accounts in March was £152.00. A little down on last month due to holiday expenses, but given the reason, we are ok with that.  After checking March’s current account statement, we transferred some more funds to our holiday savings account (final balance due in May for 2024 holiday).  Opening a new 5% regular saver account is on my ‘to do list’ for today. Fingers crossed for the April Premium Bonds draw tomorrow.

Took advantage of the Easter veg on offer for 15p. Some will be used for this week’s meals and the remainder will be made into various soups for the freezer (carrot/coriander and bacon/lentil already made).  

I have a manicure booked this week - get me!  I am using a voucher gifted to me, resulting in only £2 to pay.  It is some time (several years) since I had a professional manicure, so it will be a real treat.

This week’s main menu

Monday – Ping Meal – Same as yesterday (cook once eat twice – saves time and energy costs).  

Tuesday – Vegetable tagine (Pinch of N0m recipe) with warm wholemeal pittas. This recipe is great way to use up those cheap vegetables.  I will reduce the liquid and cook in the slow cooker. Pittas were reduced in price and frozen until required.

Wednesday – Aubergine parmigiana (River c0ttage Veg recipe) with salad.

Thursday – Ping Meal – Same as yesterday (cook once eat twice – saves time and energy costs).

Friday – Skinny beef lasagne (H@iry Dieter’s recipe), spiced sweet potato wedges and salad.  Lasagne is homemade and from the freezer.

Saturday – Moroccan fish and couscous parcels (S@insbury’s recipe).  I freeze harissa paste in an ice-cube tray and defrost as required.  

Sunday – Bean and pepper chilli (G0od Food recipe) with a small portion of brown rice.

Healthier Lifestyle

We had visitors this week so 0 workouts completed.  

Step count last week was 71,015.

Completed 4 free meditations.

Simple Pleasures

Books read 5/2024 – The Dandelion Years by Erica James (book swap with a friend).

Time spent with friends.

A long walk with DH at the weekend.  Nature, lots of bird song and sunshine. It was so nice to at last feel the warmth of the sun on my face.

DH and I foraged for wild garlic (responsibly). Several pots of wild garlic pesto (Good Fo0d recipe) now in the freezer. Next week’s menu will include our favourite homemade wild garlic pesto and goats cheese pizza.

Sat in the garden and enjoyed a toasted hot cross bun (reduced in price) and a cuppa.

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

uralmaid

As usual you have been busy and your meal planning puts me to shame.  Enjoy the manicure.  Here's to lots of sunny days to look forward to in the coming weeks.

bluenose1

Very nice menu plan as ever  Humboldt. 

Agree was  lovely to have a bit of sunshine over weekend, I love my walks in the woods no matter what the weather is, however sunshine is the icing on the cake.
Miserable here today, but I’ve been over to the gym done some weights, had a sauna and chilled by the pool sunbeds. Life could be a lot worse.
inspired by your comments I started looking at cruises and there was definitely no analysis paralysis involved  as I have booked the Norwegian fjords for June 25, brilliant price and P and O price matched Iglu. Was twice the price to go from Liverpool and the price includes coach transfers to Southampton Though I did spend hours deliberating on YouTube and Facebook, looking at photos and videos of the different cabin layouts etc before deciding which cabin to book. 
Now have four holidays booked, three for 2024, and one for 2025. I have just seen a really good deal for end of April 24 but think I might be pushing my luck!!!
The people who owned our house before us said there was wild garlic in our garden but I’ve never even sussed what it is. Definitely need to up my gardening game.
just took some courgette and leek soup out the freezer that I batch cooked for lunch today, batch cooking definitely makes life easier for me.
Enjoy your manicure.

Humboldt

Morning @bluenose1 I think that one of the things I like most about my semi-retirement is the 'extra time'. Time that was once filled with commuting and work is now allocated to activities of my choice.  Of course there are still house chores, meals to cook, family commitments, etc, but now I can fit these in around gardening, reading, exercising, crafting, spending time with friends, etc.  It was so nice to read how you had chosen to fill a rainy day with a trip to the gym. It does take a while to adjust to this new chapter in life, but when you finally begin to let go of the stress, worry, and dare I say guilt, it feels wonderful. What is also great, is that most of what I choose to do with the 'extra time' does not cost lots of money.

Fantastic that you have so many holidays booked. DH and I have been on a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords and would highly recommend it.  The fact that I save a little here, there, and everywhere (something my DH says lots) helps fund our holidays, days/meals out, etc.  After all we are here for a good time, not a long time!

Almost forgot to say that the manicure was a real treat, but the lady was horrified that I was going to be gardening afterwards lol.

Today's simple pleasure - the dusky blue sky provided the perfect backdrop for the vivid colours of a rainbow.