Living the Good Life - mortgage free and living in line with our values

Cheery_Daff

Also don't think you're a spoilt brat! I too very much struggle with overwhelm much of the time. And you're right, a visitor, or a nice day out, is lovely - but there also needs to be time for actual rest AND getting things done, and when those things aren't done, and there's too much socialising etc on top of work, that's a definite overwhelm trigger for me. Look after yourself! 

themadvix

Thanks ladies, it's so nice to be understood!

I made such good progress with the large project I'm working on on Thursday that I only worked yesterday until 11 (I did start at about 7.30, mind you). Mr MV had the whole day off, so he made progress with various jobs - the garden looks much tidier now. This gave me time to get various other bits done and then Mr MV and I went to the tap room and played cards for a bit before our tapas dinner. It was lovely.

Neither of us slept well last night - combination of the sangria, B&W cat and it being too hot. That said, we've been to the allotment this morning and transferred 6 bags of compost (on offer at £4 for 50l from Wickes until the 13th) to the shed, picked my 'cow beans' (Jacob's cattle beans from Real Seeds, they are a thing of beauty!), some raspberries, blackberries, spring onions and carrots - there's even a couple of carrots that are actual carrot-sized, which I am very pleased with! Sowed a few more too and did a bit of weeding. 

I've then spent quite a bit of time going to and from the Library of Things. Had the brilliant idea that I could hire a larger pressure cooker to pressure can my plums (of which there are going to be a lot). They have larger pressure cookers at the library - winner. Went over there to pick it up (hired for two weeks at £4/week), got it home, discovered that it's not deep enough to actually fit the blasted jars in (and ironically, that my little pc did have the headroom - albeit I can only do one at a time!). Had to take it back. It's about a 40 min round trip each time.... Very fortunately, the lovely people there refunded my £8 hire fee in full. If they hadn't, I'd've asked for the second week's fee back, but they just did it without any quibble.

We're currently taking advantage of the free leccy for an hour - car is 'charging' (it doesn't need much) and we're using the 8kw shower too. We've been to the other garage to do some sanding on the caravan pieces and we'll be going back shortly, so I didn't bother washing my hair (and we're planning on having a bbq and fire this evening, so it would be rather silly).

So things are getting done. Whether we'll make out anywhere tomorrow for a break, I don't know. The problem is that if I'm here, there's a constant 'I should be doing...' going on in my head. But maybe with a few more things ticked off, that voice will be quieter.

MS things:
* Clicks and HW done
* Lots of food from the allotment. Good job too, as there's about £50 of our budget left now (I went to the refill shop yesterday, £28 spent) - it was only £200 in the first place, so we'll see how we get on, but in theory we should be stocked up.
* Used our giftcard for dinner last night so it only cost us £24 (and we were stuffed)

Gratitudes:
* Lovely evening with Mr MV last night
* Help at the allotment
* Chats with lovely allotment neighbours 
* Kind people at the LoT

Have a good afternoon all!

rtandon27

I"m envious of your library of things!  If I remember correctly Cheery uses one as well.  Obviously I live in the wrong part of the country!

themadvix

rtandon27 said:

I"m envious of your library of things!  If I remember correctly Cheery uses one as well.  Obviously I live in the wrong part of the country!

They are popping up all over RT, I’m sure there’ll be one near you soon. From the map below it does look like you’re in a bit of a gap, but worth keeping an eye out: https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/home-garden/library-things-directory

greenbee

No Library of Things in my part of the world either sadly. 

Very impressed by your activity on the allotment - not enough to emulate it though. I'm having an almost-duvet day as I'm shattered. So there will just be more to deal with when I finally get round to it. 

Sympathies on the cat disturbances too. One of mine is clearly eating dodgy wildlife as she's got me up early twice recently and had to use the litter tray overnight. 

BTW - I tried Buy Wholefoods Online. Very efficient, and the stuff I've had looks good so far. Only two niggles - they have stuff in stock on Amazon that's not available direct, and I have ethical issues with somewhere that sells vegan cat food. I'm not keen on the idea of vegan dog food anyway, but cats are obligate carnivores and indoor cats can't go out and supplement an enforced diet. 

themadvix

greenbee said:

No Library of Things in my part of the world either sadly. 

Very impressed by your activity on the allotment - not enough to emulate it though. I'm having an almost-duvet day as I'm shattered. So there will just be more to deal with when I finally get round to it. 

Sympathies on the cat disturbances too. One of mine is clearly eating dodgy wildlife as she's got me up early twice recently and had to use the litter tray overnight. 

BTW - I tried Buy Wholefoods Online. Very efficient, and the stuff I've had looks good so far. Only two niggles - they have stuff in stock on Amazon that's not available direct, and I have ethical issues with somewhere that sells vegan cat food. I'm not keen on the idea of vegan dog food anyway, but cats are obligate carnivores and indoor cats can't go out and supplement an enforced diet. 

I wouldn’t be too impressed with allotment activity - it was fairly minimal tbh. But I was very pleased with the carrots!

I also ordered from BWO for the first time this week. I was also impressed with the service, although would like less plastic (the main thing I ordered was soy beans though to make tofu, which will dramatically reduce the plastic I’d have bought otherwise). Couldn’t agree more about vegan cat food - totally wrong - but imagine you can also buy that from Amazon 😉 Poor that they stock stuff on Amazon that they don’t in their own warehouse - but that will be the difference, Amazon will be warehousing the stock they sell through them, so a different inventory. If you don’t go on Amazon, you’re oblivious!

greenbee

I have a feeling that if I thin my carrots and beetroot they might do a bit more... also back to watering this week. 

Agree with you on the less plastic. It's honestly a minefield trying to live sustainably and ethically. I guess we just have to do the best we can. 

Watty1

@earthgirl what a sensible approach.  That had never occurred to me but if I approached the day from that perspective I would plan to do less and probably actually get more done 

rtandon27

themadvix said:

rtandon27 said:

I"m envious of your library of things!  If I remember correctly Cheery uses one as well.  Obviously I live in the wrong part of the country!

They are popping up all over RT, I’m sure there’ll be one near you soon. From the map below it does look like you’re in a bit of a gap, but worth keeping an eye out: https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/home-garden/library-things-directory

oooo - thank you for the link Vix - we are indeed in a bit of a black hole, the nearest one is a good 30mins away.

I think one of the reasons is that our town is in the middle of a very rural area & most people own everything they need when their houses are so remote!  Our town is mostly made up of barber shops, nail salons, haridressers and coffee shops but not much else!  It is however going through a regeneration so fingers crossed it becomes a bit more cosmpolitain in it's tastes than the current state!

Cheery_Daff

Our town is in a rural area too, but we've still got one - thanks to a dedicated gang of volunteers who do all kinds of projects in the community. There are plenty of people in the town who don't live rural, I suppose! I'm surprised that the city i work in doesn't have one and that's usually got all those types of things. Hit and miss! But definitely a good thing (even if we don't use it that much, mostly due to being quite rural and already having all the things 😂)