Hello!

As a vegan, though I don’t like labels, I like to think of myself as someone who prefers a plant based diet 😊 anyway, being a ‘non meat eater’ has made me think about other things, like waste, ecological stuff. Now, I’m not anywhere near a climate saving warrior, and I am nowhere near going totally ‘Green’, however, I am becoming aware of even the smallest eco changes I make in certain areas of my life helps, and that is what I’m trying to do. It’s a slow process, and it’s a work in progress.

One area where I’m starting the change, (other than cutting down on plastic use with the aim of minimal and unavoidable use) is in my yarn. Sadly, I know acrylic isn’t the best eco wise, but, at the moment I am still using it, but will make sure it gets a full and total usage. I have treated myself, from some birthday money to some re cycled cotton yarn, called re cycle cotton, and I bought that from Amazon. I am amazingly please with it. It knots up well, and it’s very soft. Being aware of the amount of water needed to produce cotton, I was pleased to see this yarn, it does have polyester in it though, so not totally sure on how much eco it is, but I’m on a learning curve, and I don’t want this new life style to become a ‘religion’, so for now, I’m happy with this change. Below will be a pic of what I’ve knitted so far in it.

 

Ha!!

 Doing my usual, and leaving another nearly a year to slip by before coming on here again. Let’s see if I can be a bit more faithful this time :-)

At the end of this month, all Covid restrictions are going to be lifted here in the UK. Although, I must admit, I feel pretty much back to normal anyway. I still wear a face covering in the shops. The reason for that is because in July, after a lot of problems getting to see a doctor at her surgery, one of my daughters was diagnosed with blood cancer. Thankfully, she has pulled through, as much as anyone who has experienced cancer can, now it’s the five year waiting game. All looking positive at the moment though. Anyway, just as she was diagnosed, looking at her, you wouldn’t think there was anything wrong with her. At that time, I couldn’t wait to stop having to wear the face coverings, but her diagnosis made me think, I could be stood behind someone in the supermarket, and they could have a life threatening illness, which, if aggravated by catching something like Covid, could become even more serious. So, for now, and for a little while after the restrictions are dropped, I will continue wear a face covering while in shops.

I'm thinking of starting a compost bin. I'm hating having to throw stuff away that could become something else. My diet has been plant based for nearly a year now, and it has made think a lot more ethically. I question what I throw away. I know what I choose to do isn't going to 'save the planet' as such, but I do feel, if each and every one of us, do what we can, then it's going to help. I think my body has definitely benifitted from a plant based diet. I don't feel so sluggish, and I look forward to my dinner. It's generally colourful, and very tasty. Having a daughter chef living with me, but sadly only for a while now as she is moving to her own house, has helped give the confidence to be a bit more adventerous with my seasonings etc. 

I did realsise the other day that socks I made for Christmas for two of my children who are also plant based, had wool in them :-( I have a largeish basket with sock wool in it as well lol. I have to be honest, that I don't feel quite so convicted over wool, but I do realise that in a lot of cases, now-a-days, sheep aren't given the nicest experience when being shorn, and because of man's greed for wool, sheep were bred to be shorn, instead of being left to shed their coat naturally, and of course now, If a sheep isn't shorn, it can make them ill as they can harbour all sorts in their fleeces. I have seen sheep being dipped and shorn, when I was a child. My aunt and uncle and my mum's cousin had farms. I would watch them shear the sheep. Back then it was a lot more humane I think, though I do acknowledge their are still farmers who shear their sheep as gentle as they can. I suppose it's more the mass production etc that puts a sorrowful face on it. I have heard though, farmers can'r sell their fleeces/wool so easy now. ANyway, there are so many other fibre options out there, that I'm going to shift over to ethical/plant based fibers. I will give some of my sock wool away, and knit up socks for my non plant based girls with the rest :-) I'm probably going to start some separate pages to discuss all things plant based and planet friendly. Bare in mind though, I am a novice, just starting to climb the ladder, so some of my thoughts might be thoughts I wouldn't be holding at some time down the line.

Other topics I want to put up are about coping in todays expensive world. I have a big bug bear about that, and will be starting a section soley on that topic.

Of course my crafty stuff will still be appearing. I will use my i-pad to post those, as that's easier. 

I'm still doing my family tree, so keep an eye in tht section, and I think I'd quite like to do a little 'back in time' with my relatives an do articles on them in that time etc.

I won't delete previous stuff, but some of those pages I might not use anymore.

So, here we go. 2022, let's get blogging :-)

Over one year later

 So, here we are, over a year on, just coming out of lock down number 3. It's been a difficult year for everybody I think. During this year, a lot of us I think have learned quite a lot about ourselves. 

When I last posted, I was saying my diet was going mainly plant based. During that first lock down however, where things were out of stock in the supermarkets, we lived mainly on what was in the freezer, and cupboards for several weeks, and so my daughter and myself went back to eating meat. However, we are now back on our mainly plant based diet. We will do vegetarian if need be, Like last week, on holiday in Wales, a place where we went to for lunch had no Vegan options at all, and only two veggie options. Those being a veggie burger, or a cheese, tomato and red onion baguette I opted for the bagutte, with some chips (hopefully they were cooked in vegetable oil !!!)  didn't want the veggie burger, as often they are bought one, and they tend to have a bland taste, or a too spicy. Anyway, in that instance, I went veggie. Other than that, my meals are now plant based, and I have to be honest, I'm really enjoying it :-) I'm enjoying cooking the plant based meals as well. Hubby likes them too. He's still a meat eater, but, by default, he's now having a lot less meat meals, and it's doing him good.

I'm also enjoying doing some vegan baking. When people have had some of my bakes, they've not realised it's vegan. I tell them after :-) so far remarks have been positive. To my face anyway lol. I have realised though, there's a tremendous amount of sugar in the vegan bakes, I suppose this is to compensate for the lack of egg?? So, my next venture is to experiment using natural sugar replacemnets. I'm currently reading up on how to substitue sugar in bakes (thank you Mr. Google) So, when I've perfected the art, I will start posting my efforts :-)

I'm still busy with my knitting/crochet etc. Also, I had my DNA done last year. That has now opened with a huge door to my family tree researching, which I will post about in the family tree section sometime soon. 

:-)

Feb 2020

2017! The last time I posted on here. That's amazing. Now we are in 2020. How times fly.

I have been busy. I was looking after my little grandson three days a week for nearly three years. Last January he started extra days at his child minder, so I only have him once a week now. this September he starts school!!!! That is unbelievable.

Not a lot has changed with me. I still like my crafts, baking etc. I think the last four years I've mainly knitted for Freddie :-)
I still try to be as economical with my cooking as I can be, and not waste food, though at times I don't do so well. Lately as well, one of my daughter's who lives with us and is a chef, (I have two chef daughters) is embracing a more vegan/vegetarian type diet. As a chef she can't go full vegan/veggie, as she has to taste her cooking, but at home, those are her food choices, veering more towards vegan. I've joined her on this. I will eat meet if we are visiting and meat is served, but where I can have to choice, my food preferences are now more Veggie, as I do eat egg and cheese still. I do try and keep my main meals mainly vegan though. Hubby still eats meat and fish, but he is enjoying a more vegan diet.
Tuesday nights, my daughter does the evening meal, and this last Tuesday she did pulled jackfruit. She wasn't so keen on it, but hubby and I loved it :-)

Nearing the end of August 2017

Last week Hubby and I went to Old Wardour Castle, in Wiltshire. First time we'd been there. It was lovely, and I would definitely go again :-) Photo's have been posted :-)

So we are coming to the end of August. This summer has flown by. Hubby's birthday at the beginning of September and they have the tradition of the birthday person taking in birthday cake.I cannot understand that. Surely it's the person who's birthday it is that should have a cake given to them, but it seems to be the thing in most work places now, it's the birthday person provides the cake. Now. Where most the people hubby works with would bring in a couple of bags of dougnuts, and share them with those who work in their particular section, hubby likes me to make cake, enough to feed the whole factory near enough. So, I make him two white Victoria Sponges, two chocolate ones, a fruit cake and a banana teabread. He did ask for more, but I told him that was plenty. If it didn't go round, cut smaller slices :-) So, today I started on the sponges. Going to make one each day and freeze them. The first of the white sponges has been made and frozen :-)

Actually, I have been quite motivated today, which in all honesty isn't always the case!!! I got up at 6am, squeezed oranges for those in the house. Put dinner on in the slow cooker, made the sponge. Did mine and hubby's laundry, washed the towels, ironed some shirts for hubby. Made him a cuppa. Hubby, mum and I went into Chippenham and did some shopping. Made some cheese scones. vacuumed upstairs, did some knitting, and lots of other little odds and ends, even managed a 20min power nap :-D

Talking of dinner. As I've just said. I did dinner in the slow cooker, getting up early to put it on. I love the slow cooker. Once the food is in it, then you can just get on with the day, and not worry :-) So. In my slow cooker today went a couple of chicken breasts.. Yes. I know a couple of posts back I said I was veggie. I had to stop being completely veggie as I started to feel really weird (my lot here said they hadn't noticed any difference as I'm always weird!!)  so I've started to have a little meat in my diet, so I'm more flexitarian, than vegetarian now. I do still cook veggie, and try and do my menus to include more vegetarian recipes than it did before I had my veggie months. I like to have more vegetarian dinners than meat ones in the week. For my lunch time food I try to keep mainly vegetarian as well. Anyway. Today I did chicken breasts. I chopped up some onion and mushrooms, put them in the slow cooker. Placed the chicken breasts on top then poured a tin of chopped tomatoes over them and dried mixed herbs. I had some gravy left over from the roast on Thursday, so added that as well, popped the lid on and then spent a lovely day not worrying about what to cook tonight :-) The result was lovely. I served the breasts with roasted new potatoes, and also re-heated a couple of boiled new potatoes from last nights meal, which was a salad. And we had some mixed veg as well. It was delicious. especially as there were cheese scones to go with it too :-) Yum!!!

Last week was busy as always, though I'm trying to organise myself better. That's an ongoing task, as I never seem to be able to fully accomplish that :-)
My little grandson keeps me on my toes. I really enjoy having him.
I've found I've had to start writing a weekly menu. I always did that when my kiddies were young, and I was homeschooling, but that has slipped over the last few years, and I've been finding myself waking up and wondering what to make for dinner that night, and then having to buy, because it's too late to take anything out of the freezer. I was also noticing I was throwing away more food again, as I wasn't keeping a proper eye on the fridge's inners. It always amazes me how easy it is to fall back into bad ways and habits. For me, it's an ongoing mission to stay focused, and economical.
I tidied out our freezers on Thursday. That has helped a lot actually. It's good to know what there is. I wrote down stuff so I can keep an eye on it and use it up. I stopped counting the frozen bananas. There were tons. So lots of banana teabreads to be made !!!! Also, frozen cooked veg for soup. I've a lot of that, so Friday I made some soup and still have some in the fridge. We will have some tomorrow for lunch. I also have a few cartons of frozen casseroles that were left overs from a meal. So tomorrow for dinner I'm making a pie also using some frozen pastry scraps from precious pies, so a nice easy meal tomorrow that will be wholesome, but not hard work :-) We will have that with wedges and peas :-) Also, there was some lovely onion, mushroom, tomatoey gravy left from today's meal, so that will be lovely to have with the pie :-)

I am busy knitting socks. I'm on my last pair now for a while. I want to start some sweaters for Freddie ready for the Autumn/winter. I'm determined to cut down the time I spend on my tablet playing games!!!! I get so cross with myself for getting so involved and wasting time. I need to get a knitting move on lol. So. I'm going to limit my tablet time, and only play a couple of the games  like. It will be interesting to see how I do when I get back on here. Hopefully I'll be able to report a success :-)

Birthday treat

Last September, my lovely hubby was 60. Our beautiful children gave him a hot air balloon ride for two as a present. After having five cancellations, we got to go on it today :-) What a lovely experience it was :-)

Fed up

There is nothing so annoying than being a well behaved dieter, sticking like glue to the plan, only to weigh yourself and see that nothing has changed for two weeks (sigh!). So today I rebelled and ate things I know I shouldn't do. I know I will regret it, but it felt sooooooo good :-)

Yesterday we had a BBQ. One of my son-in-laws will be 50 in the week. I think we will all be living off of BBQ food for the next few days lol.
I made some yummy veggie burgers for me and grilled some peppers and big mushroom. Also, I roasted some cherry tomatoes in the oven, and they were gorgeous :-) Veggie burgers are very cheap to make. I used chickpeas, lentils, grated carrot and onion in one, adding a little egg and breadcrumbs made from nimble bread. I also made some omitting the chickpeas and lentils, and using kidney beans instead. Both types had herbs and seasoning in :-)

I've got very slack at doing my weekly menus. I have to get back into it again. I'm waking up in the mornings clueless as to what is going to be for dinner that evening. Not good for economising. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays I need to do something quick, or in the slow cooker, because those are the days I look after the grandson, and at the moment, I am being very unorganised :-( My cupboards, and freezer needs sorting as I've loads of food accumulating in them which would make a meal. I've also got some meat casseroles, and some veggie casseroles frozen down ready to be devoured. Organising a menu is difficult as well, because I'm never sure when my girls, who still live with us are in. I keep forgetting to ask when they leave for work and sometimes I cook enough for everyone, and they are't here to at it !!! My hubby, thankfully, is happy to take left overs to work for his lunch :-)

I have noticed shop prices getting higher, and packaging getting smaller. It must be very difficult for lower wage earners to make ends meet at times. I'm sure one of the main four supermarkets is trying to break away from the other three and styling itself more on the more up market supermarket. I've noticed a lot of their cheaper range products are not on the shelves, and their 'top of the range' products being more promoted. I get the feeling this supermarket is attempting to be a second choice to the up market supermarket, so that those who are a little more fussy over brands, and foods, and wouldn't buy the cheaper choices, but can't afford the up market shop  prices, will choose to shop their instead.
It annoys me that most of us seem so dependant on supermarkets, and that they manipulate us so much. I find it hard that healthy food is so expensive, making it difficult for poorer paid families to buy healthy food.
It annoys me as well that children in schools are not taught basic cookery, so that they will be able to feed a family economically, and healthily when they need to.

Anyway. That's my latest rant off loaded :-) lol.

Dog Alone at Home

Thursday, mum and I met up with a friend of hers. We left our dog at home. She is an 18mth old Sha Pi/Staffie cross. The height of a Sha Pi, the muscle and energy of a Staffie !!! I left my knitting on a small chair by the chair I usually sit on. I do this quite a lot. This is what I found when I came home!!

I did manage to re-wind the yarn, and resurrect my knitting that I found nearly outside the backdoor.

Been busy

So. I've taken about eighteen months off away from the blog. I have been busy with my grandson, looking after him three days a week, while his mummy and daddy work. He's now coming up for two years old and is absolutely adorable. Into everything, very cheeky, and now being able to put a few words together. He's been walking since he was ten months. my days are very full when I have him.
I also have my mum living with us now which is lovely. the grandson loves her to bits.

I'm still knitting. Knitted loads for my grandson over the last couple of years. Busy knitting socks at the moment, then back to knitting for the little boy :-)

Also, I'm still doing my best to live as economically as I can. Doesn't always work out, and I have had to waste food, but I haven't done too bad really over the last year and a half. I have manged to re-create meals from left overs, and in more cases than not, used up foods before they would have seen the bin. This time of year is brilliant for using up fridge hanger oners. I tend to do a salad when foods look like they are piling up. I bung it all on the table along with some fresh salad stuff, and usually some hot boiled new potatoes, and it's amazing how suddenly it's enthusiastically munched up :-) Of course, with left over casserole, that usually becomes a pie, or I will freeze leftovers down in containers ready for a meal that I don't have to cook one evening :-)

I'm vegetarian now. Have been since May. I have felt hypocritical for a long time eating meat, because I know that I could never kill an animal myself. When Theresa May said she was going to bring back fox hunting, I was horrified. I re-examined my motives for meat eating, so decided to try it for  month and take it from there. So far, I'm still happy not meat eating :-) I did consider vegan, and maybe in the future I will give it a try, but at the moment I'm ok with just being a veggie :-)

Here is a bug bear though. Eating out as a vegetarian is a nightmare, as the veggie food on offer in most places is horrendous. Eating out as a dieting veggie is even worse!!!!!!!! :-/ because the veggie foods often on offer are usually highly calorific. I could have a salad, but boy, don't restaurants charge a mint for salads that usually appear very limp and un-appetising and swimming in salad oil if you've forgotten to ask for a naked salad :-) I did however have a reasonably good veggie meal at Ikea in Bristol the other day. I had their veggie balls with wheat pilau (not sure on the spelling there) and i enjoyed it :-) Also a couple of months back I had a veggie burger in an eating place in Reading Service Station, I hadn't started a diet then, but I was watching what I was eating, I think it might have been a bit high in calories, but it was very nice.

When I first went veggie, I lost half a stone, but it plateaued at that for several weeks, so I decided I would diet. I'd been putting it off for a while, trying to be god, but dismally failing, so I went back onto a Weight Watchers diet plan. I do the no count one, as that suits my lifestyle. I only started it a week ago, so haven't much progress to report. I am however enjoying it :-)

Tonight's  meal was chilli bean pasta. One of the easiest meals ever, and 'free' on the WW no-count plan. I saute some onion, garlic and mushrooms in a pan, add some chopped tomatoes, baked beans. a tin of  mixed beans in chilli sauce, a small amount of hot chilli powder as I'm a wimp with anything too hot and spicy, herbs and seasoning. bring it to boil, and let it simmer while the past cooks. I cook my pasta in the microwave.I also use wholemeal pasta, as this is 'free' on the no-count plan. When the pasta is cooked, mix it all together and enjoy :-) My lot has grated cheese on theirs, and I mixed a little yeast flakes on mine :-) As today has been a very rainy dull day and a bit cold, despite it being August, to have a warming chilli meal was somewhat comforting :-)

2016

So. It's 2016, and I notice I haven't blogged since October !!!!! There's a very good reason for this. November 10th welcomed into the world my fourth grandchild, who is my first grandson. My three lovely grandgirls, who I love very much, live in America, now I have a grandboy who lives just up the road from me :-). He is a poppet. I had the biggest honour of seeing him born, as I was birthing partner along with his dad :-)

Christmas came and went successfully. We all had a lovely time. A few months before December, I'd bought some raffle tickets for a pound, and won £50.00s worth of Co-Op saving stamps. They bought the bulk of our Christmas eats and drinks. Also I had been saving on my Iceland bonus card. Had managed to accumulate £18 and that was a great help as well :-) So a very cheap Christmas this time :-)

I made socks for all the girls, then made some for some of the boys as a little pressie each. All very gratefully received :-) I've also knitted loads for the baby.

We have been out walking, but mainly before the New year, and mainly to places we regularly go to, so won't be posting photos this time. Hopefully, we will get some nice Sunday walks in soon, if this damp weather subsides, and gets drier.

We ate far too much over Christmas. So thinking of embarking on a healthy diet regime, without actually going on a diet. I am fed up of diets, but if I can get into good eating habits, then that will do me more good than dieting. Also, diets end up becoming very expensive. My plan is to have more vegetable based menus. That won't be too difficult, as I'm a very hypocritical meat eater. If I had to kill it, I wouldn't eat it. So I'm aiming to do two meat meals a week. Two fish ones, the rest vegetable based ones. I think as well, it will be better on our budget, as meat is expensive. I do tend to believe that we eat too much meat, and that vegetable based dinners would be better for us. Anyway. Watch this space :-)

I was pleased we didn't throw away too much unused food stuff over the wither holiday time. Some stuff made it to the bin, but nowhere near as much in previous years. I am still doing reasonably well getting leftovers used up :-) Though I've had visitors this week, and some of the left overs didn't get 'recycled' and found the bin :-( Hubby and I did eat some left overs from yesterday, tonight though :-) a veg with Quorn pieces stir fry and brown rice. Very yummy :-) I have some rice left over, so that will become a rice salad. I'm challenging myself again to use up cupboard and freezer build up foods, I start off well doing this, then get pulled away, and it all starts building up again, but, I'm determined to get myself into gear and do this :-)

The next few months will be busy. My mum is moving in with us, so we have to get the house up to some decent standard which she will enjoy being in. Hubby and I are a bit lazy, and not the worlds best at home interiors. We are however looking forward to doing a spruce up. It's well over due.

Friends

Saturday, we had some friends visit us who we haven't seen for quite a while. It was so lovely. We went out for dinner. (cheap and cheerful, two meals for a tenner type place) It was such a lovely day, and it seemed like we had only been with each other the previous day, not three years!!!! It's so lovely to have a friendship with people that is always a friendship, no matter how much time goes between visits :-)

Nearly November

Nearly November!!! And I have a grandson due to enter this world on the 2nd :-) Very exciting :-) Mum to be is doing well, and is coming here today to make some cookies with me. last week I made cakes with her. I'm on labour alert, as I have the honour of being birthing partner with with her, so I feel like I'm having a baby as well, in that I'm waiting for labour signs lol. Also, making sure I'm not far away :-)

I needed to pull in the purse strings a little, so the Slimming World diet has been put on the back burner for now, or maybe for ever as I'm realising I'm too strung up about weight size. My body image is poor, and I have no real excuse for it really, because I have a husband, who I have been with since I was 15, who loves me to bits, and doesn't worry or nag me about my weight. It's all a 'me problem,' Anyway. I needed to save some pennies, and spending a fiver near on for a certain brand of yogurt, so you can eat as much of it as you like, seemed a bit frivolous, amongst other free food for your body, but not your purse!!!
So. I have made my own yogurt this week, and I'm busy using up freezer, cupboard items, which I'm finding a fun challenge :-) I am being careful with my eating though. Limited amounts of cake, and  'naughty foods' but not denying myself any either, so I don't start craving for them and eating too much :-) I'm hoping to knock at least £100 off the monthly bill. When I'm not on one of my diet moments, I do save a lot on food stuff. Although I wasn't doing too bad while dieting, but popular diets, do eat into the household vault :-)
This week, I did a roast pork dinner on Monday which led to a Chinese fried rice, Annie style, last night for dinner, and tonight the remainder will be served with corned beef, healthy chips, ( par boiled, then cooked in the Actifryer with some Frylight) and baked beans. So I'm pleased with how one meal has stretched into 3 :-)
Last week, I had some mincemeat casserole left over, so that became a pie. One large, and a smaller one, The smaller one is in the freezer, which will do my hubby and I a dinner one night when it's just us. Also last week I finally got the cake together for hubby's belated birthday cake work take in. Two chocolate Victoria sandwich's two white ones. A fruit cake and a banana tea bread. All got eaten with a lot of compliments, and mururs of applying for the Bake Off!!!! No way. I enjoy baking, love soggy bottoms, and weird shapes. The Bake Off would put me would off and remind me too much of cooking at school  !!!! :-)

We enjoyed a delightful Autumn trip on Sunday. We went to our favourite, Dyrham Park. The colours and views were amazing. It was a lovely day, and thoroughly enjoyable :-)

Hubbie's artistic kiwi eating :-)

A kiwi skin after hubby had devoured the unside :-)

Fly by time

So. Now it's October, and well into October as well. The weather is sunny but chilly. Autumn is here, and I love it. My favourite season of the year. It's colours, smells, and the feeling of winter anticipation makes this season so special to me :-)

So, from August, we have been to America, to see my lovely family there. We were there for two weeks in September. The beginning of September, which by the time we got home, made September seem it had never happened lol.
Travels started on the 4th. We spent that night in a cheap and cheerful motel type place. Very basic, but had all we needed, the only thing missing was a kettle in the room, but there was a vending machine, so we were able to get hot drinks. The price however was very reasonable, and we would stay there again, but take our own kettle to use :-) We were able to leave the car there, getting a taxi in the morning of the 5th to fly out to Alabama. We also returned there when we got back to England for the day and stayed another night, giving hubby a day to sleep off a good chunk of the jet lag, getting back home on the 21st Sept, ready for two birthday girls on the 22nd :-) So yes. September vanished very quickly, and I said to hubby the other day, it feels like we've missed out on September and gone straight into October lol.

America was lovely, and family time was great. My daughter has moved to a new home which was beautiful. Lots of trees in the back yard. Very peaceful. Hubby and I loved it. We all had a mini vacation about an hour away from where they lives, staying in a log cabin in the mountains. We visited Rock City, Ruby Falls, and went on a cliff train to the top of a mountain. Views were incredible. Scenery fantastic. Ruby Falls was breathtaking. We also did some sight seeing driving, and again, the eyes were treated big time to overwhelming beauty.
It was so lovely to be part of my lovely families daily life as well, going to watch my youngest daughter play soccer, the older two do their gymnastics. Going along to the Bible study they go to each week. Helping out where I can and just spending quality time with them all. It was heartbreaking to say goodbye. Sometimes I wish I could split myself in two and be able to be in America and England, because I have wonderful family here who I miss terrible when I'm not here as well.

I was texting one of my daughters earlier trying to sort out the weekend. Another daughter has a baby due in November and Saturday is the baby shower. The daughter I was texting lives in Bristol as she is at UWE, and will be travelling over, and another daughter is in Manchester, so is travelling down from there, I wanted to get meals sorted etc. Anyway. I was texting arranging picking her up etc, and asking how her foot was, as she hurt it badly last week. Instead of the text saying 'I can' it said 'Ivan' the predictive text had decided what I wanted to say. I noticed this after I sent the text, so sent another saying I meant I can, and I don't know anyone called Ivan!!! My daughter text back and said "your predictive text is having fun with you today. You sent me a text saying you were going to batter day, and that I had Afro on my foot." So funny. I can't stop chuckling :-D

So. I think I mentioned in August I was starting up Slimming World again. I weighed in at 11st. Got down to 10st 8lb before heading of to America. Came home and weighed 10st 9lb so pleased that I only put on 1lb :-) I'm now 10st 4lb. So all is going well, and I'm chuffed with myself. It's a slow and steady loss, which, I believe is better for your body :-)
Meals haven't been too much of a problem price wise. They've been tasty. I especially enjoyed a vegetable casserole, I stuck in the slow cooker yesterday. It was more of a lovely chunky veg. soup, and the addition of lentils gave it a lovely texture. Had some for lunch as well today. Still as yummy :-) Tonight is a roast pork dinner, which is cooking away at the moment and smelling delicious :-) Super yum :-)

On the saving and not wasting food front, I've been pretty god, using up or turning left overs into another dinner. I haven't had to throw much away. I still need to keep a bit of a head start on yogurts and yogurt type stuff though. I tend to forget about them, or don't get round to cooking what it was they were going to be added to, so sadly a pot of Quark found it's way to the bin earlier :-(
I have discovered a way to save lettuce. Well, it was my daughter in America who gave me the advice. I was saying how quickly an iceberg discolours once torn into. She said she takes lettuce off from the outside, leaf by leaf, keeping the lettuce in tact, so I tried that, and it works. I've had two lettuces now and not had to throw them away before they've been used up, because they've gone brown :-)

Hubby and I have had a couple of walks since being home. Enjoying the Autumn colours :-) We went to Coate Water and Stourhead. Also some more local places.Lovely to get out there and enjoy the colours and crispness of Autumn :-)

I've been busy knitting as usual. Made a little cardie, hat and boties for my soon to be grandson. Came home and finished off a knitted duffle coat I was making before our America trip. Made another small cardie and booties for the baby, and now making a jumper my daughter, who is mum to be chose. It's a Debbie Bliss pattern. Very nice. The Debbie Bliss wool not so nice price wise, and the only alternative was to knit it in 4ply with bigger needles. Anyway, I Googled alternatives see what i could find in America, and happily there was one, which I got, at half the price of the Debbie Bliss one. It's lovely and soft, and I'm a very happy kniter :-D

Candles

Tuesday, we popped over the bridge into Wales to hang out with our lovely son who lives in Cardiff. He has some candles, which were new when we stayed there quite a few months back. Now they have melted down, and they look amazing.

Back to the diet

So. I weighed myself last week and wished I hadn't :-( weighed in at 10st 13oz. Far to heavy for my 5' 4" body, so I'm back on a diet, back with Slimming World as it's a diet I know well, and is always successful, and it's doing what it says on the tin so to speak, as I weighed myself today, and I'm now 10st 9". So I'm very happy with that :-) I'm doing the diet via online, as that works easier for me rather than getting to a class. I have to admit It's been a good week, and quite a challenge as well, because I'm still determined to keep it as economical as I can, and I think this last week I have managed that. Hubby is coming on board with it today, he needs to shrink his tummy a little :-) He will lose weight a lot quicker than me, he always does (boo) lol :-)

One of my favourite keep on the fridge to binge on foods is what I call a pasta quiche. This is such a simple thing to make. All you need is a packet of Pasta n Sauce. If you'e doing a Slimming World diet, make sure you get the packs that are classed as 'free. Cook that up with water, don't use the milk. Let it cool. Whizz together 3 eggs, one regular sized tub of cottage cheese, I add some dried herbs as well and mix into the cooled coked pasta. For the quiche I made this time I added some cooked speed veg, that then males the quiche a meal in itself, without having to add the extra veg Slimming World likes you to. Put the mixture into a flan dish, pop it into the oven reg 6 gas, and cook for 30-35mins or until you think it's ready. Very yummy, and lovely to have on hand for those felling hungry moments. Free food on an extra easy day and green day :-)

Shameful!!!

So shameful. I haven't been here since April!!!!!!! Life is so busy, yet I don't have anything to really show for it lol.

I've been busy knitting. Knitting against the clock now. I've been busy knitting for my darlings in America, and only a few weeks to go now until hubbie and I go over. I'm part way through a sweater for my eldest grandgirl, having finished off one for my youngest, and second eldest. I've also knitted a hedgehog for my youngest grandgirl, a penguin for the second eldest and an owl for my eldest, and a tea cosy for my daughters MIL The afghan I've got on the go is at a halt, and proclamations of finishing it before the 4yrs it took to finish the other one is now looking a bit premature lol.

Just to add to more of my knitting backlog, I've got hooked on needle felting, thanks to a 'hands on' stall at Art in Action in Oxford. I went home thinking what a brilliant idea, having 'hands on' stalls at craft shows. I'm sure a lot do, but I don't personally come across many at the craft fairs I've been to. That's twice now I've been hooked on something by having a go. The other time was drop spindling.

We have of course been doing a lot of walking and picture taking, mostly the same places which are well documented on this blog, but one or two new places, and some different things at places we've already been to, so photos to follow :-)
We had a wonderful day at Hidcote in Gloucestershire last week. A very beautiful place. I will have to re visit, thinking mainly in the Autumn to enjoy the wonderful Autumnal colours, which are always a delight to my eyes :-) Also there is definitely a re visit on the cards, because they didn't have any thimbles. Myself, and another visitor were both very upset lol, and both saying another visit will have to be :-) Why am I 'upset' about there not being a thimble??  I've decided to start collecting them. I have quite a few now, and my youngest girl bought me one back from Cyprus :-) I've now made holiday gift buying for me, should they want to buy something, very easy for my family lol.
We also had a good part of a day at Dyrham Park. I need no excuse to spend time there. They are renovating the roof on the house, and you can go up 75' to take a look at what they are doing, which was brilliant. Very weird to be looking down on the chimney's :-)

Now, I am very ashamed to report that my 'kitchen front waste not want not' declaration, and my 'earning from home' dedication has fallen well by the wayside over the last few months. Food has sadly found the bin, and the cooker hasn't been used as much as it should have been. Shameful!!!! :-( So today I am again making an effort to return to these declarations of trying to live as simple life as possible, saving where I can. Ha!!!!! I can only take solace in thinking that maybe I'm not the only one who starts off with high aspirations of ones ability to shine, only to find them self fallen well short of achieving anything near where they to be or do lol. Oh well. Upwards and onwards is what i say :-)
So with that in mind, I have made flapjacks this morning. Dinner tonight will a tuna pasta bake, using what I have in the cupboard. It was going to be a bacon and onion based bake, but I am short on bacon, so instead of buying more, I am doing tuna,which I have in the cupboard, along with a couple of tins of sweetcorn. I shall pop some broccoli in it as well. I'm also playing with the idea of making a courgette/tomato type side dish, as my eldest daughter passed a house that had a box of them outside, asking people to help themselves. An offer she couldn't refuse, so she picked a large one and shared it with me :-) I've also got some mushrooms needing to be eaten up, so I shall add them into the mix as well :-)
Friday, one of my girls bought back some milk from the nursery she's doing holiday work at. I already had a fair amount in the fridge, so it was a rice pudding last night, and will be again tonight, alongside a jelly if wanted :-)
Last week I was given a bread machine to keep my existing one company. This one is one of the earlier models, and has been in storage for a couple of years, and then it hadn't been used much, so it threw a couple of hissy fits. Yes, I do believe bread machines have an attitude. The erlier loaves I made in it were ok, but not brilliant, so bread and butter puddings are going to be made from them. These under par loaves, are in the freezer ready to become one :-)

Mother's day.

There has been Mother's day since I last posted in March, and I was spoiled of course as I always am :-) I had a lovely basket of flowers, and some lovely creams, which I'm going to get my beauty therapist daughter in training to do some massaging/facials on me with ;-)

Charming

One of my girls had this given to her from her sister at Christmas. It's delightful, and makes me smile :-) When the sun shines on it, the flowers bounce up and down :-) It makes me feel really happy lol. She's taking it off to UWE with her. I shall miss it. I am definitely going to have to get one lol :-)

Catching up with time

I always intend to keep up with my blog a lot more regular than I do (sigh) So here I am a month after the last entry feeling peeved that I've left it so long again!!!! This means that I have to try to remember what has happened since I last blogged which isn't an easy thing for me to do lol.

Lot's of walking again with my lovely hubby. On a couple of occasions family have come along as well which is great :-) We've done local walks. Fairly local walks at Castle Coombe Wiltshire. Also, further a field outings, such as Stourhead and Shearwater in Warminster. We've also enjoyed bird life in our garden, and just outside our garden.
Sadly, a tree not far from us split in half in the windy weather last week :-( Our landscape from our front gate has now changed.

I gave myself  a good talking to the other week. I found myself wasting time in front of the telly during the day and not getting things done, This made me feel really irritable, because obviously nothing was getting done. I was even neglecting my knitting. Just sitting zombie like in front of the 'box' from the time I got up until bedtime. Doing odd bit's and pieces, but not much. The problem was, I found, I'd pop the news on while having my breakfast and that was it!!! The day gone!!!! So last week, I started to not put the telly on. I put a local radio station on instead, and I've got so much more achieved. This has made me feel so much happier :-) I feel much more motivated, and actually got a batch of cookies made one morning first thing, which I hardly ever do these days. The fun thing was dancing around the kitchen while I made them :-) lol  So. No more daytime telly for me :-)

The thing is about having a radio on with a bit of up beat music is you don't want to sit around. I found it helped with getting knitting done as well. I seemed to knit to the beat :-D HaHa :-D I did get a lot done last week knitwise though which was fantastic. I finished my four year on the go throw, and that I now on it's way to my daughter in Manchester. I have another one to start., which I'm aiming to start by the end of the week, with the aim to do one square at least a day :-) Only just under a hundred to make, so hopefully I shall be able to report another finished throw in four months !!!! Watch this space lol :-)
I'm knitting a sweater now for my second eldest grandgirl in America. I recently finished a jacket for the youngest darling, who is eagerly awaiting me to knit her a hedgehog lol.

Food saving hasn't been to bad over the last month. Some food stuff found the bin, but not an over amount. I've done quite well as well in keeping dinners within what I have hanging about in the kitchen cupboards as freezer.
Tonight, as the weather is sunny, I used up some stuff from the freezer, and fridge left overs. Added some boiled potatoes, and salad items, and there was dinner. As the weather forecast is good for the rest of the week, then salad with everything it will be :-) Nice and simple, and always well received. Tomorrow, will be a cheese flan I expect, as I have plenty of cheese and bacon and some eggs. Cheese flan is always popular :-) I'm also defrosting a joint of ham, to cook up, using my pressure cooker, and that will be dinner sorted for a couple of evenings :-) I love simplicity. So less hassle. No need to be a posh, cor don bluer cook. No need to feel dinner has to be fiddly fancy foods. My lot are more than happy with good old cooked ham and chips :-)