Hello there, I hope you are all well. The temperature in the UK dipped to frosty again today. We've been lulled by the mild wet days recently, it's nice to see the sunshine though. Yesterday at Knit & Natter, it was roasting hot in the pub's sunny conservatory. Such extremes of temperatures.
On today's Five on Friday I'm wrapping up the month with an 'ing' post... all the things mixed together and happening this week!
On today's Five on Friday I'm wrapping up the month with an 'ing' post... all the things mixed together and happening this week!
1) Enjoying :: beautiful flowers in my kitchen. A gift from Nat and his fiancée. It's been a while since I got my camera out, note to self - remember the camera. The camera takes much better photos than my phone. Sometimes it's easier to load photos up from my phone during the week before I forget. Either way, natural daylight is definitely better for taking photos.
2) Cleaning:: and de-cluttering. It's taken a while to settle on a suitable cleaning method for me. With low energy levels, thanks to underactive thyroid and Ibs complications, I also help a few lovely 80yrs ladies to clean and de-clutter their homes as needed. The last thing that I want to do when I get home, is get the cleaning going. However needs must... I heard a podcast by Gemma Bray, The Organised Mum talking about a lady on her Facebook group, she takes 2 weeks to do 1 week of housework. Phew! I can probably manage that. Having a Goldie means that the Hoover is out everyday anyway.
De-cluttering:: I've been following along with Orjenise on Instagram De-clutter One Hundred items for January. I've still got Jewellery and some magazines to sort through but so far I have de-cluttered
74 items. I'm taking that as a win, whoo hoo!
These children books were the last 9 that I had stored in the bottom of my wardrobe, I'm pleased to be rid of them. I started selling Usborne books for about 4 or 5 years, when the boys were small. I then dragged them out a few times a year to sell them at half price, it was a slow painful slog. Mark is relieved not to have to attend sales opportunities with me too.
3) Cooking:: Baking Sourdough & the menu plan for this week. The Sourdough recipe is from Elaine Boddy's book She's on instagram and her youtube video's are helpful too. There are lots of experts online but this recipe works, so I'm happy with it. I may try another lady's method on instagram, as she uses some Spelt flour in her recipe and it looks good. I've tried baking sourdough with spelt flour and ended up binning it, as it was very flat.
Monday - Leftover beef joint, mushrooms, spicy creamy coconut milk with rice
Tuesday - Hunters chicken & chips
Wednesday - Crustless cheese & onion quiche, large mushroom and homemade chips
Thursday - Jacket potato, homemade mackerel pate & salad
Thursday - Jacket potato, homemade mackerel pate & salad
Friday - Fish & chips
Saturday - Roast chicken
Sunday - Leftover chicken, chips & salad
4) Knitting:: Flannel / Washcloth for one of my lady's. I gave her a pink one last year, she loved it so much that she's asked for another. She likes green, so as it's my favourite colour, it went to the top of my craft list. I'm also knitting her a shawl, it should've been her Christmas present, oops! Christmas is always hectic and thankfully she wasn't expecting it anyway.
Before Christmas I was getting up early and taking 20 minutes or so to sit quietly knitting. Nadine Medina Podcast 'Knit Your Stress Away for Beginners (The Knitting Mamas) is on Spotify. It was her idea to carve out some time at the beginning of the day to knit. I need to go to bed earlier and start this 'early habit' again, it's very relaxing.
Before Christmas I was getting up early and taking 20 minutes or so to sit quietly knitting. Nadine Medina Podcast 'Knit Your Stress Away for Beginners (The Knitting Mamas) is on Spotify. It was her idea to carve out some time at the beginning of the day to knit. I need to go to bed earlier and start this 'early habit' again, it's very relaxing.
5) Reading:: Picked up my library books... there was more in the stack but I've decided to return them to the library for another time. The top book is my own book, given to me by a lady at Knit & Natter. I've just finished it, so another for the de-clutter bag. It's part of a series of books I may look out for the others one day. It was a slow gentle read with a dramatic flood, the storyline inspired by the Boscombe flood years ago.
The Agatha Christie Challenge... I've decided to give that a miss this year. I'm keeping the AC The 13 Problems as it sounded interesting. I have a shelf and a half of books on the bookcase that need reading and de-cluttering. That is a far better challenge for me this year. There are 2 non-fiction books to dip into as well but I've not included those here.
There will be a book for the February book club to add to the pile, it's Verity by Colleen Hoover.
The Agatha Christie Challenge... I've decided to give that a miss this year. I'm keeping the AC The 13 Problems as it sounded interesting. I have a shelf and a half of books on the bookcase that need reading and de-cluttering. That is a far better challenge for me this year. There are 2 non-fiction books to dip into as well but I've not included those here.
There will be a book for the February book club to add to the pile, it's Verity by Colleen Hoover.
=================
How about you, what are you reading or making at the moment?
Take care and do join me for Five on Friday if you can.
Take care and do join me for Five on Friday if you can.
Oh, your sourdough bread looks fantastic! I just made a frozen pizza for lunch but I'm not sure that counts, LOL. Beautiful flowers and I love the colors in that washcloth. Looks like a great variety of library books. I need to be reading more, I'm somewhat into a sci-fi book my son gave me at Christmas called, Mickey-7, think it's going to be a movie as well. Lots of e-books just came off my library wait list, I need to look at those. Hope you have a terrific weekend!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jean. I figure that if I'm reading, I'm not scrolling. Also during the day I may sit and read but I'll rarely knit x
DeleteYour flowers are gorgeous. I like to have some blooms in a vase at this time of year, they brighten the house up on these gloomy days of winter. Your sourdough looks fabulous. I've seen people show theirs with various degrees of success but that looks better than you can buy in a shop. I'm sure it tastes better too.
ReplyDeleteArh bless you Jo, thank you. The first few, that I made last summer, were quite dense and heavy. Over time they've improved lots x
DeleteYour bread looks amazing! I can almost smell it from here :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Jules, I'm pleased with it. Over time my sourdough has improved. It's lovely toasted too x
Deletethat sourdough looks delicious! I am decluttering very slowly!!
ReplyDeleteYour sourdough bread looks amazing. I've never tried making it myself but you are tempting me to try. A vase full of such pretty blooms at this time of year is a real joy and really lifts my spirit.
ReplyDeleteMy current main project is the crochet blanket and I have several books at the moment - a Shakespeare and a James Patterson novel.
I love your five, I decided to declutter at the start of the year but after a great start it's slowed down to a complete stop, it's finding the time, I'm reading an easy read at the moment a Katie Fforde. Your flowers are lovely, it's ages since I bought any fresh flowers. I will join in with your 5 on Friday next time you do one.
ReplyDelete