Bargain Hunt

Everyone loves the sales

Wilko's have started reducing their garden items

 So has Robert Dyas

 Ops, shoes

We popped to town for an hour, we always try and only pay £1 for an hours parking, we succeeded this morning hubby had one task to do.
It's that time of year, where I keep an eye on Wilko's, I love to get things at their end of season sale. The 2 black trays were £1 each, the popup greenhouses £2.50 each and the Obelisk £4 each. The Obelisk are for our tomato and cucumber plants next year, the frame are perfect for supporting the plants. The pop up greenhouse are not too big and I can use them to group pots together and cover them when the winter weather gets here. The plastic trays are just perfect for so many things. I had the trays and the Obelisk on my things I needed.
In Robert Dyas, I saw the Wilkinson Sword cutters half price at £9.99 and the propagator set reduced to £7.50, plus we were given a 15% off voucher.
My spending in July was almost nothing on garden and craft, I will show my chart next week at the end of the month.
As for the shoes, Pavers £29.99 and they are so comfortable.
Our meal last night was brilliant, good food and wine, not as expensive as we thought, the only downside was the restaurant was full and loud.
We have popped and seen Will, mummy and daddy, Will is now up on his hands and knees and will be crawling soon, already he gets around the floor, how quick they grow up.

Party food

Today was party food day, loads of cake, crisp, sausages

and this Lemon meringue which I made last night

It's all gone now, but thanks to Mary Berry recipe was lovely 

 Just two spots from the garden

This chimney is beautiful

 These are also lovely

both are not newly planted this year, 

 I got this book from our local library, it was a very good read

Modern story line, which kept me wanting to read more. 

Today was my last working day, not that I did much work, I was coaching for most of the morning. We had loads of nibbles, all lovely delicious food which when eaten in the amounts we had, bad for you. Most of the afternoon, I spend wondering around ensuring I said goodbye to everyone. I had an  interesting exit  meeting with 2 bosses, we chatted and laughed, I was told I could come back, I declined.
So no more 6.20am alarm, no motorway morning and evening fun and games, hubby and I at home. I do feel a fraud, I have worked all my life, and it does feel strange not to have to go to work. I'm too young to retire, I still have to wait for my state pension, over four years.
I am planning structure into my days, I would be happy to sit and read for hours in every day, but I want to do things, I also do not want to promise my time yet, I don't want to promise something I might regret. We need to factor in time with Will, we are active grandparents and want to do more, I do believe it will be good for both of us and Will to do things together.  
I am also thinking if I can find the right role, working a couple of short days each week, I know I have just retired, but I still have loads to give, and it may not necessary be paid work. I don't want to work in a charity shop, that is just not my thing.
Going to be a interesting time, and I have an open mind. So who knows what I will be doing in a month, early next year or next summer. It's for me to find my way.

When it rains

It's summer and it's raining

So our cats sleep on the rug

Just where we walk.

 It's another wet day here, not a problem

 I do love these books by Sue Grafton. 

 I was naughty and got a couple bunches of flowers

Last week at work went quickly, the work load again is very low, I spent alot of time on my phone. Next week my final week is going to be busier, I have not passed too much work over, they want me to carry on as normal until I leave, which might cause them problems if it suddenly gets busy, but it's their plan and I am not challenging it.
It's a day for staying close to home, we did walk to the village and popped into the library, on a wet day I need more books.
We have nothing planned for this afternoon, we are getting Will later, he is on another sleep over, mum and dad have taken him to a local festival, later we will pop and get him whilst they stay much later.
If it is drier tomorrow we have a few things to do in the garden, I have loads of dead flower heads to chop off, we still have a plant in Win's front garden we need to move before the area is dug up for car parking.
My Kiwi and Pomegranate plants are doing well in their bigger pots, both are now in the greenhouse.
We have still loads of harvest, tomatoes, cucumbers, salad leaves and blueberries. The blueberries have done fantastic this summer. We also have loads of blackberries ripening, and late raspberries, I am so pleased to have so much fruit in our small gardens. Plus both my gooseberry bushes are still in full leaf, I am hoping I have sorted the saw fly.

Small starts

The seeds/plants on my desk are all doing well.

The Kiwi and Pomegranate both will be potted up

I have a plumb stone to try next 

My tiny spider plant I got last year has loads of babies

I will pot up some of these 

 The Bones of You was a fantastic read, I honestly could not put the book down

Missing Presumed was good. 

 Our Magnolia tree is in it's second full bloom of the year

 The whole back garden is pleasing to look at. 

I have done so very little since my last post, Saturday I did clean the house, but as we are outside or reading the place does not get very messy. I think the heat is slowing me down, I would rather sit and read, it's cooler.
We did enjoy the tennis, the Ladies final was a good match, I really felt for Cilic, who never really settled into the Gentleman's final, I was hoping for a really long and interesting game.
Other than tennis I have not watched much TV, I was pleased to see Jodie Whittaker as the new doctor, in Doctor Who she is a fantastic actress, I will start watching it again, I never found Peter Capaldi a likable doctor. I have loved Doctor Who all my life.
I have not done any cross stitch for ages, I am hoping in August I find being home will give me more craft time.
We did pop to M&S, for some undies on Sunday, we both decided we had arequirement, plus Next had a huge sale, so I got a couple of nice tops for my holiday in September.

My steps last week were lower, 84,522 for the week, averaging 12074 each day.

Happy Birthday Mum

Another year

Happy birthday mum x

Summer garden

From the gates into our garden

 Down along the path, the lilies have finished 

 Right to the back fence

 Along the decking

 Raised chimney pots in corners

 Low corners

Loads of places in the garden are looking good, the heavy rain on Tuesday has really helped, I still have a couple of spots not so good, but I see them as challenges for next summer. I can have some fun digging out small beds and changing their look. My cut flower bed, has gone huge, but I have issues with getting to the bed, we placed a tomato plant in a pot, on wheels in front of the raised bed. The issue is the plant is so full of fruits I really don't want to move it and knock tomatoes off. The challenge next year to to place the tomatoes in a different sunny spot.
Our berries are still giving, blueberries have the biggest harvest, followed by raspberries. My blackberries have loads of fruits on the plant this summer, I will have to add a net soon, it's down in the bird feeding area, so I expect they are watching as well for the fruit to swell and ripen.
Our lettuce is not doing well so I have planted more. Beetroot is swelling so we should start harvesting small ones soon. There is little difference in the size of the tomato plants, I have one in the greenhouse and one outside, I will grow both outside next year. The cucumbers are in my raised bed inside the greenhouse.

This poinsettia I purchased for 99p last Christmas, it was tiny, filled in a nice little corner in a display. I re-potted it and popped it into my greenhouse just to see what it would do, now I know it likes the sunshine and the warmth, I hope to get it big for this Christmas and have those bracts turn a beautiful red.

My seed/plants inside are growing, at the weekend I will have to re-pot as they are a good size and I can just start to see roots at the bottom of the pots.

One last photo, I love these alliums, I thinned the roots earlier in the year, and now have 10 heads, making this corner look great.
I have finished reading The goodbye gift by Amanda Brooke, and would like to read another book of her's. We popped to our local library and I have four more books to read. We are also watching the tennis, which we both enjoy, neither of us watch much TV, we are always busy doing other things.
This morning we went for a long early walk around our estate, I do love walking early in the morning, it's cool enough to enjoy the walk. Later I hope we can walk along the shore.

Another week.

I cut these from Win's garden, her nephew asked me to help myself

It's so sad to see her garden faded, but the roses and a few shrubs are blooming. 

 I finished the camper van cushions, the pattern matched along each cushion,

I was really pleased with the result 

and was given lovely roses, lillies and a bottle of bubbly.

These roses smell divine. 

 We did alot of this over our stay at home weekend

 Will who had his 1st sleep over at our's did alot of this

He was an angel, smiled most of the time

 and slept from 9.30pm until 7am Saturday night. 

To Close to Home was about a marriage breakdown and at the same time the daughter being bullied at school, I have not read a book dealing with bullying, it was interesting and really sad. 

Just started The Goodbye Gift 

I have been suffering with the heat, I spend most of the day and evening inside. I have done little in the garden except water, our poor flower pots can't hold enough water for them to stay looking good.
I have done a couple of small sewing jobs, just helping friends clothes fit a bit better, nothing too hard work, in fact most of it was hand sewing.
Just 3 weeks left to work, 14 days now, today went really quick, my replacement started today, so I'm happy to know she will be able to learn a simple role before I leave. Everyone has been told they will have role changes, my role is not one you would give to a new person, the retail customer I cover has a huge spend and expects a special service. I have already handed over part of my second role, so my work load has dropped.
No plans again this week, we are enjoying being lazy, which in this heat is an easy task, and hoping for the promised thunder storm.
Did not lose any weight last week, our weekend was rich and full of glasses of bubbly with BBQ's.

Last week I did 89,360 steps, an average of 12,765 per day, best week so far. 

Read, spend save

An old fashioned love story, set mostly in the 60's

as I read each love letter it appeared in my head in the voice of Liam Neeson, well it worked for me. This book was way better than Me before You. I recommend it's one to read.  

 Rachel at Eternally 28, posted regarding using tea towels for sewing she made bags. What a great idea and cheap fabrics, these 3 tea towels cost me £1.99, they are a nice size and the fabric is brilliant. 

 I have done a fair bit of shopping, the navy sandals I told you about in my last post, they were half price from Clarks  and the flip flops were from Next, they are just pretty. I do like quality shoes.

 I got this butterfly house for £2.99 for the bottom of the garden, to go aside my bug houses, I'm not sure how many are being used, but I do like the look of it.

 Another under spend this month

I've £30.51 under spent this year

We have not done much in the last week, I was feeling a bit off colour in the week,  reading took priority with my time, the TV has been off most of the time. This next couple of weeks it's all on board for tennis.
We spent the weekend in Somerset, hubbies family got together Saturday evening and Sunday lunchtime. It was fun to catch up and have time to sit and chat.
We spent time with our beautiful Somerset boys, Logan and Finn, how quickly they grow up.
Few plans for the coming week, just get another working week done, the office is very quiet, so I have been playing games on my phone this afternoon, the bosses are just not watching how we spend our time.
Now I need to catch up with my reading, find out what everyone is up to.
On a sad note we are busy most weekends this month, so no trip in the campervan.
My steps were down last week, 59,728, which is on average 8532 per day. Today I'm back up to 12476, but as I have just ate a Galaxy Ripple, I will go for another walk to our park later.