Resting

I was expecting a card through the post, who doesn't love it when the letter box clatters with a delivery, this card is so me, garden and birds, both loves of mine. For years I made my own cards, it takes care and thought to make something so beautiful, thank you Angie, I'm glad you loved the socks, thank you for the stamps, they always come in handy.

I love this author, this is set in the future in a changed world, AI is in homes where marriage is monitored, the government want happy families. We follow 5 different people, how they live their lives, living on both sides of the official line, can AI judge people, understand them, very tongue in cheek, I enjoyed it, very different read. Book 10 read this year.

 Last year's amaryllis bulb, I hope this will produce buds, last year I ensured the leaves were left to die back, I popped the bulb in my greenhouse, hoping it got enough sunlight. I started to water it again in December, now all I can do is wait.

My bulbs are still looking good, plenty of blooms, the second amaryllis bud is starting to open, keeping this spot looking good for a while longer. 

I have picked up a bug, not feeling great, I was due to pop to daughters on Saturday so she could take George to a party, but he has a bad cold again, so she kept him at home. The rain once again has kept me inside, the whole of the weekend was reading and watching the birds at our feeders, the foxes are back in next doors garden, no signs of them coming into ours, no signs of any rats either, hopefully Lilly is helping us out. I did listen to the tennis, Alcaraz and Djokovic Australian final on Sunday morning, Carlos winning in 4 sets, which pleased me, I have often said I do not like the arrogance of Djokovic, he is a great player, but I'm still not sure he is the best, give it a few years and his records alongside Nadal and Federer will fall to Alcaraz and Sinner, who both achieving so much at a younger age. 

I have been thinking about my flower beds, mainly I have to wait to see what returns, I did go through all my garden post since our refit to note what I had purchased, working out what grows in our soil. I already know big daisies, dahlias and lupins never return, my hope is not to purchase so many plants this year and ensure any I get will thrive and return in following years. I was surprised in December to see how much I had spent on plants, seeds and bulbs for my flower beds, about £500, I spent the same amount on fixtures and pretty bits, hopefully I won't spend so much this year. These days I am not swayed so much by a pretty flower, I like to check if it's suitable for my soil and climate. 

January round up

Just one crafting spend, the brushes for needle felting, bigger spend in the garden, I am ahead of myself for preparations for spring sowing. The red corners are to show comments, I always add notes showing what I have purchased.

9 Books read this month

Having to purchase a new air-fryer was not the start we planned, and a plumbing bill to fix our shower, lastly a new desktop for hubby, it became an expensive month. 

We took our eye off dates and a couple of food items went into the bin at the start to the month, we don't have so any Christmas bits left and are back to watching dates. 

The extra pounds I put on over Christmas have almost shifted, I still have more to go, I'm not on a diet, I am just cutting back on portion size and treats, I will keep it up in February, I hope to be able to get out and walk more as well. 

End of January

 Finally one of my amaryllis has opened, daughter got me this as a birthday gift, I asked for red, I do love colour at this time of year, there is a second bud on this bulb. My second amaryllis bulb is way behind, I have a couple bulbs in my greenhouse with shoots, hopefully more blooms to come.

My hyacinths have opened, nice white blooms, I purchased these already in their pot from Lidl, they have grown tall, once they go over I will plant then in the garden.

To add inside colour I have put out my fake tulips, I love these they look so real, and feel very spring like, other than my big poinsettia stems which are still out, all the silk seasonal plants are packed away until December. 

I adore turkey leftovers as much as the main meal itself, our crown fed 6 on Sunday, all three children had double helpings, I have loads for cold turkey sandwiches, and another favourite turkey pie, very simple, I shredded the turkey, added loads of cranberry sauce, we like the lumpy one, make a sage and onion stuffing mix and put of top for lid, bake in oven to heat up meat and cook stuffing. I made 4 pies, two for this week, two in the freezer, half of the slices seen here went into the freezer, not bad for just £11.00. 

I have read all Rob Rinder books, all set in the legal system, courts and chambers, everyone involved in huge cases, and always more than one case, here their main case is defending a activist from a murder charge, a crime seen by many people and caught on video, is she a murderous woman or a silly woman caught over her head. Book 9 read this year.

 

We made more great savings this week, we live in a hard water area, we are always fighting limescale, we removed the yellowing seals on our shower cubical and could not clean inside, we managed to track down replacements, I cleaned the edges of the glass panels and hubby cut down the seals, our shower now looks like new at a low cost. Hubby has a cracked tile to replace and some grouting, just small jobs. We have no big DIY plans for us to do this year, we will need to get someone in to sort our wooden floors.

The wind and rain overnight earlier this week from storm Chandra was horrendous, there was local flooding, mainly roads unable to cope with the volume of water, we managed OK, Lilly has become a bit vocal, she loves to be outside, and  is fed up being inside, I understand her frustrations, I feel the same.

Our MP Suella Braverman has defected to Reform party, locally her popularity is very mixed, she is known for jumping on any local success stories whilst being absent from any work, both hubby and I are not happy as we feel if an MP change their party a by-election should be called, I know we vote for the person on the ballot paper, but you do also highly consider the party as well. It's just another case of MP's working for their own agenda rather than the people they were elected to represent. 

Weekend

 I stuck with this book written by a new author to me, it was not the best of reads, set in Edinburgh, the police is using a profiler with extra abilities, some of which was strange, I liked the twist in the plot, which sadly took too long to arrive. Book 7 read this year.

Another author I like, this is a very different plot, after drowning and resuscitation his life changes forever, it's a tale of how he tries to understand what is happening to him, with startling outcomes, his story ending was good, what followed was also good, but the final chapters was strange, it did leave an opening. Book 8 read this year.

I did plant my half price hellebore in the corner by my back flower bed, I think it will look good here, it has white blooms, so it should blend in with the fleabane daisies. Placing it under the Magnolia will give it shade when required, it has plenty of room to grow, I have a good collection of hellebores in this area. The overnight rain washed all the mud from the surrounding slate, it looks as if it's been here for ages. In a perfect scenario we had rain overnight and dry days.

Friday and Saturday were both sunny days, the swirling weather front sitting over Cornwall did not extend to our area, it was cold and breezy, lovely to see blue skies, my greenhouse has been getting warm inside, the seeds and plants are all doing well. I do not heat my greenhouse, I reset this thermometer midweek, so Friday it reached 31° at it's highest and 0° at it's lowest, 12.4° was at 10.00am Saturday, so still warm inside. 

Molly helped me start my sweet-peas on Sunday, she popped her shoes on ready to go to the greenhouse, she was very surprised when I asked her to get the stool to work in our kitchen. I confused her using paper towel and water in a clear tub, she follows instructions very well, I promised I would send photos once the seeds start to grow. Molly also brought her school reading book, she sounded out her words and read her book, she was rightly very pleased with herself.

Friday night we had party food for tea and to nibble with wine whilst watching the final of the traitors, just to make the whole evening a bit more fun, just the two of us. We have loved watching this season, all the changes to keep it fresh, the usual calling at the TV, because we know and can see them misleading each other, I am glad Stephen stayed true to their pact, it was good viewing, he could easily have taken the whole winning prize amount, but deciding to share. Saturday after a day at home, we had homemade pizza for tea, when shopping for the party nibbles we found toppings at a great price, saved ordering a takeaway.

We had our lovely family over for Sunday lunch, whilst shopping in our village we got a larger turkey crown on sale, enough for a family roast dinner, a pie for us, and cold turkey for sandwiches, which I love, the children love chicken and turkey, so we knew it would be a meal they would all want to eat. Hubby made loads of small marmalade cakes, Molly had asked for them, some ate here and some taken home. George gave me a huge cuddle and stayed close all day, I've missed them in the last couple of weeks, they were busy last weekend so we did not see them. I get video calls most evenings with George and Molly,  I love to listen to their chatter, George is getting better with his conversation.