Unpublished Friday post

Harry Potter themed birthday bash - me as Luna Lovegood, Mel as Moaning Myrtle, Kylie as Lily (sans freaky baby Harry Potter) and Martha as Ginny

Harry Potter themed birthday bash - me as Luna Lovegood, Mel as Moaning Myrtle, Kylie as Lily (sans freaky baby Harry Potter) and Martha as Ginny

I wrote this on Friday but didn’t get around to publishing it as I was cooking dinner and doing a thousand things at once… and didn’t want to delete it today. Just an update of where I’m at 🙂

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Friday night and I’m sitting here with a glass of Bailey’s in hand, chilling out to some (i)Tunes and desperately trying to think of something intellectual/reflective/insightful/interesting to write. Hmmm. Give me a few minutes.

Last week I went on a trip to see my lovely friend Amy in Ireland. It was her birthday, and having survived the scariest plane landing of my life, I went on to enjoy an all-too-brief but fun stay at her house. Saturday evening was her birthday party dinner, and although I couldn’t bring a dish, I did bring myself and my lovely yellow dress which doubled as a Luna Lovegood costume. We’re all nuts about Harry Potter you see, so it made sense to use the occasion as an excuse to dress up. Mel (check out Mel’s blog here) and Kylie concocted some truly amazing cocktails for the occasion from scratch, the champion of which had to be the chocolate cauldron. To make chocolate cauldrons you will need:

  • A jar of Nutella
  • Some Ice
  • Kahlua
  • Baileys

“Pour a lot of Baileys and Kahlua into a blender. Add ice. Add three-four heaped tablespoons of Nutella and blend. Pour. Drink.”

Spiffing.

After some impromptu Riverdancing during which I obtained a heel injury by jumping on the edge of the fire hearth, some gratuitous balloon fun, crooning and a late-night pyjama gathering, it was the morning and I had to dash to get the plane home. I was a disorganised mess. I’d lost my boarding ticket and had to pay Ryanair 40 Euro for them to scribble some words on a scrap of paper to give me passage through Irish airspace. Nightmare.

I arrived home and crashed into my bed and slept and slept and slept.

You see, I’ve been doing a lot of that, lately. Sleeping. Feeling sleepy. Wanting to sleep. I was warned by the doctor that this could happen after my flu, and so earlier this week I invested in some Berocca tablets to try and give me the boost to get me back on my feet properly. I just haven’t felt right since I got the flu… as though my thoughts and intentions are swimming around my head and aren’t processing properly. I’m even more clumsy than usual, can’t seem to finish my sentences or be particularly coherent, and I’ve really been struggling just on a day to day basis. So for now, I’m on a healthy eating plan, taking my Berocca, trying to get early nights and just trying to claw my way back to normalcy.

I was throughly chuffed to finally get my greenhouse roof fixed. I’m so excited about the prospect of having a fully functioning greenhouse this year – it just gives me so many more growing options and hopefully will make a huge difference. I don’t know why I didn’t address it sooner and allowed the greenhouse to stand broken for such a long time. Actually, I do know. Finances. I never felt as though I could allow myself to invest the money into sorting it out, and it niggled and niggled until I finally saw sense. Feels good. I love just eliminating all those annoying jobs that make your life that little bit easier. For instance, we have tiny nail heads poking out of the doorframe into the conservatory, where the door seal has come away from the frame. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve walked past and snagged my clothes on these nail heads, but for at least three or four years have done nothing about it. Today I finally picked up a hammer and whacked them back into place and ta da! No more snagged clothes to be irritated by.

It really is the small things in life.

Very sad and very gratifying at the same time – haha!

I turned 28 and then it was 2011

Happy New Year!

I’m well aware that blog-wise, December was a washout for me. As you may or may not have read in my last blog post, I spent the majority of December either being too stressed or too ill to do anything interesting or Smallest Smallholding-related. It felt as if my laptop had become a permanent fixture, an extension of my eyes, arms and hands… in a way, being horribly ill with ‘flu probably gave me a much-needed prolonged break and saved me from becoming pixelated or something.

I’m *still* not back to full health. I think it’ll take at least another couple of weeks. It really knocked me for six and left me with a lethargic legacy. Friday – New Year’s Eve – was my 28th birthday and I started the day with a bath, followed by a trip to my doctor. I’d been getting waves of nausea, had no appetite, was coughing a LOT and at that time was still prone to flagging after only being up and about for a couple of hours. He assured me I’d had ‘flu, that it could be a couple of days or a couple of weeks before I’d be fighting fit and just said to ride it out, rest up and look after myself. Needless to say, the rest of my birthday was quiet. I went over to see my Mum, Dad was working, sister was ill, my aunt dropped by and I think everyone else was either busy or preoccupied with NYE. Such is life.

I did get some lovely gifts. Hunter wellies, no less. They make me feel VERY posh, and I’m really happy to have wellies that will last me a very very long time. I also have some seeds to sow, a new pair of secateurs, lots of new pairs of gardening gloves, bubble baths, thermal socks, a new bag, earrings, a new hairdryer (my ancient one was sparking and frying my head) and just lots of lovely little bits and pieces that I’d never allow myself the guilty pleasure of buying otherwise.

Rich and I didn’t even realise that new year had arrived. We were curled up on the sofa watching a DVD, and only realised that the clock in our lounge is slow by at least 5 minutes as the fireworks started going off well before what we thought was midnight. I’m not bothered. It’s almost like a sigh of relief when the year is over, especially when we’ve managed to avoid major disasters or tragedies. I think the couple of years leading up to Nannie’s death really scarred me in that way. I hope one day I’ll have that slightly sad feeling that a great year is over, rather than that relieved feeling. Still, I remain hopeful. I like New Year. Although I still harbour that feeling as if I’m bracing myself for impending disasters, it’s not as strong as it used to be, and I do feel that the coming year will be a year of change, and of good things.

I was looking back at last year’s ‘new year’ post. I do like making resolutions because I like to challenge myself to improve, to progress and to achieve. Here’s what I wrote last year, and my succinct assessment of each resolution:

2010 Resolutions – Smallest Smallholding

1. Grow loads more onions. Er. I grew more but didn’t get to eat as many as I wanted thanks to rot. I’ll go with a partial success.

2. Get better at composting, feeding and sustaining my crops this year. I WAS RUBBISH AT THIS. Fail. Try again this year.

3. Plant more sunflowers. Success, although they still bent in the windy weather.

4. Plant a nectar bank. Fail. Definitely want to concentrate on getting this done this year.

5. Add to my woodland gardens. Success. Partially. Could do better, although there were improvements.

6. Use my greenhouse to its full potential. FAIL, FAIL, FAIL. 2011 is the year of my greenhouse. Staging, repairs, cleaning… it’s all going on this spring.

7. Have an outside eating area. FAIL. We did make some inroads with this but nowhere near enough. Another project for the summer. I’m going to be one busy bunny.

8. Dig an asparagus bed. Roaring success. Rich did this. His asparagus are growing wonderfully well, but I do point out to him in slightly envious tones that although he does very well, he only looks after his asparagus. I do everything else with varying degrees of success.

9. Grow veg in hanging baskets. Fail. Again, time/organisation issue.

10. Grow a variety of food that I will actually eat. Partial failure, I’d say. Blackfly, lack of organisation and stupidity didn’t see me make the most of what I had. We’ll try again. I will nail it. Eventually.

2010 Resolutions – Non-Smallest Smallholding

1. Learn to relax. Partial success. Getting there. Learning to deal with life stuff is a long process.

2. Explore Britain. Partial success. Last year I went to Wales twice (Cardiff, and the Llyn Peninsula), Edinburgh (again), Cork in Ireland (non-UK, but still exploration). Would like to explore the western side of the UK more – Welsh borders, south west and maybe south coast.

3. More autonomy. Hell, yes! During 2009 and the beginning of 2010 I was pretty miserable. But I decided to change things, and I think I’m getting the balance right. I still need to work harder, improve my skills and focus more this year. But I think we’re getting there.

4. LOSE WEIGHT. SUCCESS! This summer I really started to get trim. Although, I did start piling it on again in the winter. But this ‘flu saw me lose almost 3/4 stone, and I’m going to be very careful to not put it back on. I don’t need to.

5. More self sufficiency! Hmmm. Fail, sadly. 2011 is going to be expensive all round – rising prices, VAT, etc etc. Self sufficiency is one way to bypass the extra expense in the long run.

6. Write more and Blog more. Ummm. No, fail I think. I have several projects lined up for 2011 though, so I imagine I’ll be scribbling and tip-tapping away this year.

7. Eat more greens. Fail. I need to eat more green stuff.

8. Bake more. Fail. I need to set aside time. I do enjoy it.

9. Walk more. Success! Not only did I walk more, but I ran. Spring/summer was great. I was running 5ks. I was proud of myself. I’m going to do it again, and even better in 2011.

10. Books! Partial success. Recommendations are always welcome.

So there you have it. A mixed bag if ever there was one, but I did make some important changes last year, most notably running, my job and my general attitude.

I don’t think I’ll have so many resolutions this year. For sanity’s sake I’ll try and keep this one a bit shorter:

2011 RESOLUTIONS

1. Take up running again and try to enter a charity 5k.

2. Be careful and considerate about what I grow, and try to use everything that I manage to harvest.

3. Get my greenhouse up and running, and use it to its full potential.

4. Plant lots of wildlife-friendly flowers.

5. Don’t stress when it all grows out of control. Do what you can, when you can.

6. Write some more magazine articles. Get them published.

7. Take time out with Rich to visit new places and have new experiences.

8. Get my finances under control. Wipe out as much debt as possible and get out of my overdraft.

9. Get some of the house renovations finished.

10. Spend at least one or two days a week away from the computer – give yourself more time to get those Smallest Smallholding projects finished (e.g. eating area, herb beds, finish fencing, nectar bank).

There you are. Pretty simple. Bring it on 2011. But please – be kind to me!

Post-Christmas Catch Up

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I’m sorry! I’m here… finally. Things got a bit manic for a while back there. We were snowed in. Sort of.

Gah. It’s annoying isn’t it, when people say “sorry…blah blah blah I’ve been busy”. I could have found 10 minutes or so to write something, I know I could have. But I didn’t. And, actually, I was busy.

Of course the run-up to the Christmas break was a bit manic at work. Then I was on leave for a quick trip up to Edinburgh. It was a lot of fun, it snowed, it was magical, but tiring, and having previously been on the cusp of being ILL, I finally succumbed during the five+ hour train journey (one change, a few delays, police on board etc etc) on the way home. So in the days leading up to Christmas I was knocked out for a bit, then of course there was Christmas itself, during which time I took a lot of drowsy medicine, which meant that I was falling asleep at the drop of a hat. And then of course there was the Aftermath of Christmas.

You know… despite having sat around and not done too much, you’re really really tired. So you take time catching up on more sleep. You continue to eat a lot. You lay down on the sofa watching dodgy films all day. All that jazz. My sister is the one who braves the slightly maniacal masses and hits the sales. I don’t. I couldn’t bear it. I stay at home and saunter around in my pyjamas eating cake and stirring my hand around the almost-empty tin of Quality Street. Although, yesterday, I did manage to go out for a walk, enjoying being away from work, computers, flashy lights and technological things.

So, besides ill health (now on the mend), Christmas and bad eating habits, what else have I been up to at the Smallest Smallholding?

Well, of course, there was a fair amount of ice and snow over the past two weeks. Which basically means that aside from feeding the birds, I haven’t been able to do much. Although, I am getting prepared. Between Rich’s parents and his Gran, I was given lots of bits and bobs that will see me ready for the next growing season. So for once, I may be a little ahead of the game.

As ever, I’ve also been doing lots of Smallest Smallholding/Self-Sufficiency plotting, but I shan’t reveal anything just yet. Oho, you may be a bit impressed by my plottage, but you’ll have to wait a while to find out what I’ve got planned. Tantalisingly… annoying. I know, I know!

Rich also gave me a Panasonic Lumix camera for Christmas. It’s very handsome. It also takes absurdly good pictures and videos for its size. So, unfortunately, you may be seeing a little more of me this year, moving and talking and everything. It may not be pretty, but I’ll try to make it constructive and a bit interesting.

I am planning to be bit more regular with my Smallest Smallholding posts in 2010. I’ll have more time, so I have no excuses, although I plan to pack the year in, and not spend so much time whining about Things That Go (and Grow!) Wrong. I think in my next post I may reveal some of my resolutions. I’m looking forward to the prospect of a new year, I think. I always worry about saying that, as if I’m inviting disaster or something. Positive vibes, people, positive vibes!

Oh, and it’s my birthday on New Year’s Eve. I shall be 27. I’m not ready to be a ‘proper adult’ yet, so I’m going to let go, ignore the trappings of adult life, and just enjoy it. Well, that’s the plan anyway. I don’t think I’ll ever quite grow up.