Blogmas Day Eleven - Changing Traditions, Making Memories

 

This meme is so very true, we don't have to do any of the above.

Every year without fail for I don't know how long, I have bought one new decoration or ornament for the tree, a symbol in it's way of another year gone by, another year survived in this mad at times world.  This year we have been to lots of places with many, many decorations to choose between and I have held back.  Picking up things that I have liked and even momentarily thinking of purchasing them.  But I have always put them down and come away empty handed ... and happy.

I had no need to purchase one, and my brain told me that this was better.  The other day we were clearing the garden for Winter, I had left lots of the dead heads and dried twigs in the garden for the insects and small creatures to use as cover while they needed them.  But now after all the non-stop rain and hard frosts, it was starting to look very neglected and soggy, not the sort of cover any self-respecting creatures would choose for a hidey-hole for the Winter.  

I have left some things though, so any little critters that might have gone for an away-day will be able to find alternative accommodation on their return.  😄 

Amongst my prunings were some of the tall, twiggy things that I have growing in the tin bath at the front door, it had really shot up this year.  They started as the twiggy offerings in a large bouquet of flowers that Alan had bought me for our anniversary a couple of years ago, and someone told me that they rooted easily.  So always being one to experiment I pushed them into the soil at the back of the tin bath, and lo and behold whoever it was that told me that was completely right, within months I had growth, greenery and then more bobbly things.

So it came to me in an inspired flash, the twigs were so willow-like I decided to make three tiny wreaths for the Christmas tree.  Two I slightly decorated, but the tiniest which is barely an inch across, was left as it was.

Now they are on my tree and this years decorations have been sourced ... at absolutely no cost in money to either of us, but absolutely filled with memories of Christmas' gone by.

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Ten - My YouTube Year

I've been a pretty regular Blogger for over seventeen years now, but unlike some bloggers I have never felt the urge to move myself over to YouTube.  It's a completely different medium and while I am happy with the written word, I am less so with filming my day to day.  So blogging suits me so much better.

I have used YouTube for my own devices when I have wanted to show something in a film format for my blog, but that is the extent of my involvement.

I am, however, a regular viewer, indeed some evenings I prefer to watch some of my favourite YouTubers on my television while I relax.  Television is not always that great these days, although of course we should have some good Christmassy content coming up, and sometimes it's nice to dip into lots of little fifteen or thirty minutes bits of entertainment if you have something else on the go, rather than commit to a full length film.

While I am not all that mathematical I do enjoy a good statistic every now and then, so it was interesting when I went on my YouTube page on the computer and found that this year there is a 2025 recap of what my most watched channels were.  The are not what I expected, but that's maybe because I tend to watch a lot of one thing and then move over onto a different channel and binge watch their content.

It will be interesting to compare this years viewing figures with those at the end of next year, so I have decided to share some of the information screens on this Blogmas post so that I have a record of them.

And that is the beauty of blogging ... I have all my history at my fingertips.  💖

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Nine - Fish, Wine ... and Stocking Fillers

 

 

My shopping from Saturday, we went to Booths as Alan fancied a cooked breakfast for a change, it's usually just a bacon bun.  I just had a toasted teacake, well half of one actually I just wasn't in the mood. I think I have reached saturation point for eating out, although I did enjoy my coffee.

My total was a £39.05, which seems quite steep for me, but then there are two bottles of wine for Christmas, two boxes of fish to consume during December, two packs of batteries as we have run out completely ... and four items for Alan's Christmas stocking.  We set ourselves a little fun challenge, buy one or more small items from the middle aisles.  We don't go mad for presents for each other, just one main one, a couple of things that we need and some surprises in our Christmas stockings.

The eagle eyed among you will notice that there are no bananas on the receipt, that's because Alan bought four and gave me two.  There are two packs of batteries one for him and one for me which I paid for.

To balance costs out Alan paid for the biscuits and a book off the charity book table in Booths café ... yes we have an upstairs and a downstairs version of the charity book table now.  They are currently raising money for our local Foodbank to restock them after the Christmas holidays, so I had to support them didn't I.  😁

The biscuits are to be used as a crumble topping for a couple of little 'Oddly Good dessert pots that I have, one for each of us in lemon and caramel flavours.  It's a much cheaper alternative to buying ready made cheesecakes.  Just one biscuit crumbled on each little pot.

It might be Christmas, but I can still watch the pennies.  🎄

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Eight - Know Yourself

Art by Lisa Aisato

Know yourself they say

and don’t be led astray

but how can I know who I am

when I’m different every day?

Some days I’m the smart one

with the answers people need

and some days I’m the strong one

standing up to take the lead.

On other days I’m sure

that if the wind blew me too hard

I would shatter like a glass

into a million tiny shards.

And on those days I cower

and I hide out from the world

waiting on my inner child

to blossom and unfurl.

And each day I’m surprised

by the newness that I see

the things I’m finding out

the complexity of me.

So how to know yourself

when you’re all things rolled in one?

you simply must decide

to love whatever you become.

Donna Ashworth

From ‘I Wish I Knew’

Sue xx

Day Seven - Sneezing at the Big Boys

 

My version of the booky Christmas tree on THIS post.  😄

I went to Sainsbury's for a few things that I needed for Alan, and noticed that my usual tissues were reduced to just £2.50 for a twin pack instead of the usual £4.  It just had to be done, so I bought four double packs, and for some reason instead of £6 being deducted at the till £7 came off.

I'm happy, and safe from a tissue famine until well into next year.  😁

I'm doing my very best to do this from now on, not just for Christmas but beyond and all though next year.  I've even cancelled Amazon Prime.

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Six - Victorian Festival

 

Virtually every year for the last forty years our town has held an annual Victorian Christmas Festival.  It is always two nights of fun, festivities and very expensive food being sold by a myriad of stall holders.  But it's something that we have supported since we have been in the area.

It's wonderful to see the children enjoying themselves, from the minute the procession starts they follow along the High Street, and when Father Christmas gets off his float and makes his way down Thomas' Weind they follow him to his grotto and then stay for the shows and the fair.

There's something for everyone, and things to suit most tastes be it foody or gifty.

Mulled wine.

Potatoes or parched peas.

Grasmere Gingerbread

Morecambe Bay Chowder

 Pickles, chutneys and cheese of every description.

The High Street is filled with people enjoying themselves and the buzz that this creates.  Virtually everyone is in a good mood and strangers talk to strangers, as is the way in most Northern towns.  The shops stay open late and trade their wares to regulars and visitors alike.

It's a good night and enjoyed by all ages.

We both really enjoyed the atmosphere of the evening, and while we didn't buy much we did support some of our local eating places and charity shops.

Alan partook of a couple of 'pigs in blankets' skewers while we both drank coffee in Cobblers to warm our hands.  I bought a lovely handknitted scarf from the Hospice shop, and a little glass jug from Age UK.  Then we finished the evening with a plate of chips each while we warmed up in our eat-in chippy.

It was a very good start to the Christmas celebrations.

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Five - Decorations Up and Mince Pies Eaten

Traditionally I have always put my decorations up on our anniversary, but this year I was one day ahead of the game, and my little tree was adorned with all it's usual little memory gems on the third.  

Alan also had his strange tree up but it was undecorated on the third, so he finished it off on our anniversary and now it suddenly looks almost normal.  It's one of those that collapses down on itself and fits in a flat square box once Christmas is over, he loves it ... me not so much.  It will be interesting to see what happens next year if we are in our bungalow by then!!

 

I tried to get some photos of the rest of my little array of decorations, but the light was terrible ... anyway you can get the gist.  Each decoration holds dear memories of various stages of our lives.  

The two ceramic angels were bought for my first Christmas in my own little rented house when I was separated from my first husband, so they pre-date Alan by quite a while.

The American pick-up truck and the 'bauble plate' were bought from a charity shop when we lived in the rented flat in our current town, after selling our smallholding in Wales, and just before we bought the house we are in now.

The tiny caravan was bought when I lived in the caravan, and the 'bear in the forest' light-up dome when we moved to this house.  

Memories that come out each and every Christmas.

We still stop at the services on the way home from visiting Mum each time we go, and it's now become almost traditional to get a sausage roll each ... meat for Alan, vegan for me ... but added to the Christmas mix have been a doughnut for Alan and a mince pie for me.  They had no single pies for sale on Wednesday this week, so what was a girl to do ... yes, I bought a pack of six.  

Which was a bit of a bargain when one costs £1 and six costs just £3.25. 😄

I brought five of them home and shared nicely with Alan.

Sue xx  

Blogmas Day Four - A Very Booky Christmas Tree

 

Ooh I wish I was artistic enough to be able to build something like this.  But instead I will sit back and admire this photograph and then look at my own little tree and admire her too.

I bought us two Christmas crackers from the animal charity shop in Fleetwood a few months ago.  They should have been 20p each but I gave £1 ... which still makes them a bargain to me.  My intention was to find something tiny that suits us both to put in each of them for Christmas Day ... I need to get my act together and find those 'something tinies' as soon as possible.  But if I run out of time there are always sweets to pop in instead.

We got the decorations down from the top bedroom in the house the other day, and discovered in the big plastic box half a dozen more crackers.  

There will be a lot of pulling of crackers this year. 🎄

Happy Anniversary Alan ... we've been married for 18 years today. 💖

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Three - Using Up the Bitty Bits

 

I have been so careful for a long time now not to waste anything.  Wasted food is good money thrown away and bad for the environment to boot.

I build meals around the things that I find loitering with intent for far too long in the fridge, and just recently I have pretty much caught up with the stragglers.  I do still have to be careful though when I take things out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge ... and then forget about them, because then the backlog starts again.

This late breakfast was a real mash-up of bitty bits.  The free Flora pot that I brought home from the garden centre, the two wrinkliest of the little sweet peppers from the veg drawer, a random slice of red onion, two spinach pellets from the freezer and a couple of eggs.

All added together and cooked in my small frying pan it made for the tastiest of meals, and remarkably filling for the size of it.  I even managed to turn it over in the pan to cook the other side, and slide it out onto the plate without breaking it 

Wonders will never cease.  😃

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Two - Not All Garden Centres Have Dinosaurs

 

Seemingly not all garden centres have dinosaurs this year.

Burnside garden centre in Thornton-Cleveleys has avoided the dinosaur rush and gone with Nordic Santas ...

... and very surprised looking Moose!!

We called round one day last week to claim our free November coffees before they vanished into the ether and only Decembers were left for this year.

Happily the day before we went we received a voucher from the company for a free 'treat jar'.  So along with the free coffees that we enjoyed with our choice of 'small breakfasts',  we got a jar that should have been £5, and a voucher at the till for a 'buy one get one free' small breakfast in January.  I tried to choose the jar that was the least Christmassy as I don't like 'seasonal' kitchen things, but I think I can get away with a gingerbread man jar for far longer than the festive period. 😁

So that will be a good morning out, two breakfasts and two coffees for a total of £6.50 the price of one small breakfast.  They are obviously wanting people to visit the garden centre and shop the sales in January.  But I think we will just go for the food and drink after all it will be Alan's birthday on the 8th and you can't beat a birthday treat, I might even surprise him and pay.  😃

Sue xx

Blogmas Day One - The Books That I Read in November

 

It's here, December has rolled in with the wettest of nights.  

We had almost torrential rain bucketing down all night and only easing off with the early morning light of a dull December day.  But now we can relax into the twinkling lights that sparkle in all the shops and bop to the Christmas music they play in an effort to get us parted from our money.  But now there are no glares from the 'bah humbug' brigade as we are officially on the countdown to Christmas.

It's also perfect reading weather, so after I list the books that I read in November on here for posterity, I will be digging out all the Christmas themed books from my books shelves and getting myself ready to have a very booky December.

It wasn't such a good reading month again last month just three books completed and the beginning of a fourth ... I must do better!!

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

I started the month by reading the last quarter of this book.

It was a very good read, and while I thought I had solved the crime ... I hadn't.  There was a delicious twist at the end.  This would make a brilliant binge-worth tv series.

Donated

 ... just because I rarely keep fiction books for rereading, and obviously I know who did it and why.  😄

The Money Secret by Rob Parsons

This is a very unique book written in a very unusual way and it makes it an easy read.  

I enjoyed the quirky aspect of it and really sunk into it and it's message.  There was very little that I didn't already know, having paid of large debts myself in the past and lived with little to no money for a time.  But it reinforced an awful lot for me and made me happy that I had come through this stage of my life, and indeed come through it well and learnt a lot for myself.

If only I had had this book back then, perhaps my journey would have been shorter.

This book has been kept.

Floating Home by Adam Lind

This is one of the few books that I have purchased new this year, and I have to say it was worth every penny.

Adam has written the book of his life up to now, interspersing his story with segments called 'Humans of the Waterways'.  The stories of their lives from friends of his, both new and old, many of whom I have already watched on YouTube for a long time.  The whole book was a joy and at times very philosophical.  

There was one very simple sentence that changed my whole mindset.  Basically it's when you feel that something is too much for you to cope with, simply change that you have got to do it, to that you get to do it.  I have put it into action a few times since reading the book and it's really worked.

As an example, yesterday I might have said 'I have got to go and visit Mum today'.  To be truthful I was dreading the visit after the last one when she was virtually comatose, and we both came away so sad.  Instead I said to myself when I woke up...  'I get to visit Mum today'.  Because she is still with us, because we have a car to get us down the motorway, because while I have been too bad to drive Alan has cheerfully picked up the reins and is driving us.  Just changing one letter of one word turned my thinking around and made me feel gratitude, which completely turned the day around.  Happily when we got there she was awake and totally different, which obviously is just a completely happy coincidence, but it reinforced something very powerful in me.

So this book comes highly recommended.

Kept.

The McFlannels See It Through by Helen W Pryde

I started my final book of the month only a couple of days ago, but I keep putting it down.

It's written with the speech spelt out as a Scottish person would say it, and this messes with my brain!!  I've noticed this before with books, they have to be in 'proper English' for me to really enjoy them.  

It's not as though I can't figure it out, I've obviously been with a Scotsman for over twenty years so I can quite easily decipher most of it, and the story seems to be going in a good direction.  But my poor tired brain is taking a Christmas break from this one.

Kept - to try again in the New Year.

So there might not have been much reading going on last month, but what I read was mostly very good and with three books staying on the bookshelves I get to read them again at a future date.

Sue xx

I would like to point out, that although I provide links to Amazon for all the books that I read each month, not all my books are bought from Amazon.  If they are, some of them were bought from the Used section rather than at full price.  You do not need to spend a fortune to read good books. 💖

I share the links so that you can learn more about the books that I write about for yourself, or read reviews from others that have read them.  Of course most of the books I talk about would also be available from your local library, and if you are very lucky you might even find them in charity or thrift shops. 

There are so many ways to bring books into your home if you love reading. 📚

Minimal Reading, Lots of Watching

 

Artwork by Cozy Creatures Artwork

It's not been a brilliant week for reading this week, but I have been sitting down each day, when the light allows with a coffee to relax into my current book, which is proving very good.  With the grey, rainy days that we have had nearly all week, the light in my small home is terrible and while I have a light behind my chair I really have to be in the mood for reading to read for any length of time under it, and perhaps I just haven't been.

So there has been quite a bit of YouTube watching as well, which can be just as relaxing and usually very interesting if I choose carefully.

This week I have been watching:

https://youtu.be/37AF3wm976w?si=bedeUTtX9e4WmFsJ

Family Freedom ... and their Christmas dinner challenge.

https://youtu.be/caDnRRLBAXw?si=leuIp4U6IgOYJip6

Ben, and the gang at Flawless Cleaning Services

https://youtu.be/_XYilWMswEM?si=HO9G6zDY9GeQFOUp

Someone that I found on YouTube quite recently is Kezia at The Whole Home.  

Happily, watching her videos reminded me that I still have £100 worth of Riverford Fruit and Veg box vouchers to spend.  Definitely something for the New Year to help me keep the food bill costs down.

https://youtu.be/PsKdsAV9j3U?si=QJXSWvUn_xL8It1k

And of course with the weather being so bad just recently it's been the perfect weather for soup, so Weary Wolf's weekly soup recipes have been lovely to watch.  Karl is turning into a really good cook.

https://youtu.be/QpOooOXQ02s?si=m8twH9zYx-pbxU2H

And of course I just had to watch Sam Wilder and his seven days of eating just Greggs foods.

What have you been reading or watching this week?

Hope you have a lovely weekend.

Sue xx

They say never shop when you're ...

 

They say never shop when you are hungry, you will spend too much, buy too much crap, buy what you  fancy in the moment ... and then when you get home eat a banana.

What they don't say is never shop when you are hungry and desperately sad.

I have to stand up and admit to being absolutely heartbroken when we came out from visiting Mum at her care home at the start of the week.  I knew for a fact that if I just let Alan drive us all the way home without doing some thing different I would be sobbing for an hour and putting him under additional stress to concentrate on the road.

So, at my suggestion and fully admitting why, we went to Marks & Spencer ... for a look at their Christmas offerings.  I thought that being in public and in a brightly lit store I would have to pull myself together and who knows maybe even have a little fun.  As you can see from the slightly blurry photo, we may have done a little bit more than look.

We spent just over £95, Alan's half being the larger as it is very meat, seafood and cheese orientated.  Mine was a few treats for Christmas and some day to day foods that I am currently working my way through in date order as my freezer is full to capacity.

Did it work?

I have to admit that in the moment it did, but halfway home the lump was back in my throat, the ache was back in my heart ... and I had the added guilt of a spend that I knew I didn't need to feel guilty about, but did anyway.

This year has just about broken me and I am not ashamed to admit it.

Sue xx

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers who live in the countries that celebrate this day.  

I hope you have a lovely day with family, friends, or by simply choosing to mark the day in the way that suits you best.

'Reading by the Firelight' ... Unknown Artist

Sue xx

Logs ... Past and Future

 

It's funny what pops up in your Facebook Memories.  The other day this photo appeared and the one below, it made me go back and read the blog post that they were originally on.

It's HERE if you're interested.

I read a few of the other posts around it, and I had to laugh because only a couple of days earlier I had been saying how good I was getting at chopping wood with an axe!!

A post all about logs and kindling ... which seems very apt at the moment as we hope to be able to have a log burner in our new bungalow.  Although we won't have a barn to store all the logs and kindling in, so we will have to be a lot neater.

We are going to be all electric with solar panels, so with the rise of power cuts over the last few years we think it might be a bit prudent to have an alternative heat source as well ... and of course a log burner is lovely to sit in front of and to look at on a cold Winter's night.

I might not be writing so romantically about it once I have to actually chop wood, or even just keep getting up and down to put another log on the fire.  😄

Sue xx

Sausage Roll ... and Slaw

 

Remember THIS post when I held my hands up to, and showed you the evidence of, me accidentally cremating a poor lonely sausage roll?

  Well I thought I would keep my wits about me this time and cook the other one yesterday.

Review ... they taste exactly the same as they used to when they were slightly smaller and there were four in a box.  The thing is I think my taste buds have changed a bit and I am no longer a fan.  

On my plate in the photo is a side of a simple cabbage slaw which is simply, 1/4 of a cabbage shredded, a couple of slices of white onion and a dollop of mayonnaise, all stirred together and enjoyed with ... perhaps even more than ... the sausage roll. 

Perhaps I have been seduced by the Greggs vegan sausage roll, which currently due to all the travelling seems to be at the very least a weekly event.  These are ten times tastier than the Aldi cook at home offerings.

I doubt I will be buying the Aldi version on a regular basis anymore.  

Sue xx