Sorting Things Out, Keeping Things Simple

All  my washing products.

I was up in Alan's top floor en-suite bathroom this morning.  We had emptied the main bedroom last weekend, moving the double bed down to Alan's middle floor bedroom after selling his large king-sized bed on Facebook Marketplace, so it seemed sensible to also empty out the bathroom.

That room was only ever used for the occasional overnight guests.  We decided when we thought of downsizing, that it made no sense whatsoever to have a spare room for guests that might only use it once or twice a year.  If people do want to stay with us we can make use of both our bedrooms for the length of their stay, and not have to pay extra to own a little used room.

Anyway, sorting out the bathroom made me realise just how many toiletries were up there.  I spent half an hour decanting myriad half used items into one bottle of each type and then relocated them to Alan's bathroom cupboard.  It made me realise that my way of only having the toiletries that are in use on show in my bathroom, and having one backup in stock for a refill, is my much preferred way of doing it.  My products tend to last me a long time as I decant shower gels and shampoo into a dispenser bottle each.

I have whittled the products that I use down over the years, and now there are just a few that are in constant rotation.  It's partly for simplicity, partly as my sensitive skin doesn't react to them, and also because still having no sense of smell, I do like to be able to remember what my products actually smell of, and these products have stood the test of time.

A couple of things that I have been experimenting with though are my Olay facecream ...

... and my Arm & Hammer toothpaste.

Both my usuals have shot up in price over the last couple of years, and there have been fewer and fewer offers to take advantage of when stocking up.  So I felt it was time to try some replacements.  Happily both swaps worked out well and will save me quite a bit of money overall.  Now, I don;t mind spending money on something if the quality is good and I can see a value in it, but when a cheaper, but just as good alternative is available I am very open-minded about giving it a try.

Of course I still want to get every last little bit of product out of the cheaper swap, something that is much easier when it is not in a pump dispenser style bottle.

Have you made any swaps recently to save money or to find better products?

Sue xx

The Worst Day is Over ... and a Walkthrough

 

For Alan the worst day is now over.

He ended last week doing the job he was really not looking forward to, a day up in the loft, firstly rearranging the insulation that was already in place, and then adding another layer to it.  It was a day of crawling around, cutting insulation to fit all the gaps, making sure the walkway to the solar panel control board was clear, and then finally pushing the new rolls up through the now edged trimmed loft hatch, and rolling out all the new insulation.

To be able to do it all safely, he had to wear his waterproof, elasticated cuffed jacket over his t-shirt to stop all the fibres from bringing him out in a rash, and to stop him from breathing in all the fibres, a mask over his face.  So it was a hot, sweaty and very uncomfortable time.  

This week it's a bit of a sigh of relief as it's all about the decorating, white undercoat and gloss on all the woodwork and silk emulsion in either cream or white on the walls.  While the woodwork is all currently just raw or primed wood, the walls have already had two coats of paint, so this week will see them all getting their final coat.

As we get towards the finishing line, my man's stamina is being sorely tested, but he's loving seeing it all coming together so that is spurring him on.  Our main aim is to get all of the slightly dirty or mess making work done before the 10th November, as that is the date we have a cleaning company coming in to give the bungalow a thorough deep clean, ready for us moving in the week after.

Meanwhile back at home I am making sure he has two nourishing meals a day.  One delivered at midday to fuel the worker, that we have nicknamed 'Meals on Wheels' much to the amusement of our new neighbours, and one when he gets home after relaxing in a hot bath for half an hour.  

*

Also slowly but surely I am working my way through all of our possessions in a bid to get rid of a much as possible in the run up to moving day.  I didn't realise just how much stuff was in my little shed, where does it all come from, I don't really know ... but we have both decided that a lot of it has to go.

Here's the final walkthrough before everything is finished.

https://youtu.be/lhb4ByxaYb4?si=l9jpuFekO5AeUk1S

* This is a photo of when the shed first went up ... it looks a bit more weather-beaten these days.  😄

Sue xx

Weekend Watching - Some of My Current Favourite YouTube Channels

 

It's the time of year to cosy on up in the house with books, hot drinks and good things to watch on the television.  But at the moment I am finding less and less to watch on 'normal tv', and so I find myself instead sinking into some of my favourite YouTube channels, in a bid to wind down during these darker evenings.

So just as I used to on my old blog 'A Smaller and Simpler Life', I thought I would share some of my current favourite channels.  I used to do a sporadic series called Weekend Watching  which I thought I could incorporate here instead.  After checking out the channels that I used to share it's quite funny to see that I have recently gone back to a few of them more recently after quite a break.

The first one I'm sharing is Farmhouse on Boone.

https://youtu.be/6tsK1nKJOn4?si=7MIqatABFMrATQMB

She seems to have had another baby since I used to watch, and now lives in their beautiful 'new, old farmhouse'.  I do love watching people effortlessly cook large quantities of food for a big family, but it also makes me glad that I'm usually just cooking for one or two.  😄

Like so many other people, over 250,000 now in fact, I watch Rewilding Jude every week.

https://youtu.be/YYKPhns4BAU?si=SvspqOLzK1FwweF1

He's still doing amazingly well, and has come on in leaps and bounds with his building and cooking skills.  I'm glad he's phased back on his cottage redevelopment plans, the cost he was quoted for the work was exorbitant.  He has an army of fans and 'grannies' cheering him on from the side-lines every week.

One of my real favourites at the moment is Kezia over at The Whole Home,  it's just very simple family meals on a tight budget but done in a carefully considered and more environmentally friendly way.  She has some good morals with food, life and all, as do her family.  It's her monthly budget videos that I like the best, so I am sharing the first week of one of them here.  

https://youtu.be/RDx1YX_Aj-E?si=nzMwF4MJ5av1j8-E

And finally ...

A channel that I only discovered very recently and really binged watched, Bob Dickinson.  He reminds me, both in looks and cooking skills, of a young, first starting out Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, indeed I have seen them both together online a couple of events, so they do know each other.

https://youtu.be/l_xwDPSdzGg?si=VWsR1Pm2DMSPUnFP

Sit back and watch some lovely autumnal breakfast cooking and then carry on to some of his other videos.

One weird thing that I am  finding when I spend any time watching YouTube these days is that at the end of a video when YouTube is suggesting what I may want to watch next, my own videos are in the little box in the corner.  

No thank you, I filmed them, but thanks anyway. 😃

I hope that you liked at least a couple of these suggestions for viewing, a lot of you most likely watch these anyway.  If there's any channel that I haven't mentioned here that you think I might like please suggest it in the comments.

I hope you are having a good weekend.

Sue xx

Riverford Box ... and Facebook Marketplace Manners

 

This weeks Riverford vegetable box arrived on Wednesday.  

The electric van glides up silently outside the house, and unless there is a reason for me to be at the front door I usually miss it.  The drivers, when you actually see them, are very polite and usually just drop the boxes outside, covering them with a 'Box Brolly' ... a large white plastic  bag to you and me ... if the weather either is or appears to be, going to be wet.

This time I caught him in the act as he climbed back into his van, as I nipped out to put something in the recycling bins that are at my front door.  With a cheery wave and a thumbs up he was off to make his next delivery, seemingly there are quite a lot of us Riverford customers in our little town.

It's like a vegetable inspired Christmas present unpacking the goodies and seeing what the contents look like.  Of course I know exactly what should be there, but there is always the chance of a suitable swap having been made if not the right amount of something was harvested.  As has been usual for me up to now though, everything that I had chosen was present and correct, and very tasty looking.

The extras that I added to our delivery this time were, my choice of some Tenderstem broccoli, and Alan's choice was some venison burgers.  It's a long time since he's had venison so he was really looking forward to getting these.  To celebrate the acquisition we had burgers and homemade wedges for tea last night.  My burger being of the Linda McCartney kind.  💚

I am going to serve the other burgers in two different ways for him, one of them being turned into mini-meatballs to go with a pasta dish, and the other two in place of a venison steak in a nice cooked meal.

The whole delivery.

As I was just about to have my breakfast it made sense to use something from the box straight away, how could I resist! So I cooked some of the kale in olive oil and butter, and then added eggs and a sprinkle of cheese.  It was very good.

If you would like a Riverford delivery for yourself you can get to the website through my LINK.  If you also use code CHOPTOIT at the checkout I think that there is still an offer to get a free chopping board at the moment.

It's been a busy and very satisfying week on our Facebook Marketplace sales this week.  We've sold our king-sized oak bed frame, some Le Creuset and some other bits and pieces that we have had listed on there for a while.  It's nice to be getting some money into the coffers instead of it flying out.  The couple that enquired about and then came to collect the bed frame, were honestly the nicest and most polite people I have ever dealt with on FB Marketplace.  

It's little things like good old fashioned manners and politeness in every sort of interaction, that make me realise that the world is not all going to hell in a handcart ... as a lot of social media would have us believe. 

Sue xx

Moving Forwards ... and New Boots

 

When I called to the bungalow with Alan's lunch yesterday he had just finished grouting the bathroom tiles, and the pipes had all been boxed in by the joiner.

This was yesterday, but already by today the actual shower fittings have been attached to the wall and all the excess grout had been cleaned off.  He has now moved on to undercoating all the woodwork.  The joiner is hopefully on his final day, and is doing the skirting boards, door frame and loft hatch frame in the main room

Alan has worked so hard this year he is now on to using up a third pair of his older jeans as work jeans, his last two pairs ripped right through at the knees, and while it might be quite fashionable to have ripped jeans, working in them is very uncomfortable.  I did suggest selling them on Vinted as 'authentically made ripped jeans'  but we decided against it owing to them also being rigid with plaster dust. 😄

After seeing the state of his boots yesterday I suggested he bought himself a new pair while he was at the building supplies shop, so he did.

Now he has a pair of brown boots that make his feet look considerably smaller and are vaguely reminiscent of Bob the Builder.

Sue xx

Pond Scum Soup ... and Halloween Decorations

 

We give our food some good names don't we.

What with Compost Heap Jelly and now Pond Scum Soup we are inventing a whole 'rubbish' way of eating ... and we love it.  😄

Of course I am only joking, this particular rubbish soup, although looking exactly like pond scum once it was whizzed up, was full of lots of good stuff.  I used up a lot of the trimmings from my fridge, and almost everything that was left over from the last Riverford box in preparation for the new box arriving on Wednesday.  Then I added some of the outer red cabbage leaves from a cabbage I hadn't yet started.

So with the cauliflower leaves, stem and trimmings, the greenest bits left from the leeks, the dark Cavolo Nero and the red cabbage leaves it was always going to come out looking very dark and very green.

It also tasted very good, and very healthy.

I served my portion with a bit of bread and butter for lunch on Saturday and really enjoyed it.  Alan had a portion for his tea  last night alongside a cheese sandwich, and the two portions in the jars are still in my fridge, I'll have them for lunch a couple of days this week.

Oh, and my only Halloween or maybe Autumn decorations are these two lovely little pumpkins that I was tempted into buying in Aldi on Friday.  These two will be a lovely bowl of soup when their time comes ... or when I get fed up of them on the worktop.  😁

Sue xx

Provisions ... and Store Cupboard Spot the Difference

Provisions by Lucy Almey Bird

As well as being a book collector I also seem to be a food collector, although this year I have been making a real effort to nip this in the bud slightly.  But do you ever change your spots ... well leopards seemingly don't so why should I?   😄

 Books and food are of almost equal importance, if I had to choose between a packet of biscuits and a second-hand book I think you all know by now which one would win.

But as well as sorting things out to sell on Facebook Marketplace in readiness for our move, I have also been trying to eat a lot of the foods from the store cupboard.  The bottom cupboard is still absolutely full of all the food that I have with longer dates on, either next years or even further in the future.  But back in March of this year I moved a lot of the short dated or out dated things from the bottom part of the cupboard into the top, and I have managed to go through a lot of them.

Doing this really helped me focus on things, I should make sure I rotate things much more carefully in future and never let things get so outdated.  But it's never the end of the world if best before dates pass by.

March 2026

October 2026

I had a little tidy this week to see how well I am doing.  I have moved a few things into the cupboard that didn't used to live there, the free condiments sachets etc, so if I hadn't it would look even clearer.   If I had to look into a crystal ball I would say there is a tomatoey chickpea recipe in our near future, and maybe some flour based products.  

Do not be kidded by the 'Biscuit' tin, it holds a large bag of bread flour, my other 'biscuit' tin out on the worktop actually holds Weetabix, but in my favour there is Bisto gravy granules in the Bisto tin.  😄

Sue xx

Buying and Selling - Exciting Times

 

We are now into the more exciting time of the renovations.

All this week Alan has had the company of our joiner at the bungalow, so while Alan has been tiling my bathroom the joiner has been fitting skirting boards, door frames and doors.  So with two pairs of hands we're now coming on in leaps and bounds.

We have a cleaning company booked to come and do a thorough post-renovation clean on 10th November, and a removals company booked for the following week.

My mission today was to choose and order the curtain poles and curtains for all the windows.  After initially thinking he wanted to choose something unique for his bedroom window, Alan has now decided that he likes my choice so much that he wants the whole bungalow to match, and as the curtains are green ... I have absolutely no problem with this.  😁

We've gone for nice simple metal curtain poles in keeping with the style of the open-plan kitchen, dining and living room.

Along with ordering stuff we've also been selling stuff, a big declutter of all sorts of things that we have come across in our cupboards and drawers.  This morning the large Le Creuset casserole pot left home after many years of good service.  It was far too heavy for me to be able to lift these days, and we have enough pans between us to more than happily equip our new kitchen.

You'll have to excuse me now as I have bags of tiling adhesive to list on Facebook Marketplace, and then a table and chairs set to order.  Alan has talked me into selling the chunky table we already have ... as seemingly it won't suit the aesthetic of the new room.  

Sue xx

The Borrowed Book

 

After yet another weekend trip to Wickes for some more building supplies that Alan needed for the bathrooms of the bungalow, we went on to Morecambe for breakfast.  I'll be honest I had a bit of an ulterior motive for the venue selection ... a brand new second-hand bookshop was opening that morning.  

I had been following the progress of the proprietors on Instagram as they turned the derelict shell of an old shop into the most cosy looking little book emporium, and with it being in one of our favourite seaside destinations it just made sense to visit on it's first day.  😁

Alan was all for it too as it meant he had his favourite cooked breakfast in the little café that we regularly frequent on the sea front there.

Alan treated me to three books, and we had a nice chat with the owners.

I could not resist picking up one of their 'Blind Dates with a Book'.  Remember the lucky bags of our childhood years, well this is the adult readers version.

The only thing is, it is that pretty I have yet to bring myself to open the lovely little package.

The ex-retailer in me thinks that this is a genius way of making extra money for a book that maybe they had a few copies of or that they thought might not be that popular.  Oh well, one rainy day I will break into my 'Blind Date' and see what I have as my surprise.

The address of the shop in case anyone is interested.

Oh and yes, this is their loyalty card ... I obviously need to buy some more books.  😉

Sue xx

Tomatoes ... and Chickpeas

 

A slightly blurry photo, but isn't it nice to still be able to pick some homegrown tomatoes so late in the year.  

The majority of them are the yellow ones now, but a few of the red cherry tomatoes in my hanging basket are still ripening.  These gloriously seemingly spur of the moment sunny and warm days are keeping them going.  Helped by being in the sunniest part of the garden.  I thought I would be making some green onion chutney again, but I've now lost all the green ones to various shades of yellow and red ... which I am quite happy about.

I think a cook up of some lovely garlicky, tomatoey pasta style sauce will be on the cards in the next couple of days.  It will be lovely in the dark, short days that will soon be with us, and a nice reminder of the sunnier and warmer days of Summer.

I had made a small panful last week with the pickings from the week before, first we used it for our tea stirred through some pasta, and then the next night we finished it off on some homemade baguette style pizzas.  While the oven was on I put in some salt, pepper and garlic powder chickpeas to crisp up as a evening snack to go with a glass of wine.  

I might do the same again next time the oven is on for something else, they were very moreish.

Sue xx

Catching up on Shopping Posts, and Back to Riverford

The final shopping of September which with one thing and another slipped under the radar, leaving the photo trapped in my camera, it cost me £19.54.  My shopping seems slightly different at the moment while I am making Alan a packed lunch every day, and cooking an evening meal for us both to eat together.  He supplies the meatier parts of his meals and I do everything else.   As you can see from this photo, this is the last of my shopping photos that will include Ginger's little treats, he needed these for me to be able to put his medicine on.  He was very good at taking it twice a day.

Unfortunately, we had stocked up on all his treats, his favourite foods and two giant bags of his favourite 'posh' cat litter in the days before his sudden death.  This has all now been donated to our local animal rescue centre in Lancaster.  They were very grateful, as they were when we took all the dogs items last year.  It's nice to think of everything being put to good use.

Here's the receipt for the shopping for future perusal.  😄

My first shopping of October was a simple loaf of bread from Booths, after we had stopped in there for a coffee.  Then I picked up two boxes of paracetamol from Aldi while I walked around with Alan, I didn't need anything else.

I didn't buy that much more on my next trip to Aldi on 2nd October, spending just £10.56.

I did add two tins of peach slices to the trolley after taking that photo, it was taking the photo that reminded me I hadn't picked them up.  

The receipt.

I won't be needing much, or even any, shopping from the supermarket this week either as we have just started with our Riverford veg boxes again, after taking the Summer off to enjoy our homegrown crops.

I was tempted to start again this week for two reasons.  Firstly without Ginger's diet to be catered for we suddenly have an extra £25 a week in the housekeeping kitty, and there is currently an offer of a free chopping board that's worth £22.50, and mine is looking a bit dodgy at the moment.  So I jumped at the chance.

This cauliflower is HUGE.

 I don't know how they managed to cram it into the small box that I ordered for this week, I know I couldn't get it back in after getting it out to check things over ... and it won't fit into the fridge at all.  I have now persuaded Alan to share some some cauliflower cheese with me for our tea to use half of it up and so that I can make the rest of fit onto a fridge shelf. 😁

The new chopping board is lovely, and once it is oiled it will be ready for action.  Just wiping it over with a damp cloth as was suggested, showed off the lovely grain of the wood.

My instructions.  💚

To bring my spend up to the required amount to get the chopping board I completed the rest of my shopping for this week.  So Aldi is going to miss me completely for a week.  I needed some milk, so I thought I would try this Oat milk, it's been a while since I've had oat milk.  I used to make my own, but there's something so beautifully creamy about carefully made professional oat milk, so I thought a treat was in order.  I also chose some eggs and hummus as my choices and Alan asked for a pack of Pork and Apple sausages.  They look so like the ones we used to produce, it was a real blast from the past when I pulled them out of their cool box.

As the delivery was first thing in the morning I was even hungrier by the time that I had unpacked everything so, I used  one of the Cavolo Nero leaves in my lovely buttery scrambled eggs ... it just had to be done.  

If you would like to take advantage of the chopping board offer while it is still on you can use this LINK and enter the code CHOPTOIT at the checkout, hopefully my referral link and the code will work together, if not this will at least give you £15 off your second order with Riverford.

Now I'm off to start prepping a cauliflower cheese.  

Sue xx

Thank You

 

Early Autumn Morning by Lucy Almey Bird - my October Calendar Page

Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments on my last blog post.  We are both slowly coming to terms with being a completely animal free household, something that we have never experienced before.

When I met Alan twenty two years ago I had two cats, having only just gone down from having four and just about recovering from that.  He had a Border Collie dog called Sophie, that actually lived with his ex-wife while he travelled backwards and forwards to Berkshire for his job. When we moved in together and then married, we moved to quite a few places in England and Wales always with a steady stream of pets as our constant companions.

Over the course of the last two or so years we have lost all three of our last, very beautiful furry family, it's been hard but we have managed to adapt and we will again.  Hopefully one day in the not too distant future we will adopt a dog but we are going to be leaving it for a while.  

Ginger has been our final cat, which for me is a hard thing to say. I have had a pet cat since my first birthday when I was bought a beautiful jet black cat by my Nana, which in my young mind was blue, so he was called Bluey,  He remained with me until just after my first marriage, when sadly he died at the grand old age of almost 18. But if I was going to end my cat adventures on any cat it would have to be Ginger, he was the most laid back and charismatic of all my feline friends, so what a happy memory to hold forever.

Thank you for all your support on the last post, it meant the world to both of us. 💖

Sue xx

Remembering Ginger

 

2012 - The year we moved into his house.

Heartbreakingly, Ginger our gorgeous ginger boy, died in Alan's arms on Saturday night.  From the first day we met him when we rented the bungalow that was on our first smallholding in Berkshire, when his original owners went to work abroad right until this weekend he has been in our lives and our hearts.

The shy boy who came quickly out of his shell, loving being in the company of other cats, dogs, chickens and sheep.  He walked with the dogs through our various fields and woodlands, prowled through Chicken World, avoiding only the geese ... who he really did not understand.  

With his first ever health worries earlier this year, he even excelled at the vets, making them all smile while he purred his way through blood tests and examinations.  He was a truly special cat.

His life with us in photos.

2012

2013 - Posing with Archie

2014 - Walking side by side with Suky

2014 - A Ginger rose between two Russell-y thorns.

2014 - Snoozing with Suky

2015 - Napping with Mavis

2015 - Making good use of a new gatepost.

2017 - In the paddock in Wales

2017 - Joining in with Christmas fun for the blog and our family Christmas cards.

2018 - With Mavis

2019 - In the paddock with Mavis, Suky, Jasmine the lamb and Bella.

2022 - Testing out his new fence step/scratching post.

2023 - Watching Mum

2025 - Watching television.

2026 - Watching Uncle Jason and Aunty Tash when they cat-sat earlier this year.

A very special cat who led a wonderful life and enjoyed virtually every moment of it.

Ginger - January 2009 - 3rd October 2026

Rest in Peace my gorgeous boy. 🌹

Sue  xx