Crafting

On the right - 5 cross stitched cards for my 5 Penny Pincher penfriends are almost finished - ready for Christmas. Just need to sew on the snowflake charm. The charms are a bit big really but I only had 1 snowflake brad the right size and all I could find anywhere was these bigger ones. I got them done so I can start the tapestry - on the left.  It's the one I bought myself from the charity shop for Christmas and then my Brother in law gave me the money for it.  He wants to do all his Christmas shopping like that next year!
We had a friend in the Suffolk Smallholders Society who used to frame things for me mates rates, but he's moved to Yorkshire, so I'm going to have to pay proper price, find a frame to fit or turn it into a cushion........a long thin cushion!

Mrs F at the cottage is leaving a desk in what will be my craft room so with the table I've got I should have more room for crafting than I've had for a year. Maybe I'll be able to unpack and learn how to use my new sewing machine at last.

We are still being held up with the house purchase due to a 'wrongly' worded answer by Mrs F to one of the ambiguous questions on the Law Society Form. If a question says "has any additional land been sold or purchased?" and the person answers " Yes half an acre". Which do YOU think?
Yes - sold or Yes - purchased?
We know it's yes-purchased, Mrs F knows it's yes- purchased but the solicitors.....ours or hers....... have assumed SOLD. Oh dear.......... Confusion reigns and we all get wet!
The problem isn't helped by everything being done by phone or email. If you are told to sign something that's been highlighted in yellow and you can't find anything highlighted in yellow(because it's been highlighted in green) what hope is there?!

We are waiting.
And packing boxes.

Back in a day or two
Sue

Easter has come and gone..................

...........................without us noticing!

Colin had hospital appointments on Saturday and Easter Monday as they needed him to have blood tests to check platelet levels. Both times he had platelet infusions in the ward day-room because the clinics were shut for Easter, of course there are no extra staff for the extra cancer patients going to the ward for checks over Bank Holidays so the poor nurses were all rushed of their feet.

I ventured out on my bike on Saturday morning to take a few things to the charity shop and go to the post office and found a pathway through from one road to the next which means Aldi, 2 charity shops, the post office,newsagent,Co-op and chemist (and dubious take-aways!) can be got to by bike in 10 minutes.Yay! but because I still hadn't shaken off the cold/croaky throat - the first I've had several years - I didn't feel like dallying.

On Sunday Col's brother came over to lend a bit of muscle power for shifting boxes and now 16 boxes of books are under a bed and 6 more piled in the corner of the room. There still seems an awful lot of  other boxes in the summer house/shed and garage but at least the books are safe from damp. Andrew also brought a pair of secateurs (ours are on the trailer still in a shed on a friends farm along with other garden bits) to cut down some bamboo so we could haul out a compost bin I spotted in the corner of the garden and get it in use as our compost bin is also on the trailer.

Then of course we had Weather with a capital W as storm Katie blew in early Monday morning and by golly she was cold, wet and windy! I went out to the garage to investigate another box but it was just too cold for working. Instead we swapped some of the curtains left here for ones we had brought with us and Col (who is feeling not too bad) fixed up my little shelves to hold the herbs and spices - no room in a cupboard anywhere.

Herbs and spices sorted

Below the shelves we have a hatch - they were big in the sixties............ saves all of 10 steps from kitchen to table in the living room, I doubt it will be used.


Polly has settled in nicely, we went outside with her a couple of times during the week, then on Sunday she didn't want to be caught to come in again, climbed a Buddliea, jumped on the fence and onto the shed roof of the house behind and vanished  - Ooops we thought, but 15 minutes later there she was appearing from between our garage and the garage next door. Phew! At least we know she can find her way home again, now we just need to sort a cat flap.

That was the weekend gone - no trips out, no car-boot sales, no visits to stately homes or the sea-side but never mind, we are getting settled and that's the main thing.

Many Thanks for all your comments, sorry I'm not getting around to replying or leaving comments on any other blogs at the moment and welcome to gingerliz and L Efting.

Back in a day or 3
Sue

Wednesday to Friday in the County Town

Here I am again, still unpacking and trying to sort things out.

 On the whole we are quite pleased with choosing this small bungalow (for now!), there is just about room to live, the road is quiet and 15 minutes from hospital is better than 40 minutes especially as Col will have to go for blood tests 3 times a week from now on, and I was very excited to be able to pop to B & Q to buy a new telephone and a bin for the kitchen- took me 10 minutes and half that was queueing at the traffic lights. A new telephone would have needed a much longer journey just a week ago - I'm so easily excited! I can't wait to get out on my bike but I've gone down with a bit of a cold and a gyppy tummy - I put it down to the different water in town!!

Col came home from hospital after the 4th round of chemo on Thursday afternoon. I had to wait in for the cooker delivery so he got his old boss to give him a lift. It was strange saying "welcome to your new home" but lovely to have him back again. Once again he is feeling very tired and with no appetite and another bunch of tablets, injections and eye-drops. This type of cancer is very nasty but its incredible at how many medications have been developed to help things along.
 I had told him how much stuff we couldn't fit in but he was still surprised at how the bungalow had shrunk since we looked at it and his idea of unloading all his workshop stuff into the garage may have to be delayed.

Early this morning I popped to Asda....... something I've never been able to say before, I'll be able to bike there for top-up shopping when I'm feeling better. With the lack of space in the kitchen, top-up shopping will be all I'll be able to do which is the opposite of the last 30+ years when it's been mainly a monthly big shop. We do have a wooden cupboard with shelves which I plan to have in the garage for tins and bottles as soon as I've found space for the things it's currently full of.

Before we moved I mentioned unpacking a craft box to find a peel-off label for 'Sister' to stick on her card. Today is her birthday and guess where the card is............Still Here - forgot to give it to her Tuesday and  forgot to post twice! DUH! So  Happy 57th little Sister!

Our living room window faces south-west so the sun was streaming in on Friday for a while and Col filled the bird feeder, swivelled his recliner round and waited to see what- if anything - would arrive. Two collared doves sat on the garage roof and looked and a blue tit popped in to check it out. Then he saw a wren on the ground and 3 blackbirds having an argument in the shrubs, so there is bird life in Ipswich! Here is our garden from the living room window, small compared to our previous 5 acres! but larger than a lot of gardens on the newer estates.

We brought the birdbath and birdtable with us! Thanks to Brother in law and his van

 The awful crazy paving/weedy bit is definitely going and probably be replaced by a conservatory, which will add space and value without too much expense and hassle.

I took Polly out for a bit of a sniff around, can't let her out on her own yet and we need a way to put a cat flap in a double glazed door - I suppose it must be possible for a glazier to do.

This very strange concrete thingy was left in the garden and the lady who lived here must have been very houseproud as there are doormats - on the right - at the garage and shed doors!

There were so many lovely comments on the last post - Thank you everyone, Col was amazed to find that more than 50 people had wished us well.
 Lynda said "didn't we have 2 cats?" and yes we did, but one disappeared for 6 months after we got them 2 years ago and although she did re-appear and eventually came into the house she fought with Polly and was never really friendly or settled. We decided that the best thing was for her to return to Cats Protection where they could re-home her somewhere without other cats because she was almost bound to disappear again after this house move. Had we have known then what we know now we wouldn't have taken on a cat - hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Welcome to more new followers - Jules, Jane, Curvywitch and Christina. Hope you enjoy reading about our new life in the Suffolk county town.

Now I must get back to sorting out our possessions - fitting a gallon into a pint pot springs to mind!

Back in a day or two
Sue

Ipswich

Moved!
Thanks to my sister for lots of hoovering, dusting and unpacking and Brother in law who did all the the fixing and connecting things, our son sorted stuff, visited his dad and fetched us food and our youngest and her bloke helped with shifting bits and got me connected. I couldn't have done it without them.

I made tea and coffee!

The estate agents gave me 2 boxes of chocolates so Col could have some in hospital - a kind thought.
The three young removal boys were lovely and so was the carpet fitter who worked part of Saturday and Sunday to get the 3 carpets done.

I have no idea how the gas boiler works but never mind - we have heat and hot water.

The house is too small for my craft stuff, and there are 1000 books that will have to stay in boxes and the shed and garage are piled high.Other than that everything is fine!

The cat is puzzled

I'm knackered

 Back when I'm sorted
Sue
PS thanks for all your lovely supportive comments last time

Catching up on the week's happenings

Goodness me, more new followers, and they've arrived when there's not much to post about too. Welcome Annette and Carol - I used to be more interesting - Honest!!

We've had some really cold weather this week because a biting east wind has been coming straight in off the sea. I know further west in the country there has been sunshine and warmth but the first half of the week was mainly grey and any excursion outside was teeth-numbingly cold.  Amy at Love Made My Home had a walk with her camera and found many signs of spring, so when the sun came out on Thursday I went up and down the road and round the field to see the signs of spring here on the East coast...........Almost Nothing! We have daffodils that have been in bud for weeks without opening and  no buds or leaves anywhere except for the apricot trees. Just shows what a difference it makes living un-sheltered from the East winds and it's back to really grey and damp again today.

The only sign of blossom - I shall miss the apricot trees even though we only got apricots 3 times in 10 years.

Up at the top of the field we've left the green man to watch over everything, he's been there many years now, I wonder if the new owners will find him.

2 months ago Col filled in all the forms to claim benefit because of the cancer and they were sent off  but nothing has gone into the bank yet. So he rang to find out what was happening and got told "yes we have your details, don't know why you've not had anything, ring this number" So he rang the new number only to be told "No we have no details of you, you need to ring this number" (The number he had first rung!) Seems he has been lost in the system - Oh bother now we have to start all over again - with the added complication of change of address. Thank Goodness we are not counting on this money to live on. Thank Goodness we saved all the money we made from car boots, my pension and  yard sale etc last year. Thank Goodness the bungalow we have bought was less than half the price of the smallholding.

 We went up Tuesday for Col's pre-chemo blood test and  check with the consultant and all was well, they were pleased with progress. He was due in for the 4th session  yesterday- Thursday but they had no bed for him, so he rang again today - No, still full up but he needed a blood test so we trekked up to Ipswich anyway, again all OK. He has been told to call Sunday morning in the hope that they can get him in Sunday night ready for an early start Monday which means he will be stuck in hospital when we move because...................... ............................................................................................Contracts were exchanged at 4.30pm on Tuesday with completion confirmed for next Tuesday 22nd so I've been doing more tidying and packing but also un-packing boxes - yes - UN-packing to find things we wouldn't have needed if we'd moved on the 9th or 16th! Very annoying it is too. I undid two labelled "craft stuff"  to find the 'Sister'  and 'Son in Law ' peel off stickers for up-coming birthdays and one of the kitchen boxes to find the coffee. Thankfully I have plenty of helpers signed up for Tuesday so everything will be fine - fingers crossed. I just hope the carpet fitters will be able to get the carpets laid before Tuesday - that could be a nightmare if they can't.

I  spent most of Wednesday morning on the phone to various utility companies trying to get everything organised - that was no fun at all, you need the patience of a saint just to get through. Then the estate agent through which we are buying rang to offer me chocolates or wine as a 'welcome to your new home' gift  which rather cheered me up! ( Chocs ........ obviously!)

We had some unexpected exciting news last weekend - our youngest will be producing a grandchild for us in the autumn ☺You wait 26 years for a new addition to the family (that's the age of our youngest niece) and then 2 come along at once. ☺ I shall have to make two "Babies First Christmas" cards ☺ It's Extra special news in a way as she had only half the chance of getting pregnant compared to other girls because of the ovarian cancer when she was 18. Eldest daughter due June so the cousins will be 4 months apart (but many counties - sadly) and I've started a new column in the accounts book - Grandchildren☺ I refuse to be like my mum who rarely bought anything for the children unless it was their birthday or Christmas, she wasn't mean but it just wasn't done. I'm planning to haunt charity shops and car-boot sales for clothes, toys and books as soon as we move.☺
Talking of Christmas, I'm now worried.................there is no way we can fit all the expanding family into the teeny Ipswich bungalow, so we might have to move again sooner than we thought!!! Jolly Good Fun?? At least we wouldn't be selling as we are intending to stick to our original plan to keep the bungalow and rent it out for an income, the only difference is that instead of travelling round the country for the summer we will be stuck with hospital visits! Hey Ho - such is life.

Back after moving
Sue





 

So are we moving this Wednesday?.................

NO!

Honestly, this whole business has been very silly .................BIG Understatement!
Our buyers late application for a mortgage from Barclays has caused all the problems, and Barclays being exceedingly s...l...o...w   to sort it out.  The new date is March 22nd, although I'm not holding my breath.  Had to ring 5 removal companies before I could find someone to shift us and they are costing £200 more than the ones we had booked for the 16th. Then of course because we still haven't actually exchanged contracts this can't be a definite booking either. It was getting me down but there seemed to be no point in fretting so I'm now just going with the flow and doing a Gallic shrug " whatever".

I shall ring to change the delivery date of the cooker and the mail re-direction. I've given up phoning about water and phone so maybe the new owners are paying for what we use this week. Tough!

I've just finished reading Bill Bryson's latest book - The Road to Little Dribbling. I read Notes from a Small Island years ago and this is a sort of update, a new look at the quirkyness of  Great Britain. I smiled a lot through this book, just as I did through 'Notes', but why does he need to use the F word quite so much? It's usually when he is imagining what he would say to some idiot he has come across on his travels, so he isn't actually saying it, just thinking it, so why write it? That makes me sound like a prudish old person which I now know I am!


Back soon
Sue

Quick update

Thank you to everyone for kind wishes on my last post.
We are still here and STILL waiting for exchange and a completion date!
All due to our buyers and their late application for a mortgage. IF poss. moving should be next Wednesday, if not I have no idea what will happen.
We have a removal company for the 16th but if it's later I shall be ringing every removal company in the county to find someone.
We have almost everything packed and waiting.
Wish we had done what we originally planned and rented for 6 months, even if it meant moving twice in a year it would still have been less stressful than what we are going through at the moment,
Colin was very poorly after his 3rd chemo session but  is feeling a bit better now after 12 days. He is next due in on 17th. We are still backwards and forwards to hospital 2 or 3 times a week for blood tests, X ray and a CT scan.

Back in a week or so I hope
Sue

A letter from the past and recent diary entries

A few weeks back I had a letter from my penfriend who lives on a windy Scottish island, in the letter she wondered how long we had been writing to each other (although I'm a bad penfriend who doesn't write as often as I ought!). I hadn't had a chance to sort through the drawer where I keep old letters to see if I could find out, when another letter arrived and with it W had included my very first letter written to her in May 2001 and typically it starts by me apologising for being slow to reply to her first letter! She said it would probably be sad to read as back then we had milking goats and we bred sheep, Col was still working for the County Council and our eldest was at uni, our son was taking a gap year between high school and uni and our youngest was just 13.

 It was a bit sad to read but also  interesting and I'm so glad she kept the letter. I know she will read this so Thank you W for that little window into what things were like and I will write to you with our new address very soon and I'll probably still be apologising for taking such an age to write!

Sunday, and  the bloke who had bought the old caravan chassis came to collect it at just the same moment that the man who's been storing a boat here for the last 3 years came to take it away. He owed us £40 so another little bit of money into the kitty.
We Think we have sorted phone connections/un-connections  and abandoning Talk Talk - if it works properly. Sunday seemed a good day to ring. The broad band connection speed is 10 times quicker in Ipswich  than here, which should make loading photos easier.

On Monday I zoomed to Woodbridge to take our signed contracts back to the solicitors, hopefully it shouldn't be too long now before exchange. My sister and brother in law came over to help Col burn some rubbish and load the horsebox trailer with all the stuff that we don't need at the bungalow. Then we took it to a friend who is storing it for us until we need it at a house with bigger garden or to sell it at the auction rooms one day.
That just leaves the things - for garden and workshop - that we will take to the bungalow, to be loaded onto the flat trailer.Then all that will be left in the shed are a few bits waiting for our youngest to collect and smallholding stuff left for the new owners.

Today, Tuesday and a bit more tidying, sorting and packing in the morning.  The most difficult thing to pack?..........a roll of Christmas wrapping paper!  - Too long for any boxes, I've been wondering where to put it for weeks, in the end gave up and chucked it into a cupboard in the caravan.
Found out today that the price of postage stamps is going up again at the end of March. I shall stock up because there will be lots of change of address cards to be posted out soon. Last March, pre last years price rise I bought £20 worth which lasted me right through to Christmas.
This afternoon another trek to hospital for Cols pre-chemo blood test and to see the consultant who decided to send him for an XRay  and then back tomorrow for a scan. Thought I would share the view from the 6th floor of the maternity block where the oncology and blood clinics are being held while they build a new specialist wing.

 Exciting view of part of the hospital car park, the Australia Estate ( so called because the roads are named after Australian cities) and  across Rushmere heath golf course with Foxhall Heath over on the right. The small white dot on the horizon is  BT telecommunications  research centre which looks like this when you get closer.



Welcome to Penny, a new follower in the Google pictures and thank you for lots of comments.

Back Soon
Sue

Ipswich - here we come

Col phoned Friday evening to say I could pick him up Saturday morning as soon as the consultant had done his rounds. So off  to Ipswich again calling at an electrical place on the way to buy a cooker ready for delivering to the bungalow.
 For the first time in 30+ years I shall have to use an electric hob - I'm going to hate it! Although the heating in the bungalow is gas, the cooker that was there was electric. We don't want to go to the expense of having new gas connections and we've been advised not to have a gas cooker in a house that will be rented out (which is the plan for when Col is well again, plan A?). Therefore electric it must be and I'll just have to get used to it I guess. Cookers do seem to be more expensive than a few years ago and freestanding are more than built-in. We don't want to change the kitchen units at the bungalow as they are fairly new and in good condition. I wonder why the elderly lady who lived there had a new kitchen but not a built in oven?

Thank you to Sadie at a life in the English rain  ( another proper Suffolk gal only much younger than me!) for telling me that the library I shall be near in Ipswich has a craft group and other stuff going on - Great excitement. I shall be asking Sadie for all sorts of info about things going on in town because although most of Ipswich is as familiar to me as our little local towns, actually living there will be a whole new experience.

Photo from Mikesbus pages internet

 I've been going to Ipswich for shopping since I was a small child and can just remember these trolley buses which ran in the town centre until 1963. We would catch the 204 big red bus which ran every two hours all the way from Bury St Edmunds to Ipswich. If you look at my header and follow the road from Bury to Ipswich you will see the dotted line which was then the boundary between East and West Suffolk (until Local government reorganisation in 1973 when Suffolk became one county). We lived just into East Suffolk on the main road which was at that time the A45.
Each school holiday mum would take us on the bus to Ipswich and we'd have lunch in a small fish and chip  restaurant right near the bus station. It was always jam packed full because that was before coffee shops and restaurant popped up everywhere. My favourite shop was Cowells

!960s/70s buttermarket Ipswich found on google photos from EADT

because down in the basement was a fantastic toy shop with big trays of farm animals that you could buy one by one and loads of other pocket money toys. (It's strange to see cars in this road in this photo because the town centre is now all pedestrianised).

I'll be sharing lots more old and new photos of Ipswich over the coming months.

We've just spent a "happy" hour trying to contact BT and sort out phone lines for the bungalow. Still have to try and get through to Talk Talk - Oh what fun!

Back Soon
Sue

Monday - catching up on all sorts

Thank you for the continuing support through lovely comments. As Marlene said in one of the comments - we do feel like we are on a merry go round, trying to hang on as it goes round and round between hospital and home! 
Welcome to 2 new people in the followers pictures - Chars and Edwina. I apologise in advance as you've started following just as my blog seems to have got stuck on just two subjects - Moving House and Cols Non Hodgkins Lymphoma! At the beginning it was full of self-sufficiency, frugal living and campsite news but our world has changed considerably since April 2013. Follower numbers are now back to where they were before Google started chucking out non google followers, although having said that things will probably go peculiar again.

Col is feeling well after the blood transfusion, it seems strange to think he gave 50 pints of blood between the ages of 18 and 55 and is now getting some back (not his own obviously!). He started giving blood when he worked for a builder in the village where he lived and the men would all go together - what a good idea that was. When he changed to working for the County Council he had to go in the evenings, I went once but felt very faint afterwards then of course I was pregnant, we moved out of town, had the children and it would have been complicated for us both to go. He got a lovely pen as a gift for his 50th pint, I came across  it when sorting and thought it might as well be used rather than sitting in a box in a drawer.

More things got cleared out this weekend as our son and future daughter in law came and collected a settee and also moved a single bed frame and mattress downstairs for us. We didn't think we could take it to the auction sale but I was reading through their on-line catalogue to check our stuff was listed and saw they had a pine bed and mattress on the list so maybe we will take it over there for next week. They have nearly 800 lots for sale today so I think we will be lucky if we get £10 each for our few bits of modern pine. We also delivered a few items of gardening stuff to our youngest as they now have an allotment in Leiston and they came and sorted which of their stuff that has been here since last May can be chucked. Col has organised a friend to come and collect the last lot of scrap during the first week of March and taken a photo of an old caravan chassis to list it on eBay. So little by little the list is getting ticked off.

Some good Rugby on TV over the weekend - England v Italy and some not so good - France v Ireland and did they say it was the 10th time in a row that Wales have beaten Scotland? We also watched the Snooker Shoot Out competition where they got 10 minutes to see how many balls they can pot. Just one chance to go through to the next round. It was interesting to see lots of new faces.

Two books have been added to Books Read 2016 over the couple of weeks. A new-to-me-author writing crime fiction = G. M. Malliet - Pagan Spring. Unfortunately I found it's number 3 of a series but there are two newer ones so they've been ordered. This is another author from the States writing books set in England, a fact given away by the spelling of 'gray' and the mention of 'scallions'! but a good read nevertheless. The other book was Angela Thirkell - The Brandons. One of her Barsetshire series first published in 1939. I love the look at Country Life of the period, where the gentry and the servants Knew Their Place, full of genteel snobbish people but looked at with gentle irony and flashes of humour that make you smile. Her books are gradually being reprinted by Virago Modern Classics, with 6 more due this year.

This morning I popped to Saxmundham  for bits of shopping - still trying to find things Col fancies eating, he has gone off muesli, our usual teabags and home made bread after this last chemo session, it may be different next time - makes shopping quite complicated!  Picked up a mail re-direction form from the post office too.

That's our news up to date

Back in a day or two
Sue

Wednesday - A List

Thank you for all the interesting comments about so called artisan foods. I'm going to be searching the shelves for them from now on.......not to buy them.......but just to see what silly prices are charged!

We've been to hospital again this morning for what will be regular twice weekly blood tests for Col. Each test involves waiting for results and then any other treatment needed. We hope if he feels OK he will go on his own as I need to crack on with packing. We are still waiting for confirmation that solicitors will be able to manage a 9th March completion.
As well as packing there are all the other things to do

• Taking some unwanted furniture to the auction market
• Try and organise a carpet for the bungalow between exchange and completion
• Taking the car in to get the Cam belt done (they are being so kind and loaning us a car for free while they do it, in case they can't get it done in one day)
• Getting our youngest to sort out the stuff we have of theirs still in the shed after 10 months!
• Finish loading the flat trailer with the garden and workshops things we will need
• Finish loading the horsebox trailer with the garden and workshop things that we don't need
• Baking
• Breadmaking
• Working out how to get a settee to our sons house
• Notifying seemingly 1001 places of the new address
• Organising final meter readings
• Arranging redirection of post at the Post Office
• Getting some photos done for new driving licenses

Oh heck, now I've written this down it looks even worse than I thought. It's 23 years since we moved and I'm sure it's got more complicated.

If I don't post everyday you will know why!

Back when I can
Sue

Moving news and last nights TV

 from google images

We've been puzzling about moving dates because the original plan was March 16th which would be when Col should be due for a blood test  on the day before his next 3 day stay in hospital for chemo. We didn't see how we could ask to move it to an earlier date because our buyers were waiting to get some of the money they needed and moving later would clash with Easter. So it was a lovely surprise this morning when the Estate Agent phoned to ask if we would like to do completion on the 9th as our buyers had been able to arrange for the money earlier. That will make life so much easier as Col would be feeling well for a week in the new home to help me get things sorted before disappearing off to hospital. The removal company can do the 9th so as long as both lots of solicitors can organise everything that should be the day.

 Did you see last nights episode of  Supershoppers? They were looking at some of the so called "artisan products" available. Packed in rustic brown paper packages with labels that look home produced but they turn out to be made by some of the biggest companies, Dorset Cereals were one example. They are packed in small boxes with a 'country look' packaging. BUT they are owned ABF - Associated British Foods who also make Jordans cereal, dozens of other products and own Primark. Another product they featured were Teapigs - which I hadn't heard of but they are very posh teabags and come in small packs looking as if they were made in someones kitchen. BUT they are owned by Tata - one of the biggest companies in the world (they also produce steel and cars). The presenters put some Heinz baked beans into dinky kilner-type storage jars, tied them up with string and a paper label and took them out on the streets to see what people would be willing to pay for "artisan beans".............the answer?...........anything up to £5!
I suppose you pay you money and you take your choice but a lot of people are paying much more  just because of the packaging or because they assume they are buying from a small local company.

Last week they were talking about Gluten Free Foods. They found that many products labeled as GF and  found on the "Free From" shelves at a high price are often exactly the same as the ordinary product on the normal shelves which are gluten free anyway.

Once upon a time shopping was simple!

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Empty shelves, full boxes

My lovely bookshelves are looking very empty, almost all the 1000+  have been packed in boxes and sealed up. Left undone are a box for Col - in case he runs short of library books, a box of reference books and a box of cookery books. Still to pack are books I might want to read if I run out of library books - which seems unlikely! All the books will have to stay packed until we can replace the awful living room carpet and get some new book shelves for the bungalow

 After the days of driving backwards and forwards to Ipswich it was time for me to stay in and do some bread baking and I also made a blackberry and apple crumble for Col's dessert. Whether he will fancy eating it later is a different matter - although he says the nasty taste in his mouth is not too bad this time. He thought he might like a bacon, onion and tomato sauce with pasta for dinner so that's been rustled up.

I hope blogging friends over in Wales and the South of England are keeping safe during this windy weather, it's pretty rough here but nothing like what I saw of Aberystwyth and the South coast on the 1 O'clock news. From where Col was sitting at lunch time he could see out 6ft front fence swaying backwards and forwards in the wind. Somehow between us we managed to prop it up and Col hammered in some nails to hold the props tight against the trees on the sheltered side of the fence. I didn't want him to be doing stuff like this but he said if we hadn't the whole lot might have come down. By the time he'd finished he was shattered and had to lay down for several hours - Men!

The cat was pleased to see Col home again yesterday too.

 
 Back Tomorrow
Sue

Time to get packing and frugal Friday

I did have to turn out yesterday in the dark, cold, windy, sleety night to drive back to Ipswich to pick Col up again - The things you have to do for husbands! :-)   As he was able to have the bed quite early in the day they were able to do the first treatment yesterday rather than today. He has lots of leaflets, more tablets and dire warnings about what do if feeling ill. On the plus side  he found the food on Somersham ward (the oncology ward) is completely different to the rest of the hospital, they have huge meals and, when he is in for a couple of nights for the alternate treatments, he'll even get fried breakfasts!

The removal company dropped in a load of boxes yesterday so I can really get packing now. We already had a dozen or so medium sized boxes here which I've filled with things that can be put into storage in the shed. I can also start packing boxes of books. I've gone off the idea of taking the old  dark stained wood shelves with us so the books can stay in boxes until we get the living room carpet changed and then get some new shelving. By which time we will know how Col is and what we will do next.

 And finally, what  frugal things can I remember from this week ...............

Made 4 portions soup from the outside bits of a head of celery, a couple of carrots, half an onion and a tin of tomatoes

Found some unused 1st class stamps in my old stamp album when I was packing it away so have put them in the drawer to use them this year.

Ate homegrown beetroot, parsley, brussels sprouts, leeks and apples.

Made 3 loaves bread which work out at less than 38p loaf.

Free heat all week.

Took a flask and a snack to hospital to save having to buy at the cafe.

Cleared a blockage in the drains ourselves.

That's about it for today ,thanks for comments yesterday.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Wednesday odds and ends

We have snowdrops - I hope we don't have snow

A chillier day today, temperatures dropping, but nice and sunny. We've got a bit more wood cutting done. Col feels OK standing still and just moving the chainsaw up and down and we've been doing the odd half hour cutting so the heap doesn't get too low - we have no idea how he will feel during the chemo treatment.

Two other jobs outside today, the first we did together - involving the draining rods and lifting manhole covers all the way between house, septic tank and ditch, lots of plunging the rods through various places and pouring down buckets of water - the joys of being on "private drainage"! The second job was Colin taking an old  plough back down to Friston. He brought it here a few months ago, just before he started to feel ill. The plan was to clean it, get it working properly and sell it with the proceeds being split between us and the owner. But of course he hasn't been able to do it. He gave someone we know ( who deals in secondhand machinary) a call to see if he wanted to buy it as seen, only to find that the man had had an accident and was hopping about on crutches. So the plough has gone back to the shed it was standing in where it will probably stand for another 30 years!

We've got a tree sugeons here at the moment, they are working for National Grid trimming the trees that are under the high voltage cables and pylons. This is done every few years but this company actually asked if we wanted the logs and wood chippings, whereas last time a different company just left a right-old-mess behind them with heaps of chippings all along the ditch edge. They are leaving the logs in small piles and all the chippings in one giant heap ready for the new owners to use in any muddy bits in the campsite driveway.

A Lakeland catalogue came through the letter box this morning, full of lovely things and expensive gadgets. I opened at random and found a £49.99 replacement for a saucepan and spoon -it's a special popcorn making pan with built in stirring thing. I suppose someone will buy it. I like the look of the Mason Cash bowls in very dark blue but I have enough.

I'm still going round the house packing things away in boxes and sorting out stuff to go. Today I hauled everything out of the airing cupboard, there were a few  sheets that we won't need as there won't be room for an extra bed. Also found some curtain liners that I'd fogotten we had and a couple of  old pairs of curtains that might be handy in the bungalow, as we still haven't heard what is being left behind. I've asked our solicitors twice now to see what's happened to the form the vendors need to fill in. On the selling side we had an email wanting lots of information on planning permissions for the kitchen extension, which I'm sure I've already photocopied and sent.It's a good thing we have a photocopier to do them again.

And a few primroses appearing too

 Welcome to a new follower - Thrifty, and thanks for lots of interesting comments yesterday

Back tomorrow
Sue

Saturday - a very short post

The new owners-to-be, Simon and Annabel, came to have a really good look at the house, campsite and smallholding today. We showed them round again in great detail. They had come armed with a list of questions which we answered and told them many more things they didn't know that they needed to know too!
Taking over a campsite and smallholding is just a wee bit more complicated than simply moving house. Luckily they are full of enthusiasm and plans and many years younger than us, so will be able to make a real go of it.

No other news today, thanks for comments yesterday.
Just noticed new followers,  so welcome to maria and Naomi.

Back Tomorrow, although goodness knows what with, as not a lot is happening to post about and I certainly don't want to go on and on about the health "thingy".

Sue

A bit of weather

We've had an awful wet day here today, got soaked just doing a few jobs outside, like fetching the wood in.
We heard of several roads closed due to flooding and then the wind picked up just to add to the fun.I spent the day looking for more things to go to the charity shop and packing boxes. We had a second quote from a removals company and Col had 2 visitors who called in for a cuppa.  Our youngest and bloke came round for dinner and shared a yummy scrummy joint of lamb,the first we've had for about 4 months, hopefully if I stretch it there will be enough for a proper shepherds pie tomorrow

Thank you for all the lovely comments yesterday.
I'll answer a few questions. We will be having removal men shifting everything on the day and my sister and husband, our youngest and bloke and our son and OH will all be able to help before and after we hope. I'm all for roping in as many people as possible so may ask Col's brother to help as he has a towbar and could pull the caravan or trailer if Col isn't well enough. We don't want to have to go backwards and forwards too many times.
Gill......... These are my first pair of Hotter shoes and seem lovely and comfy. I did try sending for some years ago before we had a shop in Ipswich but that was hopeless as they sent the wrong ones - twice and the right size didn't fit anyway! and I did see the answer but I don't think you word of the year should be "can't be arsed either!"
Liz, I'm glad to find someone else who hates buying shoes as everyone else seems to collect them by the dozen!
It's the garage with the yellow window and summerhouse/shed on the right of the picture, both will be used to store stuff in as we have a lot that we don't want to get rid of. We both think that as long as Col gets better we will move to somewhere a bit bigger and rent this little bungalow out. We are really only buying it because it was empty, detached, room for the caravan and on one of the older estates in a nice part of Ipswich. So not so crammed in as some new estates.
Thank you to Mrs LH for that happy info about a friend. Col will have a stem-cell transplant too at the end of the chemo, if everything goes to plan.
That crazy paving patio will definitely go as I shall move it piece by piece myself straight into a skip along with a Leylandii that will cut out the sun and the concrete rockery.


Our boy got himself into the East Anglian Daily Times again, leading a walk around one of the old wartime airbases, a huge crowd turned out. That's him in the bright yellow coat. A good thing he had it  as they had pouring rain round the last part of the walk

Apologies for not replying individually to comments and welcome to Liz, Fast SOS and Genea who are new to following.

Back Tomorrow, if anything exciting happens!
Sue

Advent 5 and A Day Out.........

..........House Hunting.

 As you know, we are selling the smallholding and campsite because of Col's health problems, we've been here 23 years, we want less responsibility and a chance to visit some places in the UK we've not been to before........... and we had a plan............
 Plan A was to buy something cheap in our old home town of Stowmarket in Mid Suffolk, prepare it for renting out while living in it and having a year doing some travelling with the caravan and then decide where to live after that.
Plan B - after Cols newest health problems and the horrible journey into Ipswich was to buy something closer to Ipswich hospital even though it would cost a bit more more. The problem with this plan is the only thing available at the moment at the right price was a small semi-detached bungalow needing a lot of work and would Col be fit enough to do it?
Plan C was to go and have a look at a couple of places In Stowmarket - in other words going back to plan A! The problem with plan C/A is that there isn't much for sale in Stowmarket either. We looked at a two bedroom detached bungalow in a quiet area, but with no garden, that needs some work and a semi-detached 3 bed house on a newer estate that was actually smaller than the 2 bed bungalow.
Plan D - heavens knows!

Anyway while we were in Stowmarket  I wanted to go and look at the Christmas tree festival in the church.
There were over a hundred trees all decorated in different ways by groups,organisations and individuals and it was brilliant. I hadn't got my big camera with me so just a couple of photos that aren't very good, but you can get a glimpse of what we saw

On the end of each pew was a Christmas tree decoration and the church were selling kits to make these but they were £10 each. So when I came home I googled"Christmas Tree decoration from milk bottle top"s and found with THIS 
plus loads of photos like this one below, they looked very good on the church pews

The strangest thing about being back in Stow - 44 years after I was at school there - was that we were shown round one of the houses by a man who turned out to be the nephew of someone who was in the same class as me all through Grammar school.
Apart from making me feel incredibly ancient it was a very odd coincidence.

It seems we are in for a stormy weekend, the sky here this morning was pink/red so shepherds take warning! and it's already very windy. I thought about biking to Leiston for a Christmas fair but don't fancy the up-hill head wind journey home again.

Thanks for comments yesterday, I hope if you try the veg pie you think it's OK.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

9th November and a new-to-me author

I spent all yesterday afternoon and evening reading ( apart from watching the Strictly Results programme - Phew thank goodness Carol, obviously a lovely lady, has gone, her dancing was painful to watch) and finished a whole book.
Stella Cameron - Folly. This was written in 2013 and is crime fiction set in the Cotswolds but written by a popular American author who has been living in the States for many years. Now I have no problem with American authors setting their books over here but because  many words have different meanings here and there, every time you hit a "wrong" word it jumps out a mile. Take Vest - here it is a garment worn under everything when the weather is cold, there it is something worn over the top. Do we regularly use chains on our car wheels in winter? Not that I know of. There were other little things that made me wish it had been proof read by someone in this country before being published here. But saying that it was a good  read and there is a new book featuring the same characters which I've straight away ordered from the library.

Yet another grey day here, we went out this morning to look at a few bungalows near Ipswich one had been recently modernised but didn't feel right. One had a big garden with fruit trees but was such a tip both inside and out that is was difficult to see past the clutter and the other had been lived in by an old person and needed some work, the garden was what estate agents call "a blank canvas". We drove round the area and decided that it would be such a handy place to live, shops, post office, library and doctor all close. It would be a huge change from here obviously and maybe we wouldn't like it but then it would also be ideal to rent out for an income......some thought needed.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Thoughts on town life and the 6th £1 money saver tip

It took an age to get to Ipswich hospital yesterday evening during what is the Ipswich version of rush hour      (slow crawl through lots of traffic lights) and in pouring rain. Col was told what he knew already - that he has to have  cameras in various places to check things out! Hopefully within the next 2 weeks.
 On our equally slow drive out of town, probably because of a huge  firework etc display at Kesgrave High School, we were considering what a good idea it would be to live at this end of Ipswich, so handy for the hospital, buses down into the town centre all the time, a 10 minute cycle route through to a small  library and  shopping precinct including a charity shop and a bit further onto the big Tesco and the new Poundland. Col has his old boss living in this area and I've got a cousin here too. We could have a beach hut in Felixstowe and pop down on sunny days, it would only take 20 minutes.

Could we live on the edge of town?  All sounds quite appealing on an hours wet drive home!

Thinking I could get the Kenco de-caf refill packs at the big Tesco and get them price matched with the Asda special offer we called in - Ha! No, there's a catch, you have to buy 10 different  items before the price match thing kicks in. We didn't know this until we got to the checkout, so the coffee went back on the shelf. Also popped into to Poundland, so last nights spending - Xmas food gifts £3, Store cupboard food £7.45, Fridge £4, Fresh fish £2.20. Hospital Car park £2

Low spend/ No(?) spend November so far Food £49.12, other £29.24
I avoided the Christmas decorations and all the yellow ticket RTC items that we didn't really need.

The 6th money saver tip from 2013 was - Have a look round industrial estates to see what is being thrown out. We've been getting old pallets for burning for years and the 1000 litre IBC tanks to refurbish and sell and the strangest find ever was bundles of broom handles being chucked. They came in handy for all sorts of things and then we cleared the rest out at one of the car boot sales we did in the spring.

Many thanks for all the good wishes yesterday, I'll not be going on about his health problems too much I hope!

Back Tomorrow
Sue