Adsense + latest doings

Do I need an extra £35 a week, well frankly ......YES
According to a box that has appeared on my dashboard page my blog now qualifies for having ads and I could earn up to £35 a week ( subject to traffic) by joining "hundreds of other bloggers making money through Adsense"
Will I be doing this...............NO, although I can see the attraction, but it's not a way I want to earn money.
Does anyone with ads actually earn that much?


When we move to the cottage we will be halfway between 2 towns for shopping, Stowmarket and Diss although we've not been to either for a while. We know both well so maybe we'll alternate. As we'd not been far this week a trip out of Ipswich to Stowmarket was taken . We parked at Asda and over the hedge there was a huge crane/ digger/machine thing just starting to demolish a lovely big house that's stood there for years, in fact while I was at Grammar school in the town it was where the headmaster lived. By the time we had walked around the town  and got back to the car the house was gone - blimey. I expect next time we go to town it will have been replaced by a dozen new houses.
 As usual we looked in all the charity shops and Col got himself another warm work shirt which he likes over a t-shirt for winter for £2.99. We walked down the street and at the menswear shop similar were on a rack in the doorway for £16. Then we  bumped into someone we knew from way back when we lived in that area.
  I found these in The Works,  to finish some Christmas cards I'm stitching..............for next year!

I'm in cross stitch mood at the moment- so getting ahead in case I don't get in the right mood again and thought £1 wasn't too much of a crime in my No/Low spend month.



November spending £527 + Shirt £3+Craft stuff £1+Pharmacy £1+Veg and Store-cupboard food £8=£540

December spending will be MUCH more as apart from the cash presents for our 3 and their OH's, 2 nephews and a niece, there will be a large electric/ gas bill because the last one was estimated low, plus  car insurance. Oh dear.

Back Soon
Sue

For Future Birthdays and a small disappointment

The other day when the jigsaw was finished I said the plan was to use the table for card making before starting another puzzle.

Here is work in progress............... I seem to make a lot of mess crafting!

 Almost all my craft stuff is stored in boxes on this set of shelves, quite a difference to Fareacre where I had a whole room for craft and office work.

This is what I made last week.
 Cards for ladies using some of the bits in that bargain haul from last Sunday's boot sale

Using odds and ends from the stash

 and making use of a sheet of card toppers free from Craft Creations many moons ago.

I will really miss getting their magazine 4 times a year. They are stopping it after 20 years because of a fall in subscriptions. At £12 a year it was a bargain, with one of their new products included each time, masses of ideas for card making sent in by readers and 10% off all their card making stuff.

Then I made just a few cards for men

 All my card toppers were in a muddle in a big square storage box.

Could never find a thing among all this lot when they were lumped in one box!

 So on Saturday morning I thought I'd have a sort through to see what was there and decided I really needed a better way to store them.
 When it stopped drizzling I walked round to Aldi to get some fruit to take in for Colin and look what they have in this week for £4.99 (and they've also got cutting mats - might go back for one as it would be handy to have another)

 Now I shall be able to see what I've got and the box they were in will become my 'current projects' box and my  current 'current projects' (!) box will store all my Christmas crafting stuff and that will free up a draw in the chest of drawers in my bedroom! In a bungalow as small as this every inch of space has to be well used.

 

And the disappointment?
Nothing crucial...........
I thought I was being offered a copy of a book to review from Dean Street Press who are collaborating with Scott at Furrowed Middlebrow Blog. I got so excited at the chance to read Bewildering Cares by Winifred Peck which is being re-printed in October with Scotts special logo and the lovely new jacket picture............but it turned out to be  the offer of an ebook.............and you know what I think about ebooks and "proper" books! Oh well, I shall keep wishing for it on my wish list!

Back very soon
Sue

Into the second half of April

Something no-one told me about in this Coping with Non Hodgkin Lymphoma thing is how weird it is to live with someone who is eating all the time. Col was  packing in as many calories as he could for the last 10 days because he knows that after chemo cycle 5 he will feel really ill again. He has lost over a stone in weight since January so he's trying not to lose more. He's been eating big meals and grazing in between.
Anyway, he was called in for the 5th cycle on Monday night, they were planning to give blood transfusions Tuesday but decided he didn't need any, then today they inserted a filter thingy into a vein (the thought makes me feel quite peculiar!) to prevent any movement of blood clots into the lungs(or worse), they will get on with chemo tomorrow and let him out Friday. This 5th lot is the short dose but with the nastier side effects.

Just finished this book, another mentioned somewhere (?) on a blog. The first 3/4 of the book was well written, but when the author gets towards the end, the story breaks in a gallop and gets a bit silly.

 

 This is what Amazon says about this debut novel

London, 1940. Winston Churchill has just been sworn in, war rages across the Channel, and the threat of a Blitz looms larger by the day. But none of this deters Maggie Hope. She graduated at the top of her college class and possesses all the skills of the finest minds in British intelligence, but her gender qualifies her only to be the newest typist at No. 10 Downing Street. Her indefatigable spirit and remarkable gifts for code-breaking, though, rival those of even the highest men in government, and Maggie finds that working for the prime minister affords her a level of clearance she could never have imagined-and opportunities she will not let pass. In troubled, deadly times, with air-raid sirens sending multitudes underground, access to the War Rooms also exposes Maggie to the machinations of a menacing faction determined to do whatever it takes to change the course of history.
Ensnared in a web of spies, murder, and intrigue, Maggie must work quickly to balance her duty to King and Country with her chances for survival. And when she unravels a mystery that points toward her own family's hidden secrets, she'll discover that her quick wits are all that stand between an assassin's murderous plan and Churchill himself.
In this thrilling debut, Susan Elia MacNeal blends meticulous research on the era, psychological insight into Winston Churchill, and the creation of a riveting main character, Maggie Hope, into a beautifully crafted mystery.

There are now 5 books featuring this character, with the 6th due later this year. Decided it was worth another go so I've ordered the 2nd from the library.

This morning after I'd huffed and puffed and shifted my paper storage drawers into the bedroom from the garage, I made a few cards for up-coming birthdays. I've had the paper flowers and leaves for years so it's good to see them used.

After lunch I went in to see Col and take him some more books. I've found I am the most hopeless hospital visitor because after 5 minutes in the ward I start yawning and after an hour I'm keen to get home again. I guess after nearly 37 years of marriage Col knows what I'm like and he never wants me to visit more than once a day - Thank heavens! ( I know that sounds awful- but I am nothing but honest!).
When I got home I was able to spend an hour sitting in the shed/summerhouse, out of the wind but in the sun, it's lovely to soak up a bit of warmth especially as the weather lady said we would be back to really cold weather by the weekend.

The latest Persephone Biannually arrived yesterday. I love to find out what out-of-print books they are planning to republish and was interested to read about one of the October books which is "Long Live Great Bardfield: The autobiography of Tirzah Garwood". I know absolutely nothing about this lady except it says she was married to the artist Eric Ravilious, but Great Bardfield is the next village to Finchingfield in Essex, where our friends live, so just for that reason I shall add it to my wish list.
One of the books our son gave me for my birthday was The Persephone Book of Short Stories, another to add to my Persephone collection -  wonder which box they are in?

Many thanks for the Happy Birthday wishes, although I said I groan about another birthday I don't really feel any older and I'm sure I'm still 25 inside!

Back Soon
Sue

Lack of excitement and Frugal Friday

Nothing exciting has happened but I'm back anyway and thank goodness the weather is 100% better than yesterday.

I popped to Saxmundham this morning for Tesco and Post Office. Not a lot of shopping needed this month as we need to empty cupboards as much as we can before the middle of March but on the other hand I hate seeing the cupboards getting low at this time of the year when the weather could still turn nasty.
I'm still going round cupboards looking for things that I can give to the charity shop and packing other stuff that we won't need into boxes.
We've had 2 quotes from local removal companies, either will be OK to use and both can supply boxes well before moving day to give me plenty of time to pack.
I've also been making a list of all the people and companies we will need to contact, then I'm giving Col the job of finding all the phone numbers.

In between other things this week I've got well ahead by making some Christmas cards for my Penny Pincher Paper penfriends

Also been making a note of where we've stretched the pennies this week, thought I might make this a regular thing on a Friday if I remember.

Found 2p on the ground in town
Made 4 large portions of soup from 3 tired carrots, a small onion and a tin of tomatoes.
Ate leeks, beetroot, Brussels sprouts from the garden and apples from store
Col took the shower to bits, descaled it, fitted a new washer and got it working properly again.
Free heat from wood all week
Bought new shoes in January sales, saving £20
Found Tesco Christmas 7 cheese selection reduced to £2 and mince pies to 37p for 6.

Shall I list the non-frugal things? Nah!

Many thanks for comments yesterday. I think it's going to be a huge help to hear from other people reading who know someone going through exactly the same treatment as Colin. Thank goodness for blogging.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Lemon and lime marmalade, mystery solved and other stuff

One tin of cheats lemon  Mamade marmalade and the 4 limes I got for 10p each from Aldi several weeks ago made these.

 I covered the limes in water and cooked them for a couple of hours until they were soft. Then I cut the peel into small slivers and added them and the juice to the tin of mix. I used a pint of  the water that I'd cooked the limes in instead of  ¾ pint and then followed the rest of the instructions on the tin. It sets very quickly and smells delicious and it tastes pretty good too.

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There is a new Hugh FW  programme called 'War on waste' on Monday BBC1 at 9pm. It sounds much the same as has been on before - about the food thrown away because it doesn't fit the supermarkets strict veg descriptions. I just wish the supermarkets  would give us a choice, no one has ever asked me what length I want my parsnips! ( although we've not had a parsnip failure for a while so its several years since I bought any).

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 Thank you for suggestions about the mysterious appearance of £2.50 in our kitchen while we were on the living room. The mystery has been solved - it was payment for a small part for a lawnmower that Col had collected for a neighbour weeks ago, Col had forgotten that he hadn't been paid and the person guessed we were having lunch so just laid it on the worktop. What a boring solution! A money fairy would have been much more interesting :-)

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 I've been in the craft room doing a bit of card making, several on the theme of a ginger jar. Must find some new ideas for cards for men.

I've just been down and collected my books from the mobile library, haven't unpacked them yet so Library book photo tomorrow.

Welcome to Laurie a new follower, hope you enjoy reading

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Card making weather

WHEN we sell the house and  IF we go off in a caravan ( Almost the title of my favourite Famous Five book), I won't have a lot of space to take card crafting stuff so as it was pouring with rain again  (We've had more than a month's worth, it can stop now - Please!) I thought I would do a bit of card making.

This is what was created on a wet Sunday and a cross stitch card finished a week or two ago.

Thanks for all the comments about Estate Agents etc after my last post. I said I wouldn't go on about the house and selling - far too boring so I really will shut up about it now until we actually sell.

Back soon
Sue

The end of March and the beginning of April

Goodness me, what an expensive month March turned out to be.
 We had a holiday which included several meals out, paid for the cattery bill, bought shoes and clothes for our eldest's wedding, the solar thermal thingy was serviced, electric bill arrived and we paid the campsite/business insurance all in one go instead of month by month over the next year. We managed all this without using a credit card and without dipping into the ISAs. It was done by saving in advance, using money put aside for clothes and  jiggling some money that was available for smallholding expenses and hadn't been used. In both  January and February I underspent on the housekeeping which also helped. One good thing is that our new car ( Hyundai Tucson) uses less than half the diesel of the old Jeep Cherokee.

If you've been reading a while you will know that after several years pet-less, we adopted 2 cats from Cats Protection in February 2014. Polly became friendly straight away but the other one, Mabel, was very shy and disappeared for 6 weeks. She re-appeared but wouldn't come near so  we started feeding her outside and eventually she got friendly enough for us to pick her up, although still she wouldn't come indoors. But a few weeks ago we got the cat flaps sorted out on the two front doors so Polly could go in and out and we now find Mabel coming in for the night and sometimes during the day too, one day she made herself comfy on the old settee in the conservatory. The cats avoid each other and sometimes hiss, which is strange considering when we first saw them they were curled up together in a basket in a Cats Protection pen. I hope they eventually become friends again. Cats are funny things.

So, what's been happening here apart from cat watching?

  I've done a bit of card making

And some baking for Easter treats

 Easter biscuits, a chocolate cake and hot cross-less buns. I'm afraid I can never be bothered with the faff of flour, water and a piping bag to put a cross on top. I've added  the Easter recipes onto the separate page.

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A hat for the wedding, arrived via eBay, I look hilarious in a hat, but needs must!

Seedlings and small plants in the conservatory are coming along nicely.

  Tomatoes, Peppers, Parsley, Aubergines, Basil, Cucumbers, French climbing beans, Nasturtium. Tomatillos, Kale and Chard. Still to appear are courgettes.

 We have frogspawn in the old sink pond

The First campsite visitors of the season arrived on the 1st. I like the start of the holiday season and welcoming new people to the site, although by October and 7 months of interrupted mealtimes and toilet cleaning I know I will be glad to close the gates again! We had 3 caravans, 1 motor-home and a tent on site for the weekend which started with a really grey and misty Good Friday and an equally grey misty morning today, when I was the only person up and outside not long after 7am.

Then when it was just about too late to do anything useful, the sun came out and for an hour or so it felt a bit warmer. The forecast is for temperatures rising over the next week, hope they are right as I'm heartily fed up with the cold winds off the sea.

Did anyone else watch the Eurovision Song Contest thingy last night? It's celebrating being the same age as me and was brilliant to see so many winners from the past - mostly sounding just as awful as they did at the time. Graham Norton has grown a beard - I'm sure it makes him look like someone else but can't think who.

And last but not least welcome to Patricia and Susan who are new followers on Bloglovin'. Hope you enjoy my diary from a quiet life near the Suffolk coast.

Back in a few days
Sue 

Notes from my diary and an idea for a Christmas card.

We have had some chilly weather over the last few days so still nothing happening in the garden, but most of Sunday was lovely and bright and I did another fast 20 minute walk before we cleaned out the biggest chicken shed. Then around dusk the wind got up, the rain started and by golly we had some rough weather. BUT the days are getting longer, the chickens are being shut up around 5.30 now instead of 4.15 just a few weeks ago, and I no longer need a light on to find my coat and  welly-boots when I go outside just after 7am.

On Monday we drove across Suffolk for the funeral of my eldest cousin. Although she wasn't old - just 68, with 4 young grandchildren who won't remember their Gran. So sad. We are a very bad family for keeping in touch and I didn't even know she had been suffering from cancer for 3 years. My cousin's mum - my Aunt - is 90 and has outlived 4 of her younger siblings,including my mum and now her daughter too.
 I really should try harder to stay in touch with family.

A very chilly wind on Tuesday but bright sunshine again so washing was out flapping all morning and was soon dry. Cats had to go to the vets today as it's a year  since we adopted them from Cats Protection. Mabel is an outside cat, we can pick her up for cuddles but carry her inside the house and she is off like a shot. Polly is the opposite, especially in this cold weather, preferring to be curled up somewhere comfy indoors.

Little Polly Flinders sits beside the cinders, warming her pretty little toes! ( Her fleece mat is made of 2 layers cut from Col's old fleece jacket, and stitched together - she seems to like it)

Colin was working at our neighbour's and she had been give a box of chocolates that she mustn't eat so passed them on to us. He put them on the back of the mower and then found they had fallen off and been run over by the mower trailer - one slightly squashed box of chocolates will still be enjoyed!
I got out my old sewing machine to stitch the 'things' I'm making for presents only to discover it had fallen apart. The motor still runs but rubber bits had perished and plastic bits had cracked and other bits had fallen right inside! I'd been wondering about getting a new one because several other things were going wrong, now I really will have to decide what to do. I know a new sewing machine is about the same price that I paid for this 30 years ago. Back then every town had a fabric shop or two and I use to make curtains and cushion covers. Now it seems cheaper to buy curtains ready made ( or better still to find them secondhand) and there is hardly anywhere in the whole of Suffolk to buy material.


Painting rooms is way down our list of favourite things to do but needs must as there are a couple of rooms that haven't been done for.............well, we can't actually remember when!
So Wednesday morning saw us clearing out a bedroom, and filling various cracks and dents. We have some paint left over from the new kitchen which will do for this room.Sanding down, washing down and a coat of emulsion rolled on on Thursday morning.
I popped to Saxmundham for Milk and fresh stuff first thing and stood outside the bank for several minutes waiting for it to open before looking at the sign and remembering they are now shut all day Thursdays - Duh!

Just after Christmas several people - me included, posted pictures of Christmas cards cut up to make tags for next Christmas. I started cross stitching some small pictures from my stash and decided to turn them into tags for cards and to make the front of the card as 6 more tags, ready made to be cut out.
Can my Penny Pincher Letter friends please look away now! Since the photo was taken some shiny red stars have been stuck on around the tags to brighten up the card fronts.

Now I'm not posting so often there is more time for other things , and all 7 that I need are done and will be tucked away for December.












Welcome to Helen and Andrea, both new followers on bloglovin'

That's brought you up to date with the scintillating news from the edge of Suffolk!
Back soon
Sue

Card making

Christmas cards have all been sent and presents wrapped so time to clear my desk in the craft room.

For a complete change I made birthday cards

Using the things I bought with my Craft Creations voucher, I've made 7 variations on a theme ready for next year. That's the ladies birthdays sorted now I need to do some for the men of the family and then some Christmas cards for Next Year.
Nothing like Being Prepared.


Thank you for all the comments on the Leek recipes yesterday, I hope they were useful for someone .

Back Tomorrow
Sue

The ways I earned a bit extra while being a SAHM + other stuff

A beautiful day here today as long as you are the right side of the window.

C went off to work for one of his customers in Leiston and I settled down for some card making. I need some  birthday cards for men - always the most difficult to make cards for. I used some 3D decoupage sheets that came from Craft Creations when I had the £10 voucher for having a card in the Magazine Readers Gallery. I'm never very inventive or pleased with what I produce when it comes to card making but  suppose these look OK.

Another " getting the campsite ready" job got done. That was pressure washing the nonslip dirt-trapper mats. I've had two of them in use in the utility room all winter, it looks a bit bare in there now, but I'm not buying anymore. We can manage without them until October.

Recently one of Frugal Queens blogs was about finding ways to earn bits of extra money if you want to save or pay off a debt and I was thinking of all the things I've done while being a Stay at Home Mum.
From the beginning - Cleaning a house, Cleaning a Village Hall, Playgroup worker, Growing Herbs and selling them at a Pick Your Own fruit farm,Fruit picking, Saturday job in a Library, After School and Holiday Childminding, Small home based nursery for 1 morning a week, Lunchtime Playground Duty at a Middle school and then at a Primary school, Selling Herbs, Baking and Cards at the WI Market, Playgroup worker again, buying smallholding, livestock and country books and selling them at smallholders shows and  finally The Campsite here. Plus Polling Clerk on Election Day and Census Enumerator. It's only writing them down that I realised how many different ways there are of earning a few extra pence.

Thanks to everyone for comments again and I'll be Back Tomorrow
Sue

30 Ways to save £1--- DAY 8 + Pumpkin & Pepper Chutney

This morning I made the last chutney of the season. Nearly 7 jars of Pumpkin and pepper chutney.
It's a lovely colour and always tastes good. Several years ago someone asked me how I made chutneys of various colours because when they made some it always looked the same. I said that I used white vinegar when I made a chutney in which I wanted to show the colour of the veg. They said " but it costs more than malt vinegar". So I guess you pay your money and choose your colour!

 Here is my recipe which, as usual, is a variation on one from a recipe book.

Pumpkin And Pepper Chutney
2 and a half pound prepared pumpkin after peeling, de-seeding and cut into small pieces.
1lb cooking apples,peeled,cored and chopped
12oz onions, chopped
2 red peppers, de-seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoon ground ginger
 1 teaspoon  black pepper
2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 and a quarter pints of white vinegar
1lb gran sugar

Put everything except the sugar in a large pan and mix well
Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring often until everything is very soft
( I use a potato masher to squish everything)
Stir in the sugar until dissolved and then continue to simmer and stir frquently until it is thick and there is no liquid on the surface.
Pot into sterilised jars and cover and label.
NOTE - this is quite a dry chutney and you have to watch that it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan.

I then used some more of the pumpkin to make some soup.

DAY 8 of the 30 Ways to Save £1 was
8. Swap an expensive hobby for a cheaper one

My main hobby has always been reading, and always using library books for free. A few years ago I started to  collect WWII books about the home front and usually get these secondhand.
When we had small children and before we moved here our main leisure pastime was being Scout and Cub Leaders. This takes a lot of time but doesn't really cost much and our children always joined in with Cub things whenever possible. We also had 1 or  2 allotments and grew as much as we could. Once we moved to the smallholding keeping livestock and looking after the land took all our time and our hobby of producing our own food became our way of life. Him Outside didn't read a lot until about 10 years ago but now reads as much as me. I also like card making which could easily cost a fortune. If you bought regular magazines - there are several papercraft ones- and then bought all the things needed to make the cards in them it would be a very expensive hobby. Thank goodness I often find bits and pieces at car boot sales. My only regular expenditure for this hobby is £12 a year for the Craft Creations Magazine and then I send in cards I've made for their Readers Gallery and often win a £10 voucher to use on craft things from their catalogue.

Some people we knew had a yacht and told us it was like pouring money into a hole in the sea!

Him Outside is so glad to have his tractor back, the hydraulics are working better than they ever have done and he can lift heavy stuff in the front bucket with no trouble at all. He rang to tell them at the engineers that it was working really well and they were so pleased to get a Thank you.
Today he has done the shuttering and filled it with rubble ready for the base of the replacement mens toilets for the campsite.

Nearly forgot to say WELCOME  to follower number 92 -- Practically Penniless. I love to read her blog as she is home schooling which is something we did, but only for 6 months, when we moved house twice quite quickly. The children all wanted to get back to school ASAP!

This tin contains treasure

This old tin contains treasures for next year.

All the seeds left over from this year!

 Two seed catalogues have arrived already, both have special offers for early ordering so I though I would see what we have left. Then we can work out what we need for next year.
Sorting out the seed order is one of my favourite jobs, although I usually do it in November. But with catalogues arriving earlier each year I suppose I had better get organised.
We will think about what did well this year and what we need to grow less or more of to sell next year. Then I'll write a big list and work out the best seed companies to get them from.

Thank you to everyone for the good wishes yesterday. Him Outside is home again, safe and sound. He had a much easier time for this second stent so after a few days rest and a week of not driving he will be fine again.

We had a really chilly night last night, when I went to let the chickens out at 7am it was down to just below 7 degrees C. Felt like winter already and I'm glad I sorted out the hats and gloves last week. I just need to put my big thick, lined fleece jacket in the wash as it got forgotten during all the hot sunny weather - how daft am I? This fleece is really warm and  once belonged to our son when he was about 15, so that makes it 16 +  years old . I think it will go on forever.

I've actually got around to picking up my cross stitch again. Just a small card design but a bit unusual as the stitching bit is a mannequin clothes stand, stitched on perforated paper then cut out and  the dress that goes on it is made of paper and card. Picture when finished!

Car boot bargains on a lazy Sunday.

A couple of really heavy downpours over night and a bit of a grey start but brighter by 7.30 am so after putting the eggs, tomatoes and cucumbers out on the stall we nipped the 4 miles up the road to the car boot. The weather had deterred a few booters so not a huge amount there. Him Outside got a garden spade and fork for £3 for both - a good bargain. These are for our eldest and her other half who have just bought their first home. They asked us to look out for gardening stuff for them - much cheaper here than in Surrey.
I spent the grand total of £2.30 on 4 things

 Furry cover for hot-water bottle - 30p, skipping rope for the Operation Christmas Child box - 50p, a card craft kit from back in the day when Lakeland did craft stuff - £1, and a tin money box in the shape of a telephone box with an 1920's lady making a call, bought for 50p. The first 3 things all have a good use but the money box was just because I liked it and at 50p it didn't do any damage to my purse. It once held toffees according to a label on the base and sold for £4.99.
We were home by 9.30 and after picking some runner beans to put out for sale and apart from the regular campsite loo cleaning and then egg collecting, we have had a lazy day, I wrote a couple of letters, browsed through some more old craft magazines and read a bit while Him Outside listened to cricket.
Tomorrow may well be almost exactly the same!
You can't beat a lazy sunday afternoon. Someone should write a song about it!

A mini spree at Craft Creations

In the post this morning a £10 gift voucher from CRAFT CREATIONS and the return of my card that I had sent in for a competition ( didn't win a prize) but because it was featured on the Readers Gallery pages I get the voucher. Brilliant.

As you can see it is just a very simple card and that's the really good thing about Craft Creations they cater for people making very complicated paper crafted cards and for un-adventurous  people like me who just do basic stuff.
 I shall use my voucher to get some of their new 3D decoupage sheets and creative papers of birds to use for card making for men - always the hardest to find ideas for. I haven't done any card making for months but will get going on cross stitch and paper crafted cards in the Autumn.

After a  weekend which was full of visitors and too much eating and lots of nattering we are back to normal today. My first job was to skin and then put 6lb of the huge Andine tomatoes into the freezer ready to make chutney or tomato sauces later.

 Next job was to start getting half of the hay shed for some new young pullets we will get at the end of the month. This involved using some shed sections ( which we didn't use for the new campsite shower as it has a concrete floor and a part perspex roof) to divide the empty bit off from the bit where hay is still stored. Some netting has been fixed to the top, just in case a fox decides to climb the bales and drop down into the chicken bit.In the corner of the shed was the remainder of a pile of old pallets that had been stored there ready for  cutting up before we built the other farm building and decided to use that for cutting wood. I suggested moving them to the new shed but Him Outside thought it would be easier to cut them where they were, so for the first time time since last winter out comes the electric chainsaw. Which, because it hasn't been used for 5 months, doesn't want to work. After taking apart, cleaning and putting back together again we are off. He does some cutting and I do the barrowing. It really is a sign of the changing seasons when we start adding to the wood heap ready for the Rayburn and the woodburner. So glad he is feeling well enough too!
The campsite is beginning to get busier as we head towards Bank Holiday weekend. It's been surprising how many people have rung in the last week wanting to come and when I've said " sorry we are already full ( 5 caravans) because it's Bank Holiday" they hadn't realised, as Bank Hol seems earlier than normal. We've also got bookings for the week after too which is good, sometimes things go very quiet then.
Easy meals today mainly featuring leftovers from yesterday.