Weekend visitors

Our son and his partner arrived today to stay for the weekend and to get his dad to help with car repairs. They would like to move back to Suffolk as he has lots of  old school friends who still live in the area, house renting is cheaper here too. It's finding a job for both of them at once that would be the problem. They brought their advent calenders with them- how organised they are - we have 4 here now! R is the lucky one, she has chocolates!
I have at last I've finished all the Christmas cards. So that's another job done.

Thank you to everyone for interesting comments about dialect. I thought of a couple of other things we say that may be dialect or maybe not.
When someone arrives before their expected time we say" you're about a good time" or if they are late we say" you're on the drag". Suffolk or everywhere?

Back tomorrow

A bit windy - Suffolk Irony and Suffolk dialect.

A bit  windy here today.  Nothing like that experienced in Scotland of course. I hope my penfriend on her windy Scottish Island is OK. It's windy there on a normal day so I dread to think what it must be like today.

Thank you to everyone for comments yesterday. Normally my spelling is OK! took me ages to see what was wrong :-) I shall just say I was in a hurry and I'll leave the picture!

 We received our first two Christmas cards in the post this morning. The frugaller in me looked at the one on the left and after thinking " those Kings are lovely colours", my next thought was " that will make 3 good gift  tags after Christmas"!

I was born in Suffolk and have lived here forever, as did my parents and grandparents and great grandparents before me, although we may have crossed the border from Norfolk at some time in the distant past.
There is one problem with this, and that is I forget that people around the world and this country too, don't always understand the ironic sense of humour and our way of over or understating things we have here.
We use Suffolk dialect without even knowing that it IS Suffolk dialect
So a "bit windy" means blowing a gale and if  someone asked me how many people were at a a big event and I said "quite a few". That means lots, even hundreds!
We use the word 'stuff' too much. For instance we would say I got some stuff from the doctor, instead of medicine.
 If I said to two people " have a good Christmas together" it wouldn't mean "have a good Christmas TOGETHER" but "have a good Christmas both of you".
The word " daft" doesn't really mean stupid but is just slightly silly or even a term of endearment!
"Funny"  doesn't always mean hilarious or even slightly amusing and "Owd" (old) doesn't necessarily refer to age. We say "Thus a funny owd day today i'ntit?" ( it is a funny old day today isn't it?) Which means that the weather is a bit odd or odd things have happened.
We say "Ours" or "mine" to mean our home and "yours" is your home.
We say "shew" instead of showed. The word "that " often replaces "it" and if we say " clever" it probably has nothing to do with intelligence. So "he in't too clever" means he is at deaths door!
On a blog the other day when talking about Black Friday, I said everyone in the states goes Christmas shopping. Of course I didn't mean EVERYONE in the USA! It's just the way we say things here.
I know a few times I've had replies to comments and I've had to say you mustn't take what I say too seriously, so much is said in Suffolk in a wry sort of way that I forget people don't understand.
So I'm sorry to anyone who has been offended or puzzled by what I've said.
You'll have to "larn yarself silly Suffolk". (Teach Yourself Suffolk Dialect) and that's not said seriously either!

Back to a bit of "proper" work

Him Outside hasn't done any work for the County Council since before the heart problems in July. Previous to that he had been doing 2 or 3 days a month since he finished full time in March 2012. One of the inspectors has been off work for several months with serious back problems so bridge inspecting is a long way behind schedule and they need him back to help catch up. He wasn't keen to go full time and after a bit of discussion they agreed that he could have a van here and will do whatever he can between now and mid January.
So after lunch I took him to the station to catch the train to Ipswich and he came home with the van a few hours later. Apparently they are so far behind that he could work as many hours as he wants and even weekends- which he has no intention of doing.
This is going to be some unexpected money, which I guess will be saved, because who knows what the weather and the campsite income will be like next year.


Over the years I seem to have collected lots of Christmas decorations that need to stand rather than hang. Only now we have no mantlepiece and the advent calender is almost filling the cupboard, I've got nowhere to put them this year. Then I had a brainwave - The Kitchen dresser!
So I've taken off all the bits that are normally displayed there and replaced them with Christmas stuff. and I thought I might as well enjoy them for longer than the normal couple of weeks.

So here is my next Christmas picture

Not sure why it looks as if its leaning to the left. I hadn't been on the cooking sherry!

Burnt mince pies! plus another picture of Christmas

While I was doing a couple of loaves of bread this morning I thought I would make a few mince pies to check that my homemade mincemeat was keeping OK. I was also making some lemon drizzle cakes in case we get visitors for our smallholders coffee morning tomorrow ( last month no one came!). I had the timer set to start with, then I was wiping up, and realised the dish drainer was looking a bit yucky so took it through to the utility room to soak it in my deep sink. Timer goes off, check mince pies- they need a few more minutes, back to utility room, scrubbing dish drainer, cleaning sink, back in the kitchen suddenly remember mince pies- TOO LATE! a dozen very overdone mince pies. Grrrrr what an idiot I am!

Though all is not lost-  the sweet rich pastry I use for mince pies was very short and crumbly so although overdone they are not rock hard, Him Outside will eat almost anything! the mincemeat is delicious and I still have a large jar of it left.

Yesterday evening I made a start on writing Christmas cards. I did 2!
 Really must get on with this job.
 The Christmas cards I'm using are all ones I've bought in the January Sales at Charity shops or from car boot sales or homemade. My aim every year is to make all my cards but in reality I know I'll never get round to it so I always look out for them going cheap.I'm a traditionalist, I like cards with old fashioned pictures- snow scenes and robins!
Here's what I sending this year.

That's two days with Christmassy pictures - can I find a picture to take every day?  I might give it a go! and No I'm not taking a photo of the burnt mince pies.

Whoops, nearly forgot to thank everyone for comments yesterday.  Thank you for the info that there is a choice of stamps at the post office and everyone loves the advent calender as much as I do.
I like the sound of the one that was made for Pam in Norway by her son - very sweet.

The second of December

I'm so pleased I bought the advent calender when I saw it in the charity shop in Stowmarket several weeks ago. I felt like a 10 year old opening the first door on Sunday. Door number 1 was the right hand top attic and there were a few baubles behind it. The calender now has pride of place on the living room sideboard.

We had a busy start to December yesterday as we cleaned out all 3 chicken sheds. A big trailer full of rich chicken poo compost for feeding the garden next Autumn. This is when we are really glad of the tractor as the muck can be forked straight into the loading bucket and then up onto the trailer. When it's 120 chickens to clean out anything that makes things easier is a bonus.

Today I went to Saxmundham for my main December shop. Several bits of Christmas food ( including a box of chocolate biscuits of course!) plus some food gifts have been bought. Then I popped into the post office for the Christmas stamps. There was a choice between these and some designed by children. Is there a choice every year? as I hadn't been asked before.

 I love sending and receiving cards, I know a lot of people frown on the waste of paper but a note on a computer e card is not as nice as hand writing a message to people I haven't seen for a while. It takes me ages to do cards as I usually write individual notes with an update on whats happening with us and the children.
Meanwhile at home Him Outside has been doing more repairs to the front fence and managed to get the large bits fixed up again. Then he had a rummage in the might-come-in-handy wood rack and found enough bits of weather board to replace the ones that were broken when the gale blew it over. So apart from filling some gaps under the gravel boards along the bottom the job is done and we are back to being hidden from all the cars stopping at the junction opposite.

Thank you to everyone for lovely comments yesterday after my review of the month blog. Taking time to pause and look back at all the things achieved during the month seems a nice thing to do before rushing headlong into the next month.

Review of the month - Looking Back at November.

1.  We earned enough money in November for Decembers Budget.
2. The tractor repair is hugely successful and the bill has been paid
3. Christmas shopping for presents has been finished
4. We had a visit from our lovely eldest daughter
5. We went to visit friends in Essex.
6.  The garden has been cleared of summer crops ( almost)
7. All 3 poly tunnels have been cleared.
8. A good load of muck has been spread around all the fruit bushes.
9. I made some paper-craft cards for 6 friends birthdays in 2014.
10. We have cabbage, Brussels sprouts, leeks and parsnips in the garden for winter
11. We have squash, beetroot, apples and onions stored.
12. Next years vegetable seeds ordered and arrived.
13. We have enough meat in the freezer for 2 months.
14. Christmas cakes all made( for us and gifts)
15. We were almost self sufficient in vegetables in November, only £4.50 spent.
16. We have been eating our own fresh apples, pears from the freezer, plus dried apricots and prunes so Nothing spent on fresh fruit all month.
17. Both of us feeling well all month ( tablets working!)
18. Lots of interesting sport to watch on TV plus the Monastery Farm and Strictly to enjoy.
19. Plenty of good library books to read.
20. The weather wasn't as cold/snowy/icy as predicted.
21. Over 100 people following this blog and over 100,000 page views - Wow!

The only negatives I can think of are

1.  The chickens aren't laying as many eggs  as they should be.

30 Ways to Save £1-- Day 30 + 50p for Christmas decorations!

And Finally, The very last one of the 30 ways to save £1 was
30. Drive wisely - accelerate and brake slowly and don't carry more weight than you have to, take off the roof rack.
Him Outside even cleaned the jeep before we drove down to Essex on Tuesday so we were not carrying any extra mud!


I heard on the news that people were injured and fights broke out when Asda were selling reduced price televisions yesterday. Something to do with  being owned by Wal Mart so taking up the USA tradition of Black Friday when after Thanksgiving everyone in the States suddenly starts shopping for Christmas .
It must be hell living in a town or city in the run up to Christmas. It seems like whole world goes mad, car parks are jam packed, shops the same, queues everywhere. I NEVER go to Ipswich on a Saturday and if we do venture there during December it will be early as possible in the day and before the kids have finished school.
I'm so glad that we are out in the sticks but with access to two small towns where parking is free and simple and we can get most of our everyday needs.

This morning Him Outside concreted in the  6 new posts for our broken fence. He wanted to get this done so that when our son is here next weekend he'll be able to help lift the fence bits upright, while they are fixed back onto the posts.
I did the ironing and a bit of housework then biked down to the village hall to have a look at the Annual Cancer Research Christmas Sale. Plenty of people there and things to buy but I just had a go on the Grand Draw and spent 50p on a little Christmas Decoration that I've hung on the back door. ( The last of the Big Spenders!)

  I wonder if I'll get a phone call saying I've won a prize in the draw? It's unlikely as we are notoriously unlucky when it comes to winning.

The Christmas budget is looking good I still have over £100 left and only a Ham and fresh stuff to buy, so there will be some left for saving or carrying over to January (or to go on a secondhand book buying spree on Amazon!) The joy of having no debt and budgeting is that when things are under budget I know that we have a choice in what we do with the spare money.