Category: homestEAd

work on our home and garden

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dear diary :: on a brighter note

Thank you for all the comments yesterday – I really value your support and comments. I know most people probably have some family issues from time to time without actually being a dysfunctional family. As a family we have always stuck together and we will get through this. I know that mum is a very unhappy person at the moment and lashing out at everyone but I am surprised that this now includes my sister as she has always been her favourite; she is eleven years younger than me and the baby of the family so she was left at home with mum and dad from being six years old when my brother and I left for Art College. They have always been so close, worn the same style clothes and at one time had similar tastes in furniture and spent a lot of their time together including holidays so it is sad to hear how she is starting to complain so much about her.

On Sunday we will go up to North Yorkshire to see her for the day and give my sister the Sunday off. I usually take a homemade Quiche, a trifle and a chocolate cake (all mum’s favourites) and of course some Sainsbury’s shopping – unlike my sister I do go to Sainsbury’s so it really won’t be any trouble. I am hoping my visit will cheer her up and have a lasting effect for a while. I might even take my box of photos so she can sit and reminisce for a while of the ‘good old days’ and I will politely listen as if I have never heard the stories before (even though it will be the umpteenth time I have been told them!).

The washer comes today and DH failed to get the new flooring down in the utility – there was no hope really once the leaks had to be dealt with but at least we have made a start on stripping the walls.

We decided not to change the units in here, even though we have had them for years, probably 30 years, but they are plain grey so back in fashion and go quite well with our new cabinets in the kitchen. They consist of a double wall cupboard and one of those slim line pull out larder cupboards with wire shelving. A good clean down and some new handles and I think they will be fine. I bought the wallpaper a few years ago now and I got it out the other day to see if I still liked it….and yes I do. There is only one wall papered the rest are painted so I only got two rolls as it was £20 a roll so I hope the pattern repeat is not too wasteful.

We had a long walk with Freddie in the afternoon. DH decided to down tools and go with us, but it was mostly in the rain – the cold damp rain.

We walked down the rough old mill road to the site of the dye mill – now demolished – until we could go no further with the pushchair.

We then walked back and along the road which runs parallel to the pleasure grounds but much higher up and it runs above this old terrace of mill houses where we once lived. I loved my old house it had four stories and some beautiful old features. By the time we sold we had lived there for 8 years and had done quite a bit of renovating. The modern estate house we are in now was only a stop gap for 3 years until we found our dream home. That was 36 years ago and we never did move to our dream home – instead once the girls had left home we bought the ‘retirement’ cottage in Scotland and began our 10 years of renovations before the flood took all that away.

We continued a little way down this road having a good nosy over the railings to see what our old neighbours had been doing to their houses – a lick of paint, some new windows but it is more or less the same as when we lived there. Eventually we cut off along a disused driveway and came across another snicket running through a more recent estate that took us back to the village. By the time we reached home the rain was quite heavy and our coats rather soaked.

Today is our recovery day after the childcare and I have lots to do on the list – chase up John Lewis again for one who have so far failed to send the ‘care package’ they promised last Friday. I also need to make the food to take up to mum’s for lunch and plant the pots of bulbs if they have not died of thirst in the greenhouse. Then I must try and tidy up this chaos around me, all I did last night was tidy the toys away and make our evening meal before collapsing in a heap.

I did pop my head around the door of the spare room that has become a temporary store for the laundry heap, pending the new washer. It had not self destructed – or washed itself – this new washer had better be good it has a lot of work to do.

Hope you have a good weekend everyone.

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dear diary :: in a quandary

Yesterday was my second day off – I barely remember Thursday as I was in recovery mode and probably on auto pilot when I attempted to clear and clean out the fridges, freezer and pantry. And then I got carried away and started on the oven. For some reason it looked like something had exploded in there but I cannot think what. I ran out of the Oven Mate I use so it is only half way to clean. Another order has been made to Lakeland as it is currently on offer (buy one get one half price) and I added in a baking mould that makes Easter egg shaped cake pops ready to decorate. The grandchildren will love that. I was able to use my £5 off voucher too.

Yesterday I had to ring John Lewis. Last October we finally had our new kitchen installed after only 30 years of waiting and I was so excited – it is the very first kitchen I have ever chosen. The John Lewis designer, kitchen fitter and electrician were marvellous and so helpful but sadly we had issues with the project management and co-ordination….. In that there wasn’t really any. I can appreciate that the Covid meant all the case managers were working from home and not in the office, but the one allotted to us suddenly disappeared off the scene and we were left not knowing who we should deal with and he had left us with some wrong delivery and templating dates.

This meant that during the installation I ended up on the phone….a lot…..doing some of the co-ordinating and ringing around for them to get things back on track. Anyway, it turns out that we should have received a ‘care package’ at the start of the installation with details of our order and all the guarantees – we didn’t and it was only after I had thought about the lack of paperwork we have that I made the enquiry yesterday and was told about it. They are going to send one to us and also advised to write to them about the issues we had. The lovely lady I spoke to did apologise profusely and said it was not their normal service. I agreed with her on that point. So we shall see what happens in the next few days. Overall I am happy with the kitchen and I would use them again but I do think they have a training issue on the co-ordinating side.

After lunch we drove up to the local garden centre; it was quiet so we could wander around and didn’t have to be aware of ‘socially distancing’ with anyone. I bought some seed potatoes – I had decided on Pentland Javelin again but they only had large bags so I chose Arran Pilot instead, an old variety I believe and ones my FIL used to grow.

As I had a £15 gift voucher I also bought a black metal beehive shaped frame to put over my cat mint to protect it from the cats, a new coir basket liner and 3 small pots of bulbs to add a bit of colour into my outdoor planters beneath the living room window. I did sneak in a shrub too – Pittosporum Silver Queen for the front border. The ticket reckons it is hardy in the UK; let’s hope that includes our region as it can get very cold on our road being fairly high up and near to the moors.

Whilst we were out we called at Sainsbury’s – not too bad in the car park so we reckoned it would be safe in the store. We had packed a flask of hot chocolate to drink before doing the shopping which helped to warm us up. We didn’t need a lot, a few items of fresh fruit and veg to get us through next week and some bread.

At the moment the seasonal shelves have a collection of Mother’s Day gifts and some lovely Easter bits and bobs. I was tempted but I shall get my mum flowers I think and make her a chocolate cake, she will enjoy that more than a gift. I did buy an Easter craft bag for Little L and a decorative cardboard egg for each of the grandchildren which I will fill with little chocolate eggs.

I found this cute little box of colourful felt flowers – they might make some simple Easter cards if I have the time. So apart from the chocolate that is Easter sorted – I have learned to buy things when I see them rather than thinking about it for too long and then finding they have all gone.

I also ordered the new washer online from John Lewis yesterday – I chose John Lewis because I had £100 worth of vouchers to spend with them from the ONS survey we are part of and they have some offers on at the moment. Both of the models I narrowed my choice down to were out of stock earlier this week so I put in a request for an email to be sent when they came back into stock. It was a surprise then to find an email had dropped into my inbox yesterday afternoon whilst we were out and it was for my preferred washer. After much debate and research I have decided to stick with AEG as my old one is now 16 years old and has been completely fault free all that time (and would probably go on longer if we had it fixed but I prefer to put the money towards a new one that will be even more efficient on water and power). The new washer programs are very similar to my old one so I won’t have to learn a whole new language to get it going and it has a spin speed of 1600 which is a plus when washing towels as the higher spin speed takes out more water to cut down on drying time. My old washer spins at 1800 but these are no longer available. It does mean though that you need a very stable floor otherwise you would find them travelling across the floor if they become unbalanced. The washer also comes with an additional free 5 year warranty (which is worth quite a bit in itself), free installation and free removal of the old washer.

Job done. It arrives on Friday. I think our clean clothes will just about stretch to that.

So what is our quandary you may wonder? Well it is the old ‘shall we shan’t we’ debate and here I am referring to whether or not we try to put the new flooring down in the utility room and decorate before the new washer arrives on Friday. It would be benficial to do it now whilst we can put the old washer outside ready for collection and that would leave us with a clear space to work in and no heavy washer to keep moving around. The downside is we will have little Freddie for 3 of those days so it might be difficult. The alternative would be to have the new washer plumbed in and then wait to redecorate and put the new flooring down once our granny daycare services are no longer required and put up with the fact that we would have to keep disconnecting and moving the washer.

Weighing up the options we decided it was preferable to go ahead now and get it all done. We will only have until Friday to get everything sorted but having a clear space to work in is very beneficial and will make putting the flooring down a lot quicker. But will it be quick enough?

So once again we will have our noses to the grindstone to beat the clock and get everything done and ready for Friday’s delivery. No rest here then!

And the dirty washing is mounting up…..or should I say mounding up in the spare room.

But I do feel a sense of satisfaction that I can cross quite a few little jobs off my to-do list and will hopefully end February with a completed task list. For once.

Message for Suzanne at Life at No38 if you happen to be reading this – I cannot comment on your blog Suzanne unless I am a team member it says but there is no follow button either. Maybe like Sadie you don’t want comments at the moment but if you do you might need to adjust your settings to allow them. x

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dear diary :: all about the garden

Back to rain and dull skies at the end of last week, but my lawns are loving it and have perked up a lot since that very dry spell we had a while ago; the ground had become quite hard in places and a drought on top of everything else is the last thing we need at the moment.

Thank you for all the comments and suggestions on my last post it is always interesting to hear how other people think and deal with life. Apologies for not answering each one individually. I will check out the Adriene yoga Jayne – it will be a while yet before my class begins again, so thanks.

It appears the world is in a big mess at the moment but then it always has been in one way or another – life is just messy and no matter how hard we work at trying to sort out the mess, more comes along.

I feel I had a very lazy week again last week and very little housework has been done, intended, but not done. A few hours in the garden, a lot of exercising and phone chats and a little time in the kitchen making a quiche is the sum total of my activity. I feel quite worn out – not by hard work but by the emotional turmoil we find ourselves in daily after watching the news – I don’t know about you but as the easing of lockdown and the relaxing of rules continues I feel as if I have been left stranded and need to find my way home – what is our new normal? – I need to know what I am doing and where I am going.

By last Friday we felt a change of scene was in order so we packed up a light lunch, put the sketchbooks in the car and set off over the Strines, part of the Peak district, that lies to the south of Holmfirth and the north west of Sheffield; a beautiful stretch of moorland, farmland and a collection of resevoirs – a haven for both wildlife and walkers. It was drizzling but we didn’t care it was just good to get out once in a while.

We sat in the car with our picnic admiring the view over Bradfield and then decided to check out the garden centre we once visited down the road at Loxley. We were in luck – the rain had kept people away and only four cars in the car park.

So we had a good hour wandering round ( following the one way system of course and distancing where necessary). They did not have the plants I wanted but I did buy some terracotta saucers, a plant pot, 2 bags of large cobbles and some seeds (White aquilegia, I keep losing my plants in the winter, and some basil). We were also given a free packet of lily bulbs that were going to be thrown away at close of day.

After a short walk to the village on Saturday morning to catch the post and a visit from the person who came to take our throat swabs, for the government Covid survey we have been asked to take part in, I went out in the garden. There was plenty to do; not much weeding but a lot of dead heading as the heavy rain had caught many of the flowers in the pots leaving them soggy and rotting before they had chance to open.

I played around with a few of the cobbles laying them out in different places – I am not 100% sure where they are going – it is just an idea at the moment and may not work out – luckily they are large enough to lay and then move, unlike the smaller gravel stones. I will keep you posted on this one.

The peonies in the sunny border have been gorgeous this year – the tight little buds unfold slowly to reveal such an expanse of froth and frills – sheer delight – though they continue to be at the mercy of the weather – the wind and rain are not helping them to bloom for very long but whilst they are still hanging on there I will savour every moment.

Yet more frills on the patio…..this is the clematis I bought last year with a token I had for my birthday, I planted it this year in a deep terracotta pot. Called Tranquilité it is a very compact plant only reaching about five feet making it very suitable for the patio. It does well in shady positions too so I can move it around the garden when I need to brighten up a dull spot.

As the honeysuckle flowers on the obelisk by the fence are beginning to fade and die, and before long the towering foxgloves will drop their petals leaving seedpods behind, this is one little corner that will need a new focal point. I found this old wicker hanging basket in the shed and planted it with the last of the Tom Thumb nasturtiums I grew. DH then made me a wooden bracket to attach to the fence so I could hang it up and let the nasturtiums tumble over the sides so that when the flowers come out (and I hope there will be a mass of them) there will be a lovely burst of orange hovering above the green foliage below, and if I am really lucky they will bloom whilst there is still the purple of the foxgloves to clash with.

There has also been a little maintenance required in the garden – reseeding in areas where the shrubs had overhung the grass; since March we have been doing some major pruning of the large shrubs in the shady corner, leaving us a bit exposed and overlooked now by the occupants of the house behind us but the viburnum and escallonia are both very vigorous so by next year we should be quite private once again. This is how it was before on the left – a very lush corner and now on the right with a bit of a big hole!

There is a conifer hedge beyond the shrubs that runs across the length of the bottom of our garden. You can just see a bit of it in the photo on the right – it belongs to the neighbour behind us and runs down the side of their garden as our two gardens meet. The face of the hedge on our side died years ago after a bad frost and not much of it remains in this corner – our shrubs always covered up the fact that the hedge is brown and quite dead leaving an unsightly hole in this corner. Unfortunatley, conifers don’t regenerate and as they have overgrown the boundary line we cannot put a fence there ourselves but once our shrubs regrow the unsightly mess will be hidden from view. I keep hoping one day our neighbour will have it removed and put up some fencing – at least a fence does not die.

Other little places are flourishing – this lavender and nemesia are many years old and they sit together like old friends in this vintage bread crock and keep on flowering every year.

This year I moved it from behind the rock rose which was overshadowing the pot; the lack of light had made the lavender a little straggly as it searched for sunlight. Now it sits on the patio in full sun and it must like its new home as the lavender has begun sprouting from the base again so next year I will be able to remove the long straggly older branches.

And this little space where I have the two mini greenhouses working hard this year is soon going to be the new site for…..

…one of these modest sized greenhouses. They are locally made and have real glass not styrene glazing and are quite well made for the price. It will be painted of course, as I want it to be as much a decorative feature in the garden as functional. We decided on a six foot wide / four foot deep (like the one on the right). Only having a small garden I don’t want it to dominate the space, rather merge into it.

So that is all my news of last week and I have no definite plans for the week ahead other than I need to tidy out the shed, order the greenhouse, definitely need to do some housework and sew together the little jumper I knitted. If I manage all that I will be a happy bunny.

Tonight we will venture out and go shopping, strictly the supermarket, we have not wanted or needed to go into the town centre yet – we have all we need and more to get by.

Have a great week everyone and stay safe. x

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dear diary :: staying home, staying occupied

Amazing things happen when you stay at home – well they do for us. We relax. Usually we are busy either packing or unpacking, coming and going so this must be the longest period we have spent at home for many years and I am loving it.

For longer than I care to remember we have been up and down to either my mum’s, my mum in law’s (when she was still with us) and my daughter’s houses visiting and then there were all the trips up to the cottage. It was quite normal that we only spent one weekend in four actually at home. In fact one year, whilst both of us were still working full time, we spent every weekend away from home for 13 consecutive weekends. I can’t say I can recommend it. This was during a period when my mum in law’s house (90 miles south) had to be decorated to go on the market when she moved into a care home, we also had my mum to visit (90 miles north) and we went up to our cottage in Scotland in between whilst renovation works were in full swing.

Having to stay at home has meant much more time to undertake all those things I have been meaning to do for ages – in fact I know I will not have enough time to get through them all before normality decends upon us once again.

For much of the time I have been busy in the kitchen, making sure nothing goes to waste.

Remember the birthday cake that I cut down for my daughter. I was left with three circles of cake. Little L drew in some strawberries for me but I decided to cut up the circles and freeze them until I could buy raspberries on our next shopping trip – no popping out to the shops for bits and pieces at the moment, we make do or wait.

And it was worth the wait!

I cut the cake into small pieces and added a layer of fresh raspberries then poured over a raspberry jelly that needed using up; once it was set I topped it with custard, double cream, more raspberries and a sprinking of almonds and dark chocolate strands.

As well as making trifle I was reminded reading Suzanne’s blog and her crimble crumble that I was going to use up the last of my frozen blackberries and a container of apple to make some blackberry and apple crumbles. Thanks for that Suzanne – they were delicious with ice-cream.

I also had some watercress left over from the ‘green soup’ DH made so I made one of my favourite summer recipes Watercress and Spring Onion quiches. Just the right size to eat with a little mixed salad and warm potato salad.

There is always plenty to do in the garden and this week the weather has ranged from cool to very hot. Yesterday I washed all the plant pots and left them to dry in the sun ready for potting on some of the seedlings that have now outgrown the trays.

Each day I come across more delightful little surprises. The tulips that begin life as a pale cream, then acquire pink markings as the petals open out…..

…have now magically transformed into a vivid pink as if someone has painted them overnight – maybe it is those fairies at the bottom of my garden by the toadstool!

This shady corner has some self seeded purple aquilegias growing amongst this bright green euphorbia that has worked its way under the fence from next door. A welcome gate crasher. I love the way nature can make its own wonderful colour combinations if left alone. It is always much better at garden design than I am.

The garden is looking quite good now with all the attention I have heaped upon it so far this year. This week we have been doing some much needed hard pruning of a few leggy and overgrown shrubs – so one or two areas of the garden are looking a bit sparse and exposed – hopefully it will not be long before they grow back to some mass again and give us our privacy back. I will show you some before and after photos soon of our hard work.

Because the weather has been so pleasant I thought it would be nice to make a special tea to sit and eat in the garden so that we could admire our handiwork. As we had trifle and some individual quiches I decided to bake a few fruit scones after lunch and make a plate of sandwiches with tomatoes, cucumber and a slice or two of cheese.

It was such a treat to sit out in this warm weather and while it is especially peaceful at the moment – only the birds could be heard as they busily flit around the garden hunting for worms in my freshly weeded borders.

We both agreed we should do this more often and as it happens it was good practise for the VE day street party celebrations we are taking part in today – don’t worry it is a social distancing party where we will all be sitting more than the recommended 2 metres away in our own front gardens eating our own afternoon tea – but I daresay we will all be singing together.