Time to say a fond farewell

I have been debating with myself about the future of my blog and I have come to the conclusion that it has run it's course. 

I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read and commented on the blog during its life time I really did appreciate it x

I am not closing it down so the content will still be available should you feel a sudden urge to pop in, but this will be my last post.

Good luck to you all in your future endeavors.

Love Sandra x

Can I manage a NO SPEND WEEKEND?

There is a certain point towards the end of January where the funds have dwindled,  the luxury items of our Christmas feasts have faded away and the reality is that the end of the month aka pay day is further away than I would really like.




picture source via Pinterest


Hubby is working this weekend and rather than following my default setting to go sniffing round the end of the sales for an amazing bargain I decided to stay at home and have a no spend weekend. So I drew up a few ideas to keep me occupied

• Meal plan the weekend and try and use up something exotic or new that you brought on the spur of the moment and has since hidden in a corner waiting to be rediscovered.
• Treat yourself to a lie in, if you have meal planned you should have a lovely breakfast to look forward to.
• Go for a walk (well away from any shops!) take a photo of a tree and come back through out the year to record the changes to the tree. this should provide good motivation to keep up the walking. 
• Watch a movie recorded over Christmas, curl up on the sofa with a mug of tea, if you light a candle while doing it you can call it Hygge.
• Read your favorite book
• Paint your toe nails and fingers in different colours
• Write a letter to someone who you exchanged Christmas cards with but haven't seen in a while
• Pick 6 songs to play that are inspired by the weather on the day and sing your head off
• Have a soak in the bath and think about all the good thing that have happened to you in the last week
• Clean your car out and give it a wash (weather permitting!) 
• Bake a cake and invite a friend over to share it
• Check the local press and Facebook to see if there any free activities going on in the area. Remember to take a drink and a snack with you to save the pennies
• Pick up a project you have already started, if you decide it is not for you sell it on or donate it.
• Research a trip ready for when you have the time and money.
• Visit the local library, they are a great source of information for events and clubs taking place in your area
• Set yourself a small goal to be completed within the coming week
• Start a new board on Pinterest for your 2018 plans
• Take your camera for a walk indoors or outdoors and try and improve your snaps
• Look on the internet for free samples or money off coupons
• Become aware of the amount of plastic in your life and make plans to reduce it
• Catch up with the blogs you follow and maybe add a new one or two

Wow 21 ideas, I very much doubt I will get through all of them but I now have a bank of thoughts to come back to should I find myself at a loose end.   The majority of them seem to be indoors based but I guess that reflects the time of year and my current status of recovery.

What are your plans for the weekend? I hope you enjoy them :)

January decorating the blues

Every year January presents me with the same problem, how do you "dress" the house once the vibrancy of the Christmas decorations have been taken down? Surfaces that a week ago were full of colour, shape and texture (not to mention sparkle!) now look empty. bare and flat.






Picture source via Pinterest

This year this was not a problem thanks to Santa's generosity.  I am a big fan of the pottery made by Danish company Greengate, I love the vintage patterns and the simple shapes, unfortunately my pockets are not deep enough to have a lot of it and I must confess to using it to display on my Welsh dresser rather than using to eat my breakfast off.




Picture source via Pinterest



During my recovery period I had a lot of time on my hands so poking around the internet looking for lovely things to add to my Christmas wish list was one of my chief occupations. While trying to find some reduced Greengate pottery I found the Fine Nordic site which not only had Greengate items in their sale it also introduced me to another Danish brand that produces equally lovely pots called Krasilnikoff.





Picture source via Pinterest



Needless to say that a nice box of goodies were delivered to my home before Christmas and I have added Fine Nordic to my bookmarks!




Picture source via Pinterest


No pictures of my lovely treasures this time as the light at the moment is so poor it is difficult to get a decent shot but I will try and remember to take something even if it is just a phone piccy that I pos to Instagram!

Have a good weekend peeps x


Please note I have not received an incentive from any of the companies mentioned in this post.

Calendars, journals and planners ... or just a book?

I have seen a few articles pop up in my Pinterest feed about journals and planners as it is "that time of the year" I wondered if they had anything to offer.




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I currently have a kitchen calendar that gets holidays, birthdays, appointments etc written on. I also keep a note book which I write down ideas about all sorts of things as and when they come to me, sometimes I meal plan in it, I list the chores that need to be done and often aren't!, blog ideas, there is  a list of plants that I would like to include in my garden etc etc. It can be slightly chaotic but it generally makes some kind of sense to me.




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The journals seem to cover everything from well being, religion, health, gratitude, doodles, chores, life goals, spending, saving, appointments, to do lists, how many glasses of water you drink, what you wore on the day etc etc in fact you could spend the whole day filling in your journal and not actually get anything done!




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The planners were more about setting goals over the year or tracking events that recurred throughout the year. Budget and meal planners seemed to be quite popular.



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So am I about to bin the book and start a journal? not in the short term but I am going to steal some of the things I liked



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• Give each Month a "front page" with some doodles and possible some seasonal pics from magazines or flyers. I will mark the page with a tab made from washi tape and then I can refer back to things within the particular month.

• Set myself a goal of the month which can be as big or as small as my time allows

• List the events and appointments that we have booked in for that month

• Give myself 3 mini goals for the day and write down a reward to give myself once completed. I thought this was quite clever as satisfaction and reward contribute to personal well being. Currently this would be something like 

1. complete daily chores
2. walk X amount of steps
3. put the Christmas decorations away
4. REWARD = Mug of milky hot chocolate

• Limit the number of daily chores I write down to 4, I think this is achievable and I get the satisfaction of having completed my list. My current light duties are

1. washing in and out
2. wipe down kitchen surfaces
3. dishwasher and pot
4. wipe down bathroom surfaces

• Put my ideas at the back of the book so they are separate from my "daily page". I like that this will provide a little bit of structure but still allows me to go off at a tangent without causing complete chaos!

I would love to hear if you have any other tips about journals and planning.

Happy January everyone :)

2018 has snuck in!

Well my best laid plans didn't come to fruition and December vanished without me making any posts at all!  Quite a contrast to last years flurry of activity

It is now a little over 10 weeks since my op and I ventured into work for a couple of hours today. I got a fabulous reception from everyone and it was lovely to be back with my work "family".

The Christmas decorations are coming down tomorrow and I have a few plans to fill the blank spaces to avoid that emptiness that always seem to follow the excess. I will try and get some photos to put up but the lighting at this time of year is so poor I won't make any promises.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year, we were lucky enough to see in the New Year at St Ives. They close off the streets, everyone dresses up in fancy dress and there are fireworks on the beach, it is tremendous fun for all ages.  We dressed up as a family of "where's Wally" including baby Esme complete with stripey tights and a body suit x

Life in the slow lane

Hi All,

Just over 5 weeks since I had my ops and there are moments when I am starting to get back to normal.  I keep a little note book next to my bed and in the initial period I used it to keep a note of when I took my medication and to comment on my twinge,s aches and pains.  This is now used to record all the tiny steps forward that I take like being able to get back into my jeans......if only for about 5 minutes at a time!

Progress is expectedly slow and I am trying not push myself although sometimes I forget and go to do something only for my body to go NO! not yet.

I have managed a couple of small craft projects that I will photograph and put up at some point.  Pinterest is doing a good job of absorbing some of my time and I have earmarked a few projects already for next year.

I hope you are all busy with lots of exciting projects in the run up to Christmas please leave a comment to let me know what you are up to x

And finally don't forget to keep doing those pelvic floor exercises xx

I am back

Just a quick update, I had my ops yesterday. Hysterectomy, and front and back pelvic floor repairs (so classed as 3 ops).  I spent one night in hospital and was discharged at lunch time today.

I have been signed off work for 2 months but have been advised by the consultant that the recovery period will be 2 and a half to 3 months! I was told 12 weeks when I agreed to the op but thought that once I could drive (6 to 8 weeks) I would be back at work.

I can't lift anything heavier than a kilo for the first few weeks so even if I am feeling OK I have to resist getting involved with the likes of vacuuming, pushing the trolley round the supermarket, hauling washing in and out of the machine etc. Luckily hubby is on hand to pick up all these tasks, although we have agreed that he doesn't have to do any ironing and I am prepared to go with the flow in the short term.

I am feeling fine so far but I am ready for my painkillers when the time comes round.  I didn't sleep to well last night but I think that was down to the amount of sleep I had had during the afternoon. I am starting to get swelly belly due to the gas that is used as part of the op, I am drinking peppermint tea and sucking mint sweeties in the hope of moving it!

I will keep you updated on my recovery but in the mean time don't forget to do your pelvic floor exercises it may prevent you going through this xx