A Day in a Life... A Midweek Tale

I know, I know.  I keep meaning to post and then get completely sidetracked by something else and before you know it weeks have gone by.  I really do need to do better. 

Thank you photo diary for at least making this one easy.

So how did my Wednesday from last week go...

 

8.30am

 

And Nudge is awake and enjoying the sun and wondering why I am getting up when the bed is so nice and toasty warm.

 

A few minutes later...

Starting the day right with a hot cup of Red Seal tea, my favourite, and so hard to find at the moment what with all the shortages.  I'm going have to make this last.

 

9.30am

 

There's something very relaxing about raking soil.  This is me getting the 'big' garden bed ready to plant some veggie seeds in it.

 

So far on my list to plant are corn, radishes, dwarf peas, dwarf beans, baby spinach, carrots and cucumber. 

10.30am

 

Big garden raked, small garden by back path and door planted with pansies.  I just love having a bit of colour in the garden.

Make that a lot of colour as I have still got marigolds, sunflowers, hollyhocks, cosmos and a few others to plant.  Hopefully by summer the garden beds will be a riot of colour.

11.30am

 

A break from all that gardening and time for a walk in the sunshine and amongst all the blossom trees.

 

These ones were flowering in the cemetery up the hill from our house. 

Even the ground looks pretty, covered in blossoms, daises, sunshine and shadows.

1.00pm 

 

Finally back from the up and down hill walk and time for some carrot cake and a Chai Latte.  As you do.

2.00pm

 

The jigsaw is coming along slowly.  Very slowly.

3.00pm 

 

Break time over and back to some more gardening.  This time it's to plant a cherry tomato plant in a large pot so it can hopefully grow nice and big in our lovely hot conservatory.

 

I'm going to be planting some strawberry plants too and maybe another couple of tomato plants.

 

Might as well get some use out of the conservatory since we never use it.

4.00pm

 

A healthy smoothie to make up for that cake from earlier.  This one is baby spinach, pineapple, a scoop of protein powder and water.

 

So yum. 

5.00pm

 

Some more Bridgewater podcast.  It's the final 3 episodes and I'm super hooked.  Can't wait until they start screening Season 2.

6.30pm

Red Election time with the always brilliant Stephen Dillane.  6 episodes in and it's seriously good.  Though I have no idea who the double agent is.  Or at least I have some idea but keep changing my mind.

Don't you just love twisty turny spy thrillers?  I do.  So I'm just going to round out the evening with the last 4 episodes and see what happens.

A Day in the Life... A Lockdown Tale

Well here I am again with another photo diary.  This time during a lockdown. Who would have thought that was going to happen again.  But here we are.  Doing our best to keep each other safe and well.

 

As for my day...

8.00am 

The sun is up and out and Nudge has already found his comfy spot on the bed.  Meanwhile I'm debating whether I should get up or wait a little bit longer.  Mmm I'm thinking waiting and having a quick read might be just thing.

9.00am

Finally up and the sun really is shining bright with the whole house filled with light.  Not a bad start to the day.

A few minutes later...

A few cups of tea before I get stuck in with today's plans.  Flamingo socks for the win and a lockdown pick-me-up

9.30am

 

About to start some serious gardening.  Sadly all the garden beds are mostly bare or filled with weeds but this is at least one thing that has come out in flower.  I have no idea what it is but doesn't it look pretty. 

Midday-ish

 

4 bins of weeds later and it's time for a break.  With all this lovely weather I'm finally making some progress.  2 garden beds completely cleared out and one massively large one to go.  And by massive I mean swimming pool size huge.  That one is definitely going to take more than a few hours to clear out.

Back inside...

And it's cup of tea and podcast time.  I'm seriously getting into Bridgewater which is a new find for me.  If you're looking for a new podcast to listen to I can highly recommend this. Especially if you like mysteries with a touch of supernatural.

1.00pm

Carrying on with my break by doing some of our latest jigsaw.  Sadly we don't have a dining table so we're having to doing this on a piece of board on the floor.  As you can see it's slow progress.

1.30pm

Back in the garden and my first daffy is in flower.  And though I'm tempted to pick it I'm going to leave it where it is and hopefully the others will come out in flower in the next few days.

4.00pm

Oops forgot to take any photos.  Then again all you would be seeing is a massive piles of weeds.  So it's probably a good thing.  

Back inside for more cups of tea and some reading.  A gardening book, naturally.  I'm busy figuring out what seeds to buy so I can get stuck in with some planting. 

5.00pm

And some more jigsawing.

6.00pm

Dinner.  Hashbrowns and mixed veg with butter.  Super fast and easy to make and so yum.  Just what I needed after a long day of gardening.  Also cooking is so not me so something like this is pretty much as good as it gets in our household.  Unless of course Other Half is cooking and then it's a whole different world.

7.00pm

I've been working my way through all the libraries online CrossStitcher magazine and am very tempted to do this pattern.

7.30pm

Movie time.  Other Half and I have been rewatching all The Avengers movies and finally we're up to the last one.  Thor, as you can see, is pretty awesome.  

And that's it for the day.  Not at all exciting I know.  Hopefully next time will be a little better.

Upon A Solstice Day

Hello, it's me.  Yes I'm still alive.  Yes it's still winter.  And yes my brain is still weird and sometimes just won't let me write.

 

Other than that life is good.  Because what's not to like about winter.  Hot drinks, warm socks and all the snuggling.  If only it didn't rain I would be one very happy camper.  Even so the weather hasn't been all that bad what with lots of cold crispy frosty days and warm sun.  My kind of weather.

 

As for the Solstice...

8.30am

 

What I am doing out of bed at this time of morning is a mystery.  Especially as it's my birthday.  But up I am.  At least the weather outside isn't looking too bad.

Nudge seems to like it.  

 

This has become one of his favourite spots lately.  Mostly because he can see all the other cats wandering past as our place seems to be 'cat walkway' for some weird reason. Looks like birthday cuddles with the boy is not going to happen at the moment.

9.30am

 

Dressed and out of bed.  Psychedelic socks for a wintry pick-me-up.  Pink AND daisies.  Two of my favourite things.  As for the rest of the wardrobe it's sweatpants, long sleeve t-shirt and jumper.  Because yes it is that chilly. 

 

A few minutes later... 

... a cup of blood orange tea to start the day.  All in a pretty daisy cup.

10.30am

 

Walk time.  

 

Off into town and a nosy around the Op Shops while I'm there.  Although looking at the floor in our utility room I really need to give it a good scrub.  Maybe another day.  Like when it's not my birthday.  My shoes are also looking a bit sad.  Guess it shows how much walking I've been doing.

1.30pm

 

Finally back with my charity shopping haul.  A new bag for me as my only other bag is badly fraying on the handle.  Even better it only cost $4.  I also treated myself to a $2 jigsaw puzzle which I hope I can get stuck into it and cross another thing off my 101 Things in 1001 Days list.

 

All courtesy of Other Half who gave me some loose change he had found in the car and told me to 'treat myself'.   Frugal living for the win.

2.00pm

 

Courier parcels arrived and look it's presents from my mum and exactly what I wanted and needed. 

Several minutes later...

Trying out the new hot chocolate mix and it smells like marshmallows.  Having a mug of it with soy milk and some of my favourite biscuits which Other Half gave me as a surprise present.  The sweetie.

And shortly after that...

On the sofa about to watch one of my favourite rom com's.  Perfect birthday viewing on a misty day.

5.00pm

Is this wool awesome or not.  So pretty.  Now that I've had a short break from knitting for the past couple of weeks I'm ready to get back to it.  This is going to be a sweater vest.  Something to keep me warm down here in the boondocks of the South.

6.00pm

Mince on toast.  I love mince on toast and haven't had it in ages.  Being totally spoiled by Other Half who made this.

9.00pm

Oops forgot to take photo of dessert or anything else for the last few hours.  Good food always distracts me but I'm pretty sure you don't want to see a photo of an empty bowl.  The chocolate steamed pudding was good though.  Beside that we just finished watching the last couple of episodes of The Drowning which was really good.

10.00pm

Here's a candle.  Well an artificial one anyway.  I got a packet of these given to me at Christmas and finally remembered that I had them so it seemed appropriate to switch them on for the first time today.

Happy Solstice Everyone :)

This Month I'm Loving...

 ... getting into my garden and seeing it slowly transform into something pretty and useful.  In just the day I've been able to pick fresh lettuce leaves from the plants I planted just a few weeks ago which is kind of amazing considering what I started with.

As you know we moved into our new home just 6 months ago - wow has that gone by fast - and the garden was in serious need of weeding and sorting out.  And I do mean serious.  The weeds were definitely bigger than the plants in some cases and what plants, shrubs and trees there were they were all in need of a really good prune... or even better taken out completely because they had either died or were just plain ugly looking.

Fast forward to now and the garden is finally coming together and looking a hell of lot tidier.  Of course I've still got a long, long, long way to go but at least now I can see the plan coming together.  Next project is to plant some more summer veg such as red and yellow peppers, baby beets, radishes, and baby spinach; as well as some herbs such as lemon sage and maybe ginger or chocolate mint - maybe even both - because don't they sound awesome.  Some sunflowers and sweet peas are also must so as you can see I've still got a lot to keep me going.

Besides the garden I've also fallen in love with...

Black Bean Beetroot Burger patties

I know right?  Don't these sound awesome.  

I know that some of you might be screwing up your face right now but trust me these patties are just yum.  I've become seriously addicted so I'm really going to miss having these on a regular basis because yes they are pretty expensive at around $8 for a packet.  

I'm super glad and a little surprised that we were able to buy half a dozen packets of these for just $4 each courtesy of our local Reduced to Clear shop.  Naturally they are all sold out so I am as you can imagine busy hunting for an good on line recipe so I can hopefully recreate a version of these that is at least very similar.

Liptons Chai Vanilla Tea Latte

So so good. Like Oh My God I've died and gone to heaven good.

Who knew Chai Latte's were so yummy?  Not me that's for sure.  

As with the above I am seriously addicted to this but I do my best to contain myself and just have this as a special treat when I want something totally delish.  .

I'm now very tempted to try other Chai Tea's so if you have any recommendations please do pass them on.

Maybelline Baby Lips Love Colour Lip Balm

Now I don't wear much make-up other than a spray of perfume and a dash of tinted lip balm, so finding a lip balm that I really like is a must for me.

Normally I usual Nivea balms but after seeing this on sale I decided to try it and wow I just love it.  

As someone who constantly suffers from dry lips (God knows why - it's totally weird) this product just seems to work really well for me.  

Moisturising AND great colour.  What more could you ask for except to have one in every shade they do.  Something I am now working my way towards. 
Yates Garden Planner

After taking this out on loan from my local library I just had to buy a copy for myself.

Sadly it was almost impossible to find but after much hunting I finally found a 2rd hand copy for sale on TradeMe all for the bargain price of $5.

Perfect price, perfect gardening book; especially for someone like me.

Easy to read, tells you what to plant month by month, lots and lots of advice and tips for growing a better garden and there are even pictures too.

As I said the perfect book for novice gardener like me.

Now I just need to keep Nudge our kitten from chewing on the corners...