A new beginning....

Oops

2008-08-30T22:52:00.002+01:00

Keep leaving it far to long between posts here.

Time marches on, and DP has changed carears, at last! He's happy (oh, so happy. he's so pretty and witty and..,.... oops there I go again lol) but its going to be a pig financially.

So in an effort to make myself do something about that, and contribute a little more I've joined the £10 a day challenge, to be found on the moneysavingexperts website

And its contribution to us - apart from the financial factor - should be a reduction in the amount of 'stuff' in the house.

And so I hereby announce that September will see ebay at use. And some stock let go in a 'sale'. And whatever else I can sort out to do. Thoughts from anyone?

Oh - I suppose a link to the thread mentioned would be good :0

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1125049

There will be more links to things as they go up for sale ....

I'm strangely excited...

New blog.

2008-07-29T11:23:00.003+01:00

Its a weakness of mine. Just as I fail to be able to 'compartmentalise' my life, I seem to be unable to have but one blog for 'me'. Instead I continue to split out things into ever smaller chunks. I suspect its the writer in me (I keep different notebooks for each style of writing and Genre I'm working on as well. One day, I will learn to buy small notebooks, but until then I end up carting around 3 rather large ones so they are with me when the urge strikes!

This one pulls out some of the green stuff, and links it with my need to shift a fair amount of weight. (OK, so only 15 Kilogrammes, maybe only 10Kg if I get muscle with it, but when you are five foot tall and should be in the range 55-60Kg being 70Kg means needing to lose more than 10% of your current 'mass').

Link is in Title. Would love your comments (but no spam for 'product' please!)

Waste

2008-06-09T22:37:00.002+01:00

That's it - I've had enough!

We used to put out less than a carrier bag of rubbish a week.

Since we've been here, things have gotten horribly bloated and its getting towards a bin bag a week... the only change has been that we are now stuck with the supermarkets and they package everything in tons and tons of stuff... and we are stuck having to buy the standard size of things, where we used to be able to buy in bulk and decant, leaving a fraction of the waste (and that was usually recyclable, or big enough to be of some use as storage etc)

Oh - and that the 'wonderful' recycling facilities suck! I mean, so what if they collect from the doorstep, they only take bottle shaped plastics. That leaves us with everything else going to the bin, even if its the same category or type as the 'bottle shaped' ones...

Argh!!!!!!!

Ovens... and Scouting

2008-06-06T10:57:00.003+01:00

DD1 has become A Scout. Actually she's been one for a fair while now... but it does seem to involve us in an awful lot of running about!!

Today I am baking for England... or rather for the Scout tea tent at the local Carnival Fete. Not sure what I've let myself in for - as all the baking is going to be done in my new 'toy' - A cusinart table top oven. Its rather nice really, but I have no idea how its going to cope with cakes etc.

Off to the field of battle.

Planning planting

2008-03-16T16:59:00.003Z

The garden here is rather small, and dominated by the decking put in by the previous owners. Great for putting plants in pots on, or keeping the garden table out of the mud, and will provide a useful base for us to stand somesort of leanto on. But a large chunk of it will have to go if I'm to get anywhere near putting in enough variety of veg. to make a useful dent in the budget.

Add to which we have found that we have maybe 6 inches of soil, total. Discovered when the washing line spike wouldn't got far enough into the ground to hold up the rotary airer in all but the driest of weather (one short shower was enough to leave the soil totally waterlogged and not draining, and unable to hold up the airer even folded up and empty!). There hasn't been anything like the amount of rain we used to get in Sussex, so does this bode well or not?

I've had a lead on a good allotment plot a couple of miles away - and on a direct red route from here. Not the closest plots (I can't even get the parish clerk there to talk to me and put me on the waiting list) and we are currently 68 on the waiting list for our own parish plots (actually further away than the first set mentioned, but in the opposite direction) where there are around 30 plots total, all currently occupied and worked. From this pov I'm wondering if I've made a huge mistake in coming here. Originally we thought that we would be in this house for maybe five years, add a little value to it, and then sell on and go further out again to something with a larger garden or maybe an acre if we were lucky. But as life often goes, changes happen and DP is now working locally as well as commuting to London. So although he has sorted out the commuting job to enable working from home a couple of days a week, the new job (the ultimate plan for which is to dump the London job and become a salaried member of staff there instead) is very much based in the centre of MK, and is public facing so no way of remote working.

But on the planting? Well seeds have been bought for things like tomatoes, brocolli, and *lots* of leafy greens, plus courgettes. But I'd also like to get in some beans, and some things that will store into the winter like carrots or onions. Some beets would be great (yay to beet greens, two foods from one plant) and I'm wondering if I can replace the diddy conifers out the front with some sort of fruiting bushes instead - wondering is because the dog next door tends to urinate against one of the conifers so would that leave my fruit at risk? Blueberries would be nice, or Goji. Both quite compact plants as well, and something that we could do with eating more of, as we don't due to the seasonality and locality issues inherent in them most of the year round.

Ah well - off to the plant notebook and draw up a planting calender.

Let us try again

2008-01-02T19:36:00.001Z

I've not been able to make this blog work for a while - so its now far from up to date. teehee. Yesterdays long post about my new year plans, and the preparations that I've been making towards them over the last few months, has failed to show and like a fool I forgot to save it elsewhere :rollseyes: Sometimes I am ashamed to call myself even vaguely geeky :redface:

So - lets have a go and see if they let this one through...

New House

2007-09-07T10:54:00.000+01:00

.. to us anyway.

But the much worked for supermarket dumping has had to go, there's no box scheme :-( and the cost of living is scary here...

... and I have no working oven as this one is ruddy dangerous. Whole kitchen needs rewiring and then some, as *everything* (wall sockets and all) is all wired off the 'master switch' that should be for the stove alone... so I can't even turn off the dangerous oven or I can't run the fridge, freezer or anything else...

On the move again

2007-08-05T00:02:00.000+01:00

Tra la la la la

We're on the move again.

Having found a house we like we finally exchanged contracts and should be completing on the sale next Wednesday!

Yay - this has been going on *so* long.

But what it does mean is that once again we are surrounded by boxes that need to be filled up with carefully sorted stuff. That I will have to find a new box scheme for my veg.! And other places to buy food.

In the time we have been here I have successfully weaned myself off supermarkets (yay) - I've been inside one on 8 occasions in the last 8 months, and 3 of those were to use the loo and get a newspaper when all around us was closed... and with hindsight (being the wonderful thing it is) and careful record keeping, I have spent nearly a third less than I was in Sussex, and we now hardly every throw something away :-)

And now to bed...

Yippee

2007-05-27T12:22:00.000+01:00

We've found a house, made an offer and should be moving!!

Well - assuming that all the legal and mortgage paperwork gets its act together reasonably swiftly, that is.

House is in Bletchley, part (these days) of Milton Keynes, walking distance to the various centres (both Milton Keynes Central and Bletchley) and to the station. And although its a new-ish house its a late 70's/early 80's one and is therefore a proper size. Yay!

I'm just really rather glad that we hadn't unpacked everything here.

This year seems to be one of new beginnings.

Eek!

2007-04-26T22:57:00.000+01:00

I am not being great at keeping this sort of thing going!

Anyway - to cut a long story very very short we are to be on the move again, we've bought another nappy company (a manufacturer this time!), and life is generally starting to get interesting and just a little (and the rest!) hectic.

In general we are liking living here, nice and close to Cambridge. Walking lots as we are close to the station, and hardly driving the car at all :-) I've shifted a stone in weight since February, and all from the walking :-0

Until the next time, anon.

Well the house is sold

2007-02-07T12:39:00.000Z

Phew

All over and done with, even the shouting. Now we are residing in a rental on the Cambridgeshire border and 'beginning again'. Taking a breather before we look for somewhere else to live, reassessing our lives to date, and doing 'work' stuff as a priority over houses again.

...

2007-01-09T21:33:00.001Z

....

We're here

2007-01-09T21:30:00.000Z

Well - in the 'new' house.

Shopping is rather hit and miss, and the much celebrated breaking of the supermarket stranglehold has slipped horribly as there doesn't appear to be a box scheme, there's a severe lack of usable (from my pov) bakers and the oven here is downright dangerous.

More as time goes by....

A lovely christmas story

2006-12-13T14:10:00.000Z

Not posted for a while - but I think the world deserves to see this :-)

(actually - I think half the world has going by the number of links google has to the thread and the read count - but its on my favorite forum 'site so I'm going to send a few more their way :-)

http://www.hunnybeez.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=87463.0

With wishes for a happy christmas and new year (solstice, yule, hannakuh, or whatever your faith or persuasion)

(editing this to include the text as apparently the link is turning onto a debate on the rights and wrongs and whether it is possible for this to be real /rolls eyes/

"Went to Abigail's school Christmas concert (no "proper" Nativity this year ). Each class did a little something followed by a song or 2. Anyway, Ab's class did a Nativity scene, with Ab as Mary ( How proud was I?). A few mins into their bit Ab promptly lifted her dress & shoved baby Jesus up it. The script then wandered away from what they'd learnt & goes as follows....

Joseph: "What are you doing?"
Mary: "I'm feeding our baby"
Shepherd: "Have you got a bottle up there then?"
Mary: "Don't be silly he's having milk from my booby"
Joseph: "That's disgusting"
Mary: "No, that baby milk they have in Tescos is disgusting. My baby's having proper milk"
Shepherd: "What's a booby?"
Mary: "Those sticky out bits ladies have"
Shepherd: "They're not boobies, they're nipples"
Mary: "No they're not, they're boobies"
Joseph: "So why can't Jesus have milk from a bottle then?"
Mary: "Because I haven't got a breast pump with me - you forgot to put it on the donkey"
Shepherd: "Can't you ask the teacher for a bottle to feed Jesus with?"
Mary: "No because this is the best way to feed Jesus. Anyway bottles haven't been invented yet & even if they were I've just had a baby so if you think I'm faffing about round Tescos to buy baby milk when I make proper milk in my boobies you can think again"

I felt a teeny bit sorry for their class teacher - she did try her best to steer them back towards their proper lines but she was laughing so much she didn't really stand a chance. The line about Joseph forgetting the breast pump finished her off - she slid to the floor & couldn't get up for laughing.... "

And the follow up posts are by and large worth ignoring, sigh )

And the month is at an end

2006-10-04T09:30:00.000+01:00

I don't think that we did particularly well :-(

But I have learnt some valuable lessons and some new habits (I no longer automatically go and get the paper everyday, and that has cut down lots on other spending) and we have spent less money on day to day things. We even spent a week away and didn't eat out or buy lots of stuff! Having car and carpet and stuff happen altogether didn't help though. And my children have discovered the delights of charity shops and they have become the places they think of going 'shopping' as meaning (although they still expect a drink whilst out, but are happier with a bottle of water in the park than they used to be).

The downside of all this has been that cutting down on trips to town has also seen a downturn in the time spent in the local library, and them wanting more not less time in front of the TV/computer as the weather takes a turn for the wet! So working ourselves back into a library schedule is a task for October, as is getting our books and magazines here at home organised so that we can use them more easily as well. I'm going to get together the craft stuff in one place as well, although that may need to be at the storage unit (which will rather cut down on spontaneous use :-( ) but once altogether I should be able to work out what can move out to the unit to enable it all to come here :-)

The other 'project' for October is going to be investigating how etc. to go about letting our house. We've given up on selling it for the moment. Locally people 'our age' are going from flats to diddy 3 beds and jumping straight past houses like ours (a 2 bed with more sq ft than most of the local new 3 beds, and a decent sized garden as well) because no. of bedrooms seems to count more than whether you can get a bed and a chest of drawers in them. But the rental market for houses like ours is very strong with more demand than supply :-) and the going rate seems to be more than our mortgage payment is so we will come out even. So I have to find out about the various long-let schemes that the local HA and PCT administer (where they let the house from you and then manage one of their own tenants or staff-let in it, and take the hit on any voids :-) ) and 'audition' lettings agents as well.

Hmmm - this not spending is hard...

2006-09-18T16:30:00.000+01:00

... especially when new carpet becomes rather necessary.

A scary amount of money later the car also needed its major service.

And after that scary (although not as scary as the carpet) sum we have been *very* frugal.

Nearly the end of the month...

End of the first week approaching...

2006-09-06T15:11:00.000+01:00

... well we have done OK. We haven't cut *all* non-essential spending (oops) but we are right down. I did feed and water the children outside of the house a couple of times, but they happily went for cheap options and no 'extras' :-) (and when DD1 wanted hot choc. in M&S she paid the extra 70p from the cost of the other twos drinks compared to hers, herself ). DD2 and DS had a magazine whilst out yesterday - and opted to share one, and for that one to be Toybox (the least cost childrens magazine there is). I sucummed to a craft magazine though - but it is being used as the basis for a HE project for both girls today, so maybe there was a little merit in it. Our family trip out on sunday made use of the NT membership we have, so the only spend was on the petrol to get there. And we looked around the shop for ages but came out without buying anything!

So our non-essentials spend is down 75% on the previous week. And that in itself was a lot lower than it was a few months ago.

Foodwise - we have made all the bread and cake eaten in the house so far this week as well, and all our fruit has been seasonal and fairly local (apart from one bag of organic/fairtrade bananas). But in some ways I'm cheating by telling you this as its really fairly normal. I've got a big pan of Damson soon-to-be Jam on the stove atm (whoever said that setting point took 15mins was lying!!) for which the fruit was foraged. We're hoping that this batch will provide around 10 1lb jars, some for us and a couple to be gifts, and a later batch (there are still lots of ripe fruit on the tree) will be a similar amount of jelly with a couple of containers of 'cheese' on the side of that. There are already 2 big jars of damsons in vodka in the larder as well. Anyway - we should be well set for jam etc. for most of next year as I'm going to be trading some of the cheese with a friend for some sloe gin as well :-) DD1 is going to go brambling at the weekend as well, and we'll get a couple of bramble and apple pies/lattices into the freezer then as well. Recipes and instructions for jams and jellies and cheeses have been 'borrowed' from www.downsizer.net a really useful 'site full of lovely people

We're out again tomorrow though - a train journey into london to spend the day with friends from Slingmeet at Corum Fields. We'll go to the station at the same time as DP, but wait for the next train so the fare for us is less. Corum fields is a 25ish min walk from Charing Cross and is free to enter. Then the four of us (the children and I) will hang out in the British Museum until DP finishes work for the day and walk back to Charing Cross with him. So the only spend that day should be for the train in the morning, as we are taking food and drink with us (so glad that I bought flasks in less impoverished days, because I'll need coffee at some point, I'm sure; rofl...

More buying nothing

2006-08-25T01:02:00.000+01:00

The lovely folk at Downsizer (www.downsizer.net) are going to do this as a month long challenge over September.

http://forum.downsizer.net/viewtopic.php?t=14667

Is a direct link to the thread. (do please wander the rest of the site and join and say 'hi' if it interests you :-) )

I've sent a copy of the 'rules' and 'exceptions' to my DP, see what he thinks (although his first comment was 'do the exceptions include car restoration?' bless him).

More later

to follow up on ...

2006-08-23T22:55:00.000+01:00

... the buying nothing post.

Remembered the name of the journalist - Judith Levine. The book is 'Not Buying It: My year without shopping'.
You can see more details about it Here . The article is extracted from the book.

Still need to think about how to enthuse DP and the children on this idea. Maybe suggesting doing this for a week, and then a month?

Buying nothing

2006-08-23T11:47:00.000+01:00

I've been thinking on this quite a lot recently. My interest was first piqued by an article in the Observer magazine about an american couple who only bought essentials for a whole year. She has written a book about it - which I'm interested in reading, but feel that I should follow the philosophy and borrow rather than buy.

Which would be fine except I can't remember her name or the name of the book, lol.

So - some musings on not buying. Is this something that we could do as a family? It wouldn't mean being expenditure free - unfortunately there is a mortgage to pay, and food is needed. And the childrens feet grow. And because of all that DP will need to buy his train ticket to work, and the petrol to get the car there (and the insurance and servicing for said car - living 6 miles from the train station and no longer on a bus route (the bus company deleted the one to the station on the london line from this village) .... anyway there are lots of reasons why... oh - and no his working from home in this job isn't possible as his bosses have already said no :roll:

Right back on track... Is this something that a family could do? Is it something that we ought to plan for, lay in stores... maybe not, I'm pretty sure that *that* is *not* the idea :-)

Or is part of this actually stopping consumming? If we stop or cut down on our buying then we would definately cut our consumption. We'd probably drive less (or plan our journeys better). Magazines and newspapers would be the easiest things to go - after all the internet could replace that. Other paper goods - what would these be? Loo roll would be an easy one - swap in cloth wipes instead - and birthday cards could be replaced with the electronic version. Books could be borrowed from the library instead of bought. Well, sometimes anyway... Hmm but would probably need paper once in a while for the printer to replace the things that the children like to buy and colour, for worksheets and other educational stuff like that (yes, we're autonomous. But my children *choose* to do a workbook once in a while. DD1 tells me that a workbook is a good way of consolidating some information in a quick space of time, and makes written things less scary to do - she gets a sort of freeze in front of a blank piece of paper, oh I *know* that feeling :roll:)

OK so I've done for magazines, newspapers, some books, maybe loo roll, and birthday cards and workbooks (albeit with some printing from the pc instead). Planning what driving can't be avoided so that we do any shopping around it - well I do that anyway because the reduced price goods in the shops are put out around the time that DPs train comes in so we stop off on the way back from fetching him :-) Clothes. That is definately somewhere that we can cut down. We probably have enough of everything to do us for ages - DD2 can have hand me downs from DD1, DS some from DD2. DD1 has enough to last her for a while yet, even with growing. And I think that my mum still has some things that were mine in the next size up that DD1 can have when she grows a bit more. And clothing is something that can be found in charity shops and on freecycle and similar anyway :-) Shoes are going to be more of an issue - are DP and I allowed to resole things? Hmm will have to buy DP a good pair of shoes before all this starts then as he tends to wear through the top before the sole. The children are going to be more of an issue as they tend to, um, grow. But I can certainly resolve to buy as carefully as possible for them all.

So the stumbling block in all this is going to be the business. In many ways it is a seperate entity - and in many ways is helping those who buy the nappy side of things actually buy *less* and certainly *consume* less than they would using a disp. nappy instead. And it provides me with some income, albeit fairly small. I have an increasing number of clients who are looking towards EC (elimination communication) - so we can put some resources about that up and get people to look at how they can further reduce their consumpsion, but in many ways I need to keep buying for the business to continue to trade. I'd have to watch that I wasn't replacing my personal buying with buying for the company (oh - vicarious shopping, lol) so that I didn't end the year with a lot of unsold stock; because that would be a waste in its own way as well. But on the plus side this autumn will see the nappy company relaunching with a stronger eco bent as we are moving to selling the more 'eco' end pretty much exclusively (exceptions being for british made nappies and WAHM things as they are much more eco simply by their lack of air miles). And we are planning to launch another co that will concentrate on beautiful and useful things (toys and educational)... but that could wait. So we would be cutting spending there certainly. Hmmm - further thinking on this is required methinks :-)

Food - well as I mentioned before we already arrange our food shopping around other things. And as a household we buy very little that is made for us - so much more fun to bake your own bread, cut your own vegetables. Where we could definately improve our buying would be in growing more of our own stuff. At this we failed miserably this summer - not having any under cover space meant that the worst of the sun hit our containers just as they were starting to grow. In the course of a couple of days the weather destroyed most of our tomato plants, all of our courgette and DS tipped out all the carrot seedlings and smooshed the kale beyond repair ... Our dustbin is currently dying though so I'm going to poke a hole in the bottom, fill it with earth and compost and stuff and get in some potatoes which will, hopefully, be ready for christmas. We're stuck using containers atm because the house is on the market. Hmmm more thinking on this aspect as well.

Memberships - are these allowable expenses for the year? We currently belong to English Heritage, the National Trust and Garden Organic. These memberships mean that we pay no extra to go to any properties that belong to them or have had grants under their schemes. We go somewhere most weeks, particularly over the season, and get a lot of learning out of them. We will have to get better at taking a flask/drinks/snacks with us. And the petrol involved can be a signifignant expense and point of consumpsion again.

So that leads me to the final sticking point in all this. DP. He goes to work each day, is expected to look a certain way, and has to live within an office culture where going out for lunch is something he and his collegues do as much for sanity as for sustanence. And he is hardly profligate in that respect (he's very good at getting invited out for drinks and things by companies that want their business so doesn't spend there). But he does like his magazines, and his chocolate, and his camera accessories (he is starting to do more and more pro-work photographically - so maybe those can be justified in those terms). But he is also often talking about saving money, about there being more month than money. About the need to control our spending. hmmm - I think he is better at this last bit than he used to be. But the phrase there is 'think' as I don't know.

And so endeth the mega-post. I'd love some thoughts on all this. We've pretty much always participated in things like Buy Nothing Day, are concerned about Fair Trade/Jubilee/Drop the Debt and have been involved in theri campaigns. Public transport has a huge part in our lives - so the car thing is offset in some ways, just a pity that it is a requirement for DPs commute to the station to commute. Hey - we have a compost heap!! And we don't have a company car!! We're doing some things OK already... should I just shush and be happy with how we've done?

This just about sums me up nicely

2006-04-24T22:28:00.000+01:00

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic

At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung

You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping

Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

But this one is lovely

2005-07-04T22:04:00.000+01:00

I'm only going to post a link to this one.

Lets just say that any magicians out there could find this a useful addition to a 'fortune telling' or similar type act.

Clue: read the descriptions for each 'answer' with a thesaurus and see how widely the descriptions are drawn :-)

Many thanks to the Fluff list for alerting me to this one :-)

Oh yes - the link... Forget my head one of these days, lol.

http://www.blogthings.com/worldsshortestpersonalitytest/

I think that these are becoming a habit...

2005-07-04T22:02:00.000+01:00

But couldn't resist this :-)

Your IQ Is 140

Your Logical Intelligence is Genius
Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius
Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius
Your General Knowledge is Genius

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Following the herd

2005-06-25T23:38:00.000+01:00

...Or not ;-)

This blog seems to be turning into a lot of quiz links. But anyone who knows me in real life is unlikely to be suprised by this result, lol

Which flock do you follow?

this quiz was made by alanna

The things you do when you are avoiding the washing up...

And so I went a seeking...

2005-06-16T15:08:00.000+01:00

to find some info on one Jurgen Maltmann

Here
says it all really.

I have such a reading list to get through. Lets just say that the bio speaks to me and feels so in tune with how I understand Christ and God working in our lives.

Thank you to whoever first put these quiz links onto the various lists I gleaned them from. I feel touched by God and like He has personally poked me onto a spritual renewal :-)

Eek!! Suppose this now belongs over on my Autonomous Education blog now...

Hmmmm

2005-06-15T17:11:00.000+01:00

Lets see if this will fix the formatting

Or maybe not....

lol.

And a third...

2005-06-15T17:05:00.000+01:00

...Anyone spot the theme yet?

You scored as Jürgen Moltmann. The problem of evil is central to your thought, and only a crucified God can show that God is not indifferent to human suffering. Christian discipleship means identifying with suffering but also anticipating the new creation of all things that God will bring about.

Jürgen Moltmann

80%

Friedrich Schleiermacher

73%

Anselm

53%

John Calvin

53%

Charles Finney

53%

Augustine

47%

Karl Barth

47%

Martin Luther

40%

Paul Tillich

33%

Jonathan Edwards

27%

Which theologian are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

And then this...

2005-06-14T16:56:00.000+01:00

To further the theme :-)

You scored as Christianity. Your views are most similar to those of Christianity. Do more research on Christianity and possibly consider being baptized and accepting Jesus, if you aren't already Christian.

Christianity is the second of the Abrahamic faiths; it follows Judaism and is followed by Islam. It differs in its belief of Jesus, as not a prophet nor historical figure, but as God in human form. The Holy Trinity is the concept that God takes three forms: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Ghost (sometimes called Holy Spirit). Jesus taught the idea of instead of seeking revenge, one should love his or her neighbors and enemies. Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross to save humankind and forgive people's sins.

Christianity

67%

Paganism

58%

Islam

58%

Buddhism

54%

Hinduism

54%

Satanism

54%

Judaism

50%

agnosticism

29%

atheism

29%

Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)
created with QuizFarm.com

Found this

2005-06-14T15:27:00.000+01:00

Not sure what it says about me - I thought I hung around on the Quaker end of things; although it could be argued that wesley is on the quaker end of things (or rather that the Quakers were on the Wesleyan end, lol).

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists.

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

82%

Emergent/Postmodern

71%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

61%

Classical Liberal

61%

Modern Liberal

57%

Neo orthodox

50%

Roman Catholic

43%

Reformed Evangelical

36%

Fundamentalist

32%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

On a better note

2005-05-12T20:28:00.000+01:00

We had a fantastic weekend in London, lots of eating and home ed'ing was done. Only a little shopping :-)

All whilst DP slaved away in a hot server room :-(

Oh well - that won't be happening again for a while.

Yes I know I've already done the whinging post - but I am really narked about this. All we want is to move somewhere we want to be, with some friends and community around us that we can actually get involved in because DP will be here more often. I'm so fed up with the cliques and petty infighting that DD1 has to deal with to have any friends and all that is going on is ruining her self esteem. Basically bullying.

This afternoon I intercepted some poison pen letters aimed at her - she'd had a bit of a shouting match with someone, and had apologised but choose to come in. One of them banged on the door but I said that no one was coming out. Next thing was that 3 bits of paper came through the door... one of which was from the local S***stirrer. Goodness only knows that I now agree with DD's feelings that someone doesn't like her but is dressing it up in the guise of friendship so she can basically bully at will. No, DD hasn't seen the contents of the letters and we won't discuss them with her (they weren't nice and one basically threatened her with me going to prison because 'you can't be bothered to go to school and we'll tell on you'). Why are little girls such fynvhes?

Ho hum. Think we're going to take a road trip tommorrow so we're away from here the whole day. Wish we were going to Hesfes now :-(

Argh! or "Oh no, not again!"

2005-05-12T20:22:00.000+01:00

Well today the house went back on the market.

Turns out that the buyers didn't have the finance in place they said they did - apparently assumed it would be a formality - and that no one will lend to them.

Just wish they'd been honest from the start...

... Back to spending my life tidying.

We have to sell soon, so any vibes or prayers would be much appreciated.

Just not sure whether to be upset or pee'd off atm.

Boredom

2005-04-25T23:25:00.000+01:00

The things you do when you are stuck to the sofa....

Advanced Global Personality Test Results

Extraversion		63%
Stability		56%
Orderliness		33%
Empathy		43%
Interdependence		50%
Intellectual		63%
Mystical		56%
Artistic		56%
Religious		70%
Hedonism		30%
Materialism		23%
Narcissism		50%
Adventurousness		56%
Work ethic		63%
Self absorbed		56%
Conflict seeking		50%
Need to dominate		70%

Romantic		43%
Avoidant		50%
Anti-authority		70%
Wealth		23%
Dependency		23%
Change averse		36%
Cautiousness		56%
Individuality		76%
Sexuality		70%
Peter pan complex		43%
Physical security		83%
Food indulgent		63%
Histrionic		56%
Paranoia		63%
Vanity		30%
Hypersensitivity		50%
Female cliche		70%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Off to find the next one...

Eeek!

2005-04-22T19:03:00.000+01:00

I hadn't realised it was so long since I had last blogged!

No real excuses - we've been ticking along much as normal. Well, until Tuesday after noon when I stepped on to my left foot and the ankle gave way. 2 hours later DP was home and I went to casualty, where I was brave for an hour, got and exray, was brave for another 2 1/2 hours and somene looked at it. It was declared a 'bad sprain' and that I was to gome on crutches. Nurse then took 20 more mins to appear and apply tubifast and tell me to go home. 'Crutches' I asked. To be told I wasn't written up for those and would have to get straight out of the wheel chair I've been in all evening because I could not walk !!! No, sayeth I. Crutches said the doctor so crutches please. Wobbly lip.

20 mins later a pair of crutches are handed to me, along with a form to sign my life away should I damage or fail to return them. No instructions, no adjustment, and 'goodbye'. Eventually got a cab home, and then fell rather asleep. Time elapsed since injury - 7 hours....

DP not happy at having to stay home for the the next two days as I'm under instructions not to walk on it. Managed to track down a physio friend who rang hospital for me and spoke to a radiologist who was rather suprised that I hadn't been given a pain killing injection or a soft cast!!

Now Friday and leg is an interesting shade of purple - friend also managed to discover that actually it is more than a sprain, apparently I have torn the ligaments all around the left side of the ankle and the relevent underside of the foot. I've been taking erious quantities of arnica and it looks better (is now an ineresting shade of green and purple mixed) and i haven't needed the crutches in the house today. mind you my diet has gone to pot and the raw content has shrunk. DP went to work today and is just home, so off to negotiate what he will make for tea...

Further thoughts on houses

2005-04-06T22:18:00.000+01:00

I have, however, no idea how long it will take to move.

The current plan is to go and find a rental for 6 months. But there is some interesting stuff on the market atm. The place that I was really interested in last time is still on the market, but the garden has miraculously shrunk and there is an Agricultural Precept that wasn't mentioned before :-( Probably why no one else has bought it either - its not exactly cheap enough to own if you are doing a farm job...

There are some other places going though. But, in reality, its silly to start looking until we can be sure that we are actually going to move this time.

But we can all build our perfect kitchens in our heads, can't we :-)

Bouncy bouncy weeeeee

2005-04-02T20:26:00.000+01:00

We sold the house !!!!

Well - a couple came and had a second look today, and then the agent rang and said they offered nearly the asking price so...

I'm feeling like Tigga!!!

Just having a quick search on the property pages, and the bungalow we were rather attracted to the last time this happened is still on the market :-)

Got a good feeling this time .

Off to have a large glass of something.........

Argh!!

2005-03-31T13:57:00.000+01:00

So yesterday I scrubbed my house, ready for a viewer at four pm. Was done and car stuffed by half eleven so took the children out into town and we hung around and around and around...

no call from agent to say that they had been so gave up at half four and went home.

They cancelled!! This is the second time this person has wanted to come and the second time they've not. Ok - so the first time I'll live with, as I was doing the viewing that day (don't know why but Saturday seems to be a difficult day for getting an agent to do a viewing) and so was just 'at home'. But I'd got everyone sorted to go out and .....argh!!!!

So they are due to visit again another day. And the agent will be doing the viewing again, I've decided, as we will be out.

But that means I've got to get up at an ungodly hour to get everything freshly vacumned etc. And that the children are having a day when they can't really play, or get any work done properly, and neither can I; all so that I haven't got too much tidying to do later on.

You can tell how difficult I'm finding it - I have daytime TV on.... and its dire!! Need to leave here and find a good book. Oh, and its DP's birthday last week so I need to find him a giftette as well from me and something from the diddies... And I want to bake and can't because of the kitchen :-(

Hello little blog :-)

2005-03-20T21:10:00.000Z

Not really much to say on here. I supose with my other blogs it is easier as they have more of a focus.

Mind you, today is not great really. DP has been to see his granddad and it turns out that the cancer is in his bones and at grade 4. But from what DP says he is happy and ready for the next adventure. He's going home over the next few days, and we're all going to go up and see him there. So I might be a bit absent from things for a while. Not sure really, as I've got a website to rewrite and a phone to stand by as I've got an ad going in Green Parent at the end of the month. Seems rather unimportant in the scheme of things. Children are being remarkably sangine about it all, but only DD1 understands really, DD2 hasn't really asked, other than wanting to make a card...

Going to go and think of ways around this all. Better get on with the website I supose, in some vain attempt to have it running and looking OK before I go anywhere. But all I want right now is a large drink. But waiting for DP to get back home before that. After all, if I feel this shitty about this, heaven only knows how he is feeling. I'm just so glad that all the children have met him etc.etc. And, God willing, I'll have children who won't remember him because they are yet to come. That sounds far worse than it is meant to. I suspose I mean that I am sad that the missing faces won't have a chance to meet him, because I'm not that sure that DD2 or DS are going to have much in the way of memories, being so young.

Going to go now before I make myself sound like a heartless bitch....

Come on Come on

2005-03-05T23:05:00.000Z

I know that there are a few people out there who have read this. Yes you know who you are! Yes, you who sent me the email the other day!!!

Come on - the email is OK, but comment damn you :-) Especially as the emailing one tells me that there are others....

Or am I just a scarey monster that no one wants to talk to?

I've been playing with the Internet

2005-03-05T23:00:00.000Z

You're Brigitte Bardot!

What Classic Pin-Up Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Quite nice to find that out. Certainly sorts out the ego for the evening.

Cleared out my food cupboards

2005-01-23T19:30:00.000Z

Found an awful lot of stuff.

Now I need to plan on how to use this lot up. Over the last couple of months we've moved to eating far more fresh food, for me much more of it raw or barely cooked. But the time has come to spend less cash and eat the cupboards. Well - maybe not that literally :-)

So here comes the list, basically in the order they were found. Some parts of my cupboards are organised, others not so (although all these re in trays and boxes bottoms). I'm seeking ideas for recipes for any of these. Recipes may well end up on the Reading and Recipes blog (see 'Other Blogs' to the right)

Soya Beans (dried), Harricot beans (dried), Great Northern Beans (dried), Chick peas (dried), Green Lentils (dried) Green Split Peas (dried), Yellos Split Peas (dried), Puy Lentils (dried).
Jar Pickled Onions, 3L tonic (2 with lime), Cloudy Apple Juice (6 L), 1L Multivit juice, 1L Red Grape juice, 1L clear Apple, 1L Orange juice, 1L Rice Milk, 1 carton Alpro 'custard', Lots of popcorn kernals, 1 Plum Pudding, 1Kg Semolina, 1Kg Polenta, 1Kg Spelt flour, 1 bag Bread Flour, 2 bags Plain flour, 2 bags Self-raising Flour.

3 bottles of wine (1 red, 1 white, 1 rose).

Jar ginger perserve, greengage jam, jar gerkins, 2 gingerbread house kits, 1 sage and onion stuffing mix, jar sun dried tomato antipasto, 1 jar whole tahini, jarred peppers, 1 packet mint thins (plain choc :-) Tamarind and Lime stirfry sauce, ginger and lemongrass stirfry sauce, 500g Arborio Rice, 2 jars Confit de Vin, Jarred Raspberries, 2 bags Habas Fritas, 10 licorice bars (small), rice crackers with soya, 1 packet burger mix, 1 packet sosmix, carton soya dream, tin tomato puree, jar tomato puree, 2 tins peach slices, jarred blackcurrants, tin pineapple cubes, tin prunes, tin coconut milk, Bag Sweet Chilli Kettle Chips, Huge bag ready salted Kettle chips, Ble, Egg replacer, tin tomato and butterbean soup, Mustard, tomato ketchup, Box matzos, Veg suet, 3 boxes blackcurrant fruit bars, 2 boxes strawberry fruit bars, 1kg porridge oats, jar green olives, jar sundried tomatos, 1L Rocks Lemon Squash, Butterbeans (dried), 500ml Lingonberry Squash, 500ml Elderflower Cordial, bottle tamari, 2 bottles Pepperdew ketchup, 1 bottle brown sauce, 1 jar Rogan Josh sauce, 2 jars pickled baby beets, 1 jar piccalli, 1 jar silverskin onions, 2 jars Brinjii pickle (aubergine), 1L sieved tomato, soya chunks (dried) Tamarind chutney, mango chutney, maya gold chocolate, jar ginger pate, Hemp oil, salsa, chilli dipping sauce, beetroot pickle, red wine vinegar, 1 summerfruits malt lof, packet rich tea biscuits.
Various packets of dried seaweed.

About 4-ish kg dried fruits - some mixed fruit, some sultanas, some currants.

(oh and 3 tins of fish, but they belong to DP so I have nothin to do with those)

Gosh - rather lot of stuff. Sorry about the lack of order. I've yet to look in the freezer or fridge fully (although we tend to empty those regularly so I'm not worrying about any of that going uneaten for more than a few weeks - hee hee). I have another cupboard to go through - its where we keep all the tea, coffee, and other things.....

Far too many dots in this Blog

2005-01-12T22:48:00.000Z

Ok so a bit more than new year :-)

What has we been doing? Well - not a huge amount. This week I've been sitting in front of the screen rather more than I should. But DD1 and I have been watching the run of St. Trinians films on channel 4 , today was number three (Pure Hell at....) so just the Colour one left to go (The Great St. Trinians Train Robbery). TBH that one is my favourite - but partly for the story and otherwise for the wonderful Frankie Howerd.

And I've been reading the two books that have arrived from Christoperus Books. More of those over on the learning blog though. Save to say that I'm very happy with them - just need to work out how to make payment for the Path of Discovery overviews that I want to get. Not that I expect any of this preparation to end up as actual education - but that some of it will transfer from me to the children in some odd, osmotic fashion. Hee Hee...... anyway they came from www.christopherushomeschool.org

Finally had the car serviced (eek!) and booked in to get the wiper arm done (more eek!) - why do these things always need doing after Christmas? - but they both needed doing before we travel north to the Scottish Borders and the Muddlepuddle winter camp. DD1 and DD2 are *really* looking forward to this. DD2 will be 4 on the day we arrive, so I have been told that I'm to make her a chocolate cake for her to share with her friends there. Not sure how I'm going to do the 'present' thing as her main present isn't something that it would be sensible to take with us - oops!

I've also decided that we are not going to be attending Greenbelt this year - I've booked us (with DP's agreement) to go on another camp over the same weekend.

(edited here as a bit personal, thanks for the heads up on that ;-)

I'm still going to offer to do the bands listings for them, and stay in contact with a view to going back next year when DS is older; and as I am the one that feels differently about the situation I need to be the one to go. And maybe God has a different set of thoughts in mind for me at Greenbelt in the future. Certainly I think that a year off (completely, not just from working) will do me good. But DD1 is distraught at not going - sometimes I think she lives from year to year to do the choir and touch base with a few people there. But I'm hoping she will come around to the idea of going elsewhere for once, and on her return she will be old enough to do the youth programme and have a bit more autonomy than she has been able to have.

Ho hum.... got all philosophical there and typed out a load of stuff I didn't mean to.... still need to pass this on to the relevent people so maybe this will all end up edited before too long.... (yep edited this a few weeks later, see above)

But more on the camp we *are* going to do instead. Tents, provided food, a holistic atmosphere and nature, nature, nature. And a lot of lovely people who are as out there as I am and then some :-) All readers of The Mother Magazine, and its publisher. And I'm quietly excited by the thought of going there, and at doing something different, and and and and and and.....

Far too many dots in this blog.

Beads, trees and wrapping paper

2004-12-24T10:30:00.000Z

Its Christmas Eve.

I think that's a :-)

So far the children have been up for 4 hours, we have watched several Christmas 'specials' (postman pat was ok, but rapidly down hill from there, lol) and had an argument over who opened the tub of malteasers I bought DP and DD1 yesterday.

(Which reminds me - why does the tub of mixed white and milk maltesers have less white ones in it than a single bag of white ones, even though the proportions pictured on the tub are 50/50 as is the price of it? If you've yet to buy one of these tubs - Stop!! Buy the smaller one that is just white malteasers and then buy the equal weight in milk choc ones. It will be nearly a pound cheaper and you'll get more white ones which means that when a child raids the pot in the middle of the night there is less likelihood that they will all be gone in the morning. rant over :-)

Oh - and its my dads birthday today so a phone call has been made and he has had 2 renditions of Happy Birthday, along with an 'ahh' from DS (who I swear has been watching Ann from Little Britain, lol) followed by my mind going blank from lack of sleep so I will need to call again later.

On the 'cards' for today - well not shopping, all done, yay! - but lots of stickers (I bought the Raymond Briggs Snowman and Father Christmas books in JLP for half price the other day), with a little painting, some baking (see Reading and Recipe blog right for the recipes) - probably the lavender shortbread today, and maybe a mincemeat slice traybake or similar (that last depends on whether there is any mincemeat or dried fruit in the cupboard because I am *not* going to the shops).

All this of course, is assuming I can prise my children from the television!! I don't know, you keep them busy and away from it for a few days and they treat it like a long lost friend and are incapable of turning it off again!!!!

Ho hum. Merry Christmas and all that.

2004-12-21T22:09:00.000Z

Goodness, I've found a blog I forgot I had! Hick!!!

Well - time to start again just in time for Christmas.

And talking of Christmas - has anyone else out there had enough of it yet?

Today has been a case in point - DP decided to blitz the house and I was invageled into taking the children out for the day to facilitate this.

After 5 hours I come home to find that there is no where is sit, and the dining table is *full* of all the things that had been spread around the kitchen.

I turn around and take the children out for a further hour. They are not happy about this, given that it is nearly three-thirty in the afternoon and the schoolrun thingy that people do has just started. We attempt to go to Battle for the last hour of the day, only to be unable to park (due to all the people waiting to take their children home) and then we spend the next 15 mins queuing in said car park until a space becomes available and we stop for the next 35 mins to allow the traffic to disperse. We discover a lack of change so end up staying in the car until the traffic has gone, Then I start the engine again and we go home.

There is still no where to sit - and then DP admits that he didn't notice we'd gone out again until 5 minutes before we got home again. Arghh!!!!!!!

Anyway - I unload the children from the car. They go inside. I follow. We wander. DD1 cleans the bedroom!!!!!!

Lots of time passes doing the usual evening things (eating, running to the bathroom, fending the baby from the stairs, etc. etc.) Dp finally shoehorns the girls into bed. And starts the bedtime stories.

And DD2 reads!!! and not to be outdone DD1 decides to read more!!!

I'm now downstairs with a large glass of ginger wine and blogging with the shock of going from one reluctant and barely doing it reader to two doing it rather well in one day!! (well the second doing it as well as a beginner would, but the perfectionist DD1 has obviously decided not to be out done by little sys! Yay!

And there endeth the first Christmas posting.

Tommorrow - well probably a recipe or two whilst I try and formulate what we do and where we do it for the rest of you to see, and try and make something coherent out of a mismatch of info.

2002-08-20T00:37:00.000+01:00

Rant I wrote earlier today on that nice site www.ukparents.co.uk - needed to say it to someone and I don't see the point in those "thanks for nothing" letters to the Evening Standard. Anyway - more people will have read it at ukp :)

Just been to get my DP from the station - he got sent home from work today (he commutes to London from Hastings) as he just started throwing up about 1pm!!

Anyway - he threw up several more times getting to London Bridge, and at one point (at Moorgate tube) thought he was going to pass out and asked for some help, or for someone to get a tube employee.

All the 'nice' 'british' people couldn't get away fast enough - eventually (he thinks about 20 minutes) a couple of russian women came over to him, got him to a bench and got a member of staff who sat with him and put him on the right tube.

A croatian man (as it happens a refugee) helped him off the tube and onto his train home, and gave him his (unopened) bottle of water.

He was sick a couple more times on the train back home (into a bag, and then the loo - now a train loo makes me *feel* sick, I'd hate to need to use one for that purpose), and all he heard from other passengers was loud discussion of how dreadful it was that people could get themselves into that state, how could people be *allowed* to travel and that the guard should throw him off!!

This is a well dressed man, carrying a laptop, briefcase, a pile of briefing papers (with a DTI logo on them - bloody recognisable for what they are) and (apart from being sick :) with neatly groomed hair and pale and shaking. Not some disreputable, drunk with sick all down them

So the papers/media go on about how the foreigners are awful, take everything, take advantage and we are the poor suffering brits who are too soft hearted and just let them. And out there are brits who insist that they don't carry predjudices and 'judge'.

Well, the only people helping today were the foreigners/refugees - and the bloody brits were no where! I dread to think what would have happened if he had actually collapsed!

2002-08-20T00:34:00.000+01:00

First posting!!

Thought I'd like to keep a blog. Well, every other bod about the place seems to have one and I'm feeling rather left out.

Musings and mumblings to be kept - and probably a lot of nonsense...