Curse of the Never Ending Washing Basket.

I don't know about you but no matter how many loads I put in the washing machine my washing basket never ever seems to be empty. Yesterday I did 2 loads and thought 'great only one load left' judging from the amount left in there.  This morning walking in the direction of the basket I see it is yet again over flowing! now this isn't a one off and it seems to be the norm. No sooner is there space in that basket then someone fills it up.

You would think that my family lives in clean clothes morning noon and night as I seem to be habitually washing 1 or 2 loads every single day (we are only a family of 4 after all) but in reality both DD & DS often don't even bother changing out of their school clothes into clean stuff & it certainly isn't new PJ's every night either.

After investigating the pile I have discovered something. I appear to be washing things that I know the kids haven't worn. Their latest trick is when I give them a pile of washing to shove it either under bed / in wardrobe or in a drawer or most likely on the floor. Then over the course of a few days dirty stuff gets chucked there too (why should I be surprised? it isn't like the washing basket is right outside their bedroom doors or anything is it? oh yes wait it is!) They then forget what is clean and what is dirty and eventually bung the whole lot into the wash-basket.

Tonight the kids will be (re)learning how to work the washing machine and doing what they put in there last night themselves .....

The Power of Pets

Have you ever really thought about how your pets can really uplift your mood? 

Earlier today I noticed that my dog (slightly bonkers Springer spaniel called Branston) had left his usual daytime snooze spot of the last patch of sunlight in the living room and had come and was sitting with his head on my lap at my workstation. As I sat stroking his head I tried to decipher what he needed, was he hungry? Thirsty? Did he need the toilet? He didn't seem to need any and he certainly wasn't agitated so I just spent a few minutes engaging with him and giving him a cuddle and off he went to his little sunspot for a nap. 

I thought no more of this exchange until DS comes dashing through the door, clearly in a bad mood and plonks himself on the floor near me and begins to vent. Up gets the dog and sits sprawled over DS with his head on his lap which makes DS calm  a bit, giggle and start stroking the dog. Eventually Branston gets up and goes back to his spot. It's then that I realise my lovely dog senses when we are emotional, stressed, angry and sad and comes to calm us down. I am so grateful for my furry family member today and every day.

Water and Dehydration

As part of my strive to get myself healthier I am looking at what I drink. I'm not a big alcohol drinker (with the exception of a nice cold cider in a beer garden on a sunny day) so I am not talking about booze but instead I am talking about what I drink on an everyday basis.

I hold my hands up, I'm a serial tea drinker, it is easy for me to have 8 cups of tea a day without even thinking about it and even worse than that it is often the only thing I do drink. I know I should be drinking water but in reality I'm not a big fan of it and to be honest a good cup of tea peps me up and gets me through the day.

I'm not at the point I can go tea free (even though I am aware that the calories in the milk and sugar I add are contributing to my daily calorie intake) so my plan is to reduce the tea and add other drinks in.



Todays water with added lemon



I thought I would look up why I should be drinking more water so I can remind myself WHY I need to reduce the tea and increase the H2O.

1. Maintains balance of body fluids
2. Helps control calories
3. Helps your kidneys
4. Makes your skin look good
5. Energises the muscles
6. Maintains normal bowel function

With that in mind I'm trying to find ways to make water more palatable so todays offering is with a slice of lemon.

Attacking the flab!

In the last few months it's come to my attention that I have really piled on the pounds, I'd like to list a whole load of reasons why and indeed there are things that have contributed but the simple fact is I really love food! (well specifically big fat unhealthy delicious food.) in fact it's got to the point that my already oversized size 18 clothes are ceasing to fit and I can't bear to look in the mirror. I hold my hands up there is no way I will ever stick to a diet which bans me from any food type, insists I only have juices or I have to  eat certain foods on certain days for me. In the past I have managed these for a couple of weeks, yes got results but become so miserable I have broken, eaten 3 packets of crisps and a monster size dairy milk and promptly given up. For the last few weeks I have been thinking about how to tackle the problem (to be honest thinking while eating more chocolate and procrastinating) I have come to the conclusion I don't move enough, working from home in reality means I can actually spend a whole day moving no further than my bed to my workspace and that really just won't do. So one of my targets is to move more. I'm viewing a gym this week which is a really scary thing for me, after all who wants to show off those wobbly bits? But forcing myself out of the house to a gym will make me exercise and having access to equipment will hopefully keep me motivated. Other than that I am going for a walk (almost) every day and I'm hoping to get back on the couch to 5k plan which I did and enjoyed last year.  Food wise I have downloaded My Fitness Pal which is an app which counts your calories for you and you can log the exercise too. I haven't fully explored it yet but it seems simple to use. I have been counting calories for the past 2 days on it and it really is drawing my attention to how many calories are in foods. My aim is to reduce the junk and eat more healthy, fresh food which is processed less. It's going to be a tricky one though as I have a carnivorous husband and a very picky daughter so I fear I'm going to be making extra meals which as a busy working mum is usually a danger point for me to give up so I'm going to do some bulk dinner making so I have some meals for one in the freezer when everyone else is having something I think is too bad for me. I'll update you on my progress and any tasty but healthy food I find, today's deliciousness is my breakfast smoothie Banana, strawberry and almond milk smoothie - very yummy and also very filling!  

Fridge Gravel Soup

I once mentioned in passing to a non-thrifty friend that I make Fridge Gravel Soup and was asked for a recipe. I explained that its a bung it all in and boil it up kind of soup and never the same thing twice!

I tend to make this soup the day I am about to go shopping to clear out the old veg and make room for the new. I really prefer not to throw food out and I do see it as money going in the bin so any way to stretch the food a bit further the better. It saves me using something else for my lunch and quite often there is enough soup that I can either chill or freeze a second portion for another days lunch. I sometimes add leftover meat if we have had a roast (in fact one of my favourite soups is chicken and leftover veg pureed with boiled potatoes) sometimes I add some pasta or rice if I am feeling really hungry.

In my soup today is 1 carrot, 1 potato, small bits of broccoli corn sliced off the cob, lentils and some peas from the freezer along with half a stock cube. Served with a crispbread it is healthy, cheap and delicious. Sometimes I blend it (or blend half of it to make it a thicker sauce) just depends what I fancy! I would estimate the soup costs less than 20p with whatever vegetables you use.

If you haven't made Fridge Gravel Soup yet, go on give it a try!

Update and back to Blogging

A work colleague of mine suggested last week to me that I should write a blog and I shamefacedly admitted I started one a few years ago but never really carried it on. I decided to give it another go and logged back in to Blogger!

Reading back on my previous blog it strikes me that quite a lot of things have changed in my life since I last posted. I have still regularly followed other peoples blogs but have always thought "they write better than me" or "I have nothing to say" well enough procrastinating and on with the blog says I!

Firstly my blog was titled Musings from a Suffolk Village well that one changed last year, we have moved into a small town and although I do miss the countryside I am lucky where I live that if I walk to the edge of town (which only takes me 10 minutes) I am straight in to the countryside. Many things are different living in a town but that's a whole other blog post ....

Secondly, Primary school is a thing of the past, Both children are settled happily in an excellent secondary school and especially for DS it has been a huge change in that he is now happy and has made a great group of like minded friends. For me it has been a bit hard, no more school gate chats and the combination of moving away from my village of 10 years and Mum passing away has meant that I'm feeling more isolated than I have done before but I am taking steps to make friends, meet neighbours and enjoy life.

Thirdly, Watching the pennies - yes still working hard on this one, plenty of posts in mind to share with you!

Finally, 21 years today Hubby and I started dating (he messaged me earlier to share he would have got less time and be let out by now if he had murdered me!) so I am sharing a pic of us when we first got together.