Monday, November 07, 2011

A Monday full of ordinary things.......

Well, hello from a grey and damp and decidedly unimpressive Monday in Middle England. I am waiting for the water board people to arrive. Sometime today. Nothing is wrong, but our water supplier is offering free water saving things - sprayer on taps, attachment for the garden hose-pipe, and they do something to decrease the amount of water used to flush the toilets. Free. I like free. So, the thought of reducing my water bill appeals, and I called them, after finding out most of my friends have done or are doing the same. We have metered water bills. Believe me, you want to keep the amount you use down.

After spending a couple of hours on Pinterest yesterday, I have drawn up a list, and today I will be unearthing the things I need to make some of the ideas I have seen. If I made everything I want to make and have pinned, it would take a couple of lifetimes, so I decided that today would be the start of a concerted effort. I have tried quite a few new things in recent weeks, I have to say, and I have been so delighted with them all. Except  the croissants stuffed with peanut butter and chocolate chips,. That got a thumbs down here. Just as well I just did 2.

Tick tock tick tock (my impression of time passing...)

Three quarters of a day later,....................

He came. Water saving = sorted. Coffee with Jean after she brought me some bread from the shops = drunk. Bunting = cut and assembled. Apron = cut and made. Table runner tops = 2 assembled. Julia's seeds = identified and sorted. Coffee = drunk. Dinner = cooked and eaten. Allotment AGM = attended and paid for for another year. Massive price hike. From £6.00 to £10. A YEAR. For 10 poles. A pole is 5.5yards. So 10 poles = 160.5 feet. Or close enough to 50 metres long, by about 15 ft wide? Or 20 ft? And now I am getting ALL CONFUSED with poles and feet and metres and IT IS BIG. So £10 is a bargain. The funniest thing is that when I show up at the AGM, every person there knows me. I cannot remember any names. I have no idea HOW they know who I am, but they do. Is this a good thing? Hmmm. I will go with yes, it is. Now I need to learn and remember their names. I did suggest that each allotment should have the holder's name on a wooden post along the path. They thought I was a lunatic. I seem to be the only one with this name problem.

Mother informs me that the Jackson verdict is about to be delivered. It is the main item of news here right this minute. But I have wool waiting, and a cowl to be conquered. And that Autumn quilt needs one more bit of quilting and I will just have the binding to do. It is all go around here, people. I will need a week or two to recover after all this activity. But I do like seeing things pile up in the "finished" basket, don't you?

I will be back.

PS: Don't forget all the Compassion Bloggers flying off to Ecuador as I speak! You can follow their trip HERE - Ann Voskamp, Boomama, Big Mama, Kelly.......and more.

PPS: Day 7: I am so thankful for running water. The ability to drink water, fill a bath, water gardens, you name it. Without water, life is impossible. I will not take it for granted when so many in the world have no access to it. Let the rains come, and the rivers fill, and the land turn green, and the food grow......

8 comments:

Helen in Switzerland said...

I'm afraid that they can remember you because you have a 'funny' accent so you stand out - the same thing happens to me here. It's hard to hide when you're different - nice that everyone knows your name though! Switzerland is of course much worse, because they are raised from birth to remember names, everyone uses your name a lot more and they expect you to use theirs - as you can imagine, I fail miserably!!

Anonymous said...

I'm terrible for remembering names but I found that when I talked to someone (always pretending I knew who they were!), I would say, "What's your second name again?" and the Christian name would immediately come to my mind!

Wierd eh?

Crystal said...

We are very blessed to have our own well (which also means that we paid to have it dug and have to maintain it!) but I do try to be frugal with our water. I'm sure I fail miserably compared to using other places where they use 5 gal. for the whole family for the whole day! I remember carrying water in before there was running water in houses. Laundry day was a huge endeavor because the water had to be heated too. Now it's so simple to just turn on the tap and let it run.

Good for you getting so many projects done already. I'm spending far too much time pinning ideas too! Having said that, I'm off to drop today's bags at the second hand store - and to check for a few things I need. I do have my shoeboxes nearly ready to drop off so that's a checkmark on the list :)

Vee said...

(Hope that less water to flush the loo works out well. The old-fashioned commodes are on the black market here for all the trouble caused by some of the water-saving variety.)

How do you get so much done? Here it's the end of a day that I took off from blogging (well nearly) and I've nothing done. Not a thing. Sigh.

boysmum2 said...

what a productive day you had. Always good to save water never know when you might need more of it. I ahve checked out pinterest but not 100% sure on how it works or what you do, if you ahve any insight to give then greatly receievd

MotherT said...

Good for you with all of your finished items today! I've been on a quest to get my sewing room in order so that I can charge through Christmas gifts. I'm trying to use stuff I already have so I'm having to be quite creative.

Needled Mom said...

It sounds like it was an exciting Monday!

I haven't done the Pinterest thing yet, but I keep reading about how much fun it is. Guess I need to look into it.

Kathleen said...

Wow! You are one busy lady but you do accomplish a lot. Some told me to just put a brick in your tolite tank and you can save water. I haven't tried it. We have a well so I don't worry as much I guess. But I should try to conserve. Love to see pictures of your table runners. Oh and my daughter just got back from a 2 week trip to England. She had a blast and loved the countryside. She went to Bath, Brighton and a few other places. I'd like to return and see where I lived as a child. Have a great day!