The desire for a better life....

...began in 2014, in Shropshire, on our family holiday.

We stayed in a lovely cottage in a little village called Aston-on-Clun.

The cottage next door was a beautiful old Post Office.  It was for sale.  The area was so beautiful, peaceful....lacking motorways!  It got us wondering if we could relocate for a better life.

The talk of a better life had us thinking about location, jobs (or retirement), schools, isolation, leaving friends and family, but above all it had us reminiscing about the Good Life.....a TV show from the 1970's where a suburban couple threw the towel in on consumerism and went self sufficient.

Remember it?

We've decided that we do want to do that, ...well, not quite like that.....there's more to it.

This more...or less...is known as 'Lagom' in Sweden.  It simply means enough.

Not too much, not too little....but just....enough.

Reminds me of Goldilocks!

I don't believe I have any neighbours called Jones....or Margot, and if I did, I wouldn't want to keep up with them, I'm not that sort of a competitive type.....I like nice things....but I don't need what other people have.  Apart from which, I'm a bit...erm...unique.  I like creating and making...a bit of a homebug sort.

Now this doesn't mean I want to wear sackcloth and crochet my own toilet roll....I don't want to live a life of no enjoyment or fun or treats....how dismal.

Nor does it mean I shall be a brand slave or queue at stupid o'clock for product launches or sales....

......just somewhere not too mad...somewhere inbetween.....

I want to want less!

My aim would be to be comfortable, enjoy the few things I own, live as sustainably as I can, be frugal (not mean) and avoid waste,  stop buying and make the most of what I have. My work would be to provide foraged or home grown, home cooked food.  To use my skills to create a warm comfortable home.

To achieve this I'd like to trim down my possessions, grow my own food, keep bees and chickens, live somewhere less stressful...slower... and be mindful of my footprint on this world.  Above all I want to be happy in myself, to live and enjoy the simple pleasures.....and share this way of life with my husband and family.

And work?  I hear you cry, yes....to retire at the ripe old age of 51....(next year!)

So we'd like to do it....but can we do it?

Could you join us...get a plan in place and retire sooner than you ever thought possible to live the life you want?

This will hopefully be my diary of thoughts and actions as we sort out what we have to do to achieve our goal and a place to share the journey of our successes and failures with anyone who'd like to rumble along with us.

So that's the story of the 'why', I think the next time you pop in for a catchup, I'll tell you the story of the 'where'.....and in the meantime I'll try and work out how to use this!

Bye for now!

Disaster struck

I am so sorry to have posted you a hopeful post all those months ago and then deserted you, but sadly a terrible thing happened.

On the day I posted we had news that my wonderful aunt had had some shock news.

She's no ordinary art aunt, we are very close.  She is my mother's twin and for all my life, she and her husband were told they couldn't have children and I became  like a surrogate daughter....until miracle.....my cousin was born when I was 14!  Oh what a joy...and my aunt chose me to be her God-mother.

I spent many happy hours baking, cleaning and gardening with my aunt and uncle.  My aunt taught me to crochet...a skill I greatly enjoy.  Over the years she has helped me to care for my family and we have shared decades of wonderful memories in her home.

The shock news .....she had metastases on her brain....the beginnings of tiny clusters of cancer cells...but this was not brain cancer.  It was kidney cancer that had spread, not only to her brain but her lungs, pancreas and hip.

With the support of my hubby I was able to help my cousin care for my aunt by staying a night or 2 a week and doing all those tiny jobs that irritated her but that she was unable to finish for herself.

We spent many happy hours together over the last 4 months, chatting and making and laughing.

I went on holiday in august and as I left she said to me to enjoy my holiday...this was code for......"and don't come back for anything!". which we didn't.

Sadly she died whilst we were away but I did as I was ordered and stayed on holiday, visiting the Tall Ships Regatta in her honour.

So there you have it.  The reason for my absence....and I know you'll forgive me for it.

Oddly, I am not sad but relieved she is no longer suffering.  I have no guilt, we parted with love which I shall have always.

I am however heartbroken that there are no more memories to be made with this wonderfully, kind, loving, special lady.

I leave you with... Auntie Jack...

See you anon

Nora

xxx

Not a UFO in sight!

Hilarious!

How do I do it?

Post about finishing my UFOs and then go and start and finish something new in an hour!

I've been under the weather today...in fact I think it is the weather...I've had one of those odd stormy headaches.  Apart the arrival of a new Dyson which was unpacked and used immediately...you have to try these things out, you know!  And throwing the makings of a Minestrone Soup in the slow-cooker and a French bread dough in the bread machine, I have done nothing all day!!

So having purchased some new pegs yesterday, I decided to cheer myself and the laundry chore up by making a new peg bag from stash fabric...and a plastic coat hanger....because I'm sure this will see rain at some point!!

So without further ado...here it is...

Ta-daaaah!......

See you very soon....minus the headache!

Bye

Nora

xxx

Belated Happy New Year.....I'm back!.....(sort of!)

Hasn't it been a while?

So sorry to have deserted you.

I will answer your messages and comments and also post the finished poncho as requested, thank you for your lovely comments and concern for my absence....heart-warming.

I've been unwell since early last year, but it finally caught up with me in September and I had to stop all but everyday activities, in fact, some everyday activities too!

I want to say it was nothing serious so as not to alarm you, but this would underestimate the severity and destruction of mental illness and play down it's ability to be life threatening. But for some reason, (and I generalise as I realise not everyone is the same) generally in society we do play down mental illness. I guess we can see a broken limb, but what we can't see we don't recognise and find it hard to know how to deal with mental health issues.

Having dealt with mental illness in members of my family, I never thought it would bite my backside!

Anyway, I'm not recovered by far, I have really bad days...and for no logical reason other than my head is working through some stuff.  But I feel OK enough today to stick my head above the parapet here and say......

Hellooooo!

In the New Year, I decided that I needed to be a priority and I needed to concentrate on helping myself so that I could be well enough to get back to being a Mum, wife, housewife, friend, business manager....the list goes on!  So I decided on New Year..... New Me.......I'm kicking my butt in 3 self-worlds....craft.....home ....and body!

For home, I'm following Flylady to streamline and clean a home that has been neglected for many months.  I'm doing OK, the loft has been cleared and cleaned....yes...I CLEANED my loft!!  Along with a bulging airing cupboard.

Little Lady has a pared down room, Teenage Daughter has done her own and redecorated!

I even managed to steam clean the velux window right up in the stairwell....it involved some dubious balancing and climbing on the bannister....but I did it!!  Haha! I'm now onto the middle level (3 bedrooms, a bathroom and the hallway) I am purging, selling, charitying and only storing real treasures in the new found space in the loft....happy days!

For body, I am aiming to exercise at last 4 times a week....it is said to help mental illness and I could do with a bit of shaping here and there!  I'm not beating myself up if I don't and I have no real plan I just ask myself everyday if I fancy doing something and I do if I want and don't if I don't!  It could be walking on the school run, vigorous housework or gardening, cycling or planking or pilates exercises from my Pinterest board of 'Healthy Hints for the Lazy and Uninspired!'

I've stopped ballet for now as I couldn't make the commitment and when I didn't turn up, I beat myself with a big stick (metaphorically!), so that's on the back burner and I shall reconsider that for September.  I do occasionally slip into my pointe shoes as they make me smile.....

Lastly craft.... my UFOs (UnFinished Objects) have got a bit out of hand, so I'm setting myself a UFO challenge..... to get at least one thing a month finished. I'll try and post those on a board in Pinterest, so if you want to join the challenge, leave me a comment and we'll do our best to link up on Pinterest and you can post your photos on the 2016 UFOs Challenge board, any shared inspiration has to be good eh?  And it doesn't matter what it is....gardening, DIY, craft, hobby, food....just something that's been nagging you and you have been inspired to complete!

Part of that is also not starting or buying anything new......well....that's fallen by the wayside a couple of times already!! Tee-hee!

I can't promise I shall regularly post here, but I shall do my very best to keep in touch.

Hope you might join me for at least one of the self-world challenges....no big sticks allowed!

I shall return ......when I have something to show you...even if it's a list of UFOs so you can all help motivate me! Haha!

Until the next time...
Lots of love
Nora
xxxx

Summer Holiday - Day 18

Little Lady and I went to the Frozen Sing-along back in February...it was one of her Christmas Presents along with the full Queen Elsa dressing up costume.

She knew we were going and counted down for weeks.

What she didn't know was that her totally bonkers Mummy had made a Princess Anna outfit!

This time she didn't even know we were going!

So she didn't suspect a thing when I suggested she don her Princess Anna costume (her present to herself from our trip to Disneyland Paris).

Until that was Daddy popped her into the car, I got in in my costume and we headed off the 10 minutes to our local theatre! 

Clackers ready, snowflakes ready, crown unfurled and ready for the coronation and grey balloon inflated and waiting for the troll moment!  If you've never been to a sing-along....you won't get this AT ALL!

Here we are in our seats, waiting for the start of the performance......

You get the words to the songs on the big screen, an Anna or Elsa to help you sing and in our case......snowflakes in August!.....

Here's a snap of us when we got home......what can I say....it just had to be done!....

But it was a quick change as we were out for lunch at ASK Italian (Little Ladys choice, her favourite place to eat out!)

And here am I in my newly finished Cherry Dress from the Sew Mag Bette Dress pattern....TA-DAH!!!!

I hopped on-line to some forums about this dress and there were lots of discussions about how awful it was....too large....too long......I followed the pattern to the letter (1.5cm seam allowances), shortened it to fit me (by about 12cm) as advised in the instructions and hey presto....fits brilliantly!  It was a useful lesson to me in...Follow-the-Instructions!

The meal was lovely by the way!

We're off for the next few days, so I'll catch up with you very soon with another fun day out!

Until then, toodle-oo,

Love

Nora

xxxx

Summer Holiday - Day 17

We were exhausted from the trip on Day 16, but having looked at the weather forecast.....this is the only good day this week to take a trip when we'll be spending most of the day outside!

We took the train to London, couple of stops on the underground to Regents Park Tube, a short walk across Regents Park to London Zoo!

We were going to try and make lots of the put on chats, but after the first one, we decided that you could read the information and see much more if you gave those a miss.

We had to do the favourites.....you know about Little Lady's love of all things 'Melman' (from the film Madagascar), so we start with that.....

These fellas are a little more elusive, but if you look hard at the left hand edge of the otter slide, you will (hopefully!) see four little otters making their way up!

This chap was hilarious.....I think we were the entertainment in his eyes!

This gorgeous boy had just settled down for his afternoon nap.... 

Both my girls love these amazing creatures.....

Little Lady loved the colour on this...and she took the photo.....

This shell was big enough for her to get in to.....so she photographed this too! 

We aren't great spider lovers, The Hubs has to get rid of any round here.  He did take Little Lady through the open room of spiders....Mummy on the other hand  most certainly DID NOT go....the thought of one dropping off the ceiling into my hair....blergh!  No thanks!

But we got this mug shot for you to enjoy...think it needs a Ladyshave on those legs!

These were more to my liking, I can't tell you how small they are, but such a lovely vibrant colour....

We saw so much more, but I don't want to weigh you down with endless photos, just a small sample of our day.

Of course no day would be complete without a souvenir from the gift shop and a family mugshot.  So please let me introduce the newest addition to our family (having a whale (did you see what I did there?!) of a time) on the train home with her new family.....Rosie, the pink monkey!

I'll be back soon with some more summer doings very shortly, in the meantime, take care.

Love

Nora

xxxx

Summer Holiday Days 8-16!

The title is a bit misleading!

Of course we actually lived days 8-15, but they were taken up with looking after the In-Laws, catching up with paperwork and a rough patch with The Hubs.....it was not an easy week!

By day 16 we found ourselves with a small person who needed to get out and about (as we did!)

As she is looking at 'Turrets & Tiaras' when she returns to school (and this is likely to involve King Henry VIII!), we thought we'd visit the stunningly beautiful Hever Castle, childhood home of Anne Boleyn.

Here it is in the distance......

..and up close.....

Beautiful with its moat full of Koi and these gorgeous houses.....

Of course, we had to photograph the all important portcullis.......

This is the other side of the moat (to the right of the front of the castle).....

Look at these amazing woven willow deer.....bet they'll look great through the mist on an Autumn morning....

There is a great kids adventure playground here, a couple of mazes, an open air theatre.  We had to stop for the obligatory ice cream....

Then Little Lady got hold of the camera, I have to say, she's rather good (she took the next 5 photos).....

..in the rose garden......

...with permission from one of the gardeners to walk on the grass and smell the roses......

...this was her favourite, called 'Nostalgia'....beautiful!

Love the magenta rose against the green.....I think she captured this one so well.....

Finally, just when she was getting tired....we lead her to the water maze!  Needless to say, she found a bit more energy!

There is a way to pass through the maze without getting wet....but that's just no fun, is it?

Good job Mummy had packed a towel and spare clothes!

Thoroughly recommend a visit here...The Hubs and I plan to return, just the 2 of us to take a tour of the castle....they have accommodation here too, so who knows!

More days out and fun planned, so until the next time....take care.

Love

Nora

xxx