Goodbye February, Hello March

Spring is definitely in the air and it's lovely to feel.

Today I have been to the stables with my daughter and enjoyed seeing her ride her pony and a friend's pony too.  Following this we all went to the father in laws for a lovely Sunday lunch.  This afternoon has seen me take inspiration from notjustgreenfingers' blog and whip up some chocolate chip cookies, flapjacks and currently in the bread-maker is a dough to make rolls.  Following her advice I will slice them and freeze ready to make up for the packed lunches.  Great idea!

I've been making bread in the BM weekly now when we run out of shop bought.  At the moment, we rely on shop bought to see us through the beginning of the week and I top up with homemade.  Eventually I may get to homemade 100% of the time but for now I'm happy with the balance.

It struck me the other day how far we've come since our journey had it's initial, dim spark.  I say dim as it's taken me a long time to start living a more frugal lifestyle but the fact is, we've come so far.  We don't buy things that we don't need, we make do and mend, make the most of free activities and generally live a happy yet frugal lifestyle. 

So this coming week I have my meal plan done, shopped yesterday to get everything I need for it and have the treats made to fill up the lunch boxes and after tea requests.  I'm going to make some rice pudding later in the week.  I think I will use the slow cooker as I've never done rice pudding in the slow cooker before.  That will be or Friday's soup and pudding night.

Two years time we will have our house up for sale and the farm will be in our sights.

Dusting off the January blues and looking forward to Frugal February

Happy Monday :)

Well pay day finally arrived.  I've been sitting, waiting for it to arrive and although it took its time, it did.  A welcome one indeed. 

So we have made it through Christmas and most of January and are now ready to bring on Frugal February.  The idea is to spend as little as possible on groceries and get back on an even keel after the Christmas spends.

Life is good at the moment.  Yesterday saw the family gather together for a Sunday lunch cooked by yours truly and I must say, it was thoroughly enjoyed.  We followed it with a lovely walk with the dog and by the time we came back, the children were worn out.  An early night was had by all, most welcome too!

We went to view a little property on Saturday.  We're not looking to buy yet but whilst we were over that neck of the woods we called in.  It was lovely and plenty of inspiration to keep plodding along and get into a position to be truly looking.

In the coming weeks I will be planting some potatoes after they have chitted and I'm on the look out for something else to plant.  I don't have a lot of room, it's a  small veg patch, not bags/borders etc so watch this space!

Speaking of potatoes, we have a lovely butternut squash and sweet potato soup for lunch today.  I made it last night.  It has a bit of chilli in it to keep us warm on these colder days.  Although, having said that, it's becoming increasingly spring like today.

So, now we're starting Frugal February, I'm reinforcing we are still determined and looking more than ever to the end goal.  2 years to go!

I might even start planning a little......let's start with pigs......

A belated, but Merry Christmas!

Happy December!

How time flies when you are having fun.

I am currently cooking a joint of ham in the slow cooker, simmering a pan of pudding rice on the hob and listening to the sound of my bread maker, which is busily competing with the washing machine.  Right now, I am sat in my cosy chair, with a glass of red wine, thinking what 2014 has given us and what I would like from 2015 whilst perusing the forums that I follow online.

I've taken on a second job in October and it has proved a great thing so far.  I won't lie, it's hard work managing that on top of a normal full time job, husband & children, horses , dog and a house.  However the thought of owing our own piece of heaven (or a bit of countryside in the North East of England as it's also known) is worth the hard work and more.  Some nights have seen me working until 2:30am and getting up at 6:30am but I am coping and dare I say it, enjoying it!  A couple of hundred extra a month is very welcome :)

2015 is going to be the best year yet.  It will see us making great strides into paying off the loan meaning we're ready to start looking for our farm.  It will be the year of make do and mend and really getting back to basics.

Starting off with repairing a pair of jodhpurs that have seen better days and were destined for the bin. 

I am off work until Friday and even then it's just from home for a couple of hours.  I am just settling down and enjoying my time off and it's lovely.

Almost done

Well we've almost made it through another week.

This afternoon/evening shall see me trying to make a new jam, inspired by a post from notjustgreenfingers' blog.  My first attempt was a disaster through overboiling the jam however that hasn't put me off!  I now have some tips from notjustgreenfingers' comments and so my gorgeous husband has picked me some plums from our tree and I have my sugar so I'm ready to go!  We're going bramble picking again on Saturday but I can't wait that long (yes a day I know!) so plum it is.

If we're going to aim to be self sufficient one day then I need to at least get jam right :D

The other night on the way to the livery yard (a 10 minute drive from home, everything's 10 minutes from our house lol) I had to stop and take a picture.  As I keep saying, I love this time of year and this is just one of the sights I love to see.

It's been a busy few days but we're getting a little routine going on so I'm hoping to stay fresh and focussed and keeping this blog is a lovely way of recording our lives and talking about our plans for the future.

Even GH mentioned our 4 year plan to someone the other day so I suspect he's a tiny bit excited too!

Happy Friday everyone.

Summer holiday memories

Well today marks the official end of my summer holiday.  I've had 2 lovely weeks off with the kids and my Gorgeous Husband.  We also had the Bank Holiday snuck in there too, shhh, don't tell anyone.  GH is back to work today (he leaves at 5:30 ish and is a butcher) and I'm working from home from 2-10 (American time zone hours today - will explain one day). 

What a fantastic 2 weeks it's been too.  I've loved every minute of it!  The first 3 days it was just me and the kids so we went to the local park, play areas and to the horses.  The horses are around 10 minute drive away at the moment.  Then my hubby joined us and we had a trip to Cadbury's World in Birmingham and Chester Zoo.  We stayed over a night at both places, with a night or 2 at home in between to break it up.  The days spent at home saw us Geocaching which is our new found favourite family hobby (meaning the dog comes too) along with trips to the park and a day trip to Whitby (crabbing) which was SO much fun.

Our beautiful daughter and her cheeky pony, Sonic.

3 hour walk, stopping off for refreshments.  Filthy!

Arriving at Cadbury's World, too excited!

Stunning Whitby views from the car park

Little and Large crabs (all went back in safely)

Our son enjoying the Whitby views (and he's only 4!)

The fantastic Inn Keeper's Lodge at Chester - highly recommended

A walk along the canal at Chester

On one of our many walks out we went brambling (picking wild blackberries if the word isn't familiar) and came home with quite a bounty considering many of them aren't ripe yet.  I immediately set to work on the "must make" apple and bramble crumble which was divine.  Next on the list is apple and bramble cake/loaf, then some jams to see us through the winter to go with our porridge, yum.

Brambles and apples - free food (foraged and from our on tree)

Yum - thoroughly enjoyed

On a foody note, we are a family who love our food.  I try to cook everything from scratch but it's not always possible with working full time, having the animals and kids etc so of course the odd take away sneaks in or frozen pizza which is all part of getting the balance.  We love the great outdoors as you may have picked up on and would prefer to be outside given the chance however you will also see in coming posts that we try and make home life as cosy and comfortable as possible too.

If you've stumbled across our blog, welcome and I hope you follow us as our journey unfolds and opens up into the wonderful world of blogging.  Thanks, Tracy x