I Should Be So Clucky.......

.......clucky, clucky, clucky!

Ok, so I'll apologise for the title first but, it did seem kind of appropriate after yesterday!

We went to take Mrs T Senior out for lunch yesterday to celebrate her 78th birthday and when we arrived home in the late afternoon we found a note on the back door.....food in the sack, hens in the coop, Ray.

So thanks Ray for 'our 4 girls'

They seem to have settled in quite quickly and this morning I got 2 eggs! But, they're BIG girls and it quickly became apparent that the although the coop is big enough the 'playpen' isn't! so part of the garden is now earmarked for a large, walk-in run and we have added another job to the never ending list.

Also, by the back door - this little dresser! purchased from ebay (other auction sites are available) solely to house my ever growing collection of chickenalia and delivered by the seller to boot. Isn't it cute?

Coming in at about 5 feet tall and only 3 feet wide it fits perfectly into the dining end of the kitchen. I had planned to paint it but I rather like the dark colour as it shows off my birds! I'm thinking I may just paint the walls in this end a lovely sunny yellow. 

So there you are, chickens everywhere and two more jobs on that list....

Happy Saturday!

Mrs T.

xx

What the SFG......?

Well......it's a Square Foot Garden!

It's a really sensible and straightforward method of growing your own food without being 'swamped' by 100 lettuces all at once! Ideal if there is just a couple of you to feed.

You can find the official website HERE. I had the book some years ago as a birthday gift and it's really good but to be honest the website tells you all you need to know to get going.

Look at my wheels!

I had great success with this a couple of years ago, sadly last year we had neither the time or the inclination to grow much of anything except some tomatoes that lived in the conservatory.

The Jolly Green Giant

Not this year! The polytunnel is up and the SFG has been filled. (Mr T made  mine for me and put it on castors so I could move it around to follow the sun, I didn't really move it much but the castors worked brilliantly as I didn't lose a single plant to slugs - they couldn't get into the box at all which is great as I grow salad crops in mine)

Today I have sown 2 varieties of lettuce, 2 varieties of chard, 3 of radish (who wouldn't want to grow something called mooli mino?) land cress, rocket, cilantro, red onions, spinach and spinach beet, all in a box 4 feet x 4 feet! phew.....

I have also started some squash, 2 types of cucumber (including an unusual round yellow one called - limon) and 2 types of courgette, these will grow in the grobags along with the tomatoes. I will grow some runner beans and broad beans outside in the garden and have a variety of Asparagus pea to try. Don't think we'll be doing any root veg this year though.

I didn't get much cleaning done today, maybe the housework fairies will come while I sleep tonight, and I will sleep.... :0)


Mrs T 
xx

Your very first peek......

.....at the holiday cottage, but first.....

Welcome new followers to my very sporadic blog, I'm not usually so bad but these have been a busy few weeks here at Tightwad Towers.

I have finished working my notice this week and am starting my new job on Monday, I'll miss the girls I worked with on the night shift, they're a different breed and I enjoyed working with them all in different ways. Sadly though I have felt for a while that I can't continue working night shifts indefinitely as it's beginning to take it's toll. Hopefully some daylight and some good nights sleep will cure a lot of my almost permanent tiredness. I'll be out and about in the community from next week and I am looking forward to some new challenges. 

One of my regular followers asked me how I cope with the inevitable sadness that my job can bring and whether I try to stay 'remote' from the people I help care for....In answer, I came to this 'vocation' quite late and somewhat by accident and while in my experience some carers do stay somewhat detached from their job I don't. My personal feelings are that if you don't really care about someone you can't do a good job of caring for them, it's as simple as that! I do have bad days and I do get upset, I think that is perfectly natural and acceptable. In order to cope with this I think you have to start from a 'happy place' both physically and mentally and you have to have great support from family and friends - I'm very lucky - I have that in spades! 

Anyway,  enough insights for one day! lets get on with other news!

We decided (clean slate and all that) to rename our little holiday cottage and this is currently being processed by a very nice man at the Council, it's not quite finished, but then neither is the cottage so I don't think there's any harm in starting to use it. After much consideration (about 2 hours) then a complete about turn and in keeping with this years celebrations I would like to formally welcome you to ......

"Jubilee Cottage"

Partly because whether you are a royalist or not I think that 60 years is pretty good going and partly because the cottage will probably be filled with stuff from the last 6 decades! And I like it! I think it's a happy name....

So where are we up to? Well the upstairs is done apart from a deep clean and 2 new taps in the bathroom, the stairs are all fixed and solid again, the living room needs a good clean, the tools and junk removing and 'dressing' and the kitchen is still a cave! But it is a cave with a new floor and the new (yes brand spanky shiny new,  I feel faint new) kitchen units have arrived and are in boxes and hopefully we'll get to that next week.

Do you want to see photo's? I hope so because here they are. The 'befores' were taken after I had repaired and painted (because I forgot before that)......hope you like them...

and finally......ta da! the afters.......

Yes...you keen eyed readers, you will find some of my 'bargain' treasures in these pictures! As usual here at Tightwad Towers it's all been done on a tight budget (as we decided early that the kitchen would have to be done from scratch) but we're totally happy with the way it's turning out and the nice, cosy 'cottage' feel. What do you think?

Back soon with more updates...

Mrs T xx

Happy Easter & Bloggy Blanket Chain

Happy Easter Everyone - and welcome to my new follower!

Hope you're all stuffed full of chocolate and other yummy Easter goodies.

I have signed up to Mum's Bloggy Blanket Chain HERE and here are my two lonely little squares (plus the one Mum sent me) ready to wing their way to the next volunteer - any takers? 

If you want to be next in the chain please let me know by leaving a comment here or at Mum's blog here or by using my 'Kontact me' button

I am including the note Mum sent along with a message of my own - I thought they might be nice to pass along to the final recipient of the finished blanket.

A big thank you to the lovely Mum for organising this and another thank you for getting me 'hooked' on crochet again, it's been a while :0)

BBFN

Mrs T xx