Back to normal life.

So Monday, the first of the New Year.

I have been sorting out computer woes, then trying to get on with some paying work whilst sorting out my stuff to file my tax return on line. Our rubbish broadband connection does not help with that!

When it had warmed up a little bit outside I had intended to clean out the Big Girls hen house - having been inside for longer due to the long nights they have made SUCH a mess in there - huge piles of droppings under the perches! but my back is hurting so I decided to do it tomorrow morning instead.

I also planned to go into Ledbury to get some veg from Handley Organics as well as visiting a shop to have an old phone unlocked. So that will have to wait as well until tomorrow I hope!

School starts again tomorrow for Compostgirl, it is always a bit difficult here in the holidays but we had as good a time as we could (I think)

I also finished ironing the last two shirts which I missed yesterday ( they were hanging behind a chair, hiding from me!) and made a start on the huge mending pile. I swear things breed if left in piles as I am sure there were not that many clothes waiting before Christmas!

Apart from that have sorted stuff out, mainly into many, smaller piles rather than actually doing something useful with them but it gave me the illusion of progress, at least!

Plan to sit and crochet in front of the fire, later :)

Brrrr its cold outside!

I had a very poor night sleep so needed a caffeine fix as we were  off to Archery this morning - however freezing fog did not lift until 10.30 so we were late getting there and it was still below freezing while shooting! My fingers hurt :(

 After lunch I did a bit of computer work, went and did a bit in the polytunnel and chatted to the Seramas while I worked, but it was too blooming cold to cary on so I retreated inside to scale the ironing mountain in the sitting room. It was lovely and warm in there with the woodburner going!

I am also really pleased that I am back on track with the weight loss - my normal Sunday morning weigh in today had me the lightest I have been for 10 years

I wavered a bit over Christmas - after 5 and a half months of being very positive and pretty well 100% THD I went a bit off piste the last two weeks of Dec ( mainly wine and a few mixed meals - all real food and nothing processed) and put on 5 lbs. This is the first time I have gained since 28 th June so was not pleased with myself. But I learnt the lesson - I am not yet ready to eat carbs or drink wine as I start to crave sugar again.

So I am joining in with the Harcombe Jan Blitz and have been 100% P1 since 1st Jan and boy does it work!

Anyone else watching what they eat or drink, at the moment?

Saturday - no power and very cold outside :(

We woke to no power and driving rain and a temp of 3 C outside so doing the hens etc was chilly this morning!

We were meant to be shooting at Mordiford but driving rain and low cloud cancelled that plan. As we still had no power by 9 am we decided we would go to Hereford earlier than planned and have tea and a hot breakfast -then do the shopping. So we did.

Compostgirl has finished at Guides but is going to be a Young Leader with her old Brownie pack so needs a different uniform top but unfortunately the Girlguiding shop was closed. We still had a wander around and looking in shops and tried on a few things - mainly boots :)

Very cold and wet and dreary weather here - we were glad to find the power was back on when we got home as we were not looking forward to getting out the Generator and going into that routine - it is a lot of work and everything takes far longer to do. We really are lucky in the UK to have electrickery on demand - many people all over the world do not and I am very grateful I can see to read and type this to you all by electricity :)

Steak tonight for me and fizzy water :) Day 3 of not drinking :) Will see how long I can keep it, just for the fun of it  :)

Night all, early start tomorrow as have lots to do outside here :)

Day out with friends

Today Compostgirl and I had a lovely day out with friends Maria and her two children.  Compostman stayed at home and did ...stuff ( I don't know what he did, but he says he enjoyed himself)

We went out to lunch at a local pub ( The Bunch of Carrots) which I have mentioned before and which does an amazing carvery. I had roasted meats and loads of veg (cabbage/cauli/green beans) and roast parsnips. When I went to order and started to ask about gluten free options the waiter immediately offered me "naked" cauli (the cauli on offer was in a cheese sauce with wheat in) and the offer of gf gravy and a gf Yorkshire pud! I declined the Yorkshire pud but it was so nice to be asked rather than having to quiz the staff about it :) .

Compostgirl and the other two children were intrigued by the concept of a Dessert Trolley and had pudding while M and I had excellent coffee.

After that we went into Hereford and had a bit of a shopping trip - the children went off together to mooch around the new Old Market shopping complex while M and I looked in M & S and various other shops.

We ended up with a short trip to Sainsburys where I stocked up with stuff we had run out of.

Got home at 7 pm after a very enjoyable day. Compostman had very kindly had put the hens to bed and made a fresh pot of tea :)

I have spent the rest of the evening crocheting and sewing and am off to bed now. We need to be up early tomorrow for Archery !

Happy 1st Jan 2015

Hello to all my lovely blog friends.



A quiet day here today, we watched the Queen concert and the fireworks last night and saw in the New Year so today we  got up a bit later than usual. We did the various chores outside then I settled down to a lot of mending and ironing and sorting stuff out; Compostman did various setting up of our respective bows and Compostgirl spent the day doing stuff with her laptop and mp3 player in her room.

Later on in the evening we had a fun shoot at our archery club indoor venue in Hereford; we used dart board target faces rather than the usual FITA design and had games of "darts" firing arrows rather than darts. Much hilarity ensued and it was all good fun!

So that was the first day of 2015. A good day :)




Also,  I have started back on The Harcombe Diet seriously after a couple of weeks being less rigorous in avoiding carbs. As you may know I have lost a lot of weight in the last 6 months following this way of eating :)  I have actually been keeping a blog about my weight loss journey and The Harcombe Diet so, if you would like to follow this private blog please email me to be added to the list of people who can read it. I can be contacted at compostwoman@the-compostbin.com