Carrots and Kids

{So What If It's Cold}

Following on from my last post, it is, naturally, now winter proper. I am sat here with a very cold nose, wearing four layers and contemplating a fifth.

Of course, it is not really the weather for blogging either. Really, I should be ironing....

And when I used to run a gardening club I decreed it wasn't the weather for gardening. Oh, I know there are things to do but it was always nice to have a break.

Now I am a helper whose main responsibility is to just turn up, we are ploughing on. This week we replenished a dead hedge. It's quite cool, but something you'd need a lot of space for I reckon. Perfect for a school though.

I am keen to do some gardening with, at least, my children. I'm resigned to it being largely indoors. Possibilities include creating a terrarium, planting winter peas, sowing broad beans in modules and onions too.

Or how about starting a nature or gardening journal? And let's not forget about feeding the birds...

Crikey, I've inspired myself! That's got to be another good thing about blogging.

:: The photo was taken with iPhone. You can see the older, darker parts of the hedge ::

 

{Feels Like Spring}

I admit I have been enjoying this weather. Out and about the other day, it really felt like spring. And I know, I do, that isn't good.

No doubt we will have some bad weather, I keep seeing snow shovels and sledges for sale everywhere. That in itself is unusual, I'm sure I never used to.

I read about someone hearing a blackbird singing the other morning. And how it might turn out to be a challenging gardening year because there has been no cold snap to kill off pests.

Although I haven't missed the snow this year, I have missed the crunchy, frosty mornings. But despite all of that, all the misgivings about the mild weather, I did gasp with delight at the allotment when I saw my calendulas still blooming.

Admittedly, I was less enamoured to see lots of nasturtium seedlings sprouting. Thinking of sowing a few at your allotment? I wouldn't, not unless you know it'll be a hard winter to kill them off.

{gardening with glue}

The weather has been grim. I'm pretty sure it's been horrid throughout the whole of the UK. And strange. After the hardest rain I've seen in a long time there was blue sky.

But I'm not complaining. After all I wasn't out in it. But I am hoping this is not a sign of things to come, weather-wise, in 2012. Please.

Still, it did mean that I could get on with doing a rather favourite form of gardening. That of gardening with glue. While I like reading gardening books, it's pictures that help form my ideas and get me inspired.

So in lieu of seed catalogues which are winging their way to me, I cut up some old magazines which was a form of decluttering and Fantasy Gardening.

I'm not setting myself up for a fall, I'm fully aware that I have neither the skill or the money to transform my garden but I do need to do something with both the front and back and this scrapbook will help.

{gardening goals}

 

I'm not normally a fan of the new year but after the December I've had I am greeting 2012 like an old friend, and smothering it in kisses.

And because this blog shouldn't be a depository for all my moaning I won't go on about the car that cost £1,700 to fix, the boiler that broke down or a lurgy picked up at school that saw all seven of us ill with three on antibiotics.

All in the two weeks before Christmas.

But no, I'm not dwelling on that or the utter exhaustion that has shrouded these holidays. To say I am looking forward to a bit of peace tomorrow is probably understating it somewhat.

I'm also looking forward to getting a few things achieved this year. I know resolutions are sticks we use to beat ourselves over the head, but it's hard to resist filling the blank pages of a new year with hopes and dreams.

But I'm calling mine goals. I figure they sound more achievable that way and less angst-making if they fail to leave the pages of my notebook.

In fact, there are so many things I want to get a handle on this year I am, yet again, feeling paralysed by feelings of overwhelm.

So I've made extensive lists, including a section entitled Gardening Goals. These are, in no particular order:

• Visit the allotment every week. Prioritise it
• Order three David Austin roses (I have until March to get the bare rooted ones in) to grow through the picket fence
• Paint the picket fence before the roses grow
• Organise and paint the potting shed - I feel this will feature in a few posts
• Plan and plant the Lotion and Potion patch
• Turn the unused bit of front garden into a cutting garden
• Transform the side bit of the house into a shady-loving plant haven
• Buy and fit a wooden gate so the above haven is a private one
• Get back to enjoying gardening.

The last one is probably the most important one. Thanks to the internet I do feel pangs of gardening inadequacy but I need to ignore what everyone else is doing. Really.

Have you any gardening goals?

{The Ultimate Thrifty Tip}

I'll be honest, I don't really do thrifty or frugal. It's not that I couldn't do with a few pointers in that department. I'm the first to admit that cutting back is not an area of expertise. But I won't let that stop me from offering you the ultimate thrifty tip!

At this stage you're probably looking a bit puzzled and wondering what on earth I think I'm doing. What, me?

Obviously we could all do with some help in cutting back. I have been doing this in lots of ways, from not buying new books to eschewing the tumble dryer.

But the best way to help our finances - the ultimate thrifty tip which will save money - is extremely simple, very effective and really hard. It's avoid shops. And not just shops - adverts and catalogues and online stores too.

Obviously it's impossible at this time of year. But it is precisely while hitting the High Street that I realised this. Perusing the shelves of John Lewis, walking past the window of White Stuff, touching the scarves in Accessorize all gave me a really bad case of the wanties.

Currently on my list? A rather lovely leather chair, coffee makers (yes, plural), boots, dresses, skirts, bags, a Kitchen Aid (yes, I know I said I would never buy one but have you seen the colours?), kitchen chairs, a new camera....I could go on. Do I need any of this? Ab.So.Lute.Ly Not.

So that's my big tip - stay away from shops. From adverts. From people telling you about their latest purchases. From those lovely catalogues (Lakeland, I'm looking at you).

I would probably also add "stay away from blogs" too. Because whether they are thrifty and frugal or even about something else entirely, I still get stricken by this awful malaise. Seriously, I don't need to see what lovely things others have bought. Nor do I need to be seeing ads (which encourage people to spend money) on blogs that are apparently trying to help people save money.

I'm putting myself on a Consumer Diet. And like all good diets, it will start tomorrow, or after Christmas. Yes, definitely after the festivities. January 1st is a good day to start a diet I hear.

{Cosy}

I have literally blown the cobwebs off my laptop and dusted it down to get on with writing a blog post. I realise that what I have been up to is of very little consequence but here's the thing - I have missed the creativity afforded to me by this space.

Life has been trundling on in its usual fashion with a lot of Christmas shopping (all done, even the online food order - phew), plus trips to the doctors for one of the younger members of the Carrots house, a fair bit of worry, inset days and the strike and, well, life has been full.

Full and productive which is always good, leaving no room really for blogging or Twitter. But I have felt something has been amiss. And that was the lack of writing, being creative. Because while bread making is satisfying it is, for me at the moment making my basic white, not really creative.

I guess that's a lie because I have been slightly creative making some Christmas presents. I haven't yet got into the groove of making lots. I need to start in the summer for that.

But these four presents are small enough to cost pennies and to be quick enough to make, even for me. I admire those that go the whole Handmade Holiday route but really, I can't see my teens being totally overjoyed at any homemade offering from me.

So Christmas shopping it has been. It wasn't too bad as it entailed a (very) rare day with Hubby on our own, copious cups of coffee, lunch out and the satisfaction that it is All Done.

That just leaves the wrapping which I hope to crack on with tomorrow and Friday. Proper decorating will start later in the month but I have put up this rather lovely cardboard star which is lit from inside and brightens up these gloomy days. December is shaping up well for some cosy, Christmas fun. Can't wait.

{Learning to Sew at West Dean}

Last weekend I was lucky enough to learn how to use my sewing machine on a course at West Dean College. Oh my. It was such a wonderful experience.

It's quite hard to sum up in words what it meant to me (and really, how can a sewing machine course induce any feelings at all apart from phew, I can now use my machine?) but when I think of the weekend I just feel all warm and fuzzy.

By rights I should feel a bit stupid. I was one of the slowest. So slow in fact that I didn't get to try out button holes (although I wished I'd watched someone else have a go because I've read the instructions and all I can think is I have to cut the stitches?).

There was not one thing about the course that I didn't love. One of the other students, a workshop veteran with three other courses under her belt, described West Dean as her spiritual home. And I knew exactly what she meant.

It's a sumptuous manor house set in rolling acres nestled in the South Downs. It's the home of the Edward James Foundation and is where people can learn how to make musical instruments, tapestry, felting - the list is endless. The creative vibe was palable.

Even the other tutors were, from what I saw, funky and eccentric and creative looking. They seemed to be older women and I gazed on them in awe, thinking I want to age like you...

But what of the course? Did I learn anything? Well, I made a wonderful looking cushion (even if I do say so myself). It even has a zip! And four different seams in the front which allowed us to try out different techniques.

I've also got a funky bag that's going to be my book club book bag. It might also make an appearance in the school playground. I made a rather fundemental mistake on it but it's one I now know to look out for in future bag making exploits.

Ginny and Alice, our tutors, were fab. They had endless patience, even with me who displayed a truely stellar goldfish-like memory. There were eight of us and they managed, somehow, to help us all individually and equally. I felt so at home in the studio with everyone that I didn't want to go home.

Life's been pretty stressful lately. Actually, this weekend made me realise quite how stressful, on a day-in-day out basis. I've been finding it hard going, having to mix daily (or rather not really mix) with groups of women who don't get me and are not remotely interested in me. Where I live is a wealthy, cliquey place and if you don't have the private education/bank balance or three-quarter of a million pound home then you don't fit. And it's not just me, I know others experience the same.

But this weekend all of that was forgotten. It was joyful to immerse myself in a productive activity, to lose myself in learning and to be me with no worries or stress. Really, who'd have thought one little course would have given me so much? I'm so glad I went.

{Feel Good Films and Other Things}

Thank you so much for all your wonderful suggestions about comforting, feel-good films. I bought the first series of Downton Abbey (I seemed to have missed it when it was on the TV) so have been enjoying the very first programme.

The only trouble is I tend to nod off when I watch it (tell me I'm not the only one this happens to) but I figure if it takes me yonks to get through it, it doesn't matter.

I thought I'd list everyone's suggestions (just in case you're looking for inspiration and for my benefit too for when I get bored of Downton Abbey which will presumably be when I have mastered the art of staying awake on a sofa).

Films:

• The Big Lebowski
• Chocolat
• It's a Wonderful Life
• Amelie
• Notting Hill
• Forrest Gump
• Waking Ned Devine
• 13 Going on 30
• Serendipity
• The Holiday
• Roxanne
• Lord of the Rings
• Under the Tuscan Sun
• Mama Mia
• Juno
• Love Actually
• Room With a View
• You've Got Mail
• Bridesmaids
• Australia
• Out of Africa
• The Help

Comfort television:

• One Foot in the Grave
• Only Fools and Horses
• Outnumbered
• Modern Family
• Couger Town
• Brideshead Revisited
• Dinnerladies
• Jam and Jerusalem
• Flight of the Conchords
• Kath and Kim
• Pride and Prejudice (the tv version with Colin Firth).

There may have been a few suggestions via Twitter I missed (apologies if it was yours) because it wouldn't let me search lots of old tweets. Bad Twitter.

After writing that out I have to say, you lot are amazing. Really. Even though I write this blog for myself (in as much that I'm not chasing advertisers/lots of hits/high rankings) I do really write it for you - or rather because of you. I really enjoy opening up a space on the internet for anyone to come and chat or exchange views.

I'm probably not expressing myself well, but if I did stop blogging (which I consider doing a lot) I would then be closing off a rather lovely way of connecting with people. I don't have expectations about people visiting C&K but if I didn't maintain this space I would be closing off the possibility of making connections.

Woah. That sort of dawned on me as I was typing. I've often been asked, and have wondered myself, why I blog. I thought it was to creatively express myself. But I'm beginning to think that's a small part. So thank you to everyone who takes a few seconds or minutes out of their day to read or comment. It means such a lot.

{A Be Kind To Me Day}

After a bit of a rum weekend in which pain, of both sorts, featured heavily I have picked myself up and am trying to get back to the busy contentedness of the past few weeks.

Nothing life threatening but major to me nonethless. Luckily it didn't involve the children or Hubby. Well, I tell a lie. The physical pain was his in the form of raging toothache which is still raging but will subside now thanks to a battle with the former tooth while lying in the dentist's chair.

Yesterday I gave myself a Be Kind to Me Day. It was hard because I wanted to mope. And cry. Which I did a bit but I also camped out on the sofa, in between baking bread, doing laundry and the dishwasher, drinking copious hot drinks, watching TV (which I find increasingly hard to do), reading (Love on the Dole - fab) and knitting.

I was dreading a day on my own after the distractions of family life (which felt odd, as I love my own company usually) but it wasn't too bad.

It feels vulnerable, writing such a pesonal post (even without the details). Not really about gardening is it? I wonder if I shall hit "publish" or "draft". But sometimes you just want to write about what is. And this is.

And I wanted to ask for suggestions about good films to watch when you are having a Be Kind To Yourself Day? I'm at a loss. Nothing sad, depressing or violent. But what? I need to stock up as I think there may be one or two more of these days on the horizon.

PS. I am fine. Really. Just a bit....sad. And in need of good films.

{What I've Been Up To}

Wouldn't you know it, no sooner had I posted my Big List of Autumnal School Gardening Ideas - most of which required a certain element of dryness - then it bucketed down. For most of half-term.

But despite the abysmal weather it has been a lovely break. There has been the usual puddle jumping, dog walking, revising, fairy cake making, friends seeing, coffee shop visiting fun. Just not a lot of gardening.

There also hasn't been any blogging. As usual. I don't know how parents manage to blog while their children are around. I find it difficult to string a coherent sentence together most times let along write one.

What I have managed to do is record our days in a slightly new way. Yes, welcome to the 21st century Deb and the wonder that is the iPhone. Part of me hates that I succumbed (really, do I need this beauty? Undoubtedly not) but the camera on it is fab.

I haven't taken my DSLR out at all. It's been quite liberating. Above are some of my photos. I don't know how to make them big here but I have been doing what I call Minimalistic Blogging at Tumblr. That blog is called Birdoosh: The Blog of Delightful Suggestions.

I realise I've just said I didn't have time to blog but this is Blogging On the Run. I have it set up so that I can take a pic and post it to Tumblr with a short caption very quickly. It's great. Although I haven't tried to do this with the children around now I think of it.

I've also linked up today to a blog called A Delightful Home which has a weekly post where people can share green resources and ideas.

And I haven't even told you about all the de-cluttering/rearranging that's been going on here. Piano moving, bookshelves re-homing, books sorting kind of rearranging. About a month after my horrid bout of tonsillitis I am finally feeling back to normal. And it feels good.