Off the grid!

Finally been pushed to go for it - so here it is, one day a week without electricity.  The final straw was my husband and sons frequently checking for dragons on an on-line game that they have started.  The bad news is that as you create your own kingdom etc, it never ends!!  So, I had had enough of losing my family to the big computer screen up the stairs.  What better way to make your feelings known than to announce a day without electricity once a week.  My husband had promised that the computer won't be played at weekends any more, but still - this will force them to put on their sandals and join me in the sunshine.

Here are the rules: simply cannot use electricity!  So that means out with the phone, television, stereo,  radio unless battery-powered, lights, computer games (hooray) or anything to do with the computer, kettle and oven.  I will allow gas - just so I can at least cook hot food on the hob and make the essential cups of tea, as well as heating water for washing-up and baths.  Also, no use of the dishwasher or washing machine!  This is going to be fun - or at least a challenge.   With a lot of my challenges this year, I start off small and then can always expand the remits - either by having more days without electricity or by adding more restrictions - i.e. no power at all.  I will start off allowing the use of the  fridge and freezer (stopping use of these appliances would be wasting a lot of money on food that has already been bought), for me this is about making my family aware of how dependent we are on electricity and about breaking the lazy habits of watching t.v. and using the computer.

The family have been warned, the rules will be posted on our fridge, and Sunday 3rd June will be the first day.  Will let you know how we got on in my next post!

Fun things to do in the Spring which are free

Make an ice dog for fun!  Saturday chores were being done while the children played out in the garden.  My husband had managed to de-ice the freezer which was beginning to get difficult to close!  So a bucket-full of ice sat in the garden in a bowl...but not for long!  That is what I love about children's creativity: they are brilliant at making things out of whatever is around them.  Felix then comes in to say he would like me to see his ice-sculpture of our dog.  Picture to follow, as we have had trouble uploading the photo of the said ice-dog.  Instead, here is some inspiration for ice sculptures found on google images:

With windy, wet weather like we have been having for most of the months of April and May, our cosy home has felt like the most appealing place to be.  Board games, baking, and getting wrapped up in all-in-ones and wellies for a splash in the puddles have been the main activities for us in the last couple of months.  Looking on the bright side of having miserable weather - I think you tend to spend less on days out!  Gardens, farms and other family-friendly venues are always much better in the sunshine.  Talking about sunshine, it is the beginning of fete season. The weather has only just decided to catch up with the season and give us some sunshine in the last couple of days, but fetes have been happening regardless - "the show must go on in the English countryside".  Although not free, they are often cheap and great days out - lots for the children to do: face painting; lucky dips; bouncy castles and yummy home-baked cakes.  For me and my husband, the highlights have to be the plant stalls and book stalls where we often find a bargain or two.  I went to my first fete of the year a couple of weeks ago with instructions from my husband (who was away) to buy tomato plants.  My attempts to grow them from seed do not seem to have been completely successful - and perhaps were started a bit late!  So, for £3.00 I came home with 2 of the Alicante variety and 4 Moneymaker, plus a handful of books (75p for 3 paperbacks, as I just visited the stall at the right time when everything had been reduced to half-price!)  The children were given some pocket money and spent it on a soft toy each plus a couple of rides.  50p for a dragon seems like a good deal to me!

My inspiration to write this post today was our afternoon activity, over a cup of tea and piece of cake after a breezy walk on the downs with our dog:  we made collages, using today's newspapers, of Chelsea'swin in the final of the Champions' League.  My husband has been a loyal supporter from the age of 6 and has now indoctrinated his children.  I am fighting a losing battle, so I thought at least I could have some input by encouraging a creative activity connected to this big event for all of us!!!!  I quite enjoyed my cutting-up of little pictures, and the children were delighted to have these to stick onto their pieces of card with a glue stick. All for the price of a couple of papers!

Now, with the hot weather finally appearing, "the world is our oyster" with plenty of gardening to do, and more opportunity to enjoy the outdoors!

Seeds emerging...

I'm beginning to see rewards for all the sowing I did in the greenhouse back in March.  Broad beans which started off like the one below are now 8-10 inches tall in the vegetable patch and doing really well. The journey for the courgettes has been more rocky - one shop-bought courgette plant survived and one of my ones planted from seed too; both are doing well.  I have also had donations from my Step-Dad to my collection of courgettes, sunflowers and herbs which is great!

Our broad been seeds beginning to sprout - more photos to follow soon!

Snails have been doing their best to spoil my fun in the greenhouse which is very disheartening.  They destroyed a courgette, most of the dahlias and were also slowly working through the cucumbers!  So, the kitchen window-sill has now become an extension to the greenhouse. I'm also using space in the conservatory as a haven for plants - I will not be defeated by snails!

The weather was so wet in April - and also very mixed this month in May - that the appeal of the garden has lessened: I do like it warm and sunny if I am going to work out in the garden!  Anyway, regardless of a few missed days of watering here and there, everything is still doing fine and I'm now moving on to the next stage of thinning out the seeds and planting out.  I have to remember that in a few months time I will be eating my own produce and then all the trials and tribulations will look to have been worth it!

Dreaming of strawberries to come!

Technology free days

I have been thinking for some time now about how to cut down on using power.  Partly for environmental reasons but also because I am sure we as a family could save quite a bit of money just by being more thoughtful when using electricity.

Blogging is great but I do find it brings me to the computer many times a day  - to write drafts, check page views and add photos.  I also seem to spend time reading other blogs, checking my emails, and reading the Yahoo news pages which are full of pointless gossip; so I have decided it would be healthy for me and the children (who are rather attached to watching video clips of childrens' programmes on the computer as a treat)  to have the odd day without these technological advances!  In addition, it would save money through not using electricity.  I have often wondered about having another mini-challenge of being off-grid one day a week?!  That is definitely on the cards for later on in the year, but I have to think it through a little more before embarking on power-free days.  I want to consider what day would make an impact on us without making things too difficult - so probably a weekend day ...

Having two weeks away with family at Easter forced me to stay away from the computer and it did me a world of good - proper relaxation!  It always takes a bit of time to adjust to the fact that I don't have the facilty to check  emails whenever I like, but it is a good thing.  It makes me focus on what is going on around me in our family home.

The idea of technology-free days has now been forced on me to an extent due to a fault on our phone line which also means we have no access to the internet either - Argh!  I feel bereft!  But I can check email and do my weekly blog from work until the problem is fixed and once I get used to the idea it is nice not to be relying on instant information from the web at all times.  In addition to not using the phone and internet for a week now (and it will probably be another week before the problem is fixed), I am going to make a concerted effort to only use the lights, kitchen appliances, water etc when absolutely necessary to start getting in a mind frame of living without electricity for a day a week - more about that later.

Spring clean!

It seems like a good time at the moment, with all this rain, to have a good clear out and clean.  I started last week, doing one room at a time which I find very rewarding.  Sorting through all the drawers and shelves with a bin bag in one hand and a charity bag in the other.  So far, I have gone through the sitting room, hallway and am now working on the dining room.  It has been fairly straightforward so far, as I don't tend to hoard things in the sitting room and hallway, but the dining room has always been a bit of an Aladdin's cave.

I have a few projects for the dining room, the cushions for the chairs desperately need re-covering.  My old method would be to throw these ones away and buy new ones, but in my year of the shoestring, I am determined to re-cover the original cushions.  I inherited my Grandmother's sewing machine - so I have no excuse now!  Then there are all the school photos to frame and recipes to write out and sort through - so my attention will remain with the dining room for some time, but in a good way and keeping me away from the shops!