So the How do we want to live our lives question then?

So the How do we want to live our lives question then?

In an ideal world, Anna would live in a house made with haybales in the middle of a field. In that field would be a goat and a big veggie patch. We would grow our own trees to make furniture and burn to keep warm. We would have a natural spring for water, a composting toilet and lots of solar panels. Jon wants some of this, he does, he really does, he just has trouble fully convincing himself that he does. He kind of feels torn between feeling like he should and could and then the luxurious living. One thing that the pair of us do agree on is that we are not materialistic. We only want to earn enough to live, we don’t want to earn the mega bux because we don’t want the stresses that come with those sorts of jobs. That was the case until now. Now we want to earn just a bit more than we can live in so we can make overpayments  on the mortgage and get rid of it as soon as we can so that we can liver much free-er.

The question of where we should live keeps coming round and round to us all the time. Even more so at the moment as our little two bed home is up for sale. What do we want though? Do we want to go the whole hog, buy a small holding and live in a self sufficient way? Kind of but then kind of no too! Firstly we wouldn’t be able to afford it which is kind of ironic to think that we would need the money to buy it then once we had we would be self sufficient. What we have agreed on is that whilst we are open to hard work, in some cases you have to look at the effort to worth ratio. For example a sack of spuds for us to grow would take a lot of time and effort and a fair bit of land. Spuds for us to buy from the farm shop not a lot of pounds. We could get a couple of days temping a month to pay for our food or staple food. Now it is not necessarily the life that we want but there is no denying that it does make sense to a certain degree. After all we are not looking at living our lives completely self sufficiently not yet at least. 

Oh I am a big old chunk of contradiction.

So do we stay local to St Neots? That is a possibility as our families and friends are here. One thing is certain, we need a bigger garden than the one we have now because after all I do want to grow some veggies again. We used to have an allotment but both working full time we just couldn’t keep up with it and at the time it seemed every weekend was wet so we just couldn’t get down there. Now I have the flexibility of working for myself, I would like to grow some veggies again as part of a feel good factor. I would love to have a goat but is it an option at the moment? If we did we would need to move to the Country. Are we ready to make such a big move and commitment just yet? I don’t think we are. Baby steps are what is needed. Let’s start easy and see how we get on first. I don’t even know if we can do some of the smaller, easier things yet.

See what I mean when I say there is lots of questions! There is certainly lots to think about, it is not just the case of changing your life and home instantly overnight.

Anna's ideal house..... (more to come on that in another blog post!)

 

http://www.simondale.net/house/

 

Easter

I had a really restful Easter and it was lovely. We saw family and we had time to ourselves to chill out too. I guess we are like most people in that it is all to easy to forget what Easter is all about and "the reason for the season". I think we just get caught up in such busy lives we forget to slow down from time to time. I know when I had a full time job I did just that. I was a right stress head most of the time. I used to get stressed that I was tired and didn't feel like cooking so we got a take away which I had to go to work to pay for - the cycle goes on!

These days now I work for myself and came juggle my time I do make sure I take a rest. The only trouble working for yourself is the pressure to feel like you should be doing something. I have to admit I didn't switch off completely but I didn't feel compelled to turn on the laptop and start working either.

It was good and it was needed. Batteries are sufficiently charged now.

For us it was a shame that it was wet over the bank holiday but the garden is looking all the more better for it.

My main reason for this blog post is eggs. Both real eggs and chocolate ones!

Most weekends we sit down together and eat a nice breakfast, have a pot of tea and talk. Make the most of not having to rush around. Easter Sunday was no exception and a yummy bolied egg (or two) was in order. I just wanted to show you this little picture that I took with my camera. The two eggs were in identical egg cups and were lined up next to each other. The smaller one on the left is from a shop. Can't remember which one. The one on the right is from the farm shop Jon goes to near Woburn. Now you can't tell me that is not value for money!!! Free range, local (ish) and independent but above all, big and tasty!

 

We were both very lucky to receive chocolate Easter eggs. I have to confess that I probably ate more than I should have but at the time I enjoyed it. I felt sluggish this morning though and had to work some of it off at Step class. I am so going to pay for that tomorrow!

Anyway, looking at the eggs, it got us thinking just how much packaging is used in Easter eggs. Now as a child, some of the excitement was seeing this big beautiful packaging with gold foil sparkling away inside. As an adult I can't help thinking what a waste and also a bit of a disappointment. The egg looks huge in the packaging but take it out and you haven't actually got that much chocolate. 

We tried to be mindful when purchasing eggs this year of the packaging but very few manufacturers seem to have cut down on the amount they use. Why is this? It seems that it hasn't gone un noticed. Do a google search and many articles will come up. One from the Telegraph caught my eye:

The 2012 Easter Egg Packaging report concluded that the percentage of Easter egg boxes taken up by chocolate had not reduced from last year's amount of 38 per cent. 

That is a lot huh? I guess we are partly guilty for buying but we can't help what we are brought. All we can do is recycle the waste and be good in other ways!

Simply Incredible

Easter bank holiday weekend. We have decided to have a real chill out weekend and spend some good quality time with each other and just simply slow down a little. We have nothing that we need to. Ah bliss!

We decided to pop in to Cambridge today. I had something that I needed to take back but we love just going into the city and walking down past the colleges, people watching and soaking up the atmosphere. I realised whilst walking round just how many chain stores there are. You have to look for the little independents amongst them but when you do, you find some real gems with some beautiful unique items.

The only thing I will say (and this could just be my opinion) is that some times I am put off going in. I am better now I am older and don't mind what people think of me so much but in the past I was always put off by snooty shop assistants looking down on you. Silly I know! What I do think of little boutiquey shops sometimes is that I am put off by going in because I don't think I will be able to afford it or that they won't sell clothes in my portly size. OK so sometimes the size thing has been an issue before but I just think that we have come to accept big chain stores with surly staff and their "if it aint on the shelf we aint got none" attitude and the "pile it high sell it cheap" culture that when we are faced with a small independent store we just think we can't afford it so walk on by. Is that you too or just be being silly?

Whilst we were out we decided to have a nice lunch and went to Rainbow Cafe which is on King's Parade. It was so busy but it adds to the charm of the place and hey, if no one is in there is it really that good anyway? I went there years ago with my Mum so didn't know what to expect. We normally eat at a chain you see! eek!  The menu was so inspiring, such yummy options. It was hard to choose, not because it was bland and nothing jumped out at you but because it was so good it was hard to narrow it down to one. Jon had a chilli and I had:

Jamaican Roti Cups - Fresh banana, rosecoco beans, black turtle beans, coconut milk, Jamaican spices, roasted sweet potato and more, served in a chapatti cup with traditional rice’n’peas.

It was fabulous. I took a little pic with my mobile phone but it really does not do the meal justice what so ever. Every mouthful was simply amazing. I was sad when it was over. It has been a while since I ate out where everything was just lovely. The staff were friendly and helpful, place clean, bustling with lovely atmosphere, inspiring menu, delicious freshly cooked food. I left feeling suitably full but also with a warm fuzzy glow of feeling healthy knowing that I had eaten a healthy meal from somewhere independent and also vegetarian. All boxes ticked! I felt much better than I did the day before. I have to confess I ate a bugger. I felt sluggish afterwards and for the rest of the day. I caved and ordered it because I just couldn't find anything else on the menu that I wanted to eat.

Jazzing up salad

As I have said before I am not dieting I am just being really conscious about the food that I eat and am trying to eat healthier and make healthy substitutes for foods I used to eat.

I have swapped my lunchtime sandwich for salad. I have never disliked salad, just never really found it particularly interesting. I have now though. I have been making my own hummus to give the salad a little bit of something. I even treat myself with the odd pitta bread too. Yesterday I treated myself to one of the flatbreads that I made with the dough from the pizza on Sunday. It was yummy!

My favourite hummus at the moment is cannellini bean and it is so easy to make.  Here’s what you need:

• Cannellini beans
• Springs of Thyme
• Paprika
• Garlic bulb
• Olive oil
• Lemon juice
• Tahini

I whack it in a bowl and wiz it up using a hand blender but you may want to use a posh machine thingy. I don’t measure any ingredients and sometimes I add more or less of some. It really is a recipe that you can play around with until it tastes how you like it. With the liquids, you just need it moist enough to be able to blend nicely.

I think it tastes yummy and I feel nice and healthy eating it too!

Ok so how did this all start then?

Ok so how did this all start then? Has it happened has Anna really just flipped out and gone totally nutty? To be honest we knew it was on the cards. Well no Anna has not gone nuts. For a long time now we have been doing a bit of soul searching and trying to work out what it is that we want. 

1. ·         Where do we want to live
2. ·         What do we want to do with our lives

These are the two questions that we keep asking ourselves over and over again. We are both very clear on the idea that neither of us wants to work for “the man”. It’s funny because you look at TV series’ such as Reggie Perrin and the infamous The Good Life and these were issues that were bought up in the 70s yet for some reason it is still instilled in us that this is the norm and that this is what we should do. Work for “the man” and join “the rat race”. It is not that we are adverse to work, far from it we actually quite enjoy it, I mean after all it does give you a sense of worth and of being alive but not slogging your guts out for someone else.  The both of us just have a desire to work for ourselves but also to pay the mortgage off as early as possible and live as near as self sufficient as possible.

In fact at the moment we feel anti “big guy” in general. We were just getting to the stage where we were fed up of going to work to pay for the things we had to have because we were at work so couldn’t do them. Then having to go round a big supermarket with everyone else at the weekends. I am not saying that people who shop in supermarkets are stupid, mindless or soulless, but it just feels like that when you are walking around sometimes. It just feels like you are another lemming pushing the trolley around the aisles and then when you get to the checkout you get a young kid who can barely look at you let alone talk to you. I am not an old fogey either, I am only 31 but it would just be nice if the person at the checkout could at least smile! Anyway it is just a feeling that we have. We would like to get back some form of customer service, politeness and the really nice feeling you get when you shop in small, local independent stores. Trouble is there are not many of them and it is oh so convenient to just get everything in the one shop at the supermarket. It’s going to be tough but we are willing to try it for a while at least.

So as part of our journey to live greener, more sustainably, free-er, healthy, vegetarian lives, we are going to try and do as much of our shopping in those small independent shops. Have you read Dave Gorman’s America Unchained? Do! It is basically what we are trying to do only through the eyes and ears of a comedian oh and in America.

St Neots has a weekly market on a Thursday so I know I can shop there for my veggies. I also know that there is a family run farm shop in Little Paxton so that is veg sorted. Toiletries and cleaning products we will get from the Health Food Shop in St Neots, which is on Church Walk just off the high street. They also sell store cupboard items too so that should be us sorted. I think. I hope. I don’t know let’s see. I am actually looking forward and interested to find out what the flaws in the plan are. I am not a sadist, it’s just that I am looking for a little adventure and I am looking forward to actually living.

As for the other stuff, man who knows!

An Eco way to get rid of unwanted weeds!

Now that the warmer weather is here everything is going a little crazy! All the weeds have sprung into life as have the flowers. There is a battle of wits at the moment between weeds and flowers.... who will win?




Well, if weeds are getting you down, look no further than Rent-a-Bert! He is quick, leaves very little mess, environmentally friendly disposal, pleasant to work with and happy in his employment. He also comes with a shy timid assistant to help. Your weeds will be gone in no time I can assure you!

A contented Sunday

We have had such a relaxed and contented Sunday. It really has been bliss.

A while ago I read "The Wonderful Weekend Book" and that is another though provoking book. The synopsis of which is:

For too many of us the weekend has become just another overcrowded couple of days dominated by duties, traffic jams, hassle and expense as we dash from supermarket to superstore catching up with the week's chores. But it doesn't have to be this way. Elspeth Thompson's original and inspiring book shows us how we can reclaim the weekend by re-charging our batteries and relationships through enjoying the simple pleasures in life.

From watching the sunset and the stars, making marmalade and writing proper letters to borrowing a dog, going to dance classes and using the internet creatively, she reminds us of the fun and satisfaction to be had from creative, social and relaxing pursuits. The Wonderful Weekend Book is packed with ideas that will help restore the balance in our lives, reconnect us to the seasons, and - quite literally - not cost the earth.

You can see what I mean and why this book is a must for the current time!

Today we had a lazy breakfast of huge organic free range eggs (and soldiers). The eggs came from a little farm shop near Woburn. Jon makes the shop a regular lunch time stop on a Friday ready for the weekend but my word you can really taste the difference between those eggs and the supermarket ones. Huge bright yellow yolks and loads of flavour. You know the weirdest thing, they don't even cost more than supermarket ones! I think we are too quick to assume that things will cost more before actually doing our research.

I decided to have a big of a baking day today for a couple of reasons really. I wanted to make some nice food that we could feel all good about eating, I wanted to spend some time just baking and being content doing that (inspiration from the Weekend book!) and also whilst the oven was on, it made perfect sense to be considerate of the environment and make more, thus saving putting the oven on at another time too. I made a lovely pizza. Now I know this doesn't sound like your average pizza topping but it was lovely - Kale and Onion. I also made bread and flatbreads. I actually feel that eating the items might even be calorie neutral from all the effort put into making them and kneeding them. In all seriousness, it wasn't that much hard work and it was really enjoyable to think about you putting part of yourself into what you are eating. I had the music on and was very contented in the kitchen. I think we have lost so much of that connection with the food we eat and the processes of making that food. I tell you what the pizza was damned good. It was so yummy and I felt good knowing that I had made it from scratch rather than shopping at the supermarket for a ready made full of preservatives pizza. The flour I used was organic. I made two pizzas so there was enough left over for another day. Jon will take some to work for his pack up as he says he gets fed up with peanut butter sarnies. I should say so!

I think we need to stop going to work and then buying things that we didn't have the time to do. I know I am fortunate working for myself but just making that dough today has made me happy and contented and the thought of sitting at a desk for an hour or two to be able to buy the pizza, no thanks!

So far this week I have been eating much healthier, substituting the sarnies at lunch for salad and trying to move my body more at any opportunity. I am not dieting but you know what, this week I have lost 7lbs. Can you believe that, half a stone! I am surprised because I have eaten tons, loads of ice cream (for medicinal purposes you understand) and even fish and chips on Friday night! I did surprise my self!