The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Wednesday 16 June (yes it's a day late!)

Outside my window... everything is growing so fast at this time of year and as well as the plants I've planted doing well, the weeds are growing fast too. Despite having made a start on the garden this year, there is still so much to do. I take heart from the knowledge that the best gardeners spend years on perfecting their garden.

I am thinking... that I need to find a way to cope a bit better with the increase in work hours. I'm struggling a bit at the moment. Tonight we ended up eating garlic bread, pizza and banoffee dessert. For once, that's not the end of the world, but I know why it happened: I have so very little me time at the moment, that the last thing I feel like is spending an hour in the (very untidy) kitchen, and food like that feels like I'm spoiling myself. Those last 4 lbs aren't shifting and I know exactly why. I'm also missing knitting time, just half an hour here or there, but there doesn't seem to be half an hour here or there at the moment. I'm not quite sure how to sort all this, but it does need sorting, that's for sure.

I am thankful for... a very relaxed and fun weekend last weekend with B.

From the kitchen... comes garlic bread, pizza and banoffee pie dessert ;-) O but also banana bread as I had a serious surplus of bananas.

I am wearing... trying on my hand knitted sock for size. I should be knitting something else but it requires concentration and silence, and I wanted to knit so desperately tonight that I picked up my sock while watching Three in a bed with I. tonight.

I am creating... lots of things in my mind. And not enough in real life.

I am going... to think about how create a bit more me time, to bake a lemon cake for B's sister's birthday this weekend, to send a magazine to a friend in Australia, and to practise my tractor driving skills a bit more this weekend.

I am reading... The Friday Night Knitting Club. Not high-brow literature but entertaining enough to have kept me up reading far too late. And while I was looking up the link to this book, I found there is a sequel. That will be on my list of books to borrow from the library then!

I am hoping... that things will seem a little less frantic soon.

I am hearing... the dishwasher running in the kitchen.

Around the house... is slightly tidier. I feel that at 11 and 8, the children are perfectly capable of helping out a bit more often. So tonight I. had to empty the dishwasher, N. had to get the laundry off the line and I. had to tidy up the front room. She does a very good job at tidying up, specially if it isn't her own stuff! So it does look a bit better here.

One of my favourite things... is having to got to know some people better in the last few weeks.

A few plans for the rest of the week... a day in the office, the car going to the garage to have its alarm sorted (it goes off randomly at all times of day and night. I am sure I'll get a phonecall from the neighbours soon begging me to sort it out), a day with the kids.

A picture for thought I'm sharing...


We visited some friends in Lancashire last weekend. They'd gone out for a birthday lunch and weren't back yet when we arrived, so we stopped at the village before theirs and walked down to the river. It was lovely weather, it was very quiet and peaceful down there, it had one of those little iron bridges that we both like so much, we had a paddle (and B. almost had a swim!), and we just had a lovely time together. The sort of time that you treasure the memory of.
Now if only I could squeeze everything I want to do, in the short time that is the weekend!

Instructions for the Simple Woman's Daybook can be found here.