In Search of a Simple Life......

.......I guess that has always been my dream, but lately, it has been consuming many of my thoughts.

We are all so caught up in the fast paced, hi tech life. It's a hard thing to get off of once you are on it.

Computers wired up to the world 24/7

Phones that are 'all can do'

Televisions that have a million channels

A pressure to achieve everything, be everything, have everything, do everything



My eldest does most of his homework on his schools' interactive website. All school information is either emailed or texted these days. It's a hard thing to try and walk away from......well when you have young kids anyway.

I often dream of living somewhere fairly remote....no tv....just a simple little radio to keep me up to date with the world. A laptop to fire up every now and then should I need to do something....but one so old that it doesn't make me want to be on it.

It's still a dream....and probably only ever will be, but I have been trying this past year to strip things back a bit, and make a start on making life a little simpler.

Having always been a house mag fiend, and a person that would buy quite a few every month, I found I started to get quite unenthused with them. I noticed that as their prices went up, so did their advert quantities, and their main content became quite limp and unsatisfactory. I realised that it was becoming a complete waste of money. I disliked the fake room set ups, the pages that insisted you must have this new fangled item for your home.

I found that far from being inspirational, they started to make me 'despise' my house. They made me want something completely different, that, if I thought about it hard enough, I didn't actually want. They weren't giving me ideas to pretty up my house, it was like I was being drip fed an idea of what a good house should be, and mine was never going to match up to it. I didn't like that much. So I stopped buying them. I would rather get books that inspire me to build on what I already love rather than having something just because it's the 'in' thing. I now only get Mollie Makes, and if another one takes my fancy one month and i've felt i've deserved it, then I will get it. I bought a Country Living on Mother's Day for myself, and that was my extra luxury mag buy in a year. I figure, for the price of most monthly mags now, you could get a really nice home book from Amazon.

However.....I did treat myself last week. I had been holding off, but vouchers of several sorts allowed me to be a little extravagant. Well for me, anyway.

I bought ............

I spied it the moment it hit the stands a while back, but resisted getting it because I didn't think I needed any more crafty distractions. My mum does embroidery and cross stitch. I dabbled in it briefly when I made a Tilda pillow a couple of years back. I did enjoy it, but then I found Crochet, and there has been little time and space for anything else since. I saw my mum a few weeks ago who had started work on a new cross stitch. A big picture that I loved. My mum totally inspired me, so I went back to the shops and picked up a copy. These pages caught my eye.....

pretty little teacups....

There are lots of Jubilee inspired makes, and although, the Jubilee bug hasn't really hit me, I do love this picture of shelf simplicity.

Bright and colourful....

Pretty floral.....

I also bought this. It has a rather extravagant price tag of £9.99. It is basically one very thick magazine. However, it's like 20 Country Living magazines rolled into one....Without ANY adverts! It's like a Country Living home book. Pretty inspirational homes, taken from many issues, real, relaxed, simple country living. Much more 'me'.

I also picked up a Homespun Style and the second Primrose Bakery Book. These have been my reading these past few weeks and I cannot get enough. I want to turn off all the gadgets and just make and bake. And when I get a few spare moments, I want to hang out pretty washing when the sun does begin to shine and go for long walks to get the fresh air deep into my lungs.

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This brings me on to my other effort to strive for more simple living......and the reason for my tiredness! Sorry to disappoint ladies, I am not up the duff! I really should proof read before I hit the publish button. It didn't occur to me that that is what you'd all think!

I also decided at Christmas that I needed to up my fitness. I needed to walk more. Not only that, but I had been having a grey cloud hanging above my head for a while and felt like I needed the fresh air to help clear it.

At the beginning of January, I started walking the boys to school every morning. We live at the top of a big, steep hill. It has always been a bit of a pain. When the elder Bears were small, trying to lug a double buggy up it was a killer. The pavements are all on a slope too, making it a virtually impossible task. Now that there was no buggy to push and Baby Bear was at an age where he could tackle the walk himself (no 'carry me i'm tired' whining), I thought it could be done. I agreed with the Bears that we would walk to school and I would collect them in the car at the end of the day. They seemed okay with that, and my plan was to get into a routine for a while and then introduce walking back too.

I have never been without a car, but I started to feel that with all the walking I was doing, I could do without mine. I was hardly using it during the week either, so I thought it would make sense. Mr H wasn't so keen on the idea. He kept telling me I would regret it, but I thought all the time it was there, I had the opportunity to be 'lazy'. Other people do it.......why can't I? So last month I stopped using my car. I walk everywhere now. And BOY have I NOT got used to it! I thought having done a lot of walking in the run up to having to do it all the time would have prepared me well! NOPE. I have been dead on my feet. A big unnatractive rain mac and wind blown hair have made up my days these past few weeks. And after 2 weeks I realised that I needed sensible footwear. I walk the Bears down the hill to school in the mornings, then when they are all dropped off, on go the headphones and I power walk back up the hill to get the heart rate really going. I walk fast generally, but I have been really pushing it back up the hill. I wont run though. We don't get on well. I soon realised my beloved boots were not up to the task, and my poor aching feet begged me for sensible footwear. Sensible comes in trainer form, and I LOATHE trainers. I really really do. Anyone who knows me well, knows just how much I LOATHE them. My sister-in-law saw me in them and almost keeled over! I have never, ever wanted to own a pair for general everyday use. If you are sporty or a 'walkie' then fine, they are justified, but for everyday use, they just make me shudder and think of shell suits. I knew I had to get a pair and searched around to find the most comfortable pair of trainers that looked the least like trainers. I ended up with some proper trainers by converse. They are comfy and my feet are happy, but I still feel all bloke-i-fied. And it doesn't matter how girly I am underneath it all, I still feel like a bloke, and I am NOT appreciating my loss of femininity! At least with the sun finally shining this week I have binned the mac, my hair looks semi decent and I have had a few flip flop moments. Far more me.

I am also finding that I have a total lack of patience for pavement dawdlers. Why does everyone walk at a snails pace and take up the whole pavement? They also sway! Does anyone else get irritated by that? You go to move past them down one side and they sway towards it, so you go to move the other side to get past and they sway back? Geez, it does ones head in!

Also, my calves kill, I have shin splints, my back aches (from me being an idiot and thinking I could get away with carrying 18 pints of milk (yes we get through a lot of milk a week, often more than that) and a huge pack of chicken for a casserole in my rucksack back up the hill one morning! I now have to take my trusty granny trolley with me should I need to visit the store for cupboard essentials on my way home! Peachy.). I also, foolishly, decided on a whim this morning on my walk back that I needed ice today, and we had run out. So big bags of ice and fruit juice was lugged up the hill in my little ruck sack. I will pay for that later!

I was doing really well on the weight loss front having lost a stone from christmas to the middle of march. In these last few weeks I seem to have put more on than has come off. I try to tell myself that muscle is heavier than fat, however, the amount of sugar and stodge I have been craving recently (see last post) is telling me otherwise! So do I feel fitter? NO I DON'T. I hope it is having some sort of positive effect though. I'm too stubborn to tell Mr H perhaps it was one of my less thought out ideas! The walking does make me feel much sunnier inside though, even when the weather is so dull and grey. Be strong Vanessa.....be strong! Hopefully the warmth that we have been having this week will help.

So, that is why I am tired. I am walking EVERYWHERE!

My current version of the Simpler life is one I am going to have to get used to. But i'm sure I will. I just need to give it time and persevere!

I hope the weather has been kind to you wherever you are. We have welcomed sunshine and warmth this week in the UK and it has been bliss (if not going from one extreme to the other)!

Right....the heat is already getting to me.....and would you believe it.....after my last post with the wasps nest, I have realised that some honey bees have decided to make a nest, in a gap between some tiles by my back door. That means that with all the doors and windows open, I am seeing a lot of these little dudes in the house. I don't mind honey bees. in fact I like them a lot. We have a lot in our garden, and they are not naturally aggressive, unless they are defending a hive. So will just have to nip that one in the bud.....sorry little honey bees.

Have a super duper weekend all!

xxx


✴✴✴Oh, and I just wanted to say.....sorry for the annoying sign in when you leave a comment. I hate the new word verification so I took it off but was then inundated with spam and had to put it back on again. What a pain!


✴✴✴Oh and also, many asked where you could get the bits featured in the last post. The biscuits came from M&S food hall and the Bonne Maman yoghurts and Caramel spread came from Waitrose.