Update on Life....We're Still 'ere!

Hello there.... its been a while .... well 'ya know Life an all that ...

But I must say .... its nice to have the time to connect with you all, although I have tried to blog in regularly and keep up with all you have been doing.

Just a few odds and sods tonight ..... ease myself back into blogging.

Life has been so busy, and you all know without me saying ... the frugal way is not always the quickest or easiest way of living.

I felt I had to have a fabric fix today .... only half an hour spare between log delivery and Tesco delivery (stocking up in every way). For weeks I have wanted to do something with the chair seat covers .... they had got so grubby ..... so I grabbed some odd scraps of something cheerful ....

.... and my trusty staple gun (the best toy a girl can ever buy herself!).

Chopped the fabric into 4 roughly square pieces and got to stapling it over the grubby offending seats.

Nice and bright and fresh ..... for a while!

Hubby P's old grubby work trousers .... encasing his ever busy person, have no respect for chairs and covers no matter how fresh and pretty .... so no doubt they will in time need replacing.

I know I could have/could make some washable covers, but I like the change and I can always find scraps of nicely aged pretty fabric .... I do have one or two 'heaps' around the place.

This fabric is the offcut ... someone has shortened some curtains ... its faded and ragged around the edged ( a bit like me some days!). Many would use it for dusters, or throw it in the dustbin .... so its at least had a last Hurrah! .... a last go at life!

Bit of a Thrifty Snippet I suppose ....

Wood pile looking good ...... as I said we have had another load today, that is two loads we have paid for this Autumn/winter, a princely sum of £250. A lot of money to me, but I dare say it would cost a lot more to heat the house with oil or gas.
This little lot should see us well into next year, supplemented with scrap wood we can find. The woodstove is all the heating we have, hardy folk here! No central heating just warm clothes, hotwater bottles and cosy blankets .... and we do just fine.

Thinking of fuel ..... and fueling Hubby P .... I've been stocking the cupboards just in case we have a bad spell of weather.
Not that we would ever starve ... I've been conditioned since childhood to keep a good stock cupboard.

Brought up in the wilds of the Pennines where Winters were long and cold .... being prepared for almost anything was a real necessity, no one made a big thing about it, no one mentioned being frugal, being prepared, it was just the way we lived ..... no one knew any different.

You knew Mrs Nelson would always have eggs, and Mr Wolfenden milk .... farms within walking distance if you trekked across the fields. If you were without something various neighbours would have supplies, if the water from the moorside well froze in the pipes, all would turn out with buckets to help carry from the main well.

I have strong links to my childhood, strong memories my Grandparents and Parents and how they lived their lives .... I always took an interest in the day to day .. the domesticity.

Perhaps that's why I love all the old tatty stuff, the everyday items, I use them all, I enjoy them!

I found this cute little Oxo tin the other day, such a little 'baby' one. Its been well used ... I wonder just whose Oxos it held, it holds just 6 cubes, so much nicer than a box.

How are your Winter preparations going, what is it you just must 'have in', and what is it motivates you?

Take care xx