Sealed pot opening 2014 and challenge aims for 2015

It's that time of year again, time to open up my sealed pot (see SFT's Life After Mortgage blog for other participants in this year-long challenge) and see how much my not terribly regular donations of spare change over the past year have amounted to. I thought it'd be less than last year as I kept forgetting about it to be perfectly honest. And I had no notes in this year's pot at all. I was very surprised when I lifted the pot down from it's shelf as it was far heavier than I had expected.

Hard to judge from this angle how much there is although there are a lot of 1 and 2 euro coins to be seen

All of that made a nice little pile though...

...even better looking when it was all counted and nicely stacked up though.

I have been saving my 50c pieces separately and they have now gone back into their money box and I'll continue putting away as many of the 50c pieces I get as possible and that money will go towards hopefully moving next year. €66 isn't bad (I miscounted at first and thought I had nearly €70, which just goes to show me that making little stacks like this is a great idea, since I'm obviously not capable of just counting coins properly). Although I didn't have any notes this year, and overall had fewer coins, I had a far larger percentage of higher denomination coins so my total, even without the 50c pot, was actually slightly higher! Hooray! Here's the breakdown:

Yep, that's right, even after I take away the 50c pot money, I still have a grand total of 

 €147.30

I had a lot of fun spending my sealed pot money at the National Craft and Design Fair last year and I'm looking forward to seeing whether or not I find anything nice at this year's fair. I'm flying to Dublin on Thursday after work and will be at the fair on Friday morning and possibly afternoon, before meeting up with friends and family to celebrate my 40th birthday. 40 years, my goodness how time does fly. Thanks again to Sue for hosting the Sealed Pot Challenge - it made last year's birthday lots of fun and it looks like it'll do the same again this year. I'm not feeling much of an urge to look for anything in particular though - kind of feeling like I have enough stuff at the moment. So I'll go along and enjoy looking at everything and really enjoy the feeling of knowing I have the money to get something if I want to.  

My third pot from last year, by the way, was an unmitigated disaster. I don't think I managed to get more than two five euro notes into it at the same time at all, or keep anything in it for more than a few weeks. Still want to try it again next year though. And I will seal up my pot again tomorrow and off we go again. Along with my 50c pot, of course - I am really pleased with how that one went. So 50c pieces for moving and the big pot for something nice for my birthday - possibly not at the same place next year though, a lot will depend on whether or not I manage to find a new job and move next year. Watch this space.

If you'd like to join in with the Sealed Pot Challenge for 2015, head on over of SFT's blog to put your name down. See you there!

Sunday night chit-chat and sealed pot update

Two photos this evening - some of the results of today's cooking. This is pumpkin soup and a smaller pot of leek and potato soup. I peeled all the potatoes I had, which were fairly old but turned out to be in far better condition than I thought and since I had more than anticipated I decided to strike while the iron was hot and use up the leek that has also been waiting a few weeks to be used. I have now used up every single fresh vegetable in the house, which kind of feels good.

The marinated chicken with roasted veg. I added potatoes and onions to the pumpkin. It's really delicious - will definitely be making this recipe again. You can just see the pot with the stew in the background. I'm looking forward to dishing all of this up into Tupperware for the fridge and freezer. So, on to the chit-chat...





What are you:
Reading
Still Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan. Not too interested in reading at the moment - hard to concentrate with this cold.

Watching
Gilmore Girls

Listening to
Stew bubbling away on the cooker and occasional traffic going by outside.

Cooking/baking
Good day for cooking today. Chicken with roast veg. Stew is on the go. Pumpkin soup. Leek and potato soup. Leek and onion sauteed and ready to go into scrambled eggs for breakfast tomorrow.

Happy you accomplished this week
Made it through first week back at work, despite this cold. Got most of the ironing done, too. And am very pleased to have gotten lots of cooking done today. Also sent off forms for my supplemental insurance place, finally got a letter from my old school to send off to the pensions service and remembered to start chasing letters regarding charitable donations for my tax return. Also didn't do too badly on trying to post a photo every day for my visual journal.

Looking forward to next week
Hopefully getting a letter from my supplemental dental insurance place telling me they'll cover 450 of the cost of the partial crown before I actually have to go in to the dentist on Thursday.

Grateful for this week
Not everything being back to full swing after christmas so that I didn't have to cancel too much in the evenings ('cos of the cold). And once again, my mooncup - it just makes life so much easier.

Bonus question: if you could choose any time period to live in, which would you choose?
Tough one this as it's a thought that leads me down philosophical thinking pathways - would I be the same person I am today (impossible) and what would I be like. If I could be the person I am today, transplanted somewhere else, then I think I'd quite like the Regency Period (in London and so long as I was one of the rich, obviously). Or the 1960s (in America).

If you'd like to join in with Sunday night chit-chat, post your own answers to the questions above, along with a photo or quote or something from your week and then head over to Half-Dozen Daily to link up.

Sealed pot update
The sealed pot has been fed regularly this week, which I'm kind of pleased with. Except that having change to put in it almost every day means I've been spending every day. I need to set up a small envelope/account/pot somewhere with money in it to cover extra expenses when sick. Not talking so much about medicine or anything like that but more about being realistic that I am not going to be interested in cooking or any kind of food preparation not just when actually sick in bed but for at least a week when I'm better but not really back to full fitness yet. That means buying lunches, at the very least and it would be good to have some money stashed away for these situations rather than letting my budget be just completely thrown off.

If you'd like to catch up on the goings-on of those joining in with the sealed pot challenge, you can find them over at SFT's blog.

Sunday night chit-chat and sealed pot challenge update

Haven't done one of these for a while so I thought I'd maybe get back into the habit now that tomorrow will see me back to a 'normal' working week again.

No photo today though, just a quote from the comments on SFT's post today that I really liked:

Follow your head and your heart won't understand, follow your heart and your head will work it out

What are you:
Reading
Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan - one of my birthday presents. Bit slow-going but good so far.

Watching
Gilmore Girls - blast from the past. Also watched Tootsie earlier today - love that film.

Listening to
Nothing much - just the Gilmore Girls.

Cooking/baking
Nothing today - still dosed with a cold so taking it easy.

Happy you accomplished this week
I iced my very first cake. Also managed to do pretty well on cooking the food that I have on hand. And kept on top of the washing-up, even today when I had already told myself that I didn't need to do it if I didn't feel up to it.

Looking forward to next week
Hopefully getting better!

Grateful for this week
A warm place to be sick in peace and quiet, with enough food in the house to get by on. And a good internet connection - what did we do before it?

Bonus question: Do you enjoy any winter sports?
Eh, no. Don't really enjoy any sports to be completely honest. A nice walk or a quick swim is about it as far as my enjoyment goes. And while a brisk walk when it's chilly out but you're wrapped up warm is lovely, I'm very bad as far as balance and keeping it goes so I don't really like walking when it's icy or slippy.

If you want to join in with Sunday night chit-chat, post away and then head over to Half-Daily Dozen to link up.

Sealed pot update
Not doing too badly with my pots this week. I've had quite a few 50c pieces to go into my phone-box one, have made start on my 5 euro one and cleared my purse of all other change several times to go into the main pot.
The sealed pot challenge is hosted by SFT - head over there if you'd like to see how others are doing with their pots this week.

National Design and Craft Fair 2013 - purchases

Just a quick one as I'm away in Frankfurt for a few days, escaping the madness that is my road on Silvester (that's New Year's Eve to you and me, also the Feast of Pope Sylvester I, hence the name in several countries, including Germany). People just go mental here, setting off fireworks in the middle of the street and, living on a main road, it all gets a bit noisy. Not to mention I don't really enjoy the fireworks whizzing so close by the windows. I'm staying in a friend's apartment that's on a nice, quiet side-street so although I'll be able to hear fireworks and even see some in the distance, not many, if any at all, will be going off right outside. It's one of those quirks of the Germans that despite having rules for just about everything along with a tendency for most people to follow all those rules all the time, there are some things they just drop all semblance of sensible behaviour for and fireworks on Silvester is one of them.

Anyway, I still don't have a photo of the ceramic oil lamp I bought at the craft fair but since I did already take photos of two of my purchases, I thought I'd share. The first (which was actually my last purchase) is this felt landscape by Jane O'Farrell. Sorry about the flash but without it, the colours just weren't even approaching coming out right. It's just a small one and the picture doesn't show the textures at all but I really like it. The frame is, I think, about 30cm x 30cm.

One of my favourite purchases was this poster. You may be familiar with the 1939 "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster that became very popular a few years ago and, to be honest, has become totally overused since then. There's even a website where you can design your own "Keep Calm..." message. At some stage it started to get a bit annoying, although I did quite enjoy my niece's "Keep Calm and may the odds be ever in your favour" sweatshirt. So when I saw this Irish take on the concept, I have to admit, it gave me a chuckle and then I ended up going back to get one. I wish I'd had enough left to buy a framed one, as the company also sells frames that have been made from recovered floorboards so each one has a story behind it, which is really interesting. It was still in it's plastic cover here, hence the funny reflective bit at the top. This is hanging in my kitchen now (in a very cheap plastic frame that doesn't do it justice).

I don't have it with me now so can only paraphrase some of what was on the back of the packet. Along the lines of "since one euro from each purchase goes to the government in tax, we've printed 42,000,000 and if we sell them all, we'll have cleared half the national debt". I'll leave you to be the judge of whether they've actually printed 42,000,000 but mine's number 2937, look...

Edited to add: I found the business card of the company selling the frames made from reclaimed floorboards and it looks like they aren't the same company as the one that does the posters, they just had a stand together (or were selling for them perhaps). Anyway, check out Rocker Lane Workshop too for some lovely furniture or, as they say themselves, contemporary sustainable furniture designs.

National Design and Craft Fair

Just a few photos from a very exhausting but very enjoyable day wandering around the stands of some extremely talented people and trying to find a 'use' for my Sealed Pot Savings. I forgot at the beginning that I even had my camera with me, to be honest I was just too taken up with looking!

This was just one of three halls - 2 x crafts, 1 x food

I loved these photos by Enda Cavanagh - at around 400 for the larger ones (if memory serves correctly) they were a bit outside my budget though. The small ones were 'only' 105 euro and there was one I did really like but I felt like the small ones would work better as a set of three or four. So I settled for buying the gorgeous book he had.

Rebeka Kahn stand - this is one I spent a lot of time looking at and very nearly bought something at. Unfortunately at 350 euro or so, the large pieces were out of my budget. At 125 euro, I could have bought a small one but it really was the large one that had caught my eye and in the end I decided that buying a smaller one that wasn't quite what I wanted, just for the sake of it, probably wasn't really a good idea. 

A closer shot of these gorgeous pieces by Rebeka Kahn

And yet another shot from a different angle. The one I wanted was another of the large red poppy pictures that you can see on the top right here. 

There was another stand I very nearly bought a painting from. It was a gorgeous brightly coloured silk and collage framed piece by Patricia Murphy (who I also had a lovely chat with) and while at 150 it was outside my budget, I had nearly convinced myself that I could at the 15 euro without too much difficulty. In the end, however, there had just been too many lovely smaller things I had seen and I decided to buy a few different things - in particular a ceramic oil lamp which was one of the first things that caught my eye. Actually, the one which caught my eye was already gone by the time I got back to the stand but I got a very similar one. Will take photos of my purchases and post soon.

Sealed pot opening 2013 and challenge aims for 2014

So, the Sealed Pot Challenge has come to an end. I actually only found this challenge and the wonderful SFT's blog at the start of February (thanks to coming across Sue's blog at Our New Life in the Country and what an exciting year it was to come across that blog, too, what with house-hunting and all). 

My original aim was to save the change from my purse at the end of every month and to also try the 52-week challenge by adding the same number of euro as the week it was (1 euro for 1st week of the year, 2 for 2nd and so on) from my housekeeping money. Yeah, that didn't really work out as planned. I did do it for a few weeks though, so there were a few notes in my pot. Although you can't really see them here. It was nearly half-full when I opened it, which I was quite surprised at.

Still, even if it has been mostly just the spare change from my purse and even if I have sometimes regretted putting that change into the pot when I realised I actually did need it for something, not to mention even though I did on occasion leave the pot sitting for weeks and weeks without any attention, I'm pretty pleased that I have stuck to this challenge and at least not opened it during the year. Look at that pile of money!

And here it is, all neatly counted out. Brought back memories of working in the souvenir shop on Mummelsee, when we had to count the takings in our tills at the end of the day and list exactly what was in there. So I did that, too.

		No. of coins/notes	Total
€10.00	x	2	€20.00
€5.00	x	4	€20.00
€2.00	x	16	€32.00
€1.00	x	27	€27.00
€0.50	x	23	€11.50
€0.20	x	34	€6.80
€0.10	x	47	€4.70
€0.05	x	134	€6.70
€0.02	x	180	€3.60
€0.01	x	199	€1.99

Giving me a grand total of

 €134.29

How cool is that! You might not be able to tell, but I literally squee'd with excitement (I'm not sure that's actually a word but it should be!). I'll be off to the bank later to feed it into the machine that will add it to my bank account so it should be available to withdraw by Wednesday. I'm off to Dublin on Thursday and on Friday will be heading to the National Crafts and Design Fair in the RDS to see if I can find myself something gorgeous. I am otherwise broke but I am sticking to my plan of using this money for that purpose. If nothing else, it'll be good for my mental health (no, not saying shopping is the solution to problems, just that I badly need a treat and I'm the only one who's going to do that for me).

So, the pot is dead. But long live the pot. Or, in my case, the pots. Here they are, all ready and waiting to be sealed up. Well, two of them will be sealed anyway. 

Pots and aims for the Sealed Pot Challenge 2014

My flowery pot will again be used for spare change throughout the year - and again, I will be using the contents to buy myself a nice birthday present next December

My London phonebox tin will be used to collect all 50c pieces that I receive during the year - this will be the start of a moving fund as I want to be making definite plans to move to the south of the country by this time next year and even having ten euro already put aside will be a big psychological boost, I think

And finally, the silver cylindrical pot will be used to not only store five euro notes (the first 200 euro worth of fives I get this coming year) but also to impart to those notes a lovely hint of the rooiboos tea that used to be in it LOL (that's the pot I won't be sealing actually, as it's too small to allow for a hole to be added.

And now I'm going to spend an hour or so checking out how other participants of the Sealed Pot Challenge got on. And it's December, too, so the christmas CDs can come out now!

Sunday night chit-chat and sealed pot update

Haven't done one of these for a while and since it just happened to be seven o'clock when I decided I'd like to post something, Sunday night chit-chat it is. First off, here's a photo from this weekend. This was the view from the bedroom I was staying in. The view from the room we were rehearsing in was similar - very hard to keep your concentration when all you really want to do is keep looking outside. Bear in mind that it rained almost the whole weekend so it looks a bit dim and gloomy but I think it's still gorgeous.

View from Haus Hammerstein

What are you:
Reading
The Godfather. Surprisingly to some, I've never read this. In fact, I only saw the film a few years ago. I'm really enjoying it, I have to say, it's an easy read, which is kind of what I need at the moment.

Watching
I've been watching Scandal recently and quite enjoying that. Don't think I'm going to watch much more of anything this evening, though.

Listening to
Fairly quiet here at the moment although not as quiet as it was in the place in the photo above. Just some traffic going past outside from time to time and the sound of the wind blowing through the window in my bedroom, which I really need to get up and close soon.

Cooking/baking
Not a thing. I do have a red cabbage to cook but I'm tired and I'm hungry and I think I'm just going to pop out to one of the restaurants on my street and have a simple meal out. The cabbage can wait until tomorrow (or if I feel a burst of energy after coming back, I'll put it into the slow cooker to braise overnight and have some ready to put into my flask for lunch tomorrow.

Happy you accomplished this week
Just getting through it was good. I find that dealing with grief tends to come in waves and this week was a bad one, when my sister was on my mind almost all the time because it seemed like every single thing reminded me of her and I was never more than a few seconds away from wanting to cry (or actually crying). It was good that I was away singing for most of the weekend, I think. I did manage to finally reply to an email from HR with details on the translating I want to start doing freelance in my spare time so at least that's over to them to deal with now. And I got the hoovering done before leaving for the weekend - as well as the dishes. That's such a simple thing but always feels good to know it's done.

Looking forward to next week
Concert next weekend. Have a day off on Thursday with a few appointments arranged and need to get the present for a colleague who has invited us all to her birthday party next Saturday. Also starting the cognitive behavioural therapy seminar that the counsellor offered to me. The way the practice works is that they have an introductory meeting or two to get an idea of what's happening in your life, how you're doing and all that, as well as getting all the paperwork out of the way. Then you do a short seminar series on how CBT works, what to expect etc. (including exercises to actually start helping yourself, I presume) - the one I'll be doing is eight weeks of one and a half hours. After that you can do further seminars tailored to whatever particular issues you might be dealing with (sleep, stress, bereavement or whatever) and after that you move on to individual therapy sessions, if necessary. It might not be the right fit for all people but I think it'll work well for me at the moment so I am cautiously optimistic that the whole thing will be helpful and trying not to focus on the fact that it involves getting up earlier on a Saturday than I normally have to get up during the week!

Grateful for this week
Growing up with a father who sang all the time and made it seem like the most natural thing in the world to always seek out a way to have singing in my life. I may not ever be as good as he was but I hope I'll always love to have singing as a part of my daily life the way he did.

Bonus question: describe your "perfect pizza"
Very thin, crispy base. Tasty tomato sauce on top of that, but not too much. Topped with cheese that is cooked to just the right side of golden, melty goodness and a couple of basil leaves to impart that little extra something popped on top just before serving. The simple ones are the best.

If you want to join in with Sunday night chit-chat, post away and then head on over to Half-Daily Dozen to link up.

Sealed pot update
As for my sealed pot, well, it has gotten the change from my purse but that's the most it has gotten for weeks now. Only four weeks left so there won't be a huge amount more going into it before the grand opening but I'm still going to take whatever is in it and buy myself something beautiful at the craft show in Dublin when I'm there. And I'm going to enjoy every single second of it. SFT has opened up the sign-up list for next year so if you'd like to join in with your own sealed pot challenge for next year, have a think about what goal you'd like to aim for, head over to SFT's Life after Mortgage and put your name down. Then you have four weeks to make yourself a sealed pot (i.e. stick sellotape around the top of a lid on some kind of canister that has a hole cut in the top LOL) and start saving.

Sunday night chit-chat and sealed pot/stretch it out October update

Three down, two to go.  This is lovely cotton I have to admit, soooo soft and the colours are so nice, too.

 What are you:
Reading
1984 - haven't read this for years and it's one of those books that, although I remember the story and what happens, I don't really remember all that well. The writing is blowing me away and I know my changed views of the world, not to mention the ways the world has changed in the years since I read this (I think it was in the late 90s), are also having a huge impact on my reaction to this great book.

Watching
I've been watching Nashville. Tried and didn't even make it through the first episode a couple of months ago but I think sometimes you just need to get something in the right mood and it makes all the difference. Really enjoying it now but then again I do love some country music. Even if I don't keep up to date with it.

Listening to
Not much of anything. Just quiet at the moment before getting up to do the dinner. Might throw on The Creation while I'm doing that since our concert is coming up soon.

Cooking/baking
I prepared carrot, cumin and kidney bean burgers earlier so just need to fry a couple of them up. Going to have them with pumpkin wedges with a parmesan lemon crust (Ottolenghi recipe) and I've already chopped the pumpkin so just need to put together the rest of it and get them in the oven. I also made soup with the other half of the pumpkin earlier so lunch for tomorrow is all set.

Happy you accomplished this week
Made it through another week of work. And I managed to pull myself together enough to phone a psychologist to try and organise an appointment - I don't think I'm dealing too well with the grief since ignoring it isn't really the way to go, at least not for more than a week or two. This week was definitely better than the week before so I also got a couple of other things done that just seemed so overwhelming then. For example, I read through a friend's husband's first few chapters of a book (he wanted to know if his English was good enough to justify going on with it as it's a particular type of humour that he thinks only really works in English) and was glad to get that done, too. And I kept to my Stretch it Out October goal, too.

Looking forward to next week
My friends from Frankfurt will be up to watch the football in Cologne next Friday evening. I will watch it in the pub here (it's the German/Irish Society meet-up) but we will do something together on Saturday.

Grateful for this week
My lovely brother, who has been extra good about phoning to make sure I'm alright. And that although he dealt with things by going on a bender it seems to have been of relatively short duration and over now. Also my lovely colleague, K. who I share and office with and has been very understanding the last few weeks. And who also came to help me choose new glasses when I was being indecisive. And my lovely blog followers who have also offered me lots of support from a distance.

Bonus questions: What are you doing tonight?
Knitting more dishcloths for my sister's birthday present.

That's it for Sunday night chit-chat - if you want to join in post away and then head on over to Half-Daily Dozen to link up.

Sealed pot and SIOO update
Feeling very pleased with myself for having kept to my goal this week. I wanted to try and spend just what was in my purse (it was about 12 euro), keeping my planned budget of about 25 euro until the weekend so that I could spend it at the material market in a nearby town. And I did it, including still managing to go out one night (it's amazing how long I can make one cup of mint tea last. LOL), spending just over 5 euro from my allotted budget and still having a few euro leftover in my purse which went into my sealed pot on Friday evening. So when I went to the market yesterday I really enjoyed having that 20 euro in hand and being able to buy something just for fun.

For next week I have a 30 euro budget but that needs to cover two nights out (only one if I decide not to go out after choir). I spent nearly 10 of that yesterday on food so I really need to try and not spend anything at all if possible. I'd like to still have at least 10 left by Friday - that's enough for three pints (well, the 0.4l that they serve here) plus tip in the pub, which would be enough for the length of a match, I think. Now I just need to make sure I get up in time every day to eat breakfast at home and heat up lunch to bring in my flask, I'll be sorted.

Sunday night chit-chat and sealed pot update

Time is flying by and I noticed this evening that the evenings are starting to draw in earlier. It's half-eight now and it's more than halfway to dark outside. I do generally like this time of year though, when there are still sunny days but the temperatures are dropping to more enjoyable levels (that's around 20 degrees for me). Don't need a jacket yet but long-sleeves don't go amiss and I'm more likely to wrap my cotton scarf around my neck in the evenings sitting outside than to need it for extra sun protection during the day.

Found this little pot the other week - perfect size for sterilising my mooncup in. Should save lots of water usage over the remaining lifetime of my mooncup. Have had my eye out for something like this for over a year now so was great to find it at a not too expensive price (6.95), as well.

On to tonight's chit-chat...

What are you:
Reading
Still haven't finished Transition but haven't had a lot of time to read, to be honest. Nearly 80% of the way through so might get it finished this week perhaps.

Watching
Veronica Mars (finished season 3 last week and started in on season 1 again this week)

Listening to
Thunder. Storm has just arrived overhead. In the fifteen minutes since I sat down to write this we've gone from halfway to dark to full dark, the thunder is no longer in the distance and a massive downpour of rain just started.

Cooking/baking
Carrot, cumin and kidney bean burgers/balls. Try them, they're delicious and so easy to make. Also made a chickpea salad to bring to a barbeque this afternoon. Unfortunately, the bad weather meant a not-great turnout so now I have far more left than I had planned for this week. Will have to do some switching about of my meal plan to accommodate it.

Happy you accomplished this week
Tried a new recipe. Despite not at all feeling like seeing people or being in public last Wednesday after work I met up with people from choir to visit the Japanese centre (EKO house), which has a Buddhist temple and a traditional Japanese house. Glad I did go in the end, it was lovely. Yesterday I cycled all the way into the city centre (about 15 minutes) and then home again later. Very pleased with myself for that. Also brought a couch cover and my summer duvet to be cleaned after having them sitting on the floor in a bag waiting for months and months.

Looking forward to next week
Lots going on this week. Choir night out at the Irish pub on Wednesday. Irish Days in Leverkusen on Friday. And, of course, the 3-day-novel contest starting on Saturday.

Grateful for this week
A relatively secure job with a decent paycheck at the end of each month. Even if I don't always do the most sensible things with my money.

Bonus question: Are you sad that summer is coming to an end, or looking forward to the fall months?
Funny that this is the question this week since in my last post I commented on how I like this time of year. In a way, I'm sorry that summer is coming to an end. I did a lot but in some respects (preserving food) have done almost nothing, and won't really have a lot of time in the last few weeks of the season to get a lot done. Still, I'm looking forward to slightly cooler weather and hoping to get lots of walking done. Would really like to get back to my old routine of going walking in the woods for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning. Even more so if I manage to get confident enough on the bike that I could cycle there, too.

If you want to join in with Sunday night chit-chat just post your answers to the questions above, add a photo, quote or whatever and head over to Half-Dozen Daily to link up with our lovely host, Carla.

And finally...
Sealed pot update
Still not managing more than the loose change from my purse, but I did clear that out three times this week. Every little helps.

Sunday night chit-chat and sealed pot update

Given that I've been on holiday for two weeks, I wasn't prepared to completely lose my refreshed and ready to go state of mind all of a sudden yesterday afternoon. I decided that despite the holiday, I needed and was going to allow myself a duvet day today. I feel marginally better now and am hoping to get through tomorrow without too many difficulties.

A church in Lyon with nice sky and clouds, too

What are you:
Reading
Still Transition but I am slowly getting there

Watching
I've been watching Veronica Mars. So looking forward to the film coming out

Cooking/baking
I've prepared pastry so that I can make a quiche quickly tomorrow after work but that's about it

Happy you accomplished this week
Unpacked my case fully the evening I got back from France. Bought new batteries for my phone (suggestion from my sister, I just thought my house phone wasn't working and I'd have to get a new one). Wrote a meal plan. Did the ironing and washing up and made pastry for tomorrow.

Looking forward to next week
Nothing in particular really. Just hoping for a slow, steady plod through the first week back at work after holidays. There is a concert I hope to attend next Saturday morning and the Irish Business Network annual barbeque on Sunday - should be nice.

Thankful for today
My wonderful brother

Bonus question: what is your favourite candy treat?
Chocolate. Without a doubt. If I have to narrow it down further than that, though, it gets difficult. As a kid, Smarties were definitely my favourites, although like many others, I did feel they were less nice after they introduced the blue ones. I just actually looked it up and that was the same year Rowntree was taken over by Nestle so maybe they really were different. These days, a good dark chocolate is more likely to do it for me though.

If you fancy joining in with Sunday night chit-chat, post away and head over to Half-Dozen Daily to link up.

Sealed pot update (sealed pot challenge hosted by SFT)
Not much happening with the pot this week. Just emptied loose change from purse into it.

Sunday night chit-chat and sealed pot update

Having a great time on holiday, just chilling and hanging out with my sister and her family. With views like these, how could you not love it?

What are you:
Reading
Still working through both Transition by Iain Banks and Die Grosse Liebe by Hans-Josef Ortheil. Getting there, though.

Listening to
Television in the background and the last bits of cleaning up happening in the kitchen.

Watching
La Vita è Bella is on in the background. The kids are watching it with my older niece occasionally asking me if it's time to tell her younger sister to stop watching because it's getting too "serious".

Cooking/baking
I made loads of pastry today for my sister's freezer. It's the one thing I always get compliments on so when I'm here I make pastry, roll it out and roll it up in greaseproof paper and then put it into large ziploc bags to freeze. It's handy for her to have on hand once the school year starts and she's running around between teaching and bringing the kids to and from school and sports. Even better, I got to eat some this evening as my sister decided to make quiche.

Happy you accomplished this week
I've been having a lovely time on holidays, which is about all that was planned to be accomplished this week. I did get a lot done on Monday before leaving. Had an appointment with the pensions people and found out what I needed to submit to them to complete the transfer of my information from Ireland. Had my third appointment with the photographer and left my apartment somewhat clean and tidy before leaving (even washed the floor!). And I've put some thought into how I'll manage food and meal planning from September on.

Looking forward to next week
Another week of holidays.

Thankful for today
Family to share good times with.

Bonus question: can you walk well in high heels? Do you wear them often?
Nope and nope. Never really could and at my weight, it's just far too uncomfortable. Having said that, I do have two pairs of heels that I am looking forward to wearing again when I have lost weight. Although one pair might not fit me anymore at all. They have a block heel that's just above the height that would make them comfy enough for daily wear but are really cute with jeans (another thing I'm looking forward to wearing again). And I have some really cool boots with a heel that's not really too pointy but still high enough to count as high heels.

If you fancy joining in with Sunday night chit-chat, post away and then head over to Half-Daily Dozen to link up.

And finally:
Sealed pot update
Actually, unlike some, I haven't done anything while on holidays to move my sealed pot savings along. I did loan my sister five euro and when she paid me back the next day I put it into my camera case. Going to try and keep it separate and then into the pot it goes when I get home.

Sunday night chit-chat and sealed pot update

Can hardly believe it's already Sunday evening. While I have managed to get some stuff done (see my earlier post for all of the food-related messing up I managed to do this week), very little of it is the stuff I really wanted and needed to be doing today. The sun has nearly gone over the houses opposite though so I'm hoping to be able to open the windows soon and that maybe some slightly cooler air might come in to energise me. Although quite honestly, I suspect I'll just call it an early night and hope that means I wake up extra early in the morning. The tomatoes are bubbling away on the cooker, though, so I need at least another half-an-hour to let them cook a bit more and get them into the freezer.

Basil pesto (minus the cheese since most recipes recommend leaving it out if you're going to freeze it). 14 big 'cubes' topped off with a bit more oil and enough left over for a pasta lunch tomorrow. From my three bunches I managed to get 100g of leaves and I found a recipe that used 100g of basil with 25g of pine nuts (I had 30g in the cupboard) so I just went for it.

What are you:
Reading
On to chapter two of Transition now. Got side-tracked again, a re-read of a Georgette Heyer book this time. I've noticed that mid and late summer is a time when I turn to re-reading easy books again and again. I have a long train journey on Tuesday so I'll try to spend at least an hour reading Transition though.

Listening to
An ambulance just went by and I can hear the tram approaching. The slight bubbling noise of the tomatoes coming from the kitchen. Otherwise, it's all quiet here at the moment.

Watching
Arrow. I realised that I just stopped watching it halfway through the season so I thought I'd try and catch up on the last few episodes. Like the books I'm reading at the moment, it's all about switching off brain at the moment.

Cooking/baking
Yes, let's not focus on the three bags full of food that I need to bring down to the bins this evening, let's focus on the positive. Today I've pureed nearly a litre of strawberries and frozen in ice-cube tray or ice-lolly moulds. I've removed one lot of not quite solid 'cubes' and put them into a ziploc bag - needed the tray to put the pesto into. And I have a huge pot of tomatoes on the cooker, cooked with a couple of courgettes and a couple of onions. Destined for the freezer to make me fast dinners during the autumn when I'll have very little time. And I had a lovely tomato and mozzarella salad for dinner. Best of all though ...

Happy you accomplished this week
... I've done the washing up. The only thing left to do is the jug that had the pesto in it and the pot the tomatoes are in. Yay me. I've also taken down some books that have been living on a shelf in the hallway for months and put them into a bag to bring to the library to donate tomorrow. And sorted all the bottles I need to bring back for a deposit or to recycling. Apart from that, although it involved some very long hours, I did get a lot done in work this week. And I had a lovely chat with my brother on the phone and another one with a good friend. I also managed to get around to contacting an insurance broker to make sure that the insurance I have is suitable and find out about organising a couple of other things. And I got some good work done in the Bio-Garten yesterday.

Looking forward to next week
Visiting my sister for a week. Not only because it'll mean spending time with her and her kids but also because I get to travel there and back by train (for free, since I had enough points to get a voucher for an international journey) and she lives in the mountains. I cannot explain to people from where I live how much I miss having mountains or hills in the background every day. Really looking forward to it.

Thankful for today
The fact that I am privileged enough that even though my massive amount of food waste this week is shameful, it won't actually make a difference to my eating properly. Particularly as this was the week in which I found the blog A Girl Called Jack and read her Hunger Hurts post from just over a year ago. Check out her recently started campaign to buy someone #22mealsforacoffee. And also, selfish though it may be, I am incredibly thankful to live and work in a country that not only has decent holiday entitlements for workers, it also has a law that states at least one of those holidays must be at least two full weeks long.

Bonus question: what was your least favourite subject in school?
Hmm, this is a difficult one to answer because I generally loved school (despite never having any of those inspiring teachers that show up in films all the time. LOL). If I'm allowed to choose gym as a subject then that definitely has to go top of the list. And otherwise science, I think, especially chemistry and physics. We did "science" for the first three years of secondary school and that meant a chemistry module, a physics module and a biology module. Biology is the only one I kept on for the last two year and that was only because the conventional wisdom was that you must do a science subject. Didn't much like maths either but once I managed to get out of the honours class in my second-last year, I enjoyed it. Really, really hated accounting and statistics in college though. Numbers just aren't really my thing.

If you'd like to join in with Sunday night chit-chat, post away and then head over to Half-Dozen Daily to link up.

Edited to add a sealed pot update:
I didn't think I had anything at all to add this week and so wasn't bothering to post an update. But I did try and get some order into the Table of Doom after all and lo and behold, found a ten euro note hidden in some receipts. Cannot think how I didn't miss it. So, rather than sticking it back in my purse, it has gone straight into the sealed pot.

Sunday night chit-chat and sealed pot challenge

I was just going to write up a quick post and then I realised it's already after eight o'clock. Might as well make it a Sunday night chit-chat in that case. These long evenings are great. At least now I know why I'm feeling tired already. I went to Potsdam last weekend - lovely place. Went swimming in a lake, too and it was just too perfect for words. I was sorry we didn't get to do it every day. Will definitely have to think about going back there for another visit sometimes.

I didn't take too many photos. For one it was too hot to think most of the time and on top of that my nieces and nephew kept borrowing the camera. So I have lots of shots of our bums when walking ahead of whoever had the camera as well as plenty of half faces and bits of chin but not a whole lot of scenery. For some reason though, of all the pictures I did take I like this one the best. It's at the Sans Souci park, which was the summer residence for one or other of the Kaiser Wilhelms and these arches lead into where the orangerie is. Majestic is the word that comes to mind.

This next photo is one that I took in the botanic gardens in the park. I was trying out some of the different effects on my camera but of course now I can't remember which order I did them in. This is either soft focus or sparkle and is far and away the nicest photo of this pond.




Other than that, I'm just going to share one photo from a few weeks ago when I, without actually planning it, did a mini-clearout of my wardrobe. It was more of a folding and sorting than anything else but I also packed my heavier trousers and jeans into a basket at the bottom of the cupboard so that things have a chance to stay a bit less cluttered on the shelves.

 And after holding on to them for far too many years I found myself asking myself why on earth I still had some things. Going with the mood, I quickly sorted out some old tracksuit bottoms and a couple of tops that I know I'm never going to wear again. And, even better, by that evening I had tidied them into a bag and the following day I brought them straight to the clothes bank. Hooray for actually getting stuff out of the house. I think it was four tracksuit bottoms and three tops that I got rid of. A small start but all progress is progress.

And on with the chit-chat...

What are you:

Reading

Transition by Iain M. Banks (or Iain Banks if you prefer :) ). This is my book for next month's book club and since I failed spectacularly at even getting past chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby for last time, I thought I should get a good start on this. So far I've only managed a couple of pages though because I got sidetracked into re-reading The Hunger Games trilogy.

Listening to

The radio on the internet. Dublin's Sunshine Mix again (not as good as when it was Dublin's Country Mix but still good easy listening). 

Watching

Nothing really. Might re-watch another episode of Firefly later. 

Cooking/baking

Too hot for cooking this weekend, even if it has cooled down a bit this evening (so that it's only 26 degrees or so). I was at a barbeque this afternoon and had so much to eat I couldn't manage a meal anyway. But I got the first tomatoes of the year from the market yesterday so I'll make up some tomato and feta salad and maybe have a little bit of that with the rest for lunch tomorrow. There are also strawberries calling my name.

Happy you accomplished this week

Decluttered a little bit more by giving some old beach toys (bucket and spade etc.) to a former neighbour. They were actually stuff that was bought for my sister when she was visiting Ireland once and I kept them as she couldn't fit them in her luggage. She did get a couple of years use out of them during her summer holidays before I moved and since they were in good nick I just threw them in with everything else when I moved. Nice to have them moved on to someone who will make use of them. I also cycled to and from the barbeque today - I'm very nervous in general and in traffic in particular but I did it with only getting off to cross major crossings once or twice on the way there and not at all on the way home. I've kept on top of the washing-up all week and I did the ironing this morning, too, so I'm all set for the week ahead.

Looking forward to next week

Boss is away so I am hoping to get a chance to catch up on a few housekeeping tasks like filing and archiving. And it's my last week before two weeks holiday, which I am really looking forward to.

Thankful for today

Fresh tomatoes! Sounds a tad facetious perhaps but I mean it most sincerely. Also, living in a country that still has more or less unlimited clean water available for positively decadent uses like having a cold bath yesterday afternoon when it was very, very hot. So relaxing to lie in the cool water with my feet resting on the edge of the bath where the sun was coming in the window - I actually fell asleep for over half-an-hour. Luxury.

Bonus question: do you know any 2nd (or 3rd!!) langugages?

English native speaker. Fluent German. School French and I can get by in most situations if I need to (not without getting very hot and going bright red though!). Irish too, although I'm by no means fluent - same as a lot of people my age, I think - couldn't hold a conversation but can understand the occasional ad on the radio or few words thrown into an English sentence. I did Russian in college as my minor language but never followed up after leaving so I haven't retained an awful lot of that I have to admit. Can still write my name though, which is something. Maybe one day I'll get around to it again.

If you fancy joining in with Sunday night chit-chat, simply post your answers to the questions and head over to Half-Dozen Daily to link up.

As for the Sealed Pot this week, just a few euro went in on a couple of days when I stopped at the shops on my way home from work and carried the loose change home in my hand. I've realised that I really need a mini sealed pot in my desk at work, too, as I often have loose change from one thing or another. And one of my biggest temptations is having loose change in my purse and a craving to hit the vending machine - with a sealed pot on hand I could rid myself of half the temptation by sealing away the money before I could get at the chocolate. Saving and losing weight - two birds, one stone, dontcha think?

Sunday night chit-chat and sealed pot challenge

I've started to feel a bit creaky by now after all my unusual activity yesterday. Gardening makes it presence felt. I thought it was going to be my knees that hurt the most but it's actually the backs of my legs that seem to be complaining the most. Oh well, it'll all be good for me in the end. I made sure to walk up all the stairs I came across when I was out today instead of taking the escalator in an attempt to gently stretch everything from time to time.

I really, seriously, absolutely must get my photos from my holiday last December sorted properly and up onto picasa or flickr so that I can share them with people I know and who, for the most part, have by now stopped asking to see them. Here's one of my favourites - a very young giraffe at Toronga Zoo in Sydney (you can see one of the adults just behind the fence pole, just to give you a sense of proportion)

What are you:
Reading
Nearly finished The Princess Bride. Have also picked up The Fast Diet - the official 5:2 diet. I'm not so much interested in actually fasting but some people's descriptions of what they were doing following this diet sounded awfully like what I've been doing this time round of trying to lose weight and eat healthily so I thought it would be interesting to at least read it and see what the science behind the idea says.

Listening to
Nothing much. Just the clock and an occasional car outside. I'm not long back from a concert where some friends were singing a Bach mass though - that was nice.

Watching
Going to watch an episode of Justified before bed, I think.

Cooking/baking
Not a thing. I have strawberries in the fridge that I bought on Wednesday and I'm supposed to have sliced them for the dehydrator today but I spent longer ironing than I thought and didn't get to them before leaving for the concert, which went on longer than I expected. And now I'm just too tired to think about it. Will try and rescue as many as possible tomorrow and perhaps puree them for a fruit leather.

Happy you accomplished this week
Had a very busy week so just getting through it was good. Had my annual review in work (and am now on the less formal "Du" terms with my boss). Went back to Biogarten and worked yesterday for a few hours and have told them I'll be aiming to be there every second week. Did the ironing. Filed all of my tax stuff away only three weeks after actually submitting my returns - I think that's a record.

Looking forward to next week
A week where I don't have something planned every day after work. Just choir on Wednesday and my first German lesson on Friday. Interested to see how that turns out. And then on Saturday, since it's the first of the month, I'll be heading to the chemist to step up on the scales and see whether just cutting out most snacking has been enough to get me started on a good weight loss followed by heading to get my second set of photos taken.

Thankful for today
A nice place to live in and a warm comfy bed waiting for me.

Bonus question: what was your very first real job
Well, I never did a huge amount of  babysitting. My first job was working for my dad in his garage (complete with mini-supermarket) - I started that the summer I was 12 (a year later than normal as my mum had died the year before so I ended up having to stay at home with my younger brother and sister). Worked most days during the summer and then every day after school for a couple of hours. Got away from it by claiming compulsory summer jobs abroad when I started college (it was only actually compulsory after second year) so that at least I had the summers off. First summer I worked as an ice-cream seller in a small village in the Bavarian Alps, then the second I had an internship at the Deutsche Post headquarters. During the college year I still worked in the garage every day though. I loved working outside on the forecourt the most but rarely got the chance since my dad seemed to think I was one of the best in the shop. Sigh. Too bloody polite and friendly for my own good. Anyway, I did learn a huge amount about business from working for my dad - family businesses can be like that. I know when I was doing my business classes in college I found that a lot of it was the kind of common sense that I'd learned in the garage anyway (like the day I had an argument with my accounting teacher because he wanted to use the pure mathematical answer, complete with fraction and I was of the opinion that since we were doing calculations on logistics and stock, you just wouldn't have a fraction, 'cos, you know, who orders 0.357 of a unit of something?).

If you fancy joining in with Sunday night chit-chat, post away and head over to Half-Dozen Daily to link up.

And finally...
Sealed pot challenge update
Not a lot gone into the pot this week but I did empty my purse of coins twice so at least something went in. I'd love to have a nearly no-spend week this week but we'll have to see how that goes. My goal has gone from one thing (something from etsy) to another (a freezer) and back again to nearly where I started but it's fixed now. In fact, despite still being in debt last month I just went ahead and booked myself flights to Dublin for a long weekend around the time of my birthday at the beginning of December, as well as a hotel for the three nights. I'm not planning on telling anyone I'll be there (except my brother) and will just be having a few chill-out days entirely for me. There are things I always want to do when I'm back and I never get to because I'm running around trying to visit everyone while I can so I'm going to stay strict with myself on not telling anyone. If all goes to plan, I will have no debt commitments left by the end of November and I have always planned to allow myself to spend as much as I please of my salary, even if it's the whole thing, for the first two months following debt-free. I've already bought myself a ticket for a lunchtime concert at the National Concert Hall the day I arrive, plan to book a flotation session, possibly get my hair done, have several lovely meals out and visit the National Crafts and Design Fair at the RDS. And so that's what my sealed pot money will be for: buying myself something gorgeous at that fair.

Sunday night chit-chat and sealed pot challenge

Here's another photo from the Biogarten.  You didn't think I'd be able to spend a couple of hours in a garden and not take any photos of roses, did you?  There was a fairly strong wind blowing though, so I had to use my hand to try and hold this just barely past rosebud stage rose steady for a photo.  Don't think this slight glimpse of flesh will blow my anonymity though :-)

What are you:
Reading
Can't get into the reading vibe yet again.  I think I just shouldn't bother trying anymore when I've been sick.  Have multiple books on the go still and just can't get interested in them for more than a page at a time.

Listening to
Not much, just an occasional car passing by outside.  And the tram, of course.

Watching
I've been watching Justified and also a teen/family drama called Switched at Birth.  I'm enjoying that because it's about two girls switched at birth who find out at sixteen that it happened and how their two families get to grips with it.  One of the girls is deaf and I really like that in the scenes where there are just deaf people, who are communicating through sign language, they don't try to drown out the silence by ramping up the music.

Cooking/baking
Second attempt at pulled pork today and although it's somehow very different than last time, it's still delicious.

Happy you accomplished this week
I didn't get much done due to being sick but I did change the bedclothes, which always feels fabulous.  And today I went back to the Biogarten to say hello (photo-heavy post of it here) and ease myself in to going back to actually work a couple of hours next week.  That was a huge step forward for me.  After a few days of eating junk, I've also just about gotten myself back on track for eating properly and have prepared enough to see me through the first few days of the week well.  And I wrote a meal plan.

Looking forward to next week
Getting my feet done on Tuesday, choir on Wednesday, book club on Thursday, garden on Saturday and going to a concert on Sunday.  Lots of lovely stuff going on, which will make up for having to have my annual review meeting in work at least.

Thankful for today
My mooncup (is it sad that that seems to appear, oh, about once a month?).  The mansize tissues I bought last time I was in Ireland (I don't use my cloth hankies when I'm sick - better to throw the germs out and also I don't own two hundred hankies, which is about how many I'd need).  Long evenings, nice chat with my brother and delicious food in my kitchen.

Bonus question: what was your least favourite part of last week and your most favourite part of the last week?
Least favourite has to have been the horrible bronchitis, especially missing singing in the concert last Sunday, not to mention missing our first rehearsal for The Creation.  Most favourite I think was having a lovely, just barely lukewarm shower on a very hot Wednesday evening before getting into a clean summer nightie and a bed made up with clean sheets and covers.

And that's nearly it for me.  If you want to join in with Sunday night chit-chat, post away and then head over to Half-Dozen Daily to link up.

But before I go...

Sealed pot challenge
I started this in February, managed to keep up with my commitment to add in the number of euro equivalent to the week for, oh, about five weeks (if that!) and then even forgot that I was supposed to be emptying my purse of change at the end of the month, too.  I have been throwing in bits and pieces of change from time to time - I've started to put my purse away as soon as I hand over money so that I can then just carry the loose change home in my hand, which means it goes straight into the pot when I get in the door.  Don't do it all the time but it works if I've just gone down to the bakery or one of the other shops on my street.  July and August are going to be pretty spendy months, with travelling and holidays going on but I need to really start putting an effort into this by September.  Going to add it to Sunday night chit-chat so that I don't forget about it (the sealed pot challenge updates on the originating blog, SFT, are on Sundays, too, if you fancy joining in with this challenge to save money by December, head on over there to see what nearly 100 other people are doing with their sealed pots).