As you can imagine there has been quite a lot of decisions to be made during the house extension. Some were instant choices; some necessitated deep discussion and some just needed to be mulled over.
I rather like 'mulling over' something. It is such a wonderfully nuanced phrase which absolutely encapsulates those often inconsequential decisions over which you need to ruminate; those options which you need to toss about in your head before gently landing upon your answer; those choices that need to be pondered.
So next time you have a decision to make gently mull it over. There is so much less stress involved in 'mulling it over' than 'deciding or 'choosing' there and then. You will also find that more often than not your final decision is the right one if you've mulled over rather than plunged into or plucked your choice out of the air.
So altogether now I mull, you mull, we all mull.
Thursday 17 October 2013
The fizz of elderflower
I love creating things to eat and drink. One of our very favourites is elderflower champagne. Around about my son's birthday in June, the elderflowers are out and it's time to start making the fizz. It's very easy to make - just soak elderflower heads, lemons, sugar and water together, bottle it and 2 weeks later you have the most delicious and fragrant sparkling drink.
It always amazes us that the fizz is generated by the natural yeasts in the flowers. It does get very poppy indeed. You have to bottle it in champagne bottles (good excuse to drink fizzy alcohol the rest of the year in order to generate the empty bottles), pop a cork in and secure with a wire. The first year we made it quite a few bottles exploded due to insecure wiring!
Even this year without a proper a kitchen we still made about 10 bottles. We couldn't resist. Last weekend we tested a bottle and it's a good vintage. Nothing better on an autumnal Sunday lunchtime than to pop open a bottle of elderflower and drink up some early summer fragrance.
Tuesday 15 October 2013
Technology cold turkey
I went cold turkey in June. I didn't have a problem....well nothing I couldn't control. I could stop any time yep any time I told myself. Well on June 11th 2013 the whole family went out on a limb and stopped watching the TV. Well to be more precise the TV got lost in the pile of junk that was our sitting room due to the build. Too big to move to another room and besides no other aerial socket, we had to abandon it under a cover and some magazines piled on top. We all went cold turkey.
And to our huge surprise we survived. 18 weeks of not goggling at the box. OK we have watched the odd DVD on the laptop but other than that no TV. There were no sweaty palms or rantings or painful longing. We got on with life. I occasionally got a whiff of information about a programme which I thought would have been quite pleasant to watch but then forgot about it.
We got our room back last week and sat on the sofa (haven't had a sofa either for 18 weeks) and watched TV and it was lovely. It was great to have it back in our lives especially as the dark nights draw in. We have proved we can do without it but that actually we do love it and wouldn't really want to do without it. Besides 'Strictly' is back and my daughter and I lurve it. What we probably should do now is be a tad more discerning in our viewing choices but what the hell I'm having a viewing fest of the great and not so great on TV. But don't worry I can stop any time...yes I don't have a problem....I can stop.
The internet on the other hand is another thing entirely. I haven't posted on the blog for more than a week because our internet link has been down and still is. A friend texted me at the weekend demanding more posts. It's been awful - no access to emails, no access to information, no access to writing the blog. I could not survive now without the internet. I've popped round to a friend's house today and am tapping into her internet vein. There has been ranting. There has been grunting. And it's all been from me. The children seem to be able to take it or leave it but I want it back. I don't want to stop.. any time...period.
And to our huge surprise we survived. 18 weeks of not goggling at the box. OK we have watched the odd DVD on the laptop but other than that no TV. There were no sweaty palms or rantings or painful longing. We got on with life. I occasionally got a whiff of information about a programme which I thought would have been quite pleasant to watch but then forgot about it.
We got our room back last week and sat on the sofa (haven't had a sofa either for 18 weeks) and watched TV and it was lovely. It was great to have it back in our lives especially as the dark nights draw in. We have proved we can do without it but that actually we do love it and wouldn't really want to do without it. Besides 'Strictly' is back and my daughter and I lurve it. What we probably should do now is be a tad more discerning in our viewing choices but what the hell I'm having a viewing fest of the great and not so great on TV. But don't worry I can stop any time...yes I don't have a problem....I can stop.
The internet on the other hand is another thing entirely. I haven't posted on the blog for more than a week because our internet link has been down and still is. A friend texted me at the weekend demanding more posts. It's been awful - no access to emails, no access to information, no access to writing the blog. I could not survive now without the internet. I've popped round to a friend's house today and am tapping into her internet vein. There has been ranting. There has been grunting. And it's all been from me. The children seem to be able to take it or leave it but I want it back. I don't want to stop.. any time...period.
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