Blogtober 2023 : Day 21
Saturday and all is quiet. The rain has stopped, the wind has stopped, the flooding at the bottom of one of the Winwick roads has dissipated and the sun is shining. I know that’s not the case everywhere, but I’m grateful that the storm has passed over here, for now at least.
Saturday mornings are a good opportunity for my husband and I to spend some time together. We’re both busy in the week so we never bother trying to organise date nights but we do have date breakfasts from time to time – usually it’s a brew and something cooked at home, but today we went out for breakfast – and it’s always lovely when someone else is doing the cooking!
We went to a small cafe in nearby Culcheth – it’s a bigger village than Winwick with a supermarket, shops and cafes, and we do like a cafe that serves breakfast!
I had eggs benedict with smoked salmon and avocado … I love poached eggs!
Some cafes call this eggs royale but it’s called eggs bennie in this cafe.
My husband had a choose-your-own breakfast with his favourite foods on it.
It was so nice to sit and chat about our weeks, to review what we’d been doing and just generally catch up without being interrupted by cats, dogs, and daughters all wanting food or to go in or out of the house (funny how they all seem to want the same things these days! 🙂 )
This afternoon, I’ve been organising the clothes in my wardrobe along more efficient lines. Woolly jumpers are now all together instead of spread across different drawers. I’ve found clothes that I’d forgotten about, and I’ve let some go to the charity pile to find a new home because I’m not going to wear them any more.
This year, I’ve realised, has been a year of change and massive personal growth for me. It all started at the beginning of the year when I wanted to learn more about my personal finances because I didn’t understand about my pension (I don’t need it yet but I wanted to make sure there’d be enough money for yarn when I do!) and somehow, by some kind of magic, that has seemed to be the stick that I needed to pull out of the dam to open the floodgates for all kinds of change.
It’s really been quite amazing how much emotional baggage was tied up in just finding out about how pensions work properly and as well as dumping a whole truck-load of emotional baggage over the year, I’ve gone from learning about my finances to looking into what we’re eating, to clearing out clothes and actually being able to do some proper decluttering instead of feeling that just shuffling stuff from one place to another because I couldn’t let it go was enough.
That was probably far more than you needed to know about my Saturday afternoon but the good news is that my clothes drawers are re-organised and it feels like I’ve got a whole new wardrobe! 🙂
I hope you’ve had a lovely day whatever you’ve been up to, and I’ll see you tomorrow! xx
I decluttered when moving house, getting sons to decide what of their possessions they wanted in their flats and what I needed. lots of yarn and patterns went to a day centre, clothes and unnecessary possessions to charity. I felt so much better and lighter hearted. my husband was not impressed and still has a shed and garage full of things that might come in useful, after 48 years I don’t think I’m going to change him!
I think we all come to the decluttering when the time is right for us, and I’ve been dabbling in it for years now – and these days, there’s digital decluttering to be done as well as all the physical stuff! I’m a “I may need this in the future” stuff collector too so I understand where your husband is! 🙂 xx
was that the church cafe in culcheth ? my husband and I popped in there on way down to Devon to see my sister.It was delicious and good value.
No, we were in Cafe Piccino but we’ve been to Quench (the church cafe) before now and had a good breakfast there too! I think we might have ended up in the other cafe as Quench was closed and we loved it so much we’ve been back a few times. It’s over by the Post Office if you’re back in Culcheth again and want to try it 🙂 xx
I too am reassessing many areas of life as I approach retirement within the next year. Money,priorities, organization, healthy lifestyle –all are under review for me, and it is liberating! I love your posts and especially Blogtober!
It is liberating, isn’t it? It’s a new phase of life and we should be able to live it how we want to! 🙂 xx
My husband and I are here from Florida to spend time with our grandson during half-term and it is scheduled to rain all week! Wish he was interested in learning to knit. When reading about your closet clear out I thought about our “winter” clothes. I have sweaters that are older than many of your readers ’cause I only can wear them one or two days a year! Enjoy your posts and brought my supplies for my knitting.
Ha ha, I’ve got a couple of sweaters that are heading on for 30 years old now and I just tell myself that if I hang onto them for long enough, they’ll come back into fashion! I hope you enjoy your visit and it doesn’t rain too much whilst you’re here xx
Hi from Northern Wyoming! Getting ready for winter here. Snow only in the mountains around Yellowstone so far, but it’s coming. Doing a sweater for our son in Seattle and socks for me. Our family meal is dinner. I get up at 4:30 to deliver rural mail, so breakfast is out.
Wow, 4.30am is a bit early and that won’t be fun if the snow is going to be coming further down the mountains to where you are! I’m glad you’ve got plenty of knitting on the go 🙂 xx
I regularly assess how we are living and what we have, need and want. So too does the Mr. I think at the end and beginning of new seasons we are prompted more to prepare and get organised. It is a good feeling. I delved down in the garage today to sort out ‘stuff’ and to clear any rubbish, to donate and marketplace items we no longer use. Very satisfying.
That’s such a good thing to do, and I admire your organisation to do it every season – that’s definitely something I aspire to! 🙂 xx
Hi my name is Penny I live in LONDON, Ontario Canada. My grandparents were from UK. I found your site when searching how to knit socks, I truly believe I will succeed with your help. Love your videos.
Hi Penny, thanks for your message – and I truly believe you will succeed with your socks as well! Do let me know how you get on! 🙂 xx
All that “GROWNUP” stuff is important and so easy to keep putting off. Good on you!
You’re telling me – it’s been on my list for quite some time but I feel better now that I’m getting on with it! 🙂 xx
love that you had a date breakfast my kind of cafe .Food looked lush .Yes as you get older ,you do see life different. I’m on my own through divorce about 16 year .So that was a good way to declutter . I’ve been on my pension 14 year. but wish I had known about this kind of stuff years ago .So good on you that your seeing what it’s all about .The Storm was very strong .The shore line covered in sea foam looked like snow
I think it’s very easy to get caught up in thinking that financial stuff is scary but it really should be something that’s taught in schools along with how to make a decent stew! I hope you were far enough away from the shore line to avoid the worst of the weather! xx
Take it from someone who was given ‘wrong’ advice about pensions/National Insurance payments…it’s never too early to look into these things!; I’m still paying Voluntary NI payments even though, according to our ‘advisor’, I had made enough contributions before I took early retirement in 2014. The government Pensions telephone help line is very good…the guy was very patient, explained everything in plain English, gave me all the info I needed to help me make the right decision. I start getting my state pension next April and now I will actually get a full pension…if I hadn’t bothered checking back in 2016, I would be on a substantially reduced pension next year!!
We’re gradually doing the clear-out…there’s a lot of charities that have benefited from books, clothes and craft stuff….helps to be able to see exactly what you have got in cupboards hidden away….and it feels good to not have so much clutter…🥰
I now have a yearning for poached eggs…🤤
It was Martin Lewis and the Money Saving Expert website that showed me how to check for National Insurance contributions so I know they’re up to date, but you are right about the helpline staff being very good – I think we assume that anybody associated with pensions or HMRC is going to talk to us in a way that we don’t understand, but that’s not been my experience. It’s always a good day for a poached egg 🙂 xx
I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog, it’s good to find so many people with the same interests. Just finished my first pair of socks and will definitely be making more, I will need to start an order book for the family. We’ve also been having a clear out, after 45 years in the same house you
accumulate so much stuff so it feels good to let some of it go.
It’s so easy to accumulate stuff, and I seem to be particularly good at it! I hope your socks turned out beautifully and you’re super-proud of them! 🙂 xx