Monthly Goals – September/October 2018

Posted on October 11, 2018 by nicdempsey

October has rushed past us and we’re nearly in November. October has been better than expected but I am struggling with the darkness a bit. I’m doing everything I can to keep from it getting worse and so far November is looking like it has the right amount of balance between challenge and people and being by myself and/or asleep….

So let’s recap October

Bedtime, Wake up time and Golden HourI’m sticking to the getting up at 6am and leaving the house at 7am-ish, bedtime at 10pm and golden hour are a bit harder but it makes a difference when I do it and I’m managing it 4 out of 5 days…

Walking

Walk to and from the station every work day. 30 min lunchtime walk when I’m in the office. I would award myself a 95% on this one. It’s a pain but it works!

Yoga

I’ll like to do something everyday while I’m on holiday (and maybe get Ma to do with me as she’s given up Pilates) and at least three times a week during the month. I got to this 2-3 days a week, not perfect but better…

Tone

Squats (20), sit ups (10), press ups (10). It’s pathetically little but I want to hit it every other day. 50% I’m not doing well on this.

HouseworkA weekly clean of the kitchen, hall and bathroom (including hoovering and mopping). Ironing, nothing that needs ironing hanging around more than a day. I can’t help but feel that the house is a mess, it’s not actually that bad, but I need a weekend devoted to it. I’m getting to most of this…

ProjectsDefrost the freezer/clear out the fridge. Clean the oven. No I did not do these things, again…

 

I’m going to Barter Books so time to get rid of my excess books, so I can trade them in for more books. Of course this is the one that I did, I got £18 for the old books and brought 4 ‘new’ ones back and paid for Ma’s ‘Life of Samuel Johnson’ with my profits.

Allotment

We didn’t do much with this list in October, we have a plan but it’s not going to see any significant work until mid November.

New things

  • Make a patio next to the shed
  • Buy sand,
  • Buy pavers
  • Level ground
  • Path next to shed
  • Woodchip
  • Borders
  • Pavers

Maintenance/planning

  • Paint the shed
  • Sow garlic and broad beans
  • Get the remaining lavender into the ground or bigger terracotta pots.
  • Sort out the canes and get rid of the weak broken ones
  • Manure the rhubarb
  • Manure and cover the beds we aren’t going to use over winter

Other 

Meal Planning and Food budget & Birthday/Christmas prep

Meal planning and food budget are more or less under control.

I’m getting myself sorted. I’ve bought Oli’s birthday present, I need to get Christelle and Ma’s birthday presents. For Christmas, I’ve bought a couple of small things for Christmas and honestly, other than doing that, I’m not going to fussed until closer to Christmas

My plans for November are more of the same, November is always a struggle for me, so I just want to concentrate on getting through with calm and no major issues so repetition is a good thing….

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Allotment Adventures: Discouraged

Posted on October 10, 2018 by nicdempsey

I’m feeling discouraged mostly because of the sodding aphids. I had to pull up some kale plants because they were infested, bloody infested with cabbage aphids. Then I went to pick some chard to find that the bloody ants have been at it with the blackfly. On the chard FFS! I hate them.

Hopefully, we have it contained but that combined with the end of the summer garden left me feeling a bit flat.

Still some things got done, I cleared the three sisters bed, Ma cut down the aramanth, I started pruning back the raspberries. Next week, we don’t have much time on the plot and the week after that is the pumpkin walk. It feel like October is rushing by and I haven’t got much done.

Today is Mental Health Awareness Day, so it’s probably a good time to acknowledge how beneficial the plot has been for my mental health. It has given me exercise, a new community of people and all of that has been great. It’s also made me much more aware of how miserable and tired I get at this time of year. Which is why I’m feeling so discombobulated right now. The foxes are digging up all the paths and the aphids and all I can see is what I haven’t done, can’t do or don’t have time for.

It’ll be fine because it’s not terrible, the plot is in pretty good shape, there is always work to do and my mood will improve in about 6 months!

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Monday Misc: WTF

Posted on October 8, 2018 by nicdempsey

I am not living my best life right now.

I’m tired, grumpy and feel that I’m severely lacking sleep. Welcome to autumn SAD’s.

Over the last week, as if to add insult to injury, I got completely soaked while walking the dog this weekend, I’ve had to pull up most of the kale because of cabbage aphids, I came on and this morning the a chunk of the bath mat decided to stay in the bath as I pulled it up!

All of these petty annoyances are nothing compared to the state of the world right now, which is going to hell in a handcart.

So I’m not feeling very optimistic about anything this week. It will pass but if anyone quotes Julian of Norwich to me, I might explode!

Given my stellar mood this week, I shall be doing very little, it’ll be a ‘work, home, sleep, repeat’ kind of week, because I shouldn’t be around people, it’s dangerous.

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Sunday Music: Vote ‘Em Out

Posted on October 7, 2018 by nicdempsey

It’s been a week. Sometimes you have to remind yourself that the political system we live in, is better than anything else you could have.

Thank you Willie

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Friday Links: Dancing Queen

Posted on October 5, 2018 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday!

First let’s get it over with, we live in a world where this is how the Prime Minister starts her speech to conference. It is not funny, she needs to give it up, she’ll never be funny, she’ll never be competent, it’s not a case of ‘she’s entertained us enough’, she’s never entertained us….rant over….

Anyway, this week I have been off my game. There has been loads of new but I can’t really cope with any of it. This is what I came up with..

The rise of cashless Britain: the poor suffer as banks and ATMs are closed

Dwarf planet ‘The Goblin’ discovery redefining solar system

This Four Thought is just lovely.

Don’t Be Mad at Roxane Gay’s Money Diary. Be Mad at the Genre Itself.

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Allotment Adventures: Ma Does All the Work

Posted on October 3, 2018 by nicdempsey

This weekend was the Ealing Half, so I was handing out water and left Ma on the plot with a packed breakfast, a flask of coffee and a worklist. She was amazing. We called time on all the summer and took the remaining winter squash in (including Oli’s tiny pumpkin – we’ll do better next year!). Ma also cut down all the tomatoes and I have tons of tomatoes ripening at home, time to make some chutney, I think!

It’s really funny how different the plot looks without my tomatoes.

We also emptied the compost from the buckets and pots and found grubs, which I left out for the birds and cleared up the rhubarb.

Disappointingly, we found that one of our kale beds has cabbage aphids. Which I’m not happy about. We’ll treat with mint tea and fairy liquid and scraping the buggers off and if that doesn’t work then I’ll open the bed for the pigeons. I’m also going to do the same to the other kale bed which doesn’t appear to be infected and get some mesh netting to protect them.

The work to be done over October and November is all about winter preparation and it’s a long list.

  • Clear the three sisters bed
  • Cut back the raspberries for next year
  • Dig up the raspberries to take them back and clear an area for autumn raspberries
  • Level and cover the ‘patio area’
  • Dig up the cucamelons and store over winter
  • Re-pot the last two lavenders
  • Manure the squash beds and rhubarb
  • Paint the shed
  • Line the shed
  • Cover beds not being used this winter
  • Sow broad beans
  • Sow peas
  • Plant out garlic
  • Sow mizuna, mustard and spring onions
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Sunday Music: Flicker and Shine

Posted on September 30, 2018 by nicdempsey

When Ma and I do road trips there is normally some Old Crow Medicine Show in the music mix.  This is Ma’s favourite but not really for driving, it makes you go faster…

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Friday Links:

Posted on September 28, 2018 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday! I made it through my first week back at work, the first week is always the hardest!

Here are this week’s links…

No-deal Brexit could result in Northern Ireland blackouts, leaks reveal

Theresa May excels herself in another exercise in futility. This…

I’m now backing a second referendum – Jeremy Corbyn should too. We have two options, Canada or Norway. The Tories can’t deliver Norway because Theresa May can’t sanction a deal that leaves immigration open because she’s fixated on it. Even if she wasn’t, her party won’t let her, the Tory Brexiteers want de-regulation, they want to diminish workers rights more because it benefits them and their donors. Labour can deliver a Norway style deal but they also need to start telling it like it is, we can’t control all immigration but we could more stringently apply existing EU rules. The problems that Brexiters are blaming on the EU around immigration are often problems of how our govt applies the rules. Germany and France had a seven year limit on immigration from the EU accession countries, we didn’t and can you see either of those nations outsourcing the production of their passports? Nope.

Trump is a laughing stock. But if we weren’t laughing, we’d be crying. This is what I said when I heard the speech…

He claimed: “The United States will not tell you how to live, work or worship. We only ask that you honor our sovereignty in return.” But shortly thereafter Trump spent portions of his speech telling Iran and Venezuela what to do at home.

Eating junk food raises risk of depression, says multi-country study

How universal free preschool in DC helped bring moms back to work

Palaces for the people: why libraries are more than just books

Harassment outside of abortion clinics. We need to do something about this, there is a vast difference between feeling that abortion is wrong and shaming women who don’t agree with you.

Social mobility requires far more than a good education

Everything You Need to Help Manage Migraines, According to a Lifelong Sufferer. I put Vapo-rub on my forehead when I have a headache, it helps, but mostly it’s cold things on my head and quiet.

Petr Cech: Wenger was more worried about playing style than winning. Confirming what everyone always said about Arsenal under Wenger.

The rise of the ‘bridesmaid font’

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Allotment Adventures: Autumn Approaches

Posted on September 26, 2018 by nicdempsey

The last time I went on holiday, was before I had the plot. In fact, the call to say there was a plot available came on the last day we were in Amble, we came home on Saturday and by Sunday I had a plot. All this to say that I haven’t been away and left the plot to itself for a week.

It survived but it feels autumnal, the plot is looking forlorn and we are in the last week of September. The crookneck is dead and some of the tomatoes had snapped in the wind. It was raining and miserable in the morning, we ventured out when it stopped and picked and did emergency weeding.

So tomatoes, squash, winter squash, kale, lettuce, chard, borlotti beans, some carrots, some cucamelons, coriander and all the fallen tomatoes came home with us and my kitchen is home to ripening tomatoesThere’s a lot of tidying to do and the weather is all over the place, Sunday night was really cold but it’s been warmer since, even so I think it’s time to clear the tomatoes and courgettes but I’d decide weather that’s to do this weekend at the weekend!

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Monday Miscellany: Everyday Living

Posted on September 24, 2018 by nicdempsey

Happy Monday!

Today, I re-enter everyday living and the dreaded commute. 6am this morning was a bit of a shock and it’s always surprising how difficult it is to slip back into routine after only a week off.

The morning walk to the station wasn’t nearly as scenic as my walks last week!

But I do feel better for the week off and ready to tackle my inbox and my bosses diaries today, so it was worth it!

The plan for this week both at work and home is to get back to it. I have an meeting about the Halloween trail at the allotments on Wednesday and I’m volunteering at the Ealing Half marathon on Sunday morning, so a quiet homey week is on the cards!

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