So what's new with me?
Watching
I haven't read the book, but I've really enjoyed the tv adaptation of The Casual Vacancy, based of course on J.K Rowling's book. It was fantastic. I don't normally like short series (this was 3 parts) but this sucked me in and had a brilliant ensemble cast.
I've also watched the first 4 episodes of Better Call Saul and it's awesome.
Reading
Since I've had my Kindle I've had a horrible habit of starting books, not reading for a few weeks then forgetting which one I started. I can remember my current book as it's a chirpy little read (!) about the mass murderer Harold Shipman. I've got about 600 books on my Kindle currently and I need to clear off the ones I can remember having read.
Cutting out gluten
My body hasn't been too fond of wheat for some years now but in recent times it's got worse and worse to the point that when I've had bread or white pasta I feel like death. (Wholegrain pasta has less of an effect.) Since I've cut down to about 2 slices of bread a week I feel SO much better in myself. I'm considering going gluten free altogether but will have a good think about it.
Planning
James wants us to move and there's a possibility his parents might invest in a property down here for us to rent from them. James is even more keen than me to rescue a couple of cats, and as we can't have pets here it's inevitable we'll have to move at some point. As much as I'll hate to lose these sea views, a little garden to take outfit photos in would be marvellous, and of course there's no end to the joy having pets would bring us. Because we've accumulated so much crap in the 5 years we've lived here we're going to need a full removal service to shift all our crap. I'm as much use as a chocolate tea pot when it comes to lugging things around - I just can't do it because of Fibromyalgia & CFS. We may even possibly have to pay for a packing service as well, which will cost even more money. This brings me nicely onto....
Economising
James has a bee in his bonnet about saving money and of course he has a point. We're doing a few things differently:
- We've swapped energy providers which should save us £200-300 a year. We're also being much careful with the heating than we had been. I've always got a fleece blanket nearby because my temperature regulation is shot (thanks Fibromyalgia!) but to save more pennies we're turning down the heating more and wearing our fleece dressing gowns on top of our clothes (if necessary) to stay nice and toasty.
- We've also started doing the bulk of our shopping in Aldi. To be honest, we got into bad habits having the Tesco shopping delivered and rarely checked for offers, just bought the same crap from our favourites list on the website. When we stayed with our friends up north we tried a lot of Aldi items there and they were all fantastic, so we picked up some bits and bobs last Monday. When we got back in I put those items into Tesco online to see how much they would've cost there and it was more than 1/3 more than Aldi. There are still some things we'll need to buy in Tesco (mainly for James as he's very fussy about brands) but we should save loads of money by doing a bulk shop in Aldi every couple of weeks with the occasional top up from Tesco.
- In the past, when my health has been really awful I've been guilty of relying on convenience foods. I've never been a microwave meal girl but I would buy prepared salads and pasta salads, things like that, but they're expensive. I've been using my slow cooker more and doing a couple of days meals at a time, and that's saving more money.
- I've got to sort my naughty spending habits out. I can't go cold turkey as that will make me exceedingly miserable, but I can cut back. I'm on a mission to buy more things from eBay/charity shops than new things. Of course I'm a blogger so I'm tempted multiple times a day by lovely things. It's going to be hard, as I do use shopping as an emotional crutch, but if we can get a nice new home and a couple of kitties it's gotta be worth it, right?
Playing with makeup
I'm feeling slightly jaded about the plus size clothing industry at the moment. The sense of separation between smaller and larger fats with regards to choice is my eternal moan even though I'm pleased the industry is better than it was years ago. I don't tend to look at places where there's a big divide in availability depending on size as it makes me seethe (like Simply Be, for example.) I feel I'm erring towards indie companies rather than big business lately. Because of this and a couple of other grumbles I'm yet to put a voice to, I'm more into makeup at the moment. I've been rooting through my stash and having a good swatch session most days and there will probably be at least a couple of beauty posts a week ongoing.
What's new with you?
Thanks for reading,
Leah xoxo
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