It's official, I'm now a lady of leisure. I have worked for the same company for over fourteen years, but as they are now relocating the office twenty five miles away, I have decided to call it a day. I'm not going to look for anything else straight away, but the money situation may mean that I will have to in the future. My last day was yesterday, and I was presented with a lovely bouquet of flowers, some Thornton's chocolates and some wine. This has come at just the right time, as I can now devote more time to the allotment and garden, just as the season is beginning. As I will now be watching where every penny is spent, I will be doing what most allotmenteers do and recycling what I can, getting the most use out of everything. Something else which I'm eager to have a go at this year is seed saving. I've never saved my own seed before so this is new to me.I potted on my seedlings at the weekend. They are all now in individual pots on my son's windowsill, as that gets the most light. I didn't manage to get round to sowing any more seeds, but will do that this weekend.
I have been presented with another award. Thank you Gary, Jen and Ruby from Reads Allotment Retreat. This is the happiness award and the rules are that I have to link to the blog which presented me with the award, list 10 things which make me happy, and pass on the award.This is the third time that this award has been presented to me so my blog must be making some people happy. Instead of listing 10 things which make me happy, this time I am going to list 10 of my favourite flowers. So, in no particular order, they are:-
Lily
Fuchsia
Iris
Sweet Pea
Tulip
Snowdrop
Freesia
Nemesia
Rose (yellow)
Kniphofia
I'm sure that there are lots more that I have missed off this list, but these are the 10 which spring to mind at the moment. I would now like to pass this award on to some other blogs which make me happy.
You are under no obligation to accept the award or pass the award on, but I just wanted to let you know that I enjoy reading your blogs.
Since I started blogging, less than a year ago, I have had more than 10000 visitors to my blog. I would like to thank all my readers for coming back for more, and especially for commenting. It's lovely to have made so many like minded friends, and I hope that you will continue to enjoy my blog.
It is quite liberating when you are a lady of leisure so enjoy :-) I was made redundant a few years back and as I had some money behind me (and was pregnant with our second child) it made me re-assess what I wanted out of life and go down a slightly different track. Have fun recycling everything - nothing better than knowing you have saved something from landfill and saved money at the same time :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the "award", I have really enjoyed reading your blog too since discovering it. I shall endeavour to pass it on soon.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your leisure time. I'm a SAHM at the moment, having taken a career break from work for my daughters early years. I still have about 18 months before I have to return, but there will be a change in direction when I do as it is not something I want to go back to. My life and lifestyle has changed much in that time and I need to seek out something new when the time comes.
Enjoy this free time you will have!
ReplyDeleteAnd it might be a very good learning experience on recycling, preserving food from garden and other ways of saving money...
Here is another lady of leaisure so to speak :) I also decided to stay home with my girls from 2008 Feb and its the best thng I could have done for myself.
ReplyDeleteSo enjoy all your I'll disguised free time, you'll soon be wondering where has all the free time gone :)
The plot is certainly going to florish this year I'm sure.
Congratulations on your award Jo - its always a happy moment popping over here:-)
ReplyDeleteAs for being a lady of leisure, doubtless you will be just as busy, but doing things you enjoy! The garden and allotment are in for a real treat this year!
Jeanne x
Wow - congratulations on both counts. I am looking forward to a bit of leisure time of my own soon - the upside of short-term contracts and part-time working. Enjoy your choccies
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for the award, which I'm more than happy to accept. I'll do a post about about it, probably early next week.
ReplyDeleteAs a gardener/allotmenteer it's certainly the best time of the year not to be working!
I save lots of seeds and and heartily recommend it. I find that this site is useful and may be of interest to you http://www.theseedsite.co.uk/
Well done on the blogging so far, and long may it continue! Flighty xx
Lucky, lucky, lucky you!!!! I still have several years of children at university to get out of the way. But I'll enjoy reading about your expanded allotment life.
ReplyDeleteOh goody, more writing about work on the lottie then. Thank you for the award, I am honoured. Don't forget to relax now you are a lady of leisure and 'do lunch' once in a while. xx
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Jo I am so touched by your award, really made my day thanks.
ReplyDeleteWow a Lady of Leisure, how very exciting good luck good luck good luck.
I imagine that you must have mixed feelings Jo. As a lady of leisure for some nineteen months now the best part is not to be rushing round all the time and to be able to spend more time in the garden and at the lottie : ) Seed saving is most satisfying although it can be a challenge sometimes to collect them just at the right moment.
ReplyDeleteSo you will truly be leading the Good Life.
ReplyDeleteHave fun, take time to step back from the rat race and appreciate what you have. Enjoy!
Enjoy your time. Mrs IG took a part-time option and she seems to really enjoy the spare time. Of course, it means I have to work twice as hard, but she's okay with that!
ReplyDeleteOh how lovely, you must be so excited for the time ahead! You'll have the best looking plot by the summer's end...enjoy your free time.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy your new found "lady of leisure" status. I hope that those annoying financial realities don't get in the way of this continuing!
ReplyDeleteglad that your lady of leisure status means you can enjoy your time off for a bit! I would love it, probably for a bit, but that evil mortgage shouts as me every month...:o(
ReplyDeleteIt's great being a lady of leisure, but if you get any leisure time let me know how you did it !!! I seem to work harder that when I was at 'work' but at least I am marching to my own drum and not someone Else's I hated time keeping, that I'm afraid is my biggest down fall, I am so laid back about time and only let it concern me if I have an appointment. Otherwise I poodle about to my hearts content without even looking at a clock. GREAT ! annoying for some people though.
ReplyDeleteI hope you get to the allotment this week-end and that the rain stops for you.
Congrats on becoming a "lady of leisure"! It'll give you the opportunity to come up with all kinds of creative, sustainable practices to apply to your allotment. You can build cool vertical structures to increase your crop yield, make cool gifts from herbs, and, as you say, collect seeds, plus whatever else your mind can dream up! What an excellent adventure ahead for you. Best,
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your new direction - wherever it may lead you!
ReplyDeleteI fully intend to enjoy my leisure time, Scented Sweetpeas. I don't know how long it will last so I will savour every minute. Unfortunately, I didn't get any redundancy pay, so whether it will continue for long will depend on the money situation.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Dawn. I have enjoyed reading your blog since discovering it. If I do end up looking for another job, I will be looking for something totally different from what I was doing before too. I think our outlook changes as the years pass and we don't always want to do what we chose to do years before.
I'm looking forward to trying new things, Vrtlarica. I haven't done much preserving before, but that's something I want to have a go at this year.
I think things will still be busy even though I'm not working, Kella. It always is when you've got a home to run and a family to look after. I'm determined to make more time for myself though, even if it's just to do things I enjoy which I didn't have time for before.
Thank you, Jeanne. I'm really looking forward to spending more time on the garden and allotment this year. I should be able to spend more time there during the week now, rather than the majority of the time at weekends.
Thanks, Countrymummy. It seems that we'll both have more time for our gardening this year. Let's hope we can make it productive.
You're welcome, Flighty. I look forward to reading your post. Thank you for the link, I will take a look at it as I need all the help I can get, I've never saved my own seeds before.
That's one of the reasons I will have to return to work, Linda. My eldest will be taking his GCSE's next year and he's hoping to go to university, which as you know, doesn't come cheap. Still, I'll enjoy being at home while it lasts.
You're welcome, Carrie. I'm hoping that we have a really good summer this year so that I can get lots of gardening done, and yes, I will 'do lunch' every so often too.
You're welcome, Tash. I enjoy reading your blog. It is exciting being at home. I've always worked, even when my kids were born I returned to work very soon after, so I intend to enjoy this time while it lasts.
I do have mixed feelings, Anna. On the one hand it's great to be able to do what I want when I want, but it would be nice to be a little more financially secure. I would imagine that we all feel like this though. I'm looking forward to having a go at seed saving, this is one of my projects for this year.
ReplyDeleteI think it will be quite hard to slow down, Allot of veg. I think you get used to the pace of life, and it will be quite challenging not to carry on rushing around. That's good advice though, I think you can forget to appreciate what you have, and I'm determined to enjoy this time while it lasts.
My hubby keeps telling me that I'm a kept woman now, The Idiot Gardener. He's only joking of course, but at the moment I do feel rather funny knowing that I'm not contributing financially. I'm sure that will soon pass when I start to enjoy all my spare time.
I don't know about having the best looking plot, Deb, but I'm certainly going to enjoy having more time to spend there.
Thanks, Mark. I'm hoping that I can get as much time at home as possible until something comes along to put a spanner in the works. I'll definitely enjoy it while it lasts though.
Don't mention the mortgage, Cat. Our's would have been paid off in three years if we hadn't added to it to have an extension built. We've got a good few years left now.
At the moment I'm thinking that I'm going to have loads of free time, Maureen, but I suppose the danger is that you get used to it, and then it doesn't seem as if you actually do have that much free time. I'll be happy just so long as I manage to get some extra time at the allotment this year. The rain did stop on Saturday and it turned out to be a lovely weekend.
Thanks, Avis. I've got lots of plans floating about in my mind at the moment as to how to spend my new found free time. In fact, I don't think I'll have that much free time left with everything I want to do.
Thank you, Liz. It's early days at the moment so I don't really know how it will pan out, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.
Thanks so much for the award.
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blog and hope you'll continue to update us about your new free time ;0)
You're welcome, Lynda, and thank you for your comment. I enjoy reading your blog too, and look forward to following your progress this year.
ReplyDeleteSounds like me 4 years ago. Never looked back, workwise really. Spent all time at gym and allotment, and man, the time goes really fast.
ReplyDeleteHope you have a fantastic warm-sun-on-your-back-as-you-plant-listening-to-the-birds-with-a-flash-of-tea-on-hand style season.
Thanks, Elizabeth. I didn't think you'd need to go to the gym after all that digging on the allotment. I'm really looking forward to enjoying the summer months with more time on my hands.
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