A Happy New Year.

A Happy New Year, for us all I hope.

Been too busy to write a post since my last. We had a lovely Christmas, had two days away in Llandudno after Boxing Day and on our return the Airbnb rooms have been full until a departure yesterday. Phew and, suffice to say, the washer is working overtime!

The mince pies and Christmas cake have all been eater, there are no chocolates left in the house and today we have been shopping so we are back on bigger fruit and veg portions after the festivities.

Outside, the weather has been quite chilly over the last few days and today was very frosty. Inside, the Christmas tree is down and being used as kindling for the fires and the other decorations are almost packed away. I'm leaving some greenery up as I just love mid-Winter to be celebrated and there is no better way than to bring it into the house.

Most people make resolutions for the new year. I don't like to set myself up for a failure so generally I prefer to have aims. What are your mew year aims and goals?

I'm aiming to have two no-social-media days each week - normally will be Tuesday and Thursday.

I was really amazed how much I managed to do when I tired it the first time.

One thing I HAVE to do is get back on the wagon regarding my weight loss, or lack of it. Prep for Christmas, guests visiting then and at New Year together with us going away have all contributed to a bit of a gain.... but, I enjoyed myself and I know just exactly what I need to do to get back on track. A new year is just the place to start so that has begun today and I return to my group on Monday evening.

Last night I sorted through my seed box. Oh my!

I have listed them all and decided on some to give away to somebody who can make use of them after posting on Twitter. (I could not hoped to use them all within the date time.)

My next sowings will probably be onions in February. I've already had fun doing my first lot of planning for the coming months - I love that about the Winter nights, the best of both seasons as I get myself snugged by the roaring fire thinking of Spring.

Plans we have here on our little homestead for 2019 include the third Airbnb room; this will be a self-contained unit for two people. Jon is just starting on the electrics and he is going to build a lovely, open country style kitchen and the aim is to have it listed in time for Easter. 

Now here's a question for those of you who are involved in running B n B's, holiday rentals etc. Do you think Brexit will encourage people to take more holidays in the UK? The Euro and £ are already not a good exchange when going abroad so if this is not improved on and we have a pleasant Summer maybe UK tourism could be in for a real boost - we'll be ready for it!!

I'm just finishing my lunch then I am heading upstairs. I'll put the ironing board in the bedroom and see if there is a Columbo on, probably not on a week day sadly but something inane will help me work through the pile I need to tackle. Thankfully I really quite enjoy ironing and with the rooms having been so busy I need to get up to date with the bedding in case that influx of tourists starts early!!

Ok, I'm going to make another brew then get that ironing started.

Lou, bye.

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Moving Forward At Our Best Pace And Keeping Track Of Progress!

That's a title, but it sort of draws a finishing line under some things and for us to start others. Personally I've made the decision to keep this as a diary/record of us and our stuff; I think some people are just too busy to visit other blogs and see what people are getting up to; I know I like to read a couple that really interest me and that's about it so checking if people have commented on my ramblings I think is something that will not now be my main aim, but thanks if you do. It also gives me the opportunity to REALLY ramble on without worrying that people can't be bothered to read it!😃

I've kept my Twitter account for the Airbnb rooms, and I do follow people other than those directly aimed at that, but I'm careful what comes into my feed. From next week I am having a couple of days off social media; I'll take it off my phone meaning I'll have to get the laptop out to use it; not exactly the instant way Twitter is meant to be used but that suits me!

And so...Jon and I had a conversation this morning, at length, about what we are trying to do and where we are just now.

This was triggered by the fact that we've come to the conclusion, after some monitoring our electricity meter is not working as it should. I give 2 meter readings each month, one for the cheaper night rate and one for the more expensive day time right. However we have discovered the meter is switching to the low rate at the wrong time of the day - we believe it should correspond with the times given to us by our energy company or how can we expect to make the most of the cheaper rate period? I'll be talking to them tomorrow to get something sorted but we've also arranged to have a smart meter installed at the end of the month. I was against these as the older generations of them meant they were not compatible when you switched energy company but this has now been changed so that is good.

On the back of this we know that it costs approximately £350 per year to use an emmersion heater; as we have this turned on in the Summer only and run, at the most, 2 baths a day and I wash up a couple of times it seems a huge amount of money. Soooo we are going to start keeping the Rayburn lit through the Summer months as well as the Winter. This may sound to some people like duh! we should have made this decision from the get go, but you live and learn. I think for most people energy is the biggest outlay each month.

The energy issue has lead us to think that we have taken our eye off the ball a little recently when it comes to the reason why we moved to Wales and what our aims were. It was never about living what is often described as a frugal life. It was about being self-sufficient and self-reliant in the main, getting back to basics on our little homestead; saving money by not wasting money is our goal along with generating an income so that Jon does not have to work outside of the home.

We are not an extravagant family but our boys will never go without. However they are taught where money comes from and that we can't always have what we want when we want it. However, generally in our house everything comes to he/she who waits and that always works for us!

I talked in my last post about extending our growing area for next Spring and that is very exciting. I'm now working on the layout for all the growing areas because, heavens to Betsy, if I can't supply the four of us with a really good amount of food with the space we are going to have then I don't know what!

So, we're keeping our focus on the job in hand, to reach our goals as we make them, to be are here doing what we signed up for and knowing that we really are, for us, living the dream.

Onwards and upwards!