• Clean room
• Unpack from trip this week
• Clean bathroom
• Vacuum
• Walk
• Hike
• Clean cat litter
• Pack up books
• Pack up CD’s and DVD’s
• Make list of items I’m taking with me 
• Photocopy receipts for travel claims (photocopier at shop is broken!)
• Write letter with receipts attached for travel claims
• Animal shelter volunteer forms completed and posted
• Volunteer forms completed and emailed back
• Email friend in Canada
• Email friend in Australia
• Email friend in US
• Find envelopes for cards & post 
• Frugal Trenches emails
• Dust
• Check on friend’s house
• Read Acts
• Read Middlemarch for upcoming book group!
• Scripture Memory
• Menu Plan
• Make broccoli soup
• Make lemon biscuits (from Rachel Allen’s free e-book) - made banana bread instead!
• Do a Plan Sparkle update & post
• Text my new house-mate re her questions
• Return computer wire which isn’t working and get replacement (this took 2 hours!!!)
• Pack bags for swimming tomorrow
• Find out Church service times for tomorrow
• Laundry
• Put new tax disc on car
• Repeat ” I can, I can, I can” when faced with difficulty!

Someone asked me if I had time to answer some questions, please go ahead and leave them in the comments and I’ll get to them this weekend. I’m sorry if I missed any that were already asked!

For Today…

I am thankful for…everything I have, everything I feel, everything I see, everything I hear, everything I am!

From the kitchen…caramelized onion with chickpea, shredded carrot, cucumber, raisins, pumpkin and flax seed!

I am wearing…leggings and a jumper!

I am remembering…how good seeing the sun is!

I am going…to spend the afternoon completing paperwork for my new job, reading John, writing thank you cards, catching up on blogs (I am ever so behind!), making sunflower bread and knitting a blanket for a friend who is expecting!

I am reading…my Bible, Animal Vegetable Miracle, the Diary of Anne Frank , Saturday’s Times

I am hoping…my friend who lost her husband is ok, this job comes through (should find out in about a week!), the people of Chile and Haiti are OK and my friend who is fostering two babies under 10 months including a very tiny preemie is not too exhausted!

On my mind…paperwork and a huge number of phone calls I need to make (HR, car etc)

I am creating…a blanket (I hope!) and a peaceful heart

I am hearing…birds chirping

Noticing that…I need a nap!

Pondering these words…”Be the change you want to see in the world” Mahatma Gandhi

Around the house…things need a good spring clean

One of my favorite things…semi-planning life!

A few plans for the rest of the week…paperwork, volunteering, hiking, cleaning!

More Simple Woman’s Daybooks found here

Oh the list feels oh so long and yet history tells me I’ve been here before and a few hours from now I’ll feel oh so good! What needs to be done today?

• Swimming
• Dishes away
• Cat litter clean
• Garbage out
• Clean bedroom
• Clean bathroom
• Dust lounge
• Vacuume downstairs
• Vaccume upstairs
• Go to my mums to take her blood pressure [oh how I'm out of practice ]
• Clean out car
• Vaccume car
• Take glass bottles to the recycling centre
• Apply for job 1
• Apply for job 2
• Apply for job 3
• Look for new job postings [should find out if I got any interviews this week, there is a slight problem with my downshifting i.e. taking a step or two back career wise which no matching team/HR seems to understand - if only they let you put you were downshifting on your application and a note saying you won't leave for something "better"! Sigh!]
• Water plants
• Dust Bedroom
• Go to Post Office to post Birthday card to friend in Australia, letter to pen friend, encouragement note to a friend whose studying and return language CD’s I borrowed
• Listen to Q for my daily dose of arts & culture , and of course the charming gent Gian!
• Gilmore Love [to be honest, the best thing about being unemployed ]
• Plan meals for the week
• Crochet lesson (oh so excited!)
• Send back info re NFP/Fertility Awareness - for info see here. For Christians reading this, who are interested in Christian friendly forms of family planning or to gain more information about your cycle, WOOMB is also a very good site!
• Gym
• Walk
• Call BT since they cheque they’ve promised me since October 2008 has still not arrived despite assurance 10 days ago it would be here within 5 days! Sigh!
• Write to the tax office!
• Read Bible
• Prayer time

Told you it was long ;0)

What do you have to do today?

Today I feel like jumping in the leaves!  But, knowing it is Monday, I need to get a lot done [what is it about Mondays and Thursdays that makes me want to get things done]. Since I am incredibly lazy by nature and always need accountability and it’s my blog & I can do what I want I thought I’d post the to do list…

• Walk by the seaside [I bet you thought I'd get right down to work, like I said, I'm lazy in nature]
• Make bed
• Straighten hair [slightly sick of my ringlets at the moment]
• Apply for job – I’ve found a grand total of 7 jobs in my field, all interviews would be last week in Feb or early March
• Write, packing & address two birthday parcels and an adoption parcel & card
• Rake my mum’s garden for her
• Pack up books into boxes
• Make homemade humus
• Call Church about meeting with Pastor
• Follow up email about volunteering opportunity number 1
• Phone about volunteering opportunity number 2
• Phone about my donkey course 
• Check to see if there are any new job postings
• Sort out stationary cupboard
• Write letter to tax office which has my name wrongly spelled again!
• Watch the Olympics
• Make chicken & rice curry
• Make homemade chicken noodle soup with the carcass
• Phone garage and book car in for a new front light – [tomorrow!]
• Read Bible [will do before I go to sleep]
• Make list of daily prayers/prayer schedule
• Check on all your lovely blogs and swoon, swoon, swoon
• Sew apron (the weekend ran away with me and I didn’t get it done!)
• Reply to emails
• Contemplate vegetarianism….again!

Must get things done Monday….! I may just have to keep repeating that to myself!

Do you have anything you must get done today?

Tomorrow I’m going to start 10 days towards health project!

I’ll be blogging exactly what I eat & how much exercise I do with pictures of course!

The point of it is to make sure I’m treating my body kindly, getting my fruit & veg intake (as well as that thing called protein) and getting my rear moving!  I’ll also be focused on getting 1 thing done each day on my list of things to do!  The point is to make sure my body & mind are as clean & uncluttered as possible.

Now, does anyone care to join me?

How about Sarah, Moving to Portugal & A Piece of Wood?? Amelia? Anyone else?

This project will begin Saturday April 25th and finish Monday May 4th.

* Edited to add:

Money Funk 

Healthy Amelia (don’t you just love that name)

Move To Portugal

Annie

Mo

I am soooooooo proud of you all! Remember to get your cameras ready & plan your meals & exercise for tomorrow to make it easier. I’ll link to you all each day so people can provide encouragement!

Everyone else it is not too late to get in on the action! You never know 10 days from now you might be a couple of pounds lighter and feel healthier!!

Cucumber, hummus, cheese & grapes with a tangerine juice on the side!

Lunch was yummy!

Steak with strawberries – sadly that nausea kicked in (took the meds too late this am!) and it didn’t stay down!

I then set off on a wonderful outing with a friend, to Dartmouth! Oh how fabulous it was to see it in it’s glory!

Ooooh isn’t it magnificent!

If I had these views I honestly don’t think I could go to work

I wanted to stay forever…!

Spring is well and truly here :0)

I wanted to sit here and read a book for hours, so did my friend!

There were many adorable tea rooms throughout Dartmouth!

And of course the famous New Angel restaurant – owned by Michelin Star chef John Burton Race!

Saying good-bye was oh. so. hard!

Until I was driving along & saw a sign….

TIM HORTONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who knew it was in England? AND DEVON OF ALL PLACES! Now it’s just a little counter in a petrol station, but still Canada’s best export (after CBC)

Of course I had to….

Seriously amazing…..!

Of course I couldn’t resist a little treat!

And then my friend and I headed back home to enjoy a 2 for 1 meal at Wagamama! My most favourite restaurant!

I had ginger chicken udon with no egg!

It was quite a bizarre experience as I bumped into a guy I went to school with, which is over 150 miles away! And we were both in Wagamama at the same time on the same evening and happened to catch eyes across a very busy restaurant! Strange!

As the day went on my “eczema” got worse, after dinner my mouth got itchy so I decided I had no choice but to head into the walk in centre! And it turns out it isn’t my eczema but a severe allergic reaction! I was very very quickly given anti-histamines to take straight away and I’m now on 5 days of no wheat or gluten, followed by 5 days of no dairy and if neither is the culprit then we will look at strawberries, tomatoes & avocado! One good thing about blogging your food intake means it is easy to see what you’ve eaten!

The exciting news was that my friend is going to let me help her budget and live more frugally! I can’t tell you how excited I am about it! I’m starting her on my jar system and can’t wait to see how successful she will be!

Exercise : walking through Dartmoor! I had a lot more planned but slept in, took meds late etc. Tomorrow is another day!

Tomorrow will be exercise (a run, swim & 2 hour walk), Church and catching up on blogs, I am far too behind!!

Saturday

For breakfast I decided to have a blueberry smoothie! I would normally use Total Fage yogurt, but I was given this yogurt by my mum and well there was no point letting it go to waste!

I simply combine yogurt, a few ice cubes, blueberries and 1 tbsp agarve nectar (a healthier alternative to honey) and you get…

I enjoyed this with a lemon & ginger tea, porridge with almond butter and a few strawberries

I am trying very very hard to like porridge…it’s a work in progress ;0)

Lunch

A small salad of snow peas, edamame, rocket, spinach and chili sauce

Dinner

I had kitchen sink soup (recipe to follow tomorrow), potatoes, pickled onions, feta & tomato salad and olives! Just a little of each of the side dishes – which I like as it gives me loads of different flavours and makes me feel fuller! FYI this soup cost about £1.25 to make and has made 6 generous portions!

Sunday

I made whole wheat pancakes, topped with real Canadian maple syrup (only 1 tablespoon), 3 large strawberries, a handful of blueberries and my leftover smoothie!

Lunch

I warmed up a small piece of ciabatta bread with pesto and feta cheese on top. I then sprinkled with 4 cherry tomatoes!

Dinner

I made some whole wheat penne pasta, grilled some onion, zucchini and broccoli and topped the mix with balsamic vinegar and crumpled cheese!

This week I spent £14.49 on groceries!

Tomorrow I’ll share my soup recipe, it is oh so good!

Yet another blissful Sunday. I started the day at 6:30 am – ever since I began my downshifting journey I’ve noticed I go to bed earlier and of course wake up earlier! I started the day with an hour and a half hike through one of the wonderful parks London has, of course I couldn’t forget I was in England since it rained the whole time :0)  After a hot shower I decided to do something I haven’t done in a looong while, I went to mass. I have to say I really enjoyed it, they sang some lovely hymns and I felt very positive and relaxed when I left. I came home and promptly fell asleep for 1.5 hrs! Spent the rest of the day relaxing, reading, cooking, prepping for next week and dreaming about living in France for a few months – more on that another day!

In my post on emergency fund goals Deepali mentioned a “go to hell fund” which I believe loosely translates to jack in the job and do something else, like travelling. Well my ears perked up at this, once a traveller always a traveller, and I decided once I’ve reached my emergency and baby emergency fund goals, I’m in need of a go to hell fund that would allow me to take 3-6 months off to travel & volunteer abroad, without dipping into my emergency fund!  I’m excited already!! My cousin has recently done something similar, left her job as a scientist and has spend 6 months travelling through Australia & China.

Today was another no spending day! I was tempted to buy popcorn, oh sooo tempted but I resisted partly so I wouldn’t let myself down,  partly so I wouldn’t let  my readers down. No Spending Days take commitment and I really need to try to have 5 no spending days a week! So no popcorn for me!

Deepali asked for my bulgar wheat, lentil, beansprout and asparagus balsamic stir-fry recipe. I didn’t take good notes when I made it for the first time last night so I’m doing it from memory here! It may need tweaking depending on your portion size!

Cook 1 cup of puy lentils (as per directions) and 1 cup of bulgar wheat (as per directions). When cooked mix together, split into 3 portions and set aside – I put 2 portions in the fridge for further meals and keep 1 portion out for myself. Put 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a pan until hot. Add in very large handful of beansprouts, grated cabbage and 3 asparagus stalks and stir until cooked (approx 5 min).  Then add the 1 portion of bulgar wheat and puy lentils. When all mixed together add 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and enjoy! The two additional servings of mixed together lentils & bulgar wheat mean I have a base for 2 more meals over the week, all I need to do is add veggies! I costed this dish at about £0.45 approx $0.90 per portion! Frugal, healthy, low GI and oh so yummy!

Daily Speed Walking session: 6/20

Vegan Day: 7/30

No Spending: 5/20

Water 10 glasses – it was the long walk!!

Alternative Exercise Goal: 1/4

For those keeping track of what I’m eating during my vegan month, this morning I had a late brunch of muesli vegan muffin with an orange cut into slices. This muffin lasted me all day!! For dinner I had my beansprout, asparagus, lentil & bulgar wheat stir-fry with a pear for afters!

p.s. I’ll have to do the blog awards tomorrow as I can’t seem to paste the awards into the post! Hopefully the computer or wordpress co-operate tomorrow!

The results for the 5th:

Daily Speed Walking session: 4/20 (no change here)

Vegan Day: 5/30

No Spending: 4/20

Water 8 glasses  – however I drank them before I had alcohol and the results were I felt very dehydrated today!

Food today: Breakfast: fruit salad, lunch: lentil soup with a roll from the freezer and plums, dinner: pesto pasta with frozen broccoli (warmed up, obviously!)

Today- Saturday September 6th!

Woke up feeling groggy, surely not just due to two glasses of wine but also the weather and lack of water after wine. Decided I needed to fix this by stepping up with the exercising and water consumption! So I headed out the door and enjoyed a 2 hour walk at a park. I brought lots of water with me and had a brilliant time. I did some exercises in the park and felt much better by the time I arrived home, a hot shower helped!! I then walked to the store to do the supermarket shop! It was a very successful visit, I did lots of putting things back from the cart and looking for alternatives and got the shop to £13.29!

So here is what I bought:

• Orange & Mango juice £1.45
• Vegan roll £.35
• Organic Houmous £0.98 (small pot)
• Fine Oatcakes – (these are crackers not cakes!) £0.74
• Two vegetarian burgers £1.99
• Two carrots £0.14
• Mini tin of baked beans £0.33
• Radishes £0.59
• Two museli muffins (vegan) £1.30
• One tiny loose tomato £0.21
• One granny smith apple £0.21
• Small bunch of asparagus £1.49
• One lemon £0.35
• One pear £0.29
• Small bag of oranges (on sale) £1
• Small bag of rocket (on sale) £1
• 1/3rd a cucumber £0.32
• Beansprouts (sale) £0.55

TOTAL: £13.29

I went without a few things I wanted including grapes, aubergine/eggplant and a pepper but there’s always next week! The shop could have come in under £13 but a very nice older gentleman found me my breakfast muffins and he accidentally put two in, I didn’t have the heart to tell him so that bumped it into the £13 range!!

After unpacking the groceries and enjoying my vegetarian burger on vegan roll I decided to go for another walk and did a 45 minute speed walk locally. I’m still drinking lots of water to recover from yesterday. I have quite the headache which I think is the weather, anyone else get headaches when it rains?? I know Dr’s say they atmospheric pressure doesn’t cause headaches but I swear they do for me!!

Daily Speed Walking session: 5/20

Vegan Day: 6/30

No Spending: 4/20 (no change)

Water 9 glasses so far!

Alternative Exercise Goal: 1/4

Meals today were fruit for breakfast, lunch was a veggie burger on roll with tomato and a pot of apple puree (left over from previous shop!), dinner a VERY YUMMY lentil, bulgar wheat, bean sprout and asparagus balsamic stir-fry! WOW it was good :0)

Vegan living is yummy, frugal and I really think I’m getting into a groove!

Hope everyone’s September goals are going well! Thank you for the awards, I’ll post about them tomorrow. I’m still about 2 months behind as Sharon and Sandie both gave me an award some time ago, hopefully tomorrow I’ll catch up!

p.s. Anyone else watch X Factor tonight? I’ve been left crying because of the story of the final contestant – 38 year old man whose wife died after giving birth to their daughter 11 months ago. He sang a beautiful song (Sometimes when we touch, by Dan Hill) I’m sitting here in tears, wow was it sad!

Daily Speed Walking session: 4/20 (very difficult to get my backside out of bed this am, but still did it!)

Vegan Day: 4/30

No Spending: 3/20

Water 9 glasses, which means I met my daily goal!

For meals today I enjoyed a homemade smoothie for breakfast, marmite on crackers with peppers for lunch and pasta with carrots, broad beans & pesto for dinner.