Dreaming of the Country

I'm alive! {and I've been to London}

2012-03-05T19:48:00.001Z

Hello! Contrary to the popular belief of some, I am alive!

No excuses for not blogging, it’s just been one of those months. Here are some interesting facts to help you catch up.

1. The only blog worthy think I have done since January is visit London in order to fulfil my dream of going to the British Museum. I. loved. It
History is awesome. My only regret was that we had to rush round in a day, which was a bit overwhelming.

We {my friend and I} also met up with an old university housemate and it was super fun to have a girly afternoon together as I’ve missed that since we’ve been in Cardiff.

2. I’ve been ill, but I’m beginning to feel better now.

3. The other day I had a really vivid dream that I was a bridesmaid at the royal wedding, except I missed the rehearsal and so I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I kept making mistakes in front of the world’s media and ended up missing a vital costume change so hid in the choir stalls instead of walking back down the aisle with the bridal party.

I think it probably accurately sums up my state of mind at the moment. Control issues anyone? Also…it was very sad because for the rest of the day I had to keep reminding myself that I didn’t actually know Will and Kate.

4. Spring is coming, spring is coming! Every day I hear a Blackbird singing outside my bedroom window and it brings me such joy!
BUT…we haven’t been out of Cardiff for a walk since January. If I don’t get to roll around in a field soon I am going to go INSANE. Cardiff has some nice green areas but it’s not the same as being out in the wilds.

5. Our camera is dying. I think it’s taken one too many knocks on our adventures and it isn’t focussing as sharply as it should. I don’t know much about cameras and I’m not sure if it’s worth taking it to a repair place or not. We’re thinking about getting a new model anyway.
Any recommendations?

6. I have given in and joined Pinterest (username rachmaynard if you’re interested) and feel like it could be a slippery slope. What’s your username?

That’s all for now. I will try and update more soon.

You've got mail {or you will have}

2012-01-26T19:02:00.000Z

I am loving blogging more than ever recently. It’s so useful to keep up to date with friends and I love journaling our daily adventures so I can look back and remember what’s been happening.

Most of all though I love hearing from you guys through comments. I love to hear what you think, and I love catching up with other blogs too.

If you’ve commented on Dreaming of the Country you’ll notice that I normally respond to your comment by email. I want you to know that I value your thoughts and I want to respond and get conversation going, but who has time to go back to old posts to check whether the author has replied to your comment? Email is a great way of keeping in touch instead.

However, many of you don’t leave email addresses or blog links which means that I can’t find out who you are or reply, which makes me sad.

Some of you might just want to remain anonymous, which is fine, but some of you may not realise that there is a really simple way you can link up blogger and your email, which allows me to reply directly to you when you comment on my blog.

Here’s how you can set up it:

While you are signed in to your account, open your dashboard and in the top right hand corner by your profile picture there should be a drop down menu with the option to view you blogger profile. Click that link and then click edit profile in the top right hand corner.

You should now see:

(I have shamelessly stolen this from the lovely Annika so you should go over to her blog and give her some love!)

In order to associate an email address with you profile, you need to make sure you are:

1) sharing your profile
2) showing your email address
3) entering a valid email address to your profile

If you don’t want to put in your personal email address you could always create one just for your blog, which is really easy to do (mine is countrydreaming@googlemail.com).

Now when you comment on my blog I can quickly reply and we can be friends!

If you’re reading my blog and you’ve never properly introduced yourself please do. I’d love to be able to reply to your comments and catch up with your blog if you have one.

(Thanks again to Annika for letting me steal her idea).

What to do when you reach your Picasa upload limit...

2012-01-23T19:31:00.000Z

On Friday I explained that my Picasa web album (the one that Blogger automatically uses for uploading photos) had reached its upload limit and that Google wanted me to pay a yearly amount to continue to upload photos.

I wasn’t keen on that and so asked for you advice…

THANK YOU SO MUCH to all those who offered advice via comments or emails. This is why I love blogging – it was all so helpful!

A couple of people asked me to update my findings so that they could find out some answers too (I’m also going to use this post as a test to see if my new plan for photo uploading works!) So here goes…

- The most popular free photo storage sites recommended were Flickr and Photobucket. I decided to go with Flickr because I’ve used it briefly before and they have a free monthly 300MB upload limit.
Having used it to upload a couple of pictures it seems very simple and quite quick. It’s better than Picasa in that you can choose more than one photo at a time when picking which pictures to upload (that used to drive me mad!).

- It was also recommended to me that I start to resize my pictures. In the past I have just uploaded straight from the camera and the pictures are about 6MB. By resizing them down to around 1MB you can get much more for your storage limit. I really wish I’d thought of this before because photos don’t need to be that big for internet use, and it would also stop people stealing full quality photos off my blog.
One sweet friend emailed explaining how to resize photos in Microsoft Photo Manager and it really is dead simple – if you want some tips on how to do it let me know in the comments and I’d be glad to help.

- The only down side is the fact it takes a bit of extra time including another website in the blogging process. I have to get the html code from Flickr and post it into Blogger for each photo rather than doing it all on one site and inserting lots of photos at once. I haven’t used it much yet so I can’t really comment on the efficiency, but considering I’m saving money I don’t think it will really be that much of a problem.

I’ll let you know if anything else crops up, but for now things seem to be working okay. Are the photos showing up okay for you?
I thought I’d share these photos I took last summer. I could smell spring in the air today and it made me long for flowers.

Happy Monday!

I need your HELP please!

2012-01-19T20:33:00.000Z

Gah!

I just went to upload a photo in Blogger and it told me I had hit my upload limit of 1024MB on my Pisca web albums.

Now I don’t know much about computers or how all this online stuff works…I just upload my photos, press publish and pray that no-one is stealing my photos behind my back. I didn’t even know I had an upload limit. (although I often think it’s all too good to be true that we get to do this Blogging lark for free)

I’m in a bit of a quandary now. My blog without photos would just be pointless…and I definitely don’t want to give up posting pictures, or blogging. I love remembering my life with words AND pictures.

I’ve only been blogging with Google since May 2011, and even though I used Wordpress for four years I never even came close to my download limit.

I know there are other places online to store photos and I need your help and advice on what to do now please. I’m definitely NOT paying to upgrade my Pisca Web Albulms even if it is only £5 a year.

I’m thinking Flickr? I just read their FAQs and you get 300MB of free space every calendar month…that’s good right? and apparently you can link it with Blogger too.

I guess I should also be re-sizing my pictures so they’re smaller when I upload them? I normally just upload them straight from the camera as I don’t have time for lots of faffing. Does anyone know a quick way to do this?

Any helpful advice would be VERY MUCH APPRECIATED! I love blogging but I haven’t got time for it to become a big hassle.

I look forward to hearing from you helpful bloggy friends J

Tesco VS Abel and Cole

2012-01-18T19:58:00.000Z

Ever since we moved to Cardiff both Josh and I have felt guilty for shopping at Tesco but because we don’t have any small local food shops near us we have ended up shopping there every week. I haven’t done much research on Tesco but I can probably safely say it’s not very ethical. It’s huge, they’re taking over the world, they’re putting small shops out of business, they sell things at artificially low prices, they don’t sell much local or fair-trade, they still sell unlabelled GM products, they support charities that we don’t...I could go on.

This week instead of going to Tesco I decided to try an organic veg-box which was advertised by Abel and Cole. I’m always a bit wary of veg boxes because they seem hugely expensive for what you get (we used to get one in Aber sometimes and we just ended up wasting stuff -there is only so much Kale you can eat!) but I think that is partly because supermarkets give you a false expectation of cost. Farmers simply can’t produce food for pennies, and if you’re buying something cheap from a supermarket it’s probably because someone is being exploited somewhere along the line.

Our first box arrived today and I was hugely excited about it, and after unpacking it and reading the information they included I am very enthusiastic about both the quality of the product and the company as a whole.

Here are some of my thoughts of veg boxes VS Tesco…

Cons of veg-boxes

- It’s expensive. In this time of necessary penny pinching paying extra for food is sometimes hard to swallow. I compared buying the same things from Tesco (using the brands I would have bought normally) and it came to about £10 more doing it through Abel and Cole.
HOWEVER, you have to remember that all of things I bought were organic (and often fair trade), and that wouldn’t have been a factor if we’d been at Tesco. Abel and Cole obviously care a lot about their staff, producers, the environment and supplying good quality food without any chemical nasties. That all comes at a cost, and one that I’m willing to pay.
I also get tempted to buy unhealthy snacks and random things at Tesco and so I probably saved money by doing it online because I couldn’t chuck in a packet of Doritos (or six) when Josh wasn’t looking.

- You have to be in for delivery. This is actually more of a problem for us because we don’t have a safe outside space where our delivery can be left. Abel and Cole are actually really good about this and they offer loads of solutions (such as leaving a shed key for them to use) and they package all your food to keep it cool. Our delivery this morning was left on our door step at about 6.45am and because I was awake and paranoid about someone stealing it I went down and got it straight away although I’m sure it would have been fine until a saner hour. Once term starts Josh will be up at that time anyway so it shouldn’t be a problem.

- You can’t buy in bulk. This is the only thing that I have thought is a true negative about Abel and Cole. I normally like to buy things in bulk as it’s cheaper and means less packaging. However, things seem to only be available in smaller sizes, which I guess is because of transportation issues.

Pros of veg-boxes

- The one thing in particular that attracted me to Abel and Cole is the fact that you can see what is in your box before you order it (and can change your veg choices if you want to) and you can order lots of other food online to be delivered with it. It’s basically just like doing your weekly shop online, and you can plan it around the ingredients in your box. They even give you recipe ideas and it’s all very easy.
They included a helpful catalogue of all their products in their first delivery which will make it MUCH easier to do my shop next week. I’m already planning what to buy!

- They deliver for a very reasonable cost (99p for us). That saves us time and money not having to drive to the supermarket, and it means that Josh doesn’t have to come with me to be a bag carrier which I’m sure brings him much joy!

- It’s organic. Everything we ordered – from our sugar to our cleaning products – was organic (and often fair trade). Even though the monetary cost is sometimes higher (although sometimes it was actually less) the environmental cost is much lower, and it’s better for us too.
Most of their packaging can also be returned or recycled so there is less unnecessary rubbish going into landfill.

- They’re generous with their freebies. I got a free recipe book with my first box (worth £12.99), they offer the fourth box you buy free and I’ve just had an email saying they’re offering me a free carton of orange juice in my next delivery. I also REALLY like the wool they package up their boxes with – it will make great string for wrapping presents!

Those of you who have read my blog for a long time will know that I have an interest in trying to live more ethically and more simply. In fact, this blog first came about because I was exploring ways to change our lifestyle and the online community was the only place I could find people who could give me advice and encouragement.

Nowadays I don’t really mention it on the blog as we have settled down in our habits and we’re not really trying anything new. To be honest, we’re probably not living that ethically, or healthily any more.
I hope that these veg boxes will start me thinking again because many of our everyday habits have huge effects on our environment and even other people living all round the world…I need to re-read some of my books of the subject and start blogging about it more too.

I’m so glad I tried the veg-box and we’ll definitely be ordering them for the foreseeable future. Why not pop over to the Abel and Cole website and see if they do a box which would suit you?

(I don’t want to make this any more of an essay that it already is, but if you’re interested in more about ethical living I’ve written posts such as this and this, or just search under the ‘ethical living’ category on the sidebar)

Guest Blogger - Living life and loving it

2012-01-17T13:26:00.001Z

Hello lovelies!

Today I have the huge honour of guest posting over at the beautiful blog of Tatiana about my struggles with anxiety.

Go and check it out and send her some love because her blog is great!

Although I wrote that post a while ago it’s pretty relevant that it’s been posted today as I’ve suddenly developed some irrational fears about being in the city.

The other night there was a police helicopter circling round our house for ages and I (or rather my ridiculously overactive imagination) convinced myself that there was a criminal in our back yard and they were looking through our windows.

I know. Ridiculous.

Then, at 2am the same night I woke to the sound of what seemed to be pounding feet followed by the most horrific SCREAMING.

I’m telling you, that has got to be one of the worst things to wake up to. It was HORRIBLE.

My next door neighbour had fallen down the stairs (the pounding feet was actually her falling – argh) so Josh quickly rushed round to help as it’s only her and her husband.
As he had slept through the noise of her falling Josh thought someone was in the house attacking them and so apparently he was all ready to break the door down (in his PJs and bare feet!) HA! I’m proud of him for being brave anyway!

Thankfully, after a visit to hospital our neighbour is fine, but the whole thing made me feel really unsettled and I’ve allowed myself to get fearful.

Am I the only one to do this? To get irrationally worried about…nothing. I don’t even know what I’m feeling stressed about!

Anyway, I need to read my post again and dwell on some of the promises that God gives us and focus on his goodness. I hope you’ll do the same :)

(If you're new to the blog today make sure you say hello and leave your blog details so I can 'meet' you properly! Thanks for stopping by)

Visiting Bath

2012-01-16T20:50:00.002Z

Last Saturday Josh and I spontaneously decided to visit Bath for the day as it’s only about 50 minutes from our house - we had such a good time.

I haven’t been to Bath for years and I’d forgotten how beautiful it is. There’s so much history packed into a relatively small (and very well kept) space.

Josh will testify to the fact that I was in Jane Austin heaven (which meant I squealed 'this is soo cool' under my breath for the whole day). I was getting very over excited about pretty much every building we saw.

We wandered around beautifully cobbled streets, poked around little antique shops, drank exotic tea in an underground tea emporium, and bought delicious sourdough from an amazing bakery.

We visited the Assembly rooms which I LOVED. When they were completed in 1771 they would have been at the heart of fashionable Georgian society and were used as a venue for balls and other functions, and was certainly a place you could look for an eligible husband! We had pretty much the whole place to ourselves and I just loved wandering around imagining all the people that had been there, and all the history it had seen. The audio guide had an excerpt from Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey where the characters visit the rooms for a dance...I loved imagining that all the characters would suddenly appear around me! (and yes Josh and I did do a Waltz on the dance floor!)

My second favourite part of the day was when we visited the Roman Baths which is an ancient site built over a natural hot spring (the only one in Britain I think) which still bubbles and steams to this day.

It was quite expensive to get in but I’m SO glad we went. I’ve just finished reading a novel set in Roman times so it was really interesting to see some of the features brought to life!

If you get the chance to visit Bath I would definitely recommend it; I can’t wait to go back and explore some more!

Back to the year 2012

2012-01-12T20:00:00.001Z

Hello, I'm back! Three weeks has passed, Christmas and New Year have come and gone and now it's 2012!

We had a lovely time away for Christmas; we were in Cardiff until Christmas day and then travelled down to Devon to see my family for a few days which was great as always.

For New Year we went away with a group of people from our new church in Cardiff to stay in Monmouth for a few days. It was a little bit scary as we didn't really know the people who were going and I'm a bit shy around new people, but I'm really glad we went; it was fun and we got to know people from Cardiff better. We were staying at Rockfield Studios which is a recording studio where lots of famous people have worked and stayed. We even played the piano on which Freddie Mercury recorded Bohemian Rhapsody!

Then we headed straight off to the Lake District to see Josh's family for a week. While we were in the Lakes we visited Cartmel Priory which was founded by William Marshall in the 1100’s (My sister will find this interesting at least). It was beautiful and I found graffiti from 1780 – so cool!

We got back to Cardiff on Monday and I was back to work yesterday.

Although I'm glad to be back in my own house with a bit more routine I have a touch of the January blues now we're back. We were really busy before Christmas and that helped us feel more settled, but now our diaries are fairly empty and work is just something that has to be endured while I count the hours to the end of the day. To be honest I'm a bit grumpy because I'm doing lots of shifts at work and it's BORING (I've worked 8.30am- 9.15pm today). I'm just thinking of the fun money and the weekend and things that I can organise to fill up my diary with joy.

Looking forward to catching up with you all soon!

Christmas Eve Eve

2011-12-23T12:49:00.003Z

Happy Christmas Eve Eve friends!

It's my last day at work today before having a relaxing Christmas eve tomorrow and then heading down to Devon to see my parents on Christmas day. We'll be travelling around seeing various people until the 10th January so I'm really excited about catching up with family and friends.

I'm going to be taking a bit of a break from blogging over Christmas; I may update occasionally if I want to but I mostly want to focus on being with family without feeling pressure to be on the computer.

I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed Christmas whatever you're doing and I look forward to catching up with you all in the New Year.

Big love!

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”” Luke 2:11-14

Photos of Hafod

2011-12-21T08:00:00.000Z

Josh has finished university for Christmas and I’m only working Thursday and Friday this week so for the last few days we have been catching up with friends in Aberystwyth.

We’ve attended the candlelit carol service, had coffee with friends and enjoyed the countryside. It's been lovely.

Yesterday we went on a rather wet and dreary walk around Hafod.

This wasn't posed at all

We walked up to a waterfall which plunges down into a cavern which you can walk into via a dark tunnel and see the base of the waterfall. {I didn't like the tunnel much because I was convinced a bat would fly in my face}

All the rivers were really swollen with all snow-melt and so the waterfall was about twice as strong as the last time we visited and we got totally soaked as soon as we got into the cavern! My camera is still drying out so you’ll have to excuse the pictures!

{This is a waterfall through a film of water spray on the camera lense!}

Your questions answered #2

2011-12-20T08:30:00.000Z

6. Do you want kids, when and how many?

I'm really struggling to answer this question because in my experience life ends up being completely different from what I plan in my mind! We have no idea what God will call us to do, or where he'll call us to go...so yes, I would love children, and I'd like to have a big family (maybe 4?) but I try not to get an idea of how things should be in my life and at what time because at the end of the day it's up to God's plan; it just stresses me out if I convince myself that I know the plan my life should take and then God says otherwise! Quick answer: yes we want kids but not sure when!

7. I want to know what your vision is? Like where do you see yourself in 20 years.

In 20 years I'll be 45 (argh!) and I guess I see us working in full time ministry in a country parish somewhere in Wales. I would hope we'd have children and some dogs and that I'd be working hard as a SAHM and in full time ministry in our church alongside Josh, supporting him, being challenged and seeing God work through us in the local church.

However, this kind of follows on from the last question in that I really don't want to tie myself down into imagining how our lives will pan out. I want to be open to God calling us to do anything, anywhere if that's his will. I know it might sound super cheesy and trite to say it, but whatever has happened in 20 years my overriding hope is that I'll still be following Jesus with my whole heart and that will be driving whatever we're up to.

{Dear God, please don't send us to inner-city London. Amen}

8. What is your favourite genre of music?

Oh eeek! I'm not really sure! To be honest I like most music as long as it's not screaming heavy metal or something. I haven't bought much new music recently because I haven't had a working MP3 player, but I listen to the radio a lot...either Classic FM, UCB, Radio 1 or 2!

9. What is your favourite TV programme?
We don't have a television so we tend to watch a lot of films on our laptop. However I do catch up with various programme online like Downtown Abbey, Casualty, Frozen Planet and Don't tell the Bride. Josh and I are currently watching Spooks on DVD which is like the English version of 24!

10. If you were a kangaroo, what would you keep in your pouch?

Um...is this a trick question? My Joey?

In my handbag I have an umbrella, diary, bible, sandwich, phone, wallet, foldable shopping bag and lots of rubbish and crumbs if that helps?!

11. What is your favourite view?

Wow, this is a hard one! We have seen some pretty amazing landscapes in our time so I don't think I can choose just one. At the moment I'm craving the coast so I'd love to be looking out to a rough sea with crashing waves and a winter wind blowing in my face. I also love the mountains; when we were in Knoydart in the summer just looking over miles and miles of deserted mountainside was pretty amazing.

OH! Also...I love late summer evenings walking along country lanes when the light is all golden and the balers are out collecting the hay.
{I could rant about the countryside all day!}.

Thanks for all your questions guys. I hope my answers have been satisfactory!

Your questions answered #1

2011-12-19T13:20:00.003Z

Hi everyone! Sorry I have been a bit absent from the blog recently. I've been ill for about two weeks now with a lingering cold which is making me feel lethargic and miserable. I'm hoping I will be able to get rid of my cough by Christmas so I can enjoy the holidays...anyone got any {preferably natural} ways of shifting a cold quick?

Anyway, thanks for those who left me questions to answer last week {some were weirder than others!}. I'm going to answer then over two posts, so let's get going!

1. Where would you like to live?

I'd love to live in the countryside {big surprise!} in a little village somewhere wild and beautiful, but not too far from family and friends. Even though I often look at houses in the middle of nowhere with longing I reckon in reality I would prefer a community around us rather than being totally isolated. I miss the sea so maybe somewhere close to the coast too!

2. What's your favourite city?

To be honest I haven't visited lots of cities but I love old cities with lots of character. My favourite cities are probably Oxford, Bath or Edinburgh; they don't feel too huge and sprawling and you can see the history of the place everywhere you look. If I visit a city it's going to be for the history rather then the shopping!

3. What's your favourite country?

Well, to be honest I'm not very well travelled. Outside of the UK I've only ever visited Paris and that was a long time ago. I would love to travel a bit more, but both Josh and I are homebirds at heart. I love the UK and think it's really beautiful; especially the mountains and coasts in Wales and Scotland. I'd love to visit Ireland too.

4. Would you like to live abroad?

I can't say that this is on my list of things to do before I die, but if God told us to move abroad then I would. I think home is where you make it, although I would really miss my family. In short, the answer is probably no!

5. Do you and Josh have any Christmas traditions?

We have lots of family traditions, but I'm not sure we really have any special personal traditions just for us two that I can think of. I love our family traditions like singing round the piano on Christmas eve and each getting a book as a present from 'Father Christmas' on the evening of Christmas Day from the tree. I really love that I get to be part of Josh's families Christmas traditions now we're married...like opening stockings on Christmas morning and having a 'pick-a-dipper' meal on boxing day. I'm excited :)

To be continued tomorrow...

Winner!

2011-12-16T08:05:00.003Z

I'm just off to work so this is a bit rushed...but I'm glad to announce the winner of the scarf giveaway is....

ANNIKA from All the Live Long Day

Well Done!

Email me your address and I'll try and get it to you before Christmas!

Have a great day lovies...I need to run now!

{the winner was chosen by a random number generator at random.org}

Festive GIVEAWAY!

2011-12-12T10:04:00.000Z

How’s all the Christmas present shopping going people?

I’ve finished all ours so I thought I’d share the joy by doing a festive GIVEAWAY!

This pure lambswool scarf would be a great gift for anyone, or a lovely treat for yourself.
I think it’s meant for a man, but I’d say it was unisex; perfect for anyone!

It’s super soft grey wool woven in the UK by Abraham Moon, one of the oldest woollen mills in the UK. Fancy aey?

{By the way, a) taking photographs of a scarf is really difficult and b) when I tried this scarf on to take photos I started to wonder why on earth I was giving it away – I love it so if not enough of you enter this giveaway I might be tempted just keep it for myself!}

Excuse the dusty mirror please!

To enter:

To enter this giveaway just leave a comment below telling me one of your favourite Christmas traditions.

For extra entries {remember to leave a separate comment for each entry}:

1. Be a follower of Dreaming of the Country and tell me in the comments that you are.
2. Be a member of the Dreaming of the Country Facebook group and tell me in the comments that you are.
3. Tweet about this giveaway and tell me in the comments you have.
4. Blog about this giveaway and tell me in the comments you have.

{for those that have never commented before, scroll down to the bottom of this post and click where it says comments. If you haven’t got a blog then click select profile and choose name/URL or anonymous. Don’t forget to leave your name and email address though.
Simple – what are you waiting for?!}

The giveaway will be open to everyone until Thursday night (16^th) and I’ll do everything I can to make sure it gets to you before Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2011-12-07T19:30:00.000Z

Poorly Sick {so I need your questions}

2011-12-05T07:00:00.000Z

Last week I was feeling smug that my immune system had not succumbed to the cold that everyone in the office seems to have...then I got sick.

I feel tired, achy, I have a sore throat, headache, blocked up nose, cough and I sound like a man who smokes a hundred a day.
I haven’t got the cold though…obviously not. My immune system is far too strong for that.

Yesterday was the first proper day I could rest since being ill. I was working Wed-Fri last week and then we had guests for the weekend, so that’s why I didn’t post much last week. Too busy feeling tired and pathetic at the end of each day to blog.

{We had a great weekend by the way. The boys went to see Wales vs Australia at the Millennium Stadium, and I had a girly shopping day with Naomi. Bought lots of Christmas presents too - woot!}

ANYWAY, I’m not being very coherent and I’d just like to have a rest day today along with my box of tissues so I’m going to make you do the hard work for me.

Please could you help a sick gal out and leave a question for me to answer in the comments below?

It can be about anything and everything…I’ll answer them all at the end of the week!

Also – You’ll notice in the side bar I’ve added a few buttons from my favourite blogs {go check them out, they’re great} so if you’d like to do a button swap just let me know in the comments or by email.

Hwyl!

The Dating Game

2011-11-30T20:38:00.000Z

Josh and I have never been very good at dating.

Well, my idea of dating anyway.

To my mind dating equals spending money. Going out for a meal, the cinema, the theatre etc etc.

Josh and I started going out when we were 16 and 17 and I'm not sure how many 16 and 17 year olds really 'date'. We used to just hang out and go for long walks. We didn't have the money, or the inclination to go out for fancy meals or do anything particularly cultural.

Now, I know that a walk can count as a date...and I'm not saying you have to spend money either; I'm just saying that Josh and I got together young and we used to spend all our time together. We'd been in the same church youth group for 5 years so we didn't necessarily have to put aside special time to get to know each other over a meal or whatever, like proper adults might.

I still don't feel like a proper adult.

Maybe when I'm 50 I will?

Anyway, by the time we were old enough to enjoy doing slightly more civilised things were were living in ~~the back-of-beyond~~ Aberystwyth, which isn't exactly the cultural capital of the world. Its cinema has one screen with one showing a day and although it has an arts centre we rarely went.

Basically we just never got into the habit of going out on dates that involved spending money, and to be honest when you're fighting against a newly-wed budget it's probably just as well.

Things haven't really changed now that we've moved to Cardiff even though we've got a massive choice of things to do. We're just a bit rubbish at putting aside time to spend doing something special. We still chat all the time and go for walks {don't worry - I'm not insinuating that my marriage is falling apart} but sometimes I think we should make more effort to do get dressed up and do something special.

Just recently we've been meeting for lunch on a Friday as I work in town and Josh doesn't have lectures. He meets me from the office and we walk through the park and eat in a little cafe that serves local welsh delicacies and weird and wonderful drinks. I look forward to it all week, especially as we don't really eat together alone much now that Josh has meals at his college. It's good to have that time put aside and makes me happy that I still really look forward to hanging out with my spouse.

It has inspired me to make sure we diary in some more time to go out together and enjoy Cardiff. Things are so hectic at the moment that free evenings are at a premium...I need to go and research some things to do.

Any ideas?

Memorising Scripture

2011-11-29T09:18:00.000Z

I’ve recently been thinking that I should spend more time memorising scripture.

I’ve heard of people who have memorised huge chunks of the bible and I’ve always been inspired…and have then done nothing about it myself.

Over the last few years I feel like my bible knowledge has grown hugely. I’ve got a much better grasp of how it all links together and I can generally find what I’m looking for without too much trouble. I know the gist of lots of verses, but ask me to quote them exactly without looking at the bible and I’ll be stuck half way through.

Last week when I was making a postcard for a friend I had the idea that I could use my love of design to motivate myself into memorising scripture.
I’ve set myself the target of memorising two sections/ verses from the bible a month. I feel like that’s quite achievable for now, and then I can raise the target later.

I’m hoping that I’ll be able to make each verse into a postcard which I can have on my computer desk-top and around the house to help me remember it.
No doubt I’ll be sharing them with you too!

Have you got any good ideas to make memorising scripture easier? Do you do it? If so, how?

Hallway Storage Solutions {and more house photos}

2011-11-24T08:00:00.000Z

One thing that really bugs me is not having anywhere to store my shoes in my home.

{I know, a pretty insignificant thing to get annoyed about, but we all have our pet peeves!}

Being a bit of a neat freak, it really annoys me when shoes cutter up a small hallway and you end up tripping over them. I’ll normally pick up my shoes and move them somewhere out the way, but Josh tends to just kick his off as soon as he gets in the door which means I normally fall over them the next time I enter the house.

When we moved I knew I needed to sort this problem, and quickly, because our new hallway is quite narrow.

…and wonderful IKEA provided an excellent solution.I love this shoe rack. It’s neat, means our shoes are out the way and I really like the design.

It was originally going to go on this wall, but I didn’t actually measure it before we bought the cabinet and put it together. And guess what? It didn’t fit. FAIL!
Thankfully it fits just round the corner!

What good storage solutions do you have in your home?

The New Boring

2011-11-22T07:25:00.000Z

I read this article yesterday and it got me annoyed.

It's written by a journalist from the Guardian who moans for 2000 words about how dull British Society has become in recent years. According to him "beige dressing gowns, sensible shoes and novelty jumpers" are in; in other words, we're enjoying Downtown Abbey, crafting, baking and knitwear. Welcome to the New Boring. Apparently.

Now, to be totally honest trends in society bemuse me. I find it fascinating how things go in and out of fashion.

I'm up there with the rest of the people who have enjoyed festooning their houses with cute vintage finds and drooled through the window at beautiful Cath Kidson florals recently, but what has made us suddenly start clamoring for items that a few years ago we wouldn't have looked twice at in our old Granny's house?

Via

I have always been on the side of 'boring', even before it became popular. I've always loved cooking and baking, I've tried my hand at various crafts and we had a beautiful hand-made quilt on our bed long before they were the in-thing.
Maybe this is the reason that I'm genuinely confused by this article...why am I boring just because I like baking?! I bet he wouldn't be complaining if he was eating one of my home-made cakes opposed to a dry shop-bought offering. But then again maybe he only eats Sushi?

In regards to a certain crafting show the journalist mocks "as the nights draw in, as recession bites, let's do all those boring crafts that we would have disdained in happier times. Let's get busy with our darning needles rather than revolting against those, including [Kirsty Allsopp], who are cashing in on people's anxiety about money to bore us more."

Via

Maybe there are sinister political undercurrents that I'm missing in my naivety, but I think if the new trends are boring then fine, let's be dull.
I know the journalist would call me conservative but I'd much prefer to have the nation brought together by a program like Downtown Abbey which is family friendly and full of talented actors rather than slobbering over the latest 'celebrities' who bare all for their fifteen minutes of fame.

I'd rather have people experimenting in the kitchen and being inspired by craft shows or the Great British Bake-off rather than grabbing pre-made junk from supermarkets, and I'd rather have people learning real skills than sitting around bored.
The writer even slates sports as being deadly dull; apparently there is nothing more boring than the Olympics. I'm wondering what he does consider interesting. I'm not the greatest sports fan, but surely anyone can see it's better for a country {and even the world} to unite over something wholesome rather than watch the streets burn as hundreds of people turn out and riot?

If you don't like crafting, cupcakes, brogues and the National Trust then fine, don't get involved. But please don't slate people who are trying to enjoy the simpler things in life. I think it can only be a good thing if people are trying to cut back on excess, save money and learn some new skills.

Stop moaning. Quite frankly, it's boring.

Quick Questions

1. Do you think society has got more boring recently?
2. For our readers from outside the UK - have you noticed similar trends where you live?

Settling-in Update

2011-11-21T08:37:00.000Z

I don't know if it was Josh's near death experience, but I feel more settled in Cardiff this week.

Don't they say that stressful situations make you bond with the people around you quicker? Maybe it was the fact that I burst into tears in front of the whole college. They've seen me red, blotchy and sniflfling. I feel like we have no secrets from each other now.

Whatever the reason, (apart from the choking incident) last week was a good week. We're getting more into a routine and we're really busy.

I'm still working part time in two different offices, but for some reason all the hours I get offered seem to fall on Thursdays and Fridays so I end up doing really long days and then having the rest of the week free. Last Thursday I worked 8.45am - 9.15pm; that was a looong day.

This is what my weeks normally look like:

Mon - Wed: This has varied depending on the week. Monday is normally spent doing chores around the house and often recovering from having guests at the weekend. I normally end up working a few hours at the college, and if we're not having guests from outside Cardiff to stay I make sure I organise to have coffee with a few people to get myself out of the house. I've also been doing quite a bit of design work for various people which has been good because I love doing it and it keeps me busy.

Thursday and Friday I work all day, and normally into the evening too. Thursday evening we have homegroup so that's a long day.

Saturday is normally taken up with guests and Sunday we travel up to the valleys for Josh's placement in the morning and then church in Cardiff in the evening.

I'm loving that we're having loads of visitors. I just worked out that over the last twelve weeks we have had at least thirty four different guests from outside Cardiff, and many of those have stayed over or visited multiple times. I'm so happy we have a house we can use for entertaining!

Seeing family and old friends gives us something to look forward to and helps us feel more settled. It's easier to make new friends when you still feel supported by people who really know you.

I was worried working part time would mean I was really bored, but there has only been one week that I got really frustrated at the lack of things to do, and that was mostly my own fault because I was tired and couldn't be bothered to organise anything which meant I got really lethargic and down. For now I'm enjoying the freedom and time to keep our house organised, experiment with new recipes, make treats for guests, write letters and meet new people.

We're slowly getting past the 'superficial friendship' point with people in Cardiff, and we've even been invited away with a group of people for New Years.

Things are looking up!

ARE YOU CHOKING?

2011-11-15T19:10:00.001Z

Today, I am thanking God for people who know how to do the Heimlich manoeuvre.

I’m sat alone on my sofa in my PJs (at 6.55pm) drinking a (big) glass of wine and I’m not even going to try and make this a decent blog post because

MY HUSBAND JUST CHOKED

We were having dinner at college and a bit of beef went down the wrong way. I thought he was joking to begin with, and then when he ignored my ARE YOU CHOKING? questions (see… I remembered my first aid) and went red I started to panic.

I’d like to say that I calmly took control and did the Hiemlich manoeuvre myself, but I actually just closed my eyes and started to pray. Haha. Helpful maybe, but probably not very practical.

Thank you Jesus that someone was there who did know how to do it, and calmly took control (by this time the whole room was quiet and watching), and after about 40 seconds (maybe? Seemed like about an hour) he managed to clear the blockage.

Thank you Lord!

I burst into tears. Very embarrassing.

Josh is okay, but a bit shaken up. He went straight off to football practice (not sure if that’s a good idea?) so I’ve just come home alone and feel all shaky and horrid.

Anyone got any good remedies for a shock?

Aberystwyth Bucket List: The Recap

2011-11-14T08:00:00.000Z

Creating our Aberystwyth Bucket list is one of the best things we could have done before leaving Aberystwyth; it gave us the motivation to do some of the things that had taken us seven years to get round to.

And you know what? Every single thing we did ended up being an amazing experience. We had lots of gorgeous weather, had some of my top wildlife views, we saw some beautiful scenery and got to spend some time with some awesome people.

Here’s a quick recap of my top five Bucket List moments:
{check out the full posts and lots more photos by clicking on the titles. It’s worth it, I promise!}

1. See the submerged forest in Borth

This was such a great day {although Josh did run over a dog, argh!}. We went and played in the woods and then hunted around on a beautiful white sandy beach for these amazing wooden stumps which are thousands of years old and rise out of the sand like strange sea monsters. I got some fab photos that day too.

2. Visit Soar y Mynydd

Another amazing day. Seriously, Wales is so beautiful. Come and visit immediately if you have never been here before. That’s an order!
We found the a secret hidden valley in the middle of nowhere. So quiet, wild and beautiful.

3. Have a bonfire on the Beach

This has got to be one of my favourite ever memories from Aber. Fish and Chips on the beach with some of our best friends, a beautiful sunset, beautiful beach, lots of laughs and a dolphin skimming across the waves.
Loved capturing it all on camera too.

4. Visit Strata Florida

The weather was beautiful this day and I just remember having great conversations with Josh as we hiked up into the mountains.
It was so quiet and we saw tons of wildlife. We even got great views of a Stoat which was a first for me.

5. See Aberystwyth from the Sea

Although I’d wanted to do this for ages I wasn’t quite sure how we were going to manage it. The answer came quite spontaneously when someone from church asked me if I wanted to come our on their boat after the service. I nearly said no because I’m not very good at being spontaneous but I’m so RIDICULOUSLY glad that I decided to go in the end.
One of my top wildlife moments ever. Read the full post to find out more!

Although I didn’t blog about it we also went to a posh seafood restaurant called The Harbourmaster for a meal {I had salmon and it was amazing!} and we also bought a Love Spoon which now lives on our bedroom door.
{Love spoons are traditionally Welsh and used to be carved by men for their sweethearts or given as gifts for weddings, births or christenings.}

There were three things from the list that we didn’t manage to do;

Walk from Llanfair Clydogau to Tregaron
Go dancing with all the gang
Watch the sunrise from Pendinas

We’re actually walked from Llanfair Clydogau to Tregaron before, and of course we’ve been dancing with our friends before so although I’m sad we didn’t get to do it again before leaving I’m not too disappointed.

We nearly watched the sunrise when we got back from doing NightLight at about 3.30am but we were just too sleepy. Maybe we’ll get round to doing it one day!

I would seriously recommend making a Bucket List to everyone. I’m so glad we made ours; the memories will stay with me forever.
Make sure you check out the full Bucket List posts if you missed them the first time around!

Josh and Rachel’s Aberystwyth Bucket List

1. Watch the sun rise from Pendinas {not done}
2. See the submerged forest in Borth
3. Visit Soar y Mynydd
4. Buy a love spoon
5. Walk from Llanfair Clydogau to Tregaron {not done}
6. Have a bonfire and BBQ on the beach
7. Have a meal at the Harbour Master
8. Go dancing with all the gang {not done}
9. Visit Strata Florida
10. See Aberystwyth from the sea

Grazing {on Free Healthy Snacks!}

2011-11-11T17:00:00.001Z

While we were up in Aberystwyth my friend gave me a voucher for a free Graze box.

Have you heard of them?

A graze box is basically a snack box which is sent to you in the post {the box is just the right size for a letter box!} at home or at work. Each box contains four sections filled with natural healthy goodies that you can choose from the Graze website. There are lots of different things to choose from including different breads, flapjacks, seeds, nuts and dips. You can rate the things you like and then they send you out a box on days you choose.

I think it's a really good idea, especially if you get it sent to work to fight though those 11am chocolate cravings!

In my free box this week I received some West Country Cheddar, red onion and chutney focaccia bread, honeycomb flapjack, fiery seeds and some Korean Chilli Rice Crackers. YUM!

Normally boxes are £3.49 including postage and packaging, but today Dreaming of the Country readers you can have one for FREE!

There is no catch...just go to the Graze website and enter the promotional code RH6C5XCC

AND...not only are you getting a snack box FOR FREE. For every person who signs up using that code Graze will donate £1 to their Graze School of Farming in Uganda, which is helping people get out of poverty. Extra bonus!

It'll sign you up for weekly boxes, but if you don't want them once you have received your first FREE box you can cancel and you won't have to pay a penny.

What are you waiting for? Go sign up with the promotional code RH6C5XCC and make sure you let me know what you get sent!

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Graze haven't asked me to promote this, they don't even know I exist, but I think their products are great and I wanted to share the love!

Link up with Camille!

Winnnnner!

2011-11-10T19:53:00.001Z

The person who will be receiving the Viral Bible is...

Angel from Living with Moxie..!

Congratulations Angel. I hope you find it as encouraging as I have and that we can keep it being passed round for the rest of the year.

However, in this instance EVERYONE is a winner because the official Viral Bible people have emailed me to request that everyone who commented on my blog post should enter in their favourite bible passage and details on their website.

That way everyone who logs onto their website can be encouraged by your chosen verse, and we can see people getting involved from all round the world.

SO if you commented on my Viral Bible post and you haven't received an email from me yet about it (check your spam folder) let me know.

You just need go to this link and enter your details. The bible code is #nwnered/136

It only takes a couple of minutes and I'd love to see everyone's verses up there! PLEASE get involved!

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As you know, this last week we have been visiting our old friends in Aberystwyth. I really enjoyed our time away; we climbed up a mountain, we ate out with friends, we attended our old church, met up with more friends, and ate lots of chocolate.

It was so relaxing. I feel like we got a top-up of love from friends, a top-up of spiritual input from church and a top-up of peace and quiet and open-space from the countryside.

It might sound weird but I feel like I can deal with the city for a few more weeks now until Christmas when we can escape again!

It's not that I'm really unhappy here or anything, it's just that Aber still feels like home; everything is easy there. I know we'll get to the stage of having proper friends here and knowing where things are, it'll just take time, and at the moment I feel a bit like I'm just trying to find ways to pass my weeks by rather than living each day to the full. We've got lots of visitors booked in to come and see us though, and my diary is getting full...we've got many things to look forward to!