Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD) anybody have trouble with this?

Good afternoon.

I've just put two loaves in to bake and now I'm having lunch whilst listening to Jeremy Vine. (Eating an uber un-healthy Pot Noodle but what hurts now and then?) 

Current subject is as the title of this post. I have, of course, heard of it before. I do feel very sorry for people suffering from this condition. My favourite times of the year are Autumn and November. I love the drawing in of the nights, comfort food, closing the curtains early and lighting the fire at about 3pm so all is cozy when my men come home; somebody on the radio described the dark days as mushroom sky. 

I know the last couple of weeks here in Wales we have had rain and wind of biblical proportions, but I have to say that as long as we and the dog are indoors safe and we are not making unnecessary journeys then we are ok. 

It really is some sort of mental health issue though as people report having suffered from depression before the SAD is diagnosed.

I have always been quite a positive and up beat kind of person and not really susceptible to periods of darkness.

As I said, I have realy sympathy for those who find the darker months of the year a real chore to deal with.

Does anybody have trouble with this or know anybody?

Louise.x

Autumn Will Soon Be Upon Us

I have to say that normally I am getting in the mood for decorating the house for Autumn. These are examples of last year's decs. In the first the book I am using is a copy of Pretty Nostalgic to which I used to subscribe. I still love to use the books for seasonal decorations and inspiration so take a look at my other posts if you get five minutes.
 

The book in the picture above is an old copy of A Diary Of An Edwardian Lady which I found in a charity shop for £1. It is great for paper crafting and, again, as a decoration as the illustrations are wonderful.

However, because of life being as it is just now I am not even thinking about it but I have to say the onset of Autumn is one of my favourite times of the year. I love the changing of the leaf colours, the crunch when you kick though them and that I will soon be able to cosy myself in my lovely wrap I keep downstairs when the evening start to get a little chilly. 

What time of the year do you prefer?

Sunflowers can brighten anyone's day!

Today I bought some sunflowers after finding myself very envious indeed when I recently saw a front garden with around 10 of them soaring into the air for about eight feet! Mine are NOT quite that big but I love them - you just can't help smiling when you see them. I have used them in my decorations for autumn and am happy now with the result so thought I would share them with you. My plan is that as I have cut between five and six inches off the stems the water will not have so far up to go hence they may last that little bit longer?

A microwave is a microwave is a microwave so you have to make the best of it I suppose.

I do have some spare hessian/burlap, whichever you call it, so I my tweak this one. I bought a copy of A Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden from a charity shop for £1 a while ago and it comes in so handy for displays, card making and general crafting. (Much to my mother's dismay that I cut up any book at all!) The wood chips are from, well I can't remember where, and you can't go wrong with a spool of string. I am taking much of my inspiration from Country Living magazine - now all bow in unison!

Now, the front window flowers I sort of miss out on in the daytime because I like to have them facing out, but here they are in all their glory.

The little red dahlia is from my front garden, I thank you! Chuffed to be able to add something I actually grew myself. However, my little patch at the front of the house is in need of a certain amount of weeding, as are the boxes in the back yard, but that is for another day.

Finally, I love to decorate the mantle piece at any time of the year so autumn is no exception. Was looking for a mix of colours and textures again and quite happy with this.

The open-paged book is called The Magic Apple Tree by Susan Hill. It is just a wonderful look at the seasons of the year with the odd recipe, gardening tips and general goings on of country life. I have loved this book since being young and never fail to dip into it without finding a little gem of countryside-inspired prose. I love earthenware anything hence the plant pot and the flowery tin was found in "the shed".

Finally, and partly to cover the scaffolding from the pointing that is going on around that side of the house at the moment, this is the other window in the living room. This book was produced by the ladies at Pretty Nostalgic magazine. Much like the charity shop find, I use this wonderful 12 x 12 inch book for the things previously mentioned. Plus it is a wonderful source of ideas and lots of old and beloved things from the past that help you make your modern home just that little bit different, or that is how I feel anyway.

So, there you have it - my autumnal decorations. I am planning a scout around a few charity shops on Saturday I hope so may find a few more goodies then. Catch ya later! xx

Ideas for enjoying 

the autumnal festivities

Ok, today I am at the end of the first full week of the boys being back at school. We know our routine for the week, when Home Learning will come home and, more importantly, when it needs to be handed in! Friendships have been re-established and all seems well. 

We had great fun yesterday with it being Harry's birthday. I thought American-style pancakes would be a great idea for breakfast and they went down a treat. He just about managed to tear himself away from some new Lego in time for school and for tea we went to Frankie & Benny's for tea with the Gramps. My couponing helped here as I came across one on the internet so the kids got to eat free. That made my yummy pulled pork sandwich and everything else taste even better - though NOT good for my diet! We are headed to the local Strike bowling alley on Sunday with one of Harry's pals from school so that should be fun, too.

Talking of our routines, now the summer hols are over I have got back into my super cleaning schedule.

Even though I am lucky to have a lovely sized family home, I find I don't need to spend hours cleaning every week. This is the schedule I use and you could give it a try, whatever the size of your home, and with a couple of tweaks you are done and dusted (sorry) with time to spare. Give THIS a go and then you can enjoy the coming season!

This morning I stopped by at cupcakemumma2011.blogspot.com.This blog is written by my pen pal friend, Hannah. We are members of my Post Circle I talked about in my last post and Hannah was mentioning her bucket list for family things to do this Autumn. This got me thinking about things like pumpkin carving, which I love to do, though I am no where near a champion at it. Is this something you like to do and what do you do with the pulp? I think I will make pumpkin soup this year as I am not a fan of pumpkin pie, a tad too sweet for me.

Thanks for stopping by and let me know your Autumn plans?

Catch ya later! xx