The Wildling Within

Alreet guys!

So I’ve been feeling mega guilty about not updating this for so long. At least once a month (often more) I think to myself “wow you’ve let yourself down with that blog of yours! where’s your commitment?!” and it’s true, I’m a bit rubbish with commitment and expectation. I’m that kinda person that gets given an assignment and goes into sloth mode just at the thought… yes I did write my dissertation the night before it was due in! To be honest though I’ve felt a bit stretched thin emotionally over this last year, and being stretched thin has made me feel super tired and meh. Hard to find your typing or crafting mojo when you’re in a meh kinda mood. So anyway, I’ve decided it’s time for this slump to end and for me to make an effort and pull myself back!! With that in mind, here is a quick update on this past year!

Last time I posted M and I had just got married, and looking back from 2020 gosh were we lucky we picked 2019!! Since then we’ve sold our lovely 200yr old house and taken on a new challenge… A bungalow with large garden and an extra two-thirds of an acre of land! The usual buying and selling stresses were very much exacerbated by the arrival of the Covid pandemic. We sold our house and couldn’t move out… then we needed to move out before the next owners were made homeless, but the house we were buying hadn’t gone through with all the delays… then we couldn’t officially rent (so we had to rent on the sly so we weren’t homeless) then I spent a month in a caravan with the kids while M made the new house even close to liveable for us! Before we knew it, it was August and we were camping in the shell of a bungalow with no heating, minimal hot water and not a single finished room! I should point out that this was never the plan. The original plan was to stay in a caravan nearby while we did the work then move into a lovely polished house… yeah thanks 2020!! You rotten year of misery and disappointment!

Anyhooo… what an exciting opportunity our new house presents!! We’re still in the North Pennines, even further in actually, and what a beautiful, wild, sometimes desolate place it is! The house itself can only be described as “has potential” as there isn’t really much going for it other than being water-tight (most of the time) and being surrounded by the most stunning landscape. But we love a challenge!!

Oh one lovely thing that happened this year is we added a new member to our little family! Kiki dog the border collie joined us back in June. She’s my new companion, yes a slightly mad companion that loves to pee on the floor, eat shoes and knock us over at every opportunity… but she’s beautiful and loving and massive! We only have a miniature Jack Russel to go off for size though, so I might be exaggerating. I’ve yet to get a good photo though as she’s never still long enough!

Well done if you got this far! Just letting you all know I’M BACK, and I’m hoping you’ll share some of my house progress with me (good and bad) as well as some home education musings, zero waste progress and crafting!

Hope you’re all taking care, and not going too crazy as we enter this second lockdown!

xxx