Visiting St Fagans National Museum of History

St Fagans is an open-air museum containing buildings (mostly homes) either relocated or reconstructed from around Wales and from different time periods in our history.   They also hold some of the artifacts that people from those times would have used when living in those spaces.  These are actually the types of museums that interest me the most as you get to have an idea of how everyone got to live, rather than just the rich few.  

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to look at all the buildings properly as there is so much to see and some were not open to the public this time around.  There were a couple that I really wanted to see, but that just means that we'll need to return sometime soon.  And, now that I know what there is there I can go back with more specific questions in mind and maybe even get some ideas about what to have in our home when we finally get around to getting it.

I did end up taking a lot of photos of buildings and interiors, more specifically of structural things like up close-ups of stone walls and the weaving inside the thatched rooves.  There are also quite a few of the gardens where they were using their greenspaces to grow vegetables and keep livestock rather than just for growing flowers.

It's interesting to see what people used to use in their everyday lives, especially at a time when they would also make their own clothes and textiles or have to make all their food right from scratch, as well as the objects that persisted for centuries, such as the cawl spoon.  For some reason, I'm always interested in fireplaces.  I think because for many years they were used for more than just heating and because you can get an idea about what types of things people were eating based on what hardware was around the fires.  Unlike what I've seen in many other places a lot of the cottages and farmhouses fires only had space to put a kettle on or just one pot in which they probably cooked cawl.  However, I do know there was often a communal bread-baking oven in the villages so they wouldn't need this in their homes at least.

We'll definitely be back to have another look around, especially of the buildings we didn't get to see time around.  The only things that we didn't quite enjoy were the blacksmith and the weaving demonstrations that were happening, which were both underwhelming.  However, we might have just turned up at the wrong times.  It's always interesting to me that the number of skills that I would like to learn were in fact completely commonplace not so long ago.  So, having a look at these homes and seeing how these skills were woven into their everyday lives is always of interest.

New Hobbies and When Am I Going to Do Them

I do quite a lot of crafting at the moment and I really enjoy it, but for a while now there have been other things that I have wanted to add to my hobby time.  This is partly because there are so many things I want to learn or relearn how to do and partly because I know that developing new skills is a good way to keep my brain nice and healthy.  Although I do knit or sew in the evenings, we also have the TV on quite a lot of the time and whilst this is fine, we often find we've just turned it on out of habit and can't really think of anything we actually want to watch.  In the end, we usually just end up watching the same things over again.  At the end of the day, there are other things I could be doing.

Firstly there's the ever-present learning how to skateboard and surf.  These are both just things that Ed and me are learning for fun (or in his case relearning when it comes to skateboarding) we really haven't bothered to make the time to actually do them.  We do have to wait until we both have time off together, but that just means that we need to prioritise them when our days do coincide.  Theoretically, that shouldn't be that hard to do.

I had my flute looked at and fixed last month and I've decided that, instead of giving it away or selling it, I would like to try and learn how to play it again.  Unfortunately, because I've been ill I haven't played it as much as I had hoped, but I have managed to fit in a couple of sections.  It is strange how natural it feels to be holding the instrument again, but also alien in the fact that I'm having to start from scratch again.  It would be good to put aside one hour a week to practice this, which could end up being very unfortunate for my neighbours.

Like most people, I drew a lot when I was little and haven't really drawn at all as an adult.  I do remember enjoying it and, even though I'm not sure how good I would actually be at it, it would be good to try it again.  I'm thinking about trying different styles from what I used to do and, if it feels like it's going well, I might actually try painting again as well.  As with the flute playing it would be good to put aside at least one hour a week to practice this.

Playing board games is something that Ed and me used to love doing in the past, especially when we had no TV and a limited amount of lighting.  Even though we do take them with us when we go on holiday, we don't really play them that much and it's a shame to keep them all if we're not actually going to use them.  It would also be a good excuse for us to spend some quality time together, at least once a week, as our different work rotas mean that we don't actually get to spend that much time together.

Reading is one of those big ones that I always want to do more of but just don't put aside the time to actually do.  And I have books piling up that I want to read, both physically and on my wish list.  There is no real excuse, I'm just not making it a priority and I could realistically spend some time every evening reading quite easily.

Really this is about dedicating specific time to each of these hobbies every week and then keeping to it until they become a habit.  Right now I can do these during the day as it'll be a little while before my new job starts, but when it does start I want to try and fit these into the evenings.  So, this is the plan: I'm going to practice my flute for one hour on Tuesday night (though that does mean that my poor husband has to listen to me attempting to play), practice drawing for one hour on Wednesday night, and then Thursdays will be our board game /date night.  We'll skateboard or surf whenever we have days off together.  As for the reading, my plan is to start getting ready for bed at around 10pm and have reading as the last thing that I do, so that should give me about 30 minutes a day.  I haven't actually been the most organised recently so it should actually be quite easy to fit these in with a bit of planning.  I also have the weekends when Ed is working to fit in these hobbies on weeks when I haven't been able to fit them in for some reason, or to spend extra time on them if I want to.

Project Pan 2023 Update #1

Slightly amusingly, since I'd made this decision to do a little project pan again I haven't actually been wearing a whole lot of makeup.  Definitely not as much as I should have to get an idea of what I want to do about it.  This is going to be a very quick post.

Firstly, the Tarte blush in Vibrant I thought I would be getting rid of as it's quite bright I'm actually probably going to keep it as I had forgotten how well it goes with my skin tone.  I'll keep playing with it, but it looks like all the blushes are staying and I'll be using them for decades. 😂

I haven't tested the Bain and Saron Vegan Cake Mascara as an eyeliner yet so I will need to do that over the next couple of months.  I also want to try it again as mascara just to see, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it still won't.  So there is a possibility I'll still get rid of it as I do have a pencil eyeliner that is just easier to use, but we'll see.  I might prefer the look.

Unfortunately, the Memi Luxe Lipstick in Old Flame is going to have to go.  I love the texture and colour (in fact I would buy this again) but the heat melting it in the past has made it very difficult to use and it is a little bit old now as well.  The other lipsticks I'm just going to work my way through.

The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer highlighter wasn't something I was going to test or attempt to get rid of, but it does now look like I've managed to somehow use a lot of it.  However, this is only because I forgot that this highlighter does not travel well and I took it with us to Brittany.  It then completely crumbled and fell out.  A sad moment as I was hoping to get a lot more use out of it, but oh well.  I don't think I'll replace this.

While we were in Saint Brieuc I did do something I wasn't supposed to do, which was buy more makeup.  Well, a lip liner to be precise.  I've been looking for a colour that was similar to my lip colour just to make them more defined when I don't want to wear red lipstick, but I wanted a lip pencil as it'll last longer and is easier to keep hygienic.  It wasn't a cheap product, but practically matches my natural lip colour perfectly.

As for the tools I'm using, once I've made a decision on the Cake Mascara then I can decide what brushes I'm going to get rid of so that I have only what I need.  

 

So the amount of makeup I have has basically remained the same as when I started, which I guess is a good thing as it means I did a good job of getting rid of things before.  I do have plans to replace any liquid or cream products with drier products once I've used them, but I will need to do some research on this.  I will definitely replace the lipsticks with just one lip pencil once they've gone and I am doing some research on the concealers, though the main issue there is mica.  This hasn't been the most effective project pan ever, but it also hasn't been that long since I started.  I'll know more about what I want to do once we get to the end of December, but it is looking like I'll just be using products up until I have one left rather than just getting rid of them straight away.  I guess we'll see.

October 2023 Budget

This month was never going to be a good month when it came to spending as we were going on holiday and, even though it was only for one week, I knew we were going to be spending quite a bit specifically on food.  We could have set a budget, but we wanted to just relax and not have to worry about that this time.  There were also a few presents we wanted to get other people and, of course, the spending we knew we were going to do on ourselves whilst away.

The general bills have remained the same as they have for most of the year, though we did manage to not need to add to our gas and electricity meters this month.  This was probably partly due to the fact we were away for a week, but also because we've been a little bit more efficient with how we're using our heating.  I've also been able to carry on keeping my phone bill down by using the We Are 8 app to earn a small amount of additional income.

There actually wasn't as much overspending on groceries as I had expected, but we definitely overspent on eating out by over twice the amount we usually budget for.  There was also a little increase in spending on household items, some of which were items we had brought whilst in Brittany, but there were also some items we needed such as a clothes horse.

Obviously, fuel was a little higher than normal as we drove down to Plymouth to catch the ferry to Brittany.  However, the rest of the weeks were pretty standard on this front.  There was also some extra spending on things like public transport and booking accommodation on our holiday.  Our own personal spending has actually been pretty good again this month, but I did have one additional expense which was getting my flute fixed, costing about £140.  It's been a while since I've played and I need to decide if I'm going to start playing or give it away.  Either way, it needed to have some work done to it and I wasn't sure how much that was going to cost beforehand.  So far, it's been worth it though as I've already played it a couple of times.

Another plus has been that I've managed to carry on putting money into my pension at around 12.5% of my wage and we've managed to put more money into our four-month savings.  It wasn't quite as much money as I had hoped, but it's getting us closer to the halfway mark that I've set as our new savings goal for this year.  We should get it done within the next couple of months as it's only about £250 to go.  For the amount we've actually been spending this year that's actually been a pretty good result.

So there has been quite a lot of big spending this month and we will need to do better over the next couple of months to get ourselves back on track, especially me with my personal spending to cover what I had to spend on the flute.  However, I don't feel too bad about it as I know that we have the main upcoming expenses covered in the form of our sinking funds, as well as our own emergency funds to cover if anything goes wrong.  It does help make the spending a little more guilt-free.  However, now it's time to get back to proper savings and spending.