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Donna - what she did next, Lincoln (2026)

16/06/2026

Morning petals! Happy Tuesday!

We bedded down in the spare room last night as it houses our bed from a few years ago. We were both sick of waking up with sore necks and shoulders and despite changes of mattresses and bedsteads, we just weren’t getting it right! So taking action, we decided to sleep in the spare room and yes it was so much better.

The spare rooms are odd ducks, the one we slept in last night has a wonky floor and only room enough to get round one side of the bed! In fact our room is probably the only decent sized, square room in the house! Happens when a cottage is extended several times over the decades and ends up a rambling farm house.

We are still house hunting but mostly online and as we don’t want a big mortgage at our ages, we’ve kept it real but the market has not. I still can’t get over 500k plus and needs new everything! I mean! The world is a crazy place most of the time but the UK often really doesn’t make any sense. Then there’s stamp duty. I do think we are now over taxed to the point of no return.

We’ve had some giggles at the interiors of houses and the agents descriptions. Yesterday we wanted to look at two houses and then the agents sent us structural reports which were off putting to say the least. Why not actually say that in the details? Saves us wasting our time! So many homes online not actually mortgageable but in France it would be fine?

Anyway, more calls to make today as yesterday time wasted on houses that were already sold but still being advertised! I have a feeling we may give up soon, give it a break and try again late summer.

Sigh.

Anyway, the weather is warming up again, so that’s super! I’m waiting on a huge amount of potting soil to arrive so I can sort my roses out.

He’s sorting the storage. Oh and I have a docs catch up today which will be fine. I will always be on the diabetes register even though I’m well out of the danger zone now. Once on the register one can’t get off it apparently! It’s a strange system. Still it means I will have three monthly appointments and let’s face it, checks ups are a good thing.

What’s going on with you? Any news?

Feels like a plod on Tuesday to me today. Yesterday I turned an expensive bottom sheet pink and so I was fed up for five minutes. Even at my age I can still get it wrong lol 😜!

Anyway, have a lovely day and let me know what you are up to?

Pics of a house we were considering! Lol it’s sold.

Love and gumption

D x

15/06/2026

Morning loves! It’s moaning Monday again! Comes round quick now doesn’t it?

How was your weekend?

All good?

We went to pick up a Facebook market place purchase yesterday and then I happened to fall into Waitrose. Oops!

I mean I try not to these days but then again I can get more of what I like GF wise there. Our food budget is pretty good but also I feel it’s ridiculous these days.

Watson and his terrible twos! He disappeared after birds and lost the plot. He just went. Phil then had to get the car out and go hunting for him. He found him miles from home and stuck in a corn field. Watson was beside himself, very stressed so I hope he’s learnt a lesson. Time to get a tracker for him as it could have been much worse. Safe to say he’s glued to us again!

Honestly!

Phils bike mot went well and then he didn’t quite fix it to the lorry and it fell over! A little damage here and there especially to the handle bar. So I made him his favourite coffee and walnut cake which I absolutely am not a fan of! His cold is getting better but it’s seems he’s passed it down the line to H.

Bedding strip day today and a clean up on aisle six, due to a bird getting in the house yesterday! He frightened me and I frightened him lol! Little black and white thing he was and where he is now? Not a clue!

Alls well at cranky farm, just hoping for better weather. I’m going to cut back a rose to bare roots as it has a fungus. Then I will repot it and hope it survives.

Other than that today will be a good day!

D x

14/06/2026

Good morning and a happy Sunday sermon!

Yawn.

Can’t actually believe it’s Sunday again so soon!

It’s been a week!

Today’s sermon is about generational differences.

Peptides, protein and supplements definitely belong to this last decade.

Us 80’s kids?

None of that at all! We were lucky if mum bough a bottle of squash a month and when it was gone it was as gone.

Everything was fried in our house, unless mum pressure cookered it to death!

There is no comparison with my sons generation who like to party but also try for optimum health.

I’m of that era that I can hardly bear to take one regular med!

On the news this morning it’s all about stuff bought online that is being injected into bodies. No control.

Do we need this stuff?

Well? Too much of anything is left to your liver and kidneys to deal with. It’s also dangerous. Supplements are generally peed out. So most of the time unless you know you are short of something, there’s little point trying to replace it.

I did those Supply Life allergy tests and it turns out I threw 200 quid away doing so. They only do one part of the allergy test and so are not at all accurate. The tests only react to what you’ve been eating regularly. Pointless.

We are sold this stuff all day long online and I’m trying to NOT buy anything I don’t need these days. When I looked at my bank account lately I couldn’t believe the amount of subscriptions I had. Mostly Instagram purchases which then just continued. Stealth subscriptions!

I try to keep it real on my own health kick and whilst weight hasn’t really gone down much, my vitals are back to normal. The only thing I’m left with is one low dose blood pressure med which needs reviewing. I also take electrolytes to stop dehydration which no matter how much I drink, I seem to remain very dry.

It’s a shame my health got away from me and I truly believe my environment was a problem. The stress from France showed up in my bloods.

Stress is the killer.

Diet and exercise is something we can control more easily but stress? That’s often harder to deal with.

I’ve managed to understand the value of rest. Rest has definitely helped me heal. I do not rush around anymore and I’m very considered about what I do and accept.

I’m learning to keep my expectations in check. I pick my battles. It works but mostly I make sure I get my 8/10 hours sleep in. We rarely hear anyone talking about the advantages of learning to rest one’s body and mind do we?

Age helps.

I’m married to a whirlwind and I used to match his energy but I don’t anymore. I don’t get pulled into his lane, I stay in my own.

It’s all making a difference. If you’ve suffered burn out or overload, don’t add to it.

P is very much and up and at em guy 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It’s a lot. I’ve had to insist that I get my rest. He finds it difficult and isn’t a rester at all but I’m very much of the opinion, that if you don’t rest when needed it will hit you like a steam train when you need it. It will take you down if you don’t listen to your body!

Life is for the living sure. We often feel we mustn’t blink or we will miss something. Hurry, hurry, rush, rush and only stop when we can’t put one foot in front of the other.

Madness.

I guess talking about rest doesn’t sell and trying to fix bodies with chemicals does?

Worn out bodies need rest. Worn out minds need peace. We also need time and a plan.

My plan is just a smidge less than 3 months old but it was almost too late. My health was on a down slide, a run away train.

I could have been a stroke victim late last year. The warning was received and I headed it well.

Find the things that slow you down and make you appreciate your environment more.

Do a Philip and spend 3 hours cutting the grass until it’s tequila time! He’s swears by it! Lol

Take care my friends.

Love and gumption

D x

13/06/2026

Morning fruit loops! Bon weekend!

How’s it all going?

Keep going!

P is still alive, just. His snoring is quite disturbing and he’s living on that great British institution LEMSIP. I’ve not murdered him yet but there’s still time eh!

Lol 😂

We did the dual drug heist at the pharmacy. Always go in together but apart to ensure we can fill the med cabinet up from time to time.

“No miss we won’t OD on paracetamol I promise”.

Goes home swigs double lemsip and 4 other tablets down with a glass of whisky!

Jokes!

Love it. In France they just give you a full bag of every drug known to man in multiples and off you jolly well go.

Bon chance!

Oh yes, the farm house viewing, you’ll want to know?

Here were my notes

Bland interior / really bland - looks like a rental
Good size rooms
Odd that the agents photos made rooms look 50ft each!
Modern but dated
Lack of garden a deal breaker
Some panes of windows are blown
New fence blocks views
Shared driveway
No patio
Front and back seem back to front
Building needs softening with planting and porches
Owner building on land directly opposite
If it was 400 I’d think about it but at 550 with building noise and disruption obviously going to be an issue - deal breaker
Land now does not shout farm and shouts cul de sac
Who wants to be surrounded by the previous owners land and we house? Would feel like the filling in a burrito!

Oh dear.

Next!

I’m finding it difficult tbh. I’ve only found one that could make the grade and that viewing isn’t until the 24th.

Not bothering looking until he forces me to now. It’s a waste of time.

Love and gumption

D x

12/06/2026

Odd duck! 🦆

12/06/2026

Morning my cutie pies!

Happy Friday!!

How’s things?

We’ve got a busy morning ahead. He’s taking his bike in for its MOT and then we are viewing a house before he starts work.

I’m not terribly hopeful with this house viewing but the one I really want to see is on the 24th, so we will keep going. Hopefully more stock will come on the market as we go as it’s needle in a haystack stuff at the moment.

I started the day yesterday with electrolytes and boy did I perk up, so I’m going to make it a thing before morning tea! Maybe I’m just dehydrated in the end but I need to feel more alive in the mornings than I have been lately.

Yesterday I also made a miracle banana fruit cake. Miracle because I forgot to add the coconut oil and the cake is still lovely? Go figure that one! Very strange.

Life goes on a pace at cranky farm and I’ve been chewing the cud about another blog. Still I’m not convinced anyone else will use it regularly enough for it to be worth it, so I’m just going to sit on it a while longer.

Either I will open one just for me or do a community one for all. I do need commitment that folks blog without being asked. I do. Also I don’t want to manage folks as I have other fish to fry, lots of fish.

Only fools rush in and running a website always costs, so I need to be sure one way or another. I think my decades of providing platforms for others may be at an end. I’ve really enjoyed the camaraderie over the years but now I need to be a little more thoughtful about next steps.

People are busy sure, but I put blogging and posting first regardless. No one else does and that’s fine. I think I’ve just made my decision by writing this out loud. I think the next blog will just be for me. Feels selfish and decadent? I need to claim it and simplify my life a bit I suppose. Be clear and intentional.

A new Donna?

Hardly lol!

Same old Donna different story.

Anyway it is fish Friday and I believe we may go in search of gf fish and chips tonight? That’s about as far as we get from the farm these days!

What are you up to?

Love and gumption

D x

11/06/2026

This is a vibe!

Design and photo credit - Sophie Parnham

11/06/2026

Morning fruit loops!

P has just destroyed my get up and go by telling me it’s gonna rain for the next ten days? I miss hanging washing out! Mrs Holland’s inside laundry it is then!

June wth! 🤦‍♀️

He’s booked another viewing for tomorrow and I don’t think it’s gonna be for me. I can immediately see what it needs but it’s over budget and rather bland. Also uber modern, not me really, I like period features. Also not hugely into fully tiled floors other than kitchen and utility, prefer wood. What it does tick on the list is space and garden. Again it’s bland and I guess one can make it something. The farm conversion was done decades ago and then it must have been renovated in the last five years. It’s very square.

The one I love and think it’s a bit of me, the agent still hasn’t rung back with a viewing date. Charming.

In true man style he’s bumping his gums about it being over budget but it’s less than the one we are going to see tomorrow? Man math?

I’m starting the day with some hydration electrolytes. Been feeling tired and woolly for weeks now and with all vitals doing super well I can only think it’s vitamins and minerals. I could sleep for a week.

Thursday has started ominously with the milk being off! He’s still sniffing and needs some lemsips or a smack, not sure which. Man flu is catching but it turns into woman flu oddly and we crack on.

I just said might as well pop the news on, see who killed whom overnight! The world has gone mad! We are all going to hell in a handcart aren’t we?

You know, I think we are going backwards!

God I need some sunshine!

What news do you have for me, I need cheering up?

Love and gumption

D x

10/06/2026

Happy Wednesday fine folks! Let’s get over the hump in the week together?

How’s you?

Firstly, let me get my bitter complaint about flaming June out of the way! What’s the flaming hell is going on Mother Nature? Yesterday it was five seasons finished off with hailstones? I mean! I cleaned the fire for goodness sakes!

Anywho!

Property three yesterday and I couldn’t even raise a smile. We arrived early to take in the area. The village was what I’d describe as a nothing village and a bit scruffy.

We pulled up outside the converted pub and immediately spotted a shared access issue with cars parked under the front windows!

That was me done but we kept the appointment. The conversion was poor and again road noise. I can normally imagine myself in spaces and what I can do with them but my blood ran cold with this one. It was a no from me. I also need to give p a signal as he tends to drag these things out a bit.

Three down…..I’ve not made anymore appointments for this week but I have found a couple that tweak my interior design interests a little. There’s always a but! They are priced 50k above budget. This ain’t France anymore kids so who knows if I will just be barking up the wrong tree. This market is supposed to be for buyers but I suspect if we try to knock 50k off we’ll be run out of town!

House hunting is emotional isn’t it? We’ve had more tiffs in one week since we started than we have in the last 6 months! He has zero care about aesthetics, flow and storage internally but cares a lot about outside sheds, workshops and garages. I’ve told him my kitchen comes before housing vehicles he doesn’t use! Am I wrong? 😑 I mean our list is heavy on both sides so good luck to us both! May the best looking one win lol!

I also find it a little exhausting. So I think one viewing a week from here on, especially as we venture further afield.

Also, he has man flu.

I’ve checked the insurances and will is in place don’t worry.

It may not be the cough that carries him off but the beating I give him for sniffing lol! Either way I have him covered frying pan at the ready!

Men and a cold? Is this how we get women back in charge? By introducing a cold virus to get them all bed ridden? I think so! Let’s start with the white house shall we girls?

Today is a day of housework I won’t do. I blame the weather. I’m fed up of mucky paws. The farm quagmire is something I will not miss if we ever get out of here!

I think that’s my Wednesday whinging over for today? Same time tomorrow?

L&G

D x

09/06/2026

Just a thought! Yesterday I realised how much carpet gives me the ick! In our French home we only had rugs and bare stairs. You?

Donna - what she did next

16/06/2026

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