dirty cash (and fingernails)

Friday was payday and it is traditional in our house for the first Saturday after this long awaited day of the month, to be spent buying as many shiny, new, cheap and cheerful items as possible. Where better to fulfill this task than Ikea, where we headed straight off to this morning and rampantly filled our trolley with pretty trinkets that we didn't previously realise we absolutely 'needed'. Predictably, my favourite section of the store was the garden accessories area and my choice selection included a ginormous terracotta pot for my cucumber plant; a purple plant pot to grow some basil on my kitchen window sill; a small, very excitingly shaped, bright green watering can for my indoor plants; some stripey cushions for my garden chairs; some solar powered fairy lights; and some bargain £2.99 mini obelisks, which will form the frame for my sweet peas.

That guilty feeling for spending a little too much on consumer items I didn't really need was quickly quashed when I got home and found my BBC Dig In free seeds had arrived and were waiting for me in a very jolly envelope on my door mat. The pack contained a little packet each of courgette, basil, mixed salad, carrot and french bean seeds, along with a leaflet and some fantastic stickers for the girls. It must be a good six weeks since I filled in the application- I had given up hope of them ever arriving!