Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

Hiya

Have not been on here for two days because life got mega busy!! things move fast on here and its taken me an hour and half just to catch up! You folks really are so thrifty and hard working!!

Yes, Cheerfulness - we have one of the lovelyest corner shop owners I have ever known. One winter, when it snowed, I struggled my way down there and Raj said to me would I mind knocking on a couple of doors on my way back up the road to check if the old folks in those houses needed anything. If they did - would I phone the shop and tell them (he offered to pay for my phone call!) then he and his brother would go out in the snow and deliver stuff to them. They had already called a couple of the old folk to say - dont come along for your paper today we will deliver it. People complain about folks of different ethnicities - and when I hear that I always think of this hard working caring family - the shop is open from 6.30 till 9 everyday (less on Sundays) the only day they close is Christmas day. They pay their taxes and are an asset to the community. It should give folks pause for thought!

vhalla1478 - I love Tapenade!!! Will definitely try out this recipe!! Thank you.

NSD for me - had a friend round for lunch - she is really hard up and her pension doesnt arrive until next week - so fed her a roast chicken dinner and sent her home with 'spare' chicken and the 'accidentally' too many veg I had cooked and some bread that I was testing as a new recipe and some cake that 'needed using up'. Hopefully that will help her eek out her food until her pension arrives.

Why is it that spending yesterday £2.65 (bread bits and extra milk and cream) I have enough meals for at least 20 days in the house (main meals not breakfast or lunch!! Although I could probably work round that too - porridge; pancakes; own bread et al) Ok I spent that money earlier on frozen veg and fish. But even so... Must be the old style in me!!!
Take care all

I discovered something interesting called solvent welding plastic a while back, but until this week didn't have any use for it. The rotary washing line plastic 'thing' that supports the arms snapped, so I painted the broken edges with acetone (often sold as nail polish remover) and quickly pushed it back together hard. It worked, a little bead of plastic pushed out the crack and then it set solid. Have to see how it holds up, but so far so good. It has had some heavy washing and seemed fine.

It's surprising what you can fix. Everyone else thought it was finished and we needed a new one. I doubt regular glue would have been sufficient in this case. It does only work for plastics that are dissolved by solvents however.

cheerfulness4 wrote: »

That's really interesting Ben84. So all you used was acetone (nail varnish remover) to melt it and then bind the pieces together again or was there another product?

Acetone only. Painted it on to both broken edges with a small paint brush and pressed together fast as it evaporates quickly. If you don't get it first time you can try again, but first time is probably best.

Very interesting about the acetone. It's a snippet of info that is now stored, thanks.

Were making a space costume pieces out of cardboard, paper, flour and water and paints we already have, this weekend. I could buy one. I'm not buying one. How much fun will DD and I have making it? How much fun will DD and I have shopping for one on a Saturday?

Life is about making memories in the process, not just fulfilling a brief