Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

Evening All

We should congratulate ourselves we are half way through the month!! One of our number has still not bought anything yet - well done! And Cheerfulness is only half way through her budget!

I have had a lovely evening - treated myself to going out to see Jupiter Ascending film! Got a voucher and so it was only £6!! A great piece of entertainment - Sean Bean acted everyone off the screen and the special effects were awesome!! Not everyone's type of film but I loved it.

The first time i have ever been to the cinema on my own (I am 56!) I was planning to go with a friend and now they cant afford it. I got quite down as I have been looking forward to it for months - and then thought to myself 'no! I have been managing my budget so that I can do this (unlike my friend!) so I ll go on my own!' On my way out I had a very nice conversation with a young man about the film and we compared it to other Sci Fi we had seen - he was so civilised and polite! that's one in the eye for stereo types!

So that was out of my 'Entertainment' budget. Otherwise an NSD for me again. Yeah! :-)

Need to get some making done over the weekend!!

vhalla1478 wrote: »

Forgot about the bed linen; if you're in the market for new bed linen, consider buying old French linen sheets. Real linen improves with age, and, as I think I said before, duvet covers are easy to make as they are basically bags. If you don't like the natural colour they can be easily dyed and/or trimmed with lace/embroidery etc.

Viv x

Agree about the bed linen. I have been so disappointed for the last few years to find that even Dorma pure cotton is not of the quality it was once.

Agree too about French sheets. They are usually good quality and can often be found absolutely unused. I had a huge linen sheet with enormous monogrammed initials as a curtain when I lived in France. Being pure linen it hung beautifully and on a summer's days would gently billow into the room with the long French windows wide open.

Back again,

I keep forgetting this one! Invest in a flexible spatula (generally they have a wooden handle and a silicone/rubber? top). You'll never waste anything in bowls/saucepans again.

Viv x

Well my plans are stymied for tonight - the man in my life has only just got home from being offshore, so won't be able to come over until tomorrow at the earliest! Not to worry, you don't have to have a special day to celebrate being together.

Anyway I made the lemon curd and it was very satisfying to stick on a 'home made lemon curd 14:2:2015' label rather than taking it off the supermarket shelf. I don't think it was any cheaper than buying, (how much is lemon curd anyway?) but it does taste wonderful. Downside was that it seemed to take ages to thicken and only made a half litre jar full (plus the little tastes I kept having). Here's the recipe if like me, you don't have a microwave - I hope I'm not treading on anyone's toes here.

Lemon Curd

3 ounces butter,2 large lemons, half a pound of caster sugar, 3 eggs, beaten well. Put all the ingredients into the top of a double saucepan (I used a pudding basin) over just simmering water and stir constantly until mixture thickens. It took about 25 minutes and I kept wandering off doing other little things and had to give it a vigorous stir every time I came back, but boy, does it taste good. I'm thinking it might make rather nice presents.

Viv xx