Live on £4000 for a Year, 2009 Challenge, part 1

sophiesmum_2

looby-loo wrote: »

Got me!:o How on earth did you find that after all this time?

I just searched the thread for underwear and up it popped:rotfl: , must do a search for nyks giant jaffa cake that was so funny:p

Frugaldom

Sending huge hugs of support to Janey

Thanks for the offer, CharlieDavis, maybe you could join us on the 'start a cottage style industry' thread and offer some basic advice about getting started? Link is in the hand links section of post 1 on here.

Sophiesmum, your sprouter looks very posh compared to my efforts on kitchen paper in an empty plastic chicken tray. :rotfl:

LyndaSharp, I hope everything goes well tomorrow.
Same message goes to Pip's Mum but for a completely different reason, of course.

SC's going on overnight with a pile of lentils & veggies with ham stock so DS can take a flask of soup to work for lunches, I actually remembered to take the sliced turkey & carton of stewed apples out the freezer for tomorrow and still haven't found out if coleslaw is safe to freeze. Apologies if someone responded to the question and I missed the post but I can't even remember if I posted it here or on the GC thread. :rotfl:

Hopefully, my raspberry canes and blackcurrant bushes will arrive tomorrow whilst the ground is thawed enough to dig. I also need to get back to fitting in a few free clicks as I'd like to earn enough from that to pay the TV license - it's a luxury, I know, but it would be nice if it was a [STRIKE]free[/STRIKE] neutralised luxury. :cool:

Frugaldom

bails wrote: »

Hi everyone. Just an update on the felt making - I got a 100% lambswool jumper for 99p in the charity shop, put it on a boilwash...and nothing happened Any ideas anyone? I don't have a tumble dryer but could try at my mum's. I can't understand why it didn't shrink?
Off to catch up now.

Agreeing with SM, perhaps that jumper began life as a size XXXL and has already been shrunk to whatever size it is now? What does it say on the label compared to the size it looks?

What I want to know is, would a sheep shrink if hot rain fell? :rotfl:

Sophiesmum, the link to my Jaffa cake shambles is here I still haven't lived it down as DS brought up the subject at Christmas again! :rolleyes:

sophiesmum_2

sophiesmum wrote: »

I just searched the thread for underwear and up it popped:rotfl: , must do a search for nyks giant jaffa cake that was so funny:p

Sorry nyk but couldn't resist posting it, still makes me chuckle every time i read it:D
Originally posted by Nyk
"The giant jaffa cake - WHAT A FIASCO!
I took the flan out freezer last night and had the orange jelly setting overnight - a second jelly, as the first one I had made up to a pint and had added the fresh lime juice, forgetting it had to be lifted once set! Well, even the 3/4 pint mix was a near disaster! Has anyone tried to lift a set jelly out of a plate to turn it over and place it gently on top of a flan??? :eek: I ended up sitting the flan on top of the jelly and turning the whole lot upside down! Of course, the jelly was stuck to the plate, so wouldn't budge. I then righted it, sat the plate on an inch of very hot water to melt it from the plate and repeated above exercise. The jelly did come off the plate, but BEFORE I had fully turned the flan and top plate, so it landed with a squelch half on and half off the sponge! Yes! You got it! The giggles arrived! If anyone has tried to lift a jelly onto a sponge then you'll know what I mean when I say wrestling a jellyfish! I did, EVENTUALLY, get the thing to sit in place and it DID look OK, like the inside of a giant jaffa cake. That was until the chocolate arrived. I took great time and effort melting this slowly in a bowl sat on top rack of the steamer. The chocolate melted beautifully, it was like silk... UNTIL I tried to spread HOT CHOCOLATE over COLD JELLY! :eek: :eek: :rotfl: I never read that far - how does one spread hot chocolate on a cold jelly? It melted through the jelly and resulted in everything running off the side of the sponge! The more I tried to spread it out evenly, the more the hot chocolate melted the jelly and the cold jelly fast set the chocolate. I'm thinking my jelly wasn't thick enough and my chocolate wasn't setting quick enough. I now have a partially / patchy lumpy chocolate covered jelly mass atop a flan base and will need to let the whole thing set again before applying attempting a second layer of chocolate, which means I'll use the whole bar! It would have been so much easier to stick the whole thing in the freezer for a bit to get it really cold, but who bought 8 loaves of reduced bread yesterday???!!!

OK, I'm off to melt another lot of chocolate. NOBODY is getting to see this mess unless I can disguise it a bit more. :rotfl: "



Have you got over the jaffa cake trauma yet Nyk?? That is still so funny:)

Frugaldom

Yep, that's the very post! :rotfl: DS wanted me to attempt another one because I got the 20p flan cases with my App0ved F00d order. Needless to say, there's still a sponge flan case in the freezer with no signs of a jelly or chocolate anywhere near it!

angelatgraceland

sophiesmum wrote: »

http://www.naturallygreen.co.uk/biosnacky-large-germinator-sprouter-p-654.html?zenid=ktlo64ab3muf82j711p177k8j1

You don't have to have one of these you can do it with jam jars and muslin but I wanted to keep my kitchen uncluttered, and this seemed easier way to do it.

Now it looks so much like my new steamer! So-if not using the steamer I could use it for sprouting!!! Or a broken steamer-its just the same principle in reverse really-instead of putting the water in the bottom Id put it in the top! I wonder if the chemist has any left at £6.99? Or if anyone on Freecycle has a broken one? Or-did I keep the baskets from my last one which leaked and I chucked out? Youve got me thinking now! Must ask DH tomorrow!

cw18

Went into town again today -- had to go to the outskirts to collect a parcel from the Sorting Office for DD (new modem/router, and as our 'switch-over' is supposed to be happening tomorrow this had become a priority job), so did the extra half mile or so.

I did manage to get free parking today :T Yesterday cost me 80p (the minimum, for up to 3 hours -- so I'd dawdled and used as much of it as I could :rolleyes2 )

Banked some cheques for DD -- means she can repay 'the bank of Mum' next week once they clear -- and hit Adams for some school wear while ours is still open and had some of what was wanted in the half price sale

Also managed to get the last of the food I need for the Dalmatian so he has an equal mix of the three flavours up until end of June -- which means I'll have enough Beef left for a couple of weeks beyond that even without the other flavours to run alongside it

Went into Wi!kinsons to check the seeds -- and came home with some. Just need to figure out what I'm going to use to start off those that get planted indoors -- and what I'm going to grow things in outside given my garden probably won't be "landscaped" in time I got radishes, spring onions and iceberg lettuce for my salads (I hate the prices of the lettuces, but it's the only type my son and I eat), and carrots, cauliflower and brocolli for cooked meals (cauli's being the one I always shudder at paying for). I also got marrow seeds, as I'm desperate for a couple of marrows to turn into chutney next year. On top of that lot I got some tumbling toms, a couple of wall brackets and a couple of wire baskets. Just need to find something to line them now I guess :rolleyes2

Thought about getting mushrooms as well as we can get through as many of those as I can afford, but it was recommended horse manure and I don't yet have a source for that. There is a stables near us which has/had a huge pile on land that belongs to them outside the gates -- so I thought I may pay them a visit to find out if it's up for grabs/for sale and go back for the seeds if it is. Then I just need to figure out how to stop the dogs rolling in it :rotfl: Also need to figure out how to stop the dalmatian stealing them once they're sprouting and he figures out where I'm collecting them from !!!

Not sure whether to cost the seeds and such into my grocery budget (as they'll hopefully produce things to save on that) or my 'everything else' as I didn't set up one for gardening/home growing

sophiesmum_2

angelatgraceland wrote: »

Now it looks so much like my new steamer! So-if not using the steamer I could use it for sprouting!!! Or a broken steamer-its just the same principle in reverse really-instead of putting the water in the bottom Id put it in the top! I wonder if the chemist has any left at £6.99? Or if anyone on Freecycle has a broken one? Or-did I keep the baskets from my last one which leaked and I chucked out? Youve got me thinking now! Must ask DH tomorrow!

Frugal ingenuity:T :T , wish I'd have thought of that I have an electric steamer that is rarely used as I prefer my stove top one.

angelatgraceland

nykmedia wrote: »

Yep, that's the very post! :rotfl: DS wanted me to attempt another one because I got the 20p flan cases with my App0ved F00d order. Needless to say, there's still a sponge flan case in the freezer with no signs of a jelly or chocolate anywhere near it!

Go on-you know you want to! Any excuse for chocolate is a good one!

Sorry, but this created such a funny picture in my mind....

THESE WALNUTS ARE SOLD IN AID OF THE CAT STERILISATION PROGRAMME
1, 597,053 CATS SO FAR AND COUNTING!
Total of 3,194,106 walnuts! (assuming each cat had a a pair)


Oh this is def the best place to be of an evening for a giggle!

looby-loo wrote: »

Guilty! It was me!

Or my nighty if I wander up first thing then get distracted I quite easily forget to get dressed:o

And don't ask what I wear for decorating - but it saves washing paint off my clothes

I need some definition here. Where is the outside tap? Is it at the allotment or the house? If its at the lotty then you walked back home in your undies???

cw18

nykmedia wrote: »

Sophiesmum, the link to my Jaffa cake shambles is here I still haven't lived it down as DS brought up the subject at Christmas again! :rolleyes:

That is soooooo funny :rotfl:

Mustn't have got that far through catching up on last years thread, but it's certainly made me chortle tonight :rotfl:

So did you manage to 'fix' it?