The 9 year plan...hold onto your hats and here we go!

EssexHebridean

Ahh, yes, the vet we used to go to when we lived in London taught me how to "wrap a cat" - a useful skill for sure! (Her Majesty disagrees!)

Swinstie73

Hi EH, well done in using the council tax/water money to pay towards the mortgage, I haven't a clue where my money has went, always try to save it but it never works!

EssexHebridean

mineallmine wrote: »

All good stuff and progress EH.

Your signature (the bit about local food) is important in all this. We have a fab local bakers. Their bread rolls taste better than anything shop bought. Our butchers (which I dont get to as much as Id like) is really patient with me, if I'm spending £2 or £20. Think we have got brainwashed into thinking supermarkets et al are better and sometimes they just aint (points grabbing aside). For instance stewing lamb at Asda, couple of bits (no bones) for about £4. At the butchers, loads of bits and bones (for stock) for £4. Ooh I'll get off my soapbox now!:)

That soapbox is a subject extremely close to my heart mineallmine - it's so important that people support their local shops, producers and suppliers. We have a veg box fortnightly, and buy the majority of our meat either from the Farmers market or direct from the farm. My monthly spend on Groceries is under £150 - that feeds two of us, we eat well and good quality. Our breadmaker has earnt it's initial cost back about twice over now since we bought it and I don't buy cakes etc, we make instead. I buy chicken from the supermarket (Tesco's free range is as good as I've found anywhere, always seems to taste nice and cook well, I buy while birds rather than portions too) and bacon occasionally when we cannot justify the food-miles to go to the farmers market and don't need anything else.

It's always great to find others who think the same way I do in all of this. I enjoy the challenge of making as much of - say - a chicken as I can. The last one did a chicken and mushroom lasagne for three of us, four 2 person portions of chicken curry, a risotto for two and four pots of stock too! :rotfl:

taxi73

That sure was a rubber chicken...lol..I also buy most of my meat from the local butchers and some fruit and veg from the greengrocers.Farms are a bit far out for us and farmers markets very rare but expensive here.

EssexHebridean

I assume your sleeping is still bad Taxi judging by the time you posted that? Hope it improves soon.

I'm pretty glad it's Friday - although this week wasn't as bad as last, if I'm honest. I think part of the improvement is down to me realising that I can only do what I can do, and if there is more to do than I can cover in my wokring week, all I can do is warn everyone that not everything will get done, then if they want to help me, they can, and if not, well, it'll all go to rats, won't it!!

Plans for the weekend...cat's got her jabs tomorrow morning, and on the way back I will pop into the garage to book the car's service and get the quote for it. The light is now on so it MUST go in next Saturday whether they like it or not! I'm hoping to get some more decluttering done in the bedroom while MrEH is at rugby tomorrow, and also make a sponge cake as I bought a pot of cream to put in pasta sauce tonight and still have three quarters of it left, I also have a jar of my Mum-in-law's delicious sounding white peach jam so will use that for the fruity bit of the filling. Dinner tonight was most frugal and very delicious. Pasta from the cupboard, plus onion and mushroom I always have in anyway. Mince from the freezer, and the remains of a jar of Rick Stein tomato and chilli salsa which my parents brought for us from Padstow last summer - I've been looking for something a bit special to use the rest for. A splash of cream and a grating of parmesan over the top, and served it up with a loaf of garlic bread I had in the freezer. Who needs the friday night takeaway eh?!! Sunday we're going up to London for Chinese new year which is always a good day.

Right, off for a bath - I'm gradually working my way through the toiletries stash and my skin is thanking me for it!

yukkibear

mmmmm cake and double mmmmmm chinese new year. sounds like a yummy weekend.

Karmacat

That meal sounds great! And I envy you the Chinese New Year trip, thats brill - there's some advantage to being in Essex, not in the Hebrides

I sussed something about the decluttering this week - about putting stuff away thats been sitting on the top of my desk - it just doesn't need to sit there, I have a cubbyhole it can go in, especially during the weekend. So my room is *really* starting to look clearer, I do like it.

Have a good day tomorrow.
xx

EssexHebridean

Yummy YB? Oh, wll there be food? Hmm, yes, I suppose there will. Fancy me not having thought of that. *cough, cough* :o;)

I think that's the thing with the decluttering KC - once you've done it you have to learn new habits to stop you cluttering it up again. This is where I have always fallen by the wayside in the past. Perhaps having acknowledged it in black & white will help that to not happen this time though.

Cat has been to the vets for her jabs - her Vet is really lovely and she's far happier with him than she has been with any other she's seen since we left London. The Vet there was an extremely tall South African chap who all our animals always adored - it's taken us a while to find anyone anywhere near as good out here. Anyway, home safe and sound now although £40 poorer - catapuss is now sitting on top of a speaker on the windowsill dozing off and snoring slightly! I did stop on the way back to book the car service for next Saturday - the price scared me a bit though, coming in at a little over £300! :eek: I may be able to persuade that down a bit yet mind - although it relies on getting a quoted cheaper price in writing from another local dealers.

I was considering taking the camera to a local nature reserve this afternoon to photograph some of the small birds on the feeders but the light keeps dropping so I think it would be a wasted trip. I'll get stuff done here instead as I ought to. To be honest the trip out was pure prevarication!

Karmacat

Ah well, you could always pretend you're going to upload your photos to sell on one of those artwork sites

I'm glad the moggy feels okay with your vet there. And oooooooohhhhhhhhhhh, to listen to a cat's gentle little snore, heaven. You're right about learning new habits to stop cluttering the place up - I mean, I quite enjoy decluttering but it means:
- for a while I have to live with clutter, and
- life is too short to clutter the place up on purpose to do some decluttering! There are other pleasure out there!

You're out at one of them now, right? Enjoy the surprise food

taxi73

Your chinese foodie thing sounds yummy and so did your meals.
Glad that the cat is ok and purring away.