Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 3

grandma247

cw18 wrote: »

Just flying through to let you all know I'm here and reading..... albeit a quick scan first thing in the morning and 6pm onwards.
I've also got to teach myself how to lay a (click 'n' lock) laminate floor!
May take a bit of fiddling though, as it came out of his two bedrooms - but the combined floor area of those is more than DD's through room, so should hopefully be enough to complete the job

What we do for our kids eh?:rotfl:
There are loads of videos on how to lay a laminate floor on youtube.
If you have a question I can probably ask dh for the answer as he used to be a joiner in another life.

Kittikins

Wow, Cheryl, you're a human dynamo!! Good luck with the floor, hope it'll look gorgeous for DD, what a lovely mummy you are

The beetroot look divine now, I didn't have time to skin them before work, so hopefully it'll be easy to do when they're cool. All this talk of canning is making me jealous, but I know I shouldn't be, maybe next year if I get my backside into gear with growing veggies. We only had a few things out this year, mainly due to me being on this diet for an undetermined length of time, so no point growing loads of food that could potentially go to waste.

Next year, however.....yummmmmmy.

Frugaldom

tryingtodobetter wrote: »

It is mostly single track lanes round here (with grass growing up the middle), which seems to scare a lot of drivers who aren't used to them.

You've been to Frugaldom and didn't stop in for a cuppa? :eek::rotfl:

Have a good time camping and I hope things settle down next door a little. I didn't realise you were living in a backwater, so to speak, that must make it much worse with so few neighbours to have bad ones right next door.

CW, good work with the laminate flooring. From what I recall, if the floor is level then it's fairly easy to lay once you have it cut to size. I think DS only had a problem with hers because of gaps along skirting boards.

I'm going to have to do more quick repair jobs in the garden. This morning, I went out to find 3 ducks and a chicken in one potato patch and 3 chickens in another! :rolleyes:

Postman just arrived and has delivered an intriguing parcel of unordered status - it's another free book. :j Only trouble is, it's not from any of my regular suppliers, it arrived addressed to HS as a complimentary 'gift' for botching up another book order from elsewhere. (HS is a book dealer amongst other things.) Probably just a marketing ploy, but he's passed it on to me as it's of no use to him. I'll have a quick read through it and see if it lives up to the title, '7lbs in 7 days super juice diet'. :rotfl: Should be interesting, at worst it's a free read. :rotfl:

cw18

Kittikins wrote: »

Wow, Cheryl, you're a human dynamo!! Good luck with the floor, hope it'll look gorgeous for DD, what a lovely mummy you are .

I'm not doing it for DD - I'm doing it for my GDs

I'm really hoping that once DD has the living space how she wants it (and I've got the kitchen next, then the bathroom - I drew the line at the hall/stairs/landing as I don't do heights!!!) she'll finally get the girls bedroom organised. At the moment it's nigh on impossible to move in there, and they have bunk beds in the larger of the two bedrooms (almost full width of the house) :eek:


Just taking a quick 'brew break', but as DD is out all day (gone to Alt0n T0wers with my elder DS) I brought my laptop down with me - now she has a wireless connection it's easy to use it here, and her computer is far too slow for my liking :rolleyes:

Frugaldom

Kittikins, just followed your lead and checdked out the beetroot in the garden. Have picked a few to see how they look, the smallest is about baby beet sized and largest about golfball sized. I'm thinking beetroot chutney would last longer as I can then serve it on the side or else use it on sannies & crackers with cheese, but also love pickled beetroot. I may even keep the beetroot water after boiling as it's supposed to be good as a natural dye.

Need to go harvest some potatoes before the ducks completely wreck the patch of garden. They've managed to get over the low fence and started digging up the spuds!

Kittikins

Apparently you can juice them too - your juice book sounds great to me, is it by The Ju*ce M*aster by any chance? I've got one of his books, it changed my life....

Do you have a beetroot chutney recipe you can pass along? I'm just going to put my cooked ones in the freezer once I've seen whether DD wants one for tea tonight, like me she's a big fan of the 'root. Ours were grown in a window box sitting on the patio and they were getting a bit tangled as we had far too many in a small space, their sizes ranged like yours but oh my goodness what I would give for a beetroot risotto tonight *sigh*

Frugaldom

Kittikins wrote: »

Apparently you can juice them too - your juice book sounds great to me, is it by The Ju*ce M*aster by any chance? I've got one of his books, it changed my life....

YES! It says that at the top of the cover plus something about being the man who helped Jordan lose 2 stone in 3 months. Maybe I'll read it more closely, I just skimmed through to the page that lists how much fruit & veg is needed for the week! :eek: That is NOT in my budget, as I currently have £250 left to last me until end of the year if I'm to stay within my challenge amount without rejigging more numbers! :rotfl:Never gonna happen!

grandma247

You can juice them (beetroots) If you don't have a juicer just slice on a plate,sprinkle with sugar and cover with another plate. Leave overnight. Strain off the juice and either drink as it is or add to a glass of stout.Yummy.

Kittikins

Yes, he is rather keen on the fresh stuff....but the juices are sooo yummy.

Alternatively, see how much you can sell it for on Amaz*n or GM

lyndasharp

I'd like to see the beetroot chutney recipe too please - ours are doing very well this year, as are the turnips. Unfortunately I've discovered that the purple turnips are too bitter for me - I like the white ones instead - so if anyone has ideas of how to disguise the turnips in something more edible I'd be very grateful! I've tried a hot curry, and could still taste them.