5 OS Pleasures in your Day Today part 2

Patchwork_Quilt

1) Coffee date with DH.
2) Made a present for MIL and FIL - felt hearts on a gingham ribbon, one for each decade - using some of the fabric from a skirt my SIL gave me to make the trimmings. I did a blue set for them a couple of weeks ago but I think this scarlet one is much nicer.
3) Lovely big salad for tea and everything was from the yellow sticker department.
4) Watched A Single Man online as DD realised a couple of weeks ago that our L@ve Film package allows us to do this for free. Keep a hanky handy.
5) Bought a set of navy leather gloves and a headscarf this weekend as we were away and I was freezing. The headscarf is definitely a crime against fashion but my ears were warm when we took a walk on a freezing beach and unexpectely, DD has swiped them as vintage is very in, apparently.

frugalpam

Evening everyone!
My 5 for today:-

1) Had a lovely day - went over to visit a friend who's recently returned to the UK after 15yrs living 'down under' - great to see her again
2) Got a lovely welcome home from puddy tat
3) Had a lovely tea - decided I'd use up various bits and pieces from the fridge including some bacon, spicy couscous, cream cheese and some ham. Sounds an odd mix but it was absolutely scrummy
4) Caught up with a couple of programmes I'd missed this past few days on IPlayer
5) Scope for a lie in tomorrow :j

Pam x

Frith

Still feeling a bit blah...

But here are 5 for today.

1) Asking for manure on Freecycle (to re-build the borders trashed by the builders) and getting a reply.

2) Making flapjacks that nearly worked.

3) Making meat balls and spaghetti for tea. I haven't made them in ages and bigger son helped.

4) Getting the stove to light. It was in a mood yesterday and I gave up in the end, which must be a first!

5) MrN looking for some music on the computer and me being able to say airily "Oh, I used to play that when I was at school" and sitting at his piano and playing half of it straight off! It was nice to look cool, if only for 30 seconds. :-) I used to be quite good at playing the piano. And the violin. In fact, I used to be quite good at a few things. :-(

mhagster

Have spent today kind of glued to TV watching the absolutely shocking live scenes of the earthquake in New Zealand. So many people killed, injured & trapped. So a lot to be thankful for today:

1. Walked to school & we saw a bush absolutely full of parrots, there must have been about 30 birds.

2. I was most industrious around the house today as it was a cooler day again. Second day for jeans & socks Hurrah!! It's by no means cold just not hot!

3. Nice email from a friend and then another letter from friend who writes!

4. Got a phone call from headteacher at dd2 's school asking for my involvement with school...thought about it for all of 1 second & yes I would! I was chuffed to be asked as was very involved back home.

5. Nice & simple tea of fresh ravioli for everyone but me (not keen ....so I had a fried egg on toast!)

Ladyhawk: hurrah! to getting your car back.....hope it's fixed! I took my own car for granted back home & it's not until you don't have one you realise how much you use it!

Hello! to all new people, you will be sure of a warm welcome here !

Enjoy your Tuesday,
Mhags x

Tealady_2

Frith didn't want to read and run but your comment you used to be quite good at a few things - you are now very good at a lot of things. You are a fantastic mum to your boys and by the sound of it Mr.N's boys as well. This is just one of the many things you are very good at.

villagelife

Ladyhawk - you must be so pleased to get your car back.

My five for yesterday are

1. DS2 passed his theory driving test.

2. Went to London for a hospital appointment and had a wonder round South Kensington and much window shopping.

3. DH feeling much better

4. Pasta for tea using up LO veg in the sauce.

5. Had a lazy evening not doing much.

Kittikins

Hear, hear Tealady - Frith, you are AMAZING and don't put yourself down sweetie. (((hugs))) and I hope the blues will pass you by very quickly.

house_elf

Morning

The half term cold has struck me down and I didn't get much done yesterday. However, there were some pleasures!......

1. Felt really grotty yesterday, and had to have a few lie downs on the sofa. the pleasure being that as I wasn't at work. I could lie down on the sofa!

2. £1 Yoghurt maker I bought on Sunday works!

3. New washing machine works! Ploughing through a weeks worth of washing, now the problem is getting it dry:rotfl:

4. Made a lasagne from scratch for tea. It is so nice to do propper cooking, instead of assembling or defrosting stuff.

5. More voucher shopping. Popped into a small Boots and found a shelf of posh skin creams reduced to £5. Used some more £5 Skinnies to get them for free :T.

Sneaky No 6......Took DS2 to indoor BMX park. :cool: They have a cut price session 8pm to 10pm, and as it is close to DD's work, I could combine it with collecting DD at the end of her 10pm shift. I was bored and cold, but DS2 really enjoyed it. Bless.

Have a great day everyone! HE x

CCP

Evening all.

house elf - I hope you feel better today. WD for finding pleasures despite feeling lousy - I tend to just want to curl up in a corner when I've got a cold!

villagelife - very WD to your DS2! :T

Frith - I'd say that being able to play a tune from memory means that you're still pretty good at playing the piano!

marmite - I was going to pm you the cake recipe but I see you don't accept them, so I'll put the recipe in a separate post in a minute. I've still got three slices left in the freezer and am fighting the temptation to defrost one for supper. I will be strong and resist cake... ;)

Caterina - thanks for your comments on charity shops - I think I'll just have to remember to check very carefully before buying anything from a charity shop in the future. That particular shop is brilliant for second hand books, though, so they're in no danger of losing my custom because of the jumper!

Welcome new posters, one and all! :hello:

My pleasures for today:

1) Booking a whole week off work on the spur of the moment: I needed to take two days off, realised I had loads of leave left, and decided to just take the whole week.

2) Nice lunch of sausage and veg casserole LO from the weekend - I meant to eat it yesterday but wasn't hungry, and was very pleased to find it was still OK today.

3) NSD.

4) I cooked tonight's dinner last night, so all I need to do is warm it up and work out what I'm going to have with it. (It was meant to be mash but I don't fancy it, so it might be oven chips instead. That also has the advantage of making a bit more space in the freezer - giant bags of chips may be cheaper, but they take up loads of room!)

5) Football on the radio tonight (play up Pompey! :j), so I'll curl up with a fleece blanket, a cat and a radio. Sounds good to me!

Have a nice evening, all.

CCP

As requested, marmite (and anyone else who's interested), here's the cider cake recipe:

Somerset Cider Cake

1¼ lb sultanas
½ pint cider
1lb prepared apples
1lb caster sugar
12oz butter
4 eggs
1¼ lb plain flour
3 level tsp baking powder
2 level tsp mixed spice

Put sultanas into cider and soak overnight. Brush a 12”x10” roasting tin with butter (or line with parchment). Peel and core apples, and weigh 1lb prepared apples, then chop. Cream sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Beat eggs and add gradually. Sift flour, baking powder and spice and add to creamed mixture with apples, sultanas and any cider left from soaking the sultanas. Mix well with a metal spoon and turn into the tin. Bake for 1½ - 1¾ hours. Leave to cool in tin.

PS. OH says that he’s found sometimes that a little extra cider is needed for the mix. Also, this cake freezes wonderfully, and improves with keeping. HOWEVER, it is a very moist cake, so if you can resist it enough to keep it in a tin for more than 5 days or so, do check it, or it may well grow a fur coat!


[NB - this is copy and pasted from something my mum wrote: 'OH' is my dad! I tend to freeze excess cake as that avoids the 'fur coat' problem!]