Weezl and friends Phase 2 -giving it a whirl for Shirl! Testing meal plan for a month

queen_of_string

Hi Weezl and everyone.

Several random thoughts. This project is now part of my daily routine, my contributions have been small but the thread and project are part of my everyday, I dont see me giving it up any time soon. Just hanging around waiting for a suitable task to coincide with a good day really!

Weezl, when I have run something of my own and needed to do it right, I found the way to stay sane, for me, was to see it as a process of continuous improvement. It was never ever going to be right, but I could everyday continue to improve. We called it making it shinier. The miraculous bit is, when I eventually decided to allow someone else to take on the day to day, I was able to communicate this to them and they are continuing the shininess!

Also, if critisism is a problem for you at this time, maybe the person who is doing the emails ( sian?) can filter them for you? There is no need for you to have to read the detail of each one. Maybe a weekly report along the lines of : 2 negative comments without foundation, 1 negative comment with suggestion for improvement ( detail enclosed), 4 suggestions for new recipes, 7 queries about existing recipes ( answered with help from mse gang), 470 million positive emails from people who love it. :-D This is something I can do too if needed.

domesticgoddess789

weezl74 wrote: »

Pinkhayley! It's superb!

:T:T:T:T I had created a page for it in readiness, so hopefully should be able to publish it tomorrow :):):):):):):):):):)

Aww thank you Weezl. I really enjoyed compiling it and am glad it can be of some use to you (and Shirley ).

Hope you all have a lovely bank holiday weekend!

queen_of_string

More random thoughts:

The way people respond will also be affected by there preferred method of responding to the world. Everyone has a mixture of ways but most people have a preferred way.

For me, I sort for good. I look for the positive in people and things. In difficult situations I look for the good. I hope for the best. With problems I look for solutions. I refuse to devote energy to worrying about things that might never happen.

People at the other end of the scale sort for bad, they will look for difficulties and reasons why not and reasons why things will go wrong.

Both have thier uses.

Another thing that kept me fairly sane, was focussing on what I would like to have happen, I mean really focussing, taking time out to focus, then writing goals to get me there. It kept me going forwards in a way that was right for me. It's very easy to get overwhelmed in other people's "shoulds" in my experience. Finding out how to be authentically yourself and sticking to it really helped me ( no matter how unusual other people found me! Hence me being here really!)

Oh and gin, definitely gin, that helps too.

lastly, the comment about "if I focussed..... the boys would explode " coated my monitor in tea :-D

weezl74

queen_of_string wrote: »

Hi Weezl and everyone.

Several random thoughts. This project is now part of my daily routine, my contributions have been small but the thread and project are part of my everyday, I dont see me giving it up any time soon. Just hanging around waiting for a suitable task to coincide with a good day really!

Weezl, when I have run something of my own and needed to do it right, I found the way to stay sane, for me, was to see it as a process of continuous improvement. It was never ever going to be right, but I could everyday continue to improve. We called it making it shinier. The miraculous bit is, when I eventually decided to allow someone else to take on the day to day, I was able to communicate this to them and they are continuing the shininess!

Also, if critisism is a problem for you at this time, maybe the person who is doing the emails ( sian?) can filter them for you? There is no need for you to have to read the detail of each one. Maybe a weekly report along the lines of : 2 negative comments without foundation, 1 negative comment with suggestion for improvement ( detail enclosed), 4 suggestions for new recipes, 7 queries about existing recipes ( answered with help from mse gang), 470 million positive emails from people who love it. :-D This is something I can do too if needed.

thank you QOS

Great idea about shinyness

I'm sure sian is working hard to filter me from the dross :A I think she was keen that we make the nutrition parts more robust to protect ourselves.

I've probably made it sound as tho that one email had a huge effect, I'm sorry I put it across that way, I was trying to say something quite general, but then gave one example, so Sian, if you're reading, it wasn't that email which caused how I felt, I hope you know that .

Going forward, I think you all know me well enough to know that I'll do my best to make changes in response to any feedback I can get something useful out of, so I know you'll all filter things accordingly. And yes, well spotted, criticism is probably a vulnerable area for me at the moment, probably largely for the hormonal reasons that the lovely Aless pointed out earlier!

QOS I also notice that we are getting a fair few visits from folk not in the uk, and yet to my mind the site is only really useful to people in the UK. This may cause a high bounce rate... Do you have any thoughts?

A note on the home page?

And... BIG ASK so only if you have time, would you be willing to do a comparison between this shopping trolley shirl is buying, and something a normal family of 4 spends in canada, and just see if these foods represent frugality in canada at all. (please don't do this if it takes ages, as it couldn't really take up much 'space' on the site, but would be fascinating anyhow!

Weezl xxx

SusanC_2

weezl74 wrote: »

QOS I also notice that we are getting a fair few visits from folk not in the uk, and yet to my mind the site is only really useful to people in the UK. This may cause a high bounce rate... Do you have any thoughts?

I was looking at a few related keyowrds recently (like "thrifty", "frugal", "money saving" etc.) and I noticed that "money saving" is a particular search term which is predominantly used by people in the UK.

weezl74

arty, I've written Mr Arty's feedback in an email to my dad who'll be thrilled.

He really is enjoying this project:

1) because he has never seen google analytics like it
2) he feels it is for something very worthwhile
3) he is liking the immediacy that this thread brings in terms of other people's experience of his work

So it's fab that he will get a boost having worked so hard on that page :beer::beer:

weezl74

Dear all,

Allegra gave some jokey references to ways teams can get frustrating.

One example was someone feeling marginalised by the team leader/project manager. It helpfully reminded me of something I'd wanted to say

FWIW, I want you all to know that I really value everyone's contributions and if you feel you'd like to offer stuff and it's got missed/overlooked/pushed t the side then this is purely an accident and I would love you to be involved, and shanks has a list of things and people just for that very reason

Murrell I know you are a busy lady, but while i was reading pinkhayley's growing your own guide, I wondered about that research you did about how herbs are very high in some of our key nutrients. (and if shirl/kitty could be persuaded to sprout their mung beans too!) I wondered if you might fancy compiling a little add on page about how growing some herbs would be great for upping the family's vits even though we only use a little at a time

artybear

Weezlie you have now sparked mr artybear's interest (he hasnt shut up about it yet:cool:) and he says if you need any help with anything related to maths, programming (although you have far superior skills, he says he is willing to learn/have a shot at things) then just let me know.

He says his other strong areas are high energy xray astronomy and eating lots and lots of food. So if you need any of those talents call upon those too lol!!!

I have told him he doesnt need to give you his full CV to join in:rotfl:

I'm off to watch Glee nowxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxx

Julimk

I’m still here!

I showed my Mum your site today & she was very impressed. She said that she liked that there were proper meals plus snacks, for no more than pence per portion, and it was all things that she would like to eat. (They are recently retired, with no private pension, so money is tight.)

But then she said that she didn’t think she could bring my Dad round. And IIRC, early on there were concerns over winning Bob over? Don’t know if there is any way of getting across that Bob won’t feel deprived etc.?

And one teeny thing on the recipe lists. Not sure it is correct that HM bread is rated as 3 – skilled, but batch cooking HM bread and carrot bread and calzone is rated as 1 – easy?

weezl74

Julimk wrote: »

I’m still here!

I showed my Mum your site today & she was very impressed. She said that she liked that there were proper meals plus snacks, for no more than pence per portion, and it was all things that she would like to eat. (They are recently retired, with no private pension, so money is tight.)

But then she said that she didn’t think she could bring my Dad round. And IIRC, early on there were concerns over winning Bob over? Don’t know if there is any way of getting across that Bob won’t feel deprived etc.?

And one teeny thing on the recipe lists. Not sure it is correct that HM bread is rated as 3 – skilled, but batch cooking HM bread and carrot bread and calzone is rated as 1 – easy?

Hello!

Did she say what might reassure her that your dad would like it?

Do we need quotes from blokes having enough to eat?!

Thanks for noticing that! I shall make the whole thing into a level 3 batch

But tomorrow, as Mr Weezl wants some company now

Kezzie hasn't had a screamathon yet tonight, so we're quietly hopeful his colic has turned a corner