It's STILL tough and not getting better - so how are we coping?

ceridwen

katiegizmo wrote: »

Thanks Primrose! I feel like a different person, I'm remembering what it's like not to be tense (well not as tense anyway!)

I've already battled with OH about keeping frugal - he's been off to B&Q or Homebase this morning and bought a load of cement and polyfiller etc, man things. While we do need it, we dont urgently need it so I would have rather waited and shopped around or found some vouchers etc... plus he put it on the credit card and I wanted to use cash this month...:mad: I'm aware of the fact that he hasnt actually got any money in his account yet, it could be a disasterous job and not work out, so I don't want to spend any money we haven't got yet!

On a lighter note, he made me happy as he's just told me that next door's blackberry bush which encroaches over to our front garden and wasn't fruiting last year is now fruiting! yay, more blackberries!!:T

thank s for the recipes Kezlou, I'm going to try the vegetable samosas i think.... yummmmmm!

Belated congratulations on the job:D:T

Guess O.H. is in "Me = provider" mode - hence buying stuff promptly to get your joint "cave" together:rotfl: - understandable...and commendable in some ways - ie that he wants to make sure its a nice home for you both:)

Errr.....can I sound a very slight note of caution - re those blackberries - ummmm.;....<cough> in law in Britain its the case that anything in a neighbours garden that is hanging over into ones own garden CAN be cut by you (because its "invading your space") BUT one has to offer to give it back to the owner. I know...I know....but I thought I better just mention it - so that you have the chance to ask the neighbour if they want the cuttings back (with the blackberries on). Hopefully they'll say "Thats okay - don't bother - if you want to get rid of them thats okay by me" and then you're "in the clear" and its blackberries for dinner okay:D

plumduff55

Prudent wrote: »

Do you have a recipe for the rhubarb muffins? They sound lovely. I will have to make them for for my daughter though as I am determindly sticking to my diet. I am going to try and catch up on some house work today and do a bit a cooking. I have spent the last few days clearing out and cleaning the garage. Does anyone have a recipe for scotch pancakes? The recipe I tried yesterday didn't work out great.

Hi, I have tried many different recipes for Scotch pancakes, these are my favourite


8oz sr flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
2oz caster sugar
2 eggs made up to half pint with milk

Mix all ingredients together, do not overmix.
Mixture can be left to stand before cooking.

Hope you like them

Plum

mama67

myself and DS2 have been blackberry picking this afternoon only walked up the lane and within 30 mins had picked 1.3kg.

there are loads more which will hopefully ripen over the next few days

I will be making jam tomorrow; made tomato chutney and mint jelly today, and strawberry jam and blackcurrant and apple jam on Monday.

The mint jelly was so easy; I used the peelings etc from the apples used for the chutney; so only the sugar to pay for (59p/kg bag in In$tore), as mint in the garden.

ceridwen

calleyw wrote: »

They need to wake up and smell the coffee and live in the real world like like the rest of us. Me and my husband bought a small flat and then upgraded to a 3 bed house when we could afford it.

I find it amazing that these people earning all this money are not saving or have insurances in place.

We where stupid enough not have critical illness/income replacement insurance. And it came to bite us on the bum

But due to keeping our bills low and saving we have managed to keep a roof over heads after my husbands stoke.

Yours

Calley

I do understand where you are coming from. I know I would certainly save first - before thinking of having any luxuries later. I think too that anyone at any level who has taken out a mortgage in recent years needs to take out mortgage insurance at the same time - and sympathise with them for having to spend money on that on top of mortgage payments.

The thing is though that there is obviously going to be a time delay (of years as its turned out) before EVERYONE in this Society feels "vulnerable" in their job/career. "Job vulnerability" has now worked its way right through our Society and EVERYONE now knows that - no matter what type of job/career they have and how qualified/intelligent/personable/well-connected/etc/etc they personally are that unemployment could happen to them. It HAS taken some years for this to work its way through at all levels though - and I think its only pretty recently that it indisputably has hit all levels. I realized 20 years or so ago that I wasnt invulnerable - having always taken it that I WAS. People with better jobs/higher expectations than I can dream of have taken longer again than I did to realise "It might be YOU" that draws the short straw.

Most of us simply don't - at least to start with - factor in any unforeseen events that might crop up and "hit us for six". Its something that comes to some extent from having had things easier. Its also something that comes a bit with the "naivety of youth". I think most of us (in my Baby Boomer generation certainly......) spend some time (errr...many years....) thinking "Life will come right in a minute and it will all be okay - it's not like I'm asking for anything extraordinary after all. I'm not after luxury - just an ordinary decent house and an ordinary good marriage and a reasonable job/career with reasonable pay - nothing luxurious after all" and finally it hits you (well many people any rate) that you're getting on a bit by now and that still hasnt happened and doesnt look very likely to happen now at your age and you adapt as best you can to the life you actually have - even if its pretty different to the one you expected to have.

Please please everyone don't let the "Green Eyed Monster (aka jealousy)" creep in at the back door here - most of us (including me) never did get the life we expected/hoped for - but when we are young (leastways in my generation - and I presume in the next one on from us Baby Boomers) one really DOES think "Any minute now..and things will come right" and really doesnt expect to come a cropper on the job front. Hence - most people do buy the house/get the lifestyle they know they can afford at the time. It happens at all income levels - and people now come a cropper on their hopes and plans from all income levels.

I really do hope that people from all walks of life and all (past) income levels will feel free to come on this thread and get support and sympathy.

Rummer

Fabulous news Katiegizmo that must be a huge weight off your mind! I am very happy for you both!!!

Sadly we did not get good news and my OH was not successful at his interview. So tired of trying to keep positive.

Primrose

EstherH - I too prefer to feeze mine straight from picking. The reason is that while they're stored in the freezer they will still develop some small ice crystals around them (which increase the longer you store them) and if you wash them first it will be impossible to dry them properly before freezing so they will end up carrying more moisture than perhaps you would like if you're planning to use them for jam, or a crumble. They usually generate quite a lot of juice when cooked down. If they're very dusty you can wipe them with something like a soft shaving brush but I tend not to bother.

Primrose

Rummer - Bad luck. I can feel your disappointment. It's hard trying to be positive for somebody else when you're feeling down yourself but I'm sure all of us on here are hoping that it will be "next time lucky" for your OH.

Primrose

Ceridwen talks a lot of sense here. I think many of us started off our adult lives in the hope/expectation that everything would go according to our plans and that any inevitable hiccups along the way would be small one that we would be able to take in our stride.
And what a shock it is, no matter what kind of job you are doing, when suddenly you're called into an office somewhere out of the blue and told your job no longer exists and that you are OUT. It isn't just about the money although that, of course, is important. It's about your self respect, your identity and the sudden realisation that when you thought you'd got your life under control, actually nothing was further from the truth It's pointless envying other people for their material possessions, their jobs or the amount of money they have in the bank, because they too are just as likely to be a life victim of another mishap such as serious illness, bereavement, divorce or other misfortune.
So all we can do is plan prudently for the future as far as is within our power and try to avoid envying others too much for fear that we lose sight of the good things in our life that we perhaps sometimes take forgranted.

annie123

mama67 wrote: »

The mint jelly was so easy; I used the peelings etc from the apples used for the chutney; so only the sugar to pay for (59p/kg bag in In$tore), as mint in the garden.

How do you make mint jelly please
and what do you serve it with?

mardatha

Life is an adventure - you never know what's round the corner. Try and take it like that , and see that if a door closes then it is for a reason. Just maybe the reason isn't clear as yet but one day it will be. And things usually turn out for the best in the end !