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

Hippeechiq

ginnyknit wrote: »

By the way would the bull fit in the slow cooker - problem solved :rotfl:

:rotfl: You and mardatha never fail to put a smile on my face, and often make me laugh out loud, bless ya little cotton socks, 'cos there's often sod all to smile about

BigMummaF

We get the tiniest frogs coming in to the lounge some evenings! We've got a funny house where the kitchen is in the front & lounge at the back, so often sit here with the door open, weather permitting. And don't ditch-pigs make a racket :eek: One evening when The Offspring were little & had gone up to bed, I was convinced there was a burglar in the garden Thankfully there was a tennis racquet handy so I grabbed it up, threw the door open & shouted 'I've called the Police!', to be confronted by two adolescent hedgehogs snuffling around for slugs :rotfl:

The people next door are still in the throes of extension building works so we have those industrial wire fence panels to keep Pup safely in our garden. The birds though are having a real good time & we are having free entertainment watching their antics & acrobatics...ain't Nature wonderful

Lindy_-_Loo

Come October when DS2 goes to pre school I will be on my own for the first time, left work after having boys so in the past five years I've always had one or both boys here and OH on his days off work. As I had the boys early (32 and 34 weeks) I never had any maternity leave where I could 'do nothing', so im quite looking forward to 2.5hrs alone in the morning. I'm gonna do 2 mornings voluntering at school. I will get to clean without watching the boys and christmas shop without anyone - although I will miss the pram for the bags to go on!

Im sure at some point I will feel lonely and bored, get cabin fever now if we stay in all day.

Our tomato plants for the 2nd year running have still just got big green tomatos, doesnt help that it isnt particularly sunny!

hoping to go the car boot i the morning before OH goes to work. It at tranmere rovers football club, 10 minute walk away, on all year round and the boys desperatly want lego boards, im always get out bid on ebay - a set of 4 went for £14 yesterday! Some people have more money than sense!

mardatha

Nature is awesome. and is what life on earth is all about. Is the reason for getting up in the mornings.

EstherH

annie123 wrote: »

Spuds grow in about 10" of soil, thats all you need, if you want to earth up more than that, use crumpled newspaper to stop leaves falling all over the place.
Put 4" of soil in, add seed tatty, cover with 2" of soil, add extra compost upto 10" in total

Do you mean put crumpled newspaper in the bottom of the bin??? Or as the leaves grow. I thought the more you earthed up, the more potatoes you were supposed to get? Sorry to sound thick.

EstherH

Charis wrote: »

Yes. If they're a bit tasteless they can be used to bulk out more expensive berry fruits (Raspberry, blueberry etc) Here's a recipe for Pear Chutney, on a page with lots more links.

Thanks Charis, will see how it all turns out.

mardatha

I think you put it around the stalks to support them, on top of the compost But I might be wrong !

kidcat

Wow, had a holiday and find that there is tonnes of pages to catch up on, its taken me a whole week to catch up!! Sending hugs to all those having a bad time and congrats to all the new jobs and good news.

My Dh has finally returned to work this week and the relief almost made me weep. Took me ages of persuading, explaining, nagging, ranting and threatening to get him to go back, ironically they have made such a fuss of him hes really happy now hes back!! (Especially as i have learnt not to be any way sympathetic to his "illnesses" or he will be off months ) Hoping can persuade him to take on his roles around the house and garden now too, as the past seven weeks he has refused to to any of the heavier jobs (which I am not supposed to do - have chronic bad back since last pregnancy and my anaemia has really kicked in making me exhausted).
Our old house had tonnes of blackberry bushes all around the perimeter - was incredible security but this house has none at all, kids were all gutted that there were no bushes in this garden, but have since discovered a hedgerow nearby filled with bushes although the berries are not ready yet. Looking forward to gathering as many as possible I usually gather enough to keep me in stock for any dinner parties or parties that I cater!

Have been reading the thread with interest regarding winter and feel highly depressed that after a very poor summer we may have a bad winter yet again. Am heeding all the warnings though and am writing a stockpile list ready and will try to buy at least one store item each time I shop.

Have checked my gas and electric and both are fixed price till March so at least I know the cost of fuel will be constant which is a relief.

Received an energy monitor free from Eon last week which I have put to use this week, its been extraordinary the electricity usage of kitchen stuff. Also had the benefit that the kids can see the usage going up and down when they do stuff so are now making a bigger effort. They are teating it like a challenge to "beat" the electric meter and get the bill down. Long may it last!! My oven uses obscene amounts of energy and so I am making big changes to its usage (and also beginning to think a wood burning Aga may be a good idea when/if we buy our own house) first cut has been OH who currently buys frozen pies to take into work but cooks them the night before in the oven, he invariably cooks them late at night alone in the oven and the cost must be huge. have now told him that unless he cooks pies in with the other stuff he will have to make sandwiches to take instead.


Does anybody use their breadmaker for jam making??

kezlou

Glad you enjoyed your holiday kidcat, so ds went back to work x
i use my bread maker for jam, takes about 1h40 mins to make a batch.

I went to town and did some stocking up in the dried food area. Got to the bank just before it closed, so the cheque is in. Ended up going in primark and ds1 + 2 said can we h this for xmas. so i said ended up spending £3.00 on costume jewellery. A yellow necklace, earrings, bracelet and ring. The boys were very chuffed. apparently they wanted to buy things now when its cheap instead of in December when its expensive.

So in sainsbugs i checked some of the store cupboard products i buy.
500g basic pasta shapes are still 32p
self raising flour 42p 1.5kg (gone down from 45p)
plain flour 1.5kg 42p
strong white bread flour 1.5kg 69p ( gone down form 79p)
yeast 74p (used to be 68p)
semi skimmed dried milk 500g £2.17 (used to £1.48)

so it seems the shop to go to for flour and pasta is the above.
Just though i would post it up in case it helps anyone.

I ended worryingly bought some dried pasta meals for the boys to eat quickly during the day when i'm too tired. I feel so guilty and embarrassed buying them .

I'm shattered now so going to have a quck read of the forum with a cuppa x

Lindy_-_Loo

my first and last asda shop has been delivered, four items all frozen were missing and the driver double checked the van and told me to ring customer services.

I did this and was told I would get a refund. 20 mins later the store where the shopping was packed rang and asked me to tell them what was missing, then they said it will be with you by 4.30pm we will cancel the refund as you shouldnt have complained a sit looks bad for the packer and driver!

Im still waiting for the shopping....