Preparing for winter II

mesh

Any ideas for some cheap but large fleece blankets? I have a bay window that needs lining badly!
Ps my nearest Ikea is miles away!

just bought @SD@ cream fleeces today at £2 each missed their bargain of 2 for £3 but this is still a bargain....:j

Eenymeeny

MicheH wrote: »

Aw no, another obsession. Slow cooked rice pudding cooking away in the living room. My SC is tiny mind you, might not have much difference in a large space (living/dining wide opne)

Tea candles under a try, what a fab idea. Also to share or probaly way behind everone else. Scented candle wax left over from used candles, I melt a bit on my oil burner, scents the kitchen to rid of cooking smells when can't open the windows because of the cold. Personally I think a batch of mulled wine would be far better for smellages :rotfl:

Oooh, love that idea, rice pudding mmm.. or maybe the morning porridge? If you bring a flask of hot tea, coffee etc into the room with you there'll be no need to go into that chilly kitchen at all!:T
Like the idea of the oil burner, I've got one here somewhere....:)

Purpleclutterbuck

I love reading the thread for lots of ideas -you lot can be very ingenious at times:T
Just to say I have just had a lovely (scrimped and saved for) wood burner fitted (about 10 days ago) and yesterday I put my new anniversary pressie of a whistling kettle on it and lo and behold the water was hot enough for two hot water bottle fillups- I don't expect the water to make tea but at least I know I can heat porridge and beans albeit slowly!
For a romantic birthday pressie I've asked for logs and tea lights:rotfl:

Fruball

Purpleclutterbuck wrote: »

I love reading the thread for lots of ideas -you lot can be very ingenious at times:T
Just to say I have just had a lovely (scrimped and saved for) wood burner fitted (about 10 days ago) and yesterday I put my new anniversary pressie of a whistling kettle on it and lo and behold the water was hot enough for two hot water bottle fillups- I don't expect the water to make tea but at least I know I can heat porridge and beans albeit slowly!
For a romantic birthday pressie I've asked for logs and tea lights:rotfl:

I am soooooo envious - It will prob be next winter when I can get my woodburner

Enjoy!!!

Purpleclutterbuck

Thanks Frugal - ( I feel a bit guilty now but I did save quite a few year's for it!)
I hope you can get your woodburner as quick as poss and I'm sending the woodburner fairy round to see if she can grant you a special wish - fingers crossed - no - wood burner fairy it's called LaLa land next to Seasoned Wood !!!

free4440273

Frugal wrote: »

hahaha

homemade radiator in the kitchen tonight A large baking tray balanced on two mugs, with 2 tealights underneath... The heat from that is quite suprising

Its not really cold enough to need it yet, but it was an experiment - will definately find it useful when it gets really cold

What a wonderful idea!

maryb

Feeling very happy now. We ordered our logs for the winter and DH built a new log store to hold them and made it bigger than we actually need so that we can start to get in logs for the winter after this - they do burn sooo much better if you can store them for a whole year.

Then yesterday our next door neighbour told us he was having a dead pine tree cut down and did we want it. Offered to share the cost of the tree surgeon but he wouldn't hear of it. (So Dh is going to look for something really nice to say thanks with). So gave the men a bit of money to cut the trunk into big rings and they dumped it in our garden. Need to hire a log splitter on Saturday but we will have another year's worth out of it, I reckon. Also the men told me that soemtimes they have more wood than they know what to do with and we were actually helping them by taking it as it meant they didn't have to dispose of it. So hopefully we will be able to get an arrangement going.

So now we have enough wood for this winter and next. It gives me such a warm feeling to see the log store that I almost don't need to light the stove!!

Primrose

maryb - how kind and thoughtful of your neighbour. It's always a good feeling to know that you have plenty of supplies in store - whether of the food or burnable kind. If tree surgeons have surplus wood they can't get rid of - (I guess in these days of Recycling, most councils will force them to pay a charge for removing it to landfill) anybody who uses wood for open fires or wood burning stoves might find it worth contacting tree surgeons in their local area to see if they have any wood they want to get rid of. However, it's as well to be aware that not all wood is suitable for burning. Some varieties of wood can be very smokey, and you'll probably need a place to store some of it to let it dry out too)

maryb

Yes, pine isn't ideal as it spits a bit but we should be OK in a woodburner especially if we mix it with some other types of wood. And as the tree was dead for some time before being cut down it won't take long to dry out - a bonus

Athome1

maryb wrote: »

Yes, pine isn't ideal as it spits a bit but we should be OK in a woodburner especially if we mix it with some other types of wood. And as the tree was dead for some time before being cut down it won't take long to dry out - a bonus

I agree, we are careful which wood we burn on the open fire (not careful enough though judging by the burn marks on the rug:o) but we burn ANYTHING in the stove!

The forecast is for colder weather from tomorrow - well here in the Midlands anyway. I bought myself some knee high fluffy socks from Primark yesterday - guess what I'm going to be wearing tomorrow:)