Its tough, it will get better and guess what its freezing brrrrr!

charlies-aunt

Thats_Me wrote: »

Oh, and calling charlies-aunt re liloandstitches post about the books you are currently reading (Wartime front etc.), yes please we need titles!

The books I'm reading at the moment are "How we lived then" by Norman Longmate and "Domestic Soldiers" by Jennifer Purcell.

I think its the small detail thats so fascinating in these books (particularly the "How we lived then" book) and how inventive people learned to be. As a habitual wearer of t-shirts and jogging bottoms, I am feel quite ashamed of myself when I look at the photographs from that period and see how smartly turned out people used to be - even in desperate situations they took pride in themselves and turned a brave face to the world.

Lots of lessons learned from reading these books and a deeper appreciation of what really matters in life when the chips are down, your back is against the wall and life is tougher than tough - love, friendship, family values, health, kindness - these are the things that truly make life worth living.

taplady

Hi everyone!

another one who didn't know the old thread had been closed - am happy to have a nice new one as I have to admit I thought it was becoming too much of a discussion thread and had less tips and helpful advice for each other than when it started.

Primrose - I'm a big fan of body warmers - I too am always cold!

Greengoblin - good luck with the interviews!

been to Tesco tonight to get a few special offers but am aiming to get the rest of my shopping form Morrisons on Sunday when we take DS to work - we now have his 10% discount card to use:j:money:

hope everyone has a great weekend x

kidcat

Glad to have found you all again, felt bereft earlier when I realiseed the thread was locked.


Well today was dd 16th birthday so I have spent all day cooking dinner for family and her boyfriend came along too, but tomorrow the hard works begins as she is having a party here for all her friends, so I have tonnes of cooking to do. Managed to start the cooking earlier but still loads left. Been truly MSE though and everything was either special offer or whoopsies!

Been very unMSE though and ordered a new tumble drier which arrives tomorrow - after having three loads of washing sit in baskets all week as the stuff hanging or on airers wasnt drying I finally gave in, kids have all been running out of clothes cos washing takes that long to dry. Am dreading the electricity bills rising again though.

kezlou

sammy_kaye I just fill tortillas up with the same stuff i put in rolls. But instead of just using one wrap i use two to hold it together.
My boys love ham (chopped up small, that way it lasts longer), cheese and salad with mayo in.
Yes it is that cold here, we have all been wrapped, but its worse as i live in a Victorian house with high ceilings and is really badly insulated. So our bills are a heck of a lot, especially gas .

xmas decorations: - we collect pine cones and paint them. The boys love doing this and so do their friends. We also make xmas pics and paper chains and hang them all over the house. Really thought my 10 yr old would be sick of this, but no even his friends want to do it!

Same gear here with the store cupboard its empty at the mo. We ate it last month :eek:.Thats why i;m tempting to get a job lot on my credit card.
xmas presents -i'm checking fleabay for a lego fire station etc as thats what my 6 yr old is currently into. But will cost me over £200 alone for it, far too much for one child. Not sure what DS1 wants, i know he's love taking pictures so might see if i can get a cheap digital camera for him. I've seen some locally for about £25.

:rotfl::rotfl: sorry couldn't help but laugh seasalt!

Hi alison and kate! Welcome to the thread!

Frugal - i would fill a box up with smellies and daft games from the pund shop. You'd be surprised by how chuffed my younger cousins were with a deo set , some water bombs and a pack of snickers all from the pound shop. Thought they were going to throw it at me with disgust. But no they were chuffed to bits!

BB1984 - i've just put out some spring onions, kale, leeks, swiss chard and purple sprouting broccoli. But i've been doing a bit of reading apparently now is a good time for broad beans and cabbages, so they next on my list. also garlic ready for spring time.

Mardatha - i've made some raised beds in my yard. Just got some old wardrobes that were doing to the tip, chopped up a bit to make a row, shoved a load of compost and chicken manure and voila raised beds. Got tons of potatoes of them this year. Now they got brocolli and swiss chard in them. Very easy to maintain though, well for me anyway as they on concrete.

Well actually to be fair, i didn't even chop i just laid some wood again the wall,jammed some more wood to creat pressure between the sides. Put bricks around the bottom and that was it.Mine are about 2 by 1 ft high, but i'm slowly filling them up with compost. I made ours when my leg was in a cast, stubborn soso that i am.

greengoblin - good luck with Monday!!

great news on your DS taplady !!
Happy birthday kidcats DD!


We had a scare earlier, the bleeding freezer decided to keel over. So after mad searching for a cheap freezer, OH wanted me to buy one from argos on my card arghhhhhhh
But no instead i scared him into looking at it and now he's got it working :j:j.

So instead i've said to him the second hand shop is getting them in on Monday so we'll get one then. But if the freezer is still alive and kicking then we'll just leave it.
Worst thing we actually do need a new fridge and freezer as they've been on the way out for about three years now. So better start saving up for that now me thinks.

kidcat

taplady wrote: »

been to Tesco tonight to get a few special offers but am aiming to get the rest of my shopping form Morrisons on Sunday when we take DS to work - we now have his 10% discount card to use:j:money:

hope everyone has a great weekend x

Not sure if its still the same, but our local Morrisons staff use their discount card instore but dont get the discount till they are paid when it is added to their pay each month. Which can be a pain if its not your own shopping.

ChocClare

seasalt wrote: »

One thing I have started doing this year is putting the cold ashes through a garden riddle and then tipping any reusable bits back in the coal bucket. Want to see if I can get our coal bill down.

Wow - magically transported back in time with this... funnily enough I was just thinking about this the other day when I was emptying the stove and wondering if they were still available - what I'm talking about is maids' cinder buckets. Anyone remember 'em (I'm not that old, honest!)?

I can remember visiting my great-great-aunt when I was a little girl and the "woman who did" used to clean out all the grates by shovelling the ashes into a bucket with a sort of sieve-thing on the top. The ashes went on the garden and the cinders went back as the first layer of the fire.

I've often thought (as I spilt ash all over the floor) what a useful little device this was. Anyone know if they still sell them?

seasalt_2

Never heard of them Clare but my garden riddle sits nicely in the top of an old builders bucket! With an open fire it's easier just to fish out any reusable bits that have fallen through the grate bars but when you take the ash out of the rayburn, it's hot - the cinders go to even out all the bumps and dips in the track but as the rain washes it you realise how much good black coal is out there too but it doesn't look good filling your coal bucket from the road! I once tried to bribe the boys to do it for 50p a bucket but they quit because my rates weren't high enough!

Gigervamp

Mardatha, I made a raised bed using bamboo edging. Have a look at this picture to see what I mean. It was on special offer if you bought four rolls of it. I just dug down a little way to bury the bottom bit, and secured the ends with thick wire.

Vaila

first time contributing to a thread like this
some plans for the weekend....
-make lentil soup
-make and freeze quorn spaghetti sauce
-bake a sponge cake for a late bday cake for dad
-bake gingerbread cake/fruit cake as practice for xmas gifts
-try and sell something on bloomin gumtree !

Pitlanepiglet

I'm glad to see the thread back but if I'm honest it is becoming a bit like the daily thread and less like what Kittie envisaged for it. I love the idea of the thread but think we need to be careful that it isn't just another daily thread and a list of what people do in a day - unless they are relevant to the topic.

I don't mean to be difficult but that's my view!