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

NualaBuala

csarina wrote: »

sorry I am awol for the moment OH is in hospital am spending my time running from home to hospital to visit......will be back....

Hugs Csarina, I'm so sorry to hear your OH is in hospital. I hope he will be well and back at home soon. Take care of yourself - it can be exhausting going in and out visiting all the time.

Annie, hope the message isn't someone from this thread. Try not to let it spoil things for you.

It's very cold here tonight, set to get down to 0C tonight ... brrrr! But I am keeping warm and cosy - fire is lit, fleeces are piled high and I'm full of warming cottage pie. And have lost count of how many layers I'm wearing! :rotfl:

Annie56

well Montys been digging in his garden, making me Sunday dinner and Ive been slowly introduced to his daughter Lucy shes lovley,have had a master class on his chutney recipes and Ive learned him the ins and outs of the Breadmaker, and would you believe it his first loaf was near perfect, drat the man...hello hunny!!!

been busy helping aforementioned friend and all in all lifes good cept for me bieng daft enough to open that nasty PM other than that its back to work tommorow nose to the grindstone and I need to learn to knit as Mister Monty says he would like some new woolley jumpers but i cant knit for toffee I feel a LETS bartering session coming up one jumper knitted for something I can do...ah he joys of life....oh hes adopted the name of Monty on here once hes registered to join...

he sends you all hugs and says his loaf was perfect, one cushion chucked across the room to one smug man men !!!!

will post tommorow am going to duff him up ...

Annie56

gailey_2

I cant imagine and hate to think any regular poster on this thread would send nasty messages.Find oldstyle board and this post real safe haven whre things can be discussed without coming to blows.

Ignore the cowardly person annie, I look foward to reading your posts they always make me smile.

ohh its cold off to get hot water bottle and bed before watching secret millionaire as love that programme makes me feel lucky for what I have.

ChocClare

grandma247, would you mind posting your canning recipes for the pie fillings? I have half a ton of apples which I was going to bottle as apple puree or just slices, but I'm never very happy with bottled slices and the puree you can only take so much of!

Do you find it needs any sort of thickening at all? I'm thinking particularly of blackberries - usually mix in a little arrowroot with that, but unsure how well it would survive the high temperatures needed to bottle it?

flowertotmum

Hi all, how are you today..
Annie56..i'm mad for you hun..report them...:mad:
Csarina..i hope you hubby is ok..and that you are too...
Roseanna..hi..hope you like it here the ladies are lovely..:)
Kidcat hope the little ones are feeling better...
Had a lovely wkend so far...not spent much money..went to coop to see what they had and decided to leave it as i didn't need what they had...weather has been sunny but bloody cold...forecast another frost tonight so we have heating on for a few hours to warm the house and then it gets switched off..thanks to you ladies i have lined all my curtains and that has helped loads:A..its nice and toasty except my room...but thats something we will have to do next yr..funds not sufficient..:D
Did manage to talk hubby into letting me buy book off fleabuy..nice one though..365 bedtime stories...get fed up with reading the same ones over and over again...this way it'll never get boring:rotfl:
Going now to have a cuppa and warm up( in )the bedroom;)...
take care all...

mama67

Sammy, never let anyone tell you how to bring your own children up. As said in previous posts you are the one there 24/7 and having to deal with the 2/3am hunger cries.

My 2 boys were big babies but are each growing differently.

Ds1 was 9lb 6oz and 59cm born with his fist in his mouth and has never stopped eating since. I bf him and at 11weeks developed an abcess had to stop immediately he went from that straight to 4 x 9oz bottles of hungry baby formula, I started weaning at 12/14 weeks and it just went from there never full; he is is now 15½yrs and 5ft 11 inches size 12 feet and is well within his BMI range for his height (studies GSCE PE).He takes after my side of the family. He plays and referees football matches.

Ds2 was 11lb 2oz and 57cm the delivery room scales were not calibrated high enough to register his weight. I bf him as well and at approx 9/10 weeks had to stop as could not produce enough to keep him full, he caught very mild chicken pox at 12 weeks old and the day his spots came out he needed extra food as was screaming in hunger.
He is now a shorter and stockier build taking after his dads side of the family.He plays football and does karate.

Ben will be buring off alot now he is playing football as well as the normal 6yr old running around; as said holly will burn some of her weight off once she starts moving around.

Take care

mardatha

Not had any time today at all to post or read !! Will be in tomorrow hopefully !

grandma247

chocclare I gently cooked a combination of cooking and eating apples so some broke down into puree while others stayed in nice chunks. I did not add much water,just enough to stop it sticking. The cooking apples tend to be a little on the dry side which is good. I added sugar till it tasted right to me.
I heated the other fruits ,with sugar added if needed, gently and put them to the jar about halfway up then topped with apple to within just a little more than 1 inch from the top. I used a long wooden chopstick to mix the apple in a little, you could use the handle of a wooden spoon. Metal is not a good idea in case you damage the jar. The wipe the rim and thread with a clean cloth and put the lid on.
I follow with a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, remove and leave to cool completely. Check all have sealed next day and wash, dry and label the jars.
USDA don't recommend anything except either sure jel or clear jel for thickening(can't remember which is for pie filling) but I don't think we can get it here. Another one I have seen is carrageen but not seen that here either. I feel if it needs thickening I will just mix in a bit of cornflour when I open it and heat it till it thickens.

ChocClare

grandma247 wrote: »

chocclare I gently cooked a combination of cooking and eating apples so some broke down into puree while others stayed in nice chunks. I did not add much water,just enough to stop it sticking. The cooking apples tend to be a little on the dry side which is good. I added sugar till it tasted right to me.
I heated the other fruits ,with sugar added if needed, gently and put them to the jar about halfway up then topped with apple to within just a little more than 1 inch from the top. I used a long wooden chopstick to mix the apple in a little, you could use the handle of a wooden spoon. Metal is not a good idea in case you damage the jar. The wipe the rim and thread with a clean cloth and put the lid on.
I follow with a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, remove and leave to cool completely. Check all have sealed next day and wash, dry and label the jars.
USDA don't recommend anything except either sure jel or clear jel for thickening(can't remember which is for pie filling) but I don't think we can get it here. Another one I have seen is carrageen but not seen that here either. I feel if it needs thickening I will just mix in a bit of cornflour when I open it and heat it till it thickens.

Thanks so much for this, you have really confirmed what I thought. Yes, American sites go on and on about clear jel but I wouldn't want to touch it with a bargepole - like many of these American things, it seems that they have to put additives or ready mixes into even HM things like apples! I wondered myself about thickening it after I opened the jar if need be, so I am very pleased to hear you say that!

My freezer is currently (no pun intended) full of blackcurrants, blackberries and elderberries, so I could do with making a bit more room. I have a shed full of "proper" jars - and a full sized, rather scary American canner, which I am not going to use without DH standing by as it looks like it could take out the house and the area for miles around if I don't do it correctly! I'd wimp out and do it in a water bath, but DH went to enormous lengths to barter the canner for me, so I feel I must put it to use - got it for processing the "millions" of tomatoes I planted - which were uniformly wiped out by blight. Next year I'm only planting indoor ones... :mad:

Thanks again!

Charis

Annie56 wrote: »

oh hes adopted the name of Monty on here once hes registered to join...

Annie56

And there was me thinking he might register as 'Knobbly Carrots'

Sorry to hear about the rude PM. Don't let it put you off, we look forward to your posts.