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

seasalt_2

Hi everyone. Hope you feel better soon Mrs VegPlot and everyone else with colds etc. Sometimes I think adrenaline keeps you going while you have to and then as soon as you stop or get a day off, wham, something fells you.

Gailey I used chammy leather (for cleaning cars etc) - or soft suede/leather from old boot legs/handbags etc to make soles for baby boots and slipper socks. £1 shops for chammy leather and CS for the rest - if none of your friends family throwing anything out - mine all know not to chuck anything out without asking me first! Mind you, this was before the days of padders and slipper socks with rubbery dots on the bottom so probably just as cheap to buy these now. You have enough to do already!

This afternoon, I have finally mended two coats - sewn on buttons, stitched up seams and pockets etc - one is my old DN coat from, well, a LONG time ago - patched two more pairs of jeans (OH's and DD's) and mended an old ikat cotton kaftan that I have had for years and love (wear it as a dressing gown) but the cotton is so worn and soft now it is almost past repair but I can't bear to turn it into dusters quite yet.

Now that my mending basket is (nearly) cleared, I am going to start on major production for the Advent Craft Fair -stitched cards, lavender bags, c'mas tree decorations, bags, baby blankets - that sort of thing - hoping to share a stall with a friend to keep costs down - she is doing cushions so I won't do those this year - making up cushions is my least favourite job anyway so it's a good excuse not to do it!

Not sure what we're having for tea tonight. Have got some BOGOF tortilla wraps that need using up and some sausages and very wrinkly apples so might be sausage wraps with fried onions and apple sauce then??!

Hope everyone has a good/better week.

stiltwalker

chammy leather, what a fab idea, thanks seasalt! Will go and get some this week for my DD who's not quite walking but does like to stand at the coffe table to do her drawing and has to have her sock off for this currently as we have a laminate floor. Might have to get plenty and make some soft little slippers for my own tootsies.

seasalt_2

Don't know how hardwearing chammy leather would be for adult slippers - depends how thick it is, I suppose - but it was fine for baby ones.

grandma247

Annie56 wrote: »

Hello Everyone

Have any of you bought the Ambrosia Dairy Creamed Rice dated Novemeber 2009 from Big Brand Foods, be wary of it,

Any viewpoints on this ???

Annie56

I am very wary of any milk products if they are out of date because in my experience they seem to go off quicker than anything else. If I have a can of condensed milk near to date I pour it into a plastic tub and freeze it rather than risk it going bad.
Most things though are fine so long as the tin looks ok.

grandma247

seasalt wrote: »

and mended an old ikat cotton kaftan that I have had for years and love (wear it as a dressing gown) but the cotton is so worn and soft now it is almost past repair but I can't bear to turn it into dusters quite yet.

If you have a sewing machine you could use it as a pattern to make a new one before you get rid of it.

witchwoopiggy

everning all, sorry if this is off subject or in wrong place. glad to hear i was not the only one with all the suet , and brill idea about the birds will be doing that for them this winter well i had the dreaded chat about christmas with hubby today, now there is just me and hubby and niether of us work due to diffrent illness, anyway there is no one on my side so that makes it easyer, but there is on his, his brothers there wives and children , no matter what we get them its never good enough, the children are all spoilt there 5, 7 and 7 and all have ds, wii ect . Mum and Dad in law are great and happy with anything just being there on xmas day is enough.
To cut a long story short hubby and i have decied to do a cheeper xmas this year, why should we break our neck on things that are put in to a cubard and never see the light of day and thats the adults (Sadly mum found all the presents she bought her grandkids last year shoved in the cubard, she was looking for the kids coats, when she asked why was told its not what our kids have:eek::eek: what made it worse is mum always asks what to get them :mad:)
We both have fond memerys of our xmas when we were younger , we are 40 and 37, just incase anyone thinks we are older so christmas this year is going to be about the OS traditianal.
So we have bought all the children a jixsaw each, colouring book (nice one with there like on ie ben 10 ect) and colouring pencils rather than feltips (then we cant be blamed for wall damage) rather than just add to all the computor bits, the brothers will get a joke christmas book (i got them in jan) and smellies and the sis in laws cross stitch kit (just a small one) as they both said they enjoyed it before the children came along. Not at all what they will expect:D
Mum and Dad im cross stitching them a picture each which is personal to them ie Dad remembers travering on the trams so his is a tram, Mum jokes how she needs more teapots when her boys vist, so hers is diffrent teapots, then some new slippers each (this is something they never buy themselves) and im thinking of doing a little fresh fruit and luxersy hamper to go with it.
Hubby and i dont go into xmas much with him being ill (hes peg fed) food is not a great thing here, so im making some mince pies and normal dinners here. We have worked it out that doing it like this Christmas this year will cost less than £50 all in and no heart ache trying to pay for it all after. I know not everyone can or will want to do it this way but for us its going to work for the first time in ages im not worried about christmas

Nargleblast

You do Christmas just as you want it, WWP, and hang the rest of them! No need to apologise, you are marking the occasion and giving small but thoughtful gifts within your budget - what's wrong with that?

ChocClare

I have a courtesy aunt who doesn't have two ha'pence to rub together, who ALWAYS used to buy my kids presents at Christmas, however much we told her not to, bless her. Anyway, she never spent more than a quid or so on them, but she had such a knack for finding the right thing - one of the presents was a tin tray thing (like the lid of a biscuit tin) with lots of little magnets in different shapes - squares, triangles, circles. The children must have played with that for 10 years, making pictures. She also bought them plastic brick things one year that you could make various things out of (not lego - they were odd shapes) - again, they played with that for longer than I can remember. Meanwhile, the expensive presents were ignored totally!!

Never be embarrassed to buy cheap toys for children - they are often the favourites - so what does it matter that you weren't totally ripped off by manufacturers who saw you coming?!

bluebag

jamanda wrote: »

.....
I don't feel very lovely at the moment. I'm looking long term and being cruel to be kind. Hate seeing them struggling but if I lose my security (don't have that much) I wouldn't be able to help if things did go bad, as they may do.

Sometimes we have to do what we can, not what we would like to do. Putting on your own lifebelt first in order to save others.

Don't feel bad about it, sometimes that's just what life doles out.
You are giving your care and consideration to what the future holds and that counts for a lot.

A soft place to land in rough times has seen many get to their feet when the world has chucked 'em flat on their back.

Your doing good.

redlady_1

Morning all.

Well, the second job which was giving me a good standard of living (not to mention indulge myself a little) is looking a little shakey. I have had one of my shifts cut. However, this has taught me a valuable lesson - not to rely on this cash!!! So from now on it is back to my frugal ways and I will save all the money. Then when I need something I will just take it from my savings. I had become very used to the cash very quickly. Although with exams coming up, it probably isnt such a bad thing not to have to work a silly amount of hours.

I used the last of my mums Morrisons vouchers this weekend. She sends me a "red cross parcel" from time to time to make sure I am still eating. :rotfl: I am actually thinking about becoming a partial veggie, as in eating more veggie meals each week than meat. Can anyone recommend a really good veggie cook book please?