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

seasalt_2

Wild here now. TV signal gone and power threatening to go but hasn't died yet. Frugal those snow shoe thingies were from a link that Thrifty Felicity, I think, but could have been RAS or Hippeechic, posted for me on previous thread to this one. Or possibly it was on the Really Old Style thread? Sorry! It was a while ago now. Lengths of plaited nylon tights tied round your shoes/boots - there is a picture of some japanese women wearing them. Cannot for the life of me find the link though. Have put ice grabbers/grippers/snowshoes etc etc into search box/forum and nada. Apart from that snowshoes are apparently a breed of cat!

Charleys Aunt I am so sorry about the horse. We have got one very old horse 40+ and really don't know if he will last another winter although I remember warning DD2 that he was on his last legs about ten years ago and so far he is ok.

ETA Sorry, missed a page somehow. I remember free butter too. And I'm another one who has never quite managed the one meal fits all - although I cook one meal with variations, especially as DDs are vegetarian, but it is easy to provide eg hummus, lentils etc as alternatives if the rest of us are having meat. There are lots of meals I'd like to cook though but don't because I know nobody would eat them and it would all go to waste.

katholicos

Frugal wrote: »

Oh... Katholicos... How is your Dad? Mine has an upset stomach and is very weak still from the strokes... and thin Breaks my heart. Hope your Dad is doing ok xxxxx

Frugal, sorry to hear about your Dad's added health problems and thank you so very much for being so thoughtful and asking after my Dad. I do hope your Dad soon feels better. My Dad's not doing too well i'm sorry to say. He's had this urine/bladder infection since the catheter came out...it wasn't emptied often enough in hospital and the day after he came out he was in agony, ever since that he has been up all night every night needing to go the loo and neither he nor mum are getting any rest. Of course, it takes him ages to have his oxygen and to get the strength together to get out of bed each time so he is having a rough time.

Thanks so much for asking hun (((hugs and prayers for you and your dear Dad)))

Fruball

katholicos wrote: »

Frugal, sorry to hear about your Dad's added health problems and thank you so very much for being so thoughtful and asking after my Dad. I do hope your Dad soon feels better. My Dad's not doing too well i'm sorry to say. He's had this urine/bladder infection since the catheter came out...it wasn't emptied often enough in hospital and the day after he came out he was in agony, ever since that he has been up all night every night needing to go the loo and neither he nor mum are getting any rest. Of course, it takes him ages to have his oxygen and to get the strength together to get out of bed each time so he is having a rough time.

Thanks so much for asking hun (((hugs and prayers for you and your dear Dad)))

Oh I am so sorry to hear that My Dad goes quite loopy with the urine infections but he is on a maintenance dose of Trimethoprim now and that has stopped them.. They were recurring so often, and same as your Dad, neither him or SM were getting any sleep.

Maybe, if they are recurring, suggest to the GP that he take a maintenance dose too? I have found that we have had to be really proactive to get Dad the things he needs.

The hospital staff are great in many ways, but changing catheters or convenes seem to be a bit too low on the list IMO. As is getting enough fluids into patients.

SM doesn't want me to kick off tho (she knows me so well!) as she thinks if I get uppity then Dad won't get as much care.... I am not sure about that.

Hope your Dad improves soon xx xx

parsonswife8

Feeling shattered here.:eek: Spent the whole morning packing up our caravan and taking down curtains. Need to dye the lounge ones in a dark brown shade, as faded by the sun. Wash the rest.

Had no breakfast, only a mug of tea, so stopped at a pub at about 2pm on the way home and had a roast beef dinner.:)

On the way South, there was a major accident on the the North bound carriageway. A car almost at the top of a bank, upside down, next to the slow lane. Who knows what happened.:mad: Our side wasn't too good either. Slow.

There were so many rescue vehicles, police cars and ambulances that they had closed off the two inside lanes. The traffic was backed up for miles.:(

Got home in the dark, unpacked the car and now in bed, feeling really tired. Had a nice few days but got woken up on two consecutive nights by heavy rain on the caravan roof.:mad:

Hugs all and brace yourselves for a cold and windy week.:eek:

Frugalista

gailey wrote: »

would love to help a farmer out round here oicking in return for food.

LOL!! I always thought it was the politicians that are the oiks! :rotfl:

Lindy_-_Loo wrote: »

After sorting the bedroom today it has been decided that Im going to use my birthday money at the end of the month to get a de humidifier so it gives us 3 weeks to read reviews and check prices.

kidcat wrote: »

Lindy loo I have decided to ask my parents for a dehumidifier for Christmas - everything in my bedroom feels damp and thats with heating on, and yesterday clothes from one of the kids drawers felt damp too, so when they ask what to buy am going to mention it to them.

I have 2 dehumidifiers - one in the bedroom and one in the lounge. I put the bedroom one on every morning and (when I remember ) open all the warderobe/cupboard doors for a couple of hours to make sure everything gets the benefit. They have definately made a difference to the place (old stone cottage) - it feels much warmer and cosier even if we haven't lit the logburner yet.

Mrs_Veg_Plot

Rosanna 79 thanks for the advice on the weight loss. Have decided to finally brave the bathroom scales in the morning and will root out a pedometer I know is lurking around here some where. I have made a pan of veg broth this afternoon which I will have for lunch this week with ryvita, my usual porridge for breakfast and the family evening meal (HM beef and lentil curry tomorrow) but will cut out the cake and crisps. Start with small steps.

Had a great time at the firework party last night but was so angry to find out that hubby had spent £40 on fire works :mad:. He just does not think some times. He knows that we need to be careful with our spending. I knew that he had a problem with cc's but was mortified when he finally owned up to it and it was £20k. I made him sit down and work out with me what was the best way for us to deal with it without using his usual head in the sand approach. We both know that it won't be easy but we can do it. I just feel like this sometimes :wall:.

Rant over

On the other hand he has helped me to tidyup the veg plot and stake all of the brassicas before the forcasted gales and then cooked a lovely family roast whilst I pampered myself in the shower.

A friend came to visit tonight and we swopped a bag of cooking apples for a bag of sweet chestnuts. I can make my christmas stuffing now. The chestnuts are not very big this year. It was lovely catching up and we finished off a bottle of wine left over from last night.

On the family meal subject I also only cook one meal for the whole family. If you don't like someting thats in it pick it out (usually mushroom/leek) by all means but I'm not cooking anything else. I have to say they are really good at trying things and are all aware that I hide things such as finely chopped marrow in a stew or any number of things in a blended soup. In fact it has got to the stage that they will eat what I have made and then ask me what I have hidden in it. They know I won't tell them whats in it before they have eaten it. When they were really small I could get any amount of veg down them chopped really finely on a bolognaise sauce. Cauli and parsnips were blended into mashed spuds and parsnips were white carrots. Beef stew was not a favourite but suprisingly the left overs were wolfed down as a blended beef and veg soup. Happily they are not fussy eaters.

Its getting cold here so I'm off to bed with a brew and my book. Wrap up warm tonight especially those with snow.

Mrs VP

bluebag

katholicos wrote: »

Frugal, sorry to hear about your Dad's added health problems and thank you so very much for being so thoughtful and asking after my Dad. I do hope your Dad soon feels better. My Dad's not doing too well i'm sorry to say. He's had this urine/bladder infection since the catheter came out...it wasn't emptied often enough in hospital and the day after he came out he was in agony, ever since that he has been up all night every night needing to go the loo and neither he nor mum are getting any rest. Of course, it takes him ages to have his oxygen and to get the strength together to get out of bed each time so he is having a rough time.

Thanks so much for asking hun (((hugs and prayers for you and your dear Dad)))

Hi,
could you suggest to your dad he use a bottle at night, not the nicest thing in the world, but might save his energy and help both him and your mum gat some rest.
District nurses or your GP should be able to help, even a commode in the bedroon for night use would make it easier.
Hope he feels better soon.

kezlou

Lindy_-_Loo wrote: »

. I couldnt leave them hungry, my parents did that and I didnt like it. I generally dont give them food they dont like,

Unfortunately for us its a case of literally this is what there is to eat. There is nothing else, so you will go hungry if don't eat it. I remeber eating lentils, carrots,rice and potato based food for 8 weeks solid. i could afford to buy coddy (ds1) milk , weetabix and bread for breakfasts. I was sick of red lentils, luckily i had lots of spices so could make different things with them.
Luckily my approach, has worked so far with both of my children. snips (ds2) is on the autistic spectrum and has certian food phobias i.e he can't stand mash potato or mushy food, but will tolerate yoghurts. He's always been like this. So i only give him a spoonful of mash but he is expected to eat all the veg on his plate, its an unwritten rule. So none of its forced down there throats but the rule stands eat your food or starve. I haven't got the money to buy frozen fish fingers, my OH and i cannot stand chicken nuggets etc so its curry, pastas a plenty in this house.


My mam used to do that when i was younger at the market.In the end i turned vegetarian when i was about 8, as i couldn't bear the smell of raw or cooked meat anymore.Used to spend ages waiting around the shoe stalls when the shoddy shoes were being sold.

Well i'm off to bed, i'm totally shattered, night all x

Rosanna79

Lindy-Lou
Mrs Veg Plot's idea about blending everything into soups and veg is a great idea. Also if you're worried about your little lad being skinny will he drink milk shakes of any description? I often found that blending a cup of full fat milk with a scoop of ice cream and a banana or strawberries or even drinking chocolate, whatever little legs'll take would help get some calories into liile'uns - Mums told me it often worked. Not necessarily always the healthiest option but it's little steps towards an intended healthy diet. A blender can be a mum's best friend with picky little'uns....Good luck with that.

Katholicos
So very sorry to hear about your dad. It's heartbreaking to see a parent in such a state. Blue Bag is right. You may find it helpful to contact your dad's GP surgery and get the contact telephone number for the District Nursing Sister/ Community Matron attached to the surgery. Request a home visit for needs assessment ASAP.

If among other equipment your dad has a urine bottle it means he will feel able to drink the necessary amount of fluid to clear his system. If he's struggling with oxygen etc, getting up to go to the bathroom probably seems an insurmountable task in the middle of the night especially. The District Nurse is a key health professional to help patients and their families get the help they need in the community or put them in contact with any other relevant agencies.
Thoughts and prayers with you at this time.

Mrs Veg Plot
Small steps are best unless you're walking!

I still have a daily struggle to deal with the old emotional triggers that have me comfort eating. My weakness is late night snacking. Apparently there's some evidence that poor sleep and very late nights make our bodies produce a hormone which makes us eat more so we tend to put on weight.. So I aim for reasonably regular hours and keep a perpetual food diary. Bit of a clat to be honest but if I have to write it all down plus WHY I've had a snack, even if I 'just fancied' something I tend to think twice.

It took a few years to become overweight . Stands to reason it'll take time to reverse it?!

Waistband pedometers always fall off me so I bought one off Amazon that hangs roung my neck. Just wearing makes me want to walk more, even though I have to use one stick.

On the bright side , at least I ain't 'Tilly Twosticks' like I was this time a year ago!

Does anyone own an 'antique' slow cooker like mine? Given it over 30 years ago as a wedding present. Can't submerge it to wash it , has only low or high settings so very basic model. However about a year ago I noticed that my 8 year old gas oven has a slow cook setting.

In my more affluent days when I had more money than sense I bought a Woll pan which can be used on the hob and then with the handle removed and lid on becomes a casserole. I tend to brown my meat, veg and season etc before sticking the casserole in the oven. It always seems to taste better done on a gas oven slow cook than in the slow cooker. Cannot get the gravy to thicken in that.

Just not sure if the gas slow cook facility is as economic as the slowcooker would be. It certainly makes for a much tastier meal. Has anyone got experience of this?

grandma247

So sorry to hear about the poorly Dads. My stepfather died because his catheter was not seen to. My stepmother (not really related as she married sf after my mother.)went mad because she was a nurse herself and realised the home he had been sent to to recooperate after a hip op had not checked it and it was blocked. He was a frail 80 year old.

Interesting reading about fussy eaters. My oldest is my fussiest but as a kid he learned to eat most things without fuss and just picked out bits he truly hated. He is still fussy at 36 but ddil ignores most of it except parsnips as they do not disguise well.
I could not afford for my first family of four to be fussy too much because we were poor. My next child would and still does eat anything but I will admit to being a bit indulgent with the youngest who is 11. He prefers "proper" food such as soups and stews rather than burger and chips etc. I make him eat a little mash or a few chips if we have them and he will have a baked potato so long as I scoop it out and mash it. At other times I give him pasta or rice instead. I usually have little tubs of rice in the freezer that are leftovers from another meal so I just whack em in the microwave.

A while ago I came across this site which has some sensible advice.
this page has printable guides and this one is an article.