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

kezlou

HI all!

Gailey the suit sounds fab, my little boys wants a mult coloured coat but i'm sure how ot make it. So well done!!! Ignore those other mums.

Well the car of doom is fixed cost £130 in the end, as the tensioner and belt needed changing. Now its making a juddering noise, great well it wait till after xmas!

OH took me shopping again today, managed to spend £33:eek: in morrisons, just wished i'd gone to sainsbugs instead would have been a third of the price:(. Got some ready oats, i regually make weezl's porridge which uses oats and ready made ones, it fab and doesn't using any milk. Looks like there's going to be a milk shortage here. But fingers crossedwere fully stocked up and sorted till Janury. Determined to only buy now what we need, i.,e meat for xmas dinner and booze.

Anyways got in the car and the windscreen was frozen on the inside, couldn't believe it. So not only were we scraping ice out but also in.I've never known it too happen.

OH is still in a job so far, apparently his boss is taken it day by day. So fingers crossed we get a cheque this week.

Tooks snips for a asthma review, the nurse wants him to have course of steroids for a month to see how he is. She's upped my dosage and my inhalers as well, been a busy day for her. Didn't see the GP about counselling as i coulnd't get an appointment. So were both going to see her in four weeks time.

Its so icy here its unreal, inches and i mean inches of ice on the ground, icy bitter winds keep blowing about its awful. But its supposed to be milder on thursday and friday. On the radio its said its going to be like this till at march.

Well better shoot as my hands are freezing, i've just put the heating on, its dropped 10 degrees in the house between 8:45 and 1pm and heating had been on from 6-8:45am.

[Deleted User]

Mardatha has got me knitting again, I had visions of her being very cosy in front of the fire, eating maltesers and knitting on her lap. I couldn`t help it but I`ve added maltesers to next weeks delivery. I`m knitting a snood, an easy peasy design on circular needles with 4 balls of wool. I had everything in and I`ve got a stash of wool so that is me sorted for a few weeks cos all the family females are getting snoods.

I got 2 loads out on the line by 9 and they are in now and airing off but the flannel sheets are finishing on the heated airer as I don`t have spare flannels and no way am I putting cool cotton on.

Stay safe all of you

shegar

How many members feel like me, im sick of this cold ,foggy, freezing, snowy, rainy weather.......its doing my nut..:eek:
It seems as though weve been in the cold for months, yet really its only been snowy for 3 weeks, we dont know what we will get come Jan/Feb , time drag in the winter, no wonder a lot of us suffer SAD each year......

Its hard to get a pick up in the long winters.....
Usually when its so drab outside its hard to think of anything good happening ,as soon as your a wake it then seem time to batten down the hatches and snuggle up because its dark again....:mad:

Be so glad when January gets here at least it start getting lighter each night there on , On the bright side we only have 3 weeks left of this year :T Roll on march 2011 .. I say

lora

Do not know if anyone remembers my post about smoke filled room. Anyways sweep came out yesterday and duly swept chimney. It was not the problem--but the mesh we had over the chimney to stop the birds falling in and having close encounters with my cats--not pretty---. The mesh was thick with soot and also frozen solid. At a cost of £135 I now have a swanky new lid (cowl?) on top of chimney. This was on top of price for cleaning chimney. DS1 wanted to do the job -No way- this is a two storey house:eek: I still remember DH in the wilds of Aberdeenshire fixing bungalow's roof tiles and this rolling noise and a thump:eek::eek: It was only his torch !!

shegar

lora wrote: »

Do not know if anyone remembers my post about smoke filled room. Anyways sweep came out yesterday and duly swept chimney. It was not the problem--but the mesh we had over the chimney to stop the birds falling in and having close encounters with my cats--not pretty---. The mesh was thick with soot and also frozen solid. At a cost of £135 I now have a swanky new lid (cowl?) on top of chimney. This was on top of price for cleaning chimney. DS1 wanted to do the job -No way- this is a two storey house:eek: I still remember DH in the wilds of Aberdeenshire fixing bungalow's roof tiles and this rolling noise and a thump:eek::eek: It was only his torch !!

Well im glad its done now for you , but wow £135 is a lot, but like you said it did include the sweep money, I suppose its because of the the sheer height to get up there.....When I needed a cowl for my pot I found a secondhand one for £15.....mind you its only a bungalow roof so no need for 4 mt ladders.........

maryb

Nuala Buala, is it true that the cold weather is causing water shortages in Dublin and the water authorities are reducing the pressure overnight to ration it? I saw a reference to it on a US site of all places

Is that the latest joy the rest of us have to look forward to this winter, do you think?

Gintotmelinda

So ... to get away from the "it's tough" and onto the "how are we coping" ... I am going to make a concerted effort to stay positive and get as healthy as possible. I am going embrace frugalness as a lifestyle. And that's where this website is fab - cos I am surrounded by people who understand that here. I am going to figure out how to live within my reduced means and still put something away for emergencies (miracles happen, don't they?:rotfl:) I am going to seek out the simple pleasures in life and spend a little time reflecting on them - things that cutbacks can't take away from me. I'm going to nuture my spirituality - if I can't afford to go away for a retreat, then I will do Urban Retreats at home. And despite the ME and rubbish finances, I am gong to try to find some way of helping other people who are worse off. I am not going to get bogged down with political wrangling and I will pick any battles I fight carefully and cut my losses if need be as those things can really bring me down. So that is my personal manifesto! :rotfl:

Apologies for the long post everyone ... I guess I'm thinking out loud here.

Hope everyone is well and keeping warm - tis brass monkeys out there!

NB that's so well put. Can I share your manifesto?:)

Take care
gintot

mama67

kezlou wrote: »

HI all!

Anyways got in the car and the windscreen was frozen on the inside, couldn't believe it. So not only were we scraping ice out but also in.I've never known it too happen.

.

I had this yesterday, couldn't believe it

kidcat

mama67 wrote: »

I had this yesterday, couldn't believe it

Me too, and the back doors were both frozen shut too. I now have to spend a minimum of twenty minutes with the car running while I de-ice the windows and mirrors, then I switch heater to full blast to de-ice the inside too, if I am lucky the doors defrost by the time we get to the first school and have to throw the eldest two kid out.

Thanks for the mug painting advice, have seen in Wilkinsons that they have some cheapy mugs but our store had no stock so am going to look in nearby stores too.

NualaBuala

stiltwalker wrote: »

How beautifully put. We could do far worse than have a few politicos adopt versions of such a manifesto but somehow can't see that happening.:(

I think this is the real strength of the community on here, no matter how horrid a day or week or month is being there are people on here who understand that frugal, whilst being a neccessity for many, can also bring pleasure and satifaction and improve our contribution to our families and the wider community around us and that this is important. I am glad in a way that my DD and no 2 will be brought up knowing that every penny counts and that they can't have everything but that they will get all the important stuff - the time, the attention, the love and support but maybe not the latest 'thing' as I think this will be a fantastic grounding for their futures.Thanks you to you all on here who help keep my chin up on the rough days.

Good luck with your additional belt tightening and warming hugs to all on here who need them.

Gosh haven't I gone all philisophical - sorry.

Gintotmelinda wrote: »

NB that's so well put. Can I share your manifesto?:)

Take care
gintot

mardatha wrote: »

Nuala your philosophy sounds like mine. But you seddit far more elegantly. I would've said sod the lot of youz I'll cope !

Thanks for all the comments guys, just the thing to bring me a bit of cheer with all the doom and gloom! I reckon Mardatha said it best though! :rotfl:

Dee, welcome to the thread. Sounds like you’re being very sensible to me. Who knows, maybe your relations will end up taking a leaf out of your book.

Mary, yes some of the councils have cut the water off between 7pm and 7am. I haven’t been affected so far but it’s not a big deal to me really – as long as I have access to it at certain times where I know I can run the washing machine, have a shower and fill a pot. I think it’s cos people are leaving taps running to try to avoid burst pipes and so they are trying to get us to conserve supplies. They said even a 10% reduction would help hugely. I think some people are quite wasteful with water here, not everyone but I am shocked at some of the waste I see. I think they don’t realise the cost involved (economic and environmental). Water isn’t metered over here – not yet anyway, it is one of the changes being introduced as part of our 4 Year Plan so I guess that will change behaviour.


I have just been reading that our savings may not be safe over here after all. I don't have much and it's hard to know what to do for the best. It is all very scary really. One of our main banks internet banking went down and people were really panicking about it and saying they don't believe it's an IT glitch (as was claimed). One thing I would love to see come out of this is a LETS type scheme. To hell with the banks, bring back good old bartering! Actually next time I have enough energy and my brain is in gear I am going to investigate that.

Well I had some lovely simple pleasures today - doing a bit of jigsaw, pottering in the garden, then watching the birds devouring the seed I'd put out for them. Plus coming on here and reading how everyone else is getting on. I think I'll always be able to find something to be glad about ... Pollyanna eat your heart out!:D