How to Get Through The Tough Times The Old Style Way.

silvermaid

Hello everyone,
Just found this thread and read the first and last thread so not up to speed at all.

We used to make our own beer and wine but have not done so for years. I think we might have to start again although we would need to top up some of the apparatus like air locks. There used to be a home-brew shop in town but its long gone. Don't know where to find the kit these days. But the memory of elderberry wine lingers on

I never leave the washing machine on overnight. If I want to hang it out first thing, I put a wash on after dinner so that it is finished before we go to bed. Nothing to do with noise - I know someone whose machine caught fire and would never trust them from that time on.

Right, off to find the daily, Silver

Rowan9

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Did anyone elses Mum hang the washing out in the freezing cold ? - and bring it in hours later as stiff as a board ? - trousers so stiff they could nearly walk in on their own! It was always cold in the house on those wash days as the massive clothes horse got the prime spot in front of the fire :rotfl: Hard but happy times

Never mind anyone else's mum...I used to do things with the kids' nappies and they're only 24 and 26 now! My goodness, there is nothing like hard frost to get terry nappies so soft! Also kills germs I'd imagine?? But they had been 'steeped' in the bucket with that stuff we used to put in (napisan?).
W

Greying_Pilgrim

silvermaid wrote: »

We used to make our own beer and wine but have not done so for years. I think we might have to start again although we would need to top up some of the apparatus like air locks. There used to be a home-brew shop in town but its long gone. Don't know where to find the kit these days. But the memory of elderberry wine lingers on

Welcome Silvermaid to this friendly thread.

I don't know if you have a branch of 'Wilk1nsons' in your neck of the woods (not sure how 'nationwide' they are now). But they do stock a pretty decent range of homebrew kit for beer, cider and wine. Saw a chap coming out of our local one yesterday with a fermenting bucket - had to wonder if he was a mse'r!

Greying

mama67

dollydaydream07 wrote: »

kathlicos, so sorry for your loss ((hugs))

((hugs)) to anyone else who needs one


i really feel in turmoil about working tbh, i want to be at home full time - feel like i need to be for DD(ok she is in full time school) as we are quite old fashioned and feel that a mum should be at home(especially when a child has a medical condition - and could be called away from work quite often) but at the same time for us to actually have some sort of better quality life(no debts, more money) i need to work
i did work for 6 months over the summer last year but was getting called home every week to collect DD from school/childminders, in the end i left before they got me to leave from having too much time off etc, granted DD is now on medication and has been fine for almost 5 months now but it's still scary and as a mum i feel like i NEED to be at home but i know we can't afford for me not to work

We are like this as well in the ideal of mum being at home for the kids, I work in the local Primary School as a dinner lady so get all the holidays off the same as the boys. I know my 2 are older and obviously can and are left as and when now but when younger this was an ideal, gave us some extra cash and I was also there at beginning and end of school day. Might be something to look at.

GreyQueen

HariboJunkie wrote: »

Can I just make the point that using your washing machine or dishwasher overnight is REALLY not recommended by the fire brigade. I used to do it but have stopped now as I reckoned the money saved wasn't worth the risk. Our Econ7 comes on at 11pm so I often put a quickwash on then as I'm rarely in bed before midnight.
I tend to mostly wash in cold now unless items are really soiled. I use a liquid detergent for cold washes and powder for 30/40% washes (usually whites.)

You are so right on this one. One of my friends went to bed with her tumble-drier running to dry a pair of jeans which she wanted to wear the next day. The tumbler caught fire. The smoke detector woke her and she got herself and the cat out but her kitchen was totally gutted, her uPVC back door and window melted and the rest of the house was badly smoke damaged. She had to live in a hotel for many weeks whilst it all got sorted and her nerves have never been quite the same; she goes around everywhere, even hotels, checking stuff is unplugged at night. The kitchen is a pretty common starting point for fires so I try to remember to leave my kitchen door shut at night, just in case....

ceridwen

...and to have a right mixture to start the day with going on in my mind. The large-scale (ie the Libyan Civil War HAS now started) and that I can do nothing about...and the small-scale (I never use my washing machine at night - for safety reasons). I dont have a tumbledryer or dishwasher - so no temptation to use them then...:rotfl:

Will now spend another day pondering just how far towards "back of beyond" I could ever live and have the facilities I need....as where I am right now is nothing remotely like "back of beyond":(.

Is that the definition of "getting old"? - ie a wish to replace being "surrounded by people" to being "surrounded by countryside"? Well - I started the day by bethinking myself that I won't be able to call myself "middle-aged" much longer - because other people will soon be referring to me as "old"......LOL

mardatha

An awful lot of people have a dream to live in a wee cottage in the hills. But most of them last 1-2 winters then the house is up for sale again !

Red_Doe

mardatha wrote: »

An awful lot of people have a dream to live in a wee cottage in the hills. But most of them last 1-2 winters then the house is up for sale again !

Absolutely agree! I AM living in that wee cottage in the hills, and trust me, it`s blo*dy backbreaking keeping things going!
Midgies in summer and never underestimate the devastation this wee beast can cause! and minus degree temps in winter, being cut off for weeks with the snow and never seeing another soul for weeks except during the summer tourist time when there`s a row of walkers going by your gate.
No shops, no public transport, you`re stuck with whatever meagre medical services are available, and the wildlife eats anything you try to grow.
Plusses? Well, the scenery is stunning, life is FULL of peace and quiet whether you want it or not, and there`s no crime.
None of which, however, will feed you and yours or heat your home. Oh, that`s another thing about the wee cottage in the country...it`s usually expensive to heat...

Apart from that, it`s all good though.

HariboJunkie

coolcait wrote: »

The person who triggered your sarcastic riposte was actually quite correct. If you and others wish to take the risk, then that is your choice (factoring in the risk to others in your household, and your neighbours, if your property is not a detached one).

But it quite agree with anyone who flags up the fact that there is a risk.

Thank you Cait. I was just flagging it up, not actualy giving out advice. I am on the west coast too and it is the same advert which made me stop using the washer at night.

GreyQueen

MaLarkin wrote: »

Old lady once told me she had to wash at the sink said "you washed down as far as possible, then up as far as possible, poor old possible never got washed at all

He he, that must be one very old lady or it was a witty line which travelled......I read it in the Lark Rise books, describing how the countrywomen managed to keep clean.

maryb You were kind enough to recommend a good book on jam making in response to my enquiry yesterday which was available from WH Smith. I went to check it out and am a bit confused as to which of two titles it might be. There was The Right Way to Make Jams by Cyril Grange at £4.99 which they'd have to order in or Easy Jams, Chutneys and Preserves by Val and John Harrison published by RightWay at £5.99........Which is the one you meant, please?

Jam-making in general Could the experienced jam-makers amongst us counsel me about whether a stainless steel cooking pot, heavy based 8.5 inches diameter and straight-sided 5 inches deep without a lid is adequate to make jam in modest quantities? I have a real space problem as well as needing to watch ma pennies.

Sloes vs Damsons Due to a little stupidity my pal K and I ended up picking damsons instead of sloes last autum but they made "sloe" gin just fine.;) She also did something with the previous year's batch, which were definately sloes; kept the boozy pulply sloes after bottling the finished gin and used them to make truffles with cream etc. They were the most luscious things I have ever eaten in my entire life. I could almot feel my arteries furring up.:rotfl: