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

ceridwen

GreyQueen wrote: »

......Oooooh, that was a close one! Inspired to clean by posting on Ceridwen's new thread, I decided it was past time to wash the outside of my windows so headed out there with a bowl of hot soapy water and a pile of newspapers. Thought for a mo and decided I'd do the bedroom/ living room side before the kitchen/bathroom/ front door side so was heading around the corner and narrowly avoided a f-2-f with Idiot Boy who was getting into Idiot Girlfiend's car. Managed to do an about-face before he saw me. After our little (ahem) contretemps last summer, I've agreed with Housing Dept to avoid him and he avoids me, so with 9 days to go to his possession hearing, it was a meeting best avoided. He seems sunny and in a good mood, which is lovely as he's kept me awake all night. Glad one of us is happy. Still haven't got an answer from H.O. as to what his "intentions" might be and TOCD's officer was off sick last week. What with toothy traumas it was a bit of a beggar of a week but at least the sun is shining.

Housework is catching, so have ripped down the net curtains (yeah, I know, not my preferred decorative option but the least worst way of dealing with the fact that people have got perfectly legitimate reasons to be just outside the windows of my ground floor flat). They're having a jaunt thru the washer with the cleaning cloths.

Whoops! Close squeak there with Idiot Boy...sorrees 'twas as inadvertent "housework reaction" coming on from my post that nearly caused that.

Hmm....:think: - and after overcoming initial reluctance to do housework too...:rotfl:

I've found if I'm reluctant to do so something for no good reason and postpone it - that it often turns out to have been a "blessing in disguise" that I waited on a bit...

....but it doesnt seem to work that way with housework - darn it...:cool:

Having got into "gardening mode" earlier I was out there in the garden in the pouring rain getting totally drenched whilst doing some necessary "food production work". Got things organised to my satisfaction now that my "salad bar" type plants are there in a neat little row and I can just pick up a pair of scissors and a flat-bottomed colander and walk along the row snipping a bowl of salad for my meals:D. Now THAT I do find easier to get myself into than housework - it means I get some nice fresh food for my meals...which incentivises me to do that..Must get myself a couple more "salad plants" for a full selection....Good to see there's a better selection of unusual seeds than there was. I bought a couple of packets of salad seeds recently where I'd never even heard of them - but thought "Well - it says they are salad - so here goes...and I'll add them alongside the ones I DO know and have already got in process - like lettuce, rocket, sorrel, nasturtiums, chives...." I shall be happy with that, I think, when I've got a choice of say 12 different salad greens..

Yeh...net curtains:(:o:(. Was JEALOUS of house on t.v. programme yesterday where they hadnt even felt the need to put up ordinary curtains - as they obviously felt it was private enough without...(not sure I agreed with them re "private enough without"...:cool:). Where I am - I have no option but to "curtain up" belt and braces style all round in order to have any privacy at all:(. Darn it - 'twould be less housework if I could even get rid of the sheer curtains...but no can do...as needs must...:cool:

mrswive

Happy Mother's Day and to those of you who need cheering up, this is one of my favourite quotes from Shirley Conran's 'Superwoman' -

'An astonished husband returns home from the office to an amazing scene in his kitchen. Two little children are murdering each other while another tot is garotting the cat. There is a pile of last night's dirty dishes and a heap of dirty laundry. Saucepans are burning, clouds of steam are rising, the floor is covered with smashed crockery and the dog has upset the litter bin. In the middle of this chaos is his wife, sitting in an easy chair with her feet up on the table. She is reading a novel and dipping into a box of choclates. She says, "I thought that the best way to let you see what on earth I do all day was not to do it."'
Sadly, this is probably true.

ceridwen

DUH! (slap head smilie) - just been to check out what those unusual seeds are and found that, amongst my latest acquisitions, I bought a packet of sage seeds....duh!...as another one of my latest buys was a mini sage plant to grow on. Silly ceridwen! Bit too anxious to be able to grow my own sage for sage & onion stuffing...:cool: (as I tried an MSE lentil and sage & onion stuffing recipe recently and thought "Yep...could do that again...but not happy with using readymade stuffing - so will make my own...". Oh well - sage is a medicinal herb too...so I might want more of it....:cool:

Now - the two things I've never heard of are:
- Misticanza (miscuglio) - billed as a "cut and come again perennial"
and
- Namenia - billed as "mild, crunchy, spinach taste"

Has anyone else ever heard of them? What are they like?

ginnyknit

Whats all this about we should be spoilt on Mothers day - all I got was a dribbly snuggle off Dgs at 6 am - worth all the tea in China though. My kids know they have to do budget gifts because I would be upset if they wasted precious cash on me. So Ds got me a little cupcake teapot from Home bargains and Ds went to his girlfriends Aunties florist shop and got me lovely yellow tulips, simply wrapped - more than perfect. I understand completely Gailey how you feel especially as you are very very pregnant, just to be told by your Oh that you are appreciated is good. My Oh used to be useless at gifts and he doesnt beleive in cards, he thinks they are just a money making scheme by card manufacturers. Nowadays he is a little more appreciative as he is so ill and needs lots of help and support. Beleive me I have shed many a tear on Birthdays etc. So you will have to be good to yourself Gailey, a nice relaxing bath and feet up with a cuppa. ( if you can that is)

Larumbelle

mrswive wrote: »

'An astonished husband returns home from the office to an amazing scene in his kitchen. Two little children are murdering each other while another tot is garotting the cat. There is a pile of last night's dirty dishes and a heap of dirty laundry. Saucepans are burning, clouds of steam are rising, the floor is covered with smashed crockery and the dog has upset the litter bin. In the middle of this chaos is his wife, sitting in an easy chair with her feet up on the table. She is reading a novel and dipping into a box of choclates. She says, "I thought that the best way to let you see what on earth I do all day was not to do it."'
Sadly, this is probably true.

I LOVE that quote, I never knew that's where it came from! My OH has kind of had that experience this last month. I've been ill, and coincidentally all of those things that used to do themselves have chosen this month to decide not to :rotfl:

Ceridwen, misticanza is not a variety in its own right, it's an Italian salad made of lettuces and herbs, usually there's a mix of sweet and bitter leaves (misculigo just means mixed). Namenia is a brassica, if you've ever bought 'oriental mix' cut and come again, namenia is a large constituent of it. You need to pick it young and tender else it's not that nice, when it is small I'd say it looks like spinach leaf but tastes more like very young, very tender cabbage. You can eat it raw in salads, wilted like spinach, or stir-fried. I would grow both of them in pots for cut-and-come-again. And, as long as you have room, you can never grow too much sage It stores very well, and although it's a perennial it's not so great the second year, so maybe some seed for this year then save some for next?

Gintotmelinda

Hello everyone

Happy Mother's Day!

I was having a good day small presents from my grown up children, little gift from OH then WHAM! I have just read in the Mail on Sunday that the coalition govt have got a bill going through that will mean I won't get my pension until I'm 66! It's bad enough being in the cohort that had their pension age moved from 60 and in my case to 64 ish but this is a shocker! Apparently it is women of 56 and 57 who form a group that Age UK have said will be affected by the proposed and I quote "draconian measures". Age UK are asking for us to be given some protection.

It is being suggested that we urgently lobby our MP's as this bill is not yet through Parliament.

Tough times ahead!

What do you peeps think? Are there many 56 and 57 year olds out there? Contact your MP!

Gintot

BitterAndTwisted

Yes, I am one and fear that I'll be working (if I can find any work at all) until I drop dead.

bertiebots

Yep the pension thing is a toughy .. I wont be able to retire till at least 67 and thats as it stands now..I would not be suprised if pension age was scrapped altogether before then! But as its 30 years in the future for me there is little that I can afford to do right now , so I try not to worry about it...plus there is also the issue of whether or not I will actually reach that age(..well you never know either way lol!)

For those so close to retirement changing the goal posts seems very unfair to me and hopefully it wont be allowed to happen.

Gintotmelinda

Oh Bitter-you and me both!

hugs

gintot

modern_millie_2

Thanks for the Mothers Day wishes everyone- I agree it's not about expensive gifts, just feeling you are appreciated. I must admit I choose to do all the household 'stuff' because I work part time and because I have a lower tolerance for mess than DD and DH. But - a card or a thank you or even a cup of tea would have been nice.

Still , moving on - retirement age - many of us have fairly physical jobs, often doing quite physical work at home too, likelihood of having some kind of chronic health condition more likely when you are over 60 - plus tougher qualifying rules for health related benefits - taken together these things worry me. I will be 66 (at least) and both my current part time jobs are quite physically taxing. Will there be enough suitable jobs to go around? Doubt it somehow.