As The Workhouse Approaches....How To Do Everything To Avoid It, the Old Style Way

hornetgirl

So sorry to hear about OBB Redlady.

Yesterday evening I went into Budgens at about 7.30. It's not a shop I normally use, but it was nearby and open - and I got a piece of pork belly for 69p, 4 apples for 39p and 3 punnets of raspberries for 49p each. They had loads of other reduced fruit and veg too. Might be worth checking if there's one in your area. I think I'll be going again

Things are coming along nicely in the garden. We're starting to pick salad leaves and pea shoots. Mixed in with some chopped chives makes a lovely side salad. I don't think it will be too much longer until the first early potatoes are ready, which will also help the food spends. I was chatting to the lady next door earlier this evening and she asked if we wanted any tomato plants. We already have several, but she had 6 she said she would throw away if no-one wanted them, so we happily took them. Chap over the road also gave DH a courgette plant, Might pass on a couple of toms to him in return.

No news from work yet. I'm hoping I'll hear something next week.

smileyt_2

mardatha wrote: »

Smiley pet, you've got US . Aren't you lucky? But none of us are ever alone x
:cool:

Aye, you're a lovely bunch of :A:A

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Don't apologise - we all feel down from time to time. ((((HUGS))))

I hope things are looking up for me healthwise, tiredness, poor sleep, non-specific aches and pains, low mood, weight gain etc etc.
I'd never ever heard of this before - and TBH the symptoms of Vitamin D fit my health problems to a 't'. Will keep you posted as to how the vitamin therapy works out but just wonder if its worth an ask at your Gp's for a blood test to confirm/exclude this as cause of feeling off colour?

Charlie's aunt, I've heard this before, and I do have some vit D tablets, it's just they don't always make it into my mouth .... I am going to try leaving them by the kettle so that I remember to take them at breakfast time. I hope the Vit D does help your health

bluebag wrote: »

Hiya, I suffer from depression at times too, so you are not alone, some days are just not good days.
Take care.

It wouldn't be so bad if you could predict when the bad days were going to come! At least then you could prepare for it.

Ginnyknit, for some reason the multiquote didn't work on your post but I wanted to say thank you to you too for your support.

I'm feeling a bit better. The vet says that there is no need to get my dogs vaccinated for parvo and distemper every year, that every three years will do and that is the protocol the practice is changing to. They will still need the lepto one annually, so it's not going to save me any money, but it will stop unnecessary overload on their systems.

Tonight I am going to make my Dad a birthday card and a retirement card before I go to bed - we are having a family meal tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to that.

And - to make you giggle - I had a dance with my hens tonight. I find that if I hold a handful of mealworms above their heads and sing and move my hand in time to the music (Abba's 'Dancing Queen' works well ) they will step in time to the tune :rotfl:I don't do it for very long as it's a bit of a tease for them, but it makes me giggle and my neighbour thinks I'm cracked. Do you think we could win Britain's Got Talent? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Charis

ceridwen wrote: »

Which reminds me - whilst I am looking at my latest butternut squash and the seeds in it.....

Guess I could maybe plant up a few of those seeds and grow myself a butternut squash plant possibly?

Has anyone done so? How big does it get? What is the right time of year to start one off?

Yes, I did it the year before last.

I started mine off in a container, a yogurt pot each, I think.

They grew nicely, produced flowers but most of them were boys (no fruit behind the flower). Some produced fruit but it came to nothing. The one which did grow was a perfect miniature, sat in the palm of my hand. I decided it was a peanut squash. We ate it.

Conclusion: Butternut squashes are large plants, they ramble across the flower bed like a big vine. They take up a lot of space and are not guaranteed to produce fruit. There was not a lot to show for my efforts, maybe I got going too late. I decided that in terms of money per sq ft of garden, it was better to produce salad veg, strawberries or bush-growing berries. If you had half an acre you might not mind so much.

scottishminnie

Quite pleased with myself tonight - several whoopsies bagged at Mr A - some baby advocados (a bit of an extravagance I know but I love them), mixed ribbons of veg, ready to roll puff pastry and some sorry looking peppers.
They will do me just nicely.

I was not very happy at all though at the butter situation. The cheapest option was £1.12 for salted. I prefer unsalted and the cheapest was £1.16. It's really getting out of hand, at this rate I'll be churning it myself. I wouldn't mind if the dairy farmers were seeing the benefit of the outrageous prices but many of my friends are married to dairy farmers and they aren't getting anything extra at all.
I will pop into Mr T tomorrow morning to see if they have any cheaper butter. Fingers crossed

redlady_1

Well smileyt, you have confirmed what I have thought for some time. We are all totally nuts! I just wish I could get that picture out of my head!!!!!!!!!! Dancing queen, young and sweet.....

OH hasnt left my side for a few days - until today. The inlaws have arrived!!!!!!!:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: Obviously for the foreseeable future I shall be studying and therefore unable to see them! To be honest, they have a heart of gold but she really doesnt take a breath and thinks the reason pa doesnt say much is because of the Alzheimers. It's because the poor sod cant get a word in. :rotfl:They have travelled over to look at a bungalow so they can be closer to us so we can help them out. This woman still has an oven the likes of which I truely have never seen before. It reminds me of an american washing machine. She still only has a twin tub and it took a massive battle of wills to get her to have a freezer.

Be careful growing squash. They fool you!!! You think everything is going along fine and then all of a sudden wilt and disappear. This lot are my second lot. After the exams everything is going in the garden. I am currently trying to revive my spirea which was cremated for 4 days when we went away and I didnt put it in the ground.

Thanks hornet xx Off to bed now with FK.

mardatha

haribojunkie your PM box is full !!

HariboJunkie

mardatha wrote: »

haribojunkie your PM box is full !!

Cleared some space now. :D

bertiebots

Just taken me ages to catch up again...you lot dont half waffle on !
Want to send a big hug out to everyone who needs one tonight ((())) and good luck to those who need some x
I had some good news yesterday and now have a good idea of when my divorce will be finally sorted, weird but it works out to 12 months (just give or take a few days) since we seperated so I am looking forward to a whole new chapter in the life of bertiebots.
I am also looking for another job!
I am very anoyed with the cleaning company I am working for as I was informed in a memo today that hours worked on a sunday will not track on the system ( i log in and out using a automated phone system) so I shouldnt be working sundays...erm thanks for telling me! I have worked a hour on sunday since I started in feb and was not told that this was changing. I am going to be rather !!!!*d off if I loose a month of sundays pay:mad: I have never worked for such bad employers and cant wait to get something else....I dont know how they are allowed to treat the staff like this and get away with it:(
Anyway I have more happy thoughts in my head now than earlier in the week so am trying to stay positive ...and have booked myself a little treat (am very excited about it too) .I break up from school next wednesday too ,so will have lots of free time for a week and a half. Maybe I will finally get to grips with my garden!
Take care all x

trifles

Am just catching up on this week's posts-thank you everybody as I have really looked forward to reading these all week as a treat at the end of a very stressful week at work:AStill finding use of icons and posting a bit difficult but learning!
Sorry to hear of Redladys loss-pets are really the furry heartbeat of a home. I believe,though,as others have said that we do all meet with our loved ones when we pass over.Remembered you when lighting my candle tonight.
Grey Queen- you have cheered me up so much laughing at your posts!I'm your height but 18st.at last weigh in:eek: so hope that makes you feel like a slip of a girl!Doesn't really bother me unless at Dr. and having the obligatory checks and being given a diet sheet-then I go home and have cheese on toast!I dress quite theatrically anyway(cheaply) think floaty layers and tell myself that Attitude is All!
Speaking of which.I was striking quite an o/s attitude tonight-having saved up used tea bags for a few days I put them in a large bowl,put a kettle of boiling water over them,fished them out when water nicely brown,then put 2 greyed white bras in for a swim for 5 mins,rinsed in cold water.Result-old bras flesh-coloured ready to wear under filmy shirts etc.Tried this before-no tea stains on clothes even if hot day. Sleep well-kind thoughts and hugs to anyone in need of some x

GreyQueen

I know it's churlish to look out on a flawless blue sky and strong sunlight, heading to 20 degrees later today according to the weather forecast, and WISH FOR RAIN but..........it's getting disheartening. I planted mixed salad leaves ages ago and I hear from your posts that you're eating salad and mine are about 2 cm high and nothing moves them. If I water, Mr Mole gets under the lettuce bed and heaves them up into the sky and woe, woe......:(

I have just looked out my window at the scruffy wee bit of grass and it's brown and yellow, the only green things are dandelions and clover and a smallish weed I don't recognise. I hasten to add, in case anyone reading thinks I'm a slack gardener, that this is municipal grass and not garden; I'm in a block of flats. When the dandelions die of thirst, we will officially have a drought.

Ceridwen and ginnyknit (I think) were posting about butternut squash? I had some given to me to eat by a lottie neighbour last year and started to save the seeds before I had the wit to ask him if they were F1 hybrids. They were, so wouldn't have produced anything like the parent plant. So, being OS, I dry-roasted them in the oven (but only after it was on for something else) and they were very tasty with a bit of salt. You can do that with pumpkins, too. Incidentally, I think Halloween is great, you can get these humungous pumpkins for a quid or two and they're all edible bar the rind.

At least, I've been operating on the assumption that you can't eat the rind but I guess if you can, someone on this thread will know AND have a great recipe. Cos you're great.

I stayed home from the lottie last night as I was so tired that I didn't know what to do with myself, so pottered and made sure that the laundry was done and the work blouses i*oned ready for next week, which means I can spend the weekend getting on with the real business of life, which is, of course, gardening and friends, not necessarily in that order.:rotfl:

I'm feeling a little disgruntled about some people being bothered by adverts which seem to be linked to the websites they've been browsing. I don't get adverts and I browse, too, and it's s'not fair. Is this because I'm usually browsing minimalist websites or is it because my dial-up internet is soooo slow they can't catch up with me? I have to admit, the more a company advertises to me, the more cross I get and the less likely I am to buy their goods or services. Did a survey in a mag once about "What kind of consumer are you?" and I am apparently a Maverick Consumer. This is obviously marketing-speak for bl00dy-minded.:rotfl:I'm handling it. I think most of us up here would fit that category. Plus I'm skint so marketeers don't care about my opinion anyway.

Well, I'm going to wander across to the kitch and decide what to have for breakfast; porridge with foraged walnuts, rice krispies which were cast-offs from Mum's or something on whoopsied bread. Hang about, better idea. Omelette with whoopsied diced red pepper, gonna be on the go all day and need some ballast.

Hey, we had giant chocolate muffins in our office (the birthday person brings cake) yesterday and I didn't eat any and didn't want any and I've lost a pound in the last few days. Happy, happy. Only need to lose about 3 stone and I'll be able to get into my jeans again. Not even sure where they are at the moment, haven't worn them for so long.