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

kidcat

Gailey, its good to know you ok. Firstly you need to.take a breath, what doesn't get done, will keep. I was hoping to do elderflower stuff too but not had chance yet.

There is always next year. As for car insurance you are only covered third party for cars you don't own - its intended more for emergency use than regular driving.

Larumbelle

Gailey :grouphug: You don't have to be superwoman. I've found it hard too - done hardly any of the things I wanted to, got no veggies growing, not made jam, not picked elderflowers... but the best laid plans and all that. Life gets in the way sometimes. Doing what you can is enough. Forget the rest!

The insurance is one of those things you live and learn I suppose. We only have one car so I'd never thought about it. It's a bummer to learn it the hard way though.

Had a bit of a shocker this evening. I'd been vaguely aware that my friend had 'met' a USAF pilot serving in Afghanistan through a dating website. Things seemed a bit fishy from the word go but I was reluctant to go in all guns blazing. This evening she showed me some of the texts and emails and they seemed all wrong, not written by a native english speaker and just wrong. A bit of googling reveals a serial con artist :eek: Trying to be gentle with my friend as I don't want her self-confidence to be shattered but really don't want him getting his claws into her either. So I suggested she ask him for another picture, showing him holding today's newspaper, to prove it's really him and not just someone's picture stolen off Facebook (except it is... we even know whose picture. The scumbag has ripped off loads of women and not even bothered to change his email address or fake name when he moves onto the next victim).

On the plus side, nipped into Tesco ten minutes before closing, just in time for final mega reductions, and hit the mother-lode. The lad turned up with his price gun as we were looking and offered to reduce it down more for us! We got a leg of lamb for 75p, whole organic chicken for 80p, huge pile of deli ham for 23p, tray of 32 chipolatas for 50p, family steak pie for 30p, and loads of samosas and pakoras for 13p Oh, and a pack of two over-ripe avocados because it was the last thing left on the reduced shelf and the reductions-guy told us we had to buy them as well (4p). I'm not into avocado, I might make a face mask out of it :rotfl: So the freezer will be well and truly full once I've split all of the packs down and frozen it all. Yay!

ginnyknit

I agree gailey, theres always another day and with a new baby around its hard work. Give yourself a break hunny Bad news with the cars but they are like that arent they- money guzzlers in every way!

mardatha hunny, am off to light a candle for you quick recovery, hope you feel better soon, especially with all of us sending healing vibes.

Aww smiley I wish you lived nearer to us, I have clippers you could have borrowed just so I could see you with your head half shaved :rotfl: I must say though your 'do' does suit you normally, it goes with your bubbly caring personality. I have been cutting the families hair for years, I should add up how much I have saved. I do my own hair too - yes it is possible. I had a cairn/pomeranian cross years ago and got sick of paying a doggy hairdresser so did his and he loved it, turning from side to side as I did it - bless him, I still miss him after all these years.

Softstuff

Aw Gailey, take it easy. You always expect to be able to manage so much. I read what you're up to and it looks like more than I'm doing and I have an easy to please tidy hubby and no kids! You make most of us look lazy, you need to realise how much you do and be gentler on yourself.

What a haul Larumbelle! Lots of ways to use the avo that don't taste as much like avo - if you mix it in with something like tuna and mush it up, you end up with a kind of tuna mayo without the mayo. Or you could mix it with a little garlic and lemon juice and freeze it until someone who does like it is round to eat.

ginnyknit wrote: »

I have been cutting the families hair for years, I should add up how much I have saved. I do my own hair too - yes it is possible.

I cut hubbys and the in-laws, used to cut my own but it was so darned hard I've quit. Had a lovely haircut whilst in England which I hope will last until I can save up for a trim.

We went shopping wild yesterday, so much for a return to frugality. Hubby announced to me that he'd done the overtime whilst I was away in order to pay for fixing some of what is broken here. He really is a little angel. So we got 2 new pillows to replace the mouldy ones, some light fittings to replace the broken ones and some lamps to light where it wasn't light enough. Now I just have to bribe our neighbour electrician with cake before he gives me a quote for fitting (so annoyed I can't do it myself, but refuse to break the law).

We've decided the mattress we have will do another couple of years, but we may look at the possibility of a new toilet as opposed to fixing this one (this one is plastic and even if we fix the fittings there's nothing I can do about the sun yellowing or the mould ingrained in it).

Feeling much better with less things broken around me, and have had a few pain free leg days too, which is quite odd. Haven't had a pain free day in about 6 months, but after the ultrasound there's been zilch. Wondering if whilst tinkering around the tumour she managed to move it off a nerve or something :rotfl: Talk about a silver lining!

ceridwen

Winchelsea wrote: »

Snowflake - about the plain flour: You can use it to make bread instead of buying the more expensive strong flour. What you need to do is to save water that you've cooked potatoes, rice or pasta in, and use it in your bread recipe in place of the ordinary tap water. What it does is to replace the gluten that's missing from standard plain flour, and you end up with lovely bread. I do it all the time.

I have been known to use water that I've cooked a mixture of potatoes and veg in - still works, but there's probably even more flavour.

You need to store the water in the fridge if not using it that day. And personally I only store it 24 hrs - haven't read that you shouldn't keep it longer, but it just seems sensible to me.

Just made a note to try that.

Can I ask re the temperature of the water with this?

When I make bread - I find the easiest way to get the right temperature for my breadmaking is to use 300 ml of water just boiled from the kettle and top that up with 300ml straight out of the cold tap.

So - to get that "starchy" water to the right temperature - I would imagine I would need to have the "cold" part of the water out of the fridge for some hours to reach room temperature on the one hand. On the other hand - to get my 300ml of boiling hot water - then I would put it in a saucepan and heat it on the hob.

Or - do you have some other method of ensuring the water is at correct temperature?

silvermaid

Just harking back to Yorkshire pud, my uncle would save any left-overs in the fridge and have it spread with marmalade for breakfast. His mother made 1 large pud for the family to slice up and share, just as my mother did and I do now. The recipe I use is 1:3:5 - 1 egg, 3 tablespoons of flour and 5 fluid ounces of milk or milk & water, which is what my mum taught me. I have to treble it though to feed the 7 or 8 we are at the weekends:)

GreyQueen - I just loved your veneer-ial disease. Hope your psuedo-mahogany works well for you. It sounds very useful for storing lots of craft stuff out of sight.
Softstuff - Glad about your silver lining.
Mardatha - Wishing you get well soon hugs

Originally Posted by Winchelsea
Snowflake - about the plain flour: You can use it to make bread instead of buying the more expensive strong flour. What you need to do is to save water that you've cooked potatoes, rice or pasta in, and use it in your bread recipe in place of the ordinary tap water. What it does is to replace the gluten that's missing from standard plain flour, and you end up with lovely bread. I do it all the time.

I have been known to use water that I've cooked a mixture of potatoes and veg in - still works, but there's probably even more flavour.

You need to store the water in the fridge if not using it that day. And personally I only store it 24 hrs - haven't read that you shouldn't keep it longer, but it just seems sensible to me.
Just made a note to try that.

Thanks Ceridwen - I had forgotten I want to try that as well, sounds a great idea Winchelsea thankyou.

Kimitatsu

Gailey - be kind to yourself Its so hard with babies and toddlers you cant be superwoman, and anyone who tells you they are either has an awful lot of help or is lying! You are doing a fab job, so sit down with a cup of tea for five minutes and give yourself a pat on the back.

Larumbelle - Really pleased that you have some good fortune Hopefully this is only the start of it, and it will continue to grow! Amazing price reductions tho - well done you!

Softstuff - your hubby sounds a real sweetie! Glad to hear that you are pain free though - long may that continue!

Mardatha - hope the chest infection lifts soon, horrible things they are, although I dont think kale is the answer (still made me laugh though smileyt!) but it does show that you need to look after yourself too x

The weather is gorgeous again today, very warm although the downside is that I need to water everything and fill up the pond again. Our water bill has almost doubled since we moved in here 5 years ago, so I think I will be getting it checked, especially as we have no drainage costs.

DS1 has given me the recipes for his cookery assessment for this week, and apart from the fact he obviously has aspirations to be Raymond Blanc thankfully I have most of the ingredients in the cupboard already. So tomorrow we get italian rice croquettes, Thursday is meat balls and pasta, and next Monday is Tiramasu. Thank goodness for whoopsied cream! I still need to go and get fresh parmesan and mozarella but this is one of those areas where my well stocked store cupboard has paid off.

Now we just need to do a trial run for some of the recipes today so he doesnt get completely flummoxed tomorrow and that will be fine.

I need to sew some badges on uniforms today (as DS1 hates sewing and would rather fire up the sewing machine to put it on - its quicker by hand to be honest!) so my day will be busy.

Hugs to everyone that needs them, enjoy the sunshine

x

ceridwen

Silvermaid

I'm still working my way through trying out all sorts of ideas from different peeps. It helps when "new" people pop up on Old Style with a different take on things. Right now I'm "pinching" ideas from Gothicfairy (who goes on the Foodshopping Board) - as shes got a different angle again. She mentioned recently about using the oven when its on anyway to bake some potatoes and then use them at next meal as a "hash" with something like fried eggs.

Hmmm...thought me - next breadmaking session then here we go and I'll try that out with a couple of fried eggs and some fried onion and maybe a coupla tomatoes.

mardatha

Am feeling partly human today, HUGE thanks to everybody who kindly missed me - bet the peace was bliss ! I jwasnt too ill to lift a mouse but just couldnt be bothered reading loads of posts. I think the ME goes into overdrive when you get ill and whacks you on the head with a hammer. The SUN IS SHINING and I'm going to sit in back garden on the swing and bake slowly.

[Deleted User]

MARDATHA
yes, for you. Keep your chin up pet. Get dh into your garden every morning to pick a good handful of the thyme that I know you have. Pop it into a big tea pot and make a thyme tea, let it brew a good 7-8 minutes. Put most into a vac flask and have cups of it all day. Also keep a humid atmosphere somewhere, even if its only head over a steaming bowl and a towel