Daffy's 'patchwork dreams' diary

Lula-Hula

Hi Cheery,

sorry I've not been in to virtual visit for a while ( too busy eating the virtual cake I made for you :rotfl:)

Glad that you've had an outstanding visitor & boo to the rubbish cakeless ones - what a nerve :eek:.

Your saving achievements this year are fantastic, you're truly an inspiration :A

Keep recovering cheerfully & I'll be back again soon - will let you know if I ever manage to spot Woody :rotfl:

xx

gilligansyle

Lovely to see you enjoying your Bread maker. Mine was a gift from my mother many years ago, and I admit that at the time I wasn't very happy, but especially of a weekend I just love the smell of fresh bread.

Cheery_Daff

<waves> :T :T Hello you lovely pair

Another loaf made today (that's, er, 4 so far since Wednesday, plus pizza dough :rotfl: :rotfl:) Just as we finished making soup some friends turned up unexpectedly, so they had bread and soup too - so now there's only about 4 slices worth of bread left, and I'll have to make soem MORE for in the morning :rotfl: :rotfl: Still, getting our money's worth :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Sure I had something more useful to say Accidentally found a denim skirt in a charity shop today Which means the last 2 weeks I've gone over my £20 a week fun money by about £5 each week... Hmm. Either need to pay more attention - or increase the budget Will get to the end of the month and see.

(also realised I hadn't budgeted for flute lessons! :eek: At about £60 a month they can't just come out of my fun money - will have to shift things round a little I think...)

But not now. Right now I'm sitting with seeds strewn all over the kitchen floor sorting out what I'm going to plant in the garden this year, and trying to (for the first time ever) figure out when everything needs planting (rather than just waiting til a random time, bunging in a few seeds, intermintently watering them/forgetting about them til half of them shrivel up and the rest get eaten by slugs, and the occasional thing just gives loads of veg without me doing anything at all (this year was tomatoes - didn't even water the darn things - last year was knobbly yellow courgettes - didn't even bother planting them this year as I was sick of them Might give them another go now though :rotfl: :rotfl:)

I like no effort gardening But I'm thinking a little bit of planning might get rid of the seed-killing guilt :rotfl: :rotfl:

Karmacat

Definitely with you on the no-effort! But 15 minutes of planning when to not make any effort might be a good thing :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Quite right KC Nearly got myself some charts and things - unfortunately there's still seeds all over the kitchen floor and we're still stepping over them (makes a change from stepping over musical equipment, which is the normal state of affairs in this house! :rotfl: :rotfl:)

Still - just finishing tea and then will sort them out

Cheery_Daff

Well, I've fallen out with the breadmaker, after 1 good loaf, one good lot of pizza dough, 2 really cr*p loaves, and a pan full of dough that was barely even mixed and I had to mix myself! :eek: Mr Daffs, needless to say, has some kind of symbiotic relationship with said breadmaker and has made the perfect loaf - so he is on breadmaking duties from now on (he tells me it's because he looks in while it's mixing and gives it a stir, and adds flour/water if it's not the right consistency - but I reckon it's just magic) :rotfl:

FOUR NSDs to report this month! :T :T :T Without even trying mostly! Of course, it helps that I have been more of an invalid than usual, and so not been far - but in my defence because I've been off work there's been much more tea-and-cake than usual too And last week, bizarrely, I only spent £27 - including food AND fun! Quite bizarre (although I did spend £70 the week before, and then mr Daffs gave me back £20, so really it's not as good as it looks )

Back at work now, although having a 'phased return' - did Thurs and Fri last week as half days, then will do all day today, go to York tomorrow but only for a few hours etc. Today is my first full day - fortunately from home. But I'll still have to pay out for train fares twice this week, and bus fares too, since I don't want to wear myself out walking to the station, AND my student card has (finally!) run out so I have to pay full fare on the bus - £1.30 instead of 50p! Must get back up to walking speed quickly :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

What else? Ooh, I made marmalade Very exciting - grand total cost of £1.70 for 5 jars (not including gas to boil the pan, but I'm willing to write that off ), so pretty pleased with that Will have to do that again.

And speaking of gas - finally got round to reading the gas and electric meters! Electric was pretty much spot on actually :T :T Gas was higher than they'd guessed - so now it looks like in January we used £188 worth of gas :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl: Fortunately we've been paying £99 a month, and had built up a surplus, so it's more than covered by that, so we won't notice a difference :T :T

<note to self - MUST get boiler looked at this year - tis NOT normal to have to put the heating on through the summer just to get some hot water! >

Anyway, never mind all that moneysaving nonsense - the REAL news is that <drumroll please>

I actually reached the bottom of my washing basket today!

<faints>

well, I should confess the last load isn't actually in the washing machine yet since it's very noisy, and t's too early for all that banging and clattering and whirring. But it's waiting to go in, and it *will* all fit (darn it!). I have no idea how it happened.

Think I need a medal And a lie down :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

vl2588

Good going! I have done 5 loads this week and I think I still have more than one in the basket...there are only two of us (and a cat who was responsible for one or two of them )!

Was making marmalade fairly easy?

Lula-Hula

Nice work on the laundry achievement Cheery :j

Mine is a rolling procedure now as I have just about managed to get to the stage where I don't spend all weekend doing it. Admittedly this was only after I discovered that DD has in fact, got 8 school shirts

Congratulations on both the breadmaker & succesfully delegating the task to OH

Have a lovely day
xx

Cheery_Daff

Well, needless to say I can no longer see the bottom of the basket :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I am, however, up to SIX NSDs in January now! :T :T :T Ooh, and I haven't spent aanything today yet either! :T :T :T Wow - what fun!

Should get round to doing some kind of budget for (tuesday I was going to say - quite clearly mean February :rotfl: :rotfl:)... Might need to up what goes towards the house, so will see if I can squeeze that out without it affecting patchwork funds. Only 12 full time paydays left now! :eek: :eek: :j :j :j

Karmacat

Thats a thought ... 12 f/t paydays! My word ....

You sound like you're doing great, Cheery! And keeping your eye on house main tenance is a *very* good idea - the cake has to have proper shelter, after all