Botanical blunderings on a budget - good life starts here.

Keiss_21

Just a quick one, glad you have resolved your quandries Pippi, or at least recognized why you have them. Being a lone parent has made you much more protective of your family time, so it's not surprising you are loathe to curtail any of it. Good luck with the job...if it's suitable that is!

Oh I forgot to say Unix, I dug up all my onions yesterday and used some of yours for tea last night, fried in butter and oil with HM beefburgers, very yum! Don't worry Pippi, I will be using yours another day...I asked DS2 to get some out of the greenhouse and he chose Unix's...probably because they were closest to the door

Need to get to bed soon...really tired tonight. At least the wind has died down so we should all sleep well tonight!!

Kittikins

Good morning Looks like the sun is trying to peep out from the clouds here - aaaah, that reminds me of DD's first words to me this morning (she crept into my bed at stupid o'clock whilst I was asleep): "Mummy, do you wish you had stilts that made you 10 feet tall? I wish I did, because then I could touch the clouds"

Going to try and build on my successful NSD yesterday by having another one today, but I am craving diet coke already! Maybe I should take some squash with me and a big glass.......hmm.....

Brekkie: banana and yoghurt
Lunch: leftover pasta and veg; marmite cereal bar (oddly addictive) and apple
Dinner: must do something with the tofu I've been pressing.....if I can get it past DD, I will! She usually likes it if she doesn't know what it is, and takes it for Quorn

Yippee, my gardening friend has offered to come this weekend instead Hoorah!

Pippilongstocking

Morning all

cuppa, bank catch up etc you know the drill



Lobs toast about

redsquirrel80

*catches toast*

Hope the job can come up with something suitable for a few months, fingers crossed.

Cheery - how long herbs take to dry.. depends what type and how dry/ humid it is where they are - stuff like marjoram is usually dry-ish within about a week in our kitchen (or it was when it was warm and sunny!) but not properly dry and ready for storying for a few weeks.

Uniscots97

Morning All, how is everyone? Keiss, we've dug up a couple of onions but ours (majority) are still about the size of a plum.

Ok 2 questions peeps.

Got a refund on something yesterday to my switch card, and its not showing yet on my account. Any ideas how long it will take?

Secondly, bought coriander last night but have way more than I can use am I best drying it (if so how?) or freezing it?

Pippilongstocking

Hey red - I was going to say excatly the same to cheery well done - hope lifes fine with you today

Right - banks (under limit by £9) woo hoo - does a little dance - Mr F is hanging about in the background with emergency funds
Credit card payment off tomorrow or day after - which will be caught by weekly wtfc going in so that will stave off that one
DD's off on 15th - will be paid on the 15th for invigilating (£300 ish) and hope that will work in a ying and yang fashion - terribly efficient - it goes in, it goes out immediately.....:)

With that in mind - store cupboard challenge day 7 - (a whole week?!)
Brekkie - cereal and yoghurt etc - no eggs been asked for another dozen for a chum - so they'll get directed that way for £2
Lunch - with OH - hmmm not sure we'll have a cupboard treat not sure what I'll make - bruschetta? plenty tomatoes...........or we've crab in the freezer that might be a nice treat with a bit crusty bread -
Tea - spaghetti bog - hm garlic cheesy bread, reduced pineable for pud - might see if I can scrape a salad together

Phew another shopping day emergency averted

Need to work on the petrol diet too - not going into town today until tonight with DD and student to go to fencing
Work at home and list some plants today
Work on website
Do a blog - thinking quite hard of doing a cheery (In a different way) and splitting blog from gardening generally - my new website will be gardening and the garden stuff will really work there, I'd like to blog more about frugal stuff and adventures so I might have both, one more work/gardening related, one more family/island/frugaleering/good lifing

Right cuppa - bit cereal and then on to tackle the internet stuff a bit of tax stuff and the workshop/garden

Thank you all for all the good talking/advice yesterday - made me really think and thats great isn't it? Uni I really appreciate your frankness, Keiss I think you're right being a single parent has really changed how I view life and the kids - maybe I'm over cautious - but when they are here they've only got me (Mr Flowers is here alot too, but you know what I mean hes ace but not his responsibility) and they're good kids if a little batty like their mother.

Pippilongstocking

Uni, morning

I'd freeze the coriander whole - and crumble it when needed or chop and freeze in ice cubes

Refund, can't help with sorry x

Onion here tiny too - dunno why.........................:)

Uniscots97

Thanks Pippi, will freeze the coriander. We lost all our potatoes this year (they went yellow and rotted away). They were grown in same container as last year (big trug with holes in so no problem with drainage), I did grow a couple of onions in same container so wondering if this caused the issue?

Pippi, being a single parent (this is advice from OH from a while back) can skew things but as OH said to me I might not be their mother but have been there and shown I'd be there for their Dad through hard times. It sounds like its that same with Mr F.


Pippi your meal plan for today sounds lovely. We're having chinese chicken curry (chicken from roast leftover), its marinading in fridge at moment. Something my Mum did for us when money was tight was village pizza (insert name of any village before the pizza), its bread toasted on one side (stale bread works best!), then put a scrape of tomato puree or ketchup, top with diced or sliced tomatoes and any other little bits of veg you have and/or meat (great way to use up one slice of ham!) and top with grated cheese and put under the grill till it all melts.

troglodyte

Morning all,

Life eh? Need to make difficult decisions but in the end we only get one life, need to make the most of our time in the best way we can.

Frozen coriander great for curries etc. Made a yummy fish curry a couple of days ago with reduced fish, a big pile of beetroot leaves and a few other odd bits of veg, has made me crave another one! Then had roast beetroot and sweet potatoes with blue cheese (OH's invention) yesterday - yum again!

Good things today - going to make HM pesto (thanks for the reminder Pippi!) and will follow that with Xmas pudding ice-cream:T (did I mention we started the year with 25 Xmas puddings?)

Not so good things: car accelerator pedal has been sticking so need to get that sorted, hopefully just needs a bit of lubrication or something. Also need to adjust to school routine again, finding it hard!!

Pippilongstocking

Hey up all

Been oot there doing chores fixing gate a la shonky crofty fixing (baler twine, big hammer, nails, chicken wire and cable ties)

Trog - the change to school routine here is a bit wierd here hope you adjust - whilst the curry sounds yummy as does the beetroot thingmy - the xmas puddings I'm afraid you can keep bleurgh in extreme. Life is to short for life to be irritating Ergh to car pedal sticking - I hope its not too expensive.

Uni - you sound like you're really sorted for OH and his kids, I'm lucky whilst my kids dad is a twonk alot of the time, he's good a parenting and being very active in thier lives my MR F only needs to be the fun one mostly - he'd do more if I wanted, but I don't really want. I know I'm lucky and they do appreciate it all (I hope!)
The pizza recipe now written down - yum!

Off to write up bloglet of daft chicken activity today and gate mending for nowt - I'm pretty convinced they plan an event on a daily timetable.

*waves*