It was getting tough in 2006 and the workhouse still threatens us in 2011

charlies-aunt

. . . and my Sainsburys bargains today have been....

two pink folding deckchairs, reduced from £16.99 to 4.99!#

- if you have a Sainsburys GQ - check it out, lots of camping stuff in ours - a fab two man pop up tent reduced from £42.99 to £10.99, sleeping bags,mats and lots of barbeque stuff at 70% off

500ml Basics bath shampoo - 17p, I love this stuff its so thick you have to dilute it 50:50 with water to use it

500ml Basics Baby Bath & 500mls Basics Baby Lotion = 11p each! :T

Also got several packs of both the beef and chicken stockcubes - 10p and got a large bottle of tomato ketchup for 22p

The prices bob up and down constantly

Off to the lottie tonight. . . beginning to wish that we haven't planted quite so any courgettes despite having them for tea every night in one guise or another and chopping and freezing as fast as I can, the courgette basket never empties. . . . the runner beans are in overdrive too. Any fruit that I manage to forage is just getting slung in the chest freezer until I get time to get going with jams etc

Have noticed that I have started to need to put my lights on when I drive home from the stables at 9pm . . . . a bit sad that summer is coming to an end and winter is on ts way :cool:

SDG31000

You would be welcome to come to dinner stiltwalker, but you would have to sit on the stairs. I have a small house and 14 people for dinner means a lack of places to sit.
I normally cook at a lot of food. However leftovers are a rarity as DS1 and DS2 are growing boys, i.e they have hollow legs. DH claims to be still growing, but he is fooling no one and only growing outwards.
Fresh garlic sounds yummy. It brings to mind chicken with 40 cloves of garlic and just roasted garlic in general. I love the stuff even if it means that DH won't kiss me afterwards lol.
Caramel mud cake is made and banana cake is in the oven. Still a lot of stuff to make, but I'll get there.

GreyQueen

Good afternoon people, hope everyone is having a good Saturday.

I deliberately didn't put the pooter on whilst breakfasting as I am very distractible and badly needed to get to the lottie at a reasonable hour. Made it by 9am and settled down to dig the final 3rd of the main tattie patch which was 3 rows about 4 metres long.

Oh my aching back, that was a tough one. Weirdly, some parts of the baulks had zero potatoes and some had absolute monsters. Sod's Law ensured that the monsters got spiked more often than not. I fetched down 9 kg harvested a few days ago, to add to the 15kg harvested last weekend and brought down last time. You really need good organisational skills when all you have is a pushbike.

I totally empathise with those who are finding it overwhelming at the moment, re lottie produce. I was blanching and freezing french beans until after 10 pm last night, then I had to lie flat on the floor a la Alexander Technique, to unkink my back or I'd need a block-and-tackle to get me out of bed this morn. I don't have a bad back, btw, just been operating a bit beyond my strength lately.

:jI'd just like to share that whilst picking the french beans last night, I was shin-deep in the squash patch, one having run into another and.....and......baby butternut squashes are forming. I'm so pleased. They are still behind the flower, bright green and all of 1.5 inches long but they are coming......!

Still can't work out why J's plot, which is 30 yards from mine, has butternuts of the same variety from the same seed merchant and his are about 3 times the size of mine. J can't figure why his are half the size they were at this time last year, either. All very mysterious.

redlady ..horrors about your watch. Makes me glad I only have a £5 one off the market.

kidkat best wishes for your DD's swift recovery.

I've decided that I shall have my fridge defrosted and off whilst away in September to save a few shillings. Lots of peeps think I have a 3/4 size fridge freezer because they see two white boxes one on top of the other and don't click on the fact that they have different styles of handles and are by different manufacturers. It's handy because it means that I can defrost one at a time and leave one off if it suits me. I have a whimsical attitude that I like the fridge to have a wee holiday, too, maybe it's prolonging its life expectancy.

I was having a bit of a moment in Lidl yesterday evening. I used to buy Tesco Value t.p until they disappeared the 12-packs and replaced them with 4-packs of bigger rolls for the same price. I got the calculator out and worked out that this was 50% less paper for the same price. So I was cross and shopped around and saw that Lidl's Floralys 10-packs of recycled was £1.37. Crunched the numbers, better deal, bought that, was stocking up at one per trip as only have the pushbike and then they disappeared for a few days and have come back at £1.65 a pack!!!!!!!! Up 28 p in less than a week. So am even more cross now.

These price rises are getting seriously un-funny. I was talking to a 90-something lady in the course of my work this week who was seriously stressing how she would be able to afford to keep warm this winter, it was hard enough last winter before all these price hikes. I'd like to sit the executives of these private utility companies down in her living room and ask them to justify their price hikes to that poor old dear.:(

Comes to something when we're slipping so far back in civilisation that you have to wonder how people won't get hypothermia. I have had that, as a 20 y.o. in an unheated Scottish bedsit and propbably wouldn't be alive today but for the chance visit of a friend who realised what was happening and got me to a warm place. I took hours to thaw out. We're long out of touch but I think of her from time to time and send her positive vibes.

Brr, all this has made me want to head over to the preparing for winter thread to see what they're up to.

Have a good day, GQ x

EDIT charlies-aunt thank you! I shall wander up to Sainsbugs after the interweb goes off at 4 pm.

[Deleted User]

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

jamanda

Well - you'll be pleased to know that I've put my kitchen back together (apart from the scruffy bit at one end that will be tackled later). All kitchen curtains are washed, ironed, lined and put back up. Have had to cram them into the curtain holders (shepherds' crook type) as they're very thick now, but don't look bad from outside, and you can't see them from the inside.

Finished stringing onions apart from the "must use rather soon rejects", beans are up to date with salting and now I can relax.....

when, of course, I've done the apples, plums and tomatoes and fed DH who has just sauntered in from fishing. Rest of house is looking a bit neglected, but it can stay neglected until tomorrow. What do you bet that someone who doesn't visit very often calls round tonight?

I have to say that when I started flagging, I swear I could feel half a dozen of you on my back digging in the spurs and whipping me on to greater things. And you know who you are!! (One being a lady living up north with a sweetie fetish and aversion to all things green).

I'll stop grumbling now, as I'm feeling very self-satisfied that I've got such a lot done. Onward .....

suzybloo

Mardatha, I just wipe the leeks,so they are clean and then chop the whole lot, put them on trays and stick in the freezer, once frozen put into bags in a suitable portion size for soups. I use all the green part upto about 1cm from the end,I waste nothing though!
I have dried them very successfully in a low oven also and kept them in a kilner jar for months. I am just now using ones I dried in February.

Igamogam

SDG31000 wrote: »

Morning everyone
I had no idea I would start a debate with the comment about plastic bags. Personally I try to avoid them, but sometimes it's not possible. Another thing to consider is that the alternatives to plastic come with their own problems. Sisal is used to make bags and huge areas of what were once tropical forest are now turned over to it's production. It's a big problem in places like Madagascar. So sometimes things aren't as black and white as we would like them to be and choices have to be weighed up.

Back to good old fashioned woven basket then made in GB of course

westlothianlass

Well it's amazing what a difference a bit of sunshine makes to how productive i've been.
Feel like i've done enough to get a Girl guide badge, Do we give these out here?:D. If so i'd like to get my digging up loads of tatties badge and should have enough points to get the using up all the click boxes in the house with prepped veg badge. Can you tell i'm pleased with myself:rotfl:.
I think i could also get the sad git laundry badge as i've just been on the phone to mum excitedly telling her how much washing i've managed to get on the line and dried today, sad eh, but i'm sure i will be back to normal tomorrow when it lashes with rain again.
Hope everyone else has managed to get some rays of sunshine, hugs x

man_of_faith

Am looking at tipping point everyday expendature has has now reaxhed critical?
More going out than coming in, less hours at work.

What else to do.

I spend everything i earn am dreading the winter/

Any one else feel the same?

:eek::eek:

ginnyknit

SDG, I remember when the charity I work for decided to sell sisal bags as an excercise in advertising a few of years ago. A volunteer at Head Office happened to be a designer and came up with the whole concept (for free) but there was a waiting list for buying the harvest of sisal. It concerned me then that something wasn't right - somebody else is paying for our 'need to be seen to be green'the bags are rather good though and Im still using them religiously and they are perfect and now also very soft to handle.

Just spent 7 hours on the donkey sanctuary fair and had an amazing day though I am desperate to lie down in a dark room as my arthiritis is soooo bad. It was the biggest amazing fair I have ever seen. Fabulous day out for all but all I saw was my stall However myself and 2 very crazy older ladies took £300 :eek: I really enjoyed it and bought a kilner jar, some cake tin liners, fishing line for Oh and a beautiful but small wicker shopping basket, something I have always wanted. So one very pleased but extremely painfilled ginny - Oh and Smileyt came to visit, lovely to see her and her friend.