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

3v3

Not much to report, hence lack of posts; but, I did spend a very enjoyable day with my best friend yesterday and came home with .... a chunky monky fennel plant
Anyone have any thoughts on aspect/usage? Must get it planted tomorrow (it's in a bucket with water at the mo).

ceridwen

Firewalker wrote: »

Ceridwen, I am so much with you on the news thing. About a year ago we had to change the station on the alam clock (from Radio 4 to bbc3) because we could not face being woken up by the gloom looting out. Now I wake up to the sound of harps...and I have almost given up reading newspaper (read new websites, thought).

FW

Maybe later in my life I might give up reading newspapers altogether - as they are just so much "doom and gloom". Though - mind you - having said that - you might like to google for the "Positive News" newsaper (articles from which are online to read) and it does what it says on the tin (that is - positive news about what good things people are doing to change society for the better).

For now - I take the view that I'll check out the news when I've "come to" for the day fully and feeling "strong" enough to do so - so that I can tweak my life and financial plans accordingly to allow for what is happening in Society at large. This has proven very helpful to me at a practical level - for avoiding things that would have inadvertently cost me money on the one hand and making some extra income sometimes on the other hand:D.

Once I'm eventually fully settled in life - ie retired - so whatever is happening in the news wouldnt make any difference to my income anyway - then I will stop doing so. But I know I'm MUCH better off financially than I otherwise would be because I keep informed iyswim. So - I feel that I cant give up watching the news totally until I'm off salary and onto pension.

I just keep a news embargo on from approx 6pm at night till 7am or so the next morning normally. That way - I can keep an element of "peace of mind" - whilst protecting my finances as best as I can. So - trying to work out the happy medium.

Linkie to the Positive News newspaper if you want:

www.positivenews.org.uk

***********************************

Charis - just finished reading the thread and saw your link to article re "Greys". Errr...why would it be Mars they come from? - ie rather than any one of goodness knows how many other planets? Not sure if I believe in Greys per se (the jury is out on that) - though obviously, being of a logical turn of mind basically, its clear there will be LOADS of other "races" out there somewhere. Also I doubt very much they would come anywhere that close to people on Earth. My suspicion is that if someone somewhere is watching us at all closely they might well feel we are far too warlike/selfish/polluting/etc on the whole to come anywhere near us..(they are more likely to have put up a virtual "quarantine zone" ring round our planet - "keep out/Danger" signs clearly displayed.....LOL).

oldtractor

th other week I visited an elderly couple who live down the road. havent seen them for a while so popped in ,just being neighbourly. I came away with mixed feelings. they have been on holiday and were talking about it and all the other excellent stuff they do,going out,meetings,volunteering and so on. they are just great and do a lot. So,this is very encouraging and they are really nice,but we got onto pensions and I told them that I will be well into my 60's as will DH and we can look forward to £280 a week between us. They were really shocked. They have decent private pensions. I have been thinking about this since. it has got me really down. DH has always been low paid and I am a housewife,having left a low paid job as it was going nowhere and we were mega stressed both mentally physically abnd I longed for some quality of life. The couple are so out of touch. they thought i'd get my pension at 60. all their friends are pensioners on decent money too. TBH £280 is about what we have now anyway, just a bit more than that. sorry to ramble but I dont seem to have anything to look forward too.

Pink.

twinmom04 wrote: »

Hi I have a apple tree in my garden but they are crab apples, Not very nice to eat. any ideas (apart from giving them to my dads pigs) as to what I can do with them?

Hi twinmom04,

These threads might help:

Crab Apple Recipes?

Crab apple and herb or spice jelly

Pink

kersplatt

Hi all, I've been trying to keep up with posts and reading when I can when the children are in bed - I tend to avoid having the computer out when the children are up and running around.

Really looking forward to the apples and pears being ready so I can go scrumping. One of the local schools has a large pear tree on the edge of it's grounds which fruits heavily every year and unless it gets scrumped, it all goes to waste. My childminder is a likeminded old styler and has already been to check to see how long it will be before they are ready. I'm fairly sure that there is a cob nut tree in the area as I have spied cobnuts scattered about the estate but so far haven't tracked it down. I suspect that it may be near the stud farm at the bottom of the hill so I will be taking a trek down there next week.

I'm currently really struggling to hold things together. The house has had to be valued for the purposes of divorce and it would appear that I'm in negative equity - no surprise there, but because of the debts my ex left me with, I cannot take the mortgage on in my own name because of the defaults against me. He in the meantime has been bought a brand spanking new car by his parents and they have cleared the 17k of debts he racked up in the past 12 months. In the meantime I continue to live in a damp house without central heating with the two small children. Quite frankly he and his family's behaviour disgust me because of this - I have drafted an email to his mother but I'm too afraid to send it.

Anyway in brighter news, I went for an interview for a permanent job today - I fit all the criteria and could answer most of the questions without difficulty, until they asked me how I cope with stress given everything going on in my homelife (I had mentioned that things weren't exactly roses at home) at which point I burst into tears and sobbed whilst trying to explain that professionally I was grand just that home life was tough at the moment. Needless to say I doubt I will get the job.

I just wish things would get easier. I'm trying to spend nothing for the next month and use up my hefty stock of food - weezl's cheap family recipes are going to be the mainstay of my diet and I reckon apart from milk, flour and eggs I can manage on what I have in the house with some careful ingenuity.

Off to catch up with some reading

Mrs_Veg_Plot

oldtractor I can not offer much in the way of advice but maybe things are not so bad. I do not want that to sound as though am making light od your situation it is just that I have learnt the hard way that having money does not equate to having health and happiness.
I am sure someone on here will be able to give you some financial advice or at least be able to point you into the right direction as to where you canget it from.
((hugs))

Mrs VP

ginnyknit

Old tractor, sorry you are feeling down but understand completely. Maybe you need a treat - a cheap one of course - is there something you can do to get away for a few hours and recharge your batteries.

Kersplatt, if you are not getting child support off your ex then send the e mail and get it off your chest! Sorry you got upset at the interview but it has to come out somewhere, and by the sound of it you are now fighting your way up by using weezls menu's. Dont let the bu**ers grind you down and enjoy your life as a free women bringing up your children the O/S way

Right off to bake then start planning xmas. Yes you will all be glad to know before I bore you all to death, the favours are done and ready to go.

smileyt_2

If any of you need the cockles of your heart warming, have a look at this thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3434643

I have two new pink shiny hearing aids and oh boy is the world a LOUD place! I have moderate hearing loss so I can hear stuff without them, but not well enough to do my job or get by properly, so I need the hearing aids. They are incredible things, digitally programmed so that they amplify the pitches I have difficulty hearing, and leave the pitches I can hear properly alone. Amazing. I am so grateful and it is amazing to be able to hear where sound is coming from again. Ha ha my keyboard sounds as if someone is tapdancing on it :rotfl:Actually I now have turn-on-and-off-able hearing as I can switch the hearing aids off if things are too loud (like the rush-hour traffic this afternoon!) and switch them on again when I want to hear conversations. It's brill at night too - once the hearing aids are out I can sleep like a baby and nothing disturbs me :rotfl:not even police car chases down the front street, or police raids on the neighbours!

Anyway, sorry for the waffling - I am on a hearing-aid induced high!

Oldtractor and Kersplatt I am sorry to hear about your troubles. I am another one who has no pension lined up, but there's no point worrying about it. Actually I'll probably be better off when I get my pension than I am now, although it's another quarter of a century away yet. Kersplatt, can you get any help from anywhere? It might be worth checking with your local CAB. You might be eligible for free damp-proofing or insulation or something?

Charis

ceridwen wrote: »

Charis - just finished reading the thread and saw your link to article re "Greys". Errr...why would it be Mars they come from? - ie rather than any one of goodness knows how many other planets? [...] My suspicion is that if someone somewhere is watching us at all closely they might well feel we are far too warlike/selfish/polluting/etc on the whole to come anywhere near us..(they are more likely to have put up a virtual "quarantine zone" ring round our planet - "keep out/Danger" signs clearly displayed.....LOL).

I think if they are advanced enough to get here they will regard us as not worth inspecting. Although... how do I know you are not a Grey? :rotfl: What we think are ants and slugs might really be scouts from Andromeda. I loved that episode of a sci fi drama in the sixties where a chap was patiently waiting for the arrival of aliens he had been in contact with but when they arrived they were so tiny he didn't see them and he trod on their craft and squashed them all.

I think the OS solution to aliens is to either refuse to believe in them or perceive them as 'angels'. Or 'demons'. I'm keeping an open mind, and an open notebook. They're all grist to the would-be writer's mill. :beer:

ceridwen

Charis wrote: »

I think if they are advanced enough to get here they will regard us as not worth inspecting. Although... how do I know you are not a Grey? :rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: - tears of laughter later....<ahem>

Compose yourself ceridwen <slap wrist>

<stage whisper> They do say that there are some amongst us who are not all they appear...<suitable science fiction-y music in background> Go on admit it - you've been reading David Icke too...and theres other theories going round that some amongst us (for good or ill) are not as "human" as they look.......:cool::cool:

On that note...I'll try and stop laughing long enough to go and get my morning porridge sorted out.....

(after putting in a little request to have a sneak preview of any novels you decide to write ever .....adds that to "one of those days I'm hoping GreyQueen will write a book" list)...

EDIT: ...and the practical answer to that query - you'll have to take a look into my eyes and see if you spot any slits in them or a bit of shapeshifting going on - should you ever be in my neck of the woods and sharing a cup of coffee/meal with me....