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

ifonlyitwaseasier

squeaky wrote: »

If you are using Firefox there's a magic extension that automatically saves "new text" for you...

text area cache


I have no idea if anyone has written an equivalent for IE yet, but this one can be a real time and effort saver.

thanks thats great

Sammy - lovely to see you back, the garden looks fab and Holly is even more adorable!!

HariboJunkie

I'm on supposed bed rest at the minute and going a bit stir crazy.

Got DDs to help with a little harvesting in the garden this morning and we picked broad beans, baby carrots, purple sprouting broccoli and 10lbs of spuds and dozens of raspberries and redcurrants. :j
OH is taking the girls fishing now so hopefully we'll have some brown trout to add to that little lot for dinner.

The tomatoes are going great guns as the weather has been very warm. Courguettes and runner beans are slow but coming along.

Confined to bed I am catching up on writing my recipe books and recorded gardening programmes and making plans for foraging and preserving when the time is right as we are quite far behind here for foraged fruits.

Am watching your efforts with interest Kittie though we're not fans of fermented or salted stuff here so I stick to pickling and preserves but I do find what you are doing fascinating.

Nice to see you Sammy. :hello:

Welcome Mrs Chip and good luck with your business. Self employment is scary but very satisfying when it goes according to plan.

Hope everyone has a great day. x

GreyQueen

:eek::D OMG, the title of this post is NOT a joke, btw, it really happened and I am so exhausted that my head is thumping and I barely know what to do with myself.

The day started with being woken up at 3.30 am (veteran readers can guess by whom) but I didn't get up until 7 am. Washed, dressed, sat with pen and paper planning the logistics for a trip which is due to happen in a few weeks' time (my intention being to avoid crossing Londinium if I possibly can go around the Great Wen).

Mapped myself a train route whilst having brekkie and fired up the computer with the promise that I'd do my research before playing on MSE or reading some favourite bloggers. The beast just got itself dialled onto the web and then a text came in from my mate.....

It is 9 am. The wedding is at 1.30pm and 30 mins drive away. The cake is in 3 sections and un-iced but an interesting selection of sugar paste flowers and butterflies have been pre-assembled......can you help pleeeeeeeeeeesssssssssseeeeeeeee!?

What can a woman do, even a woman who is a stranger to the dark art of sugarcraft? I went. I made sugar-paste effigies of the bride and groom, neither of whom I have ever seen in my life. I hope that one day they'll forgive me.......:rotfl:We rolled icing and attached preformed bits and all sorts. Cake into tubbyware and off in the car at 12.15, GQ home in a state of nervous collapse.

It looks fab by the way!

Frugalista many thanks for re-posting your Impossible Quiche recipe; I have got it saved to my Recipe Folder and will enjoy giving that a go.

sammy_kaye, your garden and view are fantastic and Holly is a wee cutie.

Urgghhhhhh, think I am going to have to calm down before doing anything else, I'm so hyper that I'm almost twitching.

Hope everyone is having a great day, even those who've stolen the yellow ball......you know who you are.;)

[Deleted User]

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smileyt_2

GreyQueen wrote: »

I made sugar-paste effigies of the bride and groom, neither of whom I have ever seen in my life. I hope that one day they'll forgive me.......:rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Oh GreyQueen, this cracked me up! I have a mental picture of something akin to the trolls from Harry Potter being on top of the cake!

SammyKaye, your garden looks so full of potential! I am so jealous! Good for you for intending to make the most of it and I wish you a bumper crop of everything you grow xx

I'd never heard of lacto-fermentation before so that was interesting to find out, but I'm not sure I'll be trying it myself. Although the thought of a burping crock did tickle me. Maybe I should get one and invite the local kids to see it burping - they might be as fascinated by that as they are by my hens :rotfl:

Well, I didn't make the car boot sale. I must have turned the alarm off in my sleep, which takes some doing as it is a vibrating pad under my pillow which shakes your head viciously, and a very loud beep at an unpleasant pitch, more of a parp-parp-parp really. I took the dogs out and went back to bed and slept for another three hours :eek: What a waste of a beautiful, sunny morning! I still feel rough so will be avoiding the intense afternoon sunshine, but may totter down to the allotment later on tonight if I'm feeling better. I am worried about my tomato plants as I haven't felt well enough to go and water them.

So the only MSE/OS thing I've done today is save money by staying in bed!

GreyQueen

smileyt wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Oh GreyQueen, this cracked me up! I have a mental picture of something akin to the trolls from Harry Potter being on top of the cake!

That's not too far from the truth, actually........:o I've never done cake decorating in my life but I did go to art school and am a dab hand in sculpting in clay but sugarpaste...interesting material...kept defaulting to blobby troll people . T'would have been better to have had a bit more than an insane rush to do a whole cake; we kept chanting "Don't panic! Don't PANIC! Remember to breathe!"

I was the lucky one as I was able to come home and gibber but BF has had to jump into a frock, drive pell-mell across the county, assemble cake in situ and look like she's enjoying the wedding.

I have insisted that I want to hear all about it later, but not tonight, I don't think my nerves can stand it. The happy couple reportedly are a bit wacky and unconventional and I just hope that everyone is sozzled and doesn't look tooooo closely. Have just about come down on the adrenaline rush and stopped shaking. The things I do for my mates.......

Gordon Bennett, is it just me or is life totally bonkers? I've just about reached screaming pitch with Network Rail's website as am trying to navigate from Provincial City to A.N. Other part of the forest without going via London because I detest it so much. That site is pants, frankly.

I'll have another go then that's it, I shall go into a corner and scream.

Bigjenny

GreyQueen try your local train company's website or https://www.thetrainline.com to see if they are any better

HTH

greenbee

HariboJunkie wrote: »

I'm on supposed bed rest at the minute and going a bit stir crazy.

I know how you feel... I'm allowed to lie in bed, on the sofa or in the garden and keep migrating between them. As I spent yesterday in hospital I'm too exhausted to be bothered today but I'm sure by Monday I'll be fed up again!

Still, being in the garden allows me to appreciate it and I'm enjoying the tomatoes and keeping an eye on the peppers and aubergines. Just hugely frustrated that I can't do anything (chopping logs was on the list!).

GreyQueen

Bigjenny wrote: »

GreyQueen try your local train company's website or www.thetrainline.com to see if they are any better

HTH

Thanks for that, Bigjenny, it's a better site than Network Rail. Sadly, the times and prices aren't any better.

I'm going loopy over here; I have organised, via the web, journeys across the world, all on my little ownsome. I get get myself well down into Europe, faster, easier and cheaper that I can get myself around this Septic Isle. Reminds me of why I barely travel inside the country anymore.

Am going in a course and have to by in X place at Y time which will involve horrendous journeys. With multiple changes. And bl00dy expensive fares too. I will not be free to start my homeward journey until late on the last day of the course, the trains will get me part of the way and a single stage will be 13 hours!!!!!!!!!

It's impossible and I'm so cross that I try to use public tranport and you get ripped off left, right and centre and run all around the houses.

So, I'm gonna hire a car. Got a full clean driving license for the past 20+ years and intend to use it. Looks like being no more expensive and I'll be able to go straight towards my destination instead of looping half-way around the blessed country because all train lines lead to London. And there will be no Tube which I detest becasue of claustrophobia. Popping off to get some quotes......

Laters x

[Deleted User]

Good idea re car GQ. Dh was so messed about when he tried to buy train tickets online last week, its not funny when you have better things to do

I am so tired now and this lark is zapped. I`m always bright eyed at 5.30 am but I get so busy that I flake in the afternoon.

I just had to put the heat up under the chutney as it is taking forever and we are going to a club barbie this evening. Oh what is it with me, honestly I would so rather sit at home feet up than socialise with people I don`t know. It must be my age, I am so content as I am, quietly at home or on the allotment