Trying to make my dreams a reality!!

icontinuetodream

gallygirl wrote: »

The University of YouTube is very highly rated and free :T.

Happy Solstice (sorry, best I could do!)

Thanks GG...that's lovely!!!!:D

Well, I have put the laundry away and put more on, cleared up the kitchen, front room and bathroom. Definitely getting there!!;)

I have completed the fish pies I started yesterday, so two of them in the freezer now.....the chicken is done now...I am just waiting for it to cool down a bit and then I will then strip it, and get the carcass on for stock....

the gammon is merrily cooking away and I will whack it into the oven for the last hour to finish it off....I am currently boiling it in coke which it has been soaking in overnight following an overnight soak in water and a good rinse...I will smear it with honey, maple syrup, orange juice and slices of orange before it goes into the oven to finish off...nomnom!!!:D

I have peeled the potatoes for the shepherds pie and will cook that as soon as the gammon is in the oven.....

Sometimes, it feels as if my life revolves around food!!!! Honestly, I have spent the past few days either buying it or cooking it!!!

However, all of this will be worth it.....I don't normally go quite as loopy over Solstice as I have this year, but last year we didn't bother at all as I had just lost my dog so this year it just feels right to do it... all my babies and their respective partners will be here and I am looking forward to spending some real quality time with them...

2013 has been a strange year....when I started it, I was in the depths of despair following my loss; I have since paid off more on my mortgage than in any other year, I have finally got a kitchen which is everything I had ever hoped for, I have forged new friendships and new connections, fostered the ones I already had, lost my job due to my principles and find myself in a state of flux but readiness for what lies ahead.

Regardless of what lies ahead in 2014,I know that I am an incredibly lucky person - I am surrounded by people that I love and respect and that feel the same way about me.....I have excellent relationships with my children, my sister and my close friends, my dh has been with me for almost 21 years and we feel as stupidly in love as we did then, I have a fabulous puppy who fills my day with happiness, my mortgage is less than a quarter of the value of my house, I live in a beautiful place which I would not leave even if I won the lottery tomorrow and every day I am grateful for the entirely blessed life that I lead.....

I hope that none of the above sounds smug.... i have spent years dealing with other peoples problems and misery plus I have had a great deal of trauma in my own life; I believe that celebrating the good things is much more important that mourning the bad....it's the great and simple things (like currently watching a pheasant being very brave and coming up to the patio doors for a mooch!!!) that bring the glory of existence to the forefront of my mind and I have a tendency to share when they happen!!!

So, as I prepare for my winter celebration, I know that I have nothing to wish for and everything to be thankful for...... I hope that you all enjoy the same for your Christmas!!! :D:D:santa2::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::santa2::D:D:D

icontinuetodream

:xmastree::rudolf::santa2: Had a lovely solstice....hope you did too!!:rudolf::santa2::xmastree:
I am in total holiday mood still.....dh doesn't finish work until tomorrow but it's not too bad...we have a whole week of very little to do which will be totally lovely

I am doing the inventory of the food cupboards either later today or tomorrow....the freezer situation hasn't changed much over the past few days so other than a couple of things that came out and whatever meals I make from the leftovers, so that list is done is pretty much done....just four cupboards to completely empty and list now!!!

I have joined the frugal challenge 2014 and am intending to minimise every cost that I have.....as I said in my last post, I have an inordinate amount of food in the house and yet, still spend a lot every week.....with that in mind, I have started a challenge for myself to cut my grocery bill down from £60 per week to £15 between Solstice and April 5th 2014..... My £15pw for 15 weeks challenge!!! I have set rules for myself and I am actually looking forward to it!!!

I am going to start a thread on it to keep myself focused and to make sure that I don't weigh down my mfw thread with the details....I will update progress here on the weekly financial savings, but not the daily food and spending information!!

I am going to try to do Tilly Tidies next year too....part of being able to still finish this journey in the next couple of years is making sure that I don't lose the plot when it gets difficult...other than dh losing his job, its not going to financially get a whole lot worse than it is now so I need to keep making a difference every day that I can to keep myself inspired....

this year has definitely shown me that the more frequently I visit these boards, the better I do....I am going to keep that in mind in the year ahead and try to write as often as possible...not to persecute anyone, just to keep myself on the straight and narrow!!!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

icontinuetodream

well, my food challenge got moved to another thread so I probably won't be using it the way I intended!!

Had a lovely day yesterday....with my babies at their respective partners, I had a day just pottering in the kitchen and then an evening of catching up with tv that I haven't watched....

I cut the beef joint into two yesterday and put it in the freezer - half is being used as a joint and I cut up the other half up to use for a casserole. I made an enormous bubble and squeak from the leftover solstice veg and ate some of it with cold meat leftovers yesterday and put 6 pots of it in the freezer.

I cooked the venison in port and orange yesterday.....bit of a 'throw in whatever is in the fridge' session with this!! I softened the shallots with butter, oil and vanilla sugar, then realised that I still had the juices from the gammon which I had cooked with honey, maple syrup and orange juice and a pot of hm honey and mustard dressing still in the fridge, so chucked all of that in with a load of port and oranges!!! Once it was cooked, I tried the venison - not at all impressed, it's nothing like the flavour I was expecting based on previous experience but the sauce is absolutely amazing!! When we actually eat it, I will reduce the sauce down but OMG - it is totally lush!!! :D:D I will serve it with mashed potatoes, green beans and some red cabbage with cranberries which I cooked yesterday too..... I think my friend is over tomorrow or Saturday so looking forward to munching it!!

Don't know if I have already stated this but I have bought myself a washing line for the first time in over twenty years!! Its one of the biggest concessions to saving cash I have ever made.....I am feeling very virtuous about it, just have to make sure that it doesn't end up as wall furniture!! I will attempt to get dh to put it up over the next couple of days and then that money saving endeavour will commence!! :rotfl:

Here's to a frugal 2014 for us all!!:beer:

littlegreenpeas

Good luck with your journey, I have found it very interesting and are now subscribing.


LGP

icontinuetodream

thanks LGP (love your name btw!!)

It is a random morning....I currently have a pheasant being chased around the garden by a squirrel and a puppy fixed to the patio doors by a very squished nose trying desperately to get out!! :rotfl:

My friend has confirmed that she is coming over tonight so we will be munching the venison....it will be nice to finally have some room in the fridge!! I have cooked a load of bramleys to make an eve's pudding for follow-ons too so all I have to do now is make the sponge mix and peel the spuds for the mash....I do love it when I have prepared the majority of the food done before I need it!! dd and her bf are over later today too - I thought that I was going to be baby free following solstice until the new year but it appears that they can't be doing with other peoples families for more than a couple of days!!! Bless them!! It probably means that there will be no venison leftovers but I think that its probably a blessing...my freezer tetris has been very overworked recently!! :rotfl:

I sorted out my money yesterday....I have found a couple of jars to use for my bulk purchase pot and grocery money as the last couple seem to have gone awol....on the plus side, I will be able to transfer this weeks grocery money to the bpp tomorrow as I have spent absolutely nothing since before Solstice!! :jGo me!!!!

Plans today are to clean up the house as dh and I have been pretty lazy over the past few days and the house looks a bit worse for wear... not too much to do but will feel better for having it done!! I was hoping to get out into the garden and sort a few things out there but by the looks of the weather, puppy walking will be the only time I venture out!! :eek:

Have a great day!!

icontinuetodream

Finally relaxing!! :j

Friend came over yesterday and we had a lovely evening...the venison and eves pudding went down very well and I sent her home with a lo lunchbox!!

Have spent the morning clearing up a bit and sitting in the kitchen watching mental squirrels, pigeons and pheasants.. my friend has now gone home so am watching andre rieu on sky and totally chilling out...I do love the holidays!!

dd brought me home some tins for savings pots yesterday so I am now fully equipped to start saving my 20ps & £2 coins!!:T I am surprised how happy that has made me....perhaps I am sadder than I thought!!:rotfl:

Will have to dip into this new weeks grocery budget though - we are perilously close to running out of milk, but I have given dd the cash and told her to get some when she is out....no threat of buying anything else that way!!

alwaystryyourbest

Just been reading your thread, well done for all you have done in the past few years.
And good luck for next year £10,000 is a nice amount to aim for..

littlegreenpeas

Hello

There is nothing wrong with getting excited over small things. Its much better than not being pleased by anything. Or I'm joining you as a really sad person.

You will be surprised how quickly the small amounts mount up.:D

Happy Sunday

LGP

mortgage_girl

Have just caught up on your journey so far - you have done amazingly well and deserve to feel excited about all that you have achieved. Love the sound of your '£15pw for 15 weeks challenge' and may try something similar if you don't mind sharing?

Hope the new year brings you all that you want and I look forward to following your journey.

MGx

icontinuetodream

alwaystryyourbest wrote: »

Just been reading your thread, well done for all you have done in the past few years.
And good luck for next year £10,000 is a nice amount to aim for..

Thank you!:D I hope to do better but will have to get a job first!;)

littlegreenpeas wrote: »

Hello

There is nothing wrong with getting excited over small things. Its much better than not being pleased by anything. Or I'm joining you as a really sad person.

You will be surprised how quickly the small amounts mount up.:D

Happy Sunday

LGP

I get excited over all sorts of little stuff great way to embarrass the kids though!! :rotfl:

mortgage_girl wrote: »

Have just caught up on your journey so far - you have done amazingly well and deserve to feel excited about all that you have achieved. Love the sound of your '£15pw for 15 weeks challenge' and may try something similar if you don't mind sharing?

Hope the new year brings you all that you want and I look forward to following your journey.

MGx

It would be absolutely lovely to have you on board!!:D Always easier to achieve things when you have a partner in crime and someone you have to fess up to if you have been naughty!! :rotfl::rotfl:

Another busy day in the kitchen yesterday!!!

I cooked the ham hock yesterday that was lurking in the fridge...I soaked it for a couple of hours then rinsed and put into fresh water with an onion, some potatoes, soaked peas, chicken stock, bay leaf and black peppercorns. I then cooked it for a couple of hours, rescued the hock and stripped it. I then blended the cooking stock and whacked in a handful of the stripped meat and a glug of lo cream. I have a nice ham chowder thing now!!

I made some pork enchiladas with some lo pork which have now been put into the freezer for an easy meal one night with salad. Felt very :money: while making this as I was going to use two tins of tomatoes but decided on one and a glug of tomato puree plus some water!!! Go me!!

Major breakthrough too - I made a huge focaccia yesterday using the dough facility on my bread maker for the first time!! :j

It was totally lush - I drizzled the dough with olive oil and sea salt then dressed in four parts before baking....olives, capers, rosemary and pesto at either end, then white stilton with blueberries and wensleydale with apricots on the next quarter and garlic and herb roule on the other..... totally nom nom and inspired me to make some more dough for pizza bases - I now have four ready to bake pizza bases in my freezer along with the rest of the meat stripped from the ham hock, plus a 'sauce' base that I threw together too!!!

dh started to put up the washing line yesterday.... :junfortunately, it started to get dark before he could finish it as he had to wait for his drill to charge....we were going to have a day in the garden today but again, the weather is making it inappropriate so I guess he will just finish that off instead.. I have washing to do but I doubt that I will use the newly installed masterpiece as its blowing a hoolie out there and I'm not sure the clothes would survive it!! :eek:

Anyhoo.....off to get a latte and have a look at what is on the tv....hope you all have a great day!!