The Tougher Thread continues.....

PaddyPaws

Morning All :wave:

Just about caught up from yesterday tea-time.

Need to put my OS head on today as our budget needs a bit of an overhaul and update - think I will be spending most of today with my head stuck in a load of spreadsheets.

The butterscotch cake sounds yummy, hmm, if I spend today working on spreadsheets can I justify that sort of treat...

Popped into A!di for a few bits to top-up yesterday and they have c-word wrapping paper, 8metre rolls, for 99p and cards for 99p for 20. Bought a couple of each, hth someone

see you all later, hugs to all who need one
PP

HariboJunkie

Hope you're feeling better this morning Mardatha
Well done to your son suzid. You must be very proud. :T

Glad you like the Simon's cat links. It's a favourite of mine. The one with the fly makes me laugh out loud. :rotfl:

We changed our phone number nearly 2 years ago and intermittently get phone calss from debt collectors for 2 or 3 other people who have obviously had the number before. Today they phoned at 7.30am!!:eek: By God they got an earful from me. :mad: I'm not at my best when woken up by a woman who sounds like the "computer says no" woman from little Britain telling me I owe money that I don't. :cool:

*and breathe*

Funeral costs are very scary aren't they. I'd be happy to be dumped but OH and I are looking at green alternatives atm which do seem a bit cheaper.

Cook book wise, we were brought up on Mrs Beeton and I still use her recipes but I love to find new ones too. I have a few "retro" cookbooks from the charity shop but everything does tend to be covered in aspic *shudders*. Got the Sucking eggs one through yesterday but have only glanced at it. One of my favourites is HFW Everyday. You might like it Mardatha. For all his poncyness this is a plain cooking book and even has recipies for sweeties.

Rowan9

Hello everyone
Lovely to *see* some new faces:j.
Thanks for the fish info Lexxi - I haven't been to Aldi before but it is on my 'to do' list so I will get some frozen fish when I go.
Rosieben - good to see you -haven't seen you for a wee while.
hhmmm Churchmouse - Chestnut Mare eh?
Have had a good laugh with the thread and am so pleased to see lots of folk enjoying it.
Off to do some online bank stuff.
Have good days - Mard, hope the ME takes that hike you suggested.
W

GreyQueen

Good morning campers and warm welcomes to newly-delurked Gingermillie, Northern Lassy, Draagonfly, Ladyshopper, Sianlee, PipneyJane, HSmum, Cherylelizabeth1 and Lexxi (think I got you all, apologies to anyone if I missed you).

:D Isn't it great to have all these new people stepping forward to take a bow. Post lots, please. Have we got all the lurkers yet or can we get some more today? G'wan, I wanna see some new user-names...........:rotfl:

I have a Banoffee Pie recipe from a friend which I suspect has far more that 800-odd calories per portion.......I do it once in a blue moon as it's pretty much guaranteed to totally immobilise even the most hardened sugar-crazed pudding fan. The originator has had to emigrate after the Health Protection Agency took out a contract on her life and I have one of the few extant copies of the Recipe saved to my pooter......sssshhhh, they'll be coming for me any day now.:p

Well, after I wandered off about my business in the RW yesterday (a blank on whoopsies, bargains at the Magic Greeengroceer, soup half made and sequins still unsewn) I tried to change the uplighter bulb for one of my many low energy ones. Doh. Had forgotten that the uplighter is on a screw bulb and the bulbs I have are bayonet-fittings. Will have to keep my eyes peeled for one of those then.

Due to random acts of shopping I ended up at the Magic Greengrocer 2 days running about 4 pm. Spoke to Mr the first visit and Mrs the second. They're in a run-down shopping centre off the beaten track for all but the neighbourhood. If you came into Provincial City by bus, train or car as a tourist you'd never find Shabby Street or the Scruffy Centre down the end. Unless, of course, like me, you tend to google the placename + charity shops of anywhere you intend to visit. The majority are on Shabby St.

Anyway, Scruffy Centre and its traders serve a purely local trade in one of the poorer districts of the city so the retailers down there are very un-fancy and highly-sensitive to the mood of the shoppers. A few months ago Mr G told me that he was seeing people come in to shop who'd obviously been raiding their penny jars and now Mrs G is telling me that the school-walk Mums and Dads aren't shopping as they to and fro like they were even a few days ago. She said it's like they daren't even stop to browse as if they're scared of buying something unplanned.

The shops in Scruffy Centre are a few of the el cheapo discount chains, charity shops and one or two indy traders like Mr and Mrs G (a 3 generation family firm). I fear for them.:(

Anyway, on a lighter brighter note.......I have one more day at work then I'm on h-o-l-i-d-a-y. Going nowhere as no money but will be attending to the Domestic Engineering and, weather permitting, faddling around on the lottie. Couch grass manages to grow 365/24/7 from what I can see.

One more shift and one more chance to break the New Fingy (software). Had a bit of a moment earlier in the week with the NF. Should explain that I am to technology what Plague Mary was to public health measures, so bear with my understandable anxiety and paranoia over being made to work with the NF.

Setting the scene;

GQ is at her desk working away with a customer on the phone and the NF suddenly blanks out on her computer's screen. Not missing a beat on her call she signals in panic to the IT Wallah who is floorwalking the department to babysit the NF. He peers over her shoulder whilst the call is finished.

GQ (panicking) "It went blank!"

IT W; "What did you do?"

GQ; "Nothing! Honest. I wasn't even touching the mouse. What's gone wrong with it?"

IT W; "I don't know." He seems unfazed.

GQ; "Will it do it again? Has this happened to anyone else? What caused it?"

IT W; "I have no idea- not as far as I know- I have no idea what caused it."

Jings, if he was any more laidback he'd've been horizontal! And yes, I was made to turn it off and turn it off again and yes, that did fix the problem.:rotfl:

:idea: So, as I've pondered on the above exchange, I bethought myself of applying to join the IT Dept on the grounds that I can feign nonchalance and tell people to turn things on and off and I'd be quids in..........:rotfl:Whaddaya think, peeps, should I go for it?


:bdaycake: Happy Birthday for tomorrow Mrs Optimist. You are a wee lassie by comparison to my aging self; I'd only see 38 again via a telescope or a tardis. Aging is pretty cool in many respects; you get free lowlights in your hair, you can tease younger men and watch them squirm, you have more cunning and better recipes than when you were younger and you end up not giving a 4-ecks about a lot of things which once seemed terribly important, and this frees up time and energy for playing around. Cheers!

katieowl_2

Re funeral costs...there was a programme on BBC Wales last week about the number of people who are now having to have a 'paupers funeral' i.e. one that the local council has to pick up the tab for. I didn't watch the actual programme, but here is a link to the news item http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15261414

I lost my dear elderly friend in London, a year ago today actually, (*waves to H. on the other side*) ...and when she went into a care home, and I took over dealing with her affairs, I asked her if she would please, for me, take out a funeral plan, as I was so worried that if anything happened to her, that the distant relatives such as they were, wouldn't organise a funeral for her, and I knew I'd be distraught.

We bought a funeral plan outright for around £2500 but when the time came to use the plan, there was another £800 to be paid for dispersement that were not covered by the plan. Fortunately as executor of her will I was in a position to stick it on my CC until such time as we'd sorted everything out, and I could reclaim from the estate. I said to OH at the time, that had the other people who organised the funeral with me (her friends) needed to pay that out, they simply would not have been able to do so!

Kate

Mrs_Chip

Morning All!

You might have guess that I a slightly obsessed with cookery books, and I have quite a few older ones, mostly the ones that were given with cookers. I have been looking through a small book that was published by the St John's Ambulance assc. , I think between the wars. Full of useful recipes like 'Raw meat sandwiches':eek: and 'Beef Tea (Raw)' :eek::eek: for invalids, but very handy as it has a whole chapter on Camp Cooking, and quantities for cooking for 100 men. Never know when that will come in handy:rotfl:.

Pretty much all the recipes are a variation on meat/potatoes/onions/s&P - Mardatha, a good one for you?;)

Softstuff

GreyQueen wrote: »

:idea: So, as I've pondered on the above exchange, I bethought myself of applying to join the IT Dept on the grounds that I can feign nonchalance and tell people to turn things on and off and I'd be quids in..........:rotfl:Whaddaya think, peeps, should I go for it?

Hubby is in IT, though his role differs from tech support, he still from time to time has to deal with "issues". In the almost 8 years I've known him I've seen him angry twice (once when someone ran us off the road, once when the mortgage broker stuffed up and almost lost us our unit). I suspect were he not so easygoing and good natured, he'd never be able to do his job, which consists of fathoming the seemingly unfathomable on an almost hourly basis. He barely blinks if a user has done something monumentally stupid to something, thus causing nigh on nuclear meltdown.

Unfortunately GQ, I fear that kind of nonchalance is a gift from birth, and not one that can be feigned, copied or learned. :rotfl:

Heck, it's another reason I married him.

*pokes the lurkers with my pointy stick* come out come out wherever you are. Actually I shouldn't say that, it reminds me of a very naughty joke.

Ceridwen, I don't think the current idea to offer funerals for those willing to donate is a push to harvest parts from the poor, rather it's a case that when organ donation is completely insufficient to meet demand and save lives, they're looking for any legal incentive they can offer to encourage it. Whilst I can understand why people want to hang on to their bits after death, for religious or spiritual beliefs, I feel more strongly myself that if I could save a life or two when mine is ended (in the case of organ donation) or improve someones life by helping to find new treatments and cures (in parts or brain donation), then at least my death has brought some good.

Mrs_Chip

GQ - :rotfl:. In a past life I was that IT person on your shoulder - and can I tell you a little secret? We generally didn't know what was going on either! My stock fix was a reboot, or leaving it a bit and it would sort itself out. We wandered around with an air of competance that we didn't actually deserve! Never fear the screen, just switch it off with a confident flourish and everyone will think you are a computer genius!

Edit for Softstuff: desktop support were as usually clueless about new systems as the users, not really having been part of the development process. Been on the deveopment side too, and yes, a fixed grin is def a requirement of the job!

HariboJunkie

Softstuff wrote: »

I feel more strongly myself that if I could save a life or two when mine is ended (in the case of organ donation) or improve someones life by helping to find new treatments and cures (in parts or brain donation), then at least my death has brought some good.

You know I might speak to OH about this. We are both willing organ donors but I think we should look into leaving our bodies for research. NOT to save money I hasten to add but just as you say, if it helps others then why not? I really don't think I'm going to need my body when I'm gone. It would be nie for our children to have somewhere to visit in lieu of a grave but I'm sure we could work around that by planting a bloody great tree or something. I intend to come back and haunt them anyway so they won't forget me in a hurry. :cool:;):D

Thanks Softstuff. xx

Softstuff

HariboJunkie wrote: »

You know I might speak to OH about this. We are both willing organ donors but I think we should look into leaving our bodies for research. NOT to save money I hasten to add but just as you say, if it helps others then why not? I really don't think I'm going to need my body when I'm gone. It would be nie for our children to have somewhere to visit in lieu of a grave but I'm sure we could work around that by planting a bloody great tree or something. I intend to come back and haunt them anyway so they won't forget me in a hurry. :cool:;):D

Thanks Softstuff. xx

The university our brains are going to has a memorial. And as I say, each year they hold a service of thanks. I ended up finding out about it when we met a neuroscientist researching alzheimers. They're not short of brains with alzheimers, since sufferers and their families recognise the need for research, but they were really short of "normal" brains for comparison. There is always the option too of the university returning your ashes to your family later.