The Tougher Thread continues.....

Softstuff

greent wrote: »

My dad died unexpectedly earlier this year (cause as yet unknown - believed to me just natural causes) - and lay undiscovered for 2 days - he had one cat.

I'm sorry Greent, I didn't mean to cause you any distress by saying that.

greent

Softstuff wrote: »

I'm sorry Greent, I didn't mean to cause you any distress by saying that.

Honestly, softstuff, you really and truly didn't - I posted to show that what you said can actually happen....!:eek:

bluebag

kidcat wrote: »

My mum has been diagnosed with very high cholesterol and is proving very difficult to help - she believed that it was all down to her having butter on her bread (maybe twice a week) and spread cheese on a cracker (again maybe twice a week) - am trying to point out it more likely to be down to the ready meals she eats daily (usually twice daily) - am loaning her my small SC this week and trying to find a very plain and basic cook book to go with it - the difficulty being my dad will only eat very basic stuff - no garlic, herbs etc.

My mum has very high cholesterol too and hates anything 'foreign' as she so quaintly puts it.
She makes most of her meals herself in bulk and then freezes them so they are a home made 'TV dinner type thing.
She makes shepherds pie using the very leanest meat and adds a tin of baked beans to it, using an Omega three margerine in the mash.

She makes fish pie using cornflour to thicken a skimmed milk sauce.
Baked potatoes with tuna, or beans or cottage cheese or just salad and a little polyunsaturated marg.

She also cooks a whole chicken and removes the skin and uses that for casseroles, main meals or cold with salad.
Beef casserole using ultra lean beef and vegetables adding in a good handful of mixed soup pulses.

There a lot of low fat ready meals available to that may suit her too.
Hope she is able to adjust to the change, it isn't easy when they have done things the same way for years and years.

bluebag

mardatha wrote: »

Phoned plumber today to check they were coming before we started lifting carpets and moving furniture. The boiler hasnt arrived yet. So we wait a bit longer

Ugh, I know it's cold comfort but I'm glad it isn't just me that has nightmares with tradesmen.

I think sometimes I'm too nice and they take the mick. My ex SIL is a harriden and very straight talker( well shouter really), they sure as h*ll don't muck her about.

Softstuff

greent wrote: »

Honestly, softstuff, you really and truly didn't - I posted to show that what you said can actually happen....!:eek:

Unfortunately I already knew that was the case too which is why it sprung to mind , glad I didn't upset you.

Sometimes I think about the things I've seen and done, and think it all sounds like a work of dramatic fiction, and it couldn't possibly all be true. It's not that long ago that I took a first aid course with resus, and amazed the instructor by being able to recognise the signs of all the different afflictions and already knowing what to do. As I explained to her, it's only because I've seen so darned much of it.

apple_mint

HelenYorkshire wrote: »

Applemint try freegle etc first for a freezer, or ask around. I got a nearly new one for free after someone moved house :j
You can lay a defunct fridge on it's back to make a sealed, vermin proof chest for all sorts - garden chemicals/paints (so the dog can't eat them); sacks of dog/cat/chicken food... I did wonder about filling it with sawdust and using it for a root cellar but wasn't sure about the airflow thing.

Thank you HelenYorkhire, I love the idea about using it for garden chemicals and paint etc. You've widened the potential uses for it.

GreyQueen wrote: »

Applemint I feel your pain in having great curtains that just aren't quite the right size for the windows which you have. Seems to me that no matter how many pairs of curtains you have saved in the loft (hi Mum!) you never have the right ones.

If you doubled-up the length, the side which was glass-wards would fade in the light but if you want to halve them so you have 2 but they are still a bit too short, you can tweak a curtain's length in a couple of ways (and I'm sure someone here can think of others); add a bit to the bottom or add a bit to the top.

Due to a lifetime of skinthood, I have often had to finesse things without sufficient fabric but even though it's a compromise, I don't necessarily want it to look bodged. On thing you can do with a too-short curtain is to get a smallish amount of fabric of the same weight and type, of the same width, and insert it into the curtain either by making a fresh header out of the new cloth, or by being really really sneaky and cutting off the curtain below the header zone (allowing for seam allowance of course) and inserting a strip of matching fabric, then re-attaching the curtain to that.

You could also do this at the bottom as the two bands will look more intentional than one. My training was to take an accent colour from the pattern (if there is one) and use that for the insert. Only match a background colour if you can get a perfect match as a near-miss will look terrible. Best to take the offending curtain to the fabric shop to be sure of the fabric. The weights of both fabrics will have to be very similar or the whole thing will hang strangely. And, if the curtains are the washable kind, wash the new fabric before you insert, or it'll probably shrink and go funny the first time you launder the re-made curtains.

You can also use this technique to widen a curtain which is otherwise perfect put the edges just won't meet across the window. Of course, Mum always taught me to shorten curtains from the top as it's much less work; remove the header line/ tab top and cut out the excess, re-attach and bob's your uncle.

There is a very-useful-to-old-stylers book by Jocasta Innes "The Thrifty Decorator" which is widely available in a secondhand hardcover edition as it was a Book Club Associates publication in the early Nineties. It's one I classify as a "keeper". Turns up at c.s. and bootsales as there's a lot of them about. HTH.

I wasn't me Grey Queen, but the info is right up my street. I'm currently hunting for some curtains in the charity shops. This has given me some ideas

Aesop wrote: »

Applemint, if you find you need to buy a new freezer, try comet clearance too

http://www.clearance-comet.co.uk/

you can sometimes get a bargain.

Thank you Aesop, I'm going to take a look at this. :T

Kimsmum I just wanted to say you are a star. That little girl will always remember you making her dolly some clothes and I think you probably have laid the foundations for her to do something similar for someone else some day. We all have experiences, good and bad, but it's the little acts of kindness that stay with you and make you smile.

ceridwen

Softstuff wrote: »

I'm sorry Greent, I didn't mean to cause you any distress by saying that.

...and I'll echo that comment from my end - as was unaware of some of the sad events that some on here have experienced in this respect.

GreyQueen

Taurusgb, if you're reading this, hun, ((((((big hugs)))))).

:hello: Nice to meet you, Stickynikki and Pixiedust.

Kimsmum, your kindness to that little girl and her family has made me well up. Believe me, goodness like that it taken to heart by the recipients and wrapped around their souls.

60 + years ago my mother spent half a year in a childrens' home in between being taken away from a terrible family situaton for her own safety and being put in permanant foster care in another part of the country. It was a scary time for a wee girl who had been badly let-down by everyone who should have been protecting her. One of the home's workers made a promise to Mum and kept it; she bought her a toy and sent it on after her. It was the humblest thing imaginable; a little plastic toy teaset, but Mum has never forgotten that woman's name or her kindness. She was only 7 at the time.

Ceridwen, what I sometimes do with a post, if it's long, is copy-and-paste it, then if MSE eats the post, I can click it back again. I've only ever had one post "eaten" but it's kinda annoying. I tend to proof-read for typos before I submit a post but sometimes I miss something until I see it up on the thread so might edit for that. Plus, something relevent may have appeared on the thread whilst I was typing my bit.:o

Well, I have the luxury of a week off work and am waiting for daylight to reveal what manner of weather will be our lot today. We have had a lovely weekend of clear blue skies and sun but there have been the first ground-frosts of the season. I shall look to get the squash undercover.

The plan is to spend the morning on errands inc reading January Which? (Ooops, I got that wrong, tis February's magazine) up at the library which someone kindly mentioned on another thread has a slowcooker review and then.....buying one! I'm like a kid at Christmas.:j Then it's up to the lottie for 2 hours or so.

(((Big hugs))) to everyone today and I hope that it goes well for all of us.

ETA Daylight has revealed another flawless autumn day. Hope HJ and the others up in Scotlandshire aren't too battered by the storm and that Mardatha's stove arrives soon.

HariboJunkie

We have a nasty storm raging up here at the minute. Too dark to assess any damage but I hope it blows over soon as it's kept us awake most of the night.

Just catching up on the news as see that Ernst and Young are calling for a further reduction in interest rates to boost the economy. I wish someone would do something but I really don't know the answer. At least there is growth predicted for next year....


I'm undecided whether to try and get some more sleep or try to keep my prearranged date with Radio 4 and my ironing board.

Once again Taurus I hope today goes well. xxx

ceridwen

I think many of us can remember little acts of kindness many years later - I still occasionally recall one from when I had just entered adulthood. It was someone who barely knew me deciding to throw a party for me, tell me to choose which guests I invited and what food I wanted at it and they paid for it all.

As young people often do - I wasnt aware of just how kind this virtual stranger was being to me at the time - as we do all tend to take things for granted at that age. But if there's a certain lady sitting there back at home in Belgium following British forums (ie because she married an Englishman and lived here) who has been thinking for a while "I think I might know who ceridwen is" - then:

THANK YOU VERY MUCH:A

It was certainly one of the kindest acts I've been on the receiving end of - and is much appreciated in hindsight.

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Grey Queen - Indeed it is the case that one often thinks "Agh! Just done a post and forgotten to comment on something I meant to - will go back and put that in"