Not mentioning the T word at all

SDG31000

Morning Everyone

GQ I can understand the vicar showing compassion, but I'm all for SG getting the money back from the organisation. My DPIL live next door to a lovely church, my DMIL is a Reader in the church and my DFIL was church warden for years. I remember someone putting a football through one of the stained glass windows. Their father was the landlord of one of the local pubs and just told the church to send him the bill for the repair. I doubt at the time he had any idea about how much it costs to have 300 year old stained glass repaired, but he soon found out. The bad thing was that the church is right next to a huge field/park and if the boy had walked another 100 yards it wouldn't have happened.

What great bargains VJsmum and I hope things settle down now your DH is back

Kaz2904 I'm sure you will have a great time in Florida. We went over Easter this year and loved it, well I think DS2 had a good time, but as he is 15 and trying very hard to be an Emo, it is sometimes difficult to tell. He did smile on occasion, so that was a huge improvement. My DPIL paid for us to go as DH's 40th birthday present, but I will say that it still cost us a fortune. We got discounts on things by using Clubcard vouchers converted into Airmiles, so that helped a bit. We didn't do Disney, as my DS's refused to go anywhere near it, so we stayed in a villa with a pool instead and I would recommend it. It was nice to have that much space and to be able to eat meals there. I spent months shopping around for the best deals and finding out as much info as possible as even saving a few pounds on something is worth it as it's more money for treats. I got tons of info here http://www.thedibb.co.uk/ I hope that helps.

EstherH I try to save money through the year, but it doesn't always work. Right now I'm saving £2 coins and £10 per week towards presents and buying things as I see them/think of them. I'm also putting all my small change into a moneybox and will feed that into my bank's coinstar machine equivalent. It goes straight into my account and no commision to pay.
DS1 only wants cash this year and it is difficult to find deals on that. I'll be getting some presents with Tesco vouchers and plan on shopping in the Boots 75% off sale in January.

Dinner last night was very quiet compared to normal. There were only 8 of us instead of 13 and everyone was feeling a little under the weather. The meatloaf went down well and I'll be making it again. Here's the recipe http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/09/my-favorite-meatloaf/
Today is going to be a lazy day. DH got home from work at 1.30am and went out again at 6am. So he will be due a nap when he gets home. I might do some baking to cheer him up a bit. The overtime is more than welcome from a money point of view, but it is exhausting for both of us. I spend the week waiting for the phone to go, and when it does at 2am, don't tend to get back to sleep.

No sun here today, here's hoping it stays dry for the Abbey Park firework display as lots of our friends are going to it tonight.

Take care and enjoy your Bonfire Night celebrations xxxx

short_bird

For those with Emo kids (actually, this is for everybody, with and without kids): this might raise a slight twitch of the lips:D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5Dny-s27Dk

The big yellow ball isn't in Birmingham, I'm sorry to say:(

CCP

Afternoon all.

There's a distinct lack of yellow ball on the south coast today, or indeed of very much light of any kind - it's one of those days where you start to wonder if the Man Upstairs forgot to turn the lights on when he got up. It's also decidedly chilly so I've got a feeling I might end up turning the heating on for a bit this evening, if only because I've got an elderly cat and there's few things more pathetic than a shivering feline.

On the plus side, as it's bonfire night I'm treating myself to sausages inna bun for dinner tonight.

SDG - thanks for that meatloaf recipe. I have to confess that I've never tried meatloaf but that looks so scrummy I'm definitely going to try it.

FTM - congrats to your OH, and enjoy your fizzyworks.

SDG31000

You're welcome CCP. I suggest taking the crusts off the bread or pushing it down into the milk and mushing it up before you put it in with everything else. Mine had a few big bits of bread still it it, but it still tasted very good. I've made meatloaf before, but without the bacon and sauce on top. I have used minced lamb and chopped mint and that works well. Just bung it into a loaf tin and bake it like that. I find that it is a way of using mince that makes people think they are getting a slab of meat and it makes it seem more substantial.

Bobbykins

Good evening all.
I finally managed to finish the wallpapering in the living room - I reckon me doing it has saved us a couple of hundred quid, even though it seemed to take forever. My lovely OH is now doing the emulsioning and reckons he'll have the whole room done by this evening (why oh why is painting so much easier than wallpapering? 'S not fair!)

VJsmum - love the idea of a fleece poncho, sounds really simple to do too. I might just borrow that idea if you don't mind. The idea of "fringing" it sounds good too and I guess fairly easy to do as it doesn't fray.

PIC - :eek::eek::eek: at the nerve of them defending their "right" to steal - un-be-lievable! I hope your friend was able to identify them to the police.


I have had a NSD day today, mainly because I was too tired to go round to the shops . Have had a furckle in the deep dark recesses of the fridge and come up with enough veg to make a passable vegetable curry so that's simmering away on the hob at present.

Hope everyone has a good evening. Keep warm if you are going out to a bonfire party.

shegar

Kaz2904 wrote: »

My savings for Christmas and birthdays are worked out. Everything which is yearly is added up and then divided by 12 and that amount is transferred into a savings account every month. We then know how much money there is left for everything else (not much at the moment, I tell you!).
We're going on holiday to Florida next year, an early inheritance from MiL. She's paying for flights and accommodation but we need to save up everything else. Hence the reason I am trying to do so many extra shifts at the moment. DH can't do overtime so he does extra to help out at home. Ie, more school runs when I'm sleeping. It seems he's having to do way more than his fair share of the Aikido sessions on Saturday mornings and the picking up from Brownies and Beavers. Oh well, we'll have a blast while we're there. The kids have never been on a plane even

Thats really nice of your MIL to give you a decent holiday, just a thought though, when you do your holiday Insurance go on compare the market, and you only have to give very few questions and you will get some real cheap offers, I phoned tesco and was quoted £53 for me and the grandson to go to tenerife for a week, so I went on compare and a company called flexicover come up with £12.53 for the same cover, and I told them of a few existing medical problems that I have and needed covering......So its surprising what you can save if you shop around.........obviously I went with flexicover and photocopied all the documents there and then.......................

Weather has been sh*te here today, wet cloudy and very damp, thats the first days rain weve had in weeks and im moaning like mad:eek: god knows how you lot up north put up with it day in day out........I can feel a bit of SAD creeping into my life and I dont like it much, I usually suffer pretty bad from Sept to Jan, im not nowhere near as bad as previous years thats because im already on a high dose of anti depressants...............its so dark at 4.15 , no sooner you wake up and look around and its 4 in the afternoon, and so dark and the days are so short of daylight, oh god moan over, im getting too old and grumpy me thinks, but I will blame it all on the time of year.....:eek:Ive been quite busy today time a flew past, give the house a dam good clean, washed door mats, etc , polished floors ,dusted , tomorow I want to get the bathroom painted with some nice matt emulsion in a nice pale lemon colour, and wipe the blind down the room is quite big so I expect that will be a complete day gone, Ive washed all the paint work down today so that ive got a good start tomorow.. .................best time of year to decorate when you cant get outside in the garden...........................hubby use to do all the decorating whilst I made the tea:), but now I do the lot...........Hope your all okay and keeping well,

kidcat

It has been a brisk day here, with a fair amount of yellow ball and quite a chill. We have had my parents around for dinner and fireworks and I am happy to report it all went well, no-one injured and no runaway fireworks (one year a stray firework hit the church tower and we had a sudden rush of bats!) so highly successful. Variety of bugs and illnesses here so didnt invite anyone else this year and it was so much easier and less stressful too.
Have managed to get almost half of the Christmas presents this week and am spurred on to try and get the rest asap.

lizzyb1812

Shegar - I think what makes it worse for we East Anglians weatherwise is that we've been lucky to have mostly dry and bright days for quite a long time now, even if a few days have been on the cold side - we're not toughened up to the grimmer conditions.

I've started using my bright light in the morning - I get up when it gets light, to make the most of the daylight, then have coffee and breakfast at my desk with the bright light on. It helped last year. I get out with the pup in the middle of the day too to get as much daylight as I can. I also take Vit D3 (this is my personal relief strategy, not medical advice).

Currently babysitting pets as the fireworks go off. Cat is hiding behind the settee and pup is not scared but not relaxed either - like my previous dogs he is of gundog stock so the bangs are sort of hardwired in My first dog just loved bonfire night.

FTM - lucky little tots, and well done for such a bargain. I loved my dolls house when I was little. And I can remember reading a book about the inhabitants of a dolls house that really sparked my imagination - wish I could remember the title. I've got 2 under construction now - very much at first base but I've got loads of ideas.

EstherH

LizzieB: Not sure I agree with you there. Up north we have had a dreadful 'summer' and I think that makes it worse because we haven't had the nice hot sunny weather to build us up for the dark gloomy winter lol. I remember last year as we put the clocks back deciding I was going to be very positive and not get depressed and kept thinking only two months and it is the shortest day and then the days get longer and it will soon be spring. Then spring came and then it all went downhill and suddenly it is winter without us having had summer and I am trying to tell myself the same thing again but somehow this time it isn't working. We haven't had a decent summer for a few years now up here. Esther x

Mrs_Chip

Well don't know who we have peed off - but the luck is certainly not with us at the mo.

Chap next door was putting up a shed in his garden (his garden is above our yard) and knocked an effing great flowerpot down onto our oil tank. It was not until an hour later when I could smell oil we realised it has cracked and oil was dripping out into the yard. Guess who has no house insurance (I know, don't say it, lesson learned). And trying to get someone to come out to us at 6pm on a Saturday evening - no hope! So we have the prospect of getting up through the night to empty the bucket back in the tank. Deep joy.

We were looking foward to sausage and mash for tea, and watching the fireworks over the harbour from up on the hill. What we have actually been doing doing is scrabbling about in an oily yard with buckets and cat litter. Sausages on hold and fireworks missed.
Large G&T in hand, I'm sure after the next one things will start to seem a bit better...