Not mentioning the T word at all

Gigervamp

JIL wrote: »

In the old days when she used to cook roast potatoes for the children she actually counted them out as she peeled and quartered them.

That's what I do for roasties. Four quarters per person if they're medium sized, plus another one or two potatoes quartered depending on how many I'm cooking for so that there's some left over if anyone wants some.

For mash it's a bit harder to judge, but I prefer to have left over mash so I can pop it in the freezer for CBA days or as part of a HM ready meal.

EstherH

I had a nightmare time in Mr T's changing my vouchers too.

I checked on line for what I wanted and some of the things weren't in stock. Then I couldn't get the online exchange to work so went to my local store. Had a look round first and found a couple of the things I wanted so picked them up and went to change the vouchers for them. Went through my odd £3.50, £1.00, and 50p vouchers trying to make up multiples of £5 but using the oldest first as I had some about to run out and then all of them up to the most recent. Ended up not changing enough and when I asked the assistant to change another one (£5) she looked at what I had and told me it needed to be (£10). By this time I was really confused and couldn't work it out although I did think £10 extra seemed a bit much. Hubby went to the till to pay while I queued up in the Tesco Direct queue to exchange more vouchers for the rest of the stuff I was ordering online. Hubby came back with a spare £10 voucher. So she had changed to much. Are you following this? Sorry it's a bit rambling but gives you a Sense of my confusion. Oh, and I was feeling really ill by the way.

Anyway, I asked at the direct desk could I change the spare voucher into Internet vouchers as the woman at customer services had had me change too many vouchers but they said no, can't do that. But you have until the 6th December to spend them. Changed my other vouchers and ordered online. The price of one of the things I wanted had gone up by £5 since I had checked at home. how does that happen?

Went to another Mr T's the next day to see if they had any different stock and ended up spending the spare voucher there on something I didn't really want but wasn't going to lose it.

Well, sorry for going on.

Esther x

meanmarie

Doesn't everybody count the spuds when they are preparing them?? I have always done this, when there were 9 of us here I would put in 3 each and a couple 'for the pot', as my 3 sons had hollow legs as teens...now there are just the 2 of us left I cook 3 or 4 depending on size.

Marie

EstherH

I weigh potatoes out - 8oz each. That's probably more than most people have but means we have less meat but meat at each meal. I know some of you have meat only a few meals a week.

Esther x

scottishminnie

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Phew .... I've finished. Bath had and now in my pj's hopefully they won't be too obvious when I take the dog round the block later:D. Think the old muscles may be a bit on the sore side tomorrow & my knees are bright pink!

(((hugs))) to anyone who has similar tiles (I do feel better knowing I'm not the only one who has trouble with them ) as they're just awful.

TBH I don't think anyone else notices as once the ridges are full it probably does just look like a coloured pattern but I hate the thought of the muck being in them. .

You absolutely have my symapthies - they sound like the floor tiles in my en suite - beautiful eau de nil shade, picked my myself after much deliberation and by the end of the first week in the house I could have cheerfully smashed every single one.

They have a "non slip" rough type finish and they trap every piece of dust and dirt. You wouldn't think they would get too bad in an en suite but as far as I'm concerned they are permanently manky:mad:

I've also tacked them with a nailbrush and copious quantities of Cillit Bang as it does seem to work but it is back breaking. A friend suggested a steam mop a few years back so I bought a little Hometec one from Costco for about £30 but it doesn't lift the ingrained muck - just glides over it really.

I'm saving for a complete new en suite and the next lot of tiles will be well tested. Even if it means me tramping on them in the showroom wearing mucky boots I'll be making sure they are easily cleaned:)

Ches

I too have vinyl kitchen flooring with grooves that was here when we moved in. I use any ordinary floor cleaner with a generous slurp of bleach and a mop. Over the weeks it has become much cleaner looking than it was when we moved in. I also use the same mix for the ceramic tiles in the cloakroom and bathroom. Yes I know you shouldn't mix cleaners but needs must sometimes. Just be careful it doesn't get on any adjoining carpets.

Kittikins

Does anyone have any advice on a good non-slip flooring that is also 'easy' to clean? I'm hoping to move house soon and want to have non-slip floor coverings wherever possible in the forever house once I find it as I have a tendency to fall over a lot on non-existent slippery bits of the kitchen and bathroom floor (broke my leg earlier this year and am now waiting for an operation )

Mrs_Chip

Morning!

I need to know that too please! I will have to find a floor covering for the kitchen next door , it needs to be cheap as possible, cleanable and very hard wearing!

Just waiting for the OTM to arrive, he has kindly squeezed us in to his schedule.

Also hope to hear from the LVD (Lovely Van Doctor) today about the extent of work needed to put right the gas install on the van.

I have all sorts of things crossed :rotfl:!

katieowl_2

We have an MOT booked for today so I've got things crossed too Mrs Chips!

Today's job is definitely to see how much bang for my buck I can get out of my Mr. T vouchers - undecided as of yet. Will have a look online and see what the Finest Wine deals are (if any) before I decide.

Also want to pop to Aldi as they have those fake crackle logs for the fire for £1.50 IIRC I decided I will get a few in for the winter, to use as giant 'lets get this fire going' boosts for desperate days! I may attempt to saw one into smaller chunks.

Total Chaos in town this morning...they are preparing for the town fair which is this evening. Stalls of tut will line the streets, flogging cheap rubbish, and there will be some very dodgy looking fairground rides wibbling all over the place. All the main roads are blocked of already, and lorries parked at rakish angles are unloading the 'tut' - if there's anything there that WASN'T made in China I'd be most surprised. Last year all the shop keepers were complaining that the stalls blocked them off for their customers!

Kate

GreyQueen

Kittikins wrote: »

Does anyone have any advice on a good non-slip flooring that is also 'easy' to clean? I'm hoping to move house soon and want to have non-slip floor coverings wherever possible in the forever house once I find it as I have a tendency to fall over a lot on non-existent slippery bits of the kitchen and bathroom floor (broke my leg earlier this year and am now waiting for an operation )

Good morning all.:)

Kittikins, my parents have their sitting-room floor covered with something called Rhinoguard, by Armstrong. It's a very heavy-duty (and fairly expensive) smooth vinyl, theirs is a convincing faux-cork.

They chose it because the sitting-room is long and thin and there has been a room built on the end of it which includes the shower-room and downstairs WC, so most of the centre of the living room is a de-facto corridor, and the rest is mostly under furniture.

Although the floor is smooth it's never been known to be slippery and my Nan (88 and on a stick) and my parents (pushing 70) never have any problems with it. It is warm underfoot and is sitting on the original floor which is Marley tiles over concrete.

It has been down the best part of a decade and has no signs of wear and tear and they will buy the same brand when they re-do the kitchen (which suffers from the Curse of the Dimpled Vinyl at the moment).

I have no connection with the company btw, just impressed with the product.

Well, after the excitement of a tiny amount of sunshine yesterday, a few minutes only (but I saw BLUE SKY, I did, I did :j) we are back to business as usual which means there is grey cotton wool out there. Bor-riiiiing. I do so love a crisp and frosty autumn day and it would be nice to see one.

I de-shooted the h.g spuds and noticed that the ones in the sack in the bike shed had long creepy-looking thin shoots, but the overflow ones from the living room had short sturdy shoots, like the ones I get whilst chitting the spuds. Interesting. I know it's not strictly normal to keep tatties in your living room but they are in a storage stool/ linen bin type thingy which doubles up as extra seating so it's not obvious what I'm doing. Friends know I'm bonkers anyway.

I lost tatties to frost in the lottie shed for the first time ever last winter and it's NOT going to happen again. A frosted tattie rots in an interesting and very unpleasant manner....it blows white bubbles of stinking froth, often audibly.....ewww!

Had a quick call from SuperGran yesterday evening. We haven't been able to do our usual hanging out with a cuppa this week as she's been ferociously-busy churchwarden-ing with a number of funerals in the parish, so we had a quick word.

After the druggie's overheard threat to put a firework thru her letterbox, and her call to Police about the same, they had patrols around the Towers all that night, apparently. He's well-known to the Police and a very nasty piece so it was a plausible threat. Anyway, hanging out at the Towers is usually a productive use of Police time and as a result of things seen, a number of neighbours at different addresses had social calls and several have been arrested. The wonders of the gossip-mill; we are a vertical village. I even have net cutains and have been known to twitch them, just for form's sake.

Happy days...........a pal who works in insurance once looked up Shoebox Towers and we have special status...can't remember exact terminolgy....black-lined or possibly red-lined.....? I think it means that we get special rates........:p

I just offered something on my Freecycle group and got a curt personal response from someone I'd never heard of asking "my company" to stop sending them "information".

O deary me.:rotfl: Have sent them a polite email explaining that they are on Yahoo Group with 20,000+ members, and it was that address I was emailing and that if someone has joined their address to the group without their knowledge or consent, they need to de-register or it'll keep on coming.:rotfl:

My group always used to have 100s of emails a week but it has slowed down recently which I attribute to the recession. Still, if The Stranger doesn't de-register, they'll get a few dozen emails every day. How can you join a Yahoo group and not know you've done it?! It took me two attempts and I was deliberately trying.

Anyway, I am doing my wee bit for the dearth of stuff in the c.s. and on Freecycle by turfing out what I can, which is enlightened self-interest as it makes my tiny home more bearable. Unfortunately, I don't really have bric-a-brac and ornaments or, as my late great-uncle used to call them- dustgatherers. Don't know why he was so condemnatory, as he was of the generation of fellers who did zilch in the home and great-auntie would never allow dust to settle on her precious home and her beloved ornaments.

Enough drivel, more tea is required.

Nuuurrrrrrrrrsssse!