A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

paidinchickens

stiltwalker wrote: »

I have an Ikea bag about to do its 4th year and it has moved house as well. Bet my neighbours all thought we were mad when we moved in as we only moved from about 150 yards away (to a bigger house!) and brought the garden round in umpteen trips on a sack trolley, including a tub of runner beans complete with cane wigwam which the plants were already about a third of the way up! Got real earth to grow in here but still fill up all the pots as well. Hoping for a good crop this year as last year was a bit hit and miss partly due to the mad weather but mainly due to me having DS at a crucial point garden wise - I was to be found earthing up potatoes at 40 weeks cos it needed doing although even that didn't encourage him to turn up on time!

I once moved to the next street a week before Christmas and carried round a fully decorated Christmas tree :rotfl::rotfl:

Luckily the neighbours already knew I was barking

Just been using some leather cleaner I was given to clean the sofas. The tub has lasted ages (coz I don't clean them that often ) It is expensive stuff to buy and we got it from a friend who runs stables, what could I use instead when it runs out??

PIC x

lizzyb1812

LavenderBees wrote: »

Am going to watch Sherlock later. I watched the Hound of the Baskervilles last night on Beeb3. Was I the only one in the country who didn't understand what on earth was going on?:rotfl:

I thought that episode was actually a bit obvious and silly and was a bit disappointed. But tonight's episode was great stuff even if I did know the ending at the start (they seem to be keeping faithful to the outcomes of the original stories)

Florenceem

My DD used to pick up spiders until one bit her!

Florenceem

My friend grows sprouted seeds in a jar. Puts some muslin on the top - when I go to stay with her - I have had some in salad - yummy!

3v3

artybear wrote: »

Hi All,

As you all seem to be full of wisdom I thought I would pick your brains. I have a huge bag of sprouts that haven't been used up, we are going on holiday for three weeks on Tuesday and I don't want them to go to waste, does any one know if I can freeze them at all?

Or, you could make soup with them and freeze that; this way you come home to some ready meals instead of using the sprouts as a side dish
Stock, sprouts, onions, seasoning - bring to boil, simmer until cooked, blitz, chill, freeze in portions

Busy day ahead playing catch up on outstanding demands but a planned break to watch "Call The Midwife" before I begin second round. I've read the book and it was interesting, witty and touching in parts so it will be interesting to see how it translates into TV. Usually a disappointment when they transfer a good book to the screen, but it will act as a brain relaxant before I have to go into grey matter overload once again.

Slow cooker dinner today so I don't have to worry about that.

Carissa

Morning all, hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Been reading through and am very jealous of you and your gardening expertise! I have never had a garden before (terraced houses with concrete yards before) and have just moved to a house that has a small garden and have inherited 2 little apple trees, rose bushes and various plants and shrubs that I have yet to learn the names of! It also came with a humongous shed (10ft by 12ft) that really needs to be pulled down as it's very unsafe. We are hoping to put a small veggie patch there when its gone, though I'll be starting off very small and learn as I go. Doesn't help that I'm terrified of anything that has more legs than I do!

I too am lucky enough to live near the gorgeous beaches of Northumberland but don't take advantage as much as I would like to. Our nearest beach is about a 30 minute walk along the river, and now that my little girl is 3 and capable of walking that far without crying, we will definitely be enjoying it a lot more.

Hope you all have a good week. Hugs xx

VJsmum

GreyQueen wrote: »

O-kaaaay, time for a quick amble among the minimalists, then I suppose I must go out to w*rk. Honestly, whoever arranged for workweeks to be 5 days and weekends only 2 needs a good smacking.............:rotfl:

Have a good day, everyone, GQ x

Good to see you back

On your last note - I was phoning insurance people on Friday and answering the million and one questions they asked, when she asked if I worked full time "No, part time" I replied. "how many hours?" "Eighteen and a half" I said "Oh that's full time - anything over 16 hours is full time!":eek: Perhaps I should go to my employer and ask for the full time salary then?

I am easily amused. I was getting in washing off the line and the rather grotesque shapes it had all frozen into was making me :rotfl: Becasue I have a rotary line with a cover, I tend to put all washing out there and then rotate it through the airing cupboard to finish off - very little goes in the TD. I was having to be fairly rough with it just to fold it for the airing cupboard - arms were outstretched, collars were stiff, legs wouldn't bend. Like it had rigor mortis :rotfl:

Was watching "call the midwife" last night, and the conditions they were living in were appalling - and not that long ago either. I am not sure if it was a memoir or pure fiction but one couple had 25 children!!!!:eek: I thought 2 could be hard work! Ah well, it helped get the ironing done.

RIght, I need to make some phone calls, tidy up and take a load of carp er useful items to the charity shop - my decluttering has taken a step back. Have a good one, peeps

[Deleted User]

Morning all, we are lucky enough to have both a reasonably sized garden and an allottment just over the road from the house. We have always grown a lot of our own produce but found a lot of things didn't do well or just didn't germinate at all. What we have arrived at is the point where we only grow what does well here, we are on very gravelly soil that is not very fertile and very grateful to many local riding stables for improving soils over the years. We always grow Gardeners Delight tomatoes, little cherry ones that have a long fruiting season here, and I freeze as many as I can to use in pasta sauces in the winter. We also have a 16foot row of rhubarb on the allottment which gets used for puds jams and chutneys, a 16ft row of autumn fruiting raspberries which seem to fruit from June to November an old apple tree on the front lawn which I use for absolutely everything and the rest is dictated by what the weather does. We always have success with leeks and parsnips but potatoes are never very good and onions nearly always end up with neck rot. I think weather has such a big effect on what is a success every year - but on the plus side its never boring being a gardener is it?

katieowl_2

VJsmum wrote: »

Good to see you back


Was watching "call the midwife" last night, and the conditions they were living in were appalling - and not that long ago either. I am not sure if it was a memoir or pure fiction but one couple had 25 children!!!!:eek: I thought 2 could be hard work! Ah well, it helped get the ironing done.

I've not been watching the series, but funnily enough, I've just read the book. I remember the tenement blocks. There were some in Battersea in South London too, and they were still standing and being lived in up to the 1970's - had a school friend who lived in one down by the river. When they did 'slum clearance' here and knocked down all the nice slum Victorian terraced houses like the one we lived in (that now sell for a small fortune) and moved everyone to lovely tower blocks :mad: they cleared out the tenements too, and the one by the river was bought by a developer, and not knocked down, but turned into private luxury flats, with a big ol' gate so the current riff raff can't get in. Bits of Battersea were almost as grim as the East End - especially down by the river, and there were a lot of bomb sites, because of Clapham Junction Station being a prime target for the Germans to bomb.

Blooming cold here this morning. OH took Fin to meet the college bus, defrosted the car, and put a fire on for me. I've eaten something else that disagreed with me this weekend, and feel like I've been kicked in the tummy, so a quiet day for me today. I've just made myself some ground rice pudding for breakfast as that HAS to be totally non-controversial.

Got a big long list of things I want to do this week, all very domestic, so going to work my way slowly through those.

Kate

kezlou

hi everyone

Hows the the start for 2012 so far?
Know one thing is darn cold!!

Haven't posted on here for a while as its been a busy time time for us.
We finally went self employed, which so far is going well, didn't have any work over Christmas but we were happy with that as it we got to chill and be around our family and friends. It was really good seeing everyone and spending new year with them.
We also adopted another cat, yes three of the little mites attacking a Christmas, was so funny. Each cat facing off over who got middle of the tree.

Now the children are back at school the real work begins and i for one am dreading it as it my new regime of decluttering this house and me attempting to get fit once again. The self imposed two cups of caffeine a day are really getting to me. But i hold my hands up high and admit i am a tea addict and it needs to stop. Hopefully i'll lose weight as my energy levels should go up, maybe i should allow myself four instead of the usual 10 + cups hmm.

Well better get off my behind and the bread made, see if i can defrost the clothes off the line.