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

D&DD

BigT at least if you spent no money you can say it was very MSE

Smiley aw poor Bruno boy! Rosie decided to pull her stitches out after her entropian surgery and even though it was nearly 8 days after her initial surgery they did hers again free of charge.Well done on the 'field dressing'

PAH well done on staying off the cigs :Thope you have a more restful night

Had mince tart and custard then started nibbling on some chilli hummous I made earlier..it's a tad hot I looked like this when I ate it I used the bag labelled 'Evil chillies' from the freezer we grew this year my god..*steam* but very nice

Flippin' freezing here tonight Rosie was eating snow instead of doing her business so the back door was ajar and we could see our breath indoors with the heating on :eek: she's now tucked up in bed warm with OH and my feet down here are still frozen despite 2 pairs of socks and slippers :rotfl:

grandma247

I've just cooked the brussels bajis and they are lovely. I only had a little taste, they are going to be frozen along with some mincemeat turnovers and a couple of larger mincemeat pies.

prepareathome

jackel wrote: »

my Shoe Dye 'problem' x

I once bought an expensive pair of brown leather shoes in a sale, but I didn't like them as brown but couldn't leave them at the price. So when I got home I got out the scuffkid which I always had in for the boys shoes and went over the shoes with that. Now that was about 20-23 years ago. The shoes are still black and perfect ( ok had to have them reheeled a few times, I have never had to go over them again, I just polish them with black polish as I would any black leather shoes. I just made sure they dried fully before wearing them and even in the rain they never put dye on my feet. I presume you can still buy scuffkid or similar ( presume it will be made of same stuff) now been a long time since I had to cover scuffs marks on a boys shoes ( my youngest is 28:).

Don't know if it will help but its an idea

prepareathome

Did p[STRIKE]!!! out[/STRIKE] sleep around 8am and woke up every hour so eventually got up again at 2pm and feeling a bit tired now but not quite sleep tired so hoping I will sleep soon.

One plus with all this not spending much money as to tired in the day to go shopping, just as well plenty in. I have a beef joint in sc for tonight, hubby opted for spag bol last night as he loves it and he knew I wanted to do something quick ( that is twice this week he has had it). Hubby popped out to get the gum stuff but they didn't have any, but it seems to be improving slowly.

So long as I can get my night and day sorted for Tuesday as its the next WI meeting and when I officially join and so I do not want to miss it, they might give my place to someone else as I have been offered the last membership available and they have a waiting list.

Hugs and Love to everyone

mardatha

Finally feel like I'm back in the land of the living - not quite :j but def !
Am still on the couch most of the day & I feel like a bit of very well cooked pasta but the will to live (and the tongue) are returning slowly
You're having a Scots winter and we're all sunbathing up here - it was 4 degrees here yesterday. But the mornings are lighter and it stays light until half past 5, so spring is on the way.
I not happy because am having to cut out all fat from my diet and that feels like a huge upheaval - last time this happened was when he was diagnosed diabetic, I had to give away a lot of my stash and that seriously bugged me. Now I need to change a lot of the things we eat and its making me ratty.
Goint back on topic, I wonder how many folk are struggling with heating costs and I read yesterday that the big 6 energy companies increased their profits by something like 700% last year. Seriously a return to the times of Charles Dickens and I hope it is stopped. In real cold weather keeping the heating off is not an option .

gailey_2

Morning guys

Blimey have so much catching up to do tried to go back and skim read been hectic few weeks.

Byatt-thanks for missing me, you so sweet hope you sort through your troubles

scrabbles-thanks for saying I could feed 20people on 600 :rotfl:think I would struggle though as only just managed to feed 5 of us on £250 this month roll on pay day!

quick note on topic of NHS as been bit upset about it myself latly.

2years ago a close family freind was diagnosed with rostate cancer.
he had had regualr checkups so somewhere along the lines it was missed and it spread to his bones so therefore terminal.

To make matters worse hes also got parkinsons disease too.
saw him at xmas and spoke to his wife theres a new drug he could have which may help but nhs wales wont fund it.
if he went private just for the drugs then all his care after that would be private so they just cant afford it.

Ironically if lived in bristol they could yet we dont get free prescriptions like wales. even the rich in wales can get free prescriptions as its not means tested.
yet here we pay.

when having my 1st born wales had 12week scans and bristol did not.Guess its just close distance im living here, family live there so probably had experince of nhs wales and england.
I detest the waste like building a brand new hospital when thy have percly good old one in better location ot jave freinds who work within the nhs and their salary and benefits much cushier tah private sector they not front line nhs ones in the labs ansd her husband works in warehouse.

Both grandparents are ill and need the nhs wales so hoping they do ok by them. fedw years ago my dad was ill and was in 2different hospitals.

Its the postcode lottory I would like stopped. equal and good treatment for all and sadly not the case.

Anyway enough gailey waffled must update

1)we all been poorly with colds all 3kids and me still. seems to go round in circles. wed got called to school eldest crying with earache. booked doctors appointment walking few miles to get there only to get least fave doctor who was horrid to daughter and said cant see infection take home and give calpol:mad:
she improved so went back thursday. baby boys been really grumpy, snotty and not sleeping.

2)we had snow started last sat was so pretty then a bit thusday and some yesterday but not realy stuck or disrupted us and the pavements have been passable compared to last year.

3)eldest broke up yesterday half terms come a week early and shes 6next week and im last min. com sorting out details for her party.
hubby gets paid wed!:Dso everythings had to wait until later.
edlest going to wales mon-wed see nanny so downsizing to 2kids.
But tonight im upsizing to 4 as stepson coming over.
elest haqs iceskating party to go to tommorow sadly icerink shutting down shortly sometime sthink uk truly crap facil,ities compared to rest of europe.

4)hubbys got 2nd interveiw for job so looking hopful dragging on think hes bit scared. same money but he needs to leave current to get better chances of promotion and payrise.
Yesterday a meeting in london got dumped on him and he had to borrow money off his mam for petrol to get there.

5)Had row with another mum yesterday about buying gender related toys for baby boy makes me mad all this pc rubbish.
I have 2girls and 1boy my 0-12months toys 95%unisex but fater 1-preschool toys about 70%of them girley or pink.
I have no issue with baby boy playing with his sisters dolls, pram, he alredy loves the kitchen but when it comes to buying him toys whats wrong with buying him a toolset, toy cars and garage?
My eldest is a tomboy but got girlier recently and my toddler is very girley loves dressing up as fairy and pushing her dolly.

6)went to uni open day last sat. meet entry requirements, its quite xcompetative and I be applying late. i can get enough fuinding to cover fees but childcare might be a problem but loved the course and loved the campus so will try and apply and hope for the best.

7)household budget- we have struggled with jan grocery budget only because

we dident get as much reduced at new year as we did last year.
my storecupboards were low on staples which meant we kept running out of staples like pasta, rice, passatta even tinned tomatoes which hasent been empty for years!
Its not so much took my eye of ball in december just november and december we struggled so kept foodbuying to min and dident have huge stockpile.

we have been lucky on reduced but this is taking time as go lots of shops and get the timing right can be tricky as im looking for 50-75%reductions.

My breadstash in freezer was out of control so dikd bread buy ban but shocked how quick its gone down had 300 rolls and one point but oddly gives me comfort knowing we have bread and other stuff in freezer.

even my monstor frozsen stash of veg gone down and chuick handfuls of things in soups, stews ect. got cauli left so going to do cauli cheese.

other day got 6pks reduced diced beef in spar from £3 to 75p each so next weeks beef week.
last few weeks lots has been mince and sausages been quite inventive but everyones fed up of it. last few days we benefited from reduced whole chicken £1.38 did a roast and a soup so 6portions worth and chicken thighs did casserole with rice.

co-op was horrid the other day as got beaten to reduced section thursay as one lady took everything, people were pushing, apples flying everywhere.

Pleased to say even hubbys really embracing the reduced challange as would say jan 70%of what we ate was reduced.

must write figures down and work out how much my savings would be.

plans as soon as can afford as will pay for itself.
pushbike with basket-so can do more shops in evening lookming for reduced.

wireless printer-so we can embrace extreme couponing!

planning on doing big farmfoods shop
keeping on with lilds lidls weekend deals
aldi supersix.
growing stuff
forgaing


slowly going to build up stockpile as we need it.

realised even corner shop cheaper than supermarkets on somethings,

started a price book.
everythings going up got quite upset sainsburys other week with shock 20p hike in value lines which now know if see something at right price I have to buy in bulk as value pasta nearly doubled in price.

8)lost my way on comping and surveys need to get back into it.

9)still battling the house and looking for bargain storage.
got exited as thourght landlord given us 2year tennaancy no just 1year againb so he can up rent and rents going up from march and agents admin fee now £80!landlord replaced broken fire however hes replaced broken corner cupboard with really rubbish one thats smaller and hard to acess and looks crap. The oven which is alndlorsd not shutting properly so thing go agenst and have a whinge about that.

10)reason not been comping or surveys is been selling and decluttering like mad this money has really helped put petrol in car, buy food, pay some birthday costs for edlest and started buying for babys 1st birthday on april.

Best go see what kids up to, no good I expect.

hope everyones well.

Yes at times the scimping gets me and hubby down but I kep reminding him theres people worse off, we have lovley kids, it will payoff when loan ends we wil be able to save and maybe long term the thrify ways we adopted will make us better off and actulaly its kind of fun and satisfying to make meals from scratch, forgage and do grow stuff.

2012 will be a truly oldstyle year for us:j:j:beer:

Catbells

Morning everyone.

I spent half an hour yesterday morning writing a post and when I came to send it I had timed out and had to sign in again. When I returned to find my post it had vanished. I didn't have the ooomph or the time to do it again. So annoying.

gailey - I read about some woman who had not revealed the gender of her child until the child was 6 or 7 years old. I didn't understand why she thought it wasn't important to have a gender identity. Its part of who we are ie knowing our sexuality - surely. Open to any persuasive arguments on this one.

mardatha

Goint back on topic, I wonder how many folk are struggling with heating costs and I read yesterday that the big 6 energy companies increased their profits by something like 700% last year. Seriously a return to the times of Charles Dickens and I hope it is stopped. In real cold weather keeping the heating off is not an option .

I rang my energy supplier (Atlantic turned Southern Electric) a couple of weeks ago. Even though I am on a budget scheme with them I now owe them £100. This will have gone up by now. I've started turning off the heating whenever I go out for more than an hour. If I am in the house I turn the thermostat down to 19 and then up to 22 when I go to bed so that its warmer in the morning. Have turned off two radiators in the house. I was advised to leave the one in the loft on to stop freezing up. Well that seems to have happened in any case (no water this morning) so may as well turn that off for the good its done. I'm wearing thermals in the house, cuddling a hotty on the sofa but as you say keeping the heating off is not an option in this weather. Sounds as if you are basking in warmth up there. Hope it continues for you.


Woke up to no cold water this morning which means there is a frozen mains pipe somewhere and I dont know what to do as its a fairly new house (moved last year). I can still make a cuppa tea with water from the hot tap though. This feels like a luxury. I remember my old dad used to keep a tap running throughout the night up in the far north. He also put a lightbulb on an extension lead in the loft next to the pipes to keep the temperature just short of freezing. The news says its -7 in places. Geeeez.

I hate being housebound and since my friends and I usually meet up on a Saturday morning for walking we might just go for a (another) cuppa just to get out of the house. You really notice it when you live on your own - not being able to go out. Its got me thinking about all the old (I mean much older than me that is) folks nearby who live on their own. One old girl who is 86 and with a fantastic brain lost her husband a few years ago and we often meet in the street for a chat, usually one of us leaning on a dustbin or a sweeping brush. I really like the neighbourliness round here. Much better than my old bigger house which was a bit isolating. I can also hear the children next door and that is reassuring too although I also hear the poor mum's frustration rising to a crescendo every now and again and it takes me back to being a mum!

Went to the fruit and veg market last week and stocked up with fish as well as fr/veg for the week. Got there at 7.50am and it was Siberian. The fish mongers hands were purple with cold. Spent £14 on everything and gave a bit of each to my daughter who hasn't time to go there due to work.

Lovely daughter coming over tomorrow night. I have already made her fave meal. Cant wait to see her and 'hang out' for the evening. She is having an early life crisis and I would like to be able to help but maybe I just need to listen first. I'm still learning as a mum to keep my mouth shut on some occasions. But having your children turning into adults is the hardest thing for mothers to adjust to. I still have a way to go to getting it right.

Hope you are all wearing your thermals and keeping the kettle boiling!

Have a great weekend.

hornetgirl

I'd just like to echo what Jackel said. I don't post that much but I do read every day. I'm not knowledgeable about the ways of social services etc so can't offer practical advice the way some can, but I'm truly humbled when I read of the problems some of you have to deal with, and I do think about you all every day. Hugs to everyone, needed or not.

[Deleted User]

SMILEY - the Lurcher has asked me to send Bruno an E Bikkit, a lurcher slurp and a message 'Bruno, when you is havin a wriggly backy scritch when your Mumi is kippin onna bed do't do it so hard - wake Mumi up wivva slurp an ask her to do it for you - Good Luck atta Vetty Persons Place - frum Doc xxx

greenbee

Minus 9 here this morning according to the carpenter who arrived an hour ago. Ice on the north-facing windows over half way up. Heating off as the floorboards are being taken up upstairs so a. They are in and out and b. Doing physical work that keeps them warm. Thermostat is on high during the day (I have TRVs on each rad to vary the temp from room to room, so I keep warm when I'm working and don't overheat the rest of the house) and on 10 when I'm out and overnight which means it doesn't get too cold (despite the amount of ice!). Stove is lit, sheepskin boots are on, as are two fleeces and a hat. I plan to get some work done this weekend while all the work is being done, but will need to go out and get some pipe lagging at some point so any unlagged pipes can be done before they put the new floorboards down. The old ones will make good firewood!