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

jfdi

Lurker delurking for her monthly check-in! Decaf Tea & coffee ready for y'all!

Happy Valentine's Day to all - coz I LOVE you all in your on-line personas & feel a bit like I'm eavesdropping when I read the Thread every night! Anyone remember Houseparty on TV in the 70's? Well it feels a bit like that - watching people who feel like friends having a good old chin-wag.

Anyhoo - I have just broken my Approved Foods virginity (!) coz whilst I was reading this Thread, & keeping up with all the goings on everywhere, I got a little pop up saying new email had arrived, & before it popped down aqain I saw 'Free Delivery' for Valentines Day.

£45.28 later.........................

Lots of cake baking stuff & cereals & some snacks for my men (I don't buy usually as I'm always on a diet!). Can't wait! It's like C&£$!"*!s! How long do they usually take to deliver?

Off to my voyeur position again - gotta get the men up at 5.30 for their cash n carry run before work!

Keep on keeping on, Spring is just around the corner.

PS - Re the gifts etc for today - I was blessed to receive some A$da flowers & gave my hubbie a Kitchen Garden magazine. We were both well pleased!

Love
xx

grandma247

Rosanna79 wrote: »

Nine weeks ago today I sustained a whiplash injury in an unfortunate fall and am amazed at how long it is taking to heal. Knotted trapezious muscles are responding to my GP's accupuncture but near the next appointment the pain even goes up into my scalp. Apparently it's typical but carrying on as normal is proving somewhat of a challenge especially towards the evenings. Can't even sleep that well with the prescription painkillers / muscle relaxants I take.

I have whiplash from a car accident in September and that pain is familiar. I kept getting pain in my ear and the top of my head. It was coming from knots or trigger points as the physio called them. She massaged them and pressed on the most painful bits for a count of four to start with then about ten on a later appointment. It was painful at first but gradually as she kept pressing the pain eased and the knot relaxed. I feel for the most painful spots now myself and press a few times to a count of ten. It does help.
I also have another point just inside my collarbones and I do the same with that.
I have one more appointment but the doctor has already told me not to expect a full recovery till June at the earliest.

I also use aromatherapy quality lavender oil neat on the sore muscles. It is a natural pain killer. When it was bad I had to apply it twice with about fifteen minutes between. If you have never used it before it is best to try a little spot first. Reactions are rare but they do happen.

Another thing I had to do was ditch one of my pillows so I lie flat. The angle my head was at with two just made my neck hurt more.

grandma247

kidcat wrote: »

Thinking of abbreviations my friend sent condolences a few weeks back and signed off LOL, she was really confused when the family were off with her, when I spoke to them they were really hurt by her card and showed it to me, I immediately guessed that she had the meaning wrong and rang her, she told me LOL stood for lots of love. Took me ages to explain it to both parties, :rotfl:

My friend did this with all her texts till her daughter asked her why. She also thought it meant lots of love

Rosanna79

Grandma247
Thank you so much for your helpful reply. I do sleep as low as possible as well with only one very flat pillow. Other people's experience of something like that does help put things into perspective. It just wasn't something I ever had to deal with as a nurse so I've been feeling a bit miserable with the pain these last few days. I will continue as normal and try pressing the worst spots as you suggest. As they say ' every little helps'!
Thanks
Rosanna

VJsmum

Morrrrnnnniiiiinnggg

I have been up for nearly 2 hours and have still done bu88er all

I am off to Kent again today to see dad. He's been moved from ICU but I'm not sure if it's cos he's better or because he's driven them all mad. He is being very naughty and they have labelled him "uncooperative", which isn't good. I am going to have stern words. It is very lucky that OH works for a railway company so that we get free train travel, otherwise this would be costing us a fortune. First class is a bonus

In the process of my trip I am escorting DD to London as she is going to see Les Miserables, her favourite show (personally it leaves me feeling like i've gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson :rotfl:) but she loves it and bought the ticket herself with christmas money. I will meet her at Euston afterwards to come back home - she is 15 and fairly confident about getting herself about, so I think it will be good for her. My train trip with marking will mean that most of the marking will be finished :T and I shouldn't have any massive batches until Easter.

I am very happy that the temperature has risen and doesn't look like it is going to get bitter cold again for at least 10 days. I am hopeful that the back of winter is broken which very much helps my mood. 2 weeks tomorrow and it's march :j The upside of the "having to buy a new boiler" episode is that I think the house is warmer as it seems to be more efficient. Thermostat is the same.

Oh just seen the weather - looks like a cold weekend. Famous last words

Oh well, coffee is finished and i've run out of excuses - have a good day all.

katieowl_2

Morning Gang!

Well today is my youngest's 20th birthday! I actually feel quite emotional about it, because the last 20 years have not been easy...I've been convinced he was on the AS from when he was about two, just a couple of toes on the first rung of the ladder, so to speak, but it was enough to make him dealing with him challenging to the Nth degree - although I regularly declare to OH that I "Really do" deserve a medal. I don't think life for him has been that easy either, but fortunately at the moment he is in a 'good place' mentally, which makes life easier for all of us!

He was never diagnosed with anything apart from hypermobile joints and dyspraxia, but I firmly believe that the fact that we appeared to be a nice 'middle class' family and were on the surface 'coping' and he is extremely intelligent, all meant that he would never get a diagnosis that would cost the education dept a brass ha'penny. The fact I ended up in counselling twice....and now regularly get told I have the patience of a saint.... Ahhh lets not go there!

Anyway.... He's ordered steak for dinner, I suspect he will want a bottle of that nice Argentinian Malbec to go with it and for cake/pudding he wants a chocolate brownie with chocolate frosting.
I bought his presents in TKmaxx after Xmas, two things I know he wants (new headphones and a buff/choob thingy) very cheap! (makes up for the steak!) he knows he's not getting much as he's costing us a fortune being at college and not contributing.

Apart from that...I washed all the white approved foods aprons from the choccie workshop yesterday, the good news was that all the choccie came off, the bad news was that they all got tied up in a great big knot, and it took OH and I about half an hour to untangle them! Note to self...never wash lots of things with strings together!

Just had an eggie from the chookies for breakfast with a bit of bacon and some rye bread. Let's see if that keeps me going?

A question too...If you saw a class for money saving cooking advertised, what would draw you in? Would you like to learn how to make something like an Indian or Chinese meal... or how to use up leftovers? or just some cheap store cupboard meals? I'd planned to cook with the group and then sit and share/eat it, but I've got so much material, and have no way of assessing their prior knowledge. Work aren't being much help on how they want me to run it, so I've decided to basically just tell them how I'm doing it That includes making a poster and sticking it up round town! I'm planning on doing a series and not just one too...

Kate

scrabbles_2

I think a class for money saving cooking is a fantastic idea! And it's not that well catered for, most cookery books / programmes are for the 'money no object' end of the scale.

I think that learn to make takeaway is 'sexy' and might draw the 'casual' market in, so to speak. But cheap store cupboard and/or love your leftovers will attract more struggling people in, you might end up with fewer attendees but those attending will be more likely to really need the help. This kind of knowledge really is power to, say, someone on benefits who lacks the basic knowledge and skills to cook cheaply for themself or their family. It depends really what the aim of it is?

katieowl_2

scrabbles wrote: »

I think a class for money saving cooking is a fantastic idea! And it's not that well catered for, most cookery books / programmes are for the 'money no object' end of the scale.

I think that learn to make takeaway is 'sexy' and might draw the 'casual' market in, so to speak. But cheap store cupboard and/or love your leftovers will attract more struggling people in, you might end up with fewer attendees but those attending will be more likely to really need the help. This kind of knowledge really is power to, say, someone on benefits who lacks the basic knowledge and skills to cook cheaply for themself or their family. It depends really what the aim of it is?

That's a good point Scrabbles...and kind of why I'm thinking of running a series. If I labelled them all for what kind of stuff we'd be doing that week, and I LOVE 'love your leftovers' may I pinch and use that line? My target audience as I've been loosely instructed is to encompass any groups of people who may be struggling, young mums, older people alone, people on benefits have all been specifically mentioned, I suggested that if we did it and sat down to eat what we'd cooked, the class users would get a meal out of it, which for £5 is pretty good (it's being subsidised) as well as some skills/knowledge to take home. I agree totally knowledge is power, and also the thing that Amy Dycyzn (spl?The tightwad gazette lady) says of all the things you have to spend your money on what you eat is the only one you have any real control over. One of the girls I work with has learned only a couple of things from me, and reckons I've cut at least a fiver off her weekly food bill....She no longer buys ready to use pasta or curry sauces, and her family all prefer the stuff she makes now. Her feedback, and the money I've saved in the kitchen at work are the reasons I've been asked to run these classes.

Lots of the money saving cookbooks that exist are either not really aimed at the truly brassic, making a salmon stretch for two meals doesn't tick the box (unless you get it whoopsied for a fiver) or pushing cheap stuff like offal, that the family simply refuse to eat are just pointless IMHO. Buying whoopsies in itself is something that a lot of people are iify about, as they do not have the knowledge. There is far more mileage in being able to do ten things with mince, or six ways to use leftover chicken, and understanding the basics of using stuff up.

Kate

BigThelma

Morning all. Feeling a bit fuzzy headed today even though baby slept well all night. It's odd how after getting used to being up several times a night and only having maybe 2-3 hours sleep, I now feel quite groggy when I get a longer sleep!
Not looking forward to the teenage years if he turns out to be anything like I was when I was that age...

Thanks Catbells, hugs Rosanna and VJsmum hope your dad is improving. Katieowl, many happy returns to your son, enjoy the celebrations. Re the cookery course, I would probably be looking for ideas for using up leftovers and stock cupboard recipes so as to make something quick and tasty rather than curries or Chinese but I have what you would probably call quite traditional taste and don't eat much in the way of 'exotic' food!

Sausages for tea, (see what I mean?) not sure what sort of configuration yet. Had steak last night after remembering at about 10am that it was Valentines. We don't make anything of it usually but it is nice to have something different to eat.

Better go and take the washing out the machine. LO has started belly crawling and made it as far as the clothes horse this morning, yesterday he was after the ironing board. Wish we had somewhere else to keep them but we have no storage and a tiny kitchen so he we will have to teach him not to go for these strange and interesting things!

kidcat

Morning all,

VJsmum - hope everything ok today,

had delivery of two laptops this morning and whilst I had been worried they would be awful as refurbs and I had never personally used the company, they are excellent - such a relief.
Oh was here and didnt blink, he seemed to think we had probably agreed it at some point and he had just forgotten (his memory is really awful which usually works against me - why didnt you tell me about .... I did dear, twice!! this time its worked in my favour!!)

had a lovely afternoon planned, OH is taking two youngest to cinema (again!!) to see the movie they are desperate to see, so I had planned a quiet relaxing afternoon doing nothing for me!! DS13 has announced his bowling plans have fallen through so can I take him to Dobbies garden centre as promised months ago - so no quiet afternoon off then!!

Got to get myself together with menu planning again - have slipped once again and am back to the regular oh no what are we eating today conversation. Makes SC stuff out as everything in freezer takes time to defrost.