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

kidcat

katie - I often wonder that, my dad always complains that the teachers at DD6 school are dressed inappropriately but when I look around I have to say they probably dont have much choice as the selection is all very much the same.

prepareathome

Byatt sending all the good vibes I can muster, I hope she can find somewhere near you asap for both your sakes, as she will be where she is happier and you will feel so much better knowing you can get to her much easier. I had an abesses on my breast about 5 years ago but was lucky, dr sent me via the quick cancer pathway to the hospital in case it was more than that ( it had not burst then) and so saw specialist just 3 days later and he had me in as a day patient just another 4 days later to have it removed - it was weird lying on operating table totally awake with right arm out sideways and strapped down but local stopped any pain and as he removed it fully in one go it was healed totally within a couple of weeks. I get them in the groin area a lot, thankfully not for a good few months now but on breast was a new area. I have one growing under right arm at moment which is annoying me is hurts when arm is down but cannot do anything until it either bursts or goes down inside me as a lot do - big ones dr will lance in surgery if she can if they refuse to burst..........its a condition whose name I never remember but begins with H and nothing anyone can do about it, just have to put up with, but put it this way you would not catch me swimming in a public baths again with men around as its left dark scars all over top insides of legs and under arms. I am lucky never had to put up with what your DD is having to now, so my heart really goes out to her and you.

hugs and love xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mrs_Chip

There might be something here, Kate

grandma247

I am afraid making your own dresses is becoming the only option if you need modest clothing these days. I have gone back to making my own and Ddil surprised me at the weekend by showing me the first thing she has made. It is a lovely simple no button jacket in synthetic snakeskin type fabric and she lined it.

She did such a good job ds thought she had bought it.

She said she had made one or two mistakes but they are not noticeable to someone who does not sew and even then you really would have to look close. I told her to smack anyone who got so close they might notice something because that is far too close and personal !

I have been trying to encourage her for ages and a combination of hubby being extra busy away from home and boredom she did it. The jacket cost her about £3.00 because she found a shop that does material very cheap and her piece was an end of roll. the lining was 50p a meter so I am going on Friday as I need some lining for some skirts.

greenbee

katieowl wrote: »

Now does anyone know how to cut a lobster in half??? Lengthways of course?

Yep I can do this in my sleep... I had a summer job one year doing all the crab, lobster and oysters in a seafood restaurant.. As you can imagine, I smelled delightful You need a BIG chef's knife, put the point in the vent on the head, and then cut straight down with the heel of the knife going in at the tail. Take the nasty bits out, take the meat out, and if you're dressing it, trim the tail and whiskers, give it a rinse and then put it all back in the shell

lizzyb1812 wrote: »

Does anyone have a silicone or marble rolling pin and are they better than the wooden ones? I don't like pastry so rarely roll stuff out and am pants at it but want to make wraps, pittas, etc.

I have a silicone one that I use for cake decorating, which makes a HUGE difference (I have a silicone board for sugarpaste too). I used it for croissants the other day, and together with bamboo work surfaces I ended up using a lot less flour than I did on marble worksurfaces with a wooden rolling pin in a class a couple of weeks ago. It's an extra long rolling pin too, which is handy

Byatt

Thanks PAH, so much. She is having to deal with daily packing of the hole. You have been through the mill though, my mother used to get abscesses, but I've been lucky. Just had a tooth abscess as a child.

xxxxx

fuddle

How far away from you is your DD Byatt? I feel for you and DD, she's having such a bad time and it feels like it's gone on for so long.

Grandma that is so clever. It is my aim, but in the future, to make all of my clothes either by machine or knit/crochet. I'm a very basic hand at the sewing machine but so keen I could burst I'm yet to make my first piece, but I will.

I gave sussed casting on and stocking stitch I'm doing ok, so began my leg warmers. I'm using circular needles which are to long for the job so have to use a technique called magic loop. It's testing me to the limit!

The sky is heavy and ominous. DH is going to get that parcel from post office on Saturday and i'm so pleased... I CBA today.

My washing on the airer has been hanging overnight and still damp. I'm going to give it till 5pm and then finish in tumbler if need be. I'm a bit scared the clothes develop a musty smell.

Molly41

prepareathome wrote: »

Grandma you have my admiration on what you did. Enid Blyton stories were also ones I would reach to my lot and say how this or that was our adventure ))

Reminds me that my kids (especially eldest son) loved Enid Blyton on audio book on long journeys and so did I x

Has anyone seen this programme advertised

mardatha

Fuddle the clothes would need to be hanging around a couple of days to develop a smell. I read your post as
" to make all of my clothes either by machete" and I thought oooh yes that would be really therapeutic I'd be up for that

GreyQueen

fuddle wrote: »

How far away from you is your DD Byatt? I feel for you and DD, she's having such a bad time and it feels like it's gone on for so long.

Grandma that is so clever. It is my aim, but in the future, to make all of my clothes either by machine or knit/crochet. I'm a very basic hand at the sewing machine but so keen I could burst I'm yet to make my first piece, but I will.

My washing on the airer has been hanging overnight and still damp. I'm going to give it till 5pm and then finish in tumbler if need be. I'm a bit scared the clothes develop a musty smell.

Morning all. Didn't get to the lottie at all last night; came over exhausted shortly after posting and spent evening on sofa with a book and had an early night.

fuddle, my Mum runs a 3-adult household in a very small 3 bedroom terraced house and when she can't line-dry outside, she has a couple of strategies. She has 2 of those Brabantia accordian-type freestanding airers.

What she also has, and you can buy for £12.99 from the Argos catalogue (look on 2nd page of the airers on the website) is a wall-mounted line (think it has 6 strands).

You mount the boxy part of the device on one wall with a couple of screws and the fittings on the opposite wall, and run the line out and it locks in place. Mum's runs over the tub. She can dry cotton double sheets indoors, folded into quarters, overnight with the bathroom door closed and the little top window open, no heat on. It's great for towels and clothes, too. HTH.

SuperGran also dries her clothes in the bathroom, with a pair of those hinged-top airers which have feet which balance on the bath-edge. They're very cheap. I have one of those for £1 from a c.s. as a back-up but dry clothes on a freestanding airer. Blouses get put on plastic hangers and either hung off the curtain rail or off the airer. I iron them damp and keep them on the hanger until fully dried, then back onto the hanging rail in my bedroom.

It's a total pain having rainy days in summer as you usually have no heat indoors and can be taking longer to dry things that it does indoors in winter. I adore the scent of line-dried laundry and not having an outside space is something I really miss about living in a flat.

I can make my own clothes, but I haven't made a garment from scratch for years. It's mainly a space issue, what with having almost no room to live, never mind to pin out a pattern, and a bit of Cobbler's Children Syndrome. I wouldn't want to be without my sewing machine and cabinet (a re-purposed DVD cabinet) of equipment and supplies. I have altered and mended a lot of stuff recently and am currently pondering how to extend the life of my fave linen work blouse where the fabric has started to wear out under one arm, but not the other arm, which strikes me as peculiar. I suspect fusable interfacing will be sneaked into the repair somewhere.......it's the sly seamstress' best ally.

If you're sewing, always remember to press-as-you-go to get that well-made look. I was always taught that the iron is as important a part of sewing as the actual sewing, IYSWIM. Have great fun with your new interests.

More beans have come up overnight! I have some concerns about them growing too skinny as the light levels in my flat, even on a sunny day, are pretty low as I'm in the shadow of other parts of the Towers. However, it's a choice between straggling beanlings raised indoors or chewed-to-pieces-beanlings on the lottie, so I will have to do my best and hope they sort themselves out once transplanted.

I suppose that's a message for life in general, isn't it? Just do your best. Somedays your best will be heart-stoppingly wonderful, other days your best efforts will be barely adequate, but we can only do what we can do.

OK, on that semi-profound note, I shall shuffle off towards the tea kettle. Here's a tea quote for the day;

Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world. ~T'ien Yiheng

Have a good 'un, ladies. GQ x