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

mama67

fuddle wrote: »

I have looked at my electric consumption and last month we consumed £20 more than the direct debit. I kknow what it is, it's the tumble dryer being used daily because of all the rotten weather we've been having.

Here's my plan. I have a small airer that I'm going to dig out (might need a second one if this system works) and wash on a morning every other day. I will hang the items on the airer (line if I can ) that morning and hope they dry over night. If not finish them off in the tumbler but at only a fraction of the time that I would use from wet.

I feel like I have to be uber organised just to shave money off the bills. I don't know how you ladies manage to run a family, be OS and work. I'm lucky enough not to have to do the work bit at the minute and still sometimes feel overwhelmed!

fuddle, I have one of those concertina type airers, which if placed carefully will take a full load of washing. I don't own a tumble dryer. I wash overnight on timer so it is ready for when i get up, then if I have to (abysmal waether0 it goes onto the airer usually by the next morning it is dried and it is only thicker things like jeans which may need longer and i move them to the radiators even if not on so I have the space for the next lot.

hth

GreyQueen

greenbee wrote: »

GQ - the seagulls are coming inland because the weather out at sea is too horrid for them!

Birds of good sense, then. I've not liked them since one of them mugged me at the seaside for my fish supper. Having something that size dive-bomb you could reasonably be described as a Tena Lady moment.........

VJsmum wrote: »

poor me - so busy because I am going to Montreal :rotfl:

I selflessly volunteer myself to attend on your behalf. I scrub up well and I have a lovely speaking voice- just gimme the script and point me at the airport..........:p

Mrs_Veg_Plot wrote: »

Hi all. Its good to be back
Mrs VP

:j Good to see you back, Mrs VP!

Umm, tried to do one multi-quote over the eight, who was it who wanted to know about my slug-killing technique? I smack down the sharp end of the spade like Madame Guillotine, right across the middle of them. If no spade is to hand, I use a trowel but I do prefer the spade. Those crescent-shaped lawn-edging tools are fab, too. They don't like it up 'em. I figure it's an instant death and 100% organic, too.

I flew up to my lottie between thunderstorms today and planted out 2 more of the indoor-reared runners. Have surrounded them with islands of crushed eggshells and hope for the best. It had rained heavily overnight and was drizzling and the slugs were everywhere. I spaded 6 of them then thought I ought to stop as was beginning to cackle maniacally, which as fellow Discworld fans will know, is the first step on a slippery slope which leads to gingerbread cottages and unfortunate incidents with ovens.......

Discworld is on my mind at the moment as I just re-borrowed The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld from the library. Looking forward to dipping in and out of that in idle moments. Granny Weatherwax is my fave, closely-followed by Nanny Ogg.

We have another cracked water main (the same one which burst specatcularly in January) and it's been bubbling for about 48 hours now. Water Board have been told. It bubbles up thru the grass and runs onto the road into the storm drain until, all of a sudden and usually overnight, it RUPTURES. And then, gentle readers, it gets very hairy very quickly here at Shoebox Towers. You wouldn't believe how much water comes out of the 4" main. It'll probably end up in the hole where they dug the road up overnight last Monday when the leccy went off for 10 hours. We may be in for some Interesting Times (wanders off to kitchen to fill up 2 litre re-purposed Cola bottle with tap water).

I have a duvet cover on the airer and 3 shirts from yesterday's wash which need ironing. I should throw a batch of bread rolls together, plus vacuum, plus do any number of other worthwhile and domestic things.

But I'm skiving on the interweb and just chilling.........because I can. Laters GQ x

Possession

LOL you'd be very welcome! But having as many books as we have is not a good thing. I've given away many many more books than we own, but still the house is heaving under the weight of them. At one point I was reading a book a day but I was being sent at least 20 books per week and you can imagine that adds up. It's probably only two a week now. Unless a book is really good and deserves a place on my (full) bookshelf it gets passed straight on to friends and relatives.
Jasper Fforde is a really nice bloke. I'm sure he'll be delighted to be given some goodies.:)
I've never cooked mince and dumplings but after seeing a few mentions for it I might give it a try. DH would never turn down the chance for a dumpling.

SDG31000 wrote: »

Possession Can I move into your house please? We have more than a few books, but don't think we have 1000 kids books. We do have some old copies of Alice and Ali Baba etc I also have 1950s copies of all the Dr Dolittle books which are very non pc.
Thank you for the advice re Jasper Fforde. I've decided that a bag of homemade marshmallows is much less stalkerish than a full sized dodo in cake form.

Yesterday I went to visit my family. My nephew is now 16 months old, definitely a toodler and has all the women in the family as willing slaves. I got used as a pillow for naptime and had a great time. DBIL was very impressed with the marshmallows as were the rest of the family

Today I've made it to Tesco and back, which is an achievement as they have bunting stretched across the middle aisle all down the shop. It flashes and waves as you walk under it and is a major migraine trigger for me. I'm sure that makes sense to fellow migraine sufferers. DH trying to fit the new house alarm and crawling all over the attic over where I was trying to sleep didn't help :mad:
All this talk of stew means I'm making a huge batch of savoury mince for dinner. I've put more green lentils in than I have before so I hope my lot will still eat it. I might add some dumplings in if there is enough space in the saucepan.

I'd better go and see what havoc DH is making. Judging by the creaks and bangs the ceiling could come down at any minute.

Take care xxxxxxxx

fuddle

Pleased to see you back posting Mrs VP

GQ because you can and because you should. Enjoy your chill out.

I've been chopping up an old pink wool tweed like coat to make into a skirt. I'm actually really thrilled with it but I need a zip down the side as I can't get it over my thighs It's a really, really bad job consisting of cutting, hemming, sewing. It's bad on the insidebut looks bloooming good from the outside.

DH didn't win any pennies today with his fishing

shegar

Mrs_Veg_Plot wrote: »

Hi all

I used to be a regular poster on here but life got in the way and I have not posted for months. Have been lurking for the last couple of weeks. Its great to see so many familiar names and so many new ones. I don't stand a chance of keeping up with all of the posts but will try to.

Mr VP has been working for four months now and earning a wage (no more commission only jobs for him thank goodness). I have carried on with extra shifts until he got past the 3 month trial and have started to reduce my hours back down to full time which means weekends off and a bit of me time. With the debts he racked up money is still a problem but I really feel like we are getting somewhere.

Both girls have finished their exams. Youngest has a place at college depending on results and eldest has a place a uni depending on grades.

It rained hard last night but is a lovely sunny windy day today, the washing is blowing on the line and life feels good.

Its good to be back

Mrs VP

Same here Mrs VP, got problems with poor hubby and my time is being taken up 24/7 caring,but I do like to read posts when ive got time, but I cant keep up..........................

kidcat

Shegar - ((hugs)) I hope you are getting at least some rest and respite.

Its lovely to have some old friends post again.

Softstuff

Hey all I'm back! :j At least I am physically, with jet lag my mind will rejoin my body in about 6 days.

Good trip all round. Dad is a bit improved, after being hospitalised twice for passing out and not much done by the professionals, Mum figured out that this had all happened since they had been trying him on a new medication. So she stopped him taking it and he stopped passing out. When he finally saw his consultant she told him what she had done and he said "oh yes, it can do that"......

I shopped well in England and found some wonderful bargains, though was let down by car boots (too rainy) and charity shops (not much in my size at all now). Mum kindly shrunk some of my pants for me, so despite the additional weight loss over the past few weeks they still fit. I didn't have any luck finding elasticated pants I could comfortably wear (too tender in the tummy) or wrap dresses (all I saw seemed to be fake wraps which don't work on me), but I did develop a love for designer wear in TK Maxx.... I never thought I'd have Ralph Lauren trousers, but at 15 quid for a new pair which fit perfectly, I wasn't going to pass them up!

I saw friends which was lovely, visited some nice places (really enjoyed Liverpool and its newly developed Liverpool One area) and managed to have a generally good time (I also scalded my hand badly in week one and in week 3 got a cold and lost my voice, but if something like that hadn't happened I wouldn't have been me).

Sorry I haven't read all the thread and caught up, but there's nigh on 100 pages and I have to do some laundry too today!

In other good news for me, upstairs currently has new tenants for a few weeks who like to use the heating, so it's very warm in here too (dread to think what a shock the owner will get with the next bill) and hubby has just been told he has an annual bonus (I'll find out how much when he gets home) so our luck is on the up. Hugs to everyone and wishing you all some good news too.

SpikyHedgehog

mcculloch29 wrote: »

I started catching up with this thread an hour ago and I've only been missing 3 days....

I was an EB '...of Adventure' fan, but my biggest love was for Monica Edwards' Punchbowl Farm stories. I had won some Amazon vouchers and had others as gifts so I have 3 Punchbowl Farm books republished by Girls Gone By coming in the next few days, plus one published at the end of the month on pre-order.
I can remember being sooo excited when I found out that Punchbowl Farm really existed, and so did nearly all the animals in the books, with Lindsey and Peter being based on Monica Edwards' own children...

Almost matched by the excitement I had in the late 60s/early 70s, when I read the first James Herriot story and later realised it was all based on truth, that Darrowby was a mixture of Thirsk, Barnard Castle and Richmond, and that JH was a real vet called Alf Wight. It made moving to Catterick a lot more exciting fifteen years later...

I love Monica Edwards and have managed to get DS1 to read the books too. GGP reprints on the birthday list I think...

Caroline-Encore wrote: »

....

From that comment I guess you might possibly be on the CBB? Feels very weird different strands of internet life mixing!

:-) That 's what I thought! Yes, I've not been very active on there for a while either, but it's part of my life ;-)

mama67 wrote: »

fuddle, I have one of those concertina type airers, which if placed carefully will take a full load of washing. I don't own a tumble dryer. I wash overnight on timer so it is ready for when i get up, then if I have to (abysmal waether0 it goes onto the airer usually by the next morning it is dried and it is only thicker things like jeans which may need longer and i move them to the radiators even if not on so I have the space for the next lot.

hth

I've got an airing cupboard with slatted shelves & a little heater things at the bottom - and it's not been off very often. I do the load in the morning or in the evening as I can't get a timer on the machine now, clothes horse it over the day, then the next day it goes in the airing cupboard for a day - so it can take 48 hours to get a load done if it's a slow drier, but it doesn't use more energy than the airing cupboard (& the towels that live in there are lovely & warm too ).

I did use the tumble for towels yesterday as I'd had a load used mopping DS2's deliberate flood of the bathroom - well, he's banned from baths again for a while, showers only. But the rain stopped after lunch so I got a load on the line quickly.

GreyQueen

Nice to see you back on the thread, Softstuff. I was wondering if the torrential rain, floods, chilliness and general non-summeriness (is that a word?) could be attributed to your presence on your native soil.

So we can now expect some better weather......?

There is sunshine and clear blue sky out there and it's frustrating that I have to go to the salt mine for most of the day. When I come home, I have to sort out the fridge. It's replacement is coming tomorrow morning so I will need to defrost it and have it away from the wall and clean throroughly behind it. I do this at least once a year but wouldn't want the J Lewis delivery men to see anything unpleasant.

Mind you, I did drag a fridge away from the display in the JL store to see how far it projected backwards (my home is very small and every inch counts) and I was SHOCKED to see that there was fluff. In John Lewis! How very dare it!

I haven't been so astounded since I discovered that the Tooth Fairy had switched to decimal currency.

OK, enough drivel. The runners are growing slowly and steadily indoors and my first batch of broad beans have just started to set pods. The second batch are 4 inches high so there won't be an overlap on the harvest of those. Tatties are lush when they're normally starting to go over by this point in June. I expect that the harvest for these second-earlies will be late August now. No doubt the'll be humungous as they're growing on manured ground and there's been so much rain.

On the opposite side of the county, Dad tells me that the potato crops are being irrigated despite the fact hat it's not going more than a couple of days between downpours. Any farmers up here know what that's all about because it looks nonsensical to us, and we're country people.

Laters, GQ x

grandma247

Hello Mrs vp, shegar and softstuff :wave::wave::wave: