Keeping up appearances.......

HappyNow

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Morning Happy

Embrace some nature and resist the rest I say. Great you had the money for the hay, thats the embrace, enjoy resisting with the hairdresser!

Rice pudding in the slow cooker is fool proof I promise.

HHx

I've just seen that you've actually written out the proper recipe on Pinot's diary, so I'm determined to have a go . There seems to be a shortage of pudding rice round here - do you always use that or have you succeeded with risotto rice or some other type? I haven't tried Asda or Sainsburys yet so I haven't completely given up hope, but the one time in my life I'm looking for pudding rice and it's sold out everywhere!

HappyNow

Dolphin1 wrote: »

Hi HappyNow

I have been reading these boards for a long time and picking up lots of useful advice but finally felt it was time to register so that I could subscribe to your excellent diary. I have just read the whole thing to date and it's very inspiring! Good luck with your journey!

Dolphin1

Hello Dolphin1, welcome to MSE. This site has really turned my financial life around, and if you need any help or advice you have definitely come to the right place. Thanks for reading and subscribing to my diary, it's great to have company . x

Hopelessly_Hopeful

HappyNow wrote: »

I've just seen that you've actually written out the proper recipe on Pinot's diary, so I'm determined to have a go . There seems to be a shortage of pudding rice round here - do you always use that or have you succeeded with risotto rice or some other type? I haven't tried Asda or Sainsburys yet so I haven't completely given up hope, but the one time in my life I'm looking for pudding rice and it's sold out everywhere!

I was in bed ridiculously at 1830 so have had a restless night but kept falling back to sleep. Up at 0730. Have never slept so long in all my life!

Never tried risotto would imagine you just cook it for longer. The trouble with some long grain ones is sometimes they have basmati in so smell will be different I'd cook for longer and stick some extrea sweetner or nutmeg in.

More likely to have stocks at asda and morrisons. If I were you I would make some telephone calls to save your legs. Remember the smaller tesco extress and spa type shops too, If you enjoy you can whip round and get a stash. Very cheap, abut 95p for 500g.

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

HHx

PinotGrigio41

Wow HH that was a long sleep !

I have pudding rice which I found in Asda only I didn't actually get around to using it yesterday after all

PinotGrigio41

Glad to hear you have lovely shiny swishy hair also Mrs Happy. ( Well you did yesterday !) Mr Pinot didn't even notice mine, despite the fact about four inches had been hacked off of it ! Maybe I should have jumped around in front of him doing some mad hand waving and bottom wiggling dance to try and get his attention. Instead, I cooked the dinner and had a little sulk that my new hair do went unnoticed !!:rotfl:

HappyNow

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

I was in bed ridiculously at 1830 so have had a restless night but kept falling back to sleep. Up at 0730. Have never slept so long in all my life!

More likely to have stocks at asda and morrisons. Very cheap, abut 95p for 500g. Good luck, let us know how you get on.

HHx

Hope you feel better for your long sleep, you must have really needed it. Nothing worrying you to make you restless I hope?

The pudding rice has become a bit of a mission now. I will not be beaten!

PinotGrigio41 wrote: »

Glad to hear you have lovely shiny swishy hair also Mrs Happy. ( Well you did yesterday !) Mr Pinot didn't even notice mine, despite the fact about four inches had been hacked off of it ! Maybe I should have jumped around in front of him doing some mad hand waving and bottom wiggling dance to try and get his attention. Instead, I cooked the dinner and had a little sulk that my new hair do went unnoticed !!:rotfl:

Mr Happy didn't notice either. I looked at him expectantly when he came home and he just smiled pleasantly back at me. When I asked him outright if he liked my new hair he just said 'Oh, I thought you looked different, couldn't work out what it was'. Money well spent then!

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Just tired, works been gruelling. Ploughing energy into being positive this year but thank you for your concern.

HHx

poohbear59

I have loved reading about the battle of the grey. I went into town two weeks ago and had mine cut much shorter but still shoulderish length and had the grey covered. I was trying to go natural and save money but so many people moaned at me to get it done that I gave in. It feels soft and light and me again. So I know how you feel.

On SW thread I was recommended to try rice pudding for breakfast but I haven't found any yet either. You can use ordinary long grain rice, not basmati, and it makes a pleasant rice pudding. I am sure our great grannies didn't have the choice of types of rice but made lovely puddings with whatever they had.

poohbear59

HappyNow wrote: »

Ha, my expectations were actually much higher than the reality! I seemed to have put in an awful lot of effort for very small reward, but I'm hoping to see better results next month.

I do have peace of mind though and I'm LOVING that. It's very satisfying to have little tubs of cash in the house, each with a label on - one for groceries, one for petrol, one for animal expenses, one for DD's upcoming birthday meal and one marked 'spare'. Imagine, spare money! That one's only got £30 in, but for the first time in my life I have an emergency fund!!

Where do you hide all the tubs of cash? DH has found all of mine in the past. He even took cash from the petty cash for the business for some petrol. I think he thinks I put things somewhere and forget I have done it like a squirrel. When he finds some he presumes it is long forgotten and always tells me he has found it, is really pleased with himself, and usually spent it on petrol. Maybe it is time to tell him what I am doing to help the family finances. Squirrelling for a reason.

HappyNow

poohbear59 wrote: »

I was trying to go natural and save money but so many people moaned at me to get it done that I gave in. It feels soft and light and me again.

Yes, that's exactly it - feeling 'me' again. Grey hair looks fine on some people but on me it's very ageing. Bad enough looking in the mirror and seeing [STRIKE]wrinkles[/STRIKE] fine lines, but grey hair too - nnnoooooo thanks, not yet!

poohbear59 wrote: »

Where do you hide all the tubs of cash? DH has found all of mine in the past. He even took cash from the petty cash for the business for some petrol. I think he thinks I put things somewhere and forget I have done it like a squirrel. When he finds some he presumes it is long forgotten and always tells me he has found it, is really pleased with himself, and usually spent it on petrol. Maybe it is time to tell him what I am doing to help the family finances. Squirrelling for a reason.

Ha ha, Mr Poohbear seems really sweet!

My tubs are hidden in a tiny, secret gap in our bedroom. It occured to me that I now sometimes have a large-ish amount of cash in the house. We live in a very rural, quiet area so the chances of a burglary are remote, but even if it happened I doubt the money would be found. And at night the dog sleeps in our bedroom (on her own bed, not ours!) and even though she would excitedly welcome any burglar to our home, she would at least bark and alert us so even the quietest sneak-thief wouldn't get near the cash.

Mr Happy knows about my new budgeting system, and has been given very strict instructions. He IS allowed to take some money out of the tubs in my absence, but it has to be from the appropriately labelled tub, for a legitimate reason, and he has to put the receipt back in the tub along with any change. Control freak, moi??!

Other money-pots such as the Christmas & birthday fund, car replacement/repair fund, vet fund etc etc won't be kept at home. I have set up a seperate bank account for each, but alas those accounts are all still empty .