make do and mend for tougher times

Cheapskate

So glad they're OK, Lyn, and your idea for fuddle's new thread title is very apt! :beer:

We were in NY last August bank holiday, and it was so strange when everything shut down on the Saturday night! Thankfully it wasn't as bad as predicted then, but we were holed up in our hotel listening to the wind blowing a gale round the building.

A xo

2tonsils

Hugs to all who need them and congrats to all the ones with GOOD news... I like to hear all about your news whether its good or bad.

Had a busy day today and hardly left the house... our logs did not arrive but Spiros the builder did, to tell us he is bringing them tomorrow at 2, which is good as it gives me time to go to the gym in the morning then collect some bags of pine sticks for lighting the fire. They make the olive wood much easier to light. They are on offer for just 4 euros a bag so going to stock up as there was a shortage last year.

Defrosted some soup for lunch but didn't really feel hungry till tonight, so did a cooked meal then. Making the most of the buy one get one free bags of lamb chops..they are delicious. Sat at the table in the kitchen to eat, as it was so warm from the cooking and my OH says he would like to do that all winter, so we are going to eat there instead of in the living room.


Did all my ironing this afternoon and put it away. The wind got quite blustery so put the washer on with all the bedding in. My new policy is to get rid of any clothes that are worn or damaged so cut my t shirt up into soft dusters as soon as it was washed and dry. It felt very satisfying to do that! Have a new contact who is collecting household things and clothes for people who need them so going to ring up and tell her I have loads of stuff to give her. I hate the house cluttered and my husband hoards things given half the chance. You know.....'things' that will come in handy/we might need sometime/is a useful thing to have......

mardatha

I love Anne Modesit. I'm a trad Scottish oxter knitter. I can use DPNS but hate them

Pooky

Hello gang

Softstuff - what a dreadful time you're having. Hugs to you. My mum had shingles with stress after her Mum died and they come back now with any stressful situations.

Possession - glad to hear the boilers sorted.

Feeling so mich better today, still coughing well but managed to get out and about. Had to go to the solicitors for some documents to be signed and Mr S for some basics. Been catching up with housework this afternoon, DD1 has hoovered through from top to bottom and washed the stairs down for me. Changed our bed and got lots of washing done and out on the line. It was gloriously sunny and even quite warm so most of it dried.

Jazee

I agree so much with the post about using your nice things and not keeping them for best. You never know if you're going to be around for best. We use our posh cutlery and plates every night for dinner, always feels like an occasion.

Popperwell

Molly41 wrote: »

These bus changes can be challenged.
My DD goes to college in our county town 25 miles away so 50 miles return. Her bus started to terminate in Silverstone which in reality is a tiny village with no public facilities - despite being the home of British Motor racing. On about three occasions she has been propositioned and left waiting hours for a local bus to collect her.

It was totally un-acceptable and so I joined a big campaign as it affected so many people not just my DD - like older residents who had a hospital appointment which took all day to get there and back and youngsters stuck in a very precarious and dangerous position as said village has no cctv or shelters.

In the end after much campaigning, particularly by the Women's Institute, the through bus was re-instated and a much better service ensued. This was achieved despite the cuts.

Thank you for that Molly...its a bit like that here...and we are not even talking more than 5-15 miles...we are well served at one end of the county Durham and going further North into Newcastle and beyond but the southern end of the county is c***

It would be ok if you could connect to another service/change buses and had to add a little more time or mileage to the journey, that cannot be done. It would be a help if the last bus completed the full route but to terminate at a point after doing approx 75% of the journey and there isn't even a bus station there is stupid.

Softstuff wrote: »

I was trying not to post something negative, but I'm fuming angry and if I don't tell someone I'll burst.

Turns out that my latest kick in the metaphorical nuts is I now have shingles. From the stress. Oh the irony. An added inconvenience is it's my underarm and around my breast.

I'd go outside raise my head to the sky and scream "WHAT NEXT??"..."HAVEN'T I HAD ENOUGH YET???". But I'd be afraid a piano might land on my head.

On the plus side, I'm not upset, I'm stinking angry.

Oh, and we're booked to go away in a couple of days for a short break and a relaxing romantic time.....

As you say can it get much worse...things just seem to pile on top of another don't they...sending my thoughts for a speedy recovery and some peace in your life...

monnagran

Haven't been on here for several days so have just had a quick (-ish) skim through.
Wonderful news about the holiday Fuddle. You'll have all the fun of looking forward to it first. As to the house... A house is just a house and you can move from one to the other with no pangs, but a home is irreplaceable and you hang on to it like grim death.

What an infernal cheek of your HA PAH. I thought everyone was being encouraged to make their gardens as productive as possible. Mine own is certainly not tidy but is as productive as possible - slugs allowing - and woe betide anyone who suggests that I live in a desert. Love the poppy wallpaper, I had some similar in my kitchen before last and it always made me smile.

Congratulations on the job NuttyP I hope you'll be very happy there. And yes, your children are always children. I'm still looking for signs of improvement in my 40+ sons.

Oh Mar. Grumpy Old Gits. I used to live with one. Could always find the negative in any situation, gave me a run down on his state of health every morning, could never make a decision but always had an opinion on the decisions I made and when anything went wrong would say, with smug satisfaction, "I knew that would happen." Fortunately he took himself off eventually, and on my last birthday wrote me a letter describing in nauseous detail the trouble he was having with his bowels!

Don't know when I'll be on here again. In the next three days I have to write a church magazine, finish my patchwork homework, do at least a bit of the ironing mountain, knit 2 more Christmas Stockings or they won't be ready for the fair, and on Saturday I am catering for the refreshments for a British Legion 'Do' as the people who were going to do it have let them down. 200 people expected. Help!

Love you all.

x

Just had a phone call from DIL. She left DS in charge of the baby while she popped to the shops. She came back to find the baby screaming her head off while DS lay beside her fast asleep and snoring his head off!

Popperwell

It's free...I may go to the firework display on the town on Monday, If I stand further down my road I can see it without going to the location but you don't hear the music.

I can see it from my bedroom(some of the display)but three house roofs over the road block the view. ;)If i was in one of those they have nothing blocking their view...

It's been a long time since I went to it and a couple of years ago it had to be called off after a fire at a factory not too far away from where it takes place a couple of days before...

PoshPaws_3

Popperwell wrote: »

For anyone looking for great blog with easy, inexpensive recipes look at this blog and all the recipes in the index...

http://jennyeatwellsrhubarbginger.blogspot.co.uk/

I wondered how folks from my old stamping ground were turning up on my blog - and now I know! Thank you so much for the shout out, Popperwell!

GreyQueen

Jazee wrote: »

I agree so much with the post about using your nice things and not keeping them for best. You never know if you're going to be around for best. We use our posh cutlery and plates every night for dinner, always feels like an occasion.

That reminds me of a remark which Mum made years ago. She worked for a company which gave canteens of cutlery as long-service awards.

The cutlery was handsome, and silver plated, but not priceless IYSWIM. Her's lived in its presentation box in the sideboard and we carried on using the supermarket stainless steel jobbies.

One day, in my hearing, she remarked that so-and-so (a colleague) was using their presentation cutlery as if it was scandalous.:rotfl:I made some idle remark about it being meant to be used, which must have stuck as next time I visited, she was using it and it is the everyday cutlery now.

I wonder how many people have gone to their Maker with their best clothes unworn, their best sheets unslept-upon, their best crockery getting glaze-cracked from disuse in the china cabinet etc etc? It's like being the poor relation in your own home, as if you're not worthy of the nice things you own.

Softstuff that really really is the last thing you need in your life right now. Thumping pillows has therapeutic benefits, I find, and is less likely to disturb the neigbours than screams of rage. Let it all out and rest, rest and more rest.

OK, I'm fiddling around with a Halloween costume for the office tomorrow (we're not seen by the public, for which they may give hourly thanks) as we are having a bit of jollification to add to our esprit de corps. This will involve bringing in cakes and other high-calorie comestables and wearing silly outfits. Incriminating pix will be taken and added to The Wall of Shame.

:cool: If particularly incriminating, they may end up on FB. Mwah ha ha! I shall be wearing black and orange and wearing a spider in my hair.:rotfl: