make do and mend for tougher times

Kittikins

Popperwell wrote: »

Well, it's official according to Farming Today on Radio 4...carrots will probably cost more because of the weather and will be short and dumpy...get your tinned or frozen carrots asap...

Eeek! DD and I live on carrots, we get through massive bags of them every week, never tried tinned ones, but can't put those in her salad in the packed lunch

Next year, hopefully I won't have to have a leg operation and will work with friends to get the veg garden going. We only moved into our house at the end of the winter and the veg patch is filled with gorgeous poppies, and tons and tons of mint!

SDG31000

Morning all

mardatha Of course you can move in hunny I'll clear out the cupboard of Doom! for one of the monsters. Can you pick up fuddle on the way please so she can come for cake. Try keeping the clingflim in the fridge, apparently it makes it easier to peel.

PAH You can have as many hugs as you like. I'm very good at hugging. I can still get away with occasionally hugging DS2, but I've no chance with DS1.

Good for you kidcat I hope you and your children have a wonderful time

Well I'm up, but I'm not sure I'm awake yet. I caught myself putting sugar in the teapot instead of in my mug earlier. I do have three tea loaves in the oven so that must give me some brownie points. They are to go down to my DPIL's this afternoon. I'm hoping my friends have enough space in the car for all this cake.
I ended up going to bed at 8pm last night. My back was playing up all day and I finally said enough is enough and dosed myself up with painkillers and went to lie still. DS1 took over cooking and I got a plate of fried rice at 9.00pm. Very nice it was too.
This morning I have knit and natter so a couple of hours out of the house away from video games.
Time to get my bottom in gear.....bye for now xxxx

thriftwizard

Carrots - if you're anywhere near a farm shop, look out for sacks of horse carrots (ditto apples) which are the ones the supermarkets have rejected - wayyyy cheaper! But they need processing (i.e. preparing & freezing) pretty quickly, and I wouldn't eat them without top, tail & peeling them first.

elona

Kittikins

I used tinned carrots in things like spag bol , stews, mince dishes and soups and they helped bulk things out if weather was too bad to go shopping.

Must remember to start stocking up on them again before everyone else nabs the lot.

Have an order from AF and got the last few jars of bottled new potatoes so fingers crossed they arrive. Had an e mail saying they had to cancel some stuff and refund me and I thought it was bound to be the tatties but turned out to be a bottle of conditioner.

Used lean mince yesterday to make a savoury tomatoey base with rustic mash (skins on ) for DH and me and did spaghetti with it for one of the DDs. Made a chickeny veggie pasta salad for dd to take as packed lunch today and me and DH will have a la leftovers.

Shortcrust pastry is defrosting and will make little bacon and egg pies and Homity pies for tonight after hospital appointment at 4. Managed to get cooking apples so will do apple crumble if we have time tonight as have not made that for a while.

Helped friend of DH fill out some forms as he has just been widowed and not sure he knows about bereavement payment so will get DH to mention it. His wife got caught in the trap of only paying the small stamp years ago so may not qualify but it is worth mentioning.

Waiting in for person from BG to look at haunted pipes etc ( screaming and wailing sound when tap turned, loo flushed etc). He came yesterday and changed a valve thingy in the loft but said he might need to come back - looks like he was right.

Having a cuppa and trying to resist temptation of looking up Honey stuff but really curious. Have a Kelly kettle hidden away and a hexagonal camping stove that does not look very strong. Thought the new gas hob could be lit even if electric was off but looks as if it might not do this after all.

Hugs to all

GreyQueen

http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/product397.asp?PageID=118

For the Honey Stove and the YouTube video on this page. Looks like my kinda thing................

VJsmum

SpikyHedgehog wrote: »

I have had enough of DS1 getting up around noon, dozing all afternoon, having a rest while I get home from work & do dinner & do laundry & clean up & put DS2 to bed & feed animals, then playing on the laptop all night till I go to the loo at 4am & tell him to 'Go to bed!'.

So I have exercised my maternal control with the parental controls of my Vista laptop and restricted access between 1am & 6am - but I've only told him I want to him to stop playing the computer at midnight & go to bed :cool: Compliance will mean he not scream with horror when Minecraft ceases to be at 1am tomorrow morning. It's not fool-proof, as the deskie is XP so doesn't have the same controls so he could just sit up all night watching youtube podcasts of other people playing minecraft.

His list of chores for the week is:
Make plans & carry through seeing friends in person;
Draft design plans & do costings for a porch for outside the back door that I can submit to the HA for permission before we make it as a holiday project;
Keep washing up done;
Dust, hoover, mop hard floors;
Empty bins & put black bin out for the bin men;
Do CV for circulation & potential part time work.

He has plans to see friends as 1 has a party, & another asked him to go to the cinema. & did a load of washing up earlier.

Good for you - I am in a similar situation with DD. She finished her GCSEs a month or more ago and has been off ever since. I thought she would be crawling the walls by now - but no. She has been quite useful at times and other times is sat on her bum watching DVDs and playing on the SIMS. When I went to Montreal she was paid housekeeper and did rise to the occasion then and she has done a bit of cooking. She is 16 tomorrow and so has been unable to look at work and we are away for 3 weeks from Saturday. She has just passed her Bronze Medallion lifesaving award and is going to do the NPLQ (National Pool Lifeguarding Qualification) in August. Her swimming teachers have more or less promised her a job from September if she gets the NPLQ.

She gave me "mummy vouchers" for mothers day - (i.e. a voucher to cook dinner, do hoovering, ironing etc) so I am using those with good effect Hoovering one will come into play today.

I am so busy that I haven't much time to do my usual preserving of fruit that I do at this time. I thought i might get to fruit farm and just buy the stuff, freeze it and jam it later but, at the mo, I haven't even got time for that. Ditto the carrots - though that is a great idea. My tomatoes are dying - all the leaves are yellowing - I wonder if it's blight.

This week we are having "Freezer pot luck" for tea. Trying to use up stores of this and that. Today it is pies (rabbit for me - yum yum), with roasted older-than-it-should-be veg. OH is here next week (he couldn't get 3 weeks leave, so it's me and the kids in New York on our own next week :j) but he can fend for himself. It's funny but when I am left here with the kids and he's away, people leave me to get on with it. But I bet next week he'll be invited here, there and everywhere for dinner. He already has one invitation. And yet he's more than capable of looking after himself (and us, often).

Right, I'd better get cracking - have a good day all

elona

GQ

I had not realised it was a UK site :j

Fascinated by watching demo but have not told DH about Kelly kettle yet so daren't suggest this yet.

Need to get a move on and get downstairs before BG arrives and DH wants to wait for brekkie till we know when things happen. Could be late breakfast in that case.

Thanks for the info.

Sunshine4

Morning everyone,
I have been having problems with my left shoulder for about 6 months, cant move it properly and it hurts if I lift anything heavy with it.
.Went to the Drs about 4 weeks ago and he sent me for an xray.
Had to see him yesterday for some tablets and he mentioned my xray and said I have osteroarthritis in that shoulder, and has booked me for a US guided injection for it at the hospital in four weeks

. Told me too try and not use it too much and I will have my arm in a sling for about a week. Then said do you need time off work for awhile to rest it,I said no lost my job last week he said oh good

I know he didnt mean it but he was quite embarrassed after he said it.

So for now I dont think I can look for a job not that there is any out there. So I will just keep selling my stuff on ebay .
Tighten the belt even tighter.

fuddle

Mrs C bread is in the oven as I type, pic's later - I'm hopeful as I got some dough luuuuuuurve this morning

Just finished DD's yellow t-shirt and leggings. They look alright. Not brilliant but alright. Her show is tomorrow morning. She has never been part of a performance before. At 3 I hope she's ok.

I can knit socks I'm using double pointed pins and after a lot of faffing and mumble cursing I have an inch knitted. Very happy I can do it!

I too will get some tinned carrots in. I'm not a fan but I do like the suggestion of adding them in the SC. I'll be doing that. I have some that are about to turn from the weekend so I'll be chopping them to freeze later.

My strawbs from the coop have not lasted 24 hours I'm going to add them to some black currents when DD and I harvest them later and make a steamed pud in the SC. Gammon, fried egg and HM chips (par boiled then fried in the frying pan)

Deep fat fryer or Chip pan. Does any one use/sware by them? I guess with potatoes being a bit iffy I should maybe stick to frozen chips. What do you think?

I'm coming for cake!! SDG and Mar

Off to library soon to pay for y kids to go on the summer activity sessions. I'm hoping my DD can be a young librarian over the holidays. They should be 8 and she nearly is. It will be a good experience for her. She's reading Terry Pratchett's Wee Free Men and the minute. Such a bright kid.

Kittikins

I invested £1 in 5 tins of MrT's value tinned carrots on the way to work this morning

What I'd really like is to find a place where I can buy dehydrated veggies in bulk. I keep a box of Wh1tworth's dried mixed vegetables in the cupboard and its really handy and good, but I don't think I would have the need to buy my own dehydrator, as much as I like the idea of it. Any ideas? I've done some hunting on t'interweb and bought a tub of dried onions from Co$tco the other day, but I want mixed veggies, much more useful.

Just borrowed from the car tax account for a new winter coat, waterproof gloves for me and DD and a new snood! Preparing for a cold winter (or for not putting the heating on )