make do and mend for tougher times

betony

Price alert! Kerrygold butter only £1 at Morrison's

SpikyHedgehog

katieowl wrote: »

Labelling stuff in the freezer is not my strong point either...but when I break down big bags into smaller portions, I bung all the small portions in a bigger bag, with the shop label with the dates and stuff cut off the main pack and tuck it into the bag IYSWIM?

I've spent all day cleaning/tidying :mad: not a happy bunny...will be doing it until late, and tomorrow too. Even ventured into the pit of doom that is DS's room, a HUGE load of washing came out, and numerous sticky glasses, and a whole bag of recycling :eek: but at least now the sofa origami is now as I like it (two matching bedspreads cunningly folded to look like I have an attractive sofa) and the living room smells of febreeze rather than dog.

I told DS I'd stand him a couple of posters for in his room. Rashly, OMG I had no idea how much they are now! Of course he wants something esoteric and non-mainstream (Japanese, Samuri, by well known 16C artist...) back to the drawing board on that one. He knows there are 101 things he needs more if I'm forking out hard cash...shame though, as I think if he 'owned' the room a bit more he might take more pride in it! Will have to get my thinking cap on, as I know the sort of things he likes...

Kate

When Errant Husband was here & I got him meat in trays, like sausages, or pork steaks, I'd take them out, divide, wrap, & put back in the tray to freeze so he could see what they were.

VJsmum wrote: »

Well, bu88er me!! As soon as Fuddle wrote her first post I thought "Boudicca!" and Boudicca she is - great minds, eh?;)

oh and Spiky - your DS won't have noticed the weather as he will have had the curtains drawn. 16 year olds are allergic to daylight if mine is anything to go by. Or is she just a vampire? Is that why vampires are all the rage at the mo, as teenagers can relate to them? :rotfl:ANd I'm not sure they know how to keep rooms tidy either no matter what they've done to them. My DD is a bit of a geek (or is it a nerd?) and has all sorts of Sci Fi pictures over her walls. I had to sleep in there the other day (she and her friends were having a sleepover and I could hear them from my room above the lounge) and woke up to see Matt Smith and his sonic screwdriver (oo err missus) grinning down at me. COuld have been worse - could have been Mr Spock. Regrettably, though she does like him, she doesn't have a Sherlock poster - now that I wouldn't have minded waking up to

Anyway, where was I? Am very, very miffed at being awake. Have been awake since 4.00, gave up at 5.00 and am thinking of havng a soak in the bath. Today, tonsilitis notwithstanding, I am off to the Big Apple :j Me, the Ibuprofen, the paracetomol and the antibiotics (oh and the kids - OH is coming out next week) are flinging ourselves part way round the world in a narrow tube. It's OK as my antibiotics don't say that I can't have a pre-flight gin (or two - usually the only way I can get on the things. My OH says it's all in my mind - OF COURSE IT'S ALL IN MY CHUFFING MIND!). We won't be going to bed till about 2.00 in the morning UK time, so being awake at 4 is not what I needed. We are lucky in that we have had many "once in a lifetime" holidays, but I think this may be the last we have as a family given the precarious nature of OH's job at the end of the year, and University etc looming. I have often regretted money spent on things, but never regretted money spent on travelling - and my kids are the better for it, too. My tonsils look a bit healthier today, so I think it may be bacterial after all and the anti-b's are doing some good. Hopefully that means I shall feel better tomorrow, and at least all I have to do today is sit on stuff and be taken somewhere.

We have very thick fog forming outside. Very autumnal - was that summer then?

I will be checking in from time to time - but largely will see you all in 3 weeks. Enjoy the sunshine - it always visits the UK when I am not here!:cool:

Hope the anti-biotics kick in quickly & help you enjoy the holiday

DS1 keeps his clothes in a pile on the floor & only now opens his curtains since I pointed out his hamster wouldn't know when it was day or night unless he did :cool:. Favourite clothes colour = black, favourite time = night... Yes, I think you're onto something with the vampires!

GreyQueen wrote: »

I don't think they open on the weekend TBH, although I'm not 100% sure. Can guess what you'll be doing at 7.45 am on Monday, eh?

Rolled out of my pit feeling lurgy (that time of the month) and with 2 nights of almost no sleep on top of ME and my other probs, feeling less than motivated.

:j Howsomever, there is something strange and uncanny happening outside my window. The sky is an unusual colour, sort of like this and there seems to be a lot of brightness out there...........all a bit disquieting really. Of course, if is isn't raining it does mean that the dadblasted slugs will have to be hunted down in their lairs as they won't be brazenly strolling about in open view.

Soooooo, I shall have a celebratory sausie sandwich for brekkie and drag myself up to the lottie with murder in my heart. Oh, I shelled the peas before tea and ended up with 500g and not a single one of them had larvae in them from the pea moth. That's a first.

Hmmm, wonder what happened? Too wet for the moths? Snails and slugs out-competed the moths? Who can tell?

Happy trails to the travellers and a hopeful and peaceful day to everyone else...............

I think there's a problem with my washing line - I put stuff on it this morning & it's gone dry! Just as well I'd not decided to go extra money saving & put dirty washing on the line & squirt it with soapy water & wait for the rain to rinse it :rotfl:

They are open on Saturdays (& I apologise to all those to whom this comes too late to help till next Saturday!) but I couldn't get anyone till 5 minutes past 8. I guess we'll let them have day of getting up late... Spoke to another very nice man who input the change of hours & projected income for this year, added DS1's 6th form & let me know the letters I get won't show DS1 at 6th form till the beginning of Sept, so not to panic (I did say I'd write it on the calendar to phone them if I've not had a letter by the end of Sept showing him at 6th form). I told him I'd only just sent back the renewal form & he said that was fine - I'm sure he thought 'Oh, these pesky people, why can't they do it as soon as they get their P60s so we can be processing all the information', but he was very pleasant to me.

kidcat

GQ - I have seen them too, as far as I know its about helping "ground" working dogs and give them purpose. HOwever I do know that carrying a weighted back pack is good for autistic kids so maybe the dog was autistic!

Smiley - thank you, am taking my pills and attempting to rest but finding it difficult DD6 is constantly out playing with her friends, I use the term out loosely as they are in and out all day. This causes issues as DS8 really cannot be out there without strong adult supervision and even then he "ruins" the game or ends up hitting someone. So we are having a battle as he is very upset she is out and he cannot be, and its upsetting to see, but I really have no idea what else to do.

Had disaster last night when lock on front door broke, its the third in a year with the slamming they just die, so dad had to replace it yet again. Fifty pounds gone without blinking.

Thankfully OH is back in work tomorrow so things will hopefully be calmer.

Whilst shopping this morning I found 24 rolls of toilet roll for £6.99 so grabbed a couple, popped into Ikea to replace the plates, dishes etc that have been smashed in last two weeks and was surprised to find they are having a sale. Managed to get some wooden file boxes for £1.49 and recycling bins for kitchen £1.49.

Had an awful meeting regarding DS14 this week where they announced they have decided not to continue his diagnosis as when they observed him in school he seemed fine. WAs devastated but held my ground and made case for autism. Knowing my subject helped incredibly as the next day they arranged to see him again.
Sitting with them he just cried and admitted he wanted to kill himself (which I had suspected and brought up), thankfully they have now agreed to continue his diagnosis and also told me to remove him from school. He has been very morose since though and I am finding it difficult to lift his spirits.

kidcat

Can I ask does anybody know why our local supermarkets are all advertising summer opening of 24 hours including Sunday? Have Sunday trading laws been recinded?

nuatha

kidcat wrote: »

Can I ask does anybody know why our local supermarkets are all advertising summer opening of 24 hours including Sunday? Have Sunday trading laws been recinded?

The government has suspended the laws for two months, supposedly as a economy boosting measure. If judged to be successful then the law is to be changed to allow 24/7 trading - presumably this will also remove the prevention of trading on Easter Sunday and Christmas day.
HTH

kidcat

nuatha wrote: »

The government has suspended the laws for two months, supposedly as a economy boosting measure. If judged to be successful then the law is to be changed to allow 24/7 trading - presumably this will also remove the prevention of trading on Easter Sunday and Christmas day.
HTH

Thanks nuatha, cant believe I missed that one. I fail to see how it will boost the economy, realistically people only have so much money to spend, opening shops longer wont increase that. Wont help shop workers either most will be expected to work Sundays at flat rate.

grandma247

Evie it is probably sawfly. They have the ability to strip your raspberries bare. You could try and find all curled leaves and pick them off and destroy them unless you would prefer to spray them.
I found this info and this

GreyQueen

Evie74 wrote: »

GQ - dogs with panniers? Severed pigs' heads? :eek: Parks in Provincial City are a darn sight more [STRIKE]terrifying[/STRIKE] interesting than the ones near me!!

Evie xx

I was on the cycle path in the park last year and was dawdling down towards something sort of pyramidical (not sure there is such a word.....) sat in the middle of the path. Brain couldn't compute the item and as I got close I could see that it was a pig's head, somehow severed behind the jaw line and sat snout-upwards in the cycle way.

I stopped and gave it a good look to make sure that I wasn't going doo-lally but it was deffo a bristly-brown pig's head, all on its ownsome in the middle of a park in the middle of a city. Whereabouts of the rest of it, unknown, provenance unknown, fate unknown.

It'll have to be one of life's minor mysteries. Some truly weird stuff turns up in PC but I shall hold back on the details as those incidents made the newspapers and are a bit too much of a real world identifier. I took the calls on some of them and I still don't believe it............:rotfl:

kidkat thanks for the info about the panniers being a training device. It makes sense as they weren't big enough to have been sensible as a shopping aide. Although I have read that the native peoples of the American plains used to use dogs as pack animals, sometimes even getting them to pull smaller versions of the travois which were used by horses. Seen it on old 19th Century pix too.

Popperwell

They used the excuse of the Olympics for allowing longer opening hours in shops(they say it will boost the economy by allowing tourists and the population to do more shopping)wonder in these difficult times where the extra money is coming from.

My look out for an hour turned into three. The shopping trolley is great and helped me a lot.

I had some fruit and a big bown of milk and cereal when i came home.

Since Tuesday the local supermarket has been using shopping trolleys where you have to put a £1 into a mechanism to free them. We've all been asking why and saying they are not stolen and if you try to take them off the premises they don't work.

Today the penny dropped...

They've sacked the people that collected the trolleys and returned them to the collection point in all weathers. So as the customer has to pay a £1, they return them to get the money back!

mardatha

GQ, it might have been a ( smirks and looks very knowing) K9 BOB .
:cool: