make do and mend for tougher times

quintwins

oh pah i love your red lanterns, i suspect they may be a charity shop find that i won't be able to get but if not where did you get them? i was eyeing up similar cream ones in ikea a few months back but as i had £60 on photo frames i figured i best just stick with what i went in for.

prepareathome

No they are real working oil lanterns I bought in an old chandlers we used to have nearby, sadly now long gone. I have seen them around here and there. I paid £6 each for them but that was about 10 years ago or longer.

I have a few of them plus also some that have been converted to hold candles - I have this thing about oil lamps and have a few:rotfl: most I admit charity shop finds and all fully working.

I also have candle wall sconce's in every room so if power goes off only takes a moment to have light.


Just realised there is one of the candle ones (silver) on the window ledge in the kitchen completed photo

Popperwell

I agree with QT about the lanterns, I started looking at some laterns today for the storeroom but they weren't up to much. The one's in your kitchen are special...

bluebag

Whoever is doing the rain dance.........yer can have a rest now thanks.:)

Popperwell

bluebag wrote: »

Whoever is doing the rain dance.........yer can have a rest now thanks.:)

We need a Sun Dance now!

fuddle

Can't you sleep little bear? No I bliddy cannot! :mad:

From my limited experience, although you could argue that ending up bankrupt and losing your home is quite enough experience :cool: I would say that it's absolutely the not knowing that is the worst of all. When you know what is going to happen, how much money you have etc you can knuckle down, grin and bear it, what ever it may be.

We're ok at the moment. We can keep our heads afloat but I know that should something happen we would struggle so much. My heart goes out to all of you who face uncertainty. It's the worst kind of upset.

Popperwell

Thank You Fuddle, I cannot imagine what it was like for you. It's been said many times how close we are to tragedy or disaster even when all seems well. It can change in seconds...

My uncle was telling me how some clients of his were talking of making a will and how important it was. They were going to do it the next day. Next day both were killed in a car accident!

In my own case with Mum all was well the day I called the Dr in regarding her not responding to me as I thought she should(and it boiled down to anemia and the blood transfusion cured that)but on the day the Dr called she mentioned another problem and within seconds we had gone from something we could cope with to Rectum cancer:(

Three weeks before that an awkward neighbour was playing war about a lovely tree we had and I sorted out with the landlord, local councillor, other neighbours and CAB all was ok. And little did I know that though that was a worry, I would get that news about Mum. Then I could care less about the tree.

Life is so ephemeral...

fuddle

I know pops, I think that's where my anxiety issues come from, the knowing that things can happen suddenly. My dad was dying from cancer for a good long while but my parents didn't tell me. Only the day before he went they explained that my dad was going to die.. at the age of just turned 10. The shock of that has scarred me to this day. I realise my mam was only trying to protect me but I feel if I had known, if I had had the time to get my little head around it, to grieve but cherish the time we had left then I could have coped better then and now as an adult. Hindsight eh?

Anyway, before I get maudling. I have some good news. Been browsing the sewing patterns on sewdirect and found that they had 50% sale on butterick patterns. I have placed my first order of £1.50 with free P&P for I realise hardly stylish but I'd use the jacket out walking the dog and the gilet indoors. Anyway, I can make it stylish with some lovely fleece fabric, thinking a sage for the jacket as will match my wellies. Hoping that I can alter the pattern to make children's ones too. Happy I can begin down the road of learning how to make my own clothes

Edit: scrap the sage, red it is as Asda have fleece blankets for £2.89

Popperwell

I think they look very smart and that you will too...and if you are making them yourself, that's pretty clever to me...besides you can decide what the colour or pattern is(ie:plain, checked or whatever)

A lot of our troubles emotionally are deep rooted and I quite understand you feeling as you do.

I think I was kept in the dark about Mum and though you grasp at straws and where there is life there is hope it makes it more of a shock.

Being called in called and being given the news that Mum was not going to last the weekend in the hospital was really the first time I was given the scenario as to what was happening.

But then to have her rally and them say it was likely Mum would come home...

It was virtually the same almost 30 years ago with Dad...he passed away the same day he went into hospital but no ever said until the last minute that was the end. So both of us were not exactly told the truth. As you say...hindsight is a wonderful thing.

To happier things...it's a new day and hopefully a good one. At least its not raining...and you always have something on the go so your mind is not idle, that's something to be thankful for...

meme30

GQ - you speak a lot of sense about the benefits system. I have been in the position of Smug Person (although I hope without the crashingly insensitive attitude towards the sick and vulnerable!) and we are certainly seeing things from a new perspective now that DH has been made redundant. He is going to go and sign on as soon as we have written confirmation of redundancy; this is all new to us as we have both always worked and have paid contributions for over 40 years between us. In return, DH will get JSA for six months, but after that we have been told we will be expected to live on my (pretty paltry) part time income, if he hasn't found another job by that time, as the Govt apparently believes that my income should be ample to keep the four of us. It would be funny if it weren't so awful.

I really don't know how things will be if DH doesn't find work soon. I have been packing out the storecupboard like there's no tomorrow as I'm conscious that things will get very tight indeed if DH can't find another job within 6 months. We will manage, because we have to. But things may well get very bleak. We have some savings (really wish now that we had not ordered and paid for the new kitchen, but then hindsight is a marvellous thing, and we had no inkling of DH's impending job loss when it was ordered and paid for) - the remaining savings are my "emergency" fund and will be put to use if necessary.

It's the uncertainty I am finding hard. I need a crystal ball!

Evie xx[/QUOTE]

I think you have expressed this very well. Having to claim benefit does feel shameful, yet you have no choice. Then you meet up with the governments real agenda, getting the unemployment figures down! Anyone claiming benefits loses them after six months if another person in the house earns enough money. It's not a high threshold and it does not matter if it's your teenager who is earning the money! Imagine telling your teenage son he is now expected to keep his parents! Now the sick are being told that their benefit is only to last a year wether they are better or not. This is all to massage figures, and the money they are going to save? Where are they going to spend it? You would like to think the NHS or Education but I wouldn't bet on it! BTW The great thing about your new kitchen is that it is paid for, enjoy it!:D

Fuddle:- Fear...That is what your experiences have taught you. You will always react to it, it's a learned memory thing. It's hard to accept it as part of you because you don't want it. In time you will learn not to beat yourself over the head with it and realise that it has taught you to survive and given you the chance to show your self your ability to cope. Anyone who could look at those patterns and think..fleece!... A*da red ones! shows a great depth of thinking laterally. It's that sort of thinking that is going to keep your family safe over the next few years.
Our shower broke, and we rigged one out of a hose pipe, shower head, 12v pump and a bucket, until we could afford another one. Friends could not understand how we thought of it. Easy..Necessity is the the Mother of invention! You are learning how true that saying is!

Taurus:- Good luck for your results today!:grouphug: