make do and mend for tougher times

kidcat

Margaret -thank you.

Bluebag - I do wonder at times.

Mardatha - the teapot sounds gorgeous.

elona

kidcat

AF have fancy teas on sale now , lots of herbal ones and I think they had earl grey.

Just got six boxes of basic tea bags but still some left on shelf.

DH and DDs have been saying how much they like soft rolls but they are difficult to find and quite expensive for what they are so might do some experiments to make my own and add water in oven to keep them soft.

Hug to all.

kidcat

Thanks elona - please report back on how you get on with soft rolls - DS8 will not eat HM bread, and will only eat soft rolls not crusty!

MrsCD

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

MRS.C - I'd forgotten about Sing Something Simple - wasn't that with the Palm Court Orchestra and on at about 6 ot 7pm on a Sunday evening? - I always remember trying to catch up on homework I had to do and trying to get it done before Sunday night at the London Palladium came on the tele. Another thing I remember is The Good Old Days, the victorian music hall with Leonard Sachs, but I thing that may have been slightly later. Cheers Lyn xxx.

I'm delurking to join in if I may. I remember Sunday night at the London Palladium, while I was doing the last of my homework because I had left it too late!

Fuddle - We used to have a lovely lady at church who had bought 'good' clothes many years ago, and they came out year after year. She had a summer coat and a winter coat and a few suits of different weight fabric. So you do get what you pay for - just buy them in the sales rather than full price!

monnagran

Mardatha: what a lovely story about the white pigeons. I find that Mum and Dad speak to me in my head sometimes. Out of the blue I seem to hear one of them giving me good advice or telling me off. I think the saying is true 'that to live in the hearts of those you love is to never die.'

Mrs Chips: Someone on another thread calls it 'the bouncing turd.'

Thanks for the 5 minute bread recipe. I usually make my own bread but when I'm out a lot it's difficult to find a long enough time to get it made. This sounds just the job.

I remember when I was at home with the children the radio was my constant companion. Especially in the afternoons. The Archers, Woman's Hour, The Afternoon Play, Book of the week - not many people remember this one but it was half an hour of someone reading a book as a serial, from 4.30 - 5.00 I think it was, just when I was getting the children's tea. Lovely! These days I listen to our local radio station which bills itself as "Snap, Crackle, but no Pop." It doesn't either, all the music and songs are pre 1960 and I can wallow in nostalgia. I'm a really sad person.

Bit worried about the tea situation, I don't drink it myself but living in a church house the kettle is always on and a 'nice cuppa' is always on offer. Also, if the price of tea goes through the roof I'm willing to bet that coffee will do the same - if not through shortages, through the SMs trying to recoup their losses.

I will try to stock up a bit but I feel sort of greedy scooping things up when others might need them more. On the other hand, most of my food seems to end up in the Drop-in anyway so perhaps I don't need to feel too guilty.
I watched the ITV programme on our food and felt grateful that I have lived through such tough times in the past that it doesn't scare me as much younger people who have never known shortages and things simply disappearing off the shelves. Since those days I have always kept a small stock of basics and I am now just adding to that stock a bit.

Onwards and upwards.

Pooky

I have the radio on when I'm here alone (which isn't often) but its just back ground noise, I can't listen to spoken word stuff during the day, my mind wanders too much. We do however listen to a pod cast of something every night when we go to bed, normally comedy. DH has severe sleep apnoea and has to use a cpap machine and wear a mask to keep him breathing at night (another side effect of his disability brought on by the accident). Before that we both used to read until tired but he can't see past his mask so we swapped to pod casts. Conversational type programmes lull me into such a safe and contented mood that I fall asleep instantly, I can remember as a child that I loved to fall asleep on the sofa when we had guests, the sound of relaxed chatter was comforting. It's infuriating now tough as sometimes we have to listen to the same podcast all week before I can hear it until the end.

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

PhGage

elona wrote: »

DH and DDs have been saying how much they like soft rolls but they are difficult to find and quite expensive for what they are so might do some experiments to make my own and add water in oven to keep them soft.

kidcat wrote: »

Thanks elona - please report back on how you get on with soft rolls - DS8 will not eat HM bread, and will only eat soft rolls not crusty!

Dan Lepard's Soft White Rolls are excellent - another very forgiving recipe but I'd recommend making 80g rolls as the size he recommends are huge

Dan Lepard's Sour Cream Sandwich Bread is my neighbours' favourite as it's not only a good flavour but beautifully soft.

rosieben

PhGage wrote: »

Dan Lepard's Soft White Rolls are excellent - another very forgiving recipe but I'd recommend making 80g rolls as the size he recommends are huge ...

I recommend this recipe - they are lush, my aunt and I agreed the best we've ever tasted. Must make them again ....

lisakay_2

Lol at Pooky, I don't object to being bitten once in a while...

I have lurked on this thread for many a long evening while DH is working nights and the kids are in bed.

At the moment we are trying to drag ourselves out of debt and to also save up for flights next year to visit DH's Uncle and auntie in spain. We had just enough to pay for flights this year (our first holiday together) and we both know the money should have gone to paying something off, but in the end it worked out cheaper than a uk caravan holiday and we have come back refreshed and ready to tackle our money problems.

My next step is to start building up my stores again. I love having fully stocked cupboards and feel safe when I have enough in to feed us for a few weeks, but I have been running the cupboards down, trying to save money. I'm almost out of pulses, pasta, rice, passata. I'll be adding a couple of extra bits to each shop, so hopefully my pocket wont suffer to much.

And, shock horror, I have NO teabags (please don't faint!). I can't stand tea or coffee and DH only drinks coffee. If family/friends visit and want to drink tea, they bring their own teabags :rotfl:

These summer holidays have been an exercise in free/cheap fun. The local baths, with a slide, have a family ticket for £6 which covers 2+3, so my friend and I have taken my 2 and her 1 swimming twice and split the cost.
I can also share a family tram ticket with another friend and her 2 kids (my dd2 goes free), so have been to the manchester museum and taken a picnic, a full day out for the grand sum of £3.50.
I have managed to get tickets for the cbeebies concert tomorrow, again the only cost is the tram fare, split between us.
today has been a picnic on the meadows with MIL (the wicked witch , not really wicked but I like to wind her up!) and the girls (DD1 is 6, DD2 is 4). The girls had a paddle in the lake and we picked lots of perfectly ripe blackberries and sloes. Then on to a free craft session at the local park.

My next issue will be school uniforms when I get paid next week _pale_.

SDG31000

Evening everyone

kidcat Is the woman that is leaving the nasty messages paid to run the group or does she work as an advisior? If so I would be taking screen shots of all the comments and reporting her behaviour. I hope your DD's leg is better very soon.

rosieben Thank you for your sig. I've had a cr*ppy day and that has made me smile.

PhGage Thank you for the recipe links. I'll definitely have a go at them.

fuddle I'm glad your daughter had a good birthday

This might be even more random than possible, so apologises in advance.

I have teabags on my birthday present list. I have a thing about Clipper Assam tea and it's really difficult to find. I've nearly run out of the 6 boxes DH brought me for Christmas, so need re-stocking.

I remember The Good Old Days and watching programmes from The London Palladium. My tv memories are watching the wrestling on Saturday afternoons when Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy were on and watching The Muppet Show.

I'm watching the diving at the moment and it is very exciting.

I'm not sure if I posted about my Godmother having an op on Thursday to have a tumour removed, but she is still unable to open her eye and the hospital are worried about her blood sugars. She was told she is type 2 diabetic years ago and her GP has been useless. No meds, no monitoring, no dietery help....nada. We have been telling her that isn't right, but she didn't see what was wrong. Now she is being monitored it's showing that it isn't under control.
The we heard that our friend who is 42 and has cancer is in a hospice for a while to try to get his pain under control and that the 12 weeks of chemo has only decreased the density of one of the tumours, none have strunk and there are now many more of them. The Drs have said that if they can't get it under control then he probably has two months left. His wife is looking into suing the GP who failed to diagnosed him or send him for any tests. His wife almost got banned from the GP surgery when she said in no uncertain terms that if she was put in a room with the guilty GP that an ambulence or the police would need to be called. After she said that the GP had basically murdered her DH, then they put on all the family's notes that they are not to see that GP.
I just feel so bloody helpless. There is nothing we can do and it's so upsetting.
I've booked tickets for the knitting and stitching show at Alexandra Palace in October and my DMIL and I will be taking friend's wife for a day out and a break away from it all. I'm hoping it helps.

DH has to go to work at silly o'clock tomorrow so I'd better go and wind down at bit to see if I can get to sleep at a reasonable hour.

Take care xxxxx

P.S Hi lisakay, we got DS2's uniform from Tesco today using the double up voucher scheme, so £30 of clothing for £15 in clubcard vouchers.