make do and mend for tougher times

Jennie_2

Good luck to all the little people off to school this week (and the mums waving them off to new adventures). My 13 year old daughter has just started a new school which is right next to where we have moved to. Over the summer she was diagnosed with a chronic illness (completely by accident, a routine blood test for an allergy revealed something sinister) and she is on an extremely high dose of steroids. We have to consider this is an illness for life.


She walked (and has continued to walk) into school with her head held high, even though her beautiful face is so badly swollen from the steroids, and she has got on with making new friends and settling in. After a kiss, hug and a cheery wave off each morning I shed a tear or two hoping her day is good and telling myself not to take a sneaky peek out of the bedroom window at break time as she stands in the school playground.


This has changed my life and my thoughts about all sorts of things. It certainly puts life into perspective. She hasn’t once, not once, complained and said “why me?” or “it’s not fair”. It makes you realise we are stronger than we imagine.


Toddling off to help hubby put the finishing touches to his CV and figuring out what to do with the 29 mackerel my hubby and daughter caught yesterday afternoon. Trying out mackerel fishcakes.

Have a great day everyone!

[Deleted User]

POSESSION - could you scrunch up the shreddies and make birds nest cake with them, that is just like cornflake chocolate cales but looks like a birds nest. You can put maltesers, or smarties in for the eggs. It works well. Cheers Lyn x.

[Deleted User]

JENNIE - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall makes Gravad Max with mackerel. You cure it in just the same way you do salmon. The recipe is in the first River Cottage Cookbook and uses up 10 fresh mackerel. If you haven't got the book and fancy a go let me know and I'll give you the recipe. Cheers Lyn.

SDG31000

Morning all

Thank you all so much for the lovely Birthday wishes. I got some lovely presents and some money to spend at The Knitting and Stitching Show next month. DH says we might have to build an extension for all the wool. I had a wonderful weekend away, ate enough calories to see me through winter and built sandcastles . It was just what DH and I needed, it was so nice to have nothing to worry about and to get some fantastic fish and chips. I haven't managed to find good fish and chips in Leicester so that was very welcome. I need Mrs Chip to come and visit on a regular basis.

DS2 is at school and DH is meant to be going back to work today, if they have any jobs for him. So only DS1 home until he goes back to college on Thursday. The house is a tip, the laundry basket is overflowing and I have no idea where to put everything. I also need to go grocery shopping as I've run out of lots of things. I swear that stuff must be vanishing through a worm hole in space as I spend a fortune on food and by the end of the week there is a huge shopping list again.........oh I forgot, I have teenage boys in the house!

Time for some more tea and to get my bottom in gear to sort the chaos out.

Take care xxx

P.S. The cake was gorgeous. It might have to become a tradition.

katieowl_2

fuddle wrote: »

I don't know why it makes me all philosophical about a simple life, and yearn for a little isolated place because there's nowt simple about living like that, blimmin' hard graft!

I've reserved Hovel in the Hills on library online and noticed there was a Hovel in he Hill cookbook by Elizabeth West too called Kitchen in the Hills, The Hovel Cookbook. Just thought I'd pass it on.

I'm increasingly enjoying reading all snug and relaxed in bed, 30 minutes before shut eye. I wonder if that's an age thing too?

Woke up by DD and now can't get to sleep. Wednesday is DD (7) school return and Thurs is DD(4) first day at school. I've waited so long for peace and quiet and now I don't want them to go!

I thought porridge for breakfast, jacket potato cheese and beans for lunch and sausages, onion gravy, yorkshires and broccoli for tea.

Also going to look into what to sow in September.

Cookbook not in the same league IMHO - it's a bit hair-shirt with marmite! Worth a browse if the library have it, but for heavens sake no-one buy it!!!!


Kate

mcculloch29

Morning all. No shreddie cake recipe here I'm afraid, other than a suggestion as a replacement in chocolate crispie style recipes.
My 'Wartime Farm' book arrived, (paid for with vouchers from surveys, of course) -I've been offline spending time reading it and I duly reviewed it on Amazon.

That review is so far the only one and it is here - I hope it helps you, if you are deciding on whether or not to buy the book.

I've had a no-spend weekend, was going to go shopping but I've been called up for babysitting duty as my grandchildren go back to school on different days. It's DGD's first day at senior school and she is so looking forward to it.

She reminds me of me a little bit, she loves non-fiction books, trivia and learning from reading, it bodes well for the future.

grandma247

I found these for shreddies and this this this and this for cereal. I think the Fiber One will be like all bran.

[Deleted User]

KATE - The Marmite is WHY i love it so much!!!!! Sad me!!!!! Cheers Lyn xxx.

GreyQueen

lisakay, I once lodged in a downstairs room of an Edwardian terraced house (what would have been the 2nd reception room if not let out, I guess).

It was a terribly naice neighbourhood up near the university filled with terribly naice people who sent their children to Woodcraft Folk, worked in the Uni or as schoolteachers and not the sort of yobby block where I live now.

However, thoughlessness knows no bounds, and I once went around the next door house at midnight because he'd started hammering floorboards down. Our house was literally shaking and the children upstairs were crying in distress. There were 3 young children in our house, which they knew fine well. The missus answered the door to me and when I apologetically asked if they could leave this until the morning bithely said Oh, he's nearly finished. The fact that he should never have started at that hour was seemingly lost on her. Then, she suggested that perhaps I could move to sleep in another room?

Explained I was a lodger and only had that one room. Well, perhaps I could move my bed onto the opposite wall? The only other space for it was on the corridor wall and that wasn't feasible. This nice middle-class lady thought it was perfectly OK to direct her neighbour to rearange her entire home in order to accomodate them doing the noisiest of DIY at the time most people were fast asleep..............I coulda killed her.

mardatha

I enjoyed the Katherine Stewart one better because she lived that way all her life - she's over 90 now and still lives up near Loch Ness although in the village not the croft. Plus she lived in a high exposed place like I do, and I empathised with her struggles re weather. I felt that the hovel people just sort of did it for a short time to try it, and it wasn't the same somehow.