make do and mend for tougher times

manchestermargo

Hi Fuddle. Think you test how alcoholic your home made brew is by testing it's specific gravity using a hydrometer....... I think that's what it's called!! Don't ask exactly how you do this, but sure someone else will know.

Hi to everyone else as well.

MM

SpikyHedgehog

Possession wrote: »

Poor DS. I worry about the worrying (if that makes sense?). DD was so pleased I said she could do Irish dancing yesterday she gave me a huge hug and said she'd pay for the lessons herself out of the ebay money for her toys. I hope she won't have to!
Actually DH wouldn't really want that job if he had the choice, but he feels like he has to take anything that's offered at the moment and be grateful for it. I'm not sure anyone can be too choosy in this job market. On the other hand, the last thing I want is him being so stressed again and going to back to full blown panic attacks every day, so it's a vicious circle really. But a lower stress job than he had before would be appreciated.

Oh, it definitely makes sense :-( serious sensible children who should be carefree & careless :-/

GreyQueen wrote: »

Seconding that one! I can remember being 33 but only if I think really really hard.:rotfl:

:bdaycake::bdaycake::bdaycake: Happy Birthday Fuddle!

Hope you had a lovely day and were spoiled rotten.


Spiky news about your hours being cut. Is it a temporary thing or permanant? We'll all end up as part-timers whether we want to be or not. The Guardian newspaper today said that there was a 1 million increase in "underemployment" since 2008 by which they mean people who want and need more hours and can't get them.

Been taking some calls at work this past week from people who've heard rumours of the so-called bedroom tax. Some aren't going to be affected as they don't claim HB but the rumour mill is cranking and people are getting the idea that they'll be forced into smaller homes if they're so-called underoccupying. I can only tell them what is proposed at the moment but can't predict what may be coming down the barrell next from Westminster, althogth the omens aren't good.

I took Jiffy the trolley into the office and was braced for a leg-pulling sesh (my colleagues are a great bunch, like them lots, but they are a very, very witty and lively bunch). I was all set to ham it up something rotten, including a fake catwalk strut complete with Paris turns, and d'you what? NOBODY NOTICED!

Fer crying out loud, it's a snazzy black and white trolley and I have to put bells on it? :rotfl:

Just had a phone call from Mum to say she'd made a boo boo at her Sainsbugs and my 12 tins of tomato soup are actually 8 tins of tomato and 4 of chicken. Told her not to worry about it; she'll be demoted in the ranks for Shopping without Due Care and Attenshun but I'll still pay for and eat them.

Wishing I had a telly tonight to share this War Time Farm programme which everyone's on about. Guess a silence will descent across the OS boards and all eyes turn to the box.

Hope everyone is having a good evening and I'm off out to husband hunt. Don't want one but if you can [STRIKE]extort[/STRIKE] ermm request gifts at up to £500 a pop, I may have to reconsider my principles.

Laters, GQ x

ETA Chubby Checker the Checquered Trolley - love it!

Hours may increase early next year... Or permanently decrease to zero. At work, our major source of funding has been taken away from us, & we have to reapply next year... If all goes well, funding comes back & so do my hours - if not, there won't be enough money to carry on, or pay all redundancy pay... :-(

Bloomin' stressful. At work, I have to put on my calm 'it will be ok' face, while still encouraging people to explore other ideas...

VJsmum wrote: »

Belated happy birthday :T

My kids schools now have a system where we get a text if one of them doesn't arrive for morning registration. We once got a text even though DD had gone on a school overseas visit! You'd think they'd have been informed...

This morning I am going to try and tidy / clean the house. I won't get it all done but I think I will start at the front door and work my way in. My former cleaner is calling for me tonight to go out for a drink, so I don't want her thinking i'm not managing!! :cool: I am hopefully going out for lunch with a girlfriend - get me, quite the social butterfly today - to offload about DD as this morning I am going to enquire about her moving schools. It has only been 4 days but she is hating it and I think if she is going to move she'd better do it quickly. THe school she is at is only 9 miles away but involves 45 minutes on the bus and then a short train. She leaves at 7.20 for an 8.45 start and similar coming home. The one I am looking at is a 10 minute walk away and all her friends are there. I think the biggest factor in me not saying "tough, get on with it" is that she is so calm and rational. She will generally look for the drama in everything but is just calmly saying "I hate it - I have made a mistake". So fingers crossed that there is a space.

In other news, I might go blackberrying again over the weekend. We got a few the other night but I think they aren't quite ripe enough yet. Maybe this late burst of sunshine might help? Trouble is they will have to go in the freezer that I am still desperately trying to empty...

Ho hum pigs bum - time to shift mine, I think.

have a goodun and wish me luck

Good luck in getting DD's 6th form sorted out. Its horrible, trying to support them getting the right education.

ginnyknit

OOh Fuddle your outdoor cooking worked well :T I have an old olive oil tin out the back that I was going to plant stuff in but now I see it as very pretty little stove! Im all electric so seriously need to make provisions for alternative cooking. Even if it only boils a kettle or makes toast.

Well it all came flooding back guys, donkey stoning the steps for my Mum..I feel really old... I also used to push a pram full of washing to the wash house and use the big calendar ironing machines. Honestly Im only 53 Mum and Dad worked long hours in a factory (post bankruptcy) so they didnt have the time or energy for house work.

Just did a deal with Dd's partner, he could borrow the car for an hour as long as he went to Mr M and got me some pork joints. I do get lots of bargains but rarely meat so its pork with everything. Dd and him are chefs so are full of ideas but rarely cheap one :rotfl: however he came up with a good one, if you shred finely all the bits of pork that get left and put them in a pot with the melted fat you get off the pork it makes Pork confit (like the duck version) and it will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge, you can spread it on dry bread like pate and theres no need for butter. May not appeal to all but I like the sound of it.

fuddle

I can't find Asda smartprice scones pk 10. They were lunch box staples for me

Neither their Smart price malt loaf, another lunch box staple

betony

What is this 'ironing' of which you all speak? :rotfl:

I have been foraging this past fortnight and now have 2 1/2lb of mixed fruit, about half of which is cherries and cherry plums, with some blackberries, small plums and a tiny handful of alpine strawberries and blueberries from the garden and 7 & 9 oz respectively of white and black currants, also from the garden. Any suggestions for what I can do with it all? I've never made jam, but I have an easy recipe for microwave jam. OH fancies something alcoholic. Would I have enough to make a bit of both, do you think? I will probably be getting more blackberries, as they're only just beginning to ripen properly here.

I rather like the sound of 'forager's jam' or 'hedgerow liqueur' :beer:

Mrs_Chip

Make them fuddle - scones are quick easy and cheap, plus they freeze well. You could use marg rather than butter to make them cheaper (Aldi do a baking block for under 40p I think).

kidcat

Havent read all todays posts yet as they seem to go back pages and I lost where I was upto when the laptop crashed so apologise if I have missed something big.

Fuddle - Aldi do packs of scones for 45p, I know as OH takes them to work, he has a big breakfast here before he leaves then takes half a packet of scones for his first break. I used to buy the Asd@ ones but they disappeared here ages ago so was relieved to discover the Ald! ones. There is no way I could churn that amount of scones out every week.

[Deleted User]

Hi BETONY - you only have 1lb altogether and with 1lb of sugar it would only give you about a pound and a half of jam. If you add it with some sugar to some vodka or some gin when the fruit has flavoured the alcohol you can still use the fruit in desserts so you have two products. Probably more profitable than jam - hope that helps Cheers Lyn. Sorry didn't take in the amount of fruit you have. 2 and a half lbs of fruit and 2 and a half pounds of sugar will give you about 4 lbs of jam so may be worth doing. The other thing you could think of is a Rumtopf - german marinaded mixed fruits in white rum, layers of fruit and sugar in a jar and cover with the alcohol. Will keep for ages and is a nice dessert. Check online for amount of sugar to amount of friut Lyn x.

kidcat

Mrs_Chip wrote: »

Make them fuddle - scones are quick easy and cheap, plus they freeze well. You could use marg rather than butter to make them cheaper (Aldi do a baking block for under 40p I think).

Forgot they froze, do you have a foolproof recipe please? my last batch of scones were a disaster and I seem to have lost several cookbooks in the move including the one I had used previously.

Mrs_Chip

Oh that's good Kidcat - we don't eat them, so don't look!