make do and mend for tougher times

Mrs_Chip

Made the rolls this morning. Very nice but they need tweaking for our taste - will halve the sugar,add a bit more salt and try using strong flour. But its a good recipe, and dead easy . I would say could be done in food processor as well as Kwood, if kneading is a problem. Made 9 nice sized rolls.

Woo hoo - I have damsons - Mr & Mrs OG went away for a few days and she brought me back a pound and a half, so will be jamming them this afternoon.

And still got to attack those eggs...

2tonsils

Since we still have hot sun between heavy rain I decided to spend some time sorting out myself...so on to my winter fitness schedule. I can go back to power walking from tomorrow so going to go foraging while I am up on the mountain.

Might just start collecting what dry pine cones I can find and store them for lighting the fire in the winter. There will also be dry twigs under the trees so will take a couple of carrier bags with me.

Have changed our eating plan as my OH needs to lose another 10kg for the sake of his back.....so having one fruit and yogurt based breakfast, one salad based meal with protein and one cooked meal later in the day. now I have set on that plan it will be easier to figure out. Problem is, he sticks to it for a while then 'deserves' a treat of chips or a pork pie!

Just done my washing while the sky looks clear, bed stripped and changed, clothes washed and now out on the line in the breeze. Washed with olive oil soap liquid from Lidls that makes them smell fantastic and super soft. Cheap as well and they have it on offer.

Not looking forward to hearing the next round of taxes and austerity that are going to hit us ....but we may not get that far as I think the current government are going to fall.....but we shall have to wait and see.

Dinner tonight is braised lamb chops and veggies that I cooked extra of last night, so it only needs warming up and some extra veggies. Just opened my birthday card from my sister for friday and she sent me a surprise of ten euros....how nice! Will try and think of a nice treat to get with it. Have some money left over from the housekeeping in my purse as well as I wrote a list and stuck to it! Both freezers full to bursting so I can't buy any more frozen stuff till I use some of it.

I must say I am enjoying reading all your posts and following your personal sagas.....it makes me feel better about our challenges over here in Greece, knowing we are not alone. Off to do more jobs, have a great evening folksxxx

SpikyHedgehog

Possession wrote: »

Is now the time to confess I don't usually make carrot cake because I'm too lazy to grate the carrots? They sound nice though, might make the effort.

I use the food processor to grate carrots for carrot loaf, & I'm thinking grating a load & freezing in usable amounts might be good.

Popperwell

Sorry to go slightly political and OT but some good news for a change(well, it's not good to have cancer)but if you or a loved one has it, there has been problems where the DWP have said you still must look for work and prove that you are, even though you may feel really rough with the illness and the effects of the treatment(radio therapy and some of the chemo given)

Today they say that they will no longer penalise or stress people awaiting treatment or being treated for this terrible disease.

So another "U" turn probably brought on by pressure from charities and the general public. Shows that it can have some affect.

On the other hand under the Universal Credit replacing many of the benefits claimed, there was a big feature on the radio last night suggesting that if you work part time(admittedly you may want to do more hours)but at this difficult time of unemployment and there being fewer jobs that is not possible for many...

It may be that you are unable to work longer hours because you are bringing up a family and cannot get child care cover or perhaps you are a carer or that your present employer cannot offer you more hours...

Under the new proposals coming in it is suggested that if you(as an example)are doing 16 hours part time work, if the local JC decides it can find you another post that offers more hours, they can insist that you attend an interview and even though you are already working, should you refuse to attend within 48 hours, they can fine or withdraw any help you may be receiving.

But can you imagine how annoyed your present employer will be if they have to allow you time off to look for another job with another company...

Seems a less than well thought out scheme to me...

Enough of politics again...this is more a post offering information rather than opinion...

Pooky

Off to the first funeral of the week, later this afternoon, the family squabbles have already started so I'm really not looking forward to it (not that you ever do but you know what I mean)

I've never made a carrot cake, come to thnk of it I don't think I've ever tried one. I'm not a big cake lover....but pastry...mmmm. , could eat that all day.

Popperwell

Wishing you well, as well as you can in such a situation...these are difficult times...

katieowl_2

Popperwell wrote: »

On the other hand under the Universal Credit replacing many of the benefits claimed, there was a big feature on the radio last night suggesting that if you work part time(admittedly you may want to do more hours)but at this difficult time of unemployment and there being fewer jobs that is not possible for many...

It may be that you are unable to work longer hours because you are bringing up a family and cannot get child care cover or perhaps you are a carer or that your present employer cannot offer you more hours...

Under the new proposals coming in it is suggested that if you(as an example)are doing 16 hours part time work, if the local JC decides it can find you another post that offers more hours, they can insist that you attend an interview and even though you are already working, should you refuse to attend within 48 hours, they can fine or withdraw any help you may be receiving.

But can you imagine how annoyed your present employer will be if they have to allow you time off to look for another job with another company...

Seems a less than well thought out scheme to me...

Enough of politics again...this is more a post offering information rather than opinion...

I can't see how that's going to work TBH cos' they'll have to have all the details of everyone, and ship them off to the Job centre, to be dealt with. I'd fall into that category...work wise, but the rest of the time I work for myself so how are they going to square that off!???

Also I suspect that many places (rural - like here particularly) the work is all seasonal or part-time, they can't very well drum up any more work if it doesn't exist...so people who are working in places like London, where there might be jobs going, are going to be at a disadvantage...but if no employer will take you on for more than 16 hours, I fail to see how they will enable the poor sheeple* to juggle the hours. That's been one of the problems for DD - She's contracted to work a minimum of 20 hours, often it's more, but in the winter it has occassionally fallen back to that, but you can't pick up anything else, if they don't let you know WHAT hours you are working until the week before, and they can vary from 6am - 9pm....2nd job???really???

It' all a load of B******s and like you say I can't see that it's been thought through. It must be causing waves of panic in some sheeple - I had a bit of a worry about it a couple of months ago, and then just kind of gave up. You can't get blood out of a stone. The hours I am working already are nearly killing me!!!

*Sheeple. Common person - one of the herd that does what it's told by the govt. See Keith Ordinary Man on Facebook.

Kate

prepareathome

Thanks for the fruit sharing site, have registered to see if I can pick up some apples, we have a few growers with spare now or a beg of Oct so emailed to ask if any left. Would love to have some to share but fruit trees and bushes were not worth the money I paid for them last year to be honest, a few rasberrys is all I ended up with this year and apple trees even though lots of blossom not one apple at all not even a tiny one. Oh well can only hope next year will be better.

Lasted Terry Pratchett book arrived, had pre-ordered it but forgot about it until last week received an email from Am@zon saying they had problems getting the payment,:o I didn't have enough on cc(prepaid) with forgetting so cancelled and ordered it Saturday. So that gives me a shiny new novel to read, makes a change from the wartime books.:rotfl:


A rumour is going round hubbys work that all drivers will called into DWP next year as all are part-time, but as the only benefits we get are my ESA and that is contribution based I cannot see why they would have hubby in unless they plan to become even more like Nazis and make working part-time a crime as they cannot fine us out of or stop money we do not get. Oh well its only a rumour.


Well going to make a concentrated effort to get out of this bed as need to pop to friends to explain to her how to read pdfs on her kindle- I find articles that are of interest to her and save them and send them to her kindle but forgot they only show up with tiny writing so in future will save them as text docs rather than pdf but to many already done. She is also realising that she needs the better kindle as she does not have internet and so she can only get things on her kindle if she takes it to her daughters or mine so is saving up to buy the 3G model.

Hugs and Love to all xxxx

westcoastscot

Mar thanks for that - we pay almost a £1 a litre for uht - I use it for yoghurt and also for drinking. I'm going to save up my housekeeping and come visit in the autumn (told you you'd be sorry!!)

WCS

Smoosh

prepareathome wrote: »

Keep forgetting to say welcome smoosh:wave:

GQ I know you are most likely offline now but when you read this in the morning I agree with everyone, doctors asap as no way should you be in pain now and obviously is really bad wit you needing two hot water bottles. I hope you took the ibuprofen with food, they are not good on an empty tummy.

Caught up at last.

Finished my home made day by making hubby a jam sponge pudding cooked in microwave which he happily ate with custard.

Right going to have a bath, showers after I get up are all very well but nothing beats a bath in my book.:D

Hugs and Love to all xxxx

Hi!

monnagran wrote: »

Am exhausted with reading so am going to bed,

Smoosh - be warned. When you are catching up on this thread you have to read fast to try and overtake the posters who are notching up the pages as you read. You think you are just at the end and when you are reading the last page suddenly 2 more appear.

Night all

x

I've definitely noticed that already

Softstuff wrote: »

Gawd you lot can talk. I step out for five minutes and I come back having to read a volume of War and Peace to catch up! It's a good job they haven't taxed chat yet.


I stand by my statement. And if celeriac is related I won't tell you which bit of Satan it looks like it might taste like. And Fuddle, making a soup out of it turns it into Satans... ahem.

Fuddle, I'm afraid I too imagine you as Cinderella and them as the ugly sisters . I have a tendency to wind people up more if they're being stuck up. There's just no need for it. I've never figured out where taking a pride in paying over the odds for something comes from. Strikes me as insanity.

Hi Smoosh. We're not as well off as we could be here either after I quit my job (various reasons) and we rely on hubbys wage. I've learned not to feel bad about it as in any good relationship you support each other, sometimes financially, sometimes in other ways and you don't always have to be equal for it to work well. You need to reassure each other right now that things won't always be this hard, but you'll be there for each other whatever.

Onesie wearers question: I thought they looked lovely and snuggly, but am a "middle of the night bathroom visitor" and didn't think that would be dignified or warm, am I right?

Smileyt, if the pizza wasn't furry when you picked it up it was safe to eat!

I just had my interview and I start volunteering at a charity shop tomorrow. It's not open yet, but they found out I can paint, so I'm in!

Love to anyone I missed as I was reading quickly.

Hello Very well put. After I stopped working (and before I'd decided to go to uni) he said he didn't care if he had to work 70 hours a week to make it work, he would just be happy that I wouldn't be miserable. I think we're both feeling slightly more positive today, we spent last night watching a movie together, which we don't do that often, so that was nice

Regarding the onesie - it is a bit annoying in that respect Although I have to admit I do wear mine to bed! I usually wake up in the middle of the night boiling hot though, so it usually has to come off! Other that than, it's so snuggly


Hi everyone else! I managed to catch up