make do and mend for tougher times

ginnyknit

My day is upside down:( OH just had breakfast as we got up and took DGS to his childminder so DD could have lunch before work - 12 -8.30 shift. then OH went for a nap at 11 am and just woke up. Just glad he caught up on some sleep, I had an hour on the couch too. So now going to start what I was going to do earlier as I dont like to make a noise when he is snoozing so just crochetted.

Got the base for a lamb stew, muchly stretched, in the SC just going to pop the meat in now, smells good already

think Im on downsizer katie so yes probably right, prefer Great British eccentrics :rotfl:

monnagran

Having a quick rush through here as a displacement activity. I should be writing the church magazine that has to be finished tomorrow and hasn't even been started yet.

PAH: Have just read about your DM dying in a busy ward. Oh my goodness. That mirrors what happened to my father last year. Aged 97, in hospital for a couple of months where he lost two and a half stone, was starved and dehydrated, caught 5 infections, had two falls, one resulting in a broken pelvis, one hearing aid lost and the other broken.....and this was with two articulate, pushy, professional children on the case. I had a call after midnight one night to say that he was very unwell! I tore down to the ferry and got the last boat. Got to the hospital only to find that I was 10 minutes too late. He had died on the ward, among 5 other men most with dementia, one of whom was yelling out all the time and trying to get through the curtains to see what was happening to us. That is how he died. It will haunt me for the rest of my days. I have every sympathy for anyone with elderly parents in hospital. A crawling apology by PALS afterwards would only mean something if I thought that it would never happen again. I have no such expectation.

Pooky: If you want to find out about food banks I suggest you ask at the library, Job Centre or doctors surgery. It's not something you should tackle on your own as youwill need to have help with donations. The Trussel Trust organise most food banks so it might be sensible to contact them. We do our own with donations of money and food from all the churches in the area and a top up from AF every so often. If you DD wants to volunteer to help she will find it one of the most rewarding things she will ever do.
I take what you say about using church halls etc. and some of our folk have admitted that they were nervous about coming to ours because they thought they might be preached at. When they discovered that the rev (who they call 'Vicarage') dispensed food, hugs, love and tickings off in equal measure and could out-swear most of them they relaxed.
Good luck.

Duty calls. I'm off.

x

P

Popperwell

If you are into Halloween and have children/grandchildren Aldi's have lots of Halloween stuff including loads of cutters and items for making biscuits, cakes etc...

Worth looking at the website and information on their latest specials...

Just put that in to the thread(sorry that it is not to do with the present posts)

mama67

fuddle wrote: »

I need your ingenious ideas. DD (7) has ripped her nail right down to the nail bed. It's going to take months to grow out so the poor lass is going to have to have it covered so not to catch it. She would like a plaster on it and then some sort of bandage to cover it - funky mam, a funky one!

The only thing I can think of is crochet stripe a colourful one but then she'll have wool on her finger, at least if there's a bandage there's obviously something wrong.

Fuddle, i know i'm late replying to this, but maybe a normal bandage and and then a crochet fingerstall with ribbon ties to cover it
Used to get the blue plastic ones

RosiePuddingPaws

GreyQueen wrote: »

I'm sure I saw a media splash in the past year or two about a butcher somewhere who was selling grey squirrels prepped for the pot at £2.50 each. The meat is supposed to be like chicken.

I seem to remember that Hugh Fearley-Wotsits did a series a while ago and during that he cooked squirrel. Can't say I remember what he thought of it - but then he'll eat anything! It probably does taste like chicken - just about everything does (according to Terry Wogan!).

Well, it is official, Winter has to be on the way as my fluffy, but very skittish, cat decided it was too cold to sit on his own last night. He is a free range cat (cat flap for access and running buffet for food). It is rare that he wants to cuddle as he only likes being handled on his own terms, (he was born in a rescue centre and managed to avoid all the human socialising it seems).

He was lovely and warm (the heating is not yet on given the price of oil). It was just a shame that I hadn't changed after getting in from work and was wearing a black cardie and he is long haired, white and ginger. Now, if only I could train him to sit on my feet ...

RPP

GreyQueen

You cat reminds me of the 2 mongrel mogs (sisters) my parents are employed by. The Siamese-y one is very thin-skinned and turns into a lap-seeking missile at the drop of a draught. She went onto a lap for the fist time in months on Saturday.

The fluffy one (cute-but-dumb) likes to live outside and goes a bit feral in the summer and has just started to come indoors at night. She seems to overheat on a lap but will cuddle up on the sofa beside you. Be great curled on the feet, she's such a fluffy animal, but to expect a cat to do anything useful is a bit of an ask.:rotfl:They're rescues, too, from 2004 and are a bit neurotic to this day, but very much loved and loving.

The parentals had their gas c.h. on for the first time since Spring on Sunday and the system had a bit of a moment. Wouldn't turn off at all unless the water was off, also, and they only had the c.h. on at all because Nan was visiting and she'd 89 and feels the cold.

Gas engineer was out today, their regular guy, and he said it's a good idea to put the c.h. on for a little while a couple of times during the summer to keep it lively. The problem corrected itself before the engineer came but as the servicing was due, they had him do that anyway.

I have just dragged some frozen stewing beef out of the freezer (bought on YS a few weeks ago) so will use that tomorrow in a stew. I've been prepping the Aldi Super 6 carrots for the freezer, peeled and cut into batons and frozen into individual portions ready to be chucked into the steamer. I thank kittie mentally every time I do this as it was she who told the thread you don't need to blanch peas and beans and I've successfully extended this to the carrots.

It's great as it's tough getting thru a kg at a time as a singleton without stuff going bendy but if you buy smaller quantities, you really pay thru the nose.

Possession

£5 off when you spend £35 voucher for Aldi in the Daily Mirror tomorrow.

CT19720

Fuddle - according to my OH, squirrels are rather tasty, and not much different than chicken.

His mate as a wood, and they regularly have to go up and try to cull the squirrel population as they are doing a lot of damage to the new saplings that have been planted.

Apparently, there isn't much meat on them though, they take the ones they kill (3 or 4) into work and make a very nice stew out of them that feeds about 6 grown men. I wouldn't eat them, and only have to store them in my fridge - triple bagged overnight:eek:.

born_blonde

My DH says squirrel burgers are great!
I really miss having a cat, my lumbering, lolloping lurcher just isn't the same - try as she will.

Pooky

We had all 5 cats on the bed last night during a bad thunder storm, they were either all scared and seeking comfort or all sensed that I needed their company after such a naff day. One of them was very soggy and demanded to sleep either across my neck or on my pillow....I woke up with him snuffling my hair on my pillow and another one kicking and biting my foot. The joys of moggies.

DD1 has gone off to London this evening with a friend to see Michael McIntyre at the 02 arena, whilst I fret lots about her going up on the train she's done it enough with me to be savvy about train stations and underground and is very confident about where she's going (she always takes a map just incase). Last train gets them in around 1.30am so I've booked them a taxi from the station. Her friend is a lovely lad who is 6ft 5 and takes no nonsense, she'll be safe with him.

We're debating a colour gas heater for our kitchen as there's no heating out there and it gets very cold as its got an extension tacked on. We have an electric rad for sunny days (using the free electric from the solar panels) but wondered if anyone has any colour gas recommendations/hints/tips?