make do and mend for tougher times

2tonsils

Feeling a bit better today, still have a stuffy nose and a cough now and again...but my energy is back LOL. Decided to make the most of it while the going was good and headed for the shops to get the weekly food in. OH usually goes with me but he still feels really weak with the virus and is coughing like a broken winded old horse. I was going to fill the car back up but then realised I had not been using it with the OH being ill and with me riding my scooter. Weather is still lovely, 29 in the shade so will continue using the scooter till the tropical storms arrive....

The shops were really quiet, a sad sign of the times, but the supermarkets had loads of offers on, including buy one bag of lamb chops and get another free....so I paid only 6.99 euros for a kilo of lamb...half the usual price. Got lots of fruit and veg and other bits and pieces that were 30 percent off...including honey roast ham that is gluten free...oh yes!Potatoes were at a scandalous high price again...85 cents a kilo for the baking potatoes, I really hope the farmers start to sell them direct soon...otherwise we will be going without them. I also bought some microfibre cloths as I use them all the time and you got one pack free if you bought a pack. They make great flannels for the face as they exfoliate as well.

I called in the ex catalogue imports shop to say hello (they know me so well lol) and the girl had saved me a scarf I had been looking at last week and it was reduced to 2.50. Its a long thin scarf with all the colours of the rainbow plus autumn shades and it will make my old outfits sparkle...... I also got a long sleeve top at the supermarket for 2 euros in Navy blue.

I made some home made cream of celery and mushroom soup when I got home and it tasted lovely. There are still two servings left for tomorrow and I added the jelly out of the roast chicken I did yesterday. No stock gets wasted in this house.

Just had a phone call to say they have taken my MIL into hospital for further tests as she is in so much pain from the gall stones. I am glad they are taking her in as she refuses to tell the doctor how bad it is and glosses over it...its really frustrating sometimes. She also avoids eating and just has a bowl of soup and a scone which won't be doing much for her stomach or gall bladder. We have told her she needs to eat little and often but sometimes its hard to convince someone of 87.....Her daughter lives near to her so is going to let us know how it goes and if we need to think about flying over. I do hope she feels better soon, it must be exhausting having that much pain and feeling sick as well.

Byatt

fuddle wrote: »

My eldest is 8 now and only just learning, with me right there, how to cross a road. Other children in her class are crossing main roads and walking to school without their parents. For me, this is not acceptable for my daugher/for me but I understand that I do have to let her go albeit at a pace that is comfortable for me and safe for her. I'm now at the stage where i'll stand with her to cross the road outside of school, allow her to decide when it's safe to do so (with me there in case it's not) then she walks along to school with me watching until she walks through the school gates. I will continue to do this for the rest of the year, when she's in year 4 I will then gradually allow her to walk more and more of the way herself.

I'm not in the wrong for what I do as much as the parents who allow their 8 year olds to walk through the village unaccompanied are not in the wrong. It's wholly personal to a parent and their circumstances. I am lucky in that I am at home with my children, other mums have to leave for work etc.

I have always said DD will have a mobile phone when she is 11 and goes to comprehensive school. That brings other issues though, as in working for her credit to use personally along with making sure there's always credit available for emergencies. How do you deal with that one?

Byatt you did say the same thing yesterday. You were the one I resonated with because you were so worried about your DD, had experiences in the past but knew you had to let your DD go, done in a controlled way for her sake. I think that's what I'm doing, I just have to take very baby steps x

More banking customers can't access their money this afternoon. I still don't have any cash, always use my card to pay but seriously, I'm keeping cash in doors now because this just beggars belief

Thanks Fuddle, I didn't mean to sound whiny , I just feel that when I'm depressed I worry I'm not writing down things clearly as my mind is often muddled.

Another bank? Which one?

Byatt

talking about first impressions. I broke down (in the car, not me personally!) and a couple of lads were walking by, looked a bit "rough", and came over to me and said, we'll give you a push, it's dangerous being stuck on the corner, another car could hit you. Bless them, it was up hill too, and I was terrified they'd expire!

fuddle

It's LloydsTSB, Coop and Halifax this time Byatt.

katieowl_2

Possession wrote: »

Kate what about some christmassy stollen soon? And christmas cupcakes if you pierce them with sugar stock will be OK 2 day before. Found some great christmas cupcakes on pinterest, give me a shout if you'd like me to let you know. Lemon drizzle keeps a few days but I expect you are already doing that. Our bestseller used to be chocolate unbaked which lasts a couple of weeks, like a chocolate refrigerator cake.

Yes please I've never made a stollen, should give that a go. I make a sort of rocky road sometimes. I like to use freeze dried berry fruits on the top for a bit of colour and flavour, it looks really pretty, and a bit different. Mind you the shop I got it from has closed now, so I guess I'll have to find it online. I make a sticky lemon and poppy seed cake, usually a good seller - not this week so we are eating it

Kate

fuddle

Possession are you a fellow Pinterest addict I can't sleep till I've had my fix.

Pooky

I've resisted the urge to start on pinterest! I don't need any more distractions.

I'm having one of those days with DD1 where I wonder why I became a parent, I know it's just a whole new phase in her life with starting college and work and she's testing boundaries all over the place but it really makes me feel naff when she can be quite so "teenage"

stiltwalker

I've known many people over the years whose looks belie their personalities - both big, tough, tattooed blokes with either shaved heads or great manes of hair (and some women who fit this description too, come to think of it!) who are great big softies and also well dressed elegant women who are fishwives at heart or tiny mice of men who become distinctly unpleasant after a jar or two. My OH can look like a nightclub bouncer if he has his hair to short (he did go through a phase of this a few years back but keeps it a bit longer now!) and he's just a teddy bear.

Had a lovely day out at Eden camp today with some of our lovely home ed friends - a non-school trip if you will! Jiggered now though as it was a long drive and still have tonight's revision to do.

Best get on - hope everyone ok - hugs where needed.

maryb

When DD1 was 12 and just started in senior school her school finished at 3.45 but DD2 got out at 3.15 because she was only in reception.. (It was actually the junior school attached to the senior school but they wouldn't let her wait in the late room because that was only for girls in Year 3 and above). I had an au pair to pick DD2 up and I couldn't let them hang around in the cold until DD1 got out so she had to walk home on her own half an hour later.

She was fine with this - it was less than a mile and there were lots of other girls around, and it was all on main roads with lots of people around. About as safe as it gets as she didn't actually have to cross the road. And the au pair and her sister usually waited for her in the sweetshop at the bottom of the road!!

However the school had noticeboards in each form room and the girls in that form were encouraged to put up cuttings from the newspapers about current news stories. And, of course, their rooms were then used by other classes for various lessons. Anyway, Year 11's form room had a cutting about the mother and daughter who were battered to death on a country walk by a psychopath and it was full of horribly graphic details about brain tissue etc.

After that DD1 was terrified to walk home and I was so cross with the school. I couldn't seem to get through to them that it was totally inappropriate to have that on the wall if the room was being used by younger girls. The deputy head even tried to tell me it was my fault my daughter was frightened and that I shouldn't expect her to walk on her own - she herself didn't go anywhere on her own after 8 o'clock at night. I swear I was sooo tempted to utter the thought that was in my head as I looked at her - shall we say, stocky, frame- "Well you're perfectly safe"

Possession

katieowl wrote: »

Yes please I've never made a stollen, should give that a go. I make a sort of rocky road sometimes. I like to use freeze dried berry fruits on the top for a bit of colour and flavour, it looks really pretty, and a bit different. Mind you the shop I got it from has closed now, so I guess I'll have to find it online. I make a sticky lemon and poppy seed cake, usually a good seller - not this week so we are eating it

Kate

Kate I'll PM you my pinterest page - you too Fuddle. The choc unbaked cake is iced, and used to get rave reviews but has no actual chocolate in it (just cocoa) so it's not too expensive to make. Also a boiled fruit cake was popular in catering platters but didn't sell so well on the van for some reason.