make do and mend for tougher times

Evie74_2

I love steamed kale Does that make me really weird? It's especially nice with roast chicken and cauliflower cheese <slobbers greedily>. Can't get DH or the kids to touch it though!

Evie xx

Mrs_Chip

Hope it comes out OK Fuddle! It needs gently handling to shape it (it will be quite soft, use plenty of flour on your hands ), treat it like a baby, and tuck it into a neat shape for the prove.

I don't know if there are any Richard Bertinet videos on the internet, but he believes that how you handle the bread had a great effect on the result, after knocking it about bit he caresses it lovingly (well he is French) - another interesting technique that produces lovely bread.

rosieben

<tiptoes in> I love kale too <tiptoes out again>

Popperwell

I'm ok with Kale too but recently I had to throw it out as I just did not get around to using it...

fuddle

oh Mrs C bread dough luuuuuurve lol Thanks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caiEXKK_xGY

kidcat

I have missed alot by the looks of things, and will try to catch up later, but wanted to send hugs to shropshire lass, losing a pet is so hard.

Mrs C - you are such a lovely neighbour, I am sure the Mr OG and Mrs OG respective families must feel happy knowing you are there for them

Mardatha - what can I say:eek::eek::eek::eek:

Bedroom tax confuses me, and like many have said I dont actually think it will have any effect of freeing up housing stock, I just see something that will actually cost more money to implement and not help anyone.

Have been ill for past two days and unable to move :mad::mad:, have caught what the eldest two have and could really do without it. Busiest week coming up and not stuff I can delegate, have really important meeting with a friend at her sons school on Tues, to help get him the proper help in school. We are trying to work together to represent each other at school stuff in the hope we can all benefit. I have been studying the relevant stuff for days trying to make sure I know what I am doing.:eek:
Wednesday is huge for us as DS14 is supposed to receive his formal diagnosis which will be bittersweet again I am sure.

DS8 has had a full good week at school which proves the point we have made all year that its not him, if he is treated right he is ok. He has been doing his lessons and enjoying it all.

DS14 has had an upset this week in that a member of his year has died unexpectedly, and as yet I cant get school to let me know the protocol they will use. He will needs lots of preparation for any changes in routine which will come better from me, really worried how it will go otherwise.

OH has used my being sick to stay off work again :mad: when we were actually managing ok, with DD17 and DS14 doing stuff as I told them.

Have looked at our expenditure recently and we really need to make severe cutbacks, worryingly its mainly food prices that have gone so high rather than anything else. Will need to consider making changes to our set up in order to cut the costs, maybe swapping all shopping to late night to take advantage of whoopsies.

Kittie thank you for warning about blight and what to look for, so far our all seem ok but as soon as I am upright am going to start lifting ours and storing them properly.

Rosanna79

Have been lurking for ages- couldn't keep up with the old thread and it's taken days to catch up on this one. So sorry to hear of poster's problems with housing etc etc.

It seems as though things are going to get rather savage and whilst being as prepared as possible is sensible, it does seem better for one's emotional and mental health to be mindful i.e to live as much in the moment as possible. I remember the importance of that from 5 years ago when my late brother was dying with cancer. That way we made as much as we could of the time that was left. There's simply no way we can cover all possible bases living in an urban setting. We can only do the best we can.

GQ
Your account of slug & snail massacre is amusing and we too are dealing with ridiculous amounts of the creatures in our suburban kitchen garden. I find myself sowing further batches of crops like runner beans just to ensure a reasonable quantity of crops by autumn! - We bought a huge freezer suitable for the garage to cope with gluts of stuff and now it even a reasonable crop looks unlikely without extra sowing - and then there's the cost of that to account for.

Kezlou
I must agree with you about tinned and dried potato products, I've occasionally used tinned potatoes to make a quick potato salad but they DO taste different . Also buying huge sacks can be a false economy as we found out in 2010-11 winter when the extreme cold made everything turn black. Maybe dehydrating is the way to go but freezing feels more likely to be successful for us. OH is a real potato head and won't touch rice or pasta whereas I can eat either so anticipate doing so as the things become more expensive. Is anyone finding apparently large packs of stuff like rice or pasta works out more expensive than the smaller ones? You really have to check every time...

Only last week fresh Broccoli had doubled or tripled in price locally- 2 big heads would have been £4.40!!! ( North Lincolnshire ) so have resorted to buying it frozen as we do like it. I walk with the council walking group and it's heartbreaking to see the state of farmers' fields as we walk. Everywhere is like a mud bath & waterlogged.

Spiky
I feel for you with the incense. Coming from a nonconformist background I only discovered my massive allergy to incense a few years ago when taking a service with a quire in a church with a low altar. I'd never encountered incense and some one waved the censer in my direction leading to an immediate 2/3 reduction of my singing voice and coughing up green muck for about 36 hours afterwards!!! It was very unpleasant.


Subsequently after moving north my last Quire leader died in December. We played / sang as a quire at his very high church send-off. I couldn't risk the same reaction so by being placed on the edge of possiible incense waving, a few extra puffs on the ventolin and careful breathholding when apparently necessary a repeat reaction was avoided! Other quire members were not so fortunate. It does make me wonder if in these more enlightened days they are really unaware of potential allergies / asthma??

Stll dealing with the effects of a whuplash injury following a fall on a badly maintained wooden bridge at our local stately home 7 months ago. Physio is very helpful and have been recommended to exhaust that before trying the Alexander technique- that's not on the NHS and our nearest teacher is a 50 mile round trip away. I've bought a book and audio CD so am studying up the subject but evidently may need to actually take lessons in the long term.. Has anyone had experience of this and what sort of financial outlay would I be looking at? I am a pensioner nowadays so it's worrying.

In the meantime I do my exercises regularly and keep going with the craftwork, walking, gardening. I've had to start learning a new instrument now my flute in storage for the foreseeable future as I can't play sideways with the pain. It's a tenor recorder which has proved enjoyable along with a wooden whistle so I can still play music with the group. It all keeps my arthritic bits in motion overall!... and there's always someone else much worse off. The daily bravery of so many people I meet or hear about is awe inspiring.

Mrs_Chip

Aw, thanks Kidcat! sorry you are feeling so rough . I hope Mr Og's family realise how much Mrs does for him - after all they are not married, and he is getting to that stage when he can be difficult. Mrs is starting to feel her age a bit I thing she feels a bit put upon at times. We help whenever we can, as we are so fond of both of them, more like family that my own tbh. Hope everything is ok with school this week, what a shock.

Fuddle - I can recommend getting one of those dough scrapers, they are only cheap, but make handling dough so much easier, and great for scraping off the work surface after making bread, gets all the sticky dough and flour off brilliantly!

And RB - lovely French accent, and he bakes great bread - swoon :rotfl:

GreyQueen

Gotta run out to play with a friend (she's feeding me, how fine is that?!):D. Beans done, self bathed and hairwashed (must do something about the lack of clothes) see y'all tomorrow. Love GQ x

PS Bonnie delivers a most excellent kcik up the arris after a late start (possibly even sluggish ) I got loads done.

Laters, GQ x

Popperwell

Kidcat you need, if you'll accept them...

Basically, if you are in a rented house from a local authority or housing association and there are any spare bedrooms being unused, they'll charge you per room. If you can make it look as though they are all being used(I suspect at present they are anyhow)they'll hopefully leave you alone.

Many have no idea of this tax(recently I have talked to three people)and they were disgusted, shocked and did not know of it! The media will(as politicians do)show those who agree with it but when you talk to people in "Real" life usually you get a different opinion.

Now I assume that also is only if you need to claim HB. Otherwise if you are in a private dwelling or not claiming HB, you'll be left alone...

If affected and you can find savings by cutting back further(How much more can we do)and can pay, they'll leave you be.

At a pinch if things stayed as they are now I might manage(especially if I leave the CH off)eat less but we know all kinds of cuts and changes are coming and circumstances can change, loss of a job, illness etc...then suddenly you are caught up in this.

Hope you feel well soon and things are not as bad as feared for your young 'un's...

That's awful about the friend at school...:(