make do and mend for tougher times

kidcat

MrsVP - dont use gloss, it all goes yellow, I believe current advice is either eggshell or acrylic instead.

D&DD

Fuddle give him a slap in the kisser with a wet fish from me Well don't actually do it but just imagine he's getting one..will hopefully make you smile when he descends Hope all goes well good to hear you're feeling a bit more settled this morning XX

Kidcat have you solved the mystery yet?? Would it be someone from another forum maybe?


Royal mail are in my bad books yet again..do you remember last years saga with OH when they staged him for having cataracts???
He got put down to a stage1 disciplinary by the area manager and has had no time off for 11 months,had sciatica and had 5 days off(which shouldn't have even triggered a stage) and his manager has now said he has to do a stage3 meeting..basically the sack again..oh joy!Apparently area manager hasn't given HR it in writing.

He was told this last wednesday,union blokey has told boss he's wrong as he witnessed it all but bossman hasn't even bothered sorting it all out yet..about right

If they don't sort it out today I may have to go visit :cool:

SpikyHedgehog

fuddle wrote: »

Spikey stop giving yourself brain ache helping me out hun.. it's sorted :cool: You'll find out when you get to the next few pages, I'm really sorry x

Anyone know if dehumidifiers are expensive to run? P.S. Do you think I dare mention the toilet?! :rotfl:

See, I can laugh. He's not coming round till DH in tonight as I just didn't want to see him on my own.

Thank you Fuddle! I realised it was sorted by the time I reached my posts, but I think I'll leave them as they could help any lurkers...

Gosh, LL's being a bit of a stupid head, isn't he? I would mention the toilet, you'd already told him it didn't work and he knows he was meant to be fixing it. Someone was talking the other day about how much it cost to run their dehumidifier, I think it was on the Preparing for Winter thread...

Aha! I've caught up with the weekend's posts!

I've been doing more commenting on other people than talking about myself recently, I've been feeling rather low... I had a rotten cold that just knocked me for six, and work have told me to have last week off (except Thursday as 3 others were off already) and this week (and therefore next week as it's half term) to recover, with pay. It's been so stressful at work this past year, and it seems to have all caught up with me. Told all the girls sorry for having been a miserable grumpy cow with them, and they all gave me hugs and told me to get better.

Then last weekend, DS1 had been paint-balling, got hit in the jaw, which got more achier till Wednesday when I ended up having to take him to A&E, where the nurse looked at his x-ray & said he'd broken his mandible, go straight to the fracture clinic. Fracture clinic looked at the x-ray and his jaw and feel it's just muscle bruising, but I have to take him back this week to see how it's healing.

I was worn out enough after that but I did have to go into work Thursday as others were off as was just cream crackered after that. So I took DS2 to school on Friday, came home, put the washing machine on and went to bed for the morning.

Feeling more human now, the boys are at school, 2 loads of washing on the line to do something in the mist. DS2 had been doing really well with staying dry at night, (Thank you to everyone who supported me with that, it helped so much!) but has wet beds 4 times within the last week. It smells wrong though, so I think a trip to the doctors is indicated. I got him an appointment for this afternoon!

This morning, however, a trip to the launderette to get my winter duvet washed as one of the beds he wet was mine... I'm going to use the service wash so I can pick it up later in the week. Then off to L1dl for some fleecy insoles, on the MrS for some marge and fruit and veg, before home again to wash his bedding from this morning's wet bed...

Had lasagne for dinner last night, I used lentils in the sauce instead of vege mince or tvp mince, and it was really nice. DS1 looked suspiciously at it, asking if it were real cheese sauce, as he knew there was no cheese in the fridge. Aha, Old Style mummy hides grated cheese in the freezer to stop cheese monsters eating it all so there's none for cooking with! Of course, it was cheese I'd grated myself, not a bag of ready grated

katieowl_2

7_week_wonder wrote: »

Oh my goodness I'm so excited! OH is out and I have to tell someone, and nobody else will understand like you folks.......

I've made pasties!! For years I've always been awful at making pastry but I've recently been given a Kenwood Chef and this weekend I've been experimenting. For the first time ever I've managed to make pastry that I could roll out (ok my circles were a little geometrically challenged!) I've put some chickpea and potato filling in the middle and they are almost ready to take out of the oven. One has cracked, but the others look pretty good!

Sorry for crashing in like this, but I'm so happy:T

:T OH WELL DONE!!! Cracking the pastry is the hardest part....I can suggest a gadget though for perfect pasties. You can buy these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pasty-Makers-make-pasties-Kitchen/dp/B003W5GL30 in hardware stores, I got my most recent ones in the Range, I've had the big one for years a friend gave it to me, but I bought the set for the smaller ones, and gave the new big one to DD. You use the back of the opened out circle to cut the pastry out, then move it to the crimping side, wet the edge, put the filling in and fold it over, it crimps the edges, and you have totally perfect, all the same pasties. It's what I use for my pasties on the stall!!!

Kate

maryb

I got a set of those in Lidl recently, they're brilliant

Nargleblast

Fuddle - sounds like a cunning plan well thought out. And if things still go pear shaped on you, you know you have other options.
Well done!

paidinchickens

Hi everyone

The heavens opened a 5 am when I [STRIKE]dragged my butt[/STRIKE] got up However it stopped and just had to endure the fog by the time the kids went off to school and I took the pooches out.

The doggie politics around these parts are a pain in the backside and are even worse when it's foggy as so n so's dog dosn't like doofa whatsit so everyone is lurking around corners checking their dogs arch nemesis is not about :rotfl::rotfl:

One chappy did make me laugh this morning when he said " having a dog that doesn't come back saves on gym membership" :rotfl::rotfl: I had to agree when his dog sprinted off with him legging it behind him.

On the cat side of thins we still have one eyed cat who is happy to be having regular meal times.

Went to a jumble on Saturday and got a brand new quilt fo a pound which is great as DSs has seen better days.

Made a french stick yesterday............FIRST TIME I HAVE EVER MADE BREAD (not including using the breadmaker)

Why is home made french stick heavier than shop bought or am I doing something wrong???

Hubby is still round the twist and I'm worried about DSS2 as when I asked if he had any rubbish in his room he said yes and came out with a bunch of perfectly good coat hangers :rotfl::rotfl:

Have a great day everyone

PiCx

Mrs_Chip

Morning All!

katieowl wrote: »

:T OH WELL DONE!!! Cracking the pastry is the hardest part....I can suggest a gadget though for perfect pasties. You can buy these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pasty-Makers-make-pasties-Kitchen/dp/B003W5GL30 in hardware stores, I got my most recent ones in the Range, I've had the big one for years a friend gave it to me, but I bought the set for the smaller ones, and gave the new big one to DD. You use the back of the opened out circle to cut the pastry out, then move it to the crimping side, wet the edge, put the filling in and fold it over, it crimps the edges, and you have totally perfect, all the same pasties. It's what I use for my pasties on the stall!!!

Kate

I've got those too, they are great for pasties, but also smaller ones are great for empanadas (sp?) - little mexican pasties, and Jamaican patties.

Here is a good pasty pastry - it needs to be stretchy, and this one is, from The Pasty Book by Hettie Merrick.

459g/1lb strong white bread flour
110g/4oz hard marg
110g/4oz lard
175ml/1/3pt water
large pinch of salt.

Put flour and salt into a bowl. cut of a quarter of the lard and rub it in. Grate the rest of the fat into the flour and stir with a knife. Pour in all the water and stir until absorbed . Knead a little and leave at least 30 mins in the fridge before using. Can be made the day before and wrapped in poly and stored in fridge overnight. Freezes well, take out the night before you need it.

That quantity makes four 8" (size of pastry circle) pasties.

Bake at 220c/425f/reg7 for 20-30 mins then at 160c for 160c/325f/reg 3 for another 20 mins - that is for proper Cornish style pasties with raw fillings.

I use the pastry for lots of things other than pasties as it is very easy to handle.

If pastry is crumbly and difficult to roll it need a bit more water, unless it is a particularly short paste.



Edit - to correct quantity of water!

7_week_wonder

Morning (just) everyone. A quiet few minutes at work are allowing me to catch up!

Thanks to Mrs Chip, KatieOwl, Maryb and others for the pastry recommendations. OH is going to love you all - he loves pastry but, because I was never any good at it, he didn't used to get it that much. All that is about to change...... I've got my pal who goes to Lidl alot on pastry maker watchout and Mrs Chip, as soon as I get home I'm going to copy your recipe into my cookery folder.

Has everyone spotted that Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood are going to be demonstrating the technical challenges from the GBBO on BBC2 most evenings this week. I will be glued to it!

Fuddle, I'm glad the new day has brought a positive way forward for you. I hope the meeting with LL goes ok this evening.

Have a good week everyone.

paidinchickens

Forgot to say if you go on my specia! k on facebook they are giving away free samples x