Two Pennies Left

Fortune_Smiles

Right, back to keeping a proper track:

• popped into the market town to get my hair done - £56. This is still my reduced rate :eek: but prices have been increased for 2014 so it's costing me £6 more :eek: It does look fab though
• picked up some birthday cards and stamps - £16.45 :eek: March is a big birthday month. I really must get round to painting something I can get printed up as birthday cards
• got some spare light bulbs as I've used up my emergency supplies - £5.99
• went over to Across-the-Lane-Neighbours to drop off some butter she'd asked me to pick up. Was offered a glass of red :cool: and ended up staying for the evening. Is it wrong to have wine and crisps for supper I was supposed to be spending the evening ironing :rotfl:but life's too short to decline a social invitation

Mr F was on a business trip in Scotland and came home very late last night.

I'm thinking we might take DS1 and girlfriend to a local National Trust property at the weekend. We are members so that will reduce the cost a bit and they have a fabulous restaurant which is very reasonable too. The weather's due to be good so, hopefully, all the early spring flowers will be out.

Have a great weekend everyone

Fortune x

Skint_but_Optimistic

sounds marvellous

Ciaerda

crisps and wine sounds like the perfect supper to me:rotfl:

beanielou

Life indeed is to short too not socialise

Fortune_Smiles

What a fabulous weekend! The sun hasn't stopped shining. We've had a lovely visit from DS1 & Girlfriend:

• they arrive bearing gifts - a bottle of red and a beautiful azalea in a basket. I'm wondering if I can put the azalea in the garden or whether it's a house plant? Any advice from the green-fingered amongst you welcome
• went to a NT property on Saturday morning. We're members but paid for DS1 & Girlfriend - £28.60. The property has it's own brewery so we picked up some ale as a souvenir - £13
• found a lovely local pub for lunch. DS1 sneaked off and paid the bill before we had a chance to argue
• lunch was very filling so a light supper of Cauliflower Cheese Soup following by Double Chocolate Loaf Cake with sweetened mascarpone
• 2 late nights and quite a lot of alcohol consumed led to a late start this morning
• DS1 took girlfriend off on a tour of the local area whilst I made lunch and Mr F mowed the lawn
• lunch in the garden - so warm! And lovely to sit in the sunshine after this wet and wild winter. Easy Pesto Lasagne followed by Raspberry Chocolate Trifle (my own recipe) to use up the leftover chocolate cake
• Girlfriend and I exchanged birthday presents (both this month) before they left and they'd brought us a little Simnel Cake from Betty's Tea Rooms as an Easter gift

They've left now for the long journey home and the house is back in order. Mr F is watching the rugby and I'm catching up on diaries. We have all the windows and doors in the house open and it feels like high summer - wonderful

A detox is definitely on the cards now though. Mr F and I have been over-indulging all year so far and that can't go on for every. You'll have noticed I haven't mentioned the diet for a while.

I hope you've had great weather too

Fortune x

Karmacat

How gorgeous :j thats an idyllic day

Azaleas - I'm pretty sure offhand that they're outside plants, but don't plant it out yet - if you do, its fresh little root hairs might get nabbed by a frost - I *think* thats the way of it. Erm ... turns out I haveno real idea, thats just the way I think of it :o:o Hope someone with actual *knowledge* comes along soon!

Fortune_Smiles

Karmacat wrote: »

How gorgeous :j thats an idyllic day

Azaleas - I'm pretty sure offhand that they're outside plants, but don't plant it out yet - if you do, its fresh little root hairs might get nabbed by a frost - I *think* thats the way of it. Erm ... turns out I haveno real idea, thats just the way I think of it :o:o Hope someone with actual *knowledge* comes along soon!

Thanks for the advice Karma. I'm going to give the Azalea a go in the garden when it warms up a bit more.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

This is Mr F's final week in the current job. How quickly has that gone!

Life is returning to normality:

• finally wrote a letter for Mr F asking HMR&C to talk to me about his tax affairs. Up until now he has spoken to them first each time to give them permission to speak to me. I've been meaning to write the letter giving permanent permission for years so I'm very pleased to have finally crossed it off my to do list
• returned the paperwork for the J0hn L£wi$ credit card
• baked Cheese & Onion Bread to have for supper with the leftover Cauliflower Cheese Soup
• admin meeting in the evening. My turn to provide nibbles so I took leftovers from the weekend and baked some Stilton & Poppy Seed Sables

Sent Mr F off to work with the last of the Chocolate & Raspberry Trifle in his lunch box today :rotfl:I've started tracking my calories again so I'm trying to rid the house of all temptation :rotfl:

The Fortunate Cat has her annual check up at the vet this morning and then a day of typing up minutes and ironing awaits - oh the glamour of my life :rotfl:

Happy Tuesday all

Fortune x

Karmacat

Well done on the HMRC letter - thats a lot less faffing around in future

Those stilton and poppy sables sound wonderful! I have some wild poppy seeds, from plants that were pulled up when a local bloke was doing a renovation - must guerrilla plant them somewhere, and see if they make it.

With the sables, do you think semolina might substitute for the polenta? Same sort of consistency - I have a *lot* of semolina from Approved Foods thats never made it to the oven yet

Fortune_Smiles

Karmacat wrote: »

Well done on the HMRC letter - thats a lot less faffing around in future

Those stilton and poppy sables sound wonderful! I have some wild poppy seeds, from plants that were pulled up when a local bloke was doing a renovation - must guerrilla plant them somewhere, and see if they make it.

With the sables, do you think semolina might substitute for the polenta? Same sort of consistency - I have a *lot* of semolina from Approved Foods thats never made it to the oven yet

Not sure about the semolina. I leave the polenta out entirely as I find them a bit dry otherwise. This is one of my 'go to' snack recipes as they are so quick and easy to make.

Good luck with the poppies. I love them but have never had any luck in my garden.

Fortune x