My Busy Life

sidneysmum

Hi Polesalot - Glad you are feeling a bit brighter. Exercise is working wonders for me too ! I am planning on following your lead and using the local library...but only once i have got through the mountain of books i have got on the lounge bookcase. At the moment I an reading "A stolen Life" by Jaycee Dugard. It is a sad book but it has made me think just how lucky i am !!

Hi To Jazee and princesst84 - Thanks for dropping by. Its really good to know that a few people are reading my rambling. Thanks both for posting !!

Today has brought some snow to the North West. Brilliant.....Not. I just hope it stays as a smattering and doesn't get deep as it tends to do here most winters. This morning I went off to my belly dancing class which is good fun. Afterward I took HRH Sidney for an hours walk round before my friend collected me and we went for a roam round the retail park. She wanted to buy a couple of tops as she is starting a new job soon. I only spent £4 in the £shop on tea bags, face wipes etc. Also had a cup of tea in a cafe. Anyway passed a few hours just browsing and chatting !! Us women know how to multi task !!:rotfl:

Food wise I have done brilliant, both from a diet and from a spending point of view. Today I was very naughty and didn't have breakfast but I end up with a stitch if I eat before belly dancing. However I have had egg on toast for lunch and have used up lots of small things for tea - A small portion of chilli and a cheese and beans toasty. Not very "Sunday dinner" but i am refusing to throw things out and am trying to use up pretty much everything before i buy any more.

I hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

sidneysmum

Well today the weather took a turn for the worst here in the North West. I woke up to a bit of snow but it continued to snow all morning. Luckily this afternoon the majority of it has melted. I was informed early this morning that zumba was cancelled due to the weather ! What ! I didn't realise we were doing it outside! Anyway I got my wellies and waterproof on and took Sidney out for a couple of hours. One of my sons had given me a huge bag of stale bread that his place of employment were throwing out, so i took it along to the local countryside park and used it to feed the ducks, geese and swan. The certainly appreciated it !!
This afternoon I have been to visit my friend who has just had her 6th baby.....I know, she must be mad. He is beautiful though, but my baby days are over thankfully. Well actually they have been over since my mid twenties ! I had a lovely afternoon just nursing him but i was happy to get back home to my own little world. I have done my food shopping today and it amounted to a loaf of bread. I still have so much food in the house. Food today has included poached egg on toast, homemade curried parsnip soup and my evening meal is roast pork and home made stuffing. Lovely. I am getting a lot of satisfaction knowing i am using up loads of odds and ends and i probably wont buy much at all in January apart from bread, milk and fruit.
I hope eveyone is having a great moneysaving day x

vasseur

6 children :eek: I'm happy with my one little girl. That's enough for me..

sidneysmum

Hi Polesalot - You are so lucky to have a daughter !! I ended up with 4 sons....who I love to pieces, but I definitely would have loved a daughter. I cant believe my friend having 6 children. She has got 3 boys and 3 girls. I dont think she will be having any more now !!

Work for me today. Luckily time passed quickly as i was quite busy. I used my car and shall we say the little problem with it is not solved. It only happens when i am on the motorway. I am going to have to make a few decisions regarding the car methinks !! After work I took the dog out for a nice long walk. I am lucky that i can start early and finish early so i am able to take the dog out in the daylight which i prefer to do. Food wise i have still been eating from the fridge/freezer and cupboard. Today's offerings included homemade hummus on toast, tomato soup and the remainder of the pork and homemade stuffing. I think i will be making some more stuffing as i have got tons of onions in my store room.
Last night i finished reading the book by Jaycee Dugard. It was quite good, but sad. Today I have started reading "Bread, Jam and a borrowed Pram" by Dot May Dunn which is a nurses story. I picked it from the masses on my bookcase in the lounge. I plan not to buy any more until i have read a good chunk of those i already have. Also i might order one or two from the library. I have also started putting one or two things on one side to sell on ebay. It wont be any time soon as i have only got 2 items so far and i will list them when i have got 10 or thereabouts. I prefer to list a few at once so its all done and dusted in a couple of weeks.
Anyway I hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

vasseur

How annoying about the car. I am sure I will have to have a think about my car soon. It is 8 years old and apart from last year when I had to spend about £700 on it it has been really reliable. But as it is getting old I'm sure I will have to start spending money on it soon. We were only talking today at work about how expensive new cars are. A little Yar1s like I have, brand new is almost £10k. You can see how people get into debt so easily. I wouldn't buy brand new though.

Hope you're keeping in the warm - I think the snow is going to hit you up there first.

sidneysmum

Hi Polesalot - Well the snow hasn't reached us yet but according to the weather forecast, we are likely to get some soon. Got the wellies out !! Not sure what i am going to do about the car. It is running fine at the moment but when i go on the motorway and it has done about 15 miles, a warning light comes on. Very annoying. Its really difficult these days like you say as everything is just so expensive.

Yesterday and today have just flown by. I have finally got 5 minutes to myself to write about what's been going on. Work again for me very early yesterday morning. The only plus side to an early start is that i get to come home early. It was big spend day for me too. I paid £30 on account to my energy provider. I keep paying for my energy about every fortnight so that when the bill comes in, I am covered. No nasty shocks for me in that department thank you ! On the way home from work I bought LPG (£20), petrol (£47) and 2 bags of new potatoes from Aldi (98p). Hopefully i wont be spending much over the weekend if anything as I am cutting back like mad to cover the large bill that came in last week. I took Sidney on a shorter than usual walk round as I was going out early evening to my WI meeting. We had a speaker from our towns local theatre talking about its history and its productions. It was quite good apart from the fact that our venue was freezing and we all sat with our coats on. I came away from the bring and buy with a pile of magazines and an almost full container of tee tree shampoo, all for pennies !!

Today has been freezing outside. I took the dog on a long walk this morning. I am always on the look out for dandelion leaves....for my tortoise. I wanted to get a bit of a stock in my fridge in case the snow comes soon and i cant get any. The tortoise was left at home when the kids went to live in their own homes. It doesn't hibernate as it lives in a heated glass tank. Its quite a fussy eater and i often struggle with its food as it wont eat a lot of things. However it does love a tasty dandelion !! This afternoon has been great because i want to see the cinema version of Les Miserables and it was great. I thoroughly enjoyed it and two and a half hours sped by.
Food wise i am still eating up. I try to have a couple of eggs each day as i want to use up what my chickens lay. I think i was a bit optimistic when i said that i had enough food in stock to last till the end of February. I think it will actually last possibly till the end of March with the exception of bread, milk and fruit. Today I actually cut up a whole pineapple which has been languishing in the fruit bowl otherwise it would have been starting to go off soon. Tea tonight is leftover chilli from the freezer. It feels really good to be eating up all this stuff that has been sat about for ages...and i keep thinking about all the money i am saving by eating it up.
Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

sidneysmum

Today has been a nice day although its been freezing. My region of the North West didn't get the expected snow today which is unusual as we normally suffer quite badly. I took the hound out this morning for about an hour and a half and was very well wrapped up. The wind was icy. When I came back i decided to do a bit of cooking to use up a few things that have been lurking in the cupboard and freezer for a while. I made a big pan or salmon risotto and used up the last of the arborio rice, 2 tins of salmon and some frozen peas. Good stuff. I then put it in 4 cartons to be frozen for ready meals. I also put the slow cooker on and made some pea and ham soup using up a gammon portion I had and some dried peas. This made 3 portions and I have had one of them for my tea. It was lovely. My plan is to use up pretty much all the stuff in my cupboards and freezer this way. Maybe tomorrow or sunday I am going to use up more supplies. I am going to cook another gammon portion and have it with some cheese I have in the freezer and some tinned pineapple. Also I have quite a lot of diced steak so I am going to put that in the slow cooker with loads of onions and mushrooms for when my sons come round on Sunday.
This afternoon I went to the cinema again to see a movie called "The session". It was so so. Lets just say it was rather sexy !! I wont suggest you go and watch it unless you are quite broadminded !! Not much else to report other than I dindt spend anything today. I think i might get some bread and milk tomorrow when i am out.
I hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

Jazee

Sidneysmum, I think I might give that film a miss. I'm not particularly broadminded and haven't read 50 shades!

I'm doing a similar thing to you in using up stuff, but I've also given myself the challenge of (except Sundays) not having the same meal twice in a month. So far so good.

We have snow here in Yorkshire. Its been coming down since 2.30 and settling.

Hope you stay cosy and warm.

princesst84

You are doing a fab job cooking up all that food. I could do with some of your motivation!!

I might go see that film :rotfl::rotfl:Sounds like a good way to brighten up January

sidneysmum

Hi Jazee and princesst84 - Hope you are both managing to keep warm. I am keeping toasty here thankfully.
Yet another very cold day today. I have been out for a couple of walks today but have been very well wrapped up......not my best look !! Most of today has been spent dog walking and visiting my aunt. I had to spend a bit today on milk and a cucumber. The tortoise has finally go the better of me. As its so cold, all the dandelions have been spoilt due to frost so I thought i had better buy something for the blessed thing to eat as the cold weather looks like it is here to stay. I cooked another slice of gammon today in the slow cooker then made it into 2 meals and used up some cheese and tinned pineapple. Still loads of food to go at in my stockpile.

Not much else to report today. I hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x