My Busy Life

sidneysmum

Its been a nice day for me today. Yet another day I have enjoyed. I managed to prise myself out of my bed a bit earlier than usual and did a few chores before i made the 40 minute walk to the gym for my belly dancing class. I enjoyed the class.....its good fun. Whilst on the way home I called off at Aldi and did some shopping - loaf of brown bread and 2 bags of carrots from the super 6 range. I spent the grand sum of £1.33. I dont think i will be spending much more this week apart from for milk and potatoes. This afternoon i took the hound out for a good walk to the local countryside park. When i had been at the 10th birthday party, i had begged all the crusts off the sandwiches, and today i fed them to the ducks. Something i have noticed a lot recently. Why do people ( I presume its kids) buy bottles of pop then dump them unopened and still full. Twice in the last few days I have found full bottles of fizzy drink just sat on the pavement and unopened. People must have more money than sense.
Tonight i am just chilling out having a read as my legs feel pretty tired with all the walking and belly dancing. I have finished my old book and started a new one - "Only time will tell" by Jeffrey Archer, another once which has been sat on the lounge bookcase. I have also used up the last of some make up remover so that and the book have been added to my signature.
Trying to make the most of tonight as i am back at work in the morning.
I hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

sidneysmum

Where does my time go to ? I would love to know. Only a few years ago I was working full time and looking after a husband and 4 grown up sons. I dont seem to have any more time now I live on my own and work 2 days a week !!
Yesterday was work which thankfully i got out of the way pretty quickly. Came home and took the hound out for a mega walk even thought the weather was awful. I just dont see the point in sitting in when i can go out and get a bit of exercise. Last night i did a quick inventory of my home baking stuff - I know i have been making inroads into my general store cupboard stuff and that's going brilliantly - Well I need to do the same with my baking stuff. I have loads of bags of fruit and tons of oats, so I got my baking book out and had a look at what i can make to use up this massive pile of stuff and only buy the minimum amount of extras. I have decided to make a fruit sponge and some fruit buns. Also some flapjacks. I have got a really good cookbook which covers some quite basic baking and hopefully I can start to use up some of this massive stock pile. I know I needed to buy some fat for cooking and some syrup for the flapjacks so I bought some at Asda this morning. I made bargain purchases as the syrup was on offer at 2 bottles for £1. Hopefully later this week I will get stuck into some home baking. Think I will earmark Sunday afternoon as I am planning on making a Cottage Pie for my sons tea when they visit so I might as well get the oven filled up with goodies. Anyway today's spend came to £2.10 and I hope I can put all the stuff to good use. I also had to make a bulk purchase of chicken layers pellets this morning. I bought 3 large bags full and arranged for it to be delivered on Friday afternoon. Total cost £36.05. I think my 3 ladies had better start some serious laying or else they will be for the pot......only kidding. I love being mum to my girls now that my sons have all left home. Unfortunately they have their ups and downs with egg laying. I keep telling them that someone is not pulling their weight !!!
Not sure what my plans are for the rest of the day yet. I was supposed to be meeting my friend for a meal out at teatime but plans have been cancelled because she is ill in bed. Think I might just get my feet up and have a read !!
Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

vasseur

My dad always says that now he is retired he wondered how he ever found the time to go to work!

Your cooking marathons make me feel guilty. I have got to do some batch cooking soon but I just haven't got the time and to be honest just recently I haven't felt in the mood. I always lose my appetite when I'm fed up but I think my blue mood is lifting now so maybe I'll get round to it soon - just need to find the time!

Jazee

Hello Sidneysmum (and Polesalot). Still lurking! Like you I've been batch cooking but haven't made any pasta dishes for the freezer as I'm unsure what they'll be like when defrosted and reheated. Are they ok or go a bit mushy?

Anyway, my best use for oats is the hobnobs recipe which appears on these forums now and again. Delicious, but probably won't help with the weight loss, and you are doing really well with that.

sidneysmum

Hi Polesalot - Glad you are feeling a lot brighter. I wish I could loose my appetite. I am doing Ok dieting.....but its hard work. Good job I am determined. I am half way to my target. I have lost 12lb and would like to loose another 12. I am hoping to do a marathon cooking session on Sunday afternoon before the boys arrive for their tea. I am hoping to put a huge cottage pie in the oven, a slimming world omelette which will use up the last of my tubs of quark, a bread and butter pudding and hopefully some fruit buns / cake. Hopefully this will last me a week or so. The beauty of calorie counting I have found is that I can have a bun for example, as long as I count it.

Jazee - Hi. Whenever i make a pasta meal and freeze it, its always fine. I tend to make a big pan of pasta and whatever, then freeze it in individual margarine tubs. They are really useful as they stack on top of one another. I am going to try and find the recipe for the hobnobs as I am pretty sure I will have all the ingredients in my baking cupboard. Might make some on Sunday if I find the recipe.

I am going to spend the rest of today at home, catching up, having a read, making a few phone calls and chilling out !!!
Yesterday saw me out with the dog in the morning, incorporating a few errand in with my walk. She was quite good at sitting outside the chemist and doctors whilst i sorted out my prescriptions. Thankfully I am saving a bit of money on lpg/petrol with walking to a lot more places. Yesterday afternoon I made the mistake of going to see "Lincoln" at the cinema. Both myself and my friend found it rather dull and heavy going. After a quick pit stop at home where i made a huge pan of tuna and pasta, I was then out to the hospital to visit my aunty who has just had a hip replacement. Thankfully she was doing brilliantly. The tuna and pasta had all the ingredients calorie counted and then i split it up into 6 portions, 4 of which are in the freezer now for eating over the next week or two.
Today has been busy so far - took the dog on a big walk this morning and stopped off for my weekly shop - £2.05p !!! This was for a bag of potatoes, 2 cucumbers for the tortoise and 2 red chillies The chillies were bought loose with the rest of my vegetables at the local Asian supermarket. I paid 5p for the 2 chillies, but at typical supermarkets, I would have had to buy them pre-packed and they would have cost over a pound. Talk about being robbed blind ! This afternoon we went to see "Hyde park on Hudson" which was a lot better than yesterdays helping. I think I will be watching a few film this week at the cinema as some of he new releases look really good. When I got home from the cinema, my delivery of chicken food had arrived. I really hope it lasts a long time as it is rocketing in price but the chickens arent laying any more eggs. I have now stocked up on dog, cat and chicken food so hopefully it will last me a good while. I think having the large unexpected bill dropped in my lap in January has made me consider things a bit more. I am really trying to get some savings in the bank again as I had to use what I had saved, towards this bill. The good thing is that I am well stocked up with pet food. Also I am getting rid of tons of food that has just been sat in my cupboards and freezer for a long time. I still realistically think I have enough food stuff to last me till at least the middle of March. What was I thinking ?
Anyway I hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

princesst84

Just popping in to say hi

You are doing great with your food declutter and the baking soounds yummy I am on a 12 week challenge at the moment and finding it hard tbh so well done you on sticking with it

Have a great weekend x

sidneysmum

princesst84 - Hi. Thanks for dropping by. What's this 12 week challenge all about ? Sounds very interesting !!! Please share with me.....

Had a nice day today. Yet another film at the cinema with my friend. We actually hit the jackpot with today's film. It was great. Watched "flight" with good old Denzel Washington. I really enjoyed it. After the film I went to visit my aunt again in the hospital. She is doing great with her new hip and hopes to be sent home on Monday. I didn't get back home till about 5pm today and have spent the last few hours doing a bit of cooking and preparing for tomorrows cooking / baking session. I prepared the cottage pie for tomorrows tea, made a jelly (my boys haven't grown up !!), put some pork steaks, onions and a goulash mix in the slow cooker. That has now been cooked on high and has been split up into 3 containers ready for the freezer. I made the meat section of the cottage pie and did the mash. Its all ready to go in the oven tomorrow afternoon. I made a bit too much mince and veg for the cottage pie so that's been put into another 3 containers ready for the freezer. At this rate i will still be eating up at the end of March let alone the predicted end of February. One of my sons has just dropped by with a glut of cucumbers and green peppers. He works in catering and is allowed to take things home that are going to be thrown away. I will be giving the cucumbers to the tortoise and testing his appetite with the peppers. I think i will have to freeze some of the pepper as they will take ages to eat and i dont want them to go off.
I hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

Jazee

Monring SidneysMum. I found twinks hobnobs recipe on a scrap of paper in my recipe folder. I'll be making some today too ad DH complained there was nothing sweet in the house last night!

8oz SR Flour
8oz sugar
8oz porridge oats
8oz marge
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp hot water
1/2 tsp bic soda

Mix flour, oats, sugar
Melt marge, syrup & water in pan, stir in bic and add to dry mix.
Make smallish balls, flatten with fork and bake for 15mins at 180 degrees.

Hope this helps. Have a great day.

sidneysmum

Hi Jazee - Thanks very much for the recipe. I made them today and they are wonderful. My eldest son went home without 8 in a bag !!

Had a nice day today despite the rain and dull weather. It was weigh in this morning and I have lost another 2lb. I have now lost a stone since New Years Day and I want to loose about another stone. I walked to the gym today and had my belly dancing class. Its a brisk 40 minute walk each way plus an hours belly dancing. I think I have done enough exercise for the day !! I also took Sidney for a quick walk round the park.

This afternoon I got on with all my baking. I made some small fruit sponge buns and Twinks hobnobs. I cooked a slimming world quiche as well as our cottage pie tea. I found half a bag of cajun wedges in the freezer so they went in the oven. Whilst all this was going on I put the slow cooker on and made a cauldron full of carrot and coriander soup. Anyway I have portioned up all the leftovers and have put all the cakes/biscuits away. Since starting my diet at the start of January, i have been calorie counting, so I pretty much know how many calories are in the food I make. Dont want any big surprises. The main plus point for me with the calorie counting is that it has taught me portion control and has stopped me being greedy. Also if i want something sweet, it has to be counted. Hopefully all this home baking will last me a few weeks and I wont have to buy any sweet stuff. I will bake again in a fortnight when the family come to tea again. They certainly enjoyed their tea today.
I am going to get my feet up tonight and maybe watch a bit of tv and flick through some magazines my aunt gave me yesterday. Once I have read them, they will be passed on to the girls at work for them to read. I finished my book last night so chose another from the bookcase this morning - Cathy Glass- The night the angels came. I haven't started it yet but might do later.
I hope everyone i having a great moneysaving day x

princesst84

sidneysmum wrote: »

princesst84 - Hi. Thanks for dropping by. What's this 12 week challenge all about ? Sounds very interesting !!! Please share with me.....

Hi Sidneysmum,
Sounds like you have had a lovely day with your family coming for tea. The baking sounds yummy

:jWell done on your weightloss:j

Its a local gym type thing and the lady running it posted a challenge on facebook for a limited number of people.
You follow her diet which is quite strict, no carbs at all after 3 amongst other things. One day off a week!! Then do 2 classes a week. One is boxercise and circuits and the other was just a class with lots of exercises, sorry im not fit at all and dont know the proper names for anything I did a class yesterday and all of my legs are aching today :eek:
But it was weigh in yesterday and I have lost 6lbs in 2 weeks :j She also measures your bust, arms, thighs, waist & bum and I lost at least a 1/4 of an inch from each measurement :j
Going to jump in a nice warm bath now to sooth my aching legs.
Night
x