'supporting each other through really tough times'

mardatha

I feel overstuffed and sluggy too now, need to have a few days eating sensible food in tiny amounts I think. Finally got some snow last night and the world has turned a lovely white Heard Skye had a huge thunderstorm and lost all power. Hope this is the start of proper winter
EDITED - forgot to say Kidcat, dont limit yourself to a woodburner, look at multiburners. Wood is not warm enough for up here, coal is much better, I said that to Byatt too Plus if the whole world is getting woodburners then the cost of wood will go up and you might as well be buying coal anyway

katieowl_2

It's OH's Birthday tomorrow...We've ordered him one of these to go on the woodburner...DD and I have both seen them in use and they seem like a good idea http://www.roundwoodtrading.com/products/770.aspx hasn't arrived yet, but it's due tomorrow. I hope it does work, it's freezing in the sitting room if you move away from the fire! We found it on Amazon (from round wood trading
and It's in the sale and cost £60 with delivery ATM)
Apart from that...nothing much to report. Work said to DD that they want her to go ahead and start as manager anyway (she's just found out she's pregnant) I'm sure she'll whip the place into shape over the summer, then we can get a game plan in place for what happens next.

I made some Granola yesterday for the first time, I think it's ok - too much coconut for my liking, and I'd like some bigger pieces but it's a work in progress. It's gluten free and works out considerably cheaper than a box of ready made GF cereal. Most of the ones I've tried have been so sweet it's been an ordeal to finish the box. Trading a dodgy tummy for diabetes doesn't seem like a good idea! The master plan is to crack a base mixture that I can sell for people to add their own choice of fruit and nuts to...that will also keep the price right down! I'm experimenting with basic oats, but will buy the certified GF ones in bulk when I come to making it for real. Ordinary oats are fine for me, but I know some who are sensitive can't eat them, because of the cross contamination issues.

I also made one of the rice and lentil dishes from the Ottolenghi book yesterday. This: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/09/mejadra-recipe-yotam-ottolenghi OMG it was fantastic. It occurs to me that if you made it with a brown basmati it would be nutritionally very very healthy....apart from the fried onions :rotfl: But it was oh so tasty...not expensive either!

I was very good when I went to the shops yesterday and only bought the stuff on my list. Things are a bit tight at the moment, so I need to be uber careful. I'll have a tidy up in the freezer today I think and see what's in there, and make a list. :T

Kate

smileyt_2

Hello everyone, just popping in but not a hope of catching up properly! I have been away at my sister's over Christmas. Was lovely. Pops I did think of you and said a little prayer to hope you were okay on this first Christmas without your lovely Mum.

Did catch the pics of Aria's lovely dogs . And welcome back to PAH.

Fuddle I am trying to work out what iTunes and laxatives have in common or what your phone was replacing iTunes for!

Whisper it quietly but .... we have blue sky here today! With clouds, but still, I was beginning to think we would never see blue sky again.

If anyone has a BHS near them, they are selling off jewellery. Still very expensive in the main but I got a couple of 'crystal' bracelets yesterday for 50p each reduced from £4. They are on heart-shaped cardboard and also have a couple of (plastic) pearl bracelets with them. Would be an absolute bargain to put in party bags for anyone who has a little girl. I'm going to 'harvest' the crystals to use in other craft projects. I did flit round the rest of the sales looking for presents (I have about 50 pressies to supply over the year with birthdays and Christmas) and found a few, but the sales were a bit woeful to be honest. Perhaps I missed the best bargains. Boots still had a lot of stuff but I'm going to take pot luck and wait another couple of weeks to see what's left when it goes down to 75%.

Right, I'd better get my derriere into gear as I have friends coming to stay for New Year and the house, as usual, is a pit. There is dog bedding everywhere as Bruno unpacked the bags last night and made himself several beds whilst I was upstairs, sigh .... I suppose I should think myself lucky he didn't decide to dig up my furniture instead.

I probably won't get on here again until late next week so I wish you all a Happy New Year and let's hope 2013 is a good one for all of us.

sevenup01

Morning!
Arias tail your dogs are gorgeous!
I feel a lot better this morning and was even treated to a cup of tea in bed....although a wriggly five year old had to 'sit' in bed with me while i tried to drink it!
One of my uncles visited last night and i gave him a surprise that put a big smile on his face - 2 bags of Barratts milk bottles! He absolutley loves them and does a lot for me so it was nice to surprise him with a little treat.
I finally picked up my knitting last night for the first time in a month. I only picked up 102 stitches on one side of a square and still have the other three sides to pick up which i will do later after making more mince pies. The knitting is a shawl for one of my sisters and the mince pies is to hopefully lure another uncle who is in the area into visiting us. He loves his mince pies and nobody else inthe family makes them so fingers crossed he will come over.

[Deleted User]

FUDDLE pet if you want a project plan yourself a little garden and see how cheaply you can put it together. The seeds will soon be in the cheaper shops and it should be time to plan a flower border, a herb bed, a little veg area, some things the birds like to eat and see who you could get some cuttings or spare plants from. It would give you an ongoing thing to work to and be fun as well. Cheer up little one it always feels like this after christmas. Think easter now and make the kids some little lambs or chicks (I'm sure I've seen patterns for knitted ones or felt is easy to work with) and plan an easter picnic in the garden, might that help? Cheers Lyn xxx.

mardatha

MrsL that's exactly what I'm going to start doing one minute after the bells on monday night! The garden not the chicks lol

SDG31000

Morning all

Thank you for the advice kidcat I went to bed for a few hours yesterday afternoon and had a good sleep last night and am definitely feeling less dizzy today.

My local Wilkinsons have their gardening stuff in, including seeds if that is any help. It's not for me as I have black thumbs and kill almost everything.

I am in one of those "The house is a tip, I need to sort it out before I crack up" moods. Getting the rest of the family to join in and help is the difficult bit. I am having another cup of tea and then tackling the freezers. I am wondering if there is a pantry app so I can keep track on the ipad. I am sure DH will be able to find out.

I also need to sort out Birthday stuff. DS2 is 14 on the 3rd, my friend Marie's birthday is the 4th, DS1 is 17 on the 14th and my DMIL is 65 on the 29th. :eek: DS2 wants waking up with a bacon sandwich and a trip to Wagamamas. I do want to get him something to unwrap as well. DH pointed out last night that if their birthdays were in June they would get much more from us. So I will have to think of something.

Time to get my bottom in gear and actually do something useful.

Take care xxx

fuddle

My phone is a menace smiley. It's the old, old iPhone 3GS I think and gets me in to trouble texting too. I fathomed out how to get the thing to speak to me when it auto corrects so at least I know it's changed a word but that doesn't stop the damn thing doing it! Does anyone know if you can change auto correct (and hugely irrelevant!) off? If so, how?

The grass isn't down here until February in the garden and I think ill have to use pots, maybe hanging baskets off the fence? Also it's sunny here this morning and the sun is facing to the back of the house, that would mean no sun till night time in our garden.... Hmm I think pots alongside the wall of the house would be better. We do have a very long shared drive at the side of the house that would be in full sun for most of the day but any Thomas, Dicky or Harriet could help themselves. Food for thought... Haha boom! boom! Sorry. I think a herb pot would be a good start. Ooh a herb windowsill . Kitchen is in full sun.

You know what else I need in the garden? A little windmill. There's not one bit of flora or tree here. I can't tell how windy it is!

Interesting reading about wood burners and multi fuel. If you had a very small very well insulated house would a wood burner be the way to go because of the lower heat values or would even that be too much to bear?

Been making ham and tomato quiches as I found that my ham pack I bought for the week is out of date today

fuddle

Quick q? What would you do wih 5 bananas that were in the turn? No banana loaf apparently, they're tired of it. Sometimes I wish my lot were a little more appreciative of food items and saw them as basics and not something that can be discarded because they've already had it this month. I wouldn't say they were picky kids, just spoilt and been asked their opinion on what they would like and not just presented with a plate that they eat or starve. Apparently I was brought up on hotdogs and smash. It was all I would eat my mam reckons. When I learned that I was determined to get my kids diets right... Unfortunately I think I've gone far too the other way!

cutestkids

Could you use the bananas in a smoothie FUDDLE or if you freeze them in their skins they will be fine to use in banana loaf another day, just peel them and let them defrost and add as usual.