The OS Doorstep - a helpful and supportive thread in these tough times

mrsmortenharket

Oh kezlou, that is a lot of money

I had problems with my teeth this year. Ended up having it pulled. It was horrific. Am lucky to have an NHS dentist, he is very good with us all.

I baked some twinks hobnobs at tea time. Ds1 friend wanted chips with his hotdogs ( ds & dd don't bother with chips) so as need to use stuff up, made them. I have already eaten a few. Oops.

Fuddle, the recipe for the carrot cookies sound nice. Will make those in the future.

My Internet is playing up. My Internet company keep running tests & it will come back on line, then it goes down. They sent me to get a new adsl filter claiming that might sort it. It did. Fr an hour. We are finishing with the company in 2 weeks as am moving so no point paying for an engineer to come around & see what the problem is. I have 3G on my iPad but the kids are a bit bereft without their Internet!

Take care all

xxx

EstherH

KEZLOE: What a terrible price. I didn't know that you had to pay for children. I had braces on both top and bottom and they cut my mouth to ribbons. I'm glad that my children haven't had to have them though to be honest I don't think I would have let them after my experience unless it was for a severe case. I'm not sure that mine were really needed. I was also told that I needed my wisdom teeth out as there wasn't enough room for them to come through. An appointment was made for me to have it done in hospital. They wanted to cut in to the gums and remove them, all at once, but I chickened out. I have always been so glad that I did. One gave me a lot of toothache and I got an emergency appointment, had it removed and had the worse pain of my life afterwards. At that point I was really glad I hadn't had them all removed at once as I couldn't have stood the pain of that. Two others came through with no problems at all. I'm not sure if the third has come through or not but not had any trouble with it. Must remember to ask the dentist when I visit next time.

Point is, dentists like doctors don't always know best. If your child's teeth aren't bad enough to warrant getting the treatment done for free, do they really need doing or will they sort themselves out given time?

Esther x

Pooky

Both my DDs have had braces, fixed ones top and bottom, eldest is now on a retainer for a year whilst youngest is still going through it all. They both needed extractions for overcrowding and both have wonky jaws (just like me). They only do it when medically required (ie to stop further damage and to allow the child to be able to bite) and not just for cosmetic reasons. I think that's fair.

My Dad went in for a small op this morning, a cancerous growth on his nose, he's had to have a skin graft at the same time as they had to remove so much of the skin from around the area. Mum said he's already sporting some fetching black eyes and is in quite a bit of pain bless him. So a lesson to us all, if you have anything strange growing, get it checked!!! Dad refused to believe it was anything other than a cyst and ignored it for 5 years. Im off to the GPs next week for a good check over of all my lumps, bumps and freckles bits.

Shattered today after a big day out yesterday, very much looking forward to my bed!

FairyPrincessk

Hugs, Pooky. I hope your dad recovers quickly!

OH has made falafel for tea. He saw a mix at one of the supermarkets we went to on Saturday and said he fancied trying it. It was quite tasty, although a bit salty. We don't have any device for grinding the chickpeas ourselves, but might look into trying to get them pre-ground--not really sure. He has been reading a bit and has said he thinks we should probably try and eat even less meat next year. I used to eat very little but found it very hard to fill him up on a budget without resorting to meat sometimes so I'm a bit worried! I'm sure it will be fun to experiment.

Valli

Kezlou

DD 'failed' the braces test - DS just snuck in under the wire. DD has sacrificed her endowment payout to pay for her own treatment. No way could I have afforded it. We had to visit the orthodontist and were turned down for NHS treatment.
One day I hope to be able to make it up to her.
There may be ways round it via schemes like Denplan; maybe discuss with dentist and see if they can offer anything else?

Pooky

FairyPrincessk wrote: »

Hugs, Pooky. I hope your dad recovers quickly!

OH has made falafel for tea. He saw a mix at one of the supermarkets we went to on Saturday and said he fancied trying it. It was quite tasty, although a bit salty. We don't have any device for grinding the chickpeas ourselves, but might look into trying to get them pre-ground--not really sure. He has been reading a bit and has said he thinks we should probably try and eat even less meat next year. I used to eat very little but found it very hard to fill him up on a budget without resorting to meat sometimes so I'm a bit worried! I'm sure it will be fun to experiment.

If I can't be faffed to get the food processor out then I just use a potato masher or a fork to break them down.

Florenceem

I am all baked out.
Made Shortcrust Pastry - 3 Quiches + JJ's Herby Cheese Bread.
Off to portion up, put in to tubs and leave Mr F to find room in the freezer. Plus - still have washing up to do.

Rosanna79

It's very interesting to hear everyone's stories of the poverty the endured in their early years. I remember my mother's horrendous stories of the poverty she experienced in a 1920s North Eastern childhood. It was literally like Catherine Cookson come to life, particularly the way dental and other health problems were dealt with in the absence of the money to pay medical or dental bills. The advent of the NHS in 1948 although much maligned these days really was a godsend to our parents. We certainly never suffered the kind of deprivation they and their parents suffered. One does wonder if it will go back to that sort of situation again and those of us born and grown up as post war baby boomers generally were the lucky generation I guess. I feel so sorry for the struggles people are experiencing today and this thread is really excellent by way of ideas and support.

As can happen to all of us even with the best forward planning I find the need to have a very tight budget as we go into the winter. I'm particularly looking at making more curtains myself. I've priced up some suitable curtain material locally which is not too bad a price to do a permanent job. I was just wondering if anyone has ever used fleece material for curtains? This would be a stop gap , temporary solution but I have no idea if it would be possible /do able?? The alternative is to buy the required fabric and thermal lining. I do sew , have a new machine in fact. I just haven't made any curtains for decades!! OH has done DIY for decades to save money, and made an excellent job of it. It seems the same thing from my side as well I guess. I guess I just need to bite the bullet and get on with it. Using fleece fabric would reduce the initial cost by half. It is a knitted rather than a woven fabric so I do wonder how it would hold up / what would be the practicalities of using it?

Valli

My NDN's son got married recently. I'm seeing pics on FB and they look lovely. Have seent congratulations electronically.

When their daughter married we were invited to the evening do; that was local. I'm relieved we weren't invited to this one! Outfits for 3 of us, hotel for 2 nights (wedding was a fair distance from here), petrol, gift etc...probably saved over £500. As it happens, because we weren't told exactly when it was I didn't even send a card!

Rosanna - I'm sure I remember somoneone somewhere on Old Style saying they have used blankets as liners. Do a forum search for curtain lining and see what comes up.

It is possible to make liners separately from curtains (there's a special header tape) so it must be doable. i have made separate linings before. You need hooks on the track with a loop in the bottom and hooks for the liner which look a bit like a 9...or attach to the curtain thus -



As you can see the header tape on the liner is different from the normal curtain header tape; this picture shows how to attach the liner.

kidcat

Rosanna - I use fleece blankets pinned to the curtains to line them in winter