Living on next to nought - is that the key?

beanielou

I too love the three things to be grateful for.
I try to do the same in my head.
Today I am grateful for :~
Good friends.
Being very wobbly but not actually falling.
Unexpected gifts received.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

ooooo, looks like there has been a party going on in here.... Greying straightens the aspidistra plant, turns down the stereo and removes an amazing quantity of 'StArburst' wrappers from underneath the bust of St Martin of Moneysaveus .....Plumps the cushions and puts the lid back on the biscuit tin

Right

Ay up Pipster I hope you have safely got to where you were headed today. And :rotfl:to work interfering with your MSE time! Yep, you and the RG have a great time on your honeymoon - and indeed, here's to a fantastic 2014 for us all

dreaming - bless you, for your kind comment. But I too get the doubt of 'is it meant to look like that' - or more often - 'is it meant to be that colour' :rotfl:I like your ingenious food storage method - it's a surprise to get xmas pud on the menu in July - don't let anyone persuade you different :rotfl:

joedenise - I hope whatever you are up to for the next couple of weeks that is seemingly important enough to keep you away from us , that it is exactly all as you want and as you need. Have a wonderful time and I look forward to seeing you in the new year

Piq - I've gone pink! You say the nicest things.......

Beanie - I'm glad that you've not fallen too, but wish you weren't wobbly in the first place. You are the inspiration for one of my 'gratefuls' tonight - Thank you

Well, I survived the shops today. I have to say, I thought it was quite quiet again. Mind you, I was a little surprised how many places had 'sales' and I'm sure w1lkinsons was removing a bit of their xmas section - ie as in getting the 'next' seasonal promotion going??

I did forgo 7p *roadkill* as it was at the foot of the till in HB, as it would of been too obvious what I was doing Ah well, perhaps they have a charity and it all gets donated to that when the cleaner goes around the store each night. Here's hoping.

I was glad that I got a bag of prunes (for the dish I'm making for Saturday's 'Solstice dinner') yesterday - there weren't any left in HB today. Still, I see Tommy Miers' recipe for angels on horseback was on yah00t, so perhaps that explains it......

I think we're pretty much stocked up now - not as we'd go hungry anyway, but it's nice to have a treat or two - the hard graft has been put in, it's nice to have a little reward for your labour.

Dinner this evening was (veggie) Bobotie and rice. And yes, the eagle-eyed amongst you will know that we had bobotie recently. I made it on the 10th, and froze a dollop to have - supposedly for Sunday night's dinner with baked potatoes, but I'll make something else on Sunday. We had it with rice, as I gave DP the option and that was what he requested - and I have to say, I am really rather glad, as it was what I actually wanted

I've taken another look at the menu-planner. It'll need tweaking, but I need to make a little room in the freezer to help things along, and realistically that won't happen until after the weekend. But hopefully I can make dishes out of what we have and use up all the bargains/YS'd things along the way

I do think though that for 2014 I need to extend my repertoire of 'interesting' food that is low cost (but not low value) and somehow make more meals to freeze, to assist with taking advantage of gluts/helping in time-short situations and helping to balance the budget. It does bring us back to the old chestnut of whether to invest in another freezer though....mmm.

So, today I am grateful for these 3 things;

good service in a shop, delivered with a smile - the staff, in a small branch of a 'discounter' supermarket, went to the trouble of finding what I wanted off the stock delivery that had just been made, and brought it out to me with a smile, even though it was only one item, worth less than £2. Staff from more 'up market' soopermarkets and foodhall offerings 'could' take note.............

for an 'unexpected' gift - and no, it wasn't for Christmas.......

that I have enough, that I am 'good' enough and have long since gone past giving a stuff..... of what. other. people. think. :D

Thank you so much for dropping by, reading, commenting and joining in. It is appreciated. Very much. By me.

See y'all later.

Greying

kissjenn

Hi GP.

I was honoured to be included in your 3-a-day. What you can do with a turnip, regardless of colour, is quite amazing.

I hope 2014 will be your year.

KJ

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

kissjenn wrote: »

Hi GP.

I hope 2014 will be your year.

KJ

Ay up kissjen - one letter too many Sweet, 2014 will be our year Enjoy your lunch out today with friends - I think I've remembered that you're doing that today

So Friday already.

Makes it easy on the dinner front because it is 'Pizza night' I want to use an ingredient that I bought a couple of weeks ago at a discount - which makes it sound waaay more exciting than it is :rotfl: And do you know what, we may even have a glass of red to go with it That's living all right I'll try to grab a pic, if it turns out ok.

I need to try to get to the bank, as we've had a minor blip and unexpectedly gone overdrawn Within limits, but an embarrassment for the 'keeper of the purse' in the Greying clan :rotfl:

We don't actually 'need' anything on the grocery front, it is a shame that YS'd aubergines are rarer than hen's teeth, but there y'go

So, snap and flasks packed. Better go and seize the day I guess

Have a good one - whatever you are up to today - I guess last day of school for many? Pupils and staff

Thanks for popping by, reading and commenting. You know how much I appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Karmacat

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

oooo, Karma - Wakehurst Place - not heard of it, what is it, what is there to see, have they done anything 'seasonalified'???? - SPILL

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Um, Karma was last known to be heading out to Wakehurst place..... nothing since? Hope all is OK. To our Scottish contingent, you've not lost one of your 'Tardi' (assume that is the plural??) have you? It's not appeared at WP and sent our Karma off through Stargate SG-1 (or whatever that place was called) has it?? Karma - hope you'll drop by when you've the chance

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Pipster - you just crack me up :rotfl::rotfl: But ta for the information that KC has not been abducted by over-zealous DrW fans, and sent to a galaxy far, far away, and not made in back in time for her tea

:hello::hello::hello: I'm back :j

I'm so glad the Pipster comes here too, and was able to tell you I hadn't been abducted (though I wouldn't mind that sort of abduction, I have to say ). My router gave up the ghost - several phone calls, a visit of 90 mins by a BT engineer, and a long sloooow process of the ISP ordering a new one and Yodel delivering it ... I followed the instructions, on the router rather than on the accompanying letter, and hey presto, it works :j even my wireless is on again, so I can sit in the warm, and have the tv on in the background, while I'm fiddling about. Router got working last night, and here I am after client work (more coming in a bit) - I'll never take the internet for granted again, I tell you - mind you, I got loads done, I'm nearly ready to start on my craft projects for my website.

Wakehurst Place, by the way - it was exactly the same experience that you had with your DP at the National Trust place - lovely walk watching the wildlife in the open countryside. Admittedly, there was then a lot of mooching about in a high-priced gift shop

I'm still here (as opposed to my Christmas destination) till Monday, so I'll be back over the weekend.

Gratitude - for mse, for your diary and for doors opening.

:kisses3:

brizzledfw

Lovely to catch up GP..it's always so good to read your and your followers' postings

Here's to a relaxing weekend for all..with nowt time spent in the shops!

EssexHebridean

Awwww thank you for your Sumac experiment GP - most kind! Your result was rather as I expected I think as it seems to me to be quite a complex sort of flavour.

Going overdrawn in a minor way and on an occasional basis is something I used to beat myself up over majorly. Apparently though it's entirely normal, happens to most folk, and seemingly being permanently in the black, however squeakily, is actually quite rare! Who knew?! :rotfl:

Your unexpected gift of yesterday must have rubbed off - we got home today to a mystery parcel which turned out to be a HUGE box of Thorntons chocs as a thank you from some friends we'd done a small favour for - absolutely lovely of them, and all the more so for being completely unnecessary.

I'll join in the gratitude today if that's ok:
For the little cat who kindly let us share her life for the last 13 years - sadly she was run over on Monday night and won't be coming home any more.
For "this place" where we can post as much, or as little, as we wish, and there is no judgement, no unpleasant overtones (usually, anyway!), and lots of laughs.
For Mr EH's rugby match being cancelled tomorrow, meaning we have a whole weekend to be productive and get things done!

Greying_Pilgrim

Ay up, visitors!

Karma - you're back - :j Yay! WP sounds nice. Thankfully the gift shop where we were was tiny and there wasn't anything too tempting - did get a trio of postcards though Looking forward to *seeing* you around until you head orf to celebrate Chrimbo

brizzle - how lovely of you to drop by. I have *followers*????? I wondered why everywhere seemed so crowded all the time - it's my followers?????:rotfl: Just joshing - you know how much I appreciate all of you pitching in and posting :D:D

EH - lovely to *see* you. Sorry about the loss of your cat - but you are right to focus on the 13 years that you got to share in her life - they're pretty special for us, our furry friends. And :rotfl:to the fact that a cancelled rugger match means you can get on and 'do things'. Hope MrEH doesn't miss out on a xmas pinter with the team

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

HAPPY SOLSTICE

I realised this morning that this is the 1000th post. On my little diary. I am absolutely gob-smacked...... It has been a wonderful place to be - because you have all made it so As you know, I shall have to continue to 'live on next to nought' for 2014 as it'll be the only way that we can achieve what we need to achieve.

Well, yesterday turned into a bit of a funny day, so apologies for not being around last night.

It was however, a NSD, so I'm now up to 11. I don't think I'm going to hit the target this month, so it is really going to be the 'one thing' that I concentrate on in 2014.

Dinner last night was pizza and HM wedges. I'll include a shot of the pizza just now. All that was 'different' about it (prepare yourself to be 'underwhelmed' here ) was that it was topped with the cherry tomatoes that I had got in the L*dl offer a couple of Saturdays ago. They were 34p for a 250g punnet, and one of the punnets I bought was full of quite small tomatoes, no problem, but I thought I would slice them in half, open freeze them and then use them to top a pizza near to xmas I agree, that it is nice when you have grown the cherry tomatoes yourself and it is the height of summer, but do you know what? They weren't half bad And with a little sprinkle of dried basil on each on, they taste was really nice, very fresh tomatoey IYSWIM

I also made dinner for this evening last night - it is a veggie version (mushroom) of 'Carbonade de Flamande' - which is a beef rich Flemish stew, made with beer. We are going to have a 'French themed' evening...... now, before everyone dives in and questions my geography skills.... Yes, you are quite right, the stew is of Belgium origin. However, it is also a favourite in areas of France close to the border.... And yes, I did use Belgium beer (L3ffe bruin if EH is reading) simply because I had not used it before and it was the beer stipulated for the dish. I'm all for improvisation - when you know what you should be aiming for Anyway, the stew is always better made in advance (and yes, that does hold for veggie versions too ) And why the 'french' theme? Well, it is our 'Solstice dinner' so we are going to have a nice meal, in front of the woodstove with a nice bottle of red and watch 'Julie & Julia' which DP taped when it was on the other night. Last time we watched it was in the cinema in Wadebridge when we were camping just outside Padstow. Happy memories Julia Childs would no doubt of launched in to making C de F with great gusto, so my veggie version is a 'homage' (which she probably would of loathed :rotfl:)

Whatever you are up to today, I hope you have a great time. I know someone who is giving up some of their Saturday to fund-raise for the Samaritans today. One of a number of charities that step up to take the strain at Christmas. I hope they raise oodles of cash to maintain the service.

Thank you for popping in, reading and commenting. I greatly appreciate it.

Here's to the next 1000 posts :beer: :j :D:D

THANK YOU

See y'all later.

Greying

beanielou

Happy 1000th post
Here is to the next 1000.