Living on next to nought - is that the key?

7_week_wonder

Oooh a new use for turnip - excellent! We came back from my mum's last weekend with a turnip the size of a football and I haven't got round to doing anything with it yet.

Hope you think of some truely novel use for your spare lime!

Have a good evening all.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Well, we were up with the larks this morning, and off down the launderette to get all the holiday clothes dry. Wrecks a LSD intention though , as I only have to get the *new* TV listings guide today. Still, it's done, folded and it will be [STRIKE]shoved [/STRIKE] stowed away carefully into drawers and cupboards just now.

We've a load of logs coming in a while. These are needing to be paid for - luckily out of DP's budget. The *gifted* stocks are getting a bit low, and despite the fact the log supplier claims the wood is 'seasoned', we always find it is better if kept for a year - or more if poss. So we're getting it in now with the intention of use next year at the earliest.

I've not thought about dinner, but it will have to be something with runner beans We might have to pop over to the parentals again later, as mowing needs doing and apparently the week is set to get rainy and colder? Not sure about that, but it does mean we have a lot to shoehorn into the day. At least I only have to edge the lawns, DP has to wrestle with the beast of a mower at the parentals estate

We need to chase up the cc company too *sigh*. We've a pin number but no card. And yes, I realise that they send them under separate cover, but the pin no. came whilst we were away, and I'm starting to wonder if the card has gone awol........ I thought card companies sent them recorded delivery these days?

Right, better get up and at 'em and sieze the day.

Thank you for reading, commenting and participating. I really appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

beanielou

Morning GP & friends :wave:

Greying_Pilgrim

Ay up beanie :wave:

Greying

Shovel_Lad

Morning Greying, beanie and all :wave:

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Well, in the parlance of the 'yoof 'o today', this day has been 'full on'.

Dear Reader, I am aching in places that I didn't know existed and I have been sweatin' in places that you really don't want to know about..........:rotfl:

After an early start, we received the log delivery. I moved about half the load and DP did the other half. I chopped about 1/3rd of them and DP did another third and DP then stacked all the chopped logs. We will doubtless 'arm wrestle' it out to see who gets to chop the remaining third........

A lunch of soup and soda farls barely revived us, so we dragged ourselves out to the parentals for lawn maintenance classes. Luckily for me, the gardening parental [STRIKE]was stubborn enough [/STRIKE] was well enough to have edged all the lawns, so my task was done :j Unfortunately for DP the mowing still needing doing and a tussle with the 'lawn leviathan' aka 'the mower' ensued. Of course, it didn't help that the gardening parental has boogered up the mower again, so a hard task was made even harder.......... I left DP being 'supervised' - which went down well, natch....... and impressed myself by being able to fire up a steam driven computer in order to extract a file off a 3.5 inch 'Floppy' (I know, I have lost you kids at this point. I have, haven't I? :rotfl:) It worked!

The gardening parental then wittered on about getting a laptop, but under no circumstances were they going to give up their 'Dial Up' connection, because they wouldn't use broadband, and they weren't going to pay for something that they wouldn't use. But could I tell them how to make their laptop 'wireless' because they didn't want to trail cables all over the shop and neither did they want to sit out in the hall by the phone because it got cold out there........palm.face.exasperation.

I'm glad to be home........

Dinner this evening was something of an experiment. I made Sri Lankan runner Bean curry, Sweet potato rogan Josh and rice. I based the runner bean on the BBC Good Food recipe HERE , but used Rick Stein's Sri Lankan spice mix in view of the negative comments about lack of flavour on the website. I also diced in some tomato at the end (I scooped out the seeds and put them in to the sweet potato curry). And 7 week wonder will be delighted to know that I used that 'lonesome lime' up in the runner bean curry - so no wasted expenditure The runner bean curry was nice, I sliced them thinly and didn't pre-cook them. The coconut and lime were the key flavourings, but you did get a hint of the bean taste - by far the best thing to do with runner beans IMHO The sweet potato curry was just pots, onion, garlic, Jaymees rogan josh paste (frozen from when I made a batch for the last RJ curry) and some 'fresh' frozen coriander. Picture isn't very good, as I needed the artificial light on in the kitchen as the daylight had gone ......



I'd make both the curries again, and thanks to 'freebies' and super6 buys, and MrS bAsics rice, I reckon this fits into the 'frugal fare' category again :money:

So Dear Reader, today I am grateful for these 3 things;

physical health - DP and I worked as a team and actually accomplished a lot of heavy, manual work today. We then saw another generation that is struggling to come to terms with age-related, diminishing physical well-being. It brings the value of trying to maintain good health and physical well-being, for as long as you can, into sharp focus...............

old tech, old spec - if we didn't sometimes hang on to the old technologies, it is quite remarkable what can be lost.......the 'dial up versus broadband' debate however, is quite a different matter - upgrade already! :rotfl:

sunshine - hauling firewood in the sunshine was at least a pleasant task - plus the lawn was dry enough to be mown, and the gardening parental once again feels that the gardening tasks are not beginning to slip away from them. I am grateful for late-summer sunny days. Edit: I've just realised I was grateful for 'sunshine' on Monday too - perhaps the Holiday drenchings left a more lasting impression than I first imagined.......:rotfl:

I am sorry tonight's post is a little late, I lost the first version 3/4 of the way through..........

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

See y'all later.

Greying

Pippilongstocking

Love love love the tomato stand glad you had happy holidays!

I'll leave the gin to Piq I'm taking a break from it.

Waves - a feeble paw - tired.

Nice to hear all you lovely chat!

Greying_Pilgrim

Ay up Pipster! - I had a feeling that the road-side stall would be exactly your 'thing'

How's the planning been going? Has Wik a feast of epic proportions planned? And did you try that cocktail? Or did it interfere with the drinking of g.i.n??:D I found some rose water on hols, so watch this space for the 'cheats' version.

Greying

32b3in2013

I absolutely love your 3 things to be grateful for. It's so easy to take things for granted without really noticing and your 3 things really make me think "oh yeah, I noticed that today too". Thank you :A

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

A little late from me this morning. I confess, we had a lie-in and I made a cuppa for DP as it's the last day of our holibonts.

Shovel Lad and 32be3in2013 how lovely to *see* you both again, thank you for your comments and support - always welcome

I remembered last night that I had failed to update you on a couple of things - that I have moaned about - so here's an update:

the cc - huzzah! 6 weeks after applying, the little piece of plastic plopped onto the mat yesterday! And yes, this was after we'd rung them to see where it had got to........ Thing is, we don't have any expenditure to put on it now........... DP thinks we ought to frame it, like the Victorian big game/butterfly collectors of yore - as it is clearly such a rarity :rotfl:The nice thing is, after checking what colour we would like the card to be (I think it is the second question asked of you when you apply.....) they remembered and we have the right colour!! :rotfl::rotfl:

the fence - you may recall I had a [STRIKE]whine[/STRIKE], [STRIKE]grump[/STRIKE], moan about workmen fixing a fence panel (in another garden) to our new fence with a tatty auld bit of wood and a plethora of screws. This made it impossible to remove our fence panel for maintenance. We, after patiently tracking down the owner, had a perfectly civil conversation with them and they saw our point of view and promised to get the 'workmen' to sort it out - as they hadn't finished the fence......... Anyway, whilst we've been away, the wood has been taken off and our panel moves freely again. The workmen have clearly not been back to finish off the fence. One can only hope that the owner did not pay them, as I suspect they won't rush back otherwise....... However, I must drop a little note of thanks round to the relevant householder.

Today the weather is *pants*, so i'm not too sure what we'll get up to. As you've noted, we've made a slow start on our 'nothingness'

I didn't get time to pick up a copy of the TV listings guide yesterday, so expenditure on that will be on the cards today.

Dinner this evening was supposed to be a dish I haven't tried to make before.... however, I know that we are out of at least one essential ingredient, with no money in the grocery kitty, so........ I do have some carrots that the gardening parental provided free and gratis on Monday. Wonder what I could make? These will be thoroughly vetted before being photographed though....................:D

I've still not got round to making yoghurt, which is stupid. I really must, must, must make it today. Actually, routine is a wonderful thing - I love holidays, but sometimes throwing routine outta the window mucks up your essential chore list when you're trying to lead a simple/frugal life. Mind you - i'm lucky to have the variety and I'm grateful for that - so please don't see the last para as any type of complaint on my part.

I'm not quite as achey as I anticipated this morning, but my shoulder blades are singing gently each time I move and humming when I don't ...... :rotfl:

Right, DP has just handed me a coffee and I'd better go find something to eat and set myself up to seize the day.

Thank you for popping in. I really appreciate the fact that you take the time to swing by and am grateful for you 'cheering' me on.

See y'all later.

Greying