OS Singlies - We Do It Our Way!

JustKeepSwimming_2

Afternoon all & hello to all the new posters - great to see more people joining the thread. Hopefully I've caught up so :grouphug: to anyone who needs one & sorry to hear some of you are having a hard time.

Thankfully we managed to get back from our holiday as the train strike ended the day before we left, but that was only confirmed 2 days before we left so there were a few anxious mornings. I had ex OH (kid's father) on standby to come & collect us if no trains were on, but relieved he wasn't needed after all. He wasn't 100% sure about getting us anyway as his current wife announced she was going out at short notice so he said he probably wouldn't be able to collect us after all :eek:.

The holiday was lovely, apart from the rain. We did have a few good days weather, but getting drenched & drying out became the theme of the holiday; glad its windy on the coast as you dry out much quicker :rotfl: Seems like a lifetime ago now, like all holidays.

Back to work for me tomorrow - how did that happen so quickly? Only seems like a few days ago that we broke up for the summer Have to confess I'm not really looking forward to it - will be good to see my colleagues, but I much prefer being at home to the actual work part of it.

I'm also feeling a tad down as I feel like I've wasted the summer - I had a long list of things to sort out & I haven't crossed many off yet . I'm in awe of how much some of you have achieved :T

I haven't managed to finish the outside painting as it's barely stopped raining/showering since we got home - expect they'll be a few nice days in September so hopefully I can get it done then. Still got a lot of de-cluttering to do; although I have done some of the kitchen bits & bobs I never use & chucked out a lot of old toys when DS wasn't looking. He hasn't noticed they've gone yet .

Have 6 bags of books to get rid of - the CS shops have all said they don't want more books just now, so its either a cab to the book bank at the supermarket (& hope it isn't full when I get there or it'll be a cab home too) or drag a shopping trolley up which is a 30 minute uphill walk (& probably got 2 trolleys full). They're all good quality books, so it seems wrong to put them out with the recycling, although that would be the easiest option for me - maybe I should just do that & save myself several hours work.

Have sorted the utility room, just need to oil the garden furniture before it goes away & tidy up a few things around it, but its looking a lot better.

Then its the clothes :think:. I have way to many & after years of fooling myself that I may diet & lose weight, I doubt I'll ever be a 12 again so its time to have a rethink. For now I'm just going to sort it all out into summer tops & winter tops etc. & see what I've actually got, getting rid of anything I can at that stage, eventually working through it all. Its hard when my weight goes up & down so much during the month (I have black work trousers in 3 sizes depending on the time of the month. I'll be so glad when all that is over & done with although there are no signs yet; still getting spots each month at 46 :rotfl:).

Still got the dreaded menu planning to do & as for DD & DS's bedrooms....

Maybe my list was too long :rotfl:

Quite sad about Haven not taking us singlies. There is a particular park that we used to go to when the kids were little & had some great times. I'd thought about getting one of the Sun holidays there & going alone as its very close to some fantastic walks, but I'll save myself the rejection :rotfl:

ellie99

Just popping in to say hi, although I've nothing at all to report

Nice to see you all back from holidays...JKS glad the trains were running in the end.

It didn't feel like a bank holiday today, it was exactly the same as any other Monday. Getting frustrated waiting for tradesmen to turn up, why are they all so busy?! Even accosted one when I saw him getting out of his van in the high street last week :rotfl: promised he would be round this week, we shall see...

JKS, is there anyone you could offer the books to, so that they don't need to be thrown away? Any colleagues who would want them? (if they pick them up!) or do you live in an area where you could put them outside with a "help yourself" notice?
Or advertise them online to collect. I got rid of loads of my aunts books by contacting a small second hand book shop, and they came and bought a car load
I have it easy, our local supermarket has a charity book table, so I just dump them when I go shopping

mum2one

jks - have u tried the books on a local facebook sellers page

xx

elona

When DH was going to radiotherapy for weeks at St. James in Leeds the oncology dept had a table to donate books that could be bought by putting a donation in the tin.

It meant I could get rid of a lot of books ,made money for charity and helped occupy patients waiting for treatment. Maybe there is something similar near you.

BookWorm

Afternoon All

How are we all doing on this lovely September day?

All fine with me...can't believe it's September already mind :eek:

I've been away for the long weekend. Had a lovely few days catching up with family and an old school friend. Even though the weather hasn't been brilliant (bank holiday washout!), it's been nice to have a break from work, routine and a change of scenery. I even managed a few hours uninterrupted reading time..which was bliss. :T I know it is a small ,simple thing but seems like such a luxury in today's busy world

I've also decided to take a couple of extra days off work as I couldn't face going back just yet :cool:

JKS - re: books. If you are on FB - what about asking if anyone wants them or knows of someone/somewhere that does?

BW

BookWorm

:hello:

Just cooking a roast dinner here and was chatting whilst doing the prep...I LOVE yorkshire pudding and when I was younger, my nan said I had to learn how to make it since I ate so much of it ... it was the first thing I learnt to cook and is the one and only thing to this day that I can do without a recipe or measuring scales, etc.

.. just made me wonder.... what was the first thing you learnt to cook?

mum2one

Think the first thing was buns with coloured icing, always remember my mum saying it took dad 25 years of marriage to bake an apple pie... thou 53 years later he's still doing ok x

ellie99

Definitely feeling "September-y"...lots of spiders webs in the garden...why do spiders make more webs in September than any other time?

BookWorm wrote: »

.. just made me wonder.... what was the first thing you learnt to cook?

Hmm, not sure I can remember, it was too long ago

Although my Dad remembers the jam tarts I used to produce when I was 3...I'd be given some pastry to play with and it would be rolled and squished and rolled and squished...and when he came home from work I'd proudly present him with my tarts...he says the pastry was grey because I'd played with it so much, and he'd have to look thrilled to eat them :rotfl:

Did quite a lot of different things as a teenager, but remember the failures more...the gingerbread loaf which "exploded" all over the oven, the totally flat yorkshire puddings, the tablet which had to be eaten with a spoon...
and I recall getting married and thinking I knew how to cook, and having to go home and ask "em, how do you do mince and stew again?"

In the days before the internet, nowadays you can look up how to cook everything, much easier.

mothernerd

I remember waiting for weeks until I was allowed to use the grill unsupervised to make toast. Think it was my eighth birthday. We all had toast for supper - first time it was cooked right as mum could only manage black (she tried to tell us toast and sausages were supposed to be black). Within two weeks, my brothers had meithered so much that they were allowed to do it, too.

I had been helping mum make wedding cakes since I was three (mixing all the fruit and quartering the cherries) and when my dad went out whilst she was trying to get the buffet ready for my youngest brother's Christening, she stood me on a chair so I could reach the table to stir the jelly. i also helped do the buffet for a friend who got married when I was five.

Shortly after the toast I brought a book home from the library and learned to make baked potatoes and sausages (turned every few minutes to an even colour on all sides- not black or black and pink stripes). I was eleven when I first made a Victoria sandwich by myself. Mum refused to let me use her kitchen so I had to wait until we moved house and her cousin (who lived across the backs) let me do it at her house. We moved on December 22nd, I was eleven in January and was asked to help with the buffet for the Christening of the cousin's daughter who was born the week before my birthday.

When I first lived with my exOH he tried to tell me I was doing the baked potatoes wrong. he had only ever seen women put them in an a low oven wrapped in foil before going out for several hours (the only time people fed him was at parties - he had lived alone for ten years when I met him without learning to cook anything other than bacon and eggs). I said he could put the potatoes in without forking them all over if he wanted, but he would be the one cleaning the oven after the potatoes exploded all over the inside.

Have cleaned the old cupboards and they are under the stairs with most of the tools, power tools and garden bag on them. There are still odd screws and bits around but most of it is done. Parts of the kitchen are clean. Took a long time getting things downstairs, walking backwards and lifting them down a couple of steps at a time.

BookWorm

Morning

Thanks for the cooking stories that have been shared so far.... it's nice that so many involve family members... for good or bad

Ellie - I agree that the internet definitely makes it easier to find out how something is done. Interesting that between both that and the huge amount of cooking shows on TV... that they still say most people can't cook.

I'm planning on having a quiet day for my last day of 'freedom' - just a few errands to run - and hopefully a walk later (weather permitting). Rock and roll eh

Have a good day all

BW