Cheery's buttling diary: tea in one hand, plant pot in the other, running shoes on

Cheery_Daff

Aha, gardeners pie, that's the name I was looking for! :j :j One of my favourite dishes and my mother has just offered to make t when I stay at hers on Saturday so that'll be twice in a week :j :j

You're both right of course, and this is precisely why I stopped using it last time! :rotfl: interesting how we get suckered back in. I think in reality I juat have a background concern about taking out a new mortgage (I've never had one before) and feel safer to see a teensy bit of dosh coming in extra but that's probably not the way to do it!

Going to have a proper think on about all this. Feel I've lost my way ethically a bit lately and am doing all manner of things I wouldn't have been comfortable with a few years ago not stealing from old ladies!! :eek: :rotfl: but buying from people I once would have not considered etc.

Hmm, lots to ponder.

Anyway, so far I have achieved barely anything off my list :eek: didn't make bread as I thought I'd left it too late - but it would have been ready now so I'm regretting it :rotfl: didn't fix bike, but instead walked across town to meet friend and most jolly it was too :j

Didn't collect parcel (it was shut on the way back), and havent done any DIY or exercise yet either, oh dear!! :rotfl:

Just waiting for Mr Cheery to finish using the kitchen as a recording studio and then I'll have lunch (omelette probably now...) and crack on :j

EssexHebridean

It;s an odd one, the ethical thing. Quite right that you're not mugging old ladies (I somehow didn't think you were!) but I think sometimes the need to do the right thing for "us" as a household, or on an entirely personal level, has to supercede what feels as though it ought to be right for the rest of the world.

I'd love to be able to buy local for everything. I'd love to be able to bin the big supermarkets altogether, and just buy from lovely local greengrocers and butchers and farmers markets. BUT the truth of it is, we don't have a local greengrocer. We do have a local butcher but from what I've been able to find out his welfare standards are lower than the supermarkets. We have one local farmers market (and by local I mean "within 5 miles" that I can get to, and that's a teeny, tiny one. The big one that we could buy far more at is a 40 mile round trip - and while it's good, I'm not convinced that 40 miles of diesel is a good offset to shopping there! I'd love to be able to walk far more than I currently do, and use the car far less - BUT in fact I rarely use the car when there is another option - public transport to work would take me well over 2 hours each way, and cost me a lot more than I'm currently paying out. While it might be "greener" on the face of it, I personally don't feel that's a good enough trade off for me making several different transport companies considerably richer, whilst making my own household considerably poorer. :rotfl:

Sorry - that's turned into a bit of a ramble - is maybe this extra frugal month a good time to re-think through some of your questions around the ethical thing though - it may be that some things have started to feel a bit less relevant to you, while other things may come to mind that you'd not even thought of? Something I'm trying to turn my thoughts to a bit is my consumption of refined sugars, and added sugar in general - I'd not even thought about it until a chance reading of an online article the other day made me start looking at a few things.

Back to food - I love the fact that all the different forms of "a filling topped with mashed potato" have their own names like this - although why is Fish pie not generally referred to as Fisherman's Pie? My favourite possibly though is the version of it that one of the artisan pie companies makes - which contains goat meat - and they call "Heidi-Pie!" :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Heidi-Pie :rotfl: :rotfl:

You're right, of course, and it's not helped by the fact that what I'd do, and what Mr Cheery would do, aren't always exactly the same... I've never been perfect, of course, and never will be, but I've done an awful lot more than I am doing now in the past. I think it's more that I've just stopped thinking about it at all that I'm not comfortable with. Hmm...

Also not comfortable with the fact that the pesky plaster has gone off! :eek: My fault - I was just being hopeful - the bag's been open for weeks (possibly months...) and the moisture gets to it and makes it set almost as soon as you mix it. I managed to fill in the big holes but it's no use at all for skimming. Mr Cheery's out in the car so I can't get any more either today. Hey ho.

Have come downstairs instead to paint behind the kitchen shelves :eek: Big fiasco of a job - there's LOADS of stuff on them that'll need to come off, and I might need to take the shelves off too (that'd be easier actually!).

But no excuses - radio is on, internet is getting turned off, and I bet it'll take about 15 mins once I get started :rotfl: :rotfl:

After that I shall be making my gardeners pie and some biscuits too while the oven is on :j :j

Cheery_Daff

Evening :hello:

Gardeners pie made and demolished (there's a second one made for tomorrow too :j ) Most tasty :j

Also made some of Nigella's Granny Boyd's biscuits after seeing them mentioned on a blog the other day. On phone so can't link but they're easy to find. Keeper of a recipe for me - easy to make, simple ingredients, dont have to roll out, they taste yummy and look nice too

Also linked to Uber Frugal January too - today's email was about looking through food cupboards and using things up. Don't tell anyone, but my cocoa powder choice was some ancient Weight watchers hot chocolate, and some Cadburys Bournville cocoa powder in a tin that's sol old it doesn't even have a best before date :eek: :rotfl: It's been in the cupboard since before I moved in (11 years ago) but it's airtight and smelled like cocoa powder, and, well, waste not, want not... :rotfl:

Anyway they're proper tasty :j and they look great so I've packed some up as a replacement for my dad's present that we ate :rotfl:

Painting done, and I've started sanding and priming the kitchen cladding too :j will do some more tonight :j

Greying_Pilgrim

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

, but I've done an awful lot more than I am doing now in the past. I think it's more that I've just stopped thinking about it at all that I'm not comfortable with. Hmm...

But you've been busy! You've been incredibly time poor because of your DIY schedule. Something had to give. You can always pick up the green/ethical baton at anytime in the future - what you have done recently doesn't 'eradicate' all that you have done in the past, nor could possibly do in the future.

Cut yerself some slack, gal!

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

:kisses3: Oh I know I have all the reasons Greying I'm not beating myself up, I promise - just reflecting and intending to do something different in the future

Kitchen is looking ace (although I've only done the primer - will still need undercoat and two coats of colour). Just took down the shelves over the cooker :eek: :eek: I can't reach up there without ladders so I've NEVER cleaned them :eek: :eek: :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl: They're quite grim :rotfl:

Won't be volunteering for one of those tv 'how clean is your house?' programmes any times soon :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I usually adopt a policy of painting over the dust/cobwebs, but really, I could knit an entire pair of socks with these cobwebs :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Had to have a small rest as it was just too grim :eek: :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Evening chums :hello:

Mix of a day here. Filled lots of little holes in the kitchen cladding, then spent a couple of hours painting undercoat - only to realise I was actually doing a second bloody coat of primer by mistake :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl: what a waste of time and paint! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Hey ho. It'll delay me a day or two as I now have to wait for that to dry (again) :rotfl: but I'm undercoating the rest of the kitchen in the meantime :rotfl:

Also, I bought a Dyson off Gumtree for £30 :j :j :j so THANK YOU to whoever suggested I looked out for a free or cheap one as a backup - this is actually better than any hoover I've ever owned in my life :rotfl: so sorry i can't remember who suggested it, will look back when I'm not on the phone :j Looking forward to hoovering the whole house tomorrow :j Don't think I ever said that before... :rotfl: :rotfl:

Nothing else to report. Friend came round for a cuppa :j tried and failed to make popcorn flapjack (ate it anyway, just with a spoon... :rotfl: ). Didn't buy anything else :money:

Right, best get on and finish this undercoat! :j

EssexHebridean

Glad to hear that the spoonable flapjack was edible! Did have to laugh at your cocoa powder options though! :rotfl:

interesting that the uber frugal thing was focusing on using up what you have today too - I wrote my meal plan earlier on with specifically that aim in mind!

Cheery_Daff

Everyone must be thinking about using up stuff from Christmas! :rotfl: Except me - I have no Christmas leftovers, just stuff from 15 years ago :eek: :rotfl:

Just taking a break from the last of the undercoating to sort YNAB/banks. Not done for a couple of days, and I seem to have 'misplaced' £40.07 cash :eek: I barely even use cash! Taken quite a lot out this week (yes, it was all me, not a naughty fraudster) as paid cash for the hoover, Mr Cheery took some to the DIY shop, and I paid upfront for an activity for the year. But somehow I'm out £40.07?

An odd amount too - makes me feel like I've just lost 7p (not unlikely) and done something specific with the £40 - but what?! Stuck it in the 'budget fiddling' category (handy one, that) for now and hoping I'll remember, but not exactly what I was hoping for in the middle of Uver Frugal January! :eek: :rotfl:

Hey ho.

Anyway, relevant spends

Thurs 5th: £1.80 in cafe with friend (she'd left her card at home, so ended up putting her drink on my card as the free one, and just paying for mine)
Fri 6th: £6.15 for beer/ginger wine for me and Mr Cheery

Also spent on some more DIY stuff (which isn't counting as part of the challenge), and as I said, bought a second hand Dyson for £30 (a bargain!)

But so far no extra bits of food (except milk) and no 'unnecessary'/unconscious spending either :j

So, today.

- finish undercoating kitchen
- pack!
- wrap 2 family birthday presents and write cards
- make flapjack to take to munch after race (save buying things from a kiosk :money: )
- download podcasts for journey
- hoover round the house :j :j Very exciting (I'm not normally excited by hoovering... :eek: but I've not had a working one since before Christmas so everywhere's even more grubby than usual :rotfl: )
- take Christmas tree down

Then also need to allow time after leaving the house to

- get diesel
- buy an extra card
- get fruit pastilles for the race (legitimate expense )
- COLLECT PARCEL - it's sister's Christmas present!

Right, best get a move on - I'll need to leave the house at 1pm! :eek:

PurpleFairy26

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Evening chums :hello:

Mix of a day here. Filled lots of little holes in the kitchen cladding, then spent a couple of hours painting undercoat - only to realise I was actually doing a second bloody coat of primer by mistake :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl: what a waste of time and paint! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Hey ho. It'll delay me a day or two as I now have to wait for that to dry (again) :rotfl: but I'm undercoating the rest of the kitchen in the meantime :rotfl:

Also, I bought a Dyson off Gumtree for £30 :j :j :j so THANK YOU to whoever suggested I looked out for a free or cheap one as a backup - this is actually better than any hoover I've ever owned in my life :rotfl: so sorry i can't remember who suggested it, will look back when I'm not on the phone :j Looking forward to hoovering the whole house tomorrow :j Don't think I ever said that before... :rotfl: :rotfl:

Nothing else to report. Friend came round for a cuppa :j tried and failed to make popcorn flapjack (ate it anyway, just with a spoon... :rotfl: ). Didn't buy anything else :money:

Right, best get on and finish this undercoat! :j

''Twas me who got you to spend the £30 on vacuum. So glad it's good :T just found your diary too, will subscribe if that's ok. Off to look at that biscuit recipe, I'm sure I have some products with similar BBD of your cocoa which I'm looking to use. Glad you survived to tell the tale :rotfl: PF.