I have lost my OS ways, help!

katkin

Hello everyone, I hope you don't mind me joining in.

Seeing the thread title jolted me a bit as I think I have been wobbling with my OS ethos due to not feeling great and getting stressed out at work. A few things started to slip...like not obsessively noting my spending in my budget book, so losing track and not caring about some of my domestic systems, hence laundry piling up etc.

Things haven't quite gone *its up yet but I think I've been borderline.

Usually I get a great sense of joy from my OS lifestyle and it keeps me happy and in control. However, I have redundancy looming and feel a bit low, so things are slipping. It can happen to anyone can't it, even us devotees.

You are all such an inspiration to me, I'm glad to be reading your posts as they're keeping me going...and as yet I've not completely lost the plot!

Spent some time today catching up on my receipts and budget book..phew all is ok. Will stock take the my kitchen stores tonight and start a new menu plan and shopping list for this month. At the moment I'm running things down and haven't been to a supermarket / shop for over a week. It's amazing how the imagination creates meals from the weirdest of things!

Anyhoo, hopefully I've not embarrassed myself with this post. If I have oops and sorry xxx

CRANKY40

Having had the child's birthday which always stresses me out I was prepared to settle down and get ready for an OS (if you don't count technology for the child) Christmas. Then I caught a cold. I also had a massive allergic reaction to something I'd eaten of the "not breathing very well" kind. I rang the doctors the next morning and went in today. I have to have a blood test and my peak flow (measure of breathing ability) is so low I have a weeks worth of steroids. I actually thought my breathing was ok so goodness knows what it was like last week when I thought it was bad.

I am hoping that the steroids turn me into superwoman and my house will be spotless by the end of the week. Cooking has ground to a halt as I don't have the energy but I finally have some batch cooked stuff in the freezer so we'll live.

Caterina, big companies are full of people using other people's heads as rungs on their ladder and are best avoided.

Icey ring the doctors and ask for a prescription for calpol. You shouldn't have to pay for it (if they quibble say little one needs to take it to nursery or school and they won't give it unless it's prescribed, which is true).

Tatabubbly well done on your alterations. I have vision but unfortunately lack ability to see the vision through :rotfl:

m_o_s my gran once made me a birthday cake that we had to have with custard. There's not much that can't be fixed with custard. What kind of dogs are they? My friend has a Dogue de Bordeaux that she was walking when they met a funeral cortege with a horse drawn carriage coming the other way. To the surprise of the mourners, shortly after passing them going in one direction, my friend passed them going the other way being pulled by the dog who wanted to walk with the horse for a bit. My friend is about the same size as your daughter and stood no chance.

CRANKY40

p.s. Just found some OS in my day. My great aunt died last year aged 83. I've just used her pinking shears to cut out some stuff for a jar that the boy has to decorate for school. I'm 47 and I used to use the pinking shears to make gift tags out of old Christmas cards for my great aunt and her sister (my nana) to use on their presents. Goodness knows how old they actually are.

villagelife

Saturday we all went to watch rugby at Twickenham - the second half had a great atmosphere. Shame we lost. Had taken food and drink so didn't have to pay hugely inflated prices.

Yesterday I did some planting of some trees I had ordered and some currant bushes. It felt good planting something rather than just digging and clearing.

I took lunch into work today.
I have just finished cleaning the carpets and now have to wait for it to dry. The dehumidifier is on. I bought the carpet cleaner in a sale a few years ago fo less than it cost to hire one.

ginnyknit

Keeping up my O/Sness well lately. Very little bought thanks to the tesco voucher, just milk nd the odd loaf. I have cheated though and when OH went shopping with Dd asked him to pick up plain flour and bread Why is it when I stock up on SR flour I suddenly need plain? I want to make shortbread teddy bears and gingerbread men for Dgs.

Just recovered one of the dining chairs with an off cut of fabric. Oh took the chair apart as it was wobbly so took the chance whilst the seat was off. Why oh why did I recover the chairs in cream fabric last year when Dgs paints at the table?? Just got to do the other 3 although they will be in 2 different fabrics - who cares, call them shabby chic :rotfl:

It took me 30 minutes to take all the staples out as this on had been missed when I recovered the others and 5 minutes to staple the new cover on. Love to think how much I saved today - Caterina bet you wish I lived nearer!

moments_of_sanity

CRANKY40 wrote: »

Having had the child's birthday which always stresses me out I was prepared to settle down and get ready for an OS (if you don't count technology for the child) Christmas. Then I caught a cold. I also had a massive allergic reaction to something I'd eaten of the "not breathing very well" kind. I rang the doctors the next morning and went in today. I have to have a blood test and my peak flow (measure of breathing ability) is so low I have a weeks worth of steroids. I actually thought my breathing was ok so goodness knows what it was like last week when I thought it was bad.

I am hoping that the steroids turn me into superwoman and my house will be spotless by the end of the week. Cooking has ground to a halt as I don't have the energy but I finally have some batch cooked stuff in the freezer so we'll live.

Caterina, big companies are full of people using other people's heads as rungs on their ladder and are best avoided.

Icey ring the doctors and ask for a prescription for calpol. You shouldn't have to pay for it (if they quibble say little one needs to take it to nursery or school and they won't give it unless it's prescribed, which is true).

Tatabubbly well done on your alterations. I have vision but unfortunately lack ability to see the vision through :rotfl:

m_o_s my gran once made me a birthday cake that we had to have with custard. There's not much that can't be fixed with custard. What kind of dogs are they? My friend has a Dogue de Bordeaux that she was walking when they met a funeral cortege with a horse drawn carriage coming the other way. To the surprise of the mourners, shortly after passing them going in one direction, my friend passed them going the other way being pulled by the dog who wanted to walk with the horse for a bit. My friend is about the same size as your daughter and stood no chance.

Hi Cranky40, I have 2 Border Coliies which I always thought were supposed to be small dogs, knee high and about 16/17kgs....looking at our two I believe them to have originally been bred from collies that worked cattle rather than sheep as my female weighs 21kgs and she is between my knee and hip in height '(top of her head), my male weighs 24kgs and is about the size of a boxer dog! :eek: I would have loved a Dog De Bordeaux but would never have been able to afford one (price difference in the Buckinghamshire area is about £700)! They are funny in what they think is entertainment, I can just picture your friend being dragged behind her dog, hanging on for dear life.....this is usually my DD on her walks with them if they see anything they like the look of! (Usually, pigeons, squirrels, rabbits, cyclists, you gotta love herding dogs) :rotfl:

Caterina

Good evening,

Goodness, isn't it good to see so many friends come out to play?

Icey, big (((hugs))) to you about the kitchen and being fed up of the builders, as you know I totally feel your pain, and (((hugs))) also to you poor little Frog for being unwell. Re. Calpol, all it is is paracetamol, but they charge a fortune for it. I knew someone who had worked out the amount of paracetamol in a teaspoon of calpol and so split the tablet in such a way to give the kids the right amount, crushed in a teaspoonful of jam. He taught me and I did it for my kids but I can't remember the proportions as it was a long time ago. Try to get the free prescription if you can!

Tatabubbly, good luck with the last of the money, I am sure you have all the skills to last until payday and our support. You can always post a list of what you have in the cupboards and we can all have fun helping you devise menus to see you through the last few days.

MOS the cake sounds lovely, even flat, good that you could use it with custard. Flat cake is always good as trifle base, too!

Katkin welcome to the thread, you sound already like a very well organised person, so a small slip is not the end of the world. I look forward to your posts.

Cranky I am sorry you haven't been well, it must have been quite frightening not breathing well. I hope you get well soon and start again with your Christmas preps in earnest. You are so right about companies! I worked mainly in local government and then in charities and they aren't much better, sadly.

Villagelife you sound always so busy and industrious, planting trees and bushes, doing so much, good for you for having the outing at Twickenham, even if you lost.

Ginny yes I do wish you lived nearer me, you clever crafty woman! I remember how you were encouraging me to do my own chairs, but in the end the old guy at the upholsterers gave me such a good price that I went with it, but I would have loved to do it myself if you had taught me.

Well, today went as planned, plus I made a jar of pickled beetroots using leftover vinegar from a jar of pickled onions, and also two jars of fermented pickles using only salt and pummelling the cut veg until they got all juicy. Like for sauerkraut.

Off to sleep now, good night all.

Caterina

Good morning,

Silly silly me, I forgot to go to tai chi this morning, just stayed in bed lazying about after getting DH breakfast and lunch ready and sorting through the food delivery.

Today I am doing another load of laundry, then hoping to do a mystery shop which is due soon, then back home for lunch. Cook curry for my friends who are coming for dinner, then work to pick up boys and give them their dinner.

Then final preparations for my friends arriving at 7, I really look forward to it.

Have a good OS day.

joedenise

Am being very OS today as not going shopping so another NSD - that'll be 3 in a row; although I do need some potatoes so DH has said he'll get a few on his way home at the farm shop (only 11p a pound so probably only about 50p but it's coming from his money not mine, LOL!

I'm using the last of my home grown butternut squash to make a curry along with some red lentils. It's in the SC and beginning to smell really yummy and everything is from stores - I even made my own curry paste last time I made curry and froze half which I have used today.

I like to make my own curry paste as it has so much better flavour than the ones you buy and no preservatives; don't really like using ready ground spices and just putting them in as they seem to retain that powdery texture a bit.

Didn't manage to get bedding dry yesterday so put on airer and not quite dry this morning so have hung out on the line for a little bit of a blow and to finish them off. I'm also very OS in that I don't iron them, LOL - hate ironing but say it's to save on the electric:rotfl:.

Tomorrow will be another OS day as again not going shopping and have got some mince out of the freezer which I'll use to make cottage pie, using up some of the home grown peppers which are in the fridge plus the last of the mushrooms. Will also add some more red lentils to it to stretch it a bit further and hopefully will have enough to make a cottage pie and put the rest into the freezer to use to make something else later in the month (am planning on making cannelloni probably next week so can be used in that).

Have a good day everyone.

Denise

moments_of_sanity

cranky40, hope you are feeling better today.

Joedenise, I have put off washing my bedding as I know I will have to have it around the house for it to dry and I hate having it drying over the bannister rail.

Caterina, sounds like you have another busy day, I don't know how you have so much energy....any chance you could send me a bit?

Had to pop out with youngest DD as she needed some chew toys for her rabbits and cockatiel, we then popped into a reptile place as her bearded dragon needed some crickets..yuk! She managed to spend £25 but it comes out of her allowance each month.

I had run out of rinse aid for the dishwasher and DH couldn't get any in A!di's yesterday as they don't seem to stock it so I popped into another part of my town as I was driving by, it is a very 'dodgy' area so DD locked herself in the car and I went into the local Co-0p, now this being a deprived area I was shocked at the prices of things, how on earth do these people afford to shop in there, it is terrible to think they are charged so much and that without cars/bikes etc they have no choice but to pay it. I refused to buy the only dishwasher rinse aid they had, a famous brand in a tiny bottle, costing £2.50! :eek: DH got some from Tesc0's, a very large bottle and £1.25.

I had a look at the Trussel Trust list of food items they need for people over Christmas and I think it will cost me about £10 so when I go shopping this week I will buy the extra items and drop them into my local food bank, hopefully I will be able to buy a few bits every week in the run up to Christmas. I still can't wrap my head around people having to going without food in this day and age.

Dinner tonight will be spaghetti bolognaise from the freezer as not sure what time DH will be home, shouldn't take me any longer than 10 mins to heat up and cook the spaghetti :j

Wishing you all a lovely OS day x