Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

Lynplatinum

Hiya All

Well - how to loose weight and eat ribs; chips; salted caramel cheesecake and drink 3 pints and then have chocolate - go to a Quo gig and dance the night away!!! I had such a good time with my good mate Nic!!! She is such a fun person and organises it all!! Bless her!!

Vulpix - we will all form a virtual brass band and blow your trumpet for you!! Well done on finishing what you started; being MM&M and keeping on going at the quilt! Fab!!:beer: :j

Back to reality!! Very excited - my tomatoes have gone to their second leaves - will be able to plant out soon ( so each has their own pot) AND my peppers have decided to start coming up!! Growing stuff is just so pleasing! NSD today - apart from necessary stamps to post off bills. Still cannot bring myself to trust to Direct Debits on bills where the amounts vary!! Regular ones are OK. Still scrutinise my bank statements like a hawk tho - ticking off each item! Does everyone else??

Shoes - used to be Jesus sandals back in the day (sigh) and long floaty cheesecloth skirts - such a feminine and romantic look! Now its jeans and practical t shirts and flat shoes due to chronic arthritis in big toes, hips and back I never wore damaging styles and my Mum always bought me Clarks shoes - properly fitted ones too! No reason to have arthritis in my feet at all!! Heigh ho!! I manage OK and love Ec!ho shoes - pricy but they last for about 2 years - and I live in them alone for most of that time (other than summer sandals).

Off to bed in a mo as am v. tired!!! Sleep well folks (at least they havent found a way to tax that - yet!!!

MrsCD

Well done vulpix for finishing the quilt :T It's a great feeling when you get there at last!
I've just finished a very quick crochet baby blanket tonight, which I've made for a work colleague who is leaving this week :eek: I'm dreadful for leaving things until the last minute.
Other than finishing the blanket today, this morning I set the washer away with the towels, and got them dried outside. I had already left the washer on the timer to start before I got up, so the clothes were ready to hang out. Then DH decided we should take the 3 trugs of weeds I pulled up last week to the council tip - another half hour or so used up. DD2 needed petrol so we went to MrA's and I did the shopping a day earlier than I had expected to.
After lunch I did the bank account and paid bills etc., and sorted all the last few years paperwork into boxes to hide away until time to shred/burn.
Made dinner with chicken breasts from freezer, battered potato slices bought cheaper in MrA's and a load of veg. DD2 put some curry sauce on hers to use up the last of the jar she bought the other day.
Got all the ironing done this evening, so I can have an easier day tomorrow - going to look for a new car for DD2.
Off to bed now - think I might sleep well.

GreyQueen

bluebag wrote: »

Blanching!! Good grief, what would I do that for?? I thought I was great for putting stuff in a bag AND...get this!, a label.

Label...........label...........what is this strange thing of which you speak? Doesn't everyone leave these off to add to the gaiety of nations when they defrost random items by mistake?

I have the veg in little placcy bags and just squint at them for ID purposes. My tiny tabletop freezer is full of veg atm, plus some mystery bags of [STRIKE]bullets[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]beads[/STRIKE] oh, they must be the blackcurrants. I open freeze them on trays and then bag them, and eat them straight from frozen as a dessert. Yummy.

Well, woke up and took off my biteguard and the overlay is still where is should be and my jaw no longer aches. It's a live tooth but the one immediately behind it and the one above that have long been root-canalled.

Today's plans involve going to the orifice to earn a living and then going to archery to play silly beggars. Have longbow, will travel.

vulpix

IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!! and snowing hard.Perhaps Mum's garden tidy will be postponed.
Thank you for my virtual brass band,could I have flags too?As long as I don't have to make them that is.
Hope everyones teeth n feet behave today.Vx

vulpix

IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!! and snowing hard.Perhaps Mum's garden tidy will be postponed.
Thank you for my virtual brass band,could I have flags too?As long as I don't have to make them that is.
Hope everyones teeth n feet behave today.Vx

good_advice

Good morning money savers. Tuesday, 28th April.
Getting a bit closer to the more comfortable warmer weather ;0)
I have felt the last few days get a bit cold again, after the nice spell.
I found myself looking for a thin jumper to wear in bed.

Yesterday, OH and I went into the shopping centre for an hour.
x1 hour on car park fee's limits the amount of spending that can be done.
I spent an enjoyable 1/2 hour looking @ M & S clearance rails.
Splashed out on a lovely blouse.
1/2 hour in Wilkinsons. I had pre decided to buy x2 white lampshades.

Witnesses an old lady being shown how to use her contact card.
Mine has just arived. Not used it yet. I heard the assistant say you can spend upto £20 with just a touch. No number needed.

One thing I hate about going into the shopping area is being approached to give money. Do you like cats? I was asked.
I said No! we have a dog. and walked on.
I did buy our dog a pack of x5 chew sticks. She greats everyone so warmly that goes through the front door. Us included when we went home.

Our home is looking very neat and tidy with all the Spring decluttering.
I am finding small containers a help.
I tided a drawer in the kitchen. Used a cut down marg. tub and a plastic veg. tray. No buying fancy deviders needed :0).

Well, time to get dressed.
Washing to hang on line. plants to put out. Breakfast. Then ironing. Walk the dog......More visitors expected.
Plenty to do....

Say hello to the sun. Being outside is good for our wellbeing.
Have a cash free day /0)

silvasava

Well done on completing the quilt Vulpix - you can have brass band, flags AND streamers
Hope the toothie peg is still OK GQ - hate anything to do with dentistry
Well they say trouble comes in threes - dishwasher packed up, stinking cold started & my throat tickled all night so didn't get much sleep AND I've got a speeding ticket - 33 in a 30 limit - at least I can do the awareness course (at a cost of £90) I've never had a ticket for anything in nearly 50 years of driving - it was such a shock.
Off to fill in the form & check the medicine cabinet for something for my throat.
Have a good day all (better than mine lol)

bargainhunterss

GreyQueen wrote: »

I'd recommend evening watering, once the sun has gone off that area of the garden. You want to have the maximum benefit from the water, not losing it to evaporation.

I'm always gobsmacked when I see fellow allotmenteers watering with hoses in the heat of the day. One couple, who are excellent gardeners, and retired so presumably able to pick their own times, always choose to pop up and water about midday on the blazing hot summer's days. Plants not getting the benefit of much of that, hey?

I agree GreyQueen, my gran always used to say don't water the plants when they're in the sun as it will scorch them. Not sure if its true, but my gran was right about most things so I've always stood by that!

vhalla1478

Morning All,

Sorry I didn't put a recipe on (again) yesterday, but after doing all the washing and the ironing, I had all six grandchildren round, so by the time I'd washed up/tidied up, I flaked out early. And today I'm off to the dentists as well - second of three appointments. I mustn't grumble though I haven't had to have anything done to my teeth apart from a 6 monthly inspection and clean for 12 years. So will definitely try and post a recipe this evening.

Silva, I commiserate about your parking fine, even more gutting as you've never had one before! One of my friends had her first one from Morrissons car park a few weeks ago and she felt exactly the same.

Congratulations on the quilt, vulpix, I'll make the bunting for you! You've given me the impetus aka guilt I need to finish my rug - only another 100,000 stitches or so to do - but I will do it. No snow here, still sunshine and blue sky, but the temperature has certainly dropped.

GreyQueen, thank you for the watering tip - commonsense when you think about it, which I obviously didn't! I like it when I'm told the reason why you need to do certain things.

Lynn, Mum always put me in Clarks and/or Startrite shoes when I was a child, but I 'progressed' to kitten heels and then winkle pickers very rapidly; and believe it or not, although I wear high heels I only buy those which are sublimely comfortable - Kennel and Schmenger. Expensive, but they last year after year, so not expensive if you work out the price divided by how many times you wear them. A cheap dress, say one for £20 which you only wear for one occasion is in fact an expensive dress compared with one you love that cost say £100 and that you wear 50 times - that's £2 per wear as opposed to £20 for the cheap dress. That's only an example of course, I'm not saying that £20 is cheap; I've had many times in my life that £20 would have been completely out of my reach.

Where's Cheerfulness, I wonder? I hope she didn't seriously hurt herself the other day when she had the washing line incident.

I've rambled on enough, late breakfast and then the dentist. See you all later, Folks.

Viv xx

mumto2boys

Hello, i have finally caught up and read the whole thread after stumbling across you all the other day, so thought i would pop in and say hi and thankyou for all the great ideas and recipes you have been offering.

I'm a nearly 40 year old mum, greatly outnumbered by the husband and boys in the house, but i will (WILL!) get this house under control and not disappear under a mound of lego and smelly socks!