Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

RicardaRacoon

Me again...

MrsSmith I change between the Disney version of Pollyanna and the more recent British one and find the second a bit more possitive, especially since it goes on a bit longer after the accident and has a very nice happy ending. But still quite sad and I cried my eyes out this morning (watched the Disney verrsion)

Iamsam I thought about Leeds Castle just minutes ago.... Been there four years ago and put it on my places-to-visit-again list :-)

So, need to go to bed, long day at work tomorrow and my colleague is on holiday so no one around to pity me when I'm tired ;-)

Ches

silvasava wrote: »

I decided to make some scones to go with the jam I made yesterday. I used a Mary Berry recipe - they tasted nice but mine never seem to rise well don't know what I do wrong. Looked for the recipe that Monnagran used but couldn't find it. Can someone point me in the right direction please?

Silvasava, google Paul Holywood scones its the best recipe ever.

carolbee

RicardaRacoon wrote: »

Me again...

MrsSmith I change between the Disney version of Pollyanna and the more recent British one and find the second a bit more possitive, especially since it goes on a bit longer after the accident and has a very nice happy ending. But still quite sad and I cried my eyes out this morning (watched the Disney verrsion)

Iamsam I thought about Leeds Castle just minutes ago.... Been there four years ago and put it on my places-to-visit-again list :-)

So, need to go to bed, long day at work tomorrow and my colleague is on holiday so no one around to pity me when I'm tired ;-)

That's funny, not thought about Leeds Castle for years and decided to go there on Friday!

Mrs_Smith_72

Well that's definitely it for tonight! Need sleep now & had my medicinal brandy
ive now got 41 things listed on eeeaabayyy, still more to do tomorrow night & I'm sure there's st parts of the house I haven't looked at yet!! I bet if DH looked in my spare room he wouldn't even realise things had gone it's still that full lol.
Time to sleep this cold off!!! See you tomorrow folks

Lynplatinum

Evening all

Wow - havent we all been busy!!

I was about to feel ashamed then i realised that I had: baked bread this morning; put away a load of washing; showered; dried up dishes; done some filing; been for a long walk with my friend; eaten up some soup and spent an hour trimming the Ivy that is trying to take over the world (creeps over from next door who do nothing about it!! :mad:

no wonder I wonder where time goes

Have tried to donate to Jackie O - I do hope all went well for her today and that she didnt get rained on too much. Barclays are being a pain again and deciding that I dont know what I am doing with my own money!! I know its a security check etc etc - but they keep on not believing the password I type in!! :mad: And have checked - it is correct!!
Tomorrow they will ring me up (from India) and ask me if I meant to donate!! The reason that there is an alert on my account stems from 23 years ago when I left my ex - he put a stop on the joint account and took all the money out! Whenever this happens they hark back to this indecent - I have to give date of divorce and separation of finances to them before they believe me! If I had the money I would sue them for defamation of character!

I have tried sorting it over the phone, by letter,by meeting with a personal Banker (although they are only ever kids so I feel like replacing the B with an F cos they dont know what they are talking about - plus they always try to talk down to me - and to sell me financial product for which they get the equivalent of commission! (they dont call it commission so they can refute your allegations of ' you are trying to sell me this because you earn commission with 'No' and be telling the truth! :mad:)

Anyway I shall find some way to donate to her!! Rant over!

Today was v nice as we managed a lovely new walk between showers and I did not feel tired when I got home. Also NSD day!

Tomorrow is usually shopping and bank day but there is nowt on my shopping list - so I am gonna take a tip from Jackie O and keep my purse shut!
Frugalling on!

Jazee

LynPlatinum - if I were you I'd change my bank!

Rose_Wood

Morning All

I had a busy day making do and mending yesterday. It included mending a bra, shortening the sleeves on a linen jacket and finishing off a hand made dress from Laura Ashley fabric for my DGD. The jacket was a charity shop buy and is a lined white linen fitted jacket from Planet originally. The sleeves were too long so it has been hanging in my wardrobe unworn. I am going to a wedding in a couple of weeks so decided it would be ideal for that hence the alteration.

I also turned six tins of mandarin oranges that have been lurking in the cupboard for a couple of years into 3 jars of marmalade. I had bought a batch of them from Approved Foods ages ago but then found them bitter so kept putting off eating them. I made the marmalade in the microwave so didn't have to stand around stirring for ages.

I had another cull of my wardrobe too and have a bag with 4 pairs of shoes, a dress and a couple of cardigans for the charity shop. One of the pairs of shoes I only bought recently but found the low cut front hurt my toe joint so decided there was no point in hanging onto them as my anatomy is not going to miraculously change and make them comfortable. Two other pairs were really nice but needed to be teamed with tights and were navy blue. I have found I only really wear black tights in winter so never wore them.

I also cooked a Sunday roast using a piece of reduced pork for the family and have a big piece left to use up today. I shall serve it with leftover mashed potato, courgettes from the garden and the inner of a cabbage that I rescued - my Mother gave it to me for the hens but the middle is still perfect. DH will also finish off the syrup sponge and custard, whilst I shall probably have a few red and black currants picked from the garden with some Greek yoghurt. So a no spend meal which is great.

Rose

vhalla1478

Good Morning, Folks,

Everyone seems to be MMMing very nicely at the moment - and welcome to all the newbies and de-lurkers I might have missed!

Before I forget; if it's any consolation, Lynn, I had the same problem sending money to Jackie, so am not sure if a change of bank is the answer - they all are tarred with the same brush in my opinion.

I had a MMM day yesterday, as my DS and DDil, had what they call their 'Summer Bash' on Saturday, aka as a bbq for hundreds (slight exaggeration there but there were at least 60 bodies) and I ate far too much meat. So am going to live on vegetarian food for a week or so to give my body a rest, and, of course, save money. I made a yummy cumin scented aubergine and potato curry yesterday - enough for three meals and the cost was minimal, and baked a granary loaf as well. The weather here isn't too wonderful today so shall once more delve into my vegetable rack and make up a couple more dishes for later in the week.

My diet has gone quite well and I can now get into all of my clothes again which means I have absolutely no excuse to buy anything - keep me on track, Folks, I have a weakness for nice clothes.:rotfl:

I hope you all have a nice day,

Viv xx

silvasava

Thanks for the info on the scones - think I'm going to try a few recipes to see how I get on. DH will be pleased as he's official taster and always appreciative of any home cooking - even disasters!

dND

misstara wrote: »

I also attempted to make bread and it is edible :j and actually quite yummy. I've sliced it up and frozen it for during the week. Will try to keep this up as its so much cheaper to make my own rather than buy.

A quick peek over the fence from me - still lurking and desperately trying to de-clutter 40 years of 'stuff' in order to sell the house.

This may no be of much use in the UK as I think you can get a variety of bread flour but here in France it's difficult/expensive. What I do is buy the bread-maker packet mixes from L!dl and I add the same amount of ordinary plain flour - usually 1kg of each. I then use about half an ounce of fresh yeast which I can buy in approx 1 oz packets which I halve and freeze until necessary.

I generally divide the dough into 100 g buns (for portion control) and cook them in the silicon fairy cake moulds.

So for me a batch made from 2kg of flour costs:
L!dl mix 0.99
Plain flour 0.47
yeast 0.20 a total of 1.66€ plus my time and elecy but I do get granary bread for a fraction of the price it would cost me for artisan bread and I know I have less yeast, salt and sugar in each portion .

It took me a while to realise I needed a damper dough than I was making in order to get it to rise properly (it needs 2 rises because of the lower yeast content) but more often than not I get it right these days :j

Right, back to lurking and de-cluttering so I can make my dream of returning to Blighty a reality

Hugs and Congratulations to all. xx