Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

candlelight_2013

The weather has been awful today, and not really appropriate for painting the kitchen, but we did it anyway. The light wasn't very good, but we are really pleased with the end result, a lovely soft sage. We did 2 walls and above the cupboards on the third wall which isn't very much.

We have left the tin out just in case tomorrow it shows whether we have missed any bits. Last week I bought a seaside picture from B&M for £7.99, it actually said usual price £30, but I am not sure about that. The picture looks good, just of the sea and a lighthouse. Kitchen is now nice and tidy and cottage pie is in the oven togther with roast potatoes for our evening meal, not sure what veg yet.

We have used less than half a tin of paint, it was lovely and thick and coverage was good (from Wilkos), so plenty left if Himself throws another mug of coffee at the wall:):). I was speaking to my sister last night and BILhad spilt a coffee all over her lovely beige carpet when he coughed as he walked in from the kitchen. It makes you wonder sometimes, they seems to be more clumsy than children.

We need to pop out tomorrow for a few bits and buy DD a birthday cake, she will be 47 on Wednesday, and we will go out on Sunday for a meal to celebrate. She has been through such a lot in the last few years having operations on her legs, but she never complains and I know she has been in dreadful pain at times.

Have a good week all, may be back later if I have anything interesting to talk about

Candlelightx

[Deleted User]

nice easy dinner tonight I rummaged a Y/S/ chicken quarter out of the freezer and its cooking in the Remoska,I have a bowl of left over veg from yesterdays dinner at DDs and I only have to make some gravy and Roberts' vous oncle :):)followed by 2 peaches that must be used tonight before they get too wrinkly which I shall slice and dice and mix with some low fat natural yoghurt for pudding :):) I shall be breaking into my purse tomorrow as I have to buy a few essentials ,still only the second time this month so I am pleased with that.
I have a cheque due from the holiday agent this week so £100 is due back into the vaults of my bank :):).She has had it as a security deposit since June. I haven't missed it so I may stash it towards Christmas pressies. Every little helps

misstara

An easy tea for me as well tonight - sausages from the freezer cooked in sweet chilli sauce, leftover wedges from a few weeks ago and frozen veg. Me and OH still haven't been a proper food shop and in fact have decided to put it off to the weekend. Bought a few things today but other than that we'll just make do.

A day off tomorrow but need to go to some training and I've also got a contact lens appointment so it will end up being quite a busy day.

camelot1001

So sorryiamsalt. What a horrible thing to go through, but at least you know what happened to Mimi. I often wonder how folk feel if they have lost their animal and never know what happened to them. Good to hear that there are some decent folk out there, the poor girl must have felt awful.

I haven't been doing much MMM just lately apart from hiring a van (which I loved and am now missing!) to help DD move into her very first home. Lifting the stuff from here and then carrying it up 2 flights of stairs is exhausting stuff. Who would have thought it would take up nearly 3 days and be so tiring. Still, she is in now and very happy.

I have been asked to make her a tablecloth which I can do with my limited machine skills, once she finds the material she likes. I have become a dab hand at assembling the blue and yellow shed's furniture but prefer not to visit there again for a while!

My building work is just about finished, I still need to sand the stairs, get the painter back to do the hall, stairs and landing and also find things to furnish the place properly. The new sofas arrived on Saturday amid the move and have only just sat on them.

Going to do some batch cooking tomorrow as there is only me here now so mustn't get lazy and eat rubbish.

vulpix

evenin all

I phoned my surgeons secretary today and was told my op will be 5th October.

3 weeks today and it will be done.That gets me out of fake Christmas that we were having on the 7th before son goes to Canada on 14th.

I need to get my skates on now and do lots of stuff before I am out of action for 3 months.ie finish Christmas shopping and stock the freezer with batch cooking,masses of diy things etc etc etc.

Phoned the builder and he promised to have the downstairs loo and the loft finished soon.He is taking the lads off another job tomorrow to come and do the loft.

Mr v has used his diy skills to stick about a roll of tape over the hole in dd's ceiling.Stops all the black dust blowing through.

Have had a day off today and read most of a book.up and atem tomorrow.Vx

Lynplatinum

Hi All

Candlelight - your kitchen sounds lovely - well done for getting the job done! :j

Vulpix - glad op date is sorted - even if it does mean a re jigging of family plans

Am glad you are commenting again Jackie O - meal sounds tasty

I was out till late last nite at a meeting - then I fell asleep in front of tv for a couple of hours - so at 1 am I woke up (bladders can be very useful! If I stay asleep on sofa I get neck ache and it plays my old-style contact lenses up!). Now this is not unusual for me. But could I get back to sleep - could I heck! I heard the bloke across the road come back off his shift at 2.15; the milkman @4 am; my next door neighbour @5 am etc etc!! So felt rubbish when my alarm went off @ 8 eventually got up @9 - felt rough all day. Tried to work out why I felt so carp - when turning out yesterday found all my divorce documentation - found myself reading it - such a bitter, stressful time! Every week some battle to fight! I still speak to my ex - reading that lot made me wonder why??? then the mtg was in a pub where we used to go when courting at first. Not a good combo.

Hopefully I will kip better tonight and come round with drive and energy - have booked the estate agent coming round Friday week!! :eek: So much to be done that I had best get me mojo back soon! :rotfl:
Been good on the money front tho - L!dil is now open till 10pm I discovered when driving past today - I needed loo rolls and @ £1.57 for some really nice L's own cheap! and within weekly budget! Food was that pasta bake I mentioned and there is enough of this for tomorrow as well!
Nite all

bargainhunterss

Nargleblast wrote: »

I am using frozen redcurrants ( from those packs of summer fruits ) to make a redcurrant vodka for that C festival which shall not be named. Put fruit (usually a couple of tablespoons in one of those packs)in the bottom of a Kilmer jar, add a couple of tablespoons sugar, top up with vodka. Next time you get frozen redcurrants repeat the process until the jar is full. Give the jar a shake every now and then. Leave till December then strain into a bottle and eat the boozy fruit. I checked my jar the other day and the smell was dynamite!

I would think you could do the same with fresh redcurrants.

This sounds like a great idea! Any particular vodka? I'm thinking raspberry or blackberry might be quite nice!:p:T

silvasava

OK I've given in - rotten day here & just got DH to light the fire as its so grey, cold and miserable. It's cheered me up somewhat though!
Need to get a move on and rustle up something for tea:)
Have a good evening all x

vhalla1478

Evening Everyone,

We are most definitely heading towards Autumn; the wind up here is positively icy. I managed to get the rest of the spring bulbs planted yesterday and whilst I was digging over the ground, I dug up what is, I think, an Iron Age cloak clasp; I need to take it to the museum in Lincoln for an opinion - wouldn't it be wonderful if it was part of a hoard? Most unlikely, but a girl can dream ..:j.

Whilst I was out yesterday in Louth, I found a Victorian hexagonal lantern for sale in the antiques centre and secured it for £20. It's completely intact with all of its original glass. I don't know yet whether I'm keeping it or selling it on; it's very tempting as I could use it in my mini entrance lobby.

Minimised today by adding to the CS pile and rescued a watercolour from behind the chest of drawers in the spare room; it's too big for my walls but will go perfectly in DS's house.

I need to just use up what I have in the way of food; the freezer is groaning again because I've been batch cooking and the fridge isn't in a much better state! My DB is coming this weekend so I hope that will ease the situation.

Apart from tidying the garden - very brave of me - I hate cold wind - I've been stitching my new needlepoint project; those stitches are so tiny after my rug.

Have a nice evening, Folks. I'll play catch up on all your posts later.

Viv xx

Nargleblast

bargainhunterss wrote: »

This sounds like a great idea! Any particular vodka? I'm thinking raspberry or blackberry might be quite nice!:p:T

Any cheapo vodka will do, no point in wasting the best Grey Goose on home made liqueurs! I often bought the frozen summer fruits for random dessert ideas, but have never been fond of redcurrants. So, I tried separating the fruits while they were frozen (gets a bit messy when they are thawed!) and decided what to do with each little pile of fruit. For example, the blackberries could be heated with sugar, left to cool and used as a pseudo Black Forest gateau filling with cream. The raspberries could be chucked in a crumble with other fruit.
Or.....use the piles of different fruits to start a batch of different fruit liqueurs!