Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

Lynplatinum

Evening Folks

Havent we all been busy!!

Valhalla - it must be great to be clever with a sewing machine - I can do stuff by hand but now with the arthritis I can only do a bit at a time! Fantastic work with you Dil - I bet the room looks great!:j

Debbie - another one clever with the machine! It sounds like you have been busy too! :beer:

It has been lovely weather here today so it was good to get out into the garden and spent time cutting back rosemary bush (so that you can get down the path!!) and the ivy which comes over from next door and nearly strangles my flowering shrubs :mad: Next door do nowt about it!!! :mad:

Also made a parsnip curry with enough for tomorrow - so nice I dont mind it 2 days running! So that used up some parsnip and some frozen coconut milk. Not impressed with frozen coconut milk - it did nt thicken the sauce like it does when it comes out of a tin or from the 'block' coconut. As I only use a bit at a time I will stick to the block stuff from now on.;)

Also had kippers and mash last nite - saved some mash and a bit of kipper for lunch today - added a bit of flour + chives from garden + squidge pf lemon juice +salt and pepper and made them into fish cakes which I then sauteed (so that's making do?)

Another viewing of house tomorrow - and as I look round little drifts of paper have appeared under the heading of 'needs sorting' (when/why/how? - I live on my own!!! anyway.....) also the odd thing out of pristine place! also Beer festival this week but have reduced my time there for this viewing... wish me joy!
Nite all

candlelight_2013

VULPIX so glad to see you are home. Look after yourself and we will catch up with your news when you are feeling better.

Hugs if you need one

Candlelightx

misstara

vulpix great news that you're out of hospital and recovering at home. All the best

Not much to report here. Starting making christmas cards the other night and made 5. If I do this a couple of times a week, then I'll get through them quite quickly.

Started my new job on Monday, it's going well but there's a lot of new information to learn. I leave each day with a sore brain! Hope everyone has a good day.

GreyQueen

:T Glad to hear that you're back at home, vulpix, hope you'll take it easy and recover well.

vhalla wow to the makeover project, that's fantastic. And I thought I could rock & roll at that kind of thing, but I was obviously still on the nursery slopes. Very well done, your DS and DIL must be thrilled. And an oriental rug for the price of a cheapy machine-made new one is superb, although it is very cheap for what it is and I can perfectly understand the antique dealer in you wincing. Excellent refurb on the sofa, I have logged that tip for future use.

A good tip for anyone with a deocrating project in mind is, if possible, tie in your paint buying with a Bank Holiday, as there are often really good deals available. We did this at Mum & Dad's this Aug BH weekend. I repainted their hallway, stairwell and upstairs landing with a 7 litre tub of Doolux white reduced to 12.99. And, being white, the small amount leftover was enough to freshen several ceilings, too. All used up and out of the way, which is the best way to do it.

Since my mend-a-thon, I haven't anything to report, as have just been treading water in life, due to still recovering from a terrible cold. Haven't quite achieved my bounce yet, but getting there. I am due to have a small c-of-d of mine fetched up from the parental home in the next fortnight, which I am itching to get working on as a makeover project. It is very small (about 2 x 2 ft) and I may, on reflection, decide not to keep it, but I'll live with it for a while before deciding.

I'm still working on the charity blanket project. It's very satisfying being able to say, of the three strands I'm knitting together now; that's Mum's pulled-out cardigan, that's from Nan's yarn stash given to me earlier this year, that's from yarn stash give to me by pal a couple of months back..... All stuff which was languishing unloved and which is now on its way to a new and attractive life.

Keep on MMM-ing, lovely peeps, GQ xx

FairyPrincessk

Pleased to see that Vulpix is back. I wish you a smooth and speedy recovery!

dND

Lynplatinum wrote: »

Another viewing of house tomorrow - and as I look round little drifts of paper have appeared under the heading of 'needs sorting' (when/why/how? - I live on my own!!! anyway.....) also the odd thing out of pristine place! also Beer festival this week but have reduced my time there for this viewing... wish me joy!
Nite all

Fingers crossed for you Lyn. Here in France it is pretty normal to take 3-6 years :eek: to sell a place, even if it is undervalued I do hope this is the one for you and you can make your move.

Welcome back Vulpix and hope you have a really quick recovery, congrats on the new job mistarra and a big, Hi :wave: to all newcomers.

Still plodding on here, a few more items binned, another piece of clothing added to the recycle bag and currently going through my freezers and working out what to do with all the bits in there in order to empty the biggest one so I can sell it. - Anyone have any ideas what I can cook with 5kg of green lentils!!! bought when I was thinking about making bean bags but I think they are in the food pile now :rotfl:) I'm in the process of defrosting the older and smaller freezer which should I sell the house I would have no qualms about ditching It helps with the decluttering when I think "do I really want to pay to get this shipped back?".

My income streams all end this month so I'm going to have to get a bit creative for the next few months until gardens and gites come back into use. Hence putting the lentils back into food stocks. Hopefully I will have a bit of time then to finish off things that I've started in the house which can be completed with minimal additional spend. (and I might even have bit more time to contribute :j)

nursemaggie

So glad you are home Vulpix Take it easy and get well soon. Congratulations on the new job Misstara.

After we had decided a few weeks ago we would stay put until DS has finished his OU degree, starts in January, we had notice to quite our house by 31/12/2015. As so many things close between Christmas and New Year I guess that means we will have to move just before Christmas. Have cancelled Christmas!

dND as green lentils seem to be fashionable right now I am sure you will find lots of recipes on line.

vhalla1478

Morning All,

So pleased you are back on the road to recovery, Vulpix - do take it easy, although I know that is easier said than done when you have projects etc to complete.

Many thanks for the nice compliment, Grey Queen, like you, I just hate waste and also I'm in awe of your gardening/allotment skills - still on a steep learning curve on that one, although I have just picked my second lot of tomatoes (first time grown I've grown any) - rather late in the day and have managed to grow green beans, leeks, perpetual spinach and cucumbers this year.

I also have to tell you that my DS and Dil picked up a large wool machine-made carpet from a local charity shop for £2 on Saturday - all that is wrong with it is that the edges are fraying slightly and that is easily fixed - great for the children's playroom - another huge space to make cosy for winter.

Right, need to get going, still playing on the computer. Nice fish recipe later.

Forgot to say that Dil and I are also covering a large storage box with old music sheets and lining it with linen to go in the revamped living room.; but day off today as it is my DS birthday.

Have a good day, Lovely MMMers.

Viv xx

[Deleted User]

Good Morning chums Life has been a bit hectic recently .It seems so many meetings and clubs to sort out.Monday morning was book club 4th birthday celebrations so cake was produced and eaten for then yesterday was U3A committee meeting and luncheon,that took up most of the day as we have all the Christmas activities to sort out.Still I cam home with two piles of left over pork pies,sausage rolls and a huge bag of crisps.Half the sausage rolls and pork pies went to my DGS who cheerfully hoovered them up for their after school snack.Then I had quiz night last night at the pub so I took a tray of sausage rolls with me and handed out to folk to help eat them up.I have just had two small ham sarnies and half a pork pie for an early lunch and have enough left in the fridge to use up for dinner tonight with a salad about a quarter of a quiche a sliced pork pie and a couple of mini scotch eggs.Nothing has been wasted and the biscuits we had left over will go with the teas and coffee this afternoon at our U3A monthly meeting. Tomorrow fingers crossed I will actually have a day off,well at least until mid afternoon when I look after my DGS. This week has just flown by and I'm glad I don't need to go food shopping as at the moment I just wouldn't find the time .next week is choc-a-bloc as well with different meetings for various clubs that I go to as with Christmas looming everyone wants to know what is being organised.October is always my busiest month because of Christmas and there are times I wish I couls just switch my phone off and hide :):) but it is important as often some of the folk I help to sort things out for are housebound (I help with transport) or just a bit on the shy side and are afraid to go out.Lats week was lovely as I managed to get one lady to come to coffee morning and she hadn't been out of her house in 4 weeks.She was so pleased at how much she enjoyed herself she is looking forward to coming again next week.There are just so many isolated older people stuck indoors who just need a friendly ear to talk to at times.
It gets worse when the weather gets bad so I have a little list of people that I nip in to see or ring up for a chinwag and make sure they have enough fresh stuff in when they cannot get out and about.I run a little book swap thing as well for those who can't get to the library very easily.
No all beer and skittle being retired :):):)
I'm glad we managed to use up yesterdays left over lunch stuff though, the caterer said I'll bring in some black bags to drop off at the tip.Our committee soon told him not to bother we would sort it out and everyone who wanted something had a doggy bag of stuff.I'm sure the caterers supply too much at times. Never mind we are all self catering our Christmas party at U3A with every one bringing stuff in.
We all just hate waste,:):)
My DDs 'Blankey' is nearly finished and I only have the border to do later today
Have a good day chums what ever you are doing the sun is shining brightly here in north Kent at the moment and my washing is blowing well on the line
Cheers Chums
JackieO xxx

vulpix

Well,that hurt!

My back is fantastic.10 days since the op and it is transformed.I could tell on waking from the anesthetic.No back and leg pain for the first time in 24 years.Bonus,I am 2 inches taller !!!!!!!!!!!! I did want to die the first 4 days but it's like having a baby you soon forget.

I have just waved at the sky at 1:30 as my son and gf took off from Manchester for their adventures in Canada.

Only read back a bit.

Viv your renovations sound stately.I have taken on big jobs but the sofa sounds like masses of work.I have a picture of the room in my mind,timeless full of children and love.

My jobs have come to a standstill for a while.I cannot believe the weather,I can see the weeds growing in the garden.

You would not believe what happened the day I came out of hospital.The ceramic hob wouldnt work and the joiner had drilled through an electric cable,lucky he didn't kill himself.
I am lay in bed thinking there seems to be a lot going on for the electrician to put it right until I found out that he had cut through a pipe to the central heating boiler.There were work men everywhere going in the loft whilst I was lay in bed.
Just had to ask Mr V to hoover up the dead flies that had fallen off the loft hatch onto the bedroom floor before the district nurse came.:rotfl:

My sil is coming tomorrow to do some cleaning.She of the "I clean my windows every week" It will kill her or cure her;)

Thank you all so much for your kind words and pm's Vxxx