Tuesday 21st July - What small DFW-style things will you be doing today?

foxgloves

Hello Frugal Friends,
Just stopped for a cup of (not very nice) tea. I make bloomin' 'orrible tea. mr f is the tea maker in the relationship even though he never drinks it. Isn't it odd that I am a good cook/baker, can make 6 different types of pastry, but can only make the sort of tea which looks & tastes like weasel pee. Most odd.
Anyway, today's money saving things, such as they are, being few & far between:
*Two baths from one lot of hot bath water. Ha! Pence saved towards those winter energy bills.
*Laundry done overnight on Economy 7. Ran a half load at full price (bah!) just to finish the laundry for this week & so as to make use of today's great line-drying weather - warm & breezy.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & work snacks.
*Baked scones for friend who came for coffee this morning - ate with home made pear & blackberry jam - yum. Felt mine jump straight onto the podge which is re-building just below my waist. So cheap & easy to whizz up a batch of scones, rather than buying something in for visitors, & Mary Berry's 'Best ever' scone recipe never fails in my experience.
*Did a few surveys. Have been selected for a body lotion trial, so am waiting for that to arrive in the post.
*Cut lettuce from garden for tonight's salad & will be cooking some of mr f's homegrown potatoes.
*Been tough with cat who wolfed all his breakfast by 9.30a.m & has been mithering for his dinner ever since. No way, matey.
*Oh, & a bit of news about the car which rammed us off the A1 on Sunday. I emailed Lincs police yesterday just on the off chance that a witness might have phoned the incident in, along with his number plate. I received a reply today. I was a bit sad that no-one had been thoughtful enough to so this, despite there being at least 2 or 3 cars sufficiently near to do so. Perhaps they saw we didn't roll the car & managed to get off the hedge/verge & back on the road & assumed we were ok.......or perhaps they just couldn't be bothered. However, Lincs police have managed to trace the car on ANPR. We knew it was black with a foreign plate & mr f was correct in his ID of the make & model. Police have sent me the reg no. They can't find the owner's name because of it being registered abroad, but they are putting a marker on the plate number so if a police patrol see the car, they will pull it over. They don't sound too hopeful that he will be insured, but if they did him for that & generally grilled him, even THAT would make me feel a little bit better because it might make him sweat a bit.....it'll also get his plate number logged in the system, I guess. So, I shall register the incident with our insurer, but depending on the outcome, & taking other financial aspects into account, we still may decide not to put in a claim. Bloody nuisance, the whole thing. Thanks for your supportive comments over this.
That's my money-saving stuff for today.
DNMS - Great about the plants. Your courgette should establish itself ok. They like lots of water & if you feed them with ordinary tomato food twice a week as soon as you can see fruits appearing, it will probably produce courgettes right into September. They are very hungry & thirsty plants. I moved three mature plants from an overcrowded bed & lorry tyre last week, & they seem to have settled in ok, they got a bit sniffy at first, but now they've started getting fed & watered regularly, they are looking a lot better.
f x

kayannie

Well, I started a post this morning which disappeared before I had chance to finish, so having another try!

Foxgloves - Good news about the car that rammed you - let's hope he can be traced & punished. I had to laugh when I read the bit about the scones going straight to the podge around your waist, as I discovered this morning that I have a spare tyre developing that I would swear wasn't there yesterday! Time to cut down on my snacks I think! Talking of food, could you tell me how you make your broad bean pesto - it sounds lovely & I still have some beans in the garden.

DNMS - Hope you're feeling better this afternoon. I am very envious of your cucamelon as I had a go at growing them this year & didn't get a single one to germinate, after reading too that they are easy to grow.

Yorkshire Lass - Hope the hospital appointment went well. What an horrendous journey! My DD2 has a round trip every 3-4 weeks from mid Wales to Birmingham for hospital appointments & treatment, and the parking too is dreadful - even if there is a space, you pay an arm & a leg for the privilege.

Just read somewhere that Asd@ have reduced the price of diesel to £112.7 a litre. About time it came down.

Well, today I've had 2 long walks with dog, plus a walk to shops & back (bike out of action for moment). On the afternoon walk I found redcurrants growing wild - not enough to do anything with except eat them!

I bought a dozen eggs from WI market for £1.70, and a large loaf of granary bread in the baker's left over from yesterday for 50p.

Posted 2 items that sold on eBay yesterday & didn't need to buy stamps as I had enough in stock that I received as payment for RM survey.

Made soup for lunch using up some of the courgettes from garden plus sweet potato - it was a dull drizzly day when I decided to make it, but by lunchtime we were having a mini heatwave, Still went down well though!


Off now to make falafels for next meal, but mustn't put too much spice in for OH.


K

foxgloves

Kayannie - I made the recipe up myself. I simmered 1lb of broad beans for about 8 mins until cooked, then skinned them, so as to use only the bright green 'innards'. I put them in the blender thingy with 2 tbsp olive oil, salt & black pepper, three fat cloves of chopped garlic, & a handful of fresh basil leaves. I blitzed it up into a paste, added a tiny bit of water to thin it slightly (tho this is a thick pesto) then tipped it out into a bowl. I then stirred in about 100g grated reduced fat cheddar cheese & stirred it in well. This amount made 4 containers for the freezer, each sufficient to serve 2 people. When you add it to the cooked hot pasta in the pan, you may need to add just a tiny bit of water to get it moving, but it does melt into the pasta & we both think it is really yummy. mr f has suggested increasing broad bean production next year so I can make more of it.

Re podge & waist. Since 2011, I've lost 6 stones, as was in that scary morbidly obese category. However, am now at a distinctly funny age (I forget this, as have a younger husband, lol!) & weight loss stopped, then started to creep up. I'm about a stone up at the moment, though now the horrible flu has gone& my energy levels are about back to normal for exercising, I'm planning a big Body Blitz over the next 3 or 4 months as 1 stone is the absolute limit of what I'm prepared to regain, having worked hard to take off such a lot of weight. Was size 24-26 at the start, am now 16, but would like to be 14 as am quite small in height, bone structure. Don't want to lose my curves though. But yes, I'm convinced there are magnets in my waist which swoosh fat straight from baked items to my mid-section almost before I've even swallowed them! :-/

Bobarella

Evening All

Glad to see the thread, I looked in first thing but didnt have time to start it today so thank you Determined. Really sorry you were feeling sad this morning, have you managed to feel better as the day goes on? Glad you can go shopping at least. Excuse my ignorance but what the !!!! is a cucamelon? sounds like something from the smurfs

Yorkshire - Is that DS1 or 2? What a huge intrusion for all of you every month, not least your son. Hope it went ok, & that he is alright.

Dawn - That made me chuckle about the hammie being carted around your house. Children are so funny arent they. Im not surprised you havent had time to post with all this going on!

Princess - It must be a really exciting time for you, moving in with your new boyfriend. Hope it will be a happy home for you both.

Ziggy - Hello hope its been a good day?

Maria - How amazing about that garage. Must be unheard of these days. You almost feel like phoning up and nominating them to a TV station or Radio station for special mention, but then you could accidentally cause them harm by ending up by lots of people thinking they do work for free!

Twiggy - You have the MFW bug now, thats great. I have similar aspirations but am a ways away in terms of practically being able to just yet. Go for it lady! 10 years less is amazing.

Hannah - Hello, glad you had a night off & could get to your exercise class too.

Foxgloves - Well that is something at least. And serendipity being what it is, you never know when you'll come across him again, anyway. He'll get his from karma, you cant go around doing those sorts of things and not...

Kayannie - Sorry to hear your DD has a similar monthly trip as Yorkshires, that must be very trying indeed. Really feel for both children.

Today was a good day at work. Good trade. Well spaced so had time to bake as well.
I have managed to pick up 2 shifts at another cafe over the weekend too, which I know, is a lot for me to do after several busy weeks/weekends, but its £100 CIH, & I for one am not turning that down. Plus its busy there and tips are very good.....

I was also pleased to see the CB is in early this month, about a week ahead of last months. So I may make another CC payment this month yet!

I havent had time for lots of small things today, but have made a batch of spag bol type meat for son, because he hates carrots etc, then I am turning it into chilli for OH and I tonight by adding all the usual suspects to make two meals. Really looking forward to it actually.

Used a 22p brand match coupon to pay towards some business shopping.

Paid 2nd half of my business energy bill. I feel good about that as having been in arrears during the bad period and then struggled to clear it, I want to have £0 balance each month now.

Got 80p in tips today.

Uploaded a recipt to Check Out Smart.

0.52 better off from Topcashback payout into my account.

Cycled all journies.

Noticed Mr S is doing 2 navy jumpers for £6 in the style DS needs for his school uniform. I will add that to my next shop probably, and then collect other bits through the summer, to avoid 1 big back to school buying session.

Queried a 2nd charge that Zipcar have billed us for today. I really dislike them having access to our account really. We paid for hire car for saturday which was about £60. Today another £8.50 had gone out. When I checked both transactions show a charge for damage waiver, so I think they've billed us twice for that. Im sure they will get back to me soon. Last year they billed me £100 after we'd only just joined a month before, apparently it was an annual membership charge, which we'd paid to join! So they refunded it.

Maria - The insurance story is almost ended. The Ombudsman upheld my complaint, in the main. They have ruled that in addition to the business interruption payments I have recieved, & the full payment of my claim for material damage, I should also recieve a further payment & an apology from the insurer. However, the insurer have to agree to the payment. I signed the form last week to say I accepted it as full and final, but now we just have to wait on the insurer again. I dont think they are going to dispute something the Ombudsman have asked them to do, but given their track record you never know. Thanks for asking!

Bob

kayannie

foxgloves wrote: »

Kayannie - I made the recipe up myself. I simmered 1lb of broad beans for about 8 mins until cooked, then skinned them, so as to use only the bright green 'innards'. I put them in the blender thingy with 2 tbsp olive oil, salt & black pepper, three fat cloves of chopped garlic, & a handful of fresh basil leaves. I blitzed it up into a paste, added a tiny bit of water to thin it slightly (tho this is a thick pesto) then tipped it out into a bowl. I then stirred in about 100g grated reduced fat cheddar cheese & stirred it in well. This amount made 4 containers for the freezer, each sufficient to serve 2 people. When you add it to the cooked hot pasta in the pan, you may need to add just a tiny bit of water to get it moving, but it does melt into the pasta & we both think it is really yummy. mr f has suggested increasing broad bean production next year so I can make more of it.

Re podge & waist. Since 2011, I've lost 6 stones, as was in that scary morbidly obese category. However, am now at a distinctly funny age (I forget this, as have a younger husband, lol!) & weight loss stopped, then started to creep up. I'm about a stone up at the moment, though now the horrible flu has gone& my energy levels are about back to normal for exercising, I'm planning a big Body Blitz over the next 3 or 4 months as 1 stone is the absolute limit of what I'm prepared to regain, having worked hard to take off such a lot of weight. Was size 24-26 at the start, am now 16, but would like to be 14 as am quite small in height, bone structure. Don't want to lose my curves though. But yes, I'm convinced there are magnets in my waist which swoosh fat straight from baked items to my mid-section almost before I've even swallowed them! :-/

Foxgloves - Thanks for the recipe - I will give it a go as it sounds lovely. I may not have enough beans left in the garden now but can always use frozen ones as they are not very expensive & taste OK.

What's so annoying about the 'tyre' I've now got is that I'm not, & never have been, overweight, but it has still appeared from somewhere! I get a lot of exercise too, walking & cycling every day. I will have to cut out my afternoon piece of cake until it goes!:( Well done on your weight loss, it can't have been easy.

K

allydowd

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allydowd

Evening DFW-Devotees,

Went to work today to be told my contract, which was due to end at the end of the year is being terminated tomorrow, but that I can 'probably' come back in six to eight weeks. :eek: My temporary promotion was due to end but I was meant to go back to my previous role for the rest of the year.

So today has been spent coping with that! The plan is to sit down with my OH on Thursday and make a huge plan to get us through this. Then to rest and recuperate on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and attack the matter head on on Monday.

The List:

:grinheart Didn't stop at the shop on the way home to buy something to cheer us up. Picked some strawberries from the garden.

Good luck with your Devotions, Devotees.

1HANNAH

Oh god Ally, what a huge blow. I hope that you can get something sorted soon.

Bobarella

Ally - how can they just do that?

allydowd

Bobarella wrote: »

Ally - how can they just do that?

Replied privately.