Five OS Pleasures in your day today

Jedilibrarian

:hello: Hi everyone
I'm a long-time lurker on this thread, I love to read all of your OS pleasures as it prompts me to think about my own. I saw this article and thought all of you might appreciate it, here you go
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/india_knight/article6832435.ece

In the spirit of my first post, here are my five pleasures for today:
1. Really tasty free lunch at a conference today (the best I've ever had!)
2. Being able to take some leftovers from lunch back to my colleagues (chocolate brownies!)
3. Sewing some clothes for OH and me, so we can get the use of them again
4. Playing with my cat
5. Enjoying the sunshine

Hope you are all having a wonderful day
JL

Patchwork_Quilt

Welcome Jedi and thank you for posting.

1) A friend at work gave me a skirt yesterday (this is the one who hands out hugs) and it fits perfectly.
2) Another friend at work is saving all her jars for me. I can see some chutney going back that way soon.
3) Lunch was left over curry (mostly juice, but I like the juice) and rice. Went for a walk in the sunshine afterwards.
4) Popped in on an old friend after work and spent longer than I intended just chewing things over with her. As I left, she gave me two more jars and some apples that her BIL had picked and passed on.

RainyWednesday

Evening all and welcome Jedi!

Mine:
1- having my new contact lenses fitted (not necessarily OS but the enhanced eye sight was amazing on the walk home and will benefit me in the long run)
2 - leftover veggie curry for lunch (snap Patchwork Quilt - though I've got the juice for tomorrow's lunch )
3 - homemade lamb tikka kebabs for tea
4 - a wonderful long soak in the bath
5 - (not OS either but) treating OH and I to some tickets to see Morrissey, a treat for us - all this OS is paying off

Olliebeak

Evening everybody - not often I post twice in a day but thought I'd pop in.

Primrose - Well done on your home-harvesting - something I would love to be able to get into properly. Making do with my salads and herbs for now.
newlywed - definitely 'soup weather' at the moment and :T on your recipe leaflet at the Co-op
rachel - another Leek and Potato Soup maker :drool:.and good work with selling the books.
Jedi - :hello: welcome to the thread and thanks for posting. Freebie lunches are great stuff and good on you for sharing with those who couldn't be there .
Patchwork - obviously news of your delicious chutney is spreading rapidly in your area .
RainyWednesday - :j on getting your new contact lenses (due to get new specs next week, so I know what a blessing the enhanced vision is!) and hope you both enjoy the Morrissey concert .

Just got back from my main monthly shopping session (payday :j!).
1. The total bill came to £77.66, but with Multibuy Savings it dropped to £73.27. One or two little extras in there as I had dgs's 2&3 with me (daddy went to football practice :rolleyes:) but didn't go totally crazy. Very pleased as I got some great bargains - especially deli whoopsies (some Wiltshire Ham now in freezer) - Hand-raised pork pie for 5p, ordinary large pork pie 45p, large piece of gala pie 35p, some Medium-rare Scottish Beef which will go on a salad for evening meal tomorrow.

2. Deli-counter curries down to 48p (got 4 of them) and 2 packs of 2 chapatis for 11p a pack - couple of curry evenings during the month :j.

3. Runner beans, parsnips, carrots all marked down to silly prices - some prepping to be done later cos they're all going in the freezer .

4. Packs of Stewing Beef - 2 for £6 - good large packs that I should be able to split into at least three lots for scouse in the coming weeks.

5. Diced Turkey Thigh - £2.40 and Turkey Mince £1.60 per lb which will each be split into two lots to make lovely Turkey Casseroles and Turkey Chillis.

6. 2 packs of 8 Chicken Thighs for £6 - again I'll portion them up into 2 thighs per bag before freezing - will do roasted OR casseroled.

7. Something I've never bought before is Oxtail (£3.20) - supposed it can be done in the slow cooker with onions, carrots, leeks and maybe some pearl barley - will give it a go and see what happens. If we enjoy it, I'll get some more .

8. Lots of bread bargains (small granary tin loaf for 14p!), 24 bakery soft rolls for 25p - even sent DS2 home with a couple of loaves when he came to collect the dgk's.

9. The greatest blessing of today is that DS2's g/f arrives back home again in the early hours of the morning :j- I'm sure dgs's 2&3 will be highly delighted to see their mummy - I know I will :rotfl:.

Hope everybody is having a great relaxing evening. I'm heading for my bed shortly as I need some decent sleep at the moment.

Nighty night, sleep tight and God Bless - love Ollie xxx

mineallmine

Morning all,

newlywed and a few other posters listed HM leek and potato soup - do you have a recipe?
Olliebreak - i did oxtail soup (need a big pan as the oxtails can be bulky) - http://www.greenchronicle.com/recipes/oxtail_soup.htm

Thanks for the link Jedilibrarian http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/india_knight/article6832435.ece - India Knight's thrift book refers to this site. So maybe she's drawing on this thread as inspiration (India, if you're watching it's ok, you're amongst friends and your firework night picnic of hot dogs, choc cake and hot spiced apple juice is something I plan to do!)

Right, to business:-

1. Up early (mainly due to early night).
2. Finishing the book Fat Bloke Slims - interesting read. Boy did he drink a lot of wine!
3. Primrose's post about her car being locked in her garage made me giggle
4. Putting the fire on for the cats, a minor delay tactic to feeding them much earlier than usual.
5. Being grateful for the NHS and my doctor (by the way Ollie have your sorted your screening, nag over).

:A

newlywed

mineallmine wrote: »

newlywed and a few other posters listed HM leek and potato soup - do you have a recipe?

I try and avoid milk so make a dairy free one (many recipes add milk or cream).

Chop two large ish leeks and gently fry off in a bit of oil till soft. Add chopped potatoes (I used 3 value baking spuds), squirt of garlic puree, sprinkle of dried thyme. Add a bit of chicken stock and then the rest veg stock (otherwise it tastes a bit weird when too chickeny ) Amount of stock varies as to whether you want thick soup or thinner soup - sorry I guess it

Cook till potato is tender (smaller you chop it, quicker it cooks ). Then cool slightly. Scoop out about a third of the soup into a blender and whizz. Add back into the soup and stir. It makes it look a lovely thick creamy soup (but with no cream in ).

newlywed

And mine:

1. Seeing our neighbour who went to hospital over a week ago via blue flashy lights return home yesterday. Will speak to him later and ask if he needs any shopping.

2.Discovering I can change the hard drive caddy for the work laptop to swap drives and don't need to be shown how to do it - worked it out myself (it's not difficult but I've not done it before).

3. A full night's sleep - not even waking up because of anyone using the loo (our bedroom is right next door).

4. The rain yesterday meaning my plants are well watered, saving me a job.

5. My campanula issuing more lovely purple flowers (hopefully meaning it is happy in it's new spot in my border) - in fact there is only one plant I'm concerned whether it will survive and that's the miniature hebe. But if it does die.... I'll plant rosemary or something there

6. Only 8 days left till payday, thankfully as we may have to empty the freezer completely at this rate

Caterina

Hi all

Back from Nice, had a lovely time but came back with a really unpleasant cold and sore throat (probably due to the freezing air conditioning in the train!). I cannot stop and look at all the stuff I have missed so far but will be back to do so, and also to put the blessings for the holidays.

Meanwhile, even if in a hurry, I cannot go without having put the blessings for today, though!

1 - Waking up in my own bed after a refreshing night sleep (all night, no noises, no mozzies!) - bliss!

2 - All our luggage unpacked, sorted and washed, on the line as I type.

3 - Walk in the park with DD and a friend of mine, tea in the park cafe.

4 - - Lunch with DD, tomatoes from the garden and wholemeal bread, followed by h/m cheesecake courtesy of DD's BF.

5 - Managed to do a lot of work this afternoon.

Off to do some cooking now, still loads to tidy up and quite tired and run down, so I want to get it all over and done and go to bed early.

Love to all

Caterina x

Kittikins

Ah Caterina, I'm so envious, I love Nice....*sigh* (disappears off to the Ea$yjet website for a bit....)

1. DD started school today and we were both very very excited - I did get misty-eyed, and was given a lovely hug by a mummy friend which set me right!
2. Bought a lovely reduced price jumper in Mr A's that I can't wait to wear with my jeans
3. Selling another book on Amaz*n, this one for about £13
4. DD telling me that a tinned 3-bean soup I bought as a 3 for 99p deal in a 99p shop in Brighton is the best soup ever - yay, so that means that I don't have to spend 80p per tin in Waitro$e any more. It's good to have as a standby option, and this one is vegan and doesn't have ANY nasty ingredients in it!! Woot woot!!
5. Paying the princely sum of £3 into my mortgage today, as money came through from a sale on GM.

sparrer

Welcome back Caterina. I also envy you your stay in Nice, one of my favourite places. Anywhere in France in good with me though! Sorry to hear you've brought back some nasty extras, feel better soon
I understand about being misty-eyed Kittikins, when my children went back after even the shortest of hols it was me who cried . You never know, now you have the travel bug Nice could be next on your agenda
What a kind thought newlywed, to call on your neighbour. I'm very lucky with mine but I do wish there were more like you
Just adding my welcome to the others Jedi, I love your No 4. The best free entertainment anyone can have

My blessings

1. My new fridge/freezer arrived this afternoon. It's just what I wanted, big and roomy....but sadly so badly damaged it's got to go back. A long dent on the freezer door, salad tray in 3 pieces, a 2 inch wide hole in the moulded inside of fridge door :eek:...you get the general idea. The delivery men said I could have a new door, I told them I'll have a new fridge/freezer thank you very much! Fortunately they've left it with me til the replacement arrives, I didn't realise until the old one died how much we rely on them.

2. A good blowy drying day, all the bed linen and towels were dry by lunchtime (one towel ended up in next door neighbour's garden but that was a good excuse for chin-wag :rolleyes:

3. Now it's turning chilly I've put my 'mattress topper', a double duvet, on my king sized bed, held in place by putting it under the quilted mattress protector. It's so cosy and only cost £8 in the market. This is its third year and just as good as any £50 topper

4. Winning some plain white tiles on freecycle like the ones in my bathroom :T..I've recently had a shower installed so now I can tile the area above my bath taps

5. Finding the coupon download page on this site and printing money off coupons for 4 items I use every day/week. It seems no matter how long we've been here it still comes up with yet more surprises - long may it last!

Night night all and God bless, sweet dreams
S x