THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

mardatha

We had a terrible night of wind and now starting sleety rain - temp was 3 and now dropped to 2. Bins flying all over the street and the Forth Bridge had a huge lorry blown over into the opposite lane. Might be in for a bad spell of weather..

monnagran

alibobsy, there's no quick cure, sorry.

I know that your whole world seems to have crashed around your ears and all you can see is darkness. Anything going on outside of you seems like an irrelevance. If you are with other people you are not really THERE. Tears leak from your eyes under their own volition. All you really want to do, as thriftwizard says, is to curl up under a duvet and howl. Your mind goes round and round the same thoughts like rats in a trap.
Anything sound familiar so far?

I wish that there was a magic wand I could wave and make it all better. There isn't. Neither do I have any wise words that will cheer you up and make you think, "now why didn't I think of that?"
All I can do is to assure you that you are not alone, neither are failing in some way because you can't "pull yourself together."

Be very, very kind to yourself. Spend time alone and let yourself give way to your grief. Gradually, almost imperceptively, it will ease. You won't realise it until you look back and realise that the sharp knife that has been cutting you to pieces is slightly blunter than it was. Time WILL work its magic. Promise.

The only thing I would ask of you is to remember that other people will be dealing with their own feelings of loss, and those who are close to you will be suffering at seeing you suffer. Remember them too.

Love and prayers,

x

jk0

The cold weather seems to have brought the return of my old friends, the rats. I can hear them scurrying around under the floorboards.

All last year I have had poison boxes under the kitchen units, but my house has laminate flooring above the floorboards and tile in the kitchen, so very difficult to get the poison where ratty hangs out.

I have even scattered some poison outside kitchen window and in attached garage.

Any thoughts?

thriftwizard

Erm, jk0, as a poultry-keeper I'm no great fan of rats, but as a cat-slave, I'd ask you to be very, very careful using poison. Several cats died in this neighbourhood a while back, thanks to an old boy using rat poison. The rats ate the bait, staggered round for a bit, then got caught & eaten by a cat; one nearly survived & ran her owners up a £1,000+ vet bill before finally succumbing...

We've been lucky enough not to have had a problem with rats (touch wood!) but have used on mice, on the advice of the council's pest control officer, pellets that aren't actually poisonous but swell up inside the rodent's stomach. They just don't feel hungry - ever again. Not pleasant for the creature concerned, but better than an electrical fire caused by mice munching our wiring. And much better than inadvertently killing anyone's pets... I think if I were you, I'd ask the Pest Control people for their advice.

Karmacat

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

Not posted on this thread for while as was dealing with stuff you can't really prep for, My Dad was in and out of hospital at the start of Dec, back in on 22nd and passed away last friday.

The whole world feels wrong and upside down, how on earth can you prep for this, wasted loads of food over christmas and spent most of it feeling guilty about either leaving the kids to go to hospital or feeling bad I wasn't with Dad. Trying to be strong for the kids and my mum and sister when all i want to do is lock myself away and curl up in a ball and shut it all out.

Been reading on here to distract myself, please tell me this fog will lift. Just feels like nothing is real anymore. Has anyone else on here lost a parent, when does it start to feel real and you start to feel more normal again.

Ali x

Alibobsy, I'm so sorry for your loss. Yes, I just lost my mum - she died on the 9th December just gone, while I was travelling to get to see her, as the doctor had said it was going to be that weekend. We had the funeral on 20th December, luckily before Christmas and not on the two family birthdays that are in that week.

We nursed her at home, taking turns, so at least we didn't have the constant trekking out to a hospital, we had lots of nurses and carers trekking out to us - at least they were doing the travelling, not us.

Grieving happens when it happens - and you're squeezed at both ends, in having your own kids to take care of too. The equivalent generation in my family (i.e. my mum's grandchildren) is all grown up - in fact, the caretaking needed was that the last of them was completing on buying her own home in the time between my mum's death and the funeral, she needed support with that, but that's quite different from what you endured.

Getting through is all you need to do right now. I like the central bit from monnagram's post:
"I wish that there was a magic wand I could wave and make it all better. There isn't. Neither do I have any wise words that will cheer you up and make you think, "now why didn't I think of that?"
All I can do is to assure you that you are not alone, neither are failing in some way because you can't "pull yourself together."

Be very, very kind to yourself. Spend time alone and let yourself give way to your grief. Gradually, almost imperceptively, it will ease. You won't realise it until you look back and realise that the sharp knife that has been cutting you to pieces is slightly blunter than it was."

Let us know how you're getting on.

Save

Si_Clist

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

How did they manage to get it to 15?

Quick count for today's one was porridge oats, milk, pomegranite seeds, stewed apple, flaxseed and bee pollen. That equals 6.

Max. I could make it would be to add in nuts, some sort of "sweetening", something chocolatey. Still only 9.

Trying even harder - add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, chia seeds, hemp hearts.

Right - got to 14 and I've run out of ideas for a 15th. Guess I can't claim a tenner then?

Nah, you forgot the almond milk. The double cream. The popping candy, whatever that is. And the pièce de resistance ... the three fennel fronds.

I know what fennel is, but fennel fronds?????

Oy vey! And I'm not even Jewish ...

(How strange. Forum software will do an e grave but not an e acute!)

moneyistooshorttomention

Fennel on porridge??:eek:_pale_

Now I can picture adding all the other stuff mentioned - but fennel.....

DigForVictory

And what's wrong with fennel? The plant is decorative, the taste subtle, & although my eyes cross a bit trying to imagine fronds of it on porridge, I suppose it could stir in.

Now dill has a place, on fish, but in porridge? Eep...

Sorry Alibobsy - just when in difficult places I go to food, & I hope others have the grace to bring home made dishes over, or the remains of the Christmas chocolate, as about the last thing the grieving want to do is cook. (Children however seem to eat regardless.) Keep tabs so you can send thankyou notes & get the right dish back to the right neighbour? (More chores - but appreciative courtesy improves the odds of a second dish, or when you're feeling Much Stronger, the recipe...) Eventually, I am told, it does settle so you can forecast the waves but right now must feel like living in a blender. All love & strength to you.

Living_proof

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Fennel on porridge??:eek:_pale_

Now I can picture adding all the other stuff mentioned - but fennel.....

I start my day with full fat Greek yogurt with one teaspoon of turmeric, one tsp cinnamon, a good dozen grinds of black peppercorn, all mixed up with Omega sprinkle, flaxseeds and mixed autumn fruit. Now what could be nicer than that?

Si_Clist

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Fennel on porridge??:eek:_pale_

Now I can picture adding all the other stuff mentioned - but fennel.....

But you have to remember this recipe came from the people whose Bacon and Banana Trifle got the chattering classes all of a froth at Christmas ...