The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

rtandon27

Welcome back GP - so happy to hear you had a lovely time adventurizing!

WannabeFree

Sounds like an amazing time creating memories that will last a lifetime.

Glad you had an amazing time x

Greying_Pilgrim

Hello lovelies

Thank you for your kind words

Can't believe we are at the end of November already :eek:

Tea last night was pasta and pesto. Lunch today was the remaining 3 packets of tomato cup soups, all made together and served in bowls With what was left of the bread, with a sprinkle of cheese on top - flashed under the grill and made into 'sorta' toasties. Quick, cheerful, tasty and surprisingly warming - just what was needed, as the north wind is blowing into every nook & cranny round these here parts

i've not thought of tonight's tea yet. It'll be a cobble. a) because I've given it no thought, b) because it is the end of the month and c) because I need to use things up/make space in the freezer.

We've done the money shuffle today, so there should be the wherewithall to pay the bills for December. Anything above that is gravy, and I know it.

DH has made good progress with some more DIY, although I'm sure you all know how long it 'seems' to take to do anything when you are doing it yourself. But he's trying his best, and doing a 'proper job' so :T

I've been dragging myself into the 21st century and have ordered stuff online :eek::rotfl: Trying ever so hard not to tut, when the computer tells me click and collect could take up to 7 days................................. I suppose I ought to be grateful that the items were in stock at all. Anything practical or sensible seems to have been snapped up already. Can you tell I'm not conversant with this 'consumerism' mularkey...... :rotfl: The good thing about this stuff is that a grandparental has offered to pay for some of it, and if we're lucky, they may decide to pay for a bit more of it, as the sale was on............

I took a couple of pics to get prints from j3$$op$. I asked advice on printing out the one, and the assistant just did two taps of the screen and got me exactly what I wanted - I love it when folks in retail really know their stuff :j They will be low cost gifts for Cmas for family members

So, a little bit of money spent today, but the majority of it thoughtfully and on 'needed' things. With a tiny proportion on frippery But then we're happy eating cup soup and bread crusts somedays, and don't require lobster thermidor on a regular basis , so you choose your paths where you can

Right, can't think of owt else money related. We are just plugging along, trying to make progress and doing our best - hope you are too And I hope you are all doing it in balmy sunshine too!

Ta for popping in. Appreciated.

Greying XX

beanielou

Sunshine :eek:
Blooming baltic here.Brrrr.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

beanie - if it's cold where I am, then I heartily concur that it must be baltic with you - brrrrr indeed!

Right, 1st December and the (el cheapo) advent calender is being opened by DH and BG Whilst I'm wanting to celebrate/acknowledge Advent, going forward, I would wish it to be less about the chocolate, and more about giving or doing, but am treating this year as the first - of many! - learning curves. We are doing some 'giving' and 'doing' this year, it's just not been incorporated into the 89p cheap choc advent calender from HB! :rotfl:Still, it is one of the traditions DH is keen to start up - that and a Christmas Stocking for BG - so I want to make sure that we start the traditions at least. And I still have 24 days to construct the stocking outta summat!! :rotfl:

Tea last night was a true buddha bowl - use ups and bitsa! I cooked up some brown rice (stores) mixed in cooked brown lentils (freezer) and topped with steamed carrots (fridge) and sauted the reamaining bruussel sprouts. Topped those with the barginacious cold-ron falafel I got from h3r0n f00ds and dribbled a lemon yoghurt dressing over the top which used half of a sulky lemon. Boom. Tea Stuff used up and all round inexpensive meal produced with no leftovers :j

We're hurtling back to normality and should be having pizza - probably black olive - with dirty tattie wedges for tea tonight. I will probably need to open bag 2 of the dirty tatties :eek: can't believe we've munched our way through the best part of 25kg of tatties already - and BG is definitely no fan of the tubers so it must be down to DH and me! :eek: still, as long as this bag lasts until at least Christmas, I'll be happy. £7 well spent all told.

Right, best get on. BG was up in the night, so I lost some sleep, and most definitely am not firing on all 4 cylinders.......... But, no moaning, we're alive and well and blessed, and for that I remain grateful. Very grateful indeed.

Greying X

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

...We're hurtling back to normality and should be having pizza - probably black olive - with dirty tattie wedges for tea tonight...

There is something to be said for normality!;)

We had our standard Friday nights leftovers, nuked to the right temperature sitting in front of the telly under a fluffy blanket!:D

Isn't it just that? - the habits/normality that lead to traditions???:cool: Am loving the thought of little BG discovering the joys of the advent calendar & Christmas stocking!

Off now to do the weekly wrestling of finances and ponder if we are robbing Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Thaddeus, Bartholomew, Thomas or Matthew to pay Paul! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: who knew that staying debt free is just as much work as getting there in the first place?!?:o

carolbee

Greying, my granddaughters have a note in their calendar every day, ie put the tree up, write cards etc, but there is a lot of giving too, buying a gift for the charity box in the supermarket (they live overseas), have a family dinner with grandparents etc. This years also involves, when we arrive, Grandad fixing the head back on the log reindeer, we wondered why it said first aid when our DiL sent us the list!

I’m sure you will find your way, you sound such great parents

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon :hello:

rtandon27 wrote: »

There is something to be said for normality!;) Sister, there is ALOT to be said for normality



Isn't it just that? - the habits/normality that lead to traditions???:cool: Am loving the thought of little BG discovering the joys of the advent calendar & Christmas stocking! Yes, I believe you are right, and we need to take advantage of the fact that we have quite a bit of freedom to determine which traditions we follow, and which we ditch/don't entertain

Off now to do the weekly wrestling of finances and ponder if we are robbing Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Thaddeus, Bartholomew, Thomas or Matthew to pay Paul! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: who knew that staying debt free is just as much work as getting there in the first place?!?:o - I hear you, I hear you - hard work indeed

carolbee wrote: »

Greying, my granddaughters have a note in their calendar every day, ie put the tree up, write cards etc, but there is a lot of giving too, buying a gift for the charity box in the supermarket (they live overseas), have a family dinner with grandparents etc. This years also involves, when we arrive, Grandad fixing the head back on the log reindeer, we wondered why it said first aid when our DiL sent us the list!

I’m sure you will find your way, you sound such great parents

carolbee - it is posts like this ^ that restore my faith that we can 'craft' the life - or indeed Christmas - that we would like. And I mustn't underestimate what BG will demand as 'tradition' as they get older - I bet it is the 'little things' or 'simple stuff', rather than anything flash or expensive - or perhaps that is mummy's fanciful wishing.......... :think: :rotfl:


Phew! Why did none of y'all warn me Christmas is exhausting...... and we're only 3 days in to December....................

Anyhoo, we've been 'doing' and 'giving' and have already established what we we probably 'keep' and what we will ditch going forward.

We went to a 'thing' yesterday. Kinda out of duty. It was something that a community group that we participate in was involved in, so we felt honour bound to support. We'd hardly stepped in the door and 'admission' and 'raffle ticket' (singular !) snatched £3 for our purses. We said hi to other people from the group we're in - most other folks ignored us....... Then we felt we'd like a tea and cake........ £2 for a lukewarm coffee and a piece of cake, which was, i kid you not, about 2 inches square........... £7 for less than an hours 'entertainment'........ ho hum. That's on the 'ditch' list for next year.

Then on to today, and our 'much anticipated' event to support the FB. Volunteers had done a sterling job, making the setting look very, very pretty indeed. We turned up, BG took one look at santa, and............... screamed the place down.......... :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:We had to hand over our donation, and beat a hasty retreat :rotfl:However, there were plenty of other things to do and see, and BG was all smiles within seconds... :rotfl::rotfl: I certainly will be happy to do this activity again, because whether or not BG learns to like Santa, I enjoyed planning and putting together our donation and would like to make it a tradition for us as a family, for as long as FB's are needed (hopefully not very long). There was certainly, certainly more Christmas spirit floating about today than there was yesterday - very, very telling, in fact.

Tea last night was curry - using some frozen BNS, a tin of chickpeas and some tomato sauce and rogan josh paste (HM from JO's recipe), served with dhal and rice. Tea tonight will be cardboard box fish, oven chips and mushy peas. Some hargen darrs icecreams (3 for £1) may also have fallen into my basket when I was in h3ron f00ds, so a nice sweet treat for afters

On the way back from our day out today, we called in at the nearby market town. A spiffing nu chum had tipped me orf about a new book shop that had opened, so as DH and BG elected to stay in the car I took advantage of having the freedom to scope it out. Gosh, you know when you're in a shop and it just.......... transports you somewhere - I dunno, Narnia? It was exquisite - I could have set up me tee-pee in the children's section and lived there for 365 days. Bliss. I managed to escape before spending a mortgage size amount of money; just coming away with a couple of things that were quirky and unusual and will provide 'thoughtful' little gifts for a couple of 'old' chums

I forgot to say, I have finally discovered one thing that I regret giving away to charity - in the 4 years+ that we've been seriously decluttering. I regret giving away my wool winder It was part of the equipment I had with my knitting machine (bought secondhand over 30yrs ago for £50), and I whilst I was happy to donate the machine to charity, I did um & ar about the winder, but decided to let it go. This was about 6 weeks before i found out I was pregnant with BG. I finally relented and bought a 'new' one. I don't know what I am more p1$$ed off about - having to spend £20 on something that i did own anyway, or about the paucity of quality in my 'new' winder. Ho hum.... *mutters mutters* .... 'things ain't what they used to be'..... *mutters mutters*................

Right, well, 'us tea' won't cook itself. So I best head orf. But we've had a lovely time - making memories and being together as a family. We've seen some lovely sights; people have worked very hard to make places and spaces reflect the seasonal spirit and for that I'm grateful Ironically, mother nature came into her own too - delightful fir and holly trees have engaged us - along with cornus - and countless friendly robins, and somewhat stand-offish, but none the less beguiling, singular fieldfares and donkeys have entranced us too :D:D

Greying X

UncannyScot

Love a good book shop

I have found quite a few around the country that, I swear, the owners could well be members of a secret guild or society as their shops are very similar in their seemingly chaotic layout and esoteric contents...
SirTP was definitely onto something when he wrote about L-Space and how libraries and bookshops were/are interconnected across the multi-verse... One of these days I will meet an Orangutan in one these shops and exchange a friendly "Ook!"
Thank you for sharing, I really do enjoy popping round to visit your diary
:A

WannabeFree

Another who loves popping in your diary.

It always makes me feel 'happier' x