The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

beanielou

Yes, have to agree it is so difficult to get people to do small jobs at a reasonable price
The amout of people that tell me that I need a new conservatory is just ridiculous.
I know that I do but I cant blooming afford it :mad:

MatyMoo

Another problem with decent tradesmen is that they are incredibly busy so can pick and choose the jobs they want and over price the ones they don't. I have a fantastic plumber who can turn his hand to anything and he has just refitted my utility room and put in a downstairs loo but I had to wait and he can't move straight on to my bathroom refit as he has another job scheduled in for when people are away on holiday. He isn't the cheapest but he spots things that need doing and fixes them - this week it was the shed door, last week it was the outside tap!

When I had problems with my heating he arrived on his way home at 7.30, was here an hour & charged me £30. When the boiler died & he couldn't replace it for a week he turned up with heaters to keep us warm.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good evening :hello:


Heartily agree MatyMoo, although increasingly it seems that tradesfolk are 'expert' (*raisedeyebrowsmiley*) in one singular area. And are not able to complete tasks without the involvement of someone else - which just complicates matters/task completion. I realise some things need relevant qualifications/training, but some of it.......



We pootled over to HB to get some things today. DH was tasked with getting some bits from mrAl and mrL, so money has been spent.



We managed to get out and about in the sunshine, so that was very nice.


DH has worked hard this afternoon, and achieved loads :smileyhea DH's every move was watched intently by BG who, when not checking progress of Papa, was engaged in several imaginary phonecalls with a dear chum that we're hoping to hook up with on Monday. It's interesting what children deem 'important' to include in conversations, isn't it? :rotfl:


Tea this evening included a new to me recipe and utilised 3 of the 4 gifted courgettes (yellow) that I have in my possession. I decided to have a bash at courgette curry, and I'm glad that I did, as it was simple in terms of ingredients, and tasted very nice. The only change that I made was to include some lemon juice, as I thought it would prink it up nicely - I think I was right I served it with dhal and roti/flatbread. Very nice, very frugal and made a bit of a change to have flatbreads rather than rice. BG tried flatbread and promptly spit it out (we assumed too many nigella seeds), but then begged for more and ate up all they were given, so.......... I will definitely keep the recipe and make the curry again. Just my sort of thing.


Today i am grateful for these 3 things;

sharing of information

an expression of thanks

a hook-up with a chum to look forward to


Ta for popping by. Appreciated.


Greying X

beanielou

Well done to your DH

Tradespeople these days are not what they were is all I will say.
I am getting auld I think :rotfl: :eek:

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon,


Just a quick duck in for me, whilst BG is having a well-earnt snooze, and I ponder what the eckington is fer us tea!


A jolly day out has been had today


We popped over to a nearby town. We took a donation to the foodbank there. They are supporting families over summer hols who otherwise would depend on FSM, and had put out a 'most wanted' list to be able to meet that need. I decided that we could contribute to that request, as it is the 'summer' version of what we did at Christmas time. Through shopping very, very carefully, I think I got considerable bang for my ring-fenced buck. It is NOT an easy way to shop for everyday things, as I think I ended up going to at least 4 different shops to get everything that I had planned out on my list, to make my pennies work. Case in point, I was able to visit a mrS today, which was in walking distance, to get the last of the items - tinned fruit and spaghetti in the 'basics' range (which I would, and have, eaten myself) - to make up the donation. Normally, mrS is far too far for me to walk to - and not everyone has access to HB/h3r0n etc etc.



I did actually get a sense of satisfaction handing over our contribution - which is not me being big-headed, it's just I actually felt that in finding out what they needed, getting as much of it as I could for the money I had available, and getting it TO the centre of operations was actually helping. Do you ever contribute to a charity and wonder if your pennies are going to support their work, or to re-carpet the CEO's office?............. The member of staff we dealt with was lovely. I've not supported that particular foodbank before - but certainly shall bear them in mind for the future.



We had a mooch around the chazzers. Thin pickings, although I've got some fabric that will help me with some projects that I have in the pipeline. Not barginacious, but just about worthwhile. We did also take a small bag of things to our favourite chazzer for them to sell on.


I packed a picnic, and was all set to go to the municipal park, but stumbled across the most delightful little community garden, which was beautifully tended, full of flowers, bees and butterflies and absolutely devoid of people! BLISS! BG and I sat at a lovely picnic bench and munched our lunch, and then BG had a lovely run around and explore the garden, flora and fauna Finally, we hooked up with our chum and had coffee and cake and mucho fun with some fantabulous toys.


And it only cost £1 to park for the whole day! Smashing. Really feel that we've had a wonderfully satisfying and fun-filled day today. For not alot of pennies spent


Still no idea what's fer us tea mind........... :think:


Right, better push orf. BG won't be napping for much longer - although they've been on the go all day - and I really must get tea on the table for DH, who's been working hard all day, whilst we've galivanted and eaten cake!


Ta for popping by. Appreciated.


Greying X

beanielou

What a wonderful & well thought out FB donation

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:


Pottery type of day today.



Pootled to the HB that sells food, and picked up some bits and pieces. Then went to mrA and got some strawberries - I had thought that I'd bought my last strawbs, as the price had gone up, whilst - regrettably, the quality had gone down, but both the generic british and Scottish labelled fruit looked good today. i was going to go for the british, as they were 10p cheaper, but i happened to pick up a punnet of Scottish strawbs, that someone had put in the wrong place, but they smelt so nicely of strawberry and were lovely and ripe, so I sucked up the 10p difference, and purchased them. I also gave mrA's avocados a go - they were £1.50 for 4. I nearly left them on the shelf, as they were from Peru, but I spotted the end crate was from Colombia, so I've given 'em a go. 6p cheaper than mrM, but I have to say, the ones I got from mrM last week (produce of s. africa) were absolutely lush and creamy - a delight to eat and no waste.


I've got to clean up my eating pronto, I'm feeling very under the weather at the moment. I was telling a chum this earlier, so I must stick to it! A combination of the hot weather and DH doing more of the shopping (makes it difficult to rely on DH's ability to get stuff without explicit instructions - and DH doesn't 'look' at produce to see if it's edible. If I put 'cucumber', he'll bring a cucumber, edible or half-way to compost heaven )


Started off well tonight, by making my interpretation of Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls. I make it much more like a buddha bowl, and cook everything separately. I left out the lentils tonight, but loaded up the cabbage, and made a nice tomato sauce to go with. Sprinkled sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds over the finished dish too. Used some brown basmati rice, for extra brownie points:A and I used veggie sausages (mrT lincolnshire seasoned ones) and used up a bag between family Greying


Strawberries and yoghurt for dessert


Today i am grateful for these 3 things;


the internet

email

choice


Ta for popping by. Appreciated.


Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:


I wanted to go out on an adventure today, but DH wasn't keen Feels like we've been stuck here, indoors, all bleeping summer And because of disappointing tradespeople, it doesn't feel like we're any further forward with the house We are, but it just doesn't feel like it, with everything that we've foregone to get, even to this point


Humpf.


In other news......



Tea last night was l/o pizza from the freezer, potato wedges and broccoli. BG is going through a phase of not liking foods they have previously lapped up. But they did eat more of their black olive pizza than the previous time we had (mushroom) pizza. So I'm not sure if they really have gone off pizza, or whether they are just expressing preferences. BG currently has a cough, so that is not helping matters - we all go off our nosh when we've coughs and colds, don't we?


Tea this evening will be saag paneer, as I have a some reduced price paneer to use (currently in freezer) and I have a bag of spinach that has been languishing in the freezer for ages. I noticed that h3r0n have started stocking frozen spinach again :j after something of a hiatus, caused, in no small part, by the rising popularity of kale (bleurk!), which filled the shelves of any discounter freezer outlet, at the expensive of the humble, and far more versatile spinach. There will be dhal and basmati rice to accompany the curry.


I'm still under the weather health-wise, but feeling better than i did at the start of the week. I've taken the precaution of booking a drs appt though, as it doesn't do to 'assume' things. I know that I'm not ......... But I just want to make sure that what is happening is normal, and not something else entirely. Thank goodness for our NHS, even if I am having to wait over a week to see my GP. I've taken it upon myself to clean up my eating, and perhaps that has helped me feel somewhat better. But I had let it slide, so, it feels good to be reigning in a bit of control.


Right, better find the inspiration to get and do something.



Greying X

Cheery_Daff

Aw Greying, sorry you're under the weather Glad you're going to the docs though (and yes, I suppose it does pay to make sure, especially after last time! :eek: :rotfl: ) Hope it's nothing serious xx

I hear you on not feeling like you've been out all summer. Do you take many photographs? I find keeping my cheery blog helps - I only put cheerful things on there, and when I feel like I haven't done anything, it helps to look back and see evidence that I did go *somewhere*, did achieve *something* and it wasn't raining *all the time*. What do your photos show?

If your weather is anything like ours today though it's a day for staying cosy inside! :eek: xxx

Greying_Pilgrim

Ha ha - Cheery, you are the second person this morning to mention 'wot happened last time' :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:



I see what you mean about photos, but unfortunately they confirm that we've spent most of our time indoors Pictures taken because BG was doing something funny, or 'documentary' type pics to show BG all dressed up before an event etc. Although there are some of BG in a friend's garden - the weather was SUNNY, and that is a good memory of a wonderful day, that BG still refers to.


Tea last night was a curry plate. I ended up making palak paneer - which is spinach and paneer curry - but unfortunately i don't have the source recipe link. I served it with dhal and basmati rice.


Don't know what is on the cards today. The weather isn't quite as nice as yesterday DH will probably want to get on with 'stuff'


Can't think of anything :money:to witter on about. So best vamoose.


Ta for popping in. Appreciated.


Greying X