Cherry takes the reins

Onebrokelady

Cherryfudge wrote: »

The Beeches is lovely - so stately! I'm with you, my dream dolls' house would be the sort of house I'd like to live in. I would like have a go at modelling things with clay for it too. I haven't done any more than clean mine so far. If you google Triang 1939 dolls house, mine is the double-fronted half-timbered style with a garage to the left.

I bought some air dry clay that I'm supposed to making Xmas decorations with but I might try and make a few bits with it for the dolls house,mind you I bought it about a year ago so it's probably no good now, ahhh good old Triang,I had a Triang dolls house when I was little from around 1963, it had a metal sliding front with trees painted on it,I looked it up last year and you can still get them as vintage items on fleabay but some of them were quite pricey,I will have a google for yours in a bit,I haven't touched mine for ages but it's something I can just pick up and leave when I feel like it,I tend to do more in the winter when I can't get outside x

Cherryfudge

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Chrystal - I had a quick look and don't see anything about timings but it may be a bylaw. I don't want any awkwardness with him as he might be there for years and I'm sure my neighbours are all being very tolerant of my semi-tended garden, so I'm hoping he'll give it up of his own accord. However if it goes on being an issue I might be driven to say something, especially as gardens are so dry and ash is drifting. :eek::eek:

OBL, I've just been thinking I feel about ready to start work on one of dolls' houses, but not the Triang one. I have one my Dad made me, so quite unique but it's been abandoned for years so needs some filler to start with, then some research to retile the roof.

Not much spent today: I had the morning at home and a friend came round for a couple of hours (we put the world to rights) then I had my physio and she's happy with my progress (good to hear after a week in which I've felt I was losing ground). Tonight's tea is Sunday's leftovers then I'm going to another friend's for the evening.

Clear blue sky yet again... I could get used to this, in fact I think I already am.

Spends:
Housekeeping £0.85
MS stuff:
Leftovers for tea
Avoided shops on way home
10th coin savings 15p
Decluttering
A few bits of paper

Cherryfudge

We lost the blue sky all morning - glad to see it back again though the garden is parched.

J popped in for lunch so, as I had a bit of notice, I treated us to cheese, salami and salad. Plenty left for other days.

I don't have a huge amount to show for today but I made lentil and chorizo soup again and I think I promised to put the recipe up here. I can't remember where I found it and looking online is just uncovering lots of variations - but it is the sort of thing that you can leave ingredients out or change proportions or add things you have lurking in the kitchen.

Red lentil and chorizo soup
Serves 6
Slow cook for 3.5 hours or stove top for about 35-40 minutes or until lentils are soft. Preparation about 15 minutes.

200g chorizo (1/3 to 1/2 a sausage of chorizo) chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 red peppers, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 large leek, chopped
150g red lentils, rinsed
1 tin cheap baked beans, rinsed
1 tsp. smoked paprika
750 ml chicken or vegetable stock
Approx 500 ml water to add till it gets to a consistency you like.

Preheat the slow cooker. Add all ingredients except the garnish and slow cook for 2 hours on high or 3.5 hours on low or 35-40 minutes on stove top. When cooked, remove from the heat and blend.

To serve (optional)
Fresh flat-leaved parsley sprigs
6 tbsp sour cream
6 slices wholemeal bread

We have a couple of portions left over to go in the freezer (if I can find space).

Spends:
Housekeeping £9.99

MS stuff:
Getting better at buying exactly what I need, not spares.
Cheap baked beans for recipe - saving 32p per tin over cannellini beans
1 baking apple rather than a tin of apples - saving 33p
fresh red onion (15p) rather than opening a bag of ready-chopped onions, saving about 10p
Cheap cheese instead of posh slices (the posh slices might have been better: this was a bit non-descript and might need to be livened up for subsequent use)
Sliced seeded bread instead of individual 'bakery' buns
Confession time:
Apples just because I fancied some with lunch - £1.60 for 6! :eek: I usually avoid buying apples in summer too, and we have loads of other fruit.
Decluttering:
None in the house, but boxed up lots of dry bramble twigs ready to go and cut some more down. The main blackberry patch is staying because it's covered in berries!

Cherryfudge

How did I not know about this before? The 'Pink Tax'

I'll keep a look out for this as it could save more than pennies and I don't mind going blue.

And while I'm thinking about money saving categories I'm getting tired of calling one of my list 'MS stuff'. It seemed quirky or cute at first but now it's annoying me and I'm sure you'll all understand if it changes to 'MS' which is just the same thing.

erin_transport

Thanks for the link to that article.
Interesting reading for sure.

Cherryfudge

Various small bits and pieces bought today, plus a bit of gardening and some reading. I haven't abandoned 'The Millionaire Next Door' but he's been superseded by 'Early Retirement Extreme' which is fascinating.

DS2 is home! I think he's enjoyed himself... he liked Krakov especially. He's so brown, you'd think he'd spent the last couple of weeks in England!... Though it was grey all morning here.

Spends
Gifts £1.98
Housekeeping £3.82
MS
Cauliflowers super-cheap at greengrocer's so bought 2 and froze them ready for cauliflower cheese on Sunday
Bought birthday cards at the Cancer Relief shop where they are only 99p but some nice designs and a good cause. Considering cards are made of small pieces of paper and mass-produced, they really do generally charge what they please, don't they? I'm not talking about ones that are made by small businesses, I mean the large ventures. I know they have to make a living, too, but I still feel I pay over the odds.
10th coin savings £1.00
Decluttering
More brambles gone
Used up a few salad things for lunch thus helping clear DS2's fridge shelf!

Cherryfudge

Went into work to meet my manager today and had quite a nice time! Useful meeting: he has ideas about how to get me back into work on modified duties without impairing anyone's safety. I still have a few weeks to go on my current sick note though, and need to get a medical opinion before I can go back. It was nice to catch up with various people around the place too.

Other than that, I sorted some papers (!) and found a couple I had wanted. Time spent on one of those over the afternoon... another still to go.

I spent more than I'd really intended: there were a few items we'd run out of. I did bump into a friend in town and had a chat. She's someone I used to see a lot and as the kids grew older our paths just stopped crossing so it was nice to see her and her son who I babysat over one summer - now in his twenties!

DH had a work commitment this evening so (tea for one) I decided to be inventive with some oddments from the fridge. I rolled out the last of a pack of pastry, cut it into squares and added red pesto, salami, cheese and basil, folded the pastry over and baked it. In the end everyone except H sampled them and it sounds as though they are a keeper. Oh, and DH watched some football again - twice this week and possibly four times in his life!


Spends:
Housekeeping £14.81
Gift £1.00
MS:
Invented the little pastry parcels from bits we had in plus basil so fed us for an outlay of £1.25 of new ingredients
DS2 found the kettle he'd used at Uni and donated it to the kitchen as our old one sprang a leak and we'd be making do with my travel kettle
Went to buy organic milk but it was short dated so bought ordinary which is cheaper even if not my preferred option
Went to various places to get lowest price on bin bags, cling film and sandwich bags - otherwise we will be spending more on sandwich wrapping than we need to.
10th coin savings 20p
Decluttering:
A few handfuls of paper gone but no gardening done.

Sun_Addict

Sounds like you've got a caring manager there Cherry. The soup sounds nice - I'd make it without the chorizo as I don't eat meat. I love smoked paprika

Hope you've had a good day today xx

Cherryfudge

Another beautiful sunny Saturday, another car boot this morning, another win for England this afternoon!
Some small purchases this morning, but decided not to go grocery shopping in the afternoon as there's not enough fridge space to have a chicken overnight! We'll have to shop tomorrow and put it straight in to cook!

Other than that I got laundry done but nothing else that counts as housework. DS1 has started on the decorating for us and was getting stressed about it so I thought it's really not worth the hassle it's causing people. I told him we'd either finish it ourselves or get someone else in and I'd find another way he can help out, but he battled on. It probably helped that the big England match was on later so he wasn't faced with endless wallpaper! DH and I are still thinking about taking out the fireplace in that room and putting in a wood burning stove: it would modernise no end and might give more floor space as the existing hearth is quite big and the stove could be inserted into the chimney breast, which is quite deep as it was used for a back boiler. So we are one piece of wallpaper further forward! Really should be proactive and make a decision about the fireplace.

DH and I had an evening out! There was an event on in another town and we had dinner while we were there then had a wander round in the lovely evening light, really relaxing.


Spends
Household £1.00 (wooden butter or shortbread mould)
Garden £1.00 (2 terracotta plant pot dishes)
Clothing £1.00 (3/4 sleeved black cardigan with a vee-neck - one of those things I've just not been able to find in the shops)
Gifts £50.00 (for a special anniversary in the family)
MS
10th coin savings 0.00 - there are only 5 pieces of money in my purse!
Confessions:
Tea out... but DH paid

Chrystal

I'd definitely get the wood burning stove, worth it in so many ways... not the least of which are those really cosy winter evenings with the firelight making everything rosy.