Family of 5 'shop from home'food storage challenge...

Kaz2904

Hello all. Not had a chance to pop on for ages. Trying to catch up with everything as it's my first day off since Christmas without DH cluttering up the house. He tries and thinks he's helping out but unfortunately he doesn't do any washing or ironing and if I do it he doesn't put it away. Rather than doing anything through the week, he prefers to spend an entire day doing it at the weekend. That means that the house is a mess all week and then tidy for 2 days (and it takes blooming ages to sort out).
My new fireplace is being delivered tomorrow so I want him to get on with plastering the room. I don't think I can stand for it to take as long as every other room has taken to complete.
Anyway- whingeing over- time to do some work, ttfn, Kaz.

jcr16

thanks kathry. the dog gets through the holly hedge at the side of our garden. at the bottom of our garden we built a 7 foot fence. but at a cost of £500 we couldn't afford to put up theany more than what we did .we do like the holly hedge as we can see so many birds. but we are going to fence it now as soon as weather gets better.

as for council. we have been complaining since about a month after they moved in, because of arguements , music , violence , dog , rubbish etc etc.it was so bad one day that i walked out house with my son at 10am and didnt go home till nearly 4 when hubby would be home. i collected my daughter from nursery at 11 and we just sat in kfc. ( kids loved it tho) it has got better since then tho. but because it is only the rubbish and dog which are the prob's now as council have sorted reast they don't seem to want to do anything.

thing is it makes me feel like a nasty person for having to put complaints in. i hate it.

i think tho i am having just a mega down day. hubby said he gonna try and work out if there anyway i can get a bigger cooker without loosing cupbaords. so that cheered me up . and i've just seen online a nice door curtain. so gonna buy that so i can put it up at my back door, so then i don't have to see next door. I did have a blind , but since having my new back door fitted we didn't put it back up as the pain of glass was longer in my new door than old. and the blind didn't fit.

i think i need to try to be positive and think of way to block out next door. so i can live in an easy affordable house, rather than be living in a ahouse and have money worries. but it is hard when feeling like this.

might go into the gardening room and work out what needs to be planted and when. then me and kids can do some drawings and plan our veg plot.

ravylesley

jcr16 wrote: »

woooohhhhoooooo I'm so excited for you Dee.

i been trying this morning to work out if i can get on ein my kitchen. hubby said i can have one. but the only way i can is if i loose 3 cupboards. I'm not sure if i can afford to loose the cupboard space at mo.

i'm having a mega hard time of thinsgs at mo with my house. as this house ahas never been a house i would choose to live in. but 4 years ago it suited our need's. we could easily afford it and with 1 child it was huge. Bedrooms are 17ft by 11 and 15 by 12 so goosd sizes. we always planned to have a 2 story extention, which would make our house a 4 good size bed house or 4 and a smaller box room. with big kitchen and utlity etc. I am really exctied about the prospect's. we have a massive garden. think the gardener saide is was 200 meter square or something like that.

Anyway we are the ponly private house in our little corner the others are council. everyone is really nice. but old lady next door died last year and they have moved a really young couple in. OMg the garden is appauling. every window i look out all i can see is a garden full of rubbish, it blows into are garden. if it is sunny all i can smell is dog poo as they don't clean the dog pen.

there dog keeps escaping into our gerden. and my son was running in our garden and fell over in dog poo. i am trying to stay positive and keep thinking they will move soon .But it just makes me feel so unsettled i just wanna move. but we can't afford to move anywhere at mo. and espesh with me being preg. my kids go to the local school 2 mins walk away and it is an amazing school. in the summer when we sat at our dinning table having our family meal, they had a bbq and everyone was in their garden staring into our kitchen watching us eat.
we love our house and have so many idea's. hubby is building me a rasing veg plot with green house and planning to give me a little potting shed next to it. plus he said he gonna put a radiator out in the brick built shed so i can keep my homemade wine at a regular temp etc.

i not saying their bad people next door. but the state of the house, is depressing. nearly everyone that visit me comments and say omg that is awful i fell for u living next to it.

sorry to waffle on and not be talking about food. but at mo. i am throwing myself into so much cooking and baking so i don't have to think about thing. but by doing so i keep thinking about the new kitchen we had planned . then i start thinking do i want it , if we have to carry on living next to what we are. so it a bit of a viscious circle if that makes sence.

maybe it the pregnancy making me put all things out of perspective

My house is excouncil and I had problems with a neighbour who was a council tenant recently and when I contacted the council they said that they had a tenants charter and that all tenants had to abide to a certain level of behaviour and I am assuming that all Councils are the same so I would contact the Housing Office air your grievance and if they are anything like my council they will fire off a warning letter and follow it up with a visit and best of all they dont give details of who has complained so there are no comebacks on you

On a lighter note has everyone noticed that Dee has disappeared?She is either cooking up a storm or has fainted away with sheer love of her new cooker:rotfl:


Lesleyxx

Lesleyxx

kethry

jcr16 wrote: »

but because it is only the rubbish and dog which are the prob's now as council have sorted reast they don't seem to want to do anything.

thing is it makes me feel like a nasty person for having to put complaints in. i hate it.

I do understand how you feel. I live in social housing, a ground floor flat in a block of 4, our garden overlooks the road (is on a corner) and frequently the kids are outside playing football.. its rare that we get to relax out in the garden (even in nice weather) or eat outside because we feel we're being watched or we have to listen to the constant "thump thump" of the football against the wall of the factory opposite. We've tried complaining and we do complain about the worst of it (there are other issues as well, if i told you them all i'd be here all night typing!) and things do get done. the crazy thing is that we love our flat/garden, just the people around us.

You mustn't feel bad for complaining though. People like your neighbours have to understand that if they want to live in social housing then there is a price to be paid: and that price is about trying to be a good neighbour. Whereever they go they're going to have to behave the same way so the sooner they get used to it, the better. do keep on at the council: its the only way to make sure that they do do something.

At the same time, yes, doing positive things is a help!! is it worth putting up trellises in the garden - sometimes they can be cheaper than fencing - and growing things up it? you could grow beans, sweetpeas, i have some seeds for something called asparagus peas that look lovely, like sugarsnap peas, you eat the pods whole, but they apparently taste like asparagus - just steam them whole! I've also seeds for a climbing variety of courgette (called black forest, which came from mr fothergill's) which i'm itching to try, and would be a big help if you've a space problem. then there's all the other climbing flowers..!! if you went for sweetpeas and other smelly flowers that might help with the smell of the dog poop too.

*hugggggggggss* and hold your chin up!

keth
xx

Yategirl

!!!!!!{hugs}}} JCR... I would complain again and back it up in writing... we have dogs but I wouldn't dream of letting them go in someone else's garden and I hate the fact they poop in ours.. I clear up at least once a day (and I must whizz out now while the rain has stopped!). The only cheap options I can think of that might help if you don't have any success is a) ask on freecycle if anyone has any fencing or b) get some cheap green plastic netting type of fence and using stakes fix it so that the fence stops the dog coming in but also is hidden by the hedge.

Dee has disappeared!! DEE WHERE ARE YOU???!! :laugh:

Yategirl

kethry wrote: »

I do understand how you feel. I live in social housing, a ground floor flat in a block of 4, our garden overlooks the road (is on a corner) and frequently the kids are outside playing football.. its rare that we get to relax out in the garden (even in nice weather) or eat outside because we feel we're being watched or we have to listen to the constant "thump thump" of the football against the wall of the factory opposite. We've tried complaining and we do complain about the worst of it (there are other issues as well, if i told you them all i'd be here all night typing!) and things do get done. the crazy thing is that we love our flat/garden, just the people around us.

You mustn't feel bad for complaining though. People like your neighbours have to understand that if they want to live in social housing then there is a price to be paid: and that price is about trying to be a good neighbour. Whereever they go they're going to have to behave the same way so the sooner they get used to it, the better. do keep on at the council: its the only way to make sure that they do do something.

At the same time, yes, doing positive things is a help!! is it worth putting up trellises in the garden - sometimes they can be cheaper than fencing - and growing things up it? you could grow beans, sweetpeas, i have some seeds for something called asparagus peas that look lovely, like sugarsnap peas, you eat the pods whole, but they apparently taste like asparagus - just steam them whole! I've also seeds for a climbing variety of courgette (called black forest, which came from mr fothergill's) which i'm itching to try, and would be a big help if you've a space problem. then there's all the other climbing flowers..!! if you went for sweetpeas and other smelly flowers that might help with the smell of the dog poop too.

*hugggggggggss* and hold your chin up!

keth
xx

to add to this... we live in a terraced house... very overlooked.. our neighbours have even stood (more than once) at the fences on either side of the garden and chatted across our garden... :mad: last time I sent the dogs and children out to play .. it is so rude and I felt I couldn't go outside and enjoy my garden. Trellis is cheap and is on my "consider" list to put on my fences - clematis grows quick too and has beautiful flowers or honeysuckle...

NoahsPennilessMummy

Dee......i hope you are having a fabulous afternoon with your new oven!!

It looks fab.....am soooooo jealous (in a nice way of course;) )

my old crappy gas oven is awful and my kitchen tiny.....everything packed in so tightly that its a big effort every time you have to move things to get other things out.....one day a lovely kitchen will be mine......after much old styling and debts paid off:D

wendy+5

Hello! This is my first post and I have to say God, you girls are good!! :T

It's taken me almost a week to read this thread! :eek: And I have been so inspired. I love cooking and would love to do more than just freeze spag bol and chili., but I have no idea about freezing foods, so any help there would be greatly appreciated.

Which is the best thread to look at for ideas?

Dee, I love, love, LOVE your cooker!

D&DD

I loooooove it to Wendy lol just been playing with it alllll afternoon..well had to stay in waiting for the boilerman so had an excuse

I've cooked sausage toad tonight with mash,peas and carrots not exactly exciting stuff but went for something I can usually do standing on my head just in case!!

I haven't had a gas hob since leaving home...23 years ago :eek: so was a tad worried but its brilliant boiled up in no time so will be very economical compared to the solid plates I used to have.I have the le creuset 'half a ton' pans so they conduct the heat really well.
Toad rose like a dream (the old oven was struggling with these towards the end) and the boys are all stuffed!

Boiler is fixed the fan had gone and its never ever been as quiet..he also mentioned that may have been why my bill was so high so will hopefully have a supercheap one next time with all this economising on fuel :j

Lesley...lol I'm still stroking it

ooh found out last night when the other one was disconnected the front panel was hanging on by a thread too :eek: Was so glad we had bought this one when I saw that,really chuffed with it and the boys think its a beast :rotfl:

D&DD

kethry wrote: »

I don't think you're getting things out of perspective, hon. If anything, you're going the other way: if my child came in covered in dog poo i'd be screaming blue bloody murder, and i *have* a dog!!

I don't know where you are but i do know this: given its a council property you can complain about their garden, particularly if the fence is not looked after and their dog is getting out. i think if you actually tell the council that your children are at risk healthwise because of the dog poop then you'll get things moving pretty quick (if only because, if they don't do anything and you go to the papers it makes them look extremely bad). Even if they only sort out fencing so that the dog can no longer get into your garden, and gives you a bit of privacy from next door, that would be an improvement i think. If you're careful to complain about the state of the *fencing* rather than the actual people it shouldn't cause problems.

In addition, if you want to grow veg in the garden, then you really do have to get the fencing sorted out because .. well. you wouldn't want to eat veg that have been grown in dog poop, would you?

good luck with it!

keth
xx

Totally agree with Keth on this JCR *I'm chair of the residents assoc here*;) Do put it in writing and give them 7 days to respond.There's ways to make the council respond to things quicker and if you go down this route with the fencing its less likely to cause friction with the neighbours,they'll be pleased with a new fence and may even tidy up the garden to match...or the council will see the state of it and do it/make them!!
Stress the health issue with the faeces and if don't get any joy let me know...I have a few other tricks up my sleeve you can try :cool: