Cooking for one (Mark Three)

caronc

Brambling wrote: »

Unfortunately this sister is my most house proud one she also can't sit still for too long, it's not unusual when she's here for me to come out of the shower to find her sweeping the floors downstairs :cool: on the plus side I usually send her out into the garden for it's end of summer tidy :rotfl:

If she runs out of things to do at yours I could easily find her a "to do" list......;):rotfl:

Brambling

caronc wrote: »

If she runs out of things to do at yours I could easily find her a "to do" list......;):rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl:

I already get complaints from my sister who lives round the corner that I reap the benefits :rotfl:

I've just been sent obscene photos from my sister my nephew is baking so she is sending me photos of baked goods covered in caramel and chocolate, flapjacks and millionaires shortbread I believe. It seems if she has to be tortured so do I :cool: if I wasn't in my pjs I would be on my way over "

flubberyzing

I went up to Birmingham Uni yesterday evening for an education lecture thing... 40 minutes of delay, whilst on the train. We sat for an AGE at Coventry "waiting for a signal". People were starting to mutter, because lots of people need to make connections at Birmingham New Street, which they were now missing. I wasn't in a desperate hurry, gave myself a good hour more than I needed, and it was a good thing to!

Just managed to dodge the rain. It drizzled while I was on the train, but then dry in Birmingham. Blowing a gale though! Arrived at the lecture like I'd been dragged through a bush, and wishing I'd bought a comb with me.

Quite an interesting evening, and travelled a bit of the way home with a friendly lady I ended up sitting with. Hopped in a taxi (there were LOADS waiting at the station, and I'd been a little anxious that there wouldn't have been any!) and home at 9:55. So just made my normal bedtime!

2 lots of tutoring this evening... Meeting a new lad for the first time, a Year 6. Surprisingly, I don't actually often get new Year 6 kids for tutoring. Those kids that might need/want it, usually have a tutor already, from previous years, or get hooked up with someone from within school. His mother describes him as "a bit autistic", which in my experience, ranges from "a bit quirky" to "very difficult". So we shall see!
It makes my Friday night rather long though!

caronc

Good morning everyone,

Good luck with the tutoring flubberyzing, is Year 6 the year before secondary school?

Forecasted storm arrived in the early hours and is still going strong. Apart from some dislodged pansies everything else outside seems intact:).
Housework beckons today and with all the manky weather my floors are filthy, nothing a good mop wont sort out though.
Lunch I think will be some soup from the freezer with crackers & brie. Not sure about tonight yet.

moneyistooshorttomention

Still on the diet and feeling cba - so supermarket visit included me getting a packet of quorn lasagne (as in I define quorn as being "diet food").

To be eaten with cavolo nero kale and (yep....I know it doesnt "go") a baked potato or (Slimming World) chips with it.

Though, on the other hand, I decided to err on the side of "positive thinking", rather than "caution". So I bought myself a half bottle of champagne to toast the departure of one of my two nfh (now it's quite clear they've definitely gone). The "positive thinking" is watching nervously to see what their replacement is like (if anyone buys such a problem house as that one:cool:).

As PN says "You lose one baddun - but you may get another baddun instead" - but I'll think positively and hope for a nice one (if it's a nice helpful man that can do DIY then all the better:)). Tuning into local estate agent websites regularly and hoping I spot that house on them for sale soon - as I'll be a bit worried it's a private sale (ie to someone they know - so might be just as bad as them) until I spot it out there on the open market.

Champagne isn't exactly diet food - ahem...but in my defence I did just buy a half bottle size.

PasturesNew

flubberyzing wrote: »

Hopped in a taxi (there were LOADS waiting at the station, and I'd been a little anxious that there wouldn't have been any!) and home at 9:55. So just made my normal bedtime!

I am not of the taxi using classes... I'd have been plodding in the dark/wind/wet to a bus stop, to take my chances on one of those arriving... followed by becoming impatient as it wended its way round ... then finally getting off and scuttling home ... arriving home fed up, tired, annoyed, dishevelled, forlorn, hungry, angry and moody

PasturesNew

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

As PN says "You lose one baddun - but you may get another baddun instead" - but I'll think positively and hope for a nice one (if it's a nice helpful man that can do DIY then all the better:)). Tuning into local estate agent websites regularly and hoping I spot that house on them for sale soon - as I'll be a bit worried it's a private sale (ie to someone they know - so might be just as bad as them) until I spot it out there on the open market.

Anxious times... curtain twitching ... it's endless watching/waiting/wondering.

I am looking to buy - and, if I have the b4lls, would like to knock on potential new neighbours' doors ... so I can see what I might be getting - and they can stop worrying as to the size of my accompanying entourage (which is precisely 0).

moneyistooshorttomention

PasturesNew wrote: »

Anxious times... curtain twitching ... it's endless watching/waiting/wondering.

I am looking to buy - and, if I have the b4lls, would like to knock on potential new neighbours' doors ... so I can see what I might be getting - and they can stop worrying as to the size of my accompanying entourage (which is precisely 0).

Well - I know how long the house has been "Empty - waiting for its next occupant" now and maintaining a watching brief.

This mainly consists of checking out local estate agent websites on a daily basis. I'm waiting to see it Out There - ie up for sale on the open market. That will be reassuring of itself.

Until it does go onto the Open Market - I will wonder whether nfh (ie neighbour from hell) is trying to sell it privately (ie to someone like themselves:eek:). It was the local grapevine that told me about this in the first place - hence wondering if the whole thing has been put "out there" deliberately trying to attract someone like the nfh.

This is very much an area where "locals" will try to sell to other "locals" and, if they can't manage to do so, might well charge us "incomers" more.

It's certainly struck me that my house is now (some years of me owning it later) standing out as "noticeably different". That being there are various indicators of "fits in with area" on many of the other nearby houses - including my neighbours. Mine has now had me living in it for some years - and it does visibly show up as Distinctly Different to Nearby Norm. That might help with attracting someone I'll get on with as a neighbour - fingers crossed - rather hard.

Anyway - I'm having my champagne and celebrating the fact one of the nfh has gone (ie 50% of Trouble in the Locality) and trying hard to Think Positive.

This whilst thinking "I'm so glad I visited a supermarket earlier - as it's blowing a right hoolie out there at the moment". I'm still not used to Weather (with a capital W) and I do find it somewhat scary. It feels very "primitive" to stand there watching The Weather through my windows and seeing all this rain and wind and it's sorta a wierd combination of = exhilarating and Something Different on the one hand v. the dead practical thing of "I do hope this isn't going to damage my property in any way" on the other hand.

Lunch (which is destined to be the main meal today) has still not happened yet.

****************

So - how are you getting on? Has yours sold yet?

Farway

The storm is just windy here, no rain today

Into L's, needed bread, the rest was mooching. But the broccoli is on offer, 39p for large lump, so bought one of them, plus hand wash gel, I've plenty but I noticed the newer ones do not have a fitted pump, just a screw top, more cost cutting.
No doubt there will be a special offer of something pricey with a fitted pump to decant it into

Lunch was ham & salady sarnie

Decide to bung the beef into the oven, gas 3, wrapped in tin foil. Hint of exotic, I picked a bay leaf and put that in with the joint

Dinner is planned as some beef, with the new broccoli and carrots, plus mash and last of my cooked beetroot. I'll make extra to give me a fry up base over the weekend. cold meat + fry up + piccalilli coming soon

Update - beef cooked, smells lovely, and looks like pleny of hopefully dripping for a nice salty beef dipping slice over the weekend

PasturesNew

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Mine has now had me living in it for some years - and it does visibly show up as Distinctly Different to Nearby Norm. That might help with attracting someone I'll get on with as a neighbour - fingers crossed - rather hard.

Anyway - I'm having my champagne and celebrating the fact one of the nfh has gone (ie 50% of Trouble in the Locality) and trying hard to Think Positive.

This whilst thinking "I'm so glad I visited a supermarket earlier - as it's blowing a right hoolie out there at the moment". I'm still not used to Weather (with a capital W) and I do find it somewhat scary. It feels very "primitive" to stand there watching The Weather through my windows and seeing all this rain and wind and it's sorta a wierd combination of = exhilarating and Something Different on the one hand v. the dead practical thing of "I do hope this isn't going to damage my property in any way" on the other hand.

Lunch (which is destined to be the main meal today) has still not happened yet.

****************

So - how are you getting on? Has yours sold yet?

You see that in the areas I've lived - the wealthier incomers do their houses in a particular style; they're often very twee and middle class/London style... with specific colours and wooden blinds/shutters in the window - and they're often a holiday let too...

Yes, weather - it is a shocker how much of your life you 'have' to spend indoors as it's wet/windy out there

Not sold mine yet.... market's died. 4 viewings, one made interested noises except hers hasn't sold ... another I came 2nd out of 2 viewings they did ... and the other two I've no idea of any feedback.

I am spending FAR too long looking/logging every house that has the potential to be viewed if mine sells.... but I'm settled to the fact I'm here for Xmas now, whereas, when I dropped the contract off at the agent's in the first week of September I was thinking "might not have a home by Xmas". Not "desperate" to sell as such ... but I need to be gone before the better weather comes next year, so I can put my efforts into doing what I can in a new place, not pacing about an old one thinking "sell, sell, sell".

I think I'll have to drop the price, just because everybody else will at some point - nobody in my property type/price band has dropped yet (except one, who became a "vendor suited", so are keen to secure their onward purchase).

I've got a big spreadsheet.... RM link, address, area, work out the door number, find it on Streetview and grab a link directly to the frontage, check the orientation/make a note, write down the agent and price and any price changes or if that one's sold, find past selling prices for that house/similar in that road, then assign it to a list. After that I will be looking at other things: what's the crime map say, where's the nearest bus stop and where does that route go?, where the nearest food shop/which is it? where's the nearest chippy/takeaway? ... and similar things will be checked/compared over time.

I have an AA List (view first), an A List (better see these), a B List (OMG nothing on AA/A were any good), C List = "meh, but it's a place to view", D List = scraping that barrel now and the Z List = Never see this, ever.

I've checked out, online, nearly 350 houses so far like this

FOOD:

Today I had crumpets for breakfast.
3 chocolate digestives mid afternoon.
WP Mince/onion pie, chips, beans for tea - those WP pies are a good individual pie, but not as good as a wedge from a family pie. I'd buy them again if I see them knocked to half price, but wouldn't rush to buy them -v- going next door and getting a family pie.

As for that "chicken and sauce that shan't be mentioned" - I've been lead astray by caronc's concept of throwing food out - and I've convinced myself it's a good idea... so that'll be tossed sometime soon. I NEVER waste food, this is a shocker for me.