Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Blackcats - Yes, we think we've made the right decision too. The amount the policy pays out decreases in line with the term of the mortgage so in the final year, with theoretically just one year of mortgage left tp pay, it would only pay out around £5000. At the moment, it's still be a lot higher - £29,000 thiscyear for example. As we were thankfully able to pay off our mortgage early, we wouldn't need to do that, so as you say, it would be a bit of extra money to help me get back on my feet.
Well done on the figs! I love figs, but I don't have a suitable wall to grow them.
F x

foxgloves

Thanks, Blue eyed girl123. It is always an upheaval, isn't it, with more dust settling as soon as it's hoovered up. We decided to try & put right everything that needs doing, then our hope is that there will only be a bit of decorating here & there during the next ten or so years. We hope to relocate to a different region when Mr F retires - he's got ages yet, he's younger than me. Property prices are more expensive there, so if we are serious about our plans, we need to keep our current house in as good shape as possible so as to avoid an evem bigger shortfall in the future when we come to sell.
F 
P. S - Always nice to see someone de-lurking!

foxgloves

Hello Bank Holiday Peeps, 
Just come in from the garden for a cup of tea & to share the last of the apple cake I baked on Sat. There is alwaus lots to do at this time of the year when garden activities & kitchen witchery are combined to maximise the food we have grown. Today I've assessed both courgette beds & yanked up 3 plants which have stopped producing. The others have had a slurp of seaweed to encourage them a bit longer. I've been around all the tomato plants, removing lower leaves to assist with ripening, also any titchy green fruits which won't get to a decent size or ripen. I found a few self-seeded foxgloves while tidying up the courgettes, so I've potted them up ready to plant some foxy drifts in the borders ready for next year.
Today's pickings: 1 mug of blackberries (added to freezer bag), 2 courgettes, 200g chillies, 400g french beans & 2 peppers. Mr F rounded up another basket chock full of windfall apples.
I've baked a wholemeal loaf & made tomorrow's packed lunch. My intention tonight is to finish a mitten (stripy with a heart motif), read a couple of chapters & to answer more questions than the very competitive Mr F on 'University Challenge'.....that means there will need to be plenty of questions on literature, history, politics, botany & words. If it is all maths, little moon jobbies around Saturn & the periodic table, I'm done! 
Builder arriving bright & early tomorrow so I shall be wanting an early start. 
Cheers m'dears, 
F x

Humdinger1

Dearest Foxgloves 

Bit late to the party, but just wanted to say that- as you know- anniversaries of losing loved ones do get better. My father died 2 days before my 18th birthday,  and it took years before I could have any sort of party that felt like one.  Not sure what your spiritual views may be and not trying to put you on the spot, but I think as time goes on, you do perhaps get a sense that people are looking in, keeping an eye.  Sorry if I've said too much or have upset you; love your diary; your views; and your overall take on life.  Love Humdinger x 

Onebrokelady

Have you bought a pencil case yet😀😀Im loving the sound of the Apple cake. I was given some apples last week so decided to make an apple pie,I got it in the oven then realised I'd forgotten to put any sugar in the pastry, it was interesting having a sweet filling with savoury pastry 😂I tried sprinkling sugar on it when I warmed it up and it did help a little bit 😀

blue_eyed_girl123

foxgloves said:

Thanks, Blue eyed girl123. It is always an upheaval, isn't it, with more dust settling as soon as it's hoovered up. We decided to try & put right everything that needs doing, then our hope is that there will only be a bit of decorating here & there during the next ten or so years. We hope to relocate to a different region when Mr F retires - he's got ages yet, he's younger than me. Property prices are more expensive there, so if we are serious about our plans, we need to keep our current house in as good shape as possible so as to avoid an evem bigger shortfall in the future when we come to sell.
F 
P. S - Always nice to see someone de-lurking!

Thank you, hopefully your shiny new house stands the test of time. We are hoping to sell ours too, although in the next couple of years to move nearer family. I am also very impressed with your gardening capabilities - in the future I would really like to grow more of our own food, I am so far keeping 3 rosemary plants alive, from cuttings from a friend 😊. 

foxgloves

Humdinger1 - Thanks. I am not a follower of any organised religion & don't believe in an afterlife, but my spirituality is what I'd describe as being on the pagan spectrum & I do find this helpful in processing life events. Nature both gives & takes away. The time leading from when we discovered that Dad's illness was incurable up to being told Mum's emergency operation had failed & she had between a week & a month left was incredibly intense. I don't think time is always a 'healer', but as the months & years pass & we are able to put some distance between the sad, stressful event & the present, it does all assume its natural place in the scheme of things & we are able to remember our lost family members & friends with the joy of having known them, rather than just feeling that initial rawness of loss.  
Sorry to hear that you lost your Dad so young - that's a difficult age to deal with a big loss.
F x

foxgloves

OBL - No, I haven't bought a new pencil case. Actually, I don't think I will, because I quite like my old one, which is a leopard with a stuffed head & tail, whiskers & my pens & pencils go in his body which has a zip. I think I will buy myself a lovely big hardback notebook though, as I've had an idea for a project.
I'm sure your apple pie will be lovely. I never put sugar in pastry unless it's a recipe which specifically requires dessert pastry. My pastry would be the same whether I was making a chicken pie or an apple pie, but the apple pie would get a sprinkling of caster sugar on top before serving. When I learned to cook at school, we were taught to use egg wash for glazing our savoury pies & milk for sweet ones. 
F x

foxgloves

Blue-eyed girl123 - I can really recommend getting started on a bit of 'grow your own'. It is environmentally friendly, as food miles are 'food metres' instead, it can contribute greatly to the grocery budget & it is great fitness being outside digging & raking, etc. I'm glad you mentioned your rosemary as I took some cuttings too & you have reminded me that I haven't looked at them to see how they're getting on for ages!
F x

foxgloves

Evening September Sunbeams,
Builder arrived bright & early & brought the sunshine with him. The ex-downstairs loo has now been boarded out ready to become a smart new little utility room. It's interesting popping in at the end of each day to see how things have progressed.
Well, I've had a pretty productive, old-style day. I pegged out my overnight laundry (might as well make use of the Economy 7 tariff while we still have it) & everything dried for free. I stripped Saturday's spicy chicken carcass to provide the meat for tonight's wraps & then thought I'd better set about reducing the produce mountain in the kitchen. So I prepped two bags of french beans (one bag for the freezer & one ready to go with tomorrow's meal), froze more chillies, then did a triage of the tomatoes. The ones which required eating most urgently went into a double batch of lentil & tomato soup. We particularly like this recipe, which is from the old 'Cranks' cook book. I've frozen 4 portions, left two in a jug in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch & also a spare portion which I'm hoping will be hoovered by Mr F as freezer space is always tight this time of year. My battered 'all the pages falling out' copy of the Cranks cookbook stayed out, as my next job was prepping apples for a double batch of the apple & ginger chutney. It takes ages peeling, coring & chopping 2 kg apples, then there was a huge lump of ginger root to grate, etc, but it makes a lovely chutney - one of my favourites, which I have been making since I acquired the book in the 1980s, when it first came out in paperback. 
I'm pleased to say that I also decided to stir-fry a load of sliced courgettes to serve with my spicy chicken wraps & as they are a vegetable which tend to squidge down when cooked, I managed to use 4 good sized ones - that'll learn 'em! (though there'll probably be 27 more ready for picking tomorrow.....)
The sparrows sat crossly on the bird feeding station looking accusingly in at the kitchen window to tell me I still haven't filled up their feeders, & it's true, I did promise them & they do need doing. The problem is that our current squirrel has been gobbling more than his fair share of peanuts & no amount of cross shouting from the sparrows deters him. He has deliberately chewed the wire mesh so as to be able to remove whole nuts. He is increasing our bird food bill, but he is quite cute to watch, although all the sparrows think he is rubbish!
Time for a bit of knitting now. Having spent such a lot of time in the kitchen today (slavin' over an 'ot stove, lol), I am looking forward to a bit more time in the garden tomorrow, although I do have a very mucky job lined up.
Take care all of you,
F x