Put away your purse & become debt-averse

kayannie

foxgloves said:

Kayannie - I've had that problem with flapjacks in the past. These last ones came out perfectly & the recipe was from Mary Berry's Baking Bible. It's such a good book as recipes are very reliable. There's nothing different about them, though. Usual method - butter, sugar (I was surprised it said 'demerara' as I've always used soft brown sugar in the past....though having said that, I hadn't quite enough demerara & had to top it up with the other anyway) & golden syrup melted in a pan without boiling, remove from heat then stir in the oats & mix thoroughly. They took 35 mins in the oven at Gas 3 in a typical rectangular traybake tin. I always think the bubbling liquid on top looks as though they are going to fail, but as long as it is golden brown on top, the sizzly liquid quickly re-absorbs as they start to cool. Says leave 10 mins before marking into squares, then leave till cold before turning out. I shan't use any other recipe for these now, as we both agreed that this is exactly how we like our flapjacks to be. 
F x

Thank you for that. I found Mary Berry's recipe from her book online so will try it out tomorrow. I love her recipes, they never fail!
KA

Pixiehouse55

Hi Mrs F and gang. Our elderly gent came home from hospital today. A very poorly man. I will be speaking to my coordinator tomorrow about him.  Thank you for explaining your "Money pots " Mrs F. When I get time to myself I will be looking at ours again. We have a year, maybe less before our retirement. Our job is not what it used to be. So much is changing. Partly because of COVID19. Too many changes in our job description. Changes to what we can and can't do, need permission for everything.  And on and on it goes.  And breathe.......I don't think I will get much sleep tonight.... I hope you are all ok and coping on the 1st day of lockdown?. Dogs going mental i swear fireworks getting louder or is it just me?    keep safe people X 

Chrystal

It sounds like a horrendous situation with J Pixie.  I guess they think you're Superwoman and can cope with him much better than they can in hospital!  
I've been hearing quite a lot of 'very bad' situations regarding hospital discharges recently, and they don't really give one confidence in what's going on.
I hope you can get it sorted to your satisfaction when you speak to your coordinator.  Sending gentle (((hugs))) X

foxgloves

Pixiehouse55 - I agree with Chrystal - a difficult situation for you. I suppose yours is the kind of work role where it is OK when your people are well & happy, but can get tricky & stressful when things go awry. Maybe if J is elderly too, as well as v poorly, he may be reaching a stage where he requires more care than you can reasonably give him. I hope it is helpful talking to your co-ordinator.
F x

foxgloves

Afternoon m'dears.......3.45pm & I haven't even had an afternoon drink. I must get the kettle on in a minute. I never seem to make my hydration levels up if I miss out on a regular drink. Well, it's been another useful but uneventful day, although my sis-in-law swung by for a socially distanced half hour yak across the front courtyard. She's been offered a promotion & it was so nice to hear some positive news atm, I felt really pleased for her. Apart from yakking....I've baked bread, currently in the oven & hot loafy smells starting to issue forth, also a batch of biscuits for my middle nephew as it's his birthday weekend & gifting money never seems as attractive to me as 'having a thing', although I loved receiving cash when I was in my teens! Also had a stroll down the garden in the fog first thing to pick up more windfall apples, which I've stewed as the resident apple hoover soon made his way through the last lot! I've made a bit progress on a Christmas knitting project while watching an hour of iplayer & I've also sorted out the tricky Christmas gift item I didn't manage to order yesterday, as well as another one which can often be a bit of a problem. I'm starting to receive texts with delivery dates, so I think over the weekend, I'll sit at my desk & write the dates next to my list of ordered items. It'll be much easier to keep track then. I usually end up ordering a few presents online, but vastly prefer doing our Christmas shopping in a couple of big carefully targeted city centre shopping trips along with coffee & mince pie or something similarly festive & non-nutritious. No chance of that this year, so in case we come out of Lockdown by tumbling straight back into Tier 3, I have decided the best course of action for me is to get as much done at home as I can.
Think the delivery driver who brought a package today has already got brain fuddle. Knock at door. I answered it & he waved a parcel at me & asked if I could possibly take it in for no. ** as there was nobody in. I said I definitely could but there WAS somebody in. Me! Because this is no. ** & that's my parcel you are waving about. He was so confused. He left the parcel but then seems to have put a card through next door saying that as they were out, he's left their parcel with me! Later on, I got a text saying 'We tried to deliver your parcel but you were out, we left a card & your parcel is with a neighbour'! Decided to pop a note through next door to tell neighbour to ignore everything.....she doesn't have a parcel, it was my parcel all along but the delivery man mis-read our house numbers. I don't know them awfully well, so am now hoping she doesn't harbour any suspicions that I am a parcel robber! What a muddle!
Anyway, I shall ramble on no longer. This cup of tea won't make itself & I'm still wanting to clean the bathroom & do my piano practice before calling it a day & getting my knitting back out.
Peace, love & caffiene,
F x

Baileys_Babe

Your Christmas shopping is progressing well @foxgloves. We have created a very simple spreadsheet to monitor online orders,  date ordered, where ordered, brief description, order number, ETA, We then delete the details when the item arrives. We are supposed to fill it in as soon as we place the order, I often have to remind OH.

foxgloves

Sounds like a good system, BaileysBabe. I don't think mine will be a spreadsheet but I am going to need something. I have a tidy organised mind & random texts about parcels is just going to annoy me. I still have most of Mr F's presents to order, but that should be easy enough as he supplied me with a wishlist.
F x

Baileys_Babe

OH has come up with nothing for his wish list, I have managed 1 thing, which I have asked my parents for. Dd, by contrast, has about 30 items 

foxgloves

I did write a list, BaileysBabe, but I think I'm pretty easy to buy for on the whole & even as a child was happy with a book token or gift voucher. I tend to like useful presents, which are also lovely. So for example, I love a good body butter which I use daily so a treat variety of that which I wouldn't buy myself would be a perfect gift. Or one gorgeous tea towel because I'd normally buy fairly ordinary multi-packs. B-in-L is most difficult to buy for but this year I have actually got his presents sorted out before anyone else. I miss choosing presents for Mum & Dad & for my lovely friend who died the same year as Dad. As my Dad got older, I used to bake him a cranberry & orange fruitcake for Christmas. I used to wrap it & write on the label 'With love - for you to enjoy during January' & the first year I did that (because I was struggling with original gift ideas), he loved it! He threw out some mighty hints the following year that he'd like another one & gave me the tin back to put it in! So that recipe became 'Dad's cake' which I promised to gift him at Christmas each year. I miss the annual ritual of getting his cake made, but I have so little family, there isn't really anyone to whom I could gift it now, but I do make a Christmas cake for us each year. I also gift at least some home made fudge each year so always enjoy making that.
F x

Onebrokelady

I'm not sure what to give anyone for Christmas this year, I can't seem to get any motivation to organise it. I have bought two presents for DD 2 but that's as far as I have got. I did buy a pack of Christmas cards last week, there's only 16 but I don't need many so I might crack on and write them out next week, I've asked DD1 for ideas for the DGC but might just give them money,they get so many presents and are so little they won't notice and it can go in their bank accounts,my mum and dad are difficult to buy for so I'm not sure what to do about them