Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

Suffolk_lass said:

I'm sorry if my post seemed a bit cruel or blunt. I suppose it falls into the category of knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing. If your chickens bring you joy, then the decision to buy them the best care available reconciles with that. It was not intended to criticise, rather to compare with my own position. 

Thank you 😊 I'm sorry for being blunt back. In reality I'm already feeling quite sheepish about it when there are plenty of other things we could have spent that on, and I'm left slightly concerned about how fast savings have been depleted over the past few months. But it's a hard call to say 'no' to something that's probably life saving 'just' because of money, when that money is actually sitting there (even if it would be more reasonably used for something else!) But I do recognise everyone's different - most people wouldn't do that for a chicken, but I think it might be a harder line for many people to draw with a cat or dog. Anyway, thank you for not running away when I was a bit shirty, please do stick around 😊 xxx

So, Sunday. The sun is trying to shine through, but it's not exactly super warm. However, it's not cold enough to put the heating on just yet so that's a bonus! 

Today's plan:

* happy wheeling
* get study back into reasonable order
* flute practice
* test out the experimental tinned spaghetti bake
* meal plan for the week
* sort out clothes, bag etc for work tomorrow
* make a final effort to fix the printer 🙄
* email to order power scythe for next Friday
* band practice at 4

Mr Cheery will probably want some kind of excursion at some point, so that might involve another trip to the tip...

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, success on the Happy Wheel this morning after a small bout of losing - made £43 so I'm up £45 for April now. Might add an 'extra income' line to my signature, although the Happy Wheel total does fluctuate so it could go down as well as up...

Farmer is muck spreading in our field, but judging by the grinding noises there may be something slightly amiss with his tractor 😮

Right - time to restore order in the study I think.

themadvix

Mr Cheery is very easily pleased if a trip to the tip counts as an excursion!! 

I think indoor jobs are wise if there’s muck spreading going on!

 The chickens are your pets Cheery, so totally understand the money you’ve spent - I would spend any amount to keep my cats healthy, but we are very fortunate that cat insurance is a thing. 

Cheery_Daff

Any trip away from the house counts as an excursion for Mr Cheery - he's usually pretty happy with Aldi so I suspect the tip might be the height of excitement 😂

Currently experimenting with the We Buy Books app. Doesn't want most of the books I'm getting rid of, but there are a few paperbacks it will accept - I'm currently up to £6.05 for 5 books (although one of those was £3). Postage is, I think, free, so worth doing (and it might encourage me to get rid of a few more things 😂)

Cheery_Daff

Hmm. Spaghetti pie not a resounding success - tasteless mush in fact 😂😂 I think it would have been better to actually follow the Jack Monroe recipe I found and do it on the stove top - I think the oven has reduced both spaghetti and beans to mush.

Won't be throwing it away, but also won't be putting it in the freezer - can't be doing with disappointing freezer meals, and I know I'll just pick round it for months so might as well just eat it now and be done with it 🙄

On the other hand, We Buy Books is now up to £20.49 so that's going better than I thought! Cleaning the study isn't though - got completely sidetracked reorganising the bookshelves... 🙄😂 Need to just STOP now and restore order to the room - the rest can be done another time.

Still, got a giant pile of books to get rid of, and it's already starting to feel more spacious in here. Also got about 15 books to go back to the work library - they've all been sat here since before the pandemic and most of them I've not even read 🙄

Oh, and there's quite a big stack of magazines to go as well - most of them smallholder-y so I've offered them to a local friend who's about to buy a smallholding, but if she doesn't want them, they can go on Freegle.

badmemory

I have to be honest & say that when you mentioned spag pie I went with - mush & not a favourite.  I mean tinned spag major overcooked.  It says on the tin (or used to last time I had it over 30 years ago) NOT to overcook.  I think you are very brave to actually eat it at all.

South_coast

We Buy Books might take the magazines as well Cheery, if your friend doesn't fancy them

Baileys_Babe

Cheery_Daff said:

Hmm. Spaghetti pie not a resounding success - tasteless mush in fact 😂😂 I think it would have been better to actually follow the Jack Monroe recipe I found and do it on the stove top - I think the oven has reduced both spaghetti and beans to mush.

Won't be throwing it away, but also won't be putting it in the freezer - can't be doing with disappointing freezer meals, and I know I'll just pick round it for months so might as well just eat it now and be done with it 🙄

I think this is an important lesson we need to learn, currently, we have 1 portion of turkey pasta bake in the freeze which has been being ignored by the 4 of us for months now as it wasn't very tasty when it was first made. I pledge here that I will eat it before Easter. I will think I will add liberal amounts of harissa paste and it will be fine.

greenbee

Baileys_Babe said:

Cheery_Daff said:

Hmm. Spaghetti pie not a resounding success - tasteless mush in fact 😂😂 I think it would have been better to actually follow the Jack Monroe recipe I found and do it on the stove top - I think the oven has reduced both spaghetti and beans to mush.

Won't be throwing it away, but also won't be putting it in the freezer - can't be doing with disappointing freezer meals, and I know I'll just pick round it for months so might as well just eat it now and be done with it 🙄

I think this is an important lesson we need to learn, currently, we have 1 portion of turkey pasta bake in the freeze which has been being ignored by the 4 of us for months now as it wasn't very tasty when it was first made. I pledge here that I will eat it before Easter. I will think I will add liberal amounts of harissa paste and it will be fine.

Take it out of the freezer now and have it tomorrow. Then it's gone. 

greent

As well as we buy books look at Ziffit and Zapper, Cheery. I usually find Ziffit has the best prices overall for the books I sell - but I will often split books between 2 sales sites to get the best price at both 😃