Weekly Flylady Thread 14th February 2022

[Deleted User]

Morning all

Wow, lots happening this morning, well done to you Mademoiselle!

So far in ASB cottage:

• babes away to school
• Beds made and fitted sheets changed
• Looooooadddss of laundry FUPA
• Made brekkie
• WUDUPA
• Electric meter read again (I’m doing this daily atm)
• Chickens seen to
• Packaged up two eBay parcels 
• Attempted to locate kindling and failed 🙄🙄so it’s going to be interesting trying to light the fire at lunchtime! 

It’s blowing a gale here and pouring with rain. Annoyingly my coal delivery isn’t until Friday which is when we are forecast heavy snow, I have asked if they could come a day earlier as it’s unlikely they’ll make it here if the forecast is right....

I am sending you all positive vibes and love xx

pigpen

RebekahR said:

Hi All, Been having a big wobble today. sooo fed up of hubby working from home. He is in our bedroom day and night. Meetings etc. So I can never get in to clean, tidy, take laundry, have a bath, nap or anything in my own personal space! It is just sooo annoying. This country is winding up the pandemic and it just seems to be dragging on for me. ARGH!

Mine has just started a job working from home and also in our room.. He doesn't start until 12 so I can get in to do most stuff but I have been going in and tidying it while he is in there.. I am doing small sections each day and hoping to get it vacuumed on Friday morning.. I was so tired one day I went and got in bed regardless.. Fortunately he doesn't do video calls just phone.

It is an inconvenience..

kazwookie said:

Pigpen any news from proposed new school for squeak?

Not yet.. I had just said to Squeak I NEED to know because I am so patient and she laughed and said she wants to know too.. I hate not knowing things!

Dot went into school screaming and Twinkle has a sore throat again.. this is never ending..

Meeting at college done for Moomin.. support put in place for Uni interview, finishing work and we are going to move forward on some mental health support..

EHCP Ed Psch report received so that has been editted and returned..
I need to get n TV licensing and re-do our 'does no need license' status again.

OH has 45 mintues to build a desk.. he is painfully slow at such things..

I have 5 baskets of gibble to sort through today from the foot of my bed.. it is mostly wool and WIP's and laundry.. I can get through it today and then I have maybe 2 more days of stuff to sort through.. but it is the easier pile which has not been there so long. I want to vacuum on Friday but may postpone that until Sunday.

Off to hang out some wet washing so I can refeed the WM's
OH has dry stuff to put on our bed so I can go up and fold it while he works in there. The TD can also then be refilled.

DW, uniforms and packups for tomorrow need doing.. and I may go crazy and fill the SC with stew.. (with extra carrots and sweetcorn from tins as I have millions!)

Tonight I am finishing the left front of the cardy, having rewritten the patten yesterday and I want to start the sleeves.. I may grab the other ball of wool and knit both at once, I hate knitting sleeves and row counting to get them the same length.

[Deleted User]

Fire successfully lit - I had forgotten that wine corks, bay tree twigs and meat bones are such fabulous fire lighters! (Bone from our pork on Sunday, don’t worry 😂😂) 

Been reading a couple of very interesting threads on the energy board, nervously threw my comments in, I fear other boards aren’t as lovely as this one! 

Piggers thank you for the Squeak update please do let us know as soon as you know... mine are going back onto pack-ups after half term as I simply can’t afford dinners anymore and we’re not entitled to any help... all cost effective packed lunch ideas welcome please! 

pigpen

Deleted_User said:

Piggers thank you for the Squeak update please do let us know as soon as you know... mine are going back onto pack-ups after half term as I simply can’t afford dinners anymore and we’re not entitled to any help... all cost effective packed lunch ideas welcome please! 

Ours aren't cheap.. I bake Twinks, they like hot cross buns in them and Twinkle has pasta/peas (mini sausages today), scotch eggs, boiled eggs, salad or cheese savouries all instead of sandwiches she doesn't eat. The other 2 have nutella (Dot) with no crusts because she is a doofus.. and Pixie has nutella or ham and cheese. Cheap tubes of yoghurts rather than pots which we had split a few times, a pot of jelly (make your own in reusable pots!) Twinkle has a fruit puree pouch.. you know the Ellas Kitchen ones they have when weaning.. those.. Pixie has raisins. they then have a mini bag of party rings or a chocolate biscuit, cake bar or something of that nature. The Fruit Factory 'sweets' & strawberries or grapes or a satsuma. A cheap cereal bar.. could make my own but I've no time or energy for that.. and a packet of shops own crisps.. their friends are super jealous. Pixie has ALL of it every day, she is a bin, Dot has maybe 6-7 things in hers and Twinkle has maybe 4-5 but she doesn't eat even half of it, she just likes the selection and if I sent her to school with 10 cheese savouries, a fruit pouch and a pack of fruit factory hearts the school would think I was starving her! (She has 2 bowls of cereal at breakfast!)

The minute I know about school you will all know.. I tell you lot things before I tell OH!! lol

I cannot find one of the ebeasty things.. Off to tear my house apart!!

OH having a work related meltdown!

[Deleted User]

Thank you lovely
xx

pigpen

OH still in meltdown.. WTH do I do to make this easier for him or does he just need to get a grip? I am about as un-anxious a person as you could meet and i simply have no idea.. he won't tell me if my presence makes it easier or harder.. I would happily sit with him if thats what he needs but he won't or can't tell me because he is embarrassed or something..

ASB.. the neoprene lunch bags are fantastic! They get flung in the washer every weekend so they don't pong! Not good at holding in spills but we put food in one of the free council provided maggot bin bags and a reusable plastic ice cream tub and they are great. I do save money somewhere lol The sistema pots are the ones we use because the clips on the lock tubs was too hard for them to open and close if they left anything. The dinner ladies told Twinkle to bring home an opened jelly on Monday.. it was disgusting in her lunchbag.. I complained and said I do not want food spilled all over her bag and no doubt the bags below hers again.. I know she doesn't eat it, I don't need her leftovers back!

ionafan

asb, 
Hardboiled eggs (peel before packing) - I saw packs of 4 in the CoOp this morning for 'only' £1.40 !!!!!!!!!!! but I'm sure you can do better than that
Cold pancakes or thin flat omelettes can be used as wraps, as a change from sandwiches  
Frittata uses up more eggs and any extra bits you want to throw into it (eg oddments of ham/bacon, chopped leftover roast potatoes, or frozen peas, possibly with a bit of grated cheese on top) - cut into slices or wedges
Carrot batons with a HM hummus dip
Some children like cold baked beans, especially if they can add their own topping of grated cheese or a tsp of brown sauce for extra flavour, last-minute
Cold sausages with potato salad were always a favourite of my kids  
Pate is 80p a tub in the CoOp and half a tub is loads for me and DH on bread
Cooked pasta or rice with sweetcorn and peas also went down well, possibly with a bit of tuna and a dash of mayo 
 If you make cakes, bake in a loaf tin and slice, then freeze (no need to separate the slices, you can usually prise them apart quite easily)
Yes, Twinks are definitely good too, but some schools don't allow sweet stuff of any sort, so do check  
Shelled nuts or peanut butter are also a good source of protein
Batch cook anything you can freeze
Remember that sliced tomato/cucumber/lettuce makes sandwiches go soggy!
I'm not advocating spending hours on the decorative aspects of their lunchboxes doing this, but children will usually eat most things if they think it will impress their friends - so try things like mini kebabs made with chunks of cheese and raw veg - even cauli or broccoli stalk - on cocktail sticks 

HTH

The decorator is glossing everywhere, so Rosie has to stay in the mancave with DH, and I haven't made any real progress this morning, apart from filling the boot of my car with various bits of stuff to go to the tip this afternoon and a pair of crutches which I shall return to Outpatients tomorrow!

Mademoiselle

ASB, I mix a bit of sausage meat with stuffing mix to make meat balls which we love cold for picnics, the other night I made mini toad in the holes (in cup cake tin) with sliced bits of precooked sausages, it made the sausages go so much further and OH actually preferred them cold the next day.  Falafels or other chick pea based meat ball/burgers with a bit of yogurt dip (yogurt + mixed herbs and a squirt of lemon).  Of course fruit, don't forget tinned fruit is often cheaper than fresh, here the sell the dented tins off cheap from time to time.  Nut and cereal bars, a great opportunity to get the kids cooking at the weekend.  I separate nuts, raisins etc using silicon cup cake cases as you can squeeze then in to fit the box.  Mini flask of soup, or even cold soups.  Carrot sticks are a must for mine too.  Also as Ionafan suggested, pastry less quiches, I make mini individual ones in cup cake size, basically stick left over veg, ham, fish, cheese or whatever in the cup cake case and then mix eggs, milk and a spoon of flour and pour over and bake, great hot or cold.  As you might have guessed I have a thing about mini and individual size food, I think it just looks so much more attractive.  Hence why I have silicon cup cake cases, lots of them.  Make your own chees straws or use marmite, or tomato puree instead of cheese, crunchy but much cheaper than crisps.  And water of course.  

Sorry that was a bit long.  

House hoovered,
Kitchen tidy

Next cats to vet for jabs and then home to make lasagne as friend coming for dinner.

pigpen

A lot of schools don't like you taking things with nuts so it is best to watch that.. supposedly because of allergies but when Lionel (anaphylactic to egg so just the same and just as deadly) starts school they won't be banning eggs so I don't get why they should make an exception for the one child with a nut allergy  when they are not prepared to do the same for others.

I have unearthed a basket full of socks.. and paired them.. Some tights to fling at nursery and pants.. will check for wearability first.. no one wants holey pants!
folded 1 load of washing and just noticed it is raining on my bedsheets.. FGS... well it can just stay out until it is dry now..

2 more loads washed so I shall fling a pile in the TD and fold the dry stuff.

I can not find the stupid dress I have sold.. I have absolutely no idea where it has gone but it is not in any of my 7 ebeast boxes.. where the heck has it gone?

Squeak is plied with maths.. she hates maths.. lazy lump chose the easy sheet.. all the nope.. I didn't know they did varying difficulties so I will watch for that in future.. ratbag that she is.. !!

[Deleted User]

Thanks girls I am really grateful for all of the ideas and advice.

My washing line has snapped off, and I nearly fell over in a gust of wind when giving the chickens their afternoon treat. Wind really is a pain x