Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

PennysIntoPounds

foxgloves said:

I hung it from the ceiling until it fell down overnight & was chewed up by an escaped hamster.

😂😂😂
Worth the money for making your friends laugh years later 

foxgloves

Just noticed that I am on page 666 of my diary.....the 'number of the beast'. If only I had some fitting tale to impart to you, but alas, it really is just the same old daily doings here at Foxgloves Manor..... a few rumbles of thunder a few minutes ago, but nothing indicative of approaching gotterdammerung. Just me & the monkeys for another couple of hours as Mr F has again had to work to cover absence. He had a later start though so we had breakfast together & did the Quick Cryptic crossword. Not looked at the hard one yet. Buried a beautiful little dunnock first thing. It flew into the kitchen window with a horrendous thunk. I ran to pick it up gently to move it somewhere cat-proof while it recovered from concussion & as I held it, I felt all the life go out of it, such a strange sensation & very sad. Told it I'm sorry we have to have windows & buried it under the hedge. Enough woffle. Onwards with budget-friendly activity:
*A no-spend day UNLESS Mr F feels the calling of beer on the way home, which I can't rule out.
*Garden pickings: Courgettes, tomatoes, french beans, jalapenos, scotch bonnets, grapes.
*Still on using-up mission here so tonight is jacket potato night with freezer/pantry dive, the only rule being that it has to be something we already have in....& if it involves something coming out of the freezer, all the better. We both like jacket potatoes so it's a cheap easy win.
*Did a couple of surveys.
*Sent an email to call a halt to the missing parcel complaint I submitted yesterday. Yes, it was the classic wait in all morning, no parcel, then suddenly PING, & an email lands informing one that one's parcel has been delivered......but a click on the 'proof of delivery' link leads to a photo of it sitting resplendently on some completely random doorstep! I did walk the length of our street looking for said doorstep but all this revealed was the the certainty that Parcelforce (who tbf are usually very good here) hadn't even got the right road. I was suitably ascerbic when filling in their 'How did we do today?' feedback survey. Anyway, much later, the parcel was dropped off on our step, along with another one - a package for Mr F. Both were correctly addressed, so clearly someone had, had a proper numpty moment on the delivery front. I wish this kind re-deliverer had knocked so I could have thanked them. Anyway, no goods or money lost.
*Divided up mystery supermarket coriander plant & planted it into a pot in the greenhouse. I usually sow a final batch of coriander at the end of Aug to give us some cuttings until the weather gets too cold for it, but I didn't have any leftover seed this year & didn't want to buy any. Why was this plant a mystery? Because it was on our last but one shopping list. There weren't any left, so it even made it onto a small further list for later in the week......but there it has sat on the kitchen windowsill until I realised I hadn't a clue why we bought it. Consulted meal plans. Nope, nothing at all requiring coriander. Can only assume that the relevant meal was replaced with something of a more use-it-up nature & this was not crossed off the shopping list, grrrrr.  Ah well, it's not been wasted. 
*Re-potted Mum's Christmas & Easter cactus plants & & took a division from the Christmas one as they are usually fairly easy to root.
*Cut a few basil stems, now in a bottle of water on the kitchen windowsill where they should root & provide leaves for a bit longer.
*Made use of the TWO free electricity hours from the Cephalopods this afternoon, but I found it difficult to make maximum use having also had a free hour yesterday. Cooked the prawns for my jacket potato tonight (simmered them in the slow cooker with coriander & garlic as we have a gas oven), then rinsed & filled the slow cooker with fresh water & a half lemon peel to give it a good clean & get rid of any fishyness. Also laundered a length of fabric ready for my next dressmaking project. (I never would have bothered with this, but my sis says much better to get any little bit of potential shrinkage out of the way before it's been made into a garment), charged my phone, laptop & watch & made a jug of coffee. 
Well, I just need to have a quick tidy round, then I shall have another concerted effort at finishing my book. I must try not to put my phone too near Ash when the national alarm test sounds as I know it will freak him out. Hope you all have a nice relaxing Sunday evening.
F x

rtandon27

@foxgloves - In Chinese culture, 666 is a positive and auspicious number, symbolizing good luck, smooth sailing, and high proficiency 😁😁😁

foxgloves

@rtandon27 - Excellent! I'll take that!
F

Humdinger1

Now you have me lusting after a lime green sea serpent @foxgloves!  As an example of spendiness, it can't be beaten.  Love Humdinger xx 

daisy_1571

it certainly has been positive, auspicious, lucky and proficient for iron maiden for 50 years 

Dxx

kayannie

So sad about the demise of the little dunnock. I've got a corner of the garden reserved for the little creatures that need burying. The latest was a little shrew, so tiny & so perfect. I blame the 3 cats belonging to a neighbour, although a beautiful sparrow hawk died by flying into a window. 
KA

Sun_Addict

Sad about the dunnock ☹️ We had a bat fly straight into our patio doors. It was stunned but thankfully ok after a rest. 

PennysIntoPounds

That's sad about the dunnock but good that it passed in loving hands.
What a nice nearish neighbour to bring your parcel round.
And what good advice from your sister to launder material first, so obvious once someone else says it!

Suffolk_lass

foxgloves said:

I hung it from the ceiling until it fell down overnight & was chewed up by an escaped hamster.

An escaped hamster - just this made me chuckle, let alone the ceiling hanging