Simplifying Life

mary43

ceridwen - 'men in suits' indeed it is..........only this time they seem to be women !!
Oh well, such is life as we now have to know it............seems the general plan is to make things as difficult and inconvenient as possible for everyone except those 'at the top' ..................lol Well, won't work with me......I've made my point to worker concerned and told her to inform her 'man/woman in suit' boss that any further changes that he/she might dream up, please phone me.............be my pleasure !!!.................:rotfl:

OH is now planting yet more lettuce..............everything in the garden is growing well (wish my geraniums would flower !) and we've nice ripe strawberries..........sadly not enough for all of us -just me !!:rotfl:

mary43

Oh dear............(hangs head in shame)...........went into the craft shop in town for 'just a few bits'............came out £10 lighter in my purse:eek: (effects of yesterdays sun ??) I can only justiify it by saying its for mums card home cards.......and a lot of what I got will be used for more than one card. Just surprising how the cost mounts up. Still, I've been very good of late and held tight to my purse so maybe I'm not so shameful.
Have to keep snatching a bit of 'me' time in between 'little man' (as our older lad has christened him) coming up and down stairs and in and out. He's only at school in the mornings and feels a bit lost in the afternoon. Never mind..........youth club tonight (think its open on Wednesdays) so at least then me and OH get some 'together' time..............lol
Other than overspending at the craft shop, other expense was photocopying some stuff from my local town history site for Mums friends niece.........she loves it, doesn't have a computer, and its a way of saying 'thanks' to her for doing what I would do if I were there.

Getting rather tired of big bruvs e mails telling me how wonderful his life is and how c**p mine is.............like he would know ????
But, have learned to reply and ignore his snide remarks..........first time in many many years I've bee able to do that. That has to be progress !:T

shaz_mum_of__2

Hi Everyone

Mary don't let 'em get you down...till recently hubby worked in childrens services and they don't treat their staff any better he often turned up for child in need meetings or case conferences that were cancelled and ....oh did we forget to let you know

In there defence they do have huge caseloads (it's no wonder people slip through the cracks)

Shaz

shaz_mum_of__2

catznine wrote: »

On the I too seem to have collected a large supply of pulses, pasta etc., but have decided that by stocking up only on some "core" ingredients I should manage to find places to store it all. We could well be living on lentil curry and rice for a month and a day though!:rolleyes:

This is my philosophy too ,come a flood or redundancy or a period of sickness we could "survive" might involve some strange meals but we could

Ceridwen i copy use by dates onto can top with marker pen that way you can see straightaway which date to use next some things the date is so small ..................works for me

Shaz

mary43

shaz - nice to hear its not just us that get mucked about by 'the system'.......after 17 years I've seen many changes and not all for the good sad to say. There are a lot of good workers but their jobs are made harder by the day it seems with goal posts being moved etc. Oh well, we do our best.

Well, no need for OH to water the garden, the heavens have just opened !
Both boys are out so we have some 'us' time to do what we want or just generally wind down.

Tomorrow afternoon the younger lad wants to make a birthday card for his mum............might be that a bit of my messing about with glue and paper will give him an interest ?

OH has been given a shoe box (smart plain black one) full of singles records !!!!!:eek: Dont need any more music stuff !!!:eek: still, shoe box is very handy for birthday/christmas pressies for blokey stuff (can't see ex foster lad getting excited over a wicker basket.......or my two boys for that matter.
So, my shoe box pile now numbers 3...........if I don't get any others the menfolk that don't have a box can have a smart waste bin (cheap) for their goodies. (at the moment though I have a job to see my christmas basket goodies for the pile of emergency loo rolls !!!...................:rotfl:

lightisfading

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

The scrapstore is running out of volunteers i believe( i know a lady on the commitee)

i must admit i never find anything useful there

Shaz

I thought that might be the case. I'd volunteer myself but full time work gets in the way!
We always do find something though! I'm the crafty sort and the OH makes weapons out of their sheet foam for live action role play (don't ask lol).

lightisfading

mary43 wrote: »

I really ought to get some bottled water to store..........I remember one Boxing Day getting up and the water was off due to a leaking pipe further up the road. We had no warning and only found out by ringing the emergency number for the water company. No water to boil for coffee........... Water was off for quite a few hours too. Any fruit juice we had quickly vanished so OH opened a bottle of wine.....................lol

We had two water cuts last year due to (the same!) burst main - one lasted almost 3 days, the other 2. We didn't have a car at the time either so had to get a taxi back from asda with about 12l total bottled water (didn't last long!) - saw people with full trolley loads. It's something I keep thinking I should store (the el cheapo 15p value bottles would do) but never get round to it as i'm an optimist!

mary43

More a case of 'don't think about it' with us ..........until the time comes of course then there's a panic buying situation and if you're not careful, none to be found. The worst thing with having the power cut on Boxing Day was that few shops were open in town that sold bottled water. We were just lucky it wasn't for long.
I seem to remember thinking at the time.......'we really must........' and then once things reverted to some sort of normality it was forgotten about. Same happens in the winter if the weather turns really nasty........folk flood into town from the villages at the slightest hint of possible snow and there's not a loaf to be seen ! Bread and milk always seem to fly out of the shops first and thats another time when I tell myself...........'stock up on dried milk ...just in case, and buy an extra loaf or two a week and pop in the freezer. But then the snow comes and goes in such a short time it gets forgotten.
Must make a concerted effort this time. So many things could happen that we'd be unprepared for. Just need a bit more storage.............!

ceridwen

Re storage Mary....any space in the main area of the house? ie on landings, or clear out understairs cupboard (and put shelving in there - or series of matching lidded boxes on top of each other). Also under beds, under sofas, shelving put in running along walls across top of doors, some of those nice-looking storage boxes on top of each other in alcoves (well - okay then whatever equivalent one can find in charity shops - nice-looking suitcases, whatever), airing cupboard. Might think of more later.

Aril

OH has made a removable bath panel [held in place with magnets] out of cladding and I can keep spare loo rolls etc stored under there. Amy in the Tightwad Gazette suggests under the bed and I have additional shelves in the garage which OH has used with materials won on freecycle. I've currently got my bulk purchases of sugar and pasta I made recently stored out there:D
Aril