From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

beanielou

Well done to LG. 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

I definitely had a night of 2 halves.  I fell asleep really early (LG hadn't even gone to bed), woke at 11pm.  Was wide awake until past 12.30am - I hadn't quite realised 'how bright' the new bulb was in the street light across the road was, until it switched off - and then LG stirred just before 7am and came in to say M.O.R.N.i.N.G! 😁  LG does have the snotty snuffles though, this morning.  Welcome to 'back to school' and Autumn people! 🙄😕

Tea last night was curries from the freezer and rice.  I wasn't overly hungry, so a 'takeaway' punnet of Black eye bean and pumpkin curry and a similar pot of Maddhur Jaffrey's Courgette Dalcha made a good size tea for all.  I have to say, I was sat there, watching LG just tucking in - they ate every last scrap, with not even a murmur of complaint or 'no-likey'.  We've come so far.  Of course, I'm delighted, but I know that it wasn't so long ago that we were having worries about LG being a picky eater.  And it's not about 'likes and dislikes' - we all have things on our lists, don't we, but the list was skewed in LG's case.  I remember LG's reception teacher (think 'Miss Honey' in Matilda), expressing concern that LG was leaving too much of their lunch.  We ended up letting LG make 'Yorkshire Pudding' batter (their yorkies rose the best eva......), and it encouraged them to eat more (and eventually all) of a 'roast' type dinner.  

The 'disappointments' (not treats) with their foreign body implanted got returned to the supermarket and LG and DH took the refund elsewhere (just the price of the product, no compensation for disappointment or petrol wasted! 🙁) and some 'not quite c0rnett0s' were selected from MrAl instead.  We all thought the ice-cream was lovely, but since when have c0rnett0s had 'soft' cones?  Or is it because they were fakeys?  It was really difficult to eat, as it was like trying to bite into a multilayered wrap.  Most bizarre and not at all what I was expecting.  'In my youth' (which was in the last century.......😕), c0rnett0 cones were crispy, crunchy.  I personally wouldn't buy the product again, but LG was happy enough.  But honestly, it does rather lean towards, "don't celebrate achievement or doing good", because really, both 'treat' products were rubbish in their own respective ways.

DH and LG set to organising the understairs cupboard yesterday.  They were all for filling it with shelving, but I pointed out that there wasn't much that we can put in there that 'requires' a shelf.  There are already 2 shelves in there that are full.  But what was more important was having access to the hoover and being able to access the consumer unit which some bright spark put ...right.at.the.back.of.the.cupboard.2ft.up.from.the.floor..........🙄  Anyhoo, I had my say and left them to it.  They did a good job.  Things have been lifted off the floor with hooks and holders.  The hoover bits are together and accessible, the clothes horses slotted neatly, and DH will put another row of coat hooks up today so that 'workwear' (for home use, decorating etc) can be hung up when not in use, rather than dumped in the garage to get dusty and damp.

I'm not too sure what will be for tea.  It might be pizza, but I will need to give it more thought.  The second of LG's activities starts up again after school tomorrow, so we will need a 'quick and easy' tea tomorrow night.  So need to ensure that we try and avoid repetition.  LG enjoyed their 'school lunch' last week, but thankfully not enough to make it a permanent fixture.  I would have loved to see what the portion size was for £2.50.

Right. I've not yet had a coffee - you can probably tell 😱

Ta for popping in, I love the community we have here,  Greying X

redofromstart

I got the not real ones and the boys said yuck soft cones like you, so now I only buy the crispy real ones on MrT half price offer (6/£1.75). Not currently on offer though. 

maggiem

I’ve bought not real ones from Mr L and thought they were crunchy but it’s been a while since we’ve eaten them. Maybe someone else can help to confirm as lots cheaper than the real thing. 

Greying_Pilgrim

Thanks redo and maggiem.

Interesting the 'offer' price for the real thing redo - as the box of 4 'fakeys' in MrAl were £1.25, and the box of 6 in MrL were £1.99 - so very favourable pricewise.   maggiem - we only got to try the MrAl ones, and they were definitely 'breadlike' - I have to say MrL have done nothing to encourage me to purchase their products again - but never say never.  

I did say to DH this morning that next time LG achieves something and has earnt a treat, I shall just walk them round to the c0-oP, pay c0-oP inflated prices and just let LG enjoy the moment.  In wanting to 'share' the joy, it's ended up being a fandango, money and time 'lost' on travel and a not very satisfying icecream at the end of it all 🤣  What's that old saying?  "No good deed goes unpunished".......... LG will be under strict instructions to play their teacher up rotten in the future......... 🤣🤣🤣 Just kidding....  [any teachers who may be reading.......].

I think I stuck a wash on without consulting the weather update.  Currently watching the rain come down 🙄 Bums.

Greying X

rtandon27

GP - do try the MrS knock offs if you have a chance - we both like them, and OH says they taste like the real thing but his memory says they are half the size they used to be!

My laundry from yesterday is still not dry despite sunshine - so another load will have to wait as all the airer space is taken up!

Greying_Pilgrim

RT - I shall bear that in mind about the MrS cones.  We have their generic dark-chocolate choc ices which are 'good enough' and not eye-wateringly expensive.

Urgh, the weather has just got worserer and worserer here 🙁  The washing is stuck in the machine for the foreseeable 🙁 can't see it brightening any, despite the forecast claiming it will.

Anyway, a dreich day has its advantages, as LG requested (aye, requested) soup for lunch - and didn't specify type, so I was able to ransack the cupboards and came up with a vegetable, butter bean, pasta soup, served with a couple of lebanese flatbreads that had been YS'd to 20p in MrS a few weeks ago.  The soup was just onion, celery, garlic, carrot, potato and swede cooked up in a tomato stock cube and water.  When the veggies were soft, I blitzed them down and added a slug of tommie puree.  I then put the pan back on the heat and added in a tin of butter beans, drained and some cooked pasta.  Warmed it all through, chucked in some dried parsley, oregano and basil and served.  There was enough for a large bowl each and I have to say it was really quite nice.  The soup was filling and tasty and with just enough of a hint of sweetness from the tommie puree.  I still canna get over my kiddo requesting soup though 🤔 Halle-Lu-ya, Halle-Lu-ya, Halle-Lu-ya.......... 😁👍

I've still not decided what to make for tea tho.......🤔

Greying X

northwalesd

I'll corroborate maggiem's MrL crispy not c0rnett0s, I've eaten enough of them this summer 😁. I don't buy that type of ice cream from MrAl as they've always disappointed me in the past.

Greying_Pilgrim

Thanks northwalesd - always useful to have this type of knowledge up my sleeve! 😁

So I sat here and ate my words this arvo (beat eating down my store cupboards anyhoo 😁), as the weather did change.  Luckily, I had sense enough to swallow umble pie as soon as the weather looked like it was changing and I put the wash out on the line.  I bought it back in about half an hour ago.  OK, so bone dry and aired it is not, but it's actually done really well, and it is much drier than I thought it would get.  The breeze helped - near constant all afternoon.  The air temperature has been OK, and we did even have some sunshine, so I moved a couple of items around after an hour or so, and the upshot is that everything is pretty much dry.  There are a couple of things with thicker 'cuffs' that are still damp to the touch - and, as ever the collars on polo shirts always take much longer to dry than the body of the shirt.  But overall, I am glad I took a punt, as 3 hours outside has made a heck of a difference.  The washing is now set up on the airer, and it's dry enough that it won't plunge the temperature of the living room, but the clothes should pretty much dry overnight 🫰

We had pizza and oven chips for tea.  The pizza was a pre-made YS'd one I'd picked up in MrT at the start of the school hols.  It would only have been about 99p to start with and I think they'd knocked about 15p off, but I got it as a 'back up' (actually there were 2 and I bought them both).  It was OK, nowt special, but entirely edible and one pizza fed us all, so no complaints.  We had the last of the (tinned) pineapple and yoghurt for pud.  

I was going to get the 'Harvest Festival' donation today - the school is donating to the local foodbank - but none of us ended up going anywhere, so I will do the shopping another time.  The list of 'items in demand' for our local foodbank is so short - I mean, they've been at this an incredibly long time (our town's FB predates the formation of the TT), so they clearly know what they are doing.  But given that more schools (for example) now donate to foodbanks at 'Harvest Festival' time, I would have thought it might have been an opportunity to expand stocks. EDIT**  although the school only linked to the 'items in demand' section, there is actually a much longer 'items regularly required' list - unfortunately not very well signposted on our FB's web page, but it certainly gives much more opportunity to donate a wider range of useful items that are required***   Like many other places, the collection boxes for the FB in our supermarkets have been looking more sparse this year - they used to be regularly overflowing.  Nevermind, I have a budget in mind and I shall shop to get the most, good quality items  that I can and we will happily give our contribution to try to help.  And it is a better way of doing things - purchasing to a list. 

DH has worked steadily throughout the day, attaching hooks and clamps to various walls and bits of wood, and now lots of things are mucho tidier around the house.  We're slowly getting a bit more organised. 

Today has been a good day.  Little bursts of activity hither and yon - by us all - have yielded mucho accomplishment.  I'm very grateful for days like these.

Ta for popping in.  Appreciated.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

First full week back at school..................... 😕

I will go and get the 'Harvest Festival' bits and pieces today.  LG has indicated what they would choose, so it's up to me to try to get as many of those choices within the budget I have set myself.  As it happens, LG's choices fall half and half between 'urgently needed' and 'regularly required' so nice balance I think, so I'll try my best to fulfil the list.  As you all know, I'm not going to be getting a carrier bag of food to donate, with prices such as they are 😞  It looks so mean - and yet I know that we'll have done our best (and given it some thought).

I'm going to do veggie balls in tommie sauce with pasta for tea tonight.  I'll prep it all and then re-heat when we get home from activity.  

Back to prepping snap this morning for LG.  Interestingly LG realised yesterday that their main course on Friday was supposed to have come with garlic bread - and they didn't have any.  Not too sure if the kitchen had run out, or whether the confusion of who was booked in for school meals (LG wasn't  on the list, despite me paying and booking several days before hand, and showing LG the booking 🙄) meant that the servers were distracted in their portioning out.  So no, the school meal was not vfm, and I'm pleased we are back to pack-up.  Although I think that LG does sometimes like the option of a hot meal on a cold day.

Best shift a tail feather.  Shopping won't shop itself......

Greying X