From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Cheery_Daff

Thank you for the list reminder,  I've just had a look at our list and there's all kinds on there! A nice project for next year maybe 😊

Glad you all had a lovely day out Greying!

themadvix

Another vote of thanks for the lists - with our budget potentially being cut dramatically next year, some local, cheap/free days out will be most welcome and there’s lots on there I’ve never heard of!

Greying_Pilgrim

tmv - will there at least be the option next year of getting student discount to get into places?  Or have I misunderstood the nature of your DH's possible retraining?  

Thank you for all your support for our day out 😁 It was a good 'un.  Just need to get LG's diary updated now 😉

Today has started well.  LG got up in time to have breakfast with their beloved papa, so that's a win 😁 Things slipped a little whilst they were ill - which is understandable - but it's taken a bit to get back towards a routine.  I'm not talking military grade precision, but if you're still having your brekkie at lunchtime, you've lost a morning already.  

Lots of itty-bitty things to do today, although I'm wondering if we can complete them in different places other than Greying town, to at least make it a little more interesting.  We've an outstanding 'thank you' note to complete, and we need some pics for the diary.  The trouble with doing a 'dump' of printing is that LG blithely writes on each page, not leaving space to stick in pics retrospectively 🙄 And none of the libraries are down the end of the road, on tap 🙄

I should get on with making cake, as the eggs I have are on the verge of going out of date.  Plus we actually took a piece of HM banana cake out with us yesterday, and there are only 3 pieces left in the freezer.  What's an outing without HM cake???? I'll never get my 'Secret 7' or 'Famous 5' badge, will I??? 😂

Tea is as yet undecided - it will depend on today's activities.  But lentil bolognese did get requested last night, and I do have components for that, so it's an option.  I don't know if I said what we had for tea on Monday?  It was dirty rice and omlette anyway.

Right, I'm out of MSE things to write about at the mo, so I'll shuffle off.  Was the moon red with you guys last night?  Very eerie.  

Ta for popping by.  

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

Stick those pictures in anywhere Greying, doesn't matter if it's not in the right order 😊 Higgledy piggledyness is better than nothing, I say! Better that than being put off writing the diary because it's not 'right' x

Glad LG is feeling better enough to get up earlier 😊

I assume you know the egg flotation test?. If you stick them in a bowl of room temperature water, if they float up to the top, they've gone off. If they sink, they're fine. But cake sooner is always better than cake layer, I say - you can't be too careful with cake! 😂

Greying_Pilgrim

Ha ha - yes dearest Cheery - higgledey-piggledy is infinitely better than 'not at all' - and yes, I don't want to put LG off actually doing the diary, which is the important bit.  Interestingly a school project in the spring term was 'designing a webpage' about a subject and LG did some writing and then stuck 2 big pictures (digitally) in at the bottom, so we're definitely at stage one with layout 😂.  But thinking about it, I could try to caption the pictures, which might help.  

Yes, I do the sink test, and the eggs have a couple of days yet, but I just find that days 'evaporate' in the hols and all I need to do is organise myself a bit better to use the eggs in time. I've already had to pay 'stoopid tax' this week because I thought my library book was due in on the 5th...... it was the 1st 🙄😂

Greying X

themadvix

Greying_Pilgrim said:

tmv - will there at least be the option next year of getting student discount to get into places?  Or have I misunderstood the nature of your DH's possible retraining?  

You are quite right Greying, but I won't be getting a discount and things will be very squeaky (hopefully (possibly essentially) Mr MV would get some sort of part-time work, but our income will be dropping very dramatically regardless! (and remember, mine is very variable!) 😬 I ought to write some more about this on my diary rather than being quite so cryptic....

Only three pieces of cake left?! Outrageous! 

Cheery_Daff

I agree, 3 pieces of cake is dangerously low! Best to rectify immediately 😃

What cake will you make? Have you ever made the whole orange cake from the Down to Earth blog? I've only done it once but it was lovely - you whizz all the ingredients in a blender with a whole orange (yes, including the peel). Will find a link in case you fancy it.

ETA: https://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2010/06/whole-orange-cake.html?m=1

Watty1

oh please post a link - that sounds yum 

themadvix

Ooh thanks for sharing that Cheery - sounds delicious and dead simple. I might even have an orange in the freezer I could use...

Greying_Pilgrim

Thanks Cheery - I have the Le0n version of that recipe.  I've never made it 'as specified' though because I rarely have organic oranges.  I think Rhonda grew her own oranges, didn't she.  But orange cake is Yum-umm-umm-ee absolutely no doubt about that.  

We popped off to the market town across the way this morning.  We parked in the cheapest car park, and toddled off to the library to do the printing out.  LG then wrote the thank you card we'd 'made' and we addressed that and put a stamp on it, and posted it at the post office.  LG also borrowed a couple of books - crafting rather that reading books.  

Then we went to the bank, to put a bag of 5p's into LG's account - must be something in the air, Cheery took her pennies into her bank too 😁 (we didn't spot her in our branch 😉), naturally, the world and his wife had chosen the same moment to do their banking too, so there was a queue, which unfortunately was very, very slow-moving, although to be fair to the staff, they were constantly working and sorting out problems for people.  

We then went for a pootle around the chazzers - nothing doing - her0n foods (£1 on some pengu1n bars), Then we went to hB for picnic supplies (they were out of apples - boo ☹️), we went along a passage that we'd spotted on our last visit, it's been there for hundreds of years, but we didn't know where it came out - we do now 😁

Then we were heading back to the car, and we passed the town museum - yes, dear reader, it is "on the list" - so we popped in.  My, what a place.  I never in my days thought that so much stuff could be gathered together, under the common theme of this town.  Whether it was 'famous' sons/daughters of the town, famous things found nearby, famous things invented there or folk from the town who went off to find things/invent things elsewhere.  The place was jam packed.  And it was one of these lovely places that allows you to touch pretty much anything and everything - with a couple of obvious exclusions, and the volunteers will open any cabinet for you, let you try things on etc etc.  We only had 30 minutes or so before our parking was up, but we had a good time.  I would definitely go back again - we looked, but there's bound to be plenty that was missed, and certainly in terms of interpretation boards, I think I could have spent half an hours just reading all the info on one of the 'famous sons'.  A lovely eclectic mix, staffed by enthusiastic volunteers, with just a dash of delicious eccentricity and wackiness that drew you in and kept you engaged.  LG enjoyed themselves - although they weren't so keen on the 'medical accessories' bit 🫤  But I felt old, as there was half a ton of stuff that I recognised from either my parents or grandparents having.  And LG pointed out a bike with "antiquated" gears - it was a sturmey archer, 3 gear  thumb flick mechanism, mounted on the handlebars...... I thought I'd got the best bike when I had a bike with that set up, my first bike was single speed............

We came home and have had our lunch sandwiches on us laps.  LG had asked if we could take them out somewhere, which I would have done, had we got back a bit earlier.  But by the time we'd got in the house, unloaded our stuff etc, time had ticked on.  Never mind, there's always another time.  

I spent £3.09 on food today, and £3.35 on non-food.  Must amend my siggie figgies.  

Greying X