From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, your soup sounds tasty Greying! We've had soup for tea - Mr C made a very simple pea soup, literally just peas and stock 😂😂 I added some toasted sesame seeds to mine, and a spot of grated cheddar, but it was perfect for a light wintery tea 😊

Greying_Pilgrim

YUM, pea soup 🥰  I do find a pinch of dried mint and a speck of wine vinegar makes it absolutely sing - but realise that may just be me hun.  BRAVO to simple sustenance!

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

I did  a long-ish post yesterday, and pressed the wrong button one time, and pooooofe! it were gone ☹️ Anyhoo, it was along the lines of that I wasn't chickening out, but I decided not to make the bread rolls yesterday.  I will make them, but I've had an idea about making the baps for our Boxing Day Fish Finger butties too.  I have a recipe for 'Fisherman's rolls', which I thought was a R1ck Ste1n recipe, as they are supposed to go with Bouillabaisse, but there is a possibility they are also from a book by Peter Mayle (yes, him), called something like 'confessions of a french baker'.  Unfortunately, I didn't credit my source in the early days of my recipe collecting (bad me), but the recipe is alongside other 'flavoured' breads from the PM book, and I suspect that I have only ever copied down curry recipes from Mr Stein.  Anyway, I do not have Saffron, and was thinking of using lemon zest instead.  Not the same flavour profile, of course, but a match with fish (fingers).   I was pondering whether to make one batch of dough, and two different flavours.  

Although now that I have typed that out, it's occurred to me that I don't know if I have the right shapes/sorts of smaller tins to bake the baps/rolls in, to get the required shapes/sizes.  Mmmmm, might have to go back to the drawing board on that one, and do a whole (dough) recipe for each 'flavour'.

Tea last night was mushroom pizza and wedges.  I used half the punnet of mushrooms I bought and did a whole mushroom pizza - rather than half black olive, half mushroom.  LG had no trouble devouring their pizza 😉 and there were 2 slices of pizza to put in the freezer at the end.  We now have a store of black olive/mushroom pizza for quick meals, or an easy tea over the festive period.  The wedges were made from the maris piper tatties.

DH's workwear had 4hrs in front of the dehu in total 😬 And the airer was left by the radiator overnight.  I'm pretty sure that everything is now dry enough to put away.  I have a load of LG's schoolwear in the machine at the mo, and I'm going to have to do the same process with those.  Whilst in my heart of hearts I believe this way is cheaper than going to the launderette (especially if time and travel are included), and the clothes aren't made from fabrics that respond well to tumble drying - I don't like having to dry clothes this way.  But needs must.

I think at least one of our saving focuses for 2026 needs to be the garden, and the fence panels in particular.  I'm going to aim for a budget of £1,000.  This will cover the fence panels and any paint, and then will move on to fund other garden things.  We really need a new mower, and if we do tackle the garden this year, we will need to hire some sort of rotovator/mini digger to level things out.  Depending on the 'how', £1k may cover all this work and equipment, it may not.  Fence panels aren't cheap, and although we won't need that many - 8 or 9 I think, if we replace all the panels that are our responsibility - it may be better to order them all together to get a reasonable delivery charge etc.  

We also need to look at a replacement radiator for LG's room, and new curtains/blinds.  We can do those a little bit more piecemeal, as whilst I don't like them, the curtains in our bedroom and the living room were left by the previous owner.  I have washed them - I didn't bother dry cleaning, if they fell apart in the machine, then that was the luck of the draw - and they 'work'.  They're not exactly what I would choose, but they are thick, lined and not offensive colour-wise, so they are not a priority to replace.  Now that we have new windows, LG's curtains are a priority to replace, as they are thin, not a print that anyone likes and I could only get thermal linings that were 'too big' so they need a new set, ideally thicker (may need to replace the curtain rail too), in a colour or style that LG likes.  All the other curtains/blinds that were left by the previous owner have been disposed of, as they were covering leaky windows, or were in high condensation areas, and were mouldy and stained.  

It will be soup again for lunch today.  And whilst it is a bit 'samey', I'm planning on stew for tea.  I'm going to use some 'soup mix' I got (the one with dried peas, lentils and pearl barley in), more of the mushrooms, veg and anything else I can think to put in.  I'm toying with the idea of making it in the slow cooker.  Dumplings may, or may not be involved 😉

Right, can't think of anything else on an MSE vibe, so I'm going to shuffle 'orf.  Ta for popping by.  

Greying X

greenbee

GP - our local hospice shop is good for curtains/blinds/curtain poles (admittedly a large proportion or them donated by me as I remove evidence of the previous residents. It's a pity you're not nearer, as I have several curtain poles waiting to go, as well as some huge thermally lined curtains. 

My mum used to make curtains out of bedspreads lined with old sheets or similar, and focus her budget on thermal interlining. I have a friend who buys good quality CS curtains and then tacks her preferred fabric (bedspreads or even good quality dust sheets!) over the top. I like layers at windows both for warmth, and light-filtering. So a roller blind in the recess, and light muslin curtains behind the main curtains (for light-filtering in summer as well as privacy). My mum has a very cold bedroom which has roller blinds, roman blinds and curtains! 

Greying_Pilgrim

Aw thanks greenbee.  I know that......... newgirly??? recently bought some spiffy curtains off V1nted, so there are options - not necessarily brand new, pristine, fresh-out-of-a-packet.  The only reason why a new pole "might" be needed, is that the existing pole has only ever held lightweight-ish polycotton (unlined) curtains of a late 90's c&A stylee.  It may be prudent to change the curtain pole to be able to hold more robust curtains.  But as much as anything, it will depend on where any pole can be fixed - I am pretty sure we've got some 'gouging' of the holes - and I seem to recall I had to pack out the rawplug when we put the curtains back up after plastering/painting. 

We will get the radiator done first and then do the window.  I will have to run my ideas past DH, but I think that LG's bedroom will be the priority in the house.  In theory, we still have some of our windows savings left, as it was a bit cheaper than I'd anticipated.  

Greying X

greenbee

Fixing curtain poles here is a nightmare, so we've put up battens on the wall (which can be attached where there is actually something to fix them to, and in more places!), and then fixed the poles to those. It does mean that the curtains are a little further away from the window, but as I have long curtains over fat radiators in some places, it works well to let the hot air circulate behind the curtains rather than being trapped by them. The batten can then be painted to match the walls (you can paint the poles and curtain rings too if they are wooden!). Some battens are wood, others have been cut from MDF - not my preference as I'd rather not have the stuff in the house, but all the skirtings and architraves here are MDF already, and a lot of builders seem to prefer it as it does what they want. 

in_need_of_direction

I think you should crack on with LG’s room if the money is there.  It’s the bit that you will worry over until it’s done

Greying_Pilgrim

in_need_of_direction said:

I think you should crack on with LG’s room if the money is there.  It’s the bit that you will worry over until it’s done

A very good point inod - the new windows have improved things, but with an extra push, the room could be 'as good as it can be' and we will have altered all the variables within our control.  We have no control over the building orientation and whether the cavity wall insulation is still OK.  

Thanks for the nudge.

Greying X

Watty1

I sold some of my old curtains on face book market place and donated the rest to the charity shop. Our local charity shop has a rail of curtains all neatly folded with sizes.  They also have a basket of donated blankets etc.  I hope you can find something that will work.   

I also wonder if adding a pile of shawls and wraps for LG might be a fun way of keeping warm?  I have a wonderful brown fake fur lined one that I found in a CS and a grey one that I found in the dog basket that was 50p and when I got it home and washed it, turned out to be a wonderful wool mix that I wear a lot in the office, it is shaped and I pin it with vintage broaches.   Would LG be interested in dressing up while reading and playing?  

Greying_Pilgrim

Mmmm, not especially Watty - but they are forever falling asleep with their fleece on 🙄 It should be part of a game show - reclaim a fleece off a kiddo when they are lying down and half asleep 🤣  But they do have plenty of blankets, and use them around the house.  They are very good and use the ones I crocheted and knitted especially for them 🥰

Greying X