MOT and twins - Start of our new life!

ampersand

I’ve had a few things to cope with, so apologies for absence lately(mot knows I’m around and in contact - 2 em’s mot)
Poorbabe, shall contact you when mot has a move date - station pick-up?
Just received this from NZ Uncle(age 83):
TIME GETS BETTER WITH AGE
Age 5 - I learned that I like my teacher because she cries when we sing "Silent Night".
Age 6 - I learned that our dog doesn't want to eat my broccoli either.
Age 7 - I learned that when I wave to people in the country, they stop what they are doing and wave back.
(It’s true; waved back to a very litte person on overhead bridge, when returning after babysitting last Sat - face lit up, mine too!)
Age 9 - I learned that just when I get my room the way I like it, Mum makes me clean it up again.
Age 12 - I learned that if you want to cheer yourself up, you should try cheering someone else up.
Age 14 - I learned that although it's hard to admit it, I'm secretly glad my parents are strict with me.
Age 15 - I learned that silent company is often more healing than words of advice.
Age 24 - I learned that brushing my child's hair is one of life's great pleasures.
Age 26 - I learned that wherever I go, the world's worst drivers have followed me there.
Age 29 - I learned that if someone says something unkind about me, I must live so that no one will believe it.
Age 30 - I learned that there are people who love you dearly but just don't know how to show it.
Age 42 - I learned that you can make some one's day by simply sending them a little note.
Age 44 - I learned that the greater a person's sense of guilt, the greater his or her need to cast blame on others.
Age 46 - I learned that children and grandparents are natural allies.
Age 47 - I learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.
Age 48 - I learned that singing "Amazing Grace" can lift my spirits for hours.
Age 49 - I learned that motel mattresses are better on the side away from the phone.
Age 50 - I learned that you can tell a lot about a man by the way he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.
Age 51 - I learned that keeping a vegetable garden is worth a medicine cabinet full of pills.
Age 52 - I learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you miss them terribly after they die.
Age 53 - I learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life.
Age 58 - I learned that if you want to do something positive for your children, work to improve your relationship.
Age 61 - I learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.
Age 62 - I learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.
Age 64 - I learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But if you focus on your family, the needs of others, your work, meeting new people, and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you.
Age 65 - I learned that whenever I decide something with kindness, I usually make the right decision.
Age 66 - I learned that everyone can use a prayer.
Age 72 - I learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.
Age 82 - I learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone - holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
Age 90 - I learned that I still have a lot to learn.
Age 92 - I learned it’s time I passed this on. We should use anything that makes us smile.
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I’m an old cynic - especially about things like these - but several resonate deeply……….
Pick and choose - love to all here in mot's happy extended 'family'.

blue_monkey_2

Hi Mot,

Ah, IT sounds lovely, wish my DH said stuff like that. Ask him if we were doing anything for Valentines day and he said 'Takeaway?' Mind you, he will probably go via Tesco and get some flowers so cannot complain. Anyone with me in it seeming a complete waste to buy things that get thrown away (cards and flowers - such a waste of money but I do smile when the kids bring them in)

As for Dolly Parton, if she did not pay for it all that 'sand' would be around her waist, LOL!! As noted in the paper this morning 'as soon as it starts to sag I have it nipped, tucked and sucked'. If only we could afford that!! She has cancelled a tour due to back problems!!

Have I missed a moving in date MoT? I keep on watching but did not see one. Are there are more bits of news on this front at all?

Sorry to hear about the car as well, fingers crossed it will get sorted out soon.

xx

ampersand

Have just found post 126 on another Thread from the excellent rog2, one of mot's many long-standing supporters. It's definitely one for us(and certainly i-t!), and I won't let rog2's modesty keep it hidden.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=679695&page=7 -a Thread about home chicken-keeping, and rog2's enhancing post:

Thank you VCC - It does seem strange, doesn't it? Throughout my childhood 'swill' was saved, and regularily collected, for the local pig farm. I believe they cooked it up before feeding it to the pigs. Yes 'swill-fed' pigs had a thicker layer of fat than 'pellet-fed' pigs, but I remember the taste of the bacon and sausages - it did not compare with today's products in the slightest. It seems that we now add the 'swill', in the form of bread, saturated fats and additives at the production stage instead. :rolleyes:

Going back to chickens, my mother-in-law, in Italy, keeps about 200 free-range chickens, both for laying and eating. She specifically buys 'pasta' off-cuts for her birds, which she boils and mixes in with the kitchen waste. She also grows maize, again specifically for her birds, and the birds are also free to 'scratch around the farmyard' for whatever else they eat. Yes they are visited by the vet, and do get a supplement of pellets or mash.

Her eggs are 'sought after', to the extent that she is often 'sold out' and has to 'hide' stock for the family.

We know when we are going to eat chicken because there will be one bird 'tethered' to a post, by a six foot length of string, for a day - to stop it from eating anything 'nasty' before it is humanely and efficiently 'despatched'. The meat is literally beautiful, in taste, texture and colour, and there is never any waste.

Incidentally, my wife's grandfather died, of natural causes, six years ago - he was a month short of his 100th Birthday, and was, until his death, still active on the farm. My wife's grandmother died two years ago - aged 102. They had NEVER eaten supermarket food in their lives.
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Sorry rog, don't know how to quote in toto from another place and it's another of your posts we'll all enjoy here.

jillie1974

thats lovely ampersand

rog2

ampersand wrote: »

Have just found post 126 on another Thread from the excellent rog2, one of mot's many long-standing supporters. It's definitely one for us(and certainly i-t!), and I won't let rog2's modesty keep it hidden.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=679695&page=7 -a Thread about home chicken-keeping, and rog2's enhancing post:

Sorry rog, don't know how to quote in toto from another place and it's another of your posts we'll all enjoy here.

Thank you, ampersand. My post was in response to another poster pointing out that we are no longer allowed, by law, to feed kitchen scraps to our chickens. Another example of the way that 'burocracy' impacts on our lives.
Now I'm all embarassed :embarasse :embarasse :embarasse

ampersand

jillie1974 wrote: »

thats lovely ampersand

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All the credit goes to rog2, jillie - but I knew i-t would enjoy it, too. Post 127 on that Thread isn't bad either.

rog2

ampersand wrote: »

I knew i-t would enjoy it, too. Post 127 on that Thread isn't bad either.

The whole thread is very good - it started as a result of the Hugh Fearnley-Whittington program on 'free-range' chickens. We had, already, decided to keep a couple of hens - in fact my son's Christmas present to us was a very well made chicken coup - now fully erected and awaiting its first two occupants.
I hadn't realised the 'complexities' of keeping chickens, although we kept them about 20 years ago when there was little or no restrictions - and was directed to this thread.
It just shows the incredible range of this forum.

ampersand

EXACTLY,rog.
As usual, came upon another enjoyable Thread by chance - and, of course, have not :rolleyes: spent about an hour reading/adding to it, when I should be xxx-ing at xxx.
.....which I will now do.
Eire demain.
re:HFW - A regards him as mentor, has done since growing up on other side of world(comme moi). Wrote letter to this effect when somehow affording the River Cottage DVD's via:HFW's website(hope you're a subscriber, too - it's free!)a couple of Crimbos back. He sent back a lovely note and signed them - A was most pleased, but this year's new joy is 'Tales from a Green Valley'. A. didn't know it - I remembered it and found it at wonderful price from HMV - £4.99 del!
We watched over and over last month; A still does.

rog2

ampersand wrote: »

Eire demain.

Will you, please, drink a glass of GUINESS for me, &.

Slainte :beer:

ampersand

Dia d!it rog2-
I never have as it happens, rog - didn't touch alcohol till 27 and drank pastis IN ignorance, OUT of politesse....:rolleyes: , but -
Go raibh t! daibhir i m!-!idh
Agus saibhir i mbeannachta!
Go mall ag d!anamh namhaid, go luath a d!anamh carad,
Ach saibhir n! daibhir, go mall n! go luath,
Nach raibh ach !thas agat
Ón l! seo amach.

C!ad m!le beannachta.

Go n'!ir! leat