Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

tryingtodobetter

I too would be inerseted in any info on container gardening as I would really like to try to grow some food stuffs. Have I missed the best time for planting now? Thanks.

sophiesmum_2

Good evening fruggles,
It has been a long and eventful day :rolleyes:
Went to the pony show this morning, weather still glorious:D took my clear the fridge picnic which went down very well with everyone and also a big flask of coffee and some cordial. DD and friend had lots of fun competing and managed to get 4 rosettes between them so they were happy,and my two oldies had a great time watching the show jumping,eating picnic and getting into spirit of the event , they were even sunbathing.One of oldies treated us all to ice cream/lollies so didn't have to spend on those.:D Left show around 3pm to race home and cook roast for rest of oldies as usual, managed to get everything done on time thanks to having prepped everything already;)
Just finishing tea when the thunder started then heavy rain,then there was an almighty crack.The building had been hit by lightning:eek: :eek: . Luckily we have lightning conductors but it had blown all the electrics in two of flats nearest to the conductor, both tvs blown out, and also knocked out the entire emergency call system, the fire alarm system,and my office phoneline.
So since about 6pm have been sorting it all out. Two fire engines turned up as the system flagged it up as a fire:o (lots of hunky firemen though:D )then have had to see to an out of hours electrician, contact BT, and try and get emergency call system engineer on site (still waiting),plus reassure affected residents and make sure they are safe. So much for a nice quiet night in with OH tonight:rotfl: :rotfl:

Popped on here while I wait for the engineer to arrive - sometime before midnight . Still the only upside is that i will get some lieu time back tomorrow so will probably end up finishing work at lunchtime:D then will be away on hols until 27th:j :j :j

Nyk - Great news about not having to leave the house:j :j :j

Marru

Hi all,

I promised not to show my face in here unless I have done my sums so I'll be quick and then fun off.

Great news about the house Nyk and glad everyone have had such a nice day. I had this sudden urge to start sorting out the books in my sitting room as I would start to use the dining table again (Bails I bet you didn't even notice it when you visited) It has meant a lot of hauling as I brought the book shelves that I got from freecycle from garage inside and stuffed then full of books. It looks so much better. Still a long way to go but at least the dining table is back on service.

I was supposed cook fish today but somebody forgot (again) to take it from the freezer so DD got her favourite lunch (you guessed it - veggie sausages and chips - again!). Somehow the day just slipped passed and a bad mother that I am managed to get DD to bed at half nine :eek:. I asked her before bath if she is hungry and the answer was no so I gave her a bath and was going to put her to bed but then after bath she decided that she was hungry. So I threw all kinds of left overs into a frying pan with ocuple of eggs just DD to announce that she is not hungry, she is tired and wants to go to bed. So I ate double portion and feeling really stuffed now.

I am aching all over after all my pushing and pulling the furniture (three lots of my neighbours were sitting outside one of the houses in this cul-de-sac drinking wine and saw me wrestling with the shelves and nobody offered to help :mad:) so I am off for a bath hoping that it will help.

Catch up with you again tomorow hopefully with updated sig . Sophiesmum sorry to hear about all the trouble this evening but if I miss you tomorrow have a fantastic holiday!!

Marru

sophiesmum_2

Good morning gang,
Busy day ahead sorting my office and any loose ends that need dealing with before I go away tomorrow. Water board been around this morning and we are to have no water between 8am and 6pm for the next 3 days:eek: . Makes you think about something that we take for granted so much in this country:o .So now have two flats without electricity and water, oldies are not happy:rolleyes: OH has gone into boy scout mode, filling pots with water for drinking and tea making and filling bath with water for toilet flushing. :rotfl: :rotfl: you would think there was going to be a drought not just 10 hours stoppage:rolleyes: :rolleyes: he also dragged us out of bed at 6am for early showers:mad:

Marru - Thanks, intend to make the most of holiday:j (but actually miss posting on mse whilst I am away - how sad is that:o )

mumzyof2

Good morning everyone!
Its going to be hot here again today.
I have to take the DS3 to nursery at 1pm, so im thinking i might nip into town untill i have to pick him up at 3.30pm.
I dont need much, only fridge food and some fruit and veg, the fruit and veg i have food for another 6 days (for tea's).
NYK - My sister went to lock ( i think thats what she said) and gretna green yesterday - a castle? where she will get married? Was wondering if thats anywhere near you? she also went to a wedding 15 miles from there it was only a registry office though.
I need to put the clothes on the airer (yes i said arier and not the dryer) im going to see if they dry out the back but sun dosnt come round till around 2-3pm. I need to put washing machine on also but if there isnt that much it can wait till tomorrow. I have to hoover up, wash breakfast plates.
I have some wardrobes x 2 and 2 x chester drawers coming hopefully on wednesday from help the homeless. I went in with my S worker and she got them me cause the kids dont have any after breaking them. So they will be free. And also a little cd player for my kitchen
I best get off..need to update all my other threads
Have fun all xx

mumzyof2

sophiesmum - where are you off to again? Hope you have a loverly time

bails

Morning everyone, another gorgeous day here!

I totally agree with Redglass, whatever home growing you can do is fantastic. There are gardening threads on here too which I'm sure will have loads of info for peeps or if you ask specific questions I'll answer them if I know anything useful (still very much a beginnner ie making it up as I go along .:rotfl:).TTDB, you can still plant things now. I guess I decided to try and grow the things we ate lots of or were expensive. With limited space, growing things that have multiple veg are best - obvious really but I didn't think about it before I started! For example, leeks need to stay in the ground for several months and only produce one leek, whereas you can plant lettuce and spinach which produce quickly and keep producing if you just pick the young leaves.

Marru, that really is wonderful news about the books, I'm sure you feel loads better about it already. How frustrating that noone helped you :mad: next time just give us a buzz and we'll pop down. Do you have a plan of attack with the books?
SophiesMum, what an eventful day! I hope you manage to get it all sorted before you go away. Hope you have a lovely time.
Good news about the furniture Mumzy!

OH has just gone off to Bournemouth to pick up his mountain bike, an Ebay buy which he got for £720 :eek: but worth about 3k; imagine if he'd spent that, the equivalent of 3/4 of our budget!! In fairness, he has been waiting 10 years to buy this bike...he's VERY excited!
The tabby has officially started nesting so she's had me up since 3.30am with all her wandering around. I'm hoping to get out in the garden again today, need to go and get some things first and I want to measure the route I walked yesterday for my blog.
Have a great day all xx
EDIT: hmm, just tried to follow my walk on Google Earth and got lost :rotfl:(Don't tell anyone, I'm meant to be an expedition leader :rotfl:) I think it's more to do with my PC skills, or lack of; the map keeps going from bird's eye to person view and confusing me, only got about a mile and a half from home

redglass_2

Help, please...a quick answer would be brilliant as this is the last day this week when I'll have much time to do planting....I haven't yet put my french beans in (always something else on hand), today was marked down to do it and the net is in place and the patch is fertilised and the weather is good...and now I look at the packet I see I've bought bush beans. Does that mean they won't twine at all? There isn't room for them unless they grow upwards onto the netting, so maybe I should use another kind? (Mumzy, you can see I'm no expert at this game!)

redglass_2

PS, though this isn't nearly as urgent...how do I use Google Earth? Is it the same as the maps? I'm another one who needs to plan walks.....

bails

Sorry Redglass, I don't know what bush beans are!! Perhaps Google it and see what it says? Sorry can't be more help.
You just download Google Earth to your PC then click on tools at the top - choose the ruler option, then you can either do a line or a path, so use the second one to measure out your route. Hope that helps.