Catz's Corner

Recovering from lofty perils!

2010-03-17T07:51:00.002Z

Well I seem to be back in "recovery" this week, this time recovering from clearing out the loft! 10 days of hard work and each day we managed to get 2-3 bags of "stuff" to our local Age Concern charity shop, recycling as much as we could! My husband is certain that the house has now raised itself up by a couple of inches! :)

Letting go was always a problem for me, letting go of the memories, of links to the past and the people we have lost. I really used to tie myself up in knots over this! Now after some thought and prayer I choose something small for the memories and hand the rest over to be of use to others. I seem to be a changed person! yikes!

We found some great treasures as well! My wedding veil, the box was crushed but the veil has been washed very carefully and is as good as new and my daughter is going to see if it will do for her wedding next year.

We are also sticking to the new rule - for everything coming into the house something must go. I found a lovely "like new" fluffy dressing gown, much nicer and longer than the one I had. That one was a charity shop buy as well, soft and fluffy but very pink and too short to be really warm, in fact I used to resemble a large pink marshmallow when I wore it! Now it is washed and packed and ready for the charity shop and the new longer burgundy one is washed and in regular use, and very cosy it is.

I found a super little rectangle shaped pyrex - perfect for small lasagnes, so a little blue patterned sweetie dish has left the building!

Lets hope I can keep this up because I never want to have to go back to sorting out that mess again!

Charity shops - be considerate when you donate

2010-03-10T08:20:00.003Z

Recently we have spent a lot of time visiting our local Help the Aged Charity Shop! The "stuff" in our loft is shrinking down and the space available is growing at last!

All this has taken time, effort and energy. Not just the heaving bags of "stuff" down the stairs to sort out, but the washing/ironing of clothing, washing up of glassware and crockery, cleaning up of toys before giving them away to donate.

We have all by now perhaps heard the tiresome joke about what to do if your suit needs dry cleaning "take it to the charity shop - let them do it and buy it back"!
I worked in a charity shop (Cancer Research) as one of the many volunteers and they work very hard for no pay! These are wonderful, caring people wanting to give something back to the charity that has perhaps helped them or a relative with the illness. They are most definately not our servants!

The task of sorting out the donations can be a mixed blessing, some of the donations are a superb gift to the charity and help to bring in much needed funds, for which the charities are very, very grateful, but some items show a distinct lack of respect for the volunteers. Opening a black sack one day I found in amongst someones dirty laundry a filled nappy!!!!!! The whole lot had to be thrown away!

The charity shop I worked in did not have laundry facilities, if something needed to be washed and was worth doing, the manager took it home to launder at her own cost. We did steam iron some of the donations but that took up a lot of our time where we could have been sorting or helping in the shop. Some ironing is expected as often clothing is held in sacks for a while before sorting and the upright steam iron contraption was quite popular to use! :)

Now when I spend my pennies in the charity shops I think about all the work that has gone into the presentation as well as the bargains I find!

Clearing out the old!

2010-03-05T22:29:00.003Z

Now this is something I have had great difficulties with! I wonder if others have found the same? We have spent today making a start on clearing out our loft space. We moved into this house in 1983 and within a year had a new addition to the family in the shape of our daughter. Anything remaining unpacked was quickly added to the growing pile in the loft. As each year passed by more was added and less taken out. I found it difficult to part with reminders of the past! Result - chaos!!!!!

Recently a friend was telling me that a major leak had ocurred in their loft space and totally ruined all that was stored up there! Enough!I cried, and decided that this week with husband off work, we should start clearing the loft. Today was the first day and we have already cleared about 1/4 of the loft space. 2 trips to our local Help the Aged charity shop ensued followed by another 2 trips to the dump (I have recycled everything else to within an inch of it's life I promise you!) Apart from pulled and aching muscles we both already feel so much better and all the keener to tackle the rest of the loft space! Hoping to find enough to inspire me to start selling on ebay and amazon so that we can put some pennies aside for the next wedding in the family!

By the end of next week I could be crying out for mercy and over-dosing on ralgex but it must be done! Tomorrow I have a few hours off though, as I am on a youth leaders course, run by our Church. Ah! bliss!

Apricot jamming!

2010-03-04T19:29:00.003Z

Hello again! I'm back to blogging as and when the energy allows, a lot of changes have been made here but they are all for the better! For one thing I am determined to get the mortgage paid off within the next 3-5 years, so frugaling is now being taken up a level. Wish me luck.

To start with I have been making some jam, the jam maker was my birthday present last summer and is brilliant! So far this year I have made 12 jars of marmalade, 8 jars of blackberry jelly and now 6 jars of apricot preserve.

At long last I've got myself organised and opened one of the tins of approved foods apricot pulp. Really pleased for the outlay of around £3 for the pulp and sugar I managed to get 6 jars of apricot preserve and 5 freezer boxes of apricot pie filling. I worked out that would have cost me £17.54 to buy! I have another tin to open and use as well! :)

Yes there is such a thing as a free lunch!

2009-09-08T16:56:00.005+01:00

Today Mr C decided to come home for his lunch and requested soup. Luckily the "freezer fairy" (as in tightwad Gazette) was full to brimful with all sorts of odds and ends (celery ends, cooked potatoes, half a tin of tomatoes, runner beans, half an onion, half a fresh tomato), so I tipped it all into a saucepan, adding some chopped spring onions that needed using up and a tub of stock from the freezer (yipee more space) simmered until soft, seasoned and then blitzed in the food processor.

Please excuse the state of my cooker, but it has been in almost constant use now it is chutney season! It has since been cleaned:)

Further exploration of the freezer resulted in some lovely tomato and herb bread, left from our last visit to the farmers market, which went down very well with the soup. We had ice cream for afters (left and rescued from the family barbecue a week ago) all items I, sadly, would have thrown away years ago, so a free and tasty lunch. What a blessing!

Needless to say the freezer fairy (an old tupperware lidded jug) is clean and ready for use again!

Breakfast- hm muesli and soya yogurt, tea

mid morning snack - a lovely orange from last weeks organic box

Lunch - as above hm soup, tomato and herb bread, ice cream

Afternoon snack - 2 little kit kat eggs (from apoproved foods - naughty but nice) tea

Dinner - hm veggie lasagne and salad - from garden and bottom of the fridge, hm fruit salad

5 a day - dried fruit, orange, various veg in hm soup, courgettes and tomatoes in lasagne, garden salad, hm fruit salad (mango, blackberries, apple, pears)

The approved food order has just turned up so I now have curry paste to last a good long time, organic carrots, dog toys (for Christmas gifts for friends pooches) cake mixes, sweeties for cake decorating, Christmas cake frills, fruit teas and coffees for Mr C! This was paid for on Wednesday last week!

Other than going out briefly to walk Penny on her first walk after the op (round the block) I have not been anywhere to spend any money! So no spend day

Todays harvest from the garden and a catch up

2009-09-07T11:58:00.003+01:00

This is what I've managed to harvest today and I still have several courgettes and runner beans from yesterdays pickings to deal with! The freezers are filled to brimful so somethings got to come out of there! I think it may well be more of the frozen blackberries to make some more jelly! Just need to urgently find some more jars! lol!

I have been away from the blog for a few days while Penny has been getting over her spaying op! Poor little thing didn't know what had hit her and spent most of Friday night and Saturday whimpering. Thank goodness the vet gave us some painkillers for her. On the first day she was still spaced out from the general anesthesia. Several times in the night I woke to find her sitting bolt upright with very big eyes just staring into space! She has just had her first check up at the vets and is healing well, just 1 more week, another check up and hopefully back to normal Penny madness again.:)

A quick catch up on our spends:-

Thusday 3/9 - we ate out to celebrate a friends birthday.. Lovely meal and Mr C budgeted for this out of entertainments allowance ( can't go out again for a while though!) so for me it was a no spend day!

Friday 4/9 - spent the day searching for a replacement car (to take our minds of Penny having her op) very tired and short of time we stopped for a sandwich lunch at Wyevales - very nice but cost a whopping £14 :o we also shared a portion of fish and chips £5 in the evening as Penny needed our time and attention so total spend £19

Saturday 5/9 - Tea and toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch but a shared portion of chinese takeaway as we were still so very tired! total spent £7

Sunday 6/7 - Penny much better so visited a friends Church for Communion and discovered they have 2 collections! Also bought a couple of cards and stayed for a cuppa and a biccie (everyone so very friendly and had a lovely time) total spend £5

Monday (today)

Breakfast - hm muesli, milk and tea

midmorning snack - cheese and apple

Lunch - tuna salad

Afternoon snack - slice of lemon drizzle cake and an orange

dinner - butternut squash and bacon risotto
plum crumble (made earlier in week)

5 a day - plums, butternut squash, orange, apple, salad, dried fruits

total spends today £4.99 (I bought a toy for Penny at the vets! Had to take it away again as she was getting too excited and rushing around!)

Jammin

2009-09-02T21:21:00.003+01:00

I've been busy recently making Jams and chutneys! I have been lucky enough to be given plenty of apples and plums from my lovely neighbour. So just the price of the sugar(which I had in) for the jam and the vinegar, onions and spices (already in store) for the chutney. The problem now is finding enough jam jars!

Todays menu was:-

Breakfast - hm muesli and milk for Mr C/just a yogurt for me (not feeling well)

Lunch - Cheese and chutney sandwiches, crisps clementine for Mr C/Soup for me

Snack - Lemon drizzle cake (leftover from party)

Dinner - Sausages (in the remoska) mash potatoes, runner beans and carrots followed by clementines and pears

Hot soy milk drink for supper

5 a day - runner beans, carrots, pear, clementine, orange juice

More runner beans from garden to freeze down - the veg draw in the freezer is nearly full now!

Church today followed by helping at toddler group so no chance to spend there.

Total spend - £20.44 on an approvedfoods order! well they had snowmen toys for dogs (4 for £1) so enough for all my doggy friends :) also organic carrots, choc, sweeties for decorating cookies/cupcakes for MS centre, fruit teas, coffee and christmas cake frills.

Hello again!

2009-09-01T09:00:00.007+01:00

Yes I have had to take a long break from blogging, again. I feel much better now but have missed you.

My daughter came home with the dreaded swine flu last month! I nursed her through it using plenty of anti bac sprays to avoid it speading. She had tamiflu and it started to work almost immediately. It was rotten for her but not so bad if you know what I mean, I guess she was lucky and didn't have any complications! We seem to have avoided catching it although we did both have a tummy upset so maybe a mild variant? Hope you are all keeping well and have avoided this virus.

I started a couple of new treatments this summer, a new painkiller, which so far has no side effects unlike the last one which made me feel sea sick whenever I stood up! : ( I also started to have oxygen therapy under pressure at our MS centre. Whether it is the pain being eased or the oxygen I don't know but I am getting more done now so it is all good.

We even managed a holiday to Spain with our oldest friends (best man and his wife from 33 years ago!) His brother has an apartment out there so with low fees and Ryanair it was affordable. We all managed to swim every day which was great exercise for me and we also did a fair bit of walking so something was definately working for me.

Bank holiday weekend we had our family over with a few good friends and celebrated our birthdays (Mr C's is only 3 weeks after mine - we are the same age for those 3 weeks every year to his joy! Then he becomes a year older than me again!) We tidied the garden and had a barbecue! It was a lovely day. Then I did the accounts! Shock! we had spent nearly £200 on food and drink! On the plus side there is now plenty of chicken, burgers and sausages in the freezers and more than enough beer and wine for Christmas! It does however mean that money is going to be tight here for a while.

Our sons wedding is now only 4 months away and we have our friends sons wedding in October. Mr C still wants/needs a replacement car which will not be cheap and the hall stairs and landing are desperately in need of re-decorating! So I have to get strict with the budget again.

From today I will be avoiding any unnecessary spending and keeping a spending diary! Yikes! The first step is a menu plan for the week taking into account any leftover fresh food from the barbecue and of course whatever is delivered in the organic box tomorrow (too late to cancel it) and also what is available in the garden - right now a butternut squash, spinach, tomatoes and runner beans. Oh and I also have a fair stock of food from Approved foods deliveries - mainly packet soups, baked beans, savoury rice and cous cous!

Todays menu:-

Breakfast - home made muesli with a gooseberry yogurt for me/with milk for Mr C

mid morning snack - clementines and a digestive biscuit

Lunch - Cheese and coleslaw filled rolls (leftovers from barbecue)1/2 a grapefruit I have 2 left from the last organic box delivery so needs using!

mid afternoon snack - very small piece of birthday cake and a cup of tea (tea bags from approved foods)

Dinner - Pasta bake - using up sliced cooked sausages and a very spicy salsa (again leftover from the barbecue! Salsa is the large container from Approved foods and it is powerful stuff!)served with plenty of salad. Lots of water with this I think! :) ice cream to follow.

5 a day - dried fruit in the muesli and as a snack, grapefruit,clementines, orange juice drink, salad.

My Home made muesli is easily made:- 500g oats, generous handfuls of chopped dates, sultanas, figs, sunflower seeds, few linseeds, anything I fancy and have to hand really. I make this at the beginning of the week and store in a cookie jar.
I have a good supply of oats in and plenty of dates, seeds and sultanas. So that with toast and marmalade/jam is breakfasts sorted!

Total spend today - prescription charge £7.20

Still here and recovering!

2009-07-07T22:52:00.003+01:00

Yep! Still here and much better now it is cooler! I am a wimp and found the heatwave and the humidity very difficult to deal with, even breathing seemed hard. The leccy bill will be up a tad as I had to have the fan on 24/7. Heat definately makes the ME/cfs symptoms worse. I am working through it, pacing, new meds (again) but they are hitting the pain, and a determined mindset! I am exercising but only for short periods and rest lots inbetween.

Penny too has found the heat a pain but has today had a drastically short haircut and now lookes very poodle like. I will pop a photo on later. The lady who grooms her does an excellent job and Penny thinks the world of her. Mr C did protest a bit about the pink ribbon she added though!

Today was the 4th anniversary of the 7/7 bombings - My thoughts and prayers go out to all affected by this.

Tonight I watched the Michael Jackson memorial service, it is still hard to believe he has gone, but his music will live on!

We have pears!!!

2009-06-29T10:47:00.004+01:00

We have had this pear tree for at least 8 years, no fruit until last year and then just 2 pears. This year looks promising though! I am keeping my fingers crossed!

It is another very hot day here and it looks like I am going to lose a few plants! Our clemetis looks very poorly despite extra watering. My main priority is keeping Penny cool, her coat needs trimming but the first available appointment is in a weeks time. If it gets too hot today I shall give her a bath. Luckily she enjoys baths!

I need to menu plan this week but know that salads will feature prominantly with tuna or cold meats and home made breads. I am still using up the approved foods stockpile, yesterday we had a barbecue (of chinese marinaded pork steaks, kebabs and spicy sausages) and added a dish of the mild curry savoury rice (5 for £1) and one of coriander and lime couscous (also 5 for £1) to the table. The rice is a tad salty but perhaps I am noticing this more now that I have cut down on our salt intake. The Couscous benefitted from a generous squeeze of lemon juice (another approved foods bargain - 9 for £1)) just before serving. I made a huge bowl of salad using some of our home grown baby salad leaves, there is loads left so thats my lunch sorted! Today is "No meat Monday" so hard boiled eggs tonight for the protein with masses of salad!

Spread a little kindness! Paying it forward

2009-06-23T20:58:00.005+01:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I collect meakin Poppy pottery! I loved it from afar back in the 70's but alas we had so few pennies that we had to settle for a catalogue special instead. Now with the advent of ebay, car boot sales and charity shops, I have been able to start a collection at last.

This week I managed to buy (or win) on ebay a set of the lugged soup bowls! The lovely seller on finding out (through my chatty e mails) that I have waited 30 years to get my poppy collection going, decided to deliver the bowls complete with a dinner set he had - as a gift! Wow! I am bowled over by such a kind act!

I am going to pass on the kindness though and take only what I need, the rest will go into our local cancer research charity shop. There are some wonderful folks out there, even in a recession!

Church Fete Bargains

2009-06-20T16:22:00.003+01:00

Just back from our Church Summer Fete and the rain held off until the end! we did well and I am so pleased as I collect the 1970's meakin poppy pottery and this little jug and sugar bowl were missing from my collection - only £1 for the 2! Back in the 70's I used to hanker after this set but we just could not afford it and made do with a cheap catalogue set of pottery to see us through. Now thanks to ebay, car boot sales and fetes I have a lovely collection of poppy pottery.

The damask tablecloth and napkin set were only £1 as well. Our favourite teapot broke this morning so this lovely large stainless steel pot at £1 was a timely find and it pours well (we have just tested it!). The paperbacks were 3 for £1 and the fab Readers Digest Complete Library of the Garden
set another £1. The cake was a lot more at £2.80 but very yummy and all in a good cause, I was secretly pleased that the 2 banana breads I had supplied had sold early on in the afternoon.

Great fun and caught up with a few friends that we hadn't seen for a while. I also have a huge evening primrose plant to go into the garden as soon as I can make a space! Don't you just love summer fetes?

My new favourite toy

2009-06-18T13:30:00.004+01:00

A citrus press! I found it in a charity shop for £4 and it is already earning its keep. We often get oranges in the organic box and this is such an easy and nice way to use them up.
I sometimes find a traditional juicer difficult to use as I get some weakness in my wrists but this is so easy!

I am sitting at the computer eating up leftover asparagus and mushroom risotto, yummy and comforting. I have all the signs of a relapse and still have a busy week ahead, so I am looking after myself and pacing like mad! Tonight our daughter has got us tickets to see a London show - Hairspray with Michael Ball before he leaves! She has booked us into the dress circle as there are no stairs to negotiate, thank goodness. I am just dreading the journey but will have Mr C to hold onto for support!

Tomorrow i go to our local MS support group and am going to try a massage to help with the leaden muscles, also hopefully oxygen if I am still shattered. Fingers crossed!

This Saturday is our Church summer fete and I must make a couple of cakes for that and of course attend so that I can check out the White elephant stall!

Blessings-things I am grateful for

2009-06-17T20:02:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I visited my friend L in hospital. 10 days ago she had major surgery - her 20th op in 10 years. It was a difficult surgery, quite experimental and as on the other occasions she said her goodbyes before hand. Yesterday she was out of ICU and sitting up in bed drinking the 2nd of 2 cups of tea! We are so relieved! Her recovery so far is truly a blessing for her family and friends.

I often find that I focus too much on the bad things so today I have been thinking about all the other blessings in my life:-

My faith - In the past I may have let go of God at times but he has never let go of me

My family - so loving and supportive

Penny - our loving cuddly funloving cockapoo dog

All my friends

My church and all my friends there

Good neighbours

Cats - I may be allergic to them now but still love them and often stop to chat to the neighbours moggys

A comfy, warm home

Running water - yes I have been on the wateraid site again!

Enough food to eat - Especially since I discovered "Approved food"and "Goodness direct"

My health - The fact that my ME is so much better and not getting worse

My doctor - a lovely supportive Christian dr

My local MS centre - they support folk with ME and other illnesses as well

My Garden - when all seems bleak just half and hour in the garden lifts me up

Birdsong

Risotto - I love this meal as it is so easy to eat and digest no matter how fatigued I am.

Books - and a husband that also loves books so doesn't complain abour the space they take up! A good book can take you away from all your troubles.

An empty ironing basket - just doing half an hour a day keeps me on top of it all

A library of films to watch - I wish more of them were on dvd but films on videos can be picked up at 25p each in our local charity shops. If you had told me 20 odd years ago that I would have more than 50 films on the shelves to watch whenever I wanted, I would not have believed it!

I know I could add more if I thought about it but I won't bore you! Have a little think about your own blessings, I can guarantee it will meke you feel good.

Another kind of scrapping - Giveaway 2

2009-06-15T10:59:00.007+01:00

I love to make cards and have dallied in scrapbooking but have collected too much! I can't move! lol! I have been sorting out my craft space and found these items surplus to my needs, hope someone can give them a home. Just leave a comment and Mr C will choose a name.

After a weekend of entertaining we are back to a storecupboard challenge again. I have 1/2 bottle of white wine to use up (we prefer to drink red) so I will make a rissoto tonight. I have just found a tin of asparagus spears (from an approved foods order) some mushrooms and some garlic from a value pack. We have some arborio rice and a small amount of parmesan cheese so we are good to go. I would normally add some bacon but have decided to join Sir Paul Macartneys "No Meat Mondays" (brilliant idea!) Pudding will be ice cream and a tin of strawberries from the back of the larder as the birds keep nabbing mine! Lunch is an egg and cress (grown on the window sill) bread roll.

We had some excitement today after Pennys walk. We got into the house to find a young starling sitting in the conservatory!!! No windows were open so it must have come out of the tiny gap above the fireplace in the living room. Penny was very good and stayed in her bed while I opened all the windows and doors. The bird was very calm so I guess had only just come through and was not in the least afraid of me. I lifted up the curtains and the teenage starling flew out through the front window to freedom. Phew!

To scrap or not to scrap? That's the question!

2009-06-14T13:12:00.002+01:00

Mr C would like to update his car. Fair enough he uses it for work and can claim some limited mileage on local journeys. Out of the county and the firm hire a car for him. We would normally look at another second hand car maybe 3 - 4 years younger. Now we have the added temptation of the governments scrappage deal. Not on Mr C's car as that isn't old enough! Oh no now he is looking at my beloved renault clio which is indeed old enough but has given no trouble apart from a flat battery. It is, according to the government old enough to scrap and be sent to the crusher! How sad is that! Glad we don't treat people like that (well we don't yet do we?)

Yesterday we took the clio out for a drive (looking at second hand caravans but that is another story). Even Mr C had to admit what a lovely little car the clio is, so I guess he is now having second thoughts as well, it is too good to scrap! Apparently on reading various articles online, it would seem that the government scrappage scheme isn't the gift it at first seems to be. The thought is that dealers/manufacturers have upped the prices on the new cars to cover the £1000 they would have to pay! Cunning and clever and not very helpful to us! A new car would lose value the minute we drove it off the forecourt. So back to the drawing board we go, maybe to do as we normally do and find a younger version of what we have and trade in Mr C's car instead. Oh and if possible will tow a nice cheap little second hand caravan so we can have some quality time together without endangering our mortgage payoffs!

Relearning the 3 R's mantra

2009-06-08T09:59:00.004+01:00

REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE all wonderful ways of saving money and we need to save the pennies right now! In October of this year we can make another 10% payment off the mortgage! So we have to find nearly £7000 added to the costs of a family wedding, which although it will be a joyous time, will undoubtedly cost a goodly amount.

We have some savings in ISA’s but don’t want to empty the pot completely, leaving the cupboard bare. We must find other ways. I haven’t returned to work, having found the stress making my symptoms worse each time I try. I don’t claim benefits of any kind, the stress of going through that experience would definitely have a negative effect on my health! Mr C earns a reasonable wage at the moment, we can pay our bills and save, we have no other debt than our mortgage but we must pay this down, we do not want to be saddled with this when Mr C retires. I must try to “earn” the extra needed by saving in other ways. If we spend less we gain more!

REDUCE – means we simply buy less! Foodwise I have always kept a good store cupboard and buy in bulk sometimes as I like to cook in bulk, freezing the extra meals down to cover those bad days when I have no energy to cook. Could I cut down here? I think wiser meal planning would help, smaller meal portions would help our figures (financial and otherwise)  Growing more of our food would cut costs, this year I hope to harvest runner beans, French beans, courgettes, lettuce, tomatoes, radish, potatoes, fruit, spinach, garlic, and later on, cabbage and Brussels.

Clothingwise, we are both hoping to lose some weight before the wedding. Our wardrobes are full – most of my clothes come from charity shops and I have shopped that way for many a year now! So nothing new until nearer the wedding and then I shall be looking at discounts, sales etc.

Holiday- we have had a week away in Wales, self catering and very cheap but fun and have booked to go away with friends (our best man and his wife) to stay in his brothers apartment in sunny Spain, so also very cheap. Our friends also need to cut back on spending so we will take it in turns to cook and treat ourselves to a meal out at the end of the week. Mr C deserves a holiday away as he works so hard during the year.

Garden – I have spent far too much in that area already (trying to get it looking nice before we have visitors) so will just look after it with time and effort now. I have lots of reusable pots and will swap cuttings etc with friends when gaps need filling.

REUSE – Instead of buying new I must ask myself if there is something at home that could be used instead. Aprils Use it up challenge taught me that a lot of so called “rubbish” can indeed be re-used and made into very useful items.

Years ago when I was young and keen to learn to sew, my Mum who couldn’t afford to buy me the material (which would possibly be wasted) asked around the family for old clothes that could be re-purposed. My Aunt Mary had some lovely old skirts from the 50’s very full so lots of material. Mum showed me how to take them apart, wash and press them and lay the pattern pieces (traced out from her copies of Burda magazine) and cut and sew some “new” dresses and all for the price of some cotton thread! I am going to do some more of this.

I may never throw an old pillow out again now I know how useful they are! Spare dogs beds, garden cushions, indoor cushions, stuffing for craft projects, kneelers for gardening etc.,

RECYCLE – Our local council have a very good collection service going so I do recycle a fair bit more than I did. All glass, tins, foil, plastic bottles, cardboard, paper get put out on collection day. Sometimes I can find a use at home for these items, glass jars for preserves, bottles for home made lemonade, plastic bottles for home made ginger beer (glass would be too dangerous – I well remember my Mums gingerbeer exploding in the larder).

Lots to think about and no matter how much we think we do now, there is always room for improvement and hopefully always more savings to be made.

1st Anniversary giveaway!

2009-06-06T10:37:00.006+01:00

Tis a whole year since this first post marked my beginners journey into blogland and "meeting" so many lovely friends so today I am going to offer the first of 4 giveaways to celebrate! Now that more parents are hosting home made childrens birthday parties, many mums are on the lookout for party menu ideas and this book is full of them. From a super pirate ship to a healthy looking sandwich house! Cake ideas include a stable, helicopter, engine, mushroom house, post box and record cake!

This book has been loved and used so apologies for the odd mark or two! My children are now grown up so hopefully this will be loved by someone else now. I shall also be rummaging through my fabrics for some more giveaways! Just leave a comment on todays post and Mr C will pull a name from the hat!

Best before but cheaper after!

2009-05-18T16:49:00.004+01:00

I recently made an order to Approved foods, a company which sells food approaching it's best before date. The saving can be incredible - all the above for £20 plus delivery of £5.25
I haven't found anything bad yet, the tins of oats (50p each) are just the right size for when I make up a batch of muesli, The dates (£2.50) are delicious and yes that is a box of 3kg (I am going to be busy baking for a while!) The most expensive things overall are the dental sticks for Penny as I order quite a few (60p for a packet of 3- I ordered 10) and break them into halves for her. The orange juice (3 bottles of £1) is lovely and we are fast using that up! Haven't tried the spicy tomato ketchup yet.

I know more and more folk are looking at buying this way, it is a cheap way to fill up the shelves, what do you think? Worth the savings or a step too far? It does of course keep the stuff out of the landfill!

Through the woods to the sea - blowing the cobwebs away!

2009-05-11T16:12:00.004+01:00

Just back from a week away in Wales and I feel so much better for it. We took some photos so you can join us on mine and Penny's favourite walk through the woods to the coast:-

Our favourite walk in Wales starts with the path that travels through the woods.

Past the bluebells - I love this time of year!

coming out of the woods now and towards the sea!

Nearly there!

we have to scramble over these rocks to get there, a bit tricky for Penny and I

Hooray the sea! It was a bit cold for a paddle!

Penny loved the sea!

Our reward after all that exercise was one of Thelmas lovely welsh cakes and a huge mug of tea at the cafe on top of the cliff! The sheep kept us company! The coastline in the distance is Somerset!

The cats turn

2009-05-01T00:11:00.003+01:00

I just love this! Reminds me of a couple of cats who used to own us! To make up for the dog poems this is one for all the owners of cats who own us!

CAT POET'S CORNER

Hamlet's Cat's Soliloquy
by William Shakespeare's Cat

To go outside, and there perchance to stay
Or to remain within: that is the question:
Whether 'tis better for a cat to suffer
The cuffs and buffets of inclement weather
That Nature rains on those who roam abroad,
Or take a nap upon a scrap of carpet,
And so by dozing melt the solid hours
That clog the clock's bright gears with sullen time
And stall the dinner bell.

To sit, to stare
Outdoors, and by a stare to seem to state
A wish to venture forth without delay,
Then when the portal's opened up, to stand
As if transfixed by doubt.

To prowl; to sleep;
To choose not knowing when we may once more
Our readmittance gain: aye, there's the hairball;
For if a paw were shaped to turn a knob,
Or work a lock or slip a window-catch,
And going out and coming in were made
As simple as the breaking of a bowl,
What cat would bear the household's petty plagues,
The cook's well-practiced kicks, the butler's broom,
The infant's careless pokes, the tickled ears,
The trampled tail, and all the daily shocks
That fur is heir to, when, of his own free will,
He might his exodus or entrance make
With a mere mitten?

Who would spaniels fear,
Or strays trespassing from a neighbor's yard,
But that the dread of our unheeded cries
And scratches at a barricaded door
No claw can open up, dispels our nerve
And makes us rather bear our humans' faults
Than run away to unguessed miseries?

Thus caution doth make house cats of us all;
And thus the bristling hair of resolution
Is softened up with the pale brush of thought,
And since our choices hinge on weighty things,
We pause upon the threshold of decision.

From the book: Poetry for Cats:
The Definitive Anthology of Distinguished Feline Verse
by Henry Beard

I may not be able to post for a few day as I am off to visit family. Hopefully when I do get back to you I can post about the super bargains I have found at welsh car boot sales and charity shops! We are also about to celebrate, today, 33 years of marriage!!!!!

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Blanket squares progress

2009-04-28T12:26:00.003+01:00

My ancient copy of Golden Hands Book of Knitting Patterns! I have always wanted to knit this up and 30 odd years later I have finally started :) I don't think I will bother with the pom poms though! Might be too tempting for Penny! Many of the other patterns look good as well.

I have just started square number 27!!!! Need another 133 at least so a long way to go but they are very easy, just garter stitch, 23 stitches in double knit on old size 6 needles. I don't need to concentrate on a pattern so can watch tv or take part in a conversation at the same time. The yarn is left over from making the fingerless mitts for my friends at the ms centre.

I have just got back from a brief shopping trip to our local co-op (part of my avoiding using the bigger supermarkets and supporting our local businesses, I also use the farm shop and market) While searching for ginger biscuits (to help fight the dizzyness and nausea) some youngsters from our local college came in, a merry group of kids but one lass called out in a loud voice to her friend "Choose whatever you want (very generous) don't worry about it I will put it on my card!" Isn't it worrying that card payments are not seen as real money?

Money spent today - stamps £5.60/ ginger biscuits, cake, crystalized ginger, dog chews and reduced cauli and broccoli £7.27

A funny for you!

2009-04-27T20:47:00.002+01:00

Yesterdays post was a little sad, so today I have posted a funny for you. It certainly cheered me up so if, like me, you have had both a cat and a dog in your home, you will appreciate just how true this could be! :)

EXCERPTS FROM THE DOG'S DAILY DIARY

8:00 am - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favourite!
9:30 am - Oh Boy! A car ride! My favourite!
9:40 am - Oh Boy! A walk! My favourite!
10:30 am - Oh Boy! A car ride! My favourite!
11:30 am - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favourite!
12:00 noon - Oh Boy! The kids! My favourite!
1:00 pm - Oh Boy! The yard! My favourite!
4:00 pm - Oh Boy! The kids! My favourite!
5:00 pm - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favourite!
5:30 pm - Oh Boy! Mom! My favourite!
6:00 pm - Oh Boy! Playing ball! My favourite!
6:30 pm - Oh Boy! Sleeping in master's bed! My favourite!

EXCERPTS FROM THE CAT'S DAILY DIARY:

Day 283 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.
Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Cretins!* There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.
Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now...

Effects of the credit crunch on pets.

2009-04-26T22:22:00.005+01:00

From the RSPCA website:-
Now we’re seeing the animal victims of the credit crunch. Abandonments are steadily increasing and RSPCA Animal Centres are bursting at the seams. The need is very real, and very urgent.

For me this poem says it all,

Do I Go Back Home Today?
By Sandi Thompson

When my family first brought me to live within their home. They cuddled and they pampered me and groomed with brush and comb.

They played with me and laughed with me and showered me with toys. I sure do love my family, and all the tiny girls and boys.

The children loved to feed me; and give me special treats. They even let me sleep with them - all cozy in their sheets

I used to go for lovely walks, often several times a day. They even fought to hold my lead, I'm so very proud to say!

These are the things I'll not forget - a cherished memory. for now I'm in a shelter, bereft of family.

They used to laugh and praise me when I played with that old shoe. But I didn't know the difference between the old one and the new

The kids and I would grab a rag, and for hours we played tug. So I thought I did the right thing when I chewed that bedroom rug.

They said that I had lost control and would have to live outside. I didn't really understand this, though I really, really tried!

The walks they stopped one by one; they said they had no time. I wish that I could change things; I wish I knew my crime.

My life became so lonely shackled to a metal chain. I barked and barked continually I thought I'd go insane.

So they took me to the shelter but were embarrassed to say why. So they said I'd caused an allergy, then said their last goodbye.

If only I'd had training, as a tiny little pup. I wouldn't have been so hard to live with, when I was all grown up.

You only have one day left", I heard the kennel man say. Does that mean I have a second chance? "Do I go back home today"?

It must be terrible to be suffering so badly during this credit crunch that you have to give up your family pet and I feel for those who truly have no choice. For us Penny is our family and there are many, many other things I would rather give up in order to keep her. She is our friend, affectionate companion, playmate, toddler, responsibility, get fit buddy, sympathetic listener, adoring fan, door greeter, muddypaw print supplier, stranger alert system, crumb cleaner system, lap warmer, foot warmer, shadow, alarm clock, reason to be home promptly etc., etc., We adore her too!

Today while walking Penny we met a very happy young staffordshire pup who had a great time playing with Penny, her owner said they had only recently rescued her from a shelter, what a wonderful 2nd chance they had given her. I am more determined now that if/when we get a 2nd dog it will be a rescue dog.

Use it up - Pillows to garden seat pads

2009-04-21T11:22:00.003+01:00

Cutting the pillows in two was not an easy job, there was so much stuffing in them!

Pinned and ready to sew

All the stuffing left over, plenty for the next project!

From my material stash! Bought many years ago, at a bargain price, in Cardiff, originally for bedcovers.

The almost finished result, Far from perfect, I could have placed the ties better and I will be stitching down the centres and adding some buttons. They are functional though and new ones would have cost at least £3 each, I found 4 in a charity shop for £6. I had almost everything in the house for converting the pillows into seat pads and only spent £2.70 for the tape to make the ties. So I saved £3.30 over the charity shop ones.
Use it up Challenge- Pillows to garden seat pads - £3.30

The magic porridge pot!

2009-04-14T18:03:00.004+01:00

Well almost magic! Another porridge pot used up and saved from landfill! We needed a doggy treats pot, to be kept ready by the door, so that we can get Penny into her bed when visitors arrive or if we go out. I can see a whole load of possible uses for any more pots that come my way!

I may not be blogging for a few days as I have yet more new medication to take which might make me a tad drowsy, hopefully it will sort out the dizzyness (labrynthitis). I still hope to get those garden seat cushions finished though which will have saved a couple of pillows from landfill!

Over the Easter weekend I read Dick Strawbridges book "It's not easy being green" and, before the book goes back to the library, am investigating the websites he recommends that sell green and ethical skincare products and cleaning products (although I do now use a fair bit of white vinegar and bicarb of soda!)

I have also started knitting 5" blanket squares, so I can use up all the yarn leftover from knitting all those fingerless mitts! 6 so far so a long, long way to go! :)

Use it up challenge savings - £1

First Bee!

2009-04-12T19:50:00.002+01:00

I hope you all had a Happy Easter! A quiet Easter day for us today, I have been having dizzy spells and didn't manage to get to church until the evening service, we were given a creme egg at the end of the service though! :) I am starting to feel a lot better now but have not ventured into the garden so the above photo is one I took earlier. It is the first bee I have seen in our garden and I was pleased to see it, hopefully there will be more around to help pollinate later on.

As chocolate is so bad for puppies, Penny has a huge rawhide chew to play with! Never have we seen her so content and quiet!

From porridge pot to button pot

2009-04-09T14:57:00.006+01:00

With the Use it up April challenge, I was very reluctant to throw away this container with its cheerful yellow lid.

After much pondering, this is what I did with it, using up some scrapbooking paper and embelishments that have been hanging around for far too long! I already have plans for the next pot (dog treats tin) and so I am itching to open another tin. The oats have come from www.approvedfood.co.uk an online company that sell food approaching (sometimes over) its best before date (not use by date so ok to eat) I found out about them on Moneysavingexpert (thank you folks!) These oats are best before september 2009 so perfect for our home made muesli! The organic cuppa soups are good as well.
I have spent £1 before now on a storage tin so that will be my saving today.
Use it up April Challenge savings - Porridge pot to button pot £1

Simple springtime pleasures

2009-04-07T18:24:00.004+01:00

What a lovely spring day it's been today! This primrose has given us such pleasure over the years, it must be about 10 years ago since Mr C bought it home and we planted it and it never lets us down, we know when this one flowers then the better weather is definately on its way! I have since weeded the grass from around it! :)

In the meantime I am catching up on the washing and ironing, I love to see clean washing line drying and to iron it on the same day seems to fill the room with the fresh air smell of spring. It doesn't take much to please me!

Tonight we are having a treat, 1 portion of fish and chips between the 2 of us, which is plenty but I fill the plates with veg as well. Then we plan on watching one of our charity shop videos. Entertainment for 25p!

Use it up April update

2009-04-06T08:24:00.011+01:00

Not a lot to report as we had family to stay over the weekend, which was wonderful. I did however discover that the potatoes in my sack from our local farmshop, were starting to sprout, so I set to and peeled my way through half of them, making sure there were absolutely no green bits left to upset anyones tummy, and cooked them up to make a mountain of mash potatoes! Enough for 4 meals in fact! 2 of which we have eaten, 1 for tonights meal and 1 for the freezer. I reckon that is at least £2 saved!

I have a couple of old pillows to do something with and am going to have a go at making 4 seat pads for our garden chairs. I have some old curtaining fabric to cover them with. It could take me a while to finish this project (alongside more fingerless mitts to knit) but I will post about this later.

Still saving up the loo roll inners for my runner beans!

Determined not to give easter eggs this year, as there is far too much unwarranted packaging, I have ordered some additive free freshly made fudge from a friend. The boxes are made from recyclable cardboard and are beautifully wrapped up ready to give, or can be posted direct for you. The fudge is delicious, very like my Mum used to make and comes in several different flavours. I found some chocolate in the cupboard, so may make up some little chocolate shapes as well.

Just adding a recipe for Lauradeanne for home made yogurt in a thermos
Home made yogurt (Shirley Goode recipe)
Ingredients:-
1 pint (570ml) milk
1 tablespoon dried milk powder
2 heaped teaspoons bought natural yogurt (I used Yeo Valley organic) remember to take it out of the fridge well in advance to take the chill off it.
Method:-
Heat the milk to boiling point and boil for 1 minute, remove from heat. Cool slightly and stir in the dried milk powder.
Cool to 100F very slightly above blood heat (blood heat is where it feels neither hot nor cold so just above that) Put the yogurt in a warm basin and add a little of the warm milk and blend together. Add the rest of the milk and stir well.
Pour into the thermos, cover and keep in a warm place (I left mine on the kitchen worktop) and leave for about 8 hours (overnight). Once the yogurt has set place into a bowl and keep in the fridge.
We like to serve ours with some home made fruit jam stirred in, turns into that fab pudding "Eton Mess" by adding a little crushed meringue (I make micro meringues if I have a spare egg white - great fun).
Cost to make 30p (max) for 1 pint natural yogurt using mostly organic ingredients.

Use it up savings - £2

Power cut silence

2009-04-04T08:59:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we had a power cut. We were warned it would happen (for essential maintenance in the area) so we had the chance to get up very early, get through the shower, warm up the house a bit by turning on the heating early for a short while, settling down with a hot drink, charging up the mobiles and toothbrush etc, etc.,

However when the power went off, what we surprisingly were not expecting was the silence, no radio, tv, the central heating pump was silent, even the builders working at the building site at the end of our garden, who have their own generator, were quiet, no electric needed for brick laying!

At first I felt terribly restless, even slightly panicked but we had wind up and battery radios, water, food (cold but edible) warm clothes, plenty of books to read. I soon started to realise just how lucky we are! Actually I felt more rested in the end, no constant bombardment of noise, wonderful!

Be warned though that the wireless phones didn't work, I had hoped they would hold their charge for a while but now realise they are totally useless without electric! Luckily we still have a couple of the old style cabled phones so I could phone the dentist.

We were out when the power came back on, J at the ms centre was celebrating her 70th landmark birthday and spoilt us all with a lovely spread, sandwiches, cakes, crisps and wine or juice. J told us that in her 70 years she had never had a birthday party and was going to make up for that now. Wish I had known earlier, she is a lovely lady and I could have baked her some cookies. I was kept busy helping out as much I could and the time soon rushed by as it always does when you are having fun.

It was then time to head home for a much needed rest, dinner was all sorted, leftover fish pie from the night before. I have had more requests for fingerless mittens! So I am still looking for bright and cheerful varigated dk wool but don't think I will manage to get down the town for a while, my legs are a tad lead like! I have enough wool to be getting on with anyway. I have saved a couple of loo roll inners from the landfill for the runner beans but that is all for now.

Tonight we have my son and future daughter-in-law staying and I am going to make them chicken everglades - chicken breasts wrapped in ham and cooked in a white wine, mushroom and garlic sauce. Fingers crossed it works!

Rescued apples

2009-04-02T19:59:00.005+01:00

Today I saved about 10 wrinkly apples from the bin! Carefully peeled and chopped and popped into my Mums old tower slowcooker, with water, brown sugar, sultanas and cinnamon added and left all day to cook. I now have 2 containers of spicy apple pie filling, not sure what that would cost to buy but the apples, being organic were around £2.40 and pie filling is not cheap, so I will count that as my saving - in the bad old days they would have been thrown!

As you can see the developers house building is sadly going ahead. Look how close to the neighbours fence the building is! Also how tiny the garden is! The leaves on the left hand side of the photo are from the tree at the bottom of their garden/my fence! I would want a lot more garden if I had half a million to spend.
Use it up challenge savings - £2.40

Sheets to dusters

2009-04-01T12:08:00.002+01:00

Well one sheet anyway! An old single size fitted sheet. We no longer have a single bed in the house and anyway this sheet was well and truly past it, so no good for the charity shop. In fact I had put it into a bin, then thought "Noooo!" and hauled it out, cut off all the elastic (which unfortunately was in a state otherwise I would have used it in the garden) and then I cut squares and rectangles out of all the respectable jersey fabric to make 6 dusters (perfect for when I use the beeswax polish on our old second hand teak coffee table, then I had one large piece left which will make a small dust cover for when we next decorate.

I can't remember what the sheet cost originally (probably £4) but 6 dusters would probably cost about £2 so I shall count that as my savings.
Use it up challenge savings - £2

Use it up Challenge for April

2009-03-31T10:53:00.003+01:00

Now I know you can buy frozen peppers fairly cheaply, but this one was an organic pepper, left over and forgotten about, languishing at the back of the fridge. I almost threw it away as it was starting to get soft but thought better of it, chopped it up and popped it into the freezer. It will a great little extra for adding to a quiche or a stew later on. A whole organic pepper would cost about 70p so half an organic pepper must have saved 35p being thrown into the bin!

It got me thinking about all the "stuff" we just take for granted and throw into the bin and add to our over full landfills. I don't know about you but I am feeling very ashamed of all I have thrown out in the past. We have been so very lucky in this country but we cannot afford to take that for granted.

So to get me into a new and more thankful state of mind, I am starting a "Use it Up challenge" for April and am going to list (and hopefully post photos)of all the "stuff" I will save from landfill. Anyone want to join me? Just post a comment about what you are doing or blog about it if you have a blog. I know a lot of you are already doing this but together we can start to make changes and maybe raise awareness.
Use it up savings - 35p

2009-03-30T18:56:00.002+01:00

Hello! I'm still here, just getting used to the new prescription. All is ok, in fact better than I have been for a long while! I do hope I never have to take beta blockers again though! I managed just over a week and had to come off them as I felt so ill!

In the meantime, in order to keep focused, I have been knitting more of Elizabeths pattern for fingerless gloves. I took a pair into the MS centre for a friend, she suffers pain in her hands and warmth helps to relieve the pain, as a result I am now on my 10th set! lol! All I ask is a donation to the MS charity. It is doing me good too as I feel I'm helping, all be it in a small way, and it keeps me occupied and less likely to get worried and stressed. Above are a few of the sets that now have new homes. I am trying to find some bright and funky wool for the next set.

Penny has been great company, hardly leaving my side during the day and very cuddly. I am managing small walks with her again and Mr C gives her longer walks when he is home.

Today I managed to clean the bathroom thoroughly and also the kitchen, so I have achieved something. The rest of the house will have to wait, small cleaning sessions work best. Dinner is slow cooked beef stew, mash potatoes and runner beans (from last years crop) followed by apple crumble (using a healthier whole meal flour and oats topping) and soya ice cream - yum! Then I will be back off to bed to knit and rest some more!

Thank you for your messages, it was very kind of you and I promise to catch up on your blogs very soon. Hope you are all keeping well

Catz x

A haircut, a rest and wateraid

2009-03-05T12:25:00.003Z

Finally we got Penny to the groomers, now she looks a bit like a lamb!lol! but is a lot easier to look after and no more tangles!

I've been resting up again and adjusting to a different medication so life has been a tad quiet around here. One constant source of amusement is daytime tv and while flicking through the many channels available these days, I caught a couple of programmes on wateraid projects. Now here in the UK we have for most of the year anyway, a ready and available supply of water, we often take it for granted and that is to our shame! I am becoming more aware and have a bucket in the shower and for placing under the dripping bath tap (a bucketful will do as one flush) the tap is due to be fixed soon. I decided I needed to know more and clicked on the Wateraid site to find out all I could. I soon found this page and with Mothering sunday on the 22nd March this year, and although My Mum passed on 14 years ago (round about Mothers day) I decided to order 2 taps in memory of her, After a childhood of depending on a well in the garden and many years of living abroad with sometimes limited supplies of water, I think My Mum would have appreciated this. Please check it out, there are lots of gift ideas there and World Water Day 2009 is on Mothering Sunday.

World Water Day 2009 22 March 2009
World Water Day is a global day to highlight the importance of clean, safe drinking water, and highlight the fact that almost a billion people worldwide do not have access to it. WaterAid supporters mark the day with a series of events up and down the country. Why not contact your nearest WaterAid group to find out what they've got planned? Find out more at www.wateraid.org/wwd

Water butt progress!

2009-02-18T12:49:00.008Z

A sea of mud but at least the sheds are now where they are meant to be, as is the greenhouse!
The veg beds need feeding with compost and edging, the paths need sorting out. I think what we need most of all is a drop of sunshine! Our garden, although long is also very narrow at the end. Our new fencing is on the left hand side, our neighbour will be replacing the right hand side with similar fencing soon, which is good but will make the garden look even narrower. At least we can't yet see the building works at the end of the back fence, that could all change by the end of the week!

For any water butt geeks out there (I blame Gavin's posts for encouraging my water butt geekiness! lol)The larger water butt is linked up to guttering on one side of the larger shed and all of the small shed at the back. The smaller water butt (at the front)is linked up to guttering on one side of the bigger shed.

Birds of a feather

2009-02-17T18:59:00.002Z

How pleased I am that these trees were saved from the developers and their building plans! I think the pigeons are happy too! A good tree comes in pretty handy on a soggy day. This was taken a couple of days ago and the builders are now back, the brick level is going up and soon the walls will be visable above our fence :(

Now our sheds are moved to the bottom of the garden, with the water butts connected, I don't mind so much, yet! I have the vegetables and fruit planting to plan. Today I found fruit bushes in Aldi and have bought 3 gooseberry, 5 blackcurrant, 5 raspberry and 2 tayberry bushes. That should fill up some of the spaces. I must get my seed potatoes soon and begin chitting them in empty egg cases in the shed. First I need some more compost delivered, to dig in to get the soil ready. So much to do and I need to slow down and pace again, so the knitting is out as I have had a couple of requests for some fingerless gloves from my friends at the ms centre.

Valentines Day Cookies

2009-02-13T09:04:00.008Z

I've had some fun, I've made a mess! lol! and then I took these cookies out to share with my friends at the ms centre. Fun all round and less calories for us! I did make a couple for Mr C though!

Lemon Kisses
ingredients:-
4 oz (100g) butter or margarine
3oz (75g) caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp lemon juice
8 oz (200g) plain flour
method:-
Cream the butter and sugar.
Beat in the egg with the lemon juice.
Fold in the flour and form into a soft dough.
Roll out the dough on a floured board and cut into shapes.
Bake for 10 - 15 minutes at 375F/190C/Gas mark 5
Leave until cool and then ice and decorate. We make a glace icing using lemon juice instead of water and it is delicious!

Off now for a proud mummy moment - my son is going to be on tv!!!! mind you it is about football lol! Tomorrow I am going out with my future daughter in law (I love saying that) and my daughter to look at wedding dresses! Very exciting!

We have water butts!

2009-02-11T12:29:00.002Z

Yes they have yet to be connected, although I think the recent deluge would have overwhelmed them! That reminds me I must check the state of the existing water butt near the house!

I am so pleased to have these water butts, once they are connected to the recently moved sheds at the far end of the garden, watering the new veg patch will be much easier.

A recent photo of the state of play at the bottom of the garden! I know it doesn't look pretty at the moment (at least we can see it now the snow and puddles have receded!) but the sheds are now in their permanent position on hard standing bases, the new fencing is finished, the rotovating will be finished today and soon the greenhouse will be moved onto it's new base behind the old summerhouse. One bonus with having a sort out, we found an old window down there and, with some old breeze blocks, will hopefully make a cold frame with it.

I went to a "potato day" with a friend at our local garden centre but there was nobody about, no talks, just one leaflet and lots of bags of seed potatoes! :( Never mind I have my gardening books, the internet and determination - I will have lots of home grown potatoes this year! Now what else can I grow down there?

Thank you Elizabeth!

2009-02-10T13:17:00.007Z

The news from Victoria, Australia is horrific, so many fires and so many lives! To hear that arson is the probable cause only adds to the horror, that someone could do that deliberately! My prayers go out to all affected by the tragedy. For once the recession/global credit crunch can take a back seat.

I woke with a heavy heart today and decided to take Penny for a walk, no matter how cold and wet the weather, just to get some air and sort out my thoughts. We didn't stay out for long though, it is very, very cold again.

We just beat the postman and guess what, he had a parcel for us, from Elizabeth! I had won the Cranks recipe book in her giveaway! Thank you so much, it is a lovely book and I have already seen a few recipes I can't wait to try out. I don't have to feel guilty about making them either as they seem quite healthy! I will try them out on my friends at the ms centre.

The card is lovely Elizabeth and an extra surprise, one of your super knitted dishcloths!
It was beautifully wrapped and I'm saving the beautiful ribbon in my scrapbooking draw!

Thank you Elizabeth for cheering me up!

Snowy weather!

2009-02-02T07:33:00.004Z

The garden looked so peacefully pretty

until Penny the cockapoo discovered that a snowy garden makes a pretty good racetrack!

The snow is still falling here and it's very cold, well it is for us softie southeners! :)

What amazes me is how badly we are all affected by it. Goodness alone knows what folk in Canada think of all this! Bus services suspended in the city, most underground train services also suspended. A lot of folk will not be making it into work today, I don't blame them but this is could be the last straw for some firms, just what the economy needs.

After attempting to walk Penny round the block and then drying her off, I shall be staying inside with lots of hot tea to drink and getting on with some bulk cooking for the freezer.
I went over my budget last month but only because I failed to cancel the 2nd organic delivery, so the total spend was £61 (target was £50) without that delivery it would have been £48.

Resting up but happy!

2009-01-30T17:17:00.003Z

I am stuck upstairs resting up, yep overdid it again! Today I was reminded of how far I have come, at the ms/oxygen centre I visit, I met a couple, the husband has M.E/cfs and quite badly I think, how lucky I am to have recovered as well as I have. 3 years ago I too could hardly walk and brainfog was so bad I could hardly function either. Yes today I overdid it and was reminded that the journey is not over yet but I am not depressed! All I can hear through the windows is the lovely sound of a rotivator ploughing through a large chunk of our garden. Our vegetable garden is on its way! Yippee!!!!Four beds with a grass path, for easy access, left for now in the shape of a cross.

The sheds have been moved to their new home (on hard standing) at the end of our garden and partly screening the building works in the next garden, that I am afraid has begun again. The guttering on the sheds is in place, tomorrow we get our water butts to link up to the guttering. You see, I am greening up in the garden! I have some old gardening magazines to look at, seed catalogues to drool over and all is right in my world!

Friends and old fashioned sunday tea

2009-01-25T21:19:00.002Z

Today has been about friends, seeing friends at church, visiting my friend who has been very poorly for many years now and being visited by very old (not in age) friends, our best man and his wife. With some friends we are very lucky in that we can pick up where we left off, even if we haven't seen each other for a long time and today the years rolled back and all our grown up children became little ones again (in our minds eye anyway)

We chatted about previous recessions and how we got through them, without all the panic being caused by the media, which only adds to the stress! We coped with all the problems then, the insecurity, watching friends suffer negative equity, living on very, very tight budgets. Our children were small then but we coped. Our horizons were smaller perhaps, a holiday abroad was very rare, in our case we didn't go abroad until 1994. We went on camping holidays, self catered, took the cricket set and encouraged the children to make friends. Day trips meant picnics and rounders, which were great fun. Birthday parties were of the old fashioned sort, a birthday tea and party games. My house was often full of neighbours children as well as our own, they were allowed to make a mess at our house, we baked and iced cookies, played with home made play dough, and painted using potatoes. Many of my friends knitted for their children or like me sewed their little play trousers and party dresses.

Today we reinstated one favourite tradition - sunday tea, with sandwiches cut into triangles, sausage rolls, quiche, salad, crisps, hot buttered crumpets and jam, and a cake on Grandmas old china cake stand, all served with lashings of tea. So much cheaper to do than a dinner party and just as much fun. This is one tradition I am going to keep up with.

Now we own two thirds of our home!

2009-01-23T19:29:00.004Z

Well we did it! After checking how little in interest we were getting on our savings, we decided to pay the next 10% (maximum allowed in 1 year) off the mortgage. We are stuck on a highish 6.4% rate for the next couple of years and on asking if we could transfer, to a lower rate, found that such a high penalty would be charged, along with transfer fees, that it simply wasn't worth bothering with! It would have cost us more! By paying 10% we will be saving about £300 a year when set against the tiny amount of interest gained in the savings account. We have some emergency money but the cupboard feels awfully bare now! Still it is the reason we are going without in other ways, we always knew the savings would have to pay down the mortgage, ever since the endowment dipped so dramatically.

The good news is we now own two thirds of our home!

The belt tightening goes on, we need to replenish the savings until the next payment can be made and every penny is now being well and truly pinched (not the cockapoo though, she is well and truly cuddled! :). Home made soup every day and home made bread to go with it and we found our way back to our local library today, so tonight I will settle down with:- "The Cranks Bible" by Nadine Abensur (so I can find more recipes for those lentils!, "Stitch and Bitch Nation" by Debbie Stoller (I nearly bought this before Christmas but behaved and it paid off) and "The Handmade Candle" by Alison jenkins (just because I love candles!)

Road trip

2009-01-21T07:45:00.003Z

We went on a road trip at the weekend. It doesn't happen often but I don't get to visit my big sister often and miss her very much, especially since Mum died. Not only do I love her but She is my link to the past, shared memories and also a source of information as she can remember more than me and is the holder of family stories.

My sister lives in a beautiful place along the coastline from the Gower penisular in Wales, well worth a visit to blow away the cobwebs! I have put up a couple of photos of the views she can take in just by walking a short distance along her road! The other photo is of Lizzie, her beautiful tabby cat. 16 years ago Lizzie was one of 5 kittens born to Daisy, my beautiful tortie girl. We kept her sister Holly, a tortie kitten, she lived for 15 happy years but Lizzie is still going strong, although she now has meds for high blood pressure.

I am very lucky as my sister is on the same wavelength. I took her a sack of locally grown potatoes, a jar of home made mincemeat, a carrier bag of bramley apples and some jonagold eating apples. She not only supplied a lovely roast dinner for us but sent us back with several home made preserves and a box of card making supplies. It is so good to have a member of the family understand where you are coming from!

A day of hope

2009-01-20T22:14:00.002Z

He may not be our President, he may be many, many miles away on the other side of the pond but today while watching the inauguration of the new President of America on our tv, I saw plenty of hope reflected on the faces of many. This man really does seem to have his finger on the pulse, his speech was wonderful, we celebrated with Jambalaya and a £1 Asda special strawberry cheesecake. So now I just want to know one thing, why can't we in the UK have our own Obama? We do so need one, someone that can stir us up, give us courage and make us feel we can all dig ourselves out of this mess. Instead we have Gordon Clown and one heck of a lot of worry on this side of the pond!

De-clutter bug

2009-01-16T21:16:00.005Z

I've got the de-clutter bug and it hurts! I ache all over but am pressing on, pacing as I go but I now have a clear and tidier larder, I have been brave and am showing you photos (believe me it was a lot worse than it is now) I can find things now! :) also de cluttered the dresser, chest of drawers x 2, bedside draws x 2 and am still raring to go!

The thought ocurred to me that if I didn't get it sorted and anything happens to Mr C and I, then it would be our grown up children who would have to sort it all out and that just wouldn't be fair. It is very much a work in progress but it is keeping me occupied and away from the shops spending money I cannot afford. The charity shops are going to do well too! It is also keeping me away from the tv and all the depressing news.

I am finding treasures as I go, drawings made by the kids when they were little and now destined for the scapbooking file, a clay heart with "I love you Mummy" imprinted on it, first pairs of shoes, all now sorted where I can find them. I have also found a plentiful supply of "free samples" of hand cream, shower gels, hair conditioners and so now have a pamper box packed up and ready to cheer Miss C and I up.

I have spent no more on food and we are coping well, yesterday we ate cereal and soya milk for breakfast, homemade vegetable soup for lunch with home made olive bread followed by clementines and easy slow cooker lentil curry and rice for dinner (plenty left and in the freezer for another day). Today we had eggs for breakfast,(plenty in from organic box delivery) cheese, biscuits and apples for lunch and turkey a la king (from the freezer) with rice for dinner.
The lentil curry is very mild and fruity and of its era 1960's. It was very nice and tasty but if like us you prefer something spicier then add more curry. I might try curry paste next time.

Lentil curry
(mild and fruity)
from "Kitchen in the Hills" by Elizabeth West

8oz red lentils (rinsed and soaked for 1 hour)
3 onions - chopped
1 clove garlic - crushed
oil
1 dessertspoon of curry powder
1 pint water
3 apples - peeled and chopped
1 dessertspoon sultanas
1 dessertspoon chutney
1 - 2 bananas - sliced

Heat the oil in a pan and lightly fry the chopped onions, chopped apples and garlic unti soft. Add the curry powder and stir well. Add the lentils and the pint of water and bring up to a steady simmer. Transfer to the slow cooker, adding the sultanas and the chutney. Leave to cook and 15 minutes before serving add the sliced banana. Makes about 6 portions

Free Meals! well almost!

2009-01-11T21:00:00.007Z

A couple of days ago I made a "leftovers" frittata using cooked sliced sausages, mushrooms that were fading rapidly, onions (similarily wilting) and some eggs that were periously close to their use by date. Cooked in my smaller frying pan I managed to use the Remoska lid to set the top. Served up with a winter salad made from grated carrots, beetroot, red onion slices, tomatoes and cucumber - all that needed using up, with lemon juice squeezed over the top, it was a surprisingly good and cheap meal.

I am so very pleased I visited Shirley Goodes blog last year! She advised freezing down some of the Christmas meat for easy dinners later on. I got carried away and froze stuffing, sausages, yorksire pud, parsnips, spuds, veg and even gravy! Today, still not feeling too well, all I had to do was look in the freezer and get the food out to defrost. A few hours later we sat down to a lovely roast beef sunday dinner. I am now freezing everything I can rather than waste it. Trouble is I may never get the freezers empty enough to defrost! :) Even the smallest of bread crusts goes in.

Belt tightening!

2009-01-10T09:25:00.003Z

I am back after the dreaded lurgy got me! I guess it was my turn, after all the rest of the family had been through it. I am just thankful it waited until after Christmas and New year before it pounced on me! Not a lot has been done but I have had time to think and make some plans.

We are tied into a fixed rate mortgage for a hefty 6.4% it seemed a good idea back in 2007, before the credit crunch/recession happened. We knew trouble was coming and prepared in the best way we could, after all back in the 90's recession interest rates soared to about 15%. We hoped a fixed rate of 6.4% would protect us from that for a while. Things seem to be quite different this time though and unfortunately any savings we have are now no longer earning their keep. It is time to visit our building society for some advice.

We have also tightened our belts (and budget) and have started to keep a record of any spends, I know that this is basic and very good advice when you first start to change your moneyspending ways, but the areas that need particular monitoring (for us) are house maintainance, entertainment and pocket money. It is incredible how much money can leak away in these areas! We are now plugging the gap! Also having a well stocked medicine cabinet, perhaps by buying a few bits each trip to the shops, would have saved us some panic buys while we all battled the lurgy!

Mr C has finally cancelled his gym membership, saving £50 a month, long walks with Penny and an exercise bike at home will suffice for both of us.

The food budget is incredibly tight this month £50 but I think I will go over slightly as despite (like most folk) having a fair bit of Christmas food left over, there have been some very good buys at Sainsburys and our farm shop which couldn't be missed.

2 x 4 tins of tuna in spring water @£2.69 £5.38
2 large (4pts) organic semi skim milk (normally £1.78 for 1) £3.00
(most is now in freezer for rest of month)
large sack of potatoes £6.00
2 pkts of birds eye fish fingers (ultimate comfort food)@89p £1.78

With a couple of earlier shopping expeditions for milk, eggs and bread (which I must start to bake again as soon as I feel better) bargain reduced braising steak, and a organic box delivery, my total is now £41.28 and it is only the 10th of the month! On the plus side I am using every leftover piece of food I can (lots of home made soups) and we have enough food stored in the freezer for 3 stew and dumpling meals (lovely on the really cold days) 3 turkey a la king meals, many meals of chilli con soya mince, 1 pork joint to roast (3 meals?) plenty of smoked haddock for kedgaree, 6fish finger meals, at least 4 roast dinners from the Christmas meat I've frozen, and whatever else lurks at the bottom of the freezer. There are also plenty of vegetables and fruit from the garden and organic boxes tucked away in the freezer so we should get our 5 a day!

It would be all to easy to watch the news, read the papers and panic but that is not the way to get out of this situation. I love the old WW11 saying "Keep Calm and Carry On!" That together with "Be the Change you want to see in this World" (Ghandi) are fast becoming my mantras these days.

Slowly changing!

2009-01-02T18:58:00.002Z

It's the 2nd day of a new year and progress has been a tad slow here at catzscorner! Still going forward slowly is better than staying still and making no progress at all! We have had 2 No Spend Days in a row! Hurray! We will be running out of milk soon so that won't last :)

I managed a healthy breakfast of yogurt and hm muesli with dried cranberries and it was delicious and lasted me until lunch.

Lunch was a couple of freshly baked rolls with some leftover cheese and tomato (it needed using up)

Dinner tonight was my friends recipe - chilli tuna with wholemeal pasta, fairly healthy, cheap, filling and made enough to be able to freeze away a couple of "ready meals" in the freezer for later.

Although we are eating up the fruit for snacks, I also remembered to take my vitamins and suppliments, to pick me up until I get this diet under control! I am having to remind myself to drink more water instead of putting the kettle on for tea (a weakness here I am afraid) but I have the sweetie urge under control - 1 treat a day while we have so many lovely treats around, so todays treat was half a slice each of my christmas cake, which had worked out well, the royal icing had stayed soft with the adding of some gycerine to the icing mixture. I shall slice up and freeze away most of the cake, ready for packed lunches. Unopened packs of nuts, crisps and crackers that have a long use by date have been put into my store cupboard, ready for any entertaining and a family barbecue later in the year.

Today we sorted out the recycling ready for collection day next week, it certainly keeps the dustbin fairly empty! I emptied the families selection boxes and boxes of chocolates in order to get the cardboard into the recycling bag. After seeing how much plastic was in the packaging, I will not be buying those packs again! The greening up of my family is going to take a bit of time but I am working on it! We then packed away a fair amount of the decorations. Just the tree left now (my favourite decoration)and that will come down on 12th night and be packed up in the loft ready for next year.

Helping out at our local hospice charity shop warehouse looks like a definate possibility! So that should be another achievement reached soon. I have still to work on the budget though! I was always bad at maths!:(

Daughters pain is under control now and she should be back at work on Monday! Only 10 days to go to extraction day! Thank goodness for anti biotics!

My 10 New Year Resolutions

2008-12-31T11:51:00.024Z

It is that time of the year, a time of reviewing the last year, all the good and the mistakes and thinking of ways I could have done better. Having read Gavins recent post I feel an urgent need for the emphasis on greener ways of living our life here at Catzscorner.

1) Most important to me now is my faith. An important part of respecting myself is to respect my beliefs and I know that I must put God first, no more half hearted attendance at our local church, my faith is strong but my commitment has been weak. I can use my illness and often do when energy is low, to excuse myself, but for me it is not enough, I need the company of others.

2) Looking after myself so that I am well enough to look after others. I must lose some weight and get fitter. I know not to "boom and bust" so will pace but "up the anti" and increase slowly the distance I cover when out for walks. I will improve my diet - out will go overly sugary/salty/fatty foods and in will come more fresh produce and more pulses/protein etc., Most of all I will look after my inner child and remember to have some fun along the way!

3) Reduce, reuse and recycle - We already recycle a fair bit as our local council is pretty well organised on this topic with regular collections of paper, cardboard, glass, tins, plastic and compostable materials. The rest I must educate myself in, we use the string from the organic box deliveries in the garden and for parcels, jam jars are re used for home made preserves but I can do more. I can stop buying books and magazines (new ones anyway) I can reduce the amount of plastic coming into the house, if I need food containers use pyrex.

4) Seriously de-clutter the house, using some wonderful advice from the lovely frugal trenches, I shall get this under control this year, I could either sell on ebay, amazon or send to the charity shops all the things I no longer have a use for.

5) Get the bottom of the garden sorted out and put in those veg beds and some fruit bushes. The vegetables I did grow were a great start this year - courgettes, potatoes, herbs, tomatoes, runner beans and spinach, which helped reduce our food spend and enabled me to reduce our veg box order from weekly to fortnightly.

6) Plan and stick to a tighter budget, as it will be the only way to gain the money for our 10% overpay on the mortgage next year. We need to see where the money is going and to plug any holes.

7) To stop any unnecessary shopping - it is not a healthy past time now and never was! So no more magazines, new books, sweeties (we all have sweet teeth here). I have already reduced clothing shopping as I need to lose weight (for the wedding) and so will buy what I need from the charity shops.

8) Reduce our fuel usage, we already have a £90 credit on our gas and electric bill, so our cutting back has made a difference already! Cutting back on my car usage will be the next step! When I was working I could justify this, when I was newly ill with cfs and couldn't walk very far without a stick, I could justify this! but now I will use my, car boot sale bargain, shopping trolley to get to our local Aldi for the bits we need. The shopping trolley even has a built in fold down seat, just the thing if I start to tire before I can get home! :-) Maybe if we have a good bus service (something else to look into) I can get rid of the car!

9) Volunteer - even if just once a week, I have been asked if I would like to help our local hospice by doing a shift of sorting goods at the warehouse. Sounds like a good use of time if my energy allows. I would also like to try some fundraising of some sort, for a couple of my favourite charities, most charities are going to suffer a loss of sponsorship in this economic climate and as a result will struggle. I can't fill the void made by that but they say every little helps!

10) Me time! Mum used to remind me to make time for me, even if only 1 hour a day for a hobby of some sort. Time to get the sewing machine back out!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Wishing you peace, health and happiness

Turkey a la King recipe

2008-12-30T11:35:00.004Z

For the last 30 odd years, this is one of the regular ways we have used up the leftover Christmas turkey! If I have enough turkey I make double the quantity and freeze some away for a later treat. It is Mr C's fav after Christmas meal and I would be in a ton of trouble if I didn't have a good excuse for not making it! Seriously it is yummy, can be made with chicken instead and we use both paprika and nutmeg together. Anyway as requested here is the recipe taken from my very old Good Housekeeping Book - a brilliant cookbook I would be lost without!

Turkey a la King

50g/2oz butter
100g/4oz sliced mushrooms
½ green pepper, chopped
40g/1 ½ oz flour
400ml/ ¾ pint milk or milk and chicken stock mixed together
225 -350g/8 – 12oz diced cooked turkey
Salt and pepper
Paprika or ground nutmeg
15-30ml (1 – 2 tablespoons) sherry (optional)

Melt the butter and fry the mushrooms and pepper until soft.

Stir in the flour, cook for 2 – 3 minutes, remove from the heat and stir in the milk/stock gradually.

Bring the sauce to the boil and continue to stir until it thickens.

Add the turkey and season to taste.

Add the sherry if using.

Serve with boiled rice or noodles.

I have managed to freeze this but stir while de-frosting to stop it splitting.

Our daughter is starting to feel a bit better now, the pain is still there but easier to deal with. Thank goodness for anti-biotics. She has also managed to get some yogurt down her to conteract the ab's side effects. She is still very drained and weak so it will be a quiet New Year around here. We still have so much to be thankful for though. The news is appalling isn't it? All those deaths over the Gaza strip. I pray for peace and would encourage everyone to do the same, if prayer is not your thing then positive thinking as I truly believe in the power of positive thoughts.

Return of the Christmas Curse!

2008-12-29T17:08:00.004Z

Sorry folks but it has struck us again! This time last year our daughter suffered a huge hemiplegic migraine attack and the start of a very worrying period for us all, while she had appointments and an MRI scan to check that nothing more sinister was going on. On previous Christmas's she has had mumps (at the age of 21 when it was doing the rounds of the universities in the uk, heartbreaks, horrible colds etc etc., This year found us dashing to the emergency department of our local hospital after a niggling toothache developed very quickly into something far worse! Poor girl has a very bad dental abcess. Even after a day on very strong anti-biotics prescribed by the emergency doctor, she still started to run a very high fever and was very sick.

Yesterday was spent bathing her with cold flannels (my Mum was a nurse and taught me how to do this to bring down a temperature safely) and trying to get painkillers and anti-biotics to stay down. Today, with her temperature down, we got her to the dentist, who confirmed the diagnosis and gave her stronger painkillers so that she can get some much needed sleep at last. The anti-biotics are kicking in, she is still in pain but the swelling is coming down and she has managed some of my home made cream of turkey soup (and kept it down). She is asleep now thank goodness. In 2 weeks time, after the anti-biotics have reduced the size of the abcess, she will have to go back to have the tooth extracted as it has already been root canal filled and crowned, unfortunately the infection is too severe for the tooth to be saved.

Thank you so much for the good wishes for her, it helped to see your posts when I took a break from nursing her. Today has been a quiet day with all of us recovering, I have caught up with some ironing (while watching Jane Austins "Emma" on tv) and made some soup and have turkey a la king to make up for Mr C (his favourite meal) Mr C bought some yogurts for our daughter, as she needs soft food
for a while (does that expense count as medical?) Mr C has just said that he will cover it, along with a magazine he bought her, so that my limited budget survives a bit longer. :)

Dents in the allowance already!

2008-12-27T17:34:00.004Z

Day 2 of my using it up/store cupboard challenge and I have spent some of my £50 allowance already. I intended to stay away from the shops but my daughter has, over the Christmas period, developed raging toothache, so with a long wait until we can get any medical help, we visited Sainsburys as they have a pharmacist, on her advice we now have some more effective painkillers and some oil of cloves to take the edge off the pain. I suspect she has an abcess though, as nothing is really touching it, so we will be off to the hospital later for a late appointment having phoned the emergency number for help. Isn't it just typical that something like this happens over the holidays? Poor girl hasn't been in this much pain since having mumps while at uni! Can you get Mumps again?

While at Sainsburys I hurridly grabbed some meat bargains, not what I expected, all the turkeys had gone but 4 packs of lean braising/casserole steak, reduced to half price so £6.46 instead of £13 and this will make up casseroles for 8 meals by my reckoning, 6 if our daughter joins us.

Earlier today for lunch, we had more of the cheese selection we were given as a gift, with salad, crackers and fruit. This evening we will be having some of the saved beef slices in gravy with roast potatoes and parsnips, steamed carrots and broccoli and yorkshire pudding in the remoska, followed by leftover Christmas pudding and brandy butter. All from stores. Daughter will be having soft food in the form of mash, gravy and some vegetables. Fingers crossed she gets some anti biotics soon!

Total spend so far £6.46
Money left for storecupboard challenge £43.54

Christmas leftovers

2008-12-26T22:50:00.007Z

Sorry I have been missing for a while but our main computer has been playing up! So it's back to the laptop and very little choice of photos for now! Hopefully we can get it fixed soon.

Hope you all had a lovely and peaceful Christmas, we certainly did. I actually got to Midnight Mass this year and then to the Christmas day morning service with my daughter. It was lovely and a welcome salve to the craziness of the shopping centres, which I avoided as much as I could this time around. Despite making a fair bit at home (mincemeat, puddings, cake, cookies and sweets) we still bought in far too much food, although less than in other years, but I have a plan for using it all up over the next month! I am going to do another month on a £50 food shopping challenge and make the Christmas leftovers and what is in store feed us until next payday.

I have made a good start, for brunch we had boxing day frittata - gently fried chopped onion, garlic and chilli in olive oil until soft, add sliced leftover cooked sausages and bacon (pigs in blankets) cooked turkey, stuffing, cranberries, roast potato and parsnip. When all is warmed through and sizzling hot pour over 4 beaten eggs. Cook until set. We used the remoska lid over the frying pan to help set the top as our frying pan has the wrong kind of handle for putting under the grill. This fed 3 of us nicely. For tea we had some of our cheese supply (a welcome present) with home made cheese biscuits, grapes, clementines, a glass of a lovely red wine and some home-made iced cookies.

The turkey has been stripped of all the meat (enough for turkey a la king for 4, curry for 4, several sandwiches and salads and the remains have been slowcooked today producing 3 jugs of stock and yet another dish of meat to add to some soup. I still have 3 platters of cooked sliced meat in the fridge and thanks to Shirley Goode's advice, our freezer now holds 5 pkts of beef slices and 4 pkts of ham (Nigellas ham in coke recipe cooked by daughter) so plenty for packed lunches or future easy roast dinners or adding to pasta/rice meals. Our son will be with us tomorrow so we will use some of the beef slices and have a roast beef dinner with yorkshire pudding made in the Remoska.

Tomorrow I also have sausage meat to deal with as an extra packet got defrosted by mistake, so will need to cook that (another sausage pie I think) in order to put back into the freezer. The first sausage meat pie has yet to be cut into!

I want to try to avoid buying much new, even with the sales on my heart just isn't in to shopping, it feels wrong at the moment and besides as far as clothing is concerned I really need to lose a bit of weight first as I am feeling very unfit, charity shops will do just fine until then. I will just have to make do with what I have, I did get the Make do and Mend book for Christmas which I am loving as it also has advice for fuel saving as will as sewing and darning advice.

Off now for a long soak in the bath to enjoy the lovely Sanctuary gift set Mr C bought me for Christmas!

Happy Birthday Mum!

2008-12-21T16:33:00.003Z

Today is the shortest day of the year! It was also my dear Mums birthday so I could never forget it! Co-incidentally, my Grandads (Mums Dad) birthday was on 21st June, the longest day of the year!

Mum was born close to Christmas 1919 - 1 year on from the end of the first world war when times were very hard for folk. I just love this photo of her as a little girl, and the wonderful outfits the surrounding people are wearing. I believe it was taken in Brighton about 1922 (which was the year my Dad war born!) She must have seen some incredible changes in her lifetime. Christmastime would have been a much simpler time with not a lot in her stocking, perhaps a homemade toy an orange and some nuts. I wonder what she would make of all the stuff we now expect to have at Christmas.

Today is also Yuletide, so Happy Yuletide Greetings to those of you who celebrate! From now on the days will get longer again and lighter. Definately worth celebrating that!

This morning we went to visit our son and his wife to be, so that we could swap presents as this will be the first Christmas he won't be with us! He is off to spend Christmas with his future in laws this year. They will be joining us for a couple of days after Christmas. Our daughter will be here though to keep Penny occupied!

We are off to Church now for the Nine lessons and carols service, which I love! If I don't get back to the computer soon - Happy Christmas!

Our tree of memories!

2008-12-17T19:25:00.003Z

No particular style but lots of wonderful memories. I love our tree! All of the ornaments have been collected over the years and each holds a memory! Do you have a particular colour scheme for your tree? We mainly stick to red, green and gold these days but multi colour lights soon change that effect! :)

Christmas 1970

2008-12-16T13:32:00.005Z

De-cluttering ready for Christmas visitors, I have found some treasure! A 1970 christmas Issue of Family Circle, one of my Mums favourite magazines. Note the 2 prices, one in old money and one in decimal currency (the new currency came in April the following year,I think) I was 14 years old when this issue came out and can remember making the flowers (number 7) (from plastic cups) when I was in girl guides! Very easy to make, you just cut slits part way down the side of the cups and curl the strips over a ruler (like curling ribbon) and then decorate. Of course we all try to avoid having plastic cups now, but if you have any and need some decorations this could be the answer! The fashion page certainly dates me as I can remember clothing like that being worn. An only slightly older friend of mine still has a very similar blue trouser suit! It has (like my friend) worn well!

Please excuse the photos all grouped together, I am having trouble with blogger uploading the photos - just comes up as rows and rows of type on my input page! Not sure why?

Fingerless mitts

2008-12-15T22:39:00.004Z

I've finished! They are so snug and warm and now I can sit at the computer and type with very little pain so I am very pleased! Thank you for the instructions Elizabeth!
They were so easy to knit up - on size 4.5mm needles cast on 36 stitches, knit 2 purl 2 rib for about 8 inches, cast off and sew up the seams leaving a gap for the thumb. I have enough wool left so I think I might make another pair up for a friend of mine.

Tagged back to the 40's

2008-12-15T09:13:00.006Z

Well I have been tagged by SharonJ for the 6th photo from my 6th folder and this is what I found! The above picture was taken a couple of summers ago at Plotlands, Laindon in the bedroom of the only remaining 1940's bungalow. It was wonderful to see all those sewing bits and bods just like Mum and Nana used to have. Thanks Sharon for a lovely reminder of a very enjoyable day!

I must now go and tag another 6 blogs:-

Making good Use

Potioappotment
a new blog from a fellow MSE old styler - lots of advice on growing veg without digging up your garden

Move to Portugal

At the Good Life

Home matters most

Nostalgia at the stone house a beautiful blog with the most lovely photos!

Christmas tagging and Shopping madness

2008-12-12T07:55:00.006Z

I used to spend a pretty penny on gift tags at Christmas but this year I had a go at making some from bits (card and cord) I already had (kicking off my using it up plan). My sister sent the stamped images for me, to start me off and some lovely papers for some card making. I have to admit the bit I enjoyed the most was the colouring in :) The above are just a few of the end product, also made a few snowmen tags. Nothing grand but perfectly usable.

This has however distracted me from a few other tasks that need doing, like writing and posting cards, wrapping presents, baking, tidying up the house ect., etc.

I am determined not to get caught up in the Christmas panic that descends on almost everyone and to that end I am avoiding our town centre as much as possible this month. I didn't go to the Woolworths sale and am glad of that, I have heard some awful tales of customers being rude and abusing the poor staff, who are, after all, losing their jobs and I am sure would rather not be there, no Christmas spirit there then! Years ago I remember taking my teenage son (bless him) Christmas shopping with me to a well known supermarket, on Christmas Eve. We could not believe the bad behaviour of our fellow man, pushing and shoving, knocking people flying, somehow we found our sense of humour (maybe craziness was setting in) and starting singing Bing Crosbys "It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas" as we finished our shopping! Yes we did get a few strange looks but also some smiles from equally bewildered shoppers!

I have managed to order a Christmas fruit and vegetable box from Abel and Cole and while I was at it, some dairy products. Going to ask a very good friend to get me a turkey torpedo in (cooks up a treat in the slow cooker). It all helps to keep me away from the madness!

Remember to take time out to enjoy the season and de-stress!

Frosty and unsettled

2008-12-10T09:24:00.005Z

Brrr! It is very cold here and rather frosty! Penny is going to be feeling it on our walk today. The first heavy frost had her shaking her little paws in puzzlement at this new sensation COLD! Maybe I should get her a coat if she would keep it on! :) Me I dress up like the Mitchellin man, with so many layers on I can hardly move! and none of them match! I look a sight but I am toasty warm!

Is anyone else feeling unsettled at the moment? or is it just me? I usually love this time of year and throw myself whole heartedly (energy allowing) into all the preparation for Christmas. This year is different though!

Of course it could be my daughters redundancy. It is heartbreaking to see her so upset about that. It has, of course, brought home to us just how much trouble this country and others are in at the moment. There is also the worry of how many more jobs will go, will it be Mr C next? We are now holding back on the next overpayment on the mortgage, just in case.

This time last year we had a plan, which is amazing in itself, before we just used to drift on through life and hope for the best! Now I am wondering if we need to change the plan? I need to decide and focus on a newly tweaked plan. Then I can get back to preparing for Christmas!

Christmas Past and lessons learnt

2008-12-06T22:18:00.007Z

The bauble in the above photo is the very first one Mr C and I bought together! It has survived 3 house moves, 2 children, 7 cats, 2 dogs and is still in one piece!

Christmas memories over the years are so very precious, more so as you get older. Ever since buying that first little bauble, we have made it a tradition to get a new little ornament for the tree each year. After 32 years of marriage, we now have quite a collection! Each one holds its own sweet memory. That very first one was bought in Woolworths (sadly in administration now) back in 1975, we were young, newly engaged and had very little money but we did have our dreams of what we hoped our future would be and that bauble, we knew, would be the first of many that we would buy with our future family.

How much our expectations of Christmas have changed! Our first few Christmas's were very frugal, the first year as new parents, we bought most of our little sons gifts secondhand! I am not sure when things changed but change they did. We soon found ourselves caught up in the panic and madness that overtakes the majority of us at this time of the year. We made the big mistake of taking on store cards in order to buy our children some super presents. Then we had the lean months afterwards when paying the cards off became our reality.

Of course now we know better, or do we? We no longer have young children to buy for but we still want to make our loved ones happy this Christmas. How easy it would be to join the annual panic and buy, buy, buy! All that would achieve would be to put back paying down this years 10% off the mortgage. Luckily I have been collecting presents over the year (from ebay, charity shops, car boot sales, charity catalogues etc) it is not about how much we spend that matters, it is about the thought and time we have taken, that is what really matters. The Christian message is one of love and an unfrazzled Mum who can spend some quality loving time with her family has to be the best gift of all.

Wishing you all a stress free time preparing for your own Christmas celebrations.

We all want some figgy pudding!

2008-12-05T13:46:00.010Z

I have finally made my Christmas Puddings! I used Delia's recipe as I am told that her recipes rarely go wrong! They haven't met me then! :) I haven't made Christmas puddings for more than 20 years as last time they went very wrong!

Fingers crossed this time. The quantity was for 1 x 2 pint pudding but I made a 1 pint, a 3/4 pint and had enough for a baby one which we will try out tonight!

The twine I used for the handles on the puddings has come from my stash of re-cycled Abel and Cole twine that comes tied around the organic box deliveries! Waste not want not! I might pretty them up with some Christmas fabric!

While rummaging through the kitchen for some greaseproof paper, I found tucked away in a little plastic box, these lovely little vintage Christmas cake decorations which I think I will use on the Christmas log cake this year.

Daughter and I have spent some quiet, down time together, cooking, walking Penny, making popcorn and watching some old Christmas movies, from my charity shop/car boot sale stash of videos, so far we have watched Santa Claus the Movie, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Love Actually, Its a Wonderful Life (with tissues at the ready) and we still have Miracle on 34th Street and The Snowman to watch! Very theraputic!

I'm knitting my stress away!

2008-11-27T13:59:00.006Z

I have picked up my knitting and inspired by Elizabeths post have started on a pair of fingerless mittens to keep my hands warm, this should reduce the pain, which is always worse in the cold, as well! The variegated wool has been hanging around long enough and this seemed to be the ideal way of using it. Anyway doing something positive helps me to de-stress about situations I can do nothing about!

The international and local news is pretty dire isn't it? The unthinkable happening in India and all those poor people suffering makes me want to despair of mankind.

Locally news of MFI (a self build furniture company) and Woolworths (a much loved store, over the years)going into administration and rumours of other stores in trouble is also very depressing. I think very soon there will be more of us affected by this than not. The dreaded redundancy has already hit this family. Soon our daughter will be typing out her updated cv and hoping for something as fulfilling as she had. If only a hug could make it all better!

Instead all we can do is pray/send positive thoughts out into the world, pay down our debts, reduce our outgoings and hunker down, making the most of what we have. What we have is still a lot compared to a lot of the world and I am eternally grateful for that. Sponsoring a child helps to remind us of that and that is one expense that we shall keep on to the last!

Eggless, Fatless Chirstmas Cake!

2008-11-25T15:32:00.004Z

I was given this recipe by my friends Dad who was diabetic, it is also sugar free but as I add a bit of alcohol mine isn't. It makes a great alternative for the usual richer Christmas cake recipes. It also freezes well.

Here is the recipe:-

6oz Brown flour
3 teaspoons Baking powder
2oz Ground almonds
2 teaspoons Mixed spice
1lb Mixed fruit
4oz Dates
4oz Apricots
Grated rind of an orange or lemon
1/2 pint water (for a Christmas cake, I substitute half the water for Contreau)
2 tablespoons orange juice

Soak the fruit overnight in the liquid. Add the dry ingredients, stirring well, add a little more liquid if needed to give a stiff dropping consistency.

Bake in a lined 2lb loaf tin for approx 1+1/2 hours at 160c, covering with some foil for the last 1/2 hour.

I am going to store mine for a while in greaseproof paper and feed a couple of times with some more contreau. Then I will cover it in marzipan and ice.

Soak the fruit overnight in the liquid

Add the dry ingredients and stir well

Bake in a lined 2lb loaf tin

Leave to cool before wrapping in greaseproof paper, ready to decorate. It looks a bit bumpy but that will soon even out when the marzipan is covering it!

I am trying to do something towards Christmas every day now but have still to make some cards! Most of the presents are bought, thanks mainly to ebay and charity shops/catalogues this year.

Christmas Mincemeat

2008-11-24T18:02:00.007Z

I finally got around to making my mincemeat! I doubled the recipe and managed to get 7 jars of lovely whisky mincemeat for Christmas. Here is the recipe (which will make about 3-4 jars) if you would like to try it yourself:-

Home made Mincemeat

Ingredients:
4oz currants
4oz raisins
2oz glace cherries
2oz candied peel
4oz cooking apples, peeled and cored
2oz walnuts
4oz shredded suet
8oz demerara sugar
1 level teaspoon mixed spice
Brandy, rum or whisky to mix

Mince or finely chop the fruit, peel, apples and nuts, I used the processor. Add the sugar, suet and spice and enough spirit to give a moist mixture. Stir well, leave covered for 2 days. Stir well again and pot into jars. Allow to mature for at least 2 weeks before using.

I can't wait to make those mincemeat pies now!

I've been tagged!

2008-11-19T13:34:00.007Z

I have been a bad blogger! Got a bit tied up with all the wedding plans, sounds great as it is going to be in a castle at Christmas, it is a hotel so we can stay there the night as well! Must save more pennies now! lol!

I have been tagged! Thank you SharonJ - never been tagged before! Here's my answers!

A - Z of Homemaking

A is for Aprons - yes/no? If yes, what’s your favourite?
I have several. One with a snowman on for Christmas, 1 vintage hand made pinny , my favorite one though is a little red patterned tabard, bought when my children were small and has so many wonderful memories of baking with my children attached to it.

B is for Baking - favourite thing to bake?
I love baking, most of it is edible! Lol! I guess I enjoy making cookies the most and love my copy of the American Woman’s Cook Book with it’s incredible cookie section.

My Mum had a copy of this (with older sister now) and we used to make refrigerator cookies together.

C is for Clothesline - do you have one?
Yes, one of those pull-out ones that I keep forgetting to pull back and put away afterwards. I also have a couple of indoor airers in regular use.

D is for Donuts - have you ever made them?
No never tried this, I try to avoid fried food as much as I can. I did hear that you could make them in the oven though!

E is for Every Day - one homemaking task you do every day.
I cook everyday,, very rarely get a day off from that one!

F is for Freezer - do you have a separate deep freeze?
Yes, in fact I have a fridge freezer and 2 deep freezers! One was given to us by our lovely neighbour. It mostly has produce from the garden in it.

G is for Garbage Disposal Unit - do you have one?
No, not really although Penny would love to apply for the vacancy. I compost as much as I can.

H is for Handbook - what’s your favourite homemaking resource?
The internet! Other than that the Dairy Book of Home management is very useful, my copy must be about 20years old now!

I is for Ironing - love or hate it?
Strangely I don’t mind it! I have bad circulation and ironing often warms me up. Different matter in the summer though! I love watching someone else do it though! Rare treat though that is!

J is for Junk Draw - yes/no? If yes, where is it?
Oh dear! Better make that plural! Mainly in the kitchen! Must get back to de-cluttering!

K is for Kitchen - colour and decorating scheme?
Buttermilk paint on walls, green, peach and cream tiles on wall and terracotta tile effect laminate on the floor. Light wood effect units with dark green worktops. My kitchen is very dark and needed warm colours.

L is for Love - what’s your favourite part of homemaking?
Sitting in a newly tidy living room with a freshly made tea tray (home made cake or cookies on a plate) on the coffee table.

M is for Mop - do you have one?
Yes it is the kind you pull a lever to squeeze out the water.

N is for Nylons - machine or hand wash?
Machine wash, I hate having them dripping all over the bathroom.

O is for Oven - do you use a window or open the oven door to check?
Although mine has a window, I do tend to open the door to check properly.

P is for Pizza - what do you put on yours?
Tomato pizza sauce, grated cheese and then anything that needs using up. Favourite would be ham and mushroom.

Q is for quiet - what do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?
Surf (the net) or blog, read, craft work, make lists and talk to Penny!

R is for Recipe Card Box - yes/no? If yes, what does it look like?
I have the Marguerite Patten recipe card collection, bought many years ago on a monthly basis, when I was engaged. My daughter has bought me a recipe file book which I am trying to get all my favorite recipes into, it is bulging a bit now though!

S is Style of House - what style is your house?
Cluttered! But homely and cosy!

T is for Tableclothes - do you use them?
Yes I love them, I have a couple of vintage ones and one I won in a competition 10 years ago! Also a lovely Christmas one, with a holly print all over, bought in the Salvation Army charity shop!

U is for Under The Kitchen Sink - organised or toxic wasteland?
Fairly well organized, although a tad cluttered. It is where I keep my pyrex and mixing bowls. My cleaning stuff is kept in another cupboard.

V is for Vacuum - how many times a week?
If I had the energy I would vacumn every day but I don’t, so beware the dust bunnies!

It is as and when I can.

W is for Wash - how many loads of washing do you do each week?
I seem to average 1 a day! I am trying to keep it down by

doing some hand washing of delicates.

X’s - Do you keep a daily list of things to do that you cross off?
Yes I love lists!

Y is for Yard - who does what?
Y is for garden here, Mr C cuts the grass and digs where I ask and I plan, potter and weed etc.,

Zzzz’s - what’s the last homemaking task you do before bed in the evening?
Washing up and making sure the dog has enough water.

The meaning is to keep the chain going by sending this along to a few other bloggers to complete. If you’re on the following list, enjoy ;)

Elizabeth at Making Good Use
Jennifer at Home Matters Most
Arkonite at Arkonitebabe
Sharie at Sharies view to the Hill

Caroline at What's happening at my house

Please don't feel obliged to take up the tag. It's just for fun, after all.

Backward thinking!

2008-11-11T07:40:00.003Z

The photo, at the top of the blog, was the view of the end of our garden, taken this summer, before the wanton destruction of those lovely trees! All for 2 huge half a million houses to be built on the land with tiny little gardens.

Am I alone in thinking that this is backward thinking? Surely as we approach peak oil (or are we there now?) we should be building smaller, more economical to heat, houses with larger gardens, so we can grow as much of our own food as possible! This would make so much more sense but people don't seem to see the signs, they want to live in the past with all it's wasteful, unpractical ways. Crazy world we live in!

If I had that sort of money to spend (sadly I don't) I would be buying in the countryside, an older property maybe, with open fires, a multi fuel range, insulation, solar panels, out houses and a big but managable garden with established fruit trees and room for a large vegetable garden and greenhouses!

Anyway I don't want to speak too soon but things have been quiet on the building site recently! One can only hope! Too late for the poor birds though!

Ahhhh! Hot Chocolate!

2008-11-10T13:51:00.007Z

This was possibly the very best hot chocolate drink I have ever had! It even had cherry sauce poured over the cream! :) and a little Lindt chocolate on the saucer! Almost a year ago we visited the Cologne Christmas Markets with our family. It was very, very cold (like today in the uk) and we had just visited the Lindt Museum of chocolate (yum) and after braving the heat of the rush in the museum shop, had sat outside, not as bad as it sounds though!

- we had lovely red wool blankets over our knees and some heaters if required (I know not very green) we chose hot chocolate to drink as, after all, we were in Lindt chocolate heaven!

Today it's cold and very wet here in the uk, Penny and I were soaking wet when we came in from our walk. It's a worrying day as well as my friend is very poorly so I've been feeling a tad down. What is a soaking wet, cold and down in the dumps girl (well all right middle aged lass) to do? Towel down the dog, get changed into dry clothes and make an old fashioned lovely hot mug of chocolate! (Hot chocolate Horlicks made with Soya milk in my case) Warms your hands and comforts the soul! Highly recommended! I didn't have any posh choc to hand but found some chocolate scrapings, from when I last melted some chocolate, to sprinkle on the top! I save everything! lol!

Hope you are all managing to stay warm and dry!

New beginnings mean new challenges!

2008-11-04T07:28:00.007Z

It's been an exciting week at Catz's Corner! Our son and his lovely girlfriend have become engaged! He even (in a cold and frosty London park) got down on one knee with the ring, who would have thought our lad could be so romantic? A winter wedding, in the north, next year is planned.

It is all very exciting but also means the budget will have to be pulled in a notch, so that we can have a worry free celebration. We will have to travel north and book into a hotel etc., and we would like to contribute something towards the costs but not sure really these days what the grooms family are responsible for. We will have to do some research and then diplomatically offer if we can.

We nabbed a bit back from our savings this week to cover the cost of some amazing lovers (they cuddle!) lead cystal decanters, as an engagement present, so that has contributed to their bottom draw collection.

To kick off the new tighter budget I have started a store cupboard challenge for this month, still getting the organic deliveries and any fresh needs (not wants) to the total of £50 only for 2.5 of us! Miss C is only really with us for a few days of the week and Penny's food lasts a long time, so unusual for a spaniel type dog!

I have plenty of flour, oil, butter in freezer, lentils, oats, sugar, chickpeas, beans, tinned tomatoes, potatoes, 1 froz joint pork, 1froz med chicken, some froz pollack, salmon, loads of frozen vegetables from the garden, powdered milk, rice, pasta, tuna and tinned fruit.

Yesterday I made the first "storecupboard" meal which was very tasty and would suit vegetarians and vegans but still kept my meat eating hubby happy:-

Curried Red Lentil Soup

1/2 medium peeled and chopped onion (from veg box)
2 tablespoons oil (used olive oil)
1 chopped garlic clove (from neighbours home grown supply)
1 teaspoon finely grated ginger (I used a tsp of lazy ginger from larder)
1 + 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup of rinsed red lentils (from big bag in larder)
1 + 1/4 cups water
3 cups of stock (I used home made chicken stock but vegetable would be good too)
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (I used some tinned plum ones)
Fresh lemon juice to taste (jif bottled juice worked)
seasoning to taste

Method
In a large saucepan, cook the onion in the oil stirring until golden brown

Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 30 seconds, stirring the whole time

Add the rinsed lentils (I also soaked them for 1 hour) with the measured water and stock

Bring the liquid to the boil and simmer, covered for 25 minutes - once ready to simmer I transferred all to the slow cooker and left it to it's own devices for the afternoon.

Stir in the tomatoes and simmer for a couple of minutes.

Add the lemon juice and seasoning and serve with lovely thick slices of home made bread.

This makes a lovely thick and spicy soup, loads left for today as well :)

Now I must find some chickpea recipes!

Re-cycling success!

2008-10-29T09:35:00.004Z

A habit can take a while to kick in but it looks like re-cycling has definately kicked in here in our town!

A year ago when Penny, our dog, first joined our family, our walks used to be eventful in many ways. One being the dreaded wheelie rubbish bins! She was terrified of them! Often they were loaded to the brimful and impossible to close the lids down on them. There were also, around many of them, lots of surplus rubbish in black plastic rubbish sacks, fluttering in the breeze. Now to a small puppy these were monsters to be feared, you never knew when they might jump out at a young pup! :)

One year on and all is very different! Our walks are peaceful now! On Wheelie bin collection day the bins remain tightly shut and no surplus rubbish sacks hang around on street corners to frighten a young innocent pup. On re-cycling days most folk leave out their boxes of cans and bottles and bags of cardboard, papers and plastic bottles.

Yes a definate success story!

Staying Calm

2008-10-27T08:33:00.012Z

Without going into too much detail, I have to calm down, my blood pressure is high and soon I will have a 24 hour monitor fitted to see what is going on (could be a family problem as older sister is on medication for high bp). In the meantime I have undertaken other measures to bring it down.

I am not alone with this problem, I know that, there must be a lot of folk who are worrying and that worry is affecting their health, so I wondered how much of it may be down to the media hype coverage of the recent global financial problems. We now have 24/7 (hate that term) news broadcasts into our homes. It is on the television, the radio and online news pages. there seems to be no escape from it! There are, however, ways to deal with it and not get stressed.

We could just switch off the news, but I feel reluctant to do that as we do need, to some extent, to be kept informed. Instead I check in online and read through the headlines, then if I don't see a need to read further, I switch off and get on with other more relaxing things. Here, and not in any particular order, are my top 10 ways of calming down:-

1) Meditation/Hypno cd's - when my doctor takes my blood pressure he tells me to close my eyes and imagine I am on my favourite beach, I find it is always the one from my childhood holidays when we lived in Singapore, so waving palm trees, heat, bucket and spades and sand figure. It seems to help and to top up I have Paul Mackenna on cd

2) Music - Whatever is your favourite but it must be relaxing. My personal favourite is my Menorcan Caves Chill out music which Mr C dislikes lol! so I have to play that when he is out. Also love my Enya cds.

3) Go for a walk - with a dog in the family this is a must anyway but I do try to enjoy the experience. This time of year the leaves on the trees are changing colour and are beautiful. Plenty of leaves on the ground right now so if you are really fed up you could kick your way through a few. Be careful though that you aren't going to be disturbing hedgehogs etc. Shallow piles of leaves only. Breath deeply if the air is good and make the most of any sunshine for the vitamin D, yes I know highly unlikely in Britain lol!

4) Garden - If you have one, even 5 minutes a day out there makes you appreciate how wonderful nature is. Listen to the birds and realise life carries on just the same for them, recession or no recession. We could learn from them. Other than in church I feel so close to God in the garden.

5) Get in the Kitchen - Not as a chore, but as a valuable resource for producing healthy and tasty food. I have a chair in there and sit with a notepad and pen and cuppa and make my lists. I enjoy cooking, so the kitchen is a happy place for me, I feel by taking control in there, I am doing something positive about my health and finances.

6) Create something - knitting and sewing are valuable skills, will save you money and give you a real feel good factor when you look at your creation. I am not particularily talented at either but still enjoy doing both.

7) Clear some clutter - I am the worlds worse at throwing "stuff" out, possibly because I was brought up by a very resourceful Mum who started out her married life just at the end of WWII while rationing was with us. I do visit here for inspiration though. Whenever a bag leaves the house, either for the bin or a charity shop, I feel great!

8) Exercise gently - easy for some but not for everyone. Health issues can restrict what you do but it is important to try. My daughter bought me some pilates yoga balls to exercise my upper arms with and I can do this while sitting down. We also bought an exercise bike when it was reduced to half price and I use this sometimes, on the lowest setting though for now. Hopefully this will make up for giving up the gym membership. Maybe one day I will be fit enough to get the old push bike out!

9) Friends - Time spent with good friends who encourage you and share the good (and bad) times and laughter are so very good, possibly our best resource in these worrying times.

10) Taking control - of your finances, your health (as much as possible), your food, processing your own food leaves you less vulnerable, it means I can cut my intake of salt considerably, and it all adds up to less stress.

Keeping warm - Lap quilts from the junk pile

2008-10-21T13:52:00.010+01:00

Sorry I have been away for a while, I needed to recuperate from the pleurisy and damaged chest cartilege and also get used to a new low salt diet. All is well, I managed to walk Penny all the way around the field today which is a first for quite a while. I am now very determined to improve my fitness levels as they are so very bad :( Anyway apart from lots of reading, this is what I have been up to today,

Making lap quilts from junk

Well almost junk! This tatty old double quilt was destined for the bin, surplus to requirements since Miss C moved back in and used the better quilt that we already had for her bed. Thanks to Moneysaving Experts Old style board, an excellent resource for all those trying to save money at home, I found this idea for how to keep warm on a tight budget. First I cut the quilt in 2 lengthways (a single duvet cover will then be the right length and you will only have to adjust the width)- this also means that after I have finished the sewing they will fit into my washing machine for a good old clean. I then overlocked the edges of the duvet on my sewing machine.

Then I found 2 old single duvet covers no longer required, after measuring for the lap quilts, I cut off the surplus material, leaving enough for generous seam allowances.

I turned the cut down duvet covers inside out, pinned and overlocked the edges

Just don't look too closely at the stitching, lol! So long as the stitching holds it will do as it will be out of sight. turn the covers right side out and fill with the 2 small lap quilts.

Really easy and lovely and warm on the arm chair, 1 under and 1 over! Unless Mr C insists on one! :)

I have two of these lengths left over, cushion covers?

How lovely!

2008-10-16T14:37:00.004+01:00

How lovely and thoughtful! This lovely package was popped in amongst my post today. Imagine my delight when I opened the beautifully wrapped parcel (I love the label Elizabeth!) and I found this lovely pretty flower pin! Thank you Elizabeth, I have always admired your flower pins and the colour is gorgeous, a favourite of mine.

It was very kind of you to think of me! I feel thoroughly spoiled now and can't wait until I am well enough to go out with it pinned onto my coat to show it off!

Organic box delivery

2008-10-15T18:47:00.003+01:00

Potatoes
Carrots
Onions
Aubergine
Loads of curly kale
Apples
Pears
Bananas
1/2 dozen organic eggs

We have leftover chicken casserole tonight with mash, runner beans (from garden) and steamed curly kale.

I treated myself to an old fashioned 3 tier steamer today so the kale was cooked above the potatoes. Mum gave me an electric steamer many years ago, which has been used a lot, but now, like many other folk, I have to cut back on fuel usage so this will get a lot of use.

Not sure what to do with the aubergine as I have to cut back my salt intake dramatically owing to high blood pressure, we love moussaka (made with soya mince) so may have a go at that without salting the aubergine slices.

More bananas means lovely warming bananas and hot custard yum! and easy too!

The apples will go into an apple crumble cake, a really easy Delia Smith recipe

Make a plain victoria sponge mix and put into a greased cake tin. Peel and thinly slice a large apple and lay over the top of the sponge cake mix. Make a crumble mix (4ox plain flour, 2oz marge/butter, 2oz sugar) and sprinkle over the top. A small sprinkling of cinnamon mixed into the crumble mix is wonderful. Cook in a moderate oven 180C - test with a skewer until it comes out clean.
Serve on its own or with custard.

Help is at hand!

2008-10-12T21:57:00.007+01:00

There is a new blog on the block http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/ started by Rhonda Jean over at Down to Earth, Rhonda and several other excellent bloggers from around the world, who are part of the simple living arena including our own uk based Frugal Trenches, are going to be adding pieces to help us through these uncertain times.

I was so pleased to discover this important resource, as I no longer have my Mum to ask, boy would she have been good to have around right now, she grew up during the depression years, married at the end of the war, had her babies during the rationing years and was a superb manager on very low funds. There was no such thing as unplanned leftovers in her kitchen either, surplus vegetables became soup, the odd spoonful or two of curry became some tasty curry puffs, stale bread was transformed into bread and butter pudding, 1 egg fed the whole family when she made Poor knights pudding - basically jam sandwiches dipped in one egg batter and fried with a little bit of sugar sprinkled on the top!

Something else I must do is get back to sewing, once I made a beach wrap from an old bath towel and a smock dress (it was the 70's and height of fashion at the time lol) from one of my aunts 1950's dirndil (very full) skirts. Mum would never buy new material if there was something around that could be re-purposed! Once she even made our winter coats from old army blankets! Even our old terry towelling nappies were sewn up with a bit of elastic at the top, into "training pants". For knitting, our old jumpers were taken apart, unravelled, the wool washed, dried, re-wound and knitted up into other items of clothing or toys. She did all of this without us ever feeling poor or that we were missing out and in their later years they managed to buy their own house and collect a few nice pieces of furniture, always by saving up the money, they were very wary of getting into debt. You can see why I would love to have her around right now can't you!

To Spay or not to spay that is the question!

2008-10-12T14:03:00.004+01:00

This little cutie is Penny our cockapoo at just 3 weeks old! She was initially booked by someone else and they cancelled! Can you believe it? I think it might have been because her markings aren't so desirable! So we stepped in. Their loss is our gain, she is so cute and has since grown into a lovely affectionate pet and companion. We have to make a decision soon as to whether or not to have her spayed - a sensible move we feel as the "local lads" are getting a tad friendly! Now if one of the local lads was another lovable cockapoo it would be very tempting - our vetinary nurse and Penny's groomer have both expressed an interest if she has puppies because of her wonderful temperament, also we would love to keep one for ourselves and for Penny. We have bought various books and I remember my Nana bred airedales and red setters but I have no experience in these matters. Mr C really wants her to have a litter but I am holding back, possibly not just my lack of experience here but also we are living in uncertain times financially, it feels a bit irresponsible really if you understand what I mean.

I have also been reading that already there are lovely dogs out there needing homes because of the global financial crisis and that is heartbreaking. Perhaps we could give a poodle/doodle dog a home? Yes I think I have made the right decision - she should be spayed! and soon!

In the meantime I am still in pain, seems like the antibiotics haven't worked :( so I guess I had better go see the dr again soon as possible. Hope you are all coping with the latest "interesting" developments, wasn't the expression "May you live in interesting times" meant as a curse? Chin up everyone, my Dad used to say "worse happens at sea" well he was in the merchant navy during WWII. Thank goodness we have cleared most of our debt (just the mortgage left now) and those of us who have started on the simple living way of life should be able to cope, I certainly pray that that is so.

Christmas Preparation Update 1

2008-10-09T13:27:00.009+01:00

The photo above is of our tree last year, we don't have a theme just a lot of happy memories as each year I would take the children out to choose a tree decoration, (still do this with our daughter). Some of our tree decorations date back to my childhood! I think I will post photos of my favourites with each update. Don't worry all is still in the loft - I just took a lot of photos last year : )

As I mentioned before this year I intend to get organised and keep track of just how much Christmas is going to cost. We normally get through far too much money and like many others cannot afford to do that this year. Also this will give me something to focus on as the news regarding the global financial crisis is very depressing and this seems to be an excellent way of keeping control of part of my life. We are going to try for as traditional a Christmas as possible and just enjoy spending precious time with family and friends. I hope to be able to buy some fresh cranberries Christmas week to make our own sauce but have picked up a jar just in case as our daughter loves this in her sandwiches, so it won't be wasted.

Presents
So far I have finished knitting a scarf for my sister and as it is in lovely lavender and blue colours I have also tucked into it a lavender sachet (she loves lavender). I am finishing off a knitted dishcloth with a cat on (she also loves cats lol) and just need a couple of other little bits to add. So a lavender/cat theme going on there!

I have also started to knit a scarf for my brother in law in a lovely tweedy wool and will add some thermal socks and a wind up torch Mr C managed to pick up from Lidls today. Again a couple more little bits to add.

Present box:-

4 wind up torches from Lidl @ £3.99 - £ 15.96
Lavender sachet £ 1.50
Wool for scarf (lavender/blue) £ 3.00
wool for tweed scarf (charity shop buy) £ 1.00
1 eyemax solar/wind up torch/radio £20.00
-------
£41.46

Food
I have enough in the pantry now to make a start on the mincemeat, home made mincemeat is lovely and much nicer than the overly sweet stuff the shops sell. Hope to get this done over the weekend if I can find the energy. I will add pics and recipe then as well.

Christmas cupboard now has:-

5 bags of Lidls choc coins @ £1 - £5.00
1 tin chestnut puree (for stuffing recipe) £1.75
1 jar cranberry sauce (dd loves this in sandwiches) £0.57
-------
£7.32

I learnt a very important lesson at Christmas many years ago, a friend was struggling financially and had no money to pay for Christmas that year. I had gone round to give her a huge bag of reduced items I had found at the supermarket on Christmas Eve and found that she and her 4 children were very happy and content. She had got the tree and decorations out from the loft the same as always and the children after helping her to decorate were having a lovely time playing with some board games they had found in the loft. Family and friends had made sure there were some presents under the tree and there was a chicken dinner ready to roast and some pound shop crackers on the table. She told me that you can't "cancel" Christmas it happens whether you have the money or not! What matters is quality time with family and remembering the true meaning of the season. I left feeling very humbled but wiser.

Who's that Pup?

2008-10-07T13:07:00.003+01:00

Not a long post, just thought I would show you a photo of Penny our cockapoo after she has been to the groomer. Hard to recognise her but it had to be done to get rid of some matting. We are keeping her snuggled up with some fleece blankets to cuddle into until her wooly coat grows back in! Hopefully it won't take long! the groomer did a very good job (only cost £20) and said Penny was so very well behaved (our pup?) and had a lovely nature.

Still got some pain so I am off for another hot drink and to snuggle up myself with a hot water bottle and a fleecy blanket!

2 steps backwards can be a good thing!

2008-10-03T11:33:00.005+01:00

Oh dear! Just when I thought I was getting better I developed a sharp pain on coughing and breathing in - Pleurisy! this bug is really not to be messed with. I have anti-biotics, painkillers and have been told to rest up, which is frustrating when I think of all that needs doing in the garden.

In the meantime I am back in bed and thinking! a lot! It has been quite a week with the global financial crisis playing out on our tv screens daily. With all the financial worries we are all facing this winter it makes sense to take some time out and re-evaluate our expenditure, this illness is maybe for me a blessing in disguise.

I have felt for a long time that most of us have forgotten what it is to appreciate what we have, replacing that with a longing for "stuff" we think (so the advertisers tell us) we need. Just before the Pleurisy struck I had been sorting out a couple of kitchen cupboards and have found, cleaned and rearranged some treasures I had forgotten about. A lovely large roasting dish and rack (used only once), a vintage measuring jug, vintage pyrex, a colourful set of mixing bowls - all will be back in regular use as soon as I am back on my feet. I don't need to make an order from Lakeland, tempting though their catalogue is, I have had my "shopping fix" at home.

On sorting out the spare bedroom for our daughter moving back in, I found various balls of knitting yarn and some lovely and colourful remnants, including some Christmas prints so I now have to find some sewing and knitting projects, maybe to try to make some Christmas presents this year.

Christmas itself is not that far away and it wouldn't hurt to start to plan it now, not as a consumer panic buying bash but in an alternative way, home made and traditional, using thought rather than lots of cash. The family prefer home made cookies and cakes and there really is no need for the overfilled cupboards of ready made confectionery, apart of course from our traditional tin of quality street (hopefully bought at half price) which look lovely with cotton loops threaded on and hung on the tree instead of those very over-priced chocolate tree decorations the shops are full of. I will try to do a once a week review of my progress towards Christmas on a budget. One book I have at my bedside to read is "Trade Secrets Christmas" by Annie Ashworth and Meg Saunders ISBN 0 75284 4199 published by Orion in 2001 and full of tips for managing Christmas in a hassle free way. Of course Christmas is so much more than this as any Christian knows and remembering the true meaning and being together as a family will hopefully bring comfort and hope to many. Another great book is "Unplug the Christmas Machine" by Jo Robinson and Jean CoppockStaeheli ISBN 0 688 10961 6 - A complete guide to putting love and joy back into the season.

I make no apology for bringing up the subject of Christmas so early on, as the shops are already filling with all the goodies they want you to buy, the best way to cope and avoid more debt and despair is to plan ahead, read all you can and make all you can.

Right now to find that notepad and make a few more lists! lol!

Octobers first organic box delivery

2008-10-01T19:25:00.002+01:00

Now to menu plan!

Main courses
Tomato and courgette bake x 2 (1 for the freezer - lots of tomatoes from the garden))
Jacket potatoes with baked beans - 2 lunches
Steamed shredded cabbage with smoked bacon pieces & remoska baked sausages
Bubble and squeak (I have a large bag of potatoes as well) eggs & bacon rashers
Cream of vegetable soup 8 potions (4 to freeze) with home made bread
Courgette frittata

Puddings
Apple Crumble
Bananas and custard
Fresh fruit salad in apple juice (from cooking apples for crumble)
Baked bananas in honey and orange juice
Trifle - will do 2 days
Apple batter pudding

Hopefully with a bit of padding out that should feed the 3 of us for the next week. I have taken to dishing up a small starter to take the edge of the appetites a bit. Toast and pate, home made blue cheese and garlic focaccia, soup, whatever I have in that needs using up really. Fingers crossed this cunning plan works!

Hello again!

2008-09-29T11:08:00.002+01:00

Well that was fun!!! 1 week later still coughing but so much better now the temperature is down. Thank you for all the get well wishes!

I have learned a lesson the hard way though and that is "Be Prepared" crikey I was a girl guide for long enough! Anyway I can at least advise you all to stock up on your favourite cold cures, tissues, cough sweets and some ready meals (home made ones if you can) as the last thing we wanted to do was to cook from scratch. Hopefully you won't all go down with this (I hope not) it's not nice at all.

On the positive side I did get to read a really great simple living book "Driving over Lemons" by Chris Stewart, it just provided blissful escapism, you really feel you are in the Andalucia region of Spain and you can almost smell the sun ripened lemons, oranges, figs and olives that grow so profusely around that area.

Over the weekend our daughter moved back in with 3 carloads of belongings! Our washing machine is working it's little heart out, thank goodness we have had good drying weather. I suspect her move back home is the first of many for other youngsters her age, like many others she has a high amount of student debt and a graduate loan to pay down and it seemed to be the only answer, she is a sensible lass, has no credit cards, thank goodness and has realised that in the present climate things can only get worse if she stays in the city. She now has to work out a new budget that will allow her to snowball her debts and get clear, ready to begin again. The book that helped her to "see the light" was my tatty well thumbed copy of "Your Money or your Life" by Alvin Hall. This book was the one that did it for our son as well and he cleared over £20,000 of debt (student debt, grad loan etc) by using the snowball method. I am needless to say very proud of my grown up children!

Feeling yukky!

2008-09-22T21:20:00.002+01:00

Well Mr C has been most generous and shared his cold bug so now we are both shivering under quilts! :(

Being ill is expensive as we are too poorly to cook much so some easy to prepare food has been bought in and of course night nurse,vick vapour rub, cough sweets and tissues! If only I had been better prepared and had emergency provisions in, we had food but it was all cook from scratch which isn't so easy to do when you are running a temperature! Something to think about when we feel better.

It might be a few days before I get back to blogging but I will try to look in on you when I can.

Thank goodness for soup!

2008-09-21T17:30:00.002+01:00

Very easy to make and cheap too especially if most of the ingredients have come from the garden! The sweet potatoes and onions are from the veg delivery but the courgette, white potatoes and runner beans are from the veg garden.

I used to follow a recipe in order to make soup but now I have the gist of it I just judge if I have enough vegetables, peel and chop into chunks and throw into the slow cooker with about 1 and 1/2 pints of home made stock and some seasoning. Once all is tender I strain the veg with a little of the stock into the food processor and blitz until smooth. Then into a large saucepan and add the rest of the stock stirring well. Add a knob of butter and stir until melted and season to taste. A dash of milk later and you have cream of vegetable soup.

I added some cooked chicken to this batch and it was very soothing and comforting which was just as well as Mr C has sucumbed to the latest flu type bug that is doing the rounds. Even in the latest bit of sunshine he has been shivering under a quilt and is back sleeping it off in bed. fingers crossed the bug doesn't get me! I have been trying to keep up with the laundry just in case!

Last Harvest

2008-09-19T10:10:00.004+01:00

I've brought in the last of the runner beans, leaving only the ones forming seed for next year, we have done so well with these and I have been slicing, blanching and freezing trayfuls every other day.

This is the last of the vegetables:-

The last pickings of runner beans

Just a few potatoes but it was fun digging them up - a bit like digging for treasure! We will grow more hopefully next year.

A large overgrown courgette/marrow lol - More chutney I think!

I brought the tomatoes in as the plants looked very unwell and needed to be cleared away, so green tomato chutney to make as well.

Not a large harvest but more than enough for our small family, we have full freezers and its been fun. Well certainly more fun than the financial news at the moment - quite a worrying week for the banks and their staff, I do feel for those staff who are losing their jobs. I am so lucky to be able to switch off from trying to understand "short selling" and "hedge funds" and to be able to go out and "smell the roses" and listen to bird song instead.

This weeks organic box delivery

2008-09-17T08:32:00.002+01:00

A huge bag of spinach, broccoli, carrots, spuds, 2 large onions, 5 oranges, 5 apples, 3 bananas and 6 organic free range eggs - total £12.85

The spinach was a nice suprise as I was expecting green kale as advertised online, now I can have a go at making that spinach, potato and chickpea curry. Everything else looks great and will keep well in the green lakeland stay fresh bags until I can use it up.

I am only getting a delivery every fortnight now and with all the produce from the garden am coping well. The freezers are full and it may be a while before I will find that I need to top up supplies.

The last 2 days have been no spend days so the total is now - NSD 8/15

Really easy cheesy biscuits

2008-09-16T19:15:00.004+01:00

I made a batch of these cheesy biscuits today and Mr C is already polishing them off pretty darn fast so I may have to make some more! I used a mix of 3oz cheddar and 1oz parmesan cheese as that was what needed to be used up but 4oz of just cheddar would be good. I managed to get 16 biscuits out of the following recipe:-

Easy Cheesy Biscuits

4oz/120g grated cheese
4oz/120g plain flour
4oz/120g butter or margarine
Cayenne pepper (go easy on this just a little pinch to begin with unless you like hot and spicy, you could leave it out or add italian herbs or black pepper instead.)

Mix together in a bowl all the ingredients until the dough is smooth, this may take a while using a spoon, using your clean hands to bring the mixture together works well.

Roll out on a floured board and cut into shapes.

Cook on a greased and floured baking sheet in a hot oven, I set mine at 180C, until golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack.

This is based on the recipe for cheese fingers from Elizabeth Wests "Kitchen in the hills" cookbook, one of my favourites.

Charity shop haul

2008-09-15T12:04:00.006+01:00

Just thought that I should show you the result of Saturdays charity shop expedition. The lace jacket (to cover up the tops of my arms where age has definately taken it's toll, when I wear a sleeveless dress) it cost me £4 at the Help the Aged charity shop and I love it. The video "Miracle on 34th Street" a Christmas favourite 49p and the Mary Jane Staples paperbacks £1 each also from Help the Aged. The football books are a present for my son and cost £5 from our RSPCA charity shop. The purse and Tenko club paperback £1 from our Hospice shop. The butterfly coasters, which look great in the conservatory £1 and the candlestick £1 which will join the rest of my Christmas candlestick collection were found in the Cancer Research charity shop.

I found this amazing clock in the first shop for £3 and on getting it home we discovered that it plays various bird songs on each hour. This could get annoying later but we could take the batteries for the birdsongs out if that happens, in the meantime it is fun watching Penny trying to figure out where the noise is coming from! Even Mr C agreed that it looks good high up on the conservatory wall.

Total spend £19.49 - I put 10% of housekeeping and pocket money by into a charity shop fund so out of this month's £35, having already paid out on dd's to 2 local charities we support, I have £7.51 left to spend. Last month I had £27 left so will roll it all together (£34.51) and hope to get some bits for Christmas hampers next time.

New beginnings!

2008-09-14T22:41:00.002+01:00

As you can see I have been playing around with the layout, there were too many dots before my eyes with the old one! I am liking this one quite a lot! What do you think?

Talking of new beginnings, I am having to re-think a lot around here as in just two weeks time our daughter will be moving back in for a while! We need to de-clutter fast and thankfully I have a friend who works for a local charity and can take any useful clutter off my hands for a useful cause.

Next on the list is a new menu plan/shopping list to include 1 extra adult for main meals and packed lunches. Don't laugh but I hope to do this at no extra cost simply by better planning and a whole lot less waste. Fingers crossed I can achieve the impossible! We were eating far too much anyway and both need to lose some weight so who knows it might just work.

This is also my first term back at home again and I must try not to become a recluse. I love to read and would be quite happy at home with my books but will endeavour to get out on a regular basis (symptoms allowing) and have offered to take on the organisation of a book swap group with some friends, meeting once a month - 2 books each to swap and maybe a meal deal/pub lunch out while we are at it if the price is good.

Oh and the builders are back so I have preserved the view that will soon be gone and popped it at the top of the blog!

Let me Outta here!

2008-09-13T08:15:00.007+01:00

Sorry about the photo quality (a lot better now though, thank you emmani!) I couldn't resist this little pleading cutie, she hates being shut in away from us all (Cockapoos are very socable), it doesn't happen much just when we are trying to get the grass cut!

I have been feeling much the same recently, after a regular flow of lovely visitors, which I have really enjoyed, I've been exhausted, cfs raised it's unwelcome head again and I had to take a break and rest up, very boring! I have managed to read some of my favourite blogs but been too tired to post much.

Today I am getting out!!! I am off to meet one of my friends to explore a few of our charity shops. We will be concentrating on just one road which has about 6 charity shops and a couple of coffee shops (for pacing ourselves) so fingers crossed I find something from my list (yes I have a list for charity shops as well! :) or any useful bargain or treasure really.

I did manage to phone my mobile phone company in order to cancel my contract, once it ran out next month, as it was costing far too much for my low usage, I was ready to go to pay as you go but the lovely chap has given me a new contract costing only £5 a month which is saving me £35 a month! Really pleased with that, it pays to negotiate even if it wasn't quite what I intended! So now with cancelling the gym (£50), cancelling 2 organic food box deliveries a month (£25.70) and re-negotiating my mobile contract (£35) I am only about £20 worse off without my wages! I am probably saving that much on fuel as I am not using my car for work! Yay! Result!

During my week away from it all I had another 3 No spend days, would have been more but I had to ask Mr C to go on a few errands for me and it was his birthday this week. So NSD 6/15

My favourite walk back to the past

2008-09-02T19:33:00.005+01:00

This is one of my favourite views, pretty ordinary to some I guess but look again, you could be back in the past, no signs of modern times like telegraph poles, lamp posts or traffic. For me to walk our dog here is a brief escape from the stress of living in this day and age and Penny loves it too! :) Sadly we do need the car to get there as it is off the beaten track and away from bus routes and no way could I cycle, but we don't go often and it is worth it for refreshing our own batteries.

We have more visitors this weekend but, thanks to a timely reminder from Sharon J at Finding Simplicity - thank you Sharon! had some savings put by to cover most of the expense thank goodness! We are having fish and chips tonight made by our local landlord with the most amazing home made beer batter! One day I must ask for the recipe. I have cookies to make to fill any hungry gaps over the next couple of days and a couple of loaves to go in the breadmaker.

Yesterday was the first day of a new term and a strange one for me as I no longer work at the school! I kept busy though with paperwork and made more chutney! It was also a no spend day so - NSD 3/15

An afternoon in the kitchen

2008-09-02T19:20:00.008+01:00

An unexpected gift of plums meant a spell in the kitchen making some of my Aunty Beryls recipe for chutney! It took a while to thicken up, in fact I started this yesterday and had to stop when i got too tired and start again today! but when it did thicken it was lovely and I got 4 and a half jars of something very like mango chutney. One jar will go to the donor of course along with some courgettes the rest will be in the preserve cupboard ready for Christmas.

Next to the chutney is a banana and choc chip loaf and some muffins, which got a bit overdone in the oven but were still nice to eat, some of which are destined for the freezer and packed lunches. It is a very easy recipe to make and will make 2 small loaves or 12 large muffins.

Here's the recipe:-

Banana Bread
(great for using up those over ripe bananas)

3 very ripe bananas (almost walking) or use defrosted frozen bananas!
pinch of salt
6oz melted butter
1 teaspoon bicarb of soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
6 oz caster sugar
1 egg
9 - 10 oz plain flour
An optional extra is a handful of choc chips which is yummy

Smash bananas (food processor is great for this recipe). Add remaining ingredients, mix together. Pour into 2 greased or paper lined 1lb loaf tins or 1 lined 2lb tin or muffin cases. Bake in moderate oven (180C/350F/Gas mark 4) for 45 minutes. If making muffins 15 mins should do. Freezes well and is lovely sliced, toasted & dripping with melted butter.

While this was baking I managed to prep and freeze more runner beans and tomatoes.

Today was another no spend day - NSD 2/15
Dinner today was mainly using up leftovers - left over soya mince chilli made into a shepherds pie with leftover courgette and tomato bake.

Bartering the gluts!

2008-09-01T21:54:00.006+01:00

I have spent this evening making plum chutney with some lovely plums given to me by Mr C's boss, we will be sending back some courgettes from our garden and a jar of the end product.

Earlier on I managed to get some lovely windfall cooking apples from a neighbour in exchange for some cherry tomatoes. These will be added to our rather large courgettes/marrows to make yet more chutney!

We have exchanged some more courgettes for runner beans from our other neighbours. I just love this time of year, everyone else who is growing food and has gluts is as eager as we are to swap some of it for something they are not growing in quantity themselves. This way we all have a good variety of fruit and veg and have a lovely chat about how we are going to use the items up, swapping recipes as we go. The kitchens are busy and some lovely smells are emanating from the kitchen windows. Who needs the supermarket! (well maybe for the vinegar and sugar!)

I came in at about £30 over budget on my grocery challenge, we had visitors, I will try again this month to keep to £150, also only managed 8/10 no spend days! I am still going to try for 15 no spend days this month, today was nsd 1/15

And now for the good news!

2008-08-30T13:30:00.005+01:00

We have just managed to pay 10% off our mortgage!

This time last year we owed the building society £105,000.00

We then remortgaged in September 2007 for £85,000.00 paying off £20,000.00

This time we scraped together £8,500.00 (the 10% allowed in 1 year) and now we owe £76,500

Slowly but surely it is coming down!! It was very scary using up our savings, there are so many other things that the money could be used for but we decided to follow our goal which is to be financially free by retirement.

Now it is back to building up the savings again! We have to find the next 10% £7,650 by next August. We have learned that every little helps even the 20p saved by not buying that second hand book and getting it from the library instead. What with increasing food and fuel prices and an extra mouth to feed this won't be easy but I'm not giving up now! What we are doing is to put money we would definately have spent before straight into savings so if we would have found the money to eat out before but instead I cook then we take off the cost of the ingredients and save the difference, if we go to the market for the 3 books for £5 offer but then decide to go to the library instead then that is £5 saved. In the last 2 days we have saved £15.20 towards our goal.

We're losing the path!

2008-08-22T12:48:00.004+01:00

Everything is growing so well in this part of the garden that we are losing the path! I realise now that we didn't allow enough room and so we have an overcrowding issue! I can't wait until we get the bigger veg patch going next year. We spent £20 on compost at the beginning of the season as this was a new bed and very clay like, but it was worth it. All the plants came free courtesy of our very kind neighbour and also from some packets of seed I had from last year. So for £20 and some back ache we have been getting a good harvest this summer of courgettes, runner beans, tomatoes, spinach and from a compost filled dustbin nearby some new potatoes.

This is todays harvest, may not look like much but is more than enough for the 2 of us and means we have not missed the 2 organic box deliveries we have now cancelled each month. This has saved us £25.70 a month. I am also putting a fair bit into the freezers so we will have a supply into the autumn. We are getting a similar sized harvest every 2-3 days and if we can keep ourselves supplied into October (by using the frozen produce) we will have saved £102.80 less £20 for the compost and £12 for eggs, £20 for fruit - bought at the farm shop instead of from abel and cole - I make that a £50 saving!

It all helps and the pleasure of harvesting your food from the back garden is priceless.

What a lovely birthday present!

2008-08-21T12:16:00.005+01:00

This was what I woke up to as I looked out into the garden on my birthday!

I have always hankered after an old fashioned bird house for the garden, like the ones on my american cross stitch patterns and bless his heart Mr C had taken this on board and gave me this one for my birthday! Now I shall have to tidy up the garden and level the ground under it so it doesn't tilt so much. I have placed it well away from any other nest boxes and more or less where we used to have a silver birch that the birds loved so much.

I am spending the rest of the day being thoroughly spoilt by my friends and family, no dinner to cook tonight! We are off to a local fish restaurant, my favourite Loch Fyne.

Aunty Beryl's Chutney Recipe

2008-08-20T12:30:00.004+01:00

After 3 weeks without a delivery I'm pleased with the contents of this weeks organic box delivery, a lovely looking cabbage, mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, couple of little gem letuces, plums, apples and some delicious clementines. Now to menu plan!

I still have courgettes to use, the one at the back is an example of what happens to a courgette if you don't get to it in time, I have a few more like that one, might be making some of my Auntie Beryl's famous (well famous to our family) chutney! Her recipe is really easy and can be used for most fruit and vegetable gluts:-

Aunty Beryl's Chutney recipe

3lbs apples or any other fruit/vegetables (plums, marrows, tomatoes etc)
3/4 pint vinegar
1/2 lb chopped onions
grated rind of an orange or lemon
1 dessertspoon each of ginger, curry powder and mixed spice

Prepare (peel if necessary and cube) fruit/vegetable and simmer with other ingredients until tender.

Then add 1/4 lb sultanas and 1lb sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until thick. Pot in the usual way.

This is lovely with cheese and ham.

The organic box delivery with the eggs came to £12.85 so total left in the grocery challenge is £24.15 to last until the end of the month and we have visitors next weekend! yikes! Luckily Mr C is taking us all out for a meal to celebrate my birthday so that is one day taken care of!

Counting my blessings

2008-08-18T11:10:00.004+01:00

It's been a quiet week here and I have taken some time out to see how I have been doing.

I can't change my mobile phone contract until october but come october boy will I change things. It is by far too high a bill for something I rarely use so I am hoping to change to pay as you go and keep the phone I have, it is handy for keeping in touch with the kids and for emergencies but really that is all I need. I can't wait til october!

I am well stocked up on the pantry basics and have a freezer full of garden produce and the surplus from the organic box deliveries, so can keep the grocery bill down for a while yet. I have managed to keep to £150 for the month on a regular basis. The organic delivery is now fortnightly instead of weekly.

We have changed our fuel supplier, should be sorted in 4 weeks and we are now on a capped rate for a year.

We have managed to set up a home office costing very little for Mr C with furniture donated and swapped from friends and pennies spent at car boot sales.

I have plenty of craft materials in a now easy to reach place, which should take care of filling the long winter evenings. I also have plenty of books - I found plenty in boxes in our daughters room and in the loft. I have sadly got into Mary Jane Staples Adams family saga, just cannot put them down! Also some old Agatha Christies I have collected.

Slowly but surely the end part of our garden is being cleared and we should have a large vegetable patch in use for next year.

In some peoples eyes we don't have a lot, no new cars, expensive overseas hols, designer clothes and furniture, but we have each other and although not brilliant good health it could be worse!
I am counting my blessings! :)

Spent £20 on groceries at the weekend so total spent is now £113.00 with £37 left.
Just had 2 no spend days in a row - NSD-6/10 + NSD 7/10