It's OK.....

 

Angie 💓 xx

I is for.....

.....I'm saying goodbye to blogging after today.  There are a few reasons for this:

Firstly, our PC is playing up (again), then my tablet is so old that many things are not working properly on it, and my phone is so blimmin' fiddly and won't upload photos for some reason.  Blogger is becoming a nightmare to use too, and a blog without photos is boring in the extreme.

I will still pop in to read other blogs when I can and will leave my blog up for a while before I delete it, so I won't disappear off the face of the earth 😃

Sincere thanks to all of you who have followed me for years.  I wish you all health and happiness wherever in the world you happen to be and, above all, peace to live your life as you wish.  Take great care of yourselves.

Lots of love

Angie xxx

H is for Hygge and Hugs

 

hygge

/ˈh(j)uːɡə,ˈhʊɡə/

noun

1. a quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture).

   
   

My definition is:

• A cosy chair
• A warm blanket
• Hot chocolate
• A favourite book
• Relaxing music
• Calm breathing or meditation

What is your definition of Hygge?

See you tomorrow 💓 x

G is for Growing and Greenhouse

 From our dainty little cucumbers.....

.....to our scary carrots.....

....to our self seeded poppies.....

......we have enjoyed growing food at the allotment for the last 3 years or so.

 I must admit that it's getting harder though.  Neither of us can bend the way we used to and my back is often dodgy.  In addition, we have to drive to the allotment, only 10 minutes or so but it does cost fuel, plus the £25 annual allotment fee means that it's not cheap.  We are now debating whether or not to spend some savings on a small greenhouse at home.  It can be tucked behind the garage in a sunny spot and will allow us to grow salad crops as well as start off flowers and plants.  It's looking increasingly likely. Watch this space!

See you tomorrow 💓 x

F is for FREE

 

I was offered a free birthday treat: a pack of M & S cookies using my Sparks Loyalty card via the App. I never turn down free food so snapped up these whilst running errands in town. A treat is always welcome 😊

Don't you love free food? 😀

See you tomorrow ❤️x

E is for Ebay

 

I have been selling on eBay for 21 years now and find it a very useful platform to raise a bit of cash from stuff we no longer need.  Occasionally, I pick up a few bits from charity shops to sell on for a bit of pocket money.  I'll never make a fortune though and don't get anywhere near the £1,000 per annum profit allowed by HMRC before having to declare it.  Anyway, I'm well below the tax threshold for my income as it is.  Occasionally, I pick up beautiful pieces which I would love to keep, but space in the bungalow is very limited.  Since April this year I have sold stuff for a total of £187.50 after fees and postage.  This will be just enough for Christmas gifts, cards and wrapping etc this year.

DD's Family:  £30 each x 4 =  £120

Children:  £5 each (in a card) x 5 =£25

Cheer up gift for my sister:  £20 (not sure what to buy yet as it will have to be posted)

$30 Australian sent to granddaughter £16.04 (my son will choose and wrap a gift from us)

Leaving approx £6.46 for cards & wrapping etc Reasonably happy with that.....

See you tomorrow 💓 x

D is for Driving in the Dark and Determination

 

I have found that I can no longer drive comfortably in the dark, especially when there is no street lighting and some idiot is tailgating, and all I can see is his/her headlights in my rear view mirror. So I have stopped doing it. I'm sure that my developing cataracts haven't helped.  This now curtails what I can do because I used to drive to our daughter's during daylight and drive back in the dark.  Now it's dark by 4.30pm and I dare not risk it so it is quite exciting that we have joined the Gardeners Guild in a nearby village 😀  They meet once a month at 7.30pm and hubby drives, so I don't have to worry.  When we went out last Tuesday night it was quite exciting to see all the lights on the dashboard in our car for the first time. We only bought it 7 months ago! It just shows how often we go out 😂🤣😂

Determination comes into it here because I don't want to sit at home and wait for the inevitable deterioration of old age.  We are both determined to get out more even if just for a walk.

Do you have to make an effort to do things?  Is it easier to do nothing?

See you tomorrow 💓x

C is for Christmas

 Now let it be said...I love Christmas but it can be so stressful in the run up to the day. I'm all for simplifying the whole thing and I'm getting prepared slowly and methodically this year for the big day.  My Christmas gift list has shrunk considerably and the grandchildren will be getting cash and a token gift to open on the day.  I'm buying oddments as I find appropriate things.  The freezer will be topped up gradually, making the most of bargains as I find them and my Sainsbury's Nectar points are being saved for the food on Boxing Day, which I will be hosting for the family. No stress.......Fingers crossed 👍

Have you begun yet? All wrapped up? At the list stage? I'd love to know......

See you tomorrow ❤x

B is for Bonfire and Birthday

 

On Saturday night Himley Hall had their annual bonfire event.   Despite living quite close by for many years, I had never been to it in the past.   This year, when my daughter asked if I fancied going I said yes.  The grandchildren and their respective boyfriend and girlfriend wanted to go too, so there were 7 of us in 2 cars.  My OAP ticket cost just £7 but other tickets cost £12 upwards with £10 for each pre-booked car parking space.  The car parks turned out to be fields 😳 and after days upon days of heavy rain, the visitors were immediately sinking their vehicles into ankle deep mud.  We were lucky to spot 2 adjacent spaces under the trees on a narrow verge so grabbed them pretty quick.

The music and fireworks were great but the bonfire was so wet it barely took off when lit. We arrived pretty early, just after 5pm, and the fireworks weren't lit until 8.30pm by which time we were all pretty knackered, very wet and cold and ankle deep in mud.  But, hey, I was never allowed to go to a music festival in my youth so this was a new experience for me 🤣  We took spare shoes to change into for the journey home and left around 9pm (once the men in our group had pushed several vehicles out of the mud as their good deed for the day)  Luckily, our foresight to park on the verge paid off and both our cars got away easily. 

That will be the only time I'll be going though.....I enjoyed it, but once is definitely enough!

Birthday: it was my 74th birthday on 1st November so I think I'll stop counting now 🙄......

Back tomorrow ❤ x

A for Apologies and Anxiety

 It has been so long since I last wrote a post that I am struggling where to begin, so I've pinched the idea of a post a day using the letters of the alphabet for inspiration.  Today's post must begin with a sincere apology: to those of you who left concerned comments on my last post , and to the bloggers whom I follow myself on a regular basis (usually, at any rate) and who have been neglected.  My only excuse is that I have felt totally overwhelmed by life, health issues, family worries and world events, many of which I simply have no control over. 

It's been anxiety at the root of  it all.  I'm still not over it but must get a grip before it swamps me completely.

I hope you are all well and ready to see me struggle to find appropriate topics each day!😂

Until tomorrow.......❤ x

Just when I thought it was safe to surface....

Just when I thought it was safe to put my head above the parapet and drag myself from the dark pit of anxiety, Covid has taken a pop.  Both my Sister and her husband, who is in a care home, came down with it and my poor Sis has been left to suffer alone at home.  My Niece pushed some paracetamol through the letterbox but Sis has been sleeping it off, not eating and just drinking water because I'm not close enough to help.  She is 84 and in Woodbridge, Suffolk and I'm in South Staffordshire 😢

Then our Daughter's family all contracted it, one after the other so I haven't been able to see them for 2 weeks other than a distant chat when I dropped shopping and medication and test kits at the door.  Have you seen the price of the test kits? 😰  Almost £10 for 5 so she needed 2 lots for the 4 of them.....

Thankfully, all are now on the mend which is a tremendous relief because our 16 yr old Grandson had only worked two days of a two month trial for a building firm when he tested positive.  I'm so hoping he can get back on track.

Then DARN IT ! we woke up to this lovely little mound of earth in our back garden.....

.....a mole....and the little blighter is digging everywhere......

We've bought a mole deterrent which emits a sonic beep and vibrates every 55 seconds to try to shoo it away......

The good news is that we've also seen a hedgehog in the garden.  He sets off the security light and scurries behind the pots to find worms and insects to eat.  He's a good weight too so, hopefully, will be big enough to hibernate somewhere cosy. 

The weather today is so very hot again, at least 28 C and I'm hoping it will cool off soon as I'm finding it hard to sleep again.  Am I never satisfied? 😅😎

Thanks for popping in and stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x

I'm so DONE with Too Good To Go

I managed to get a Too Good To Go bag from Morrisons supermarket on Sunday.  I've paid for one so many times, only to have it cancelled next day that I thought I was in luck at last.  I got :

2 loaves of crusty bread

A bag of carrot batons

A swede

A bag of pea shoots

A pack of prepared melon and grapes

1 cookie 

There was nothing in the bag to make a decent meal with so we ate baked beans on toast sliced from the small loaf.  I put the other loaf in the freezer because it would go stale so quickly if I left it out and the carrots (tasteless) and swede (ok) were cooked on Monday and served with some other (homegrown) veg and gravy.  The fruit was shared for breakfast.

I added up the original prices to get £9.16 including the swede at full price as there was no YS on it.

Then the YS prices came to £3.00

As I paid £3.09 ie 9p more that the YS prices, I felt a bit cheated.  This is not the first time this has happened and sometimes I've given dodgy looking meat to my lovely neighbour to cook for her dog, as G didn't fancy it.

I. AM. DONE. with TGTG 😢 I've deleted the App....

Have you had better luck with TGTG bags in your area?

Thanks for popping in and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

What the heck is going on?

I had to do a small top-up shop yesterday so visited our local Sainsburys.  Whilst browsing I spotted these tins of soup...HOW MUCH?  😱 Now, I know Heinz is a good brand but £1.70 for a tin which will serve two people at the most is plain wicked, even with the price reduced to £1.50 if you have a Nectar card, it will be too expensive for anyone struggling to put food on the table......

All varieties were the same price.....

....with the exception of Vegetable which was on offer at 50p.  There were very few left for obvious reasons, I imagine.  I'm perfectly capable of making a pan of veggie soup but bought 2 tins for the store cupboard for days when I just feel too tired to make any, or we need a quick fix for lunch.

How can this price be justified? It seems that Winter this year will be just as hard as last year for many people.

Has anyone else noticed that the cost of petrol & diesel is slowly creeping up again?  Petrol has reached the dizzying height of 150.7p per litre in the village and I don't think that will be the end of the increases either.  It looks like curtailing our driving even more.

Sad news:  Barclays Bank in the village has closed 😢  There is no other bank.  At the moment we still have a Post Office where we can draw cash, but it's a bit of a trek up a steep hill to reach it.  Yes, I know we can use a card to pay for stuff but a case in point....when we went to the local plant nursery to buy a couple of things, they  were in the middle of a power cut.  They had no electricity across the whole site and therefore could not take card payments.  It was cash only.  G and I only had about £7.00 cash between us so we couldn't buy what we went for.  We spent our cash on a scone and butter in the coffee shop ( and a free glass of tap water) hoping the power would be restored in the meantime.  It wasn't.  The nursery must have lost an awful lot of custom that day.

Are banks closing in your vicinity too?

Thanks so much for popping in and stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x

Changing Focus & a Big Thank You

First of all, I want to say an enormous "THANK YOU" to everyone who left kind and concerned comments on my last post and to Stephenie, Sue in Suffolk, and Sue Hall who left additional comments over the last week asking if I am ok.  The short answer is yes, I'm feeling better, thank you.

I don't know what happened but I began waking after a restless, sometimes, almost sleepless night, with a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. I felt in a constant state of anxiety which affected my whole being.  I worried about G's health, my own health, my Grandchildren leaving school last term, the state of the economy, the plight of the world, and a myriad other things which left me feeling down and quite unwell. So....I cut myself from the news and social media to a great extent and concentrated on eating better and just reading gentle blogs.  I now feel a bit better and more in control of everything.

The thing that helped me to de-stress the most has been the allotment.  I've visited alone in gentle rain, torrential downpours and gentle sunshine. For the first time we have tried to grow Butternut squash and I found this last week. I just need to work out the optimum time to harvest it......

And there are more babies....

The sweetcorn is doing particularly well despite the lack of heat this year.....

We have onions......

We have a bloomin' local badger who digs his way in and forces his way into the centre of our raspberry canes 😡  despite of all our efforts to stop him.....

We've cut several heads of Brocolli , all a good weight and absolutely melt in the mouth tender.....

And more runner beans that we can possibly eat.  I've been busy freezing them and giving away loads of them to family and neighbours too......

We've harvested:

Runner beans

French climbing beans

Brocolli

Carrots,

Baby parsnips

Sweetcorn  (gradually ripening now)

Cherry tomatoes,

Beetroot

Windfall Bramley apples

Thanks so much for popping in my friends, and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

Not Feeling Myself.....

 I'm just popping in to say 'hi' and to explain the lack of blog posts: I'm just not feeling myself...... There's nothing specific, just feeling 'off', not sleeping well, and feeling drained of energy.  It's even worse now the weather is so hot because it upsets my stomach too.

I'll probably be back once the weather cools off a bit. Meanwhile, take care of yourselves and stay safe, wherever in the world you happen to be x 

A Financial Boost

 

Image from Google

I was surprised and pleased to find that the local council have paid me for my Election duties on 4th May.  The money was in my bank account by Saturday.  I was not so pleased, however, that tax of over £50 has been deducted despite not having enough income to be liable to pay any tax at all.  I have tried many times to contact Inland Revenue to get a tax code issued prior to payment, to no avail.  On one occasion I held on for 50 minutes only to be cut off before anyone actually answered 😡  Now I have to try to get a refund.  I finally got through to the IR only to be told by a young woman that I have to wait until the end of the year to be refunded; that's the TAX year ie 5th April 2024 !!  I sincerely hope not! This is particularly galling as I worked for the IR as Tax Officer for several years and it used to be so easy to issue refunds of this kind.  My thinking cap is firmly on.....

Stay safe everyone x

How Much Food Can £3.39 Buy Me?

For the first time in absolutely ages, I was able to book a Too Good To Go bag for collection yesterday.   Morrisons is the closest store but, despite bagging a bag so to speak, they cancel most of the time which can be very frustrating.  When I saw that the Morrisons Local store, which has only recently opened near the village, was offering a bag I snapped it up.  This is what I got.....

In date order there was:

21st May

* 2 sweetcorn cobs

*A pot of tuna and sweetcorn sandwich filling

*Raspberries (marked at £1)

22nd May

*A pot of pineapple

*Bagged salad

* Thick sliced bread

23rd May

* Cadburys choc trifles

28th May

400g sliced cooked ham

10th June 👍

* Creme fraiche

plus 4 large oranges, undated, marked at £1

I totted it up from the website to a total of £15.35 at normal prices so, all in all, a bargain for £3.39

The ham was 'reformed' ham, which I wouldn't normally buy, and 400g was far too much for G to get through, so I gave it to a neighbour for her dog.  We ate the raspberries with a scoop of ice cream for tea, the pineapple pieces went on our breakfast cereal this morning and the bread is in the freezer.  Nothing will be wasted.

The staff were very friendly and helpful so I will definitely grab a bag from there again 👍

The weather at the weekend was lovely.  Saturday saw me at our daughter's house for a catch up and a barbecue tea.  G was at work over the whole weekend until 6pm so I could relax and enjoy the Grandchildren's news regarding exams and such.  On Sunday I did a bit of eBay listing, washing and chilling 😎  It's beautifully sunny again today so G has gone to the allotment to put some more veg plants in and I'll join him later once I've pegged out some more washing in the sunshine....

I hope your weekend was good too. Have a lovely day everyone. Thanks for popping in and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

How My Garden Grows!

 Growth is definitely putting on a spurt now.  The Amelanchier has grown considerably since last year, although the blossom only lasted a short time, the wind and rain saw to that, but the tulips and summer snowdrops have been lovely (a bit battered now) and the foxgloves are coming along nicely.  I'm hoping to encourage many more insects to the garden this year.....

 

We have bought a Magnolia ( Susan) which we didn't expect to flower this year but we now have two lovely blossom(s?).....

The tomato plants are doing well.  They will be off to the allotment later in the year as we have no room here for them......

My lettuces are fattening up nicely and will be hung on the fence soon .......

I have always fancied a fig tree but they are so expensive.  When G saw one at B & Q he snapped it up for me.  It's a dwarf fig which will, hopefully, do well against the sunny garage wall in it's pot. It might or might not produce figs at some point, we'll have to wait and see......

How is your garden doing?  Any new fruit trees this year?

Thanks for popping in.  Do stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

Election Duty & Frugal Doings

My new herb pot!

It was election day in the UK on Thursday and I was lucky enough to be employed for the day as Poll Clerk in my local area.  I was a bit nervous, to be honest, as it was a very long day from 6.30am to 10.30pm with no meal breaks and certainly no leaving the building until the end and it's been quite a few years since I worked for a living!

Actually, it wasn't so bad.  I was concerned that people would forget their ID or argue the toss about having to produce it for the first time, but 99% of the electors produced it without fuss or comment and were really very nice to deal with.  The hardest part was staying in one place for so long.  I had to get up and walk around a bit sometimes, tidying the polling booths, checking the pencils etc and had to eat my food standing up , but I managed.  It was not nice having no hot food all day though.  I took with me 2 soft rolls with (lactose free) cheese ant tomato , a slice of quiche, a banana, a yogurt and a slice of lemon drizzle cake. Oh, and a pint of milk as there was a fridge.  The kitchen was a bit of a trek to reach but I managed to make 3 mugs of hot tea throughout the day to keep me warm. I litre of water was sipped throughout the day too as I could keep the bottle on the floor beside my chair. There were actually 5 polling stations at the same venue, which was a bit confusing, but it made for a bit of friendly banter during a lull in voting 😊  I have to say that I was really tired next day though  😌

Frugal doings over the week:

* The weather has been milder so we needed no heating on for most of the week, just maybe an hour in the evening.  It's not been on this morning either. 

* Washing has been dried on the airer in the house instead of in the tumble dryer

* I won a £5 voucher for completing online surveys, which was spent on an M & S pizza for Saturday night after the Coronation, so our tea cost just 75p

* I will be paid for my stint on Thursday, hopefully by the end of the month

Reasons to be thankful:

* I have had a photo on WhatsApp of my little Granddaughter in Sydney with her new pet Budgies 😊

* I have a new herb pot containing chives, thyme and parsley which are the herbs I will use the most (after mint which is too invasive to put in the same pot)

* The good fortune to earn a bit of money

* The sun is shining! 😎

Thanks for popping in and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

Colour and Tradition

 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with baby Charles

I don't know about you, but I thoroughly enjoyed the TV coverage of the Coronation of King Charles III on Saturday.  I put on the TV at 7.30am to watch the arrival of famous faces and hear the commentary.  I had to pop out on an errand but made sure I was back before 11am for the ceremony.  It was British tradition at it's best for me; all the colour, the music, the pomp, the troops, the golden coach..... 

I found it very emotional and sat toasting the King and Queen with my mini bottle of Prosecco and some nibbles.  It was truly history in the making and I'm so glad that the protesters were not allowed to spoil it.  There's a time and place for such protests and that wasn't one of them.

What did you do?

Tomorrow there will be a post about my experience of Election Day , so you can either earmark it to be read or skipped as you prefer! 😂😁

Have a lovely day everyone, the sun is coming out here at last.

Stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

A Beautiful May Morning

 Thank you so much for all the comments on my last post.  It seems that I'm not alone in getting emotional over music. 

It's a beautiful sunny and mild day, so hubby is pottering in the garden and I'm pottering around the house doing light dusting, opening windows and doors for a breath of fresh air.  I dare not do too much bending because tomorrow is election day in the UK and I don't want to risk hurting my back.  It will be a long day tomorrow but I'm looking forward to it.  It will be good to feel useful again!

Have a great day everyone and enjoy the Coronation weekend.  What have you got planned?

Thanks for popping in and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to live x

Songs That Always Make Me Cry

I have realised that some song lyrics never fail to make me cry, and I don't mean that my eyes fill with tears,  I actually end up sobbing.  The following have all affected me over the last week:

* In the living years by Mike and The Mechanics ( it makes me cry about my late father)

*Bring him home by Josh Groben (which reminds me that I haven't seen my son in the flesh for many years as he lives in Sydney)

*The movie in my mind by Eva Noblezada , from Miss Saigon, ( it makes me weep for all the girls and women used and abused during the war in Vietnam, as my daughter-in-law is Vietnamese)

And the mother of all songs to leave me in a pool of tears:

* Monsters by James Blunt ( it was written when his father was very ill but can be interpreted to mean all the fathers lost during the pandemic)  It cracks me up every time.....

What songs bring out an emotional response in you?

After watching James Blunt's video on U-TUBE (TWICE) I needed a comforting bowl of soup with hot buttered toast.....

Thanks for popping in and stay safe everyone, wherever in the world you happen to be x

Alarmed or Not? And Frugal Doings....

 

(Last year's hanging basket)

Well, did yesterday's 3pm alarm from the government reach you?  Although I knew it was coming it still made me jump 👀 but it wasn't a problem.

As there was an antiques fair on locally, I took the opportunity in the morning for a walk in the fresh air and a mooch around the stalls.  It cost £2 to park for 2 hours and £2.50 to gain entry to the fair but I enjoyed looking at all the stuff on offer.  I didn't buy anything, because I'm selling not buying, but enjoyed the chance to find out what's out there.  I did succumb to a takeaway cup of tea for £2 but sat on a bench to enjoy the gentle sun and fresh air whilst I drank it.

Frugal things:

* I got a free jam donut from Greggs on Saturday whilst in the village ( and dropped a big blob of jam onto my clean top 😏)

* I had 3 small eBay sales during the week totalling £28.23 which has gone into the savings tin

* £50 from surveys dropped into my bank account this week too ( I heartily recommend YLive) but I'll leave it in there and donate a bit extra to the food bank when I next go shopping.

* We carried on eating the bits from the kitchen freezer, which is almost clear now of tiny amounts of this or that 👍

I can see that I have some veg in the fridge which needs eating including a pack of leeks, so leek and potato soup will figure largely in next week's food plan.  

Can I just welcome my latest followers; Tasker, Helen and Alicia.  I've been very rude lately and keep forgetting to say "Hi"......

Anyway, that's all for now.  Stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x

Putting Thoughts into Action

Whilst sitting in my car, drinking my free cup of Greggs hot chocolate, I was thinking....

...... if I can't cut costs any further, could I actually earn a bit of cash?  With the local elections coming up next month, I sent an email to the council asking how to apply to be a poll clerk on the day, as it's something I've always quite fancied doing.  To my surprise, I had a reply the next day with an application form to download and send off.  I posted it off and was amazed that, almost by return of post,  I was offered a job in my own village.  I've completed and passed the online training and have to attend a physical session as well.  To be honest, I'm a bit nervous but I'm determined to give it a go.  Election day itself is a very long day; 6.30am to approx  10pm (10.30pm once all is tidied away) and I'm not sure how I'll cope with that physically.   I can but try.

Has anyone ever done the job?  Any tips?

Thanks for popping in and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

Catching up & Growing On....

Gosh, has it only been a week since Easter Sunday?  It somehow feels much longer.

A big thank you to those who left comments on my last couple of posts, especially the ones with excellent suggestions on how to make ends meet.  I already do some of those things but some are new ideas which I can (and will) take on board, so thank you 😀

It's been much too cold and wet to do much at the allotment but one sunny morning this week we took the opportunity to check out what is happening there.

Our poor, heavily pruned Bramley apple tree is showing signs of blossom thankfully .....

As is our dessert apple.......

The forced rhubarb suddenly put on a growth spurt and has provided enough for some to be gifted to our Daughter, my Brother, a neighbour and 2 lots of delicious stewed rhubarb with custard for us.  I'd better leave it alone for a while to recover.....

G managed to put in some onions.  We've had to use a new raised bed to put them in because we've had white mould for the last two crops (grown in different areas too) which completely spoiled the crop last year.  We didn't want to risk putting them directly into the ground again.......

The strawberry plants are looking healthy and it will soon be time to uncover them for the sun to get at them......

G has risked planting the early potatoes, and has just sown seeds for beetroot, spring onion, lettuce and radishes in one of the raised beds so we just need a bit of warmth to get them going.  We have rain aplenty!  I can see that the feverfew we put in last year for the insects is coming back.  Does anyone know if we can actually use it in any other way? I've googled useage but would love to know from someone who has actually done it.

Frugal things this week:

* I've been using up bits and pieces from the kitchen freezer to make enough space to finally empty the garage freezer for defrosting (some quite creative meals!!)  This morning I defrosted it, dried it thoroughly, wiped the cabinet down and now it's switched back on to get the temperature down.  Later tonight I'll put the unopened packs of food back in so that I can carry on using up the oddments in the kitchen freezer and then defrost that  too.  It has meant a minimal spend at the supermarket this week 👍

* I've had a small eBay sale of just £3.25 after postage and fees but the money has gone into the savings tin and I have a tiny bit more space in my craft storage

* Washing has been dried on the clothes airer overnight in the kitchen rather than using the tumble dryer on 2 occasions

*Whilst I've been doing housework I've turned down the heating thermostat. Boy, vacuuming and ironing doesn't half warm you up!

That's all for now....

Thanks for popping in and stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x

Happy Easter 2023

 

Wishing everyone a very happy Easter.

How Do You Make Ends Meet?

 It's looking increasingly likely that G will be giving up his weekend work sometime this year.  It's getting much harder for him now that they have put him on variable shifts.  He used to work from 10am -4.30pm on Saturday and Sunday only, but now it can be at any time, really early starts or 8pm finishes and it's killing him.  His neck pain is worse by the end of the shift and he falls asleep in the chair once he's showered and changed (usually into PJ's)  It can't go on. 

We are still on a mission to have enough money put by so that either one of us can survive for a whole year on their own, to allow enough time to decide what to do (eg stay put or move)  The savings have been depleted a little by the acquisition of the new-to-us car but it will save us money over time. Now I'm thinking up ideas of how to increase our income or stretch what we have still further.

Frugal things I'm doing now:

Paid surveys

Using coupons/discount codes on food shopping

Entering free competitions

Using the O2 Priority app for a free hot drink once a week and a vegan sausage roll on a Friday/Saturday if I'm near a Greggs shop

Selling on eBay

What do you do to make ends meet?

I sent my friend some chocolates for her birthday and received this lovely thank you card in return.....

It says just what I'm feeling now that Spring has officially arrived 😂

Thanks so much for popping in and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

(sings) I'm in the Mood for Baking 🎶🎵

Our meal yesterday was lovely....expensive....but lovely to see the family and watch the 2 grandkids wolfing down their steaks and desserts.  We had a lovely catch-up on what's happening in school and sixth form.  They are both studying for their exams; GS his 'O' levels and GD her 'A' levels.  It seems really weird that they will both leave school this year too.  I think DD will really feel it.  Children to adults virtually overnight!

When I popped to Sainsbury's this morning I was wandering aimlessly around wondering how to use up bits and pieces from the fridge as well as 4 eggs with todays 'use by' date on, when I saw this shortcrust pastry in the reduced section.  I settled on quiche....

The pastry case was baked for 20 minutes then filled with gently softened onion....

..... 3 of the eggs (beaten) 200ml milk, salt, pepper and some leftover grated cheese, then popped back into the oven for another 20 minutes......

It should serve 6 portions easily and the bit of leftover pastry has been turned into 2 jam turnovers 😋

The one remaining egg will be my lunch for tomorrow.

Whilst the oven was on I baked 2 jacket potatoes and ate one for lunch with lactose free cheese, a bit of (reduced price) bagged salad leaves, cherry tomatoes, a grated bendy carrot and vegan coleslaw.  It was my idea of a perfect lunch and totally delicious 👍

G will have the other potato tonight, re-heated in the microwave with the last few prawns from the freezer.  

The kitchen is warm and smells totally scrumptious.  The patio door is open to let in some fresh air, windows ajar and I'm wearing SHORTS!  Yay!  I love air on my legs instead of being cocooned in jeans or jogging bottoms.  The clocks go forward tonight into BRITISH SUMMER TIME. 

Things are looking up 👀 😀

How is it where you live?

Enjoy your weekend folks and do stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x