My Bargain Oven and Miracle Seedlings

DD has had her kitchen remodelled and was getting rid of her old built in oven.  It is 6 years old but a much better oven than mine so when she offered it to me I grabbed the opportunity with both hands.  Son in Law, P, even offered to fit it for me for free. What could I say but "pretty please!" It has a working oven light (mine didn't), heats up in no time (mine took ages), is fan assisted (mine wasn't) and it arrived clean (a bonus!) It would have gone to the scrapyard so it's been recycled. I love it.....

As a small thank you I have bought them a bottle of port which is one of their favourite tipples, so my oven has cost me just £10......

It's been a strange muggy kind of day, very overcast and as OH was at work I didn't really know what to make for my lunch.  A scrabble about in the freezer unearthed a solitary spicy vegetable burger so I cooked that to have with some salad.  I am trying to cut down on calories a bit with the warmer weather looming and also increase my fruit and veg intake.  I guess this to be at least 2 portions and with a small glass of orange juice, that makes 3.  The meal comes to 9 WW pro points with a bit of low fat salad cream to moisten the carrot. It tasted lovely too....

There was just £11.84 left in the housekeeping purse so I have used some of it to stock up on milk, butter for cakes, baked beans, orange juice and a big pot of thick Greek style yogurt for low calorie desserts.  Somehow a pack of 6 fruit split ice lollies found their way into my basket too, but at just 2 pro points each and costing £1 for six, I don't feel too guilty :)  The remainder of the cash has been put aside for emergencies.  Our food shopping week begins on a Monday as it's usually the quieter day although we might do it on Tuesday this week as Monday is Bank Holiday.

 

About 6 weeks ago I bought a parsley growing kit from the pound shop.  I thought I had messed it all up as nothing appeared for about 4 weeks then tiny sprouting things appeared.  Just look at it now!

 



I intended planting some seedlings in the little patch of garden at the back but now it has been forbidden to grow food I might have to just thin them out and grow them on in the pot :( 

Bye for now, have a lovely weekend x

Illicit Produce

Most of you will have realised by now that we live in a park home in a country setting.  The home belongs to us but it sits on rented land and we have lived here for 6 years after downsizing from our 3 bed detached in town.  Last year I blogged about our meagre food harvest and my awful gardening skills but wanted to carry on growing  something again this year, anything that we can grow to eat will help the budget.  Well b*gg*r me, we have recently been told that we are simply not allowed to grow food because it will attract rats!  The question was asked " are these PEAS?"

"No...they are sweetpeas....."

(whisper...)
But these are! They are at the back out of sight!

And we have POTATOES too!

And STRAWBERRIES!

We haven't had rats in 6 years so why should they decide to pay us a visit now? Anyway, they do say that you are never more than 6 feet from a rat wherever you live.  My veg will be staying for this year at least. Slugs are more of a problem, in reality.  They beat me to the best strawberries :/

How is your veg growing doing?



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Back to the Real World (almost) And Junk Mail

The last eight weeks have been incredibly stressful with my dear Father-in-Law in hospital for more than 5 weeks before he passed away on Bank Holiday Monday, 2nd May.  We were unable to arrange the funeral until last Wednesday, the 18th May, and have been working our little socks off emptying his rented flat in the allotted time.  It seemed so sad having to clear his home even before the funeral but we had absolutely no choice.  As OH was an only child it fell to the two of us to do everything required and when you are in mourning too it is doubly hard.  DD helped us on two days with the cupboard clearing but it was back breaking work even then.

We were determined to get as much stuff as possible re-used or recycled so the bulk of his furniture went to the British Heart Foundation and the stuff they wouldn't take (no fire label or too shabby etc) went to a local chap who recycles, upcycles or refurbishes such unwanted stuff. The carpets had to be removed too (oh my gawd) so we cut them up as best we could and they went in a skip ....more landfill :(

 

During the time V was in hospital we were collecting his mail and paying his bills and the amount of junk mail he was receiving was both eye opening and heart stopping.  We know he had responded to some, the evidence was clear and he had become a target. It was horrendous. I have discovered a way to register that he is no longer with us via the DPS Deceased Preference Service and have done just that.  It was easy on the website www.deceasedpreferenceservice.co.uk  Lets hope it helps the new residents of the flat by putting a stop on the avalanche.

All that remains to do now is await the final bills and pay them.....

BREATHE.....

My next post will be a bit more upbeat, I hope.  Thanks for letting me get it all off my chest.....

Thanks for popping in x

An Explanation

It has been almost 6 weeks since my last post and I need to explain.....

Two days after I wrote it my dear Father in Law was taken into hospital during the night.  He remained there for more than 5 weeks despite the efforts of the social care system to send him home to an empty flat, mainly because he was so weak and picked up 2 infections whilst in there.  He spent his 94th birthday there too.

It is with great sadness (but a little relief) that I have to tell you he passed away a few days ago at 1.10 am.  We couldn't get there in time.  It has been incredibly stressful and worrying for him and the family. OH and I have been walking in a daze for weeks and now there is so much to arrange and the rented flat to clear out.

I dip in and out of reading my favourite blogs just for a bit of normality but don't have the strength to post replies, I'm afraid.

I hope to come back soon, my bloggy friends, do please bear with me......

Happy Easter, Good News and Talon

I have come down with a nasty ear infection :/  On Friday I felt a bit 'out of sorts' and my neck ached a bit but nothing specific until Saturday when I woke with a headache; not the thumping sort but a general tightness and feeling that my head was too big (now, now, I've heard it all before...lol...) This headache has persisted every day since.  Paracetamol, the old standby, has eased the pain but not removed it and I developed shooting pains in my ear. Uh, oh, time see the GP, I thought.  It has taken me 24 hours of trying but I finally got a cancellation at 8.50am this morning so I'm now on antibiotics.

I decided it was best to stay in the warm today so I've made a few Easter cards.  They are very simple but look effective enough.....

 

 

Some friends are moving to Lincolnshire and J has lent me a cookery book she bought up there....

 

 

Erm, I don't know why it has ended up on it's side in the shot and I can't turn it round so there it will have to stay, sorry.  There are some super recipes in the book.  Lots are meat based but this one is more to my taste....

This one too ....

I might just have to have a go at the cake sometime soon.

Good news!  My Nephew and his wife have had a little boy! He weighed in at a whopping 8lb 9ozs ( makes your eyes water, doesn't it ladies?) He is called Daniel Jacob and is beautiful.  I have only seen photos but he's lovely.  I just had to make a quick card (the toppers are by Hunkdory) and I made the tiny card to put some money in for him.

Tonight, I have a ticket to see Talon, the Eagles tribute band, and despite being in pain I fully intend to go!  OH isn't interested so I will be going by myself.  I saw them last year and really enjoyed it so I have no intention of missing tonight's gig. It cost me £18 after all :)

Thanks everso for popping in x

Another Film and an Alice in Wonderland Sarnie

I decided to go to the cinema again today, another £3 for a ticket including tea (my choice for today) and 2 biscuits, you can actually help yourself to as many biscuits as you want but I'm not greedy, 2 are enough although you would think that some people are starving judging by the hand full they each put into their bags and pockets :? Anyway, I watched the film Carol, set in the 1950's.  It was adapted from the Patricia Highsmith book 'The Price of Salt' and starred Cate Blanchett.  It's not a film I would have paid full price to see but I'm glad I went today.  After the film I ventured into the out-of-town shopping centre mall in search of some lunch and spotted this in Boots.  It had a 50p price ticket and urged "Eat me quick" ....so I did. I don't have to be asked twice!!  :)

 

 

Has anyone else tried this Silver Cinema thing yet?

 

On arrival back home I had 3 bills on the mat;  LPG £132.29, Rates, water & sewerage £513 and electricity £361.59 Crikey! Over £1,000 in one fell swoop.  The electricity is for 6 months usage, slightly less than this time last year so we have managed to cut down a bit. The bill for rates etc is for 12 months and the LPG should last 6 weeks.  It's such an expensive time of year with all that and insurances too, I'm so glad we budget all year round for these things or I would be panicking.

 

That's all for now, I'm afraid, I need to search the freezer for something for tea.  OH fancies curry & rice and I'm sure I have a few frozen prawns stashed away for him and some quorn for me.  There's a jar of curry sauce in the cupboard too, 84p from Mr M, so I'll take a quarter of the jar for the prawns to cook in and use three quarters to make quorn curry then freeze enough of that for two portions next week. 

 

Thanks everso for popping in x



Eggs, Council Tax and Fitness Trackers

I always do a 'top up' shop on Saturday mornings.  I look at what money is left in the kitty, find out if the family are coming to visit over the weekend (they never know until Friday night! ) and then buy accordingly.  I had run out of eggs and scrambled eggs on toast often feature in the GC's request for tea so I bought these .....

They are free range (I refuse to buy battery eggs), from British farmers  (so support them too) and RSPCA assured so that I'm as sure as I can be that the hens are having a decent life.  They cost just 85p as they were mixed sizes but these all seem a decent size to me.  None will go to waste....

It's good to have the information regarding actually tracking where the eggs came from but I won't bother as I trust I'm not being misled...

When I got home the postman had been but this was all I had received :/  The Council tax bill...

It has increased by £22 on last years bill which isn't too bad, as I was expecting more and had budgeted accordingly at £1155 so the extra will stay in the account for emergencies.  We pay by direct debit and our pensions go directly into the bank account to cover the bills anyway so that we rarely have any nasty shocks.....

Insurance is always the bugbear. Every year the car and caravan insurances shoot up in price bearing no resemblance to inflation whatsoever.  In  previous posts I explained about the good deals obtained by shopping around for car insurance, now it's the turn of the caravan.  The Caravan Club renewal is requesting £253 but comparison sites have come up with £200 and a few pence so if CC can't match it they will lose our business for that too.  It's too big a difference to just go with it. By just going with the renewal requests we would have spent an extra £213!  Far too big a sum to ignore or be lazy about.  Yes, it takes effort, but it's worth it in my view.  That's 2 weeks pension for me!!! Or a whole month's food shopping and more!!!

Health and Fitness

The Nuband tracker my DD bought me for mothers day has come in very useful.  I have worn it constantly (except in the shower as it's not waterproof) but I have found a glitch; it doesn't track steps unless you swing your arms as you walk :/  Yesterday was such a lovely day that we got the village bus into town and had a good brisk walk.  My tracker showed 5,174 steps but OH's phone showed 7,158.  It dawned on me that I was the one carrying the shopping so my arm with the tracker was often straight down by my side holding the bag handles...doh!  It has shown, however, that I often do nowhere near the recommended 10,000 steps per day and I need to work on that.  It tracks sleep too and I have discovered that if I watch the late night news my sleep is more disturbed than if I go to bed without watching it.  Game over...I will NOT watch late night news and worry about the state of the world during the night.  My worrying will not change anything.  Deep sleep here I come......

Have a lovely weekend everyone, whatever you have planned.  Thanks so much for popping in x