Onwards to 2011

On most of the blogs I read people are listing their challenges & resolutions for the forthcoming year, me? I'm having trouble thinking of anything.
Some people are aiming for a year of not buying any new clothes, I rarely buy anything new, most of my stuff comes from charity shops.
I could attempt to give up chocolate, but I know that is doomed to failure, chocolate is the work of the devil & I cannot leave it alone. I shall be glad when I go back to work & I can take the rest of ours to work.
I will continue to live a frugal life, more frugal where possible as the forthcoming austerity cuts could cause some problems.
I may have my car back by next Saturday, hopefully in a drivable condition, if not then that is another problem to face, I need to visit the local butcher/greengrocer soon & it means 2 bus trips to get there & will cost £7.80, ouch.
I have started using the tumble dryer but use it as little as possible & to compensate in some small way I no longer use my vacuum cleaner. Most of my floors are tile or laminate so are swept or mopped. Only the landing & stairs are carpeted, these I now sweep with a stiff short handled brush, it's not really any harder work than lugging a vacuum around & gives a much better finish, especially for getting up all the hair.
I have gift vouchers to the value of about £150, I haven't been able to use them as I cannot get to the appropriate shops without the car, I may regift them if I'm not going to use them.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year, may I wish you everything you wish your self.

Guardian angel

Just before I finished work for Christmas some of my colleagues were discussing Guardian angels, one of them had been to an angel party. The gist of it seemed to be that one can now purchase a guardian angel the same way one used to purchase Tupperware, but with fewer guarantees.
The sales person (I'm sure she has a better name than this, angel herder mayhap?) will ask each person a few searching questions & then decide whether or not each person has their own angel. Questions such as 'Do you believe you have a Guardian angel?' probably! If it is ascertained that you do already have an angel, further questions are asked to decide what sort of angel you have & what colour your angel is & how this affects you. Maybe if your angel clashes with your colour scheme you can exchange it for one that suits you better. If you do have an angel there are many things you can buy to keep your angel happy, on your side & working hard for you. These include angel pictures, angel feathers, angel jewellery, angel crystals ad infinitum (new products added weekly).
If it is ascertained that you do not have have an angel there are many things you can buy to tempt a 'spare' angel to become your guardian angel. These include angel pictures, angel feathers, angel jewellery, angel crystals ad infinitum (new products added weekly).
Some of these items are extremely expensive, so it is suggested that you hold a party of your own, your 'hostess gift' can be used to reduce the cost of the items you covet!
I cannot tell you how much I wanted an invite to a guardian angel party, I was almost crosseyed with rage, discretion won the day however as did good manners & I refused my invitation politely. When pressed I said that my beliefs precluded me from attending. I was assured that not being a Christian needn't stop me attending! That's good then because only 2 of the people invited were practising Christians the others were people who were mainly agnostic.
Anyway, I digress, I was given a copy of the catalogue, it was full of pictures of willowy female figures with flowing locks, wearing vaguely medieval dress with glittery wings (Available in a range of colours) every 'angel' could be purchased as a jointed figure, or a print of said angel & a range of matching accessories are also available, plinths, plastic covers, feathers & crystals.
Whilst everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, I really do take issue with this blatant commercialisation.

I was told many years ago, when I was around 17 that I had 'someone' watching over me call it a guardian angel, guiding spirit or whatever. I believe this is true, not because of some of the things that have happened to me but because of the description of said 'someone' not for me a willowy figure with flowing locks & matching wings. My 'someone', I'm told is female, with a short brown perm, & glasses, she's short, a bit chubby, wearing a green gabardine mac & a yellow knitted hat that looks like a tea cosy. Sounds a lot more realistic to me, it's also a very accurate description of my maternal grandma in her dog walking outfit & she did knit hat & tea cosy's & they were very similar.

DGC

DGC stands for Dear Grand Children

All done & dusted

The Yule food has all been sorted & put away.
Part of the turkey was sliced up to do 2 days roast dinners for the 2 of us & turkey curry/supreme for 14, the rest was cut into 3 joints each of which will do us a roast dinner & a pie or a curry.
The gammon & beef was sliced & frozen in packs of 6 slices. These will do for gammon egg & chips or sarnies or roast dinners.
All the small scraps of meat were used today in making special fried rice.
The few spoonfuls of curry & supreme have been whizzed in the food processor & will be eaten on toast for lunch tomorrow.
We usually eat the last of the turkey round about Ostara or Easter.

Chaos

Is having 14 people in the house from 11am 'til 6pm, especially when 5 of them are children under 6! All four of my children with partners, grandchildren & foster children.
I made turkey curry, rice, salad & nan bread with trifle & chocolate brownies for pudding, it was a great success, both the food & the day itself.
I also made some turkey supreme for those who don't like turkey curry, ie the Minder, who has now decided he does like turkey curry!
I've never made turkey curry before, but everyone said it was so good they thought it was from a jar, lol. I make Thai green curry & jerk chicken with fresh chicken & I have made beef curry with leftover beef. I had everything in stock bar some natural yogurt & fortunately the local corner shop had some. The yogurt was £1.24 & the first time I spent money since 23rd, so 4 NSD's in a row.
The only real mistake I made was to buy some stickers to go with the colouring books last week, there were stickers attached to every available surface, fortunately they all peeled off easily.
There were lovely presents, the Minder was given a rake, secateurs, beer & Kindle credits. I had a CD, chocolate, smellies, a calender with pics of the DGC on it & an Amazon gift certificate.

Christmas Pictures

Satsumas in a bowl.

Walnuts foraged from a local tree during an Autumn walk with DGD.

Quality Street, they remind me of childhood Christmases

Yuletide greetings

The Minder & I will spend a quiet day today, we will have turkey for dinner with pigs in blankets & veg & stuffing & roasties.
We will spend part of today planning next years crops in our little garden & how to produce more from less.
He will read Terry Pratchetts 'I shall wear Midnight' which I have just sent to his Kindle.
I shall spend some time reading 'The Victorian Farm' which he bought for me.
Yesterday I fixed an old clamp on bedside light to the book case beside where I sit on the settee to help me sew & read more easily.
I made another batch of mince pies, some lemon curd to make a lemon meringue pie & a plain sponge to put in a trifle, these are for Monday when all the family will be visiting.

I'm all set so here is wishing you all everything you wish yourselves.
I hope you have a Merry Christmas/Yule, & that it is filled with all the important things in life. Family, fun, love, peace & joy.

I always remember what my Dad used to say.
'Money doesn't make you happy, but at least you can be bloody miserable in comfort!'

Some Christmas gifts

Here are a few pics of some of the things I've been making lately.


1 dozen of many, these particular ones the Minder took to work.


Lavender bags for DD, I shall add the ribbon & embellishments this evening.


Another lap blanket, it needs one more row of cream edging.



A lavender pillow.

A hop pillow, it just needs the edging.



A cream scarf for DD.

A white scarf for one of the foster children.

Jealousy

It's a good job I don't have a suspicious nature isn't it, the Minder brought his Christmas cards home from work & left them on the table for me to hang up. Glancing at them I see one is signed 'Have a lovely Christmas, from your Deep Down & Dirty girl Debbie'.
Fortunately I know that the cleaning company used in his building is called 'Deep Down & Dirty' & his cleaning supervisor is called Debbie!

Bargain

I found an opened packet of red paper table cloths in the charity shop, it was £2.50 & the packet is nearly full, I shall use some of them for the day after Boxing day when all the family visit & the rest I'll save for the wedding.

Spends

I've added up my receipts for the last few days & I've spent £155.
£61 in the butchers on turkey, ham & beef & sausages & streaky bacon for pigs in blankets, I bought potatoes, greens, carrots, mushrooms & 9 brussel sprouts. Why 9 I hear you ask? That was as many as DGD thought we needed & TBH, she's probably right.
With the rest I stocked up with enough groceries to last til January's pay day & I haven't had Decembers pay yet, I don't get paid 'til the 30th. I just have fresh fruit & veg, eggs, milk & bread to buy for January.
I bought some smoked salmon, 2 bottles of pink fizz as treats for me & some fresh cream as I will make a trifle for dessert on the day all the family visit.
The Minder & I will have a quiet Christmas day & Boxing day, the day after Boxing day there will be 14 of us here, this includes 5 children under 6. I shall get the colouring books out to keep them occupied, they also have a small gift to open each.

Stressed

A few of you have commented that my panic attacks are probably caused by stress & I agree, unfortunately it isn't Christmas stress, it is all things beyond my control.

Stress 1) DD's baby due in January is still not completely out of the woods, I wish the medic would make a decision one way or the other, one say's yay & torher say's nay.

Stress 2) DD is suffering with severe sickness & isn't putting on as much weight as she should.

Stress 3) SIL is having a bad bout of his arthritis.

Stress 4) DS is going through a bad time.

Stress 5) There will be redundancies at work in the new year, those staff who can use a copier think I should go, those staff who can't use a copier do not want me to go, I wonder who will win.

Stress 6) My car is dead & it may be permanent.

Don't Panic

No I'm not talking about the panic buying in the shops, I'm talking about me. I'm waking up every morning with a panic attack. This morning I was panicking about my 2 guinea pigs as I knew I hadn't been to check on them for days & they would have had no food or water for ages.
I don't have 2 guinea pigs, I've never had 2 guinea pigs since living in this house, I did have a rabbit & guinea pig, but they both died a couple of years ago.
I'm obviously losing my marbles!

Shank's Pony

My car is off the road & will be for some time, this is presenting a challenge, I can walk to work & did so for the last few days of term.
Shopping is more of a problem, I've ordered a turkey crown from my local butchers, unfortunately there isn't a direct bus route it means changing buses, or I could walk but it's about an hours walk each way. In the end I phoned my daughter Lizzie who kindly gave me a lift there & back.
I may go to Tesco's on the bus tomorrow, I can catch a bus to a Tesco Extra, it takes a very circuitous route, but I don't have to change, it is a 2 hour walk from me. Or I can walk to my local Tesco Express, it's only about a 15 minute walk.
If I don't get there it's not a disaster, I have my turkey, for me that is the most important thing, I love turkey!

Samba Pa Ti

May I just tell all my readers that the Minder & I chose Samba Pa Ti for our Handfasting music back in October, it says so on my blog entry dated 7th Oct. We did NOT choose it after watching SCD!

New Pages

I haven't blogged for a couple of day's as I have been adding stand alone pages to my blog, I hope you find them interesting.
I often find that I'm reading money saving tips on MSE or someone else's blog & suddenly think, 'Oh yes I do that' so one of my pages is a list of things I do to save money, the other is a list of things I do or have tried to do to earn extra money.
My next page will be about what we eat, I shan't title it 'Recipes' because it isn't that posh, it will just be a list of what we eat & how I prepare the meals & how I stretch the food I buy.

Perspective

It's been a shitty few weeks at work.

One work colleague is waiting for the phone call to tell her that an old school friend who is 55 & has a brain tumour & is is a hospice has finally lost her fight.

One work colleague is trying to support her brother who is devastated at the suicide of his wife, she was 41, was made redundant & sank into depression.

One work colleague's son in law died of Motor Neurone disease, he was 25 & his family are now hassling for 'their share' of his estate, the same family who were noticeable by their absence when he needed help.

Ok, so some presents might not make it through the snow, some people may not be able to get away on holiday. But lets get things in perspective, 'stuff' is just that 'stuff'.
People, family, love & kindness. These are the important things in life, not who has the biggest house, the flashest car, the biggest pile of presents.

Regifting

Dubgirl ask I would be regifting any of my presents.
The 3 bottles of white wine have been stashed away towards the Handfasting feast.
The flowers have taken pride of place in the center of my table.
We will eat the eggs, Maltesers & Ferrero Rocher.
The Terrys orange segments are going to one of my DD's as a present for her inlaws.
Earlier in the week I was given a huge box of Thorntons truffles, they are being given to the Minders Mum & stepfather & 2 tins of Quality Street, one each has gone to my DD's for their children.
I was also given a very pretty necklace that I shall keep & an expanding penis (don't ask) it was my secret Santa gift & grows 600% if placed in a glass of water

Christmas bonus

Not the cash sort, but still lovely & very gratefully received.

The first Christmas I worked at school, I did my usual shopping & bought some wine & chocolates as treats for over the holiday time. I ended up drowning in wine & chocolates as I was given so much by grateful staff. In some ways my job is fairly unimportant, but I do wield a bit of power. I have it within my power to make a teachers life hell. The previous incumbent in my position enjoyed wielding power & if she didn't like a particular teacher, or had had a row with her husband, or just generally felt bloody minded, she could & often did make people's lives a misery. She would close the room on the dot of 8:30 even though people were still queuing & had been since 7:45, this meant that part time staff still had to get to work by 7:45 even if they weren't due to start til 10:30. She even refused to bend her rules for a teacher who was undergoing chemo. Insisting the rules were rules & that was that. She also had a tendancy towards emotional outbursts, screaming matches with her boss & nookie with the caretaking staff!
When I was interviewed for the job I was asked if I was prepared to be helpful, which I thought at the time was a strange question.
I do go out of my way to help the staff when I can, I work around different starting times & people's hospital appointments. I have a reputation for being helpful, friendly & unflappable (I said reputation, I'm actually a grumpy bugger, but I hide it well).
What you see in the picture above is proof of the gratitude the staff feel, especially those who still remember my predecessor & her immovable rules!

Scarves

I sold 4 more scarves yesterday, woo hoo, another £60 to pay in to the bank. I have a cheque for £71 to pay in too, it's a refund from my electricity supplier from when I changed to a different one. It all adds up & I still have vouchers to use too, around £100 between 3 shops.
Lots of people are complaining at work because we aren't getting paid til after Christmas, last year we were paid before Christmas & people complained because they'd spent all their money before Christmas & then couldn't get through January as they had no money. One person was complaining about it & I tried to explain to them that the should have budgeted better, but they were adamant it wasn't their fault, but the fault of wages department for paying them early!

Remember these?

I posted this pic a while ago & asked if anyone could guess what I was making. I have finally finished & here are the pics of the finished item.



A string of little bags filled with fibrefil & lavender. These are all made with Christmas fabrics, I have more cut out ready to sew using little flowery fabrics in assorted pastel colours

Cheap food, free food

I bought some porridge oats today, buy 2 get one free, so I did. I also found a cucumber, vacuum packed & in a carrier bag as I was walking to work. There was no one around who could have dropped it, it was a long way from the shop it was purchased from so I picked it up & took it home, I shall put it in my sarnies tomorrow.

Cheap Meal

There was a problem with the trains & it took the Minder 3 & a half hours to get home tonight, I knew he'd be frozen to the bone so I wanted to do him something extra warming for tea. Last week I bought some pork steak reduced to £1.56 for 4, I'd got 2 out the freezer this morning. I chopped the steak up along with 4 mushrooms & quarter of an onion, I browned the pork steak in a pan, then added the mushrooms & onion.

I sprinkled some flour into the pan, stirred it round & then added some milk & a handful of frozen peas, it made a really yummy dish.

I served it with mash & broccoli. It couldn't have cost much more than £1 & there was enough for 2 portions, as I don't eat pork the other portion will be frozen & served up another day.

What is it with men & cars?

I have a problem with my car, so I asked my son who is a mechanic, to come & take a look at it, the problem developed last Tuesday & he couldn't get here til Friday. In the interim the Minder asked the plumber at work what he thought the problem could be.
'Why ask a plumber' I wondered.
'Because he drives a van.'
I don't understand the thought process there, but said nothing.
'The plumber thinks it the thermostat'
'The plumber hasn't looked at the car' I replied
John, my son arrived & checked the car over. He checked the thermostat, it was working fine, He tinkered for a while & did a temporary fix & he has arranged to take the car to work on this coming Saturday to service it & do a proper repair on it. Explaining that he would buy some parts that are likely to be needed in preparation for Saturday'
'Best buy a thermostat' suggested the Minder. John nodded noncommittally, mechanics are used to dealing with people who 'know' what is wrong with their car.
Whatever John did it solved the problem & I have been able to drive the car to work every day.
'I hope John remembers to buy a thermostat' says the Minder, I grunted vaguely.
'The plumber is certain it's the thermostat' I grunted vaguely again.
Unwilling to let the subject drop, the Minder said 'You best ring John & make sure he orders a thermostat'
'I'm sure he'll order everything necessary' I replied
'The plumber is absolutely certain it's the thermostat' said the Minder yet again.
'Is this the same plumber who forgot to turn the mains off & flooded the riser cupboards?' I asked.
'Well yes' said the Minder. '
'The same plumber who flooded the parking lot when he turned the wrong tap off'
The Minder looked sheepish.
'The same plumber who turned off the irrigation system, so all the trees died?'
The Minder looked even more sheepish.
'If we ever get a leaky tap at home' I said 'remind me to call John, I think it would be safer than calling the bloody plumber'
The Minder changed the subject!

To dry or not to dry

When I was the only regular wage earner we didn't use the tumble drier at all, ever. The machine needed resetting as it wasn't working & I left it like that all the time we had lodgers, it saved arguments over their usage of it.
Now we have 2 regular wages coming in I have succumbed, I'm very careful to use it as little as possible, the maximum is 2 hours a week & usually it is only an hour. The Minders uniform cannot be tumbled & neither can 4 of the 5 jumpers I wear to work, the problem is the bedding & towels, if I drape them over the radiators it makes the house cold, if I drape them over the airers they stay damp for days & end up smelling horrible. So after discussion with the Minder, whose only input was 'Yes darling' I finally decided to bite the bullet & get the Minder to reset the machine. I've budgetted for an extra £1 a week towards this, though if the bills are going up by 10% as suggested it is going to be difficult to tell.

Car & bargains

My son had a quick look at my car last night & came back this morning in daylight to investigate further. He has advised me not to drive it unless absolutely necessary, so today I walked up to the local Tesco Express to get my shopping for the week.
This is what I got.

10 bananas £2 on offer
10 Satsumas £1 on offer
Hugest Chicken I've ever seen £4 reduced from £6.70
Carrots .48p reduced from 60p
Broccoli .45p reduced from 65p
Mushrooms .57p reduced from 93p
Eggs £2.59
Pack of liver .65p reduced from £1
24 £5.00 on offer
Tin of sardines .44p
2 packs of stuffing £1
2 doz sausages £5
Loaf of bread .85p
I wanted tuna but it was over £6 for 4 tins, so I bought sardines instead! This means I saved around £4 by buying the reduced items, which is why I don't stick to a set meal plan. I stock up on the things I use regularly like the sausages when they are on offer. I wanted something for a roast dinner tomorrow & the chicken was the cheapest, I wanted veg to go with tomorrows dinner so I bought what was reduced/cheapest.
Not a particularly cheap shop as I was limited to the only shop within walking distance but still under £25. The chicken will make lots of meals, the liver will do a meal for the 2 of us this week & next, the stuffing will last a couple of months & the sausages will do 4 meals for the 2 of us. I have potatoes, onions, tomatoes & parsnips in the fridge along with cheese, milk & butter. I shouldn't have to spend any more money this week.

What snow

The Minder ordered a replacement part for something (don't ask me what, I wasn't paying attention). It is a small piece of plastic, it cost £2.89 plus £1.50 delivery. We arrived home on Monday to find a card through the door saying 'We couldn't deliver your parcel as a signature is required, please visit our website or phone to arrange redelivery.
I visited the website, put in the delivery number & my post code, it came up with a message 'This service has been suspended due to severe weather'.
I phoned the number & recieved an automated message 'This service has been suspended due to severe weather'.
I tried the website & phone number repeatedly throughout Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. Everyday there was yet another card through the door asking me to contact them & informing my that time was running out & my parcel would be returned if I didn't make contact.
In the interim I'd googled the company, phoned 118118, asked around if anyone knew anything about the company & where abouts in Reading they were.
Evenyually I found a comment on a forum about their poor service, there was a comment on their about the previous name of the company & their previous poor service, hence the name change.
Armed with their previous name I managed to find their phone number & address. I phone constantly throughout the day, but the number was engaged, yesterday after work I drove to the address I had tracked down, I found the building, parked up & went in.
I proffered the card & explained that I'd like to collect my parcel.
'You should have phoned to arrange this, you can't just turn up'
'Your call center service has been suspended, I couldn't phone'
'Well yes, the snow is so deep our drivers can't get through'
'There is no snow here & your driver has been able to get to my house to deliver umpteen cards to me'
'But the snow is very deep up north'
'I know, but this parcel is in this depot somewhere & hasn't come from up north'
'You could have used our website to arrange redelivery'
'Your website is suspended too'
'Well the snow is causing our drivers lots of problems'
'BUT THERE IS NO SNOW IN READING'
'You should have rung the depot direct'
'I tried that, but your number is constantly engaged'
'Yes, we had to take the phone off the hook we were getting too many phone calls'
'I don't think I'll be able to find your parcel, we have thousands in the warehouse & it might not even be here yet, it might be stuck in the snow up north.'
'THE PARCEL HASN'T COME FROM UP NORTH, IT'S COME FROM WOKINGHAM & IT MUST BE IN YOUR BLOODY WAREHOUSE SOMEWHERE AS YOUR DRIVER'S BEEN POSTING CARDS THROUGH MY DOOR'
'Oh do you have a card, I can find it if you have a card, you should have brought the card with you'
I passed her the card & off she trundled, she returned with a small jiffy bag & gave it to me.
'Do you need me to sign anything' I enquired 'Oh no, there's no signature required!!!
I returned to the car, climed in & passed the Minder his parcel, 'Blimey that took you a while' he commented 'Why were you gone so long?'
'DON'T ASK' I roared.

Eyes & Inspiration

Sara
I have Age Related Macular Degeneration, there are 2 types, wet & dry, there is treatment for the wet type but not for the dry that I have. I was trying to explain to a work colleague that there are various types of blindness, the Minder knows more than I do about it, I think B1 means total blindness as in everything is black. I found this on a website.
Some people with macular degeneration notice that straight lines in a landscape - such as telegraph poles, the sides of buildings or streets, appear wavy. Other symptoms include blurring of type or a page of print, with dark or empty spaces that may block the centre of the field of vision.

Fortunately, macular degeneration rarely results in complete blindness since side vision is usually unaffected. Although activities that require sharp vision such as reading, sewing or driving can be difficult, most people maintain their independence and should be able to get around outside and perform most household duties.

There is (currently) no known cure, but there are many indications that a good diet and healthy life style (particularly not smoking) will considerably reduce the chance of suffering from ARMD.

As for me being an inspiration, that's very kind, but probably not true, I think it's just a female thing, I always say 'When the going gets tough, the tough bugger off down the pub. The women roll up their sleeves & start the washing up'

TFI Friday

Thanks for the comments Pat & Sharon, I try to remain positive & as my Mother & Grandmother were both dead before they were 65 I'm just hoping to stay alive long enough to go blind!

50 & still No my daughter & her husband don't have any children of their own yet, but hope to some day.

Work has been very noisy, the children are very hyper, probably Christmas fever affecting them all. One more week & then I can stay home & tidy my house.

Frantically sewing

My DD Helen rang last night, obviously in a state of great excitement.
'Mum have you got any old sheets?'
'Yes love, I have loads, how many do you want?'
'Errm, could you cut some down over the weekend & make them into cot sheets & can I borrow the travel cot again?'
'Course I can, who have you got coming & when?'
'A 7 month old, a 2 year old & a 4 year old at 6pm!'
'Bloody hell!'
'I've ordered a cot, but it won't be here for 10 days, possibly more if the weather's bad. I have some cot sheets, but probably not enough to keep 2 babies going'
'Ok. sent me a list tomorrow, I can spend Saturday shopping for you if it helps.'
'Thanks Mum, you're a star'
'And you, my darling daughter are a bloody hero'

I had plans

Isn't there a saying along the lines of 'Life is what happens while you are making plans'?

Well I had plans for my retirement, nothing big or exciting, I wasn't planning on selling the house, buying a boat or travelling the world. I had small plans, one of the being not to retire until I was 65, I want to see more of the grandchildren, to swap to a daytime WI about 4 miles from me, to read more & spend time making, sewing, knitting etc.

Life, of course doesn't go to plan & although I will have a better idea after 14th January most of my plans won't come to fruition.
I may still spend more time with the grandchildren, but if I can't see to drive that will be limited.
I will not be able to swap to the afternoon WI for the same reason, I will not be able to read more or sew or spend time on any other crafts, I may still be able to knit as I can knit in the dark, but I'm not sure about the quality of the knitting I will produce, lol.

So my plans are changing as does life, but this isn't meant to be a mopey, self pitying post, this is just one more challenge to meet head on. It's also means I need to rein in the spending that has crept up since we've had 2 salaries coming in to the house. The bulk of the frugalities will take effect after Christmas, I found out yesterday that I will have 3 more temporary grandchildren over Christmas, so some extra gifts need to be bought, nothing expensive, just little token gifts, not because the children are only temporary, but because they are very young.

Patchwork & other sewing

Here are the first two patchwork squares before they were quilted.


Here they are after being hand quilted.


Another square it needs backing & quilting.


And then there are these, any ideas what they are? I'll post more pics when they are finished.

Pinching Jamie

Jamie Oliver I mean & not literally pinching him, just a couple of his ideas from his 30 minute meals. I already use a slowcooker at least once a week & I use my Remolska to save putting the big oven on.
Since watching Jamie I now put the kettle on when I get home, make a cuppa & use the rest to start the spuds off. Today I have put leeks, carrots & celery through the food processor ready to be added to mince for next weeks cottage pie or spag bol.
Last week I did beef casserole in the slow cooker & Jerk chicken. I often spend Sundays getting next weeks meals part ready as it saves time in the evenings & gives me longer to knit. This has been needed as I had to get a certain amount of scarves finished in time to fulfill my Christmas orders. I finally finished yesterday evening & started making some mini patchworks & some Christmas decorations.
I'll post some pics later

The Demon Drink

My lack of alcoholic intake is an astonishing fact to most people I know.

I don't need to drink to have a good time.

I don't need to drink to relax.

I don't need to drink to get to sleep.

I don't like the taste of most alcohol.

I've lived with a person who was aggressive when drunk.

I occasionally turn to booze if I'm in a lot of pain & the booze is nearer than the painkillers.

I do love Real Ale & I also like Tiger beer.

On Thursday evening I went out for a Chinese meal with some work friends & I indulged in a couple of small glasses of said Tiger beer. I wasn't driving I hasten to add.

I wasn't drunk, even I can't get drunk on 2 small beers, but I did decide to allow the beer to take the blame for my outspokeness.

When one colleague insisted on telling us how he & three friends had spent an hour discussing the relative sizes of their willy's I replied that it was a lot of time to talk about so meting so small & insignificant. He then asked how I knew what size they were, I told him I'd never seen one worth having a conversation about!

Another colleague was approaching every dish with great suspicion & kept telling us she was very careful what she put in her mouth even at home. I relied, saying that I was under the impression I put a greater variety of things in my mouth at home & outside. She then choked on her glass of coke & ended up with it pouring out of her nose, poor lass. When questioned I assured everyone I'd been talking about food & it wasn't my fault if they misinterpreted my comments.

You get the gist, it was a fun evening!

Comments

Resewn Sally, Laine, 50 & still, dubgirl
The items that were thrown at me were thrown by a staff member, not a pupil, it was a moment of frustration & I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I've received an apology & all is forgiven & forgotten. Teaching can be a very stressful job.

All knitted out

I have been asked for more scarves but I've decide that I will only do the last 2 & I'm not accepting any more orders. My local shop has run out of the wool I'm using & by the time I factor in the cost of postage it isn't worth it. I've knitted some scarves using the Sirdar 'Knit a scarf in an hour' wool & I can't, it takes me 2 & half to 3 hours, but the lady who owns the wools shop can't knit one in an hour either, so it's not just me.
My DD has her next lot of foster children & is almost out of lapgans, so I need to start crocheting again. I also want to do some sewing, I want to make some mini patchwork pillows filled with lavender, hops & Yuletide spices.

I'm feeling really reluctant to go to work today, I had some rather large items thrown at me yesterday, no damage was done, but I'm feeling rather pissed off about it. We have a little bit of snow, but not much, so I can't use that as an excuse.