Everyday Dust .. Decisions ... and Daily Thrift!

Hello there ...

Here we are again ... day at home today ... doing much needed housework .. or so I tell myself .. can't say I am enthused with the idea. 

I've changed the bed and wafted about a bit with a duster..

 

 Everything is a bit stress-y here at the moment ... as you can see ... no big van on the drive.

  

Its still not fixed ... been like this for what seems like weeks ... it needs a new gearbox ... a simple thing you may think... but Oh no.. the 'Spares Men' all do that sucking their teeth thing.. and shaking their heads.

I won't bore you with all the details but Hubby P is beginning to get a bit cheesed off with the whole thing ... he is .. at this moment touring North Wales .... telephone directory under his arm broken gearbox in the boot of Richards car.... to try and find the elusive gearbox needed.

Oh ...hang on the telephone is ringing..

 Oh Hurrah!

 ... He has just telephoned me from Wrexham to say he has found one .... hopefully he will be back on the road and able to work this weekend ... one poor girl has booked him to do her house removal ... she was panicking a bit.

 And my house looks like a warehouse again ... this little lot is waiting to be sold on.

Anyway on to everyday stuff .. do you like my new little mirrors .... and I couldn't resist the blue brooch and earrings ... a girl has got to treat herself now and again. 

Do like a bit of vintage bling!

Now ... Decisions Decisions....

....this has been a hard one ... 

...when does a lady stop colouring her hair ... and embrace natures own colouring?

  

Well I have decided the time has come ..

to be honest I was so tired of the whole thing ... I hated using the chemicals.... the time/weeks between colouring became less and less as the roots showed more and more.... and the state of the shower curtain etc after I've finished colouring....a nightmare.

 

Enough! I said to myself.

So winter is on the way ... and I generally wear a hat most of the time ... so it won't be so noticeable ..then come spring I will have a new colour.

It really doesn't bother me ... after all its a natural thing ..and Hubby P is quite happy that we 'grow old and grey together' ...Ahhh

How do you feel about it?

 ... I'm hoping I wont regret it .. or rather 'have a wobble' and rush out to buy a colour .. then have to start all over again!     

Thrifty Snippet bit now ...

I've been buying firelighters from Tesco for a couple of weeks ... just to get a stock in for the bad weather ... nothing worse than damp sticks that won't light. 

Anyway ... they are very expensive at £1.50 a pack ... and have to be used very sparingly 

Well a thrifty friend found these at the coal merchants ... you could buy a whole boxfull... that's 24 individual boxes for £9.50.

So by my simple reckoning on a bit of paper that's just short of 40p a box ... got to be a bargain.

 

 I had to have a bit of a re-jig of the 'under the stairs cupboard' .... not that we have any stairs .. but that's what we call it. 

Its a hang over from when we were young ...and houses in the North .. or rather terraced type houses all had cupboards under the stairs and its where people kept all the 'useful' stuff.

Perhaps you can spot the spare toilet seat (for when the present one needs replacing), a spare iron ... they don't last for ever so I have a new one waiting in the wings, there is my barrel for making wine and my big Kenwood mixer, light bulbs, fuse wire, spare plugs etc etc.

Do you have a 'under the stairs cupboard' ... what is it you fell you just must hoard away?

 .... speaking of which ...I have a whole trunk full of candles.... is it me? should I be worried?

And on to food ... Hubby P will get home ...eventually..

I've just dragged all this out of the fridge/ freezer and put it in a very low slow oven ... I can pop a few dumplings in it when I know he's somewhere near home.

That's my day .... what have you been up to ... will you still speak to me when I am old and grey! he he ...

Take care x

Pie and Pudding .....

Hello there ...

Well what a day .... most of it spent outside with Hubby P on his back under the van. 

 Not a good place for his back or his stress levels .... upshot of it is the van needs a new gearbox ... bad news is the cost of a new gearbox .... I won't bore you with the long complicated saga ... although I have had to be stoic and attentive all day ... so maybe....

Anyway to help ... I thought pie would be a good answer .... and perhaps a jam sponge and custard ... I can't mend a gearbox but I can bake a cake. 

Hubby P loitering  between phone calls to the 'gearbox men'...

came to see what I was doing ... spotted the cake mix and was as  delighted as a small child .... he dipped in a finger to taste and said 'thats made it all better'....bless!

 I thought it was about time I tried to 'move with the times' and try out some of gadgets I hear you all talking about. I came across this whizzer/mixer/chopper thingy in one of Hubby P's boxes ... I think it is quite old....its very heavy....a sturdy sort of motor on it.

Anyway it works just fine...I think.

Saturday evening I cooked up some lamb/mutton with a carrot and some onion ... thinking we could warm it up on Sunday .. Sunday is a trading day and very busy ... anyway we opted for a sandwich ... I was just too tired to cook.

So the lamb needed eating today ... 'throw it in a pie'  I thought.

To bulk it out I had a tin of these ....a wonderful bargain at only 18p a tin (I've ordered more this week)... I chopped them up small added a few peas and mixed them with lamb casserole-y thing.

I made double the amount of pastry in my whizzer thing ... I will put the other half in the freezer for another day .... flung a pastry top on the lamb and put it in the oven.

 We ate it with some red cabbage I bought from Approved Foods ..... again cheap as chips and a nice change.

The sponge was a yummy success too .... doesn't look too flash sat here in its old loaf tin ... but it tasted just great with lashings of custard.

So much so ... we got carried away and ate it all up before I remembered to take a bloggie photo.

The sponge was particularly nice and light ... its the first time I have made a sponge in the whizzer thing ... I'm most impressed.

So ... whats your dish of the day .... what makes your day 'all better' ..? 

That Wet Stuff Again ... Pie Weather..

Hello there ....

Yes .. we've got that Wet Stuff again .... its not stopped all day..

 Every thing in the garden is looking soggy and bedraggled...

...lots of colour but looking damp and dreary.

Its so easy to feel dreary yourself if you are not careful ...

there is a lot of cold winter ahead of us ... can't start to feel dreary so soon.

I need to keep busy and feel I am doing something useful... something to help stock up the larder or 'put by' for tough times .... I do believe they are putting up the cost of power gas/electricity ...  Oh joy! 

 Anyway the oven was on low warming up some of last nights Lamb Hotpot ... for today's lunch .... so I made a couple of sweet pies.

Simple fillings of jam (for Richard) and some of the Mincemeat I made the other day (it is yummy)...

..a simple warming treat with a dollop of custard.

We had a simple dinner of boiled eggs and toast (dippy eggs and soldiers).

 I am trying to cut back on the amount of meat we eat ...after all we  don't need meat everyday ... although Hubby P does does enjoy it and has a fright if I try to introduce him to a chick pea.

 

Even Percy the pigeon was looking a bit fed up today .... he tends to hang around the garden when Hubby P is out and about.

 Here he is having a chat with Hubby P ... you can just see him on top of the bird house.

I stayed inside out of the wet... thinking of what useful thing I could do to prepare... to stock up... I thought the best thing would be to try and make a few pennies.

I had spent all my paypal 'savings' on a Approved Food order last week .. so I need to replenish funds.

So I set about listing a few bits and bobs on ebay .... its been a wonderful thing for me ... I don't ever get huge prices for things ... I just list little bits ... but it all adds up 'many a mickle makes a muckle' ..an all that.

There must be lots of ways of earning extra money ... and every little helps ... after all you wouldn't walk past a 50p coin in the street and not pick it up ... every little helps.

In the dim and distant past ... even pre Hubby P ... not quite the stone age .. but a while ago...I was on my own with two small children.

Money was very tight .... I did ironing for people, cleaning, baking, sewing, delivering leaflets, selling crafts, babysitting, and even a stint at making/packing Christmas cards ... they sent us the wrong ones to pack ....full of glitter ...

My friend and I had a kind of conveyor belt system going with the children helping .... gosh .. there was glitter everywhere ...we were finding it months later.

The things we did for a few extra pounds ... every little helped.

There was no ebay then ... I could put a card up in the Newsagents window ..'Such and such For Sale' but I remember being a little afraid of having strange people come to the house ...being on my own.... tis indeed a different world nowadays.

So .... every little helps ... what is it you do to make a few extra pounds.... what can we all do .... any ideas?

xx

 

Revamp.....Reclaim.....Re-hash....with a hint of School Dinners !

Hello there ... hope all is well with you.

Just a little bit of pretty to start with ....

 

 How do you like my little pink chocolate box?

I think it is so splendid ... I was smitten at first glance ... its a bit battered and bent  ... but 'arnt we all ..d'harlings!

Such a thing has just got to have been designed to hold love letters....once you have scoffed choccies of course... love letters ...ummm ....do you think I could wangle the odd one out of Hubby P .... not something I could envisage these days ....

 Mind you .... I must say he is always so busy.

He's been Revamping today ... giving a new lease of life to some rather excellently made but tired looking furniture.

I suppose Revamping is a rather old fashioned word nowadays .... should it be Upcycling Recycling or something.

Anyway it means he has spent time and effort on something that was a bit tired and worn looking... and made it into an attractive and functional piece of furniture. 

  

  

 Even the handles are just so stylish ....

 Here we are ... all done and ready to be loaded into the van .... ready for sale.

So .... what have I been doing ... other than faffing around with the camera?

Well .... it must be said I have been rather inspired by the Wartime Farm series on TV. I find it fascinating what they did with so little.... I am sure it was all very stressful and not at all what anyone would want to go through ... but all the same an incredible feat ... feeding the country on so little.

 

 So inspired ... and the fact that I have a rather large stock of suet thanks to Approved Foods bargain prices.... I fancied an old fashioned steamed suet pudding .... a jam rolypoly ... just like we had for school dinners.

I wanted a real trip down memory lane ... I wanted that warming sweet stodgy fulfilling taste... that special smell... and it had to look the same.

I did a bit of trawling the web ... I wanted to make it in a puddin cloth ... this way of cooking was often used in the north where the cotton mills often meant there was plenty of odd lengths of cotton about (it was cheap and readily available). 

Another ... of the many ... names for this type of pudding was 'Dead Mans Arm' this was because the rolled up pudding was cooked in an old sleeve of a cotton shirt ... the pudding being a bit pale and puffy/flabby looking oozing red jam... could be likened to a dismembered arm.

Bit gruesome... 

 

I followed the instructions and the pudding steamed gently away on the lowest of heat.

It did stick to the cloth somewhat and didn't look just as it should ... or as I remembered it .. I think I should have floured the cloth more.

But the smell ..... wonderful smell... as soon as I started unrolling the cloth ....

..... It took me right back to the school dinner hall ... and Mrs Green dishing up the pudding... with lashings of bright yellow custard.

Hubby P wasn't too worried what it looked like and we ate it up with much glee ... wonderful!  

Not that I would have felt like going out to do an afternoons work after such a pudding ....

This pretty little flower was featured on Wartime Farm too..... its Soap Wort .... it grows a bit rampant in my garden.

Its a wild flower .... and can be used as a mild soap.

On the programme Ruth (the historian)makes a soapy solution from the plant to wash her hair. 

I find all this fascinating stuff ...yet ...

 all this knowledge and know how is just ... well .. disappearing... just not getting passed down from mother to daughter as it once was. 

It has never been so easy to pass on information, to store it , to retrieve it ... and yet day to day...in everyday homes and families the art of everyday growing... cooking... caring ... is being lost.

.... how many young people do you know who can bake a cake... sew on a button ... wire a fuse....etc

Am I getting a bit carried away ... or do you think you might agree ....should we be worried? 

As they say ...'Is It Me??

Enough of the ramble for now ... take care x

Just a Quicky ... baking today and .. Little Sis Travels Again!

Well Hello there... just a quickie whilst Hubby P is off picking up more stock for the weekend. 

Its nice to have the odd quiet hour to myself...

I had a notion to make some Mincemeat for Mince pies ... it getting near that festive time ... and anyway they are nice anytime ... especially with custard.

 Turfed all the ingredients out that I 'knew I had in the cupboard' ... no Mixed spice ... Oh bother .... I'm all fired up now for the making.

Well what would they do in the War?.... use what they had ... so its a bit of a codged up job .... It has spices in it ... just not the stated 'Mixed Spice'.

 

Looks just fine .... let you know what it tastes like.

 

Made some yummy Mocha Squares .... I was inspired by Faith  Hope and Charity Shopping blog .... sorry I'm no good at the link-y thing.

As you can see Hubby P was lurking and before I had finished cutting it into squares he was off with a bit.

 

It is all rather yummy.

Wandered outside half an hour ago to bring in the washing...

 

One or two nice splashes of Autumn colour..

 

How do you like my bedstead .... it was just a lone thing ... the remains of a bed ... looking for a home .... it can rest in the garden .. just looking ... well .. beautiful..

 

 

   Just wanted to mention my sister and her partner... they are seasoned travellers of the world and ... well ... live to travel.

This last year they have seen their livelihood ... earning power.. diminish as have many people.... and decided to finally sell up... every last thing ... 

and travel through America ... Mexico and on to Belize. Somewhere along the line .. at some point they will have to settle on a plan/somewhere to make a new life.

There is of course a lot more to this story than these few sentences ... and if you are intrigued as many are I have ....

da da (drum roll!!!) 

....managed to do a link-y to their blog...

Look at my side bar ,,,, On To Plan B .... Two Brits and a Hungarian Drug Addict.

I know I should be able to Link it here .. but one thing at a time.....

Any of you Girls across the Pond spot them give them a wave ...

must say I do miss her.

Must go ... bye for now (let me know if you visit their blog .. and what you think) 

xx

A Little Bird House For My Soul ....and ..Apples!

Hello there ... hope you've all had a good few days.

'A  little Bird House for my Soul'

Yes ...

I just love the idea of pretty little bird houses and bird cages ... not that for a minute I would like to cage a bird ... I like to see them fly free... 

Ahhh.... but the artistry than went into the vintage cages..

... what girl could resist!

This larger one (above) I have had for a while ... its not a good pic but maybe you can see the sweet little budgies it has painted on the glass panels. I've put a few crystal chandelier drops inside .. to catch the light.

And just how cute is this ... little seed drawer ... I was so excited when I saw this ... its just so ....well itsy bitsy cute *

Hubby P spotted these and bought them for me ... for me to keep! So often these days I find he's hidden stuff in the van because its 'stock'....to sell on ...well....I know really... he's got to make a living and .... well ... I can't have EVERYTHING! ....

 I do 'borrow stuff ... for a while ... but then again the house is only so big ...

But these little bird cages really did have my name on them so they had come home ... and ! .... Hubby P put on his 'Glamorous Assistant hat' to help with the placing of them ... well I pointed and he screwed in the ceiling hooks ... rather nice vintage-y hooks I might add .... from his 'special stash'.

Whilst we were on a roll .... I persuaded him up a ladder to pick what remains of the Apple harvest ...haha

Not altogether confident ... 'you'll be fine' says I ...holding the ladder with one hand whilst wielding the camera with the other..

 ..boring stuff holding ladders.

Looking about me 'Gawping' ... as Hubby P so cruelly put it ... I did notice one or two bright spots in the garden ...

.... this rose was the most perfect yellow.

After all the hoo ha.... the apples were rubbish....

...just look at this one ... and most were just as bad.

This was all we got .... we might get a couple of crumbles out of them if we are lucky.

 Have you had any luck with your apple trees?

I read somewhere that some early fruiting Apple trees are in blossom now ... they have taken the cold wet summer as winter and have come into blossom now... which they think is spring. When Huppy P was up the tree he said there was one or two blossoms. If they flower now it means no fruit next year...

 Strange seasons ...

Just had to share this with you ... so sweet... I picked it up the other day.

I would like to think maybe it is a Disney fabric ... Bambi and what was the rabbit called ? I cant find any indication of who made it or designed it or whatever .... but it is so pretty.

It was in two pieces so as usual I have put one on ebay to recoup some of the cost and the other has been stashed away ... for now .. for a special .... something.

Oh... and yes ... I have been faffing about with the blog... thought it was about time I had a change ... dont know that its what I had in mind ... its all so complicated ... but I got to a point where I was fed up trying to work it out ... just hope you can read it okay.

Bye for now xx

Thrifty Snippets in the Garden .....

Hello there ... what a lovely day it has been here ... Autumn in the air but sunshiny and mild ..... 

Hope you have had a pleasant day too..

Just a surprise Snippet in the garden today ... I thought I would share with you.

 The garden is beginning to look a bit sad ... i wasn't actively working in the garden ... it was a day of 'sorting out'....all the boring stuff !

 I was sorting through all the old paperwork ... letters from the bank, utilities and whatnot....I tell you ... boring stuff. And I went up the garden to burn any documents with sensitive info on them... you just cant be too careful these days.

 We are lucky to have an area where we can have a little fire pit ... we sometimes have a little fire and sit out around it with a glass of wine.... New Years Eve is a favourite ... that's if its not raining of course.

Anyway as I ferried my old letters and whatnot up to the fire ... I was fiddling about tweaking the plants and mentally rearranging the garden ... as you do.

I was just thinking how pretty the Nasturtiums looked .... how long they had flowered and lended their 'splash of colour' to brighten the garden.

Looking closer I noticed lots and lots of little seeds ....

....plump juicy little seeds ... ripe for the picking.

Apparently the seeds can be pickled and taste a bit like capers ... although I have not tried it.

 I do enjoy the tender little leaves and flowers in a nice salad ... minus the caterpillars of course.

Leaves taste fresh and peppery ... nice. 

Of course at this time of year we wouldn't get a look in ... the caterpillars have discovered just how tasty they are.

 

I picked just a little handful of the seeds .... just enough to give a few plants next year ....although some will perhaps spring up from the scattered seed left in the garden.

Don't they look nice .... such a pretty shape and they smell so lovely too.

 

I put them in a little dish and will sit them in a warm dry place ... hopefully they will dry nicely into seeds which look like brown shrivelled little brains ...

I can plant them next spring and they will burst forth with their distinctive scent and bold fresh colour... a treat for all the senses!

So how goes it with you and your garden?

 ... any thrifty ideas ... 

I find seeds can be so expensive these days.

Bye for now xx take care xx