Catching up at home .... Mundane but Necessary Stuff ..

Hello there ...

Hope you are all okay ...

Bit of a mundane sort of day today ... just catching up with household jobs ... do they ever end....!

 

 Hubby P busy as ever out and about earning a crust ... or at least trying very hard to.

I knew it would be late before he got in tonight ... still not home as I write this .. so I but a Lamb Hotpot in the oven this morning ...

 on very low .... 

be nice and warming and tasty when he does get in.

Hubby P ...... just loves a Hotpot! 

I had a go at this this week.

I checked on line to see how much I had in my clubcard account ... it was quite healthy ... I do shop weekly at Tesco ...its a convienience thing, I have it delivered ....I know its maybe not the cheapest way of shopping ... but due to my circumstances it works for me.

And the points add up.

They are doing this Voucher exchange thing .... I had a go .. I exchanged £5 worth of vouchers ... so that gave be £10 to spend .. and I chose to spend it on Frozen Food.

  

 I decided to buy lots of frozen veg ... I don't usually use a lot of frozen veg but just recently, with the cost of fresh veg going up and up ... I bought a trayful.

I find a handful of various beans peas and peppers brightens up a meal no end.

Look into this Exchange thing-y if you have vouchers to spend ... I am quite impressed ... its doubling your money.

I have a confession to make ....

This is my one weakness .... I have to have Earl Grey Tea ... well of course I don't 'have' to have it ... but its my treat. 

My 'drug' 'drink' of choice. 

And how nice is this little tin!

I just ordered my teabags as usual ... and luckily they were on offer .... and they came in this sweet little tin.

Wouldn't this make a nice little useful present at just £3?

Well done Twinings. 

Having the house to myself I have managed to do a bit of this sort of thing...   

After all time is marching on and although all our boys are grown up men now ... they still have their expectations of Father Christmas!

 ....and I have to get all the stockings sent off to FC so that he has them safely stashed ready for the big day.

Off to check on the hotpot .... surely Hubby P will be home soon.

Anyone else do the Exchange thing? how did you find it?

XX

Stained Glass and Chicken Soup ... !

Hello there ...

.. just a few photos of today's goings on...

Kath asked to see some photos of the stained glass windows

Hubby P picked up last night.

So here we are ... although Uncas (the dog) was feeling rather photogenic and wouldn't get out of the way.

 These are rather pretty and we sell a lot of these to people .. they are not too big to incorporate into smaller houses ... not everyone has a large Victorian Rectory or whatever.

This is rather nice old sink ... and yes .. I have been out with a tape measure and wandered about the house ... just haven't found anywhere I can put it ....yet!

 

A really lovely brown colour and in great condition.

But these are the true beauties...

 

 Just look at these wonderful stained glass doors ...

 Bit of an awkward photo I'm afraid ... Hubby P has them 'strategically' wedged in the van ... to protect them from damage until he can wrap them and pack them properly in blankets.

Just lovely ... don't you agree?

 

I've been seeing to the serious business of the chicken soup ... I prepared my veg for tonight's tea and threw all the veg peelings and offcuts into the stock pan with the chicken carcass.

First stage of the soup ... 

And this came in the post today ....

 

..I love these little envelopes of vouchers and points ... it must be the thrifty gene in me. I can have a good old think about the best way to spend them.....a good old nose around the website ... trying to make them go as far as possible.

I suppose some people would say 'get a life' but this is my life ... and its the things that matter to me ... maybe small things...homely things ... but my things all the same.

Do you too get a thrill out of thrifting ?

 .... what is it gives you that satisfied feeling ? 

do share...

xx

Tupennypenny Houses Giveaway Winners....and Thrifty Chicken!

Hello there ... 

hope you are keeping warm .. got a nice fire going here.

Well... I said I would do the draw for the winner of the Tuppennypenny Houses .... and Yes ... most of you guessed why they are called 'Tuppneypenny Houses'....

...Whilst at the car boot sale (where I started making them) I was scratching about for something substantial to make the base... and found .. just by chance that a 2 pence piece fitted the job nicely. And .. of course it weights the base so the house stands well.

So well done all of you for keen observation ... an all that!

 

Anyway ... who has won ... who will take guardianship of these itsy bitsy fairy houses ...

I got all organised with my slips of paper ... we do things the old fashioned way here .... well... I wouldn't know where on earth to go looking for a 'random number generator' or whatever its called ... the only generator I know about belongs to Hubby P and is very noisy and smelly!

So ... back to the slips of paper and Fly (the dog) stood by as adjudicator ... 

I just caught Hubby P as he was going out the door .. off to pick up some stained glass windows of all things ...ummm could be interesting.

Anyway I asked him to pick out two winners....

And The Winners Are ... Da Da ....  

OP SHOP MAMA  at..    opshopmama.blogspot.co.uk

(all the way over in New Zealand ... how exciting is that .... I'm going 'International' !)

and

terriersintiaras  at.. lemondropsandgreenspaces.blogspot.co.uk

(who I feel is an old friend .. )

So please girls email me your address and then the little houses can wing their way to you.

Well that's the exciting bit over with... 

So whats for tea?   

I felt this was a bargain this week ... Tesco's offer ... a large fresh chicken... £2 /kg ... this one cost £3.38 and it will easily do 3or4 meals for the two of us .. I've made 'dinner'  tonight (potatoes and proper veg). 

Something with rice maybe tomorrow.. and lastly I'm thinking of lovely soup from the carcass .. with pearl barley ... and possibly little dumplings ... ummm)

Anyway that's us ... as soon as Hubby P gets back from picking up his windows.

So whats your bargain of the week?

 ... we all need to share these  frugal snippets....helps us all get by.

xx  

Use it Up .... Make it Do .. and Thrifty Gifted Goodies..

Hello there ....

hope you are all well .... having a good week..

... and hope you and yours are safe if you are accross the pond.

 

All is well here ... well ... it is now ....

Don't let the peaceful homely photo above fool you ....

Things were very different this time last week ...

We had a 'Chicken Licken' incident!  

Yes ... indeed ... I thought 'the sky was falling in' ... well ... at least the soot and rubbish from the old chimney was falling in.

As you can see I sent Hubby P up the chimney to investigate .... and fix it ... luckily he's a very good 'fixer'.

He got very dirty!

I won't bore you with the details ... but top and tail of the story ... £40 for a bit of specialised boarding that goes around the top/flue of the woodburner... a lot of swearing ...and one very mucky Hubby P.

So its nice to get back to normal ... as you can imagine everything and everywhere was dusty and dirty so we painted the sitting room whist we were at it ... and the bedroom ...

Normal being of course... squeezing as much as I can out of as little as I can.

Just look at these lovely peaches .... past their best for selling but good enough for me ...

a gift from Colin the veg .. for me to 'use up'.

And very nice they were too ... in a big rustic fruit crumble with a dollop of custard.

Use it Up ...

Well .. I had a rummage around in the fridge ... and pulled out some mashed potato .. well .. mash and the remains of the veg we had for dinner the last night ... still good wholesome stuff.

  

I gave it a good old mash up and added a bit of marg and a sprinkle of strong cheese....

And ... with a bit of flour formed it into potato cakes to fry up with some sausages (value range ... it is midweek)

... Hubby P likes a nice sausage.

More gifted goodies ..

 

Just look at these wonderful grapes..

 Beautiful things ...

Given to me from a friend who is moving house and just hadn't the time to deal with them.

They are a wine variety i think .. lots of pips in them and a bit tart ... but to be honest ..

the last thing I fancied was Hubby P whipping off his socks with ideas of treading them for wine.

We have enough of a fermentation issue with the socks!

 

So I cooked um up .. put them through a jelly bag and made into jelly.

     

  

Lovely ruby red jelly .. bit on the runny side ... I should have added some pectin ...but I hadn't any so there you are ... 

A nice addition to the store cupboard.

Don't forget ... the Tuppenny Houses draw (last post) .. I will do the draw tomorrow... and find new homes for the little houses, there are two to win.

xx

 

Tuesday's Tuppenny-penny Houses .....Valley Car Boot Sale..

Hello there ..

... has that got you thinking...   

'well .. whats a tuppenny penny house then .. 

 umm?

~~~~~

It was a cold and chilly morning ... I know

 ...most mornings are now 

... but Tuesdays we are up extra early to trade at Valley car boot sale.

Its pretty dark when we get there but lots of other traders are already there setting up ... and its very friendly and jolly ... so long as you are wrapped up warm ... all's well

 

I give Hubby P a hand setting out the bits and bobs ... china is always popular.

 

The glass ware sparkles in the lamplight ... it could be an evening 'supper entertainment' not a cold damp morning at silly o'clock in the morning!

Hubby P.... 'big strong man' or 'very silly man' ... that he is... heaves all these boxes out of the van.   

These rummage boxes are full of house clearance type stuff .... all sorts of everything.... to be sold at silly pence per item .... he gets lots of this stuff every week .. so it has to go quickly ... so  its cheap and cheerful.

And so the trading day begins ....

Twas a bit slow my end ... and you know how you get that 'creative -y thing' that urge to hold a needle .. to have a mess about ..

Well I found some bits of felt ... and well ... had a bit of a mess about..

 I suppose I was thinking of the wee folk .. of fairies and imps and magical things ... 

I just let the needle wander where it would ... its a while since I played with the embroidery silks.

 

Of course all the little houses have little wood burning stoves to keep itsy bitsy fairy feet nice and toasty ... you can see they have lovely big chimneys that puff away gently ...

If... when you wander the fairy glens ...amongst the gentle mists of Autumn .... and smell the air ... 

... can you not just get a whiff of their woodsmoke ... sweet brier burning brightly ... with a cheery glow.   

So there we are .... Tuppenny penny houses ....

Ah ... but wait ...why Tuppenny penny?

I thought we would have a ... 'Bit Of A Giveaway' ... bit of fun..

So ... any ideas? 

Why do I call them Tuppenny Penny Houses?

Leave me a comment and I will do a draw next Thursday.. 1st Nov I believe (and let you into the secret)

 ... and the winner will receive their very own Tuppenny Penny House ... complete with resident fairies. 

xx  Take care  xx 

 

 

Nothing Wasted ....

Hello there ...

Just a quick 'hello' ... just like to check in with my Blog Girlie's .. and boys of course..

Its part of my evening relaxation .. seeing what you've all been doing with your day ... a nice part of my day.

Anyway 'Waste Not Want Not' as they say...

We had our sausage casserole for supper yesterday .. and very nice it was too.

After I has taken the sausages out of the casserole.. and given us both a good helping of the sauce ... there was still lots of the sauce-y stuff left ... lots of rich tasty tomato based sauce.

Too nice to waste. 

 So I pulled a little lamb mince out of the freezer and fried it up with some onion ... I found the end of a cabbage and a few peas.

 Added the mince mix to the casserole (and a few leftover cooked potatoes) ..and gave it a good heating through.

I had a lump of pastry in the freezer so I pulled that out this morning and it defrosted nicely in time to be rolled out and put on top of the casserole/pie

And very tasty it was too ...

 Just looking back at photos/posts ...it seems I always use the same roasting/casserole/pie dish ... well i do ... its not that I haven't others but this one seems to be the right size shape... and ...well.. handiness.

 Is it me or do you use the same equipment ... does it sometimes just taste better from a particular dish or pan?

xx  

'Yesteryears' thrift ... Chips and Egg....and a Piano!

Hello there ...

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday ... I'm having a rare Sunday at home today.

Its a lovely sunshiny day here.... blue sky... just a nip in the air. 

I've just lit the fire ... starting to get chilly and I have some washing to dry. I thought the smoke looked pretty against the blue of the sky.

 It maybe sunny but Autumn is well and truly showing her colours .. the garden is littered with leaves and I have to sweep the path daily... I have a nice little habit of slipping on the wet leaves.

Hubby P is off working today (we have the van back Hurrah! ... )

He's helping someone move house ... 

but before he left he chopped me some sticks for the fire ....an old piano no less ..

I tell you people give us all sorts of things ... including rotten old pianos ... tis all good fire wood ... 

Aalthough sad to see the end of such a lovely thing... Hubby P 'Thriftoligist'  that he is... saved the hinges and other bits of the casing to be used again.. and the rest was weighed in at the scrap yard.

 Just a random pic .. not very good ... but I managed to capture one of the Buzzards on the wing ...enjoying the sunshine and blue sky. 

He was right above me.

   

 I have done some work today .... its my job to sort clothes ...not very exciting but there you have it ... it makes a few pennies.

Good Thrifty Snippet..

 As I mentioned above people give us all sorts ... and although we don't really sell a lot of clothing ....there is so much of it around ... the world just seems to have so much... too much..

Car Boot Sales and the like are full of people trying to sell clothes.

So we don't bother with clothing ...besides Hubby P doesn't know a Primark from a Prada ... 

.... however people give us bags full of the stuff ... usually they have tried selling it ... sold a bit and just want rid of the rest ...

So I sort...

Sometimes I might find an interesting bit of fabric I want to keep ....and last week I found a brand new bath towel ... handy!

But mostly it gets bagged up and we sell it ...

...anyone can do this ... start saving your old clothes, shoes. bags etc.

Usually there is a facility in most largish towns which will buy ...

think ours is called Cash for Clothes ... or similar. They weigh the bags and give so much pence per kg.

The clothes on the washing line are some I was given yesterday ... they had got wet in the rain ... the lady just hadn't the time or inclination to mess around drying them .... so I flung them on the line and when dry will bag them up.

Its a shame they were expensive dresses.... the lady had tried to sell them on Ebay too ...just too much out there.

The world is a crazy place...        

Now whats all this about Chips and Egg?

Well I could say I was brought up on chips and egg ... 

well obviously my whole diet didn't consist entirely of egg and chips!

  

But it was a bit of a 'mantra' with my mother and Grandmother ... if you are going through hard times ... if money is tight ... buy a sack of spuds and a tray of eggs ... good simple cheap foods.

Of course it doesn't have to be egg and chips ...lots of splendidly filling dishes can be made from these basic ingredients.  

 'But cheap'? ... I hear you say ... not really these days ...I felt I had  to take out a mortgage to buy a sack of spuds ... £10!

 Mind you I did a few sums and worked out they were no more expensive then the cheapest Everyday Value spuds at Tesco's .. but hopefully better quality. The other day I had to cut lots away (of the Tesco's potato's) ... brown and riddled with something.

So hopefully my investment in the sack of spuds will pay off.

Whilst I was at it I looked at the price of eggs.. I can remember buying a whole tray of eggs from the market for £1 ...long gone days I fear.

Nowadays eggs range from 10p to 30p each ... 

Maybe a bit more expensive but so versatile and good for you ...

maybe we need those adverts back ...

do you remember 'Go to Work On an Egg' ?

   

   

Trying out the new potatoes tonight ... 

I've put a sausage casserole in the oven... on very low ...I don't know what time Hubby P will get in .. so it will sit quite contentedly in the oven ...nice and warming.

How's your Thrifting going?

xx