The Marching on of Time.... Again

 

Well, January is already more than half way through. And what a wet January it has been so far! I feel for anyone affected by the flooding :( We had severe flooding here in Gloucestershire in 2007 - for more details click this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/floods/
Our house wasn't touched by water in any way (other than our back garden and patio being very, very soggy) so we were lucky there. We didn't have electricity for just over 24 hours - but the worst bit was no running water at all for 16 days. It was the very start of the Summer school holidays - we wore clothes for days and days and went to relatives and friends further afield in the county for a bath/ shower every few days (making do with strip washes and baby wipes in between) and to do a load of two of washing. We flushed the toilets with rain water, scummy washing up water, cooking water..... it wasn't much fun after the first few days. However, there was a great sense of community and people were looking out for one another, which was lovely.

Back to the here and now - Mr G is still job hunting - he had an interview yesterday, so fingers crossed for that one! We had large food supplies in the garage before this (tins, rice, pasta) - they have come in handy and are now much reduced. We aren't yet watching every penny totally - we did indulge in a £10 takeaway this week - it was the end of a long, tiring week. I did choose what we had with regards to cost, though - so was mindful. It was much appreciated - all the more so for being a very occasional thing now. I have a budget for food, toiletries, cleaning things, newpapers (an occasional Sunday Observer) and guinea pig food/ bedding of £300 for January (2 adults, 2 teenagers, 2 primary school children & 2 guinea pigs) - it's going to be tight, but I'm doing my best to achieve it! The takeaway will come out of that budget, too (eek!)

Am having a pottering about sort of Saturday today. The small two had swimming lessons this morning, but after that it's been 'a bit here and a bit there' sort of day. I've made robot suits with the small two from two large-enough-for-them-to-wear cardboard boxes, toilet roll tubes, bits of scrap/ recycled ribbon, a lot of sticky tape and colouring in with felt tips - they've had a great time! Other than that, I've done the usual washing, kitchen cleaning, tidying, vacuuming - but it's felt quite indulgent because I haven't felt rushed to HAVE to do something/ be somewhere. I have a small grocery shopping list of about 6/7 items, which I will do tomorrow. I *do* need to go into town to do some banking for various things, but that can wait until Monday or Tuesday, depending upon the weather. 

I've been in the kitchen a lot this week, making various things, including a spinach, mushroom and lentil dhal/ curry type thing, courgette and tomato soup, lentil and bacon soup, a lot of croutons from crusts to go with the soups, cornflake flapjack (using up the 'dust and tiny crunched bits at the bottom of the box), 3 root mash (parsnips, carrot and potatoes) to go with leftover slow braised lamb shanks from a couple of weeks ago and Paul Hollywood's lemon drizzle (see this link on another blog - http://whatwouldnigellado.com/lemon-drizzle-cake/) I made it as both a loaf version and as 12 cupcake/ small muffin sized ones. The loaf version was nicer, in my opinion. I chose his recipe rather than my usual one because a- I thought I should try a recipe from his book which I had for Christmas and b - I wanted to use lemon curd up and my usual recipe doesn't use lemon curd (I could have added it, I know) Paul's version isn't lemon-y enough for my taste. Next time I would replace one third to half of the milk with lemon juice and also add zest to the batter. And double the amount of curd! I rarely keep a recipe 'as is', preferring to play and make my own changes to suit my taste and storecupboard.

I shall try adding some pictures later!



lentil & bacon soup


tomato & courgette soup

garlic and  basil croutons



cornflake & sunflower seed flapjacks

lemon drizzles

Christmas Food & Leftovers

We had chicken this year for our Christmas dinner - we used to have turkey (a Bronze free range one which used to cost a fortune) and none of us really like it that much, so last year and this year we went for chicken instead - after all, what's the point in cooking a dinner which no one is actually that keen on?! This year we had a lovely 2.5kg free range, corn fed chicken (bought yellow stickered in a supermarket and put in the freezer) and it was gorgeous!. We also had pan fried sprouts with pancetta, spring greens, carrots, cauliflower cheese, peas, sweetcorn, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, sausagemeat stuffing balls, Yorkshire puddings and pigs in blankets - oh, and bread sauce and red cabbage (the last two made beforehand from Delia's recipes and frozen) Pudding was a few hours later after that lot! - adults had pears poached in red wine and orange juice with mixed spice, served with whipped double cream and the children had ice cream - only I like traditional Christmas pudding - but the pears were a lovely festive dessert, and much lighter than a rich pudding! :)

Onto leftovers - we only ate most of one breast and a leg of the chicken for the day itself. I just put the carcass in a large tub on the day in the fridge and dealt with them the next day - when I stripped the carcass and made stock, fishing out all the tiny crumbs of chicken from the stock afterwards. I took the remaining breast off in one piece, together with the other leg and some other large pieces of meat.

We went to the panto on Boxing Day - it was good fun, especially watching our four year old belly chuckling at a lot of it! We had an easy dinner that night - DH had another Christmas dinner with leftovers (just fresh greens cooked), I had bubble and squeak made with bits of all leftovers, DS had pasta with the crispy bacon from the top of the chicken added to the sauce and the others just had sandwiches/ jacket potatoes.

Most of the veggie leftovers then went into more bubble and squeak yesterday, leaving about one portion's worth to be had as a side with something later. Chicken crumbs from the stock were used in a creamy basil pasta sauce. That means our Christmas leftovers today are that last bit of bubble and squeak, more chicken breast and leg which I'm just about to freeze in the remaining gravy) and two part tubs of ice cream in the freezer. Oh, and two portions of stock for the freezer. I'm pleased with that! We have a lot of uncooked carrots left - but these will be eaten by our guinea pigs and also snacked on raw and a few used in carrot muffins and carrot and lentil soup (which will use up one tub of stock)

We also have LOTS of biscuits and chocolates (there are 6 of us) Ones which people aren't keen on will be used up in fridge cake - a sort of rocky road. I love fridge cake and flapjacks - not to eat, but as 'vehicles' for using up a bit of this, a bit of that, a couple of those and a spoonful of these - it's never the same recipe twice, but it keeps our wastage right down! Most other biscuits and chocs will be consumed as snacks and desserts - and we did get through quite a few at the panto, rather than buying sweet treats there!

We are going to the shops today - some food shopping - Sainsburys sent me £14 off a £60 shop - that's almost 25% - and I have a £2.50 brand match coupon for there, too. I don't need that much fresh food, but I can stock up on some stock cupboard items to make the most of it. I shall aim to spend as close to £60 as I can :) We also need to go into town - a pair of PJs DS3 got have some poor stitching in that the seam goes across the body - rendering them unwearable! DH also had some socks which were too big (from Sainsburys, though - so we can do that at the same time as the food shopping) and DS3 received a jumper which he doesn't like very much - and we were given the gift receipt, so I'd like to swap it for another jumper which he'll actually wear! We don't need much else, but DD has some vouchers which she is itching to spend (Waterstones and WHSmiths) on books and I'd also like to bank some cash.

I received a couple of gifts which I may re-gift later in the year - some chocolates - we could eat them, but I really don't need the calories and there is already so much extra chocolate in the house! I also got a beautiful candle which doesn't match any colourscheme in the house, sadly, so I will probably regift that, too. Small cracker gifts not snaffled by our small children have been put aside for the shoebox appeal and DD has had a sort out of some things in her room and these have been put aside for selling at a nearly new sale later in the year (she'll get the money). DS1 received several new tops, so I will get him to sort out some from his wardrobe in return, as there are a few which are too small, really. If they're nice enough I'll save them for DS2, otherwise I'll sell them at cash for clothes. I used to donate it all to charity, but DH has been out of work for 7 months now and my priority is my house at this moment in time. I still donate some items, just not as much. :( However, I 'donate' hours of my time each week to volunteering, so I still do my bit!

It's currently only myself, DD and DS3 awake, so I think I need to change this, seeing as it's gone 9.30am and we have things to do! :)

And another Week.....

Time is just flying by - I have 5 weeks until all the children are home from school for the summer - eek!

DS1 was on a residential school trip last week for the end of Y6/ post SATs - they went to here and had a fantastic time - and brought home piles of wet, smelly laundry from the water activities! It's taken me until yesterday to catch up on the washing/ drying because of the incessant rain we had here over the weekend :(  Now I just have the ironing mountain left :)

I have finally planted all my potatoes and a load more carrots. I still have some onion sets to put in (oops!) - I figure they'll be smaller but it's better small onions than wasted sets, I guess!

Bank Holiday Blues..

Whit Bank Holiday Monday today, and it has rained from 6am - 4pm here. I put all my canes in on Saturday for my beans (having first had to clear the area of weeds, canes, toys, rubbish and stones) and wanted to get them planted today, but it was not to be. Still, the garden has received a much needed watering. I shall plant them tomorrow instead - the rest of the week is meant to be much nicer.

Yesterday we went to a family barbecue - lots of food, great company - we had a really good time. Met lots of really nice people :)

Am hoping to be reasonably productive this week - shall try and post regularly on here to keep a note of my progress!

Another Week has Flown By!

Well, time is still whizzing past! Last week I went to Edinburgh for a couple of days and met up with a friend and had a great time. Edinburgh is a beautiful city - Mr G and I went there with the 4 DC last year. This time I was child-free and with a native Edinburgh-er (?) - so had some of the sights pointed out to me and history told as we walked around.

Saturday was DS3's 2nd birthday! He is such a sweetie and was spoilt rotten by everyone! We only got him a couple of toys because a- he's too young to know any different b- he has lots of hand me down toys from the bigger ones c- we knew he'd get lots of stuff from everyone else! I do now need to have a cull of toys though.. another job for the list! It was also my mum's birthday - we gave her a Radley purse and keyring (cost £14 groupon voucher and £3 - goods worth £43), a huge candle decorated with flowers (M&S Outlet reduced to £8 from £15) and a bodyshop gift box (£12.50 from £25 in the sale) Bargains!

I've decided to start following flylady again so have been working in our bedroom this week. I got everything out from under the bed (it's where I keep the Xmas and birthday present stashes and paper/ cards) and had a good sort out and vacuum. My drawers have been sorted and tidied (a few items put to one side for a charity bag) and mirrors and woodwork/ units polished. This leaves me the bathroom to give a good clean to and the landing/ dressing area to tidy and clean (and my wardrobe to sort) (We have our bedroom in a loft conversion - we have the whole floor to us - bedroom, massive bathroom and a landing/ dressing area between the two) So far it's going well - when I follow flylady (modified) it works - but I have to be 'up' to follow it, and recently I've been very down, so the house and garden need a good overhaul, as I've just not bothered :(

A good note from this week though is that I won £25 on premium savings bonds (we only have £600 in them). I paid this off the mortgage, along with some coins from the mortgage money box and rounded it up to make an overpayment to bring the mortage balance down to exactly £85000. I'm really pleased with this - we took a £130k mortgage when we moved here in Oct 2005 and a further £30k advance in Dec 2008 for the loft - so we've repaid £75k of capital in 5 1/2 years!! Our mortgage end date is officially Oct or Nov 2025, but I want to pay it all off by July 2016... eeek!!

Day One

Having recently found some blogs that I actually like following for more than a few days I now feel inspired to start one of my own :)

We're a family of 6 - Me (Mum), Dad, M (DD), J, (DS1), H (DS2) and S (DS3) and have 2 squeaky guinea pigs as pets.

This blog will be (I expect) a rambling collection of notes about our life in general, attempts at money saving, growing our own veggies and such like. Hopefully (once I get the hang of it) with some pictures to break up the monotony too!