Dentist, Water Bill and Whoopsies!

It was a trip to the Dentist for me this morning, my usual 6 monthly check up, I really needed to go despite my hating going because for the past few months I have been suffering with highly sensitive teeth.  They have been so painful and sensitive to hot and cold I've been taking far too many pain killers :-(  Hopefully now my dentist has put some desensitizer (sp?) in the appropriate place that should be the end of it, I have to go back in 2 weeks for a follow up.  That will be £17.50 please!

 Then when we got back from the Dentist the Water Bill was on the door mat.  Luckily the direct debit was enough to cover last years bill and put us a little in credit.  They have estimated next years bill to be £228 for the year and so reducing the direct debit to £19 per month......I can live with that, thank you Yorkshire Water.

 Tea tonight will be quite boring  Salad with a whoopsied Quiche found in the bottom of the freezer. The tomato and herb focaccia we had at lunchtime with some goats cheese and grapes...yum.

Better get on with the tea as its nearly 6pm.

Thank you for looking

Karen xxx

A bit of a tidy up

The sun was shining here in Doncaster this morning and the front of the bungalow was starting to look a bit scruffy with leaves and dead twiggy bits so I thought it was time for a bit of a tidy up.

 The bluebells are fighting for a bit of space and are being choked by dead leaves. I have never planted Bluebells here so I think they must have been in the pot with the Virginia Creeper when we bought it years ago.

 What a mess, its attached itself to the paving slabs and spreading towards the lawn.

 Down the side of the drive needs a tidy too so I will let hubby do that.

 He cuts it all down with the hedge cutter first then we both swept up and used the Flymo hoover thingy to suck up the leftover bits.

 Ahhh  much better.

All lovely and tidy, and it full of new shoots, by the autumn it will have grown beyond the windows and be a glorious red colour.  I do have to keep it cut away from the windows though or we have an indoor variety in the kitchen, it sneaks in when the window is open.

A good job done and now time for a well deserved cuppa.

Hope you have a lovely day

Karen xxx

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my gorgeous son Daniel, 32 today.....Luv Ya xxx

Danny on his wedding day with his Dad.

We are both very proud of you son xxxx

Run Rabbit Run!

I have just had a little walk down the garden and look at the state, its like this all over.  Those pesky rabbits have been digging up the bulbs again!!  I know its them cos they are leaving pile of poop everywhere.  Last year we had to fence off the veg plot after they had eaten all the leeks and winter cabbages.  If we put the outside light on late at night you can see them all having a party on the lawn!!....wheres that gun...........

 At least they left me a few crocus just so I can see that spring is on its way.

 This shrubby Hazel is full of Katkins, they look so pretty dancing in the breeze.

 I bought these this morning in Morrisons, they really caught my eye. I love the spring colours in the garden after such a long and dark winter, they cheer you up no end.

 And last but not least just to prove I do tidy up my craft room now and again.......all tidy now :-)

 All the cupboards and drawers are crammed full of craft stuff as are the double wardrobes to the left hand side, just out of shot.

The boxes under the desk should be on the shelves in the wardrobe but there isn't room....oops.

Off to make it messy again!!!

Have a great day and enjoy the mild weather.

Karen xxx

Messy Crafter.

I have had such a busy day at work today and came home absolutely shattered so I didn't really have anything to blog about until my hubby told me about these photographs he took today.  He asked me when the bomb had dropped on my craft desk!!

 Well you can't be creative and tidy.......can you?

 I guess my job for tomorrow is cleaning up my mess and finding my desk just so I can start all over again :-) Details  of  my cards are on my craft blog

Do you make a massive mess when you are crafting or do you tidy up as you go along?

Thank you for looking

Karen xxx

Disaster Strikes!!

Just look what happened when I tried t get the bread out of the baking pan, I accidently dropped it onto a plate and skittled it across the worktop. Why do these things only happen when you are in a hurry and don't really have the time for cleaning up mess?

 Good job it didn't affect the loaf inside.

Must be more careful next time :-)

Enjoy your day

Karen xxx

Frozen Assets

Today it was time to get to grips with sorting out the freezers and my spare fridge, last week Angela of Tracing Rainbows did an excellent post about organising your freezer, it put mine to shame! Thank you Angela for inspiring me to get off my bum and sort it, the thing is it didn't take that long!!

First we have my spare fridge/freezer, I bought this when I was baking for our Country/Farmers markets to keep things seperate and chilled ready for market. I gave this up about 4 years ago and the fridge came in handy for storing extra milk etc.

This is the messy before!!

 All tipped out onto the worktop to organise and make a list of what is in there.

 All tidy now, the curry on the top will be used tomorrow for tea with a portion of frozen rice and some of the Bhaji dippers.

 And the top bit with the easy to grab cake portions if hubby fancy's a quick pudding and custard and some tomato & herb bread for next weeks frozen soup... reheated of course :-)

 This is the top fridge, not too untidy but I know there are 2 things to throw out...oops.. 2x1/3rd jars of mouldy looking jam!!

 There, thats better.  We dont have any shops near us so we stock up with the filtered milk which has a longer shelf life and it keeps me out of the shops during the week.

 Here we have the chest freezer in the garage, not much tidying to do as it was done after Christmas and a full inventory taken.

 Don't be fooled into thinking we have lots of Ice Cream and butter because I re use those tubs for casseroles and stewed fruits lol.  What on earth possesed me to buy those WW pies I don't know, we will have to eat them sometime but can't face it yet!! one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time because they were cheap....

 Mixed peppers are a must in my freezer, they are so much cheaper than using fresh and you can't taste the difference when cooked in bolognaise or chilli, also in there are a couple of bags of ready sliced mushrooms, great for those bulk cooking moments.

Thats all folks, just the main fridge to clean when its empty.  You might be thinking to yourself thats an awful lot of food but I can assure you that over the summer months it dwindles down so we can use spare money for holidays in our caravan, lots of the food comes with us too usually in the form of homemade ready meals.

So.... how tidy are your fridge and freezer and do you have anything lurking at the bottom that needs using up?

Have a good day and enjoy the mild weather while it lasts.


You might want to pop over to Angelas blog and read this post from today..... all excellent ideas.


Karen xxx

Beat the washday blues

Lets hope the last of the bad weather has now gone and we can start to look forward to spring and those lovely blowy days which are great for drying the washing. Over the past few weeks I have had to resort to using the tumble dryer, apart from the exorbitant cost, things just dont have that lovely fresh outdoor smell and they are so difficult to iron.....which I hate!!  There are a few bargains about for Laundry stuff at the moment so I have been getting stocked up for the year Sainsbury have the Persil 85 wash on bogof so 170 washes....oooops thats another garage shelf taken..... Also Amaz*n have Lenor on offer 252 washes with free delivery........oops another shelf :-)




Byuing these in bulk means my wash load now costs a little over 15p for both, I'm very happy with that even if I do have to store it for most of the year.  I know the more frugal of you make your own Laundry Gloop which costs pennies and use vinegar for softener but we both have sensitive skin so for now I will stick to what I know.

I have no connection whatsoever with the above companies but do like a bargain.

What do you bulk buy to save money?

Karen xxx

Use up those crusts.

Today I had some whoopsed large mushrooms to use up, they are perfect for stuffed mushrooms but today I thought I would make some Mushroom Roasts. For this recipe you will need

225gm Chopped Mushrooms

225gm Grated Mature Cheese

175gm Breadcrumbs

1 large onion chopped or I used leeks from my garden

1 large or 2 small Eggs beaten

1  level dessertspoon mixed herbs

Salt and pepper and a little oil or butter

 Finely chop the onions or leeks and the mushrooms and fry gently in a little oil or butter until soft

 In a large mixing bowl combine your breadcrumbs, cheese and herbs, season with a little salt and pepper, remember that the cheese will already have salt in it.

 Add the onion (leek) and mushrooms to the dry ingredients along with the beaten egg and mix well.

 Divide the mixture between 3 foil dishes (clean takeaway ones are brilliant) and bake in the oven 170*c (325f-Gas 3) for about 25-30minutes until golden brown and firm to touch.

 This is mine straight out of the oven, you can just about see how soft it is with the melted cheese.

Its great to have hot with veggies or jacket potato, or cold with a salad and its even nice on a sandwich.

I have costed mine out like this
Mushrooms 50p   they are £1 per lb on our market, but a great way of using those whoopsed ones
Cheese £1 - I tend to buy the mature cheddar when on half price @ £1.99 for 400g grated and bagged into         the freezer ready for pizza, scones or just cheese sauce
Eggs - 2 small ones 35p
Onion say 10p my leeks were from the garden
Oil, S&P and Herbs 20p
Breadcrumbs 25p are just leftover crusts whizzed up and frozen

If we round it up to £2.40 thats 80p each or 40p per portion, it is quite rich but you could pad it out more  by adding extra breadcrumbs.  Once cooked it freezes perfectly.

Enjoy your Sunday whatever you are doing

Karen xxx

Feed the birds

Please don't forget to feed the birds during this really cold and snowy weather, they are really struggling at the moment. Its also a good idea to put out water for them and keep checking it to make sure its not frozen.  In our bird feeders we have sunflower hearts, peanuts and fat balls, we also put scraps on the bird table, any bits of pastry, cheese or dried fruits as well as bits of bacon rind or fat trimmings they all go down a treat.

Goldfinches in my spring garden,

 these little birds are queueing up to get on the feeders in the mornings

This picture was taken this morning, this is just one of the two thrushes that are stripping the berries from this bush and they are loving every morsel.

Take care and keep warm and safe, we have another good covering of snow here in Yorkshire tonight.

Karen xxx

Mystery Parcel and frugal repair!!

I was just having a browse round blogland when there was an almighty bang on the door, I opened it to a delivery man with a parcel in his hand.  I immediately thought it was for next door until I saw my hubby's name on the label.........whats he bought now!!!.....When we opened it up it was this lovely new iron and whats more it was a freebie.  Way back in December we bought a new dishwasher after ours went bang and filled the kitchen with blue smoke. Part of the deal was a voucher for a free iron worth £40. We filled in the necessary details and posted it off thinking we wouldn't get one as the offer was limited stocks and low and behold it arrived today!!  It was in my hubby's name so I think its only fair he does the ironing.....right?   and it just so happens there is a pile to be done :-)  The look on his face tells me thats a no go then.........

Well he has frugally fixed the worn out lettering on my laptop LOL..........

Take Care

Karen xx

New Boots and Snow!!

Good Morning from snowy Yorkshire.

I have been looking for some new hiking boots for ages, my walking shoes have started to disintegrate inside and the rubberised insole has gone all sticky...yuk... I really can't grumble as they are about 10years old.  After several tries at getting some new ones cheaply I had to bite the bullet and pay a bit more for these little beauties.  I hate bedding new boots and shoes in and when I tried these on they were so comfortable Philip just said get them I think he is sick of taking me for a look and coming home empty handed.....or is that footed......

I was so pleased I had bought them when we woke up this morning to this..........

 The garden looks so pretty covered in snow, we have a bit of a drift in front of the garage door and guess where the freezer is.... yep its in the garage and we needed stuff out for dinner.  Philip decided to go out and clear it.  Where is the snow shovel?....... In the garage!!  doh!

 The tree in our front garden just looks like its been dusted with icing sugar.

It probably won't last very long as the sun is trying to get out and the gutters are already dripping.  While I am sat here typing 2 joggers have just gone past...... bonkers or what!!

Nothing much to do today except cook a nice roast pork dinner for this evening with plenty of left overs for the week ahead.

Have a lovely Sunday, keep warm and safe.

Karen xx

Wheres Grubb?

Captain Flack's Fire Crew

                       Pugh, Pugh, Barney Magrew, Cuthbert, Dibble........where's Grubb?

He must be the one taking the photograph ........

Second from the right... Cuthbert aka  Phil my hubby  is just one of the volounteer fire crew at Sandtoft Flying Club, the chap in the middle with the white helmet is the full time fireman. Although they are all fully trained to deal with emergencies I do hope they never have to use those skills.

 Not only is he fire crew he is also a pilot, only for pleasure though.  I have been known to go flying with him on the odd occasion but I have to say its not really my thing I much prefer him to take one of his friends and leave me with my feet firmly on the ground.

Last summer.

By the way thats not his aeroplane, it belongs to the club, he just rents it on an hourly basis!!

Thank you for looking

Karen xxx