Happy Mothers Day!

I hope you have all had a lovely Mothers Day.  I had a fabulous day, with my Mum &Dad, oldest son, daughter in law and grandaughter, we had a tasty Sunday lunch cooked by moi and an afternoon of reminiscing.

These were delivered to me yesterday from my youngest son down in Plymouth and my lovely daughter in law.  The flowers are gorgeous, they are from Bunches by post, I have used these many times and received them and I have never been dissapointed. They are a brilliant company and I recommend them to everyone.  My opinion nobody paid me :-)

They are starting to open up today, so are the chocolates!

Beautiful Lily and bird box for the garden from my oldest, and my daughter in law, hand delivered, they only live 4 miles away.

And these lovely Pink Kisses from my gorgeous grandaughter, Willow.

My Mum was the dogs favourite person today, I think she was the only one sitting still enough for Peppa to settle on!

Oohh...thats lovely...tickle my tummy more.....

Thank you, here a big sloppy lick....

I had a wonderful day today and it doesnt end there, we are out to tea tomorrow night, as another special treat.

I hope you had a wonderful day too.

Love Karen xxx

Whoops!!

Its been a beautiful day here with a few chores done outside and 2 loads of washing dried in the warm sunshine.  I potted  up about 18 geranium plantlets in the greenhouse and did a general tidy up. Then a spot of gardening while hubby washed my car and cut the grass.  I had a lovely surprise delivery ready for tomorrow :-) so I stopped work to sort that out and make lunch.  After lunch I had a quick Kindle and did a bit of knitting....hats again!

Mum and Dad are coming for lunch tomorrow as well as my son and family so I needed a bit of extra sweet stuff for the afternoon cuppa, I saw on Gills blog Frugal in Derbyshire, a lovely simple recipe for a Mincemeat Cake....just the job...I can make 2 and give one to my Dad, he loves fruit cake.

No messing around, whack it all in together....I doubled up on everything...except 

the eggs!! Blast! They have been in the oven 10 minutes, too late to add more egg!  Never mind they are big ones it might be ok, we can always have it buttered if its dry!

Looking good, I like a loaf cake, its easier to slice.  Into the oven they go, it says 35 minutes.......1 hour 15 minutes later.....

Disaster!!  I think my tins were too small, they bubbled up and overflowed first of all onto the pizza we were having for tea, shhh dont tell hubby...I picked it off quick and put it back in the oven above the cakes :-)  then again onto the baking sheet in the bottom of the oven. As I took them out of the oven..before they burnt....they sunk!  Never mind, they smell wonderful, just like Christmas! 

Its very crumbly and tastes divine, but too messy to give visitors. We wont waste it though, it will get portioned up in a fashion and used for puddings, speaking of which....

I quickly whisked up some Approved Foods Dr oetk.. Custard and served it with the cake/pudding.....ah..heavenly.......  I'm stuffed!!!

Next time I will use a bigger tin and follow the instructions better.  Sorry Gill, I didn't do your recipe justice, I promise to try harder next time :-)

2 minutes to Earth Hour....are you switching off.......

Take care

Karen xxx

Mayday. Mayday.

Tomorrow night Thursday on Channel 4 at 9 pm is a programme called Mayday, its about my hubby's friends who hired a light aircraft and set off for a day out.  The pilot died in flight and it was left to the passenger who was not a pilot to fly the aircraft and try to make a safe landing.  Thankfully he made it!  It should be an interesting programme.

Back tomorrow

Karen xx

Crafty & Snowy

Its been cold and dull today with a smattering of rain, one of those days when you need the heating on if you are sat. My friend came round today for our usual knit and natter Tuesday catch up and after we had put the world to rights I got on with making a card.  One of our Thimbles ladies has a big birthday coming up next month and I didn't want to leave making her card until the last minute so this morning I printed off the bits I would need then got cracking with it this afternoon. I hope she will like it.

I was browsing through some photographs from last year and can you remember this, it was March 23rd, freezing temperatures and SNOW!!!

Haven't we been lucky this year, I know we have had some really cold days, lots of rain and a few bits of hail but no SNOW.  We have no tree either, we had it removed last Summer as it was starting to lean over towards the road, we are planning to plant a Rowan when we get round to it and the new grass has bedded in, at least the birds with have the benefit of the berries.

Not much happening here at the moment, things are pretty quiet all round.  Tomorrow we will pop over and see the oldies, make sure they are ok and thats about it.


Take care everyone
Love Karen xx

Black over Bills mothers!

Its bitter cold today and its raining again, it did start the day bright and breezy and I managed to get a couple of fleeces dry, then it clouded over and rained! Looking out if the window there are lotsof black   clouds, hence the blog title....Its black over Bills mothers....

Time for snuggling down with a bit of knitting.

Back onto the hats for the shoeboxes, its really an ongoing project at Thimbles, it was decided on last week that the funds could afford to buy some wool for us to knit and one of our ladies had spotted this wool for sale in bags of 20 x25gm for the bargain price of £2per bag at the Doncaster Keep Moat car boot sale.   Its not often you can pick up 500gms of wool for 2 quid! If you look at the label you will see that its the one they were giving free with a crochet magazine, its supposed to be double knitting but its quite thick so I am knitting it on size 7 needles and doing it striped makes it grow quicker lol

Family dinner day tomorrow for my DiL s birthday so I had to bake this morning, well you have you have cake dont you?

I also treated hubby to some fruity scones, it doesnt take much  to make him happy :-)

Oops look at the time....better get the tea going.....pizza and salad with some fresh cooked free organic beetroot :-) and maybe a slice of lurpak with a bit of scone!

Enjoy your evening

Karen xxx

Friday again!

Friday already! Where has the week gone... Well quite a few cleaning jobs have been tackled including the conservatory, the windows are all clean inside and out. Stuff put up in the loft, stuff put in the bin and stuff in the garage for the tip. Shopping done, day out with my parents and today a good clean and polish through the bungalow and then off to Thimbles.  We are working on a community quilt for the summer raffle, its coming on a treat, when its finished I will take a photo.  

These are the 200+ little jersey's we knitted for our contribution to the Tour de France bunting, which will be festooned around Harrogate in the summer, I think the total now stands at something like 9000 with more being knitted!

I managed to make another Tote bag this week and instead of hexies I used some owl fabric and appliqued it onto the bag.

I am pleased with how it turned out.  I now have 4 of these for my coffee morning table along with some other patchwork bags I have made.

Yesterday I did my first facebook "no make-up selfie" not a pretty sight!

I think I will delete it!!!

Tomorrow I am making a chocolate beetroot cake again ready for my family coming on Sunday for lunch. Busy busy....

I hope you all have a lovely weekend

Love Karen xxx

A day out with the Dinosaurs!

Usually at this time of year we have a visit to the garden centre at Brigg, its not too far down the motorway and its quite nice once you get inside.  It has a bit of everything, gifts, machines, sheds, clothes, furniture, and of course lots and lots of plants, you know the kind of places I mean. 

Under the covered way between the main building and the Vineyard Restaurant they had these huge model Dinosaurs amongst the displays of plants.  I hadnt taken the camera but just had enough charge in my phone to take a few pic 's. 

This one moved its head, growled and blinked its eyes.

Definitely a couple of old relics!! Aka Mum and Dad :-)

Mum looks like she is surrounded by spooky mist....must have my finger over the lens...doh!

The fake tree in the background was covered with twinkly lights and it was £1,500 !! Does anyone ever buy these things?

We had a lovely lunch of fish, chips and mushy peas in the restaurant, Dads treat, and I bought Mum 9 decent sized pots of herbs for Mothers Day, she will get more pleasure from them than a bunch of over priced flowers....I will leave that for my brother to buy!  There was a lovely stall outside selling nice quality   vegetables, I bought a sack of potatoes a huge cauli and some local free range  eggs. Hubby bought some stuff for the lawns and Dad got some flower seeds 3 for 2.  We all managed to buy what we wanted and had a most enjoyable day out.

After a fine but cold start to the day the wind is whipping up and its raining....  Time for a kindle..

Take care

Karen xxx

Shopping Day & Coupons

First things first... a big Hello to my new followers on my blog and on Blog Lovin its great to have you on board, I hope you will enjoy what you read and maybe leave a comment now and again just to say Hi :-)

Thursday is our normal shopping day but plans changed and we are taking my parents out for the day, we pay for petrol and do the driving and Dad buys lunch :-) So when these coupons dropped through the letterbox this week we thought it was time to stock up on Orange Basics at Sainsburys.

Its week one this week.

£10 off a £50 shop this week, normally we dont spend that in one go but looking at the menu plan and taking stock of the cupboards and freezers I knew I could justify spending that amount to stock up. Lidl  is our usual shop with a Morrisons trip now and again, but we do like Sainsburys basic range so why pay more for a big brand when this one is just as good.  Lidl and Sainsburys are virtually next door to each other so we nipped into Lidl too and picked up the bits we prefer not to buy in Sainsburys.

 Cravendale Milk.. this has a date on of 5th April it keeps really well in the fridge and I know it wont be needed until next week, we dont have a local shop so I need to keep enough to last at least a week.  We have tried the long life stuff and dont like it. Fruit and veg are bought weekly but we always have plenty frozen veg in stock and we get lots of free veg from a friend.  Eggs essential for baking and yorkies but eggs for eating are usually bought at the farm gate 6 for £1.25 and they are delicious. 2 blocks of extra strong cheese one for grating and keeping in the freezer, handy for pizza, quiche or a cheese sauce with extra strong you dont need to use quite as much to get the same flavour, so more economical. There was a Ciabbata cob but we ate most of it for lunch....greedy piggies!!

 Meat, we don't have a Butchers anywhere near here unless you go into Town where parking can be a problem so I buy from the Supermarkets and buy what I can afford then get creative when  turning it all into meals.  We are trying the frozen white fish fillets from the basics range £1.68 there are 8 small fillets of Alaskan Pollock and would feed 4 people, we have had Pollock many times so I cant see this being a problem. Sausages, not often I buy them and haven't had these frozen ones £2.50 for 20 = 1kg they look nice on the bag so we will see! if you dont try you never know!! ........No cooking Bacon in Sainsburys today....drat!!

 Hubby's treats Peanut butter, which we discovered is nice in place of some of the butter in flapjack, and the Frosted Flakes :-( vegetable rice, nice and easy, tomatoes so versatile and the instant mash 6 helpings for 49p and I am not ashamed to say we like it :-)

We don't use many tins of things but we do use these on  a regular basis.

You can see from the till receipts I went a bit over the £50..£52.84 minus the £10 and I spent another £17.57 in Lidl so my total spends for all the above food came to £60.41.  I think its a good balanced shop and it will last us well into next month and some things longer.  Out of the remaining coupons I might use week 5 and do it all again, we shall have to wait and see how the stocks are, I certainly wont do it just because we have a coupon, they also gave me £1  Brand match coupon off my next shop but I can pass this on to my Mum.

How do you shop, are you loyal to one Supermarket or are you a savvy shopper who hunts down the bargains?   Do you use coupons like these to stock up or just throw them in the bin and stick to just buying what you need weekly?

The sun is shining and there is free heat in the conservatory.....time for a cuppa and a bit of a kindle.

Enjoy your day

Love

Monthly menu

Its been a while since I posted a monthly menu plan, these plans are really a guide to what we have in stock and what we need for the weeks ahead, they aren't set in stone and can be moved around to suit our needs. A little basic knowledge is always good for the budgets.

Sorry for the poor photo of this menu plan we are working on making it more clear for you, if anyone has suggestions we would be grateful.                 

It also helps me to be organised with any batch cooking, baking or just making pastry cases for the freezer. We bake all our own bread unless there is something in the bakery section reduced to cheaper than we can make it.  Breakfasts.. We are naughty and dont usually eat any, maybe just a banana or flapjack mid morning with a coffee, lunch is anything from homemade soup, sandwiches, savoury scones, to leftovers or anything needing using up. We eat really well for around £40 per week, I am lucky that our income allows us to bulk buy or to have a treat occasionally, there is just the two of us living on hubby's private pension, its not a fortune but we are comfortable, healthy and happy and thats good enough for us!!

It a bit overcast today and even though the washing is on the line its not moving much.

I'm sat in the conservatory writing this and this is my view.

You can see from the rubbish ipad photos just how dull it is!  Time for another cuppa and a quick read on the kindle, I have just started a new Lesley Pearce book :-) I love her books.

Have a lovely day folks whatever your plans

Take care

Karen xxx

Frugal nosh!

After the treat of posh nosh last night, today we are back to our normal frugal nosh, this is what I do best.  

A couple of weeks ago Morrisons had minced pork on offer for £1:49 for 600gm, I have bought this before many times and think its great value for money, I usually get stocked up with half a dozen packs which last until the next offer, I am very fortunate that my budget allows for bulk buys.

Today I used a whole pack with 3 small onions finely chopped in the processor along with some frozen homemade breadcrumbs an egg and some mixed herbs to make Pork Meatloaf. Last time I made these I used lined loaf tins and they stuck! So today I tried patting the meat into loaf shapes and baking them on a non stick sheet. (Another variation here)

It worked a treat and they lifted easily off the baking sheet :-)

Did you spy my Apple Crumble?

I think they took about an hour to cook on 170* c fan oven.

While the oven was on I did some more of the Greek style potatoes we had last week, they were lovely and so easy and an Apple crumble using some of our own apples from the freezer.

We shared half of one meatloaf and it was plenty, with the potatoes, steamed carrots, cauli and spinach, I made a bit of gravy too as dinner isnt complete without it. Dessert was the crumble with some Approved foods custard. I reckon tonights meal was under £1 each as the carrots and apples were free and the cauli was a yellow sticker from asda at 9p and its huge! There is plenty left for tomorrow night and two lots of meatloaf for the freezer.  Frugal, Tasty and very filling.....lovely!!

Busy day today, we set to and cleaned all the windows inside and out on the conservatory, hubby washed my car and I washed the bedding.  More housey jobs tomorrow...

Thank you for calling in today, I will be back tomorrow.

Love Karen xxx

Posh Nosh

After a hectic week it was time to unwind with a treat of frugal posh nosh.

The steak was half price this week at Morrisons, 2 huge pieces for £4:02 served with a lovely spinach and celery salad, roasted cherry tomatoes onion rings chips and peas, it was delicious and a really yummy treat.  If we had gone to our local eatery it would have cost over £20 plus drinks for the two of us.  

We had a bottle of wine in the garage that we recieved as a gift at Christmas ( 2 left) and we nearly forgot to save half for tomorrow!!  Dessert was ice- cream and grapes, just a tiny portion for me and a double for the ice-cream monster hubby!

And more Christmas goodies to finish off..........

I am stuffed!!....think I need a lie down with my top button undone!

Goodnight....:-)

Karen xxx

York

Yesterday we wanted to take the new car out for a proper drive, so went to York, its about 40 miles away from where we live.  The sun was shining and it was the perfect day for a walk round the historic city walls.

It was lunchtime by the time we arrived so we nipped into the Cornish Pasty shop and ate it sat on a bench overlooking the Minster.

We climbed the steep steps onto the wall and of we go!

I don't know who this chap is but I hope he doesn't fall off, its a long way to the bottom!!

The banks of the wall were crammed full with daffodils, they were just starting to open up, another week and they will be in full bloom and it will be a fantastic site.

Lots of gorgeous cottages, we are near the Railway Station at this point so the cottages could have been built for the railway workers.

You wouldn't want to walk this stretch of the wall if you had been on a night out and had a few, there is no rail and its quite a steep drop.

Loads of chimney pots on the roof tops.

And half of Supermans Mini buried in a brick wall of a tiny garden! .???

Down the steps of this tower and out onto the bridge over the River Ouse.

You can see how ornate the bridge is and the beautiful street lights.

Much nicer than the grey concrete lampost we have now.

It looked like this plaque had been newly painted for its centenary.

Down the bridge steps and into the park, past Cliffords Tower and back to the park and ride.  We were shattered, we had already been to the shopping outlet at McArthur Glen and had a good walk round there before hopping on the bus. The park and ride cost £5:40 for both of us and its worth every penny, parking in the city is so expensive and stressful trying to find a spot. 

We dropped off the motorway and called at my parents to make sure they were both ok and to have a cuppa, that saved us another journey tomorrow.  We had a lovely day out and spent £11.20 on bus fare and lunch and the car used about 1 1/2 gallons of petrol.

Within half an hour of arriving home we both fell asleep....

Thank you for popping by

Love