Lazy day and a haircut.

I have had quite a lazy day again today, hubby decided to dig the last bit of what will be new lawn and I coloured my hair ready for going for a trim this afternoon. 

I was sat watching this Easy Jet plane doing circuts, round and round every 5 minutes for most of the day!! How much fuel do you think that is?  We seem to get a lot of different aircraft doing training here at Doncaster, they are at about 250 foot when they come over the garden but they don't really bother us. Hubby is an aeroplane fanatic so he loves it.

I zoomed in a bit on my photo and did a screen shot, sorry I dont know how to do it properly, something I have yet to learn on my ipad!  but you get the idea :-)

Every week my Dad saves me the local Doncaster paper to read and recycle and I was very surprised when I turned the page and saw this...

An article on Jack Monroe! I have been reading Jacks blog and facebook posts for ages and have tried some of her recipes, which have been delicious.  I am really pleased she has been succesful with her new cookery book and the Sainsburys advert, its well deserved.

I went off to the hairdressers this afternoon and had my hair cut a bit shorter than normal, it looks ok and it will last a bit longer than the normal 8-10 weeks, it cost me £8:50 and £6 for the home colour. Back home I spent some time writing out a shopping list for tomorrow, I need a few things for bulk cooking and some more ingredients for the coffee morning baking. I am after buying a piece of spotty oilcloth for the refreshments table at the coffee morning, hopefully the lady on the market will have what I want, if not it will be a trip to Dunelm.

Nothing else to report, so I will go and make us both a nice cuppa.

Take care

Karen xxx

A pizza this and a bit of that!

A big hello to my new followers on Bloglovin, sorry but I sometimes forget to look on there, you are all very welcome, its always good to have new readers xx

Saturday night is fakeaway night....tonight its Pizza, homemade of course and very cheap to do.

Ham bits, pepperoni, grated cheese, sweetcorn and tomato puree

I made the dough in my breadmaker using the standard recipe with the addition of some sundried tomatoes in oil, instead of using my normal olive oil in the mix I used the oil from the tomatoes..

Lots of lovely topping and a fraction of the cost of delivered ones.

We haven't shopped this week and the only salad we had left was a small piece of cucumber a couple of tomatoes and a bit of pepper so I chopped it all up, added some onion, sweetcorn and mayo to make a coleslaw thingy, a bit hotchpotch but lovely tasting.

While the oven was on and I had a spare shelf I made a batch of sultana and cherry scones.

I found 2 bottles of wine behind some bottles of pop in the garage, goodness knows how long they have been there, I had to wash the bottles first they were so dusty! But a nice glass of chilled white with the spicy pepperoni was lovely and refreshing.  We had the scones later, spread with butter and washed down with a cuppa.  Then it was back to a few more rows of crochet, what an exciting life I lead!!

What did your Saturday evening consist of, something good I hope.

Take care

Karen xxx

Making a Ripple!

Firstly sorry for the poor quality photos, my camera battery is flat and the lights not good enough for the ipad.  I wanted to share with you my latest project,  its a throw for those chilly nights sat out in the awning while away in the caravan. Its quite a big task and will take me a while but its one of those things you can pick up and put down at random. I have made a mini blanket for the charity knitting box just to have a practice and its easy, I will photograph that one tomorrow.  I have started with 171 chains which measures 36 inches and each block of stripes measures about 4 inches, I think it needs to be about 5 foot long plus a border all the way round so thats quite a lot of work. I am using 100 gm balls of wool and as yet have no idea how many it will take, I will know better when I have used up one of each colour.

I have updated the photographs for you :-)

Full instructions are on Lucy's blog .. attic24. Its called The Neat Ripple.

I took it to Thimbles today and we have 4 ladies who want to learn to crochet so I promised to take some hooks and wool next week so they can have a try, I will let you know how that goes!!

We had another busy day in the garden yesterday and managed 4 more skip trips, thats all the rubbish out of the way for now, thank goodness, then it was back to more weeding....I am nearly on top of it all at last! Today its rained so nothing done outside, actually we are glad of a rest from it, my shoulder has been giving me some gip today :-( A visit to the oldies tomorrow to see if they are getting on alright with their new kitchen!  We have managed to skip shopping this week, although we will need some more milk, I can pick that up at Mums local shop tomorrow, we have plenty food in store so we wont starve.

Its just about hot chocolate time and time to snuggle down with my kindle, I am reading The Nightingale Girls series recommended by Jo at Through the Keyhole and I'm enjoying it so far. Thank you Jo x

Have a good day tomorrow

Karen xxx

The lost sole!!

Bright and sunny this morning, that means only one thing.....gardening!!  first we need to do 2 skip trips maybe 3 :-(  we have tried a shredder in the past to no avail, they just get clogged up and you still need somewhere to tip the spoil so now its just the council green skip!  We were all loaded up travelled about 5 miles and the pesky place was closed.....due to council cutbacks its now closed on Tuesday and Wednesdays....bugger!!  came home unloaded the car and had a cup of coffee instead.

 The 2 Apple Trees are wrapped up ready to go to my sons house.

This pile doesn't seem to be going down at all.

 We have made headway with the clearing of this corner and transplanting some of the plants into their new home. We have actually cut back the shrubbery to about a third of its size, it will be more manageable for us.

We laid a piece of old hosepipe down and dug a small trench to give me a boundary to plant up to, the rest will be grassed.

 I have spent most of the time planting up some that had been put into pots last week and others that I have just moved.

 They had a good water in but at the moment they are sagging, I am sure they will perk up in a day or two.

There are still a few gaps and when the spring things die back I will put some summer planting in, at least it shouldn't cost much now its so much smaller.  The next stage is to clear and level the corner then we can get the big tarpaulin down and hubby can cut the hedge....more skip trips!!  It will look quite messy this year but I can cope with that, knowing it will get better in the future.  Good job hubby likes cutting grass!!

The lost sole!

Yes, you guessed it, the sole fell off the bottom of my gardening shoe!  I thought it felt a bit funny walking, then when I looked there it was laying in the soil, it has come clean off, just as well really as its getting stuck back on!  I have only had these shoes 18 years :-) they are Clark's Goretex ones, do you think they will give me a refund LOL.

Lovely daughter in law has invited us for Chicken Dinner tonight, so no cooking for me, good job as I am shattered.  Oops just had a text, she has run out of carrots, could I please cook some and bring them with me, better go and do that now.

Enjoy your evening and thank you for popping by.

Easter Monday.

We started the day a bit overcast but not cold, hubby decided it was time to get into the garden again. I spent Saturday catching up on  my housework and the washing and ironing. Sunday was spent cooking a roast lamb dinner, i cooked plenty so Mum and Dad could take an extra dinner home for today....I dont want her new kitchen getting untidy :-) events started to catch up with me and I was shattered by teatime, an early night was called for...I slept really well.

I stripped the bed this morning and washed the sheets, after it was all pegged out I went to help in the garden. We have removed 2 old and tired shrubs, gosh that was hard work! They have been in 20 years and the roots were so thick they had to be chopped through a bit at a time. By the time everything had been cleared away into big builders bags it was getting a bit warm and very nearly lunch time so we downed tools for the day, no point in doing too much now we have lots of spare time.

It was lovely sat in the conservatory, nice and warm and sunny, hubby got the urge to go flying while the weather was right, he had promised Willow a trip up during the holidays and as she is back at school tomorrow it was his last chance, she was eager to go when he rang her, so we all trooped down to the flying club to wave them off. 

                                                 2 pilots, the young and the old!!

Concentrating hard... The fields look like a lovely green and yellow patchwork quilt!

Grandad said she did very well at keeping the plane nice and level and going in a straight line.

Willow thinks her grandad is the coolest grandad ever!! :-) it was a lovely end to her holidays.

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post xx

I hope you have had a nice peaceful Easter weekend.

Take care

Karen xxx

Mums New kitchen.

After a really busy week and a house like a tip, everything finally came together just 2 hours before Mum and Dad got back from their holidays.  The whole house apart from the conservatory shone like a new pin, the conservatory will get done inside and out within the next couple of weeks.

We started on Sunday getting the floor tiles up, my brother did this, it left a right old sticky mess, there were a couple of rough bits hubby had to level off and it made it look a bit better.

This kitchen has been in service for the past 30 years!!

I stripped the old wallpaper off from behind the washing machine and gave the wall several coats of emulsion.

Can you see the really grotty corner where the pipe had been leaking.....for years!!

I doubt the damp would have ever been discovered by us if we hadnt persuaded them to have this job done now, the plumber thinks the water has made its way outside, maybe if it had been on the inside it would have eventually made the floor wet and we would have been able to do something about it straight away.

Everyone worked very hard to keep to the original timescale, they were a great team and made an excellent job. A huge thank you to all at J.R.O. Furniture. Hatfield. Doncaster.

Flooring down and things getting back to normal, better put things back in the right place....or else....

Just the rubbish and tools on the table to get rid of and we're done....in! :-). Just incase you are wondering about the cooker and fridge they are behind me, and free standing, but I forgot to take a picture.

Just needs Fudge to inspect it and make sure her food dishes are back in place before giving her meow of approval.

Mum and Dad arrived home to a family welcome and they were both speechless and the looks on their faces told me everything had been worth the effort and that they loved it. Ahhhhh ....a happy end to the week.

A couple of hours later we were relaxing at home with a nice glass or two :-) of chilled white

Perfect!!

Mum and Dad are here for dinner tomorrow so no doubt they will be talking about all thats happened.

Have a lovely Easter

Karen xxx

Kitchen progress.

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments, I am pleased to report the kitchen has been fitted, lots of work still to do in getting things ship shape though.

Yesterday I cleaned the bathroom from top to bottom, the walls are sparkling and so is the suite, all the mats and towels and bath robes washed and dried. Everything in the kitchen was moved to the dining area, microwave, cooker, washer and fridge and the floor swept and cleaned. 

Today we were at Mums for 7:30 to make sure things were ready for the fitters coming at 8:30, they were on the dot! All the units were removed and the electrician and plummer were working away, until....they discovered a leaky pipe near the boiler...not what we wanted!!  That held up the job for at least an hour, judging by the state of things it had been leaking for a very long time, the back of the sink and next cupboards were rotten through, thank goodness it was discovered and fixed. After that it was all systems go, they worked so hard and got it all done by 3:30, it looks fabulous! Dad had left the money to pay them and they didnt charge anything for the extra work so we gave them a jolly good tip, which was worth every penny.  I painted the cupboard I should have done yesterday and cleaned up the mess from the fitting.  Hubby has replaced a light fitting upstairs and a new flourescent in the kitchen, just the new blind to hang tomorrow.

We will be up and off early again tomorrow the fitters are coming with the cushion floor at 9am and I want to give the floor another wash first and do another coat of emulsion in the cupboard. Then its just a case of refilling the cupboards and doing a thourough clean up.  Hopefully on friday we will have enough energy left to wash down the conservatory and jet wash the garden paths as they are covered in sawdust.  I have taken a few photos of before and after so I will show you them when everything is complete.

Despite having a sore throat and a bad tickly cough I have been sleeping really well.  

Better go and have a nice soak in a hot bath and get ready for the morning.

Take care

Karen xxx

While Mum's away......

Mum and Dad went on holiday today, we have arranged to have a new kitchen fitted while they are away.  We have been trying to get them to have it done for a while but at 80 they couldn't be bothered with the mess, the ideal solution was to arrange it for this week, then when they get back home it will be done....thats the theory anyway!  We have been there all day today emptying the cupboards and doing a few preparation jobs, the actual fitting will be on Wednesday.  While hubby was busy levelling the floor and fitting new blinds and curtain rails I did a bit of deep cleaning....washing down paintwork upstairs and  getting rid of a few cobwebs, Mum and Dad are so independent and don't like asking us to help so these kind of jobs fall by the wayside a bit.  Tomorrow I will be painting the inside of a big cupboard and washing the bathroom walls and giving the rest a good clean, then we need to go shopping for the new light fitting.  We will be working like trojans this week to get everything done for Friday afternoon for when they arrive home.  I want the kitchen to have that WOW factor when they walk through the door and I know they will be pleased with the rest of the jobs we have done....its quite exciting :-)

Yesterdays gardening tired me out, I was in bed quite early and slept like a log.  We have made a couple of decisions about the garden, we are going to reduce the size of the big shrubbery and make it more easy to manage, it will give hubby better access to the hedge which will make it easier for him to manage the cutting of it.  It was a big decision but now its done we both feel better about it.

 Lots to do

and there's more

 Keep going......

 This bits looking better

 Filling in the gaps with excess plants

 Hubby didn't have much to smile about, taking about 8 foot off the tops of the hedge before the proper hedge cutting can start!!

 Several skip trips needed...wish it was near Christmas we could sell them as Christmas trees :-)

A bit of cheerfulness... to make me smile

Are you busy gardening or spring cleaning or are you like me and trying to juggle both when what you really want to do is relax and enjoy this good weather we are having at the moment.

Whatever you are doing,

Take Care

Last weeks doings!

Welcome to my new follower Paid in Chickens thank you so much for joining my merry little band, I am loving reading your blog :-)

Well this week has been full of busyness, it started with the Coffee Morning last Saturday where we raised in excess of £200 for the study centre.  My friend and I had a craft stall and I made the grand sum of £13.60, (my friend about £9), better than a poke in the eye and it got rid of some of my er.. stuff!  As usual we were selling fabulous local organic veggies from our sponsor Pollybell Farm.we also had local stall holders selling their goods. It was a very pleasant morning with lots of chatter and plenty coffee and cakes being consumed.

Sunday started bright and early with a spot of cleaning up! we had invited friends over for tea and promised them one of Philips chicken curries, he got cracking on Saturday night with making it so it could marinate overnight in the fridge, it was absolutely delicious, and so easy for me :-) all I had to do was to reheat it  add the double cream and cook the rice....he can do that again...soon!  We had a lovely natter and caught up on the gossip...6 hours later....they left for home.
Monday Willow came to stay overnight, we were introduced to My Maths, her maths homework for the Easter holidays, she has her sats when they go back to school, I dont think she will have any problems.
Tuesday was a busy day, my friend came round for coffee and lunch and the 3 of us sat talking and sewing, I taught Willow how to do running stitch and she stitched some fabric initials to a piece of calico very neatly. We made a huge meat pie for tea, Willow made and rolled out the pastry and it was very light and tasted delicious,  we had that with savoy cabbage (her favourite) cauli and carrots, her daddy took an extra portion home for his dinner the next day.
Wednesday gardening day, the garden is such a mess and full of weeds...see last post.
Thursday,  I could hardly walk after the gardening.....soooo stiff!!  However, out I went again and did a bit more, its going to take time to sort it all out. Later in the afternoon I made a couple of cards from a digital download, really easy ones!  Hubby went on a jolly, he took an aeroplane to Fenland for its service, about an hours flight from here, his friend followed him to fly him back to Sandtoft after they had sampled the cafe's bacon sarnies and coffee!
Friday Willow came again, she wanted a trip to Toys R us to spend some money she had saved for a Monster doll and then  on to Asda for a bit of food shopping.  In the afternoon it was my Thimbles meeting so she came along and really enjoyed herself, of course all the ladies made a fuss of her and gave her some cake and a drink, I thought she might be shy but she proved me wrong and was chatting to everyone.  We cooked tea for everyone again and this time it was just plain old bangers and mash with chocolate muffins for afters.  More maths with grandad and then home time.
Saturday, hubby on another jolly, this time to Duxford Air Museum with 3 pals, they hired a 4 seater and flew there and back, again they had a lovely day.  Me I washed, ironed and cleaned the house before polishing my halo :-)  I still found time to sit in the conservatory and have a couple of hours with my kindle book  Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts, its about the girls who worked at the Pearse Duffs factory in 1910.

A couple of simple cards made on Thursday.

Today we have been back in the garden sorting out this.....

Weeds and more weeds

and the dratted hedge!!

More about the garden tomorrow when I have sorted the piccies.

Its time to watch the Crimson Fields now so TTFN I will be back tomorrow.

 

Cheap as chips!

Hello.... I'm still here :-) busy catching up on the garden while the weather is nice, the weeds seem to be taking over, grrr... I have managed to do one of the raised beds ready for the salady stuff and about 10 % of the big shrubbery, its an absolute nightmare, I bet I will be stiff in the morning :-( hubby has thinned out the apple tree and planted some primulas and heathers in the front garden border. Thats all...we were knackered! Maybe I will do a bit more tomorrow, just keep chipping away until its all done.

I had a quick catch up with the Frugaldom Forum where one of the threads is "Whats your favourite emergency meal?"  Well that really depends on whats in the cupboard, but I nearly always have these

We tried the Instant mash a couple of years ago on a caravanning holiday and found if it was seasoned and had a blob of butter stirred in it was quite nice, this pack has 6 good portions and it cost 48p. Corned beef, we love that hot or cold, this one cost £1:50 a tin and its very good value, so tonight because we had been working hard in the garden and I was tired I decided a quick meal using these as the base would be a good idea. After a rummage in the veg drawer..we had kale and loads of carrots, both are quick to prepare and cook so that was it.. Mashed potato, carrots, kale, chopped corned beef warmed through in onion gravy...yum!

Cost for 2 people...mash. 16p. Half tin of Corned beef 75p. Veggies, handful of kale and 2 large carrots about 40p onion gravy 10 p. total £1:41 or 70p per dinner.

For dessert we had half a tin of Basics Peach Slices with a blob of yogurt. Adding about another 20 p each, which means 2 courses for 90p each. Absolutely delicious and cheap as chips!! 

Whats your favourite "Emergency Meal"  or would you just order a takeaway?

Take care

Karen xxx

Coffee Morning Baking with costings.

Firstly a big Hello to my lovely new followers, so good to have you on board, thank you for taking time to read my Chunterings. Xx

We braved the smog this morning to go shopping, I needed lots of ingredients for my baking session this afternoon. I usually bake on the Friday but in the morning I have to go to the cold store to collect all the veggies and call at my Mums, her neighbours are being evicted and I think she is worried there might be trouble.  As I said in my brief post yesterday I have to submit expenses for my ingredients and then give back the money as a donation so today I have costed out the cakes.

Victoria Sandwich

225 gm Margarine.     34p

225gm  Caster sugar. 35p

275gm. SR Flour.        10p

4 Eggs (lidl).                 36p

500gm Icing Sugar.      94p

100gm Margarine.        15p

Third jar Basic Jam.       10p

Total cost for an 8 inch basic sandwich cake is. £2:34

I used the same recipe for my Lemon Cake with Lemon Curd and a fresh Lemon adding another 30p

And for the Coffee Cake i used a couple of spoons of strong coffee disolved in hot water.

The buns were also this recipe with the decorations adding another 40p..the mini eggs were from Aldi at 59p for 90gm

                          Coffee Cake

                      Lemon Cake

Buns, all boxed in 4s to be sold for £1:20 a box.  These are going on my stall with some craft bits and my bags, I have to pay £5 for the stall and these buns will take care of that, just incase my craft doesnt sell :-). 

                        Alice's Fruit Cakes

This amount of mixture makes 5 one pound loaf cakes. 3 of these for my stall 2 for the Coffee Morning.

700gm  Dried Fruit.    £1:40

1pint Milk.                        25p  from a 2lt carton @ £1

450gm Margarine.            68p. Baking soft margarine 2kg tub

350 gm Sugar.                  54p

700gm. SRFlour.               34p

4 Eggs (lidl).                       36p

4 teaspoons mixed spice.   10p

2teaspoons Bicarb.               5p

Total cost for 5 Fruit Loaves ....£3:72 approx 75p each. I will sell 3 for £2 each

Total cost of all the above cakes is...£13:78 ...Coffee Morning Expenses £8:79 and at 50p a slice we should make a good profit.

If I sell the buns and 3 loaf cakes on my craft stall I should make myself a profit of £8:21 :-) that will easily cover stall costs.  My friend has just said she will share a stall and the costs :-) :-) 

Sorry if you have found this post boring, but blogging about the costings will help me in the future, oh and incidently I havent included cost of electricity or tin liners because I dont know how...lol 

I hope you all had a good day and wasn't too affected by this Sahara Smog.

Take care

Karen xxx