Playing with my processor

So today I have been experimenting with my new food processor.

I did before hand however decided that cleaning the new blades would be a good idea because they'd been in a box and almost amputated the top of my middle finger - ouch (or a more deserving expletive)

I decided I usually use the basic recipe for a sponge of 225g flour, 225g butter, 225g sugar and 3 eggs. So today I decided I would try a new recipe as I find this usually ends up a bit flat and pathetic looking. So today I turned to my trusty Maw Broons Cookbook that my Mother In Law Sandy brought me for my birthday a few years back. Its fab.

This is Maw Broon;s Cookbook. Inside as you can see it looks like a well used family cookbook and the way it is written makes me laugh if you can decypher it well enough but having a half scottish family I think its the best thing Ive read with old style scottish recipes. Id definitely recommend it. Anyway I went for the basic recipe in this book. 100g butter, 125g sugar, 4 eggs and 200g flour. 

Below is the finished split cake. I need to work on my halving skills but the recipe made a very dense dry Old Style cake. It was tasty but proper old style! 

This is whats left after I added the cream! 

Should also say the British Double Cream I had from work, I again did the waste last night and my boss let me bring a whole carrier bag of mini Gem lettuces home for my rabbits. 3 tubs of 600ml double cream and 2 French sticks.....all for free. So today I have put them to good use.

Right off to meal plan a bit

x Sammy x

Putting plans into action.........

I figured today I need to start making my way towards my new years resolutions otherwise I'm not likely to stick to them.

I have somewhat changed mine though.
Mine are now

1. Enjoy my children. - Holly starts preschool this year in September and I plan to spend as much time with
    her as possible because babies don't keep (and yes i regularly wish I could keep her this little!). With
    Benjie because hes in school our days together when hes off school I want to enjoy and make more
    memories with him
2. Exercise more  
3. Plan - whether its money, food, days out etc - planning in advance saves time, money and effort.
4. Be myself - enjoy what I like and don't let others opinions bother me as long as me and mine are happy
5. .Eat properly (I rarely eat at the minute - living on whatever is easiest and pretty much toast) this is not
     healthy and is affecting me health wise now so three meals a day is my aim.
6. Craft and Hobbies ~ get some and enjoy them (this includes me competitions!)

So today I decided to put number 3 and 5 into action and planned my tea for tomorrow already. This is my beloved Stovies. Its easy. It pretty much consists of onion, mince, gravy and potatoes. All bunged in a pot and left to cook

Sweat some onions in a pan with a little bit of butter

 Then add in the mince (this mince was actually free, it was in the reduced trolley and when it came time to waste it my supervisor let me have it for free)

Then add enough gravy to cover. At this point you can peel and cut up potatoes and put them in this pan as well then leave it all to simmer for 30 minutes (making sure it doesn't burn) so you basically cook the potatoes in the Gravy, then serve it up with a side of veg.

I however have changed this, I made this stovies mixture up earlier. Then put it into a ceramic dish and covered it and put it in the oven to store it, then peeled potatoes, prepared sprouts and carrot and have them in the steamer ready for tomorrows lunch. So happy that's minimal cooking needed now.

Haven't done much else today really, my evening tonight involves cwtching on the sofa and chilling out watching TV, I'm not doing anything majorly exciting and I may just see in the new year before heading to my bed.

Good night all and Happy New Year. I look forward to learning and talking to you all more in 2013

Love

Sammy x x x x

Rain and Pantry talk

Well it is torrential rain today which has been hammering the windows all night.

Now I know there are jokes about Welsh weather but this is ridiculous. The River that runs through our village from the mountains is very high at the minute - thankfully we live on top of a mountain so it does affect us too much but our village is somewhat prone to weather damage.

It is in a valley with 3 available exit points. One road has a very steep hill to access it, over the river, and some may remember a few years back a couple had their Christmas ruined because a mudslide came through the back of their house? Yes that was from this road. It is subsiding rather badly despite our councils best attempts to re-inforce it.
The second exit way is the shortest to town but the road is prone to flooding and the valley wall is weak so there are regularly mudslides with too much rain - it is currently half closed at the minute.
The third is prone to mudslides but means you have a 40 minutes detour to get somewhere that usually takes 10 minutes.

That said I love my little welsh valley.

This is the view from my back door. We regularly see paragliders over the mountain and horses playing.

This is the same mountain but you can see somewhat further down the valley and my garden

My village by dusk when Im out walking Muttley.


Also I spent most my shift thinking about extra food storage yesterday - Im still stumped with the cupboard but was thinking about maybe boxes that I can store elsewhere in the house as sort of a mobile pantry - my nan use to have a little cupboard under the stairs that she'd use.
Sadly the only other available space I have like that is in our bedroom and its literally a box cupboard - its about 3ft square but full height which I could convert but it is also apparently a portal way to Narnia and I'm scared that if I go in to clear it out I may never be seen again.
So anyway whilst I was in work last night I found these boxes

and Im thinking I can fill them with cans/packets/non perishables and store them elsewhere in the house. We also have lots of the empty fruit and veg crates - little and large - that are stackable which I think might be a handy store system too - its just finding space now.

This sounds ridiculous too but our bed is broken. Its been broken since we moved to this house (2 years in May!) otherwise the larger crates would have been able to live under the bed with no problem at all and there boxes could have had little covers made and used as small bedside tables. I think that may be my first thing to try and save some money for or to try and find on freecycle - a new bed frame.

The one we have is lovely but my partner Ow is not very DIY savvy and would much rather go to his shed and play with his motorcross bike or sit playing on the computer than do any kind of work round the house. Hence the reason its been broken for 2 years and I have no idea how to fix it, although I can reuse the wood from it to hopefully make myself a veg planter and the slats if I save them will be turned into shelves. I think maybe I will make that my goal this year - to learn how to complete small DIY projects..........could do with a few shelves putting up

Right I had better get on and feed the kiddiwinks

x Sammy x

Torrential Rain, More Competitions...........and not looking forward to the walk to work

Well I havent actually gotten off the computer yet!

I have completed all todays competitions and decided to move on to tomorrows - imaginve my horror when I discovered nearly 74 pages of competitions. So I have sat here determined and have entered 58 pages worth of competitions..........I think I have easily entered close to 200 competitions today.

Thoroughly shattered now and I still have 16 pages to finish tomorrow and then more on to the 1st January ones

Poor Benjie isnt very well either - he has had cold/flu symptoms lately and hasn't been eating very much. He woke up Christmas Day and Boxing Day with a raging temperature, a horrid cough and no appetite.
Today is the first day he has really eaten anything very substantial - 2 slices of toast with Jam on, and now he's complaining that his belly is feeling 'gurgley'........have given him some cough medicine and hes cwtched on the sofa watching 'Agatha Christies Marple'.............think that needs changing!

Anyway best be off and do some dishes before I have to start getting ready for work. At least I can test run  the waterproofs that Owen brought me for Christmas!!!!!!!

x Sammy x

De-stressing with the de-clutter........

Well I have to say this morning is the first day I haven't walked in the living room and felt majorly stressed.

Between the 3 kids toys, mine and Ow's things - walking in every morning was driving me mad. I could barely see the floor if I hadn't already fallen over one toy or another....

and why is it when your in the dark you always manage to step on the stray bit of Lego?

I had a peaceful night last night reading and finding new blogs, then re evaluating my New Years Resolutions. Im thinking that between the few I have I should actually be able to cope pretty well with them and somehow achieve them all if not at least part of them!

I also made a promise to myself that I would keep at the competitions. I love to do competitions on-line and it has been a life saver to us on more than a few occasions. This is something I need to manage a bit better though and try and get myself ahead with if I can. This morning though I have managed to do all the ones for this morning (I don't tend to do ones for Holidays or Body Care/ Perfume stuff as I have sensitive skin and am allergic to a fair bit of it!) and in total completed 32 competitions, that was from one site though so now on to the second site and to do the twitter.

I do occasionally win things I have forgotten about or they are another part of a competition I've entered so may not use or need. (I once entered a competition for concert tickets to see Adele ~ I had previously won a set to see Olly Murs - who was fab live! - but I didn't win the Adele tickets, I did however win the adjoining competition which was two tickets to see Dolly Parton!) Personally she's not my taste so I gave them to a friend of Ows...........who then kindly paid £40 into our water account which meant I had a month off paying it which was nice of him.

So I may run a few competitions for a few bits and pieces later on if anyone is interested.

Jobs for this morning are

1. to finish the competitions and get myself a bit ahead. The end of the month there are always lots ending
    and I have been known to be sat at the computer for 9+ hours before on one day because there was over
    800+ competitions ending. Its one of the things I do that Ow supports especially when we have had a
    good return in the past from it.

2. Make my stovies! (Fingers crossed the mince has defrosted now!)

3. See how much Im likely to get on Magpie for the bag of DVDs I have upstairs. I figure they will end up in
    the charity shop anyway so I may as well see if I can get a few pennies for them. I do also have a bag full
    of Video tapes to try and donate as well so no one will lose out.

4. I need to look into my compost bin and see how it is going. I have been putting in the rabbits waste but
    not sure I have enough kitchen waste or balance in it at the minute.

Then I have my 7 hour shift in work which should be nice and relatively peaceful today. Cant believe it is New Years Eve already tomorrow. This last year has gone so fast. Which has also reminded me of a number 5 for my to do list.

5. Make my sealed pot. I have found a suitable container - now just need to tape the top shut.

Right better get going. I need to start getting ready for work at 1.30 and all this stuff wont do itself !

Take Care All and have a peaceful and productive day

Love

Sammy x x x

Windy in Wales.....and some thoughts for the day.

Wow its windy here in Wales tonight.....

Apparently its 6 degrees C and 24 mph winds..........which ordinarily I wouldn't mind but I live on top of the mountains so it sounds like its easily 50 and my full wheelie bin is walking itself round the garden.

I am hoping my poor bunnies are OK and not too cold. Just happy they all have plenty of bedding in their beds to keep them warm - I think I over compensated with it being Christmas but I have made sure they all have nice full tummies to see them through and I'm sure the coop will provide them with plenty of veggies tomorrow.

Kids are finally in bed, I did manage to get the dishes done and clear and rearrange Minnie's bedroom so she should be much snugglier now and happy all her Mi-Mi's (that's dolls to me and you) are now in her bedroom for her to play with. Now just to take the side off her cot,.....but I'm not that brave yet!

I do now however have a bag of DVDs, a bag of videos and a video player, 3 bags of toys from Benjie, 3 bags of toys from Minnie and a bag of old bedding etc that I can freecycle etc although I have realised that Ben has nearly every complete set of power rangers figures etc so I may be able to sell them as a small bundle on EBay to make a few pennies.

On more home based notes, I've decided to tackle my kitchen cupboards tomorrow. I have seven in total. That is it. Only two are wall mounted so my glasses/plates etc live in there. The one under it has all my tins, it is a double sized cupboard but only has one door and almost bends round the other cabinet if that makes sense. See the diagram below for a better explanation

 I need to try and work out some sort of storage technique for this cupboard. I'm only using about half of it because its all I can see! The double cupboard next to it is under the sink stuff. This again could do with a good restocking and getting a few bits and pieces in it. I don't tend to use many cleaners - only dettol spray, bicarb of soda, washing up liquid, comfort, and Flash multi purpose.
I then have two single cupboards which have two shelves, one has extra plates and a few Christmas bits in it, the other has pans, casserole dishes, ceramic bowls etc in it and a few bathroom extras I've picked up like girls products.
I'm thinking if I moved a few bits round or had a clear out I would be able to make one of these an extra storage cupboard - OK so not quite a pantry but it will help.


I'm also thinking I will join the local library. I do actually think I belong to the library but I had an overdue fee so I never went back, I think that needs rectifying. I quite like reading autobiographies, true stories, life stories etc but I will admit I don't think I have read some of the better known classics.....other than being in school.

So I suppose I have two musings for any followers who happen to read tonight..........Does anyone have any ideas on how I can maximise usage of the funny cupboard? and can they recommend me a book to add to my reading list?

Until then I will make sure to talk to you all tomorrow morning before I start with tackling the kitchen, Ow is off so he can watch the kiddiwinks and then I have a lovely 7 hour shift starting at 3pm which I'm hoping will be fairly peaceful and full of bargains.

I hope you all have a pleasant evening.

Sammy x x x

Rain, rain, go away.................or not apparently

Apparently someone has ordered 40 days and 40 nights of rain................and gales.

I made the very wrong mistake of putting the boxes from the kids Christmas toys outside next to the bin so now they are scattered and soggy across the little front yard/garden that we have which will make for a delightful job when the weather dries up for a bit, or at very best stops raining.

Found out yesterday that the second hand rabbit hutch we got apparently is not rabbit proof. There is a brief back story here so I will try and shorten it into a manageable chunk.

Last May Ben asked me for a pet of his own that he could cwtch and handle etc. (note we already had a dog and 2 terrapins), I told him he could get one if he kept his room tidy to which he agreed. I figured this would last maybe a few days at best, well 6 months later its now Christmas and his room is still immaculate. So I managed to talk him into a small pet, so we go to a well known pet store to pick up dog food for Bruno

 (Here is Bruno, after a long wet walk. He is our rescue dog, he is 11 at present and we adopted him when he was 4 years old. He has a few psychological issues especially with cold weather thanks to previous owners neglect and abuse. He loses a lot of weight with stress in the cold so we put him on IAMS senior to keep him stable otherwise his weight literally drops off him and he looks like skin and bones. He also has problems with chronic licking despite me or Ow always being home with him, a healthy diet and plenty of exercise and cuddles) 

Anyway my boyfriend Ow decides to point out the rabbits to Ben whilst we are in PAH. Now Ben gets his heart set on a rabbit, so we go to RSPCA and there are none there that he likes, but they tell us of a man desperate to sell his rabbits as he can no longer afford them and they are unwanted animals his daughter dumped on him. So we contact him. He has two Old English rabbits left which Ben has looked on Google and likes the look of. He wants £10 each or they are destined for the pot. So we drive 40 minutes to pick them up and I take £30 in case he has spare hay/food etc. We meet the guy with our cardboard box, Ow goes in and collects them and comes out with a suspicious smirk on his face, only for me to loo in the box and find 3 rabbits. 2 Old English and One Black Rex. He said the black one he just couldn't sell, no one wanted it so Ow took pity on it and re-homed it. Welcome to our home Splodge, Stripe and Bungle.

This is Stripe with the black stripe (Old English)

 Ben with his bunny Stripe.

This is Bungle (Black Rex) named by Owen and who is now Owen's Bunny. He seems to have taken to sitting on the back of the chair for hours on end.

This is Splodge with the um.......splodge. (Old English) and he is now Holly's Bunny.

Anyway get them home to discover they are all boys and within a week they are all fighting and since they are only 11 weeks old no vet will touch them for another 13 weeks. So we had one big hutch, which we had to divide for the 2 Old English's (although one side is considerably smaller, but they are all safe) and the Rex is in the old portable play pen. Then we brought a second hutch, now all bunnies have a hutch space, lastly we got a second hand hutch and all bunnies have a nice spacious home of their own.

Which leads us to now............

Yesterday I looked out the window to my horror to see Stripe who was in the second hand hutch sitting on top of Bungles hutch with a huge hole he had chewed in the old ones wall where it had obviously rotten.

Thankfully my friend had a barely used hutch in his garage though which I have swapped with him. In return for the hutch (which looks practically brand new) I gave him a bag of veg from the freezer, a bag of ready to roast potatoes, and two packs of Cumberland sausages - all of which were either brought with coupons or were brought home as waste from work.

So now all bunnies are safe and accounted for again.

I also yesterday listed Ben's old bike on Gum Tree. It is sat not doing much now as it was too small and he got a new bike for Christmas as his main present so we don't need it. I got it for £119 a few years ago and we lived in a flat so there was no where really for him to ride it, he only just learnt to ride it and therefore has really used it for a week before the weather turned nasty and he has outgrown it. So I'm asking £30 for it but open to offers - any money will be helpful but Id like to see it go to a home that it will be used

Plans for today though are,

• get the baby down for a nap. 
• Make a batch of stovies.
• Get some competitions done.
• Dishes
• and move Bens toys upstairs

That about sums it up for my jobs today. Thinking I might even use some of the left over sprouts up and put them as a side to the stovies to mop up some of the gravy.

Also does anyone have a good pizza base recipe? I want to get using my food processor and my two boys love pizza so I'm hoping to save a few quid by being able to make a base myself. 

Many Thanks all

x Sammy x 

Thank crumbs thats over..........

Well Ive had an eventful few days

First the baby (she's 2 years old) had the Norovirus

Second, Benjie came down with some horrid flu bug which meant 3am wake up calls with him absolutely boiling and hallucinating. Not sure what was scarier though the fact he was so hot or the hallucinations he was coming out with!

So now I am getting five to sit and go over my income for January in preperation for my new year and new start.
I really must find a spreadsheet making app or something so I can display them better rather than list form

(quick snoop round the Internet and computer and I have managed it)

Now the above picture is just my basic outgoings for the household bills and does not include any of my debt repayment, no birthdays/Christmas/clothing/school trips/pets etc. The only things I am in receipt of are tax credits and child benefit. We don't receive any housing or council tax benefit, no free school dinners etc.......

I work part time - 12 hrs is currently all I can do because my partner works full time, and the hours I have means that I work around his shifts so I am home to have our two children, which then saves us on childcare. 

Our other outgoings in the house look like this

So I have about £100.00 that is left over each month - which is basically our top up shop money, money that my partner may need to borrow to get himself to his next pay day, if the kids need new clothes/shoes etc and any birthday/anniversary spending etc also comes from this money.........

So I have decided to be very strict with myself this coming month.

As you can see I already have set myself a basic food budget of £100 - I'm not entirely sure if I will shop monthly or weekly with the food shop but I'm determined to stick to this budget as I really cant afford to be going over it so a fair bit of our shop will be downgraded to value items and I will start shopping about a bit more. 

We do have access to a Tesco and Iceland in our town, there is a Lidls and an Aldi outside of town which would mean an extra few pennies on my bus ticket but I'm wondering if it would be worth it for the cheaper products. Failing that we buy a fair bit as store own brands as it is, with a few value things added in but I'm thinking its time to downgrade again.

The baby is currently potty training so only really has nappies now if we are going out and for bedtime which is saving us money and she is a good eater.

We don't have a bath, only an electric shower so that saves on heating water etc. We aren't on a water meter either, we pay a basic rate to the council and that is it. 

So for today I am off to sit and have a look over my shopping list, see where I can cut corners and look into what the correct portions sizes are and work out what a servings costs.

Then I might make an inventory of whats in the cupboards and a meal plan between rehoming some of the kids toys from christmas to their bedrooms! 

Wish me luck, its about to be a busy day!

Sammy x x x

New Year

Right,
I have decided this need more of an effort on my part. There's no excuse basically why I cant make more posts on here other than I am very easily distracted and that just wont cut the mustard anymore.

We have had a lovely Christmas - the kids got everything they wanted. My favourite present was a video game and my beloved new food processor and I can honestly tell you I'm not sure which one I'm happier about! I cant wait to get cooking with it.

I have been busily sat thinking of goals and resolutions for the coming New Year. I would like to set myself 3 personal resolutions I think and then maybe one for Ben and One for Holly which is more goals I would like to achieve for them as they are both 8 and 2 at present.

I think my 3 are going to be to

1. save money.
I am currently skint, as in I have enough in my bank to cover my bills and then I may possibly have £10 to last me until my next pay day.........which is the 15th of January!  So Id like to save money and actually have some savings so that in case of a rainy day I have money on hand to help myself out, treat the kids etc......and just in general not have to worry about it!

2. Lose Weight
This I guess goes hand in hand with eating properly too and exercising - I think this year I have pretty much lived on rubbish food and toast. That's not healthy but I also think I have a few pounds........OK stone that it wouldn't hurt to shift and I'm pretty much about 13st I think now so Id like to get down to 11st and then Ill be happy, as for exercise I walk the school run 4 times a day, about 3 times a week as my  neighbour sometimes offers to take Ben and I have been lazy and agreed and I work part time so I am on my feet the whole shift (one is 5hrs long and the other is 7hrs long) either way I need to fit more in!

3. Get more sleep!
I think I am literally surviving on about 4 hrs a night. I mean tonight I went to bed at 10.30pm and was back up at 3am but my son Ben was ill but most other days I don't go to bed until midnight if not later and I'm usually up by 4am, so come about 12 lunchtime I am usually ready for a nap and by 8pm I am falling asleep in the chair. I think I need to set a bedtime and stick to it. I think seeing as my Sunday shift doesn't end until 10pm that maybe I should make my bedtime 10.30 at the latest from now on, if not earlier.

These aren't finalised yet but just my latest musings. I will finalise them before new year though! x

x Sammy x