Well today is the start of a new year and therefore a new start for us both financially, physically and mentally.
I have already got lunch for today prepared - I did it yesterday.
I think I might make the left over mince and onion into a pie later to freeze for another dinner once I find the pastry recipe again that I found yesterday!
I still have 800ml of British Double Cream to use still - the date on it is 31/12/2012 so I need to really use it up ASAP so any recipes will be gratefully appreciated.
I have bags of toys to sort through upstairs to see if I can sell anything on as a small bundle to make few pennies.
Also on that note I need to find the bits and pieces that I have gotten and clearly wont use and I may put them on here in a rafflecopter competition to see if anyone wants them.
I need to seal up my pot for my sealed pot challenge which I meant to do yesterday but I spent the day faffing with my new food processor instead.
I know in my airing cupboard I have bags of material in various neutral colours which I think I might be able to make into something - only down fall is it means I will be hand sewing because I haven't found a sewing machine yet - either that or I've never had money to afford it at the time.
I've also managed to get myself a day ahead with competitions so I have just completed all the ones for the 2nd January so I'm not having to worry about them and I will keep going and get a bit further ahead if I can.
So thats my aims for the day, Holly has just gone down for her nap, Ben is playing on the computer and Owen is sleeping off his hangover on the sofa........best get on with it then really.
Happy New Year All
Love
Sammy
x x x x
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
Happy New Year
BLWYDDYN NEWYDD DDA
Just would like to wish the followers that I have and any visitors a very Happy New Year and I hope it brings you everything you wish for. x x x
Monday, 31 December 2012
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.
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
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
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
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)
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 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
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.
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
Sunday, 30 December 2012
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
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
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
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