Made for me

I commissioned my very clever friend to make me a needle roll for my double pins, and this is the result. I am so happy with it :-)

Finished

I finished the baby cardigan. That is now in the PDSA shop in a nearby town to be sold. A pair of socks on the needle now, though I have so many UFOs I'm going to have to get my act together and get them done. I need to stop starting a project, then starting another one!!!!

Bit's and pieces

So, I've managed to save some food from being binned, but on the other hand had to throw some away :-( I haven't got around to listing what I have, and I need to do that.
For fridge stuff, I think I ought to date it. I'm thinking I can have a list on the fridge with the date it goes in, and it's use by date, because I'm finding what happens is I forget it's there. I had to throw half a pack of ham away, when if I'd realised, or remembered it's life was coming to an end, I could have made a pasta dish with it.
I am getting good at getting veggies through, and any left overs after being cooked, I pop them into the freezer for a future soup :-) I have gone back to buying frozen veg more though, because I can use just what is needed, so I'm not getting quite so much waste there.
It's salad things I seem to waste more. Especially lettuce as that tends to go off so quick after opened. Well the icebergs do. I'm thinking it might be better to buy the small gems and use them, even though they cost more, but at least they won't end up in the bin, being money thrown away. The bagged salad I don't like. To me it tastes weird, and also goes off pretty quick once the bag has been opened. I've started buying peppers singularly now, and not in packs, even though it's cheaper to. I'd use one, and then forget the rest, or not plan a meal around them.

I've been making more bread in the machines. We did buy a couple of cut loaves today, and although I have a loaf in the machine at the moment, we've kept one of the cut loaves out. We'll have the made one with some pies I'd made from left over mince meat. I did a mincemeat casserole in the slow cooker Thursday. What was left I added some left over veg to, and left over potato, and put into pies. Made two large ones and a small one. We had one Friday night with some veg on the side, so today we'll have the other two with some salad and homemade bread :-) Tomorrow I shall do a roast beef :-)

Rhubarb

We had a lovely rhubarb crumble tonight that I made for some rhubarb I'd bought at a farm shop we popped in to :-) Very very yummy :-) I also bough a pack of their flour, apple and cinnamon flavour that I made a loaf out of. Again, a very yummy experience :-) Dinner tonight was a salad with some of the pork from yesterdays dinner, and I added some corned beef as well. Still got a lot of pork left, lots of pork sandwiches this week :-) Though I think I'll pick up some baking potatoes tomorrow, and have them for dinner, and we'll have the pork with them as well :-) Any remaining on Wednesday will probably be part of a pasta dish.

Hubby put up a new gazebo in our garden today. We lost the other one during the windy weather. He also cut the grass as well, so even though the garden is a bit topsy turvy at the moment, at least it looks tidy.

On the knitting front, I'm doing a baby cardigan, which will be taken into a local PDSA to be sold. I've made one already. Went into the town where the shop is, taking the cardigan with me, and forgot to go into the shop with it!!!! So it's still with me. I will take it in when I've finished the one I'm knitting now lol.

Catch up

I managed to save some fruit from a grave in the bin and made a yummy fruit salad :-) Sadly I didn't get to save half a sack of potatoes :-( I just don't use enough these days. We don't have mash very often, I tend to use baking potatoes, and do jackets, or wedges, and very often, these sacks have very small potatoes in them, which this one did. Tends to put me off peeling them when they're so small, and you have to peel enough for everybody to have some !!!! I did get half a sack used though, so only feel half guilty for the wasted lol. I won't buy a sack anymore though, because they never all get used, even when I give some away to family. I shall now buy what we need as we need. Might work out a bit more pricey at the time, but in the long run, it won't as we on't be throwing any away :-)

Friday night for dinner, I'd made a couple of pasta quiches, popped a loaf of bread in the machine to have as well, got some odds and ends out of the fridge that were hanging about, and we had a glorified ploughmans :-) Very yummy :-)

Yesterday I visited my cousin in Boscombe. Had a lovely day with him and his lovely lady. I cut her hair. I'm a very rusty hairdresser. Haven't done a lot since I trained, as I've spent most of my time raising a family :-) Anyway. It didn't look too bad. Hopefully she's ok with it!!!!!! I definitely looked better after she washed it. Not so 'choppy.' :-)
I put the wrong post code into the satnav!!! Mistook a capital B for an 8. Didn't put my glasses on lol. We ended up in Poole!!! Not too far away so easily rectified once I realised my mistake :-)

I'm doing a roast pork dinner today. There's only three of us here, and we were going to go out, but decided a nice roast at home would be lovely. I haven't done a roast on a Sunday for as long as I don't know!!! I usually do one in the week. So it was nice to get up and pop the joint in the oven. The house is smelling lovely :-)

Thoughts

Thought this was lovely

Treats

I treated myself to a coffee today. I've taken a liking to a little cafe at the bottom of the town. It's very quiet there, because everyone goes to Costa. I love going in and reading my Kindle. Yes I could do that at home for free, but I am always thinking of things needing doing, so to sit in a cafe and read is bliss :-) I'm there tomorrow to meet with a friend, possibly with my mum on Wednesday, and then again with another friend on Thursday :-) lol

Roast chicken tonight for dinner. Very yum :-)

I've been doing ok with using before buying. Have managed on most days to use something from the freezer or the cupboard so I'm feeling very pleased with myself. Haven't got to do the 'cake a day bake' I keep telling myself I need to do. I just seem to manage to talk myself out of it. I do need to make some cake this week though as I'm visiting my cousin, and taking a chocolate Victoria sandwich down with me.I'd quite like to get it baked, and popped in the freezer, so all I have to do Friday night is take it out the freezer and put it together on Saturday morning. Don't really want to find myself still needing to make it Friday morning. Priorities needing to be put into action here I think :-) Instead of talking about it, I need to do the things I keep threatening to do :-) lol

Dyrham Park

Saturday, we went on a guided walk at Dyrham Park, along the Cotswold Way.

Pampered

I've been very spoilt today with some lovely feet and hand treatment by my lovely youngest daughter. Both hands and feet had a massage. Feet were treated to some spa treatment, and both fingers and toe nails all varnished and pretty. Feeling very pampered :-)

Busy needles

I’ve been busy with the needles. Making headway with the afghan that I’ve been making for the last three years. I’ve also started a little baby cardie. This will go to the PDSA charity shop in a nearby town for them to sell J

Kitchen stuff

Tonights dinner was mincemeat with pasta. I cooked the mincemeat in the pressure cooker and used up some little over the top veggie that was lurking in the fridge. I did have to throw one pepper away, which had gone past being old a wrinkly!!! I did however manage to save one, and some mushrooms and carrots, so feel glad about that J

I still haven’t got around to doing a cupboard and freezer inventory. I am however attempting to use up what I have rather than going out to buy. It does mean some inventive thinking on my part, which isn’t always the easiest. I think there will be enough pasta stuff left for a leftovers meal tomorrow.  Those who don’t want to partake, I have some chicken nuggets and tiny waffles in the freezer that they can have. Yes, the latter is a bit junky but handy for nights when leftovers aren’t the thing everyone wants!!! Plus! I refuse to cook an extra ‘healthy’ meal. If they don’t want the one on offer, then junk food for that occasion it will have to be J

Another day

The last few days have gone pretty much the same. I’ve been avidly knitting, trying to make a good headway with the blanket I’ve been making for the last three years!!! That task has been made easier by recently purchasing some Vera and Death in Paradise DVDs, bought out of money from an Amazon voucher given to me by my lovely children for Mother’s Day. I love Vera. I think the character is so well portrayed. I fell in love with Death in Paradise this last series. I hadn’t seen the ones with Ben Miller in, so I bought the first two series that he’s in J I do love to knit and watch J

I popped up to our town this morning, nipping into the lovely little wool shop we have there to buy some new sewing machine needles. I’d managed to break my last remaining one. Of course I ended up not just buying needles. Even though I’ve put myself on a self inflicted yarn ban, I spotted some pretty baby wool, new in, that I couldn’t resist buying a ball of !!! Oh me of weak ways lol Must admit, I’m not feeling over guilty about the purchase J I will be giving the garment made with it to the PDSA charity shop in a near-by town to sell, so it’s going to a good cause J

I have managed to keep on top of food saving, and not allowing too much go into the bin. There might have been one or two items, but on the whole, this week, I think I’ve done better than usual. I have some mushrooms that are looking a little ropey in the fridge I ought to do something with, and some carrots needing to be used up. Maybe this weekend I’ll stick a casserole on in the slow cooker J

Yesterday, I used up some left over toad-in-the-hole with some left over roast potatoes, which were just enough for hubby. I diced them and heated them up in the oven, there was a little veg left over as well, so he had that. I had some left over corned beef hash with mine, and a small bowl of salad. Didn’t fancy putting it on plate, as I had gravy on my toad-in-the-hole, and I didn’t fancy salad and gravy together. Not my thing lol. Tonight I cooked some gammon, with potato wedges and mixed veg, and healthily fried eggs. Healthy, because I sprayed the pan with low cal. Spray, this was followed by the remains of some pineapple jelly and some ice-cream. A glass of low calorie wine on the side, and a black coffee as well made this all very yummy J (I did cook some gammon the other night as well, but we had pineapple with that.) The gammon was from some I had in the freezer, that I bought a couple of months ago from Iceland. All in all, I don’t think tonights meal cost any bore than a fiver for both of us. Bargain J I also Cooked it in the Halogen aka The Monster. I can do the wedges, and gammon all in one pot J It all cooked up lovely.

Tomorrow I’m going to a coffee morning at the ‘independent living residential home’ mum has just moved into. She was finding the anxiety of maintaining a home by herself to difficult, so now she’s living in a large house where she has a room. She gets two meals cooked for her, and in her room she can have a kettle, toaster, microwave etc so she can do some light meals for herself should she want to. She can come and go as she likes as well. She seems a lot happier since moving in. She’s still waiting for the finalisation of the sale of her house, which is making her a little anxious. Solicitors are taking their time and getting in a muddle. Other than that, I don’t know what we’ll be up to. Shall have to wait and see J

I've started to read a really good book by Wayne Jacobson. I’ve forgotten the title, but what I’ve read so far is brilliant. I’ve just finished another book of his as well that I enjoyed. So much so I’m re-reading it. Or I was until I started this other one. I have these books on the Kindle, and this morning I snooked off to a cafe, no not Costa this time. It was busy, and I wanted to be quiet to read, so I went to another one, which was quiet and cosy. Had a lovely cup of coffee, and a great read. Will definitely go there again J