Nail in my coffin

I need to up my iron intake.

So, we have been shopping. Not for a bag of nails but.... legumes, beans, dried apricots, spinach, chickpeas, orange juice for Vitamin C, tofu.

Well, you can imagine what the beans are going to do to me, although some of the recommended ones are too exotic to find around these parts!!! Chickpeas are cool, orange juice is ok, dried apricots might get some getting used to, spinach is ok...not cooked though......uuuuurrrrgghhh!! That leaves my friend tofu, the exotic flavoured stuff to supply me with a hot meal. Pity it's nearly two quid a block.....sigh..... A vegan lifestyle is not cheap around these here parts!

What was I saying about the bag of nails?......only 99p, too.

Mother is still very ill. Coughing for England and providing a roaring trade for the disposable underpant empire of Miss Tena Lady:o)

She thinks 'this is it. Kaput time'.

I tell her, of course, to stop being so daft, but she feels down.....side effects of the anti-bios, I know.

Been there all afternoon and evening, again.

Tomorrow, I will take my bag of spinach to chew on.

Mother is ill

Mother is not well. She has pneumonia.

This is not good, especially when you are 80.

She has steroids and anti-biotics to take. Trouble is, she is coughing so much that she's puking everything up, including medication.

So, have been at her's most of the day. Trouble is, she won't shut up...and I mean this in the nicest way. If she stopped talking then throat wouldn't tickle so much and she wouldn't cough, etc, etc, etc.....

Anyway, made her dinner, which she ate and rubbed Vick on her back to help her breathe and sleep before we headed home, weary.

Tomorrow she starts the steroids....six tablets in one go!! Plus the antibios.

She's adamant that she won't go to hospital!!! And I don't blame her.

Anyway, holidays are a curse for our family. Something ALWAYS happens at Easter and Crimble. Easter is usually illness and Crimble is bad luck/sadness time. Happens every year, without fail

Does this happen to anyone else, I wonder?.

Little Treasures

Yay for jumble sales:o)

Was my favourite one at the weekend (in aid of animal welfare) and this usually means staggering home laden with lots of 'finds'. Some are bought and some given, as a few of the stallholders know we are cat lovers and so are always plying us with freebies for supporting their event, which is very nice of them.

First off, I always head for the linen stall....lots of bedding and fabrics. Then to the clothes bit...on the lookout for hand knitted stuff that I can frog and reuse on some project or some nice cotton bits for quilting, etc. On to the other clothes bit...30 pence an item. I go for fleecy things ideal for pet bedding:o) Then it's onwards to books, videos *(10 pence each!) and then, if the old ankles are up to it....the nik nak bit! lol

I always use bits of cut up clothing for making quilts. Quilts were originally made from scraps of material from old and 'outgrown clothing...recycling. I never think to use new material for quilts. I go for the vintage look. lol

Back at the jumble, I managed to get a couple of language courses with cd's and tapes for 50 pence each......French and 'Learn Dutch in 3 months'. Yay! (Junior has a personal CD player to use with those. She knits while she listens ) Got a big bin liner full of of bedding and linen, Next lamp, bathroom mat and pedestal set in OUR colour....purple:o).

Junior loves this event, too and wandered off as soon as we got in and and an hour later staggered up to us, laden with her little treasured finds. Latest fad is Buffy and she managed to get a couple of series for 50pence...plus the usual bits girls like..and not forgetting stuff for the mogs:o) The handbag stall is a big pull for her lately!! She has an eye for a bargain. lol

Bro loved it, of course. Was in his element but it was over all too soon for him. lol. He found a designer video cameral holdall for 20 pence!!! He only bought it so he had something to carry all his buys home in. Then he manages to find some brilliant CDs and other bits.

We managed to waddle home together..happy and eager to share our finds:o)

The mogs and dog loved their pressies and snuggled up on new fleecy bedding.

Home made chip butties, with a dollop of tomato sauce, for tea. They are the best!!

Toil

Ah, brothers.

Mine is still here..toiling away at the mountain of repairs that need doing at Chez Min.

Bless him..he toils away...gets waylaid on another 'little job'....comes back to the one he was on.....gets waylaid...again......

This time he was planing half an inch off the bottom of Junior's bedroom door so door can close:o) 'Tis a tough job doing it by hand, with saw...especially when you are getting on a bit. lol

So, he gets waylaid...again....puts a video on...needs a little rest...arm is aching from all that sawing. Awwwww. This is in Junior's room. She was busy on computer.

The video was a rallying video...Bro's hobby when a tad younger. He's loving it, of course.....explains all the bits and bobs to Junior, who's who and all that. There he is, nattering away only to turn around and find Junior......asleep:o)) lol

Butternut Squash Sauce with Pasta

We had a butternut squash hanging around the kitchen. We usually turn these into soup:o) I actually bought this squash on Monday, from the local market. 'Tis a miracle as I usually wait for months before I figure out what to do with them....plus they are sort of attractive to have around in one's kitchen:o)

Well, decided to do something different from soup, so...

We had Butternut Squash Sauce with Pasta:o) Very nice.

There's me thinking that I might have actually invented a recipe...........sigh..

Well, I sort of did, because all the ones I Googled had you boiling or frying the squash....and I roasted mine in the oven...so...mer!!! lol

If you Google butternut squash sauce it comes up with the recipes.....and piccies:o) Martha Stewart was my first hit. Anyway....

We basically:-

Peeled and chopped a butternut squash.

Put on baking tray and add chopped garlic onto the squash bits. I also added chopped ginger...also onto the squash bits.

Splosh of oil, salt and pepper.

Bake in oven...190 degrees for about half an hour.

When done, add to blender with a bit of veg stock and dried sage. Blend away until smooth, adding enough veg stock to get the consistency of your choice. I added about half a pint.

Stir into pasta (we had rigatone).

You can add cream...vegan or dairy...for an...err...creamier sauce. You can add grated cheese, but we didn't. It's just a suggestion from one of the recipe sites.

Butternut squash is actually very nice raw. I can imagine it grated in salads or squash coleslaw type of thingys.

I am probably about ten years behind and all of you are thinking 'what a mad woman. Did she not click on about butternut squash recipes until now? lol

Still got to figure out another 79 things to do with potatoes......sigh.....

We are making samosas tomorrow...with tinned peas. Frozen are too expensive.....bugger!!

To my 'followers'. I am sorry for repeating myself. I really ought to use spellcheck. lol

Frugal Gardening

'Tis time to get on with 'garden' things.

Junior is looking at which flowers she would like to grow from seed. She is, as I've mentioned before, a flower person. She just truly LOVES them. Yesterday she forked out some of her pocket money to buy some tulips, which are now proudly displayed in her room:o) I do think she may be a future flower shop owner..the Jane Packer of Hillbilly Land. So, seed selection is the order of the day. A bit of Latin, too as I want her to learn the correct botanical names.

Me, I'm trying to think of frugal ways to get some raised beds going. I don't, have materials, or money, for the traditional, expensive planks of wood/railway sleepers so am improvising. lol I have bagged some wooden pallets for the 'yet to be constructed' compost bin but they'll be a while before landing here.

Anyway, I've eyed up all and sundry and am going to recycle my bed base. Bed is knackered (divan base type of thingy which I hate!!). So, instead of taking the base to the tip, we are going to use it as a raised bed..well, there are two parts to the base, so I have two raised beds!! Just waterproof the sides and fill with soil and veggie plantlings and away to grow! Maybe I can figure out how to polytunnel one of them on the cheap, to grow more tender stuff? Yay! Where can you get tough enough polythene for this?

I've also got a rattan wardrobe that has seen better days and that would be a super, posh-looking raised bed, too. But bro thinks it's too nice for that! (I'll sneak it into the garden when he's not looking. lol)

It was Geoff Hamilton who got me interested in this stuff. I used to watch Gardener's World religiously, Friday evenings:o) Shame he's not around anymore. Nice, softly spoken bloke:o) Wonder if he realised how many ordinary people like me he inspired to get off arse and garden?

Bob Flowerdew has some good organic ideas re gardening, but I went off him when I read one of his articles where he said that he 'feeds' his chickens alcohol-soaked food (presumably to chill them out alot) before chopping their heads off!!

She has the knack!

Junior has been making fairy and butterfly cakes AND icing them in various garish shades of pink and blue. She found a 'weigh the ingredients out and chuck 'em all in together' recipe which came out really well. Today, we made veggie pasties (sauted chopped onion, diced carrotts and spuds..with seasonings and a drop of gravy). She made the pastry and seems to have 'the knack'. Yay! budding pastry chef. It's all this watching of Friends and Monica the Chef! lol

Re garden room...Popeye remains defeated...for the mo.... the rain is doing strange things to the untreated wood! lol

Bro and Junior laid a carpet with underlay in her room today. Was gifted as it's nearly brand new. The colour clashes violently with that on the walls, of course (ruby red, lavender and sky blue!! lol) but J doesn't care as it beats cold laminate flooring:o))) Tip...if you are ever short of a stanley knife, use a quilting wheel instead. Works wonders. Bro was well impressed with my 'DIY' gadget, until I told him it was for cutting quilting materials, not carpets and underlays.

The list of 'Things to do/mend' is getting shorter. I now have doors on my wardrobes....yay!