What's your safe place?

Woke up and could not find my mobile phone.

Bugger!  Major bugger.

Where did I put the thing?  Turns our that I put it in the safest place,  

Down the old bra!  

|like most folk, we  have tea/dinner/evening meal.  Bit of a hike from kitchen to dining room in this house.

Only so many hands are available to get stuff from A to B......so...down it goes..the phone.....  Trouble is, this time, ...I forgot to put it by the bedside lamp.  Just hopped into bed...and....beddybyes.......land of nod.

Ringing bras are ...different!

What has the dog spotted?

Bleaugh...

Not been well.  And, there's been all this dodgy weather.  Potty!

New internet connection is ok.  Not gone to plan, but that would be the story of my life....sigh...

Eyesight seems to be shot, too.  All this good news!   Can you take it?   lol

Well, talking of neighbours....we have Big Ears on one side...and not so nice ones on the other.  NOW....we have a bit of a diversion.  

SPOOK IN THE HOUSE!!!

The dog will not be left alone.  No No No!!!!!  Doesn't like the downstairs. 

Will not stay in the kitchen.   AND.... no amount of 'You will do as you are told' will do. 

Nope.

Wherever we go, she goes.  She is glued to my side.     As previously mentioned, she has bulldozed her way through a mighty strong dog gate.  She just pants and stresses for England.  She either stays by my side..or goes under the bed or dining table.

The cats growl on occasion....and they seem to prefer to be upstairs.

Well...a previous resident, apparently, passed over in the house.  Elderly gentleman.

Now, we have a fitted glass cupboard in the living room and I have noticed that one of the doors opens....usually about 3am. (been kipping downstairs 'cos of the rabble that's moved in next door).  Well, the day before we had our new phone line installed, we bought a new phone.  Took it out of the box and put it on the coffee table.  We had no phone connection or anything.   Well, bugger me....it started bleeping at....3am   Argh...   Safe to say that I nearly pooped my pants,

Junior sleeps with all the lights on that are available to her..plus she has with her  her arsenal of clawy, bad-tempered mogs...all eleven of 'em!!!

Me.. it's just me and the dog in my bedroom...Up to press, the dog is the one kipping under the bed!
Ay, never a dull moment.

Ironic thing is...we have a cat (one of the Old Ladies) who is called... Spooky. 

'Dragon' Slaying

It's Saint George's Day!  May you gain confidence to 'slay' your fears, doubts and thereby overcome any 'obstacles' that are causing you unhappiness..... and gyp!

(George and the Dragon stories...up on Wikipedia.  I like the Wormingford one best) 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George_and_the_Dragon

That Blooming Dog

The dog did it...again.

Bulldozed the dog gate, just as Big Bro arrived..... Got WELL AND TRULY stuck this time. She was so pleased to see him...never saw the dog gate! lol

Well, he shoved and I pulled. Nothing doing. After ten minutes we still had a dog with a dog gate around her middle. We got a metal hacksaw out to try and cut off the bars. Nothing doing. So, he went in search of better hacksaw...searching my toolbox. Shuffled off to garden room where said toolbox is kept. Meanwhile, Cilla was not having it. What! no attention!....so she wiggled out of her metal tutu and toddled off in search of her audience! :o) Big Bro has come up with the idea of replacing the bars with wood. Good idea me thinks. Get on with it, then! lol

He is here to babysit our house and pets as we in turn are going to babysit Son No 1's place and his dog. He's away for the weekend...wedding. So, we have got a long weekend with......Sky TV, central heating and Grandchild of Min! I can finish off my next blanket in comfort. Yay Junior is all packed up, ready to go:o) Hope he's got those pizzas in for us! lol

Hope you have a lovely weekend. x

The Full Moon Thing

You can tell it's recently been full moon time.

Holy Moley...the mogs AND the dogs have been REALLY unsettled lately, especially at night. Has been driving me potty....sleep deprivation. They're just not themselves at the mo and are proper hyper and snappy.

I put Cilla to bed in the kitchen last night. Nice warm dog bed with woollen blanket, freshly laundered. All her food and water available. There is a dog gate, so I don't have to close the door on her. Anyway, this morning found that she'd squeezed through the dog gate bars like bloody Popeye, of eating spinach fame and caused havoc in the hallway....rubbish bag chewed open plus she'd relieved herself, too. Not being that pleased to behold such a sight first thing in the morning, I put her back in the kitchen! Well, she wasn't having it and became very stressed out and virtually bulldozed through the dog gate again....only this time she got stuck...one half of dog gate at right side, other at left...dog in niddle. Dog gate was like a bloomin tutu on her!! I had a walking dog gate in the kitchen. And it was only bloody 6.45 AM!!! She had managed to dislodge it from the door frame and so there's me, cursing away at the dratted dog and trying to get the blooming thing off her at the same time. Push, shove..... TEN minutes trying to shove her back, then forwards. Eventually got her free but my, she was proper potty...and I was well and truly peed off. Apparently, I woke up Junior with my yelling...and probably the neighbours, too. Maybe the dog can sense something in the kitchen. I don't know. At the moment, she won't leave my side. Neither will bro's dog but he's not as bad as Cilla, though.

I've been sussing out a few websites and blogs that talk about saving money. The frugal ones....seeing as I need to save up for a new dog gate now. I found one today where the authors reckon you can feed a person three meals for a £1 a day. Does anyone manage that, I wonder? Can't see how you can do that, unless you buy stuff in bulk and factor it out that way. Bet you lose weight. I ought to put the dog on a bloody diet after Dog Gate!! Anyway.....we're going to have a go. Luckily Junior likes porridge, so that's breakfast sorted. lol. 9p for that they reckon. Shall have to work on the remaining 91pence! When we figure it out I'll let you know what meals we've come up with. But, I can't work out how we'll get the old 5-a-day within the budget.

Talking of healthy... on another blog...The hedgecombers... there is a post about nettles...using them in a smoothie type drink...without blanching first so that the 'sting' is gone! Eek. Anyway, turns out it was not so bad....so...seeing as we have a new patch of said nettles at the bottom of the garden...I think I might have a go. The recipe is...2 bananas, water, some berry puree and the nettles, all whizzed up in a blender. Makes two portions, apparently. Could nettles be one of our 5-a-day? Can't see Junior going for that. Nettle smoothie. Don't think so.

Also, there was a tip on cleaning a manky glass oven door. I nearly had a cardiac arrest because it just looked like ours and I was getting a bit paranoid, wondering which creep had posted a sneaky pic of ours up on the internet to shame me into cleaning it. (maybe it's the full moon thing) The blogger got a load of bicarb of soda and added water to make a thick paste, slapped it on the oven door and glass and left if for a while. Scraped it off with a window paint scraper type of thingy and it came up really sparkly clean. We're def going to have a go at that. There's me thinking I'd have to buy one of those kits that cost lots of poundies and now I don't. Yay

Anyway, time for beddies. Shall have to have Klingon aka Cilla with me this time. Bugger! More sleep deprivation. (she sneaks on when I'm asleep and likes to lay on my legs...probably because they're pillow like...being so podgy! And believe it or not, not being able to feel/move my feet keeps me awake. You'd think being in the 'land of nod' that it wouldn't matter.... Work that one out!

Thrifty

I've sussed out how to send piccies from my mobile to my blog! Yay! Actually, it was Junior who should take the praise as she figured it out. We thought my phone was too old and dicrepit but, apparently it's not:o)

Have been trying to get some more recipes that are tasty and thrifty. Comes in very handy when you're as poor as a church mouse like me.

I've had this book forever and never really used it. I once was on a mission to list 100 things to make with potatoes and think I only got into the 20's. Shall have to finish that particular project but it's harder than you think. Anyway, I have been craving gnocchi after trawling many a vegan site. So, I had a go today. I'm determined to go the whole hog re the vegan thing. I've even found recipes for vegan goats cheese and mozzarella! Hope they turn out better than the bouncing squash balls that we ended up with when trying to make seitan! lol

Well, past attempts to make gnocchi have, ahem, not been that good and I was really hoping for better results. Stomach was hoping for better results, too. So, I had a bash at it today.
It says in the book to boil the little dumplings for 5 minutes, so Junior dutifully timed. 5 minutes was up and we fished them out. Tomato sauce at the ready. Yum

We got this!

Gloop

The old stomach was deeply upset, I can tell you. Junior was rolling around the floor, peeing her pants! Still.........what's the saying? KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON....so I did...and got this.

Spinach Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce. This is the second bowlful.. I forgot to take a piccie of the first one and it's too late once it's gone down the hatch! I ate this bowful, too.

Gnocchi naked

Stomach was well happy:o) Are gnocchi supposed to be light and fluffy?...'cos these were. Mind you, I used self raising flour instead of plain as that's all I had. Tomato sauce was basic..toms, onions, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, dried basil, pinch of sugar and chopped up spinach. The gnocchi had chopped spinach in it too. I'm bloody good! lol

I'm trying to get my little home crafting business going a bit more than it has been of late.This is one of my crafting creations. Now with new owner. Junior wanted it REALLY badly as it was so soft and huggy but she couldn't afford the price tag! lol So, she's making one for herself.

Crocheted woollen blanket made from recycled materials. Looks miles better in real life! I was sooo tempted to keep it.Tomorrow's meal is Tamare Pie.....a sort of vegan sheperd's pie with bean and veg filling and mashed spuds with a hint of LIME on top.

Mogs are crashed out. They are obviously worked too hard! lol

Clever and Not So Clever

Bad Mother!

Junior got a fiver for Easter, from dear old me. And a large bar of her favourite chocolate. She also got a tenner from her aunt this morning, so she is well chuffed...and far richer than me! Anyway, she's gone off for a mooch around (shopping without moi). Armed with her money, just incase she sees some nice nails....she's into the glue-on sort....growing her own is too much like hard work! sigh. Told her she won't be able to buy any because of the glue....as she might be deemed stupid enough to sniff the stuff. So, I'm betting that some form of lipgloss might make it back to Hill Billy House.

Well, after a morning of diligently clearing out, disinfecting, replacing litters with clean litter....I am well and truly pooped...'scuse the pun. So, armed with a nice cup of tea..after being suitably antibacterialised... I head off to the calm and relative peace of my bedroom for a spot of 'internet'. I am engrossed in Cut out and Keep and Grit adventures. Well, you know that feeling...of being watched..... I eventually turn around to find that the mogs have crept in...ever so quietly so as not to get rumbled and booted out. They are curled up together (looking very cute and smug) on my new T K Maxx candy pink and very posh quilt.

Bad Mother thing.....Well, Junior just happened to leave the last big chunk of her Cookie Crumble chocolate bar on the Wacom. (she'd been perusing the bus timetable) Can't be doing with that!!!...food on the pc bits.....tut tut....so bad Mummy scoffed it. No more crumbs. Wonder if she'll believe me if I tell her that the pooches got it? Nah!

The Cath Kidston type Easter egg decorations lasted until this morning. She'd ribboned them together, made a fancy Happy Easter placard and hung it..high up... on her bedroom door. Bad move. Didn't take long for the little acrobats to seek and destroy!
Dear Junior....Told you we'd get the ping pong things. Thanks for the ribbon too. Bart has been his usual not so bright self and munched some, just like he always does. He's even eaten some of your pink body scrubby thing that you hang in the bathroom. We think he's 'returned' them to you because he puked up outside your door. love, the Mogs xxx