Domesticality

A warm welcome to the two new followers who have joined us overnight!

Yesterday I had a day at home: I pottered around, doing all the things I needed to catch up on - 

I changed the bed sheets, and re made it with fresh-smelling linens, from my re-organised linen cupboard.

I was so pleased at the sight of the well made bed, and looking forward to getting into it last night - but the girls decided to watch tv in my room last night, so the poor bed was rather dishevelled by the time I got there at 11.30pm!

(image from bedzine.com)

I caught up on three loads of washing, and got most of it hung in the verandah to dry.  Consequently, I now have a fair heap of ironing looking at me!

(image from simplywash.com)

I sent the FH off to take the girls to town for the piano lesson, and whilst he was gone, I popped a chicken in the oven to roast, and for the first time this autumn, we had roast potatoes alongside it - lovely, crunchy, crisp roast potatoes - it was gorgeous!

(image from purdue.com)

I also had to spend some time yesterday finding things out after a meeting with the Head at school on Wednesday - there were some issues that we needed more information on, so I did some digging on the internet and found some policies and advice.

(image from memphis.edu)

I made some phone calls - much less glamorously than this, though!

(image from guardian.co.uk)

And then last night, for a couple of hours whilst the FH was watching tv, I indulged in some genealogical research - and was delighted at the progress I made.  I found some interesting situations - divorce in the 1930s, workhouse babies, and lots of new relatives kept popping up.  

(image from thecourier.co.uk)

All in all, yesterday was a good day spent at home, and I enjoyed myself!
And not a penny spent...

Inspiring news

(image from dailyrecord.co.uk)

Many of you will remember that the FH has had a heart transplant.  He is now almost 13 and a half years post transplant, and he was heading for his 62nd birthday when it was done - so quite late in life in transplant terms.  We were blessed that the team at Glasgow Royal Infirmary were up for doing the job, because when we tried to transfer from the waiting list there to the one at Papworth, the doctors there told the Scottish team that they wouldn't take him on because of his age.  God bless Scotland!

It was on the local news this morning that this chap, John McCafferty, is celebrating achieving 30 years of life after his heart transplant - what an achievement!  We know that given the normal span of life, the FH is unlikely to achieve that, but we are truly grateful for each and every day that he does have with us, and the YFG recently had to discuss transplantation as part of her Philosophy & Ethics (what we used to call RE) at school.  She wrote in her book that she is definitely in favour of transplantation because otherwise her dad wouldn't be here with her today.

Planning for the holidays

There are lots of bloggers talking about Christmas now, so I thought I might as well stick my twopennorth in and have my say too!

I'm all for frugality at Christmas, but what I am not up for is meanness - we all know that there is a difference.  There is a huge difference between deciding not to be sucked in to the whole Christmas spending spree mentality, of have-it-now-and-pay-next-year, the advertising agencies who want us to spend, spend, spend, satisfying imagined wants and needs and the opposite, which for me, is carefully considered purchases that might benefit a charity or a cause in some way, and be relevant to the person for whom the gift is intended.  A home made gift is often appreciated and welcomed, as much for the thought and effort as for the actual gift.

So what will Christmas in the Fens look like?

Our faithful old tree from 1992 will come out of the garage again, and be decorated with the collection of red, silver, gold and green baubles and bits that we have collected over the years.  No need for any spending in that department at all.  It looked lovely last year, just as it did back in 2008.

The "special" food will be limited to Christmas Day and probably Boxing Day, when traditionally we have UJ and the FH's cousins here for lunch and/or tea.  Christmassy food will be mostly home made but that which is bought will be in sensible amounts, and not enough to feed a small army!  I am looking forward to getting the cakes made this week, and then I may well move on to making some mincemeat for the pies. 

 Gifts will be restrained this year in that the girls are only expecting token presents in their stockings as they have had their main presents already for their birthdays [Nintendo 3DS] which they understood would be birthday and Christmas gifts.  I will enjoy finding some small and fun items to stuff their stockings with - girly items like nail varnishes, as well as stationery, toiletries, socks and books, perhaps....

Gifts for people outside the immediate family are fairly well controlled - usually just for children and older people!  I have a list, and I have already sourced a few items on the list.  I have plans for the others, and I am waiting until I see a bargain when I am out and about before I make the purchases.  Older people are easier than children in that I know they will appreciate home made food goodies, whereas children are perhaps a little more challenging for me.  

Christmas for us is about celebrating the birth of Jesus, and with me helping to take the service at church on the 23rd, and completely in charge of the Christmas morning service, I will be spending time preparing for those.  Thoughts will be given and invitations issued to some of the people we know who will be alone over the period, and perhaps they will join us for tea one day, or we will visit them with some gifts of home made cakes, or mince pies.  Christmas can be a horrible time for people who have no relatives locally and then they find that all their usual social activities close down for a week or more in the holidays and their loneliness is doubled.

Christmas is also about spending time together as a family and doing things together - dragging the EFG away from her homework and stuff in her bedroom and encouraging her to spend some time downstairs for a while now and again, getting the FH and UJ engrossed in the new Christmas jigsaw, which is a tradition here, and enjoying some time without outside commitments!

There will be no overdraft, and no massive credit card bills to remind us of the festive season long into 2013, and I will enjoy spending a few hours with the finances over the holiday working out the budgets and financial goals for 2013.  I will be making my usual donation to the Salvation Army, in recognition of the amazing work that they do for the homeless, the elderly and those in need.

Our local towns  put up Christmas lights for the season, and it is a particular joy to have a late afternoon stroll through them to see the lights shining.  We never go to the switching on ceremonies, though, as they are festivals of consumerism with stalls and food stands everywhere, with the streets heaving with people and it is too much of a hassle to be a pleasure!

 

(image from timeout.com)

I post a few Christmas cards to friends and relatives who I am not likely to see at Christmas, but most other people get one at church, at school or just whenever I see them before the big day.  I will write them and then keep them in the car, so that I can hand-deliver them whenever we are out and about.  The price of stamps has made sending too many cards prohibitive this year, and I can see many more people turning to the internet to send their good wishes at Christmas.

Those are my thoughts on our plans for Christmas - I have enjoyed reading other blogs and getting ideas and inspirations too, so I may share some links in the days ahead.

Menu planning

This week has started with a bang with commitments yesterday, and the holiday seems so long ago already that I can't believe how quickly the time has flown past me.  

The YFG had a great day in London yesterday, more excited about getting held up in a traffic jam and realising that the coach was outside 221B Baker Street ["BAKER STREET, Mum, we were in BAKER Street!] than the Museum, where they were looking at ecology and then volcanoes - wish I could have gone too as volcanoes were my favourite part of Geography!  Anyway, she is home safe and sound.

Just wanted to say Hello and Welcome to my two new followers - glad to have you here, and do say Hello in the comments sometime!

And so to the meals for the week........

Last night, the FH and I had one of the butcher-shop rabbits from Holt, and I have to say that I enjoyed it, although it tasted quite strong.  The children declined and had to make do with freezer diving to find alternatives.

Today is gymnastics, and I plan to leave them with a shepherd's pie that they can eat whilst I am at gym.  This plan has worked well in previous weeks.

Wednesday I have a small after school gym club in the village to run, and so it is a busy day again - I think that meatballs with spaghetti and pasta sauce would be quick and easy.

Thursday is the piano lesson after school, but we will be home by 5pm, I think, this week, so I may well roast a chicken, so that we have leftovers for Friday.

On Friday, I will have cold chicken, which would be nice with mash and veg and some pickles, perhaps.  All the FH has to do whilst we are at gym is turn on a saucepan to cook the veg.  Should be a doddle!

On Saturday, a home made vegetarian pizza will ring the changes, as we will have had quite a few meat based meals this week.

Sunday will be a surprise because I will have to have a good root around in the freezer to see what we have left by then.

I am finding that this planning is helping with the stock control and budgeting so I am going to try to continue it for the rest of the term.

Frugal decorating

Yes, if your elder daughter finally gets to bring home her GCSE Art & Design final pieces, they can go up on the wall in the lounge.  

These are our favourite pieces, and it is no surprise to me that she was awarded an A grade for this work.

This one was inspired by the trilogy of books which begin with The Hunger Games, which we both read and loved.  The mutt on the left, the suicide berries at the top, the bread in the middle, and Rue's burial at the bottom, and then Katniss on the right, dirty and bloodied from her time in the arena.

This is a huge art work and looks modern and dramatic in our lounge.

This one is from a project which had the title, "Beginnings" and I love the way she has used such a variety of textures and media here.  The couple and the background are painted in acrylic onto the board, the shells which look like butterflies are done in oil pastels and stuck on, as are the hands, which are drawn in biro.  The chap has quite an Elvis quiff there which we think is quirky and fun, and the lady's pregnancy obviously reflects the title.  This was her last final piece [I know that sounds weird but she had to do several mini projects and each one had a "final" piece, but this is the last one!] and it is just beautiful.

This one hasn't yet been prepared for hanging so it is standing on a table, propped up against the wall whilst we find somewhere more permanent for it to live.

NB These two pictures are strictly copyright to Growing In The Fens, as they are the EFG's own work.

Waving at Gill from Gloucester

I'm going to put the Dove conditioner samples in the post today or tomorrow, depending on when I get to the post office, and I have addresses for everyone, except Gill - I have looked at your blogger profile, and you don't seem to have a blog linked to it, so I can't comment there, and I can't send you an email - so PLEASE could I have your address to send the parcel to you?!  Just comment and I won't publish the comment........Thank you!

Is that the time?

(image from ebay.co.uk)

A very early start this morning as the YFG is off to London on a school trip and needs to be at school at 7.45am!

She's off here:

(image from london-attractions.info)

The Natural History Museum - that brings back memories from childhood school trips!

Hope she has a good day x