Whilst I admit that the kitchen is still rather dusty, and most of the contents of the cupboards are still in the hallway, I am loving the new cooking facilities. If you are getting a tad bored of my wittering on about the cooker, I apologise, but we feel like we have a new toy, and it has been many weeks since we had a working big oven in the Fens here!
Today I cooked a big turkey leg from Morrison's, and it was lovely - the oven cooked it to perfection and we enjoyed it for our supper. I am eyeing up some cake recipes too, so that I can get the cake tins out and give the oven a go with my favourite Victoria sponge recipe - that will be the real test. If it can bake a good sponge, I will be over the moon. The FH is hoping for a fruit cake, and since I bought some rum-soaked dried fruit from AF, he does have reason to hope. Perhaps at the weekend, I will make a couple of fruit cakes and bake some potatoes for our supper at the same time - I love very slow baked potatoes the best.
Not a penny spent again today, and another £2 earned from egg selling, so keeping the purse quite tightly closed. This month has been a tricky one in all sorts of ways, but we are heading into May with positive thoughts. I know that we have spent a decent chunk of money this month, but the bulk of the credit cards are already paid back on the kitchen spend, and I just have to wait for the invoice from the gas fitter now to clarify the whole picture of how much the revamp has actually cost.
May will bring the YFG's practice Duke of Edinburgh weekend, when the rucksack will have its first outing, RQ, and she will be hoping not to get too many blisters on her feet. I am having a day out to myself when I attend a district Day called The Big Pray near Bury St Edmunds - so for those of you who remind me to take some time for me, that covers that - thank you for the encouragement, and I am really looking forward to it. In the unlikely event that there are any other East Anglian Methodists reading this, if you are coming to the Big Pray, then let me know and we can say Hello when we get there! I am also looking forward to spending more time in the garden and getting even more seeds sown. The ones I planted some time ago are all through and need potting up....a gardener's work is never done!
Thanks for sharing another month with us in the Fens - it has been good to read your comments, and many of you comment often now, so it feels like we are old friends!
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
Not spending today!
It was a good day for getting stuff done today, and the ironing heap has diminished, whilst more washing has been done and hung out in the verandah. The weather here has been rather dull and cold today, and not very inspirational. The EFG and I have been to gymnastics and when I came home, the YFG was making cupcakes in the new oven...
She found the new, clean glass a fascination, and lay on the kitchen floor to watch the cakes rise! Have to admit that I joined her for a few moments, and it was funny to watch the cakes rising, with little bubbles popping out of the tops of them like tiny volcanoes occasionally!
The kitchen isn't finished yet, but it moves forward slowly. We are going to paint the ceiling and what exposed walls there are. Not a lot of walls to paint, but some cobwebs to dislodge first as well. Still work to do!
Tonight the EFG and I have been doing a 20 minute boxing workout from a Davina DVD, and my legs are feeling it from all the squatting for the bobbing and weaving - it is fun, and it is good to do it together, but I do feel the aches afterwards. Hopefully we will see the benefit when we get weighed on Thursday...
The benefit of all this activity today is that I haven't spent a penny of money all day, and indeed have actually acquired £3 from selling boxes of eggs to friends. Hoping for a similar day tomorrow, as I am not going anywhere. Not spending is about making do sometimes, and I have had a rummage in the freezer for tomorrow's supper - we are going to have a turkey drumstick joint from Morrison's which I bought some months ago, but I know that we will all eat several meals from it, which makes it very good value.
She found the new, clean glass a fascination, and lay on the kitchen floor to watch the cakes rise! Have to admit that I joined her for a few moments, and it was funny to watch the cakes rising, with little bubbles popping out of the tops of them like tiny volcanoes occasionally!
The kitchen isn't finished yet, but it moves forward slowly. We are going to paint the ceiling and what exposed walls there are. Not a lot of walls to paint, but some cobwebs to dislodge first as well. Still work to do!
Tonight the EFG and I have been doing a 20 minute boxing workout from a Davina DVD, and my legs are feeling it from all the squatting for the bobbing and weaving - it is fun, and it is good to do it together, but I do feel the aches afterwards. Hopefully we will see the benefit when we get weighed on Thursday...
The benefit of all this activity today is that I haven't spent a penny of money all day, and indeed have actually acquired £3 from selling boxes of eggs to friends. Hoping for a similar day tomorrow, as I am not going anywhere. Not spending is about making do sometimes, and I have had a rummage in the freezer for tomorrow's supper - we are going to have a turkey drumstick joint from Morrison's which I bought some months ago, but I know that we will all eat several meals from it, which makes it very good value.
Monday, 28 April 2014
A time to save, and a time to spend
Those lines came to me tonight as I considered the seasons of our lives tonight. Last year was definitely a time to save, but this year is a time to get things done, and it seems that this means spending.
This morning the gas fitter came to connect up the hob which R put in yesterday, and we thought it was going to be a simple job - the pipe was there, the connectors were there and I could see it all done in less than half an hour. The call out fee for the first hour from the company was £40 and I honestly thought that was going to be the charge.......
Think again.
The fitter and apprentice were here for over two and a half hours, and there were new fittings and lengths of copper pipes, elbows and soldering going on. The fitter was a very methodical chap [or you can read that as "slow" if you are not feeling terrible charitable, as I confess I wasn't this morning] and it took f o r e v e r.
The bill will come through the post later this week, and I am expecting it to be three times what I had anticipated.
As I said, it seems to be the season for spending here.
However, the kitchen looks great and it was a bonus to spend some good time with the FH's son at the weekend, who appreciated the meals I cooked him, and eating together around a table. Simple joys, but ones worth noting and remembering.
I have already warned the girls that we need to take a tighter rein on the finances in May, and we may be looking at a very controlled month indeed - good job I have been saving up the Shop&Scan points for a couple of books I need for my studies from Amazon!
This morning the gas fitter came to connect up the hob which R put in yesterday, and we thought it was going to be a simple job - the pipe was there, the connectors were there and I could see it all done in less than half an hour. The call out fee for the first hour from the company was £40 and I honestly thought that was going to be the charge.......
Think again.
The fitter and apprentice were here for over two and a half hours, and there were new fittings and lengths of copper pipes, elbows and soldering going on. The fitter was a very methodical chap [or you can read that as "slow" if you are not feeling terrible charitable, as I confess I wasn't this morning] and it took f o r e v e r.
The bill will come through the post later this week, and I am expecting it to be three times what I had anticipated.
As I said, it seems to be the season for spending here.
However, the kitchen looks great and it was a bonus to spend some good time with the FH's son at the weekend, who appreciated the meals I cooked him, and eating together around a table. Simple joys, but ones worth noting and remembering.
I have already warned the girls that we need to take a tighter rein on the finances in May, and we may be looking at a very controlled month indeed - good job I have been saving up the Shop&Scan points for a couple of books I need for my studies from Amazon!
Sunday, 27 April 2014
Just a peek
We're not quite finished yet...
We've had a sort of camp kitchen in the verandah today...
The YFG still had hash browns for breakfast, and I cooked a lovely stew in the slow cooker for supper, with mash and veg cooked on the little electric hob!
But here are some glimpses of the new kitchen cooker...
and the sparkly sink in the new worktop.
It's looking good.
Waiting for the gas fitter to come at 9am in the morning and then lots of cleaning to do - dust everywhere!
Saturday, 26 April 2014
Real life
Busy with the kitchen preparations and sermon writing, off to gym and shopping, fetching R tonight, and then chapel and kitchen work tomorrow - so you won't see me here this weekend.......until I hope to have some "ta-da" photos for you tomorrow evening - wish us luck!
Thursday, 24 April 2014
Not getting things done
All this recuperating I have been doing this week, since Monday, is not boding well for the kitchen makeover on Sunday.......there is still tonnes to do before R can start on the work, and a service to write for Sunday morning. Unfortunately I haven't ever taken a service the week after Easter so there isn't even one in my folders that I can crib from for a start!
The EFG is off on a school trip and needs to be in school by 8am so I shall be up and at it early in the morning, so there is hope that I might get some things done then! Off to do the washing up now and head for bed - I am feeling better than I did, but still not firing on all cylinders quite yet!
The EFG is off on a school trip and needs to be in school by 8am so I shall be up and at it early in the morning, so there is hope that I might get some things done then! Off to do the washing up now and head for bed - I am feeling better than I did, but still not firing on all cylinders quite yet!
Wednesday, 23 April 2014
Sometimes you just can't give stuff away!
In this case - blood!
The EFG tried to make her first blood donation today, and it was a struggle just to get past the dragon on the door [whoops, no, she was a "donor carer"]. These organisations are very good, and we have a great deal of appreciation for the excellent and very valuable work that they do, but when they put the most unwelcoming person at the door, you wonder why you bother!
She hadn't eaten enough, she hadn't drunk enough, I wasn't allowed to help her fill the questionnaire in [I was told off quite sternly - "this is a confidential document and it will be discussed only with the donor, behind a screen, in private"]....I felt most unwelcome, so I left with the YFG! I felt like saying, "I'm her mother!" but didn't.....
Then the EFG was passed through the system and had good conversations with much, much more friendly nurses, both of whom asked whether her mum was there, so she told them about the incident at the door, and that I had left. They were politely bemused, she said. They fed and watered her, and decided that she could give blood after all.
Except they then discovered that her veins are inaccessible, and said that she would not be able to give blood after all, and would have to be taken off the register.
The FH has given over 50 pints, his cousin has made his century and my sister over 25, so she had hoped to carry on in the family tradition.
I cannot give blood, and was quite squeamish even being in the room with all the people hooked up to the blood collection paraphernalia. I can cope with a little blood, like from a cut but not a quantity in a phial and it all makes me feel sick and faint. Not good. I can't even look at the nurse taking blood for blood tests at the doctor's. Bit useless on that front. Sorry, folks!
Having said all that, with the FH's history, we are all willing donors for organ transplants after we die, and we would of course recommend that those able to give blood do so if at all possible.
The EFG tried to make her first blood donation today, and it was a struggle just to get past the dragon on the door [whoops, no, she was a "donor carer"]. These organisations are very good, and we have a great deal of appreciation for the excellent and very valuable work that they do, but when they put the most unwelcoming person at the door, you wonder why you bother!
She hadn't eaten enough, she hadn't drunk enough, I wasn't allowed to help her fill the questionnaire in [I was told off quite sternly - "this is a confidential document and it will be discussed only with the donor, behind a screen, in private"]....I felt most unwelcome, so I left with the YFG! I felt like saying, "I'm her mother!" but didn't.....
Then the EFG was passed through the system and had good conversations with much, much more friendly nurses, both of whom asked whether her mum was there, so she told them about the incident at the door, and that I had left. They were politely bemused, she said. They fed and watered her, and decided that she could give blood after all.
Except they then discovered that her veins are inaccessible, and said that she would not be able to give blood after all, and would have to be taken off the register.
The FH has given over 50 pints, his cousin has made his century and my sister over 25, so she had hoped to carry on in the family tradition.
I cannot give blood, and was quite squeamish even being in the room with all the people hooked up to the blood collection paraphernalia. I can cope with a little blood, like from a cut but not a quantity in a phial and it all makes me feel sick and faint. Not good. I can't even look at the nurse taking blood for blood tests at the doctor's. Bit useless on that front. Sorry, folks!
Having said all that, with the FH's history, we are all willing donors for organ transplants after we die, and we would of course recommend that those able to give blood do so if at all possible.
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