Nothing much to report from yesterday hence the lack of a post last night - I spent most of the day with my head in my Faith & Worship folders, working hard on Unit 12. Sometimes I wished to myself that they would print the sections of the bible that they want you to read in the actual pages of the workbook, as I spent so much time flipping the pages of my bible back and forth, often just to read a verse or two. On the other hand, it does mean that I am getting lots of practice on the order of the books of the bible!
Cheap and cheerful tea for the family of bangers and mash last night, with cabbage and broccoli, and I had a couple of chicken legs, cooked in the mini oven. We also had some absolutely delicious cooked pears from the freezer, and the FH had his with some custard. I am just hoping that there are more pears like that in the depths of the freezer - almost ambrosial in their sweetness and flavour. Now to remember whose garden they came from to hope for some more this year?
Today brings sunshine at the moment so hoping to get some washing dry, have got to take the YFG to school for an English Lit revision session, and will keep hard at it with Unit 12 today and hope to get the assignment at least half done.......nice to have targets!
Tuesday, 8 April 2014
Sunday, 6 April 2014
Moving on
This is Beryl, the perching chicken
Beryl has funny episodes, has had them since she hatched last summer, and has grown up to mature, lay eggs, and potter around the garden. But she still has funny turns, so we don't put her in with the other chooks, because she could stand neither the pecking order hassle of the other hens, nor the attention of the cockerels. She has the freedom of the lawn and veg plots at the moment, and loves our company. Here she is, perching on the EFG's arm yesterday afternoon. She is a gorgeous Gold Partridge Orpington.
Today has been moving day for some of the chooks. I have already shared my plans to downsize the flock so 9 ladies have moved up the road to my friend G, who absolutely adores chickens and has a huge flock. She cooks up pots of veg for them every afternoon to serve with their mash, and they get only the best in love and attention. She has taken back from me some young chooks I bought last autumn, and some of my older ladies, including our beloved Goldenburg, who is 5 now.
Just this evening, the three young cockerels have gone to a church friend who lives at the other end of the village, and has 20 hens of her own but no cockerels. I think my three lads are going to think they have gone to chicken heaven in the morning when they see that they have 20 wives between them!
So I am keeping my older Brown Sussex hens [the late Lancelot's wives and daughters] and some hybrid hens, all of whom still lay. I have also kept my breeding gang of GPOs, so there is just the one cockerel left on the plot.
We have reduced the numbers from 27 hens and 4 cockerels down to 18 hens and one cockerel. It should be more manageable, bringing the houses down from 4 to two, and so less work on cleaning out, etc. I'll see how this goes and if it is still too much, the hybrids will have to go too. The pure breeds will be the last to go, whatever happens. I'm too sentimental, really!
Holiday plans
If you clicked on this post hoping to see plans for trips to foreign climes, you will be disappointed! We have two weeks off from school and gym, and I plan to make good use of the extra time at home. Granted, the YFG has optician and physio appointments and a revision session at school, so we still have to go places, and the EFG has to do loads of revision and past papers, but I have plans!
- To finish Unit 12 of Faith & Worship to keep to my schedule for completion.
- To start Unit 13!
- To acquire and install a new oven.
- To clear out the room which was once a dining room and is now being used as an office/dumping ground, and try to acquire some kind of single bed so that it can become a downstairs room for the FH whilst we get our decisions made about moving/extending.
- To get the verandah cleaned and tidied for summer use and enjoyment
- To sow some seeds.
- To post on the local Freecycle for puzzles for the FH [thanks for that idea, Ang!] I have tried to log on there this morning but had to admit that I have forgotten my username so I am awaiting an email.
Friday, 4 April 2014
Slow
If ever my slow cooker breaks down, I will definitely replace it faster than I have got my act together with the main oven, which is still a work-in-progress! The slow cooker has worked its magic on some stewing beef, some onion, carrot and swede, and over about 10 hours, has produced the most delicious casserole tonight, just right for us coming home from gym tired and hungry! All I had to do was steam some veg, which was quick and easy, and voila, supper was on the plates. And then it wasn't, because we had eaten it smartish. Long live slow cookers! No photo, either, as we didn't waste time once the food hit the plates.
The FH got up and pottered yesterday, and then found that he was suffering for it this morning, so has remained in bed today. That's about usual - one day up, one week in bed....
He has exhausted my charity shop supply of jigsaws this week, so I have brought some home from the chapel this morning. Two of them he had already done, so they are going back on Sunday, but three of them looked sufficiently interesting to him that he would keep them and try them out. I shall have to have another charity shop trawl and a poke around the library in the town this week to see if I can find him a few more. A 500 piece one might get done in one or two days, but a 1000 piece one can keep him going for up to a week if it challenges him enough. Cheap hobbies are the best, and this one definitely doesn't break the bank. He didn't feel well enough to go out to the lunch club on Wednesday so that is £4.50 to add to the jigsaw fund.
So looking forward to a bit of a break from routine over the next two weeks whilst the girls are off school. The EFG's exams are looming so I know she will have her head in the books for most of the time, but I do hope to take them out once or twice for a change and some fresh air and sunshine - so please shine, sun!
Hope you all have a great weekend xx
The FH got up and pottered yesterday, and then found that he was suffering for it this morning, so has remained in bed today. That's about usual - one day up, one week in bed....
He has exhausted my charity shop supply of jigsaws this week, so I have brought some home from the chapel this morning. Two of them he had already done, so they are going back on Sunday, but three of them looked sufficiently interesting to him that he would keep them and try them out. I shall have to have another charity shop trawl and a poke around the library in the town this week to see if I can find him a few more. A 500 piece one might get done in one or two days, but a 1000 piece one can keep him going for up to a week if it challenges him enough. Cheap hobbies are the best, and this one definitely doesn't break the bank. He didn't feel well enough to go out to the lunch club on Wednesday so that is £4.50 to add to the jigsaw fund.
So looking forward to a bit of a break from routine over the next two weeks whilst the girls are off school. The EFG's exams are looming so I know she will have her head in the books for most of the time, but I do hope to take them out once or twice for a change and some fresh air and sunshine - so please shine, sun!
Hope you all have a great weekend xx
Thursday, 3 April 2014
Spring fever
There must be something in the air today, because I have been just like Frugal in Suffolk and my thoughts have turned to moving again! We will have been here ten years in June, which is by far the longest we have stayed in one house since getting together - we did manage about 7 or 8 years in one house, but then we had a flurry of houses in short succession, rarely staying more than two years in any of them.......
Moving house costs money, though, so you have to be very sure that you want to spend that much, and that it is going to be worth it in in the end. I did sell one house in Scotland for the price of an advert in the local paper, and no estate agency fees, which pleased me no end. The last time we thought about selling, the estate agents were charging more than 2% of the selling price of the house, which seems rather a lot to me. There are a lot of internet based companies around nowadays, and selling strategies are bound to have moved on in ten years.
I have had a look at lots of houses on the internet this week, all within a ten mile radius of here, with the YFG's schooling in mind - and there is nothing that really jumps out at me and to which I feel drawn.
Moving has entered my head now because of the FH's health, and a bungalow is beginning to look attractive. On the other hand, what I am going to have to pay an estate agent and solicitor to do the work would probably go a long way towards some kind of work on this house to make it more suitable for the FH. We need space to have a bed downstairs somewhere - just a single bed - so that he can sit with his legs right up as he is not comfortable on the sofa or in a chair with his feet on a stool. A wet room is also looking useful although we are managing to get him in and out of the shower these days a little more easily than we were. Adaptations are wonderful things, and just having a chair to lean on as he gets out of the cubicle is making a lot of difference.
I am going to have to crunch a lot of numbers, as the American tv programmes call it, over the weekend, and perhaps speak with a builder or two about how the work would stack up. My brain whirls with all this information and debating to think about - and the FH isn't really interested in making big decisions as all he contributes to the debate is a reassuring, "whatever you want to do is fine with me....." - big help that is!
Good news on the ISA this morning - I checked my balances and I have a nice little lump sum of interest which has just been paid onto the ISA balance - I do like compound interest, and it also increases the balance of the ISA without affecting my allowance too. It cheered me up, because I don't seem to be able to save much from our income at the moment, with all the expenses pouring out of our accounts!
Decisions, decisions - too much to think about - better head off to bed and dream about it all xxx
(image from housemovechecklist.com)
Moving house costs money, though, so you have to be very sure that you want to spend that much, and that it is going to be worth it in in the end. I did sell one house in Scotland for the price of an advert in the local paper, and no estate agency fees, which pleased me no end. The last time we thought about selling, the estate agents were charging more than 2% of the selling price of the house, which seems rather a lot to me. There are a lot of internet based companies around nowadays, and selling strategies are bound to have moved on in ten years.
(image from rightmove.co.uk)
I have had a look at lots of houses on the internet this week, all within a ten mile radius of here, with the YFG's schooling in mind - and there is nothing that really jumps out at me and to which I feel drawn.
Moving has entered my head now because of the FH's health, and a bungalow is beginning to look attractive. On the other hand, what I am going to have to pay an estate agent and solicitor to do the work would probably go a long way towards some kind of work on this house to make it more suitable for the FH. We need space to have a bed downstairs somewhere - just a single bed - so that he can sit with his legs right up as he is not comfortable on the sofa or in a chair with his feet on a stool. A wet room is also looking useful although we are managing to get him in and out of the shower these days a little more easily than we were. Adaptations are wonderful things, and just having a chair to lean on as he gets out of the cubicle is making a lot of difference.
I am going to have to crunch a lot of numbers, as the American tv programmes call it, over the weekend, and perhaps speak with a builder or two about how the work would stack up. My brain whirls with all this information and debating to think about - and the FH isn't really interested in making big decisions as all he contributes to the debate is a reassuring, "whatever you want to do is fine with me....." - big help that is!
Good news on the ISA this morning - I checked my balances and I have a nice little lump sum of interest which has just been paid onto the ISA balance - I do like compound interest, and it also increases the balance of the ISA without affecting my allowance too. It cheered me up, because I don't seem to be able to save much from our income at the moment, with all the expenses pouring out of our accounts!
Decisions, decisions - too much to think about - better head off to bed and dream about it all xxx
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Still thinking...
I do mull things over and over sometimes, and I have to say that the £60 a week recommended amount for students to budget for their food at Aberdeen in self-catering accommodation is still going round and round in my head!
We all know that it can be done much more economically than that, because most of us feed families on that or less in a week. True enough, the students may have more constraints on their time and facilities than we have, and may even have more limited access to supplies, but I am still sure that that is a big overestimation.
I have done some research, and there is a Lidl not far from some of the residences in Aberdeen, so that is a start. I am sure that the EFG will make use of that, and not just buy convenience food in the local Spar all the time - even she was surprised at some of the prices on food in the shops, and knows that she needs to make some stuff from scratch. I was pleased to see that Sainsbury's are all over the place in Aberdeen too, so I can use their cards where I load a card here with money and she has a card with her from which she can spend in the supermarket - I think that that might be useful now and again. I don't know what the system is called but it is obviously marketed towards students and their families.
The YFG has a passion for prawn layered salads from supermarkets, but at over £2 a pop, they are a very rare treat for her - but even she recognised that if she chose to live on things like that when she leaves home, she will have to live on Cup-A-Soup every other day in order to finance her salad habit! Thank goodness I have a few more years to work on her...
Building up the EFG's cooking skills to cover more meals, and her shopping skills to learn more about making the pennies stretch are both things we are going to tackle once her exams are over in June.
Thank you all so much for the advice you sent when I asked about managing on student budgets last week - you were so kind and helpful, and all those ideas will be filed away for future use.
Talking of saving money, I have advertised my chooks amongst my friends on Facebook as I really need to scale my responsibilites and commitments down somewhat. I haven't had a lot of response yet, but I am hoping to move some of them on to new homes this Spring, so I have a little more time for other things. We are also trying to get organised this week to clear out all the FH's beekeeping equipment - he isn't going to be doing much more carpentry and joinery, much less making any more equipment for local beekeepers, so the sooner we can get the shed cleared out of stuff, the better. If we do decide to move, it will all have to go for sure - I am making lists to circulate amongst local beekeepers so that I don't have the hassle of advertising and selling through ebay. I think we are going to sell what he has left at a hefty discount just to clear the decks........it feels good to be decluttering in this way, but it is not going to be a quick job!
We all know that it can be done much more economically than that, because most of us feed families on that or less in a week. True enough, the students may have more constraints on their time and facilities than we have, and may even have more limited access to supplies, but I am still sure that that is a big overestimation.
I have done some research, and there is a Lidl not far from some of the residences in Aberdeen, so that is a start. I am sure that the EFG will make use of that, and not just buy convenience food in the local Spar all the time - even she was surprised at some of the prices on food in the shops, and knows that she needs to make some stuff from scratch. I was pleased to see that Sainsbury's are all over the place in Aberdeen too, so I can use their cards where I load a card here with money and she has a card with her from which she can spend in the supermarket - I think that that might be useful now and again. I don't know what the system is called but it is obviously marketed towards students and their families.
The YFG has a passion for prawn layered salads from supermarkets, but at over £2 a pop, they are a very rare treat for her - but even she recognised that if she chose to live on things like that when she leaves home, she will have to live on Cup-A-Soup every other day in order to finance her salad habit! Thank goodness I have a few more years to work on her...
Building up the EFG's cooking skills to cover more meals, and her shopping skills to learn more about making the pennies stretch are both things we are going to tackle once her exams are over in June.
Thank you all so much for the advice you sent when I asked about managing on student budgets last week - you were so kind and helpful, and all those ideas will be filed away for future use.
Talking of saving money, I have advertised my chooks amongst my friends on Facebook as I really need to scale my responsibilites and commitments down somewhat. I haven't had a lot of response yet, but I am hoping to move some of them on to new homes this Spring, so I have a little more time for other things. We are also trying to get organised this week to clear out all the FH's beekeeping equipment - he isn't going to be doing much more carpentry and joinery, much less making any more equipment for local beekeepers, so the sooner we can get the shed cleared out of stuff, the better. If we do decide to move, it will all have to go for sure - I am making lists to circulate amongst local beekeepers so that I don't have the hassle of advertising and selling through ebay. I think we are going to sell what he has left at a hefty discount just to clear the decks........it feels good to be decluttering in this way, but it is not going to be a quick job!
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
One step at a time
Today has been the first day that I have really been able to catch my breath in over a week!
Grounded and solid at home, I have had the time to potter around and do things here - ironing away in the airing cupboard, hoovering a week's worth of debris from the sitting room floor, washing and washing and washing, mooching around the garden with a hen at my side all the time, thinking about what to plant and where, collecting and washing the eggs, and just being me. It's been good.
Back to the gym tonight and one kind mum brought the Head Coach and I a box of Maltesers each to thank us for supporting her medal-winning daughter over the weekend at the competition - wasn't that lovely?!
Church cleaning in the morning, so I am away to my bed........night night xx
Grounded and solid at home, I have had the time to potter around and do things here - ironing away in the airing cupboard, hoovering a week's worth of debris from the sitting room floor, washing and washing and washing, mooching around the garden with a hen at my side all the time, thinking about what to plant and where, collecting and washing the eggs, and just being me. It's been good.
Back to the gym tonight and one kind mum brought the Head Coach and I a box of Maltesers each to thank us for supporting her medal-winning daughter over the weekend at the competition - wasn't that lovely?!
Church cleaning in the morning, so I am away to my bed........night night xx
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