Merry Christmas

 

Just appearing to wish all my readers ... and yes there are still a lot of you lovely folk reading through all of my various blogs and their posts since my disappearance ... all the very best for Christmas and the New Year.

I hope it's everything that you would like it to be, and that you can manage to have a happy and simple Christmas that suits you.

The Heathrow Bears - Coming Home for Christmas 2023. 

With lots of love from all of us in Lancashire.

Sue, Alan, Ginger, Suky and Mavis xx

 🎄

Singer ... and the Rag and Bone Man

 

I just had to share this image isn't it gorgeous ... although if it were in my home the walls would be that lovely retro green.

But isn't it a good use of an old Singer sewing machine table.  My Mum had exactly the same one and used to treadle away in the early days of her marriage making baby clothes and things for the house.  Then Dad, who was always nifty with adapting things got a conversion kit and turned her machine electric and made it a handy little box to sit in.

Of course he claimed all the drawers for his shed to keep his 'important' things in, and although I don't know for sure, I should imagine the metal base went to the rag and bone man who came down our street every Monday.

https://youtu.be/L3wKzyIN1yk?si=QeNCD_tSX95uVm6-

Sue xx

Weekend Watching

 

My mantra for the weekend.  😊

And here for your delight and entertainment are a few of the YouTube videos that I have really enjoyed this week.

https://youtu.be/28seX-TDUh4?si=VES3SgOyInNKM6_G

Firstly a lovely vegan couple that I've watched for quite a while now,  doing another of their budget vegan food shops.  They are so close to the magic 1000 subscribers at last, so if you enjoy the video please think about subscribing to the channel, it costs you nothing but does really help them

https://youtu.be/58wyfJQCMVg?si=hh3V6asRZc_K1-ix

I watched Farmhouse on Boone this morning, such a relaxing way to start the day this video and a cup of coffee ... and such a beautiful house with it's lovely muted colours.

A little video from Carolyn, who is great for giving me ideas to help with rationing.

https://youtu.be/UmDDhwFZQjo?si=ucxEDzR8uWlb64PT

I think I'll give these ago the next time I run out of bread.

And finally from Grackle ...

https://youtu.be/mRtMR8FAfuE?si=Pxasn1HRJfdEiWts

A bit of a nosey into two hotels in London, the newest and the oldest ... and wow, what a difference in price.  I do love a look around a hotel room and what better way to do it without having to spend on an overnight stay away from home.  

I hope you enjoy these, just something to sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee over.

Sue xx

Weekend Watching

Our motley little crew hoping to share Alan's lunch, I think it's the corned beef they are after rather than the figs and beetroot. 😄

And here for Weekend Watching are a few of the YouTubers that have entertained me this week.

https://youtu.be/5slnHqMG22Q

Farmhouse on Boone ... a recent home tour.

This is one of my more recently discovered channels, she does some lovely relaxing cooking videos too, and now they are a family of ten.

https://youtu.be/EQHcunpixHI

Three Rivers Homestead - Jessica is currently doing her #everybitcountschallenge.

I used to love preserving our produce for the Winter months, but I never reached the volume that Jessica does ... well there are only two of us and lots more of this lovely family.

https://youtu.be/n_T1qayJk0I

If you are even thinking of moving onto a narrowboat here are some great tips delivered in a unique way by Vic, of Holly- The Café Boat fame.

https://youtu.be/zx-tD8w8rBk

And the lovely Grackle is all grown up, married and sharing some of the things she enjoyed on her honeymoon.  It's been like watching a daughter grow up and find the love of her life.

And finally -

https://youtu.be/7FIfcScc1JE

A couple living in a tiny space in Brooklyn, New York.

I'm not sure if some of the things they have done would suit me, but they have lovely taste and so much of this apartment I would love.  They also have even less space than me, my small home is just over 336 square feet and theirs is just 300.

I hope you enjoy some of these YouTube videos as much as I have over the past week or so.  My current favourite is watching Farmhouse on Boone while I wake up in the mornings with a nice cup of coffee, watching while she makes her sourdough bread or organise her food for the day is a lovely peaceful start to my day.

Little glimpses into other peoples lives is very nice isn't it, and I would much rather this than all the 'celebrity news' and gossip that is bandied around.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, I'll be back soon to let you know what we've been up to on ours.

Sue xx

Early Morning by the Canal, Family Visits and Getting My Ration Head On

It was lovely first thing this morning and Ginger came to tell me as much at 6.20am.  He wanted to go out and looking at the positioning of all my floor length curtains he had had a peep at all three usually available exits before deciding that he needed his own personal door person to facilitate this.  He went out and half an hour later, after a breakfast snack at Alan's he was back to mine to claim his usual morning treat of Dreamies and fall asleep once again on the armchair.

By this time I had put the first load of washing on and was sat clutching a mug of coffee and watching some YouTube.  It was just so nice outside that once the washing machine had done it's thing, I pegged the clothes out on the line and took myself canal side for a walk on the towpath.

The boaters were still tucked up in their huge beautifully decorated metal tubes, the paths were clear and the sun was shining, what a brilliant way to start the day.

I love the stillness of early morning. and as it was still barely past seven o'clock I only saw one other person to say 'Good Morning' to, a lady with two excitable Spaniels.

As I got closer to home the water was sparkling in the early morning sunshine, I have fingers firmly crossed that we have another good day all day today.  Yesterday was lovely, sunny and warm and as Alan's sister came to stay for the weekend we enjoyed sitting in the garden catching up on news.  Earlier she too had enjoyed the early morning towpath, going for a jog in sunshine but getting pretty muddy as she burned up the miles along the canal-side after Saturdays heavy rains.

Later we left all three dogs ... our two and her German Shepherd Tia ... back at home snoozing and had a pleasant wander around the sleepy Sunday High Street, with Alan and Alison comparing property prices between here and Peebles, before stopping for a coffee and a slice of cake in Booths café.

I love that our High Street has shops that virtually all still close on a Sunday, even in retail you need a day off and our shops are virtually all small independents. Of course the supermarkets are open and our new Factory Shop was open although pretty deserted.  Our little town is like a step back in time occasionally ... in a very good way.

And speaking of stepping back in time, it seems I already have my 'rationing head' on, I have started saving my citrus peels and popping them into the freezer, first this lonely little Easy Peeler skin at the start of last week ...

... and then the squeezed out ends from the lemon bought this week for my early morning drinks.  

Once I have added the skins from the other six that I have in the fridge and the cores from the two apples in there I will have a bag of bits and bobs ready to add to some Compost Heap Jelly, which will make good use of my sugar ration when rationing begins at the end of this month.

In the meantime I have been sorting through my food cupboard, donating a couple of things that just won't get eaten and getting things organised on shelves so that I know what is available to eat and when, during my rationing months.

I need to finish my narrowboat book this week and then start reading up on rationing again to get my head in the right space for this ongoing money-saving personal challenge.

What did you get up to at the weekend?

Sue xx 

A Successful Weekend at Our Welsh Flat

An original photo taken by me of the seafront at Llandudno.  

August 2015

 We had a very successful weekend at the Welsh flat, sorting out the things that we really needed to sort out, cleaning, hoovering and mowing for all we were worth and generally getting it on it's way to being able to be used.

How about a few before and afters:

The kitchen before ... note the first things to be unpacked were tea, coffee and the new kettle, I have my priorities right!!  😄

And here it is again just before we left for home.  

The fridge freezer and washing machine are now both in place and working perfectly, there is some food in the cupboards as well as the cutlery and crockery to be able to eat at the flat.

The living room.

Alan had just assembled our chairs and unwrapped the television ... supervised very well by Suky.

Sunday morning just before we left and the curtains are up and looking lovely, everywhere is clean and tidy and our temporary 'toaster box coffee table' is still in use.

And it would appear that Suky is still supervising goings on!

The main bedroom when we arrived, with it's freshly painted walls and new carpet being shown off beautifully in this photo.

And two days later with an actual bed, the curtains hung and a new lampshade.

The second bedroom.

We used this as a 'holding' room  for everything that we had brought with us while we worked on the other rooms, so it stayed messy right up until we were ready to leave.  First it held all the new purchases and things brought from home waiting to go into cupboards etc., and then it held all the wrappings and rubbish waiting for us to load the car and take away with us.

At the moment it just contains the lawnmower, some cushions ready for when we find a sofa, and a new cat litter tray for Ginger, who will be travelling with us whenever we go for more than one night.

And talking of lawnmowers ... once the batteries on our new lawnmower had charged Alan cut the grass, watched over intently by Mavis.  The dogs had obviously decided between them that Suky was to supervise the inside jobs and Mavis the outside ones.

And for those of you who like to see actual footage I did a Before and After in video format too, just two very short little clips of live action.

https://youtu.be/7TI45zSK1BE

https://youtu.be/yCIyJlQCqWw

So it was a very successful weekend, the drive home was a bit of an experience with all the heavy rain and standing water on the motorway, but we managed it safely and now we will be seeing if we can source some more of the things we need for the flat from Facebook Marketplace and perhaps charity shops.  We aren't buying much just the basics to make it comfortable and easy to use for us and my sons.

If you have any questions I will answer them in the comments of this post.

Sue xx

Plants, Seeds, UPF, Dumpster Diving and a Café Boat

 

Last week I potted these Cosmos 'Purity' into larger pots.  Three of the little pots sharing one much larger one to hopefully make a nice display of pure white flowers in a few weeks.

I also sowed a couple of rows of radish seeds into one of the shadier beds, hopefully we can have a few more homegrown radish before the temperatures get too high and they all bolt.  You can let them bolt, go to seed and then eat the pods, but I'm not that keen on the fiery little pods to be honest, although the flowers are very pretty.

You're not really supposed to pick from a newly planted rhubarb plant, but this one is growing so well and starting to cover so much of the chippings area of the garden that I am going to risk it this weekend.  Homegrown rhubarb with some coconut yoghurt sounds like a lovely dessert ... or maybe breakfast.

And now for your delight and delectation ... some Weekend Watching.

There was a lot of interest in my new book, so I thought I would share this short YouTube video with Dr Chris van Tulleken talking about it and ultra processed foods.  It gave me a better understanding of just what UPF was before I started reading the book.

https://youtu.be/uAVuU2xS_YA

I also watched this one as it was a long time since I watched the actual programme a couple of years ago.  It ties in neatly with the book.

https://youtu.be/T4PFt4czJw0

And here's a Freakin Frugal dumpster dive with lots of lovely fresh produce.

https://youtu.be/cd8CTzmXiv8

And finally, a bit of Holly the Café Boat, which is just one of the many narrowboat channels I watch on a regular basis.

https://youtu.be/P2ijbgMlfXQ

We are off to a park in Lancaster today with the dogs, we've been out and about quite a bit just recently making the most of this lovely weather.  I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Sue xx

Leftover Mash?

 

I was watching some YouTube videos the other day, as I tend to do in the mornings while I slowly waken up clutching a cup of coffee or two, when I came across a few from Wicked Kitchen, one in particular caught my attention.

Unfortunately it won't let me share the video on here with a picture as it is a 'short'.  But here is the link:

https://youtube.com/shorts/ZMoFshzyY_E?feature=share

I immediately thought of the two tubs of leftover mashed potato that I had in the fridge.

I grated a block of my Applewood cheese, while my 2/3 of a sheet of ready rolled pastry from the fridge came to room temperature and then set about making the Mashed Potato Wellington.

It was really simple, a good pile of mashed potato on top of the pastry, sprinkled with some of the cheese, a drizzle of  baked beans down the centre and a little bit more of the potato on top, just so that the 'bean juice' wasn't in contact with the pastry too much.  I folded the sides over and the ends in, sticking them together with a quick brush of water and then popped it into my fan oven which was now pre-heated to 180 degrees.

Half an hour later and it was ready.  

I just had two slices of it for my lunch along with a small salad, and the rest of it went into the fridge along with ...

... leftover beans, leftover cheese and more leftover mashed potatoes.

And the leftover mashed potato wellington was eaten the next day just as it was, with a dollop of mayonnaise added to the plate, and if anything it was even more delicious.

No wonder my food lasts me so long, I seem to live on leftovers!!  😀

Sue xx

Weekend Watching ... and Boy or Girl?

 

Not my photo, but an image shared on Facebook on one of our local groups.  

It has the photographers name so I thought it would be okay to share it, isn't it beautiful.

Here is this weeks little round up of some of the YouTube videos I've been watching.

A new to me channel with this very likeable guy shopping for £1 for a days meals.  He's just started the series and will be shopping at each of the UK larger supermarkets for one day each week.  Here are his first two shops.  First Aldi ...

https://youtu.be/bkf8IHyrjwA

And then at Tesco ...

https://youtu.be/g6MMxD0MIjc

Frugal Daddy dumpster diving at Aldi ...

https://youtu.be/pusfRbgkNOc

Gosh he gets some good food doesn't he.  How can the supermarkets even think of throwing all this perfectly good food away.  I wish dumpster diving was legal in this country, not that I could climb into a skip or dumpster these days!!  There are some UK skip divers, but they have to be very careful as most supermarket skips are on private and gated land owned by the supermarkets.

And finally here are some Meals of the Week from 'What's for Tea'.  I've been watching her videos while eating my way through the challenge food that I had last week ... and trying not to drool too much.  😄

https://youtu.be/ZoJo2s2ILyE

I also like watching her shopping videos for some reason, isn't it fascinating seeing what other people buy.  

https://youtu.be/JBbg53BuYz0

I hope you find some of those interesting, I tend to watch either over my first coffee of the day or while I'm sitting enjoying my lunch.  It's nice to switch off from work for a while with something completely different.

Hope you have a great weekend whatever you're planning to do.  

We are heading off for a couple of hours to the gender reveal party in Haslingden, to see what our new great grandchild will be ... oh how lovely was it back in the day when the sex of your baby was a surprise!!

What do you guess girl or boy??

 To help you out ... in no way whatsoever really ... I have three grandsons, one granddaughter, one great grandson and one great granddaughter ... so who's next?

(I'll let you know next time.)

Sue xx

Old Things, Beautiful Things ... and Lovely Old Souls

 

I love old things, old beautiful, well used things.  

There is a happy knowledge of love when something has been treasured.  There is not much that is old in this top photo, although I aged it to give a nice tone.  In fact the little round lidded box is the only truly old thing there, picked up from a charity shop ... seemingly in February 2019 according to this blog post.

Something that I do treasure and that is in everyday use, and will be until the day it falls apart, is my lovely patchwork quilt.  All through Winter it stays on my bed on top of the duvet to add an extra layer of insulation.  And in Summer it is similarly on hand, ready to go on top of the summer-weight duvet that I switch to, in case of a cooler night.  I like cold rooms and cosy beds to sleep in.

After all my sorting and decluttering of recent years, it's nice that the things that I have around me now are going to be the things that stay around me for as long as possible.

Yes, exactly this.  💗

Just one Weekend Watching this week, and one that fits in nicely with this post.

https://youtu.be/ERaBVPCsliM

Rationbook Rebecca describes what she is up to so perfectly here:  

Memories of my grandparents' farm and a love of personal freedom have encouraged me to attempt at turning my little home into a micro-holding; that may also have the potential to financially sustain me.

My house is a semi-detached with 5%-acre back garden so the whole property is approximately 1/10 acre in the middle of England.

I'm not an activist but a silent rebel! I hope to encourage others to grow their own, live contentedly with less and enjoy life more.

It's not a bad thing to do or way to live is it.  

She seems to be a gentle soul living a very calm and quiet life and has come out of recent health worries even more inspired to carry on.  Her wartime rationing challenge was a really good watch and I'm really surprised she has not got more subscribers than she has ... she really deserves them.  Anyway have a watch a see what you think.

Have a great weekend.

Sue xx

Daffodils, Muffins and Weekend Watching

 

It's lovely to have some colour in the house and the garden at the moment.  

Inside it's daffodils smiling cheerfully at me from the shelf, and out in the garden along with the daffodils and snowdrops it's lots of little primulas that have reappeared after sleeping the Winter away.

Usually I don't like the smell of daffs in the house ... to me they are fusty and musty smelling ... but for once my complete lack of any form of a sense of smell is working in my favour.  😁

The Fast 800 diet is going well, I'm feeling better in myself and the scales were showing a lower number the other day, so that is hopeful.  I'm sleeping really deeply and really well, but I do find that I'm hungry a lot and I find that hard.  Oh, I so nearly had a chocolate bar last night,  but I went and cleaned my teeth instead ... it seemed to work.

I'm doing a mixture of recipes from the book and things that I already have in that I want to use up, but making sure that I stay around the 800 calories a day mark.  For instance this morning for my breakfast I made the Cheese and Spinach Mini Muffins from the Fast 800 Easy cookbook, but one day in the week I did have two Weetabix with almond milk.  It's all about balance.

These muffins were quick and easy to make, and very tasty.

Although as they stuck to my muffin tin liners quite a bit, I had these three with my cup of coffee and then shared a fourth with Mavis, who managed admirably. 

 If you would like to read more about the diet you can click on this link:   

The Fast 800 Diet

I am currently doing the Fast 800 and combining it with TRE (time restricted eating) which really suits me.  I am easily doing 14/10 without even having to think about it too much.

Now on a completely different topic, how about a bit of Weekend Watching.  I watched the following two videos while having my breakfast this morning ... and yes they are all about food!!

https://youtu.be/rd2Fb4lEEts

Atomic Shrimp's channel seems to have grown massively over the last few months, with over 910k subscribers he has a brilliant following.  My favourites out of all of his challenges are unsurprisingly the limited spending ones, and this latest one and his last one saw him trying to recreate the £1 per day meals challenge, but this time allowing for inflation with £1.37 to spend.

https://youtu.be/p9zm1uYlE_c

This second video is Chelsea from Little Mountain Ranch who is currently cooking recipes both from her own family archives ready to launch a cookbook of her own, and also from some very old books that her husband has just bought her.  She has such a lovely sunny disposition and a brilliant way of life that it's a joy to sit and watch her videos.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Sue xx

Did Someone Mention Two Tins of Salmon ...

 

As I ended my last post with 'Now what did I do with two tins of salmon mixed with red onion and mayonnaise ...?'  It seems only fair that I quickly show you.

As you saw last time I added a spoonful to the pasta dish that I made whilst I was prepping the salmon, then I made sandwiches to take to Mum's for our lunch.  Two rounds of bread each with just the salmon on it, spread very thinly for Mum as that is the way she likes it and a bit thicker for me and Alan, Mum supplied some lentil crisps to go with the butties.

The next day I made the buns you see in the top photo for our lunch.  

For my tea I decided to use a bit more of the salmon, yes it was getting very fishy!!

A third of my tub of mash, a good helping of the salmon mix and lots of pepper and I had four little fishcakes.  I decided against making any breadcrumbs and instead just dredged them in flour.

A nice simple tea on a bed of iceberg lettuce and drizzled with mayo.

The next night it was a bowl of pasta, this time without any tomato based sauce but with lots of peas.

And then the next day it was a simple lunch of the rest of the mashed potatoes and the last of the salmon mix.  Oh I do love a plate of mashed potatoes with lots of butter.

So, two tins of salmon, a huge dollop of mayonnaise and half a finely diced red onion and I got five different meals.  One of them serving three people, one serving two people and the rest just for me.

What would you have done with two tins of salmon?

Now for a little bit of Weekend Watching.

First Frugal Daddy diving in the dumpster and rescuing food just before the refuse collectors come and take it all to landfill.

https://youtu.be/fL5Ad-IMLaE

How sad would it have been for all those chickens to have lost their lives only for their breast meat to go to landfill.  It's shocking and horrifying in equal measures.  Well rescued Frugal Daddy.

Now step away if you have any sort of cat phobia!!

https://youtu.be/pXezLv_5RaY

This is just hilarious. 😄

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sue xx

Six Shops in Eighteen Days, and Weekend Watching

I've just spotted in my diary that I have actually shopped six times in the first half of February.  Just how is the shortest month of the year going to be the month that I shop the most, it's ridiculous!!

The bread and tomatoes were bought on Wednesday ready to be turned into corned beef and tomato sandwiches for Alan and Mum and cheese and tomato for me.  We each had a flapjack from my food stash for dessert.

Total spent - £2.10

The little jar of jam was in my handbag and was what I brought home from the afternoon tea, I wasn't going to waste that nice jam on horribly dry gluten free scones!!

Then yesterday Alan asked if I wanted to go to Aldi with him ... of course I said yes. 😄

I mostly shopped for the Foodbank but the items above went into the trolley for me.  It's funny but ever since we were talking about sausage rolls when we went for the afternoon tea I have been fancying some.  I could of course have made them myself with the ready rolled pastry in my fridge and the Linda McCartney sausages from my freezer ...but I was in Aldi, theirs are some of the best and they are one of the rare items that have never increased in price.  They have been £1.19 for around three years now, so when I spied them in the freezer next to the pizzas I just had to buy a box.

I also decided to buy some sparkling water and fresh orange juice because just the evening before I had been stood looking for something to drink other than coffee, tap water or wine, and I had found nothing.

 

I did remember to keep the receipt, again it's another very faded one  Is Aldi too poor to buy fresh ink for their tills?

I spent a total of £9.96 on these six items for me, and quite a bit more on the Foodbank ... but that doesn't come out of my challenge budget, hence me not showing the rest of the receipt.

A couple of the YouTube videos that I have enjoyed this week.

https://youtu.be/cPdlMLf7bWo

Firstly Madeleine Olivia and her ongoing decluttering.  

It's a bit long and there's quite a lot of waffle but some good ideas, and it does spur me on to keep sorting out the nitty gritty of what I have left.  What I am always astounded by though is her talk of all her work tiring her out so much.  

She's an influencer, she films her actual day to day life and occasionally food videos ... and has other people working for her to get these edited and put onto YouTube and various other platforms. I may be being over-critical but we all live our lives and just get on with it.  Spending a portion of nearly every video that she has put out recently, saying how tiring she is finding it all just seems a bit much when she is earning a LOT of money just for filming herself living.  What is clever though, and something I thoroughly approve of, is that this video does seem to be addressing most of the criticism aimed at her on Tattle Life. 

It's a pretty despicable website with people really being keyboard warriors, and being very negative and sometimes extremely nasty about people online or in the media.

https://youtu.be/wVtY4h3GvzQ

Claire's Journey

Now there's a good pantry for storing all your food in one place.

https://youtu.be/LDequNEitcM

And finally ... a bit of What's for Tea.  

A Scottish lady with an accent that's very different from Alan's, she simply shows us the meals that they've had over the previous week.  She has a huge following of people that love to pick up new meal ideas.  A new meals video comes out every Sunday, a shopping haul on Friday and sometimes there is a recipe video too ... and yes Mince and Tatties is one of Alan's favourite meals.   

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Sue xx