Homemade Card Holder..and other Musings

Hi everyone...brr its blinking cold up North today, well it has been all weekend actually, same as many places i believe, windy, rain, thunder and hail, i thought we may wake up to some snow this morning , but no, just more rain and wind..

The hail was making such a racket i opened the back door to have a look and everything was covered...i went to grab my phone to snap a few pictures but the battery was dead!!when i finally managed to snap a picture most of it had melted but there was still some around because it was so cold...Diesel Dog hid behind the sofa in the back room when i opened the door i think he thought i was going to make him go out lol..

We got invited to the In-Laws for Sunday Dinner so that was  nice, no cooking for me :) lovely roasted food and apple pie and custard for afters yummy .. we sat and chatted away and watched a movie on tv, a bit of Maths homework was finished and then we headed home for a relaxing evening...

OH did a workout and had a soak in the bath, i attempted to sort the dresser of doom out hahaha every time you open the doors some material falls out or my buttons tin escapes lol... i gave up and decided i will do it in the week when no-one is around to interrupt!

I bobbed in Tesco on Saturday as we needed a few basic bits and i spotted this jute bag with the Tunocks print on and then LOVE on the other side, these were £4.00 reduced to £1.50 so i got one to put away to go with my mums Mothers day bits, these bags are really useful and she likes to use them when shopping, plus they are her favourite chocky treat :)

 

I was a bit bored the other day so i was tidying around the house and opened the drawer where i keep my savings cards and thought i really need a basic holder to keep them all in, i had a little think about it and i remembered that i had an old leather spectacles case that i didn't use, so i found it out ...

Got some of my cards out to measure how deep i needed it to be ...

It was a perfect width ...

I marked it with a pencil and then cut along with my dressmaking scissors ... i cut the top part off too so i could trace the dipped part..

I cut out the dipped part ...

I then added my cards .. hey presto a neat little card holder that cost me nothing ..tadaaa..

i quiet like it.. i dabbed a little glue where i cut across the stitching to keep everything held together..it holds 6 cards with maybe a little room for another if needed..im really pleased with it..

Off to the post this morning with some eBay bits i sold then i was off to do a full day at work .. my boss is off today so i am sneakily  blogging from my desk haha..

Home for Dinner in a bit so i will put the slow cooker on with a Quorn casserole for Tea, ive got some veggies prepared in the freezer so i just need to bung it all in and switch it on, ive a packet of vege suet for dumplings from Approved Foods so will make that up too...that's it for now my friends..its A No Spend Day today too as i already had the stamps for the post..

Happy Monday

AFM xx

Feeling Lazy

Firstly welcome to a new follower lah2563

 

 I need to stop snacking on goodies, yes I am a snacker and I love cakes, biscuits, deserts all things like that..my OH doesn't really eat things like that so if it gets bought or made then its mainly me that eats it so I need to watch what im eating a bit more..so far this morning Ive only had healthy porridge, and it was very nice on this wet and grey day, I think I will have Heinz Tomato Soup from Approved Foods (33p) and a couple of slices of homemade bread for dinner.

 

I had a no spend day yesterday and I have no intentions of spending again today, we have a store cupboard full, a freezer full, and the fridge is just about hanging on, but I shall find things to make for dinner and teas. I will need a few bits at the weekend but I wont be spending much, we only need fresh milk, tea bags, fruit, some cereal and eggs so that wont come to much. I've got 7 potatoes left so I will make them last another week before I buy a sack again.  I will have a look in Tesco at about 3.50pm as there is usually yellow stickered bits reduced a bit more than usual, however they have been rubbish lately.. I shall look.

 

For tea last night I took out of the freezer some Quorn Mince and Onion that I had prepared for a Shepherds Pie, but I defrosted it, made a quick Short crust Pastry in the blender, 4oz of plain flour, 2 oz of butter dash of salt, and cold water, bring it together and it makes just enough for a pastry top, so we had that with half a cabbage from Aldi 39p range, and a bit of lurking mixed veg that needed using up, couple of roasties each, everyone said how nice it was, which was nice, clear plates all round :) I love mince and apple sauce on any roast dinner, I even love it just on a plate of vegetables ... yummy ...

 

Not sure if im going out for a walk with Deeds this Morning, its bad and lazy I know but I just cant be bothered, I didn't have a very good night sleep again last night, turning all night!! the night before I had bad dreams all night and woke myself up crying twice, when I went to the bathroom in the morning I looked a right state, puffy eyes, mascara runs and I had scratched my face and had blood on it !! Blinking Nora what a mess..Eee I don't know. I may take him on a pavement walk on the lead as the trouble with taking a near white Miniature Jack Russell out in this weather is you have to shower him every time as he gets literally black..he looked like he was wearing black trousers yesterday LOL..

 

Anyway sorry for waffling on - bits to do in the house so see you all later

AFM xx

Charity Shop Bargains

What a busy morning, I have a day off today to ive been into town to drop some clothes off at Age Concern, I bought two pairs of smart work trousers in there and a suit jacket for OH for the grand sum of £3.30, £1.10 an item fantastic value. I usually buy the xxl men's shirts in there when im making a quilt as the shirting material goes really far and they are so cheap, before xmas every thing was £1 an item.

Popped into the Hospice shop for a looksee as all there clothes were half price for today, I picked up a really nice and thick jumper for OH for £1.50 and a sleeping dog pillowcase for 50p its printed on both sides so I will cut it round and stitch a backing on each piece and make two new dog blankets for our Diesel Dog as he needs some new ones.

I was hoping for a no spend day today, well I blew that didn't I, the original reason for this was I needed some more olive oil for my bread making and its only 99p a bottle in one of the cheapo shops, then realised my Son has food tech tomorrow and I didn't have a few of the ingredients needed so I had to go to Tesco, then ended up in town too...on the bright side I found a £10 note in the side pocket of my jacket when I got home, goodness knows how long that's been in there as its a pocket I don't use, don't know why I even checked it, oh well a very happy me  :)

The Granose was actually quiet nice, I cooked it for the recommended time, I think it could have done with a little longer, it had the consistency of half cooked stuffing-you get the idea.. Son didn't like it, ive bought 8 packets of the stuff so with the 3rd that was left from last night I thought I may try and mush it up with some grated cheese, bit of onion etc and lightly fry them and make a sort of burger type thing, so that's in the fridge for another day.. not sure what to make for tea today, its either bolognaise or cauliflower cheese with couscous??hmm don't know I hate it when you cant decide what to have.

Right I need to take the dog for a walk, wash up and have a tidy round.

::::::::EDITED::::::::

I decided to have Cauliflower Cheese for tea, it was really great.. I used up a yellow stickered cauli, a  cheap packet cheese sauce, AF dried parmesan and some Christmas cheese that was left over for the top.. we had it with homemade wedges, I use 1 potato per person and cut into 8 pieces, zap in the microwave for 8 mins, drain and put on a baking tray with a sprinkle of oil, salt and pepper, mixed herbs and a little chilli flakes put in oven for half an hour with the cauliflower and they come out perfect, I made some cous cous to have with everything, again it was from AF’s,  I added salt and pepper, 2 garlic cloves, chili powder, a bit of red onion that had been lurking for too long in the fridge, half a red pepper that was also lurking, mixed it up and hey presto, a really lovely cheap tea.

See you later AFM xx

Lazy Sunday

Hi bloggers ... well we had a lazy morning, the weekly lie-in haha our Son stays over every Saturday at the In-Laws, very fortunate I know :) so we get at least one relax a week, I always feel rather bad for staying in bed till at least 9am when I could be doing something in the house, but any who nice all the same.

Grabbed some milk from Farmfoods tonight such a bargain at £1.60 for two lots of milk..i hope it will be an on going thing, they started to have the vege Deli Quorn in at £1 a pack, they don't have it now which is a shame as it can be £2 odd in the supermarkets..then over to Aldi for a Cabbage while they are still on offer for 39p.. im going to see how many no spend days I can do this week, we have quiet a few bits in the cupboards and freezer so fingers crossed, put what change I had into the tin too..

For tea tonight I am trying some Chicken Style Granose from Approved Foods, made it up according to instructions, put some mixed veg on and a few roasties each...fingers crossed it tasted ok as I bought a whole box full lol seemed to much of a bargain to resist when ordering.

 

AFM xx

Happy New Year *cough cough*

Happy New Year Cyber Space :) after all i do like to talk to myself haha .. So as usual ive been very busy since i last posted, no i don't really do new year resolutions but i am going to try and be more organised, more timely etc..

I wanted to spend as little as possible in January , all good intentions eh? but i had a look an Approved Foods last night and they has quiet a bit of vegetarian foods stuff that i could stock up on, so i spent £30 including delivery on plenty of cupboardy bit's that will last us a good while, ive also spend another £30 ish pounds on this months UHT Milk and other grocery bits, i want to run the freezer down so am planning to really try and do that without buying much else for a long while, the odd veg from Aldis 39p range and i will look out for yellow sticker reduced fruit and veggies still.

So i started a 50p pot last year, late starter so only had £7.50 in it, but still went towards food.

-Ive started again and decided to do an 'Any Change Tin', already have £3 in that so a good start :)

-My Ebay pot is empty so i need to start selling again and i will do my best to keep that money online and i will transfer it into the end of year savings in December.

-We are into week 2 of the year and i have put aside £10 per week so there is £20 in that saved so far.

Not a bad start to the year..its been cold up North i must say, blooming freezing at work too, silly little wall heater doesn't blast out much heat at all.. ive had two scarves on its been that chilly!!..got to charge my mobile up though so that saved me a penny or two..hehe

Made a chuck it all together and use it up soup in the slow cooker yesterday, bit of double cream, pumpkin, 2 bendy carrots, a sprouting onion, 2 large reduced leeks, 2 potatoes from the sack, pint of vegetable value stock, s+p wizzed it together this morning..OH loves it..im not so keen ..prefer just a plain tomato soup me ..

Anyway easy tea tonight, beans and or egg on toast and home-made pancakes for afters, pot of tea, hot bath and off to bed for me tonight, i need to warm up..and it saves putting the heating on lol

Bye for now AFM xx

Pouring Rain

Morning bloggy world .. brr it sure is chilly and wet up North today wind and rain a plenty .. hopefully it will be third time lucky today for our yet again replacement cooker. In the end we put to another £80 and got a better gas stove, Currys was still selling them for £450 so paying £380 as said cooker has a teeny scratch on the back of it that you cant see, plus including free delivery i am very happy as long as it works, and arrives today...fingers crossed..

Halloween was a quiet one here this year, only one trick or treater at the door, we don't get many in our area, shame really, when my son was younger lots of family's used to trick or treat, seems a dying out tradition in these parts. Seeing as we still couldn't use the oven it was a use it up tea of something that was lurking in the freezer, a tub of curry and a tub of chilli came out, defrosted mixed together, added some bits that were in the fridge and cooked some rice, that fed three and could have easily stretched to four, did nicely, and was hot and tasty.. i nipped on Approved Foods last night, nothing much ever takes my fancy, i could have filled my basket with lots of treats and a few baking products but that's about it really! couldn't justify the minimum spend of £15, with a £5 delivery so i left it. Do you ever get any real bargains that you need or want from AF?

Eee cant wait to finish work today, its been a long two weeks, working full time is tiring, i am only used to part time hours so this weeks wages will be a great help and will go straight into our savings.

Catch you all later.

AFM xx