Wednesday 23 November 2011

Training

Bart is doing really well in the 'retrieve' game. Trouble is, he is now bored. instead of catching his catnip mouse and delivering it to his mistresses's feet, he has decided that the 'let's play cricket' game is much more fun. Trouble is, he bats many a boundary....but it usually ends up behind some piece of 'heavy' furniture.Then...all the mogs descend....me me me me me......

Went to the council today. We are no 12 on the allotment waiting list. We should be way higher because we went in, week after week to register for a plot, but the office was always closed. Bah humbug!

Amazing....daughter just asked me what 'bah humbug' means. I can't be that 'miserable' at Christmas, then!!...can I? lol

Son no 1 always refers to himself as 'child no 3'when he phones. Pathetic attempt in the sympathy dept. 'Tis a game we play. lol What do I want for Crrimble? he asks. I say that £5 is the limit for any pressie. So, wonder what we'll end up with? Much more exciting when you have to be more inventive.

Dish clothes for everyone, then! lol

Tuesday 22 November 2011

One machine is alive

Back from visiting Mother. Son no 2 took us. Grandchild of Min nobbled junior for attention from the start. Funny how little toddlers love their teen aunties:o)

Well, Mother has this elderly Dyson (vacuum) and said she found it a tad too heavy to manage. Sooooooooo, we got her a smaller vac and did a swap. Yay.

Brought it home and Son no 2 sort of dropped it a bit when extricating it from the boot of the car. Needless to say, Junior sussed it out and mended the poor thing and so we have hoovered every possible surface in the house. Bloody good, these Dysons. lol

Heard there are some ex batts needing a home. They've been raised on an organic farm. Junior and I chose names weeks ago during a 'wish we could have this' conversation. We ended up with about fifty names. lol....Maybe we are destined to have so many. lol Ok...don't think so, but it would be nice to give an elderly hen or two a home for their later years. Am going to suss out our 'wood and wire netting supplies'. lol Daphne and Hilda...Betty...Velma.....Penny, Polly, Titch....could go on forever. Foghorn Leghorn would be the rooster. just because.... lol

Sunday 20 November 2011

The Machines are on Strike

It's soooooooo foggy here today...and cold. Typical November day. Can we afford to have the heating on? I really envy those people who have open fire places/log burning stoves. Am pretty peed off having to rely on outrageously priced energy suppliers. Too expensive. There are only so many jumpers one can put on without keeling over with the weight of them! The mogs LOVE the heating. Quietens them.

Pumpkin soup and autumnal crumble and custard for Sunday dinner today. My quest to have nourishing, nutritional food on a mega tight budget is churning out some pretty unusual stuff. The back of the store cupboard has, at last, seen the light of day! We have been amazed as to what was lurking there. Like...'Oooo, forgot we had that!'...etc' lol I finished off the leftover lentil lasagne. Junior declined and tucked into a monster sized jacket spud.. Have to say that lentil lasagne is a lot nicer the day after baking, but we still think it's nicer made with veggie mince rather than gloopy, orange lentils.

The hoover has blown up. That's the fourth one in two and half years. Now the washing machine is playing up....It's got an led display that's gone a bit barmy and seems to have a mind of it's own at the mo. Put the washing in and the machine seems to be deciding what wash to put on. Don't make 'em like they used to....sigh....

Back to making catnip mice. Pets At Home needn't worry about any competition from me...yet! lol

Friday 18 November 2011

Catnip...our saviour

When Mother moved, she took Jimmy with her. He is her cat and stayed with us for two years until she could find somewhere to live where [pets are allowed..... and she did and so he went with her.

Well, she thinks 'cos she's an old git (her words, not mine) that he must be! "Oh, he's an old kitty now."....sympathetic look....blah.

Well, Jim lad has other ideas. He's a STUD!!!!! Taraaaaa! Likes to play and whizz about like a loon..just like my lot.....(we taught him well and wished we had videod it!).

So, Junior made him a catnip mouse as a leaving pressie and diligently cut out the material, made a litle sack for the catnip, stuffed it into the mouse 'costume', shoved stuffing in and sewed the whole lot up. Didn't look bad at all and I was even even thinking of adding it to my little craft shop. All was going well until Tinks decided that she'd quite like a catnip mouse...and so commenced the steal......

Jimmy's litle pressie was, of course, hi-jacked...and lost. So, tonight, after aforememntioned toy was rediscovered, we put it to the test.

We are a pair of geniuses/ii?

Have managed to get Bart 'the night owl' to 'fetch'. Been chucking the catnip mouse for him and he has been retrieving....for about half an hour, other following.... V cute to watch. Mog puffing his chest out like Macho Cat and one who is now very definitely pooped and out for 'the night'. Super stud! lol

Result! Only 10 partying tonight!

23.39 and I am surrounded by snoring mogs:o)))

Meal Tweaking

We are experimenting with recipes. Times is 'ard!

Anyway, we seem to be okay on the pudding front, it being autumn and there being plenty of puds to make in the 'tummy warming' department. Alas, not the same can be said for the main meal. sigh......

Tonight we tried a lasagne....lentil, mushroom, red pepper and chili, to be precise. I saw one in Tescos the other day and the piccy looked lovely...... so I thought I'd try and create it at home.

Cooked way too many lentils. I thought they would be a little more robust anbd chewy, but they ended up looking like......slop! But, hey ho...carry on. Make no judgements until the tasting time, she tells herself. Junior was looking a bit worried but seemed to be pleased with the finished look of the dish. After tasting, she thought it okay but it was too filling for her. She'd put in too many layers of pasta and I thought there wasn't enough tomato sauce (put in a whole tin plus some puree). BUT...it is filling..(albeit too carby)....and cheap to make. I think we need to tweak the seasonings and lose some layers of pasta. Didn't have any onions. Maybe that's what was missing taste-wise? Ah, what they hell...gotta tweak the whole bloody lot! Must put it down to not being in a lasagne mood..

Big Bro's camera is SOOPER DOOPER. Just need some new batteries.

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Blink and it's gone

Guess who bunked in with Mummy the other night?

I went into Junior's bedroom for something and just happened to see a spider happily absailing down her bedroom wall....with the cheery, cheeky 'Cooeeee' sort of look. Not the sort of sight Junior likes, though, as she screams, loudly, when she spots any of the hairly little buggers. Well, in the blink of an eye, the little beast was gone...... There's me asking myself if I should tell darling daughter . She must have heard my thought...telepathic little thing...and asked "What?"

Ay....should I tell her or not? Decisions, decisions...think, think...while I flip her duvet and mattress up in search of the missing Charlotte..or Charlie so I can discreetly remove it. You see, as luck would have it, old Hairy Eight Legs would have to shimmy down behind J's bed!! Oooooooo, bad news. I was just imagining the SCREAMS if it came out at night and said hello to Junior up front and close! Would have to have eardrums fixed, for sure! lol

Again..."What?"

So I did...tell her. Hence, the bunking in. Never again. She kicks like a mule, nicks all the duvet and has sharp toenails! Needless to say, the next day the Spider Absailing Centre (J's room) got a mega hoover, clear out and what have you. Daughter says she is going to get some chestnuts, prick them and put them in all the corners of her room. Old wives' tale..supposed to keep spiders away. We shall see....or hear. lol