Tuesday 22 February 2022

Favourite Jam

 There was a time when you could buy fresh blackcurrants easily. Now unless you grow them, they are hard to find, even in a can (which Tesco used to sell).

Shopping in Lidl, tucked behind other jams, we found this:

Get two said DB, so we did!


Sunday 20 February 2022

Blimey

 It’s absolutely hammering it down at the moment. More rain than Eunice but not quite so windy. Glad I am not out in it though.

Faggots, vegetables and gravy for lunch, followed by home made rice pudding. Chips, jelly and custard for tea. Right comfort food on such a day.

Saturday 19 February 2022

Cooking during Storm Eunice

 We made preparations yesterday in case of power cuts. The dinner we had thought of eating was replaced by a can of M & S chunky steak, instant potatoes and canned vegetables. We enjoyed it.

As it happened, we didn't have any power cuts, damage etc. Wind was quite bad, so we consider ourselves very lucky.

Friday 18 February 2022

Renewing at last...

 Our pair of baby scissors still worked but were getting blunt. Indeed, I had a thread hanging from my nightie and it wouldn't cut it. We bought a replacement yesterday, unfortunately had to buy a small set that included the scissors, a teeny pair of nail clippers and a nail file:

New scissors on the left, plastic handle versus old on the right, all metal:

Not bad for 35 years old!


Tuesday 15 February 2022

A compliment

Welcome to two new followers.

Whilst the cooker was being delivered, they had to reverse with it into our lounge so I could shut the front door, allowing them to manoeuvre into place. One of them noticed I had paused a video game.

"Ah, I see you have The Last of Us II, how's it going? What did you think about them killing Joel off?"  (the previous lead character).

A quick discussion followed as they left. He then started to say, "its unusual for people of your ...."

He stopped as he realised what he was about to say and blushed. I finished "our age"? 

"Well yes" he said. "Its nice to see". 

Yeah, it appears I'm in with the 'in' crowd!!!

Monday 14 February 2022

New Cooker

Our cooker was 13 years old and whilst still working reasonable well, was about to undergo another expensive repair, its third. We bit the bullet and invested in a new one:

It is similar to the old one but has a feature we don't like (but knew about before we bought it. Instead of venting the oven out the back of the cooker it vents through the little black things on top of the back, one per oven:


 

The upshot of which is steaming pouring out (potential to scald) and going straight onto the tiles, where it condensates then runs down the back. It no doubt would make a mess behind the cooker. DB's temporary solution was this:

All well and good but if needing to, the back right of the cooker wouldn't be able to be used.

The chap in the shop said it was the biggest complaint about the new style and we would agree. We do however love Zanussi cookers so hope to find a bit better fix!


Friday 11 February 2022

Keeping Warm

 I have been reading a few sites regarding how to keep warm with fuel rates rising. An interesting one that I hadn't thought of, was an electric blanket/back warmer/knee cover.

They cost very little to run and will help keep you warm in a cool room if you are having to be careful with fuel costs. We also set our thermastat to 18C. Hot water bottles, microwavable hot pads are also useful. Next year, we plan on using our wood burner far more than we have done this year.

Layers of clothing we probably all know about but some days, I have been unable to keep fully warm despite layering. We haven't really had a freezing cold winter either to test things out. I have used fingerless gloves and a scarf/shawl to keep my neck warm which helps greatly.

I also read that the price of a British barrel of oil, was £85 dollars in early January, but today is £92. Doesn't sound too much until taxes are added. Driving to do shopping the other day, we noticed fuel has gone up by 2p a litre again. 

Our prices equate to $5.36 USD for an American gallon or $6.39 dollars per a Canadian gallon. Wonder what it is elsewhere as I don't think Americans are paying anywhere near that rate at the moment.

In the kitchen, only put in the kettle the amount you need to boil. We have ours marked for 2 cups, enough to fill our small teapot. Some people prefer to boil a whole kettle and store the unused amount in a flask for later use.

I have just made us a pea and ham soup to eat over the next couple of days. It was done in my pressure cooker.

Elsewhere, we haven't used our tumble dryer for ages now. We bought it as a replacement for our old one, but it has a built in lock to prevent using a timer overnight, most annoying.

I'm sure lots of you have other tips on how to keep warm if we have to start using a lot less fuel.


Saturday 5 February 2022

New BP Kit and freebies

Our new blood pressure kit arrived yesterday, along with 2 freebies:


 Some anti-bacterial handwash and a smaller bottle of hand gel.

Wednesday 2 February 2022

Home Blood Pressure Monitoring Kits

 Our current kit (from Boots) is now 10 years old. They are supposed to be serviced every 2 years to make sure they are measuring accurately. We both check ours and it always coincides with the surgery reading. 

However, we want to change it now. Trying to get it serviced is a nightmare and now costs more than the device. That is such a shame so we are getting another one.