Boots, boots and jackets.

I went mad on Thursday on my one days leave. I should have gone to Birmingham to the Sewing for Pleasure show but couldn't get a cheap rail ticket so decided to spend my hard earned money locally instead. I have a decent pair of walking boots now & a good waterproof jacket. Both essentials up here & pretty useful in Suffolk too I imagine if the wind blows infrom the sea. However the anorak says I'm not to go fishing in the jacket it will frighten the fish! It's pink you see. Not bright pink but still pink! And in the sale as were the boots.
Today I went back into town with Joe & bought him some bigger boots & a coat ready for the hols & his school field trip in May. The Mountain Warehouse are having a relocation sale so I made the most of it!!! I was even organised enough beforehand to get a beef casserole in the oven which we had with fried polenta (that's a first - never tried it before). The left over stew wasn't enough for another serving so I added some more liquid & blitzed it with the blender to serve up as gravy next time we have beef of some description.
http://laurasewingroom.blogspot.com/ Here's a blog of a lady who's taste & style I love. I just wish I had the time and space to create such lovely clothes.
Friday I spent the morning at a "masterclass" for teachers of sewing related crafts. It was very useful. Not sure how I managed to get invited as I haven't even heard if I passed my teaching certificate yet but I'm not complaining. I even got a claim form for expenses! Anyway I fired off a few emails last night to see if I can get in with the local adult education centres.
Sunday will be quiet. I hope. Maybe the Joe & I will go walking in our new boots with the dogs. Joe likes woods so I'll get the maps out & see where we can go.

Shopping

Look - three have already gone from the tray!! Not sure who ate them!

I did wonder today if I should rename this blog to include the word frugal. I had £40 to do the weeks basic shopping. The couple in front of me with a toddler & a 6 month old spent £108. OK there were a number of organic purchases but there was also plenty of biscuits, cakes & jars of baby food. If it were me I'd be making the baby food from the organic produce - yes I used to buy jars of food for emergencies or days when I could be bothered but not in the quantity I saw today. Another retired couple had a trolley full of ready prepared meals & tins of meat, pop etc. Maybe they felt it was time to take it easy & not spend time doing the prep. Maybe I'm just jealous? No! I want to feed my family as well as I can but not at any price nor with a lot of junk. Which isn't to say I don't buy junk or ready prepared meals occasionally - everything in moderation I say. My purchases included meat & veg, washing powder, milk & yoghurt. I already have some basics in the house so it isn't the entire amount of food for the week, although my housekeeping varies between £30 & £50 at any given week depending on how much hubby earns a week so we have to shop carefully. But do we all use up the leftovers?
I started out with the intention of echoing the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle motto. I took my own carrier bags in a cloth bag I made specifically to hang on the trolley see Lakeland Limited's website for their eco bag. Lunch was homemade veg soup using the stock I made yesterday from the carcass of the chicken from the day before. Bread was a homemade roll topped with cheese. Tea was quiche with bacon & cheese, served with fresh green beans & mashed potatoes left over from yesterday but put in little pyramids, topped with cheese, on a baking tray in the top of the oven while the quiche cooked below. I used the left over pastry to make jam tarts as well.
So I reduced the waste from leftover food, was sensible using the oven for more than one thing & didn't take any new plastic bags from the shop by recycling the ones I got last time! I managed to fill us all up except for my son who is a lean mean eating machine at the tender age of nine. Well he's always been like this. I filled some more of the gap with cherry pie that Mum gave me a while ago that had sat in the freezer until today. Haven't we overdone the pastry today?!! Now I notice he's snacking on the home made choc chip cookies that I made today. I didn't mention that his late breakfast was homemade drop scones (Scotch pancakes) - a veritable bottomless pit! He'd be eating a banana as well but as per usual they were all green inthe shop today. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow I'll get chance to read & drool a little more over Kaffe Fassett. Joe badly needs some more trousers I'll have to have a look through some back issues of Ottobre to see which I (he) likes best, being a stick insect bought trousers don't necessarily fit, even with adjustable elastic in the back waist. Custom made look better!