Shopping ... and Blogger Comment Problems

 

3rd September - Sainsbury's - £42.77

This shopping is looking very different from my usual photos as I broke all the shopping rules.  I went shopping hungry, I had forgotten to make a list and I just wandered around trying to remember what I actually needed ... cheese, bread and deodorant.  So there were far too many treats, and my main excuse is that I was hungry by the time I got to the supermarket after delivering Alan his lunch at the bungalow, hence all the little treats for me, but hey ... I will most definitely enjoy them over the course of the coming week.  

I also got Alan's chocolate bars for his lunchtime puddings for next week and some chocolate cream eclairs as a treat for last night.  My man is feeling very tired and in need of treats at the moment.  The chicken is for Ginger, he has a little fresh chicken with every meal now, he's worth it. 😸

  I did manage to stay inside my current £50 a week budget, but there's not a lot of actual meals there is there.  Thank goodness for the freezer and cupboard stocks which I need to work through anyway.

A lot of what I bought was on offer in one way or another, so it was a good shop really.  I also treated myself to the Radio Times as there is usually a lot of the dramas that suddenly appear on the television at this time of year and I wanted to see what was going to be available to either watch or record.

Another convincer to buy it was this card.  

So I immediately scanned the QR code when I got home to see if I could get the offer, the small print had said I couldn't as a former subscriber, but it all went though straight away.  So instead of paying the cover price which is currently £5.75 ... gulp!!  I will get ten issues for just £1 each and then I can cancel it if I want to.

 Scan it from here if you want to make use of it too.

I apologise for not being able to leave any comments on all the blogs that I read daily, and I understand if you too are unable to leave comments on my blog.  But Blogger in it's wisdom is playing up yet again.  I have reported the problem ... we'll see what happens.

Sue xx

The Charity Book Table, Lunch and Progress

 

I was asked by a blog reader about the charity book table that I buy from, and donate to, in our local Booths Supermarket   Well it was nice and quiet in there this morning when I called in to get Alan a bottle of milk so I took a quick photo.

It's not always this full, indeed at the start of the Bank Holiday weekend it was very depleted.  But usually when this is the case, a lovely townsperson will go through their own book collection and donate some books.

I am in the habit of tidying up the books as I look through them, as are a few other people.  I am being very particular these days and I have definitely donated more books than I have bought.  There is a poster on top of the boxes telling you which the current charity is, it usually changes each month and they are always local good causes.  The poster also suggests a donation of £1 per book.  Some people give more and some give less, so I suppose it balances itself out.  You just pop your cash in the yellow collecting box on the far right of the photo.

I called round to the bungalow as usual at lunchtime with Alan's dinner, I've been doing this every day while he has been so busy, as well as cooking his evening meals.

This was the state of play at the beginning of the Bank Holiday weekend, he then grouted this half of the living room.

This was the state of play at lunchtime today.  

So much has happened so quickly.  Alan had spent the morning doing the plumbing for the kitchen water heater which is in the corner cupboard to the right of the window, while the kitchen fitter got all the base units in place, then Alan switched to the floor tiling in his bedroom, he's changed his mind about having carpet in there.  It's all starting to come together very nicely.

Sue xx

The Books That I Read in August

 

I do love a book with it's own bookmark ribbon.  😄

Fingers in the Sprinkle Jar by Chris Packham

I found this book very 'bitty', Chris jumps from timeline to timeline over his early years and I didn't enjoy this side of it at all.  I didn't read it all fully and gave up completely about two thirds of the way in.  It could have been so much better.

Donated

Slimming One Pound Meals by Miguel Barclay

While I do like Miguel's books I am being a bit ruthless in the ones that I am keeping.  I no longer find myself needing to have or to keep every book that a person I like reading or cooking from writes.

Donated

Cooking on a Bootstrap by Jack Monroe

I have all of Jack's books and regularly make things from them, but I had two copies of this book.  This copy is one of the original 'crowdfunded' editions so I have kept this and donated the other hardbacked copy that came out afterwards.

Kept the original, and Donated this one.

5 Ingredients 10 Minutes by Jules Clancy

While some of the recipes in this book seemed really good, reading it again six years after I originally bought it I decided that some were just so basic they could barely be considered a recipe.

For instance, take a bag of mixed leaves and top with a flaked cooked salmon portion and pour over a little lemon juice as a dressing.  To me this is an idea not a recipe.

Donated

Dinner's ON! by Barry Lewis

This wasn't a bad book by any means, but it was quite meat heavy and it was big. I don't eat meat and I am still on a mission to cut down on my big books and whittle down my cookbook collection.

So, it was Donated.

Only Connect The Official Quiz Book by Jack Waley-Cohen

I was lucky enough to find this book on the £1 charity book table in Booths.  I love the show and watch it religiously every week, so to be able to 'play' the game myself was really good.  I did quite well ...in everything except The Wall.

Donated ... back to where it came from for someone else to enjoy.

Thinking On My Feet by Kate Humble

My final book of the month and finished just yesterday, was this one year diary of Kate Humble's walks, both local to her in this country and overseas when she travelled for work engagements.  It was a really good read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

But I would never have read it again, so it was Donated.

All in all a good month of reading with more cookbooks than usual as I am trying to whittle down my collection so that I don't clutter up my soon-to-be new kitchen. 😄

I do find myself in a position these days to be able to be quite ruthless with the books that I keep.  Maybe I am simply becoming a book reader, and not always a reader and collector.  They can on occasion be two entirely different but compatible hobbies.

Which are you?

Sue xx

Rounding Off August - Freebies and Shopping

 

4th  Barton Grange Garden Centre

We ate or just drank out more than either of us thought we had during August.  But almost every time I managed to bring something home with us to add to the 'freebie stash'.  We only bring home things that we have picked up thinking that we will use them with our drink or meal, and never ever take from the 'help yourself' pots on café or restaurant tables.

The things that I bring home would be swept into the bin by the person clearing the table after we have left if I didn't take them.  I have seen it done far too often for my liking.  I do not believe in waste.

8th  Burnside Garden Centre

We get two free coffees a month at this garden centre.

14th  Dobbie's Garden Centre

We also get two free coffees at this one.

14th Also Dobbie's Garden Centre

Alan did not get the meal that I thought he was getting, so we didn't need the mayonnaise that he would normally have used.

15th  Ralphy's Café in Morecambe

We went for breakfast here, you always get a little biscuit with your coffee which is really nice, a lot of cafés have stopped doing this now, but we did not want to spoil our appetite for the food before it arrived.

16th  Rivington Services

I got a free coffee on my Greggs app, you buy nine and get your tenth cup free.  These add up quite quickly as we stop here on our way home from visiting Mum, so we're usually there twice a week ... it's our 'decompression zone'.

26th  Barton Grange Garden Centre

We went for lunch here, the salad came drenched in a very tangy dressing ... far too much dressing in both our opinions ... so the mayonnaise wasn't actually needed.

29th  Booths Café

A tasty pit stop for a bacon bun for Alan and a coffee for me.

30th  Rivington Services

There were no napkins at Greggs, so Alan walked over to the Burger King outlet and picked some up, also getting some salt and ketchup for his chicken nibbles and sausage roll.

30th  Rivington Services

However, there were doughnuts at Greggs so I picked up the free one that I was owed.  😁

31st Booths

And finally, this morning we had a very early lunch.  Alan didn't buy the coffee that I thought he was getting so the sugars were superfluous.

Barton Grange - 26th - £3.29

The only shopping that I have done this week was to buy some bread rolls from the garden centre.  We go to Barton Grange regularly as rather strangely, it is the cheapest place to buy Ginger's preferred cat food.

We are both trying not to shop too much as we want to whittle our food supplies down a bit ready for moving in a couple of months.  Which is a bit opposite to what a lot of people are currently doing after the Government has seemingly issued instructions that every household in England should hold more supplies for 'emergencies'.  Maybe once the kitchen has been fully installed we can start moving some food over and see exactly what we have.  I'm sure two more weeks won't make too much of a difference.

Well, I hope two weeks won't make too much of a difference!!

Sue xx

You Win Some, You Lose Some

 

I was stood in Morrisons in Morecambe, just inside the doors where there was a huge display of doughnuts.  Ooh, I thought they look nice, what a lovely sweet treat.

Then I looked at the list of ingredients ... and immediately changed my mind. 😐

So when we got home I rewarded myself, and Alan, with a nice fresh salmon and pasta salad.  It was so tasty I didn't even need a sweet treat of any description.

Later on determined not to waste the crusts off my loaf of bread, I made some garlicky croutons to go into a bowl of soup for my tea.  I left them slightly too long and had slightly charcoal-y croutons.  Still edible but not the luscious little pillows of bready garlic-ness that I was hoping for.

You win some, you lose some.  😄

Sue xx