Tuesday 12 June 2012

In and out

I had to get a new iron.  The old one had been dropped, was dripping and leaking like a sieve and was not really getting hot.  Even darling father's viscose shirts (from the days when they sold them!) were not melted by the highest temperature.  In fact, when it was dropped on a plastic carrier bag it didn't do a very good job of melting that. 

So I have had a brief road test of the iron - and after half an hour I still had a dry ironing board!  And even though it was on a lower setting I was getting much better results.  I feel so giddy over this iron.  I must must must attack the ironing more, I am making dents in the backlog and getting v happy about it. 

While there I also purchased a slow cooker.  It is small enough to be practical but big enough to take a nice bit of brisket or shin beef.  Tomorrow it is diced turkey stew, with dumplings. 

The thought of having working small appliances really cheered me up, but I could also really have done without spending the money.  I really felt that sinking feeling when I paid for the iron and slow cooker. 

And this week I shall be paying out even more on little bear's school uniform.  He will have grown (of course) by the time September comes, but I think I may be safe getting him age six clothes from M&S - they are 20% off until July and that is a saving.  Little bear isn't six until December, so it should be safe - I hope!  I am using a gift card that I got as part of signing up and paying for a 'goody' pack from My Family Club which gives 5% off - if I load up with £10 of value I only pay £9.50.  I sort of took a bet - £9.99 for their welcome pack (and they were very patient with me when I had to phone) and I was betting that I would get more than that back.  It is looking promising. 

As for in and out - the housekeeping experts say that if you buy something new then the old one should go out.  Actually I could do with getting rid of three almost working irons and will do so as I have identified a useful recycling point I hope to do that this week.  The slow cooker that I already have is more problematical, as I have been using its rice cooker function without problem, although the slow cooker part is frazzled, so I want to keep it.  However I think I will go back to cooking rice badly in a pan, because it will free up a considerable amount of worktop space.  There is also a non working radio.  The house is getting lighter - all I need to do is actually make the trip with the stuff. 

4 comments:

sweet blondie blue eyes said...

Cooking rice on the stove. Wash the uncooked rice under the cold tap until the water runs clear, for two of us I use just over half a cup of rice, then add one cup plus a drop extra of water, put the covered pan on the stove and bring to the boil, stir well and then TURN OFF the heat and leave the pan on the stove for 12 minutes. The rice will be cooked and all the water absorbed. Tip the rice into a sieve and wash under a hot tap or using boiling water from the kettle. I cook mine in advance, put it in a pyrex casserole and then zap in the microwave for 4 minutes, make sure its really hot before serving. Perfect results every time.

Wannabe Sybil said...

Silversewer - thank you thank you thank you thank you! WS xxx

ravylesley said...

Never had a rice cooker and use the same method as Silversewer.As for the recycle point for the irons I am such a bad girl because I like the satisfying thump when unwanted items hit the bottom of my wheelie bin lol

Lesleyxx

Witch Hazel said...

Normally I would applaud your desire to find a recycling point for the items... but on this occasion I would encourage you to bite the bullet and put them in the dustbin. Then work on finding a recycling place ready for next time. You were drowning, you've managed to get yourself to a point where you are treading water, and you now want to start swimming. Sometimes you just have to let go (ie bin the items because you don't yet have a recycling place to put them) to enable you to make progress rather than drag you back under. Sorry for the overcomplicated analogy, but it's kindly meant :-) Haze