Bear is poorly

He has a temperature, a cough and a runny tummy (which I suspect is part of the temperature).

I kept him off school as he kept bursting in to tears, which isn't like my little soldier.  However now the calpol is working, while he is subdued, he is managing to keep me occupied with fuss and cuddles, and questions about maths.

It's going to be a long day.

Being a Bad Mother

Bear went to school with a jam sandwich in his lunchbox.  I have agonised over his lunch, tried this and that, he has had pizza and ham sandwiches and pieces of cooked chicken.  I have consistently tried to add nutrition.  An awful lot of it comes back.

A few weeks ago I mentioned to bear about rationing during WWII and how unlikely things were made like carrot jam.  Bear was very taken with this and I was bracing myself for jam making and boiling sugar when I managed to pick up two jars of carrot jam from Approved Food for a comparatively small amount.  Bear likes it.  He really, really likes it.  This enthusiasm probably won't last longer than the jam, in fact I will be surprised if it reaches the bottom of the second jar, but he does actually like it.

So today his lunch box had his drink, his carrot jam sandwich, a jelly with fruit, a satsuma and a packet of wipes because carrot jam is the stickiest thing I have ever given him.

Tomorrow is definitely not a jam sandwich.

Stockpiling

I have seventy two cans of soup in my walk in cupboard.  That is seventy two actual cans of actual soup.  Ooops.  That is not including the dozen or so tins in my kitchen cupboards.

We only really like Heinz or homemade (though we are getting a few home made soups recently).  It was a good offer from Tescos.  I wish I had realised how many of the tins I had bought over the weeks the offer was good for.  I can only see my stockpile clearly now that I have a place to put them and I haven't got them all heaped in a corner.  This is a good thing.  They don't expire until 2015 and I suspect that they will not last long into 2014.

Clearing out the walk in cupboard has been good.  I had thrown a lot of things in there and really I should have just thrown them out.  I now have clear shelves to fill with my stash and a clear pathway to get to them.  It does bring home to me how many loo rolls we have stashed, how many packs of kitchen roll and how many plastic tubs.  This is not a bad thing.  Some of the plastic tubs may be culled later, but only after I have finished clearing the kitchen cupboards.

One thing that I probably won't put off for too long is clearing out the tool boxes.  I have so many tool boxes and boxes of diy stuff - and we never diy!  We have decorated two rooms since 1994, and we are not rushing into the other seven.  Most of our needs can be met with some screwdrivers, a hammer, some pliers and a drill.  If we need anything more complex we can knock on Nice Mr Next Door's door as he fixes cars for a living.  He has everything.  He has generators and angle grinders and thingies and wotsits and welds things in the street.  I cannot imagine him not having a tool that we needed.  Or we live within five minutes easy walk of a tool hire place.  So why do we have six actual tool boxes?  Most of which had been given to us, one or two bits bought in optimistic faith that this year would be the year we got the shelves put up and the rest is father's.

I suppose that is the difference between a useful stash and a not useful stash.  I am a bit stunned that I have seventy two tins of actual soup (plus the tins in the cupboards) but I know they will be used, just like the loo roll.  I don't even know what are in some of the tool boxes, and I haven't felt the need to crack them open in a long time.  In this house, the new rule is that things have to earn their shelf space.  The tools are going to be much reduced!

Facing the Fact

Bear, despite being absolutely rigorously policed with dire warnings about chewing gum, managed to get some on his sleeve.  That is, the sleeve of his new shirt.  The expensive one.  The one I got from BHS without looking at the price tag.  The one he looks utterly gorgeous and awesome in.

It's this one, and he looks amazing in it (photo from BHS website).  He looks fantastic in blue but he usually wears red, because that is his favourite colour.  I refused to allow red trousers.

I know from bitter experience that while I can mutter, grumble, curse, use ice cubes and WD40, I will never get the basic stain out.  I'll get the sticky off, but not the chewing gum mark.  It isn't that noticeable, but it will always be there, probably interfering with my ironing.  And he has worn it three times.

Chewing gum is now definitely banned!  

Veg Box Delivery

This picture does not do justice to the fruit box from Leeds Market's Neils Fruit and Veg, via Market Delivered.  Plus lots of fresh butcher's meat, fresh fish, and some really nice teacakes.

I am already planning lots of meals around them.

Feeling pretty good

I woke up in an incredibly gloomy mood.  I don't know if is the weather, the release from stress or just me, but I was ready to sink in despair.

I am also recovering from spending so much on bear.  This weekend I sent him to my sister in law's with some new clothes.  Bear helped to choose them, they looked so smart, and I was a bit distracted.  However I was picking them up in BHS instead of Matalan and nearly fainted at the checkout.  It serves me right for not checking the price tag first.  Bear is not too bad with me setting spending limits, but he enjoyed the kit so much that I gritted my teeth and paid for a few bits that cost more than his entire summer wardrobe two years ago.  I know prices have gone up and I know he is a lot bigger, but I shall be sticking very close to Matalan and ebay in future.

Then there were shoes.  He has been telling me his shoes were comfy, they were fine, there was no problem.  I kept nagging at him as I know that he won't tell me anything until  the perfect awkward moment.  However I managed to get him to admit that his shoes were uncomfortable.  Of course they were.  When I got him measured yesterday his feet were a full size bigger than his shoes.  I winced at the price, but paid.  

However I have just got a meccano style, 5ft x 2ft x 1ft shelving unit down two flights of stairs, around some nasty corners, out of the front door and down the front steps.  It was touch and go for a while, and at one point I thought I would have to lean out of a window and shout for help having got the unit truly wedged, but I did it.  The glow of accomplishment will keep me going for a long while.  Besides, while I was doing that I wasn't doing the ironing.  

MSE Meaty Crumble

This is the recipe from Money Saving Expert that I used as inspiration.  It was posted by mamabear09 and I am very grateful.  

Beef crumble-
Base= 250g minced beef
generous handfull of lentils
2 diced carrots
3 diced onions
2 tbsp gravy granules
a good handfull of peas
hot water
Topping= box of stuffing
3 tbsps flour
1 tbsp butter
enough water to make crumbs
Instructions-

1. Brown mince and onions until cooked through
2. Add remaining vegetables, not the lentils, until starting to get tender
3. Add gravy granules and still until well mixed off the heat
4. Gradually add water until desired consistency. Add lentils and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. While simmering rub all the crumble ingredients together, not including the water
6. Add small amount of water mixing as you go until you get a nice mix of small and large crumbs.
7. Pour the base into a ovenproof bowl and top with the crumble
8. Bake at 190 degrees c for about 40 minutes or until crumble is golden and cooked

You can add other vegetables and vary the type of stuffing and mince.Thanks for letting me share

I did a big variation on this, thickening stock rather than using gravy granules.  In the past I have also used a white sauce, it's awkward avoiding salty stuff if you are using ham.  Here we require a thick layer of crumble to help pad out, so I used about treble the quantity of crumble.  It makes a nice change and I don't bother with potatoes or pasta or such.  The adding of the stuffing was inspired.