Frugal Shopping & Cooking


I've been to the auction again with my BF  today and look at this lovely oil painting I brought thinking it could go in our bedroom or bathroom.  I got it for a bargain £1 and with commission I paid £1.12 and now I have hung it up and I think it is lovely.  

We also bid on a box of old books as we spotted a few in there that we would read and could then car boot the rest.  We got that for another £1 but it turned out to be four boxes of books!  They were so heavy that we had to have help to put them in the boot of the car.  I was giggling over them as some are in French!  I think those ones will be used for a few crafting projects.  I am sure we will be able to make a little profit at the car boot in September with the rest.


I also used my favourite cookbook again (A girl called Jack) to make gnocchi.  I used potato and parsnip 50/50.  They don't look as elegant as the picture in the recipe but they sure taste good with a spoonful of pesto.  I doubled the recipe so that I could freeze some.  I open froze them before bagging them up as it makes it easier to grab just the amount needed for a quick meal, 5 mins in boiling water and they are ready.  I buy jars of pesto from Lidl for 99p rather than make my own.


During the week Home Bargains were selling trays of winter pansies for 99p.  I brought two but have only potted one up as yet as this past week the midges have been really bad!  There are only so many bites on my head, face and body I can stand as I react with itchy swollen lumps.
OH had to work at a house by the loch and although he wore a midgie net to protect his face, his poor arms and hands were literally covered in bites.  Luckily he doesn't react as badly to them as I do.


My other gardening bargain were these lovely heathers which Lidl were selling for 67p each.  They had pink but I preferred the white and hope to pot them up over the weekend.

After the Grandchildren left us last weekend our cat Alex disappeared again.  


After five days searching we finally found him again back at our old cottage.  He was so pleased to be found though and purred like mad as I carried him to the car.  He ate 3 sachets of cat food and a bowl of biscuits straight off.  After checking him over he only had one tick behind his ear which OH removed and otherwise was fine and its good to have him home again.  He's mooching happily on my lap as I write this :-)

Terri X







Comments

  1. MargaretAugust 29, 2015 at 10:48 AM

    Have caught up on your blog posts. You've had a great summer haven't you. I love the photos of your flowers. We have Spring flowers here and lambs in the local park and are so happy to say goodbye to what was a very wet winter.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Patricia GibbonsAugust 29, 2015 at 4:40 PM

    So pleased that furry little man is home. The picture you got from the auction is just great xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kim @ Him, Him MeSeptember 25, 2015 at 8:53 PM

    Lovely to see you back. Hope your mum is doing OK. Have you tried buttering Alex's paws for a few days?. I've always done it to my cats when we move. Apparently, they spend so much time trying to get the butter off, that they forget to leave home . It's always worked for us

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kim @ Him, Him MeSeptember 25, 2015 at 8:53 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete

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