Bargains from the car boot sale

What a glorious day, most of Britain has been enjoying the sunshine. I've just been looking through the photographs in the papers, everyone has been out today. I was happy to stay on home ground. I can't for the life of me think why thousands of people would park their bottoms on Brighton beach, it looks all pebbly, and everyone is packed close together. 

After breakfast I went off to the car boot sale at the football ground, should be a good turn out. There wasn't as many stalls as I thought there would be. I suppose it's still early in the season and not everyone is organised yet. I was looking for a pair of trainers but didn't find any. I also looked for some beads and found these necklaces at 50p each. Lots of beads here, I shall be taking them apart. 

When I saw this bag I thought of a friend who would love it, so I bought it for £2. It's quite an expensive hand painted leather bag. It's got a zipper top, and a zipper pocket inside. The lining looks almost new, and the bag looks like it has had very little use. A bargain I thought.

My garden shears are falling to bits, my fault for buying the cheapest, so when I saw these I could see that they are a better quality. For £2 they are a snip, and I got to test them on a nearby hedge before I handed over my cash. They are ultra sharp and do a good job on grass and hedges. Just the job. The moral of this story is to buy a second hand quality item rather, than a cheap new one. 

I called in at the shopping centre on the way back and got two bags of seed potatoes from the £1 shop. They are on the window sill chitting away. I won't put them in the beds just yet, we could still be getting some cold nights. 

It was warm enough to sit outside with my lunch. Last nights cous cous and curry, with some baked beans added, and zapped in the microwave. A glass of apple juice with a slug of wine to perk it up. Blimey, don't I live the high life, ha ha.  

So, what's the broccoli recipe for tonight. Here we have it steamed, with onions, peas, and carrots. In the middle is a 12p packet of 2 minute noodles. Luverly jubbly, very nice, and very filling.

It was a lovely relaxing day, and the bonus was that I saw a friend at the car boot sale that I hadn't seen for ages. We now have each others phone number so we can keep in touch, she only lives in the next village. I hope you had a lovely Sunday, lets hope the sun continues to shine on us all. Toodle pip. 

A lovely afternoon, and a new home for George

Hello, I've had a lovely Saturday. I've been to visit a friend who lives near Nottingham. I met Kate on Down the Lane Forum, a few years ago,and she put me up for a night when I did the long walk along the River Trent. We also met up at Perth when we were both there on holiday. Kate is involved with a lovely group of ladies who knit and crochet for charity. They make up parcels of mainly baby and childrens clothes and send them all over the world, and they also crochet shawls for a hospice. It was great catching up with her, an enjoyable afternoon. 

When I got back I quickly threw a broccoli recipe together. Today is Saturday Night Curry Night. Broccoli, frozen peas, and sultanas in a pan with some water, bring to the boil. Add some Madras curry powder, this was £1.69 for 400 grm from the Asian shop, it's lasting ages. I also added some turmeric, garlic powder, desiccated coconut, and three teaspoons of porridge oats. Just before serving I added two dessertspoons of  plain yogurt.  I couldn't be bothered to wait for rice to cook so I made some cous cous.  

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It was absolutely delicious. Not too hot, just right. I guessed the amounts spot on this time. There is some left for tomorrow.

I've just had some good news. Another success for the cat rescue, George has a new home, yipeeeee. He is staying in the village with a lovely family who are known to us. It's a quiet street and they have had a cat before. I am so pleased. The icing on the cake for a lovely day. Thank you to the lovely reader who sent the Sainsbury's vouchers for George's food. There are still some left, so with your permission they will be spent on food for the other four cats we have in the pens. I am a very happy bunny tonight :o))
Enjoy your Sunday, catch you tomorrow. xxx

Another recipe, a home made card, and another rag rug.

Hello. What next with broccoli? I have pulled out all the stops and come up with this amazing idea. Broccoli is such a versatile vegetable, you can have it with almost anything. Beans on toast can be quite boring, but what if you add something else to it, like broccoli. There is too much sugar in baked beans, so why not counterbalance that by eating something healthy with it. Brilliant idea. 

The recipe is dead simple. Take one tin of beans and put half of them into a mug, and microwave till it's hot. Cut some broccoli into bite size pieces, and steam it, either in a pan or an electric steamer. Put two slices of bread in the toaster. When the toast pops up put it on a plate, then add the beans so the sauce soaks into the bread. Arrange the broccoli on top in an artistic manner. And there you have a mighty fine lunch. I've got two more bags of broccoli, so more recipes to come. Bet you can't wait :o))

It is a friends birthday at the end of the month, so I thought I would get organised and make a card. I have some blank cards which I bought ages ago, they cost £4 for 50 cards. I chose five different pieces of cotton fabric, and machined stitched them vertically on the front of the card, using a zigzag pattern. It is not perfect. After I had gone up and down the card I had to sew across the top and bottom, so there is an overlap of stitching. Then I added some pieces cut from old cards, on a gold foil backing. I think it's nice, and I think she will like it.
 

Now for the unveiling. It's been a long time coming, but it's finally here.......THE NEW RAG RUG. Measurements are 2 feet 7 inches by 4 feet 3 inches. It looks as though it has a lot of red in it, but in fact they are different shades of pink, red, orange, and peach.

Some of the fabric has curled up into tubes.

The back is as colourful as the front.

I love it even better than the first one, and it will take pride of place in the bedroom. I doubt I will be making any more, it's a long job. I haven't any more of the backing mesh left, but at least it has been put to good use. I knew it would come in handy when I retrieved it from the back of a lorry ten years ago.

Here we are, it's Friday night again. Enjoy your weekend. Catch up soon. Toodle pip

It's a good job I love broccoli !

Hello. Today has been a bit of this and a bit of that type of day. I've been getting on with the rag rug, it will be finished tomorrow so some pics will be posted. I am very pleased with it, definitely  worth all the effort. 

More broccoli eaten today. My goodness will I ever get through it! I finished off the last four burgers from yesterday. Next I chopped up some broccoli, along with five baby carrots, and four spring onions, and added water and zapped it with the stick blender. Then I tasted it, a bit oniony, so I added five big juicy green grapes. zapped again and tasted it. Could be better. So I sloshed in a slug of cloudy apple juice. 

Perfect, just right. It's quite thick so I ate it with a spoon.

For dinner tonight I made a bowl of soup with the broccoli stalk, four carrots, and the tops of the spring onions. I added garlic powder, black pepper, and a teaspoon of beef stroganoff packet sauce mix. Think I went a bit over the top with the pepper, it was mighty hot. Twas very nice though and went down a treat with a slice of wholemeal bread. Followed by a glass of water to put the fire out, ha ha.

This afternoon I went to help my friend in her garden. Luckily the rain held off so I was able to get stuck in. The fence had blown down and is beyond repair, so I smashed it up and stacked it near the gate ready to be taken to the tip. Then I cut up a load of twigs and filled the brown wheelie bin, and made a start on cutting back the massive laurel bush. There will be a few trips to the tip with that lot once the top gets chopped off.

We finished a bit earlier today at 4pm, but still worth calling in at Tesco to look for yellow stickers. They hadn't done the final markdown, I didn't want to hang about for an hour so I just picked up a few items which I thought were a good buy. Not quite 90% off, but still worth having. I spent £2.58, and got more broccoli and carrots, ha ha. Also got lettuce, cheese, and two bottles of apple juice.

I won't go to the big Tesco this week, I have enough food in to keep me going until next week. Might need to get some eggs so I will probably go to town at some point. I think we've got some nice weather coming our way, let's hope so. Catch you tomorrow. Toodle pip.