We went shopping, we spent lots of money and then Lovely Hubby put it all up in the loft .... now we'll never see it again, we don't store things in the loft as we don't have 'things' to store, so I hope we won't have to go up there for a long, long time.
But hopefully now with double loft insulation we will have raised the energy performance of the house and saved ourselves lots of money in the long term, so it was a good investment, but still nearly £200 just vanished up into a little wooden hatch in the bedroom ceiling !!
We also managed to get the bathroom completely decorated this weekend, just a couple of final little green touches are needed as we've decided there will be touches of our favourite shade of green in every room of the house alongside a flash of LH's favourite colour orange. LH also managed to buy parts for and mend the upstairs toilet and it's now completely usable so no more long treks to the downstairs bathroom in the middle of the night. We also measured the flue for the new log burner to be installed, it turns out the flue already in place is perfect for our new larger log burner needing just an elbow shaped addition, so the money we have saved on not buying a flue will cover the cost of the slate hearth we have ordered to sit over the quarry tiles, which looked out of place and were not deep enough for the new log burner which is much bigger than the one already there (this will be reused in LH's super duper deluxe Manshed in the future, so no wastage at all).
The man came to look at the oil fired central heating boiler ....
.... and the requiem mass will be held for it in a couple of weeks.
We are now taking a scraper to our bank accounts to find the money required to buy a new one to replace it (this isn't really ours, just a 'tongue firmly in cheek' picture off Google Images, ours is slightly better). We may as well get this done now while the house is being decorated and with a cold Welsh Winter on it's way we think it is very necessary purchase.
The ceiling in the spare bedroom is now painted and a new light fitting installed as the vendors took this one away with them and left us just the wires dangling. So next weekend I will be doing the walls and woodwork and hopefully completing it by putting up the curtain rail. We will then move our mattress into there and then start on our bedroom which will take longer as there are cupboards and wardrobes to paint.
As well as all the work and shopping for loft insulation etc we managed to take time out to walk the dogs along the banks of the River Conwy and also along the Promenade at Llandudno. There are lots of these 'Alice in Wonderland' inspired wooden sculptures there, I don't know the link between Llandudno and Lewis Carroll so I wondered why, do any of you know ?
Sue xx
Simple September - Top Tips #14
Do It Yourself Yoghurt Fruit Corners
How many of you load your supermarkets trolleys with a selection of Fruit and/or Crunch Corners, buying the offers and then stacking them all in the fridge. Everyone in the family having their favourite and then sulking if it gets pinched by someone else. Throwing all those weirdly shaped little pots into the bin or the recycling if your particular council takes that sort of plastic.
Well do it no more, save lots of money and waste ... and have more fun.
Either buy the extra large pots of plain yogurt , usually a cheaper option or make your own, either from scratch as I usually do or with Easiyo yoghurt mixes as I am currently doing to use up my stash, that was re-discovered at the back of the cupboard.
Once the yoghurt is made line up all the potential 'extras' so that whoever fancies some can customise their own.
Fruit Compotes
Jam
Lemon Curd
Syrup
Honey
Slices of Fresh or Dried Fruit
Stewed Fruit
Muesli
Any Breakfast Cereal (Coco Pops,Cornflakes, Cherios etc)
Seeds and Nuts
Crumbled out of date Breakfast Bars
The choices are as wide as your imagination.
You can also pot it into individual lidded pots once assembled for packed lunches and for travelling.
As well as saving you money you can add only enough, if any, sugar to the yoghurt and know that yours will be healthier than any purchased one. The Fat Free ones all have added sugar and sweeteners to make them more palatable and isn't it just nicer anyway to know exactly what's in your food.
Our home made fruit corners are currently using Lidl's greek yoghurt with home grown stewed or fresh fruit (blackberries yesterday) and a sprinkle of honey nut cornflakes. Yum.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear how your house is coming along : )
We too make our yoghurt from scratch. It is eaten, usually for supper, with home grown puréed/fresh fruit. Failing that, our own jam plus a sprinkling of home made muesli. Failing that, dates and honey. Yum! The picture of a similar oil boiler made us laugh. I think you are quite right to concentrate on getting the house as insulated and warm as possible. It will probably be a bit of a wet winter where you are. Apparently Lewis Carroll based his Alice on a girl called Alice who came from/lived/or holidayed in Llandudno
ReplyDeleteThanks for that Dc. Most of the sculptures are really nice but the brief glimpse I caught of the 'Alice' one made her look very scary, possibly the cause of nightmares for young children!!
DeleteI gave up buying fruit flavoured yogurt, and now add plain yogurt to fruit. Tesco 45p, Aldi 55p. I have made my own in the past, but it's only cost effective if I can get reduced price milk.
ReplyDeleteI love before and after pictures. and cant wait to see the end results. They took the light? wow
ReplyDeleteAre the walls very thick on the house?
They are about a foot thick in the older part, the main body of the house and less thick in the newer bit, the conservatory and kitchen/bathroom extension. We have the EPC report and are doing things that will improve the efficiency of the house overall. Yes, they took the light - I think it might have been something bought specifically for their younger son, so we weren't too cross.
DeleteYou'll appreciate the energy efficiency of the insulation, but projects like that do tend to make one wince a little upfront. I am sure your house is going to be lovely!
ReplyDeleteI haven't made my own yogurt in some time, but I do just buy vanilla and add to it if I want something different....unless I find a really good price on flavored. As a side note, vanilla yogurt makes a great base for simple salads. Or favorite is just diced apple, shredded carrot, a few raisins or dried cranberries and a dollop of yogurt all mixed together. I have used almost any combination of fruit with the yogurt as a dressing and served it quite successfully as a dessert.
There is an Alice in wonderland centre in Llandudno although Lewis Carroll never visited Alice a family friends Daughter had a holiday home there she of the Alice stories Alice Liddell.......it is very famous and proud of the connections and the centre is amazing.
ReplyDeleteWelsh poppy beat me to it
ReplyDeleteThe rumour that Carroll visited the twnwas a ploy to attract more tourists
Ps did you visit osborns?
ReplyDeleteNot yet, although it looks amazing (I Googled it) we will have to go soon, but we will have to leave the dogs at home so we can fully appreciate the time out :-)
DeleteOh yes, lemon curd and Greek yoghurt, genius. I shall be trying this very soon. It's a very exciting time at your house I think. Hard work, but it will be so wonderful when it's all done. Especially when winter comes and you are all snug and warm. Hope you both have a good week and that it is a productive one.
ReplyDeleteHi Sue , don't you qualify for Government assisted schemes . We had our Cavity wall insulation done and was also offered Loft insulation and there is Boiler schemes too.
ReplyDeleteI've looked into it all, thanks for the heads up (you might have saved us a small fortune) but unfortunately we do not qualify for anything, oh well back to scraping out the bank account.
DeleteI didn't know about Lewis Carroll in Llandudno, although he does have a connection with the town I live (at least on the outskirts and postal area), Warrington. There are lots of similar statues, and a Mad Hatters Tea Party tableau in the old Fish Market.
ReplyDeleteYour old boiler reminds me very much of one we had in a farmhouse in the Peak District. It used to burn pink diesel, being much cheaper than ordinary domestic CH fuel. It was in the cow sheds, so didn't need to be pretty and was absolutely HUGE.
Alice Liddle is buried locally in Lyndhurst though she holidayed in Llandudno I believe.
ReplyDeleteAfter my step father suffered a stroke & was admitted to Bangor hospital, mum became very fond of the nursing staff. She gave them all thank you presents when he left hospital. Mum bought one of them a White Rabbit in Llandudno as my step father kept looking at his watch to check the time !
I make fruit corners too! I like making spiced apple sauce to go with my yoghurt :) It sounds like the big things in the house are being tackled, I can't wait to see how you've decorated :)
ReplyDeleteBest wishes.