Or the blast from Siberia.
Yup. Cold.
-20℃, and with wind chill it feels like -26℃. Tomorrow -24℃, with wind chill -29℃. Not very funny. 'Suma can't stay out longer than max. 30 min with jacket, so no long walks this week. Cats can't stay out even that long. I have a house full of nutcases trying to make me insane, talk about cabin fever!
So, what to do?
Defrost one's freezers, of course!
It was actually long overdue task, but I haven't had time to do it.
Apparently we have one big Ikea bag of ice cream. Nobody wants to eat them at the moment. I wonder why...
Tuesday 27 February 2018
Friday 16 February 2018
Going nuts
I have bought food (and other stuff like cats' treats) from net store similar to Approved food (I've better not to look up AF because I can't make an order because of postal fees) once every two months. But now I have a problem. Last order a month ago included a box of muesli bars (with lots of nuts but no raisins). Which were delicious. Note "were". ES, who doesn't eat, ate those bars, and told me he had eaten all of them.
So. A teenager who doesn't eat has found something he likes, and it costs twice as much elsewhere... They are also high in energy and high in fiber, which both are lacking in ES's diet. Should I make an order - there is also cheap(ish) puppyfoor for 'Suma.
Should I take the risk they won't be available anymore in next month when I was planning to make another order?
Sooo... Of course I made an order. Byebye money and well-laid plans.
I have spent a lot of money this year so far. Money for nothing occasionally (I had to buy car parts to my car and the it appeared they were wrong parts and the fault wasn't in those parts anyway and NOW I have to buy another part and that is also not free). Money well spent, too. I bought my first reading glasses, but I got them cheaply (kind of) because my old friend from school owns the place. Hope I learn how to use them, because honestly - I haven't been able to read that small print on labels for two years now.
On the other hand I have been doing good stuff. I have kept the house warm mostly with woodburners. I have been experimenting on different meals, made veggie burgers (first time ever) and fish cakes (second time ever). Veggie burgers not so great succes with kids (though D really liked them; next time I won't be using so much tarragon), and only two kids liked fish cakes, but hb ate them with vigour.
Last night I made omelettes, one with really really cheap sausage (hb loves that stuff, he doesn't like meaty sausages!), one with cheese and one with spinach. 7 eggs (10c per egg), a splash of milk (5c?) leftover cheese (max 50c, likely much less), 50c for the sausage and maybe 10c for butter, spices and electricity. So 1,85€ meal for six people and leftovers for hb's and my lunch, not bad.
On the other day I was raiding the fridge and found several seen-the-best-days-a-long-ago veggies like swede, cauliflower, broccoli, some iceberg lettuce, diced tomatoes... So I made soup. Now I have 9 containers of soup (each 2 portions) in the freezer for me to take to work for lunches. With free bread (provided by my mother) they make pretty cheap lunch.
This weekend I'll be browsing my seeds for the next summer. I think I have everything I'd like to grow - I had to adjust my plans because the crash of polytunnel, but with this kind of winter it really doesn't do much difference. Growing season won't begin before late April.
Maybe I'll sow some chillis?
So. A teenager who doesn't eat has found something he likes, and it costs twice as much elsewhere... They are also high in energy and high in fiber, which both are lacking in ES's diet. Should I make an order - there is also cheap(ish) puppyfoor for 'Suma.
Should I take the risk they won't be available anymore in next month when I was planning to make another order?
Sooo... Of course I made an order. Byebye money and well-laid plans.
I have spent a lot of money this year so far. Money for nothing occasionally (I had to buy car parts to my car and the it appeared they were wrong parts and the fault wasn't in those parts anyway and NOW I have to buy another part and that is also not free). Money well spent, too. I bought my first reading glasses, but I got them cheaply (kind of) because my old friend from school owns the place. Hope I learn how to use them, because honestly - I haven't been able to read that small print on labels for two years now.
On the other hand I have been doing good stuff. I have kept the house warm mostly with woodburners. I have been experimenting on different meals, made veggie burgers (first time ever) and fish cakes (second time ever). Veggie burgers not so great succes with kids (though D really liked them; next time I won't be using so much tarragon), and only two kids liked fish cakes, but hb ate them with vigour.
Last night I made omelettes, one with really really cheap sausage (hb loves that stuff, he doesn't like meaty sausages!), one with cheese and one with spinach. 7 eggs (10c per egg), a splash of milk (5c?) leftover cheese (max 50c, likely much less), 50c for the sausage and maybe 10c for butter, spices and electricity. So 1,85€ meal for six people and leftovers for hb's and my lunch, not bad.
On the other day I was raiding the fridge and found several seen-the-best-days-a-long-ago veggies like swede, cauliflower, broccoli, some iceberg lettuce, diced tomatoes... So I made soup. Now I have 9 containers of soup (each 2 portions) in the freezer for me to take to work for lunches. With free bread (provided by my mother) they make pretty cheap lunch.
This weekend I'll be browsing my seeds for the next summer. I think I have everything I'd like to grow - I had to adjust my plans because the crash of polytunnel, but with this kind of winter it really doesn't do much difference. Growing season won't begin before late April.
Maybe I'll sow some chillis?
Sunday 4 February 2018
Not a heatwave
Last ten days I have been walking the puppy and trying to keep the house warm. There is finally a decent winter after all the lousy years. That also means temperatures keep low, today has been coldest day so far, -17℃.
I usually rotate between heating kitchen stove and the big heat-storing fireplace, but because the cold I have to lit a fire every day to the big fireplace. And that means I have to keep hauling firewood inside. Now I'm up to two loads of wood, if weather keeps getting colder I might have to succumb to increase electric heating. And then of course there is the woodburner in the extension, but it needs only a half load of wood for the whole day (ant that could count also as a heat-storing system, because chimney is two stories tall and the damper is right next to the ceiling on the upper floor, so when the chimney has warmed, it gives warmth on both floors.
Heating the house during cold winters isn't about convenience, it is about keeping all systems operational. If I'd let the house get cold, I might end up with frozen waterpipes and drainage, and maybe even with some structural damage/water damage or moisture inside walls (I'm not talking about some condensation on the windows).
'Suma is a bit bored, she can't take long walks because of the cold. Yesterday we tried our basic route, but even wearing a shirt she was shivering half way and I had to pick her up and wrap inside my shawl. So short walkies.
So. It is cold and my polytunnel has collapsed. Darn.
I usually rotate between heating kitchen stove and the big heat-storing fireplace, but because the cold I have to lit a fire every day to the big fireplace. And that means I have to keep hauling firewood inside. Now I'm up to two loads of wood, if weather keeps getting colder I might have to succumb to increase electric heating. And then of course there is the woodburner in the extension, but it needs only a half load of wood for the whole day (ant that could count also as a heat-storing system, because chimney is two stories tall and the damper is right next to the ceiling on the upper floor, so when the chimney has warmed, it gives warmth on both floors.
Heating the house during cold winters isn't about convenience, it is about keeping all systems operational. If I'd let the house get cold, I might end up with frozen waterpipes and drainage, and maybe even with some structural damage/water damage or moisture inside walls (I'm not talking about some condensation on the windows).
'Suma is a bit bored, she can't take long walks because of the cold. Yesterday we tried our basic route, but even wearing a shirt she was shivering half way and I had to pick her up and wrap inside my shawl. So short walkies.
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