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stumbling self sufficiency in a small space
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4:06 pm
Supreme Being
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Mon 3-Oct-11
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Weighed and lost all that was gained over Christmas/New Year and a little bit more 
less than a lb to go to make 1 stone lost since November, just another stone to go! 
Are we having fun yet? I am!
4:16 pm
Councillor
Thu 7-Jan-10
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We're all good here 🙂
He's settled well into his job, and unless anything unexpected goes terribly awry in the nexct few weks should be getting a permanent contract (which is a mighty big relief, as he was on a 2 year one to start with and that would expire in april).
I have a job, it's nothing special or exciting, but it gives me yarn tokens and pays the course fees for the masters, also gets me out of the house and I've met some very lovely new friends, so all in all I shouldn' t complain as much as I usually do about it 😀
The kitten is nearly 9 now (!), and seems contented enough. he has a cat flap at this house, which is an improvement as the first place we lived out here had no flap fitting option, so he can go out and explore if he fancies it. Out back garden is really more like a prison exercise yard, buut with a small pond which now contains some fishes. The kitten watches them sometimes, and drinks the water sometimes, but seems to have no conception of them as things that he might want to try and catch, so this is good. He can climb the fences to get out, but he doesn't seem to bother much any more. there are cats around that I think tease him because of his funny accent.
It looks like we'll be here a few more years at least, probabl;y until I finish my course, and then we'll see where the wind takes us - maybe still NL but closer to Den Haag so I can get a proper job, maybe I'll succeed in persuading him to get a job in Boston so I can do an LLD at somewhere really fun. Either way, I'm sure we'll be ready for a new adventure by then.
Intolerance will not be tolerated.
4:25 pm
Supreme Being
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Sun 30-Jan-11
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Well done Martin!
My achievement today has been to bake various things without measuring quantities first....
Was going to have a proper, full-on baking day - couple of loaves, muffins, fruit cake, lemon drizzle cake (would mostly have been frozen, we're not having an all-u-can-stuff cake fest tomorrow 
). Had just started measuring out flour for the first loaf (half white/half wholemeal) when my electronic scales gave up the ghost - dead battery. And it would have to be an obscure battery of course (one of those little flat round things), not the common or garden 'AA' or 'AAA' ones we keep spares of....
So I had to wing it and guess the quantities of flour 
- however, since I've made loads of bread over the past few months I had a fair idea of typical quantities. Cakes, though, are another matter......I wasn't brave enough to attempt to guess the quantities for those. So after a bit of cussing and grumbling, I decided to make fruit flapjack - quantities there being less critical. And now I've made a fruit crumble using tablespoons of assorted GF flours.
It's all in the oven at the mo......fingers crossed everything works out ok! (Perhaps I should have waited until it's all cooked before listing it as an achievement......
).
learning to love veg…..except celery :-O
4:55 pm
Supreme Being
Mon 21-Sep-09
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Well done Sue, it gets easier after a while. I can rarely be bothered to get scales out and if it fails it usually makes a decent pudding 
Congratulations Martin. I haven't lost my Christmas weight yet, but not pushing it hard.
Achievements for the day is to take the Christmas tree down. I don't mind it being up longer but the cats were starting to play with the handmade decorations and I don't want to lose them as they are a reminder of our time in Denmark.
Also walked to the post office to post the form that we have to fill in twice a year giving the number of animals we have. It is a major achievement, firstly for remembering it needs doing and secondly because it was darned icy out there and cold. Even the children were walking slowly. It was the kind of weather where it would have been nice to have a brisk walk, but too treacherous, even with Yaktrax on.
5:29 pm
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
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Keeping my fingers crossed for a good outcome Sue. My Ma never had a set of scales, everything she made was by guesswork and everything was excellent.
I'll try that again!
5:45 pm
Supreme Being
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Sun 30-Jan-11
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It all looks good, TA - thankfully!
I don't tend to adhere strictly to measurements when baking, but do like to have the scales to hand to weigh out stuff when I think I need to. Never had to do totally without before, and since I've only really been baking with any regularity for the last 2 or 3 years of living down here, I wasn't very confident about winging it. Prior to our move down here, as I was working and there was only the two of us, I rarely did any baking (or even much in the way of cooking meals from scratch, come to that 
).
learning to love veg…..except celery :-O
5:53 pm
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
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Making up for it now though and a good thing too!
I'll try that again!
5:58 pm
Supreme Being
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Sun 30-Jan-11
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I've changed so much and our lifestyle is so different now since living down here, some of our friends/family would hardly recognise me!! Even my mother says she can't believe how much cooking (and housework!!!) I do now. After mother went back home following her last stay with us, she was telling a family friend about the bread and cakes I'd made.....the friend gaped at mum and said "What? Sue?!"
learning to love veg…..except celery :-O
6:09 pm
Supreme Being
Wed 30-Dec-09
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Hope everything turns out well, Sue - as Joanna says, they'll make puddings, if nothing else! 
6:15 pm
Supreme Being
Thu 24-Sep-09
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At the dentist this morning - very pleased as just needed a scale and polish and that is me done and dusted for 6 months. Did a bit of shopping afterwards and then to a friend's house for coffee. Then on the beach with the dogs in bright sunshine. What a difference from yesterday when I was soaked.
Tomorrow I am off to Inveraray. A friend is taking her car for a service and wants a bit of company, so we shall have coffee, wander round the few shops and then have lunch in the George Hotel. It is a nice place to go, very friendly and very atmospheric.
Old teachers never die, they just lose their class
6:21 pm
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
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That sounds like a very enjoyable day, have fun.
You did make me smile Sue.
I'll try that again!
7:46 pm
Supreme Being
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Mon 3-Oct-11
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We have electronic scales, (an old lab balance in reality) and a set of ancient balance scales which probably have the most use, 1) to weigh out the dogs daily meals and 2) to weigh ingredeints for baking-cakes and biscuits and bread. It has a set of imperial and metric weights so most recipes can be catered for and it relies on gravity for its power.
Are we having fun yet? I am!
10:21 pm
Supreme Being
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Tue 1-Jan-13
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Sooliz said:
It's all in the oven at the mo……fingers crossed everything works out ok! (Perhaps I should have waited until it's all cooked before listing it as an achievement……
sooliz my scales are like yours but i have a set of american cup measures, and as a lot of recipes give both english and american measures i prefer to use them as it is less hassle than getting the scales out
Never give up Tomorrow is another day.
12:27 am
Councillor
Wed 30-Dec-09
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We've got a couple of sets of measuring cups and they are really handy when following recipes. They are much faster than weighing things out and you don't get distracted by trying to get exactly 400g (or whatever) when using digital scales.
Our digital scales use the button cell batteries too and we bought a pack of cheap assorted size batteries so we've got spares. For most of the second half of last year they needed a new battery and we kept forgetting to make a note of which size we wanted...
Visit my blog for food, drink, photography and hamsters.
6:52 am
Supreme Being
New members
Sun 2-Oct-11
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I have a set of American cups and an old fashioned balance scale with a set of imperial and metric weights. Easy!
Well done Martin on the loss. Won't be long until you reach goal.
We have the beginnings of bathroom walls in the little Gite!
Trying to enjoy life as it is
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