How i start preparing for christmas

 I love Christmas more the build up and preparing than the actual days themselves and i always love the challenge of trying to get a fabulous christmas on the tightest of budgets , 

We dont buy many presents now but i like to sell items i don't use anymore to raise the money for the ones we do buy so we dont feel the pinch.

So this week i found that my large sweet jars i keep my flour in are fetching around £25/30 each on ebay they are original ones from the 1960s,

So when i  found the two in the front of the picture at a jumble this week for 50p each i have decided to sell my others towards the christmas pot , They are not on show anymore because of lack of space so it does not matter what they look like.

In the sales in january last year as well as birthday presents i bought some gifts sets which i cannot show as  recipients could be reading this post.  

Then in July i bought six jars of mincemeat and three jars of cranberry sauce.

I have some old curtains that will be going on Ebay next from our old house which will hopefully give me the rest of the present money.   

This week being inspired by the bake off again i made a bakewell tart but opted for an icing top instead of Almonds , No soggy bottom here.

Then there is the on going hunt for stock.

Silver sweetheart brooch.

 Chinese Carved bone necklace.

I picked this box  up from a Jumble sale for 
£2.50 , Needs some tlc though.

1950s designer brooch.

I had my hair colored and re styled today a much more flattering colour for my skin tone my old blonde looked great when i had makeup on but i looked like a witch without makeup ,

 Like everything else it was well budgeted for.

I would have loved to have shown you a photo but i am useless with taking my own photo and this is what you get lol. Excuse the housework clothes i am just cleaning  under the bed and it hasn't been done for a while as i do it when i can and it's really dusty

On the health front i am having a full brain and spine Mri on sunday the 13th  of november.

XXXX 

Health up date

Things are starting up again, I have been fine for months on end and in the last two weeks I have tripped up twice breaking my toe and hurting my arms on the market I had severe muscle spasms in the top of my back and under my breastbone, they paralysed me for a good few minutes, I have broken three items of China in the last few days too , 

After falling over again I used my open appointment to see the neurologist last Thursday and he is sending me for a brain and neck scan to make sure it's not MS as all my symptoms do not add up to fibromyalgia.

I am still plodding about though doing as much as I can and as long as i can sit on the market and it's not too cold I won't give up.

I have been to a couple of jumble sales this weekend and bought mainly clothing for my stall with the exception of this blanket, Does anyone know if it's a welsh blanket at all

Lovely breezy day today to wash and dry it even though it has an old label on it that says dry clean only. 

Do you think the supermarkets are struggling, We have had great discount coupons for both Sainsbury's and today we have had some from Morrisons but I only buy food when we need it now so so far I have only used one Sainsburys one for £7.50 off £50. 

Together with a voucher I had for a complaint which was for £10, so I had a £50 shop for £32.50 and also took advantage of the wine offer of buy 6 bottles to get 25% off only choosing the £4.60 or less wines they came out at around £3.10 per bottle so i was really happy with that shop it will still last me about three weeks cooking frugally.

  

This weekend I batch baked sponge puddings baking them instead of steaming them it's less messy and we think they taste just as good, It gave me the idea watching the bake off last week.

Pudding basins 10p each from a jumble years ago.

Using all the oven space while cooking the Sunday roast.

Two are now in the freezer

     Right, I'me off to pick all my apple's let's see how many land on the floor. 

XXXX

Productive Day

I have been busy today making a homemade apple cake 

 I also have made a chicken casserole for tonight's Tea  ( Dinner to non black country folk) We call lunch Dinner lol.

Made with chicken thighs, carrots, tomato puree, herbs, onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, stock cubes and a few frozen sprouts dropped in towards the end to soak up the juice, Browning the chicken and onions and garlic before covering with stock and slow cooking all afternoon.

I have lots of apples both cooking and eating, I am just  looking into how to store them through the winter as last year I did not have any fruit and  froze the free ones my neighbour gave me and they went spongy 

My problem is with the trees, I am hoping some gardeners out there will be able to help me, I was told I could cut the trees down to transport them when we moved house  four years ago which I did reluctantly and they are growing but very very slowly and are top heavy have I ruined them completely will they  ever grow tall, I would appreciate your advice they were only 3 years old when I cut them back.  

Hello, Carole, it was nice to meet you last Friday.

XXXX

Finding time to blog

Its been quite a while since my last blog post as i have been really busy , I've   been feeling quite well so have started my market stall up again to see how far i get  without feeling unwell , I feel like  like like a yo yo with my decisions but thats what happens when you try to make a living with health issues , Same goes for my weight loss campaign i am like a yo yo with that too , but am now back on track again to be much more slender.

With the house we need a new bed  as the old one is too heavy for me to move to clean underneath it , It's still a good bed so will be going back to my friend mel who gave it to me initially.

Her daughter will use  it in her spare bedroom.

 So we  have decided to move into the back bedroom and  at the moment  i am painting it if you remember it was only completed  quite recently but it was just done with old paint we had and dressed with stuff that we had now i want it totally different and i will be posting about it soon, Still to be done as frugally as possible. 

Jumble season is upon us i have two evening ones this week which are usually very good  and i don't know about saturday yet jumble sales are like buses none or they all turn up together , There have been a few through the summer but not many, Here are some of my best finds. 

A shelley Tea set .

Its really rare to find something so good as this now.

This fruits tea set was from the same jumble sale 

Two very rare finds. for £5.00 each.



Then there have been market finds , This Tam 1950s tea set was £2.50 on the charity stall.
This is for our own use.

I  have still been buying the jewellery at auction.

This huge citrine ring.

This is by goose 1962.

The Amethyst  stones are very large on this suffragette brooch too.

This is so sweet its edwardian gold on silver.

I also purchased lots of fur coats in the summer for less than a tenner each.

The jumble sale the tea sets were from   i found two boxes of vintage cards mainly christmas 

There were some vintage notelets 

This is my favorite one though , I have told vicki over at https://vintagevixon.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/ay-caramba-vintage-couture-for-fiver.html that it must have been made for her. 

XXXX