No More Crutches!!!! :) :) :) (by sarah)

I have experimented and have recently managed to go round the supermarkets and things without the crutches and this week I've even walked to places in the village with Al unaided! 🙂 This has given me a senses of self and independence again - something I have sorely missed! I have taken all the supports of the loo and bed and shower etc... now all I need todo is find the number for social services so they can come and take it all away - that will a) stop me wanting to smash it all into little peices everytime I see the things (irrational I know) and b) give us more room and make the place look tidier and c) someone else who really needs them can have them and order and balance will once again be restored to the universe! 🙂 Pilates starts again next week so hopefully with more mobility and a gentle excersice ragime I will get fit and loss the pregnancy weight which is still lurking!

Day Three of the Flood (by sarah)

The house now smells faintly of damp dog disturbingly though not suprisingly 🙁 - we are hoping that it will all be ok. We've had fan heaters on (though on fan rather than heat! as its been a scorcher) they dont seem that effective which is a bit depressing when you work out the cost in electricity and start to think of the environment :'( On the plus side I have the kitching table back and have temperaroly stoed all the tins and cartons that were on the floor of the ladder cupboard. The house is still in complete disarray though much to the horror of Al's Step Mother Lynne who is visiting us at the moment. She was expecting to see a great improvement on the choas of boxes she left me with in September but lo! Sigh - this place is never going to be straight at this rate!

p.s. we cant take the carpet up to dry it as that would involve ripping all the kitchen cabinets out hence our desperation for it to dry otherwise I might just cry!

The Second Day of the Flood (by sarah)

Well day two has ended and the hoouse is still in disarray - the larder was a bit more flooded than I realised sigh! But still the carpet no longer squealches when walked on and only feels damp to the touch, we have fan heaters going to try and sort out the rest but I think we may soon be visited by the carpet mushrooms 🙁 Still we needed to clean the carpet and it is now very clean, plus I wanted the Ladder racks sorted and its getting there - may even get the supports for the other two selves made soon! (the ladder racks is a cool modular cabinet thing that had more selves than supports to put them on the frame work so Al has been steadily making supports).

Jean thinks this is all great - she's been having lots of adventures and even has her own 'boat'!

Opps this was supposed to go live yesturday but I stupidly hit save instead of publish - sigh - silly Sarah.

Today on ‘What can Possible go Wrong Next For Sarah and Al’ (by sarah)

Well the dishwasher wasnt working and we kept getting misterious wet patches - obviously the dishwasher - again right? Wrong! No some idiot in the past had failed to put an olive on the compression joint under the sink - Dad (mum and dad are staying with us this week) said 'oh whys it dripping from there when the problems the dishwasher' touched the joint and bam wam thankyou mame we have flood time as the joint falls to peices and we play hunt the stop cock. Finding the stop cock eventually after the down stairs is a river/me stupidly forgetting where the stop cock was ie the sensible place behind the freezer that fits in ;ike a cupboard - mass movement of much furniture had to ensue before we could get to the stop cock. Fearing dad would give himself another heart attack I have currently sent him out with Babara to get water sucky up things 🙁 More money litteraly down the drain! Hehehe a bad pun I know! The ladder cupboard in under an inch of water so I had to rescue the 20kg bag of rice - I hurt lots - physio will kill me - oh well best get back to the mopping I supoose! Again disaster stricks on the day Al is away on long journey ;(

Sigh

How far will one dish stretch? (by sarah)

I decided to make a huge rat-a-toeey so in went the six tins of chopped tomartoes, four cloves of garlic, four large oinions, four cougettes, an aubergine, two peppers and half a bottle of tomatoe suace. Slow cookers are so handy 🙂

Then I thought well I can use this as a base of other dishes instead of freezing it and lo!

First of all we were going to have tacos so in went in some of the rat-a into a frying pan followed by some canallini beans and a tin of re-fried beans. Add some fajita seasoning and away we go!!! This was tasty and was great cold the next day as an accompaniment to salad.

Second, I served it actually as ratatoee with some rice.

Third, I used it as a base for pasta bake - now I was also planning on turning it into a soup but we've had lots of guests including Als cousin Phillipa and her boyfriend and my mum and dad - so I sort of run out!