Dear Wartime Diary…

Well this is fun..The rain started at some point during the night and hasn’t realised it can stop anytime now if it wanted to, obviously hasn’t got the message yet…, Most of England woke up to a generous covering of thick silvery grey blanket cloud, It was so dark here even at 8am I had to turn on big light….😁, main light for those posher folks amongst us, it’s one of those days if I’m honest i could either spend it curled up under a blanket sleeping for hours listening to the slow rhythmic patter of rain hitting the window pane, or drink coffee cheerfully making my way through an entire cake, alas living my wartime ration/frugal lifestyle cake is out…So coffee it is then…my heads abuzz with ideas today or is that just caffeine….unsure which yet but i,’ll take it…

The cookie monster within

In the kitchen looking all freshly baked seductive and stuff is a small tray of chocolate cookies lovingly baked by my own hands,,, my only quandary now for the day is ..One of trying to eek them out, making them last a few days or eat them up quick before they go all soft and chewy…no one wants something soft, when it’s not meant to be do we?😏, just a disappointment all round really…Sunday’s batch lasted all of two days…I tried honest but I’m a weak woman, never put temptation in a woman’s path.🙄.

Yesterdays left overs are being made into a kind of strange hot pot type meal… The main ingredients being a combination of Minced beef, black lentils, leek, carrot, tinned tomatoes, herbs, salt and black pepper, ..I’ve taken some of the meat mixture, covered it in herby thin sliced potato and shoved(placing) this in the oven for 30 minutes or until a crisp golden colour,.After this portion there should be enough to make two hearty meals if I’m careful, (big if)🙄😊😊😊😊, Tonight’s I will serve with extra veggies to make it go that bit further, …by adding cheap tinned lentils you can stretch out really any meat a bit further..according to the one book I have, A weeks Rations by Karen Wiles, either oats, lentils or breadcrumbs were commonly used to make any meat that could be sourced stretch ….woman queued for hours daily often just to come away with a rather bedraggled cheap cut of meat, and that’s if they were lucky, (I’ve been reading how woman often sought out the longest queues, outside a shop cleverly knowing these had the best chance of getting something worthwhile for that evenings meal, their poor feet, the lines were huge often as not going down the street… Mostly by the time one got to the front everything had already gone…

Slippery Saturday…

Saturday I woke up early….(insert screeching brakes sounds here, I actually didn’t really sleep in the truest sense of the word, making do with a cat nap for the odd ten minutes, finally giving up around 4:30am. by five I was showered ready to do my first load of laundry for the day, Wanting it done quickly before it realised it hadn’t rained for at least hour now. A light load was first as a had a particularly stained t shirt I wanted to tackle, tomato sauce is a devil right?…I sprayed it liberally with a mixture of alcohol, dish soap and water, rubbing it into the affected area vigorously…before digging out my stash of soda crystals, hidden under the sink for my back up plan…(this is one of those times im unsure whether ive mentioned this in the past or not?, But as I pushed in deeply the handy plastic spoon, kept solely for measuring out purposes ..My treacherous arm decided that was to be the exact moment to go into spasm, sending a lovely arc of glistening soda crystals into the air, before they showered down scattering the length and breadth of the kitchen floor…never mind rain!!🙄, it’s in fact now snowing, …(Spasms being common with EDS, always but always when most inconvenient, like with a spoon of coffee, flour, sugar…not to mention glue don’t ask 😊…sighs..

I manage to clear up most with a damp microfibre cloth before pushing the now covered cloth into the washing machine with the still soaking stained t shirt, determined if nothing else that the soda crystals were not going to go to waste, I set the machine off before starting to clean the kitchen counter tops, that were also dusted in white 😊,Still angry and checking where I put my feet, the very next thing I was aware in fact aware of, were my legs going in two separate directions like demented scissors, Trying desperately to react quick enough to stay upright, all the while clutching at the door frame, my legs slipping and sliding across the glass like floor surfice… despite my best efforts and at least not falling over completely thank goodness, I did however twist my knee cap quite badly, feeling the knee sublux as my left leg twisted back to front horribly, .I righted myself somewhat easily enough, but not before the damage was it seems already done…it was the knee I had just spent months trying to get to heal…when I looked down at the floor, it had become a veritable ice rink, thanks very much to the aid of a damp cloth and Soda crystals…although sore after some strong language and manipulation I manoeuvered the kneecap somewhere near to the right place..held there mainly by masses of kinetic tape and sheer determination for the rest of the day😊.

It’s still moving about, swollen and hot, but living alone means things most still get done..I baked cookies…yes of course that’s essential work!! A woman needs biscuits at a time like this😊, I watered my garden also, I can’t let weeks of hard work go to waste…my tomato plants are looking far too good to neglect…besides it will all be worth in a few weeks when I’m eating tomatoes still warm from the sun…but later on I decided to lay down and rest my leg with an ice pack strapped on firmly, all the while cheering myself up with research for new recipes I could find online, they are few and far between but my notepad is looking fuller…

I have still narrowly avoided assauging my frustrations and boredom with the lure of “The Zon” (Amazon)isn’t always easy though I must admit, especially when a low hits unexpectedly, but each time I’ve found myself drawn to the dark side by promises of sales, or you might like popping up on my face book, I put down my tablet and listen to music or read…I also carry on with WW2 research, history being that huge draw for me…learning the somewhat shocking statistic of losses of over 60,000.. I thought I knew about the blitz and the terrible loss, but reading that bought it all home..I think my family must have been extremely lucky because despite living in a dock area, my mother never mentioned losing anyone in our immediate rather large extended family on either side…mother and father originally living next door to one another while growing up…anyway enough of my Gas bagging, I’ve washing up to get done, a kitchen to straighten up before lights out…least I’m not living in black, with an ARP warden knocking at my door for neglected chinks of light escaping…😊, take care all, and look after one another…ps…exciting news being on my WW2 rations, I’ve already lost 10lb…that’s in a week..I’ve eaten home made cake, biscuits and bread most days…lot to be said for rations😁.💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛