Yet another car boot bargain

First of all I must give a warm welcome to new followers in the little pictures over there on the right, I hope you enjoy my ramblings from the Simple Suffolk Smallholding.

Those of you who have been following for a while will know that we love car boot sales. We go and look every other Sunday between April and October. We never come home with bags and bags of STUFF as we are only looking for things we need, things we know will be used in the future and things that are suitable as Christmas gifts.

Two weeks ago it was the work boots for Him Outside which he has been wearing and says they are the most comfortable he has ever had. Probably because they are really good quality and would have been at least £50 new, whereas if he goes to buy new ones from the work-wear supplier he would be wanting to spend around £35 at the most.
And the Epson Ink Cartridges which we don't need right this minute but we will need before too long and at £10 instead of £45ish they were a good bargain too.

Today my bargain was this  12 hole bun tin which was only 50p !

Not the most exciting picture to be found on a blog today!

  I do have one already but this will take up no room in the kitchen and will be handy for doing a bigger mince pie bake at Christmas. I suppose I didn't really NEED it but when I do need a replacement for my old one it will cost a lot more than 50p.
I also bought 3 new large pudding basins for £2 each. These will be used for Christmas Puddings to be given as gifts. I've been looking all year for some good second hand ones with no luck, but these were less than half price of new ones in the shops.
That was my shopping done for the day. There is only one more boot sale this season and then it will be the long wait until next year. I get withdrawal symptoms for weeks!

Because I want to do some more chutney making next week I had a good sort out of a big box of jam jars that were in the shed so as to match them up with the few remaining new lids that are left. I've made a mental note to call in at the packaging place to get a load of new lids of various sizes next time we are in that part of Suffolk. There's nothing more annoying than washing up jars ready for jam making only to find you have no lids to fit. We are so lucky to have a company that does all sorts of useful stuff like this not too far away. If you are wondering why I use new lids, it's because I've done food hygiene courses and know that an old lid can ruin a jar of new preserves quite easily!

Another job today was sorting out the strawberry runners  that were pegged down into pots to make new plants. All but two had rooted nicely so we have 27 new plants to fill up the second strawberry bed.
I spent 5 minutes deciding what we will eat for main meals next week and what jobs we are planning to do. After last week, which was all going in and out for various reasons, next week looks much quieter. Thank goodness.

Weather report today from the edge of Suffolk - Beautiful sunshine.

2 big savings and an interesting book

As usual we went to the fortnightly car boot sale, where we saved a decent amount of money on two things. Him Outside bought a pair of brand new JCB work boots for £6, the proper price is around £50 and I spotted 5 ink cartridges for our printer for £10  and they are usually a LOT more than that. That's the problem with our Epson printer, it is so clever it even tells you when you have tried to sneak in a cheap version of ink cartridge, up comes the message" Not Compatible"!

This is the book that I've just finished.

  If you are interested in what makes people buy certain things  and how we became a nation of consumers it's a good read.  Harry Wallop ( journalist and most recently seen on Superscrimpers) has given consumers various class names, including Asda Mum; Wood Burning Stover;  and Portland Privateer. I learned, beside other things, why we have the shops that we do in Aldeburgh -Joules and Jack Wills ( I've not been in either)
I've also found that because we don't holiday abroad and I don't shop in Waitrose, we don't fit in to the Woodburner Stovers even though we have one. In fact we don't fit into any of Mr Wallops catagories at all. He briefly mentions " a small number of consumers who claim, with some legitamacy, to be entirely outside the consumer society - to never shop at a supermarket", but that's not us either.
Which means we are unique!

For Monday read yesterday

Bank holiday Monday and as predicted much the same as yesterday. The car boot sale was bigger, Him Outside got the best bargain of a battery suitable for the tractor for £15. I found a couple of books and a present to use for Christmas.
We came home, we did the jobs that needed doing, we sat out and read our books.
Tomorrow I MUST do some work, all this sitting about is making me lazy!

Ooops nearly forgot to say - Thanks for comments yesterday.

Car boot bargains on a lazy Sunday.

A couple of really heavy downpours over night and a bit of a grey start but brighter by 7.30 am so after putting the eggs, tomatoes and cucumbers out on the stall we nipped the 4 miles up the road to the car boot. The weather had deterred a few booters so not a huge amount there. Him Outside got a garden spade and fork for £3 for both - a good bargain. These are for our eldest and her other half who have just bought their first home. They asked us to look out for gardening stuff for them - much cheaper here than in Surrey.
I spent the grand total of £2.30 on 4 things

 Furry cover for hot-water bottle - 30p, skipping rope for the Operation Christmas Child box - 50p, a card craft kit from back in the day when Lakeland did craft stuff - £1, and a tin money box in the shape of a telephone box with an 1920's lady making a call, bought for 50p. The first 3 things all have a good use but the money box was just because I liked it and at 50p it didn't do any damage to my purse. It once held toffees according to a label on the base and sold for £4.99.
We were home by 9.30 and after picking some runner beans to put out for sale and apart from the regular campsite loo cleaning and then egg collecting, we have had a lazy day, I wrote a couple of letters, browsed through some more old craft magazines and read a bit while Him Outside listened to cricket.
Tomorrow may well be almost exactly the same!
You can't beat a lazy sunday afternoon. Someone should write a song about it!

Shock Announcement - I Think I've gone off car boot sales!

We hadn't been to one for several weeks due to either being busy or Him Outside being stuck in hospital, so I was looking forward to a trip to the local one, and there were several boots there. I wandered up and down 10 rows- about 50 boots, found some melamine coasters with chickens on for £1.50 and a new tiny nailbrush in the shape of a duck ( 20p) to go into the Samaritans Purse Operation Christmas Child shoebox ( I'm doing one for a girl of 10 - 14 this year.) If you haven't heard of this, with my new skill of putting links you can find out about it HERE. Although I would be surprised if you didn't know about it as they seem to send out loads of 'junk 'mail every year. After that I just couldn't be bothered to walk around the rest of the field. I hadn't even seen anything else I wanted, let alone needed.  All  Him Outside found was a small garden fork for our eldest, they've just bought their first home with a garden to tackle.So we were home again by just after 9 am.
The family were out visiting friends that they were at school with so we had a lazy afternoon and then waved them all goodbye until next time they visit.

While they were out I read one of the library books that I collected on Friday.

Karen at Chelmarsh Chunterings said she was reading this but got a bit bored.  I didn't get bored but I did get cross as I often do with books by people who have moved out of London into the country and bought a whole load of animals without having any money and anyway|if they had sold a London flat and he was still working as an estate agent in London how come they had no money?!
 Of course it all turns out happily ever after as they become completely self sufficient, they run courses on self-sufficiency, he writes for various newspapers and magazines and this is his second book.
I'm only cross as I'm slightly envious as we might have done all those things except we had children, and when we were on the radio and in the local paper it was before the internet so we didn't suddenly find ourselves famous. Actually I wouldn't want to be famous and never felt the need to spend so much time being self -sufficient that there was no time for anything else.We also never wanted to turn our smallholding into a fully fledged business. So scrub all that about being envious!
I'm not adding this to my wishlist of books to buy sometime, as I probably wouldn't want to read it again. His first book was called The Self  Sufficiency Bible and was published in 2010. I did borrow it from the library at the time but also didn't bother to look out for it cheap as it didn't tell me anything new really.
We seem to have had 2 days without doing much, Him Outside is feeling tons better so next week we really must get on with some work.

Still preparing for winter.

We did some delivering this morning of hay to the lady who bought my goats from me 3 years ago - I still miss them and the everyday fresh milk.( but I know in reality that we will not keep goats again). Then we took 12lb of topped, tailed and frozen gooseberries to our friend P as a swap for sorting out those pictures. ( Monday 17th June blog, if you want to see them). The glass was not big enough for the frames and the backing paper was tatty, so he has replaced both but the frames were OK, so we kept those.
As we happened to be passing a car boot sale of course we stopped in for a look!
This is what I found for £1. Every year there is always at least 1 hot water bottle that perishes so I like to keep one new one in the cupboard as a spare.

Why does the photo sometimes turn around between taking it and uploading?This was not the way I took this photo!

We don't have central heating so I always put  at least 2 and sometimes even 3 hot water bottles in the bed before I get in. Hot water bottles are such comfy things!
I also found a new roll of Christmas wrapping paper for 50p - that's the first one I have seen this year at car boots and I was beginning to worry that I would have to buy some from a shop at Christmas time and I don't like doing that!
The campsite has been busy this weekend but after tonight we have NO bookings for several days, which is odd considering it's the start of the school holidays. I hope we will have some phone calls this week although rather than worrying about it I now look upon an empty site as a break from loo cleaning!
Him outside has done some odd jobs that needed doing before the day at hospital tomorrow and is now resting while listening to cricket. He doesn't admit it but I think he is also glad to get to the end of haymaking. Although most of the time he was riding on the tractor some of the hooking up of machinery etc is  quite hard work.

Craft storage solutions

Thank you for all comments left over the last few days and welcome to new followers too.
Does anyone know what has happened to Hard Up Hester- her blog seems to have suddenly stopped?  I enjoyed her cutting comments about the staff at the school she worked at!
Also someone left a comment on my blog one day and then removed it before I could read it - what's that all about?
We decided to pop up the road to the car boot sale this morning as we hadn't been for a few weeks. I've been looking for something to keep all my crafting coloured papers in, as at the moment they were all lumped together in one big box which meant sorting through the whole lot every time I wanted something.
I quite fancied one of these
http://www.storage4crafts.com/shopx/home.php?cat=189
But as they are hundreds of pounds each - maybe not!
Then today I spotted these two office drawer units. They both had wheels but Him Outside easily removed the wheels off one so that it could stand on top of the other one.

Best of all only £5 each - BARGAIN.
On top of the two x 3 drawer sets are 2 small thick-card little drawer sets, one pink, and one grey ( chopped off my picture). Also found this morning for 25p each ANOTHER BARGAIN!
I was eager to get home and sort my papers into different colours, put them in the drawers and get them labelled up. But first I had to have a shuffle round of desk and another cupboard as I wanted to fit these in right by the desk.
The other things we got today were a brand new set of basin taps for £3 to replace those on one of our wash basins that have been a bit dodgy for a year, a wooden tray for £1 (  to replace a rusting metal one chucked out for the scrap heap) and a couple more Beatrix Potter books to add to my collection for 50p each.
We were home again by 9.30 and I got busy moving things in the craft room while Him Outside cleaned up the strawberry bed which has now finished fruiting.
Yesterday I got a flan case out of the freezer to make a quiche but it had a big cracks right across. ( I batch bake 4 pastry cases at once and keep them in a big plastic box in the freezer - this one was at the bottom of the box and must have got squished) It was no good for quiche as the eggy mix would have run right out and underneath. Him Outside said " it's only a bit of pastry- chuck it out for the birds". WHAT says I - HORRIFIED at the idea.I'm supposed to be frugal-in-Suffolk!
 So today I made a lemon meringue pie and let the lemon mix set a bit more than usual before putting
it in the cracked pastry case. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!
We had a herb omelet instead of quiche.

It's Monday again.

I trotted off to the dentist this morning for a filling- Oh what a horrible experience. Yes, I am a wimp when it comes to sitting in that chair with my mouth open for what seems like hours. It's a toss up as to which is worse  - Dentist or smear test!!  I've made an appointment for this time next year and hope nothing goes wrong in the meantime.
Yesterday being Sunday we went to the local car boot sale as per usual. one lady had a box of craft stuff,  containing a new cutting mat, papers, sheets of pearlised card, card mounts, card blanks and peel offs which I was sorting through, to pick out the bits I wanted, when she offered me the lot for £8. As there were loads of sheets of "funky" alphabet letters, which are probably a £1 a sheet I thought I would take up her offer!

  We also found a few more plates and dishes matching my Johnson Brother Summer Chintz everyday stuff which I've had for YEARS. ( they are prone to chipping quite easily so if I spot spares going cheap I'll get them) With the plates were a set of matching cutlery - I didn't even know that Viners had produced cutlery to go with the china, so we had the lot for £5. When we got home I had a look on ebay to see if they were unusual or not. There were several sets on there, the boxed ones selling  for silly prices . Also loads of dinner and tea plates etc, all going very cheap - they must have produced masses. But what amused me was that some people are now classing them  as 'Vintage'.

 After the car boot we went on a trip to the Suffolk Showground where there was a Antique and Collectors Fair. We had never been to one before but as we are usually eating lunch when Bargain Hunt is TV we thought we would go and have a look. It was much smaller than advertised and very much smaller than the ones on TV. I got Him Outside a late  birthday present of two prints that were originally in the carriages of the L.N.E.R train company. They need the frames repairing or maybe re-framing, but luckily we have a friend who will do that for us for the cost of the materials and some fruit from the garden.

After the dentist I helped with shifting rubble as we  started getting the other bit of path ready for concreting in July and then Him Outside went off to do some strimming at the second home. They are back for one night at the weekend so he needs to get it tidy for them! I stayed at home and did the boring ironing.
Dinner tonight was part of  one of the packs of Co-op Yellow sticker chipolatas done as toad-in-the-hole, new potatoes from the garden, carrots (still using the value pack from the fridge) and Hip Hip Hooray! - the first of the pointy cabbages from the garden. The egg for toad in the hole is free as we eat the odd shaped ones that we can't sell, value flour used, so total cost probably less than 50p each. Our main evening meal is often less than 75p each and that is how we manage to afford my spending on craft stuff at car boots!!

Sunday, so can you guess where we went this morning?

Yes, of course, we went to the local car boot sale!  But after 2 months we are now starting to see some of the same old stuff every week. So very few bargains today, just 3 things bought actually. For £4 I found a huge box of Whittards tea bags with 9 different sorts of tea to try. I'm sure I have seen them in the Whittards shop in Ipswich for about £18. It will be interesting to try some of the weird varieties that we would never normally buy. I also bought a virtually brand new hard-back book for 50p which I shall hide away until Christmas as I think Him Outside will enjoy it. ( It's about cricket - which he listens to on the radio whenever possible). Him Outside bought a pack of new paint brushes for £1, ready for whenever we do the next bit of decorating. Then we came home again!
Unlike yesterday, the sun has shone all day today and we got the Pumpkin and Squash plants planted out onto the field. We pulled a little barrier of soil around each one in the hope that they will be protected from any strong winds that might blow them about. Some years we have covered them with a huge long length of fleece but that is quite hard work, which neither of us thought would be a good idea this year.

Here are the Pumpkin plants, potatoes are in the ridges on the right and then further over are the two rows of squash plants.

And here is a sight no small campsite owner wants to see! This is the caravan side of the site where the electric hook-ups are, and it is EMPTY! and we have no-one booked for 2 weeks. Oh well, at least I get a break from toilet cleaning!

Tomorrow morning Him Outside is off to help one of his customers with her allotment and I'm not sure what I'm doing yet, but I'm certain I shall find something that needs doing without looking too far.

On a Bank Holiday Monday Soapbox

I've just read something on a blog that made me raise my eyebrows. My idea of being frugal has always been to use my time to do things that other people pay for.  So the thought of giving away £6  which could have been saved  by spending about 15 minutes sitting at a table puzzles me. If anyone else is puzzled by this do let me know!
Another thing that  mystifies me is why people save money in tins or something similar. Most of our income arrives in cash - not many people pay for a dozen eggs by writing a cheque or organising a bank transfer! So I could save it all in little tins all around the house if I wanted to. But it would earn me NOTHING and would be risky. Instead of this we both have an ISA. A well known high street bank has an instant access ISA where you can put any odd bits of cash in, it pays interest monthly so that every month the interest earns more interest, and you don't pay tax on an ISA either. A win win situation.
 I know which way of saving I would always choose.
Well, each to his own I think the saying is!

I will get down off my soapbox and get back to normal. Today has been quite restful, not quite as much sitting around as planned as him outside saw next weeks depressing weather forecast and kept thinking of things that needed doing while the weather was fine, and I decided to tidy up a small bit of garden that was full of lemon balm. Before we did these jobs ( and the normal campsite cleaning and egg collecting) we nipped up the road to the car boot sale as usual. We lead SUCH eventful lives that car boot sales and local shopping are often the only times I go out!

Today's car boot was huge - by local standards - probably about 150+ boots we estimated. And at last I found someone selling craft stuff, (this time mostly crafting papers), which I search for all summer ready for winter card making. For £3.50 I got all this lot, which includes a big pack of oriental papers, peel offs, charms, and toppers.

Sorry about the fuzzy picture, I really should put my glasses on so I can see what I'm doing!

I also found 4 small Lavender plants for 60p each. I already have several lavenders in the garden and in pots, so these will be grown on, potted up and sold next year for £1.50! I know this is only a tiny profit but every little helps. One of the stalls at the car boot had some local  strawberries and they looked so delicious we treated ourselves to a punnet. These must have been grown in a greenhouse or tunnel as our strawberries here have only just produced flowers. I can confirm they were delicious, definitely not flown in from foreign climes.

We were able to spend some time with out feet up and I'm now reading the second book in the Cazelet series by Elizabeth Jane Howard that I  mentioned a week or so back. I decided not to read one straight after the other and have got through two modern crime books in between.

 Just remembered the French Open tennis and turned on to see The lovely Rafa winning his first round match.

I'm having a night off cooking this evening so we will probably just have scrambled eggs. We eat all the odd shaped eggs that can't be sold, but they taste just as good!

Back tomorrow with more riveting details of our eggsiting adventures here!

Thank goodness for a bit of warmth -AT LAST

Before I forget ( which I often do) I must say welcome to new visitors who have left comments and new followers who have added themselves to the pictures on the right. I hope you enjoy this simple blog about our  life here on the smallholding where we try to live frugally and lightly on the planet.

It's been a lovely sunny day here  on the edge of Suffolk, and at last there seemed to be a bit of warmth, to cheer everyone up. We zoomed out early to  two local  small car boot sales. Him Outside found a trailer light-board for £5, which is a bargain apparently. I thought we had at least one or two already but  another was required in case one of the others got damaged.
I found a couple more things which will be Christmas presents. That means I have almost finished my Christmas shopping! ( Except for the 3 children and their partners who will be asked what they would like much later in the year). I also found someone selling brand new tea-towels for 20p each. I'm  glad that so many people now have dishwashers as that means that those of us who don't can buy tea- towels so cheaply. I usually stock up during the car boot season if possible so that I can turn some of my old ones into rags. My other £1 spend was on 4 pairs of brand new cotton knickers! Very useful, and 25p each must be good value.
We did  a bit more in the garden after our coffee break and got some leeks planted out and the new flower border hoed again.  I decided on this flower border after we took down some huge leylandii a few years ago and replaced them with a fence all along the front. So I sent for some cheap perennials to fill it up. They are growing- but VERY slowly which means there are lots of spaces in-between where weeds soon pop up. I now remember why I prefer a shrub Border!
Then we spent a few hours in the conservatory with all doors open.He listened to cricket on the radio and dozed and |I started a new book. I'm looking forward to watching some of the French Open tennis which I've just discovered is on TV all through the week. Wimbledon fortnight is my favourite time of the year and that's not far away either.
Here is another colourful garden photo. 3 shrubs and 2 apricot trees which have only ever fruited once. Before we had the new kitchen extension I could see these from the old kitchen window.

But now this shed and greenhouse need moving to give me back my view of the shrubs above.

Car boot success and a good read.

First of all, before I forget, thank you to everyone for comments after Saturdays Post, all the "regulars" especially Karen at Chelmarsh, Pam at Tydd, Sara from way up north and two new visitors - Fantics Antics and The Domestic Storyteller. All comments much appreciated as always ( so I know there is "Somebody out there"!)
 These two little tins at the top of the page, are the only things I found at yesterdays car boot sale for 50p each. Originally holding Christmas mugs from John Lewis' I was told, but absolutely perfect for holding a small Christmas cake to add to the hampers for family this year. We decided after Christmas 2012 that we really needed to spend less on extended family ( so don't worry H and J, M and R and A and B.  that doesn't mean you!!). For several years we had been giving a gift voucher and a small gift. This year it is small gift only. It was just getting too expensive.

We actually came home from the car boot sale over £80 richer, as we took all our junk that had been accumulating for the last 3 years since we last had a clear out. The weather was a bit chilly, and the turnout of visitors could have been better but considering we had things that  sold for 50p,£1, £2 and not much more we were pleased with the outcome. The remainder that we brought home has been sorted for disposal via charity shop or bin with the few books being added  to the shelves in the campsite recreation room and just a few bits put back in the roof cupboard for next time - 2016  I reckon! ( The £80 will be added to an ISA where we save Tax Free in the summer ready for the winter).

After the car boot unpacking and all the usual jobs of campsite and smallholding, I put my feet up and got this book finished. It was a really good read. Modern crime, the 5th in the series so far about a forensic archaeologist who works in the fictional North Norfolk University and lives on the wild coastal marshland around Blakeney. ( Although most of this book is set in Blackpool and on Pendle Hill in Lancashire.) They are not heavy going and not complicated nor psychological or weird.

Then I wrote a much overdue letter to my penfriend who lives on a very windy Scottish Island. By which time I was quite ready for bed.
Today I got busy with the hoover upstairs and downstairs, various bits of cleaning, chopping more kindling .WHY am I still having to do kindling in mid May? Because it's like blinkin' March here today! Finally a little weeding.
Him Outside has been loading an old trailer and some gang mowers onto our big trailer ready to take them to a Collective Auction up in Norfolk very soon, then taking the tractor and topper down the road to cut some very long grass at a second home.Finally cutting our grass here in the orchard which seems to be all dandelions this year. ( We don't have a lawn here on the smallholding, just patches of tatty grass!!)

This probably isn't the most fun you can have for under £15 on a Bank Holiday Sunday but we enjoyed it.

As I said yesterday, Bank Holiday weekends are always working weekends for us. Looking after our campers and making sure the toilets are clean and bins emptied etc means that we stay at home. Luckily we can always fit in a trip up the road to the local car boot sale and be back in time to do the campsite and smallholding jobs.
This morning there were dozens of booters there and we  actually I found several things that will make Christmas presents and other useful stuff all for a total of £14.20p. ( Him Outside only spent 50p on 2 paintbrushes.)This is our haul
 

The table football game was Just £1, another thing for the campsite Recreation Room - What a bargain!  3 plates matching our everyday stuff. 4 Square candles and a Habitat Candle plate, Christmas tag making craft set,Huge Cup and saucer, Gift pack of orange and ginger smellies,2 cushion covers,a book of Sudoku puzzles, handbag,marble pestle and mortar, Pack of peppermint tea bags, new jar of cinnamon, oil drizzle bottle, cross stitch kit and a paperback and a brand new hardback book by Elly Griffiths ( modern crime) which I have had on order from the library for months and I'm still about 10th on the list and last but not least 3 brand new T shirts with  Past Times labels. Nothing was  over £2 and as I said the total was £14.20p.( How many Christmas gifts can you buy for under £2 each?- There are 4 here)
I've filled in several more spaces in my Christmas book, which has spread the cost of Christmas and saved a lot of money.
 And now for something completely different.
This is something I heard early this morning on the radio. When I looked at this site there were already over 400 comments. It makes interesting and worrying reading.
Millions are borrowing money from friends or family or using credit cards to buy food. This is the findings of a Which Report http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22417334.
Now I must get busy as we have our son and girlfriend staying here and I'm doing a family dinner for 6 as our youngest daughter and her boyfriend will be coming around to join us. I found a recipe for a triple chocolate baked cheesecake - and have altered it by using all basics and value ingredients, we shall see what it is like.(Value bourbons,tubs of cream cheese and chocolate + our own free eggs of course ( we use the ones that we can't sell) The main course includes our own purple sprouting broccolli and home made vegetable pasties.

The start of a Holiday weekend ( but not for us!)

There is one problem with earning a living in the tourist/growing things business - when everyone else is enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend and the better weather of May, we are running around in circles trying to catch up with jobs and looking after our visitors. BUT as I have no wish to work for someone else, self employment is really the best thing.
 Today apart from cleaning the campsite loos, collecting and sorting 8 dozen eggs and the usual house jobs, I've been potting up pumpkin, squash and tomato plants and planting out courgette plants into the garden. Him Outside put the red cabbage, calabrese and white cabbage plants out and planted the aubergines into the polytunnel.
Earlier this morning we zoomed to a car boot sale slightly further away than usual. It is only held on the first Saturday of the month from May to September and has different people there to our usual local booters. Him Outside got the best bargain again when he found a big set of screwdriver bits for the rechargeable drill/screwdriver thingy for 50p. Our conversation goes like this - Me -" haven't you got some of them already?" Him Outside - " Yes but they get lost/lose their points and I'm always needing them". Me - " I bet if you tidied up the workshop you would find some you didn't know you had" Him Outside - " I know where Everything is in there ". Me " Mmmmm Yes Dear". ( I can't understand how he finds anything in his muddle, so this is an oft repeated conversation!)

I found two cushions for £1 each virtually the same colours as one I had already which are the living room colours. I'm not sure that it's possible to make a new cushion for a pound? The one on the left is my original cushion that is the same as my curtains and on the right one of those bought today, - not a bad match at all. I also picked up another white pudding basin for 50p. I make several Christmas puddings which go into hampers for family members so pudding basins are always handy. We found a set of dominoes (50p) and a box of mixed board games (£1) to put in the campsite 'Recreation Room'. I'm really pleased with how it is looking in there. A really good place for groups or families to use if the weather is not to good. ( 5pm here and we have a huge downpour at the moment). I was also pleased with finding a brand new purse for £1.50  as mine is on its last legs, and I had been looking for one since the beginning of the car boot season.Finally I found a couple of paperbacks that look interesting for 20p each and a little notebook with space for inserting a small cross stitch picture for 10p This last one will be a present for a penfriend when I've done the cross stitch. So a good hour was spent and we were home in time for coffee.
We have an elderly friend who has been looking after the grass cutting at a second home close to us, but he now has to go into hospital for a new hip. So today Him Outside has been up to meet the home owners and will take over the grass cutting until Mr B is recovered enough although he is over 80 now so may not be able to tackle the work again. Seems awful to benefit from a friends hospitalisation.
That's me done for today. I hope your Bank Holiday Saturday has been just how you like it to be! Busy or restful?