Quiet time, soup, and embroidery.

Well...........It's all quiet now, but honestly last night was the third in a row that was less than peaceful. Friday night/Saturday morning the children in the flat above me were still running up and down the property shouting and thundering on the floor. I wonder if their parents even TRY to get them to bed, all I know is I wanted to sleep and couldn't. Then at 3AM the other neighbours drunk son decided to climb over the back fence into the communal garden, to save walking around the street...............and fell! Apart from the noise he made getting over it in the first place, which my dog took great exception to, I then had to listen to some heart rending groans and moans. Then there was a lot of swearing and shouting, then kicking and breaking of wood. Then this voice..........'Dad..........Daaaaaaaad!..........I fell on my effing head, I'm going home now' This was followed by a lot more swearing and shouting that gradually faded into the distance. Well, I just lay there thinking, " If there's any justice......!!"

Last night he decided to try to get into the communal entrance at the front. His father isn't stupid, he hasn't given him a key, so when his father didn't answer at about 11.30, he decided to try kicking the door in. Luckily it held, but I do wonder how much more abuse it can take. I think a report will be going into the Housing Association housing manager on Monday morning. My neighbour across the hall has put in several complaints about the noise this man and his family create, and yesterday the noisy neighbour caught me in the hall & asked me if the rumour he was moving was correct. I told him not to my knowledge, to which he replied, "Pity, he's always complaining to me about the noise" and walked out of the flats.
I just stood there with my mouth hanging open, another of my neighbours who heard started to laugh......"unbelievable, isn't it?" I could only nod......

Despite not wanting to cook lately, I did have a bacon joint that needed to be cooked, and I decided to try some pea & ham soup using the water I boiled the joint in. I soaked some dried green split peas overnight, then when the joint was cooked I used the ham water to cook the split peas with some chopped onion and a potato. The only thing I added for flavouring was some pepper after I had liquidised everything. The peas cooked for about 45-50 mins, and then reheated for 10 mins after sieving and flavouring. I have to admit it was simple but tasty and even my fussy daughter loved it. We ate it with some home made bread, but she wasn't as keen on that because I had made brown bread instead of white. Actually, It was a Tesco brown bread mix with an extra 250g of white flour added. It made two small loaves instead of one, without using extra yeast. This tip was courtesy of Shirley Goode (and her blog is here).

Just to show you how lazy I've been, I finally finished a tablecloth I've been embroidering for absolutely ages. It was supposed to be done for Christmas..........Christmas 2009!

Anyway I pulled it out and was determined to get it done. I'm reasonably pleased with the result, I'm not the best embroiderer in the world, and I do get a bit fed up with the way the new embroidery designs only ever seem to use 3 stitches - Satin stitch, French knots, and Stem stitch. When I think back to school and how many different stitches I was taught.........you would think there would be more variety in the kits. Especially as I find Satin stitch one of the hardest to do. Anyway, here it is

That should look nice on the Christmas Table shouldn't it? I'm also finishing a Cross Stitch picture I've had hanging around for a while, when that's finished in a couple of days I'll post some pictures of that too. I picked up an old framed print from a charity shop which I can use to frame the cross stitch, once I've thrown the old print out. I'll have to look for a second one, as I have another to make after that.

It's another damp and dreary day here, and I've got pretty cold whilst sitting here and blogging. I have no idea what we will be eating for dinner today, but I suspect it'll be something warming.

My daughter and I have to go through the food cupboards today and work out what we need to buy. I'll put everything into moneysupermarket.com and compare prices across the board. Armed with my list of comparitive prices I shall then go to Lidl, Farm Foods and the pound shops in town to see if any of the food stuffs they sell, that are on my list, are cheaper before doing my main shop. Not sure if I save enough to cover the shoe leather, but it makes me feel I'm getting the best bargains anyway! My food budget seems to be going down month by month as other prices rise, as well as my budget not actually covering as much food as it did a few months back. I wish the weather would improve so I could feel confident about growing some of my own veg this year. It's nearly the end of May, and my tomatoes are only about 2" high, and I haven't even attempted to plant cucumbers or beans yet. The cold frosts we are still getting would kill them. I have got some parsnips growing, and some carrots & brussel sprouts.........but the cold is holding everything else back. I finally had to plant out my marrow and courgette plants a few days ago, I lost the first lot to the cold, and this is my second sowing. They had to go out, they were so leggy and beginning to form flowers.........but I'm afraid these might succumb to the cold too. I'm just holding my breath and hoping!

That's enough of my waffle for today, I need a cup of tea and to take my morning meds........before I forget them. Hope my new form of rambling doesn't annoy too many people, but it's MY blog after all!! ROFL