Mushroom soup?

I inherited the mixing bowl and soup bowls from my Nan. I love the mixing bowl, it's really solid but I must admit I don't recognise it. However I do remember the soup bowls being used all the time, but we never made the recipes which are oddly in cups and the other in ounces! Most people talk about their Nan's amazing resourceful cooking but mine made very simple food from cheap ingredients and rarely ever baked. I've also got boxes of patterns, wool and fabric to go through and I will make something.

My "aunt and uncle", friends of my grandparents who are pretty much family, are visiting and have some really good stories that my Nan never told me. Like my Nan going to court for fighting with a prostitute on her street who had noisy American customers! My grandparents were real characters, if a bit rough. My Nan's family were Romanian Gypsies who settled in Birmingham when my Nan was young and my Grandad's were cheeky salt of the earth types. My Grandad on the other side is a settled Irish Traveller (most of the family are settled) and my Nan that side has Irish Traveller roots too. I think it's hard to be Irish without a little Traveller in you. That side of the family is even more scandalous- they moved away and lied about my Dad's date of birth (he found out when in hospital at 18) to hide that my Nan was pregnant before she got married. Enough waffling, every family has interesting history in a way. Ours isn't particularly grand or exciting but it is funny and we sure know how to have a good time.


Ooohh and my £9.99 H&M shirt just sold for £23.67 on ebay! And my sister's perfume she paid ~£25 sold for £42!

I had a chat with my new boss yesterday about my job and I'm kind of disappointed. There were a lot of the same positions available around the country/London which were apparently all very similar, except mine it seems. Instead of it being entirely statistics based and just getting on with stuff, I also have to deal with the press, freedom of information etc for the entire department. I can understand why they put me there as my last job was a combination of stats and PR and the other new starters are somewhat lacking in communication skills, but i'm still a little gutted. Maybe it will make my days more interesting? Going in expected the worst isn't going to do me any favours so I best start on some "positive thinking"!

OH and I didn't go to the auction for the land near us. I spoke to the agent and the guide price was £10k per acre but it was expected to go for much more to the local residents. I can't help checking out what's around but know I won't be buying anything purely mine (not with OH) for a while.

PAYE...

I've just had my Dad on the phone reading my post to me through the envelope using a torch! I have another check for overpaid tax, this one's from 2011/2012. I had 2009/2010 last week but still not 2010/2011 which is worth the most by far and the one I've been trying to get hold of for six months! I always lose track of how much tax I pay, it's bad I know. I used to be awful with knowing how much I had in my account to, I just knew I could spend up to X and have Y left and that was it, as long as I spent under X I didn't care!

OH and I were discussing savings last night, then the annoyingly long allotment list and the people on the committee who have two or three or more and huge gardens, then about wanting our next move to be to a house. Eventually we got to the topic of "investing" in land. OH's savings (which are far greater than mine) are earning very little right now and he wants to look into using some of it to buy a small plot of land locally. By small I mean 2 or 3 acres maximum but most likely even less than that. The "return" would be vegetables grown, edible weeds, occasional rabbits and maybe renting a bit out as allotments. He wants to look at some small plots being sold off by our local council which have various conditions making them undesirable for "developers" and "investors" so he's hopeful they will be reasonably priced.

It will be a long time before I have enough money to even consider something like that so I guess I'm just leaving him to it. It would be amazing, but it's one of several things he's considering.

I'm on a money making drive. Ebaying is going okay, I've made £40 so far but have 27 items listed right now and more to go up when I get home. My sister's joining in too and has listed some of her old/unused clothes. I'm sure I used to be the daughter with the bulging wardrobe who blew every penny on clothes.
Other than selling all my possessions I'm struggling to think of other ways to make some cash. My only viable idea so far is revamping charity shop clothes to sell on ebay. Turning a size 20 brown sack into a size 8 "vintage" tea dress is something I'm actually good at. If I can find a few dresses or large shirts for under £3 I'll see what I can do.