Washing Machine, Pies and Daffs

I waited in all yesterday afternoon waiting for my new washer-dryer to arrive. Delivery should have been between 1-5pm. It finally turned up at 6.30. Today I've been getting used to the controls and catching up on 10 days worth of laundry. I've done 3 dark loads that were in the downstairs basket, but still have at least 2 light loads to do, plus DS2 has a basket full in his bedroom. I also need to change all the bedding. The boys' beds haven't been changed for at least 3 weeks. I was going to wash their sheets the day the machine broke down so I must do them this week. 

I haven't tried the dryer functions yet as it's been a really cold day here (hailstones and a biting wind while we were out this morning) and I've hung the wet clothes over the radiators that were on anyway. The washing part of the machine seems to work well and the 28 minute, 30 degree everyday quick wash has been sufficient to get the clothes nice and clean. If I was in a real rush I could do a superfast 14 minute wash. 

The machine is pretty ugly, white with a large grey door as it has a bigger opening than my previous machine, but I've never bothered about looks in household appliances as long as they function well and I'm just so happy to have a working machine that seems to do a good job. All in all, so far so good.

My other recent purchase has been a pie making machine...and I didn't pay a penny for it. DH had some Amazon vouchers he hadn't spent and said I could use them to get something for the house, so I treated myself. I love cooking and I do love kitchen gadgets so I bought a Salter deep fill pie maker. 

And this is what I made for dinner today...lovely, lovely corned beef hash pies. 

The machine bakes 2 pies at a time in 12-15 minutes, so to make 4 it took about the same time as if I'd baked them in the oven. But they came out so well and are definitely some of the best pies I've ever made, plus I didn't have to heat the whole oven just ot make a few pies. I actually got 7 pies from 2 sheets of ready-rolled Aldi pastry (89p a pack) that I rolled out a little bigger (one shortcrust for the bases and 1 puff for the tops), one tin of Fray Bentos corned beef (£1.39 in FarmFoods), a pack of Aldi frozen mash (59p), a fried onion 10p), some black pepper and a teaspoon of mixed herbs. As the bottoms took more pastry than the tops the last pie was made entirely from the extra puff pastry but came out just as well as the others. We had a pie each for dinner tonight, just with mushy peas for me, with extra mash and frozen peas for the DH and the boys...and with plenty of thick gravy, of course. The 3 extra pies with do the menfolk for lunch tomorrow. I shall enjoy experimenting with my new toy since you're supposed to be able to make quiches, and even cakes and muffins in it.

Now for a confession. In order to make room for the new washing machine to be wheeled down our narrow hallway we had to move a tall thin bookcase that's tucked in a corner near the foot of the stairs. Moving the bookcase meant unloading piles of my crafting books and magazines and stacking them on the dining table. This is the result...

...my hoard of knitting, cross stitching and cardmaking mags and books. 

At least...some of my hoard. 

I have another 2 bookcases likewise filled with magazines and books. And another 2 filled with cardmaking and papercrafting supplies. And that's not all...there's also all the plastic storage boxes and bags stuffed full of wool, fabric and other needlecraft necessities. 

Do I hear the word hoarder on anyone's lips? I really, really need to have a declutter. I have started, sorting out a couple of dozen mags and a couple of books before I refilled that bookcase. Now I just need to tackle all the others.

Finally, more flowers. This is the result of that 50p pot of mini daffs I bought a couple of weeks ago. Despite Shadow knocking them on to the floor twice, they grew to a not so mini height; they should have been about 10 inches, but they just kept getting taller and the stems must have ended up double that. 

They've died off now, but have been replaced by these daffs, a gift from my slimming club leader.

She's been sick for several weeks after badly breaking her ankle and she bought all the members a bunch of daffs as a thank you to us all for keeping the club going in her absence. 

That's all for tonight. Enjoy your evening. Love, Helen xx