Don't put off til tomorrow . . .

what you can do today.  Oh gosh, that really is the story of my life!  Every New Year I tell myself I will be a reformed character, but life seems to get in the way.  Well, that's my excuse anyway, as is, I'm an Aries, what else do you expect?!  I could get a PhD in procrastination.  I'm not lazy, just disorganised and busy . . .



Yesterday was a good catch-up day.   I  had a small bag of crab apples I had been given which had got "lost" in the kitchen. I found them last week and thought, I really MUST cook them up. Yesterday was the day.  They cook up into a tart pink jelly, but their colour was greatly helped by my jelly bag having been used for Elderberries last time, and though it has been washed and well-scalded since, the colour remains.

Later on, as there wasn't much juice there, I sat and watched tv and peeled and chopped some cooking apples to make some extra juice to go with this, and left it to drip overnight, so I will boil it up with sugar this morning.

We finally got around to another job which needed doing.  This particular projects has been waiting quite some for me to start work on it.  It was bought in better condition than this!  (It's a chess box, with expensive glass chess pieces).  It had been covered in a grey sticky-backed covering, but this had been torn and worn around the bottom, so that all had to come off so we could recover it.

These were non-negotiable.  Nailed into place over the original covering, we had to meticulously cut the new black Fablon round them.

Slowly getting there.  The bottom had a hole in one corner (puppy having fun judging by the look of the splintered wood and teethmarks!)  So we bought a sheet of black mounting board and restored that and then Fabloned over the top of it.

The finished box.  Not perfect by any means but smartened up no end.  This has been waiting since, ahem, August for me to "get around to it" . . .

Yesterday I also programmed our new telephone - a BT8500 Call Guardian - we had to replace the one we had as the battery wasn't holding.  I thought I'd got it right, but not according to my eldest daughter, whose phone numbers were carefully put in (along with all those who we are happy to speak to) and - I thought - allowed (as it's one of these call blocking phones to get rid of cold callers).  Unfortunately it seems to be getting rid of EVERYONE!  Back to the drawing board . . .

Update: this is going back to Tesco's as the blardy thing blocks ALL CALLS and doesn't even ring! We can only hear an incoming call on the ancient BT phone still plugged in up in my office.  Friends and family complain they can't get through (by email!!!)  So that's it, I want my £47 back.  About to plug the old one in again.  I know they are useless because I looked up bt's advice page and there are pages and pages and pages of complaints about everyone having the same problem and about it not being fit for purpose.  So be warned, and don't get one!  Guaranteed you will get no nuisance calls - in fact, you will get NO CALLS AT ALL!!!

I also got around to reading all the instructions on my Instant Pot, and I used it on the Slow Cooker function to make a chicken curry for tea.  It worked on that setting, so I will have to give it a whirl on the pressure cooker bit and see if it really is as speedy as it says it is.  Yoghurt making is also planned.  Do I HAVE to use those EasyYo sachets or would it work just as well putting a dollop of Bio yoghurt in some milk?

Oh, and can I pick some brains please?  I hate Date Syrup in the cupboard.  When I want to substitute it for sugar, does anyone have ideas of amounts?