Friday Five!

Good luck with the competition, PB.  Is this the one you mentioned last week or the week before that you weren't optimistic about because others hadn't been practicing?  Or is this a different one?  Do you think you guys are ready now?

Same one. We had an all day rehearsal last weekend, competition is this weekend. 

Thanks for the luck , jfkimberly and kfdancer. We'll need it. I think we'll do OK. We won't win, but shouldn't place too low either.   

I find this so cool.  I'm sure once your husband has had a break from the van, he'll be happy to go on holiday in it again.

Has he been driving it back and forth each week?  Where does he park it overnight while working?  I'm totally imagining him leaving the office, going to the car park at work, and climbing in with the shortest commute EVER!   

hahaha!  He's a teensy bit more civilized than that!  It's a very basic campervan, with no bathing or toilet facility (but there is a sink and a 4-burner gas hob, which is 3 more burners than I have in our "real" house!), so he needs to be somewhere where he can use showers and the toilet.  He also needs to plug into the mains to charge the battery overnight so the refrigerator stays cold during the day when he's parked at work.  He made an arrangement with a campsite on the edge of town.  Year-round, for 4 nights a week for a very fair price.  For most of the winter months (two winters!) he was the only person there.  Other than the extreme cold walking to and from the toilet block, sometimes sloggy mud, and the sometimes terrible mobile signal (sometimes it's stupidly fast, though... it's a mystery why it's so wildly different), the campsite has been a decent experience.  Well, as good as one can hope for when you're living in a van for 16 months. 

He's brave, but I'm sure it's now going to be much nicer to be together in a warm and cozy home (once it's put back together!)

hahaha!  He's a teensy bit more civilized than that!  It's a very basic campervan, with no bathing or toilet facility (but there is a sink and a 4-burner gas hob, which is 3 more burners than I have in our "real" house!), so he needs to be somewhere where he can use showers and the toilet.  He also needs to plug into the mains to charge the battery overnight so the refrigerator stays cold during the day when he's parked at work.  He made an arrangement with a campsite on the edge of town.  Year-round, for 4 nights a week for a very fair price.  For most of the winter months (two winters!) he was the only person there.  Other than the extreme cold walking to and from the toilet block, sometimes sloggy mud, and the sometimes terrible mobile signal (sometimes it's stupidly fast, though... it's a mystery why it's so wildly different), the campsite has been a decent experience.  Well, as good as one can hope for when you're living in a van for 16 months. 

Mad respect for him.  It's a tribute to him and his commitment to you (for having to meet the UKVI financial requirements) for him to have done this for so long.   

He's brave, but I'm sure it's now going to be much nicer to be together in a warm and cozy home (once it's put back together!)

Yes!  This whole time, he comes home looking a bit done-in, then he loosens up as Friday night turns into Saturday morning.  We'll have a great day on Saturday, with either lots of fun or lots of productivity (sometimes both!), and then Sunday will start off nice.  But by about 2pm, he starts thinking about how he needs to do the laundry, and start organizing his things in preparation for leaving dark and early (he leaves at half-four!) to go back to Salisbury. His mood isn't quite as bouncy on Sundays.

It's worse when he's been off on holiday, because he gets so comfortable with being home, and then the contrast with what he's about to go back to... blah.  Plus, I get used to having him home, and the house is dead quiet on Mondays after a holiday.

Mad respect for him.  It's a tribute to him and his commitment to you (for having to meet the UKVI financial requirements) for him to have done this for so long.   

Oh, I know!  I can't even... This is why I said in the Housing thread that I trust him.  If he's willing to do all that he's done, he's totally looking out for me.  *happy sigh*  He loves me. 

1.  I love that more people are doing the Friday Five thread!  For a while there, I think I was doing it on my own.

2. My OH has been down in London boozing with his pals all week, and is coming home tonight.  I've missed him!

3.  Not working this weekend... they even offered me double-time, and I still said no.  I'm just so tired!

4.  I joined Birchbox recently and my March box arrived today.  It's so fun getting all the wee surprise samples!  https://www.birchbox.co.uk

5.  Went into Aldi to pick up a lasagne for Mr's homecoming tonight (I no longer cook, remember?!  ) and found a ready-meal of Monterey Jack and bacon 'loaded' fries, so I bought a couple of those as well.  They look really nice, but I'm sure will need some tarting up.

If I'd done more exploring on UKYankee sooner, I would've been doing the Friday Five the whole time.  It's nice to have a brief summary of the week, and a place for a mini-rant or a mini-celebration of the little things (and sometimes bigger things that I'm not ready to really talk too much about *thought to Juliana*).  I look forward to it from when I wake up Monday to find that my husband left for the week, as expected.

5.  Went into Aldi to pick up a lasagne for Mr's homecoming tonight (I no longer cook, remember?!  ) and found a ready-meal of Monterey Jack and bacon 'loaded' fries, so I bought a couple of those as well.  They look really nice, but I'm sure will need some tarting up.

Most things do!  But maybe they'll surprise you.  Those crisps I found (the jalapeño and cheese ones that my Tesco promptly stopped selling them after one shop) surprised me, and now I have renewed hope for British junk food.

1) I'm almost over this horrible cold I had, I was delirious for about five hours in the middle of the night on Monday, it was weird.

2) I got to attend my Daughter's field day

3) Finally around to reading GoT 5

4)I got into a fight with the husband over couch placement. I won. Obviously.

5)Spring break starts tomorrow

I got into a fight with the husband .... I won. Obviously.

Hah!  Obviously.

Did you have a fever Monday night?  Maybe it was flu.  Whatever it was, I'm glad you're starting to feel better!

So much good news in that post JF!!!  Definitely try to not have a perception of T before you meet him.  And if your sister loves him and he loves her, not much else matters!

Meatloaf recipe used (homemade) gluten-free bread crumbs and eggs for binding.  Eggs are not dairy.    My grandmother's recipe used evaporated milk and TONS of breadcrumbs so I'm proud to have a recipe that I love even more now.

Meatloaf (adapted from Ina):

1 tablespoon good olive oil
3 cups chopped yellow onions (3 onions)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves - I used more
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup canned chicken stock or broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 1/2 pounds ground chuck (81 percent lean) - I used 20% mince
1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs - I used home made gluten free bread crumbs from gluten free bread
2 extra-large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup ketchup (recommended: Heinz)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan. Add the onions, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent but not brown. Off the heat, add the Worcestershire sauce, chicken stock, and tomato paste. Allow to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, combine the ground chuck, onion mixture, bread crumbs, and eggs, and mix lightly with a fork. Don't mash or the meat loaf will be dense. Shape the mixture into a rectangular loaf on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper. Spread the ketchup evenly on top. Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, until the internal temperature is 160 degrees F and the meat loaf is cooked through. (A pan of hot water in the oven, under the meat loaf, will keep the top from cracking.) Serve hot.

I seperated mine into 4 small meatloafs and they are DEFINITELY too small.  We are piggies.

You may be interested in this bread recipe.



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Yup, grandma's meatloaf had evaporated milk, breadcrumbs, ketchup, Lipton Onion Soup Mix, eggs...  I don't think there was anything else.

Good luck at the competition!

Not gonna lie...  more than once in my working career I've had my top on inside out....   

Gordon Ramsay's recipe also uses evaporated milk.

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You may be interested in this bread recipe.

(Images)

That recipe looks interesting... and a lot more appetizing than the first one you posted! 

That recipe looks interesting... and a lot more appetizing than the first one you posted! 

Lmfao.  I wasn't wearing my glasses and thought I picked the right screenshots. Lolpl

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My Friday Five

1. It's my last day here in North Carolina.  I'm sad to be leaving my kids again but they are doing so great here, even without me.

2. I've gained so much weight this week plus I'm sure my gall bladder is going bad which is the cause of a lot of gastric issues I've been fighting over the last year. I had what I believe was my 2nd pain related attack yesterday.  I'm currently still waiting on my NHS referral letter to come in.

3. While I was here, I managed to change my name with the SSA and on my drivers license. 

4. My ex husband offered me financial backing if I want to start my own business. I've got lots of research to do when I get home.

5. Tacos for dinner tonight.

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Mmm, tacos!

Many members of my family have had their gallbladder out.  So far I'm doing okay, but some day it might start to make itself known.  I'm getting nearer the age my mom was when she lost hers.  It looks painful (the symptoms, not the surgery).  I hope you're not in too much discomfort.

Last day!  Aww... I'd be so conflicted.  I hate that we can't be in two places at once.  Or that traveling between here and there is such an expensive ordeal.  Hopefully, you had a fabulous visit and managed to eat all the things!