Ingridients

• 500 g lean beef mince
• 300ml thick cream
• 2tbs bread crumbs
• 1tsp tarragon
• 1tsp coriander leaf
• Half a tsp ground black pepper
• Worcestershire sauce
• 2 large onions
• 400g chopped tomatoes
• 1 Oxo vegetable stock cube
• 1tbs vegetable oil
• Salt to taste
• 150g spinach
• 1 large egg
• I cup of water

Preparation

1. In a big bowl mix together minced beef, black pepper, coriander leaf, tarragon, bread crumbs, a pinch of salt and 1 egg.
2. When all thoroughly mixed together, devide the mixture into small portions and roll them into balls. (size your own choice)
3. Chop the onions

Cooking

• Add oil into a large sauce pan and heat on medium heat.
• When oil gets hot add meatballs and fry them until they brown.
• Add onions and keep frying until the onions have browned.
• Add chopped tomatoes and half a cup of water. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
• Dissolve the Oxo veg cube into the remaining half cup of water and add to the meatballs and stir.
• Add the spinach and let it cook for 3 minutes.
• Lastly add the thick cream and salt, stir again and let it cook for 4 minutes.

The other day everything was just dragging me down I felt like the world was crushing me. It was just one of those heavy days and with me not going out even to the shops and being stuck at work not able to go home. I decided to play dress up during my break time. I had done a bit of charity shopping before the lock down so I thought why not make a blog post about my charity haul and how I plan to style the items.

You do not have to spend a lot of money to look fashionable or stylish. 99% of my wardrobe is actually thrifted and I own quite a bit of my admired brands be it just the High streets brands.For example I managed to score a brand new dress and the shoes second hand still have a lot of life in them and also very comfortable.

I know that buying second hand Clothing is not for everyone but it is not only second hand that you find in charity shops you can find new stuff as well. by buying in charity shops you will be donating to good causes. Anyway enough of my preaching and back to topic.

I managed to get a few new items as well as some lovely second hand. I also bought some home decor as well.

CHARITY SHOP HAUL LOCKDOWN SUMMER LOOK.

How I am coping so far with the isolation

It has now been more than 2 weeks since I have been in isolation and I can say I am doing pretty good most of the time although they are times I feel like the world is on top me. There are times when I just sit and stare into space like a zombie. I guess what is really bothering me in all of this is the impact that COVID-19 is going to have in my country Zimbabwe. I still have family back home and if I think of the state of the heath care in Zimbabwe and the Pandemic it sends shivers down my spine. It seems with most pandemics they hit Africa hard with not enough to no resources of fighting the pandemic all I hope for is God save Africa. My fear stems from the HIV aids pandemic I lost a lot of family members, friends and acquaintances. A lot of people died before the -IRVs were made available and could be accesses by many in Africa. My prayer is a vaccine be found be found before a lot of people in Africa contract the deases because with poverty a lot of people even children have weakened immunities due to malnutrition and HIV.

I know some people might say wait a minute whaat about Ebola yes there was ebila bot it did not affect all coutries in the universe there by making it easier for other countries to help.

In Zimbabwe they have a 21day lock down with no help what soever from the Government. My heart was broken when I saw videos and pictures of market food being destroyed by the police inorder to force the lock down. People are hu gry they survive from hand to mouth, they are no jobs yet the government is destroying food. People are still running around queuing for mealie meal so how can one enforce a lock down. It is so sad indeed. I hope the African leaders have learnt a lesson from this because they have let the health system in their countries collapse due to corruption thinking because they have money they can just board a plane to the Western countries for better health care now they are in the same situation as the people they oppress boarders are shut so where are they going to run to. Any way enough of me rumbling my woes and frustrations about my motherland and back to the subject.

As I am at work nothing much has changed apart from the fact that I should be home on my 2 week break by now. I no longer go for my Charity shop shopping in the High Street and I miss that but on a positive note it means no spending and I am serving that money instead. Now I am having to do online grocery shopping for the first time. I love to walk in the shops looking for reduced items, you see I have always been a bargain hunter there is nothing that gives me satisfaction more than buying quality items at reduced prices and that includes groceries.

I have a few items that I bought in a charity shop before the lock down that I wanted to wear this Easter. My Pinterest has come in handy as I have developed a love of baking recently due to boredom. So far I managed to bake some scones that came out umm more like cookies but we’re very delicious 😋. I have been doing a lot of video calling with family and friends my family back home is so much worried about me and I am worried about them. My prayers and thoughts are with them who have lost loved ones due to COVID-19. I can not imagine not being able to visit your loved one when they are sick in hospital, not being able to hold their hand and say final good byes that it is hard,and not to be present on their burial it is just too much to take.

One thing that I know though is that All this shall pass too and it will be history but untill then we isolate and adhere to lock down rules.

As a live in care worker I work 8 weeks and 2 weeks off. I was due for my break during the second week of April which meant enjoying Easter with my non blood related family that I have.

Little did I know that the creator had other plans for me.

On the 13th of March I recieved an email fro our office telling all live on carer to stay at their current placements until further notice. We were to cancel all breaks and holidays.

On the 16th of March I again received news that my client and her daughter had visited a certain care home on Friday and they had been informed that one of the residents had tested positive for COVID – 19 so I had to go into quarantine for 14days.

After the 14 days of self Isolation there was really no difference because I still had to self isolate. The only time I go out is 6am for my morning jog 4 days a week and it is not the same every week as sometimes I do 3 days. I have tried a few exercises on YouTube. Before the Corona virus outbreak I had bought some exercising bands and had never tried them. But now I have started using them just simply because I run out of things to do. Jogging is my go to exercise because I suffer from athritis in my wrists so I can not do much exercises that I have to use my hands.

I sometimes find myself depressed with the whole situation even though most of the time, even if I go home I will be on my own. But I guess it is the fact that I can not even go to the shops. But I know it is for the best that we self isolate and protect the most vulnerable in society. For I know even this will pass one day and life will begin to normalise but until then The Creator is in control and our fate is in his hands.

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Hie welcome to my very first blog. I have been wanting to start a blog for a very long time, but I could not decide on a niche to follow. Well I just decided to take the plunge and go with the flow.

I love nice things as most people do but I do not have money to buy expensive things. I discovered that with thrifting I could get what I wanted at affordable prices for me.

With clothing at first I just used to buy because it was cheap, but with time I became disciplined I only buy if I am going to wear it or if I know of someone who needs it. Most of my wardrobe is thrifted.

When I got my council flat I had to nothing so I had to start from scratch. I had to borrow money from friends flooring and for furniture I thrifted. I managed to get some good items on Shpock, facebook market,charity shops, markets and car boot sales. I also look for discounted items in department stores for example when I got my sofa DFS had a sale going on and it was discounted.

this is just an introduction please make sure you come back for more thrifting ideas I would also love to have you join my email list

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