Coffee and chocolate

MatyMoo

Sounds like you have had a busy and tiring time. Glad Mum is now closer :T

Look after yourself too

miggy

According to DH, the spending diary shows that we are spending what he thought on food... IMO there is probably some saving to be had there but at the moment the cluttered state of the pantry and me being tired after work are standing in the way of it.

Other than that - I had a birthday! Harlow Carr (RHS place) had a freebie day so I went and spent some garden centre tokens I've been given, as well as an interesting walk round and lots of photos taken. A couple of days ago, Wilkos (bless 'em), who seem to take every bit as much care of plants as ever Woolies did (i.e. worse than none), were selling off trays of tiny 'damaged' plants for ridiculous prices.

I bought 11 trays for a total of 49p! (Originally £27.50).

These are tiny plug plants, which IMO is no way either to sell or buy plants. Something so tiny, and with so little soil, will dry out in hours, then be swamped with water and die of damping off. That's why there are lots of gaps in the trays, but you know me, I love a bargain and I love helping plants. I watered each individually, then set them on a tray of newspaper to get rid of extra water, and today I have to begin planting them into bigger pots.

For the record, there are:
12 pelargoniums
11 begonias (the fibrous rooted ones)
10 trailing lobelias
6 Busy Lizzies (Some very dodgy still!)
4 verbenas
2 thyme
2 rosemary
2 chives
2 parsley
2 mint
2 sage

I need to see what seeds I have, too, and start sowing some. I would have sorted it all out weeks ago but events overtook me. I've begun to tidy the garden and see what's survived the frost.

I really ought to sort out at least some of the larder too, and see what needs to be used up. We seem to have loads of eggs, so I think it may be omelette for lunch!

miggy

I've made a bit of progress today - potted on just three of my pelargoniums, LOL! I think that means 52 little plants to go!

I've also taken a very large bedspread of mum's which had been cluttering up our house, round to her and she was pleased with it.

Spending - spent too much of mum's money, really (at least I will claim it back from her). It was treats which I'm realising is partly due to feeling guilty that I won't be seeing her for a few days. However, although it makes both of us feel better for a bit, I shall have to rein in the urge to buy yet another box of Mr Kiplings or another magazine. One or two boxes of cakes is okay for treats but I won't help her health if I just give her too many. I did buy her some fruit, though.

Dh and I had a brief conversation about food spending as we often feed our children's 'other halves' and of course I end up spending more. I think it's offset, by and large, by our children eating out (!) but once I've sorted out the larder and freezers, and got through some of the backlog, I might do an order to BB4L or AF. I'm on the look-out for those Loyd Grossman sauces of course! However, I need to get back to the old school money saving and have lentils cooked ready to add to mince, and so forth. I'm starting tonight by using up extra bread and eggs in a bread pudding - again! - but it went down very well with the visitors last time.

I've been a bit sluggish today. I think it's a very low-level depression which I need to get sorted. If I miss my vitamins and cod liver oil I seem to be quite susceptible... I did wonder whether I was imagining this but a bit of googling revealed that both the CLO and Vit C have been studied and found to have some sort of function in depression. Still, I have made some progress.

Jobs-wise: I've cleared half a shelf in the pantry and am about to clean it and put things back tidily. We threw out a couple of butter dishes which was a shame but not a shame - both were damaged and in the way even if I liked them. I set up my new jewellery box which in turn was an incentive to tidy and dust a bit in the bedroom. It's not perfect, but it's better (a bit better ).

I hope the sunshine comes back tomorrow, everything is better in the sun.

miggy

Reading the above, a piece of me is saying "But... but... but... I've only just started! I'm still learning! How come I am feeding adult children's friends and shopping for my mum?"

:D:D

Funny how time plays tricks on us. It really does feel as if I woke up and realised I missed 20 years. One day I was learning to make scones, the next I was proficient baker, knowing what to do and able to teach others. One day I had a system where I could have everything tidy in 20 minutes if necessary, then all of a sudden it takes an army to sort the house and I can't keep on top of it. What happened?

I had children. :rotfl:

miggy

Something very weird happened today...

I went into the supermarket, looked at the magazines (trying to work out whether 'The Field' still exists), mooched in the general direction of the discount section, answered a text from a friend and mooched out again.

Nothing bought.

Admittedly I knew we don't need any shopping and I was only there because I walk through the car park on the way home, but I am such a comfort shopper I would have normally bought something I didn't really need - and I didn't!

Pat on the back for me!

miggy

Well would you beleive I ran out of plain flour? DD discovered when she made an early batch of pancakes yesterday.

I have loads of SR flour - and bargainacious it was too, as short dated - but what with DD's pancakes and all, we were also low on eggs, and I needed some Lactofree milk for someone's special diet, so off I go to the supermarket again...

The good news is the Lactofree was short dated (today) but that was fine as was used this evening - and it was 37p instead of £1.24. Pancakes remain a relatively cheap way to feed people, even when the lemons, etc. are included. I don't know why the supermarket assumes we want a whole net of lemons - even feeding the masses I only used one - but it works out cheaper than the same quantity purchased individually and it means I can make lemonade or lemon icing, etc. Ooh, homemade lemonade!

Other than that, a productive day though I felt very tired and a bit down. Both of those are likely to be mostly due to lack of sleep, so if I can get back in a good sleep rythmn that will help.

miggy

I was interupted while writing the above and there was more to say...

Diet isn't doing badly - it's non-existent! This isn't good as I've regained half the weight I lost last year. This is what being down and having carbs does for me...

Today has been the first time for ages I've had a good onslaught on the housework and I feel a lot better for having accomplished:

three loads of washing
1 dishwasher load
saw to the animals
did some ironing and put assorted clothes away
changed three beds
lots of piano practice and a piano lesson
cleaned all the base cabinet fronts in the kitchen and the floor there too
cleaned the front door
emptied the kitchen bin
cleaned the shower
hoovered stairs and bedroom
lots of dusting (DH sanded a floor yesterday, 'nuff said)
cleaned paintwork and removed cobwebs

...and maybe some more. Nothing spectacular but enough to make me feel better about my environment. The spring light shows up the dingy bits and inspires spring cleaning, but it also shows up the newly cleaned bits so I will enjoy seeing them tomorrow.

Spending - about £10 - fed five of us and plenty over for another day or several.

miggy

Supermarket shopping under £1 today! Yay me!

miggy

I didn't make any Lenten resolutions this year, but I seem to have drifted into a good one. I'm decluttering - not just the clutter (of which there's more than enough) but some obscure corners of my life.

Yesterday's was funny - one of the games I play on Facebook was taking forever to load and it occured to me that not only am I wasting far too much time on it, but that I might be able to minimise loading time if I got rid of surplus features on it. I think it may have worked to some extent, but anyway the set-up looks a lot better with the veritable woodlands reduced to amounts I can harvest with one click! (Frontierville, if you're interested).

I still spend too much time on FB games but this was a bit of a mental breakthrough - trees I can't harvest are no use to me - they aren't even real trees!

Today, I'm defrosting the chest freezer. There are three carrier bags full of stuff I feel I ought to be using up: quorn products, cooked meats (like chicken left over from Sunday dinners) and fruit from the garden. There is so much I think I'm in it for the long haul, but I've put two chicken carcesses to simmer to make soup, and used up the Lactofree milk that I bought for pancakes by making a rice pudding. It makes very good rice pud.

I think I might have a go at making a schedule for using some of it up...

miggy

Chicken and tomato soup was an interesting experience - quite edible but not necessarily one for posterity. Anyway it gets rid of the rest of two chickens and some past-its-best veg, which is great. There are still a couple of helpings of soup, but the pudding has all gone.

The freezer is clean and ice-free (it's old and the seal isn't too good, but also gets stocked too high so too much air's got in). I'm in the process of restocking but making a list of meals at the same time. Just taking a short break.

One of the difficulties is the imbalance of ingredients, so in order to finish things up I have to buy other things. If I'm disciplined I should be on top of it eventually... I hope so as I've just packed a luscious gammon joint right at the bottom to bring out for Easter!

Once more unto the fridge, dear friends, once more...