Keeping up appearances.......

Dolphin1

HappyNow wrote: »

It IS fab, served with a simple salad and that balsamic dressing thing that I have no idea how to make so buy at Marks & Spencer! Totally non-MSE but soooo worth it every now and then.

Ooooh, with a salad with balsamic dressing, it sounds perfect.

Dolphin1

joeyjimbles wrote: »

Poorly dog here. He got clipped and managed to tear two of his nails whilst having a wee straight after it was done - vet removed them and he has a little sock and a bandage and is feeling very sorry for himself.

Awww, poor thing!

Honey_Bear

joeyjimbles wrote: »

I have a code for half price hellofresh which I think is similar to Gousto - though maybe requires you to buy more than one meal at a time. I am going to give it another look as I agree that £9.99 for a lovely different meal as an occasional treat is good. Will report back.

Poorly dog here. He got clipped and managed to tear two of his nails whilst having a wee straight after it was done - vet removed them and he has a little sock and a bandage and is feeling very sorry for himself.

I've had a look at the Gousto and Hellofresh websites and they look fabulous! What a great way to try new recipes so I don't have to buy a whole bag of, say, polenta to see if you like it (I didn't) that sits at the back of the cupboard for years making me feel guilty about foodwaste. And, if I were seriously short of time for shopping I might be very, very tempted. But, actually, time is the only thing I genuinely do have so it's probably not for me. Although, if we were going self-catering in the UK it might be just the ticket, come to think of it.

The poorly dog is beyond 'Ow' and made me really *wince* on his behalf. Healing vibes for him.

Honey_Bear

Welcome back Dolphin! Our glorious leader seems to have gone AWOL again, I notice. tsk tsk

Honey_Bear

1. Kelpie to come to call. Improving.
2. Five fruit and veg a day. Achieved.
   
3. Cut out all the swearing. Step Step 1: Stop talking to self. Struggling with this. mumble mumble mumble
   
4. Switch to goat's cheese, yoghurt and butter for the eight days OH is in Edinburgh. Well, that's a bit of a revelation. My permanently, it seemed, blocked nostril has magically unblocked. Culprit, obviously, dairy. Now that I think about it, it did co-incide with when I taught myself to make yoghurt. Even goat's cheese has a mild effect but at least I know what's causing it.
5. Lights out by 11.30pm. Achieved.
   
6. No computer after 9.00pm. I miss Mahjong Titans on my laptop - I wish I hadn't upgraded it but at least it means I know not to do so on the main computer.
   

Dolphin1

Honey_Bear wrote: »

Our glorious leader seems to have gone AWOL again, I notice. tsk tsk

Oooh yes, well spotted, no posts for 3 days!

Dolphin1

Honey_Bear wrote: »

Step 1: Stop talking to self. Struggling with this. mumble mumble mumble

I do this too, probably because I am on my own a lot. I can be walking round the house saying things like "right Dolphin, let's get that washing out to dry" or "right Dolphin, what's next on the to-do list". If anyone heard me, goodness knows what they would think !

joeyjimbles

Thank you both - dog is a lot better in himself though still only using 3 legs. Vet check up was good today so he just has to wear a sock (fortunately I hadn't kondo-d the single sock collection to the charity shop for rags) to stop him mithering it. Its lovely to see him back to normal though as he was just lying in his bed and too quiet - not normal for a terrier.
I talk to myself all the time. I work from home and say things aloud all the time, sometimes just to make myself do them, and sometimes because I just do.
I've checked out Hello Fresh and I agree it would be good for something that we may/may not like or for a weekend trip. Not sure I would bother with it beyond that as I like to cook, and have/make time to do so. I did think that I might use this voucher though for DS1 to make a meal for his GF and a couple of friends though. Think that would be a good use and helpful for him too.

HappyNow

Honey_Bear wrote: »

Our glorious leader seems to have gone AWOL again, I notice. tsk tsk

Dolphin1 wrote: »

Oooh yes, well spotted, no posts for 3 days!

I'm here! And yes, I have been AWOL!! I've been away on a fabby, last-minute, two night get-away with Mr H to the Lake District!! You can tell by all the exclamation marks that it was completely unexpected! Mr H was using up some leave and getting a bit stir-crazy when he came across a bargain-bucket last minute offer at a hotel we once stayed at 15 or so years ago. He rang them, negotiated an even cheaper deal and we chucked some stuff in a case, jumped in the car and left.

Very embarrassing for a DFW to admit to of course, but we just blew £206 of next year's YNAB holiday fund that we've been saving since June . But really, that's the beauty of YNAB - we spent money that was put aside for holidays on a holiday! Now we either have to built that fund back up quicker (but without nabbing from the debt categories) or just accept that we will be holidaying later next year. That's the real benefit of being able to discuss the debt now with Mr H - we can make joint, informed decisions as to whether to be 100% sensible all the time, or occasionally seize the day. And on Monday we soze the day! And I don't regret it at all because we had a great time for a ridiculously cheap (for the hotel quality) price and loved every minute of it. And I still kept to my targets - see below.

HappyNow

Targets for the last few days:

• Zero waste. Tick. I'm booting this one out because I now realise that I don't need it. From tomorrow, this one will say 'STOP EATING CRAP'!
• Money making/saving Now, I'm not going to claim that £206 on a hotel stay is money saving . However, we did do our bit and hardly spent anything while we were there. An evening meal was included in the price, but the cheapest bottle of wine in this very, very, VERY fancy hotel restaurant was £32. So, we told the waiter that we don't drink and asked for just water with the meal - but then afterwards we shared a bottle of red in our room which we'd brought from home. Not 100% victorious on this one because I thought water would be free, but they actually charged us £4.50 for it!! Still a good saving though. And instead of having the £8 per head cream tea, we bought a supermarket cheesecake and a tub of cream and ate it secretly in our luxury room. We had to cut it with a teaspoon but that made it taste even nicer
• Fridge/freezer clearance Left Master H in charge of all the animals and with only freezer scraps to eat. He moaned a bit, but got on with it . Down to three bags of oven chips now
• Alcohol Ummm, I'll start this one again tomorrow
• Sleep The bed in this hotel was massive and so very comfy. But I only slept properly on the first night, yesterday I was still awake at 4am