EH - Keeping on track. (AKA focus Woman! FOCUS!)

EssexHebridean

Just checked PayPal this morning and £20.48 showing from SurveyNetwork - :j. MIGHT use it to treat myself to a couple of books I've been wanting, or might add a bit on to it in due course and use it for a new memory card - either way, all good. (And now it's landed I have unsubscribed from the site too!)

One other spend yesterday - we finally booked tickets for the music festival we're going to in August - it fits in well with another event we're going to that weekend, so all good. Tickets came to £44 but the lineup includes Scouting for Girls and Razorlight so I'm very happy with that. :T Planning for a NSD today - fingers crossed!

I have a chicken in the oven which will form the basis of most of our meals this week before we head away - it's used up one of the stray lemons from the fridge as well (let's say that it's being "worn internally" by said chicken ) so all good. Plans for this morning is general pottering, hopefully some of which will be outside as the sun is cracking the pavements here again today. I also need to do a definitive list of everything food wise "wot needs using" and then work out how that firs in with the chicken. I know there's a couple of potatoes, and some random veg...

Right - off to catch up!

Greying_Pilgrim

Ay up EH - good work with the surveys and cashing out

Was thinking of you today - you would have had a ball with your camera and the things we were seeing today - unfortunately my 'point and squirt' can only pick up so much detail. I didn't even try to take a pic of one of the birds that really caught our eye - a yellow wagtail. Not a bird that we normally see in everyday life - and having just looked it up on the RSPB site, not that common a sight in this day and age....

Hope you've had a wonderful day.

Greying

EssexHebridean

Morning! Greying - Yellow Waggies are beautiful birds aren't they - I spent some time pointing the camera at one a few weeks ago in Canterbury - an absolute joy to watch! You're right about compact cameras/point & shoots not being great for photographing them too, unfortunately - it's tricky to get shutter speeds fast enough to freeze the rapid movements, and the shutter-lag you get on a compact (the delay between pressing the button and the shutter firing) means you need to a degree to be able to predict the movement too - not easy! Glad you had a luvverly day and saw something a bit different too!

OK - plans for this week: Work & sorting out the flat, Work and packing, work and more packing, and then a bit of work & HOLLIBOBS! I've drawn up my invoice ready - I'm going to be super-crafty and bring it in on Thursday, scan it in, and set it up to email over for payment while I'm not here. That'll surprise 'em! :cool: I'm leaving it sitting at home until Thursday though as there is still a slim chance I might add another hour or so of overtime over my target - that depends on whether I manage to get an appointment for a haircut at some stage this week though. It's finally reached the stage of "aaarghhh - it's driving me mad and I can't cope with it anymore!" so I'm going to see if the place along from the office can squeeze me in.

Yesterday was indeed a NSD - the only spendage was two ice creams and a drink - and that was spentaged by MrEH - so all good! We had a nice walk in the sunshine in the afternoon - and a measure of how hot and sunny it was was that I went slightly pink in spite of being covered in factor 50. :eek:

Today's Updates:

NDS's - 10 8/10
Food - 3 x shopping trips needed* 3/3 :j
Food : Meal plan right through the month Yes! Got this week all planned out so DONE! :j
Grocery Budget: No more than £70 spent £57.58/£70 :T :j
Survey Network: Hit £20 threshold and request payout Woo hoo - done! :T :j
OnePoll : make 50p a day average in answered surveys £11.40/£15.50
ISA : get them sorted - [STRIKE]1 new[/STRIKE], [STRIKE]1 for transfer[/STRIKE] 1 new opened and first deposit made. Decision also made about the transfer one - leaving it where it is for now, seeing what interest rates do and possibly shifting in to Nationwide in a while :j
Electricity : Get it changed to new supplier. done - going to Flow Energy - no exit fees so if they're rubbish we'll leave again! :j
Tax Return - complete and submit DONE! :j :j
Extra Hours worked: 8.5/10.5

Today *might* be a NSD - depending on the haircut situation - there's nothing else needed though so if I can't sort that, I have no excuse. Dinner tonight is Greying-inspired again - the remaining Orzo, with chicken, spinach and peas. I'll give it a dressing of lemon juice and rapeseed oil, and sprinkle a little sumac over, I think.

Right - I'm off - have a fabby day all! :T

mooomin

I'm jealous of you having a whole month planned - I can barely mealplan a week

starnac

mooomin wrote: »

I'm jealous of you having a whole month planned - I can barely mealplan a week

I can plan a whole month. It's the actual sticking to it I find hard

EssexHebridean

mooomin wrote: »

I'm jealous of you having a whole month planned - I can barely mealplan a week

starnac wrote: »

I can plan a whole month. It's the actual sticking to it I find hard

I've cracked it - this time I've done a loose list of meals we can eat in the course of each week, and then just worked a day ahead from that list. It's really made an impact on both the freezer and the storecupboard - MrEH commented the other day that he couldn't believe how much space we had in the cupboard now! When we're not juggling the "using things up" thing quite so much I can plan further ahead, but things almost always end up changing from their suggested days, even then!

EssexHebridean

*coughs* Today will NOT be a NSD - got a hair appointment at lunchtime so that was £34 on the CC. Needed done though. Might now try and throw fuel in the car on the way home tonight to maximise my chances of getting a couple of NSD's tomorrow and wednesday!

starnac

Whit woo!!! *quickly pulls brush through hair so not to drag the thread down* lovely haircut.

Great advice for the meal planning thing. We plan very rigidly then fall off the wagon when we hit something we don't fancy/are running late.

Is it Thursday you go EH?

Greying_Pilgrim

starnac wrote: »

I can plan a whole month. It's the actual sticking to it I find hard

I so hear you with this starnac :rotfl:

starnac wrote: »

Whit woo!!! *quickly pulls brush through hair so not to drag the thread down* lovely haircut.

:eek: We have to brush our hair to post on this thread :eek: Oh my!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Greying - intentionally and officially; windswept and interesting.......... :rotfl:

EssexHebridean

I've been channelling what Pippi would call "haystack" for the last little while - I usually prefer a ponytail for reasons of practicality - but for the past few weeks it's been downright essential to maintain SOME level of control! MASSIVE relief to get it done - worth every penny. The girl who did it was a demon with the dryer though - I came out feeling mildly concussed! :rotfl:


Meal planning, yep, rigid works for me *sometimes*....and other times? Not so much.... :rotfl:

And yes - Thursday I leave here mid afternoon to drive to Doncaster - collect MrEH and then drive on to Carlisle. Friday we go the rest of the way - and if all goes well at 6pm we'll be on a ferry heading out to the Isles. Excited doesn't begin to sum it up!

Orzo/chicken/pea/spinach thing worked nicely, by the way - I used butter and lemon juice for the dressing in the end, and the sumac added a nice little kick of extra flavour. Tomorrow will be chicken curry...also using up the remaining onion and the two remaining small tatties.

Oh - and we DID fuel up on the way home, and call in to see my parents too - Dad's lending us his spotting scope to take with us so we collected that, and Mum gave me a rather gorgeous purple leather handbag that she doesn't get on with....which is handy as my current work one is collapsing.